Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Splits With Allies At G7 Summit; Trump Misleads, Division And Confusion Remain; Trump Pushes For New Nuclear Deal With Iran; Leaders Pledge $20 Million To Fight Amazon Fires; Trump Claims China Called To Restart Trade Talks; Historic Opioid Trial On Johnsons And Johnsons; Tropical Storm Dorian; Fears Of New Arms Race As Russia Tests Missiles; Ceasefire Appears To Be Collapsing In Idlib Province; Myanmar's Rohingya Crisis; Kashmir Tensions; Indonesia, A Sinking City. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired August 27, 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] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sorry, it's the way I negotiate. It's done very well for me over the years, and it's doing even better for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump tax into his usual style of diplomacy leaving behind a trail of false claims at this year's G7 summit. Plus a historic trial finds a giant drug manufacturer to blame for its part in one American state painkiller addiction crisis. And later, tropical storm Dorian pushes towards the Caribbean with Puerto Rico in its direct path.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church and this is "CNN Newsroom."

Donald Trump walked out of last year's G7 summit, but this year he is feeling more positive that is despite major divisions among the leaders on a variety of issues including Russia and climate change. And there is ongoing concern and confusion on the trade war with China. Abby Philip has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: This is a truly successful G7, there was tremendous unity.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: President Trump ending this year's G7 summit with his rendition of Kumbaya during a joint press conference with the French president.

TRUMP: We would have stayed for another hour, nobody wanted to leave, we were accomplishing a lot, but I think more importantly, we were getting along very well. Seven countries. PHILLIP: But minutes later, in a solo press conference, the divide

between Trump and other world leaders on the climate crisis, Iran, and Russia were on full display. Hours after skipping a meeting attended by other G7 leaders on the impacts of climate change, Trump, once again, dismissing the crisis he once called a hoax.

TRUMP: I'm not going to lose that wealth, I'm not going to lose it on dreams, on windmills, which frankly are not working to well.

PHILLIP: Trashing the Iran nuclear deal he pulled the United States out of.

TRUMP: I have to say the JCPOA was a bad deal, it should not have been entered into.

PHILLIP: This as French President Emmanuel Macron defended the deal by meeting with Iran's foreign minister on the sidelines of the summit. As for the prospects that he might meet with Iranian leaders, Trump initially would not commit to a meeting, but later warmed up to the idea.

TRUMP: I think that there's a really good chance that we would meet.

PHILLIP: Trump continuing to push for Russia to rejoin the G7, despite other world leaders not agreeing. Meantime, with global markets in flux, as the trade war with China escalates, the issues seem to dominate the summit.

TRUMP: China wants to make a deal, and if we can, we will make a deal. We'll see.

PHILLIP: The president offering no apologies for his chaotic strategy to resolve the trade dispute.

TRUMP: The way I negotiated, it's done very well for me over the years and it's doing even better for the country.

PHILLIP: Evan as tariffs escalate on both sides, Trump claiming without evidence that China is now ready to come to the table.

TRUMP: I believe they want to do a deal. The tariffs have hit them very hard in a fairly short period of time.

PHILLIP: When President Trump also raised the idea that next year's G7 summit, which is supposed to be held in the United States, might actually be held at his golf resort at Doral in Miami. Now that has renewed questions about whether the president is potentially benefitting from his own presidency, but the President Trump said that it's not about profit, it's about location. Abby Philip, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: So let's take a look at all of this with CNN national security analyst, Samantha Vinograd, always great to have you with us.

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So a head spinning G7 summit meeting, full of falsehoods and mixed messages from the U.S. president, what if anything did he achieve at this year's meeting and what all did he's behavior revealed to the world?

VINOGRAD: Well, I think he achieved a few things, but perhaps by accident, Macron was a shrewd host this year and perhaps by coordinating behind the scenes with other G7 leaders, the G6, if you will, he managed to get Trump to make some headway in at least two key areas. One is on trade, for now and on Iran for now.

On trade, President Trump came out of this summit striking a much more conciliatory tone on China than when he went in that may have been because he really heard a chorus of criticism from leaders of Macron, Merkel, all the way to Boris Johnson and the Italian Prime Minister criticizing the United States protectionism and urging President Trump to walk back or at least declare a truce with respect to the trade war with China. So that's bucket number one.

Bucket number two is on Iran, there seems to be and I'm stressing the scenes here, having worked on diplomacy with Iran, some kind of diplomatic opening between the United States and Iran that Macron is mediating.

[03:05:08] We've gone from Trump taking a maximalist position toward Iran to saying he's willing to talk and now it seems like the Iranians as well may consider coming to the table with the United States. So there was some progress by the American president, but he seems to have been led there based upon a coordinated effort by his peers rather than a proactive decision on his part.

CHURCH: Right and let's tackle China first here, because President Trump claims that China called numerous times, wanting to sit down and make a trade deal. It turns out that was not the case, what damage does Mr. Trump's unique negotiations style have on the credibility of the Office of the U.S. President, particularly when it comes to trade issues that impact not just the United States, but the world.

VINOGRAD: Well, I think the bottom line is, actions speak larger than words or tweets and President Trump very often when it comes to negotiations and frankly any other topic lies, imaginary phone calls and it's just the tip of the iceberg. And when it comes to China whether it be actually notifying the U.S. trade representatives sending paperwork on tariffs, actually speaking with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, actually having his negotiators meet with the Chinese to hammer out details, he talks a big game, but there hasn't been much actual progress or much actual movement.

It is unclear whether he will actually move forward with more tariffs or whether he will put them on hold. I mean, remember just about two weeks ago he announced he was delaying tariffs, he previously announced because of fears of about the impact on the U.S. economy. So when it comes to all things China and trade and frankly everything else that the president talks about, we have to see when he signs on the dotted line, when there's actual action rather than just bluster. CHURCH: Now you touch on the U.S. president saying he wants to make a

new nuclear deal with Iran. He thinks that country's leader will want to meet with Kim to discuss this and as you mentioned, Emmanuel Macron really was the one who got this all in motion. How likely is it that though that this will happen and what would that deal likely look like do you think?

VINOGRAD: Well, having worked on Iran nuclear negotiation in the past, I'm not a betting woman because there are so many uncertain factors and frankly whatever we are seeing in front of the cameras is really not indicative of what is happening behind the scenes. That said the deal with Iran would only be reached if there were some kind, from the Iranian perspective, there were some kind of access to funds.

Iran has said that they will continue to advance their nuclear program unless they get sanctions relief. President Trump may be able to find a workaround on that front even if he won't lift sanctions, he said earlier today, he would consider establishing a line of credit, there could be a special purpose vehicle established, there could be sanctions, waivers. So there is a way to get to what Iran wants at least in the short term.

Iran unlikely at this point would just have to live up to its nuclear agreements under the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal. President Trump said he wanted a bigger and better deal, but we all he said, he wanted a bigger and better deal with North Korea and he is pretty satisfied with something far below that. So, from my perspective if Iran agreed to adhere to its JCPOA commitments perhaps extended the timelines a little bit so that Trump can say at least he did better than Obama. That would satisfy President Trump's position.

CHURCH: Interesting times, Samantha Vinograd, thank you so much. I appreciate your analysis always.

VINOGRAD: Thank you.

CHURCH: Thank you. And while President Trump skipped out on a climate change briefing at the G7, citing scheduling issue, the other G7 leaders were left to tackle the crisis in the Amazon. They have agreed on a $20 million emergency fund to help countries affected by the Amazon forest fires in South America, the flames have been spreading at a record rate for weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Now we see what is happening in the Amazon and we would like to be able to respond to these ravages and we did this from the very outset, we knew it for a good reason. The Amazon is the lung of the planet and the consequences are extremely dire for the planet. Many countries indeed have been affected and the suppress areas -- the two times the surface area of France. So, we know how dramatic this is for the countries, but humanity as a whole.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is pushing back, he is

accusing Mr. Macron of treating the Amazon like a colony or no man's land that must be save. He wants Brazil sovereignty to be respected.

Well, President Trump is doubling down on his support for Russia to rejoin the G7 with no preconditions insisting he isn't concern about political blow back, this even as Russia launches a nuclear capable ballistic missiles boosting fears of a new arms race. More now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Vladimir Putin is making good on his promise to strike back at the U.S. Test firing nuclear capable missiles, near NATO's borders. Vladimir Putin spokesman confirming Moscow intends to further beef up its forces after America pulled out of the IMF treaty with Russia and test-fired its own new missile.

You have surely heard the president instructions. They had been given. In general there has been quite intensive activity, both for military development and for our troop's maintenance in the proper state.

In the span of about 48 hours, Russia has conducted a flurry of military drills, fighter jets launching air to air missiles flying out of occupied Crimea, the army practicing the so-called stealth deployment of medium range nuclear capable Iskander missile in Kaliningrad. And practicing anti- ballistic missile defense in the Far East.

All this as President Trump, at the G7 summit in France, voice his desire to invite Russia to the next meeting, but the group of leading industrial nations in the U.S. next year. French president Emmanuel Macron however acknowledging no consensus was reach with other leaders on the issue. President Trump showing concern for Putin's feelings.

TRUMP: You know, he is a proud person, would I invite him? I would certainly invite, him whether or not he could come, psychologically I think that is a tough thing for him to do, you have a G8, now it's a G7 and you invite the person that was thrown out really by President Obama and really because he got outsmarted.

PLEITGEN: But the Kremlin is not acknowledging it wants back into the G7, Vladimir Putin's top diplomat almost mocking President Trump's advances.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We haven't ask anybody for anything. We found out about this from public statements of certain western colleagues, we haven't requested anything on this issue and are not going to, life goes on.

PLEITGEN: Meantime as President Trump's efforts of diplomacy sputter, the military escalation continues. Russia also announced it will soon rearmed old Soviet era bases on the Black Sea with new missiles. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well Russia's military has also been a key player in Syria's civil war, that conflict will likely top the agenda as President Putin host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the coming hours. The two leaders meet as Russian back Syrian government troop advance in Idlib province, Turkey has supported some rebel factions in the region. So, for more CNN's Gul Tuysuz is live in Istanbul, Turkey and she joins us, now. Good to see you, Gul. So the Turkish and Russian leaders set to meet in Russia, where is this all going and what impact will it likely have on Syria?

GUL TUYSUZ, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Rosemary, the biggest impact of course is going to be on that some three million civilians who lived in Idlib. They are really at -- bearing the brunt of what has been going on and that is this, the Syrian government forces have been pushing up in the south of that region, up north and they have taken over strategic towns and villages and that's really created another IDP refugee push up to Turkey's borders.

And we have been seeing this ceasefire and de-escalation zone that has been in place for a while now to protect those civilians solely crumbling. So, now Turkey and Russia are coming together to try to see what can be done. And really for Turkey of course, there is a very important other aspect to all of this which is that they had an observation point, that they had set up in agreement, in previous agreements that were agreed to between Turkey, Russia and Iran.

There's a handful of Turkish soldiers there in that zone that the Syrian government forces have moved into. And those soldiers effectively are surrounded, so that is going to be something that Erdogan is going to be looking for in this meeting to try and see what happens to that observation point.

They have done it in the past, these two leaders have come together and hammered out a cease-fire, there is one recently that collapsed, but they have managed to stop hostilities and try to give these civilians some semblance of normalcy in this last rebel stronghold. But whether or not they can do that again, this is a snap visit that has taken place, because of the hostilities that had been ratchetting up in Idlib. Can they come together and do something that would prevent another push against these Syrian civilians, we just don't know at this point.

[03:15:00] But we do know that those civilians, we have been in there in Idlib, in Syria and before we've asked the civilians that are there, what would you do, what would you do if the Syrian government forces do advance and they've all said, we cannot live under the Assad regime and we will not. So we will push our way and we are going to run into and cross the Turkish border and that is definitely something that Erdogan today is going to be looking to prevent, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, we will see what comes of those talks, Gul Tuysuz, joining us from Istanbul, many thanks.

And just ahead, placing blame for America's opioid crisis, a judge has delivered his verdict and in a landmark case and it is bound to have far reaching impact, we will take a look at that.

And two years after Myanmar forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee for their lives, is it carrying out another brutal crackdown without any repercussions, we will take a look at that to, be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson and Johnson to pay more than half a billion dollars for its role in the opioid epidemic in the United States, the company says it will appeal. Alexandra Field has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A landmark decision indeed right here in Oklahoma, this is the first state to take to trial a pharmaceutical company accusing Johnson and Johnson of fueling the opioid crisis in this state, the misleading marketing of two of its drugs. They say the company created a public nuisance that cause the state billions of dollars and devastated thousands of lives.

In court after eight weeks of trial, after more than a hundred witnesses were heard, a judge ruled in favor of the state ordering Johnson and Johnson to pay some $572 million. Money that would go towards treatment and prevention programs. Johnson and Johnson says there are drugs are necessary for legal pain management, they say they have abided by all state and federal laws, they say there are a number of grounds on which they can appeal and they believe that the companies is being used as a scapegoat for a larger social problem.

This ruling will be looked at across the country. There are dozens of states that would like to follow in Oklahoma's footsteps. There's also federal trial that will kick off this fall, it involves a couple of thousand claims from cities, communities, municipalities across the country that would all like to see big pharmaceutical companies held responsible for fueling an epidemic. In Oklahoma, Alexandra Field, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: This week marks two years since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Many who didn't flee were killed. There are fears the military is carrying out more killings and driving more Rohingya from their homes right now.

[03:20:06] Refugees in tent camps in Bangladesh gathered to mark what they call genocide day and more victims of the 2017 crackdown. Myanmar insist it was targeting insurgents and denies allegation of war crimes, but the Rohingya refugees are fearful of returning. The U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar tells CNN, they have good reason to be afraid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) YANGHEE LEE, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MAYNMAR: The Rohingya's will

not want to go back because right now the tatmadaw who forced them out, who committed the brutalities are still there with totally impunity, the oppressing laws is still there, pressing policies, administrative and policies and practices are still that Rohingya's had citizenship. Many Rohingya's had citizenship prior to 1982 that was all revoked, they want the citizenship to be reinstated again and be granted freedom of movement, freedom of rights to services and like such as education and health services, in other words just like any other Myanmar citizens enjoy. This is what the Rohingya's want, then they will go back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Lee also says Myanmar's leader, one-time human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi is accountable for her failure to stop the violence and for her recent comments which seemed to have fanned the flames of ethnic hatred.

Well, Pakistan's Prime Minister is warning about what could happen if tensions keep rising with India, over the disputed Kashmir region, the nuclear rivals already have fought two wars over Kashmir and now Imam Khan says deteriorating relations could lead to a nuclear disaster. Local officials say more than 2,000 people have been detained in Indian controlled Kashmir since the Indian Prime Minister revoked its autonomy earlier this month.

We could soon see the first hurricane of the season, the tropical storm Dorian is rumbling towards Puerto Rico, and we will bring you the forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Thailand's royal palace has released candid photographs of the king's newly anointed consort, offering a rare and intimate window into the lives of the Thai royals. The images show, 34 year-old major general Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi flying a jet wearing combat fatigues and in a range of settings, King Maha Vajiralongkorn bestowed her the title of the royal noble consort on his 66th birthday last month. She is the first woman to be given the rank in nearly a century.

Well Indonesia's president has revealed the long anticipated location of the country's new capital, Joko Widodo says a forested area on the east of Borneo will replace Jakarta which is slowly sinking into the sea, the project will reportedly cost around $34 billion, with officials putting the timeline for relocation at 10 years. President Widodo admits moving the capital will be an expensive undertaking, but he insists, it is a necessary one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:25:06] JOKO WIDODO, INDONESIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The police has minimum risk of national disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, volcanoes and landslides. Secondly the location is strategic as it is located in the center of Indonesia. And thirdly it is close to other developed cities. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Environmentalists fear the project will speed up the destruction of forests and increase pollution which is already on the rise for the coal mining and palm oil industries.

Puerto Rico has declared a state of emergency as it braces for tropical storm Dorian. The storm is expected to strengthen to a category one hurricane and it could bring winds of nearly 120 kilometers per hour, as it approaches the island Wednesday. And our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, joins us now with a very closer look on what is happening and what is ahead. Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, plenty of wet weather ahead of us here in the next couple of days, Rosemary and this storm has about 36 hours here to essentially get as strong as it possibly can going forward.

You take a look, a very compact system across areas such as Barbados in the past couple of hours and now in approach towards Saint Lucia and Martinique with 85 kilometers per hour winds. Gusting up to 100 kilometers per hour. But every time we look at a storm such as this, where it is so compact, it is really going to be susceptible to its impacts and its environmental conditions.

So if it goes over even a small island that would disrupt the flow, a larger islands such as Puerto Rico or of course it's (inaudible) really causes significant impacts to what the storm has the potential of producing further downstream, but at this point, the government across Saint Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, north towards Puerto Rico and also the U.S. Virgin Islands, all taking the storm very seriously as far as issuing the watches and the warnings that are in place across this region.

And again, 36 hour window, that is what we're watching for this area for this storm and potentially strengthen and we think it will get up to essentially 120 kilometer per hour winds which would be a category one system. And again at this point model guidance brings this storm on the southern and southwestern tier of Puerto Rico, essentially the opposite side of the island as the heavily populated San Juan side, to the northeast and then of course it works its way potentially over areas such as eastern Espanola, Maginnis Island, but that region of the island not as areas to the east.

And notice -- and if you look Thursday, Friday, and Saturday beyond these points typically about a 300-kilometer margin of error with storms and the forecast track, but it looks like a tropical storm in the works as it crosses over to the Bahamas going in towards a holiday weekend across the southern United States could be a rainmaker into portions of central and southern Florida as Dorian approaches that region. If the forecast holds the track, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, thanks for keeping a very close eye on all of that, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thank you. CHURCH: I appreciate it. And thank you for your company, I'm

Rosemary Church remember to connect with me any time on Twitter @rosemaryCNN, and you are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END