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People Shouting Racist Chants About Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar; Brutal Heat Wave Scorching Major Parts Of The Nation; American Woman, Australian Boyfriend Killed In Canada; Why Two Wisconsin 2016 Trump Voters See 2020 Very Differently; Viral Aging Photo App Sparks Security Concerns Over Russian Ties; CNN Tracks Trump's Immigrant Roots Back to Scotland. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 20, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:00:34] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Great to have you with us.

Did we just see a walk back of the walk back? President Trump today changing course again on how he says he feels about people shouting in racist chants about Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Send her back. Send her back. Send her back. Send her back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The President has given a couple of different reactions to that chant from claiming to have barely heard the crowd to saying he disagreed with them. But then earlier today he tweeted a re-play of the chants and his words, as you can see, I did nothing to lead people on nor was I particularly happy with their chant. Just a very big and patriotic crowd. They love the USA.

A patriotic crowd? Chanting "send her back" about an elected member of the U.S. Congress? There was also this remark from the President about Omar and three other progressive freshmen Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know if it's good or bad politically. I don't care, but when people are speaking so badly and they call our country garbage, think of that. That's worse than deplorable. Well, they call our country "garbage" I don't care about politics. I don't care it's good or bad politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Quick fact check, none of the congresswomen Trump was referencing have ever called this country or the American people garbage. What he was likely referring to this quote from New York congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez who said this about her position on migrants rights back in March. I think all these things sound radical compared to where we are, but

where we are is not a good thing. This idea of 10 percent better from garbage shouldn't be what we settle for.

Today Ocasio-Cortez spoke out about the President's rhetoric at a town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: Once you start telling American citizens to quote "go back to your countries," this tells you that this president are not about immigration, it is about ethnicity and racism. He know that he has been thinking this the entire time but he has been keeping it in here and this week it went out here when he started telling American citizens, where are we going to go? We are going to stay right here. That's where we are going to go. We're not going anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Our White House Correspondent, Boris Sanchez is Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, not far from where the President is spending the weekend.

All right, Boris. So President Trump's new position as of today at least is that the people chanting, send her back. This past week were just part of a patriotic crowd. Have there been any other changes since this morning?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not yet, Ana. But clearly, the President sort of wants this both ways. Just a couple of days ago the President indicated that he tried to cut off these supporters and respond quickly when they started chanting "send her back" at this rally he was holding in North Carolina. The video obviously proves otherwise.

Now the President after having heard from sources inside the White House telling us that they have spoken to the President saying that this political battle could end poorly, the President now re-engaging saying that these supporters are actually great patriots. And in that re-tweet, we should point out, he's re-tweeting somebody who is actually praising these chants saying that "send her back" is the new lock her up, taking us back to 2016 and those chant against Hillary Clinton.

The President here clearly wants to make these Democrats appear extreme and to make them the face of the Democratic Party going into 2020, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Boris Sanchez. Boris, thank you.

Joining us now CNN Contributor and National Reporter for "The Washington Post" Wes Lowery and Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief the "Chicago sun-Times."

Wes, the President doesn't know if he's attacks are good for him politically and he says he's not focused on the politics of it. Do you buy that?

WESLEY LOWERY, NATIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, it's just not true. He did do this for political reasons. My colleagues at the Post have a great piece out today kind of breaking down the tick-tock of these last few days in the White House.

And the President told his advisers the reason he jumped in to this inner-party fight, we have to remember, before the President's racist tweets this was a fight between Nancy Pelosi and some of her moderates and some of these new young freshmen congresswomen. He jumped in because he thought it would be a good thing politically to further elevate these young women as the face of the Democratic Party. So he clearly did it for political reasons.

It's not surprising that he has been on every side of these issues. He is someone that's very reactive to the cable news coverage. And so when there was coverage and outrage, he was reactive to that. But then all of a sudden when there was coverage of walking back those statements, the President doesn't like those (INAUDIBLE) either.

And so clearly, this was a political move. Whether or not this was actually a shrewd move or something that would undermine him, I think we all have to wait and see. I think there is a lot of punditry around that. But it is unclear. There have been times when these clearly kind of racist and racially incendiary political place from the President have helped stoke his support, his entire career built of it. There are other times like before the 2018 midterm elections where it didn't help and the caravan had closing arguments and the Democrats swept into power and the house after that.

[16:05:52] CABRERA: Lynn, let's not forget the President himself has been critical of the country. Here are just a few of the examples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How stupid is our country?

We are so far behind the time. And by the way, the world is laughing at us because they can't believe these policies.

How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country?

Putin's a killer.

A lot of killers. We have a lot of killers. What? You think our country is so innocent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Lynn, he keeps saying these women hate the country. That's why he is, you know, on the attack against them. But we just showed you he has been very critical of what's happening in the country. He can do it, but others can't?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, don't look for consistency. Yes, he is a hypocrite on this issue. And the real damage that he's doing here is that he is not really walking it back. And I don't think we should be kidding ourselves just because he says some words and his lips were moving.

He still was sending a signal, a dog whistle. If you put it together between what he said and unsaid and said again and the tweets there is really no real reason to believe that he is not letting his supporters who want to chant a send her back chant that they wouldn't do it again. Nothing he has done since then shows you that he firmly wants to tell his followers this is wrong. This is not so.

No one gets sent back. And the criticism that you just showed in those clips that he is allowed to be critical and no one is to send him back to Scotland where his mother is from is just something they hope that the next person who interviews him asks, you were critical of the United States, Mr. President. Should you have gone to Scotland?

CABRERA: Well, he was asked about his double standard. Our Abby Phillip asked him essentially the same question I asked. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Why is it OK for you to criticize America, but not Democrats?

TRUMP: I believe all people are great people. I believe everyone is great, but I love our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: All people are great people, but he doesn't seem to feel that way about these four democratic women of color. Wes?

LOWERY: Well, sure. I mean, I think that when you understand the President's comments and the context of American history and the way that these types of -- not just chant, but this precise argument that if people of color aren't grateful for being here, if they are not glad that you got to come to America, that we are letting you in now, that you have these rights then you should go somewhere else.

It speaks to this historical grapple over who gets to be an American, who has full citizenship, who is fully enfranchise. You have to remember we are a nation where it's only been 50 or 60 votes where people like me even get to vote in our election or people look like Lynn or you get to vote in our elections, right.

This isn't a country that has historically has fully enfranchised all its people and that for generations there has been an ideology that says people who are different, people who aren't white should just be grateful to be here and they shouldn't complain. They shouldn't complain about the police shooting them. They shouldn't complain about the lynchings. They shouldn't complain about the lack of education. And if they do do that they don't love America and they should go. And so, do I think the President who certainly is no scholar of

American history is sitting here thinking about all of this, no. But his reaction to these women, these outspoken women who have been critical of the country, but who serve their country as elected officials is the same response that outspoken people of color have always gotten in this country when they have the audacity that things here are unfair or things here should be better.

CABRERA: Such a good point.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh offered his take on all of this. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: And yet some people at a Trump rally make some innocent chant borne of fun and Washington comes to a halt, and give her like oh, my God! Oh, my God! Did you hear -- it's nothing. That's why I hope Omar keeps talking. I hope Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, I hope they keep talking. I hope that Trump continues to succeed in making all of these people the face of the Democrat party. That would be great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Lynn, does Limbaugh's opinion represent the majority of Trump's supporters and how they feel about it, do you think?

[16:10:04] SWEET: I'm not sure if he represents the majority of Trump supporters, but certainly he speaks for his following and his following is part of the Trump base because they want to hear the kinds of things that they're saying.

But again, everybody see through it. Take it for what it is. Just a short time ago, the wicked face of the Democrat party was Nancy Pelosi. That seems like days gone by when you would say Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco liberal. And they are just finding people to demagogue.

So I just think in the analysis, Rush Limbaugh thought he was minimizing it, but it's don't be fooled. He actually was doing the opposite. He was calling attention to it and condoning it. It wasn't just a little fun. It was -- it's political. He knows it. And he is letting his listeners know that all this is OK.

CABRERA: All right. Lynn Sweet, Wes Lowery, good to have you both with us. Thank you.

SWEET: And thank you.

CABRERA: Fifty years since one giant leap. Coming up, the nation remembers the moment we all came together to watch man land on the moon. Here's how the mission is captured in the award-w new CNN film "Apollo 11".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn back right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We copy you down, eagle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, the eagle has landed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. We copy you on the ground. We've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We are breathing again. Thanks a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:09] CABRERA: How amazing that it has been 50 years since the whole world held its breath as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins made history with Apollo 11. And today the Johnson Space Center in Houston is commemorating that one small step that was actually millions of intricate steps orchestrated by thousands of people to pull off a successful moon landing and a successful return to planet earth.

There are exhibit, music and notable speakers, but the marquee event is a live, interactive countdown to 9:56 p.m. central time, the exact moment that Neil Armstrong's boots first touched the lunar surface.

CNN's Rachel Crane is our business innovation and space correspondent.

And Rachel, you are at that space center. And it is so interesting to me that a lot of the people there today probably weren't even born when we landed on the moon? Why do you think this moment is so significant no matter your age?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN BUSINESS INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, I want to point out it is 17 minutes past the hour. This is the exact moment that 50 years ago Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were making that harrowing landing on the moon in the eagle, nearly running out of fuel. Their computers were having all kind of alarms. And so it was that moment 50 years ago that that landing occurred.

And here at the Johnson space center in the viewing room of the Saturn 5, it's filled with young people, people who like myself were not alive when we made that landing, when Neil and Buzz took those first steps. I think it speaks to the fact that this journey, it stands the test of time. I mean, it still remains to be the most ambitious and inspiring journey that mankind has ever made. We had a chance to speak to some of the people in the room. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANETTE GARCIA, MARKING MOON LANDING ANNIVERSARY: Because I feel this is an important day to celebrate. Not every day you come to celebrate the man landing on the moon, so I think this is very exciting. And I am so happy that they are doing this and that they are doing this for people so they know what NASA has been doing since 1969.

RICHARD DELEON, MARKING MOON LANDING ANNIVERSARY: This is just amazing. It's just -- we have to -- we have more technology in our cell phones than what that huge rocket had and look at the size of it and now we have more technology now and to have something like that into space and said landing a man on the moon is a beg deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Now Ana, if all goes to plan, NASA hopes to put boots once again on the moon in 2024. So hopefully, people like myself who were not part of the Apollo generation, we will n ow be the Artemis generation.

And Ana, NASA hopes not just to put a man on the moon this time, they also hope to put a woman on the moon. So hopefully that will inspire young women all around the globe to reach for the stars -- Ana.

CABRERA: Absolutely. And not only to put them on the moon, but to make it so man or a woman can stay on the moon. That is part of this next goal.

Rachel Crane, thank you for that report.

You can relive all of the moment of that incredible mission by tuning in tonight for the CNN film "Apollo 11" at 9:00 eastern on CNN.

Coming up, 150 million Americans across 30 states sweating it out amid what's become a deadly heat wave. A look at the impact of the triple digit temperatures next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:10] CABRERA: It is a brutal heat wave scorching major parts of the nation threatening more than 150 million people. Highways are buckling in Oklahoma due to the scorching heat.

Today's heat index in Tulsa, up to 110 degrees.

In Omaha, Nebraska, it is so hot people are baking biscuits in the car. Don't even need an oven. Today's heat index feels up to 112 degrees outside.

In Chicago today an excessive heat warning is in effect until 8:00 tonight and people there are cooling off in local fountains.

This blistering heat extremely dangerous for animals outside so ice is being fed to animals to stay cool in Chicago and as far north as Boston.

In Detroit, a power outage means no air conditions for tens of thousands of people right now struggling under today's excessive heat warming there.

So let's get to Louisville, Kentucky, also under an excessive heat advisory today. I want to bring in Louisville's mayor, Greg Fischer.

Mayor, we just checked, it's 95 where you are. Feels like 105 degrees. I know you just had a press conference. What's your message to residents?

MAYOR GREG FISCHER (D), LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Ana, I can confirm it is very hot here in Louisville and we have been communicating that. I mean, so much of it is just these basic messages that we want to tell people about stay hydrated, remember your loved ones or your neighbor, elderly folks and check in with them. And if they don't have air- conditioning, be hospitable, show some hospitality. Tell them to come over and stay at your place.

So the challenge is, you know, this is the second day of three days when we were looking at heat index of 105 or so. So it's pretty tough outside, but so far we're in good shape.

CABRERA: I'm glad to hear that. I know you have spearheaded the Louisville urban cape island project. So is what is the city of Louisville helping residents stay safe in this brutal heat wave?

FISCHER: Well, right now it is just messaging. You know, our libraries are open. Community centers are open where people can go on and get cool, passing out water.

All of our spray grounds are open having open swims so people can just get out and stay cool if they want to get out. But we are encouraging people to stay inside. It will start cooling off this evening but wee are going to have another really hot day tomorrow. Expect some storm tomorrow night and then get into the 80s on Monday.

So we are just trying to get through. We have had about a 30 percent increase in our 911 heat-related calls. So you know, things are happening here and people are being affected, but I feel good about how we are communicating about it and just the main thing is take care of each other and that's what we're supposed to be doing every day.

[16:25:35] CABRERA: Yes. Unfortunately, places are having power outages, places like Michigan. I'm in New York City. The mayor here has required office buildings to set their thermostats to 78 degrees as a precaution.

FISCHER: Yes.

CABRERA: Animal care takers, as we mentioned, at zoos around the country are using extra ice to help keep the animals safe and healthy. What's your biggest concern?

FISCHER: Well, just that people forget and do silly things, you know. They leave a car and have a kid in the back or an animal in the back that they forget about. So, you know, a lot of people are saying, why do you keep saying the same things over and over. It is because that's how accidents happen, right?

CABRERA: Yes. FISCHER: When people do things that they didn't mean to do. So

that's going on. But at the same time too we take this as an opportunity just to talk about climate change and the need to forest your communities more and the need to decarbonize your cities more and you are covering the 50th lunar anniversary here today.

And you know, just imagine as a country if we said we want to put as much energy into having a carbon neutral society as we did put the man on the moon. That would certainly help our weather and the heat waves that we are having here for the future.

CABRERA: Mayor, you said you have lived there and you have never or can't remember three days stretch that hot, is that right?

FISCHER: Yes. And we have a lot of hot weather. I mean, we are kind of in upper south here. So heat and humidity is not unusual, but to have a three-day stretch of it is tough. And when you take a look at the last couple of decades compared to the decades before that, you know, we are having a dozen additional heat days like this. So clearly, things are happening in our city so we have got to be prepared to be hotter and not just right now, but in the future, as well.

CABRERA: Mayor Greg Fischer, good to have you with us. Thank you. And hope your whole community stays safe.

FISCHER: OK. Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, an international murder mystery. An American woman and her Australian boyfriend set out in a Canadian adventure but ends with both of them dead on a remote highway. The investigation now underway into what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:08] CABRERA: Welcome back.

We are monitoring escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf. Today, Iran posting this video showing the exact moment members of the Iranian Navy seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. This video also shows masked men onboard a helicopter and then it shows them descending onto the deck of that British tanker. "Steno Impero."

The British foreign secretary warning there will be, quote, "serious consequences" for what he calls this tit-for-tat situation.

This afternoon, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying, quote, "These are not the actions of a country that looks like it's headed in the right direction."

Now to an international murder mystery. A young American woman and her Australian boyfriend found shot to death in Canada. The pair were on a road trip to explore British Columbia. Their bodies were discovered on a remote Canadian highway in extreme north of the province. But so far, there are few clues into what happened and why. I want to bring in CNN National Correspondent, Natasha Chen.

Natasha, what are you learning about this couple and the investigation into how they were killed?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, Lucas Fowler was the Australian living in British Columbia at this time, working on a ranch, when his girlfriend, Chynna Deese, from North Carolina, came to visit him.

And the two of them were found on the morning of July 15th on the side of Alaska Highway toward the north part of British Columbia. And a blue 1986 Chevrolet van with Alberta plates was also found on the scene.

Our affiliate, WSOC, in Charlotte, North Carolina, spoke with Deese's mother and the station reported that the couple was found shot to death.

But I checked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police this afternoon and RCMP says they're not releasing the specifics of how these two were killed. And they're also not specifying exactly on scene where they were found, whether they were inside or outside the van.

Now they do say that the double homicide happened sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning.

Deese's mother told WSOC that her daughter was going to travel with Fowler throughout that part of Canada. They were going to visit national parks and had mapped out their route.

She says that the two of them, it was a love story. They had the same personality.

And that's what she's holding on to. She believes that the van might have broken down when this tragedy happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEILA DEESE, MOTHER OF CYNNA DEESE (voice-over): This is what makes me really happy. Their story is just something you would read in a novel. They had plans for the future. I mean, they were meant to be. She loved him so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And Fowler's family in Australia released a statement as well.

They say, "We have lost our dear Lucas Fowler, son, brother, grandson and friend, in the most terrible of circumstances. To lose someone so young and vibrant who was traveling the world and just enjoying life to the full is devastating.

To know his beautiful girlfriend, Chynna Deese, of Charlotte, North Carolina, also lost her life in this violent end is too cruel. All our love and best wishes go to Chynna's family and friends. And we are all traveling to Canada to be with our boy and to bring him home."

Fowler's father is chief inspector of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia. And they'll have members of that police force going to Canada as well. But RCMP makes it clear that they are there to support Fowler's family and not to participate in this investigation.

However, RCMP is working with the FBI here in the United States. They have to figure out whether these two people were driving that van at the time.

They are still also investigating whether they were targeted or whether this was a crime of opportunity -- Ana?

CABRERA: What a mystery.

Natasha Chen, thank you.

Up next, what do voters who back Trump in 2016 think of his racist attack on congresswomen of color?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:35:05] KERRI KRUMENAUER, 2016 WISCONSIN TRUMP VOTER: How is it racist? If you don't like this country, get out.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Do you plan to support Donald Trump again?

DAVE SOBOROWICZ, 2016 WISCONSIN TRUMP VOTER: Absolutely not.

KAYE: Why not?

SOBOROWICZ: Because I don't want to have another four years of embarrassment going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: There are 472 days until the next presidential election and the nation is in a very different place than in 2016.

CNN's Randi Kaye traveled to the swing state of Wisconsin, which went with Trump last time by just a slim margin.

She talked to a pair of 2016 Trump voters who are now very much at odds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): Wisconsin voter, Dave Soborowicz, voted for Trump and now he regrets it.

(on camera): What are you thinking for 2020? Are you planning to support Trump again?

SOBOROWICZ: Absolutely not.

KAYE: Why not?

SOBOROWICZ: I don't want to have another four years of embarrassment going on.

KAYE (voice-over): What we've seen this past week is another example of that.

SOBOROWICZ: That tweet that everyone is talking about. I would not define that as a racist tweet, but it is a hatred tweet for sure.

[16:40:03] KAYE: His co-worker at this Eau Claire plumbing company, Kerri Krumenauer, also voted for Trump in 2016, and she sees it differently.

KRUMENAUER: How is it racist. If you don't like this country, get out. Leave. That's all he said. He didn't use any names. They stood up and so that's all they did. They made themselves look like idiots.

KAYE: Unlike her co-worker, Dave, Kerri has no regrets about voting for Trump.

KRUMENAUER: He takes no crap from anybody and that's why I love him. He's followed through on promises that he made to the American people.

KAYE (on camera): Like what? Give me one.

KRUMENAUER: Taxes. He's working on the border. We're back in charge again. We're not taking guff. I mean, he is working with North Korea like no other president ever has in the world before.

KAYE (voice-over): Unlike Kerri, David really regrets his vote.

SOBOROWICZ: I didn't know he was going to act this way. So I am embarrassed by him.

KAYE (on camera): What don't you like about the president?

SOBOROWICZ: He doesn't act like a president should, in my eyes. He, in a way, I think spreads hatred. He's like a little kid having a temper tantrum the way he talks about, blah, blah, blah, whatever he says it comes across. It's, to me, is childish.

KAYE (voice-over): He says Trump should start taking credit for things like the economy.

(on camera): You don't think he's been good for business?

SOBOROWICZ: I can't say he alone is the reason why everything is booming at this time. It didn't happen as soon as he took office. It was already starting to improve.

KAYE (voice-over): Kerry sees it differently. KRUMENAUER: I have thought this country needs to be run like a

business. It was ran into the ground for eight years and it's time to bring it back and he's done it.

KAYE: Kerry also thinks Trump is right to build a wall and limit immigration.

Dave argues this country needs immigrants.

SOBOROWICZ: Dairy products would be so much more expensive, vegetables that are grown around here. Anywhere in the United States, everything would be much more expensive if it wasn't for the immigrants.

KAYE (on camera): But he ran on that pretty much when you voted for him in 2016, right?

SOBOROWICZ: Once again, I thought he was a better option than Hillary.

KAYE: So it wasn't necessarily a vote for Trump in 2016.

SOBOROWICZ: No, it wasn't.

KAYE; It was a vote against Hillary Clinton.

SOBOROWICZ: Exactly.

KAYE: Is there anything that Trump can do that would change your mind or you are dug in?

KRUMENAUER: No, I am dug in. I am behind him 100 percent.

KAYE: You are on the Trump train?

KRUMENAUER: I am on the Trump train. I am on the front car with him pulling the whistle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That was Randi Kaye reporting.

Coming up, is Russia up to some old tricks? The new wrinkle about a viral app that makes you look old and a warning about how it may give Moscow information you don't want it to have.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:46:11] CABRERA: Did you really want to see what you'll look like when you're older? Sure, all of the cool kids are doing it. Even some celebrities, maybe to figure out exactly where to start injecting the Botox.

But if you played along and you used that wildly popular FaceApp, you may have handed critical personal data to a company based in Russia. That's right. It's not all fun and games. The Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, is calling on the FBI to

investigate.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is getting old fast. From Lebron James to actress, Busy Philips, to musical superstar, Drake, to the Jonas Brothers, they all appear to be using FaceApp to digitally age themselves. It is an online sensation and no wonder.

KEVIN HART, COMEDIAN: 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.

(SCREAMING)

FOREMAN: It's spooky, fascinating and hilarious.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!: We did it with Guillermo and that's what Guillermo looks like old.

(LAUGHTER)

KIMMEL: You look like an exiled south American dictator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! I look good.

FOREMAN: Not so good, the Russian connection. The company that released the app two years ago, Wireless Labs, is based in St. Petersburg.

Considering how much detailed data apps like this can collect about user, their contact, interests and political views and some of the small print in FaceApp's user agreement, some authorities are concerned.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We need to know more about what the heck is going here.

FOREMAN: Wireless Labs says nothing nefarious is under way. Images and info are uploaded with users' consents just for fun and basic business. None of it is transferred to Russia.

Internet security pros say the kind of data harvesting on FaceApp is not new.

DAVID KENNEDY, CEO, TRUSTEDSEC, LLC: If anyone is using Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and you've given them substantially more data and you are the product for these folks. That's how they make money. FOREMAN: Does that mean all of this is just good old-fashioned fun?

(on camera): Maybe. Security experts say any time 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)

CABRERA: OK, for the record, I haven't used this app, admittedly. I am always a step behind when it comes to technology.

But let's discuss with Liz O'Sullivan. She's a technologist at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, also known as STOP.

I know, Liz, you also call yourself an artificial intelligence activist.

Thank you for coming on.

LIZ O'SULLIVAN, RESIDENT TECHNOLOGIST, SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOOGY OVERSIGHT PROJECT: Thanks for having me.

CABRERA: A lot of people are seeing this and they're thinking, oh, my gosh, what did I do already? You say it's been a shock to see so many people do this without thinking through the potential of where this information could land. Tell me more about your concerns?

O'SULLIVAN: Well, I think it's a scandal, not because of any one particular company, but because this is actually evidence of the complete lack of regulation governing what companies can do to harvest, mine, and sometimes abuse consumer data. It's a threat to privacy but it's also a threat to our national security.

CABRERA: We heard in Tom Foreman's report that FaceApp isn't any worse than Facebook, Twitter or Instagram than any other social platform. Do you agree?

O'SULLIVAN: I don't know. It's hard to tell. We don't want to have knee-jerk reactions to Russia and China. But they're authoritarian states and they do tend to have a tendency to oppress populations. And this is in Shenzhen in China where they're using facial recognition to sequester millions of Uighur population.

CABRERA: Do you use social media?

[16:50:09] O'SULLIVAN: I do use social media but I'm very careful about what privacy settings I have in place. And I make very sure to ensure it's not ubiquitous and surveillancy.

CABRERA: CNN has reported that the Democratic National Committee has warned 2020 campaigners and staffers not to download this app. They fear the artificial intelligence technology could spur a repeat of Russia's 2016 hacking campaign against the party.

You think this knee-jerk reaction is fascinating. Is this a partisan issue or not?

O'SULLIVAN: It's absolutely not a partisan issue because hacking can occur on either side of the road. And I think that people are starting to see now the impact that facial recognition can have.

This data is very valuable and people want access to it so people can sell it to governments, military and police.

CABRERA: So many times we download an app and we sign up for a service and we are asked to agree to the terms of service. Here's a look at what you have to agree to if you use FaceApp. It includes this wonky sentence that says, in part, you grant them "perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free rights to anything you upload. Believe me, I just cut down that sentence by roughly 95 percent.

Who really reads this stuff?

O'SULLIVAN: Not a single person. I can guarantee you that.

I'm a privacy activist and I never read the end user agreements either because, at the end of the day, we don't have a choice. If we have to use a product, if we need to use it for work or home or for anything we do in our days, then it becomes a mandatory expression of consent.

CABRERA: What will you say to people who say this is an overreaction?

O'SULLVAN: I would say that they're not paying very closely to the news and how big tech companies are reacting to the pressure against their invasion of our privacy.

We've been pushing to try to have more significant protections for consumers in lots of different cases, but every turn, we see Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies opposing that push for privacy.

CABRERA: Your group, STOP, sees digital privacy as a civil rights issue. Explain.

O'SULLIVAN: It's absolutely a civil rights issue. It's about the balance of power between self-determination and law enforcement.

CABRERA: That was a quick answer.

(LAUGHTER)

You are saying big tech is quietly opposing legislation that activists want? Do you have examples?

O'SULLIVAN: Absolutely. In Washington State, there was a really well-supported bill for banning facial recognition in the city, in the state. And ACLU had a very well-supported bill. And Microsoft and Amazon went on record to oppose that bill.

We work state and local in New York City and we'd very much like to mount something similar to protect consumer rights. But we're having trouble even getting a very simple request of privacy the policy off the ground.

CABRERA: What would you say to people in the meantime.

O'SULLIVAN: Be careful. If it looks dubious, it might be and, in fact, it probably is. I'm not asking you to read every single privacy clause for every piece of software that you use. That would be impossible.

But I would ask you to, instead, write to your city council people, to your state Senators, tell them that you care about privacy and that you don't want your data mined.

CABRERA: Liz O'Sullivan, great to have you with us. Very informative.

O'SULLIVAN: Thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you.

O'SULLIVAN: Thanks.

CABRERA: The president says -- we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:57:02] CABRERA: The president says immigrants who don't like the U.S. should go back where they came from. But that's not what he did in 2016 when he was the one criticizing the country. Instead of going back to Scotland where his mother emigrated from, he ran for president.

CNN travels to the remote Scottish island of Lewis to trace the roots of Donald Trump's mother's family.

And Nic Robertson has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm on the remote Scottish island of Lewis in search of Donald Trump's ancestors.

The place his mother called home, and by his own word, maybe his home, too.

(on camera): So Donald Trump's mother came from right here?

BILL LAWSON, GENEALOGIST: Yes. This is true.

ROBERTSON: When we're looking for his roots?

LAWSON: They're right here.

ROBERTSON: We should dig them up.

(LAUGHTER)

(voice-over): Local genealogist, Bill Lawson, has dug up the documents to prove it. Tracks Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, sailing from Scotland to America aboard the "S.S. Transylvania," arriving a day after her 18th birthday, 11th May 1930.

(on camera): She's an economic migrant that we can see from the papers goes into domestic service.

LAWSON: She was going for work.

ROBERTSON: For work?

LAWSON: She was going for work.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Mary Anne was following a well-worn migrant trail. She was met in the port of New York by her elder sister, Katherine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) -- her whole generation.

ROBERTSON: It's not the impression Trump gave in 2008 visiting his cousins who live in his mother's former house.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She met a great guy. She would have been back. She was not planning on being there permanently. She would have been back. She would have came back but she met a really great guy, my father.

LAWSON: On the mother's side, there's two the lines. There are the Smiths and the MacAulays.

ROBERTSON: Half of them lost everything, dirt poor. Forced from their homes by Scottish property barons.

(on camera): They were refugees to a quarter of his ancestors there.

LAWSON: Yes.

ROBERTSON: This is where Donald Trump came to meet his relatives.

I'm going in to see if they'll talk to me.

Hi, there. Mr. Murray -

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTSON: Sorry.

Can you turn the camera off, please, guys?

(voice-over): Trump hasn't been back to his mother's home since that visit in 2008, but his roots and his cousins are still here.

Nic Robertson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. Hello on this Saturday.

President Trump today change changing his course again on how he says he feels about the people shouting a racist chant about a Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

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