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Mueller Breaks Silence, Will Not Clear Trump; Seven Killed, 19 Missing in Danube River Tourist Boat Sinking; Israel to Vote Again after Prime Minister Fails to Form Government; Oklahoma and Arkansas Brace for Historic Floods. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired May 30, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A rarely heard voice: after hears of public silence, special counsel Robert Mueller gives a stunning statement, saying his investigation did not clear President Trump of wrongdoing and implying it's up to Congress to hold Mr. Trump accountable.
Plus, a tragedy in the middle of Budapest. A boat packed with tourists sinks late at night, killing at least seven people on board.
And:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounded like a freight train going over. And I can just feel my house coming apart and then, all of a sudden, the skies opened up, it was raining like crazy in my basement.
CHURCH (voice-over): We hear how people survived in the U.S. Midwest as their homes were ripped apart by dangerous tornadoes.
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CHURCH (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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CHURCH: Two months after submitting his long-awaited report into Russian election interference and potential obstruction by President Trump, Robert Mueller stepped before the microphone at the Justice Department for the first and what he says will be the last time. CNN's Laura Jarrett begins our coverage.
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LAURA JARRETT, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (voice-over): The special counsel broke his silence today.
ROBERT MUELLER, RUSSIA PROBE SPECIAL COUNSEL: Good morning, everyone.
JARRETT (voice-over): Going before cameras after two years to highlight the central findings of his report, specifically saying he did not exonerate President Trump on the crime of obstructing justice.
MUELLER: If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.
JARRETT (voice-over): But Mueller did not say the president was innocent in the more than 400-page report or in front of the cameras today.
MUELLER: We concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime.
JARRETT (voice-over): Instead, saying it was out of his hands from the very beginning.
MUELLER: Under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office.
Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.
JARRETT (voice-over): A sharp contrast to attorney general Bill Barr, who sought to downplay the significance of the policy on Mueller's work last month.
WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: He was not saying that but for the OLC opinion, he would have found a crime.
JARRETT (voice-over): Instead, Mueller reignited the impeachment debate tonight on Capitol Hill, suggesting it's now up to Congress.
Mueller The opinion says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.
JARRETT (voice-over): While Mueller himself dashed hopes of serving as their star witness.
MUELLER: Now I hope and expect this will be the only time that I will speak to you in this manner.
The report is my testimony.
JARRETT (voice-over): The 74-year-old Justice Department veteran pushed back on Trump's false refrain that the report found no collusion.
MUELLER: There was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.
There were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American. JARRETT (voice-over): And while Mueller never addressed the president directly, he defended the importance of the investigation and his team.
MUELLER: When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of their government's effort to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable.
JARRETT (voice-over): Laura Jarrett, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: And President Trump responded on Twitter to Mueller's statement, saying, "How do you impeach a president for a crime committed by the Democrats? Witch hunt."
CNN's Jim Acosta has more from the White House.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With special counsel Robert Mueller's stunning comments on the Russia investigation sparking new calls for impeachment from Democrats, the White House message of the day was bring it on.
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not going to get into internal processes. I'm just saying, we're always prepared and we're going to move forward doing what we think is important and focus on things that actually help people.
ACOSTA (voice-over): President Trump put his own spin on the special counsel's remarks, tweeting, "Nothing changes from the Mueller report. There was insufficient evidence and, therefore, in our country, a person is innocent. The case is closed."
Mr. Trump's use of the words "insufficient evidence" prompted questions about whether the president was doing some legal hairsplitting.
SANDERS: He hasn't changed his position. We've been saying the same thing for two years, before the Mueller investigation even had to start.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Aides to the president are declaring that Mr. Trump has been exonerated but that's not what Mueller said. Mueller pointed to Justice Department policy, laid out in an Office of Legal Counsel memo, that bars the indictment of a sitting president.
ACOSTA: It does beg the question, if Donald Trump were not the president, could he be charged with a crime?
What do you say to that?
SANDERS: I think it's real simple. I say what we have said, is that they were looking at whether or not there was collusion. That would be the crime that would have been --
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SANDERS: -- committed, collusion or obstruction.
And all of those things have been determined to not have taken place. collusion, conspiracy, obstruction. And, again, we consider this very much to be case closed.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Democrats are crying foul.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But for that memo, I believe a fair inference from what we heard from Bob Mueller is there would have been indictments returned against this president.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president's legal team is also seizing on Mueller's comments, saying it's clear that he wants to move on as well.
JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP ATTORNEY: It appears that the special counsel doesn't want to testify and I could imagine why he doesn't. The irregularities in this investigation from the outset are numerous.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Press secretary Sarah Sanders is snapping back at any notion that Mr. Trump hasn't done enough to speak out against Russian interference in U.S. elections.
SANDERS: He isn't reluctant to say it, he's said it a number of times, that there was interference and now we're taking steps on how we stop it from happening again. You guys constantly want to attack this president.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But the Kremlin need only consider Mr. Trump's performance at a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
TRUMP: Some others, they said, they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be.
ACOSTA: A senior Republican official said most of the party are satisfied with Mueller's comments but noted the increased pressure on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from inside her own party.
One House member told me that Pelosi is coming under increasing pressure from her own caucus; as this House Democrat put it, "The party is growing more restless." -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Reaction to Robert Mueller's statement was fast and furious.
The Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where the impeachment process would start, says Congress must respond to what he called the president's crimes, lies and other wrongdoing. Take a listen.
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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: With respect to the impeachment question at this point, all options are on the table and nothing should be ruled out.
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CHURCH: But the top Democrat in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is making it clear she won't be rushed into a decision.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Many constituents want to impeach the president but we want to do what is right and what gets results.
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CHURCH: Pelosi also says that she will not be swayed by Democratic presidential candidates calling for impeachment, adding that most of them don't even have a vote in the House.
Jessica Levinson joins me now from Los Angeles. She is a professor at Loyola Law School.
Thank you so much for being with us.
JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Great to be with you.
CHURCH: In his statement Wednesday, Robert Mueller said this.
"If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so."
So he's essentially saying to everyone that the president of the United States committed a crime.
What's your legal reading of this?
LEVINSON: Well, he's not necessarily saying the president committed a crime, just that they didn't conclude that he absolutely did not commit a crime. So I take Robert Mueller statement to mean, this is not exoneration.
I mean, for Robert Mueller, I think that this press conference was really the equivalent of any other human being on Earth basically getting up there and screaming, you misunderstood my report. This is what it really means.
So I think that what he was doing today -- and he was reticent to do it -- was really to try to educate the American public and the larger public that what he found absolutely was not that the president was innocent, that there was not enough evidence to go forward, not that the president was exonerated.
So I think they're trying really hard to push against the false narrative that has been pushing out of the White House, that has been coming from attorney general Bill Barr.
CHURCH: As Robert Mueller pointed out, under Department of Justice policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while in office.
So what might this mean for Mr. Trump, once he becomes a private citizen, whatever that might be?
LEVINSON: I think that that was such an important and key part of what Robert Mueller said, which is I always operated under the assumption, from day one, that you cannot indict a sitting president.
Before any box of evidence was opened, before anyone took out a legal pad, Robert Mueller and his associates always understood that the end of this was not going to be an indictment, no matter what they found, no matter how much evidence.
I think he said that to directly contradict what the attorney general, Bill Barr, had said, essentially saying that Robert Mueller came to the conclusions regardless of the fact that there is standing policy that we don't indict a sitting president.
So to your question as to where we go from here, I think Robert Mueller very clearly said two things. One, I did not ask attorney general Bill Barr to come to a conclusion; he made that conclusion himself. And two, we have a constitutional --
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LEVINSON: -- mechanism for how we deal with these situations. It's called impeachment. I think he was -- you could almost see him holding the hot potato and throwing it to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and saying, not it; this is for you to now decide.
CHURCH: Yes, that's the direction this is going, isn't it?
Mueller has put the ball squarely in Congress' court; given what he has revealed, the Democrats appear to have little choice but to go ahead with impeachment proceedings against the president. And that's exactly what Mr. Trump and the White House say that they want.
But who wins if that happens?
LEVINSON: I actually think it's too early to predict who wins from an impeachment, at this point. If we look at who was really upset today, I think Robert Mueller didn't really want to get out in front of the cameras and I think Nancy Pelosi really did not want to hear these statements. She has been facing enormous political pressure, both internally and externally, to go ahead with impeachment.
In the American legal system of, course what you need to remove a president is for a majority of the House of Representatives to vote to impeach and then for a super majority, two-thirds of the Senate, to vote to convict.
Given that Republicans control the Senate, at this point, no one thinks there is enough votes to convict. And that's why I think Nancy Pelosi feels that it's a political loser to go forward with impeachment. But she really has, I think, at this point, been almost boxed in by Robert Mueller saying, I found a lot of really bad stuff and her caucus saying, there is a lot of really bad things here.
In the Constitution, we are a separate branch and we in fact have a duty to investigate. So I think that what we don't know is if there is impeachment proceedings, how that plays with the American public, in part because we don't actually know the full extent of what those impeachment proceedings will unearth.
CHURCH: Indeed. And of course, we have to point out that Mr. Mueller made it clear, he doesn't want to testify in front of Congress. He says the Mueller report is his testimony.
But surely he would have a responsibility to testify, given what he has revealed, not only in the report but now in this statement.
LEVINSON: I have really never seen someone so excited to not testify before Congress before and that includes people themselves who are under investigation. He really tried to say to Congress 15 different ways, if you call me to testify, I will have to go but every answer is going to be, look at page 350 of the report and I will read to you aloud from the report.
So I think what he is saying is that he is not going to give Congress any new information, that if people try to pull back the curtain from the Mueller report, he is essentially going to say that's privileged information or that's private information and he's really, really hoping that Congress goes just by the report.
I don't know that that's successful. I think that members of Congress frankly are going to want to hear from him and are going to want to have that dramatic moment of actually asking him the questions and having him real-time answer them.
CHURCH: Yes, they would see him as the star witness in this case. Jessica Levinson, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
CHURCH: Tragedy on the Danube River in Budapest. Search crews are scouring the waters for 19 people still missing after a tourist boat capsized and sank. At least seven people were killed. Most tourists on the boat were from South Korea and the South Korean president ordered a rapid response team be sent in to help.
Some of those rescued were plucked from the water more a kilometer downstream. ATV Hungary reporter Olivia Harangozo is following developments from Budapest and our Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul.
Olivia, let's go to you first, with 19 people still missing, what more are you learning about this ongoing effort to find them and, of course, the weather conditions you are having to deal with? OLIVIA HARANGOZO, ATV CORRESPONDENT: Hello. The weather conditions are a bit better right now. It's not raining but it was raining all night long, so the flood is really, really strong. So there is not much hope for the people who are still in the water.
But I am right now by the shore of the Danube, just by the Margaret Bridge. This is where the accident happened and this is where they actually found the wreck. So I can show you the direction in that way, this is where the ship is now three meters underwater.
This is where it was carrying 33 plus two people and they say that it took eight seconds to sink because it was a small ship, compared to the other one, which was a hotel ship with 95 rooms. So they had really no chance.
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HARANGOZO: So right now, they just found the wreck and it can take one or two days to get it out, because the divers need to observe what's down there. So that's what we know right now and they promised us that, in one or two hours, we will know more.
CHURCH: All right, Olivia, thank you so much for that update. Just a horrifying situation for those people on board.
And, Paula, let's go to you now.
What's been the response in South Korea and what's the tour company that was operating this boat saying about this accident?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we have just heard from President Moon Jae-in in the past hour. He says that his foreign minister is going to head to Hungary. He has also sent a rapid response team, an 18-member team with naval rescue teams within that. Also crisis management center personnel to look after those who have survived and to sort out some of the logistics in getting them home.
We also know the tour operator has sent 14 people as well to make sure that anything they can do, they will.
But we have heard from the president saying speeds is of the essence and clearly this rapid response team will take some time to get there. It's about 12:30 now, a flight with a stop to get to Budapest from Seoul.
So clearly it's those teams on the ground right now where the focus will be and the hopes of finding more survivors. We have been hearing in numerous briefings being helped by the tour operators, by the foreign ministry, this morning and this afternoon, that the conditions have been very bad. The fact that there has been so much rainfall there, that the river had been swelling and the currents have been extremely strong.
So those kinds of challenging circumstances for the rescue teams would have hampered their efforts. As Olivia just mentioned, some of the people on board that were found were at least a mile downstream. So there are a number of challenges for those teams on the ground.
CHURCH: And, Paula, the tour company, what are they saying specifically?
HANCOCKS: Well, the information they have given us so far is of the families, the passengers on board. We know from the tour company that there were nine families that were within this tour, the Very Good tour group; 35 passengers were on board, 33 of those are believed to have been the South Korea families. We understand there was at least one child on board, as well, potentially 6 or 7 years old, we don't know for sure.
They believe the oldest passenger on board was around 72 years old. This was part of a nine-day cruise involved but a trip around the Balkans and Eastern Europe and they were going to take in six countries. But this, was obviously, not the end of the trip, day five of that nine day trip when tragedy struck -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Our Paula Hancocks bringing us the latest from Seoul, South Korea, and also, Olivia Harangozo, who is there from ATV Hungary, thank you so much.
African elephants have had a safe haven so far in Botswana but that is coming to an end. We will take you to the battle between morality and money and the animals caught in the crossfire. Plus:
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It took like 30 seconds, it felt like some hail or something.
And my husband looked at me and said, "Well, we don't have a roof anymore."
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CHURCH: A tornado survivor describes the destruction to her home. She is just one of millions who have felt the fury of twisters in the last 14 days. We have that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu just did what no other Israeli prime minister has ever done. He forced the country to hold an unprecedented second election seven weeks after voters last went to the polls.
Mr. Netanyahu failed to form a new government because of a standoff with his former defense minister, whose support he needed to form a coalition. But Avigdor Lieberman and his party disagree with a proposed law that exempts ultraorthodox Jewish from serving in the military.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: He never meant to reach an agreement. He wanted in the clearest way to topple the government and he does it from considerations of getting more votes. That's what he thinks.
But he's not going to succeed. He is dragging the whole country to six more months of election for the second time around.
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CHURCH: The new Israeli election is scheduled for mid-September.
At least 23 people were killed in a horrific crash in southeastern Mexico. A bus carrying Catholic pilgrims collided with a cargo truck and burst into flames. There are reports some were trapped on the burning bus. The parishioners were returning from Mexico City, where they had visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadelupe.
From Texas to New Jersey, millions are picking up the pieces from violent tornadoes. In the last two weeks, more than 365 twisters have been reported in 22 states. Meanwhile, there is concern that rising rivers in Oklahoma and Arkansas could cause widespread flooding. CNN's Scott McLean reports on the dangerous weather sweeping the United States.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, nearly 40 million people at risk of more severe weather from the plains to the East Coast after two straight weeks of daily tornadoes. This, after parts of Kansas and Pennsylvania were hit hard Tuesday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have debris on the radar now confirmed.
MCLEAN (voice-over): In Linwood, Kansas, a huge rain-wrapped tornado touched down.
TIM UNREIN, LINWOOD, KANSAS RESIDENT: It was kind of like a freight train going over and I just feel my house coming apart. And then, all of a sudden, the skies opened up. It was raining like crazy in my basement.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Tim Unrein says the tornado destroyed the brick wall, part of his roof and relocated his 14-foot trailer behind his neighbor's house a few hundred yards away.
Across the street, Ron and Fran Jones took cover in their basement mere minutes before the storm turned their main floor into a pile of wooden debris.
MCLEAN (on camera): Where were you last night?
FRAN JONES, LINWOOD, KANSAS RESIDENT: Well, right down there is the washroom and we were underneath the stairs right there that could come up to the kitchen. It was -- the kitchen, I think, was right there. Yes, there's the refrigerator.
And it just took like 30 seconds. It felt like some hail or something. And my husband looked up and he said, well, we don't have a roof anymore.
MCLEAN (voice-over): So far, no reports of any deaths but more than a dozen were treated for injuries from the storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a tornado right out front of our House.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The National Weather Service confirms a tornado also touched down in Morgantown, Pennsylvania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've lived here for 71 years and I've never seen it this bad, ever.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Another major concern right now, record-breaking flooding for parts of the central U.S. with the Arkansas River cresting at about 40 feet. More than a dozen counties in Arkansas could see historic flooding.
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MCLEAN (voice-over): Near Tulsa, Oklahoma, they're anxiously waiting and watching as the Keystone Dam continues to hold. But the Mayor is warning people the flood risk is still very high and they need to be ready to move.
MAYOR G.T. BYNUM, TULSA, OKLAHOMA: There is absolutely no need to wait until the last minute when an evacuation might be necessary.
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CHURCH: Our Scott McLean reporting from the hard-hit areas in Kansas.
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CHURCH: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM:
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These elephants are literally just crossing the road here, heading towards the river and this is what people have to deal with. Just on that side, there is a whole community of people living.
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CHURCH: Why a safe haven for African elephants could soon become a killing field. We will have that in just a moment.
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[02:31:04] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. Time to update you on the main stories we've been following this hour. Special Counsel Robert Mueller speaking publicly for the first time on his Russia investigation. He says if President Trump didn't commit a crime his report would have said so. Mueller also says he couldn't consider charging the president because of Justice Department guidelines.
At least seven people were killed, 19 are missing when a tourist boat sank on the Danube Daniel River in Budapest. Some of the dead were tourists from South Korea. The tour company operating the boat said it was close to docking when a larger ship hit it.
Stunning political developments from Israel, voters are to go to the polls in September. They voted just seven weeks ago. It comes just after Prime Minister Benajamin Netanyahu failed to form a government. He's trying to put together a coalition since April.
At least 23 people were killed in a bus crash in Southeastern Mexico that was carrying catholic pilgrims when it collided with a cargo truck and burst into flames. That parishioners were returning from Mexico City.
Botswana is one of the last sanctuaries in the world for African elephants. Five years ago, the southern African nation banned the hunting of elephants. Scientists and conservation groups hailed the decision but now Botswana has lifted that ban outraging conservation but delighting many locals . Our David McKenzie is there.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Tully's mother was killed. Panda was caught in the fence line of a commercial farm (INAUDIBLE) separated from the heard by a man-made fire. In Botswana, conservation success is increasingly coming at a cost. There are more elephants here than anywhere on earth. More elephants to come into conflict with humans.
So these elephants are literally just crossing the road here, heading towards the river. And this is what people have to deal with. Just on that side, there is a whole community of people living. Botswana's decision to ban hunting in 2014 was lauded by the west. Here in the heart of ele country is a decidedly different view. For your life, what would you like to happen to the elephants for you?
KENNETH MOYOBA, RESIDENT: To kill them.
MCKENZIE: To kill them?
MOYOBA: Yes.
MCKENZIE: Kenneth Moyoba says the tourism dollars don't come to villages like his. But the elephants do. Destroying crops. The new government says its decision to bring back commercial hunting will solve the problem. By creating what it calls buffer zones between hunting reserves and local communities. But commercial hunters will target bowl elephants, deep in the wilderness, far away from people. The poachers are already here. MIKE CHASE, FOUNDER, ELEPHANTS WITHOUT BORDERS: It's the last
sanctuary for elephants in Africa. A true wilderness. What we thought was a sanctuary, is no longer because poachers have discovered that this is an area where big bowls concentrate.
MCKENZIE: Elephant researcher Mike Chase is taking us to the slaughter. From the air, the attempt to conceal the carcasses is clear.
CHASE: The X marks at the bottom.
MCKENZIE: On the ground the evidence of the ongoing massacres sickening. The face looks to me, it has been chopped off.
CHASE: Clearly, obvious signs of a poacher cutting the skull to access the tusks. But another obvious sign of course is that the spinal bone has been chopped by a very sharp machete or ax to paralyze the elephant.
MCKENZIE: Why do they do that?
[02:35:01] CHASE: Well, the elephant is still wounded. And in order to paralyze it, then they can safely chop out the tusks while the elephant is still alive.
MCKENZIE: Chase has documented a 500 percent rise in fresh elephant carcasses in Northern Botswana. Many of them poached. Botswana says its elephant populations are stable, ready to be hunted.
KITSO MOKAILA, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, WILDLIFE AND TOURISM: If you go into Kasane Village --
MCKENZIE: It's unbanned hunting. Now the government wants to unban ivory sales.
MOKAILA: Yes. There has been an increase in poaching, that we admit.
MCKENZIE: You do admit that there's a poaching problem, then why are you trying to sell ivory onto the market? Which has been shown to increase the levels poaching in the zone.
MOKAILA: Well, the whole world right now is closing those markets. And therefore, the big question is, are we sitting on a ticking time bomb? Because when people say -- eventually we are sick and tired of being zookeepers or gate keepers, there is no return on investment. And then they go randomly out there and massacre them. And that is a real problem.
MCKENZIE: The question Botswana now asks itself, is an elephant worth more dead or alive? David McKenzie, CNN, Botswana.
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CHURCH: Wednesday marked the 66th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Well, now, the children of both climbers are speaking out. Sir Edmund's daughter, Sarah Hillary says the mountaineering community is obsessed with Everest while ignoring other Himalayan peaks.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
SARAH HILLARY, EDMUND HILLARY'S DAUGHTER: There are so many amazing peaks in Nepal and they're all very challenging. I think it will be wonderful if people looked to other mountains and weren't so obsessed with Everest. I can understand that they want a supreme challenge, but on the other hand, it would be a much more adventurous and challenging experience if they went to a mountain where there weren't all the ropes and the ladders and they were actually climbing on their own.
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CHURCH: And Jamling Tenzing Norgay is the son of Edmund Hillary's climbing partner, he wants fewer Everest permits to be issued and for checks to be put in place to ensure that those people trying to summit the world highest mountain have the experience they need.
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JAMLING TENZING NORGAY, TENZING NORGAY'S SON (through telephone): Now ways that this can be prevented actually by the government of Nepal by issuing, you know, less permits or permits to able the climbers whenever they get a recommendation or reference from the alpine parts of different countries stating that these people are fit to climb the mountain.
When you have a (INAUDIBLE) jam, you are locked up. So whether you are the best climber in the world or the slowest climber in the world, you're stuck in the jam, and it doesn't matter and how experienced you are.
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CHURCH: And so far this year, 11 people have died while climbing Everest. Well, Malaysia says it is returning 450 tons of contaminated plastic waste to the countries of origin. At least 10 nations will receive the trash in shipping containers which hold mislabeled plastic and non-recyclable waste. Malaysia's energy minister wants the countries involved to investigate how the waste ended up in her country.
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YEO BEEN YIN, MALAYSIAN ENERGY MINISTER: Malaysians like any other developing countries, have a right to clean air, clean water, sustainable resources, and clean environment to live in. Just like citizens of developed nations.
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CHURCH: And that trash was discovered during a recent port inspection. Authorities say they were shipped to Malaysia under the pretext of recycling.
Well, Amazon has now addressed a major privacy concerned about its Alexa voice recognition devices. There have been growing worries that Alexa and similar devices capture and store much more data than intended, even casual conversations. So now users have the option of telling Alexa to delete that days recordings. CNN's Anna Stewart has the details.
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: It wasn't supposed to be the lead announcement from Amazon today, they launched their latest Echo product, the Amazon Echo Show 5. But in that announcement they also revealed an update for all Alexa-controlled devices with a rollout that starts in the United States, Wednesday. Now, users there will now be able to say, Alexa, delete everything I said today and hey presto, it will.
In a couple of, weeks you will also be able to say, Hey, Alexa, delete what I just said and your last recording will be wiped from the smart speaker's memory. Amazon hasn't gone quite as far though as allowing you to say, hey Alexa, delete everything I've ever said ever and please never ever record me again.
[02:40:02] Alexa listens and she records. And Bloomberg revealed recently that some of those audio files are then listened to by employees at Amazon. The company says that's to improve Alexa speech recognition. But of course, there are many users out there who would simply rather their chats at home remain completely private and off the grid. You can already go into your app settings, you can delete specific recordings.
You can also go into recordings and opt out from allowing Amazon to use your data and your recordings but this voice command update does make it easier. If, of course, users actually remember to use it. However, will it be enough to really (INAUDIBLE) that inviting Alexa in their home could be inviting in a spy? That remains to be seen. That is the concern for many that well, Amazon might be more transparent data and what they do with it, there are plenty of bad actors out there who could attempt to hack the device or of course hack Amazon and all its data.
And as long as you have a device that can record you and can send that data off is going to be worry that it will. It's a concern for all the big tech giants out, not just Amazon. It's Google, it's Facebook, it's Apple II, they are all racing to find a solution but while still accessing the data they need to improve their products. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
CHURCH: Don't forget to delete those conversations. All right. So, in British politics, it could be a do or die moment for Boris Johnson.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last effort chance as well, but if he doesn't get the Tory leadership at this point, that's probably him done for frontline politics.
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CHURCH: London's former mayor is leading a pack of contenders to become prime minister, but he might be facing a stumbling block. We'll explain. And then later, putting the voice to the face. Social media reacts to hearing Special Counsel Robert Mueller speak publicly about his report for the first time. We're back in a moment.
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CHURCH: Well, As if Brexit weren't messy enough, now the leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as Britain's Prime Minister has been ordered to appear in court. Nina dos Santos has more on the charges against Boris Johnson.
[02:44:55] NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris Johnson has been ordered to appear in court over claims of misconduct while in public office. Well, these claims go back to the days of 2016, at the height of the U.K.'s referendum on E.U. membership, when Boris Johnson was a vocal campaigner for the U.K. to vote in favor of leaving the E.U. Something that eventually the country ended up doing.
Well, at the time, he stood in front of a red bus that toured the country emblazoned with a message that the U.K. would save some 350 million pounds, nearly $450 million every single week for vital services like the health system if it were to leave the E.U. This is a claim that he also repeated on television as well.
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BORIS JOHNSON, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, UNITED KINGDOM: We took back control of our money, we'd had 10 billion pounds more if we left the E.U., we'd have 10 billion pounds more to spend every year on our priorities. And I -- and I may point out --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boris, that's a lie. That is a lie and you know it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: And that is why this 29-year-old individual, Marcus Ball who's brought this private lawsuit forward with about $300,000 worth of crowd-sourced money behind him, and wants Johnson to answer for what he calls lies, while Johnson was an elected member of parliament.
Now, the timing of this couldn't be worse for Johnson because, of course, he is in prime position to potentially win the Conservative Party leadership contest. He's one of the favorites among the many riders and runners in that race, which gets underway in the first few days of June. That could coincide with the sight of Mr. Johnson having to face trial on these allegations.
Now, Johnson side has said this is a political stunt, what they also have pointed out is that other pros remain former members of the conservative government. In particular, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne had also made statements saying that many jobs would be lost if the country voted for Brexit, that people would end up being poor, and those events haven't come to pass, yet they are not facing lawsuits like this. Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
CHURCH: Well, blocked at every turn on Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May is finally giving up and leaving office, and there's no shortage of candidates vying to take her place. The whole mess has provided plenty of fodder for cartoonists, satirizing Britain's future, as CNN's Nick Glass reports.
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NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Conservative Party leadership contenders, a cartoonist's interpretation. Toothsome castaways from a sinking ship, HMS Tory.
The open mouth blonde in the center, in case you haven't recognized him, is the outright favorite, Boris Johnson.
JOHNSON: Our friends and partners --
GLASS: The former foreign secretary and former London mayor is by far the best known of the candidates. The divisive, sometimes buffoonish figure for many Tory M.P.s, but hugely popular with the party membership. It's fair to say this wanted to be prime minister his entire political life.
Is this his best ever chance?
SEBASTIAN PAYNE, JOURNALIST, FINANCIAL TIMES: Yes indeed, and this is the last ever chance as well that if he doesn't get the Tory leadership at this point, that's probably him done for frontline politics.
GLASS: Is he going to win?
PAYNE: Probably.
FRASER NELSON, EDITOR, THE SPECTATOR MAGAZINE: We are living in thrillingly unpredictable times. A Boris Johnson premiership might seem as unthinkable as let's say a Trump presidency, a Brexit results. The impossible is happening all the time right now in politics.
GLASS: No sooner had Theresa May dropped out of sight, then there was a sprint for the front door.
Now, form an orderly queue.
Tory political contests are often characterized as something of a horserace, and that is their way most of the runners and riders came out of the gate before starter's orders. Already, it's a pretty crowded field, if not bus.
Anyone else?
Expect yet, more candidates to leap on board in the coming days.
NELSON: I think it's going to be a kind of Tory version of Wacky Races. Lots of entertainments and I'm not sure we'll learn very much in the process. But, it will certainly be watchable.
SAJID JAVID, HOME SECRETARY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: My name is Sajid Javid, and I'm standing to be leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, and the next prime minister. My message is simple. It's time to rebuild trust.
MICHAEL GOVE, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS, UNITED KINGDOM: I led the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union, and I'm ready to unite the Conservative and Unionist Party in that mission. I'm ready to deliver Brexit. I'm ready to take Britain out of the European Union.
ANDREA LEADSOM, FORMER LEADER, BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS: So, I can confirm I will be standing for the leadership of my party and just the next prime minister. And I do believe I am the decisive and compassionate leader who can reunite our great country. GLASS: The great new challenge for all the candidates is the
emergence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.
[02:49:56] NELSON: They now face a question not of improving their performance, but about whether they're going to survive as a party or not. They stand a very real risk of being smashed if they get -- if you try again and get it wrong.
Then the Conservative Party, this great election-winning machine might end up as a stain on Nigel Farage's ashtray.
GLASS: Lady in red on Downing Street, Theresa May at the end of her resignation speech.
THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold.
GLASS: As we all know, one issue monopolized her time at number 10, and ultimately spelled her downfall. Will her successor handle Brexit any better? Nick Glass, CNN in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And will be watching to see what happens next. And a bit like Britain and Brexit itself, the Speaker of the House of Commons is finding it hard to leave.
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JOHN BERCOW, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, UNITED KINGDOM: Order! Yes, may I order! Order! Difference of opinion is of the essence of politics. There is an elaborate combination of finger-wagging and headshaking going on, which may be personally therapeutic that is institutionally disadvantageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Yes, you remember him. John Bercow was expected to step down as soon as July. But now says it would not be sensible to vacate the chair while there are major issues before Parliament.
Bercow's decision won't sit well with euro-skeptics who fear he wants to thwart a no deal Brexit. Speaking to The Guardian, Bercow warned candidates for the Tory leadership not to try to force a no-deal Brexit without the approval of Parliament.
Well, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, speaks publicly for the first time in two years. Why some say hearing his voice was just as important as hearing his message? Back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Well, it was the craze that captured the world. Remember, millions of people with smartphones, all playing Pokemon Go, running around in public trying to catch imaginary monsters. The game was a big boom for Nintendo, of course. So, now the developers want to keep you playing even while you sleep. The details are scarce, but a new app called Pokemon Sleep will somehow incorporate dream time with playtime, and it's expected to launch sometime next year.
Well, after two years of self-imposed silence, we finally got to hear the voice of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. CNN's Jeanne Moos, reports on the vocal reaction to his vocalization.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a guy so tight- lipped that one network called it breaking news when he uttered the words no comment.
MIKE VIQUEIRA, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Will you testified before Congress, sir?
ROBERT MUELLER, FORMER DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: I don't know and no comment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you know his voice if you ever heard it? Have you ever heard him speak?
MOOS: For two years, he's been a Greta Garbo of special prosecutors. Always in silent films, never talking. Leading to the question --
ANNOUNCER: Can Garbo talk?
MOOS: She could and did. Some wondered in advance what Robert Mueller would sound like. "Thinking Barry White-esque," read one tweet. Someone else thought it'd be like Sam Elliott.
[02:55:08] SAM ELLIOTT, AMERICAN ACTOR: Get you later on down the trail.
MOOS: Or what if Robert Mueller has a higher voice than Jared Kushner, whose own voice was long a target of speculation. JOHN OLIVER, HOST, HBO: What does his voice sound like?
MOOS: Jared found his voice.
JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's working and it's very exciting. But when Robert Mueller finally spoke, he spoke about not speaking again.
MUELLER: Now, I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak to you in this manner.
MOOS: "Am I the only one who thought Robert Mueller's voice would sound like Ian McKellen?"
"Did anybody else expect Robert De Niro's voice to come out of Mueller's mouth?"
ROBERT DE NIRO, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: Wait a second.
MOOS: After all, De Niro played Mueller.
ALEC BALDWIN, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: No collusion, no obstruction. So, don't stop.
MOOS: Not since Monica Lewinsky has everyone been talking so much about someone who wouldn't talk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her voice has heard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We haven't heard her voice.
MOOS: But even though, Mueller talked, he wouldn't answer. Some people are never satisfied. "I don't like hearing Mueller's voice. I like the mystery."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The greatest Oz has spoken.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who are you?
MOOS: The great Mueller, then resumed his place behind the curtain. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And finally, for most of her life, Queen Victoria ruled much of the world. She was Empress of India for example, but never even went there. Well, now, some remarkable rediscovered footage of her. These images were recently found deep in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Black-and-white but crystal clear, from 119 years ago. Showing the monarch on her last trip to Island. And you can see her wearing sunglasses there, nodding to the people on the crowd. Queen Victoria died a year later at the age of 81. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter @rosemarycnn, love to hear from you. And I'll be back in just a moment with another hour of news. You're watching CNN. Stick around.
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