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Trump Will Not Participate In Wednesday's Hearing; Vigil To Honor Stabbing Victims; Protest Continue After Prime Minister's Resignation; Rising Sea Levels Putting London At Risk Of Flooding; Medical Experts: Tear Gas Poses Health Risks; Freed Taliban Hostage Speaks Out. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 02, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, not showing up. The President and his lawyers have no plans to be at the impeachment hearings this week.

As world leaders head to Spain for the climate conference, we'll focus on one of the world's biggest cities at risk because of rising sea levels. And protesters and Hong Kong police in more clashes. How experts are warning of the long-term effects of tear gas.

The U.S. President Donald Trump and his attorneys will not participate in the impeachment hearings this week. In a letter to the head of the Judiciary Committee, White House Counsel wrote this. "We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing, while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the president a fair process through additional hearings.

Now the process picks up pace this week. The House Intelligence Committee will vote on the report of its findings on Tuesday. That's followed by the judiciary committee's first hearing on Wednesday. That committee then decides whether to bring charges or articles of impeachment against President Trump.

The White House has until Friday to decide whether to attend future hearings. House Democrats want to try to get this whole impeachment out of the way by Christmas. The ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee already complaining about the timing of the proceedings because the Intelligence Committee's report won't be released until Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): Chairman Nadler sent a letter asking us by Friday to present this list and present all the things that we would like to do. However, we're not even going to see the Schiff report as is going to be known out of committee until Tuesday, not possibly even Wednesday morning before we get to see it.

There's a lot of problems here that we have to investigate. As an attorney, if you have a case going forward, you want to know exactly what you're facing. And Chairman Nadler is simply asking for an arbitrary deadline because we've not seen the Schiff report.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, meantime, Senate Republican raise that debunked Ukrainian conspiracy theory again, in an exchange with NBC's Chuck Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I think both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. The fact that Russia was so aggressive does not exclude the fact that President Poroshenko actively works for Secretary Clinton. Now, if I'm wrong and if all these journalists are wrong --

CHUCK TODD, HOST, NBC NEWS: Actively worked for secretary -- I mean, my goodness, wait a minute, Senator Kennedy, you now have the president of Ukraine saying he actively worked for the Democratic nominee for President. I mean, come on. I mean, I got to put up -- you realize, the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin.

This is what he said on November 20th. "Thank God, nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in U.S. elections. Now they're accusing Ukraine. Well, let them sort this out among themselves." You're just accused the former president of Ukraine. You've done exactly what the Russian operation is trying to get American politicians to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Joining me now to discuss is David Katz, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney. Always good to see you, sir. So let's start with the White House saying it's not going to attend Wednesday's hearing. Does it not look bad since not having representation in this process is exactly what the President has been complaining about?

DAVID KATZ, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, it does look bad. And of course, what they've done is they've given Trump what he's asked for. And now he's suddenly not participating. But I think that he thinks that this will be largely a scholarly, it'll be academic, and he doesn't really need to participate.

HOLMES: What do you think the White House strategy is? I mean, the whole thing seems to be at the moment to delegitimize the process, I mean, deflect by raising issues like Hunter Biden, but not deal with the substance of the allegations, the witness evidence and just pretty much wait for a senate trial, where Republicans have the numbers.

KATZ: Well, they not only have the numbers, but in the Senate, they'll control the procedures. As it is back here in the House, he doesn't have the control of what's going on. But having said that, they still expect that they're going to hear evidence in there.

And so I think that he is going to pretty much stay out of it at this point. And Mike, I think the rubber is going to hit the road when he says next week, you know, I want my lawyer to participate but I'm going to keep stonewalling on the documents.

And one of the key things that's going to come to the fore then is there are some sanctions, there are some rules against the President if he refuses to provide documents. He can't just send this lawyer in there and say, well, this is all hearsay, this is all not supported, when it's not supported by the fact that Trump and his agencies refuse to turn over documents. They're stonewalling.

So that's when the rubber is going to hit the road. And as to the timing, you know, he's complaining that he's at the NATO conference. But what's happening with regard to the NATO conference is that, you know, we have an old saying, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

If you don't like the timing, don't commit the high crime and misdemeanor because you may get called to account at a point when you say the timing is no good. And you know that Trump would say, no matter when the timing was that the timing was inconvenient with his duties as the President.

HOLMES: And that the process is unfair. You know, Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic Congresswoman. She's on the Judiciary Committee. And interestingly, she's the only member of Congress who worked on both the Clinton and Nixon impeachment. She even wrote one of the articles of impeachment for Nixon when she was a congressional staffer.

And she was telling Danna bash, that this is more serious than Watergate. Have a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA): President Nixon's misconduct, related to trying to use the levers of government to hide the Watergate burglary to, you know, his misconduct had to do with trying to throw the election. But at least it didn't involve involving other foreign nations. If you take a look at what the founding fathers were concerned about, it was the interference by foreign governments in our political system that was one of their gravest concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's interesting in a purely legal sense. Looking at then and now, how does the evidence heard so far stack up to the previous impeachment?

KATZ: Well, the evidence is devastating. The Clinton one was considered kind of a farce. I mean, it was alleged perjury but about a purely sexual matter. It certainly didn't seem to rise to the level of high crime and misdemeanor that warranted removal from office.

Nixon's conduct was worse and Trump's is even worse than that. Because Nixon's, whatever you can say about it, you know, he called it a third rate burglary, but it was a one-time crime that he then covered up. This was a repeated course of conduct.

On July 25th, there's the call to incoming President Zelensky where the President said, but I need a favor though. And then it's followed up the very next day with Sondland's and Sondland's phone call which Mr. Holmes over in our embassy in Kiev, testified to.

He heard directly Trump's voice on the phone saying that he wanted this political personal favor. It's also become clear, Mike, that Trump and no one else stopped the money from flowing even though it had been approved by Congress.

Now, having said that, you know, both Nixon and Clinton did participate in the judiciary proceedings, and they did put on a defense. And I'm expecting that Trump at the very least will put in a written rebuttal. How much he participates beyond that is going to be whether he stopped stonewalling.

I think if he continues to Stonewall, he's going to find that his privileges to participate are circumscribed by the fact that he's stonewalling the very group. This would happen to you in court if you stonewalled. You wouldn't be allowed to fully participate because you were stonewalling. You're obstructing the proceeding.

HOLMES: And it's interesting you mentioned that Bill Clinton, this president's sexual conduct put his lawyer in jail, but that's not part of this process at the moment in terms of impeachment. I wanted to ask you too. There's been -- it's been interesting how we're talking strategy. There's been a lot of photo ops lately with Donald Trump. He was having turkey with the troops. He was in Afghanistan. He was visiting factories. He's been honoring Foreign Service members. He's off to the NATO Summit. He's largely stayed off Twitter which is really interesting. His usual rants have not been there.

Do you think this is a new approach because that is how Bill Clinton dealt with impeachment, stay out of the fray, he seem to be running the country. Do you think Donald Trump is being counseled to do the same?

KATZ: I think he's being counseled to do that, but I think he finds it irresistible. Because I think what he likes most about the presidency, except maybe enriching himself, you know, the emoluments argument, is he loves the ego trip of it. He loves the attention. And I think that he just can't help himself, that he's kind of egomaniacal.

But it certainly any criminal defense attorney like myself would counsel him, don't give them more rope to hang yourself. You know, think about it. If on July 25th, if he never made that call, he had been home free. I thought the Mueller report was devastating, but it kind of fizzled out when Mueller testified.

And here the very next day Trump goes and gets himself right in trouble again with his big mouth and, of course, with his withholding the money trying to get a personal favor to hurt what he considered his biggest political rival, Joe Biden.

HOLMES: It's going to be an interesting week or two ahead. Good to talk it over with you, David Katz. I appreciate it.

KATZ: Great to be with you. And just a few hours, the victims of Friday's London terror attack will be remembered at a vigil. Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were Cambridge graduates and involved with learning together a prisoner rehabilitation program.

They have been attending an event of the program when they were stabbed by Usman Khan, a man convicted on terror offenses who was out on early release. Three other people were injured in the attack. Nina dos Santos with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 25-year-old Jack Merritt and 23- year-old Saskia Jones, both were Cambridge graduates, both passionate about giving even the most serious offenders a second chance. It was this belief that brought them to an event near London Bridge to discuss rehabilitation with former prisoners, and a belief that put them into contact with Usman Khan, a convicted terrorist out on license.

The fact he was freed early has been seized upon by the Prime Minister already pledging to get tough on law and order was the general election now less than two weeks away and days before NATO Summit in the U.K. which we'll see the country welcome world leaders including the U.S. President.

BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: I think it's 1repulsive that individuals as dangerous as this man should be allowed out after serving only eight years. And that's why we are going to change the law.

JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY: I think there has to be an examination of how prison services work and crucially what happens if someone is released from prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: Over the weekend, authorities have increased their surveillance of 74 criminals out on license like Khan. That led to the arrest of a 34-year-old man on Sunday night. In a statement, Jack Merritt's family described him as a beautiful, talented boy who believed in redemption, not revenge. And they urged Johnson not to politicize his passing.

"We know Jack would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences," they said. A legacy captured in Jack's own words describing his work in this radio interview earlier this year.

JACK MERRITT, VICTIM OF TERROR ATTACK: Our students in prison often have a very firsthand, very real, but also very nuanced idea of how the law works. We essentially start talking to our students about ideas of justice and access to justice.

DOS SANTOS: Khan's lawyer says longer sentences aren't the answer. The focus instead should be on rehabilitation before release.

VAJAHAT SHARIF, LAWYER OF USMAN KHAN: The points to learn from this is that the system could benefit by reviewing its position on something like this and having offenders interact with deradicalizers some time before they are to be released in the community.

DOS SANTOS: Police are still trying to understand the events leading up to Friday's attack. What they learned may have important consequences for how and when offenders are released in the future, even if that may not necessarily have been the reform that Friday's gathering had been hoping to achieve. Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Iraq's parliament has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi who vowed to step down and made violent protests. But the move hasn't ended unrest. There have been in fact more demonstrations in Niger where sources say more than a dozen people have been killed since Wednesday. Local courts have started prosecuting officials over the killing of protesters.

Meanwhile, protesters gathered in Baghdad to mourn the loss of people already lost. Some lighting candles, others carrying flags as they marched in the capital. CNN's Arwa Damon is further south in Hillah where another grieving community has come together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They cry for those they love, for those they never met, for the agony of loss today, and that of Iraq's painful past. The sorrowful lyrics, a traditional Shia mourning hymn told from the perspective of the martyr saying farewell to the living.

This Hillah, the predominantly Shia capital of the province of Babylon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the oldest civilization in the world, from Babylon. We love our country. We love life. So we made these four demonstrations.

DAMON: Our presence prompts an address in English. Those who were here starts to get their message out to an international audience.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need all the world to support us to stop crimes against innocent people.

DAMON: Those crimes reflected in this living piece of macabre art, and along the walls leading to the protest grounds.

After all the blood that was spilt, we won't let that go. We won't give up.

22-year-old (INAUDIBLE). She's a recent college graduate, and this is about her future. It's a future without the chains of Iraq sectarian political parties, without the toxic influence of Iran and other outside powers. Students of all ages are on strike, forgoing their education until their demands are met.

They want to start over. They want a do over when it comes to Iraq's democracy project. And it really is this generation that is forcing about this change.

But few places are as calm as this, where there is an agreement with the police to keep the peace.

This is the local provincial council that has been shut down at the request of the population. I mean, they've basically gotten rid of the local government here.

They also torched the local offices of all political parties, a reflection of the outrage felt towards the political elite and their outside patrons. But just a 45-minute drive further south, in the holy Shia city of Najaf, the bloody repression against those who dare revolt continues. In the last few days, at least 20 people have been killed, more than 500 wounded.

Takef (ph), my son is thirsty will drink after him. I'm worried he died thirsty. This father utterly beside himself cries out. And this little girl, just 5 years old was killed by a stray bullet when she was standing in front of her house. Najaf is where Shia political power lies and Iran's influence is more prominent. But even here, there is no more tolerance left for the status quo. Protesters had already burned the Iranian consulate, and more recently, attacked the shrine of a once revered Shia cleric, whose family is now entrenched in Iraqi politics.

Despite the crushing pain, there is hope and determination, a strength even in sorrow, that those who swear is more powerful than any sectarian force. Arwa Damon, CNN Hillah, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, as the holiday weekend wraps up in the United States, travelers being met with intense winter storms from coast to coast. We'll take a look at the dangerous conditions after the break. And also, climate change putting London at risk. How rising sea levels could submerge parts of the coastal city.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. A travel nightmare in the U.S. Powerful winter storms wreaking havoc from coast to coast. In Buffalo, New York, the weather caused the plane to slide off the runway. More than 900 flights have been cancelled nationwide, nearly 8,000 delayed. In South Dakota, nine people including the founders of a health and wellness company were killed on Saturday when their plane crashed in blizzard-like conditions shortly after takeoff. And heavy fog led to a 25-car pileup in Maryland on Sunday.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now to talk about how the storm unfolded, and where is it headed, what's it doing.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's a very slow-moving storm system, Michael. And of course, when you're talking about the busiest travel day of the year across the United States, which was Sunday, and it was in fact a record-breaking year when it comes to the amount of people that were expected to travel by air, which were about 3.1 million. And kind of you put that together with a massive storm system, can easily see the center of spin here with this particular storm across the Great Lakes.

And the nature of its movement here as slow as they come. So, you line this up around a densely-populated region and of course, thousands of flights are impacted and a lot of people disrupted by these -- by this particular storm as well. So, the setup looks as such. 50 million people here under the risk of weather advisories and alerts, but vast majority being winter weather alerts and, of course, parts of 20 states impacted. So, it's not just the Northeastern United States, but even as far as the southern states impacted by this as well.

But notice this, the snow mounts generally ranging from about six to 20 plus centimeters. And city of Boston, 500 flights were impacted, just seven centimeters fell. And of course, the storm about halfway through its life cycle at this point. We expect it to gradually push through the northeastern United States and exit off towards the east sometime Tuesday morning. And a wintery mix is expected. So, it's not going to be all snow but really, the worst weather element is when mix in rain and snow because that's kind of makes for a slushy go on the roadways. We know some airlines reporting is kind of sliding around on -- upon landing across some of these airports. So, just a dangerous situation.

You'll notice the storm finally exits here by Tuesday. And after it does, we think the snowfall amounts for the major cities across the Boston, New York and down towards Philadelphia, could be just five to 10 centimeters. But you notice inland as much as 40 plus centimeters as indicated in the pink and purple contours. So, it is a big story, especially once you move away from some of those larger cities. But notice even the preemptive numbers coming in for early Monday morning have already recorded over 100 flights canceled and 500 flights delayed. And again, this is just within the first hour or so of Monday. And we expect this to climb up into potentially the thousands, Michael, by later Monday afternoon.

HOLMES: All right, Pedram, thank you. Pedram Javaheri there.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

HOLMES: All in the coming hours, world leaders will be gathering in Madrid in Spain to tackle climate change at the U.N. conference cup 25. [01:25:06]

The Paris Agreement will likely be a key focus at the gathering of researchers. I recently wrote in the Journal Nature that the earth is headed towards a global tipping point, meaning climate change is pushing environmental systems to the point of no return. Now, despite the United States formalizing its withdrawal from the Accord under Donald Trump, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be in attendance with other Democratic lawmakers.

Now, as a result of climate change, scientists say hundreds of millions of people around the world are at risk of rising sea levels. A study released in October predicts that entire cities could be submerged in the decades ahead, and that includes London as CNN's Phil Black reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: London has long respected the power of the sea. Straddling the city's famous river, you'll find this, the Thames Barrier. Finished in the early 80s, it's a mighty mechanized fortification.

This sped up video of a recent test shows how it works. Fully extended, the gates stand five stories high. It's designed to hold back the North Sea on its angriest days to protect lives and the vast riches of one of the world's wealthiest cities.

IVAN HAIGH, OCEANOGRAPHER, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON: If there was flooding, it would be absolutely catastrophic. You know, particularly, if it happened at night. If something was to go wrong, the city would absolutely grind to a halt. You know, flooding of subway stations, flooding the tubes.

BLACK: We meet oceanographer Ivan Haigh, on a day the Thames is swollen by a big tide and the storm surge.

Have you ever seen the Thames looked like this before?

HAIGH: I've never seen it this high.

BLACK: It's a close call but experts monitoring the river have decided not to close the barrier. The Thames looking bloated and full gives a powerful sense of London's vulnerability to what scientists now consider inevitable, sea-level rise caused by climate change.

HAIGH: At the moment, we're on track to it, reach, at least, a meter.

BLACK: And that's factored in. That we expect that regardless of sort of policy decisions from here forth.

HAIGH: So, that's very much dependent on whether we follow the Paris Agreement or not.

BLACK: The Paris Agreement's goal is to sufficiently cut carbon emissions to keep the average global temperature increase below two degrees. That's to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Scientists say achieving that goal will limit rising sea levels from expanding water and melting ice sheets. But it's already too late to prevent it. Scientists say, even if some of the best-case forecasts prove accurate, this big, impressive piece of infrastructure still has a limited shelf life.

Sea level rise means long before the end of this century, it will have to be replaced by a new, bigger, hugely expensive barrier further downstream.

These 10 yearly forecasts show what will happen to London if it doesn't have a barrier and the world doesn't act quickly to cut emissions.

By 2100, wide areas of land along the Thames turn blue. Within another 200 years, the river swallows much of central London.

For this advanced, inland city with vast money and resources, managing rising sea levels will be an extraordinary challenge. While around the world, small islands, coastal cities, and river delta communities will be making do without those advantages.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A very real and growing threat. Well, we're going to take a break. When we come back, it's become an old too familiar scene in Hong Kong. Plumes of tear gas filling the air during violent protests. Well, now experts warn the (INAUDIBLE) chemicals could post help --pose health risks. Also, drivers beware a new technology helping Australia crackdown on illegal cell phone use. How it works when we come back.

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HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM everyone.

I'm Michael Holmes with your headlines this hour.

U.S. President Donald Trump will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing this Wednesday. The President's attorney wrote to the committee saying it wasn't a fair process. He said they will respond separately to a Friday deadline about participating in future hearings.

A vigil will be held in the hours ahead to honor the victims of the London stabbing attack. Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were Cambridge graduates involved in an education and prison reform program, called Learning Together. They were stabbed by Usman Khan who, was convicted of terrorism offenses and was out on early release. Three others were injured in the attack. More unrest has erupted in Iraq on the same day parliament accepted the Prime Minister's resignation. Protesters set fires outside the Iranian consulate in Najaf. Sources say more than a dozen people have been killed in that city since Wednesday.

Now, in a couple of hours, Hong Kong police are expected to brief reporters on some of the unrest that broke out this weekend. Authorities on Sunday using pepper spray and tear gas to disperse demonstrators who were holding mostly peaceful rallies. The street skirmishes marked an end to a brief lull in the violence.

Now, over the past six months of unrest, Hong Kong police have fired more than 11,000 rounds of tear gas, many people across the territory have been exposed to it. And now there is growing concern about its long term affects.

Kristie Lu Stout reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a ritual that has become all too familiar, a black banner unfurls, masked policemen step forward and as the locals put it, the tear gas buffet begins.

Police call it the minimum force necessary to disperse rioters. Dr. Wong Cheuk-Kwan (ph) says it's poisoning his patients.

DR. WONG CHEUK-KWAN, TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE DOCTOR (through translator): The government still hasn't provided any guidance or medical solutions for us. It's already been five months. Thousands of rounds of tear gas shot. But they still haven't told us how we should tackle this.

STOUT: A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, he prescribed herbs for patients who have inhaled the gas, like this student who suffers from a cough, sore throat and dry eyes. She reports on the protests for her university and uses the name Mavis (ph) to protect her identity.

[01:35:07]

MAVIS, HONG KONG STUDENT (through translator): After I get older and give birth, I'm worried that this exposure might cost health damages to my future children.

STOUT: In almost six months of protests, Hong Kong police have fired more than 11,000 rounds of tear gas across the territory and a long term exposure is raising concern.

In a recent letter published in "The Lancet", a a group of Hong Kong medical experts criticize the, quote, "apparent absence of government- led decontamination efforts as well as the absence of official guidelines and self-help advice on health protection.

Hong Kong Health Secretary Sofia Chan dismissed the criticism. It starts with a burning pain in the eyes, nasal passages and skin,

followed by tears and coughing and sometimes wheezing and even anxiety. And little is known about the long term effects.

DR. SVEN-ERIC JORDT, DUKE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: I am concerned that the safety of tear gas is underestimated and that the lack of data is used basically as a justification for escalating use. So follow-ups on pregnancy outcomes, fetal issues, malformations, developmental problems should be investigated over many years. And, in general, yes, lung and cardiovascular health.

STOUT: And there is an additional danger posed by tear gas. When it is misused, like when it's released into an enclosed space where there is less fresh air and fewer escape routes; fired from above, or directly into crowds, when heavy and hot canisters can cause severe impact injuries; or when police use expired tear gas which, can be chemically unstable.

Photos of expired canisters have been widely shared on social media. Police insist it poses no additional health risk.

WONG WAI-SHUN, SENIOR POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: There's no expiry. That's a best using period (ph), all right. Some may expire, some may be beyond the best using period. I admit, but we stop it. Those beyond the best using period will not cause any additional harm.

STOUT: On November 12, Hong Kong police fired at 1,567 canisters of tear gas. That's a lot, given that there are 1,440 minutes in a day, that means they fired more than one canister a minute.

Tear gas may be banned for military use but as protests rage on it continues to float through the territory, so patients turn to Dr. Wong and his traditional remedies in a desperate bid to restore the body's balance and release the pain.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN -- Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, it's been called the first of its kind, New South Wales in Australia now has cellphone detection cameras to crack down on drivers illegally using phones behind the wheel. The government says the cameras will use artificial intelligence. If caught, drivers could face several hundred dollars in fines and penalty points on their license.

In a test run earlier this year, officials said the technology caught more than 100,000 drivers using their phones.

Expensive fines, too.

An Australian professor speaks publicly about the years he spent as a Taliban hostage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY WEEKS, FREED TALIBAN HOSTAGE: They came in six times to try to get us, and a number of times they missed us only by hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We'll hear about those rescue attempts to bring him home when we come back.

[01:38:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Australia says a Chinese-Australian writer is being held in Beijing in quote, "unacceptable conditions". 53-year-old Yang Hengjun was arrested in August in Beijing for allegedly spying seven months after he was detained in southern China.

Australia claims the writer is being isolated from the outside world including his family and being interrogated while shackled. Yang has a large following on Twitter where he has criticized the Chinese government.

The freed hostage Timothy Weeks is speaking out after more than three years in Taliban captivity. Weeks is now back home in Australia. He and a U.S. citizen were freed last month in exchange for three high- ranking militants. The two men are professors who were captured while traveling together in Afghanistan in 2016.

On Sunday Weeks gave his first public interview detailing how several rescue attempts failed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEEKS: We were told by our guards that it was (INAUDIBLE), I have since learned that I believe now that it was the Navy SEALs coming in to get us. And the moment that we got into the tunnels we were just one or two minutes underground and there was a huge bang at the front door. And that was whomever coming in who we thought was guys (ph) at the time and then our guards went up and there was a lot of machine gun fire.

I believe it was the Navy SEALs who were right outside our door. I believe and I hope this is correct that they came in six times to try and get us. And that a number of times, they missed us only by hours.

For the majority of time I was treated as well as could be expected under the conditions I was under. We were kept in very remote locations. We had no access to proper medical treatment. At times food was not of a lot of variety on the menu. And I think also because we are in such tiny cells, there were no windows, there were -- you know at times we spent long periods in the dark. That was quite difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Weeks also said it was very emotional reuniting with his loved ones and that he never gave up hope that he would be eventually rescued. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM and spending part of your day with

us.

I'm Michael Holmes.

"WORLD SPORT" is up next. You will see Rosemary Church in about 15 minutes.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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