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Downing Street's Changing of the Guards; Speculation Builds as Mueller Heads to Capitol Hill; Scorching Heat Engulf Europe; A Boxer's Last Fight; Russia Apologized to South Korea; Quest's World of Wonder. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 24, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] WILL RIPLEY, CNN ANCHOR: -- number 10. Boris Johnson prepares to leave the U.K. and realize his promise to deliver Brexit.
The U.S. president lashes out at Robert Mueller as the former special counsel prepares to get testimony on his extensive investigation into the 2016Trump campaign and Russian interference.
Plus, parts of Europe already struggling to cope with scorching heat, now forecasters say we'll get even hotter.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Will Ripley, and this is CNN Newsroom.
We are watching the dawn of a new era in British politics. The newly elected conservative leader Boris Johnson is just hours away from becoming the country's next prime minister. He is brash, he is controversial, he is often compared to U.S. President Donald Trump, and I'm not just talking about the hair.
Johnson is also inheriting a government divided, divided over Brexit, and that deadline to leave the E.U. by October 31st. Johnson says he is ready to crash out of the E.U., do or die, without a deal. He aimed to fire up conservatives in his victory speech on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, INCOMING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And we know the mantra of the campaign that has just gone by, in case you've forgotten it, you probably have it is deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn. Deliver, unite and defeat, was not the perfect acronym for an election campaign since unfortunately it spells it DUD, but they forgot the final e, my friends. E for energize.
And I say, I say to all the judges, dude, we are going to energize the country, we're going to get the Brexit done on October 31st.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Dude, we're going to energize the country.
CNN's Anna Stewart live outside 10 Downing Street in London. You know, these comparisons to Donald Trump are really interesting, and t's not just because of their appearance. It's because they have this very kind of style that gets people, especially crowds quite revved of.
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: exactly. Yesterday, the U.S. president said that people here called him Britain Trump. And while I've never ever really heard that, I can say there are some parallel to be drawn. As you said it, it's not just the hot, the hair, it's also the bombastic style, the entertaining speeches.
The controversy, he splits opinions fairly often. And also, some of the economic policies. He wants to cut business rates. He wants to cut taxes for the highest paid people in the U.K.
But that aside, I think his politics will be very different. He really wants to unify the country and he wants to deliver Brexit. And I think the big difference we see here from Theresa May because there may not be any difference in parliament, but here we will see at least a prime minister who doesn't just want to deliver Brexit but really, really believes in it.
He's had a very firm stance on Brexit right from the beginning and he will take the U.K. out of the E.U. He says do or die, deal or no deal by October 31st. Will?
RIPLEY: Is that kind of a promise going to unify Britain given this dire economic forecast about a no deal Brexit?
STEWART: Yes. Some of the economic forecast, for instance, the government report last week said that we could see a year on recession, we could see the (Inaudible) are for the 10 percent. We have dire warnings for the bank of England as well. They see, you know, the economy plunging some 8 percent over the next few years if we have a no deal Brexit.
And does it unify the country? Well, frankly, Will, it's hard to unify anyone on Brexit since people are very much opposed. It was not much -- it was sort of 50-50 almost split when it came to the referendum and we're not sure much has changed, certainly in parliament there doesn't seem to be any unity.
And frankly, what Boris Johnson faces now is a working majority of three M.P.s and that relies on the deep Tea Party. And actually, that majority could be reduced to two after by election next week.
So, this is going to be very difficult particularly if he faces any kind of rebellion within the party which he may well do. There are plenty of remainers, some even ministers who will be resigning today because they do not agree that no deal Brexit should be on the table even though that's what Boris says is their only bargaining chip to get a deal. Will?
RIPLEY: Theresa May had a job that many people considered nearly impossible, so I guess now we'll see what Boris Johnson can do.
Anna Stewart, quite a big day there in London. Thanks. We appreciate it.
And CNN will have extensive coverage as Theresa May formally steps down and then Boris Johnson becomes the next British Prime Minister. Tune in starting at 11 a.m. London time as all the live events unfold.
In just a few hours, special counsel Robert Mueller will testify on Capitol Hill. This is one of the most, actually two of the most highly anticipated hearings in years.
He is appearing before the House judiciary committee and intelligence committees to details his findings from the Russia investigation. And even before the testimony, predictably, controversy is already brewing.
[03:05:01] Mueller requested his deputy to be sworn in as well to serve as an adviser during the hearings. Whether someone is sitting with Mueller or not, this is truly a make or break moment for Democrats.
As some are hoping that these hearings can revive the impact of the Mueller report and help convince skeptics to impeach the president.
But some Republicans believe that nothing Mueller says will make much of a difference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): It won't re-shape my dynamic. I've heard all I need to hear from Mueller. I've read his report. I accept the findings. I don't think it's going to change the public opinion.
Having been involved in the Clinton impeachment if the public is not with you, you'll pay a price and I don't think anything Mueller can say that's going to change anybody's mind.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why don't you want to bring him before your committee does ask him questions?
GRAHAM: I've heard all I need to hear.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): Tomorrow, it's what I said before, the Mueller investigation revealed a lot of conduct by the president which the American people should be aware of.
The president and the attorney general have systematically lied to the American people about what was in that report. I know they've said no obstruction, no collusion, he was totally exonerated. All of those three statements are not true.
It's important that the American people understand what was in that report and then we'll go from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: While Congress and Robert Mueller prepare for the hearings, U.S. President Donald Trump is ramping up his attacks, both on the Russia investigation itself and those four Democratic Congresswomen.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more from the White House.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: On the eve of Robert Mueller's Capitol Hill testimony --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: How about this whole witch-hunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: -- the White House is bracing for impact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: First of all, it's very bad for our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Tonight, sources telling CNN President Trump has spent the last several days discussing Mueller's upcoming appearance and he seems more irritated than anxious that he has to watch the man who has loomed over his presidency take center stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I saw Mueller is testifying tomorrow again. How many times? Two and a half years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Trump has been quizzing people about what to expect, while complaining that Democrats will never let the investigation go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They think this is helping them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: His Republican allies are assuring him it won't change a thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: I've heard all I need to hear from Mueller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: But even if Mueller reveals nothing new, sources say Trump wants to expose the investigation as the hoax he believes it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Actually, it started practically from the time I came down on the escalator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Trump tweeting that Republicans should turn the tables by asking, why were all of Clinton's people given immunity and why were the text messages of Peter S. and his lover Lisa Page deleted and destroyed right after they left Mueller and after we requested them?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not going to be watching, probably, maybe I'll see a little bit of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And while Mueller will be front and center in front of the cameras, Trump's schedule is currently wide open.
The focus on Mueller in Washington may help a budget deal that's facing blow back from fiscal conservatives, pass through Congress and win the president's signature.
Congressional leaders and White House officials are working overtime to sell the deal that raises spending levels by $320 billion over the next two years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It's a pretty good deal under the circumstances. That's the way I would put it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And with an eye on 2020, the president is ramping up his attacks on four Democratic freshmen Congresswomen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This Tlaib, Tlaib.
(CROWD BOOING)
TRUMP: From Michigan, right? It's a great state. We won Michigan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Telling a group of young conservatives Tuesday "Rashida Tlaib is a lunatic" after a video of her shouting at a Trump event in 2016 resurfaced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's vicious. She's like a crazed lunatic. She's screaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Trump making clear the attacks are part of a bigger political strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Socialism is not as easy to beat as you think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And now the president is tweeting about those last-minute changes from Robert Mueller's team, wanting his deputy to be sworn in at this hearing.
The president said that he believes there would be allowing a never- Trumper attorney to help Robert Mueller with his testimony, which he calls a disgrace to the system and says it's something that has never been heard of before and should not be allowed. Giving a little bit more insight to just how frustrated the president is ahead of that upcoming testimony.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
RIPLEY: Let's get some more insight now into how the Mueller testimony will play out. Michael Zeldin joins me from Washington. He's a CNN legal analyst and was Robert Mueller's special assistant at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Michael, we really appreciate you being here. And I'm curious based on what you know about Robert Mueller, what will be his main objective going into these hearings?
[03:09:56] MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, we have in Mueller a very reluctant witness. He would prefer to only let his report be what the American people heard from his investigation, but it's not the way it will be.
He has to testify. And what he is going to do is give, I think, the skinny of his report, the narrative that he wrote, in oral form and he's not going to stray from it.
RIPLEY: So, given that, how effective is this testimony going to be in shifting the narrative as, frankly, Republicans and Democrats are hoping to do?
ZELDIN: I think they're going to be -- both sides are going to be a bit disappointed in Mueller. We'll see, but what the Democrats are really hoping -- because nobody realistically has read that 448-page report, that they'll watch the movie.
That is, they'll watch Mueller tomorrow and that they'll be able to elicit from Mueller all of the obstructionist behavior the Democrats feel the president engaged in and which Mueller documented in his report.
So, I think they are hoping here they'll listen to something that they haven't read and if they have an my, minute in listening to it, it will move the needle forward as Republicans --
(CROSSTALK)
RIPLEY: As you said -- yes, if they didn't read the book, let's hope they watch the movie. But is it going to be that exciting of a movie, I guess is the question.
ZELDIN: Yes. I don't think, you know, having worked for Mueller, that he's going to tell a tale. He's not like former independent counsel Ken Starr who was very full throated in his recitation of his findings with respect to the impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton.
I think in Mueller you have a very reticent witness who the information will have to be pulled out of, and that doesn't make for a good story teller.
RIPLEY: We know that House Democrats want to prove that President Trump violated the law and Republicans want to prove that this was sort of a one-sided report. So, who has the better shot, would you say?
ZELDIN: Well, I think the Republicans have the greater danger of upsetting Mueller if they attack his credibility. You may have a made- for-TV-moment if they say that you, Mueller, were conflicted or you, Mueller, hired 13 angry Democrats, the refrain that the president uses.
I think Mueller will take great offense at that, and you may have one of these stares down moments between the Republicans and Mueller over that.
With respect to who has the greater opportunity to convince the American people that something went wrong during the Trump campaign and during the Trump presidency, the facts are on the Democrats' side. The evidence that Mueller laid out, he called substantial evidence of obstruction of justice.
So, if they can get that evidence out into the public domain, then I think they have the better opportunity to convince the public that something further should be done here.
RIPLEY: So, do you see this being the Watergate-style moment that some have envisioned? I mean, the facts are this report has been out for months. Most Americans, as you said, haven't read it.
And for the weeks before the report was even out, there was this misleading summary from the Attorney General William Barr that set the narrative for many people who may have already moved on.
ZELDIN: Yes. My dad used to say you get one chance to make a good first impression. And I think the attorney general made that impression with his misleading summary report. He upset Mueller by issuing that report. We know that Mueller wanted his own summary to be the first impression that the American people had, but Barr upstaged him.
And I don't know that we can now undo that which Barr did and which we have heard now from the president and his supporters over and over, no collusion, no obstruction. It's going to be hard to get people to take a second look, is my fear for the Democrats.
RIPLEY: You characterize Robert Mueller as a reluctant witness, and yet why would he not want to get out there and reset the narrative about nearly two years of work, two years of investigation?
ZELDIN: It's a great question. I don't know the answer. The Bob Mueller I worked for in the Justice Department, I thought would have been eager to tell the American people all of what he did and all of what he found, but we have in Mueller now a different person who seems to want to just have his report be that which is his testimony. And if he had his way, I don't think he'd be there at all tomorrow.
RIPLEY: Michael Zeldin, we really appreciate your insight and analysis. And we will be watching as will you very closely later on.
ZELDIN: Thanks, Will.
RIPLEY: Thank you.
Robert Mueller's report accused Russia of waging a sweeping and systematic campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections. And now the FBI director Christopher Wray he says Moscow is still at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: Are the Russians still trying to interfere in our election system?
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections through foreign influence --
(CROSSTALK)
[03:14:54] GRAHAM: Is it fair to say -- everything we've done against Russia has not deterred them enough. All the sanctions, all the talk, they're still at it.
WRAY: Well, my view is until they stop, they haven't been deterred enough.
GRAHAM: And they're still doing it?
WRAY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Wray also says the FBI is devoting significant resources to fighting election interference, but it's still not enough for Democrats. Republicans say any more improvements should be made by the states and not the U.S. federal government.
President Trump issued what was widely seen as a lighthearted warning to Vladimir Putin. That was last month at the G20 summit. Remember when he was sitting there and he said, don't meddle in the election, please. Well, the plot thickens off the coast of South Korea. China, Japan,
they're now figuring into this mid-air military showdown between Russia and South Korea.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RIPLEY: South Korea is now saying that Russia has apologized for a mid-air confrontation off the country's east coast. The first of its kind in decades.
According to South Korea's Blue House, the Russian attache blames a mechanical malfunction for one of its planes possibly intruding on territorial air space claimed by South Korea and also claimed by Japan.
South Korea says it scrambled fighter jets and even fired hundreds of warning shots to chase the plane away. Japan says it also scrambled jets. Earlier, Moscow accused South Korea of acting recklessly.
I want to bring in CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing who is following developments in the region because China is also involved in all of this, Steven. So, you have China and Russia on a patrol, South Korea and Japan both scramble planes to try to get them out of their air space and then South Korea says they fired warning shots, Russia denies it. I mean, what's going on? What has been confirmed?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Will, as we say, this is a very complicated and seemingly confusing situation, at least initially. But based on what we have learned, the latest information as you mentioned partially, that is South Korean officials now claim Russian officials and Seoul basically acknowledged one of its planes, an A-50 command and control aircraft may have indeed intruded on South Korean air space, but unintentionally because that plane experienced a mechanical problem, hence, veering off its pre-planned route.
So, now, this Russian official according to South Korean officials is asking the Seoul government to produce evidence, including timing of the incident, location coordinates, as well as any images South Koreans may have captured to help Russia launch its own investigation into this incident to prevent any future occurrences of the sort.
So, if that is confirmed by Moscow, then it seems like both sides, at least Russia and South Korea, are trying to really dial down the temperature after the initial very strong rhetoric from both sides.
[03:19:58] Now, I also asked about this incident this morning in Beijing. A defense ministry spokesman here confirmed that Russia and China's air forces did conduct a joint patrol operation on Tuesday, but he emphasized this operation was part of a long-planned joint military exercises and the four aircraft involved did not enter any other country's air space, and also this operation according to him was not targeting other countries.
So, it seems like he was trying to allay fears that the increasingly close Chinese/Russian military operation is really testing the other countries in the region, especially South Korea and Japan, which are, of course, also U.S. major allies.
And then adding to all this is the U.S. saying it is in close coordination with both South Korea and Japan and also asking Russia and China to clarify the situation.
So really when you look at this, there is a lot of historical baggage because of all these territorial disputes involved, but also a lot of geopolitical sensitivity. That's why this situation is very, very delicate as well as complicated. But at least for now, Will, it seems all sides involved seem to try to calm things down, not trying to escalate tensions. Will?
RIPLEY: Things as you know well, Steven, certainly get heated up when you're talking about disputed territory whether it be the air or the water. We'll have to keep watching it all closely. Steven Jiang in Beijing, thank you.
Next on CNN Newsroom live from Atlanta, Europe is already struggling to cope with scorching heat. And meteorologists say it's going to get even hotter. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RIPLEY: Tragic news from the world of boxing. Russian fighter Maxim Dadashev has died from brain injuries sustained in the ring. The junior welter weight was seen visibly struggling on Friday and so his trainer threw in the towel after the 11th round.
Dadashev had to be helped out of the ring and things got worse when he collapsed on the way to the dressing room.
The rising star boxer underwent emergency surgery. Doctors tried to alleviate the bleeding on his brain. Dadashev was placed in a medically induced coma, but he died from his injuries. He was just 28 years old.
Weather forecasters say the U.K. will sizzle this week in a heat wave that could set a record. They say temperatures will peak on Thursday when the mercury could reach the mid to high 30s.
London and Southeast England are expected to be the hottest parts of the U.K., so we're not just talking about politics, the weather, too, but over in France even hotter. Record-setting heat is what they're bracing for over there.
Meteorologists say the temperatures in Paris could top 40 degrees both Wednesday and Thursday.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is keeping track of all of this. You know, a lot of these places don't have air conditioning because it doesn't usually get this hot in these parts of the world.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Exactly. That is what I was going to say air conditioning is very few and far between across these areas. So really, it's going to be a challenging goal across this region. And when you look at the warm temperatures into the early morning hours, which is right now across this region, it's really going to blow your mind as far as how warm it is even at this hour across this region.
And of course, when we look at such heat, we know advisories have been issued widespread across portions of western, central and even portions of northeastern Europe there with medium to high heat alerts in Belgium in particular, extensive heat in place here.
And typically, for the World Meteorological Organization to define a heat wave, temps have to be five degrees above Celsius above average for five consecutive days.
[03:25:03] And of course, some of these areas are running 15 to 20 degrees above average for four to five days in a row. And you see the culmination of it here over the next couple of days. Brussels climbs up to 39 degrees come Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-two is the average for this time of year. And that's the warmest average for any time of year across this region. And, of course, at this hour it's already at 27 degrees. So, five degrees above their afternoon expectation for the month of July. Of course, into the early morning hours.
Paris sits at 28 degrees at this hour. London already sitting at 23 degrees. And only gets hotter over the next several days across this region. In fact, hottest all time if you're curious across the U.K. 38.5, that was during the deadly heat wave of August 2003.
This particular forecast on Thursday afternoon puts London right at 38 degrees, which would be among the warmest weather ever observed on record. And in fact, when you compare those numbers, other observations depending on whether you're at Saint James Park, or other areas around town, between 37 and 38, those temperatures would be comparable to what's happening in Cairo on Thursday afternoon.
So really, speaks to the significance of this heat wave. In fact, in Paris it is going to be warmer than it will be in Tehran over in Iran. And notice this ridge, it expands further up towards Scandinavia come late into this weekend and the heat moves towards that region.
But Paris is 42 to 43-degree expectation, puts it a couple of degrees warmer than their all-time high of 40.4, which occurred back in 1947. And, yes, since the year 1500, we know the top five hottest summers indicated right here have all occurred in the 21st century or in the past two decades.
So really speaks to what's happening here with the hottest most recently being 2016 and 2018. And look at this here, we climb up to 42 degrees. Shave 10 degrees come Friday, down to 32, and then almost another 10 degrees by Saturday.
Finally, we're back to reality. But really as you noted, Will, it's going to be very, very dangerous without air conditioning the next couple of days across these areas with no relief in the overnights.
RIPLEY: And you wonder why Europe keeps hammering the issue of climate change, trying to get the United States back on board here.
JAVAHERI: Yes.
RIPLEY: I mean, it is frightening to look at how quickly things are heating up on our planet. Pedram, thanks for tracking it for us. We appreciate it.
JAVAHERI: Thanks, Will.
RIPLEY: The Summer Olympics in Tokyo are exactly one year away. Talk about where you can have sweltering summers sometimes. The host city Tokyo they marked the milestone on Wednesday with several events.
Officials unveiled the gold, silver, and bronze medals that will be awarded made of recycled electronics parts, apparently. Also, the robots that you see here they will be interacting with visitors to the games. They were introduced.
All of this of course is an attempt by Japan to showcase at the Olympics Japan's high-tech cutting-edge technology. Now the public is being encouraged to take part in sports demonstrations such as kayaking in the run up to the games.
So far more than three million tickets have been sold, some of them costing like $2,500. So, if people win the lottery online and they actually have to buy the ticket, it's quite expensive.
Thanks for joining us on CNN Newsroom. I'm Will Ripley. Quest World of Wonder is up next. But first, I'll be back with a check of your headlines.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, I'm Will Ripley and this is CNN News Now. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson is hour's way from becoming the next British Prime Minister. Outgoing leader Theresa May must first submit her resignation to the queen, then Johnson will head to Buckingham Palace where her majesty will ask him to form a government and he will depart for 10 Downing Street.
The House Judiciary Committee chairman is weighing in on expectations just hours before Robert Mueller is set to testify on Capitol Hill about his Russia investigation. Jerry Nadler says he doesn't know if the hearings will change the course on impeachment. He is also realistic about how much impact the former special counsel's testimony will have.
South Korea says Russia has apologized for a mid-air confrontation off the South Korean coast. According to the Blue House in Seoul, Russia's military attache says one of its planes may have entered an unplanned area due to a mechanical malfunction. South Korea says it fired hundreds of warning shots to chase the plane away.
That is your CNN news now. I'm Will Ripley. Quest's World of Wonder is up next right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Amazing. This is what a vacation looks like.
Where the Pacific Ocean meets land at the edge of a continent, a vista so beautiful, I stand in awe. Of all the views in the world, this one always gets me right here. Whether by sea or on land, pass through San Francisco's Golden Gate and be prepared, because here anything goes. The shaking, the bell, this is the way to arrive in San Francisco. Clang, clang, clang went the trolley.
The orchestra of the street plays a tune you can't get out of your head. Just being here, it sounds and feels different, a city of color and character, where it's normal to be different, to always challenge expectations.
The price for living among such beauty is the pain you suffer when occasionally climbing these hills when needs must. I can't think of any other major city quite so extreme. Here in San Francisco that seems entirely appropriate, a city of rebellion and defiance if you're going to San Francisco.
It was 1967 and Scott Mckenzie's "San Francisco" became the unofficial anthem of the summer of love. When 100,000 hippies made the corner of Haight-Ashbury their home. Nothing like it had been seen before. A revolution where the weapons were love and peace. The hippies faded, but Haight-Ashbury still has traits and remnants of what was.
Your top hat is bigger than my top hat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The original hippies wore a Victorian inspired clothing and Edwardian clothing in the 1960s.
QUEST: Hippie clothing at capitalist prices.
[03:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flapper dresses are big in the counter culture right now because of the party's speak easy.
QUEST: I draw the line at flapper dresses even if Jimmy Siegel says they're in. He came to San Francisco as a street kid chasing hippy dreams. Today his store is aptly called, Distractions.
JIMMY SIEGEL, OWNER DISTRACTIONS: I'm one of the longest merchants on Haight Street since 1976 now.
QUEST: Now they cater to counter culture who have got capital.
SIEGEL: All right, let's make you look at little psychedelic here. Vest here very big. Waist coats are very big in San Francisco, so, that's best. Well, would you like to see the famous corner of Haight- Ashbury which is right down the street here?
QUEST: Absolutely.
SIEGEL: All right.
QUEST: Am I attired suitably?
SIEGEL: Yes. You'll fit right into present day Haight-Ashbury as well as if you were walking down the street 50 years ago. Right across the street there was the original psychedelic shop at 1535 Haight Street. That was the first hippie psychedelic shop.
QUEST: What do you mean by psychedelic shop?
SIEGEL: It was for people that experimented with LSD to blow their minds, turn on, tune in and drop out. Right behind (inaudible).
QUEST: Tie dyes.
SIEGEL: Tie dyes, yes. Here we are at the legendary corner of Haight- Ashbury in San Francisco where it is always 4:20 on the clock permanently.
QUEST: To put it bluntly, code for smoking marijuana. What seems far out elsewhere does find a home in San Francisco.
SIEGEL: This house is the epitome of the spirit of San Francisco.
QUEST: Really?
SIEGEL: I'd say so.
QUEST: This house is Westerfeld Mansion, one of the famous Victorian Houses in the City. Every wave of migration in San Francisco has come through these rooms.
SIEGEL: Russians that fled the Russian revolution came over, turned downstairs into the speak easy. Then the hippies evolved from the beat nicks and there were three major hippy communes here in the 1960s.
QUEST: The satanic rituals went on here.
SIEGEL: And Satanic movies filmed here. Anton (inaudible), had the Church of Satan was here with his baby lion. This room was Bobby Bowsly of the Nansons' family bedroom.
QUEST: This house with its troubled past perfect for a city with so many dark secrets.
I'm fascinated by this magnet that draws people in.
Magic.
SIEGEL: Magic is the word for San Francisco. It is a magical city. It is vibrant. It is creative. It is beautiful. It has soul. It's a special place on earth.
QUEST: Whatever it is, social change seems to start here in the city.
SIEGEL: This is my psychedelic room. This wall represents the dance music culture of San Francisco in the 1960s. QUEST: It is quite simply sensory overload. Much like the 1960s
themselves, though I was only born in 1962.
SIEGEL: This is the 1967 San Francisco phone book.
QUEST: 1967, so that is the summer of love.
SIEGEL: Summer of love. You will find Janice Joplin is listed. She was just a's normal person in 1967.
QUEST: Janice Joplin, 626-8569. What was great about the hippy life?
SIEGEL: At the time we thought that if everybody would drop out and do what we're all doing, we would create a new society.
QUEST: Does that seem naive to you now?
SIEGEL: Yes, without a doubt, but I love the vision. And as a child, it looked -- as a teenager and everything, it was so inviting.
QUEST: This idea that those who came here as naive idealists have now turned into nimby conservatives with a small c. Oh, we don't want that sort of thing going on here.
SIEGEL: And I'll be the first to say I'm probably one of those people.
QUEST: Are you?
SIEGEL: I fight all the new development in San Francisco. They're trying to build a nine-story building a block away from here and I'm trying to fight that.
QUEST: The transformation of those rebels seems complete. From their Victorian Towers they look out. The city that first shunned capitalism has grown up.
SIEGEL: In the last five years, all of these high rises, from about there over to there, have been built.
QUEST: There is much for me to uncover about this city's DNA. Before I dive deeper, there is an experience I mustn't miss. Lombard Street. Tourism galore to be sure, but uniquely San Franciscan.
Oh, good lord, look at that. San Francisco's famous crooked street drops 100 feet with eight hair pin turns. My speed is in my imagination alone. Here, even the streets won't conform.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: San Francisco. The city by the bay. For centuries, a beacon for change makers. The beats, the hippies, the gay community, all finding their voice here. Unlike San Francisco's famous sea lions, the group just showed up one day en masse. Watching the sea lions tussle between themselves for prominence and position on the rafts is fascinating. Like the city itself. When the hippies dwindled in the late 1960s, tie dye t-shirts gave way
to rainbows. With the city's Castro District becoming a gay epicenter.
ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, AUTHOR, TALES OF THE CITY: This is the stairway I used to come down from my house up on the crest of Russian hill here.
QUEST: You'd be hard-pressed to find a better chronicler of the city during the '70s, '80s and '90s than Armistead Maupin. His tales of the city started out as a serial in the newspapers. It went on to become novels and a TV mini-series. Tales and its stories of living in the city, with all its weirdness, became the definitive word.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, you're new. Give it time. The city messes people up.
QUEST: The country lane is the inspiration for Maupin's fictional Barbary Lane where his characters lived.
MAUPIN: I needed it for my own imagination. I could set imaginary people here and still make it real. My process was that they all had to be me, all of my characters, because I could then imbue them with humanity.
QUEST: Maupin wrote the tales every few days which led his characters to live lives like his readers did.
So, I remember in 1984, not fully out the closet, coming to San Francisco, thinking, wow, wow, what -- whew!
MAUPIN: That was roughly my feeling, too. Thank you for articulating it so well.
QUEST: Yes.
MAUPIN: Yes, it was the sight of all these men on the street --
QUEST: Yes!
MAUPIN: Just the, you know, the community that was going on.
QUEST: Tales faced head on defining moments of the times. Gay relationships. The aids epidemic.
But you remember the moment when people first started getting sick, when people first started --
MAUPIN: It was a state of terrible panic on my part. And when a new person tested positive, you were certain that they were going to die. It's so hard to convey the horror of it. It really is.
There's something great about having a -- an imaginary place for people to come visit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I read your books.
MAUPIN: Oh, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just this weekend finished reading book two.
[03:45:00] QUEST: A new audience is finding tales 40 years after the serial started. Netflix is making a sequel series. Maupin is the executive producer.
MAUPIN: I was kind of the first guy out of the gate that wrote about trans people, you know, a sympathetic trans character and magical. And so I'm glad we've still got her around.
QUEST: It's perfect, isn't it?
This idea that you're saying about you can have -- what is it, you can have --
MAUPIN: Yes, you can have a hot lover, a hot job, and a hot apartment, but you can't have all three at the same time.
QUEST: This city, there is something about it that I cannot put my finger on.
MAUPIN: It is really the most beautiful city in the world as far as I'm concerned. The possibilities of life are still available here. You can still see what might be in your life and people still come here for that.
QUEST: From hippies to gays, and now the latest pioneers to descend on the city, big cloud dreamers. San Francisco is the global headquarters of big deck. Revered for its innovations, and like generations before, reviled for its inundation. What is it about this city that draws in revolutionary groups one after another?
FRED TURNER, PROFESSOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Science and the moral life. This is a study of the commune movement done at the time.
Hard bored lover. It can't --it's not someone who loves cardboards, not a fetishist.
QUEST: At Stanford University, Professor Fred Turner has made studying the social turnovers his life's work. New arrivals like tech always push boundaries.
TURNER: San Francisco got started as a kind of alternative space in the 19th century, even before the gold rush. This was the absolute end of the earth. Some sailors stayed and they built a kind of alternative society.
QUEST: Why?
TURNER: I think what was there was freedom. That habit of migrating to the west, to be free, to escape. That habit persists, and generations of bohemians followed. There is the updated last (inaudible), catalog.
QUEST: I'm about to get a close look at the hippy bible. Look at this, index information retrieval system.
TURNER: Officially it starts as a publication for people heading out to communes. Steve Jobs, Allen (inaudible), talked about this catalog as a kind of proto-internet. They knew how to recognize what the internet was probably because they had seen this catalog.
When Mark Zuckerberg says, I want to build a Facebook system that connects everyone, he is using the language of the communes. On the communes, what people wanted to do was get connected to one another, to have a shared consciousness, a shared mind-set.
QUEST: So you can see a direct connection --
TURNER: Yes. Silicon Valley absorbs the creative energy, the self- centeredness, the conscious orientation that is the San Francisco counter culture. Steve Jobs lived on a commune for a year.
QUEST: I'm suggesting that what's now swept in behind this is nothing more than Wall Street greed.
TURNER: It's classic Protestantism. God rewards those who do good by making them wealthy. And so people get wealthy and they often read it, I think, as a sign that they've done something benevolent.
QUEST: Tech has pushed out the hippies, the gays, all the others who were not just wealthy in tech. Wall of money has pushed them out. You argue that this is just a repetition or recitation of what happened before.
TURNER: This is the story of San Francisco.
QUEST: Waves roll in, waves roll out. Each new tide bringing change to the city, and fortifying the spirit that is always here.
[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: It is tucked away amongst the charming hills. A metaphor representing everything for which this city stands. I am in North America's oldest Chinatown, about to take part in an important ritual. Through the doors of the Golden Gate fortune cookie factory.
Nice to meet you.
VIVIAN CHAN, THIRD GENERATION, FAMILY-RUN BAKERY: Richard, right? Yes.
QUEST: It is.
CHAN: That is good, huh?
QUEST: Vivian Chan is the third generation to work in this family-run bakery. For decades they've been sweetening the future with promises of good fortune rather like this city and its never-ending arrivals.
CHAN: Grab a fortune. QUEST: Grab a fortune.
CHAN: And then you grab it and you put it here. You just watch me first. I mean, hold the corners and then you just press down. You have to put it on the rod. That was a fail, but you can try again.
QUEST: I'm getting there. Don't rush me. It's a great pleasure in life doing what people say you can't do. That is appropriate.
CHAN: Oh, it's OK, you did it.
QUEST: Close.
CHAN: Close.
QUEST: They're plenty hot.
CHAN: Fold the corners, fold the corners.
QUEST: Oh, look at this. You never hesitate to tackle the most -- never hesitate. One, two, three, four, five. Too much.
CHAN: It's OK. It's the effort that counts.
QUEST: One, two, three -- hold it, and --
CHAN: You did it!
QUEST: And ready, one --
When in doubt, seek the future.
CHAN: You should not return to the past to revive an old relationship.
QUEST: The near future holds a gift of contentment.
Contentment, the dictionary defines it as having a state of happiness and fulfillment. For sure, this is a city where people have come seeking happiness. In such an unconventional city, naturally there has to be unorthodox entertainments. And here there is a theater that has turned frivolity into an art.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: San Francisco, tell me you're the heart of all the golden west
QUEST: I've interviewed many people in many circumstances. I've never interviewed somebody wearing a hat of a city skyline. Tammy Nelson and the outrageous city skyline hat are part of Beach Blanket Babylon, one of the longest running musical reviews in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to, why don't you go where fashion sense.
QUEST: Beach Blanket Babylon satire will parody just about anyone or anything. The brainchild of San Francisco's native, Steve Silver first started in 1974. The super-sized hats and wigs have become the show's trademark. Shameless, over the top, the San Francisco legend.
Oh my God. Good grief. I've just got this feeling that you know, there is disaster ever closer.
JOE SCHUMAN SILVER, PRODUCER, BEACH BLANKET BABYLON: It takes a while to learn to walk in it.
QUEST: Joe Schuman Silver, Steve's widow, now runs the show. Her energy as nonstop as the performances.
SCHUMAN SILVER: Does it fit? Oh, my god, you have it on your head. To me it became what's in the news. What can we parody? Because everybody watches the news as time goes on more and more, especially with Trump. They're watching it every second.
QUEST: How often do you change it?
SCHUMAN SILVER: If there's something in the news and I think the audience will care about it and it's relevant, then. It could be that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got to tell you soon my we came, jack, ooh.
[03:55:00] QUEST: What is it about San Francisco that enabled, allowed, permitted, encouraged Beach Blanket Babylon to exist?
SCHUMAN SILVER: We couldn't make it too techy or too slick, but there is something so San Francisco about it.
QUEST: When you say it's something so San Francisco --
SCHUMAN SILVER: It just pulls you in in the most magical way and you're feeling you're living in the most fabulous city in the world. And we're so fortunate that Beach Blanket Babylon presents all the wonder of San Francisco.
QUEST: And not only is it the beauty, the extravagant costumes, but it's reflecting that spirit of San Francisco.
SCHUMAN SILVER: Anything goes. We're never embarrassed by what we do. San Franciscans have done some pretty crazy things throughout the years. I mean, usually first. It's the most special magical place to come to.
QUEST: San Francisco is a city that never fails to impress, and I don't just mean because of the view. Far from it. Here new radical ideas are born and thrive, and then go on to change human behaviors in the rest of the world. And new groups of like-minded people are always pushing out those who are already here.
There is, though, one constant throughout. It is that character that is San Francisco. Searching for a word to describe it? Time and again I hear, magic. So, it is the magic of San Francisco that makes it truly part of our world of wonder.
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