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Hong Kong Police Now Face Threat of Homemade Bombs; Trump Shocks Grieving Family By Trying to Arrange Meeting with Killer; Candidates Let Their Hands Do the Talking at Debate. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 17, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, live from Studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters.
In the midst of an international crisis, Donald Trump tries a little diplomacy, writing to the president, quote, "Don't be a tough guy! Don't be a fool! I'll give you a call," unquote.
Shouted down yet again, Carrie Lam abandons the legislative council chamber for the second day in a row, after pro-democracy lawmakers show up to headquarters.
After the British and Irish prime ministers take a walk in the woods to find a possible path for Brexit the E.U. and U.K. could be close to that elusive deal. But it could also be a road to nowhere.
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VAUSE: At this hour, a high level delegation is traveling to Turkey to try and end what appears to be an escalating military confrontation along the Turkish-Syrian border. U.S. vice president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo will meet the Turkish president in Ankara. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he will never declare a cease-fire or sit at the same table with Kurdish leaders that he says are terrorists.
Days earlier the U.S. president Donald Trump tried to persuade Erdogan to stand down.
With a remarkably blunt letter with way too many exclamation points, it reads in part.
"Dear Mr. President, let's work out a good deal!
History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen. Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!"
But by Wednesday Trump had decided this conflict was not an American problem.
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TRUMP: Our soldiers are not in harm's way, as they shouldn't be, as two countries fight over land. That has nothing to do with us. Syria may have some help with Russia and that's fine. It's a lot of sand. They've got a lot of sand over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Turkey has ignored repeated calls to end this offensive against the Syrian Kurds and now Syrian government forces of Bashar al-Assad were seen entering the Kurdish city of Kobani on Wednesday.
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VAUSE: And joining us now from Washington is CNN global affairs analyst and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, also a columnist for "The Washington Post," Max Boot.
Good to see you, Max.
MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to see you.
VAUSE: Well, that claim we just heard from the President about U.S. soldiers being out of harm's way. It was one of the sort of four big misleading statements Donald Trump made in about four minutes. Here's another.
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TRUMP: So our view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria should be for the United States strategically brilliant.
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VAUSE: I am not a stable genius like the president is so -- you know, I'm not genius, so how can this situation actually be strategically brilliant for the United States?
BOOT: Well, clearly, it's not. I mean, that's a reason why a majority of the President's own party in the House of Representatives just voted to condemn Trump's policy. Presumably, for actually strategically brilliant, they would not be condemning it.
Of course, Trump is literally the only person in the world who thinks this is strategically brilliant aside possibly from Vladimir Putin because this is certainly in Russia's interest but it is not an America's interest.
And you know that whole press conference that Trump did with the Italian president, it was all just bonkers. I mean, it was a combination of bizarre off the wall claims like claiming this is strategically brilliant or claiming that the Kurds are no angels and basically trying to blame the Kurds for their own misfortune, suggesting that he doesn't -- that Trump doesn't care about what happens in northern Syria, which is completely at odds with the attempts of his own administration to reach a ceasefire.
And then, you know, claiming that US troops are completely safe, even as they're calling airstrikes to destroy their own headquarters, which they had to evacuate so hastily in front of a Turkish advance. So, you know, the -- you know, Donald Trump is often untethered from reality, but I think apparently, evidently, more so than usual even, when it comes to his comments about Syria.
VAUSE: Part of the sort of the bonkers nature of statements in that news conference was the one when Donald Trump refused to acknowledge that he was the one who gave Turkey the green light for this military offensive. It began two days after he ordered U.S. troops to pull out of the region, an order he gave for a phone call with President Erdogan on Sunday. And this is the president saying it wasn't him.
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TRUMP: I didn't give him a green light, just the opposite of a green light.
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TRUMP: First of all, we had virtually no soldiers there. They were mostly gone, just a tiny little group. And they would have been in harm's way. You have a massive army on the other side of the border.
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VAUSE: I mean, that's just ridiculous, but perhaps one of most consequential falsehoods and he touched on this was when he said about the Kurds. Here it is.
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TRUMP: If you look at the Kurds and again, I say this with great respect, they're are no angels. If you look at PKK, take a look at PKK, ISIS respects PKK. You know why? Because there is tough or tougher than ISIS. You take a look at a lot of the things having to do, you have to say it, nobody wants to say it, we're making the Kurds look like they're angels.
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VAUSE: You know, the Israeli president, the former Israeli president Shimon Peres will always say there are no clean hands in the Middle East to be fair, so -- but it's incredible, though, to hear the president of the United States devalue an ally who fought not so much alongside but actually, for the U.S.
Senator from Utah, Mitt Romney, he said, Oh, my goodness gracious, in response to this. They are our friends. They have been our ally and abandoning them was a very dark moment in American history. So is this the president ignorant of history or deliberately twisting it for his own purposes or is he being played by Erdogan?
BOOT: I don't think those options are actually exclusive. I think that it's quite possible that it's some of each of those. And, you know, clearly, most of what he said in that press availability was dishonest, wrong, misleading. But I think you know, the trashing of the Kurds was probably what was most offensive because he was basically trying to wash his hands out of the betrayal of these valiant American allies.
You know, they lost something like 11,000 fighters to defeat ISIS and basically fighting our battles for us. And now he's abandoned them and not just abandon them, but now he feels compelled to trash them, to smear their good name and to claim that there's something wrong with the Kurds.
I mean, that is, you know, just very offensive, very disgusting and very much at odds with the mindset of the U.S. military which operated with those Kurdish fighters on the ground. And you're seeing all over the place U.S. Special Forces officers saying that they are ashamed by this betrayal, which is very strong language coming from military officers who are always trained to defer to their civilian superiors.
VAUSE: Very quickly, I want to finish up with the letter written by Trump to the President of Turkey on October 9th which has just been released. It finishes with this line. "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool. I'll call you later." Apparently, he handed copies of this letter at the White House meeting with congressional leaders sort of an attempt to show how tough he was with the Turkish leader. It shows a lot about the president, but maybe not his toughness.
BOOT: It shows a stunning lack of self-awareness. I mean, this is kind of similar to the way that he released the transcript of the call with President Zelensky of Ukraine. And Trump claims, it's a beautiful call. It was perfect, nothing wrong. And everybody's reading it saying, holy cow, this is incredibly improper, this is wrong.
And now with this letter, Trump thinks that it's -- I don't know, you know, showing that he's a tough guy but what is -- what it really shows is that he's, you know, operating a basically a grade school mentality. I mean, this is kind of the letter that you would expect a fourth grader to write about that level of sophistication.
It's just shocking and appalling that the President would send such a letter on behalf of the United States. And what's even more shocking and appalling is that there is not a single person in the White House with the standing to actually say, Mr. President, this letter is an embarrassment. Why don't we get our professional diplomats to write a more sophisticated letter and do what we do?
But no, there is nobody who can stand up to Trump whether he's trying to pressure foreign countries to intervene in our politics or whether he is allowing Turkey, a green light for aggression in northern Syria. At this point in his presidency, he is increasingly willful. I mean, he really looks A, you know, unstable and B, unstoppable.
I mean, he's, he's doing what he wants and anybody who might tell him otherwise is gone from this administration. VAUSE: Very quickly, did you think that it was a hoax when you first saw it? BOOT: I mean, sure. I think that everybody who saw it thought this was a parody. But I mean, you know, real life is making the onion superfluous.
VAUSE: Yes, good point. Max, we'll leave it at there. Thank you so much. Good to see you.
BOOT: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn the president and how he's dealt with this crisis. After that, congressional leaders met with Donald Trump at the White House for a briefing on the latest developments in Syria.
Democrats today are saying the president was abusive, lashing out at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: He was insulting, particularly to the Speaker. She kept her cool completely but he called her a third-rate politician. He said that the -- there were Communists involved and you guys might like that. I mean, this was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe, not focused on the facts.
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VAUSE: Shortly after the confrontation in the Cabinet Room in the, White House the U.S. president tweeted this photo of the meeting, saying this was "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown."
Well, Nervous Nancy took the photo and used it for the front page of her Twitter account. And so with that, we see the standard of political debate right now in the United States.
CNN political analyst and columnist for "The Washington Post," Josh Rogin, is with us now from Washington.
Josh, good to see you.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be with you.
VAUSE: We just heard from the Senate minority leader Democrat Chuck Schumer, talking about what happened in that meeting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the focus of all of this. She had this take on Trump's demeanor, his attitude and his behavior.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: He was shaken up by it, and that's why we couldn't continue in the meeting, because he was just not relating to the reality of it.
What we saw on the part of the president was a meltdown, sad to say.
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VAUSE: You know, if you drew a Venn diagram with the impeachment inquiry in one circle and Syria in the other, the overlapping part in the middle essentially would deal with how the president has reacted to, both unable to acknowledge the difference between the facts that Trump would like and facts as they really, are, determined to ignore professional advice from all those around him and his patent of becoming increasingly delusional and irrational.
Is that fair?
ROGIN: Not only is that fair, it is a situation that we have seen over the last two and half years that is getting worse. And the president feels isolated and he feels surrounded by enemies on both sides when it comes to both impeachment and Syria. He is convinced that he is right and everyone else is wrong and he is committed to those positions.
So essentially his strategy is the same, to attack anyone who disagrees with him, to tell anyone who attacks him that they just don't understand, they're does not as brilliant as he is and then scream and yell until you cannot have any further conversation.
And the impeachment scheme, it probably will not work because, in the end, the impeachment process is governed by laws and rules and subpoenas and courts and the president will probably lose a lot of those important legal battles.
But on Syria he can pretty much have his way, I think what you're seeing here is the president not only lashing out at critics of his own party but also his entire administration, which resolutely opposed what he's engaging in right. Now
VAUSE: On Syria and during that meeting at the White House, Donald Trump was confronted with the words of his former Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, who warned him that, without the presence of U.S. troops in Syria, there would be a resurgence of ISIS.
His report on what happened next.
Trump responded by saying that, "Mattis was the world's most overrated general. You know why?
He wasn't tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month," Trump said, according to the source.
Is this simply Trump being able to not see anything outside the context of impeachment? ROGIN: I think it is him being unable to analyze anything outside the context of how it reflects on him personally. He is attacking Mattis for the sake of defending his own reputation and his own, record which he misrepresented grossly in that quote you just read.
This is also what we have seen on impeachment but it is also what we have seen when he was bashing the Kurds, our former allies and partners. You know, four times today he said they are not angels, that they are not good fighters.
He is just insulting anyone who he thinks is opposed to him and he does not stop think about the consequences of that and, you know, if 20 percent or 30 percent of the people believe what he says, that is good enough for him, because, in the end, his goal is to muddy the waters and not to clarify.
VAUSE: Yes, clearly, the ongoing impeachment inquiry is one of the reasons why Donald Trump is so agitated, I guess, if not the only reason at the moment. That was ongoing. The former U.S. official envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, made a surprise second appearance. With lawmakers on, Wednesday with Michael McKinley, the former senior adviser to the secretary of state Mike Pompeo also testified.
He resigned, I think was last week. He explained on Capitol Hill, it was behind closed door but here is part of CNN's Lauren Fox's report.
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LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michael McKinley on Capitol Hill Wednesday told lawmakers he left the State Department because he had concerns about the firing of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
He also said that he had concerns about that phone call transcript between President Trump and Ukraine's president. And tomorrow we expect that Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, is expected on Capitol Hill, where we will have more details for those lawmakers as part of their impeachment inquiry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What we see in these testimonies, is that administration officials who were concerned about the role that Rudy Hand Grenade Giuliani was playing and also the influence he had over the president, also the possibility the president would be willing to abandon Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia, just like he abandoned the Kurds.
So how does all of us actually end up affecting the president?
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ROGIN: Right, so, it is important to note that, although he resigned last week, he resigned over a firing that had been made and a call in July, begs the question is, why did he stay so long, same with people like Volker, right? They were half opposed to the scheme and half participating in it at the same time, so each of these figures is out now to save their own careers and reputations and they all have varying levels of culpability and Volker is more into it than Fiona Hill but less into it than Sondland and Sondland is less into it than Giuliani, who is pretty much the ringmaster of the scheme.
And at the top, the president's personal involvement is not public and well-known, so what you are seeing here is part and parcel of what we have been talking, about a total break between the president and all the people that work for him.
He does not show them any respect. He does not show them any consideration and increasingly they are looking out for themselves, so as we go forward with the impeachment, that is what you're going to see.
You are going to see people jumping off the ship to save their careers and reputations, if they can, and that is going to make Trump only more isolated and more angry and more reactive.
VAUSE: Another arrest at New York airport, this is the fourth associates of Rudy Giuliani, a man called David Correa, he is facing charges related to the use of foreign money.
This is to try to build support for a marijuana business in Nevada as well as other states, at the same, time CNN is reporting the investigation into Giuliani concerns counter intelligence concerns, Giuliani's business ties to the Ukraine.
Putting all this together, would you say Giuliani is coming up for a very big world of trouble?
ROGIN: Yes, he is in very, very serious trouble and, one by one, his business associates are getting picked off the streets and arrested and you can be sure they are being squeezed for information to strengthen the case against Giuliani himself.
Again, it has been well-known for several months that Rudy Giuliani had various business interests around the world, clear conflicts of interest.
The question, is when it across the line into criminal activity?
And these are the people who would know. And these are the people who were making those transactions and now they are in government custody facing prison terms of their own. If I were Rudy Giuliani, I would not be firing my lawyer, which is what he did this, week I would be hiring a few more.
VAUSE: Good advice. Josh, good to have you with us. We appreciate it. Cheers.
Still to, come that ticking sound in the distance, that is the sound of the Brexit clock winding down. Britain and European leaders believe they are very close to a deal but really? (MUSIC PLAYING)
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.
We said this before but this time we do mean it. A summit in Brussels in the coming hours could be the best last hope for a Brexit deal before the deadline at the end of this month.
Sources tell CNN the British government remains positive a deal is close, there's optimism too among some European leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says this is now the home stretch, so why the sudden surge of hope after such a long period of gridlock?
Foreign British secretary Jeremy Hunt told CNN, it has a lot to do with the popularity of the new prime minister, Boris Johnson.
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JEREMY HUNT, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: I think that what has changed is that they have seen on the E.U. side Boris Johnson has a lead in the opinion polls and they realized that if they trick the U.K. into an election, they maybe having to do with Boris Johnson with a majority government behind him, which he doesn't have at the moment and that maybe someone that's harder to deal than the Boris Johnson they have now.
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VAUSE: Any agreement that Boris Johnson may make with the E.U. must still be approved by British Parliament. You can ask Theresa May how that all works. As always the question of the border on Ireland limits the sticking point in these talks.
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VAUSE: CNN European affairs commentator, Dominic Thomas, joins us now live from Los Angeles. Dominic, good to see you.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to what optimism in Europe sounds like when it comes to Brexit. First up, here's the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): The news we are hearing from Brussels could be worse, to put it that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: And now, the French President, Emmanuel Macron. Here he is.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): When it comes to Brexit, I want to believe that an agreement is being finalized and we can talk about it tomorrow at the European Council summit.
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VAUSE: So for Merkel, things can be a whole lot worse. For Macron, instead of close your eyes and hope that, you know, the Brexit fairy will make all your dreams come true.
THOMAS: Well, look, John, I mean, Angela Merkel has more than a decade of being the German Chancellor. This is a governmental system that relies on negotiations. It's all about coalitions and she knows that it is not done until it is signed and the ink has dried. In terms of Emmanuel Macron, he's frustrated by the process. First of all, it's a distraction from his greater E.U. integration projects. And he also understands that this is essentially a project being driven by a certain wing of the Conservative Party in the U.K.
And until some kind of Brexit is delivered, the U.K. is simply not going to go away on this particular issue. And deep down, he doesn't want to push the British people towards this decision but he knows that ultimately, unless some kind of Brexit is delivered, this problem is going to haunt them for a generation to come. And that's really the conclusion that he -- that he has reached on this.
VAUSE: It feels like it has already haunted us for a generation. Apparently, though, this breakthrough moment -- if there is to be a breakthrough moment, came last week when the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unexpectedly invited the Irish Prime Minister for a walk in the woods at a secret location. They emerged to say they could actually see a pathway forward to this Brexit deal. So let's assume they get this agreement. Some of the details have already emerged. You know, we believe they're true. But you know, essentially, the U.K. it appears has caved on the issue of Northern Ireland, which will eventually have some kind of border with the Republic of Ireland because that's where the E.U. will meet the U.K. post Brexit world and Northern Ireland will remain in the E.U. Customs Union. This is going to be -- this is not an easy thing to sell.
THOMAS: Well, no, it's not an easy thing to sell but let's just go remember back, you know, Theresa May, that essentially what Theresa May has have the U.K. remain in a -- in a customs union with Northern Ireland also being in a single-market agreement to prevent the return of a hard border and until a trade deal was struck. Now Boris Johnson essentially and this has been shifting over the past two weeks, wants to be able to go back to the U.K. and if he does get this current deal with the E.U. and signed and ratified, he will be able to argue that he is extricating the whole of the U.K. from the Customs Union and that only Northern Ireland will maintain and observe E.U. rules, concerning tariffs, quotas and so on and that those checks will take place outside in the Irish Sea.
So he prevents the hard border and at the same time, can argue back in Parliament to all the different groups that he needs to convince that essentially, we will be leaving as a whole from the European Union. Now we'll have to see how that works out over the next 24 hours, of course.
VAUSE: It seems that he has to convince these different groups of something different, which opposes what the other -- he's telling the other group.
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VAUSE: He'll be telling Northern Ireland, that you're still part of the U.K., you're still part of our -- you know, you're not -- we're not leaving you behind. But essentially, that's what will be happening because of the deal, which we set out with Northern Ireland, in a way, separate to the United Kingdom under this arrangement. He then has to go to the Brexiteers and say that we're all coming out together, we're not leaving anyone behind. I mean, you know, he's a good politician. He has a, you know, a good sort of vocabulary about him in a very quick wit and turn of phrase but that does seem to be a very difficult task, even for this prime minister.
THOMAS: It does. I think there's a couple of things. I think, first of all, he can go to them and say essentially, as Theresa May said all along, this is the best deal, the only deal, the last deal. And essentially, if you don't support this, I will be forced because you voted on this through the Benn Act to ask for an extension.
And you all know that the longer this thing goes on, the greater likelihood it is that we will never actually get to Brexit, as we just keep extending this all along. The other thing to remember is that Theresa May actually had a majority with the DUP and the deal failed three times.
So in addition to the DUP and the ERG, he's also got the problem that the Conservative Party essentially lost 20 of its supporters who were thrown out of the party for bucking the legislation that would prevent him from having a no deal. And he also needs essentially some of that labor constituencies that have supporters who want them to leave the European Union. So if any one of those particular groups disappears, he essentially will have no way of getting this through.
And let's not forget that the shadow hanging over all of this is a potential general election. If Parliament supports Boris Johnson and enables him to deliver Brexit, you could argue that the Conservative Party would be looking at one of its greatest electoral majorities.
The Lib Dems would disappear, because there's no more argument for essentially revoking and remaining; the Brexit party folks can disappear like UKIP and move over to the conservatives. And it would essentially be the end of Jeremy Corbyn because there's nothing else to do here. And so, given the fact that he's lost his majority and he has all these particular groups to look over this, it seems almost impossible that even if he does return from the E.U., he won't be able to get this through. And therefore, we're going to be looking at an extension again and taking this a few more months down the road.
VAUSE: It's a Chinese finger puzzle, isn't it?
Anyway, the more you move, the more trouble you get into, harder it is to work it out. Dominic, we're out of time, we'll leave it there. Good to have you with us. Thank you.
THOMAS: OK, thanks, John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: What to do about that Irish border continues to be a stumbling block for negotiators but for people on the ground, this is a nation which affects everyday lives. Demonstrators held a candlelight vigil along the border. The Northern Irish say they are worried about what will happen if all these negotiations end and there is a no deal Brexit.
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JOHNNY KELLY, BORDER COMMUNITIES AGAINST BREXIT: We are all border residents. We all have great concerns about the impact of Brexit. We consider it to be undemocratic in the sense that the people of the North of Ireland didn't vote for Brexit in first place.
All of the analysis out there, we demonstrate very, very clearly, that any Brexit would have a deferential effect on the people and the economy of this island.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Coming days are critical for Brexit, the U.K. Parliament is running up debate on the Queen's Speech as the European Council meeting gets underway. Then lawmakers sit for a rare Saturday session. Prime minister Boris Johnson is legally required to ask for a Brexit extension this Saturday if there is no deal by then.
As it stands, the U.K. will leave the E.U. October 31st, Halloween, deal or no deal, unless that extension and the request is granted.
Still to come, a speech meant to resource calm in Hong Kong did anything but. The chief executive heckled not once but twice by pro- democracy lawmakers. The latest on the chaos and a new threat police are facing.
Also was it a set up?
The parents of a British teenager, killed by a U.S. diplomat's wife were left aghast when Donald Trump seemingly turned their meeting into a reality TV star stunt.
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VAUSE: Welcome, back everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. An update now on our top news this hour.
[00:31:28]
The U.S. vice president and the secretary of state are hoping they can bring an end to the fighting in northern Syria. Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo will meet with Turkey's president in the coming hours. But Recep Tayyip Erdogan is already ruling out a ceasefire in his military offensive aimed at Syrian Kurds.
A crucial Brexit summit in Brussels will soon get underway. E.U. and U.K. leaders are optimistic an agreement might be close on Brexit. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it's like climbing Mount Everest. Even if negotiators make a deal, it will still need parliamentary approval from Britain's House of Commons.
Canadians go to the polls Monday to decide if Justin Trudeau will remain prime minister. The Liberal Party leader, who recently apologized many times for wearing blackface years ago, is in a tough fight with conservative Andrew Scheer for the top job.
Now, former U.S. President Barack Obama has tweeted his praise for Trudeau. He said he hopes Canadians reelect him.
After four months of violent protests in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam's annual policy speech to lawmakers was meant to try and restore some calm. It did not.
For the second day, the chief executive was repeatedly shouted down by pro-democracy lawmakers. The legislature has now been adjourned. Lam went on television, asking, is Hong Kong still a key place we can live in peace?
At the moment, that seems doubtful. There was a gruesome photo of another example why -- and a warning, this is graphic. The man on the ground, a leader of one of the prominent protest groups. He was attacked by a number of men with hammers. He is now in hospital with some serious head injuries.
Making all this worse, homemade bombs are now part of this volatile mix.
CNN's Will Ripley has details.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of a chaotic Sunday night of protests, an explosion so loud it stood out from the symphony of sirens in this Hong Kong neighborhood. Police standing more than 30 feet away felt the shockwave.
(on camera): If this device had gone off in a crowd of people, what could have happened?
ALICK MCWHIRTER, SENIOR SUPERVISOR, EXPLOSIVE ORDINANCE DISPOSAL UNIT: Bombs are indiscriminate. They don't target police officers. Wherever that bomb had gone off, anybody who'd been in close proximity to it would have risked death or serious injury.
RIPLEY (voice-over): He says the bomb was remote-controlled, detonated using a mobile phone.
MCWHIRTER: This is the first incident where it -- it was clearly attempting to target police officers.
RIPLEY (on camera): Why is that significant, that police were the target in this case?
MCWHIRTER: Well, it's significant as it's a step up. We've seen attacks on police, but a bomb is indiscriminate, and a bomb is premeditated.
RIPLEY (voice-over): On Tuesday, police raided two apartments in Hong Kong, discovering raw materials they say could be used to make bombs. They arrested two males, ages 17 and 23, accused of possessing explosives and illegal weapons, as well as unlawful assembly.
Investigators have not linked the suspects to Sunday's explosion, a blast police say marks a dramatic escalation in the violence, now in its fourth month.
At this warehouse in July, Hong Kong police say they found 2 kilograms of TATP, an explosive used in many terror attacks around the world. Police say it was enough to destroy a building.
(on camera): The July raid at this warehouse, and a huge amount of explosions found, underscores a major challenge for police. Most of the ingredients to make a remote-controlled bomb are common household items like these, all easy to find and legal to buy here in Hong Kong.
[00:35:06]
(voice-over): We found many of those items in less than two hours, visiting three Hong Kong stores. Purchased separately, they may not raise red flags. Together, police say they can be deadly.
LEVI WEST, TERRORISM EXPERT: You have the kind of quantities of explosives and precursor ingredients is very, very concerning.
RIPLEY: Terrorism expert Levi West says this could indicate a new level of extremism in Hong Kong, but he says it's likely not part of a larger coordinated plot.
WEST: If it is related to the protest movement, than I think you would be looking at outliers within that movement, rather than a decision from the leadership.
RIPLEY: For Hong Kong police, facing increasingly violent attacks, including an officer slashed in the neck, these dark days just got even darker.
Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, they were already grieving for their son, who's been run down and killed by the wife of an American diplomat who fled the country. Now they say they were taken advantage of by a highly- choreographed meeting with President Trump.
The Dunn traveled to the U.S. to try and find justice for their 19- year-old son, Harry. They want the driver of that car to return to the U.K. But Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, has claimed diplomatic immunity.
While the Dunns were meeting with Donald Trump, they were stunned to learn that Sacoolas was actually in the next room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN: The bombshell was dropped not soon after we walked in the room that Anne Sacoolas was in the building and was willing to meet with us. We made it very clear that, as we've said all along, we will meet with her, but it has to be on our terms and on U.K. soil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Just a few hours ago, the U.S. president defended the wife of the diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My meeting with the family was really -- it was beautiful in a certain way. It was very sad, to be honest. She lost, and they lost their son. I believe it was going down the wrong way, because that happens in Europe. You go to Europe and the roads are opposite; and it's very tough, if you're from the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It does happen, but usually, people don't die.
Despite the meeting, the Dunn family spokesperson says they are no closer to getting Sacoolas to return to the United Kingdom.
Well, Dutch police are investigating the strange discover of a family living on a remote farm, apparently with no one knowing about them. Police found seven people -- a father and six adult children -- living in a small room of a farmhouse. It's believed they've been there for almost a decade, but it's not known if they were there voluntarily or being held captive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATAHALIE SCHUBART, POLICE SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Part of our investigation is to find out what the people in that house were doing, exactly. There are so many questions to which we have no answer. The investigation is still going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The family is receiving medical care, and a 58-year-old man who rented the home has been arrested. Police do not yet know his connection to the family.
A short break. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, from subtle hand raises to wagging fingers, how the U.S. Democratic candidates voiced their opinions without words in Tuesday's debate.
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[00:40:30]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. With 12 candidates onstage for Tuesday's U.S. Democratic debate, it wasn't easy to be heard. So some there decided to let their fingers do the talking. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nothing beats gestures to help make a point, to accelerate the pacing. At this debate, there are 12 twitch candidates on stage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Klobuchar, let me bring you in here. Your response.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not finished.
MOOS: Vying for attention, dying to be called on.
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot wait for purity tests. We have to --
MOOS: Or taking a more casual approach.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I'm president, I do want to bring in an assault weapon ban.
MOOS (on camera): In an effort to make their voices heard, the candidates let their fingers do the talking.
(voice-over): One finger.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATE: We don't have the guts.
MOOS: A bunch of fingers.
KLOBUCHAR: It is not one idea.
(CROSSTALK)
MOOS: Fingers that said, come to me. A whole arm.
KLOBUCHAR: I would like to respond to that.
MOOS: There were upraised arms.
BUTTIGIEG: -- democracy and don't get a peep of support from the president.
MOOS: Peeping into the other candidate's shot.
BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How do we stand up to Russia?
MOOS: They gestured at the audience.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's nothing, nothing we would've been unable to do.
MOOS: And gestured at each other.
KLOBUCHAR: You are making Republican talking points.
BIDEN: And I went on the floor and got you votes. I got votes for that bill.
MOOS: Every gesture counts.
ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They got a 2 percent fine.
MOOS: Like schoolkids unwilling to commit to asking to be called on, sometimes a candidate raised a hand, detoured for a stretch, before raising it again.
Watch Bernie raise his hand, waiver, scratches head, put his hand down, put it back up, scratches his nose.
But it left us scratching our head. Joe Biden pointed the finger at the wrong target.
BIDEN: What does the president do? He says, I believe Vladimir Putin. I believe Vladimir Putin. I don't believe our intelligence community.
SANDERS: Are you suggesting I'm Vladimir Putin here?
BIDEN: No, no, no. No, no, no, no. No.
MOOS: Joe would never dream of hugging Vladimir.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: OK. We finish up here with a sign language interpreter who made quite the splash over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: David Carney enthusiastically translated Beyonce's hit song "Get Me Bodied" here in Atlanta at the annual Pride Festival. Slayed it. Lots of (ph) praise to Carney's motions and emotions. Not just for that song but a whole lot of others, as well.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT is up next. Get you to the top of the hour.
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[00:44:54]
(WORLD SPORT)
[00:56:50]
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[00:54:44]
VAUSE: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Studio 7 at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, in the midst of an international crisis, Donald Trump tries a little diplomacy, writing Turkey's president, quote, "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool. I'll give you a call," unquote.
They shuttered down on Wednesday, tried again on Thursday but were dragged out one by one by police from Hong Kong's legislative chamber as Carrie Lam eventually delivers her annual address.
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