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Trump Pressured Ukrainian President to Investigate Biden's Son; Hong Kong Enters 16th Weekend of Protests; Millions March, Demanding Action on Climate Crisis; Patriots Release Antonio Brown amid Rape Allegations; Man Plows SUV through Mall; Texas Plagued by Floods; Earthlings Arrive at Area 51 Event; Emmy Awards Preview. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 21, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Boots on the ground: the Pentagon has announced it is sending more troops to Saudi Arabia following the attack on the country's oil reserves. We'll take you live to the region about that one.
Also here, whistleblower fallout: Donald Trump pressed a foreign government to investigate Joe Biden's son not once, not twice but eight times.
Also, TV's biggest night: the Emmys just around the corner. We take a look at the favorites, snubs and wild cards.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen coming to you from Atlanta and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: We're following two major stories right now. We're learning more details about that mysterious whistleblower complaint that's sparked a standoff between the White House and Congress.
And House sources say the president repeatedly pressured a foreign leader to investigate the son of a political opponent.
But let's begin with the United States sending more troops to the Middle East in the wake of attacks on two Saudi oil facilities. Houthi rebels in Yemen, of course, have claimed responsibility for the attacks which disrupted the global oil supply.
But Washington says Iran was behind it. Iran of course denies it. Now the Pentagon says troops deployed to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be focused on improving air defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ESPER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces which will be defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense. We'll also work to accelerate the deliver of military equipment to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to enhance their ability to defend themselves.
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ALLEN: Our Nic Robertson has more from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with more about it.
Hello there, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Good morning, Natalie. While the president said he's showing restraint on Iran, we know the military -- the Department of Defense was asked earlier in the week to give the president some options on Iran.
One part of it that he appears to have chosen on the military front here, of course, knowing that he did yesterday, announced increased sanctions on Iran, on the state bank there.
So on the one hand he's taking those sanctions measures but this is a military measure but very clearly being telegraphed as a defensive measure, that this is for missile defense systems, to support Saudi Arabia.
Clearly there were holes in its defensive posture because those attacks last weekend got through. And what's significant, they're not seen before on this scale.
That said, the president and the Saudis are really sort of, it appears at the moment, at least, trying to take a measured response, not ratchet up tensions too far, if you will. President Trump has said he's waiting for the Saudis to take leadership on the current situation. The crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said he's looking to the international community. Trump said he'd be bringing up the issue of Iran at the U.N. General Assembly this week.
We're in a holding pattern but part of that holding pattern is to make Saudi Arabia's key facilities more secure. We saw the United States and President Trump send more troops here earlier in the summer, when tensions ratcheted up in the Persian Gulf around the Strait of Hormuz.
This is another step but it's not a posture in any way that's going to plug all of the defense issues here because it's a broader issue than putting in a few missile defense systems, it appears, at this stage, at least.
The Saudis on their part haven't commented on the U.S. troop deployment here. However, we do know we had expressed -- the crown prince's brother had expressed concerns on a visit to Washington in the past month, had expressed concerns to U.S. officials there that they were worried that the United States could trigger potentially conflict in the region by its posture.
So this seemed to be a balanced measure at this time but is not going to solve all the issues by any stretch of the imagination, Natalie. ALLEN: Nic Robertson, thanks very much.
Now to new and potentially explosive developments in the whistleblower complaint which the inspector general of the United States' international community deemed urgent and credible. A source confirms to CNN that President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
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ALLEN: "The Wall Street Journal" reports it happened around eight times in a single phone call back on July 25th. Kaitlan Collins has more on the story from the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump's second state visit overshadowed today, as he faced questions about a whistleblower's complaint he made an alarming commitment to a foreign leader.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is just another political hack job. That's all it is.
COLLINS: The president accused the whistleblower of being political, but conceded he doesn't know who it is.
TRUMP: I don't know the identity of the whistleblower. I just hear it is a partisan person.
COLLINS: He blasted the complaint as ridiculous, even though he hasn't seen it.
TRUMP: No, I haven't. Everybody has read it. They laugh at it.
COLLINS: And he maintained all his conversations have been aboveboard.
TRUMP: It was a totally appropriate conversation.
COLLINS: But he said he's not sure which one the whistleblower is talking about.
TRUMP: Well, figure it out. You're supposed to be the media. Figure it out.
COLLINS: Asked if Congress will get to see the complaint, Trump waved away the question.
TRUMP: There is nothing. It is nothing.
COLLINS: While he downplayed the matter, the president didn't deny discussing Joe Biden with the Ukrainian leader.
TRUMP: It doesn't matter what I discussed, but I will say this. Somebody ought to look into Joe Biden's statement. COLLINS: That is what his attorney Rudy Giuliani was going to do before canceling a trip to Ukraine earlier this year after facing backlash.
Giuliani wanted to discuss Biden's potential role in the government's dismissal of a prosecutor investigating his son. And in a rambling appearance on CNN Thursday night, Giuliani denied, then admitted seconds later he asked the Ukrainian government to investigate the family.
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP ATTORNEY: No. Actually, I didn't. I asked the Ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was interference in the election of 2016 by the Ukrainians, for the benefit of Hillary Clinton, for which there already is a court finding...
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: You never asked anything about Hunter Biden? You never asked anything about Joe Biden --
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: The only thing I asked about Joe Biden --
CUOMO: -- and his role with the prosecutor?
GIULIANI: -- is to get to the bottom of how it was that Lutsenko who was appointed --
CUOMO: Right.
GIULIANI: -- dismissed the case against AntAC.
CUOMO: So, you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?
GIULIANI: Of course I did.
CUOMO: You just said you didn't.
COLLINS: The conversations Rudy Giuliani did have with Ukrainian officials, including the president's representative, are now under investigation by three different House committees, who are demanding information, while some Republicans say it is overblown.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I think there are people in the intelligence community and other parts of our government who just have it out for the president.
COLLINS: And as sources now telling CNN that President Trump did pressure the Ukrainian president to bring up investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, during his last known phone call with the Ukrainian leader, that was at the end of July.
We are told that that aid package for Ukraine didn't come up during that call but now, knowing that the president did pressure him to investigate someone who very well could be his political opponent in the next election, there are going to be questions raised about whether or not the president threatened to withhold that aid package so Ukraine would then investigate Joe Biden -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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ALLEN: Biden is slamming President Trump's comments. The former vice president, now the Democratic front-runner in the 2020 election, was campaigning Friday in the pivotal state of Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second.
Not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion. Not one single one. And so, I have no comment except the president should start to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Let's talk about this story with Thomas Gift. He's a lecturer in political science at University College in London.
Professor, we appreciate you talking with us. President Trump's supporters will deny it. The president dismisses it.
Politically, how does this look, a whistleblower blowing the whistle on the president?
If true, how serious could this be?
THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: If these allegations are true -- and again, it's worth stressing that there are still a lot of details we don't know but I do think it could potentially constitute a flagrant breach of proper executive conduct.
Here we would have a president using his power in the Oval Office and, in fact, the full force and weight of U.S. foreign policy to try to compel another country to engage in essentially opposition research on a potential political adversary going into the 2020 election.
If that's not problematic, I'm not sure what is. At the same time, I think this issue could escalate to another echelon if there was, in fact, some sort of quid pro quo here in which the president was promising to disburse military assistance or foreign aid to the Ukraine in exchange for engaging in some sort of investigation.
ALLEN: Right. That aspect of it, begs the question.
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ALLEN: What could be the geopolitical implications here?
GIFT: That's a great question. I think if anything it plays into the geopolitical aims of Vladimir Putin. It sows discord inside the Beltway in Washington. It sows discord in Kiev. It also makes Ukraine more vulnerable. So here's a situation in which essentially the president of the United
States is saying we might give you foreign aid if you do what we want to. That could allow for more vulnerability in terms of aggression coming from Russia against the Ukraine.
ALLEN: As far as the Joe Biden aspect of this, there's much to figure out yet whether there's something to investigate. We're all learning about the overlap of his governmental role and his son's personal dealings with a country synonymous with corruption.
Does he have something perhaps to be concerned about?
What do you glean from what you're hearing?
GIFT: It does seem to be the case, as Mr. Biden just said, that no credible outlet is giving much credence to these actual issues. Mainly the issue is with Donald Trump and whether we're going to actually get more information that's disclosed to Congress to allow some sort of an investigation.
At this point, the acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has acknowledged that this whistleblower report exists but he has actually refused to turn over the contents of that to Congress.
Adam Schiff, who directs the House Intelligence Committee, is really pushing for full disclosure and he says we need to have that information in orders to get to the bottom of what's happening.
ALLEN: Right. And if there's nothing there, so says the president, it begs the question, why won't the White House let Congress see the report?
GIFT: That is the big question. It does raise concerns about whether there's pressure from the Department of Justice and/or the White House to try to prevent Joseph Maguire from presenting it to the Congress.
It does suggest that maybe Trump has something to hide. If sources at "The Washington Post" and "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" are correct, then he certainly does.
ALLEN: A footnote to this, we're learning that one of the leaders President Trump will meet with at next week's U.N. General Assembly is the Ukrainian president.
Does that make sense to you?
Seems odd.
GIFT: It does seem odd and it's hard to tell whether that's a coincidence. I don't know exactly when this meeting was scheduled but at the very least I think it will continue to shine the spotlight on this issue going into next week and subsequent weeks as well.
ALLEN: All right. We appreciate your insights. Thanks for your time. Thomas Gift. Thanks.
GIFT: Thank you, Natalie.
ALLEN: Ahead here, a demand for action from millions of young people. Many skipped school to rally for planet Earth against adults they say are doing nothing against climate change.
Also can New Zealand win the World Cup?
We'll have a live report for you.
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ALLEN: More protests in Hong Kong to tell you about this, the 16th straight weekend people have taken to the streets. This a live video for you here. A march is kicking off in one district but patience by police and Beijing supporters is running out.
Police warn protesters to leave one area and stop what they call illegal acts and there have been clashes. Paula Hancocks is following all of this. She is there.
It's looking like it's getting more and more tense, Paula. What can you tell us?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, just about 10 minutes ago there were clashes between the protesters and riot police. They were throwing bricks and petrol bombs toward the police, who then charged them.
You can see behind me is where a couple of them ended up. There were arrests going on because of the protesters. But it is something we're becoming uncomfortably used to in Hong Kong. It's a Saturday afternoon. There was a peaceful protest. It then degenerated into something very different.
The protesters have been building barricades. They've been fairly organized. They're ready to throw Molotov cocktails at the police. There are a number of areas where those police have been trying to disperse those protests.
We know there are well over a thousand people have been arrested over recent months. Behind us there are a couple more ongoing -- Natalie.
Yes.
Has there been any dialogue between Carrie Lam and the protesters recently, as we see that this continues to get more and more scary there on the streets?
HANCOCKS: Well, Carrie Lam says she will have dialogue but not dialogue necessarily with the protesters themselves. If you look around, you don't see many of the protesters. They have the ability to throw petrol bombs and disappear when the police the fire tear gas in retaliation and charge.
There are few protesters who want to sit down with Carrie Lam. They want their five demands met. One, withdrawing that controversial extradition bill, has been met but there are others they want. They specifically want this independent investigation into what they say has been excessive police force.
The police themselves, at a background foreign media briefing including CNN just yesterday, said that the violence was almost becoming out of control, that they were concerned about the level of violence, saying that they might even have to start using live ammunition at one point.
And there was a real concern at just how violent they have become. We have realized that in recent weekends that the level between the protesters and riot police is just ratcheting up. But this, what we're seeing right now, unfortunately, is something Hong Kong is getting used to.
ALLEN: Paula Hancocks watching it for us. Thank you.
We have another protest to share with you, a worldwide protest. You're looking at the power of youth on full display, when millions participated in a massive climate strike Friday in nearly every corner of the world.
Students organized walkouts hoping to turn up the heat on lawmakers to do something significant about climate change. Our Nina dos Santos takes us to the rallies around the world. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Australia, they gathered in hundreds of thousands, determined to make their voice heard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seems that the only people standing on the wrong side of history on this issue, is our government.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): A message of anger, desperation, but also hope.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really want to change the future because it's our future and I want to grow up in a good place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here for my kids' future. Honestly the politicians are doing absolutely nothing and I'm sick to death of it.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Friday's Global Day of Action began in the Pacific Islands, countries that have already been impacted by rising sea levels.
In Asia, too, students demanded action from their political leaders. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our education won't be important if we don't have a life to live for anymore.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): It is a call to action that reverberated around the world. In the Philippines...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- a better (ph) world, responsible (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- a better (ph) world, responsible (ph).
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): -- in India --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we want?
Climate action! When do we want it?
Now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
Climate action! When do we want it?
Now.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): -- and in Africa.
DOS SANTOS: Here in London, thousands marched on Parliament, many of them children, accompanied by their parents and who'd made their own homemade signs. The message was the same, the world over. It's time today's current leaders took stock of the environmental legacy they're leaving behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to have a vote in 18 months. I don't have that kind of political power yet. So I'm exercising my voice the only way I can.
UNIIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to kind of make people think, you know, actually, this is something I really need to be thinking about, something I really need to be acting on.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): It was a similar theme from protestors in the French capital.
And also in Germany, where activists shut down roads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): A lot of people support our movement, but we want to go a step further because politicians decide on our future. We urgently demand that something happens.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): A year ago in Sweden, Greta Thunberg began a weekly school strike for climate. Today, on those same streets, students gathered in the thousands, while she travels the world, advocating for change. A tribute to the power of one individual too young to vote, yet influential enough to make world leaders listen -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: The Rugby World Cup is in full swing. Australia defeated Fiji 39-21 and Argentina just rolled past France 23-21 but the big one everyone is talking about is starting in 20 minutes, New Zealand versus South Africa. As Alex Thomas reports, the winner of that matchup could win the entire tournament.
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ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On paper, this is a match between the second and fourth ranked teams in the world but to most rugby experts, this is a titanic clash between the two countries most likely to lift the trophy at the end of the tournament when the final takes place on November 1st, six weeks away.
That's because there's huge experience and big game ability between New Zealand and South Africa. They have won four of the last six World Rugby Cups, three titles in total for New Zealand. They won the last two World Cups running and two for South Africa.
Most notably on home soil in 1995, that historic victory with President Nelson Mandela handing the trophy to Captain Francois Pienaar, uniting the nation on that occasion and less likely but surprisingly in 2007, when South Africa won on French soil.
Before the Rugby World Cup meetings, between these two countries, it's two apiece. One of two teams to not have a losing record against the mighty All Blacks, showing signs of vulnerability, losing their world number 1 ranking for the first time in a decade and also losing the rugby championship to the Springboks who held them to 16-all on New Zealand soil in August.
That makes this such a mouthwatering match. Both of these giant teams in the same pool. Whoever comes first or second will not meet again potentially until the final. That's why there are so many metaphorical fireworks going off around this fixture, New Zealand against South Africa on day 2 of the Rugby World Cup, one to savor -- Alex Thomas, CNN, Yokohama.
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ALLEN: U.S. football player Antonio Brown has played his first and last game with the New England Patriots. The team cut ties with the wide receiver after he was accused of rape and sexual misconduct. He has not been charged and denies the allegation. The head coach refused to answer questions about Brown.
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BILL BELICHICK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: I'm not going to have any comment on any off-the-field situations or questions on that, so -- I'm not going to get into that. I think I've already addressed this, so we're going to get ready for the Jets here, happy to answer any football questions but the rest of it, I'm done.
[05:25:00] BELICHICK: You've got the rest of it. So yes. That's -- I'm good, OK?
Thank you.
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ALLEN: Bill Belichick there.
Brown's former trainer says he raped her in 2018. And an artist working in his home said he stood naked behind her on her second day of work.
Iran denies attacking oil facilities in Saudi Arabia last week but the U.S. president isn't buying it and he's promising to hit Iran's economy hard. That's coming up here.
Meanwhile, the rebuilding of those oil facilities is underway. We take you to Saudi Arabia for a look at the repairs.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate it. I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our headlines.
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President Trump is not buying Iran's denial and has approved new sanctions on the country. They target Iran's central bank and a national investment fund, two pillars of Tehran's economy. Mr. Trump calls them the toughest sanctions the U.S. has imposed.
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TRUMP: We have just sanctioned the Iranian national bank. That's their central banking system. It is going to be at the highest level of sanctions.
STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: This is very big. We have now cut off all sources of funds to Iran.
TRUMP: These are the highest sanctions ever imposed on a country. We've never done it at this level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: For more on it, our Nick Paton Walsh is in Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump and his Treasury Secretary sounding like these are the toughest sanctions imposed in history on a nation.
And on Friday, they did lay out how the central bank of Iran would be hit by terror related sanctions as would the sovereign wealth fund of this country. But there are a couple of problems with that that remove the teeth, really, of those sanctions.
The central bank is already sanctioned when Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal. Terror related sanctions are worse but still, and the sovereign wealth fund, it's unclear how much money is in fact left inside that and where it is, whether it's in international transactions or not.
In fact, the Treasury's own press release says about $5 billion was taken out in January to assist the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, making you wonder if Iran potentially suspected they would be targeted further down the line.
The rhetoric is very tough but as one analyst said to me, the magazine is already empty when it comes to sanctions. They've been tightening the screws for so many years that there's actually not much left that can, in fact, be done.
Also Donald Trump quite clear that he did not want to go for military action. He said that that restraint was a sign of strength, even threatening, if he wanted to, he could launch attacks in the minute in which he was speaking, telling reporters in the room that would give them a big story.
So it leaves you asking the question, what really has come of this tense standoff?
There has been a violent and damaging attack toward Saudi Arabia's vital oil refineries. They have blamed Iran, as has the United States. They failed, really, to put convincing evidence to go along with one of their suppositions, that the attacks were launched from Iranian territory.
Iran denies that and says that it was the Houthi rebels in Yemen who've claimed the attack. But at this point, sanctions are all that has come toward the people who the United States and Saudi Arabia believe are the culprits. And sanctions, frankly, won't change an awful lot here in Iran.
So as going toward the United Nations General Assembly, to which the Iranian president and foreign minister are going, saying they will not be talking to the United States unless President Trump gets back into the nuclear deal and removes the sanctions he reimposed when he pulled out of it, people are left wondering quite what the lesson to be learned from this standoff has been.
Iran, who deny any involvement, may be feeling that the U.S. threats have been relatively hollow at this point, leading to question whether any diplomacy in New York will bring anything. Iran said it may talk to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates but at this point, the week does appear to have passed without any kind of military response -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: The Saudi oil facilities targeted last week are now being repaired and they could be back to full capacity by the end of next month. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Saudi Arabia with a look about it.
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ROBERTSON: At ground zero in the attacks last weekend, the clean up is underway. Workers at Khurais refinery barely pausing. The Saudi government officials bring us along to see.
What we could film, carefully controlled. No one here in any doubt, this strategic site is a target. It is the beating heart of the Saudi economy, punctured by four cruise missiles last Saturday.
ROBERTSON: This gives you an idea of the size of some of the shrapnel flying around here. Look, palm-sized, huge holes punched in this thick quarter-inch thick steel piping.
[05:35:00]
ROBERTSON: That is the ferocity of the attack.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Only six days ago, the kingdom's lifeblood here burning out of control, spewing smoke, clouding the plant and the country's prospects. Now all energy and confidence being thrust into the repairs.
ROBERTSON: So it's the piping that is the worst damage of everything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Piping is --
ROBERTSON: It's the most important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and the boilers and many things.
ROBERTSON: And how long is it going to take to repair?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming back. You see it, this was not the same. This was burned.
ROBERTSON: What have you done to it already?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We fixed the shield, we fixed the piping, we fixed the system, we changed the whole thing. Supply chain is moving like a train.
And people are working day and night.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Now 160 miles away at the world's largest oil refinery, Abqaiq, a similar cleanup is underway; 18 drones that the Saudis say were manufactured by Iran made multiple precision strikes at critical chokepoints.
And this huge hole here gives you an idea of just how big the strike was. This steel, a quarter of an inch thick, that is just punched right through, splayed it back.
The plant is vast. The accuracy is startling. Each strike, officials say, a clue to culpability.
ROBERTSON: The impact is up there at the top of the scaffolding. The sun is setting to the west over there. North is up here. The strike from the northwest. And that's another reason Saudi officials say they believe that Iran's hand is behind this attack.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Iran vehemently denying it was. Officials here say they will be back up to full capacity by the end of September but that may be the easy part done.
ROBERTSON: Despite all the repairs here, the real test of recovery will come rebuilding international confidence that this was a one-off strike and not a step toward a wider war -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Khurais, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: And we have this from Egypt, a rare sight. Hundreds protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square. They accuse President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of corruption demanding he step down. An exiled military contractor called for the protest on Facebook, saying the military was wasting millions of dollars on luxury projects and presidential palaces.
Mr. Sisi calls those claims lies. Police arrested dozens and used tear gas to clear the crowd. Maybe no crowd like that since their Arab Spring uprising many years ago now.
Well, one of the women who said she was sexually assaulted by Britain's Prince Andrew is revealing new details about her story. The allegations come after high-profile millionaire Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell by suicide. He was facing sex trafficking charges.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre had accused Epstein of keeping her as a sex slave and now in an interview with NBC News, she says an associate of Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew after a night of partying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIRGINIA ROBERTS GIUFFRE, EPSTEIN ACCUSER: Prince Andrew got me alcohol, it was in the VIP section, I'm pretty sure it was vodka.
He was like, "Let's dance."
I was like, "OK."
We leave Club Tramp and I hop in the car with Ghislaine and Jeffrey. She says, "He's coming back to the house and I want you to do for him
what you do for Epstein."
I couldn't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Buckingham Palace responded to her allegations. They say, "It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation."
We'll be right back.
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ALLEN: A 22-year-old man is in custody for driving a car through a shopping mall in Illinois. A witness took this video of the SUV, driving erratically through the building, crashing into things.
Police say the driver took the car fairly deep into the mall but fortunately no one was hit. He was stopped by shoppers, who held him until police arrived. An eyewitness described what she saw.
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LORI HALFMAN, WITNESS: Where I was, you know, they went through -- everyone was shocked, kind of on their phones. People were kind of freaking out a little bit, getting a little scared, didn't know what was happening.
But there wasn't a huge crowd at the store at the time where I was. But then the workers came in and told everyone to evacuate, get out of the building. So that was a little -- you know, a little alarming that he told us to get out, get out of the store.
The few people that were there in front of me -- and I didn't even know -- I don't know where he went because he just went -- the person, you know, in there, they kept going. That's what the sounds were and I think that's what the sound was I was hearing when I thought it might be gunshots.
And there were no gunshots. But it was just crashing through the mall and just tearing it apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Very bizarre. Investigators say it's not terrorism. They're looking into whether a medical issue could have had something to do with the incident. At least four people were killed when a bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed in the state of Utah. Some of the 15 injured were left in critical condition when this bus for some reason ran off the road in a rural area and into a guardrail; 30 people were on the bus.
The Chinese embassy in Washington has sent officials to the area near the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Well, Texas is starting to recover as rain slowed from Tropical Storm Imelda. Some areas saw some 43 inches of rain or 109 centimeters. Officials say they've rescued more than 400 people trapped in the water.
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ALLEN: At least two people died, including one man who drove into a flooded intersection. More than 1,600 vehicles -- look at that lineup -- were towed after they had been abandoned in the flooding. Police say they're looking to reunite vehicles with their owners.
We're back live to Hong Kong. A protest there underway and police have warned demonstrators to leave one area and stop what they call illegal acts. Tear gas has been fired. Let's go to Paula Hancocks, who's following this for us.
It's starting to heat up there, Paula.
What are you seeing?
HANCOCKS: We did half an hour ago see clashes between protesters and the riot police. We saw the protesters were throwing petrol bombs and bricks at them.
In return the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try and disperse the crowd, which they have done. Now you can see here this is where the barricades have been set up by the protesters. This is something they often do.
They put these barricades up to try to keep the police out. We saw the riot police try to do a cleanup operation as well. Over here, you can see where they've been pulling up all the bricks they've been throwing at the protesters.
As usual the protesters have just melted away. They've disappeared into the crowd, potentially onto the next place. You can hear yelling from local bystanders that are telling the police to move out. They're not happy to have this happen in their neighborhood.
What we're seeing, Natalie, once again, on a weekend, we're seeing what started as a legal peaceful rally and march by thousands of people in this neighborhood in Hong Kong, degenerating once again into violence -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Yes. And now there's a warning by police they may use real ammunition if this continues to happen.
Is that changing the character and size of these crowds, hearing that?
HANCOCKS: This is something the senior police have come on and told CNN and other foreign media in a background briefing on Friday, saying the levels of violence are potentially becoming out of control, saying that they will have to consider using live ammunition, saying they're very concerned about the fact they may be put in a position that they have to kill someone or be killed themselves.
Now this has not made any difference to the protests we're seeing today as far as we can make out. There were thousands of peaceful protesters. But as soon as the violence starts, they tend to disappear and then you see the more hardcore elements of this pro democracy protest coming into play.
They're still saying they want these five demands met. One of those demands they met was withdrawing an extradition bill. That has been met. Still we're not seeing a lowering of tensions on the streets. We're seeing pockets of violence. I do have to stress they are pockets. The vast majority of Hong Kong is carrying on as normal but you do see these increasingly violent clashes between the police and protesters. -- Natalie.
ALLEN: You were saying as well this is changing the type of people on the streets. This used to be one where young people were coming out, families were coming out with their children but not so much now with this happening.
ALLEN: Well, we did see some elder people in the protests earlier today, the march, from one area to the other. But we didn't see many children. That is something you did see just a matter of weeks ago, that families were coming out en masse to these protests.
Of course, some of these protests organized by certain groups are approved by police and then people feel comfortable coming out. But if there's a feeling there's going to be something illegal, if there's going to be tension on the street, inevitably the dynamic of the protest groups is going to change.
ALLEN: All right. We appreciate it. Paula Hancocks right there for us, monitoring it. Paula, thank you.
Next here we're going to head to Hollywood because television's biggest night is Sunday. "Game of Thrones" is poised to reign the night full of Emmys. But like the show, there could be surprises. That's next.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) ALLEN: Despite months of online hype a proposed raid on the mysteries
Area 51 in Nevada fizzled out fast; 2 million people pledged to storm the U.S. military facility, which is rumored to store secrets about space aliens.
Hence the crowd, many of them dressed as what we think aliens would look like but only about 3,000 showed up. Most stayed away from the barriers and there was no mass attempt to breach them. It looks like they had fun.
Television's biggest night is just around the corner. This year the Emmys are taking a page from the Oscars and going without a host. And there's plenty of speculation about possible winners and also-rans. CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Hollywood.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Emmy question this year, can anyone take the throne from "Game of Thrones?"
Last year's winner is once again the drama front-runner with a record number of nominations for its final season.
MATTHEW BELLONI, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Even though some of the reaction to "Game of Thrones were negative this season, the show is such a juggernaut and changed television in so many ways voters are going to go for it.
ELAM (voice-over): Also in its final season, HBO's "Veep," a favorite for Best Comedy and actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
BELLONI: They had to take a year off because Julia was undergoing cancer treatment, so there is a lot of goodwill associated with the show but the nice new shiny thing on the block is "Fleabag."
ELAM (voice-over): "Fleabag," a British comedy, is Amazon Prime's new entry following last year's winner, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," a nominee again this year.
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ELAM (voice-over): But "Fleabag" has momentum, led by star Phoebe Waller Bridge, also a writer and producer for drama contender, "Killing Eve."
Bill Hader's "Barry" is another comedy favorite, overlooked in the category last year. Voters could be looking to make amends.
"Chernobyl" leads a spate of real-life stories making up the Best Limited Series category, including tough competition from Ava DuVernay's "When They See Us" about the Central Park 5.
BELLONI: It's nothing like it on television.
ELAM (voice-over): This Emmys will be hostless this year, emboldened by the success of the Academy Awards without a host. BELLONI: I personally like having a host. I think it sets a bar and gives you something to look forward to when you tune in. But the Oscars had no host, the ratings were up and the reviews of the show were generally positive.
ELAM (voice-over): Without a host, the star power of the Emmys will be left to the winners -- Stephanie Elam, CNN, Hollywood.
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ALLEN: All right, here's one. A flashback Friday like no other. Check out Jennifer Lopez. She closed out Versace's spring 2020 fashion show in Milan with a bang, wearing a plunging green jungle- inspired dress. And that might look familiar because the 50-year old was wearing an updated version of the dress she wore to the Grammys back in 2000 that wowed the world. People searched for that gown so much on Google back then that it inspired the company to create Google Images.
I did not know that.
Thank you for watching. For our viewers in the U.S., "NEW DAY" is next. For the rest, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" is next.
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