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Trump Criticizes Paris Climate Accord; Trump Administration Repeals Expanded Obama-Era Water Regulation; World's Northern-most Town Has a Warning for the Planet; Central Bank Unveils Fresh Stimulus for Eurozone; Saudi Princess Found Guilty of Ordering Beating of Worker; Sequel of Hit British TV Series Coming to Silver Screen. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 13, 2019 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Democrats take the debate stage and take aim at frontrunner Joe Biden. Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas, another storm now has the islands in its crosshairs. And in the U.S., more environmental regulation rollbacks, this time the Trump administration wiping out Obama era clean water rules.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Nick Watt and this CNN NEWSROOM.
No knockout blows but plenty rhetorical punches at Thursday night's Democratic debate in Houston. The three frontrunners were center stage. Joe Biden garnering the most attention not only for his closest competitors, Senators Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, but also from the seven other candidates all taking their jabs trying to sound like contenders instead of also rounds.
From the get-go, each trying to differentiate him or herself from the others. Some focusing hard on Trump, others trying to look beyond the White House incumbent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Trump, you spent the last two-and-a-half years full-time trying to sow hate and division among us. And that is why we've gotten nothing done.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It goes without saying that we must and will defeat Trump the most dangerous president in the history of this country. But we must do more.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today servicemembers are preyed upon by predatory lenders, students are crushed by debt, and families cannot afford childcare. I know what's broken. I know how to fix it and I'm going to lead the fight to get it done. JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're the best-equipped nation
in the world to take this on. It's no longer time to postpone. We should get moving. There's enormous, enormous opportunities once we get rid of Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And as it is around many an American water cooler, health care a hot topic. It also gave Joe Biden a chance to do a bit of counterpunching.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: How are we going to pay for it? I want to hear tonight how that's happened. So as far, my distinguished friend, the senator on my left does not -- has not indicated how she pays for it, and the senator has, in fact, come forward and said how he's going to pay for it but it gets about halfway there.
WARREN: How do we pay for it? We pay for it. Those at the very top, the richest individuals and the biggest corporations are going to pay more and middle-class families are going to pay less.
SANDERS: Joe said that Medicare for all costs $30 trillion. That's right, Joe. Status quo over ten years will be $50 trillion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And, of course, America's relationship with guns. Passion from Beto O'Rourke whose hometown just suffered one of the country's deadliest mass shootings and former California Attorney General Kamala Harris pointing a finger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: People ask me in El Paso that they said -- you know, because I have a long-standing record on this issue -- they said, well, do you think Trump is responsible for what happened and I said, well, look, I mean, obviously he didn't pull the trigger but he's certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.
BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Let's get some expert insight on what this debate means or perhaps what it doesn't mean. Paul Sracic joins us now. He is Chair of the Department of Political Science at Youngstown State University. Paul, are we any clearer now than we were a few hours ago? Who might be the one person who faces off against Donald Trump in the election next year?
PAUL SRACIC, CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY: I don't think we are. I think one of the problems with this format is it's very difficult for anyone to really -- too really make a big play. You've got ten people on stage. Even in a three-hour debate, you know, there were times for example that maybe Elizabeth Warren started to sort of kick up some steam or Biden did, and then suddenly they disappeared as the debate went in a different direction talking to you to other candidates.
And so we know probably are not going to rise up very much but still you know, sort of took up the time. So I think it's really hard for any of these candidates to get the kind of traction that they need. You know, if this keeps going on and on, you know, we're about five months or so from the Iowa caucuses, the Democrats are looking at a big problem if nobody begins to emerge I think sometimes soon and instead, if we have three or four candidates who start you know competing for delegates.
WATT: And I mean, Paul, Joe Biden has been ahead in the polls since he entered the race pretty much. I mean, his lead has slipped a little bit but you know, he's never been the best on stage. I mean, some people tonight were saying that this was the best they've seen him but I want to play your little clip that perhaps I hate to say it but it shows his age.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Play the radio. Make sure the television -- excuse me. Make sure you have the record player on at night. The phone -- make sure the kids hear words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: I mean, Paul, is that kind of thing, the record player thing, is that a problem for Joe Biden?
SRACIC: Yes, I mean, it is because there are a lot of these things with these debates you know, they're about expectations. And you know, the expectation has been that Biden has done a lot of gasps lately. He has a kind of a history on that, a little tongue-tied at times.
And so the idea is that maybe he is you know, too old to take on through the rigors of the presidency. And the problem with this is not that it's necessarily inaccurate or something, but you know, record players. He didn't say CD players, I mean, he didn't say iPods. You know, it's -- he goes back to such an old technology that it kind of reminds you of how old Joe Biden is. And I think -- so I think that's the problem.
On the other hand, you know, I don't think in the end that's going to hurt his chances. And when Castro kind of attacked him and made a comment, you know, about his age and his memory, I think that made people maybe even a little more sympathetic to Biden on that score.
WATT: And you know, actually, I want to play that because I think for people around the world, it is odd that we see this in America, candidates from the same party just slamming each other. I mean, Julian Castro, to be fair, is an outsider here, and we have him slamming the front-runner from his own party. Let's take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN CASTRO (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Your plan would not --
BIDEN: They do not have to buy-in. They do not have to buy-in.
CASTRO: You just said that -- you just said that two minutes ago. You just said two minutes ago that they would have to buy in.
BIDEN: They do not have to buy in if they can't afford it.
CASTRO: You said they would have to buy in.
BIDEN: If she qualifies for Medicaid --
CASTRO: Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?
If you lose your job, for instance, his health care plan would not automatically enroll you, you would have to opt-in. My health care plan would. That's a big difference. I'm fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you're not.
BIDEN: That would be a surprise to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: I mean, Julian Castro afterwards said to CNN that was just a debate. He wasn't taking a low blow at Joe Biden. But you know, what kind of lasting damage does that do to the Democrats? You know, in a few months we're probably going to see Julian Castro having to say saying Joe Biden is the right man for the job. I mean, they're tearing each other apart.
SRACIC: Right. But I think there's an understanding in some ways among the American electorate that this is what happens, you know, in primaries. I mean, you look at what happened in the Republican primary in 2016 and it was much nastier than this.
At the end, a lot of them came around. You know Ted Cruz end up you know, support Donald Trump even though Trump says horrible things about them during the primary. So -- and the American electorate does seem to you know accept that.
And you know, let's face it. The entire system in the United States, this primary system is somewhat of an oddity. You know, the political parties open themselves up to voters and sometimes voters aren't really even full-time members of their party to determine who the nominee is for the party.
WATT: And everybody is talking about you know, one of the appeals of Joe Biden is that he might be able to get that white working-class vote and pull it out of Trump's fingers and that's why he is the right man for the job.
I mean, you're in Ohio, is that something that Joe Biden is capable of doing and should the Democrats give him the nomination purely for that reason?
[01:10:12]
SRACIC: Well, you know, we're talking a lot about sort of the white working-class voters and I think that's going to be important in 2020. But you know, what we're really seeing a lot of the turn is actually in the suburban vote, the exurban vote. And so I think that the real danger for the Democrats here in this going back to kind of what you asked me earlier is they're going on the record in some ways for these kinds of extreme positions.
I'm not sure they can get back a lot of the white working-class vote. What they would have to worry about is can they hold onto that suburban vote but they did very well within the 2018 midterms. And these primary debates are giving so much ammunition to Republicans into Donald Trump to portray the Democratic Party whoever the nominee is as basically too far out of the mainstream, too far left to capture those voters in the suburbs and the exurbs that are fairly moderate voters in a lot of positions.
WATT: Final question and I would like a two-word answer. Who do you think is going to get the nomination.
SRACIC: I can't say in two words. I don't know. How about brokered convention.
WATT: Don't even start. Paul, thank you very much for joining us.
SRACIC: Thank you.
WATT: Now to the Bahamas. The list of people considered missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian has been revised. It's now believed 1,300 people are unaccounted for across the islands, a sharp decline from 2,500 the day before. The death toll still stands at 50 and that is still expected to rise as crews searched through the rubble.
But here's what's making people nervous. The hurricane made landfall almost two weeks ago and now another storm could be on its way. Derek Van Dam will have more on that in a moment, but first, Paula Newton has this update on the recovery effort.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This ferocity was so vicious, survivors describe a storm that seems to want to wipe them out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Words can't describe it. I don't wish it on nobody.
NEWTON: Still stunned at their own survival, the aftermath has been crippling. Nearly one in five Bahamians are now homeless, more than 2,100 are in shelters, and at least hundreds more taken in by family, friends, even strangers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The food is fine. NEWTON: The price tag already at a staggering $8 billion and
counting. And while the winds have calmed, the sense of urgency hasn't. The need to feed shelter and clothe so many for months, maybe years while trying to cope with finding and identifying the hundreds still missing.
And many who survived are struggling with traumatic experiences. During the storm, thousands scrambled from room to room, house to house, buildings crumbling or flooding around them with alarming speed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same boat here was just as high as the roof that started to come onto the -- onto the roof lift me as I was holding on for --
NEWTON: Hurricane Dorian was stronger than predicted, it lasted longer than predicted, it lingered and lashed out with gusts that resembled thousands of terrifying tornadoes as the storm ground to a halt grinding across the islands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sitting in the living room and all of a sudden the roof did a -- it just came off.
NEWTON: Hundreds lost track of not just belongings but each other. Relief overwhelmed reunions, others though still days after the storm were desperate for proof of life. This woman frantic to find her cousin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they find him. I hope so. They just have a son. They don't even (INAUDIBLE) yet. I hope they find him. I hope so.
NEWTON: Others know exactly what happened to loved ones. They watch and wait the grim search for bodies knowing some victims were swept out to sea. The evacuations are now nearly complete. On the minds of most how do you even begin to rebuild.
TONY ALBURY, CHIEF, GREAT GUANA CAY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We need help, lots of help, lots of help. It's going to be monetary help. It's going to be -- I mean, just -- I don't even know where to start.
NEWTON: Dorian shattered lives here but also expectations about how hurricanes behave and what survival looks like after they've passed. Paula Newton, CNN Nassau.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Derek Van Dam joins us now with a look at another potential storm forming in the Atlantic. Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's still so difficult to see those images, Nick. Of course, the search-and-rescue operations still well underway in the Northern Bahamas and this is the last thing that residents and tourists want to see, dark ominous skies with the potential of another tropical cyclone looming in the distance.
[01:15:11]
I want to be perfectly clear about something, we do not see any meteorological information that points to a storm nearly as strong as what Hurricane Dorian did two weeks ago with storm surge and catastrophic winds. However, any additional rainfall in an already saturated environment, and in an area that's been completely devastated by this previous hurricane, is just going to make matters worse. We are really starting to open up the Atlantic Ocean, we're monitoring several areas of disturbed weather, but the more immediate threat is this 90 percent probability of development that's across the Southeastern Bahamas.
And new since the 11:00 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, we have tropical storm warnings across the northern Bahamas. And now, a tropical storm watch across the southeastern parts of the United States from the Space Coast right to the Jupiter Inlet region. Here is the latest satellite imagery, still seeing this convection flare up on the northeast side. Winds still in the 45 to 50- kilometer-per-hour range.
And we do expect this storm to be named here within at least the next 24 hours. When it does so, it will become Humberto, as this system starts to slowly organize over the days to come. There are still many variables at play, lots of different scenarios, but the model is starting to come together in some sort of a consensus as it moves over the Northern Bahamas impacting the Marsh Harbour region into Abaco, as well as the Grand Bahama, and eventually late this weekend, potentially impacting the Southeastern United States.
There's the different model tracks that we monitor, starting to come together a little bit. And remember, Marsh Harbour saw over 36 inches of rain or 900 millimeters of rainfall with Hurricane Dorian, two weeks ago. Another 50 to 100 millimeters with this latest tropical disturbance, and that could cause additional flooding to an already ravaged part of the Bahamas. So, there's a latest forecast track, there's the projected rainfall. All in all, not the best case scenario at this point in time, Nick.
WATT: Derek Van Dam, thanks a lot for joining us.
VAN DAM: OK.
WATT: Now, Britain's Prime Minister is flatly denying that he lied to the Queen when he advised her to suspend Parliament. Scotland's High Court said otherwise, ruling that Boris Johnson's counsel to Her Majesty was, quote, "unlawful, a clandestine move," and the true reason was to, quote, "reduce the time for Parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit." The Prime Minister brushed off that damning verdict betting on a different outcome next week when the U.K. Supreme Court has its say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you lie to the Queen when you advised her to probe to suspend Parliament? BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: Absolutely not. And that,
indeed, as I say, the High Court in England plainly agrees with us, but the Supreme Court will have to decide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now, remember the government just released the list of worst case scenarios of a No-Deal Brexit: civil disorder, crippling border delays, medicine shortages, price hikes, but Boris Johnson says he's still hoping to bang out a deal at the E.U. summit next week, three years after the referendum and just days before the deadline to leave. But the message from his E.U. counterparts, don't hold your breath. The E.U.'s top Brexit negotiator says he is pessimistic that a new deal can be worked out. Now, there was no watchman awake and there should have been. That's what we just learned from the preliminary report into the causes of that horrific boat fire off the coast of California that killed 34 people who were asleep below deck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT SUMWALT, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: -- to this point have indicated that the five surviving crew members were, in fact, asleep at the time that the fire broke out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a clear violation of the regulations. The fact that all of these crew members were sleeping when the fire broke out.
SUMWALT: Part of the certificate for this vessel required that there be constantly a roving watchperson to keep an eye on the safety of the vessel. And the interviews to this point, have indicated that that did not transpire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now, Truth Aquatics, the owner of the boat issued a statement saying they have witness testimony that, quote, "seems to contradict the notion that the entire crew was asleep." The source of the fire was not revealed. Meanwhile, salvage operations finally managed to lift the sunken vessel which burned to the waterline out of the water, it will be inspected on land for further investigation. Remains of the last missing victim were located and recovered from the wreckage on Wednesday.
Now, to Hong Kong. And remember those protests at the soccer match there just the other night? Well, organizers have now pulled the plug on an international women's tennis tournament slated to take place in the city. Organizers say the Hong Kong Tennis Open set to start October 3rd will be delayed, quote, "in light of the present situation."
[01:20:11]
The city, of course, has been hit with protests for months now. No decision yet on when that tournament will now take place, the WTA event would have attracted top female players. North Korea, the tourist paradise? We dig into President Trump's charm offensive to the Hermit Kingdom. What's behind it and why now? Plus, in Russia, hundreds of raids by police on opposition offices and homes. Critics call it Kremlin hysteria. We'll tell you what else could be driving this crackdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATT: More and more missile launches recently from North Korea. Still, President Trump said Thursday, he believes he will again meet with leader Kim Jong-un.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At some point, yes, he will -- certainly, they want to meet, they'd like to meet. I think it's something that will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now, this, as many are wondering why President Trump continually gushes about his relationship with Mr. Kim, and the tourist opportunities in North Korea. Now, with his former National Security Advisor John Bolton out of the picture, the Trump-North Korea charm offensive appears to be in unfettered high gear. Brian Todd has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is one of the most fascinating aspects of President Trump's relationship with Kim Jong-un.
TRUMP: North Korea has tremendous potential.
TODD: His fascination with turning Kim's Hermit Kingdom into a public paradise.
TRUMP: It's a great location, as we used to say in the real estate business.
TODD: On Wednesday, President Trump once again, maintained his optimism. Not only that a nuclear deal with Kim is there for the taking, but that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if he and Kim can strike their grand bargain.
TRUMP: This could be one of the most unbelievable -- if you look at a country in terms of upside, this could be one of the most unbelievable experiments ever, North Korea.
TODD: Trump has previously gushed about the potential for a North Korean economic boom if Kim's regime makes a deal with the U.S. Striking the tone of a New York real estate magnate.
TRUMP: They have great beaches. You see that whenever they're exploding their cannons into the ocean, right? I said boy, look at that view. Wouldn't that make a great condo?
[01:25:07]
TODD: Once, he even showed Kim Jong-un a video in Korea, showing how fabulous the future could be for a nuclear-free North Korea.
TRUMP: I think he loved it.
TODD: But analysts say while Kim does want to see his economy improve, there's a limit to what the Supreme Leader will tolerate.
COL. DAVID MAXWELL (RET.), FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: That brighter future means the economic development that the President touts. With economic development comes information. And that is what is going to undermine his legitimacy. And a brighter future for the Korean people in the North is really a dual threat to Kim Jong-un.
TODD: Could the path to a nuclear agreement have been cleared by the firing of National Security Adviser John Bolton? Trump says it was a mistake for Bolton to have angered his North Korean friend by suggesting North Korea could meet the fate of Libya and its former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who turned over his nuclear material to the U.S. only to see the U.S. help bring him down.
TRUMP: When he talked about the Libyan model for Kim Jong-un, that was not a good statement to make. You just take a look at what happened with Gaddafi. That was not a good statement to make. And it set us back.
TODD: Here's what Bolton said in a network interview last year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it a requirement that Kim Jong-un agreed to give away those weapons before you give any kind of concession?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think that's right. I think we're looking at the Libyan model of 2003, 2004.
TODD: North Korea called that a "sinister move", called Bolton a, quote, "warmonger" and a "human defect".
TRUMP: And I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton.
TODD: The Libya model terrifies dictators like Kim Jong-un.
LINDSEY FORD, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: When internal problems arose in Libya, the United States and others were not standing behind the Gaddafi regime. And as a result, Gaddafi ended up going out in a really horrible way. So, for dictators, the message there is that nuclear weapons are a deterrent.
TODD: Analysts are calling John Bolton's ouster a victory for Kim Jong-un. They say the dictator has long tried to drive a wedge between Trump and his top aides like Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And they say with Bolton now out of the way, the North Koreans believe it will be easier to play the president and get a more favorable nuclear deal. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: A top Russian opposition leader says it was, quote, "Kremlin hysteria that drove a huge nationwide crackdown on Thursday." Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner is now himself under government investigation for alleged fraud. Is Vladimir Putin really rattled by recent election results? Matthew Chance reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin is taking revenge on its most prominent opposition critic. A mass crackdown in towns and cities across Russia. Opposition activists say more than 200 addresses have been raided so far. I mean, the offices and apartments of figures linked to Alexei Navalny, the anti- corruption campaigner who's become a defiant thorn in the Kremlin side.
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): In the first place, I would like to say that we will not stop our work. Do not worry. Indeed, we expect some hard times coming. But we never actually had easy times. We won't give up, we will regain power, and continue fighting against crooks and thieves.
CHANCE: The crackdown comes after a tense summer of protests in Russia. We saw riot police dispersed crowds gathering almost every weekend, demonstrating against opposition candidates being barred from regional elections. The vote in Moscow left the pro-Kremlin ruling party with a badly-dented majority, something for which Navalny who advocated tactical voting has claimed credit. State media says the authorities are investigating fraud by Navalny's organization, but the opposition figured says the election results is why his activists are now being targeted.
NAVALNY: This time, Putin got really upset because of the tactical vote, and that his sweet child, United Russia Party, has been busted in Moscow and seriously beaten in the regions. Yes, he is upset and he is stomping his little feet.
CHANCE: Problem is, when Putin's feet stomp, those in the way tend to get squashed. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Coming up, President Trump says U.S. waterways are the cleanest they've ever been. So, why is he now rolling back the very safeguards designed to keep them free from pollution? Plus, it has a snowscape like the lands of the North in "Game of Thrones," but Norway is heating up and that's no fiction. Will the world pay attention to its climate change warning?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:16]
WATT: Welcome back. I'm Nick Watt.
Let's update you on our top news this hour.
The top ten Democratic presidential candidates traded verbal blows in Houston Thursday night. The main target on stage -- frontrunner Joe Biden. Some analysts saying Biden had his best debate performance yet but the debate's biggest target was nowhere near Texas. All the candidates blasting current President Donald Trump.
No overnight watchman on duty when a fire on a dive boat off the California coast killed 34 people almost two weeks ago now. The National Transportation Safety Board says an overnight watch is required by law. The news came as the sunken vessel was finally raised.
In the Bahamas 1,300 people are now believed to be missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. Officials say the death toll still stands at 50 but we still expect that number to rise as the search through the rubble goes on. More than 2,000 people right now in shelters.
The U.S. House Republicans are in the middle of a group huddle in Baltimore. President Donald Trump stopped by to say a few words and went on a rant about the environment questioning the bans on plastic straws, claiming power saving light bulbs make him look orange, slamming the Paris Climate Accords before moving on to clean water.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Paris Accord, would do nothing to improve our environment, it would only punish our country while foreign polluters operate with impunity.
That would've been a disaster for us. It would have cost us a tremendous fortune. They were going to take away our wealth. They were going to say we can't do certain businesses, we can't take the oil and gas, we can't do anything. This would have been one of the great travesties.
And you know, incredibly that and the Clean Waters Act didn't give you clean waters. By the way, today we have the cleanest air, we have the cleanest water that we've ever had in the history of our country, right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now here at CNN we have a guy who fact-check Trump. It's a full-time job. In that speech, the President did something that I've never seen do before. He fact-checked himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Just for the press, because they'll get me on that one I'm thinking. Let's say the history of our country over the last 25 years, you know, I would that the first few years, they probably had cleaner air and cleaner water because there was no one here. So I have to be very accurate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:35:00]
WATT: Just hours before the President made those comments, his administration repealed yet another Obama era law which had extended protection to streams and wetlands. The trade group representing manufacturers in the U.S. praised the move and the head of the Environment Protection Agency which announced the rollback said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW WHEELER, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: Today's final rule puts an end to an egregious power grab, eliminates an ongoing patchwork of Clean Water Act regulations and restores a long-standing and familiar regulatory framework, while we consider public comments on our proposed revised definition of waters of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now, as you'd expect environmental groups are criticizing the move and promising court challenges. The move is one of more than 80 environmental rollbacks by the Trump administration, either completed or now underway. That is what you're going to see now scrolling on your screen. Too many of them to read aloud, but you may remember some of them. Rules on offshore oil and gas drilling, the Dakota Access pipeline, carbon pollution.
The Trump administration says regulations kill jobs and create unnecessary red tape for industry. Others say the regulations are there for a reason to protect endangered animals, clean air and water and of course, people.
For more, I'm joined by Denise Franco, she is the federal legislative and policy manager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Denise Franco -- I assume you are not going to let this happen without a fight. What will be the grounds for your legal action?
DENISE FRANCO, FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY MANAGER, CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION: So first, I think what we need to do is wait for the agencies to go ahead and issue the second part of their plan. So the first part that they announced today is the repeal of the 2015 Clean Water rule.
And this is a -- this is a very tough policy, and we are certainly disappointed that they are repealing the 2015 rule. That law itself was based on incredibly thorough analysis, over 1 million comments were reviewed and it was really based on sound science.
So, the background for the 2015 rule is really important to know that science is what they relied on. And from the Chesapeake Bay perspective, that is what we rely on. It tells us that the isolated wetlands and intermittent and ephemeral streams that they are all connected. And when you look at the big picture, you have to look at the cumulative effect. So today's action repeals that 2015 rule. The next action that we are waiting for, for the agencies to take -- we are expecting it by the end of this year is the replacement rule. This is when you get into taking not only us back to (INAUDIBLE) 1986 guidelines on this issue but narrowing the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act even further beyond that to something that's never been used in terms of interpreting the Clean Water Act.
So we need to wait and see when that final rule actually looks like when they replace the definition of "waters of the United States".
WATT: I mean is part of this, in your mind, President Trump saying Obama built it therefore I want to knock it down?
FRANCO: You know I think that with a lot of -- when the 2015 rule was established, it was challenged. So I think there are folks who were not happy with the rule and so there's been an examination of that over several years. I think that is the initial driver.
And then I think we -- of course, we've seen a trend where there seems to be many Obama era regulations that have since been overturned. I mean you can look at the auto emissions standards. You can look at the clean power plan, endangered species act -- you know, many of these regulations that are really key to protecting the environment and particularly for us, the Chesapeake Bay. They have been kind of chipped away at over these last 18 months, so.
WATT: You know, I mean there are quite a few people who are critical of this 2015 Obama law. They say that it was egregious government overreach. Is there, to your mind, even a sliver of truth to that?
FRANCO: You know, I don't think that's true. I mean when you really look at the 2015 Clean Water rule and you look at the EPA's own science. So it's the EPA science that the agencies relied upon in 2015.
[01:39:59]
FRANCO: And look at that connectivity report which is, you know, this really important report. It clearly establishes the connections between these types of features, so you're adjacent wetlands, you're tributary streams, the impact that they have to overall water bodies.
So, you know, I know it sounds -- immediately, of course, not everybody was happy with it. But you have to look at the science that supports it. And the science really is loud and clear.
WATT: Denise Franco from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation -- thanks very much for your time.
FRANCO: Thank you so much for having us.
WATT: As the Trump White House rolls back regulations on the environment, Norway's wilderness is offering a stark warning to the world about climate change. As Michael Holmes reports, its dying icebergs could spell trouble for the rest of the planet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Glaciers creak in the sunshine, slowly dripping into the warming waters. Here in the northern most town in the world, they sights are spectacular. But scientists say they could be disappearing as climate change is not only melting the ice, but eroding the very land the local people live on.
KIM HOLMEN, NORWEGIAN POLAR INSTITUTE: We are losing the Svalbard we know. We are losing the Arctic as we know it because of climate change. This is a forewarning of all the hardship and problems that will spread around the climate.
HOLMES: According to a Norwegian report on climate change, the temperatures of the Svalbard Archipelago have risen by 4 degrees Celsius over the past 50 years and that is creating warmer conditions with some very unusual effects in town.
Take a look at this church in Svalbard. The graveyard is eerily shipping. Rocks from the landscape above had slid down on it and occasionally what's buried in the ground below as resurfaced.
IVAR SMEDSROD, SVALBARD CHURCH: As the permafrost thaws, things that are in the ground tend to be pulled up. That's happening more or less all the time. So we might see the graves literally come up -- the coffins.
HOLMES: The softening of the ground has also caused landslides and avalanches in the area which have wiped away several houses and scared away some of the residents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This also very much sloped towards the coast. And one day, 30 meters disappeared just in one event.
HOLMES: Local businesses are also feeling the heat. The owner of this husky dog farm says the rising temperatures are impacting his livelihood and could threaten much more if the thermometer pushes deeper into the red.
AUDUN SALTE, BUSINESS OWNER: On the highway when people slowdown to look at a car crash, the whole climate change is kind of like that, because everyone is slowing down to kind of look at the accident but not realizing that we are actually the car crash.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN -- Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Next, a Saudi princess facing legal trouble in Paris, accused of ordering her bodyguard to assault a man. The French court just reach a verdict in her trial -- that ruling is just ahead.
[01:43:22]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATT: There are signs the heated rhetoric is cooling off on both sides of the U.S.-China trade war. And key Asian markets are responding favorably to news of tariff delays by Beijing and Washington. Exchanges in mainland China and South Korea are closed. Trade talks are expected to resume in October and there's speculation the two sides might aim for an interim agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'd rather get the whole deal done. We've taken in many, many billions of dollars in tariffs. I'd rather get the entire Chinese on it. Look, if we're going to do the deal, let's get it done. A lot of people are talking about and I see a lot of analysts saying an interim deal meaning we'll do pieces of it, the easy ones first.
But there is no easy or hard. There's a deal or there is not a deal. But it's something we would consider, I guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Wall Street also welcomed the easing of tensions. Thursday's Dow marked modest gains for the seventh day in a row. That's the longest streak since May. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq followed suit. All three finished the day in positive territory.
And the European Central Bank has given giving global investors something else to ponder. The bank is pursuing a controversial policy of negative interest rates in a bid to stimulate a sluggish Eurozone and that has attracted the attention of the U.S. President.
CNN's Anna Stewart explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The economic picture in Europe isn't good and today the European Central Bank took action. In its penultimate meeting as ECB president, Mario Draghi announced a whole range of measures that are designed to get banks lending, consumers spending, and try and get inflation to that 2 percent target. Currently for August (INAUDIBLE) inflation will come in at just 1 percent.
Now, of these measures we had the key rate being cut by 10 basis points. That takes it to a minus 0.5 percent. As a result, it also announced a tiering system for banks to try and cushion the cost of that negative rate.
The ECB is going to start a whole new round of quantitative easing, possibly the most controversial measure here. It's divided the ECB. It's going to be buying 20 billion euros of assets each month from November.
Perhaps the biggest surprise though was in forward guidance. No end date was given the QE and when it came to rates, they said they would simply stay at this level or be lower for as long as it takes to reach the ECB target.
Now, as a result of the announcement today, the Euro did weaken against the dollar. And that was not received well by the U.S. President. Donald Trump took to Twitter saying, "The European Central Bank acting quickly cut rates 10 basis. They are trying and succeeding in depreciating the very Euro against the strong dollar, hurting U.S. exports. And the Fed sits and sits and sits. They get paid to borrow money while we are paying interest."
The ECB president was asked to respond to that allegation from the U.S. President. He said the ECB does not target currency exchange rates. They only ever target inflation. Although this will all put more pressure, of course, on the Federal Reserve which meets next week.
Anna Stewart, CNN -- Frankfurt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: In France, a court has ruled that a Saudi princess was complicit in the beating up of a work man in Paris. It's saying the Princess ordered her bodyguard to attack and humiliate a man who was renovating a luxury apartment.
CNN's Melissa Bell has more from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNNC RPD: A ten-month suspended sentence and a 10,000 euros fine -- that's what a Parisian court handed down today in the case revolving around the Saudi Crown Prince's sister, Hassa bint Salman.
Now back in September of 2016, a craftsman, who has been employed to carry out work in her home here Paris, says that she had believed at one point that as he tried to take photographs of the room in which he'd been asked to do some work, she had believed he was trying to take photographs of her, that this famously secretive princess had then ordered her bodyguard to beat him and hold him hostage for several hours.
In the end, the verdict delivered today went further than what the prosecutors had been looking for but it was delivered without the princess being in court. Since what happened in those early days just after the allegations were made by the craftsman, she was taken for questioning but very quickly released even before being heard.
Now her lawyer says that she will be appealing that decision and spoke today of her incredulity at receiving it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Our thanks to Melissa Bell for that report.
[01:49:59]
WATT: Now, will the world's love affair with England's stuffy past ever be over? "Downton Abbey" is making a long-awaited return, this time as a future length film. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATT: Fans of the British TV drama "Downton Abbey" will have to get off the couch if they want to savor a final fling with English aristocracy in all glory. "Downton Abbey" has returned for an encore but not on the telly -- as a feature film.
CNN's Neil Curry sat down with the cast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEIL CURRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After six seasons of exporting English etiquettes to TV audiences around the world, the every day tale of banquets and butlers is taking silver service to the sliver screen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No maids, no valet, no nanny even. I didn't rent the servants. We are modern folk.
[01:55:01]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a fascination with everyone around the world with the British royal family. So I think a lot of people are tuning in for that, you know, we're an extension of that, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The king and queen are coming to town tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?
CURRY: In drawing rooms from Toronto to Tokyo, "Downton's" aristocratic agenda appeals to both women and men.
PHYLLIS LOGAN, DOWNTON ABBEY CAST: Some deity (ph) started to Downton Abbey man club or something and everybody was -- all men to phone in from their truck on the edge of a motor way -- (INAUDIBLE) say oh yes, I love watching and I cried when the such and such happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need your help, cousin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be there in the morning, my lady. Don't you worry.
CURRY: Characters such as Mr. Carson have inspired the kind of devotion usually reserved for superheroes --
JIM CARTER, ACTOR: I've had several puppies and a baby named Carson, and a picture of a baby dressed as a buffalo with silver all around it rather dangerously.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you heard enough cliches to get you through the visit, if not, I'll come to you.
DAME MAGGIE SMITH, ACTRESS: There we go.
CURRY: With strong countesses and tiffs between tops compete for attention with the affairs of footmen and butlers below stairs and with a feast of familiar faces, they have already been called for a follow up film.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A royal luncheon, a parade and a dinner. I'm going to have to sit down.
CURRY: I think if you ask the audience to compare a sequel with Mrs. Pat Moore's (ph) puddings they would all like -- another helping, would you like another helping of this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's nice. The answer is yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that, yes. I don't want another helping of Mrs. Pat Moore's pudding because you are terrible.
CARTER: As long as the audience, our loyal TV audience gets out of his armchair and goes to the cinema and enjoys his first one. Then, yes, why not. I think --
(CROSSTALKING)
CARTER: If we leave a clean plate. If they finish all their first helping of Mrs. Pat Moore's pudding then of course we shall have a second helping. Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well said. Well said.
CURRY: Set in an era untroubled by Brexit, Downton has been credited with a boost in British tourism -- a welcome economic export from the epicenter of English etiquette.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your majesties. Welcome to Downton Abbey.
CURRY: Neil Curry, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Thanks for watching. I'm Nick Watt.
Stay with us. We'll have another hour of CNN Newsroom with my colleague George Howell right after this break.
[01:57:31]
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END
