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Brexit Chaos, Queen Approves Suspension Of Parliament; Report On Hurricane Dorian; Archrivals To Form New Italian Government; Race For the White House; Opioid Epidemic; Hollywood History On Auction; Persistence Pays Big. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired August 29, 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] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That has been interracial couple. It's important that we give him sunset. It's OK to be who he is in his community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris finds support from voters including some still too young to cast a ballot this election. Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN Newsroom.

Whether it is a shrewd political maneuver or constitutional outrage or just standard procedure, what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did on Wednesday ensured two things, it limits the official debates on Brexit and ignites a fury of criticism and controversy. Mr. Johnson used a legislative procedure to get the queen to approve suspending parliament for five weeks. That means critics won't have as much time as they thought to try to prevent a no deal Brexit on October 31st. They will have 17 days. But the Prime Minister (inaudible) dismisses that concern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: There will be ample time on both sides of that crucial October the 17th summit, ample time in parliament for M.P.'s to debate, the E.U. debate Brexit and all the other issues, ample time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But there is plenty of backlash. And our Max Foster joins us now from London to take a look at all of these. Good to see you, Max.

So, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, he's rallying the troops to fight Boris Johnson effort to suppress debate on a no deal Brexit and he might get some help from members of the Prime Minister's own party, where is this all going? And what is expected to happen today?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there's a lot shock to this announcement yesterday. Parliament is in session. It's the summer break and everyone seem to be caught out by this. And there seems as though, the whole operation if you like was kept under wraps until the queen had had a chance to agree to it in Scotland.

So, three members of the Privy Council were dispatch up to a holiday home. Once that was signed and sealed, then Boris Johnson in that statement you just saw, announced it, but it was received, you know, in a very uncomfortable way by many people who oppose a no deal Brexit. So, there were protest yesterday. There's a petition now, parliament petitioned which you got more than a million signatures calling for this pro-negotiation as it called, suspension of parliament to be stopped.

Also you have got all of these parliamentarians who don't want to see a no deal Brexit, coming together and being motivated to come up with some sort of response. They don't have much time, but looking in a couple of mechanisms, so Gina Miller, who is very sort of well-known lawyer, who works on the remainers issues as you like. He's talking about going to the court and asking for a judicial review next week.

That will be very hard to get done in time, but that's one route they are taking and the other route, they are looking at some sort of a debate next week in parliament. Trying to stop a no deal Brexit, possibly ending in a no confidence vote in the government which could prompt to a general election, Rosemary. So this is really about the response now and how those opposing Boris Johnson's government, can really come up with a way of blocking him.

CHURCH: Yes, the response is the big question. But how's the Prime Minister out with his critics, what's his tactics?

FOSTER: Well, certainly he does seem -- because now that we've got the suspension, the queen is a (inaudible), like it can't go back on that, they can't appeal against that. That is happening, there will be less debate time now. Less time for parliament to come up with this response, so he is on the front foot there on the back foot.

Also I spoke to some senior people on his side of all of this and they are saying, you know, if he really wanted to undermine the Democratic process as he is accused of doing, he want to suspend the parliament until after the Brexit deadline. Actually what he is trying to do is just get a good negotiating position with Brussels so he can get a deal which is what ultimately parliament wants actually as well. So they making a sound very straightforward, but you know, this is unprecedented, uncharted territory for everyone involved.

CHURCH: Max Foster always a pleasure. Thom Brooks is dean of Durham law school and professor of law and government at Durham University. Great to have you with us. So, Boris Johnson's suspension of parliament means of course, there are now fewer days for lawmakers to consider a response to Brexit, including preventing a no deal Brexit, and that have some up in arms, including members of Johnson's own party. How shroud was this move and will it work for Johnson and the Brexiteers?

THOM BROOKS, DURHAM UNIVERSITY: I don't know how shroud it was. It's only a couple of days ago, he's official spokesperson said that they were not even considering this, and suggest that either they've come up with this -- kind of last-minute without much reflection which I doubt or that they knew they were doing this, but willfully trying to mislead not just other M.P.'s, but perhaps the country about what their true intention are.

[03:05:18] I suspect what's really driving this is trying to have a brave face on a no deal and show to the European Union that its government really is committed two delivering some kind of no deal. Despite the fact, that both Boris Johnson and Liberals Cabinet are on record, saying with a disaster no deal would be.

So, I think it is just a kind of brave face staring contest playing chicken with the E.U., rather than any kind of sincere you really want to do this. There's no real appetite for doing a no deal plan. And I think the opposition across the country, protest erupting well outside London, all over the U.K., I think it will come as a bit of a surprise to him and others as it did to many.

CHURCH: Interesting, so you feel this might be a ploy to pressure the E.U. to maybe help in some way we know the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says he has protested in the strongest possible terms, but what parliament pre-tactics are available to lawmakers and all sides of politics to respond to this, what are their possible options and how likely is that they can pass legislation to ban a no deal Brexit there, always a challenge in court a possibility here?

BROOKS: I think it really is a Boris Johnson's attempt to make a -- kind of strong show at the E.U. He said that Theresa May did not use no deal effectively enough to really threaten the E.U. and he seems to think that he has a strong threat that will do the trick.

There are some things that opposition M.P.'s in his own party could potentially do, I would expect to see some type of binding measure to be introduced and voted on, subject to approval of the Speaker of the House of Commons that might prevent the government from a no deal outcome, no deal is the only thing in parliament that's getting a majority votes.

No confidence is also something that is certainly likely to be voted on. I'm not sure about its success. One of the problems with that option is that the Prime Minister has two weeks to try to form a new government that could command a majority in parliament, before having to call a general election and this might mean that the general election could extend over the Halloween dates of Brexit dates that could also force through no deal with parliament not sitting.

And another option that's being consider right now is legal action and today, there's actually a law school graduate and (inaudible), who's leading the charge of the case in Scotland right now, to try to stop this in the courts, and then he thought he wasn't going to be successful when he was supporting Cheetah Miller and her case that went to the Supreme Court that ultimately just succeed in stopping Theresa May from being able to trigger Brexit without a parliament's approval. So, I would not rule it out, but I think it is a bit of a long shot.

CHURCH: Thom Brooks, many thanks for your analysis. I appreciate it.

BROOKS: Yes.

CHURCH: Millions of people in Puerto Rico are breathing a sigh of relief after escaping a direct hit from hurricane Dorian. But the threat is far from over. Here's where Dorian is right now, a category one storm intensifying as it pushes into the Atlantic towards the Bahamas. It's expected to become a powerful category three storm as it nears the U.S. state of Florida over the weekend. As Dorian pass through the Caribbean, the worst of the storm hit the U.S. and British Virgin Island, about 25,000 power outages have now been restored. The governor of the U.S. Virgin Island says they are assessing the damage.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have roaming power outages, they are from down line on (inaudible), this storm is not to be (inaudible), jumped all over the places and really started forming up the west and the St. Thomas, and they really took a battering late in the day today, around 2:30, 3:00, and those winds pounded them for about an hour, two hours over there. So, we've got to get over there in the morning, and really take a look of what's happening. I have crews out there already clearing the roads. The main arteries are clear, but they are still worried about (inaudible), roads that where people live on.

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CHURCH: So let's turn now to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for the latest on hurricane Dorian's path, because, of course, we are all very relief of Puerto Rico that it missed really the worst of this. There is the rain of course, but just going forward, what's the path looking like?

[03:10:07] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's all open waters, it's over in areas here that is absolutely conducive or rapidly intensifying the storm system and meteorologically speaking it has done exactly that increasing winds about 55 kilometers per hour in the past 24 hours which by definition as a rapidly intensifying storm which puts this as a category one hurricane at this point with far more strengthening potential and the works in the next couple of days.

Now, when you look at the storm with such magnitude, it doesn't look impressive, all out impressive at least on satellite imagery right now, but the storm system has defied all odds. It is not only skirting many islands impacting many islands in its path, but skirt many of the most mountainous island kind of avoiding any sort of direct impact with the islands that would kind of ripped the storm system apart.

So, it's been able to obtain its strength and potentially going to strengthen again inside the next couple of days. You see perfect symmetry with the storm. You see an eye redeveloping, reorganizing over water temperatures that will eventually be about 30 degrees Celsius. So we are talking middle 80's Fahrenheit that is a good couple of degrees above where you want to be for storm to strengthen. So it is above that threshold and that's why we believe strengthening is going to be likely inside the next a 24 to 36 hours.

And then, it's a Thursday evening we go, we do have a category four -- category two system in place across this region and then notice beyond that from Friday into Saturday, models indicate a potential for a category three on approach towards somewhere around the southern southeastern United States and really important to note, when you look at a track insides, you really don't want to just focus on the center of this track because probably exist for this storm to go well to the north, into the state of Georgia or well to the south potentially dodging the state of Florida.

And then working its way into the Gulf of Mexico which is right for further development of a storm system of this magnitude. And look at the model spread between the American model and the European model. European historically has been more accurate, but you kind of break this apart and you see in 800 or so kilometers spread between landfalls. Now looking closer to being Monday evening versus early Monday morning. So again it really shows you the uncertainties with a storm of this magnitude this far out and another way to kind of depict this is lay over this particular region, several other storms in recent memory that have come in and originated from exactly where Dorian is at this hour to kind of show you the uncertainties involved in the exact landfall track.

Because, of course we know there was hurricane Irma and Maria. You see Maria making a right turn, wanted impact at Puerto Rico and essentially going out over the open waters moving away from the United States mainland while we had Irma, this kind of skirt the coast there of Cuba and cute but eventually make a sharp right turn head towards the Florida Keys and then Western Florida. So really speaks to how variable of these tracks are several days out statistically speaking about four to five days out there is about a 400 kilometer margin of error when it comes to such storms.

So again they could end up anywhere from the coast of Georgia, all the way potentially skirting the state of Florida, Rosemary and entering the Gulf of Mexico which then of course opens a whole new kind of warms there for the Gulf Coast states of the United States.

CHURCH: Yes, and has certainly proved to be a very tough path to follow but you've done an awesome job as always. Many thanks to you Pedram. I appreciate it. We'll take a short break here. Still to come, telecom political rivals in Italy put aside their differences To try to form a new government. We will have a live report for you

from Rome in just a moment.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Another Democrat is calling it quits in her bid for the White House this time is Kirsten Gillibrand who hang in there for eight months but her campaign failed to catch fire despite her standing as a U.S. senator from New York. And finances were an issue. Gillibrand's war chest was flush with more than 10 million dollars in cash at the start, but dwindled to about $800,000 recently.

Another Democratic presidential candidate is drawing some people to her rally who could not even vote right now. Many parents taking their children to see Kamala Harris on the campaign trail, hoping to show them that a biracial woman might become president of the United States. Kyung Lah has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another rally in the race for 2020.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi everyone. I'm half Mexican half Indian.

LAH: This is the destination.

Why did you drive two hours to be here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really I want to for her, you know, to see a woman, if anything and especially a woman of color runs for president.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's time to take action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it took 24 years to get to this point for me and she is only nine, so imagine when she is 24, she's not going to think this is abnormal.

LAH: From Davenport Iowa, to Denver Colorado, there is a recurring theme among the parents who bring their children to see a biracial woman run for president.

Your daughter ask you to come?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she is actually a big fan, a big supporter, she's been following Kamala Harris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is really special to be the first female president.

LAH: Hillary Clinton helped pave the way. Elizabeth Warren shares that message.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), 2020 U.S. DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: I am running for president because that is what girls do.

LAH: But 11 year old Styler Tony (ph) sees her (inaudible) from Harris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she is pretty brave to try and do that. She's not like holding back or anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The connection and when they look and see someone who looks like them, a lot of times that kind of lift them sort of visualize their future and feel it's possible for them as children even.

LAH: It's something Harris knows, why she takes the time especially with children of color. Win or lose what does that mean for you?

HARRIS: It means the world to me, I mean, when I see those little girls in particular I mean, I see myself, right. And I see the children of my family, and I see the children of our country. And I see the promise of our country. My mother had many things and one of them you may be the first to do many things, make sure you are not the last. It is my true hope that my career and whatever I can do is -- empowers other people. Whatever it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities investigating a racist anti-immigrant manifesto, that they believe it is posted by the shooter just before the massacre.

LAH: In this divided times when children have questions about the news, some parents consider a political rally the antidote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With us being interracial couple, it's important that we gave him a sense, it's OK to be who he is in his community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's aware that his dad is black and that his mom is white. But we push really hard to make sure that he knows that is not bad, that's beautiful, that's wonderful, and that's what United States is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we will be back in just a moment.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: We turn now to Italy where governments come and go with frequency the most recent lasted a little more than a year before infighting finally took its toll, now to bit of rivals have tentatively agreed to form a new government, united by their disdain for the far right. And it appears Giuseppe Conte on the left to resign as Prime Minister last week will keep that job after all.

So let's turn to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau, she joins us now from Rome. Good to see you, Barbie. So hos sustainable is this newly form coalition government given this two parties their political enemies?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that is exactly right. That is the concern with a lot of Italians have right now. If you look at the polls, the recent polls that came out a couple of days ago after this crisis started, everyone's popularity has plummeted including the president of the Republic. So the Italians are not exactly happy with what is going on, but, this is the best chance they got to get out of this current political crisis.

And Giuseppe Conti, remember was the Prime Minister for the league party, the far right league and the five star party which was never predicted to last as long as it did. So he may be the only one that can act as a referee and try to get these two warring parties in a coalition that works to carry the country forward. What's crucial here, of course, is to pass a budget in October and to

be ready for Brexit. At leads a hugely important country, the continental Europe and it's going to be important that they have some sort of functioning government when Brexit happens on October 31st. So all of this concerns go far beyond the Italian borders, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, Barbie Nadeau, bringing us up to date on the situation there in Italy. I appreciate it.

Well, the company accused of starting and fueling the opioid epidemic in the U.S. has reportedly ready to settle a myriad of lawsuits. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin is accused of more than 2,000 states, counties, municipalities and Native American government for the deaths of thousands of people all over two decades. Here's CNN's Erica hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a story of pain, addiction and enormous profits. For years Purdue Pharma and the family that owns it, the Sackler's had been blamed for OxyContin' role in the nations opioid epidemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The citizens of Missouri have been the victims of a coordinated campaign of fraud and deception about the nature of drugs known as opioids.

HILL: The Sackler's insisting that family and the company had nothing to do with the health crisis. But tonight facing thousands of lawsuits, CNN has learned the Purdue Pharma is in settlement talks which could cost the company 10 to $12 billion according to NBC news.

As part of the plan of the New York Times is reporting, the Sackler family would give up its stake in the company and pay at least $3 billion of its own money. It wouldn't be the company's first settlement or admission that it made billions selling pain pills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how much the Sackler family has made of the sale of OxyContin?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Its' fair to say it's over a billion dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be fair to say that, yes.

HILL: Dr. Richard Sackler, Purdue Pharma's former President and current chairman answered questions during the 2015 deposition for a lawsuit brought by the state of Kentucky. The tapes that were first obtained by ProPublica.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that any of produce conduct has led to an increase in people being addicted in the commonwealth of Kentucky?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. HILL: Purdue settle that case month's later for $24 million. Yet

years before the company and three executives had already pleaded guilty in federal court to misleading and defrauding doctors and consumers about OxyContin and agree to pay more than a $600 million fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For these misrepresentations and crimes Purdue and its executives have been brought to justice.

[03:25:00] HILL: Still the accusations and legal challenges persist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before it was a heroine crisis. Before it was (inaudible) crisis, it was the prescription drug crisis in the state which was OxyContin.

HILL: Purdue Pharma tells CNN, while it will defend itself vigorously the company is actively working on a solution with plaintiff, because it these quote, little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they are concerned about years of appeals. I think they are concern about their financial liability and responsibility which is going to be massive if they don't settle.

HILL: Attorneys are expected to update the court on settlement talks at the end of the week. As for the payout, the New York Times is reporting that much that would be funded through a restructuring of the company to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. So, that means the profits from the drugs that it sells including OxyContin would fund the payout.

The company would also be required to make addiction treatment drugs available for free. CNN has reached out to members of the Sackler family we have yet to hear back. In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, you could soon own a piece of Hollywood history but it comes with a pretty hefty price. Items like the helmet worn by Darth Vader in the Empire Strikes Back will be up for auction in Los Angeles next month and it is estimated to sell for almost $500,000 if you got it and you can also on Dorothy's dress from the Wizard of Oz, that could go for almost half $1 million as well. Also featured in the collection will be outfits worn by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio from Titanic. There you go. That's a choice of things that you can get.

Well, persistence dollars pay off and in this case in the millions. Bon Truong of Edmonton Alberta, Canada played the same lottery numbers for almost 20 years. Yes, 20 years. But last October those numbers finally hits his jackpot, $60 million and he is not only persistent, you probably notice he is also patient. He knew he had won back in October, but didn't come forward until Wednesday. Puzzling. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Winning Post is up next, but first I'll be back with the check of the headlines. You're watching CNN. Stick around. END