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Democrats Subpoena White House for Ukraine Documents; Republicans Respond to Trump's Comments on Ukraine; Demonstrators Defy Hong Kong Emergency Ban on Masks; At Least 41 Deaths in Iraqi Demonstrations; Trump Children under Scrutiny; Bernie Sanders Leaves Hospital after Heart Attack. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 05, 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): The White House has been subpoenaed. It is just the latest development in the inquiry that's racing toward impeachment. We'll have the latest for you.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Plus, protesting the ban. Shops closed as Hong Kong braces for more demonstrations over a new rule outlawing face masks.
ALLEN (voice-over): And the vaping crisis in the United States, it shows no, sign of stopping. And now health officials are considering a ban. Hear from the Americans begging to keep e-cigarettes on the shelves.
HOWELL (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. NEWSROOM starts right now.
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ALLEN: Thank you for joining us. 5:00 am in Atlanta, Georgia. We appreciate it. We begin with the White House and the impeachment inquiry. The Ukraine scandal now engulfing the Trump White House and it's moving rapidly on multiple fronts. Here are the latest developments.
House Democrats have subpoenaed the White House to turn over documents and other records related to Ukraine, after the administration ignored a request to do so voluntarily.
HOWELL: And the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, he's in the mix now. His meetings in Poland with Ukraine's new leader have prompted a request for documents.
ALLEN: U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo missed a Friday deadline to provide lawmakers with Ukraine documents and records. The House Foreign Affairs Committee says it is hopeful that information will be handed over soon.
HOWELL: And then there's this from the "The New York Times," reporting a second possible whistleblower is considering filing a formal complaint against the president. "The Times" says this person is an intelligence official with first-hand knowledge of some key events regarding the White House and Ukraine.
All of this comes as activity on the heels of an explosive congressional testimony from the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker.
ALLEN: Yes, the most damaging information are text messages between Volker, other U.S. diplomats and a senior Ukrainian official. CNN's Jessica Schneider has more.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker's opening statement to lawmakers obtained by CNN details Rudy Giuliani's influence on President Trump's perception of Ukraine, as he tried to convince the president that Ukraine's new government was serious about stopping corruption. Volker revealed that he met in late May with President Trump, who insisted Ukraine was a corrupt country full of terrible people. The president said, "They tried to take me down."
The president referring to a theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election. That has been debunked. Volker also released pages of texts that show how the Trump administration, with the help of Rudy Giuliani, was determined to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, as well as that debunked theory.
On July 25, the day of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Volker texted Zelensky's aide, "Heard from the White House. Assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington."
But Volker insisted in his statement he never took part in an effort to encourage Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, saying, "The suggestion that he would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money for his son simply has no credibility to me. I know him as a man of integrity and dedication to our country."
But Volker's involvement in influencing Ukrainian policy is clear from this text in early August to Rudy Giuliani, "Hi, Mr. Mayor. Had a good chat with Yermak last night. He was pleased with your phone call. Mentioned Z making a statement. Can we all get on the phone to make sure I advise Z correctly as to what he should be saying?"
The statement was supposed to lay out how Ukraine would pursue corruption investigations into the 2016 election and a company Hunter Biden was involved in. But that statement was never released.
On August 30, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, William Taylor, tells Volker that the president has canceled his trip to Ukraine. The next day, Taylor texts Gordon Sondland, a prominent Republican donor and U.S. ambassador to the European Union, "Are we now saying that security assistance and White House meeting are conditioned on investigations?"
Sondland responds, "Call me."
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SCHNEIDER (voice-over): On September 9, Taylor again brings up the point, "As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."
Sondland texts back hours later, defending the president, "I believe you're incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind."
Volker also said in his opening statement that he didn't become aware that foreign aid to Ukraine was being held up at the same time he was connecting Ukrainian leadership aides with Rudy Giuliani. But Volker said he did not perceive those two issues to be linked in any way -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: Meantime, President Trump is trying out a new defense strategy to counter the mounting evidence.
HOWELL: That defense, he says it's more about corruption. He says it's not about politics. Our Jim Acosta has this.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With mounting evidence he solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election, President Trump is changing his story, insisting he's now more interested in rooting out corruption than investigating former Vice President Joe Biden.
TRUMP: I don't care about Biden's campaign, but I do care about corruption. His campaign, that's up to him. Politics, that's up to them. I don't care about politics. And so we are looking at corruption. We're not looking at politics. We're looking at corruption.
ACOSTA: But that's not how the president laid it out the day before, when he directly called on Ukraine and China to dig up some Biden family dirt.
TRUMP: It's a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens. By the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.
ACOSTA: Now the president is claiming he never thought Biden would win the Democratic nomination. TRUMP: I think he would be an easy opponent. But I never thought Biden was going to win. I don't care about politics. But I do care about corruption.
ACOSTA: And Mr. Trump could not answer whether he was seeking corruption probes in foreign countries that don't include Democratic candidates.
QUESTION: Have you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigations that don't involve your political opponents?
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TRUMP: We would have to look.
ACOSTA: So far, at least one Republican is not buying it, as Utah Senator Mitt Romney tweeted, "By all appearances, the president's brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling."
But Romney is mostly alone in the GOP. Florida Senator Marco Rubio tells CNN affiliate WFOR Mr. Trump is just trolling the media.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I don't know if that's a real request or him just needling the press, knowing that you guys were going to get outraged by it. He's gotten -- he's pretty good at getting everybody fired up. And he's been doing that for a while. And the media responded right on -- right on -- right on task.
ACOSTA: That may explain why the president is confident the Republican-controlled Senate will hold its ground and keep Mr. Trump in office if House Democrats vote to impeach.
TRUMP: They have no choice. They have to follow their leader, Jeff. And then we will get it to the Senate and we're going to win. The Republicans have been very unified.
ACOSTA: But the impeachment inquiry has found its way to congressional town halls. Iowa's Joni Ernst got an earful at one in her state.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is the line?
When are you guys going to say, enough?
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): Yes, good question. So...
ACOSTA (on camera): Aren't you breaking the law, asking for foreign help?
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is also not answering whether he had violated the law.
The chair of the Federal Election Commission says the law is clear, "It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election." Mr. Trump appears to be relishing his latest firestorm, claiming his battles with the media have invigorated the Christian faith.
TRUMP: I got a call the other night from pastors, the big -- the biggest pastors, evangelical Christians. They said, we have never seen our religion or any religion so electrified.
ACOSTA: The president is describing the latest job numbers in almost Biblical terms.
TRUMP: Asia is doing poorly, to put it mildly. And we continue to do very well with a miracle.
ACOSTA: President Trump threatened to fire off a letter, saying the White House won't cooperate until House Democrats hold a vote on their impeachment inquiry. We are still waiting to see that letter. A source close to the matter tells us that letter may come out on Monday -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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HOWELL: Jim, thank you.
A handful of the president's strongest supporters in Congress have offered vague or little defense.
ALLEN: Overall, their silence is astounding. CNN reached out to more than 80 congressional Republicans for comment. Very few responded. As Jim Acosta just reported, Senator Mitt Romney is one of the rare voices on Capitol Hill expressing disapproval. Let's talk more about these developments with Inderjeet Parmar. Inderjeet an international politics professor at City University, live in our London bureau
Good to see you.
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INDERJEET PARMAR, CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Good to see you, too.
ALLEN: What do you make of the president changing his story about why he reached out to Biden, now he's saying it's all about corruption and not getting political dirt?
PARMAR: I think it's interesting. He's trying to carve out new turf. If the Democrats are focused on national security, where it's just clear from the clip that you just showed and other evidence, that there is a lot of questions for him to answer and his administration to answer.
I think he wants to shift the ground on to corruption. And I think he's doing that because, A, it takes the pressure away from the national security focus. But it also broadens, the possible inquiries to include possible actions by Joseph Biden and his son, which I understand the Ukrainian prosecutor now is reopening some old cases.
So it's national security versus corruption. And I think he wants to plant his flag in that area, to draw attention away and broaden to say everybody is doing the kind of thing that I've been looking at doing.
ALLEN: Meanwhile, the White House is stonewalling at every turn in the inquiry. The House Democrats have subpoenaed the White House for documents. The vice president is involved now.
How is it playing out on the world stage?
PARMAR: Well, it's very difficult for me to speak about the whole world stage. What I can say is, it seems to me with the evidence that has emerged with the second whistleblower in the wings and what came out of Kurt Volker's testimony and the texts, that there appears to be a very strong case.
That not only includes the president and the White House but also the vice president, the State Department and so on. So it appears to be broadening out to a large blast against the entire administration.
And I think that is further undermining the authority of the United States. Before, if you like, you could argue that there was very little actual strong evidence of Russian interference in the previous election.
Here, this appears to be very much more credible evidence which the White House itself has basically released. And it is very, very difficult for them to argue against it.
That's why the GOP people that you have reached out to have been very reluctant to call you back because they're watching and waiting. They've seen the polling figures shift towards impeachment inquiries, shift towards possible impeachment itself. And the president's approvals and disapprovals becoming much more problematic.
So I think for the United States, outside of the authority of the president and the GOP is much lower. But I will say this is going to go a bit broader than that as well, because as I understand it, the Trump administration announced $39 million of arms sales to Ukraine in the near future as well as what I was talking about, the prosecutor reopening some old corruption cases in Ukraine. It looks like it's going to take a lot of people down with it.
ALLEN: It's widely believed that inviting Ukraine and China to investigate Biden, the president is attacking the sovereignty of the United States.
Are the Democrats, in your opinion, doing an ample job of pointing out of the gravity of the president's behavior?
PARMAR: Well, as I said, their focus appears to be very much intelligence, national security related and the initial whistleblower is said to have contacted the Intelligence Committee staff or chair for guidance before even contacting the inspector general.
That means that they are -- they're planting their flag on the national security intelligence question and so on. And I can see the grounds for that. The president is demanding that they hold a House floor vote. The
Republicans are -- sorry, the Democrats are reluctant to do that because of the 40 or so freshmen congressmen elected in the midterms, something like 31 are in districts that Trump won in 2016. So they're watching which way their constituents are going.
Are they doing a good job?
Probably up to now, they're worried too. They may broaden out. But I would say one of the big problems is they're not pursuing other lines of inquiry as before. The emoluments clause, taxes as well as, you know, kind of going around Congress, declaring national emergencies and so on, abusing his power in that direction.
But I can see why they would focus on the areas that they are.
ALLEN: All right, well, of course, this came about because of the president's interest in investigating Joe Biden. Let's listen to the Democratic presidential candidate what he has said recently about President Trump.
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JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All this talk of the president about corruption comes from the most corrupt president we've had in modern history.
He's the definition of corruption. He's indicted himself by his own statements. This is not about me. It's not about my son. He talks about how we should handle whistleblowers. He talks about there will be a civil war. This is a guy that's unhinged. He is unhinged.
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ALLEN: Biden there, he's not slack in giving his opinions on President Trump.
The question is, why is President Trump so concerned about Biden?
PARMAR: Well, I wouldn't disagree with anything that Joe Biden just said in the clip that you've shown. President Trump is worried about Joe Biden, precisely at the time where Joe Biden's numbers are actually declining.
Joe Biden is the GOP's idea of the actual candidate to oppose President Trump in the 2020 election. He clearly wants to undermine him, like he did with Hillary Clinton and the emails and so on. And I can see political party reasons.
But you can't use the office of the presidency to fight against a political opponent. That's an abuse of power. It's basically an impeachable offense.
The problem is that President Trump has now opened himself up to -- he is no victim. He is what candidate Biden said, he is very corrupt. We know that. The number of investigations of this president is probably is unparalleled in American history. And he is no victim here.
What he's seeking to do is to try to cast a light on somebody else, to undermine them in order to overcome the opposition. I can see why he's doing it.
But the problem is, he's violating and abusing his power as president to do it. He's no victim even if other people are guilty of some of the kind of things he's been accused of as well.
ALLEN: We appreciate your insight. Thank you for joining us, Inderjeet Parmar from London, thank you.
PARMAR: Thank you.
HOWELL: We have, as we have been for many weekends now following the situation in Hong Kong. The chief executive there says the ban on covering -- the ban on face coverings should help curb the violence. But so far, it's only caused more demonstrations. More on that ahead.
ALLEN: Also ahead here, protests in Iraq take another violent turn. The government promising action.
But will it be enough?
We'll take you live to Baghdad for the latest.
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ALLEN: Protesters just wrapped up a march in Hong Kong but they are still on the streets, many wearing masks, as you can see, defying the government's new ban on face coverings.
HOWELL: This is 5:20 pm in Hong Kong. Demonstrators are angry about that restriction and they were out on Friday night, attacking subway stations and setting fires. But the city's chief executive says that's why the ban is justified. Let's go live to our Paula Hancocks.
Paula, the new ban is in effect.
What's the difference that you've seen so far?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, the main difference we're seeing here in Hong Kong is the fact that many shops are shut. 7-Eleven has just shut all of its branches across Hong Kong from 5:00 pm. About 20 minutes many of the big department stores have shut their doors. The subway is completely shut as well. From Saturday morning, they said that was because many of the stations
were damaged and vandalized on Friday night. We did see the stations that had had fires set outside. We saw some of the banks, Bank of China, China Construction Bank had damage to their ATMs as well.
We've been seeing a bit of a cleanup operation. One of the interesting things we've seen, there have been some scenes outside of food shops because there have been many that don't have enough on the shelves.
This is certainly not a city functioning normally at this point. Just up to about an hour and a half ago, there was a rally of several hundred, potentially a thousand of protesters, many wearing masks.
They want to make the point that they disagree fundamentally with the anti-mask law that the executive has brought in. Carrie Lam has given a speech, saying the scary riots, as she calls them on Friday night, shows there was a need for the emergency law to be put in place.
HOWELL: Paula Hancocks, thank you.
We're also following developments in Iraq. These violent protests have been playing out there. It's claimed the lives of 93 people, 3,900 people have been injured there.
ALLEN: And the government appears to be ease some emergency measures. The prime minister has lifted a curfew in Baghdad which was imposed after the demonstrations broke out. He's also creating a new committee to address grievances. CNN's Arwa Damon has been covering the unrest in Baghdad. She's joining us live.
The question, Arwa, will the small steps by the government make a difference?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's really tough to tell, Natalie, because these are countrywide protests and they don't have a leader.
And keep in mind it's not the first time Iraqis have taken to the streets making demands for an end to corruption, better services and more employment opportunity. These have been issues that they've been desperate for decades now.
Just imagine, the youth here, youth unemployment is extremely high. People go, they get a higher education, they're unable to find work opportunities. And everyone is very well aware of the fact that this is a country that sits on one of the largest oil reserves. They know that the company makes billions of on oil revenue every single month.
And while the government can't explain where that money has gone and why there's been so little trickledown effect, it really defies logic even how much wealth this country has.
They're still struggling with electricity cuts and the unemployment. And they know it boils down to corruption. Yes, the government has lifted the curfews but the Internet is cut in many areas. The curfew served to fuel people's anger because it restricted their movement. It created a lot of panic. People began stockpiling food and water in their homes.
And it also affected businesses, which can really ill-afford it at this stage. The government is saying they will be forming an independent committee. There is going to be an emergency meeting in parliament today, although some key political parties have been saying they would be boycotting it.
We also heard from one of the country's leading Shia clerics, Muqtada al-Sadr, known to be quite anti-American, he was saying that he believes the government should be disbanded and early elections should be held.
So there's still a lot of uncertainty. There's still a lot of fear and we're expecting perhaps there may be more demonstration towards the evening as seems to be the trend.
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DAMON: And with the numbers of the death toll now coming to light, that also is fueling people's anger and frustration -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Right, if those protests happen. Hopefully, the government will adhere to its promise to not fire on these people. Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad. Thank you for your reporting, Arwa.
HOWELL: In the United Kingdom Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex are again taking on the British tabloids.
ALLEN: Just days that Meghan Markle filed suit over a letter of hers that was published, he's now suing two newspapers accusing them of tapping into his phone. CNN's Anna Stewart has more.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just days since Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, launched legal proceedings against "The Mail" on Sunday, for allegedly publishing a private letter to her father.
And now her husband, Prince Harry, has filed new claims against tabloid newspapers. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the lawsuit regards the illegal interception of voicemail messages.
newsgroup newspapers, the parent company of "The Sun," have confirmed they have received a claim. The publisher of "The Mirror" says it's aware of the legal proceedings but hasn't yet received official notification.
Both papers have declined to comment on the allegations at this time. The big question here is, when did the voicemail interception take place?
Does it date back to the so-called hacking scandal of 2005-2006?
That was the hacking of royal and celebrity phones. And it engulfed those newspapers as well as the now defunct "News of the World." The scandal resulted in numerous lawsuits, settlements, criminal charges and even jail time for some journalists as well as a multimillion- dollar wide-ranging inquiry into press standards by Lord Leveson.
Prince Harry's decision to sue tabloid papers comes days after his wife's and his extraordinary and emotional statement on the tabloid press, in which he criticized the double standards of a specific press pack which gave positive coverage of their recent trip in Africa and of his wife. But he says they vilified her for the last nine months.
It feels like the first shots of a new royal battle against the British media -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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ALLEN: The scandal rocking the Trump White House isn't going away soon. We will go live to both Beijing and Kiev, to get the reaction there to what's happening in Washington.
HOWELL: Plus, the U.S. president fires off another round of unfounded accusations about Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Now observers are taking a closer look at the Trump children.
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HOWELL: For viewers watching on CNN USA, welcome, good morning. To our viewers around the world, thank you for watching NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen.
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ALLEN: The White House scandal over Ukraine exploded his week with President Trump publicly stating that China should investigate Joe Biden, his Democratic rival. And it was a surreal moment in U.S. history.
HOWELL: It's a safe bet that political leaders in China and Ukraine were caught off guard by Mr. Trump's statements. Ukraine did announce, that it would audit, it would review some of the past investigations. But that is a far cry from digging up dirt on Biden and his son.
Sam Kiley is following the story for us. Sam is in Ukraine, the capital city of Kiev.
We now know that Ukraine's new chief prosecutor will audit its cases overseen by his predecessors. Is that bowing to pressure as critics are seeing this? And what's the view in that country?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the view in Ukraine and very much the view of the prosecutor general is this is not the result of American pressure but as a result of Ukraine's new regime, new presidency, to clean out the corrupt processes of the previous two prosecutors general, both of whom were sources used by Rudy Giuliani to put together a dossier of so far completely unsubstantiated theories that make all kinds of allegations against Hunter and Joe Biden.
The prosecutor general was responding yesterday after 36 hours or so after the demand came in public from Donald Trump to investigate the Bidens. But what he said there would be a broad investigation of a number of corruption cases, including an investigation into the activities of the man who owns the company upon which Hunter Biden sat on the board.
That is as far as it goes. He's very, very reluctant to use the term Biden in the press conference. I think that is also reflected in the text exchanges that we saw published over the last 24 hours or so, in which American officials, negotiating with Ukrainian officials about a White House visit for the president of the Ukraine, trying to get the word Biden shoehorned into a public statement from the Ukrainians, who in the end pushed back so much that visit never went ahead, George.
HOWELL: Sam, thank you.
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ALLEN: It's not just President Trump under scrutiny, his children are also in the spotlight.
HOWELL: Ethics experts say that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's roles in the White House have opened up another potential avenue of foreign influence. Our Sara Murray has this from Washington.
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TRUMP: What I saw Biden do with his son, he is pillaging these countries and he's hurting us.
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump firing off another round of unfounded accusations that Joe Biden used his position as vice president to protect and enrich his son Hunter Biden.
TRUMP: We are looking for corruption. When you look at what Biden and his son did, when you look at other people, what they've done and I believe there was tremendous corruption with Biden.
MURRAY (voice-over): But ethics experts say Trump is the one with the conflict.
RICHARD PAINTER, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Donald Trump is profiting off his presidency. MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's children, made international deals on his behalf and serve in his administration. Unlike Biden, Trump stands to benefit financially with their work.
TRUMP: My two sons who are right here, Don and Eric, are going to be running the company. They are going to be running it in a very professional manner. They're not going to discuss it with me.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump promised no new foreign deals. But that hasn't stopped his family from continuing business overseas. Because Trump never divested from his company, he stands to profit. Trump's most recent financial disclosure shows he holds more than $130 million in foreign assets, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
PAINTER: But his two sons, when they go around the world cutting deals, aren't cutting those deals on their own behalf, they're cutting those deals for their father.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's recent meeting with the Indian prime minister was mutually beneficial.
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: From CEO to commander in chief, the president of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump.
MURRAY (voice-over): India is looking to reduce trade tensions with the U.S. and Trump was angling for a boost with Indian American voters.
TRUMP: Every day, Indian Americans help write the story of American greatness.
MURRAY (voice-over): But there's another compelling reason for the two men to stay in good terms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the status now of the construction and also the sales?
ERIC TRUMP, DONALD'S SON: Honestly, I think great.
MURRAY (voice-over): India is one of the most important markets for the Trump Organization. The Trumps have plowed ahead with deals in India, Indonesia, Uruguay and the Philippines that were already in the works before Trump took office. Investigative journalists who spoke with Erin Burnett for CNN's documentary, "The Trump Family Business," say those investments are rife with opportunities to influence the president.
ANDREA BERNSTEIN, CO-HOST, "TRUMP INC." PODCAST: Maybe these are people that really want to buy nice condos or maybe they're people that want to influence the president.
MURRAY (voice-over): Foreign governments also leapt at the chance to shell out money at Trump properties. The Trump Organization donated nearly $200,000 to the U.S. Treasury last year.
The company says that represents all of its profits from foreign governments but the numbers are nearly impossible to verify. The Trump family dismisses it as a nonissue.
E. TRUMP: Somebody bought a cheeseburger at the Trump hotel, it's asinine.
MURRAY (voice-over): Still, Trump faces multiple lawsuits over whether he's violating the Constitution when his business accepts foreign government funds. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's roles in the White House opened up another potential avenue for foreign influence.
Last year, China approved more than a dozen trademarks for Ivanka Trump branded products, the timing just as the U.S. and China were trying to restart trade talks raised eyebrows.
And according to "The Washington Post" reporting, officials in at least four countries talked about ways they could manipulate Kushner, in part by taking advantage of his complicated business entanglements.
The president's sons have insisted their dad isn't swayed by business deals but the elder Trump jumps at every chance to tout his properties on the world stage, even naming his ideal location for the next G7, Trump National Doral.
TRUMP: It's a great place. It's got tremendous acreage. So people really like it. And plus it has buildings that have 50 to 70 units in them. So each delegation can have its own building.
MURRAY: We asked the Trump Organization if they wanted to shed any light on how they're preventing potential conflicts between President Trump and his children. They did not respond to our request for comment. Neither did the White House when we asked them if they wanted to address what the president's own kids are up to as he's launching attacks against Hunter Biden -- Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: A second day of working level talks between the U.S. and North Korea is due to take place in the Swedish capital. The meeting in Stockholm is the first formal face-to-face contact between the two countries since Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un met in June at the Korean DMZ.
HOWELL: That's when they vowed to restart negotiations. that had stalled after their failed summit in February. The current talks come days after Pyongyang said it had successfully test-fired a ballistic missile designed to be launched from a submarine.
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HOWELL: And still ahead here on NEWSROOM the presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders released from the hospital. Doctors reveal he had a heart attack. We'll have more on that.
ALLEN: Also the calendar may say October. But dozens of U.S. cities are in the grip of a heat wave. Derek Van Dam has the latest on that for us.
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ALLEN: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he hopes to be back on the campaign trail soon.
HOWELL: This despite doctors confirming he had a heart attack earlier this week. Our Ryan Nobles reports.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vermont senator Bernie Sanders left a Las Vegas hospital on Friday afternoon after spending 2.5 days there being treated for a heart attack.
Sanders, with his wife by his side, waved to the people outside the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center. Sanders was at that hospital after experiencing chest pains on Tuesday night during an event in Las Vegas.
Two of the doctors that treated him put out a statement that described his hospital stay as uneventful. They say he had, quote, "good expected progress." They confirmed that he had two stents placed in an artery to combat a blockage and they also said that he was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction, which is the clinical term for a heart attack.
Sanders will travel to his home in Burlington, Vermont, and is going to take some time off the campaign trail but he has promised that he will return in time for the CNN debate which takes place on October 15th.
Inside the campaign, I was told there was no real deliberation as to whether or not he'd continue his run for president. Sanders, who felt immediately better after the stent procedure, said that he was ready to get back out on the trail.
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NOBLES: But while Sanders feels better and doctors have said his prognosis is good, this will no doubt be an issue for him going forward. His age, he just turned 78, has long been a knock on his campaign and now with the specter of a recent heart attack added to the mix, it's going to make the argument that he's up to the job that much more difficult.
Still, Sanders has remarkable endurance and he's been very healthy for most of his life. At this point, after a short break, he seems prepared to pick up right where he left off -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOWELL: Ryan, thank you.
Some vape store owners here in the United States are striking back at a ban on vaping products.
ALLEN: Last month, New York became the first state to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Then the Massachusetts governor declared a public health emergency to ban the products.
HOWELL: And now some store owners have filed a suit. They say the ban will kill their business and turn customers towards more dangerous alternatives. Our Clare Sebastian picks up this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPIKE BABAIAN, VAPE STORE OWNER: Protect yourself and don't use illegal products.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spike Babaian is in crisis mode, the owner of three New York vape stores, she is facing a statewide ban on all flavored vaping products.
BABAIAN: You have apple pie and blueberry pomegranate. These are some of our more popular flavors.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The ban she said affects about 90 percent of her sales.
SEBASTIAN: What is life like right now?
BABAIAN: Well, we made $86 yesterday. So the employees get paid more than that per day, which means that we will be bankrupt probably in a couple of weeks.
SEBASTIAN: With a sudden rise in vaping related illnesses and deaths and widespread teen usage, New York, along with a growing number of other U.S. states, are taking emergency measures, trying to ban some or all vaping products.
ANDREW CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: This is a frightening public health phenomenon.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says their latest findings show e-liquid cartridges containing cannabis, some of which came from informal sources, played a role in the outbreak of lung illnesses. Still, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering pulling all flavored products off the market nationwide. While manufacturers have until May next year to apply to get each individual product approved for market.
MICHAEL LAVERY, TOBACCO INDUSTRY ANALYST: It isn't certain what the regulations are going to be. It isn't certain if the flavored products come off the market, if they'll be permitted back once the application process is completed. In a year or more's time, that's at the moment, it's roughly two-thirds of what Juul is selling. And they're the market leader. SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Juul has installed a new CEO, a tobacco industry veteran, to navigate the new regulation. The tobacco giant Altria, which owns a 35 percent stage in Juul, has about a third of its value in the past year. Though there is a potential upside for Big Tobacco and that is Spike Babaian's biggest fear.
BABAIAN: The customers come in and they hug you and they cry. And they say, what am I going to do?
What will I do?
I don't want to go back to smoking.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): She's not going down without a fight, refusing to liquidate her banned inventory, even urging customers to lobby New York's governor.
BABAIAN: We have a hundred years of experience to know that prohibition does not work. What it does, is it takes a product that was legal and regulated and it makes it illegal and unregulated, which means people die.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Renowned actress Diahann Carroll has died. Decades ago, she broke down racial stereotypes and, along the way, won a Golden Globe and a Tony on Broadway.
HOWELL: Carroll might best be known for her role in the 1968 sitcom, "Julia," playing a black professional, a nurse, a single mother. It broke ground for its depiction of an African American.
ALLEN: Carroll also starred in the hit ABC primetime soap, "Dynasty, and she recently appeared in such TV shows like "Gray's Anatomy" and "White Collar."
HOWELL: Diahann Carroll had been battling breast cancer before she died. Carroll was 84 years old. We'll be right back.
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(WORLD SPORTS)
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HOWELL: Greta Thunberg there telling her supporters to never give up, the teenage climate campaigner is calling for urgent steps to tackle the climate crisis after the recent U.N. summit, which she says was a failure. ALLEN: (INAUDIBLE) there in Iowa. She's all over the place. And get this: bookmakers in Europe have Thunberg as the favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
HOWELL: The young activist campaigning in the United States. As they do it, it is hot across the country. Many cities in the grips of a heat wave.
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ALLEN: Next, an amazing story, the man who lost the use of all four limbs in a fall four years ago has been able to walk and move his arms again.
HOWELL: That's right; 28 years old, a Frenchman, known only as Thibault, has been working with virtual simulators and an exoskeleton for two years now. He now has walked almost 500 feet. Take a look at that.
ALLEN: And he can now reach for targets with his arms. Researchers implanted a recording device in his head that translates brain signals into movements of the suit. Thibault said he felt like the first man on the moon.
HOWELL: That is just wonderful.
ALLEN: It is.
Thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. For our viewers here in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next. For viewers around the world on CNNi, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" is ahead. Hope you have a great day.
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