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Environmental Activists Plan Two Weeks of Protests; Refugee Helping Refugees; Lawyer: Second Whistleblower In Trump-Ukraine Scandal; Turkey Launching Military Operation In Northeast Syria; Police Severely Condemn Lawless Demonstrations; NBA Team Exec Tweets Support For HK, Angering China; Victim's Mother Makes Emotional Plea To Diplomat's Wife. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 07, 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]

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen. Coming up next on CNN Newsroom, another twist to the impeachment inquiry. A second whistleblower has come forward with a story to tell about President Trump's conversations with top Ukrainian officials.

Also cutting ties. How would tweet about unrest in Hong Kong by an NBA executive is causing a firestorm in China? And activists hope to cause chaos in London in the coming hours in the name of climate change, but are their tactics effective?

Thank you for joining us. Our top story, there is a new whistleblower in the Ukraine scandal facing U.S. President Donald Trump. A lawyer for the first whistleblower said his team is representing a second one. He says his client works in the Intelligence Community and has first-hand knowledge backing up claims made by the first whistleblower.

But the White House so far is sticking to its defense strategy. President Trump insisting he did nothing wrong asking Ukraine's president to investigate political rival, Joe Biden. He's also trying to discredit the second whistleblower saying they come from the so- called Deep State.

And we received this statement from the White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, "It doesn't matter how many people decide to call themselves whistleblowers about the same telephone call, a call the president already made public. It doesn't change the fact that he has done nothing wrong."

The scandal now goes beyond Ukraine. On Thursday, President Trump also publicly as China to investigate the Biden's. The President's allies tried to defend him on the Sunday talk shows and they're also hoping to change the subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): George, do you really think he was serious about thinking that China is going to investigate the Biden family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said it right there.

JORDAN: I think -- I think he's getting -- I think Senator Rubio said a couple of days ago, I think he's getting the press all spun up about this. Remember, this is the president who's been tougher on China than any other president.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Preceding that, Liz, the President has invited -- asked Ukraine to look into a political rival. And there is now -- there's texting on that. We are seeing the unfolding, potentially, of evidence to justify the whistleblower's complaint. So the question is, is this how the power of the presidency should be used to get a foreign country to interfere or meddle with U.S. elections?

ELIZABETH HARRINGTON, SPOKESWOMAN, U.S. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It is armed from Kurt Volker's testimony that there was no quid pro quo here. The favor in fact, was getting to the bottom of what happened in 2016. This is an issue that Democrats and the media was very interested in not very long ago. How exactly was Russian disinformation infiltrated throughout our politics for over two years, pushing it an insane conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia that was completely false. The Obama administration used --

WHITFIELD: The Intelligence Community has already said that Russia did interfere --

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): There are a lot of unanswered questions. Chuck, I just want the truth. The American people wants the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So do you not trust the -- do you not trust the FBI, you don't trust the CIA. I'm just very confused here.

JOHNSON: No, no I don't. Absolutely not, after Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

JOHNSON: After James Comey --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You believe the FBI and the CIA, these agencies --

JOHNSON: -- Peter Strzok, John Brennan, no I don't trust any of these guys in the Obama administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Let's talk now with Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Larry, thanks for coming on. Good to see you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Thank you, Natalie. ALLEN: Well, another whistleblower has now come forward and the Ukraine scandal facing the U.S. President. Apparently, he backs up the report from whistleblower number one with first-hand knowledge. What could this mean to the inquiry?

SABATO: It's important because to this point you've had a number of Republicans and almost exclusively Republicans questioning the first whistleblower because supposedly it was all second-hand information. It's important to note that every single thing that has come out so far has undergirded the report of the first whistleblower.

But the second whistleblower, if the reports are true, will be able to back that up with first-hand knowledge. So it just makes the arguments that Republicans are making less tenable.

ALLEN: Right, and then the White House, of course, continues to stonewall over the proceedings, and President Trump continues to tweet his anger about it. Well, this week to U.S. diplomats will also go before Congress and testify.

So will the White House including Vice President Pence and the Secretary of State continue to be able to drag their feet instead of cooperating, if the evidence mounts of wrongdoing?

[01:05:22]

SABATO: I think they will, because Trump will expect them to and they know it's in their best interest to do it. And Pence in particular, of course, he's not guaranteed to be on the ticket in 2020. He probably will be, but I'm sure he has that in the back of his mind.

As far as dragging their feet, I think the Democrats have made clear their strategy is to ignore that if it happens, and simply focus on what they've already got. And that's important. They should not let this drag on.

ALLEN: And Republicans if they continue to support the president in mass, only a very small handful have said this needs to be investigated. We'll talk about that. But I want you to hear from two Republicans. They happen to be running against Mr. Trump for president address the situation. Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WALSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's enough we know now to vote to impeach this president. He stood on the White House lawn this week, Jake, and told two additional foreign governments to interfere in our election. That alone is impeachable. This is a strong term I'm going to use but I'm going to say it on purpose. Donald Trump is a traitor.

MARK SANFORD (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To people that has stepped out and say he needs to be impeached is to actually dis diminish and discard with the very process that's laid out by our Founding Fathers.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: All right, what do you make of their responses to this?

SABATO: Well, they're two very different responses.

ALLEN: Yes.

SABATO: I suppose they're trying to divide up the ten percent who may be available to candidates running against Donald Trump in the Republican primaries. No one takes the challenge very seriously. They may like those two candidates and the third one Bill Weld, but Donald Trump is certain to be the Republican nominee.

The arguments they make about impeachment, on the one hand, congress -- former congressman Walsh from Illinois makes a good point that many people view what Donald Trump has done as contrary to his oath of office under the Constitution. Mark Sanford wants to see an official impeachment inquiry and a vote on the floor of the House.

I don't think that that's necessary. Maybe it's wiser politically, but I don't think it's necessary, and it would drag out the proceedings. And as I've suggested, that would be a very bad thing for the Democrats.

ALLEN: Yes. And meantime, speaking of Democrats, Joe Biden's rivals on the campaign trail for president, when asked that no, they would not let their vice president son sit on the board of a foreign company. Is this issue going to hurt Biden as the campaign moves forward?

SABATO: It doesn't help. And while the son of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden has not been accused of any serious wrongdoing or any wrongdoing at all, as far as we know, it's also not very attractive what he did. Now let's remember, it's important to compare him with Ivanka Trump who's in the White House and who has benefited directly from her position in China and elsewhere. And I'm sure the other Trump children, some of them at least, have done the same thing. So you have to make sure you include that.

But generally speaking, the American public isn't really happy when the children of the high officials, presidents and vice presidents in particular cash in on their mother or father's offices. So I don't think the Hunter Biden situation will help Joe Biden. It may not hurt him especially in the Democratic contest, but Trump will use it all the way through to the general election if Biden is the nominee of the Democrats.

ALLEN: All right, we appreciate your insights as always. This next week will be an interesting one to watch yet again, and we'll talk with you again. Larry Sabato for us. Thank you so much.

SABATO: Thank you, Natalie.

ALLEN: In a major policy shift, The White House says Turkey will soon move forward with this long plan military operation into northern Syria. The U.S. will not be involved. They will be pulling away from the area where they've been deployed and supporting Kurdish led forces. This move goes against efforts by senior U.S. officials to dissuade Turkey from carrying out this operation.

The White House did not specify in its statement if this move now constitutes a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. But Turkey will now be responsible for all the captured ISIS fighters currently being held by Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Police in Hong Kong are condemning the violent protests that rocked the city over the weekend. Tensions boiled over once again after the government announced and emergency ban on masks at public gatherings.

Many protesters chose to hide their faces anyway testing the resolve of police. At least 13 were arrested partially for that reason. Chinese military personnel also had their first direct interaction with the demonstrators warning them they be arrested for targeting their barracks with laser lights as they've done in the past.

We get more now from CNN's Paula Hancocks on the violence and damage during this 18th straight weekend of unrest.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sunday evening in Hong Kong, this is becoming the norm. You can see once again the protest is being pushed back by tear gas. This is in Mong Kok. This is an area that has seen a fair bit of trouble recently.

The stations just over the end here have been completely trashed. There's a number of different exits for those stations that perhaps has been broken. There a fire that have been started inside. So the sprinklers are started. So they completely destroyed a particular subway entrances.

So this is inside the Mong Kok station. You can see that they've trashed the entrances there, the stairs going down. And there was a fire down here at some point we're being told. You can see the sprinklers there that have been turned on probably automatically potentially by the protesters but areas of this station have been flooded. This is going to be out of use for some time. On Saturday, the complete subway system was shut. Today this Sunday, parts of it were open. This one is unlikely to be open for some time.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong taxi driver has been hospitalized after he plowed his vehicle into a crowd of protesters. A phone video shows his red taxi amongst the crowd. He tries to turn and seemingly rams his car into nearby protesters. He has then ran from his car and hits in the head and body.

A police officer tells CNN The driver was unconscious when he was rescued on the ground and taken to hospital. The hospital at this point says he is in a serious condition. Hong Kong Police are investigating. Paula Hancocks CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: The Hong Kong protests are even seeping into the National Basketball Association in the U.S. China's Basketball Association says it has separate ties with the Houston Rockets team after their general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the protesters on Friday.

The rockets are one of the most popular NBA teams in China. Morey has since deleted the tweet, and both he and the league have apologized. But now they're facing criticism from U.S. lawmakers for backing down.

CNN's David Culver is in Beijing with more. And this certainly illustrates the complexity of this situation with China and Hong Kong, David.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question. It's now seeping from sports into politics and becoming an international issue. So you have to first grasp how big of a deal basketball is here in China. The NBA is incredibly popular. Here we are at the end of a week-long holiday celebrating National Day. So it's a very important time marking 70 years since the founding of Communist China.

And behind me, we're in a neighborhood that has four basketball courts. You've got a lot of kids who are off school and this is where they're finding themselves. In fact, there's even a line in some places to get on the court. So it's popular for them. And they, I can tell you, are certainly talking about this tweet that went out and the response that's come.

So let's recap. Let's tell you how this started. It started Friday night with the general manager Daryl Morey tweeting out, fight for freedom, stay with -- stand with Hong Kong. So that was an image that he posted on his Twitter account. And the response was quick, and it was furious.

From China, they were not happy. The Chinese Basketball Association immediately announcing that they are severing ties with the Houston Rockets that was followed by the major broadcaster here CCTV and Tencent which does a lot of the digital live streaming of those games. They got more than a billion-dollar deal with the Rockets so this is substantial. A lot of money is at play here.

What we then saw from Morey was recanting some of that and apologizing. And I want to read you a little bit of what he had to say in a subsequent tweet, because the first one has now been deleted. So here's what his follow up was. "I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to rockets fans and friends of mine in China. I was merely voicing one thought based on one interpretation of one complicated event. I have had a lot of opportunities since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives. I have always appreciate stated the significant support of our Chinese fans and sponsors have provided and I would hope that those who are upset will know that offending or misunderstanding them was not my intention. My tweets are my own and in no way represent the Rockets or the NBA."

[01:15:16] And we saw even the president of the Rockets, likewise, separating himself from those comments saying that politics has no place in sports. But as you pointed out, Natalie, this is having some impact now in U.S. politics. We're hearing from both sides, Democrats and Republicans who are criticizing the apology that Morey put out saying, essentially, that he shouldn't be appeasing the communist government here and that essentially, this was a motivation of money that ultimately led to his apology.

But it's left some fans here, a little bit conflicted. I spoke to one young guy who was 15 years old. He's playing here in the midst of the holiday. And he told me, he knew right away what was going on, knew about the tweet, and said he felt like it offended his country. He says, he'll probably be less likely to watch the Rockets but it doesn't mean he's going to step away from the NBA altogether. He still has a love for the game, Natalie.

ALLEN: Well, I want to ask you, David, you know this -- with the Houston Rockets. Is this the first time that we know of China has taken direct action against an American company on the Hong Kong situation?

CULVER: It's not. We've seen this in the past, and most recently, it's been with airlines and hotels in particular, and their connection with Hong Kong and Taiwan and how they label them separate from China.

Of course, China, obviously has a different interpretation of that and so they took great offense to it, and voice that. So it shows you ultimately how sensitive it is when it comes to some of these private businesses. And now we're seeing sports franchises in international dealings and how they may characterize something or may even side with something and the offense that causes to a country of 1.4 billion people and particularly a party that is very sensitive right now, when it comes to Hong Kong.

I mean, this is -- this is the National Day celebration in which they were on the global stage less than a week ago, showing how great in their opinion China is and how far they've come. And now they have something like this as an insult as they see it.

ALLEN: All right, David Culver for us there in Beijing. David, thank you for your reporting. A mother's emotional plea for justice. Her fight to hold a U.S. diplomat's wife accountable for her son's death to take her all the way to Washington. That story is next.

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ALLEN: In Iraq, clashes between protesters and authorities have turned deadly once again. Four more lives were lost and the unrest bringing this week's death toll to 104. Officials deny that security forces have opened fire on demonstrators but activists dispute that. They claim security forces and Iranian backed malicious are deliberately shooting into crowds. Iran's supreme leader is responding to the unrest in Iraq. He says,

the of the two nations are tied and their bond will grow stronger. He added enemies seek to sow discord, but they failed and their conspiracy won't be effective.

The U.S. Embassy will not reveal the identity of the diplomat's wife involved in a fatal car crash because of security and privacy concerns. 19-year-old Harry Dunn, this young man, was hit and killed at the crash. Police say the woman who has diplomatic immunity was driving on the wrong side of the road.

British officials are calling on the U.S. to reconsider that immunity. Our Anna Stewart spoke with the victim's mother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Charlotte Charles' is grief is raw. Talking about his son in the past tense, a new terrible reality.

CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN: He was a really, really good lad, fun-loving, big heart, lots of love for not only his family but for lots of friends as well. From the age of seven, he had his first motorbike. It was his main passion. He's a very, very accomplished rider, knew exactly what he was doing.

STEWART: On the evening of August 27th, the lives of this family changed forever. 19-year-old Harry Dunn was riding his motorbike to visit his father when he collided with a car driving on the wrong side of the road near this exit of an RAF Air Base run by the U.S. Air Force.

CHARLES: Harry was on the side of the road. The hospital had come to Harry. They were doing their best to keep him alive. He spoke to a witness one side of the road. He told the witness that the female driver was on his side of the road. The female driver admitted to a different witness that she was on the wrong side of the road. She hit Harry head-on. They got him as stable as they possibly could. And then took him to the hospital where we lost him.

STEWART: The police identified a 42-year-old American woman as a suspect in their investigation. They say she engaged fully with our inquiry before without notice leaving the country. As the spouse of a U.S. diplomat, she's protected under diplomatic immunity. And unless the U.S. government chooses to waive this protection, she can't be ordered to return to the U.K. to face justice.

CHARLES: It can't be right that somebody, a diplomat or their family can come over to the U.K. or any other country, kill somebody unintentionally or not and just go away and ignore what happened.

STEWART: If you could speak to the wife of the diplomat, the suspect in this case, if she was listening to this right now, what would you say to her?

CHARLES: I do not understand how as a mom, you could get on a plane, go back to own country and completely avoid not only the family that she's broken --

[01:25:07]

STEWART: The U.S. State Department have expressed their condolences but said any questions regarding a waiver of immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels. And I consider carefully given the global impact such decisions carry. Immunity is rarely waived. Harry's family are hoping an exception will be made in this case, and they're looking to the British government for support.

This week they'll meet with the U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and they won't stop there. A funding page has been set up to support the campaign.

CHARLES: We will use that money to go to Washington. We will do our best to talk to President Trump. We will do everything we possibly can do.

STEWART: But no amount of money can buy a waiver of diplomatic immunity or put an end to their grief.

CHARLES: I just want to say that everyone at the American come forward supports us so far through social media and other channels has been amazing. It's meant a lot to us. We don't feel like put on our own.

STEWART: Anna Stewart, Northamptonshire, U.K.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: If there are any developments net story, we'll bring them to you. Next here, an environmental activist group is planning extreme protests on climate change for the next two weeks, which they claim will shut down London. But will their harsh tactics work or backfire?

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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for being with us. I'm Natalie Allen with our top stories this hour for you. Another whistleblower has come forward in the Ukraine scandal facing U.S. President Trump. The lawyer representing the first whistleblower says his team also represents the second one. He says the client works in the Intelligence Community and has first-hand knowledge backing the first whistleblower's claims.

Police in Hong Kong arrested at least 13 protesters over the weekend in part for wearing masks to hide their faces which is now against the --

[01:30:00]

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Hong Kong arrested at least 13 protesters over the weekend in part for wearing masks to hide their faces which is now against the law. Anger over the emergency ban turned violent Sunday. This, the 18th straight week of anti- government protests.

In Iraq more people had died in violent protests there bringing the number of deaths this week to 104. Brutal clashes on the streets have also resulted in 6,000 injuries. Officials deny security forces were involved but activists dispute that and they urge action from the United Nations.

The environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion is kicking off two weeks of climate action starting in a few hours in Westminster, England. Protests will be held in 60 cities around the world to, in the groups words, rebel against the world's governments for their criminal inaction on the climate and ecological crisis.

But their tactics are often seem as controversial and disruptive. Last week members of Extinction Rebellion used a fire engine to spray fake blood at Britain's finance ministry in London. And on Sunday London police arrested at least ten activists on suspicion of conspiracy ahead of Monday's protests. The group says all roads into Westminster will be shut down.

We want to talk about it now with Doug McAdam. He's joining me from Stanford University. He is a sociology professor there and an expert on social movements. Thank you so much for joining us -- Professor McAdam.

I want to ask you first, as Extinction Rebellion prepares these protests do you think their tactics are too much or at this point necessary?

DOUGLAS MCADAM, PROFESSOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Well I would lean towards the latter, necessary. The fossil fuel industry is very powerful politically and economically across the western democracies. It is hard to actually pursue significant change in climate policy through normal channels given the power exercised by the fossil fuel industry.

So while we might, you know, recoil at some of the tactics, and might prefer something that is a little more orderly the study of social movements historically shows that movements -- outsider movements that have relied on sustained disruptive tactics have tended to do better than those that, you know, pursue change through institutional channels.

ALLEN: Right. Can you cite a couple of examples. The Vietnam War in the United States comes to mind.

MCADAM: Absolutely, it was very hard to pursue change through the proper channels in the late 60s with respect to the Vietnam War so protesters were more or less, I think, forced to operate outside normal channels. And if they exercised influence during that period -- it's still somewhat controversial -- they probably did so because of their reliance on disruptive tactics.

A better example at least in the context of the U.S. is the civil rights movement. African-Americans were effectively, you know, marginalized when it came to proper channels. They couldn't vote in any numbers in the south. And so the disruptive tactics, five or six years of disruptive tactics by the civil rights movement, we tend to celebrate now as being very successful and responsible for the changes that did occur.

ALLEN: Right.

MCADAM: So there's two examples.

ALLEN: Well, activism on climate in Europe and across the world has been much greater than here in the U.S. Is that because climate change has been mired in partisan politics and as well denied by the U.S. President?

MCADAM: I think that that is a significant part of it. I mean we in the U.S. were so obsessed with the kind of dysfunction and polarization in the country at large, really focused on the Trump presidency of the last three years. It's obscured, really reduce the tension on lots of other issues.

The other thing I would say is that in Europe the effects of climate change over the last three or four years seem to have been more visible, really dramatic shrinkage of glaciers, fires all across Scandinavia where they never really had to deal with that before, record temperatures.

That maybe part of it but I think the thing you mentioned, the partisan divisions and the dysfunction in the United States and the obsession sort of with the events of the last three years have obscured other issues.

ALLEN: Right and unless people can see and feel a problem, often, they don't think or care about it, climate change has been hard to grasp for many people.

[01:34:55]

ALLEN: Now that we are feeling unbelievable heat, setting records, powerful deadly storms, seeing all of these fires in California, do you get a sense Americans are paying attention?

MCADAM: Yes. More than they had before but I think the effects over the last three years, the extreme climate events have been somewhat more reduced in the United States and more prominent in Europe. I think that maybe it was part of the reason that Extinction Rebellion really developed in England. There is a strong movement, sort of climate change movement all across Scandinavia. Less active in the United States even with the events we have seen here in the last three or four years.

ALLEN: Right. And we also now though have Greta Thunberg leading a global youth movement which has a lot of adults in it. She has given a face to climate change and appeals constantly to adults who can fix it. How important is that?

MCADAM: I think it has been really important. I think she helped catalyze a dramatic increase in climate change activism all over Europe. I was in Switzerland this summer and was struck by how much more grassroots activism on the issue there was relatively United States.

As you said I'm at Stanford. I'm in the Bay Area which is arguably among the most progressive places in the United States.

ALLEN: Right.

MCADAM: There is an Extinction Rebellion group in San Francisco. They are planning actions tomorrow but they are nothing like what is planned for London.

ALLEN: We certainly appreciate your insights and expertise on this. Doug McAdam from Stanford University -- thank you so much for your time.

MCADAM: Thank you.

ALLEN: A Syrian refugee in Canada hopes to turn his good fortune into a bright future for other refugees living in limbo. After a short break you will meet him -- see how he's doing now.

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ALLEN: The United Nations says there are almost 26 million refugees in the world that many governments struggle or refuse to help them resettle into their -- out of their home countries -- excuse me.

Now, a Syrian refugee who spent seven months stranded in an airport is trying to help others with Operation #NotForgotten.

Here is Michael Holmes to tell you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HASSAN AL-KONTAR, OPERATION #NOTFORGOTTEN: I'm living my dream.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Syrian refugee Hassan al-Kontar describes a blissful life in Canada, his new home after months of being stuck in uncertainty, living in a Malaysian airport. Now he's advocating for other refugees living in limbo.

AL-KONTAR: The story goes back to the time I was at the airport. During that time I received some messages from people who has been detained in Manus and Nauru Islands. They asked me to tell their stories. HOLMES: In 2018, al-Kontar famously spent seven months and the Kuala Lumpur Airport, in a complex story that began when he was forced to leave the U.A.E. where he was working when the Syrian civil war began.

[01:40:04]

HOLMES: Unable to renew his passport he applied for a three-month tourist visa in Malaysia. But his attempts to fly out of the country kept getting derailed until his visa expired and he literally had no place to go.

AL-KONTAR: I don't know what should I do. Someone advised me to make a video.

HOLMES: Terrified of returning to his war-torn home country, he called for help on social media for months. Malaysian authorities eventually detained him for being in a restricted area without a boarding pass. But his story had reached people who fought for his release.

Human rights groups eventually helped sponsored al-Kontar's asylum in Canada where he has been living and working since November.

AL-KONTAR: It's my (INAUDIBLE) to help others.

HOLMES: Speaking to CNN from his home in Vancouver, Al Kontar is now partnering with two nonprofits on Operation #NotForgotten, endorsed by Amnesty International and the UNHCR, it's a campaign to privately sponsor some 200 refugees to come to Canada who are now stranded on the Nauru Island and in Papua, New Guinea.

AL-KONTAR: I gave up on governments long time ago, I gave up on international law a long time ago. It's the individuals, people around the world whom I trust, whom I rely on. And call me naive but they can lead the change. They can be the change

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not attempt to leave or travel to Australia by boat. You will be stopped.

HOLMES: Since 2013, Australia has sent thousands of asylum seekers arriving on their shores to processing centers on remote Pacific Manus or Nauru Islands. Many were left for years.

As reports surfaced of humanitarian abuse and neglect, Australia denied liability and strongly refuted any claims of deliberate harm.

After continued backlash from rights groups and the United Nations, most of the refugees have reportedly been moved off the islands but some still languish in uncertainty.

AL-KONTAR: They are losing hope. They are having the feeling that the whole world has forgotten them.

HOLMES: Operation #NotForgotten must raise about 3 million Canadian dollars to comply with Canadian law for private sponsorship. Al- Kontar knows he's asking a lot but says he feels a personal obligation to succeed.

AL-KONTAR: I thought when I reached Canada it would be the end of the story. And I would live my fairytale and life would be nothing but happiness.

I am happy actually but I was wrong. It's nothing but a new beginning and something bigger this time.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN -- Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Operation #NotForgotten -- don't forget that.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

And please follow me @AllenCNN on twitter.

More CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.

"WORLD SPORT" is next.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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