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U.S. Says It Destroys Iranian Drone Over Strait Of Hormuz; Trump Tries To Disavow Send Her Back Chants; Police: 33 Dead In Suspected Arson At Kyoto Animation; Divided Tactics On Demonstrators Show No Sign Of Stopping; More Demonstrations Planned as Governor Refuses to Resign; China's Ambitious Plans for the Future; Music Aimed at Homeless to Prevent Sleeping in Public; Privacy Concerns Grow over Russian Origins of Viral App. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 19, 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] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are back on the rise. This after the U.S. President claims his military destroyed an Iranian drone. Plus, Mr. Trump now claims that he disagreed with a racist chant at his campaign rally Wednesday night but we didn't see him do anything to stop it.
And protesters back out on the street in Puerto Rico. They're demanding their governor resign still Ricardo Rossello doesn't seem to be going anywhere. We are live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
Around the world, good day to you. We start with those rising tensions and the confusion quite frankly in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. says that it destroyed an Iranian drone threatening a U.S. warship but Tehran says it has no information about that.
It is reported to have happened in the Strait of Hormuz. That's the same area where Iran shot down an American drone a month ago. The U.S. President made the surprise announcement at the White House during an event with the Dutch prime minister at his side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone which had closed into a very, very near distance approximately 1,000 yards ignoring multiple calls to stand down and was threatening the safety of the ship and the ship's crew. The drone was immediately destroyed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The President there at the White House. The Iranian Foreign Minister though speaking to reporters at the United Nations seemed to contradict that report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, what do you think about the drone being shot down?
JAVAD ZARIF, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER, IRAN: We have no information about the shooting a drone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you send in an offensive attack?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Foreign Minister, a drone was shot down. What do you say?
ZARIF: That's what I said. We have no information about having launched a drone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: CNN's Ryan Brown has more of the details of what happened from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN BROWN, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: The U.S. announcing that it brought down an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz Thursday as tensions between the U.S. and Iran are increasing as both forces increased their military presence in the region.
Now, US officials telling CNN that the Iranian drone was brought down with electronic warfare system that was operated by U.S. Marines on the USS Boxer after they've detected what they perceived to be a threat from an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle.
Now the USS Boxer is an amphibious ship. It has aircraft aboard, and the U.S. has long been concerned about the presence of Iranian drones flying within the flight path possibly interfering with U.S. aircraft operating from that ship, possibly why it was perceived to be a threat in this -- in this case.
But again, this just comes a month after Iran shot down a U.S. drone operating in the same area at the Strait of Hormuz. That narrow waterway that is such a critical geopolitical flashpoint and where much oil shipping comes through.
And the U.S. is also boosting its presence it says as part of an effort to ensure the freedom of navigation, to ensure that those straits remain unblocked, attempting to marshal allies to join it in this cause as the U.S. accuses Iran of being behind several high- profile sabotage efforts and in other interference efforts with international shipping in the area. Ryan Brown from the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Ryan, thank you. Now, just before all of this happened, CNN Sam Kiley was on board the USS Boxer as it patrolled the Arabian Sea. He spoke with the Task Force Commander there about how rising tensions with Iran have magnified the potential for even greater conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When these sorts of operations are going on, I mean there is a potential for a strategic effect from a small error.
BRIG. GEN. MATTHEW G. TROLLINGER, COMMANDER TASK FORCE 51/5TH: That's absolutely accurate. And all the training that we do, all the education that we do is the expressed purpose of getting after that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: I spoke earlier with Michael Moran about this, Michael, the Founder and CEO of Transformative. It provides organizations with advice on global trouble spots and he says the U.S. sent a strong message by not using a missile to bring down that drone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL MORAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, TRANSFORMATIVE: Rather than shoot down the drone with a missile, the U.S. Navy which has a contingent of Marines on board its LHDs brought a navy dune buggy basically up on the elevator, put it on the deck, and they jammed it until it separated the drone from the -- from the remote controller, and the thing crashed into the sea.
It was a pretty interesting demonstration of U.S. technology, an expensive mistake for Iran. So tactically speaking, a very good day for the United States.
[01:05:32] HOWELL: So Iran's Revolutionary Guard, it cores warning that Iran will change from its current defensive strategy to an offensive strategy if the enemy commits any miscalculation. This according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency, Iran saying that it is prepared to defend itself, protect itself. But given the tensions that we're seeing that are already in play, how would this raise the stakes?
MORAN: Well, you know, that's -- that takes it from the tactical which we just assess discussed to the strategic. So the reasons these tensions exist in many ways are self-inflicted on the United States part. The JCPOA the official name for the Iran nuclear accord was negotiated after enormous pressure was put on Iran's economy through sanctions and the Obama administration thought it got as good a deal as it could get.
Trump said the deal was awful, maybe the worst in the world among many of the deals he said were the worst in the world, but it is kind of contingent on him now to negotiate a better one. Certainly, no one was thinking that the better deal would be to go to war with Iran, and that's the situation that we've been put in.
So strategically, the U.S. has stumbled into a situation where a mistake, a miscalculation by a rather junior officer on a small Iranian or U.S. warship could lead to a war between these two countries.
HOWELL: Again, we're talking about that critical passageway for ships the Strait of Hormuz back in the spotlight. President Trump defended America's rights to sail through international waters and defend itself at any time. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, our facilities, and interests, and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: So the President is saying the U.S., of course, has beefed up its assets in the region as have many other countries defending their nation's assets. Iran has threatened before to close the Strait of Hormuz which technically it's unclear how they would even be able to do that. But how do you see this alleged incident playing into the tensions that already exist?
MORAN: Well, you know, the United States is in a position of being able to kind of demand international support on this. In the 1980s when Ronald Reagan reflagged oil tankers and sent the U.S. Navy and to shepherd them through the Strait, we were in a situation where the United States depended fairly significantly on oil coming from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. That's no longer the case.
This oil is extremely important to Europe, extremely important to Japan, to Singapore, South Korea, and China, and India. And therefore Trump is right to ask for them to come and help patrol, create a kind of a peacekeeping type force in the Gulf similar to the one that defeated piracy off of Somalia in five or six years ago, to keep things kind of calm.
What's not useful though is to do that at the same time you ramp up rhetoric about the Iranians as you know, trying to disrupt international waters. I think the reality is the Iranians are trying to get around the kind of tight ring of sanctions that's been put on their oil industry. We saw earlier today that the Iranians have you know, seized a ship in the Gulf that was -- that was floating in suspicious circumstances with a cargo of oil.
Whether or not that was an insufficient bribe paid to the Iranian authorities and they were trying to rein that ship in or whether that ship was actually trying to smuggle black market oil out of the country, the fact is there's a lot of that going on right now, ships moving into the Gulf, turning off their radar, and then basically trans-shipping the oil to another vessel which can then sell Iranian oil to get around sanctions.
So there's a very complicated web of things going on in the Gulf and the U.S. shouldn't oversimplify it. But the U.S. is within its rights to keep those international waters open as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [01:10:13] HOWELL: Again, the perspective there of geopolitical strategist, Michael Moran, with the firm Transformative speaking with us just a bit earlier. The White House is in damage control with Mr. Trump trying to distance himself from racist chants from the crowd at his most recent campaign rally.
Regardless of what the President claims, the video shows the truth of exactly what happened. Jim Acosta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is finding out there's no going back after "send her back."
AMERICAN CROWD: Send her back! Send her back!
ACOSTA: The President tried to fudge his way around accusations that he didn't do enough to stop chants of "send her back" on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at his rally in North Carolina.
TRUMP: I felt a little bit badly about it but I will say this. I did and I started speaking very quickly.
ACOSTA: But that's not true. Watch the video. The president paused and allowed the chance to continue for a full 13 seconds as he attacked Omar.
TRUMP: And obviously and importantly, Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screens.
AMERICAN CROWD: Send her back! Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!
TRUMP: When she talked about the evil Israel and it's all about the Benjamins not a good thing to say.
ACOSTA: Pressed on the chant, the president pointed the finger at his own crowd.
TRUMP: I disagree with it but again I didn't say -- I didn't say that, they did.
ACOSTA: But hold on, the crowd was essentially echoing the president's racist tweet from earlier in the week when he told four Democratic women of color to go back to where they came from. Asked the second time about the chants, the President praised his audience then blasted the Congresswoman once again.
TRUMP: These are people that love our country. I want them to keep loving our country and I think the Congresswomen, by the way, should be more positive than they are. The Congresswomen have a lot of problems.
ACOSTA: But the President's targets aren't holding back either as Omar accused Mr. Trump of fascism. REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): I believe he is fascist. This is not about
me. This is about us fighting for what this country truly should be and what it deserves to be.
ACOSTA: While New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the President is playing with fire.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): His rhetoric is endangering lots of people. It's not just about threats to individual members of Congress but it is about creating a volatile environment in this country.
ACOSTA: Top Republicans are backing the president.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I did talk to some buddies there. They said it was a small group off to the side. What the president did, the president not join in. The president moved on.
ACOSTA: Senator Lindsey Graham said the president is just fighting back against his critics.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): If you're a Somali refugee wearing a MAGA hat, he doesn't want to send you back.
ACOSTA: Graham was asked why Mr. Trump didn't control his crowd the same way the late Senator John McCain corrected one of his supporters who attacked Barack Obama in 2008.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama guy. I have read about him and he's not -- he's not -- he's a Arab. He's not --
JOHN MCCAIN, FORMER SENATOR OF ARIZONA: No ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No?
MCCAIN: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He a decent family man citizen that I just happened to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about.
GRAHAM: I don't remember anybody treating President John McCain the way they're treating Trump. I don't remember John McCain having to go through this crap every day all the time.
ACOSTA: The White House is encouraging its allies to stay focused in their attacks on the four Democratic Congresswomen who were being targeted by the president. But we're told some of the administration surrogates are concerned about the chants coming from the rally. As one Trump advisor put it to me, the chants were "gross." Jim Acosta, CNN the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Let's talk more about this now with Peter Matthews. Peter, a professor of political science at Cypress College joining this hour from Los Angeles. Good to have you.
PETER MATTHEWS, PROFESSOR, CYPRESS COLLEGE: It's good to be here, George.
HOWELL: Peter, Mr. Trump is saying that he wasn't happy with the chant, just as the crowd was there echoing at what seems to be clearly Mr. Trump's own words.
MATTHEWS: Absolutely. In fact, he waited for 13 seconds to continue talking so they could become more egregious and scream and yell about these things. He did it on purpose. He's denying it right now because -- I know what his game is basically, it's to portray the policies of these for progressive congresswomen to be on American as he says they are because they're from a minority ethnicity and it is just outrageous because you know, I was born in India, George. When I was ten years old, my parents brought me to America, and I feel just as American as anyone else.
And I think just because we're born somewhere else, we should not be silenced to make constructive criticism on United States policies and the president's policies to make the country better. It's actually a form of patriotism.
He's going after these women and an opposite way to stir up his political base, mostly these people you know, who are racist in many ways, most of them are, and they want him to win. He wants to get their vote back again. He's afraid he can't win the other way.
[01:15:32] HOWELL: So the president -- you point out the number, 13 seconds. So President Trump saying that he stepped in quickly when the chants started. So let's look at the tape, Peter. Let's play it all out. Draw your own conclusions about whether the President liked it or not and let's count together. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screens
AMERICAN CROWD: Send her back! Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: 13 seconds, Peter. It doesn't really look like the president didn't like it up there on stage. It seems like he really enjoyed it.
MATTHEWS: He loved it and he was waiting on purpose so they could continue that and make a point that he agrees with them. And this is completely unacceptable George in democracy because a democracy like ours flourishes on freedom of expression, and everyone's ideas should be allowed to be spoken.
And as John Stuart Mill said, the marketplace of ideas is what makes the country great and the best ideas will be chosen, but Trump is trying to silence a very legitimate group of people of thinking of progressivism on the left, it may be on the left to some extent, but it's very mainstream because they supports the universal single-payer system of health care, they support regulation of big banks, they support immigration that's humane and will be humanistic and allow people to come here and work properly and not be vilified and put kids in cages.
These women have been speaking on what America actually stands for and he's been going after him viciously. It's very wrong, very wrong. And America is speaking out against him.
HOWELL: We saw our Randi Kaye interviews a group of women in Dallas, Texas who claimed they didn't quite see racism in the President's tweet. Some people don't see it, some people. You can't deny that. It's clear as day. It's been described by one pundit, a campaign rooted in racism. Are we getting a look at the formula the president may use going into 2020?
MATTHEWS: Absolutely. It looks like it's a precursor to what he's going to do throughout the next year and a half to stir up that base of his which is so small already, it's 37 percent that want him reelected -- that want him reelected that he wants to be able to make sure all of them show up and he wants to make sure you get even more of them, their friends and relatives to come out as well.
And that may not be good enough for him. I think the American people are now uniting against his rhetoric, against his racism, and neo- fascism in some ways. Some scholars have talked about tha moving toward a fascistic tendency of suppressing dissent of criticizing your opponents and vilifying them ad hominem arguments against the person not against the actual argument.
This is a signal of what happens in fascist countries. Once that turn that extreme, we may be on the way toward that unless we all get really be aware of this and try to stop this movement by speaking out.
HOWELL: It does seem that we're following sort of the aftermath, the reaction to those tweets. And you know, it's not a matter of right or left, it's a matter of right and wrong. And it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it might be racism. Peter Matthews, thank you for your time.
MATTHEWS: Absolutely.
HOWELL: And the next pair of Democratic Debates, the lineups are set only here on CNN. The first night features progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They will be joined on Tuesday, July 30th by South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Klobuchar, Amy Klobuchar.
And the second night will feature a rematch between Senator Kamala Harris and the former Vice President Joe Biden. Joining them senator Cory Booker and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro. That's only here on CNN Wednesday, July 31st.
Next up here on NEWSROOM, a community is shaken after a suspected arson at an animation studio leaves 33 people dead. Ahead we're live in Kyoto, Japan with the very latest. Plus, there's always been privacy concerns with social media sites but the photo app that's now gone viral, well it has U.S. lawmakers sounding an alarm. Stay with us.
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[01:20:00] HOWELL: Police in Japan are waiting to question a suspect -- suspected I should say, arsonist. This after a deadly fire, it happened at a famous animation studio. At least 33 people were killed, dozens others injured when the fire erupted in the Kyoto Animation Studio. Journalist Kaori Enjoji is following the developments there. And what more can you tell us about the suspect?
KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: Well, George, we still know very little about the suspect who with gasoline it seems on this building behind me, the yellow brick building behind me which is a studio for Kyoto Animation. Everyone calls it by its nickname KyoAni. That is how beloved this company is not only in Japan but around the world.
This kind of incident has shocked the nation because as you may know, George, Japan is still one of the safest countries in the world. But there have -- there have been a number of incidents that when they erupt, they erupt with incredible violence like we saw on Thursday. We know that 33 people at least are dead as a result of this fire.
They were working in a studio behind me here. There are more than 70 of them, went at around 10:30. The suspect to lit the building on fire. Suspected gasoline was poured around the building. And as you can see, that fire just crawled up that building. The fire department tells us that they've gone in to expect. I can see them in that building still right now.
There doesn't seem to be any kind of thing amiss with the fire system, the smoke system, but they are saying that they did find the majority of the bodies on the third-floor landing. Because as you can see there's a rooftop and there's an exit towards that rooftop. They say about 20 bodies were literally crumpled in front of that landing.
We also know that Kyoto Animation is revered around the world. KyoAni, they have a lot of hit products. But one thing that sets them apart is that they really change the way animation is perceived. These people were working here. And as you may know, animation is kind of considered a sweatshop industry, but the founders of this company really wanted to change that.
They started to pay people salaries, get better working conditions for their employees, and he was really, really well known for that. So this kind of tragedy occurring at KyoAni really hits at the core not only of the Japanese animation industry but around the world.
And as the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a tweeted, he called this an arson homicide. He said it's so horrific, he is at a loss for words. The similar sentiment was echoed by Apple's Tim Cook and many, many others. Crowdfunding for Kyoto Animation was started. They've reached more than 1 million in just after a few hours.
We still did not know a watch what triggered or what motivated the suspect to light this building on fire. We know that he was taken into custody shortly after the incident. He was taken to hospital. And the police are not releasing any new details about this. But as i say, the country is still pretty numb from the incident, a very violent incident that you may recall happened two months ago where a man stabbed a group of schoolchildren killing two people.
So this kind of violent crime is a very rare in Japan, George, but when it does happen it seems to happen with great intensity and I think that compounds the tragedy that we're seeing here in Kyoto today. George?
[01:25:46] HOWELL: Kaori Enjoji, thank you. After weeks of massive public demonstration in Hong Kong, protestors are divided on how to best reach their goals. The majority of those protestors are peaceful but some groups are happy to use more drastic measures such as storming a government building as we saw earlier this month. There's even an extreme form of pacifism, the hunger strike. Paula Hancocks has this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Uncle Chan is 73 years old. On a hunger strike for almost two weeks, he is tired and angry.
TEXT: I am upset that the government is unmoved. Two million people took to the streets to protest. They ignored the public's plea and used violence to suppress Hong Kong citizens.
HANCOCKS: Chan is one of thousands who marched recently to the residence of Chief Executive Carrie Lam calling on her to fully withdraw a bill that would demand individuals to be extradited for trial in mainland China. One of a dozen Hong Kongers who was staging a hunger strike to make their point in the strongest way they know how.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hunger strike is a very classical social action. We need to use our life to show what we think.
HANCOCKS: So a small number of protesters resulting to violence. How do you feel when you see that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact, we feel very unhappy. Because you see, both of them enhanced their arms. We are Hong Kong people. Hong Kong people will fight together with each other.
HANCOCKS: This protest was an exercise in negotiation and incorporation. These protests have been going for more than five weeks already. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong has apologized. She has said that the controversial extradition bill is dead. And yet up until this point, it is not enough to diffuse the anger.
Anger which is turned into violence breaking into and vandalizing the parliament, clashing with police in the street leading to aggression and injuries on both sides. One student who wants to keep his identity hidden for fear repercussions says he feels he has no other option.
Would you use force against the police to make your point?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would not suggest for that but if there is a need, sorry I need to do that. because they attack us, they are coming for us. Run, escape or stay and defend.
HANCOCKS: One tactic which protestors call aggressive nonviolence is now being used in many protests goading the police into using force. A shift the majority of peaceful protestors don't publicly support but few publicly condemn.
Are you scared?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, of course. I'm scared but I have no choice. If there is a choice that you stay at home, then yes we win. Of course, I want to do it.
HANCOCKS: Paula Hancocks, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Next here on NEWSROOM. Even though Puerto Rico's governor is refusing to step down, thousands of voices are coming together keeping the pressure up. All those details ahead for you.
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[01:31:22] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: A warm-up welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from the ATL.
I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
The United States says an American warship sailing through the Strait of Hormuz brought down an Iranian drone that was approaching the vessel. U.S. officials say it was destroyed with electronic jamming. But Iran's foreign minister says his country has no information about losing a drone.
The U.S. president trying to distance himself from supporters chant of "send her back" -- that's what they were saying when he mentioned Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The President says that he started speaking very quickly after the chant started but video shows the truth. It shows that he paused for 13 seconds there on stage and seemed to enjoy it.
Thousands of people in Puerto Rico are demanding the island's governor step down from office. People danced and chanted and drummed the streets. On Thursday night the crowd grew smaller and peaceful after protests on Wednesday turned violent. That's when police threw in teargas at demonstrators. They did that to clear the streets.
Our Leyla Santiago has the very latest for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A day after protests made it a very long night here in old San Juan. The government is testing the emergency sound system in preparation. Already the labor unions have called for another protest Friday night. This comes after a lot of calls for the governor to resign while he says, "I'm not stepping down".
A tense stand-off in Puerto Rico's capital escalating to a clash between police in riot gear firing tear gas into crowds. Thousands of protestors taking to the streets of San Juan late into the night demanding the island's governor resign marching for a fifth day chanting "Ricky resign", a direct message to Governor Ricardo Rossello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be out here until he resigns.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are tired off the abuse, of so many years of corruption.
SANTIAGO: Rossello is under intense scrutiny after Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered nearly 900 pages of elite private group chat between the Governor and his inner circle. They include violent and misogynistic messages about San Juan's mayor and homophobic references to singer Ricky Martin who joined protestors in their march along with other Puerto Rican stars calling for people to come together.
Even under increasing pressure and despite several members of Rossello's staff resigning amid controversy still, the Governor refuses to step down.
GOVERNOR RICARDO ROSSELLO, PUERTO RICO (through translator): My responsibility is to continue working and provide you with these results. One will always face different challenges and this is a big challenge. But at the same time, we must fulfill our objectives.
SANTIAGO: Calls for Rossello to leave office reaching the mainland too, as frustration grows for Puerto Ricans leading in Florida and New York City where "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, also a subject of the leaked messages marched alongside demonstrators.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, "HAMILTON" CREATOR: I'm so numbed with politics in America. The people of Puerto Rico are numb and they're waking us all up. I'm (INAUDIBLE) and I'm here and have their back.
(CROSSTALKING)
[01:34:55] SANTIAGO: In San Juan, protestors say it's more than just the leaked messages. The governor's former education secretary and five others were arrested and charged with steering (ph) federal aid money to unqualified politically-connected contractors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's more about the people who died in Maria and everything that he said in his chat; with the fight against women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about dignity. It's about people. It's about family. It is about everything.
SANTIAGO: and a lot people we talked to tell us this is about more than the chat. This is more than just seeing themselves in some of the insults that were exchanged in that group chat.
For many, this is about wanting to rid the island of years of corruption. They say this is enough.
Now again, the Governor has said he is taking note of the protest. He is committed to do the work he was elected to do. In the meantime, a lot of eyes on the legislatures to see if impeachment proceedings will begin.
Leyla Santiago, CNN -- San Juan, Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Let's talk more about this now with Luis Miranda. Luis, a political analyst and the father of "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda joining this hour from New York. It's good to have you with us Luis.
LUIS MIRANDA, POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
HOWELL: So your son helped to lead the charge of a protest in Manhattan, saying the alleged scandal is the last straw, chanting "long live free Puerto Rico".
Tell us what all of that means for your family?
MIRANDA: Well, you know, Puerto Rico is our home. It's my wife's home. It's my home, my kids were all born and raised here in New York City but Puerto Rico is the place where they spent the summers.
And after Hurricane Maria almost two years ago that's when we began to get involved in the day to day programs in community organizations.
So to see over the last several weeks, and specifically the last week, the corruption scandals that began to engulf the Rossello administration, to see then the chat and the conversation he was having with others, making fun of people, of leaders, of everyone, that was like the last straw.
Because what Puerto Rico has gone through a lot since hurricane Maria and now for government to even lose the high ground, and be able to morally speak about the needs of Puerto Rico because of what's happening, the existing governor, Governor Rossello has to go.
HOWELL: Yes. I want to talk more about that in a moment but specifically Governor Rossello, he put forward this statement. It reads, "I recognize the challenge I have before me because of the recent controversies but I formally believe that it is possible to restore confidence, and that we will be able after this painful process to achieve reconciliation."
So given what we've seen in Puerto Rico, the protests even beyond that U.S. territory, do you get a sense that the clear outrage we are seeing being expressed in the protestors will put enough pressure on the island's governor to resign?
MIRANDA: I think that at end, he will have to resign because now he does not have the confidence of the majority of the people of Puerto Rico. He does not have the confidence of Congress. We saw immediately, Congressman Grijalva who deals a lot with the aid that Puerto Rico receive, we know where Trump sits in all of this so it's giving ammunition to the Trump administration that has been saying for months, this is a corrupt group of people. So he has lost the confidence of the people, and the confidence of D.C.
HOWELL: We recently heard from the U.S. President Donald Trump also weighing in on Twitter. Here's what he had to say, quote, "A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico. The government is under siege. The mayor of San Juan is a despicable and incompetent person who I would not trust under any circumstance. And the United States congress foolishly gave $92 billion for hurricane relief much of which was squandered away or wasted, never to be seen again. This is more than twice the amount given to Texas and Florida combined. I know the people of Puerto Rico well and they are great. But much of their leadership is corrupt, and robbing the U.S. government blind."
Those again, the words of the U.S. President Trump. So again, you know, President Trump is not a fan of San Juan's mayor. And these are his comments --
MIRANDA: He is also a liar. He's also a liar.
Let's try to deconstruct, that very long-run sentence.
[01:39:57] First of all, Puerto Rico didn't get $92 billion in aid. Donald Trump has so little attention to detail and such a little brain that somebody must have said to him that the study that was done indicated that Puerto Rico was going to need $92 billion, over a number of years to reconstruct itself after Hurricane Maria.
So that has become the mantra of this president, that Puerto Rico got $92 billion. The fact is, that is simply not true. The fact is, that most of the aid has not even arrived in Puerto Rico because it's either stuck in government agencies or in the bureaucratic reality of any government agency.
So let's put that aside. But what the Governor of Puerto Rico did, Rossello, is that he gave ammunition to Trump, to be able to say that this is a corrupt government.
HOWELL: Look, beyond the insults, the messages of the Governor Rossello and he's aides mocking women, the disabled hurricane victims, what is the sense among Puerto Ricans generally about the functionality of government?
MIRANDA: That it's over. If you saw anything in that march yesterday, we were in New York, but my family in Puerto Rico, my family resides in Puerto Rico, you see the faces of entire families of grandma and the kids and the grandchildren. This was not of march of the left or of the blues or of the reds. ?this was a march of Puerto Rican people who have said, we've had it.
We have gone through Hurricane Maria. We get all of the insults from the President of the United States of America. And now we have a group in charge of our government, who's making fun of everyone. Very little difference between the Rossello and Trump. HOWELL: Luis Miranda -- we appreciate again your time and perspective
on this. We'll continue to follow the story.
MIRANDA: Thank you very much for having me.
HOWELL: Up next, China is in a race to dominate space. The country has already met milestones and is planning an ambitious future.
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[01:40:04] HOWELL: Welcome back.
The space race was once confined to the United States and Russia but now China is joining another nation -- a group of nations making its mark in the cosmos. That country is blasting ahead with an impressive array of plans to dominate the final frontier. Matt its mark and that country it's blasting ahead with an its mark and that country it's blasting ahead with an impressive beret of plans to dominate the frontier.
Our Matt Rivers has this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A communist country with achievement after achievement amid ambitious plans to dominate space. More than half a century ago, that was the Soviet Union. Today, it is China.
Beijing has made no secret of its plans to become a leader in space and its annual budget backs that up and all that spending is starting to produce results.
Earlier this year, China was the first country to land a probe to Chang'e 4 on the far side of the moon, a major technological feat. NASA sent accolades and more such missions are planned.
BLAINE CURCIO, FOUNDER, ORBITAL GATEWAY CONSULTING: If you look at what they were saying ten years ago what's going to be done in space in the next 10 years by China, They are pretty much hitting those targets.
RIVERS: More impressive than what China has done so far could be what's up next. Plans include a manned space station launched by 2022. Permanent research stations on the moon are likely to soon follow and within just the next ten years, Beijing says it wants Chinese astronauts landing on the lunar surface, walking where only Americans have been before.
CURCIO: They have more people. They have more engineers. They have more scientists. The implication is that if they keep getting better at scale they're probably going to become the biggest or the leading power at some point. It's just a matter of time.
The Trump administration is aware of that possibility and has set the stage for a new space race. NASA plans to send its own astronauts back to the moon by 2024, by the time China people lands on the moon in 2030s, NASA is hoping to do the same on Mars.
But the big advantage the U.S. might have lies in the private sector. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin will play outsized roles if the U.S. is to maintain its technological edge with an impressive list of accomplishments already.
Meanwhile, it was only in 2014 that China opened the space industry to its private sector. Its companies lag far behind U.S. competition though they aim to change that.
MA CHAO, PRESIDENT AND CTO, ONE SPACE TECHNOLOGY (through translator): China's current policies and foundations are very good. So our development will be faster and faster.
RIVERS: Ma Chao is the president of China's first private rocket company. He admits that his company's rocket program are nowhere near the U.S. levels but he says just give it some time.
CHAO: I believe if we continue to invest in R&D, China will combine our power and the power of the state to catch up and surpass the U.S. space industry.
RIVERS: Conventional wisdom is that communism doesn't breathe ingenuity and that U.S. capitalistic innovation will always win out. But Beijing is spending billions trying to prove that wrong. Experts generally agree that China's space program does right now lag behind that of the United States. But that the gap is starting to close.
Matt Rivers, CNN -- Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Matt -- thank you.
It used to be that older people try to look young but the newest social media craze is doing the exact opposite of that. Why FaceApp has sparked privacy concerns as well.
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[01:49:58] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NESROOM> I'm George Howell.
A city in the state of Florida is taking a new approach to prevent the homeless from sleeping in public places but is disturbing critics and vagrants.
Listen.
(MUSIC)
HOWELL: West Palm Beach is blasting popular children's songs all night long at a local park to discourage people from setting up camp there. And it's not going over well with the National Coalition for the Homeless who call it immoral. Those who have nowhere else to sleep, well they're not pleased either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's annoying (INAUDIBLE) to get rid of the homeless and I speak now as a as a homeless person -- where are we going to go?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Cities and businesses across the country have tried similar musical measures. West Palm Beach calls it a temporary step.
So as people rush to the popular FaceApp to see what they'd look like in 30 years a U.S. senator is calling on the FBI now to investigate the smartphone app.
CNN's Tom Foreman explains why there might be a wrinkle and the social media craze.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is getting old fast. From LeBron James to actress Busy Philipps (ph), to musical superstar Drake, to the Jonas brothers, they all appeared to be using FaceApp to digitally aged themselves. It is an online sensation and no wonder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love everybody, OK? Did you get that?
FOREMAN: Just look, comedian Kevin Hart now and in 30 or 40 years. Country star Carrie Underwood now and in a few decades. Actress Mindy Kaling, now, and then.
It's spooky, fascinating and hilarious.
JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST: We did it with Guillermo and that's what Guillermo looks like old. You look like an exiled South American dictator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I look good.
FOREMAN: Not so good, the Russian connection. It turns out the company that released the app two years ago, Wireless Lab is based in St. Petersburg. Considering how much detail data apps like this can collect about users, their contacts, interests, political views, and some of the small print in FaceApp's user agreement, some authorities are concerned.
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: We need to know about what the heck is going on here.
FOREMAN: Wireless Lab says nothing nefarious is underway -- images and info were uploaded with user's consent just for fun and basic business. None of it is transferred to Russia. And internet security pros say, the kind of data harvesting on FaceApp is not new.
DAVID KENNEDY, CEO, TRUSTEDSEC: If anybody is using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat or any other social media platforms out there you are giving them substantially more data and you are the product for these individual folks. That's how they make money.
FOREMAN: So, for users, does that mean all this is just good old- fashioned fun?
Maybe. But security experts say anytime you are sharing your data with a private company, you are taking a risk. And when that company is tied to a foreign government, there may be even more reason for potential worry. So that's another way to get some wrinkles.
Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Let's talk more about this now with global business executive Ryan Patel. Ryan also a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management joining this hour from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us -- Ryan.
RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: First, you have to read the fine print and when you do it does indicate that users grant perpetual rights of information to the company that created this up.
So help explain the implications so people can understand what that means?
PATEL: So all those times over the last four or five years you hit install and install and install, well t's time for you to actually look into the details because it's pretty much not just this app but many apps -- you mentioned Twitter, Facebook. They go through -- they have access, they have the ability to have access to your photo roll to your data. They could do something with it.
Now, you mentioned a lot of these are on a clout base and the intonation goes away, at least as the developer says. No matter what the developer it could be, FaceApp or it could be Facebook -- they do the same things, so it goes to the same place.
But we live in a time right now that is no other -- the technology advance that we've done in the past. So this is no longer, you cannot just blindly just let everybody access your phone because you have a lot more information that's on there and I can assure you I believe consumers in the future, maybe not just right now will be a lot more sensitive on what more information they are giving because we've seen kind of other data hacks in the future from other companies.
HOWELL: U.S. lawmakers are already concerned that Face App's location in Russia, that it could pose a fresh wave of privacy and security risk especially with the upcoming election.
[01:54:58] How much greater are the risks in the age of social media for people who get caught up in these unexpected consequences.
PATEL: It is large. I mean look at what happened -- ok, look at what happened with Facebook, it was $2 billion, $5 billion fine. Maybe it's a slap on the wrist but it's a really -- a really target that they're showing to the rest of the business you cannot do this anymore.
And you know, yes there is that Russian tie. And if you take the word of the company and that developer that they're not sharing it. But it could be from any country and what if a government forces certain apps to give up the information. We don't know and we don't know what -- it could have been any other company in the U.S. and that could have created this thing.
But I think the Russian tie, is the reason why we are talking about the headline. It is going to cause other people to look at, who they are giving their information to. And you know, I don't think it will be declining right away that people are going to start using apps. But I really do believe that giving up this information is going to be a new standard.
H6: Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the FBI and the FTC asking the FBI to assess whether the personal data that's been taken, whether it might find its way to the Russian government. FaceApp as you point out released this statement. It says -- directly it says that even though the core R&D team is located in Russia the user data is not transferred to Russia. Most images are deleted from our servers within 48 hours from the upload day.
Again, you know, trusting the company there saying, you know, that's what happens but the simple fact is if you are getting something for free, we've heard this pointed out many times, you are the product for the business to make a profits.
So in an eras where people don't want to pay for anything online, and expect to get things for free, what would you say, about really reading in on the fine print?
PATEL: It's a necessity. I think you're going to start seeing Apple and Google play stores -- they're going to have to put this out in front. At least some of the key factors. Yes, there are not highlighting it now. I think consumers will have to speak up and say that to that degree.
And again trust is something once its broken, once something bad happens, it affects the rest of the other companies to that. And again, is the time -- you know, we've seen that if there's any left and right there is one thing they agree upon is this.
And it's either Facebook, FaceApp, anything in the privacy -- they've all come together on this certain issue. And again, this time it's not the consumers, it's the government officials pushing it on towards the consumers to pay attention to it.
HOWELL: Ryan -- you know, I think I will just stay my age as opposed to again --
(CROSSTALKING)
PATEL: I was waiting for a picture. I was waiting to see your picture because I don't want to see mine because it's not pretty.
HOWELL: Not happening. Not happening.
Ryan Patel -- we appreciate your time. Thank you.
PATEL: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: And thank you for being with us on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
My colleague Natalie Allen is up on deck next with more of CNN NEWSROOM.
[01:57:52] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
