Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Announces New Tariffs on Chinese Goods; Bank of England Lowers U.K. Growth Forecast; 8 Arrested for Possessing Weapons & Explosives; Trump Blames Dems for Plight of Inner Cities; Third Confirmed Case of Ebola in Goma, Congo; Families of Detained U.S. Teens in Rome to Support Sons; Dubai Ruler's Sixth Wife in U.K. Court Battle. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired August 02, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and thanks for joining us. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you with us.

[00:00:24] Ahead this hour, the truce in the trade war between the U.S. and China appears to be over, with Donald Trump announcing a new 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, accusing Beijing of reneging on promises made months ago.

Another shock to the world economy. Now, less than ten days away, the Bank of England lowering economic forecasts for the U.K. this year and next as a no-deal Brexit becomes increasingly likely, and the British pound tumbles yet again.

And Hong Kong protesters set to hit the streets again, their ninth weekend of demonstrations, but police fear they could be armed with a lot more than placards and umbrellas.

Just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, Washington time, the White House issued what seem to be a typical news release about the ongoing trade talks with China. The closing line stated, "The meetings were constructive, and we expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue in Washington, D.C., in early September."

Which is why, just over 24 hours later, a series of presidential tweets sent shock markers through stock markets around the world. The bottom line, according to the U.S. president, is that China has failed to keep a number of commitments which were made over the past few months. And so those high-level negotiations will continue, but during the talks, the U.S. will start on September 1, putting a small additional tariff on 10 percent on the remaining $300 billion of goods and products coming from China into our country, in the words of the president.

He says this does not include 250 billion dollars already tariffed at 25 percent. In other words, a 10 percent tax on virtually everything exported by China to the United States: iPhones (ph), sneakers, toys, everything. Before the president's tariff tweets, the Dow was up more than 300

points but then nosedived. A turnaround of over 600 points in one day closing at 280 points in the red. As for markets in the Asia-Pacific region at this hour, all down in negative territory. Hong Kong down by two and a third percent. We have the Shanghai Composite down by more than one and a half percent. The Nikkei in Tokyo down by almost two and a half percent, as well.

We begin our coverage with CNN's Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing. So Steven, the big complaint from Donald Trump is that China's president, Xi Jinping, has not followed up on a promise made three months ago that China would buy more U.S. agriculture and it would also halt illegal exports of this fentanyl drug. It's highly addictive.

So specifically, what has Beijing done to answer those allegations? Have they addressed those allegations?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, John, so far, the only official response from the Chinese side we have heard is from the foreign minister, Wang Yi, who is actually in Bangkok attending a regional conference. When they're asked about Trump's latest threat by Chinese reporters, he said it's absolutely not the right way to resolve trade disputes between the two countries.

But we are probably going to hear more from Chinese officials in the coming hours, including on the daily foreign ministry press briefing and in about three hours.

You know, that ministry spokeswoman was asked about Trump's earlier series of tweets during the trade talks, and also, you know, Trump accused China of flip-flopping during the negotiations at the time. She said she would respond to these tweets with a snicker. So we are probably going to hear something similarly sarcastic, I think.

But here's the thing in reference to two specific issues mentioned in Trump's latest tweets when it comes to purchasing American agro products. This has been a problem between the two countries.

But just on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture actually confirmed private sales of 68,000 tons of soybeans, U.S. soybeans to China. Now, this obviously is not a very big figure, so it probably explains Trump's frustration. But you know, there seems to be some progress made on that front until Trump tweeted.

The fentanyl issue, of course, this is also an ongoing problem because of the public health emergency in the U.S. because of the opioid problems. But China, from their perspective, has been doing a lot on this front. I have attended quite a few press conferences by the police ministry, saying they have now listed more fentanyl and precursor chemicals as consensus (ph) in China than the U.S. has. And they also said they have been doing a lot to crack down on the production and shipments of these products to the U.S. They often actually turned the table around and accusing the U.S. of not doing enough and blaming the U.S. drug culture for this problem. So we're probably going to hear something similar when they counter

attack on this -- on this issue, as well. But here's the thing, John. If Trump thinks his latest threat is going to make the Chinese cave in, I think he's probably going to be disappointed.

Because his latest tweets really go against the two of China's core demands. One is sincerity in these talks, and the other is removal of all existing U.S. tariffs before any final deal can be reached. If anything, John, I think this is going to strengthen Chinese President Xi Jinping's hand. Remember, the Chinese leadership is no going into their summer retreat, their annual meeting behind closed doors, to discuss policies for the coming year, with U.S.-China relations being one of the problems.

So Xi Jinping can now tell others, look, Trump is just impossible to manage, and no matter what kind of concessions we make, it's no guarantee the Americans is going to hold their end of the bargain -- John.

VAUSE: Steven, a lot to get to this hour. We appreciate the analysis from you, from Beijing, about where China stands at the -- at this point in time. Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing.

Ryan Patel is a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Clairmont Graduate University. He's with us from Moab in Utah. Hey, good to see you.

RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Likewise.

VAUSE: OK. Trump's tariffs were meant to force China to restructure. It's to restructure its economy, right? China has not and will not restructure its economy. So does this new 10 percent tariff represent the doubling down on the failed strategy, an act of desperation by an administration in a corner and out of options.

PATEL: Well, I don't know if it's desperation just yet. I mean, that extra 10 percent is really, you know, a tenth of the GDP percentage on the overall scale of the economy.

But what really this sends -- this is the psyche. We took the talk about psychological warfare. This is what this is. This actually has more detrimental effect for the U.S. economy. You know, potentially what has been going really well for the U.S. economy has been consumer confidence on unemployment and those kinds of things. And this could cause inflation and less consumer confidence in businesses and just, in general, uncertainty to China.

This -- I think, actually, by them doing this hurts the U.S. more than China, because it really does put China in a position just to put their foot down. It's not really coming to the table. It's really kind of pushing it further away and actually kind of proving the point that there is going to be more trade disputes, and there should be uncertainty. To me, that's what he's signaled in this.

VAUSE: You mentioned there's a lot of consumer goods will be hit by this 10 percent tariff. Almost everything made by Apple. We're talking footwear. We're talking clothing. I want you to listen to Donald Trump explain why, in Trumpian land, U.S. consumers will not be impacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: China eats it, because they have to pay it. Because what they do is they devalue their currency, and they push money out. Our people haven't paid. As you know, we're also charging them 25 percent on $250 billion.

So we're taking in many billions of dollars. There's been absolutely no inflation, and frankly, it hasn't cost our consumer anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Can you make sense of that world salad?

PATEL: No, right now I don't want to eat the salad. But I mean, to me, the supply chain and the institution of supply chain management has come out and said it is a disruption. It is -- if you talk to any businesses and you look at the S&P 500 right now, you know, the -- 50 percent of those sales are global. The profits in quarter two are down 13 percent from last year.

So it's not that the earnings season hasn't been great. This hasn't been on top of the appetite. I mean, I think, to me I think what's happening in this rhetoric is it's not about the numbers anymore with him. I think he really wants to prove a point, and I don't really know how he's going to get China to come to the table when he's tweeting like this. And he knows that this hasn't been a successful way, so there's more to this than just the China-U.S. trade.

VAUSE: And on Wednesday, we had the Fed chairman, who announced a cut in interest rates, the first in more than a decade. During that news conference, he mentioned the word "trade" 26 times in the context of a rate cut being necessary because of escalating trade tension.

And to prove his point, the following day, Donald Trump put a 10 percent tariff on, you know, all trade with China. You know, this is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

PATEL: That is not a coincidence, John. I mean, he's proven -- I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. I mean, the Trump team and the Trump economic team kind of got what they wanted with the Fed cut. Not as much as they want. And they're pushing pressure, even though Jerome Powell came out and said, "Well, we're not really going to do more hikes."

Does this not put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to do more, to decrease the interest rate? Of course it will. I mean, they're going down that path. That's what the Federal Reserve will have to do if it keeps going up in the spiral.

You know, at one point on Thursday, Donald Trump seems to just write off with one flippant statement the value of about $700 billion worth of trade. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For many years, China has been taking money out by the hundreds of billion dollars a year. We have rebuilt China. So now, it's time that we change things around. If they don't want to train with us anymore, that would be fine with me. It would save a lot of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Fine with me. OK, there's talking tough, which is sometimes necessary in negotiations. And then there's being ridiculous. Where would you put that statement from Donald Trump? Is it tough talk, or is it just asinine?

[00:10:03] PATEL: He knows it's ridiculous. Come on. He's done -- you give -- I'm going to give him a little bit of doubt here. He's done some business across the world. He knows he can't. That's not -- he knows that he needs China. Let's just be honest. He needs China for going into the election of 2020. These are just -- this is typical Trump language. And while you see other country he has and why China is not really going to take him seriously. And then we're going to have kind of -- it will be interesting to see what the Chinese government says in a few hours, because it's not going to be pretty.

VAUSE: OK. Stay with us, because another potential shock to the world economy is now less than 100 days away with a no-deal Brexit increasingly likely.

The Bank of England is forecasting economic growth for both this year and next in the U.K. will be slower than expected. That was the prediction back in May. It's now down a touch to 1.3 percent.

The bank rejected calls to cut interest rates, holding steady at point 75 percent. Officials added that a gradual hike is likely to be needed in the event of a smooth British exit from the European Union and with the sterling falling off a cliff the bank blames in part the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his incredibly strong commitment to a Brexit at any cost.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, BANK OF ENGLAND GOVERNOR: It's relatively unusual to be in the situation where you have quite binary outcomes, such as the country faces between the possibility of a deal and a smooth transition to some form of deep trading relationship with the European Union to no deal and an instant adjustment to a WTO trading relationship, which is a very different thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Ryan, this turbulence that we're seeing in the pound, it's similar to the -- you know, the turbulence that you see in emerging markets with their currencies. But I want you to listen to the new finance minister, who says everything is going to be just fine. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAJID JAVID, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: Well, since 2010, because of the policies of government since then because of the hard work of the British people, our economy is fundamentally strong. So today, we can make many choices. We can choose to both invest in our schools, our hospitals, our fantastic police, for example. But we can also prepare to exit the E.U., and that, in fact, means leaving with no deal. That's exactly what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I can find only one small problem in what the new chancellor said, and that's it's not true. It's the stuff of fairy tales and pixie dust.

PATEL: You know, I definitely believe in the U.K. people. But when you have the governor of the Central Bank of England come out and say that they've baked in that there will be a smooth deal for Brexit and that, if there is no deal, they've stated, not me, they've -- the Central Bank of England stated it is not a win-win for anybody.

It's just because it's so much disruption. It's not at the -- I guess it is at the poll of what's going on but definitely not the consumers and to the people in the U.K. This will be a very difficult task for the U.K. economy. And you'll see it slash more -- you know, slash more GDP forecast, and that's what they're trying to do.

VAUSE: Very quickly, we have the pound. I think last time I looked, it was about a buck 21 U.S., which is just so incredibly low when you think about it. I mean, and they're saying it's going to get lower. I mean, could we see the pound hit parity and below with the U.S. dollar in the coming months?

PATEL: Yes. Actually, I think we may. And it's part -- party because, I think, what the U.S. is trying to do in their own thing and what Bank of England and what the sterling has done is gradually -- gradually going down, especially with what's going on with the E.U.

But more importantly, you've seen a lot of companies continue to divest themselves and having, you know, about 90 percent, I think it was, of the serving businesses already have a Plan B for Brexit if there is no deal. And so they're embracing that, you know, shockwave. They're waiting for that shock.

VAUSE: Take foot -- take shotgun, aim at foot and pull trigger. It's amazing. Ryan, good to see you. Great to have you with us.

PATEL: Likewise.

VAUSE: South Korea has accused Japan of declaring all-out war and the economic war. This comes after Tokyo removed South Korea from its list of preferred trading partners.

The office of the South Korean president says it will respond but hasn't given any details as of yet. The removal means Japanese companies now need a license to sell any product to South Korea that could be used for military applications.

For the third time in eight days, North Korea has test fired ballistic missiles. South Korean officials expressed some strong concern over the launches, a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. But Donald Trump, the U.S. president, shrugged it off, saying he never made an agreement with North Korea on short-range missiles.

We have more now from CNN's Will Ripley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be emboldened after his meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with President Trump. He's been launching shortrange missiles at an increasingly rapid pace. Two this week, three just in the last two weeks.

And the question is, is he going to continue to do this as the United States and North Korea potentially move closer to the resumption of working level talks. That is something the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he is hopeful and optimistic will happen. He was speaking at a conference in Bangkok, a conference that the U.S. had thought might be a potential place for the U.S. and North Koreans to meet for those working-level talks.

But North Korea didn't send a delegation there. So now the question is, where will they talk? When will it happen? Are there back- channel discussions?

These are things not being discussed publicly. What we are seeing publicly is a message from the North Koreans that they are unhappy about the U.S. and South Korea resuming joint military exercises.

And by launching these short-range ballistic missiles, tests that violate un Security Council resolutions, but tests that President Trump has said essentially don't bother him. He's OK with them, because they don't pose a direct threat to the mainland U.S., even though they do pose a threat to Japan and South Korea, along with tens of thousands of U.S. troops and both of those countries.

Well, now, the North Koreans will see just how far they can go, just how much leverage they can try to secure for themselves ahead of the potential resumption of talks and, of course, what North Korea's ultimate goal is the lifting of economic sanctions.

The U.S. wants North Korea to give up nuclear weapons. So far neither side has gotten what they want.

Will Ripley, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Preparing for protests. In Hong Kong, both police and protestors are gearing up for another weekend of mass demonstrations. And now police say they have made some shocking discoveries among the protesters. We'll tell you what that is when we come back. Also, President Trump weighing in after two days of debates among

Democratic candidates. He tells supporters in Ohio Democrats are to blame for the plight in many inner cities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Hong Kong police have arrested eight people, allegedly, for possession of weapons and materials used to make explosives. This is happening as protestors prepare for a ninth weekend of pro-democracy demonstrations.

CNN's Matt Rivers live for us in Hong Kong. Matt, how extraordinary. Truly incredible that after two months of protests, that police find this contraband at this point in time. Amazing!

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, yes. There's, you know, a lot of skepticism when police announced --

VAUSE: Really?

RIVERS: -- these arrests because -- believe it or not, there is -- because what we have seen evolve in Hong Kong, John, over the last two months is a distinct distrust of the police. You have the people that have been out in the streets here not believing what the police have to say.

Now, police also, you know, certainly choose very -- you can say circumstantial timing, you could say, to announce these sorts of arrests. They said they made it last night. They said these people were making petrol bombs. They said that they were in possession of the kinds of materials that we've seen protesters use over the past two months.

[00:20:12] But no matter what police say, John, at this point, you know, the protesters are not going to believe them. And it might only add to the kind of violence that we have seen over the past couple weeks in Hong Kong. People are upset at police. They don't trust police. And with another weekend full of protests planned, you know, you could definitely see that violence crop up again.

Well, speaking of not exactly subtle, the PLA has not been known to be subtle at the best of times, and that was on full display with a new propaganda video which it's released. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: All consequences are at your own risk. Fall back. Fall back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And that was followed by, again, a less-than-subtle warning from the commander of the PLA garrison base in Hong Kong. Listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GENERAL CHEN DAOXIANG, CHINESE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY, HONG KONG GARRISON (through translator): Recently, there have been a series of violent incidents happening in Hong Kong. The incidents have seriously violated the bottom line of one country, two systems. This should not be tolerated, and we express our strong condemnation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so on the one hand, you've got what the politicians are, saying, what analysts are saying is that, you know, the PLA would never, you know, be sent into Hong Kong, or at least, certainly, it's a -- it's a long shot at best to restore law and order.

But then you've got this stuff. So where is the reality here? How close are the PLA, and who's pushing, I guess, on the mainland for a more aggressive, or more robust response to these protests?

RIVERS: Yes, you certainly have hardliners in the mainland who absolutely hate what's going on in Hong Kong and would love to see the military take to the streets.

But I think, generally speaking, the reality on the ground is that things would have to get a lot worse for the PLA to roll tanks here into the city.

I think, you know, when it comes down to it, these protests, while violent, basically, they involve several thousand people coming out each weekend. And the police, when they decide to use force, have proved more than capable, at least at this point, of dispersing those protestors.

I think, John, as long as that's the case, where it's only a couple thousand protesters that are easily -- relatively easily dispersed by police, then the cons of sending in the military outweigh the benefits in terms of if you're Beijing and your mindset behind this.

I think in order for the PLA to be brought in, you would need to see full-scale riots. You would need to see businesses being looted. You would need to see the police show, here, an inability to control these crowds. And as violent as things have been recently, John, the police have been able to disperse the protesters when they so choose.

But the fact that they are putting out these propaganda videos, I mean, it's astonishing the fact that that's happening. They were speaking Cantonese in that video. Clearly, the mainland wants to send a message, even if they're not ready quite yet to actually send in troops.

VAUSE: Wow, thanks, Matt. You know, Tiananmen Square, though, keeps coming to mind. Hopefully, it won't get to that point. Thanks, Matt.

U.S. negotiators are optimistic about a peace deal with the Taliban as the Trump administration is scaling back the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. Five sources have told CNN the U.S. plans to cut personnel in half by the end of September, including diplomats and security staff.

The U.S. also hopes to bring home about 5,000 troops as part of its push to end the 18-year-long war in Afghanistan.

For the past couple of days, Democrats have dominated the primetime airwaves and newspaper headlines with a series of debates among the presidential candidates.

On Thursday evening, President Trump tried to recapture the stage for himself with a political rally in Cincinnati, Ohio. Trump blamed Democrats for problems with an inner city, saying they're in bad shape, because they're controlled by Democrat politicians.

He avoided the usual heated rhetoric that had provoked a chant of "Send her back" at previous rallies.

A handful of protestors briefly interrupted his speech but they were quickly shouted down. The president called out to them, "You must have a Democrat mayor."

For more now, we head to Washington and CNN political analyst and columnist for "The Washington Post," Josh Rogin.

Josh, good to see you.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Glad to be with you.

VAUSE: OK. Almost from the get-go, it seemed the president, he was about to go off on a Baltimore-like meltdown. Then suddenly, he took a U-turn. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, these communities have been run exclusively by Democrat politicians, and it's been total one-party control of the inner cities. For 100 years, it's been one-party control and look at them. We can name one after another, but I won't do that, because I don't want to be controversial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There is a first time for everything. But it was from that point that, you know, the rally seemed to follow the president's lead, and he was kind of subdued. There were no pitchforks, no torches. So what do you read into all this?

[00:25:02] ROGIN: I think President Trump has realized there's actually a tension between riling up his rally crowds into a frothing madness of anti-immigration, racist chanting; and the other thing he has to do, which is actually run the government and work with Republicans but also sometimes Democrats to do that.

And, you know, he's been doing this carnival act on the rally circuit for three and a half years, OK, and people are kind of used to it. And now, in order to get the same sort of reaction, he's got to escalate the rhetoric; and he's taken it as far as it can go.

So he's -- I think he's stuck. I think he's got kind of a tired act, and you know, he wants to -- to play into the racist, anti- immigration, anti-minority stuff. But he pulled his punches tonight, so at least he knows that there is some cost to that, whatsoever.

VAUSE: Which brings me to a point that Frank Figliuzzi, who is a former assistant director of the FBI for counterintelligence, he wrote a piece in "The New York Times" about the increasing concern among law enforcement that Trump words -- that Trump's words are actually fueling flames of racial tension.

He writes that recent rants which are directed specifically at those four Democratic congresswomen of color have "emboldened white hate groups and reinforced racist blogs, news sites and social media platforms." He adds that "Trump empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy."

There was a time when we used to ask the question, is Donald Trump a racist or does he just play one on television? No that doesn't really seem to matter, because at the end of the day, the result is the same.

ROGIN: That's exactly right. Racist is as a racist does. OK? And the -- what you're pointing to is the irrefutable statistics that show that, since Donald Trump has sort of normalized this kind of dog- whistle racism, all the way up to just, like, bullhorn racism, hate crimes have gone way up in every category across the board.

And the racists who were previously ashamed to show their faces in public are popping up everywhere. And that's not a coincidence. OK?

And you know, he can disavow that as much as he wants, but you know, it's unbelievable to think that he doesn't make that connection.

And again, this is his political strategy. I think President Trump fears that he's lost the middle, and he knows he's going to have to turn out his base. And this is the best way he can think of doing that and damn the consequences, even if those consequences mean increased division, increased crime, increased trouble for law enforcement.

And another thing that there was a report today that came out that said conspiracy theories are now driving extremism. And nobody promotes conspiracy theories like President Trump. He's like the conspiracy theorist in chief.

VAUSE: Yes.

ROGIN: And now people are believing that stuff, too, and that's causing even more problems.

VAUSE: Right off the top of that rally in Cincinnati, Trump went after the Democrats and their campaign debate on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Listen to what he kind of said about them. You know, it was hist typical Trump stuff. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was watching the so-called debate last night, and I also watched the night before. That was long, long television. And the Democrats spent more time attacking Barack Obama than they did attacking me, practically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And on that, he's actually kind of right. The Democrats, you know, the candidates on both Tuesday and Wednesday, especially Wednesday, they spent most of the time eating their own.

A good headline in "The Washington Post" put it this way: "Do Democrats think they can win by attacking Barack Obama?" a point which was not lost on the frontrunner in the Democratic convention, Joe Biden. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope the next debate we can talk about how we fix -- our answers to fix the things that Trump has broken. Not how Barack Obama made all of these mistakes. He didn't. He didn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Could the Democrats actually, you know, form this circular firing squad and cause an immense amount of damage to one another and leave the door wide open for a second Trump term?

ROGIN: Yes, that can happen. I mean, I understand why Biden is making that argument, because that argument favors his position, relative to the other candidates. He's the frontrunner. He wants to -- people to aim their fire at Trump and not at him and definitely not at his former boss, Barack Obama.

The other candidates, it's a different calculation. OK? We're going into a winnowing period where we're going to go from 20 candidates to ten or less. All right? So these people are getting desperate.

You know, and I also don't place a lot of stock, personally, in the idea that Democrats attacking Democrats is necessarily bad. These candidates need to be tested. It's better to work out the kinks now. It's better to deal with criticisms now than if and when you get into that debate stage with Donald Trump.

So I say, you know, let 1,000 flowers bloom. And you know, a bunch of them will eventually die.

[00:30:04] VAUSE: Let me give you another one. The more they sweat in -- in training, the less you bleed in war, I guess, is the other side of the equation.

Josh, good to see you. Thank you. Still to come, a year after an Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new case of the deadly virus is confirmed in the Congolese capital. We'll tell you what it means when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to impose more tariffs on Chinese- made products, effectively taxing all Chinese goods coming into the United States. He's starting this time at 10 percent but says it could go higher. The announcement rocked Wall Street. Thursday's Dow ended the day 280 points in the red.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chances of securing a Brexit agreement just got a little harder. His Conservative Party has lost a seat in a parliamentary by-election to pro-E.U. Liberal Democrats. Brexit fears had earlier prompted the Bank of England to lower its growth forecast for the 3U.K. for this year and next. They warn a no- deal Brexit could hurt the economy and also hit the value of the pound.

South Korea has expressed strong concern after a missile test by North Korea, the third in eight days. They appear to be short-range ballistic missiles, a violation of U.N. resolutions, but U.S. President Donald Trump says he is not concerned, because if he did not make a deal with North Korea on short-range missiles.

In Yemen, an attack on a military parade has killed at least 36 people, wounded dozens more. It happened in the port city of Aden, a stronghold of the internationally-recognized government of Yemen. Houthi rebels say they launched the attack with an armed drone and ballistic missile. The parade was reportedly held during a graduation ceremony for Yemeni troops.

Well, to the Democratic Republic of Congo now, where international health officials have confirmed the third case of Ebola in a major border city -- in the major border city, rather, of Goma. The disease has already killed two people there and killing hundreds of where in the country.

We've got late details now from David McKenzie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a grim milestone in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's been a year to the day of this Ebola outbreak and still no sign that they're managing to get it under control. This despite there being an experimental vaccine that many hoped would stop this outbreak in its tracks.

But in the northeast part of the Congo, they're dealing with a conflict zone and also a deep level of mistrust, which we saw on the ground recently when we traveled there. Now, there's been a third Ebola confirmed case, according to Doctors

Without Borders, in Goma. This city of more than a million people, a transit hub on the border of Rwanda. There's fear, and WHO says a high risk of this disease spreading into Rwanda, into Uganda, south Sudan, those neighboring countries.

That is why they're trying to make sure that there isn't a spread in Goma. They are stopping people and testing their symptoms thousands of times a day at the various entry and exit points of this country: more than 17 million times, they say, since this outbreak began.

[00:35:07] But despite this surveillance, they are just not getting a handle on this outbreak. More than 1,700 people have died. And even with the announcement of a global health emergency of international concern, a couple of weeks ago, they haven't seen, really, the slowing of this outbreak in those key areas of the provinces in northeast Congo.

David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A short break. When we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM, the investigation into an Italian police officer's killing, and prosecutors are raising more questions, like, why he approached two teenage robbery suspects unarmed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: The families of two U.S. teenagers suspected of killing an Italian police officer have now arrived in Rome. The father of one suspect insists his son is innocent and distraught over the death of the officer. We have details now from Melissa Bell. She has more details, actually, on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pushing through a crowd of cameras and reporters, an exhausted and emotionless Ethan Elder left Rome's Regina Coeli Prison after visiting his teenage son, Finnegan.

Finnegan, 19 years old, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 18, both from San Francisco and now suspects in the killing of Italian police officer Mario Cerciello Rega.

Police say both teens have admitted to the assault but say that Elder confessed to stabbing Cerciello. The officer, a newlywed, was stabbed 11 times, according to Italian authorities.

The tragedy has triggered outrage in a country where the killing of a police officer is rare.

Natale-Hjorth's lawyer ignored questions about what happened that fateful night, only to say that his client is distraught. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He's a young man who is

tired. He is very exhausted. We had a long meeting, obviously, with regards to what our defense is going to be.

BELL: A defense that is likely to challenge the chain of events given by Italian authorities. That's part of the court order for detaining the two American teens.

CNN earlier spoke with Gabriel Natale-Hjorth's father, who adamantly defended his son.

FABRIZIO NATALE, FATHER OF GABRIEL: He was distraught by what happened and cannot come to terms with it. We are deeply upset by his predicament while at the same time fully convinced of his innocence. He did not know his friend was armed. He only became aware of what actually happened after his arrest.

BELL: Surveillance video shows the two Americans running in the streets that night after allegedly stealing a backpack following a botched drug deal.

The owner of the stolen backpack contacted police, and two unarmed, plain-clothes officers, Cerciello and his partner, met the American teens under the guise of retrieving the knapsack.

Cerciello, who was unarmed, and his partner identified themselves as police, according to Italian authorities. The pair were than immediately attacked.

Police allege Elder brought the murder weapon to Italy from the U.S.

When Elder was interrogated, he claimed that he wasn't aware Cerciello and his partner were policemen and said he acted in self-defense.

CNN has spoken with a source close to the defense who says it is still waiting for authorities to release the autopsy report without commenting further.

Police allege surveillance footage also shows the two teens with the owner of the knapsack, seen here with his bike, before the attack. Now the owner issuing a statement through his lawyer, denying that he is a drug pusher, intermediary, or a police informant as Italian media have suggested.

SERGIO BRUGIATELLI, KNAPSACK OWNER (through translator): They threatened 333meantime, telling me that they knew where I lived and that they would have come after me.

BELL: Though police say Elder has confessed to stabbing Cerciello, he can also be charged for the crime under Italian law, because he was involved. Charges that could take at least six months to file. Authorities are also looking into why Cerciello was not carrying his firearm, another piece of a puzzle that has become a national tragedy.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, new details about the sixth wife of Dubai's ruler who was in London, seeking legal protections from herself and her two children. CNN's Nina Dos Santos has more now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Dubai billionaire ruler's wife, Princess Haya, has appeared in a central court in London, mounting a high-profile legal battle seeking a forced marriage protection order, specifically, to prevent one of her children from being pushed into wedlock.

The couple, who married in 2004, have two children, and Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein is the sixth wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, who is one of the richest men in the world and who's power in the Middle East is undisputed. The architect of Dubai's transformation.

The British media have speculated for weeks about the collapse of their marriage after the princess reportedly left her husband and traveled to London.

The hearing was subject to stringent reporting restrictions. CNN and other international media were not allowed in the courtroom. On Tuesday, the press association reported that Princess Haya also requested a non-molestation order from the court for herself and for both of her children to be made wards of the court, meaning that any future decisions about their welfare cannot be made without the approval of a judge.

Sheikh Mohammad, who was not present at court, opposed the application and asked the court to order the return of his children to the UAE. His representatives declined to comment.

(on camera): The custody battle is the latest chapter in this high- profile separation, one which risks becoming a diplomatic minefield for the U.K. and its close ally, the UAE. Both parties have royal blood in their veins and connections to Britain's monarchy.

(voice-over): Princess Haya is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and the half-sister of that country's current monarch. Through their shared passion for horses, she and Sheikh Mohammed have often been seen in the presence of the queen at key events.

An Oxford graduate, Princess Haya is no stranger to the public limelight. She has championed humanitarian efforts in the Middle East and competed as an equestrian for Jordan in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

On Wednesday, after the two-day hearing, the judge set a date for a full hearing in early November. Princess Haya is the third female family member of Sheikh Mohammad's courts to leave the UAE. Two of his daughters from another marriage have previously attempted to leave the country. They ended up returning to Dubai.

Nina Dos Santos, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:13] (WORLD SPORT)

3[00:57:23] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:08] VAUSE: Hello. Thank you for joining us. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.