Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

FBI probes Kavanaugh allegation with narrow scope; Indonesia hit by earthquake and tsunami, more than 800 dead; State of North Korea and United States relations; This is Life with Lisa Ling focuses on methamphetamine in Oklahoma; "SNL" season premiere. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 30, 2018 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with us on this Sunday.

President Trump insists the FBI has no restrictions, no constraints to use his words, free rein in this new investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And now this is just into CNN, we're learning that Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh's names are not on the initial list been given by Senate Republicans to the White House as suggested witnesses for the FBI to interview.

We do have confirmation however, that FBI agents spoke today with Deborah Ramirez, she is the woman who claims Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party, that a claim that Kavanaugh strongly denies. A source close to the FBI investigation says Ramirez today gave agents the names of other witnesses.

Now, as for whether the FBI really has, "free rein," at least two sources close to the investigation say hold on, that is not exactly the case. CNN is being told today that the White House is working closely with Senate Republicans to steer the FBI investigation and keep its scope as narrow as possible.

Here is how we're told this is happening. Judge Kavanaugh's overall drinking history not being looked at. The FBI is getting orders only from the White House. Agents will make no conclusions about what they hear from witnesses. And then White House officials will decide how to proceed. Even if the president's top counselor is saying that the FBI investigation, which is now in its third day, is not wide open and has a well-defined mission. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: It will be limited in scope, it is meant to last one week. I believe beginning last Friday. And it will -- it is not meant to be a fishing expedition. The White House is not getting involved in the FBI investigation in that way. The president very much respects the independence of the FBI and feels as he said last night that they should be looking at anything that they think is credible within this limited scope.

(END VIDEO CLIP CABRERA: Our legal and national security analyst Asha Rangappa is

with us now. She is a former FBI agent, and also here with us, White House correspondent Boris Sanchez. Asha, first your reaction to what we're learning that Ford and Kavanaugh apparently are not on this list of people for the FBI to interview.

ASHA RANGAPPA, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, I find that incredibly troubling. You know, these are the two main people involved in this allegation and they would be normally the first people that the FBI would interview to get a baseline narrative of both the accuser and the person who is refuting the allegation, get their versions of events.

Now, some people have said, well, they testified in front the Senate Judiciary Committee and that should be enough. And the reason that it is not enough, Ana, is that as you saw from that hearing, not only did each side have particular directed questions, they were cut off after five minutes so there weren't always followup questions.

The judge in particular did not often answer responsibly or, you know, thoroughly the questions. So in an interview, what an FBI agent would do would be to go back over all of that, ask those followup questions, try to home in to get an answer on what, you know, the context of the entire allegation on both sides. And that would actually be a baseline for then testing other witnesses' recollection of events.

CABRERA: And according to the sources, the people who were on that list were the three other people who were named as having been at the party according to Ford's account. And that is Mark Judge, Patrick Smyth, Leland Kaiser and then we also mentioned Deborah Ramirez from a different allegation that Kavanaugh is facing.

But we are told from Ford's team that they have not been contacted. I'm wondering, Asha, in any investigation you did with the FBI, did anyone ever give you a deadline or limit who you could interview you?

RANGAPPA: No. And look, I think that the White House could definitely limit the scope of the topic to say this is limited to this allegation or these three allegations for example, but to put a time limit and, you know, a list of witnesses especially is very micro managing (ph) in terms of not permitting the FBI to follow up on leads.

Now, if that witness list is here is the people that you can start with and if other leads come up that you need to follow to substantiate or flush out, you know, the information, that is a different story. And I'm not sure if that is the case. But, no, in a normal investigation, there won't be a time limit or a limited witness list.

CABRERA: And then the other thing we're being told is that this investigation is also limiting the part that has to do with Kavanaugh's overall drinking history, that that is not part of the investigation.

[17:05:09] Does that make sense to you? RANGAPPA: That does not make sense in this particular instance

because it is relevant to the allegation here. Dr. Ford claimed that he was extremely inebriated. In some ways, although the judge didn't testify to this, I mean, it could get a consistent account if he did drink so much that he couldn't recollect things.

It would be consistent with both narratives. I mean, to kind of flush that out would be important in this case to both provide a pattern of behavior and whether on or not it could have been possibly true in this instance.

CABRERA: All right. Asha, stand b. I want to bring in Boris because the president is still tweeting today that any reports that he is controlling this investigation are simply not true. Fill us in, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Ana. Yes, President Trump just a couple days ago as you know had said that the FBI would have free rein over this investigation. It appears now that that statement has a couple of unstated caveats, namely that the White House is going to have an influence over the FBI's investigation and scope of the investigation.

The president already taking aim at Democrats. He tweeted this afternoon, "Wow, just starting to hear the Democrats who are only thinking obstruct and delay are starting to put out the word that the time and scope of FBI looking into Judge Kavanaugh and witnesses is not enough. Hello, for them it will never be enough. Stay tuned and watch."

Now, despite what the president has said about there being free rein for the FBI to look over these allegations, accusations against judge Kavanaugh, keep in mind we heard from Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to the president this morning on "State Of The Union" who made clear the scope of this investigation is a narrow one by design. The White House does not want this to be a "fishing expedition," Ana

"All right, Boris, thank you. Asha, real quick if you will, just a quick answer here. The president also tweeted that, "actually I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate at their discretion." Given that is an official tweet from the president, could the FBI now say OK, that is enough for us to now move forward in the way that we deem is appropriate and interview who we want to interview?

RANGAPPA: That is hard to say, Ana. The president's tweets have at times been taken as official and not official. They have contradicted things that are coming elsewhere from the White House. I think it really depends on exactly who the FBI is directly dealing with in terms of reopening this investigation and the marching orders they are getting from that person and if they understand that person to be conveying the president's actual decisions.

CABRERA: All right, Asha, Boris, again, thanks to both of you. Let's get reaction now from a Democratic lawmaker. With us is Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell of California. Congressman, good to have you with us. Boy, what a busy news afternoon on a Sunday.

REP. ERIC SWALWELLL (D), CALIFORNIA: Good evening Ana.

CABRERA: Are you confident that the FBI has enough free rein to use the president's own words to thoroughly investigate these accusations?

SWALWELLL: Ana, I'm confident in the FBI and their ability to conduct an investigation, but there are a lot of questions still. So, either it is an open investigation or it is not, either it is an investigation that follows leads or it is constrained by a leash or it is a credible investigation or it is not.

And right now if the FBI is limited to who they can interview and where they can investigate, then it's going to leave a lot of question marks and I think we all want to see Judge Kavanaugh either confirmed with no asterisks, no question marks, or voted down because the FBI put forward and investigation that raised serious questions and we were able to put to rest all of those questions.

CABRERA: Kellyanne Conway has said the White House is not trying to interfere with the FBI's investigation. Sarah Danders doubled down essentially saying, "they are not micromanaging." Are you clear on the scope of this investigation?

SWALWELLL: No, and press reporting says that even -- despite what the president tweeted yesterday that he has put no constraints on it, that the FBI does have constraints, that they are not interviewing the third publicly named accuser, that they have not interviewed Dr. Ford.

That they are not looking at judge Kavanaugh's statements about his own state of mind at the time or his own, you know, drinking habits, that they are not corroborating what Dr. Ford said about Mark Judge and where he worked to kind of fill in her testimony.

So again, if this is a limited investigation capped by directives from the president, then it won't fulfill what I think Senator Flake was hoping to seek when he struck that bipartisan compromise.

CABRERA: Let's listen to what your colleague Congressman Jerry Nadler said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:10:01] REP. JERRY NADLER (D), NEW YORK: We cannot have a justice on the Supreme Court for the next several decades who will be deciding questions of liberty and life and death and all kinds of things for the entire American people who has been credibly accused of sexual assaults, who has been credibly accused of various other things -- wrong things including perjury.

This has got to be thoroughly investigated. I hope the Senate will do so. If he is on the Supreme Court and the senate hasn't investigated, then the House will have to.

GEORGER STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: You will investigate?

NADLER: We would have to investigate any credible allegation certainly of perjury and other things that haven't been looked in to before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Congressman, do you agree?

SWALWELLL: I do. I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope the Senate does its job and does not send to the Supreme Court a justice who has these lingering questions about his past and what he did to women. If they answer these questions and a thorough investigation concludes that these allegations are not true, then we should all move on.

But if these questions are not answered because the president limited the investigation, well, we're not helpless in the House to just have a Supreme Court with a justice who has all of these allegations still circling around him.

We want the highest court in the land to have the highest integrity in the land. But again, hopefully it doesn't come to this. Hopefully, a complete investigation is done and we will find out on Friday.

CABRERA: I mean, if it were to come to that, wouldn't that open yourselves up to people saying you are just crying over spilled mill.

SWALWELL: Well, again, we don't want to do that and we should be very careful. So again, so first things first. Let's hope the Senate does their job, but tell the American people we're not helpless if they don't.

CABRERA: OK, let me move on because aside from the political aftermath of these hearings, there has been an emotional aftermath as well. I want to read part of an op-ed that was posted on CNN.com, and the writer, Jennifer Taub, says she is a survivor of sexual assault.

And she writes that while listening to Dr. Ford's testimony this week, "I felt incredibly guilty for not reporting him, referring to her own attacker. I blamed myself again. I keep thinking this week about Congressman Eric Swalwell's response to President Donald Trump's criticism of Christine Blasey Ford. The congressman tweeted it's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault, on and on and on."

And she goes on to write, "Reading that tweet, I began to cry because it was then that I really understood for the first time that what happened to me was not my fault." Congressman, what is your reaction to that?

SWALWELLL: Ana, that is emotional to hear Professor Taub in that letter. I spoke -- chatted with Professor Taub after that was posted and she and I both told each other that we have since heard of others coming to us about their own personal stories.

And if anything comes out of the courage that Dr. Ford has shown, I hope that more survivors feel that they can come forward, that they can speak out and that they will be respected. And I hope that is the future of this, better awareness of the American people about sexual assault in this country and that women should be believed.

CABRERA: Absolutely. Congressman Eric Swalwell, good to have you with us. Thank you.

SWALWELLL: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: The clock is ticking right now on this week long investigation into the accusations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh. Many Republicans say this boils down to politics fanned by Democrats. Is that fair? We'll discuss ahead.

And a desperate situation in Indonesia. Take a look at this. More than 800 people are dead following a massive earthquake and then a tsunami. Hear what the government is now telling people to do to stay safe.

[17:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: This afternoon, President Trump says he is not micro managing the FBI probe into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The president tweeting, "Democrats are suggesting the time and scope of FBI looking into Judge Kavanaugh is not enough." This coming hours after sources told CNN the White House is controlling the scope of the investigation and that Kavanaugh's drinking history won't be part of it.

Joining us now, Matt Lewis, senior columnist at the "Daily Beast," Patti Solis Doyle, former manager of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and Republican strategist Alice Stewart, former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz's White House bid. All right Matt, let me start with you. Doesn't it sound like the FBI is not being allowed to follow the trail wherever it may lead? Is this really about getting to the truth?

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, look, I think they should narrow it in scope. But it depends what that means, you know, Jeff Flake who started this whole process specifically said in the Senate Judiciary Committee that this will be a week long and limited in scope, that is what he asked the president to do to sort of make him feel OK about, you know, moving the process along.

So that is where this began. And I do think it would be inappropriate to sort of drunk shame Brett Kavanaugh. If he was getting -- drinking, you know, 36 years ago, that has nothing at all to do with whether or not he may have committed or attempted to commit a rape. So, I think that's the kind of thing --

CABRERA: But if he was drunk at the time of this alleged assault, doesn't that have something potentially do with it especially if he says it didn't happen and memory -- that type of thing could come into play if he were drunk enough to not remember potentially?

LEWIS: Well, first of all, we don't know what day this or even I think what year even this allegedly happened. But let's assume we did know the day that this happened.

[17:20:01] Let's assume the FBI found out the location. Then if they wanted to go in and ask people, hey, was Brett Kavanaugh, you know, blitz (ph) out of his mind drunk that day? I would be OK with that. I think the problem is the sort of going down this rabbit hole of like all of a sudden suggesting, really it would be kind of trying to impugn his reputation as some sort of an alcoholic or a drunk. I just think the connection to assume that because he used to drink beer 36 years ago he might have committed rape is too much of a stretch.

CABRERA: I mean, that there are two separate issues there and I do want to get the other people involved, but real quick Matt, just to follow up on a point there, I mean, do you believe that the FBI should not follow the trail wherever it may lead?

LEWIS: I think that if they are wasting their time asking people if Brett Kavanaugh used to get drunk in high school 36 years ago, they are not making good use of the week that they have. So I think that they should, you know, if things happen, if someone says hey, I have a story to tell you, of course they should listen to that story.

Should they go out looking to sort of find out, you know, did he drink in high school and make that a part of this investigation? I think that would be a wrong.

CABRERA: Patty, do you think the scope of this investigation makes sense?

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, FORMER MANAGER, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Look, I think if you put this in the most simplistic terms, the goal of the White House, the goal of Don McGahn, the goal of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee is to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice. That fact that these are the people who are sort of dictating the scope and dictating the witness list is really a joke.

Let's remember, they were all fighting an independent FBI investigation tooth and nail and it wasn't until they realize that they just didn't have the votes to confirm Judge Kavanaugh that they finally succumbed, you know, last week when Jeff Flake made that very sort of dramatic announcement.

But the reality is, I really don't believe that if Senator Flake, Senator Collins, Senator Murkowski, those votes that they need that they don't currently have right now, if they think this is a checking of the box or if this investigation is not, you know, above board and legitimate, then they are not going to have those votes.

So, I think that it would behoove them. I'm not in the business of giving advice to the Republican Party, but it would behoove them to really make this a legitimate investigation, to make everyone happy.

CABRERA: Go ahead Alice.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think to the other side of that coin is the goal of the Democrats throughout this has been to derail this nomination. Chuck Schumer himself said they are going to do anything and everything they possibly can to prevent him from sitting on the court or potentially any other Trump nominee to the Supreme Court.

They asked for a delay with regard to this hearing. They got that. They asked for an FBI investigation. They got that. Now with fear that something may not come on this investigation, they are trying to discredit the size and scope of the FBI probe. Look, I feel for Dr. Ford. She was a compassionate, very compelling witness and she clearly went through something very stressful and traumatic with her.

But I do not believe that it was at the hands of Judge Kavanaugh. And I believe that what the FBI probe will find will be consistent with what we heard from Judge Kavanaugh while he was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee and therefore they will make -- present the information back to the Senate and we'll move forward with a vote for his nomination.

And right now the Democrats are doing everything they can to muddy the waters in the event that the FBI probe doesn't come out telling them something that they view as even more scandalous.

CABRERA: Patti, how much of the Democrats Kavanaugh outrage is about "MeToo" versus how much is about politics and political gain?

DOYLE: Look, I think last week's hearing affected all Americans on a very profound level whether you believed Dr. Ford, whether you believed Judge Kavanaugh, whether you needed more information. But the effect on women was probably the most palpable of all. And we saw it in social media through the why I didn't report hashtag (ph), you know, women posting on Facebook their individual stories and the protesters and the calls to congress.

And we saw it, you know, on this network close-up with two women confronting Jeff Flake in a very emotional, dramatic, personal fashion that, you know, from what we know really moved Jeff Flake to call for an independent investigation. So I think this has gone beyond politics.

[17:25:03] I think these women -- women across the country have seen what their voice can do with the power of their voice. And they are going to continue to rise up as we have seen in the last week.

CABRERA: And Matt, Kavanaugh's testimony you can't say it was beyond politics. He made it all about politics. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH, U.S. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has pain unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left wing opposition groups. This is a circus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Matt, did the hearings now create a new problem for Judge Kavanaugh because of his partisan attacks?

LEWIS: No, I don't think so. I think the people who are talking about his temperament or his demeanor are looking for reasons to be upset at Brett Kavanaugh. I think a couple of things there. Number one, if you were -- I were wrongly accused of rape and a he says he was wrongly accused, I would be mad too.

CABRERA: An attempted rape. I don't think he was accused of rape.

LEWIS: OK, you're right. If I was wrongly accused of attempted rape, I would be a little bit angry too. And so some people are saying we should have been calmer, you know, he shouldn't have gotten emotional. Look, this is emotional and I think -- so from Kavanaugh's standpoint, I think the anger is justified assuming he is innocent.

And then from the conservative movement standpoint, fair or not, conservatives believe that this is a long trend that started with Robert Bork, then the attacks on Clarence Thomas and now with Brett Kavanaugh. They wait until after the hearing and then come forward -- I'm just telling you how conservatives view it.

CABRERA: But keep in mind that this didn't happened with Neil Grosuch. But this wasn't happening with Neil Gorsuch though?

LEWIS: You know why? Because Neil Gorsuch doesn't change the court. Neil Gorscuh was replacing Scalia. This appointment is going to potentially move the direction of the court rightward and I'm not surprised at all that Democrats would be more interested in keeping the seat.

CABRERA: All right. Matt Lewis, Patti Solis Doyle, and Alice Stewart, thank you all. Alice, I realize I owe you another question first next time. Thanks again.

STEWART: All right, thanks. I'll hold you to that.

CABRERA: More than 800 people are dead in Indonesia after a massive earthquake and tsunami and now authorities are racing against time to find and rescue those trapped in the rubble. We'll take you there, next. We're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: At least 832 people are dead after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Many towns and communities are flattened, completely washed away. Thousands are now homeless and officials say some areas remain completely cut off. In a race against time, rescuers are now working around the clock looking for survivors. CNN's Matt Rivers brings us the latest. Matt.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDENT: Well Ana, we're learning firsthand how difficult access is to these affected communities. We have been forced to overnight here about 500 miles south of the affected zone because there was just no way either driving or by taking flight to get to Palu, the center of all of this destruction.

And if we're having trouble getting there, that means that others more important people frankly like the rescuers, the charity workers that really need to provide assistance to these people as this situation continues to develop and just get worse. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS (voice-over): A body is pulled from the rubble of a hotel where 50 people are thought to be trapped. A desperate search for survivors continues after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi triggering a tsunami. This cellphone video captures waves as high as 10 feet rolling toward the shore as people are warned to run for higher ground.

The force of the water sweeps to the streets carrying anything and anyone in its way. In its aftermath, destruction. Wrecked cars show just how violently the waves hit. In a hospital in the coastal city of Palu, survivors are tended to amid the power cuts. They are the lucky ones.

SUTOPP PUNWO NUGROHO, SPOKESMAN, INDONESIA'S NATIONAL DISASTER MITIGATION AGENCY: We're expecting a rise in the number of dead victims, but we hope the data remains as it is. However looking at the conditions there, there are still bodies unidentified as well as victims buried under ruins. There are also remote areas yet to be reached by joint SAR teams.

RIVERS: Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo visited Palu Sunday and ordered rescuers to work day and night to search for the missing. A state of emergency has been called for 14 days in central Sulawesi as crews work to restore electricity and communication and repair damage on the roads and bridges.

But in Palu, people say they don't have enough basic food and medicines, and have been allowed by the authorities to take away supplies from supermarkets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been no aid. We need to eat. We don't have any other choice. We must get food.

RIVERS: Indonesia's disaster management agency estimates that 2.4 billion people were affected by Friday's earthquake and as they await help, residents comb through the debris of what was once their homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:35:02] RIVERS (on-camera): And Ana, the other point I really want to drive home is the lack of health care for the people that have been affected in these communities. As best we can tell none of the hospitals in this area are operating at this point. And we already know officially that hundreds of people are injured.

That number is going to continue to rise. And so along with food and water, health care expertise, medicine, critical care needs are going to have to be brought in from the outside. And we know just from what we talked about with access issues, that's going to be quite difficult, Ana.

CABRERA: An awful situation there. Matt Rivers, thank you.

Nobody else could have called this one. Just three months after their first face-to-face meeting, President Trump has this to say about North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know the interesting thing, when I did it, and I was really being tough, and so was he, we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love. OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they are great letters. We fell in love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It is difficult to tell exactly what the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea is right now. If you listen to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, you will hear that he is getting ready to visit North Korea soon to prepare for a second summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.

But if you listen to North Korea's foreign minister at the United Nations just 24 hours ago, you heard a diplomat say his country doesn't yet trust the U.S. enough to move forward with disarming its nukes. But then again, if you listen to President Trump in West Virginia just last night, you heard this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And you know the interesting thing, when I did it, and I was really being tough, and so was he and we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love, OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they are great letters. We fell in love. But you know what, now, they will say Donald Trump said they fell in love! How horrible, how horrible is that. So unpresidential.

And I always tell you, it is so easy to be presidential, but instead of having 10,000 people outside trying to get into this packed arena, we'd have about 200 people standing right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Gordon Chang is author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea takes on the world." They fell in love, Gordon. How do you think those words -- how do you think those are playing with Kim Jong-un?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR: I'm sure that he likes them very much. You know, we know from Ri Yong-ho, the North Korean foreign minister yesterday in his U.N. General Assembly speech, what he tried to do was to separate Trump from his advisers and American political figures.

Because he was saying that everybody but Trump were trying to talk about North Korea in ways which were unhealthy. And I think what we're seeing right now is Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, are both trying to play to the ego of President Trump.

CABRERA: Let's just list the atrocities Kim Jong-un is known for. I mean his country is among the worst human rights violator in the world. North Korea's crimes include prison gulag (ph), executions of family members, extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, persecution based on political or religious beliefs, for race or for gender, for knowingly causing prolonged starvation.

I could go on and on and you know this, President Trump though says he and Kim are in love. How does this declaration being heard not just by Kim, but how is that being received by the rest of North Korea?

CHANG: Well, I'm not so sure that the people of North Korea would have heard President Trump's words. But nonetheless, you know, that pictures from the summit on June 12th were beamed in North Korea. And a matter of fact, Kim Jong-un, what he wanted were those pictures because that served to legitimize the regime's position in North Korea and it also served to legitimize his position in the regime, solidify it.

So, what we've got right now is the United States helping Kim stay in power. Now, we're doing this unintentionally, but that is really the effect of what is occurring. And you know, Ana, this is the world's worst regime. And we have seen Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president and Trump actually help make Kim acceptable on the world stage. This is really wrong.

CABRERA: Should there be a second summit?

CHANG: I don't think that there should be a second summit until we have substantial progress in getting to an agreement whereby North Korea agrees to give up its weapons, its nuclear weapons and its ballistic missiles. To have a second summit very soon, which is what President Trump said about four or five days ago, I think is giving Kim too much and not getting anything in return from him.

CABRERA: All right. Gordon Chang, good to have you with us. Thank you so much.

CHANG: Thank you. CABRERA: Crystal meth is starting to make a comeback. Up next, Lisa

Ling takes us to a state in the middle of the deadly battle with this drug. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Crystal meth has largely fallen off the national radar, but it continues to wreak havoc on thousands of lives across the country. And on this week's all new episode of "This is Life with Lisa Ling," Lisa travels to Oklahoma. This is a state that is at the center of the crystal meth crisis where she talks with law enforcement, users and recovering addicts about this drug that is tearing apart their communities. Here a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA LING, CNN HOST: Finally we reached a bedroom with the surveillance equipment.

UNIDENIFIED MALE: They've got cameras on the front of the house. There's the front yard. You can see some of the folks out front, backyard, and then view of the side. There's meth residue in both of those plastic containers.

LING: So does it look like that there more than users here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It looks like with all of the baggies and everything that they've got, yes, more than likely they're also selling.

LING: You have the suspect's son in custody. How often are you seeing families being involved in drug activity?

[17:50:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happens quite often. Once the kids get older, obviously past the teenage years, if they are still living at home, then they're going to start doing it. They're watching the mom and that's the example that's being set for them.

LING: I am pretty sure that is a young man who is in the back of the squad car now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's just sad to see, you know, that potential wasted on dope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Lisa Ling is with us now. Lisa this is a stark reality. This episode, it gives such a comprehensive heartbreaking look at the devastating impact crystal meth is having on these communities, not just in Oklahoma where you travelled for this episode but around the country. What is it about this drug that makes it impact so devastating?

LING: Well Ana, you're right. You know, we've been hearing pretty relentlessly about the heroine and opioid epidemic that has overtaken our country and that's because there have been so many deaths associated to opioid withdrawal -- opioid overdose. Meth has been around for decades but gone are the days of the Walter White laboratory in the back country. Law enforcement has done a pretty good job rooting most of those out.

But the Mexican cartels have jumped in to fill a void and they are literally dumping very, very cheap and deadly methamphetamine on states like Oklahoma which is the middle of the country and it intersects with a highway that travels east and west to the coast. And this drug really is now so powerful that it's estimated that one Oklahoman a day is dying from methamphetamine.

CABRERA: You rode along with law enforcement on several drug busts. You actually talked to some of the meth users and dealers who were taken into custody during those raids. What did they tell you about how meth was affecting their lives?

LING: Well, Ana, we spent time with law enforcement both in the cities but also in the rural parts of Oklahoma and I have to tell you, it was just non-stop. They were working around the clock to combat meth activity. And in the rural parts of the state users have resorted to extremes to get their fix.

Cattle theft has been on the rise in Oklahoma and it's pretty astounding. It seems unfathomable that people would be stealing these massive cows to able to support drug activity, but it's very easy to do so. Cows are docile animals, they will follow just about anyone and there's so many cattle auctions throughout the state of Oklahoma that users can have cows moved out of the state by, you know, within 24 hours and have thousands of dollars in their pockets for meth.

CABRERA: Wow. You met with a lot of meth users whose parents, even their grandparents were crystal meth addicts. How much harder does that make it to combat this problem when you have entire families addicted to the drug?

LING: That was one of the things that was most astounding. So many of the houses where law enforcement had gained entry, there were multiple generations. I mean, it was just really incredible and shocking and it's not getting any easier because the meth is so much stronger. We met a woman who has decided that she is going to finally break the cycle.

Her grandmother died of methamphetamine. Her father is still using and through a unique program called ReMerge in Oklahoma, users can instead of jail time, be able to work off their charges by attending this incredible program. So that's one way users are getting help.

CABRERA: Lisa Ling, I'm glad you're shedding some light on all of this. Thank you. Make sure to tune in tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and pacific for a new episode of "This is Life with Lisa Ling" right here on CNN.

"Saturday Night Live" season premier not holding back when it comes to the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT DAMON, ACTOR: I like beer. Boys like beer. Girls like beer. I like beer. I like beer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: More of their take, next.

[17:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The Supreme Court battle was front and center during the "SNL" season premier last night. Matt Damon guest-starred as nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Dr. Ford has no evidence, none. Meanwhile, I've got these.

(LAUGHTER)

I've got these calendars. They just want to humiliate me in front of my wife and my parents and

Alyssa frigging Milano.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judge Kavanaugh, are you saying --

DAMON: I like beer, OK? I like beer. Boys like beer. Girls like beer. I like beer. I like beer. So am I angry? You're damn right. But if you think I'm angry now, you just wait until I get on the Supreme Court because then you're all going to pay. Give me a can of water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, people are also talking about musical guest Kanye West who went on what some called a pro Trump rant during a commercial break for the show. Comedian Chris Rock capturing some of what West had to say posting it on Instagram. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:59:59] KANYE WEST, ARTIST: It's so many times I talk to a white person about this and they say how can you like Trump, he's racist? Well, if I was concerned about racism, I would have moved out of America a long time ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: West has publicly --