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NYT: Giuliani Pushed Business In Ukraine While Pushing For Probes; Trump Angers China With Bills Backing Hong Kong Protesters; Teen's Beauty Video Tutorial Masks Anti-China Critique; Immigrant Families Sending Children Across Border Into U.S. Alone; GoFundMe Hits Over $100,000 After Nathan Bain's Game-Winning Shot. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired November 28, 2019 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Then that could expose him to various criminal liability, including for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American citizens from bribing officials overseas in business matters.
So we don't know a lot yet, but they're definitely looking at him.
So there's a lot going on that we need to learn about. But it is trouble for him for sure.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: I think your Marie Yovanovitch point is right on the money. We know he was part of the smear campaign against her.
So as they delve into that, Michael, you have represented a client who was accused of colluding with the Russians. If you were defending Rudy Giuliani, how would do so?
MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: To say I did nothing illegal. That, what you see here is influence peddling. That isn't a crime. If it were, half the lobbyists in Washington, D.C., would be under investigation, which might be a good thing. But it is not yet criminal.
And so to parlay one's relationship with people in office who are powerful for your personal advantage goes on all the time.
So my sort of defense of Giuliani is, that is what you are seeing here, you may not like it, it is not a crime. I didn't money launder, I didn't represent the foreign government without registering as a foreign agent, if such registration was required.
And you might not like me anymore, I'm no longer maybe your New York mayor in chief, but I didn't do anything criminal.
BALDWIN: Michael and Jennifer, thank you both.
ZELDIN: Thank you. Happy holiday.
BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you. As the president angers China with a bill supporting protestors in
Hong Kong, this beauty video is sparking controversy because of a hidden message inside it. We'll play it for you, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:36:27]
BALDWIN: President Trump creating even more tension with China after he signed a human rights bill supporting protestors in Hong Kong. It is called the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. It was passed by Congress last week. And it is in hopes that the leaders in China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences and bring long-term peace and prosperity for all.
Pro-democracy leaders called Trump's actions a, quote, "remarkable achievement."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA WONG, HONG KONG PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: For a U.S. president to sign on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, that is a remarkable achievement of all the Hong Kongers.
With the courage and determination of Hong Kongers to fight for freedom and democracy to start the protest movement in June.
It encouraged world leaders around the world and politicians aware that it is time for them to stand with Hong Kong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This act is seen as a challenge to the Chinese government at a time of strained U.S./China relations over trade talks.
And a young Afghan-American girl claims the social media platform TikTok locked her out of her account because she criticized China. The teenager had posted a video that begins by offering makeup advice but ends with searing critique of the country's mass detention camps. The video has captured more than one million views.
And CNN Business Correspondent, Hadas Gold, talked to this young woman who has accused TikTok of censorship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN EUROPEAN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It started like one of the millions of makeup tutorial videos on TikTok. But this was no ordinary beauty tip.
As Feroza Aziz explained how to use an eyelash curler and then launched into a call for action, telling her viewers to educate themselves on the plight of Uighur Muslims in China's internment camps.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FEROZA AZIZ, VIDEO MAKER: Hi, guys. I'm going to teach you guys how to get long lashes. The first thing you need to use, grab your lash curler,, curl your lashes obviously.
Then you're going to put them down and use your phone that you are using right now to search what is happening in China, how they are getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there. Please be aware. Please spread awareness.
And, yes, so grab your lash again --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLD: China has long insisted that the camps are voluntary vocational training centers. But many Western nations, including the United States, have condemned them as mass detention centers designed to eradicate Uighur culture and Islamic practices.
Aziz's 40-second video went viral, more than one million views. But now the 17-year-old says that she was actually locked out of her account. She told CNN she thinks it is because she was criticizing China.
TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, one of the few Chinese apps to have actually taken off in the United States.
But the company said in a statement, "TikTok does not moderate content due do political sensitivities."
But there have long been suspicions surrounding certain Chinese tech companies and how closely connected they may be to China's government
TikTok denied that they banned her video or her account. And CNN was able to find the video and her account on TikTok as of Wednesday.
TikTok did say they banned another account owned by Aziz because she posted a video with an image of Osama bin Laden, which they say violated their ban on content with images related to terrorist organizations.
The company also says that the devise associated with that account was banned from the service. But Aziz says that that video was just a parody.
Concerns over TikTok's connections to China have prompted some U.S. lawmakers to request a security assessment of the platform. Sites have been used to spy on U.S. citizens have been targets of foreign influence campaigns.
In recent interviews with the "New York Times," the TikTok head denied the Chinese regulators have any influence over the company. He says that, for now, the company was lucky, people still associate it for memes and lip-syncing rather than police discussion. But that could soon be changing.
Hadas Gold, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:40:09]
BALDWIN: Hadas, thank you.
Disturbing new questions about conditions along the border with Mexico. Why some families are now sending children into the United States alone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back on this Thanksgiving Day.
If you are spending the holiday with your family, just imagine this. Customs officials say dozens of migrant children are being sent across the U.S./Mexico border alone.
[14:45:08]
They have intercepted roughly 135 children whose families are being forced to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases play out. The Trump administration calls it the Remain In Mexico policy.
But some say the conditions are so squalid, so dangerous the parents would rather risk sending their kids by themselves to seek refuge. We're talking kids as young as four years old.
CNN Contributor, Caitlin Dickerson is also the national immigration reporter for the "New York Times."
Caitlin, why would a parent want to send a four-year-old across the border alone?
CAITLIN DICKERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is hard to imagine, right? I think -- think about the conditions that people are living in while they are waiting in Mexico.
I just got back from across the border across from Brownsville, Texas the biggest area for traffic into the United States. And you have thousands there living in tents. They go on for blocks and blocks.
And the smell, Brooke, of human waste and of trash is so overwhelming. They don't have easy access to bathrooms, showers. They don't have cover from the elements.
In the summer, it was heat and the smell would bake. And now it is cold. But when it rains, the embankments where they go to the bathroom, they get wet and all the waste drips down onto the plaza where people are living.
Kids are eating off the ground. They are surviving just on food that is brought in by the aid organizations. It is really rough.
So when you have been living like that for months, you can imagine parents taking the risk and trying to send them across. BALDWIN: Sure. So when they send them across -- paint the picture --
they are sending their four-, five-, six-year-olds across the border, are they joining others? What is the distance?
DICKERSON: There are a couple different things going on. In some cases, parents are sending them across on their own. In other cases, they are going across together and then being separated. Because children are supposed to be exempt from this RMP policy.
BALDWIN: Right.
DICKERSON: In some cases, the parent cross with them and ends up in detention in the U.S.
But when the child crosses alone, unfortunately, at this point, Border Patrol agents are familiar with how to deal with kids. They expect to see kids. They know how to handle them, so they get processed very quickly.
They are always on the lookout for young kids. They separate them. And within 24 hours, those are transferred into Health and Human Services. It's bread and butter is focusing on children. And these kids are assigned a case manager who, right away, begins to try to work to get them into a permanent home.
BALDWIN: And Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, has touted this Remain in Mexico policy as a game changer. How is this OK?
DICKERSON: So the administration has been really effective through Remain in Mexico, also through pressuring the Mexican government to try to discourage people from seeking asylum.
They tried other measures that didn't work out but Remain in Mexico so far has survived legal challenges. Under the current law, the administration found a way to legally make people wait in Mexico while their cases are proceeding through the immigration process.
I think that it would be a different story if the immigration courts weren't backlogged. If you were to show up at the border today, your first hearing might be in January, might be in February. If that backlog didn't exist, you could see this policy perhaps working a little more seamlessly. Maybe that's why the law allows for it.
But as the circumstances are, as the conditions are in Mexico, it is a really rough situation for families.
BALDWIN: You've painted quite the picture.
Caitlin, thank you so much.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Thank you, thank you.
[14:49:49] Now to this, a basketball player beats Duke in one of the most memorable upsets in history. And afterwards, he starts getting thousands of dollars from fans. You will hear from him and his amazing story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This basketball forward from Stephen F. Austin State University, Nathan Bain, he snapped Duke's 250 home-winning streak with a layup for a dramatic finish. One of the biggest upsets in college sports has turned into one of the greatest heartwarming stories.
Bain is from the Bahamas. Back in September, his family lost almost everything in Hurricane Dorian. At the time, the athletic department launched the GoFundMe for Bain's family. They were about to shut it down when everything changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATHAN BAIN, FORWARD, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY: The layup just coincides with the GoFundMe. They saw it and, you know, it was the opportunity for it to take off and really help. Because, you know, it had slowed down quite a bit and, you know, thinking of closing it. It was truly a blessing the way things played out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Blessing, indeed.
The GoFundMe page for Bain and his family has raised almost $129,000.
[14:55:00]
Back to the breaking news this Thanksgiving Day. Our coverage continues here. President Trump's surprise visit to visit our men and women in uniform in Afghanistan. We have new video of the Thanksgiving visit and it comes amid tensions with the Pentagon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM on this Thanksgiving Day. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for spending part of your holiday with me.
[15:00:09]
Let's get straight to the big story.
