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Ballots Being Counted in India's National Election; "American Taliban" to be Released from Prison Soon; Flooded River Claims Waterfront Home. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 23, 2019 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:00] ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and thanks so much for joining us, I'm Anna Coren live in Hong Kong you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Ahead this hour, the news just keeps getting worse for Theresa May. The British Prime Minister faces new calls to quit as a backlash rose against her latest Brexit plan.
Plus, 28 countries, more than 700 seats up for grabs. The European Parliament elections kick off at this hour, one of the largest votes in the world. Also ahead, Donald Trump's temper tantrum. Why the U.S. President stormed out of a White House meeting with top Democrats.
There's been another political blow for Britain's Prime Minister in the long-running Brexit saga. One of Theresa May's top cabinet ministers Andrea Leadsom has resigned. The prominent Brexiter said she fundamentally opposes the Prime Minister's latest Brexit bill.
The Prime Minister took questions in Parliament for hours. She is standing firm offering the chance for a second referendum on Brexit and a temporary customs union with the E.U. But the backlash across the political spectrum has been fierce and pressure is mounting for her to resign.
For more on all of this, CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas joins us now from Los Angeles. Dominic, Theresa May's leadership is on life support. Why won't she resign?
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, it's an interesting question. You know, she's still hanging on. I mean, you could argue that if she does step down, whoever steps up to the position nothing will have changed. We will still have a divided country, a divided Parliament, and no clear wear foot way forward to achieve Brexit or to put Brexit on hold. That could be you know one of the arguments.
Theresa May is incredibly determined. She does not want to step away from this position without having delivered Brexit. But that doesn't look like something that she is going to be able to do. And what we're seeing now is the Conservative Party increasingly concerned about its image, about its capacity to stay in power and literally wanting to take control of the process and to try and push Theresa May out and attempt to establish a new leader themselves without having to go to a general election.
In other words, for her to do what David Cameron did which was to announce the date when he would step away as soon as the Conservative Party has picked a new leader themselves rather than going to the polls.
COREN: The feeling is that it is inevitable that Theresa May will depart. I guess it's a question of whether she goes out of her own accord or is pushed. But as you say, with British Parliament still dealing with this monumental political mess, you can change the jockey Eve but you still have the same horse. Why will it be any different with another leader?
THOMAS: Well, she's become so toxic for the party. She's not -- she really has very few allies there. The resignation today of a senior cabinet minister not simply on one particular calls but essentially what Andrea Leadsom argued is that the entire withdrawal agreement agenda of this new Brexit deal that Theresa May is putting forward is full of so many red lines that she simply cannot support her.
Now, we've known for weeks now that Theresa May has been in supposed discussions with the Labour Party trying to seek compromise which means moving further to the center. We know that all of the issues that Andrea Leadsom pointed out, the referendum, the whole question of the backstop and so on and so forth were always there.
So really what we're seeing here is someone like Leadsom positioning herself for the post may era trying to make sure that she takes some kind of distance from this prime minister most likely herself preparing to run should there be a leadership race coming up. And I think that we're going to see more significant resignations coming in the coming hours.
COREN: So what makes you think that someone like Andrea Leadsom or any other potential candidate could unite Britain and an orchestrate Brexit or not?
THOMAS: Well, I think that there's absolutely no way anybody will. I think that the candidates within the Conservative Party which is an extraordinarily fractured and divided Party are a concern to many of the members of that party particularly those that lie more at the center.
And I think that the British public would have great difficulty with a leadership transition that would bring to power one of the Brexit ears such as Boris Johnson, Gove, and so on. And so this is highly problematic you know, for the party at the moment. They suffered a glaring defeat essentially at the local elections.
And let's not forget that the E.U. elections have now got underway. We'll have the results later on Thursday in the U.K. and it's going to be absolutely unsustainable for Theresa May to continue on because this is really the first time that the British public has had an opportunity to weigh in since 2016 on the Brexit process. and they're going to the polls tomorrow in what is essentially a single-issue election, yes or no, where do we position ourselves on Brexit. And when that result comes out, I think for Theresa May, she will have
only one solution left which will be to simply map out and her path to leaving the prime ministership and allowing her party to pick a new leader.
[01:05:40] COREN: Dominic, you have to feel for Theresa May, at least I do. Her tenure has been such a thankless task. What should she have done differently?
THOMAS: Well I think what she should have done very differently and once again on the question of kind of you know, sympathy, empathy with Theresa May, you know, that's something that we know we'll be arguing for over a number of years.
Ultimately, she didn't deliver Brexit. That was the real problem. And you could argue that perhaps nobody could really have done that. I think the fundamental mistake right from the word go is calling that snap election in which she tried quite greedily to extend her power and precisely to preempt any kind of opportunity of engaging in cross- party consultations and it actually backfired.
She lost her majority, she then had to rely on the DUP, and rather than learning the lesson for that and immediately moving and to cross party negotiations, she persistently and continued to fight on for her one particular view, did not consult extensively enough, and in the end she was not able to mobilize support and enlist support for something that people could buy into across party lines.
COREN: As you say, people will be debating this for years to come. Dominic Thomas, as always, great to see you. Thank you.
THOMAS: Thank you.
COREN: Well, the European Parliament elections kick off in the next half hour when the polls open in the Netherlands. It involves four days of counting in 28 countries. 751 seats are open to represent 512 million citizens across the European Union.
The Parliament is organized by a political affiliation or groupings. Right now there are eight of them. The largest are the center-right European People's Party and the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Well, ahead of the elections, the outgoing President of the European Commission spoke to CNN's Fred Pleitgen about the threat nationalists pose to European solidarity. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eurosceptical right-wing forces seem to be very strong in many countries. How does -- how much does that concern you and why do you think that is? What's wrong with the E.U.? What's wrong with Europe?
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: What is wrong with them? That would be the other way of putting the same question. What is wrong with those who are openly fighting against European Union? The European Union has put -- has proven to be the place of peace in the world.
So whenever I'm traveling to Asia, to Africa, people are looking at us as if we were a kind of peace code because we have achieved on this continent what has not been achieved elsewhere. We have 60 wars for the time being, globally spoken. None in Europe apart Ukraine which is part of Europe but which is not part of European Union.
This populist nationalist, stupid nationalists, they are in love with the old country and they don't like the others in some countries of the European Union. The government, parliament, a major part of the society don't like those coming from far away. I do like those coming from far away because the main guiding principle of the European Union should be solidarity. We have to act in solidarity with those who are --
PLEITGEN: But that message which is obviously very important also needs to resonate with voters. And what we've been seeing over the past European elections is turnout declining and it seems as are the ones who can mobilize their forces are the ones who Eurosceptic.
JUNCKER: It's always easier to mobilize the negative forces than to mobilize positive forces.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, our CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas is back with us. Apologies, I sent you off too early. I'm sure you heard from Jean-Claude Juncker. He is concerned about the Nationalists. And if they make the significant gains that they are expected to make how will that alter the political landscape in Europe?
THOMAS: Yes, well, the most simple and direct answer is that essentially what you have are two competing views at Europe and all of them taking place paradoxically enough under the aegis of the European Union itself.
You have let's say a view embraced by Emmanuel Macron, the French president which is for greater European integration, for greater interaction as a trans-national organization with movement of labor, professional opportunities, exchange of ideas, and so on, juxtaposed with a more entrenched lifting up the drawbridge and closed down interpretation of relationships.
And what we see in the far-right particular parties is that actually historically they haven't always worked that well together. But all the way back to 2014 when the last European and union elections took place, the migrants crisis and had not yet happened, Donald Trump had not been elected, and Brexit had not taken place.
And so we see these issues all playing into this dynamic and not only as this going on, these kind of nationalistic and elections returning some of these far-right candidates to power in places like Austria and Italy and so on too, but there are other foes of the European Union. Donald Trump has not been a friend of the European Union. Russia is seeking to weaken the European Union.
And where we do see coalescence in these new far-right parties which have a tremendous opportunity here to, therefore, come together and to disrupt the practices of the E.U. is that as they gain in power and seats, we see the main parties the mainstream parties throughout Europe and at the E.U. lose some of their power.
And some of the questions that bring these far-right parties together are for example reducing sanctions on Russia, the question of migration and so on too. But really the fundamental difference has to do with whether or not to kind of further develop the European project or undermine it from within.
The Brexiters are one camp. They want to extricate from the European Union but not all of these far-right parties want to do that. Even Marine Le Pen in France has had to realize that pushing for a Frexit is not something that was going to win her support at the polls, and that Europeans, in general, are very supportive of the European Union as an entity, they just these political parties are appealing to them over a broad range of more nationalistic issues.
COREN: Well, as you say, if these nationalist candidates are elected, they will be disruptive in Brussels. But what sort of threat will they pose to it to European solidarity?
THOMAS: Well, the first thing that's really so you know, ironic is going to be the arrival in Europe of this -- of this Brexit party which is less likely to increase its seats there and they're going to be competing as the Brexit saga continues with those other representatives that are coming in from the United Kingdom.
And in a way, none of those should have ended up really being there if Brexit had actually -- had actually happened. But alongside them, we already have you know a sitting you know, vice prime minister and in Italy, the coalition in Austria that's just collapsed, and we have going into this election polling in the U.K. with Brexit in France with Le Pen's party and the (INAUDIBLE) in Italy, three major European countries have these far-right groups that are doing very well and they're likely to score numbers which we have not seen previously in the history of the E.U.
And from within when it comes to the day-to-day practices of the European Union, when it comes to shaping policy it is likely to make the European Union a much more closed and much more combative space than the kind of coalition and spirit of working together which you're Jean-Claude Juncker has been accustomed to doing it.
These individuals are there to detract from the concerns of integration of the European Union and in many ways and undermining it and from within, sort of like the core of an apple being rotten here. And this is going to be a challenge for the -- for the E.U. as it moves forward.
COREN: Dominic Thomas, as always we appreciate your analysis. Many thanks.
THOMAS: Thank you.
COREN: In France, the two parties leading in the polls have opposing visions for Europe. There's Emmanuel Macron's pro-E.U. party and Marine Le Pen's right-wing national rally. Well, CNN's Melissa Bell took candidates from both sides for a ride through Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Rene the Renault is back on the streets of France just ahead of European elections in which two very different visions of the future are trying to make themselves heard. To have a closer look at the crossroads of which Europe finds itself, we visited Normandy and Paris to hear from the two parties that lead the polls. In Paris, (INAUDIBLE) candidate for Marine Le Pen's national rally and in Normandy were with Stephanie Yon-Courtin, candidate from Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche.
STEPHANIE YON-COURTIN, LREM CANDIDATE FOR E.U. ELECTIONS: This is the place where Europe, Europe was born.
[01:15:00]Even if the young generations only know peace, and do not really worry about the fact that we might have wars or conflict. Peace is very fragile. We have to remember, you know, those who forget the past are condemned to living it again.
BELL: Is it not a danger that your party, your campaign will pay the price of the president's personal lack of popularity right now.
YON-COURTIN: Even if you wouldn't be involved, if you wouldn't say anything, then we would ask what is he doing because, Macron, honestly, since his election, as president, has already reshaped and has already replaced France in Europe.
BELL: How significant is the threat to Europe, do you think?
YON-COURTIN: All of these nationalists, I mean, they just want to destroy Europe. They just say, look, we need to create new national borders. They advocate a return to nationalism. That will not solve anything. And to the contrary, I mean, they are going to -- they play with people's anger, with people's fear. We want Europe to be, not only a duty, but also a hope for young generations.
BELL: Back in the French capital, Gilbert Collard, a candidate for Marine Le Pen's national rally, believes that Europe is headed for a revolution.
GILBERT COLLARD, NATIONAL RALLY CANDIDATE FOR E.U. ELECTIONS (through translator): We're heading towards a people's revolt. The people are tired. There's real French fatigue, administrative fatigue, fiscal fatigue, social fatigue, a fatigue with the fact that fraternity no longer exists.
BELL: Are we heading towards the world through these elections to the next ones, where, inevitably, people are looking to withdraw behind their own borders. COLLARD (through translator): The suppression of borders we have seen with the E.U. has had dramatic consequences for France. We could leave the nice neighborhoods that we are visiting now and head to the outskirts. Then, you would see. Go and have a walk around Paris, and then you'll understand what the suppression of borders means.
Now, we are not talking about walls. Borders are not walls. What we're talking about is creating borders.
BELL: If you win tomorrow, what will you make Europe become?
COLLARD (through translator): A Europe when nations exist, where no one causes problems for our cheeses. A Europe where they're not concerned with the size of seats in our tractors, a Europe where they respect our people, our geography, our traditions, our history, our soul, as a nation.
BELL: Now, those two very different visions of the future being reflected in battles across Europe, between, on one hand, populists, largely Eurosceptic nationalists, and on the other, more liberal pro- Europeans. And this time, with a very future of the European Union itself, at stake.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Got to love that little rhino. Well, Donald Trump is refusing to work with Democrats in Congress. Just ahead, what's behind his Rose Garden rant that caught reporters of guard? Plus, the so-called American Taliban is about to be a free man, after serving 17 years for fighting with a terror group in Afghanistan. That story, later this hour, on CNN.
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[01:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is accusing Donald Trump of having a temper tantrum for all to see. The President says he will not work with Democrats in Congress, until they stop investigating him. Mr. Trump, insisting on Twitter, he did not have a temper tantrum, but was polite and calm. And it can all be proven. CNN's Abby Phillip has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I came here to do a meeting on infrastructure with Democrats, not really thinking they wanted to do infrastructure or anything else, other than investigate.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump, today, laying a Rose Garden ambush for Congressional Democrats, blaming the breakdown in infrastructure talks on this broadside, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an hour earlier.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We believe that the President of the United States is engaged in a cover-up, in a cover-up.
PHILLIP: Sources tell CNN, Trump erupted over Pelosi's comments this morning, but kept the meeting on the schedule only to walk out, after less than five minutes, and without shaking a single hand.
TRUMP: And instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk into look at people that had just said that I was doing a cover-up. I don't do cover-ups.
PHILLIP: Trump now issuing an ultimatum, and congressional investigations, or no legislation will get done.
TRUMP: I told Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, I want to do infrastructure. But you know what? You can't do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with.
PHILLIP: Sources say Trump was prepared to go forward with discussions on infrastructure, until Pelosi's comments, this morning. But Democrats say Trump carefully staged the walkout around this excuse, for a clear reason.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Hello, they were investigations going on three weeks ago, when we met, and he still met with us. But now that he was forced to actually say how he'd pay for it, he had to run away. And he came up with this pre-planned excuse. PHILLIP: For weeks, White House aides, including Acting Chief of
Staff Mick Mulvaney, had downplayed the prospect of an infrastructure deal with Democrats.
MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED STATES: I think it's a much better chance of getting USMCA passed, than there is getting an infrastructure deal passed.
PHILLIP: And the White House sent this letter to Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, last night, saying they wanted trade, not infrastructure, to be their top priority. White House aides denying the Rose Garden event was planned, and insisting they rushed to put the event together this morning, even printing these signs with the President's favorite talking points about the Mueller investigation.
TRUMP: It's a disgrace.
PHILLIP: The spectacle leaving Democrats in a state of shock.
SCHUMER: To watch what happened in the White House would make your jaw, drop.
PELOSI: It was very, very, very strange.
PHILLIP: Trump's anger building over what he called the "I" word, impeachment.
TRUMP: All of a sudden, I here last night, they're going to have a meeting right before this meeting, to talk about the "I" word, the "I" word, can you imagine? PHILLIP: As Congress raises the pressure on Trump and his associates, issuing new subpoenas to one of Trump's longest-serving aides, Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson, the Chief of Staff to former White House Counsel, Don McGahn, her detailed notes playing a key role throughout Mueller's report.
Tonight, Pelosi is issuing a clear warning to Trump. That obstructing investigations could lead to impeachment.
PELOSI: This is why I think the President was so steamy this morning, because the fact is, in plain sight, in the public domain, this President is obstructing justice and he's engaged in a cover-up. And that could be an impeachable offense.
PHILLIP: And President Trump says he can't work with Democrats until they stop investigating him. But there are a lot of agenda items coming up on the agenda that require President Trump to get Democratic votes, including the U.S., Mexico, Canada trade agreement, and also a budget deadline that's looming this fall.
And the events in the Rose Garden, certainly cast out on all of those agenda items.
Abby Phillip, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:25:01] COREN: Jessica Levinson is a professor at Loyola Law School, and joins us now from Los Angeles, Jessica, great to have you with us. We know this president is extremely thin-skinned, but his temper tantrum at the White House would certainly suggest that the pressure, from multiple investigations is getting to him, would you agree?
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: I think so. I think that what he was really hoping -- what President Trump was really hoping is that once the Mueller report was released, then essentially, the pressure would be released. And that he could move on to controlling the agenda. That he could move on to thinking about his re-election.
And, of course, what has happened with the Democrats gaining control of Congress is that, actually, now, it's like an octopus. And there is a myriad of investigations, and there's a myriad of lawsuits. and there's a number of different fights about what kind of documents we can get from the President, which members of the President's administration, former administration, can be hauled before Congress.
And so, I think this is really what is going to dominate the end of his presidency as these investigation questions.
COREN: Jessica, at this hastily organized press conference at the Rose Garden, Trump told reporters, I don't do cover-ups. And that was, obviously, in response to what Nancy Pelosi had said.
He also claimed to be the most transparent president in history, then why not release his tax returns, show Congress the unredacted Mueller report and allow Don McGahn to testify before the Judiciary Committee? I mean, this is just becoming farcical.
LEVINSON: I think irony is officially dead. So, you know, this idea of like, well, I don't do cover-ups, it feels very schoolyard. It feels very, you know, I am rubber and you are glue. And the other thing is, we know, as a matter of fact, that the President does try and cover up things, for instance, think about the payments to former adult star, Stormy Daniels.
But, in terms of this idea that the President is transparent, it really just screams common sense. As you talked about, he has basically tried to block every member of his administration, either current or former, from talking to Congress right now.
He is not releasing his tax returns. We also know that he didn't really comply with the Mueller investigation, in terms of, he didn't help. He didn't sit for an interview. He has not been forthcoming when it comes to speaking about himself and his experiences, about his financial records, and about people who have worked for him.
We know that he wanted, in fact, White House employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. That's basically unheard of. So, this idea of transparency is really true only in an upside down world.
COREN: Well, Nancy Pelosi, she, again, calmed down talk of impeachment proceedings at a closed-door caucus meeting, but then later in the day, at a forum, she shared, "in plain sight, this president is obstructing justice and is engaged in a cover-up, and that could be an impeachable offense." Does this suggest that her mindset is changing?
LEVINSON: Well, I think Nancy Pelosi is in a very difficult position. So, I think she knows that what will happen if there is a vote, in Congress, to impeach the President, is that he will not be convicted in the Senate, because, of course, in the Senate, you need a vote of two thirds majority.
If you look at the partisan makeup of the Senate, it's very unlikely that they would ever get two-thirds to vote to convict the President. But, I think what we are seeing from Nancy Pelosi is that she understands the political reality. I think she thinks that impeachment is not a win for 2020, politically, but I also think that she's getting enormous pressure from her caucus to, at least, be open to the idea of impeachment.
And so, one of the things that we might see Nancy Pelosi talking about more, is this idea of impeachment hearings. Essentially saying the President has forced our hands. He is not responding to subpoenas. He's not allowing people to come before Congress. He is not releasing any documents. We have no other choice.
I don't think it's where Nancy Pelosi wants to go, but I think it's ultimately where her caucus and the President might lead her.
COREN: Jessica, finally, is any of this drama going on, in the White House, affecting Trump's credibility in the eyes of his base, of his supporters, of Republican supporters?
LEVINSON: I don't think so. I think that his base is with him. I think that what we have seen throughout his campaign and throughout his presidency is that there is a solid, at least, 38 percent of voters.
At least 38 percent of voters, who will be with him, who will believe what he says, who will believe him when he says that this is a witch hunt, who believe him when he says that Congress is just after him, who believe him when he says that he's the most transparent president.
I think that there is a majority of the American public who's not with him. And, of course, his critics, for his critics, this is just more fodder. And of course, the real question is how will this play for the swing voters in the swing states in the 2020 presidential campaign? And that, we don't know. I think it also largely depends on who Democrats will nominate to run against the President. But I think with his base, he is still strong.
[01:30:00]
COREN: Jessica Levinson -- great to get your insight. Thank you so much.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
COREN: Well John Walker Lindh who came to be known as the "American Taliban" is about to be released from prison nearly two decades after he pled guilty to aiding the terror group. Some worry he could still be a threat.
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COREN: Welcome back.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren, live in Hong Kong.
The headlines this hour.
European parliament elections are kicking off in the Netherlands where polls are opening. You are looking at live pictures. Over the next four days, hundreds of millions of people across the 28-member European Union cast ballots to elect members to represent them for the next five years.
Donald Trump says he won't work with Democrats in Congress until they end their investigations of him. The President cut short a White House meeting angry over comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier on Wednesday he was engaging in a cover-up.
Six weeks of voting in India's national election is finally over. Now comes the daunting task of counting hundreds of millions of ballots.
In the past, hand counting would have taken weeks. But election officials hope the use of electronic voting machines will dramatically speed up the process. The main question, will Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP, keep their majority in parliament when the final tally is announced?
Well, New Delhi bureau chief Nikhil Kumar joins us with all the details. I believe that voting -- counting has been a couple of hours now, but still no seats. What can we expect from the exit polls?
NIKHIL KUMAR, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Anna -- the exit polls just came out after polling ended last weekend. They pointed to a Modi win. The early trends as counting unfolds also points to Modi, his party, Janata Party, its allies doing rather well.
But as you say, so far, these are just early trends. They're still counting. They haven't declared any seats yet. And the BJP, either by itself or along with its allies, need to reach the magic 272 number in parliament for Mr. Modi to return as prime minister for a second term.
[01:35:03] It's been a long campaign. It's been a polarizing campaign. A campaign which, when it began, we were thinking of Mr. Modi as looking far weaker than he did back in 2014 when he first ran for national office.
There were lots of questions about whether he had managed to deliver on the promises he'd made five years ago, principally on the economy, on things such as generating jobs for the roughly 12 million Indians who enter the work force each year.
But the thing that he has managed to do successfully, and we'll have to see, of course, if the final results bear this out, but it certainly looks like the thing that he managed to do to see is the agenda was to make the elections one, all about himself -- a referendum on Narendra Modi and the only issue was the issue of nationalism.
Modi presented himself as a populist nationalist leader who could defend the country from enemies both foreign and domestic. When talking about foreign he was helped -- a lot of commentators here say -- by the skirmish with Pakistan following a terrorist attack on Indian forces in the disputed Kashmiri who back in February -- that led to the first (INAUDIBLE) India and Pakistan in several decades widely seen as something that helped Mr. Modi press home to voters his message that he is the one who can defend the country from its foes internationally and from terrorism here.
He also made it about Hindu nationalism -- something that worries a lot of people over here, a lot of secular Indians and many minorities. Remember this is a majority Hindu country, but there are still over 200 million Muslims. Other minorities who are very, very nervous about the fact of another term with a Hindu nationalist party at the center and what that might do to embolden the more hardline people in the Hindu community at large. Whether that leads to more violence, more discrimination and so one.
And one of the things that I think is worth noting as we wait for results is that one of the BJP's candidates in this election was somebody they nominated for constituency in central India, a lady called Pragya Thakur who is in fact facing domestic terrorism charges connected to bomb attacks on Muslims several years ago.
She denies those charges but the fact that the BJP even nominated her, for a lot of people is a very troubling sign. So we wait to see what the results will bring a couple of hours from now. We are hoping in the next four or five hours to get a clearer picture.
He looks poised for a second term. And if that happens, we will have to wait and see what that means. As I said, a very different campaign from the one in 2014. That was about the economy. This is much, much more polarizing and could spell trouble for Indian minorities and India's liberal traditions as we wait to see what the next government brings -- Anna.
COREN: Nikhil -- as we know, India is such a vast country made up of so many different groups. If Narendra Modi is reelected for a second term, what are the hopes as to what he will deliver or needs to deliver to the people of this vast nation?
KUMAR: Well, Anna -- you know, I will take it back again to 2014. One of the things that made Modi such a popular figure back then was the promises he made on the economy. And by the way, this was also the principal thing, I think, that a lot of India's partners around the world looking on to the country, governmental partners, countries like the U.S. that have been building an ever closer relationship with India in recent decades. Along with investors, businesses that want to come here and, you know, sell things and do business in what is a vast consumer market.
All of them are hoping that he would be the reformer that he had promised to be, that he would overhaul an economic system where everybody can see the potential. We have lots and lots, hundreds of millions of young people. You have a growing middle-class.
Everybody can see the potential, but everybody can also see the many problems and they have been seeing this for a long time. To do with infrastructure, to do with red tape, things that impede business and commerce and progress. Modi promised to deal with that.
And while his supporters say that he has delivered on many of those fronts, many economists, many credible economists out there say that no he hasn't. He just has not done enough to deal with many of the structural issues that have held back the Indian economy for a long time which is why, coming to this campaign the message, commentators say, was not the same economic messages last time.
The slogan last time was "Development for all, Progress for all". This time, it was about Modi, the protector of the nation. So we'll have to see what that means, if he does in fact come back to power -- Anna.
COREN: Nikhil Kumar -- great to see you. Appreciate the context. Thank you.
Well, 40,000 riot police on standby in the capital of Indonesia following deadly post-election unrest. At least six people were killed and hundreds injured when protestors faced off against security forces. More than 250 people were arrested during a night filled with tear gas, rocks and fireworks.
The violence was triggered when election officials certified President Joko Widodo as the winner of last month's elections. Opposition leaders alleged the voting was rigged and say they plan to file a lawsuit challenging the results.
[01:40:00] Well, in the weeks after 911, the story of John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", captivated the world. Americans who were stunned by the worst terror attack in U.S. history, wondered how a 20-year-old man from California could betray his country by fighting with the Taliban.
Well now, after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence, John Walker Lindh will soon be a free man.
CNN's Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're an American citizen, right?
JOHN WALKER LINDH, AMERICAN TALIBAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now, you are a prisoner.
LINDH: All right.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It was in this exclusive CNN video that America first saw John Walker Lindh, a then 20-year-old from California, once known as the American Taliban.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What injuries do you have?
LINDH: I have a bullet in my leg and several shrapnel wounds.
STARR: Now Lindh is about to be a free man after serving 17 years for fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, where he was even introduced to Osama bin Laden.
Taliban fighters stormed the compound where Lindh was being held and claimed the first American casualty in the global war on terror, Johnny Michael Spann, an undercover CIA officer who had interrogated Lindh. Lindh is now being released three years early for likely good behavior, but there will be restrictions on his freedom.
MICHAEL SILBER, FORMER NYPD INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS DIRECTOR: He won't be able to access social media on his own. He will not be able to have his own email address. And he will probably have some limitations in terms of even who he might be able to meet with.
What he won't have any restrictions on is what he can say and do in media. So it is likely that he will be out there in the public domain, potentially even espousing his same pro-al Qaeda beliefs that got him arrested to begin with.
STARR: Documents from the National Counter-Terrorism Center obtained by "Foreign Policy Magazine" say Lindh continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremist text. And in this U.S. Bureau of Prisons document, Lindh wrote to his father that he was "not interested in renouncing my beliefs".
Those views are what concerns Mike Spann's father Johnny, who petitioned federal court this week to investigate.
JOHNNY SPANN, FATHER OF MICHAEL SPANN: We need to find out for sure. Is this guy still the same al Qaeda member that we put in jail? If he is still the al Qaeda member that we put in jail, then we need to (INAUDIBLE) away and do something else.
STARR: Lindh's parents continued to claim his innocence over the years, maintaining he was too young to understand what he had gotten himself into.
MARILYN WALKER, MOTHER OF JOHN WALKER LINDH: It has been exceedingly hard for us to think that most of the citizenry of this country believes that your son, your child is a terrorist. And it's difficult moniker to, you know, to remove.
STARR: Lindh will now be on a three-year term of supervised released. It is not yet been made public where he will live.
Barbara Starr, CNN -- the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Joining me now is Mubin Shaikh a former extremist and undercover counter-terrorism operative.
Mubin -- thanks so much for joining us. John Walker Lindh, known as the American Taliban. He spent the past 17 years behind bars. And from what I understand, hasn't taken part in any sort of deradicalization program because they simply don't exist. How will this time have changed his views if at all?
MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER EXTREMIST: Yes -- Anna. Thank you for having me. First of, all I would like to give honor to Michael Spann, the CIA officer who initially interviewed John Walker Lindh and who was eventually killed in the prison uprising that took place shortly after he conducted that interview.
To your question. Look, it is hard to know. I mean, you know, he has been seething in a U.S. prison for, you know, over 17 years. Again, there really are no sophisticated or developed programs regarding counter-radicalization in U.S. prison. So there is a little bit of information that we have in terms of how he has been doing in that time and it's not looking good.
COREN: Well, leaked U.S. government documents published in the "Foreign Policy Magazine" a few years ago found that Lindh, quote, "continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremists text". If that is the case, why are they letting him out and also letting him out three years early?
SHAIKH: Yes. Once -- I mean once a judge determines that he has "served his time", quote-unquote, I believe he was getting a little bit -- getting out a little bit early because of, quote-unquote, "good behavior".
[01:44:58] And I mean, this is not unusual at large in other types of cases where somebody does a long stretch of incarceration and then gets out, you know, just a little bit early because they really did not cause that much trouble while they were in custody.
So technically he served his time, he's allowed to leave.
COREN: Mubin -- some lawmakers are concerned however that he does pose a security risk. Would you agree? Is there the potential that he could be a risk?
SHAIKH: All indications are that he does pose a risk. From what we have learned about his statements, his letters that he has written, some which were in support of ISIS, explicitly saying that, you know, ISIS is doing a spectacular job.
Another aspect he was -- he was in custody with another individual, Musa -- Ahmad Musa Jibril (ph) who was basically American ISIS man who was arrested some years back. He was very active when ISIS social media was at its heyday. And Ahmad Musa Jibril was one of the, you know, very influential members on ISIS networks.
And so this is an individual who stayed with John Walker Lindh in the same cell. Now, we do not know. I mean it is possible that, you know, Jibril is cooperating with the authorities in an investigation and maybe this was an attempt to see what other views Walker Lindh might have had. But all indications are he will continue to remain a threat.
COREN: Let me ask you this. Should the onus be on the government and the prison system and its failure to rehabilitate these radicalized prisoners?
SHAIKH: Well, I mean you cannot really fail at something you have not tried doing. And so I would say that -- I mean the rehabilitative aspect is not really present I think in the U.S. prison system. There are certainly not any kind of deradicalization programs in the U.S. system, even though there have been dozens of individuals charged and are now still incarcerated in prisons on various terrorism related offenses.
You know, it is a good question. Is the government to blame? I would say it is definitely on the government to get on with instituting some of these programs.
COREN: I was going to say, that in itself seems ridiculous that the government does not have these programs in place. Is it at least trying to deradicalize these prisoners, who they are then going to release into society? SHAIKH: Yes, I definitely agree that this is something that they
should have been doing very early on after 9/11, at least. And the fact that we are here in 2019 and there are still no such programs, I do find unacceptable.
COREN: Mubin -- finally, how difficult will it be for Lindh to reintegrate with society? And what will be going through his mind?
SHAIKH: It will be extremely difficult. I mean he has stringent conditions, of course. Don't access, you know, mobile phones or using the Internet on mobile phones. But how do you police something like that, right?
Now, I'm sure there is going to be some kind of monitoring taking place but, you know, he is going to go out there and try to see, you know, what is his role going to be now? What is his place going to be?
And if he finds that he has no role, he has no place and he has no future, than what is to prevent him from just going out in a blaze of glory because, you know what, there's nothing left for him. So it will be a very complex investigation, of course, or operation afterwards. But I hope we do not find out the hard way.
COREN: Yes. That is a frightening prospect.
Mubin Shaikh -- fascinating conversation. Many thanks.
SHAIKH: Thank you.
COREN: America's heartland is getting pounded by deadly tornadoes and torrential rain. People who had riverfront property in Oklahoma watched hopelessly as their home is ripped from its foundation and washed away. Those details, coming out.
[01:49:15] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Violent weather across the American Midwest has claimed at least three more lives. That's from a storm in the small town of Golden City, Missouri. So far, seven deaths have been confirmed across the region.
Not far away, this tornado was spotted ripping across the Missouri countryside with several injuries reported. The location was near Joplin, Missouri, which was devastated by a large tornado exactly eight years ago.
The severe storms are also bringing enormous amounts of rain. A beach (ph) home in Oklahoma was no match for the flooded Cimarron River. One resident said the river rose three meters in just four hours.
Well, our meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us with much more. Derek -- obviously tragic for the people in those communities.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Terribly tragic -- Anna. It has been a deadly and dangerous overnight period in the central U.S. And I want to show you some new video coming into CNN. The moment an extremely dangerous wedge tornado struck the capital city of Missouri not more than an hour ago. We are seeing this video just for the first few times here. We are trying to analyze it to show you just the breadth of the danger behind this particular storm.
A lightning struck behind the tornado. Again, that was shrouded in darkness. And illuminated it much to show that this storm had a tornado that was wider than it is tall. So that is a wedge tornado and you can imagine that that has the ability to cause extensive damage in a populated area.
Not to mention, many people at the time that this tornado actually struck were likely sleeping. So they a, couldn't hear the sirens going off, or did not know that it was coming because they could not see the physical tornado.
Here's a look at the line of showers and thunderstorms stretching from Chicago all the way to Oklahoma City. We are talking about over 1,500 kilometers.
But I want to focus in on Jefferson City. This is the moment the tornado struck this populated part of Missouri. Again, this is the capital city of Missouri.
And this is how meteorologists know that this was indeed a tornado. Not only do we see the first few videos that you just saw on your TV screen a moment ago, but we have ways of confirming this on radar as well.
You are looking at a velocity skin. This just basically shows us the strength and the speed and the direction of the winds. That green is wind moving away from the radar or towards the radar and that red is winds away from the radar. So that is indicating to us that there was a strong circulation that moved right over Jefferson.
On top of that, we also started to notice debris getting hurled into the sky. In fact, some of our radar signatures picked up on what could be trees, branches, potentially parts of buildings, roofs that were thrown and lofted into the sky over 13,000 feet. So a significant storm that moved through Jefferson County -- again, in the darkness of midnight hours here. And this storm, unfortunately, we are not going to be able to know the full extent of the damage until the sun rises in the morning. But we do see all signs that this was a potentially catastrophic storm for this particular part of Missouri. The storm has moved away from the capital city, but we still have a severe weather threat across the plains and to the mid-Atlantic today.
So very busy here in the United States to say the least -- Anna.
COREN: Yes, absolutely. I know you'll be keeping track of these over the coming hours, as you say, until dawn breaks.
VAN DAM: Yes.
[01:54:58] COREN: Derek Van Dam -- appreciate it. VAN DAM: Ok.
COREN: Missouri's governor has just tweeted this. "Major tornadoes across state tonight, including Jefferson City. We are doing ok but praying for those that were caught in damage. Some are still trapped. Local emergency crews are on site and assisting."
We are going to take a short break here at CNN.
More news in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Well, the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei is already having a global domino effect. Mobile networks in Asia and Europe are dropping deals with the Chinese telecoms giant. This comes after Google says it can only service existing Huawei phones for the next 90 days. And popular apps like Gmail, YouTube and Google maps won't be accessible on Huawei's new phones.
The company says it recognizes the pressure its partners are under and hopes the situation can soon be resolved.
Well, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren, live in Hong Kong. Thanks so much for your company.
The news continues on CNN with Natalie Allen right after this.
[01:57:36] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
