Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Anger In Iraq & Iran Over Air Strikes; New York Hanukkah Attack Suspect Charged With Hate Crimes; Officials: Too Late To Evacuate In Parts Of Victoria State; British Woman Found Guilty Of Lying About Rape In Cyprus; Tesla Gives Away First China-Made Model 3S To Employees. Aired 5-5:30p ET

Aired December 30, 2019 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

HALA GORANI, CNN HOST, THE BRIEF: Hello. You are watching CNN. I'm Hala Gorani in London. Coming up the U.S. is facing condemnation and backlash for military strikes targeting facilities tied to an Iranian backed militia. The Iraqi government is not happy we have the very latest.

Plus, thousands of Australians are being told that it's too late to evacuate some parts of the country as the out of control wildfires there get worse. And how this woman who claims she was gang raped is now facing possible jail time herself.

Well, both Iran and Iraq are warning of, "Consequences", after American airstrikes targeted an Iranian backed militia, killing dozens of fighters. The Pentagon says the strikes over the weekend were in response to repeated militia attacks on U.S. and coalition forces. It says U.S. war planes hit the Kataib Hezbollah sites along the Iraqi Syrian border including weapons depots and command and control centers.

Officials in Iraq are furious. They say the attacks violate their country's sovereignty and they do not want Iraq to become a battleground, they say, for a proxy war. Iran is also lashing listen to Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during a visit to Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Despite the fact that Americans are thousands of miles away from their borders, under a pretext of defending their rights they have drowned the people of Iraq and Syria in blood. The recent actions by Americans in Iraq are unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, as for the Americans the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the threat against American forces had been going on for, "Weeks and weeks". He called the airstrikes defensive and says they were also meant to prevent future attacks. Listen to Pompeo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATEE: It was aimed also at deterring Iran. This was an Iranian-backed rogue militia, acting to deny the Iraqi people their basic sovereignty. It's Qasim Sulaimani it's the Hayatullah working to expand their terror campaign all around the world. They took a strike at an American facility. President Trump has been pretty darn patient and he's made clear at the same time that when Americans' lives were at risk we would respond and that's what the Department of Defense did yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Arwa Damon is in the region tonight. She tells us the powerful Iranian-backed militia targeted in these strikes has been around for years forming after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was a group of very powerful militias that were armed, trained, funded by the Iranians. Fast forward to 2014, Hala, you have ISIS taking over huge swaths of Iraq. And Kataib Hezbollah along with other Shia militias ended up making up the backbone of this popular mobilization force, this paramilitary force that was instrumental in recapturing some parts of Iraq from ISIS.

So this group is quite entrenched in Iraq's history, and not always necessarily in the most productive of manners to say the least. But also it's a group that is part of this entity that's meant to be part of the Iraqi security forces, although Baghdad doesn't really have much control over them. They are very, very close Iran.

GORANI: We are joined now by Pentagon Reporter Ryan Browne. The reaction, Ryan, at the Pentagon, to this Iraqi condemnation, what is it?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, the issue here is really that the U.S. has long asked the Iraqi government leadership in Baghdad for assistance in helping stop some of these attacks that the U.S. blames on these Iranian proxies which are essentially part of the security force now.

The U.S. has not had success, those attacks it continued similar 11 strike that most recent which on Friday killed an American contractor who did several service members. So again, the U.S. asking why is Iraq not protested the presence of these Iranian proxies these attacks on U.S. and Iraqi personal and said that that is a violation of sovereignty instead choosing to protest the U.S. airstrike?

But fundamentally this comes down to what will happen to the 5,000 U.S. troops that remain in Iraq? They're there at the request of the Iraqi government. Will Iraq try to place additional restrictions on them to punish the U.S. over this strike? Will the Iraqis with pressure from Tehran seek to expel the U.S. even? So this is something that will be close - keeping an eye on the U.S./Iraq relationship in the days ahead.

GORANI: Ryan Browne at the Pentagon thanks very much. Well, Russia is condemning the U.S. airstrikes as well as attacks by Iranian backed militia calling them counterproductive. It's urging all sides to refrain from actions that could destabilize the region despite the fact that it's heavily involved.

[17:05:00]

GORANI: Of course in countries like Syria. That statement comes just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with Donald Trump. We first learned about the call, not from the White House, but from Russia. After hours of silence though, the White House has now provided its own readout of what was discussed?

Let's bring in Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow with details. Do we know about what was said on that phone call between the two men?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it took 24 hours for the White House to actually come out with its own - I think readout but sort of a summary of what took place in that call. And you're absolutely right, to what we heard originally it came from the Kremlin and so that it did take a very long time for the White House to then come out.

There seems to be agreement from both sides that the two men talked about anti-terror policy together. Apparently, Vladimir Putin was thanking Donald Trump for a tip-off that the FBI gave apparently gave Russian special services, as the Russian said it that apparently prevented a terror attack that was supposed to take place in St. Petersburg on New Year's Eve saying that two individuals had been arrested. Apparently both of those individuals have since then pleaded guilty.

Now, the Russians, aside from that only said that other areas of mutual interest were apparently also discussed on that call. The White House then when it did - more than 24 hours later come out with its own side of the statement said that arms control was also part of that as well, that in itself is quite interesting because of course we know that the Trump Administration and Kremlin have been very much at odds about arms control and renewing arms control treaties and also old arms control treaties as well.

It's quite interesting because the Russians just three days ago came out and said that they had for the first deployed hypersonic missiles which obviously make that topic very important as well. Hala.

GORANI: All right, Fred. Thanks very much. In Somalia, Al Shabaab is claiming responsibility for Saturday's suicide car bombing in Mogadishu and it was a very bloody and deadly attack. The blast killed at least 85 people and wounded 150 more at least. The announcement came after the Somali government said that it hit Al Shabaab with airstrikes. Officials said the attack was coordinated with the United States and a Senior Al Shabaab operative was killed. But as Farai Sevenzo told me earlier, the terror group is not going to be easy to root out.

FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have some very strong networks of supporters within that country. That this failure of intelligence for the Somali forces. Not expecting these things to happen. Remember, a couple of months or so back, when they were hitting hotels where politicians were meeting it turns out that even the informers were coming from hotel waiters and things like that. So it's very difficult to stamp it out. And of course Al Shabaab is one of the terror groups that are affecting so many parts of Africa. We've got Mali - North East Nigeria is going to be a big part of Africa's 2020 Hala this, terror menace.

GORANI: Well, we are learning new detail about the man charged with stabbing five member of an Orthodox Jewish Congregation at a Hanukkah Celebration in New York on Saturday night. Family and friends say the suspect has long suffered from mental illness and never expressed any Anti-Semitic beliefs.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports that this attack is part though of a growing spate of violence against Jews in the United States. We must warn you her report contains some graphic images.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Grafton Thomas is now facing federal hate crime charges after what police say they heard from witnesses and what found in his hand written journal, a reference to Adolf Hitler in Nazi culture on the same page as a drawings of a Star of David and a Swastika. Thomas's attorney disputes the Anti-Semitism allegation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SUSSMAN, SUSPECT'S ATTORNEY: Reverent and I review scores of papers which frankly show the ramblings of a disturbed individual, but there's no suggestion in any of those ramblings and pages of writing of an Anti-Semitic motive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Witnesses say the suspect slashed his way through a house full of Orthodox Jewish worshippers, injuring five and leaving behind a terrible blood-soaked scene during what was a Hanukkah Celebration. Josef Gluck was inside that home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEF GLUCK, HELPED STOP ATTACK IN RABBI'S HOME: When I first saw him he came as just saw him wielding his knife back and forth trying to hit guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he say anything?

GLUCK: Nothing, he didn't say a word to anyone inside. He just spoke to me outside once.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say?

GLUCK: Hey, you, I'm going get you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Gluck managed to get out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLUCK: There were kids inside so I went back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Went back in and fight. His only weapon the furniture around him now in shambles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLUCK: I picked it up from back and I did a slice he was three feet away from me. I hit him in his face, and he started - he started coming after me out towards the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:10:00]

SIDNER: When the attacker left Gluck followed at a distance where it he was about to go into the synagogue next door by then the ambulances were arriving treating the wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a very jarring scene. There was a lot of blood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This attack, the 30th on the Jewish Community just this month in New York according to the Governor's office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI JEFFREY MYERS, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE: I don't recall those selling licenses to have open hunting season on Jews, but it sure can make Jews feel that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Less than two hours later they police tracked the suspect down using the license plate Gluck had given them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GLUCK: Found some Jewish mothers went to sleep more calm that night not worrying about their kids going to school the next day or their husbands going to pray the next day or they're going shopping the next day not knowing what's going to happen!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were a Guardian Angel.

GLUCK: God is the Guardian. I am the messenger.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Of the five people who were wounded four have them have made it out of the hospital, including the Rabbi's Rotenberg's son. But we also hear that an elderly gentleman who had a skull fracture still remains in the hospital. Hala?

GORANI: Sara thanks you very much. We are hearing now from the voluntary security guard who has credited with saving lives at a terrifying Church shooting in Texas Sunday. Two people were killed when a gunman pulled out a shotgun and opened fire it could though, have been much worse.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has the story. Again, in this video, there's some graphic content as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A normal Sunday Church service turned deadly.

(GUNSHOTS)

GALLAGHER: The horrifying moment a shooter opened fire. The West Freeway Church of Christ live stream showing the gunman seated in the back pew. He stands up, speaks to a man, then pulls out a gun, and fires twice. Two armed church members react, one killing the gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK WILSON, HEAD OF SECURITY, WEST FREEWAY CHURCH OF CHRIST: I fired one round.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Jack Wilson, Head of Security at the Church is credited with taking down the gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILSON: You praying the two thought you never have to go to that extreme.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Following a shooting in Southern Land Springs Texas two years ago state lawmakers passed legislation allowing handguns in places of worship and Churches to form security teams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: If there's any Church in the state of America that was prepared for this, it was this Church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Authorities are still learning more about the gunman who has been described is relatively transient by the FBI. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAXTON: My understanding is more of a longer and probably going to be very difficult to determine exactly what his motivations were other than, maybe, mental illness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The victims two men who simply went to worship on a Sunday, murdered in just six horrific seconds in a Church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH WALLACE, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: He always wanted us to be in the Church. He was always my role model.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: One of them identified as Tony Wallace, a deacon and long time congregant of the Church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: We just say God wanted him more than we did. Hey couldn't handle his perfectness here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The other innocent Church member killed on Sunday morning, was 67-year-old Richard White. As far as the gunman goes, 43-year-old Keith Thomas Cooney we're told that he has a lengthy criminal background across the entire country including violent crimes and weapons charges in his past. We spoke with his sister. She says that her brother had been living on the street for some time.

She didn't speculate as to what would have caused him to open fire on a Church Hala, but she says that she did not believe it would be political in nature. Now, the congregation showing its strength, coming back here later this evening they are going to continue that Church service and mourn those Church members that they lost.

GORANI: All right, thank you. Too late to leave that is what tens of thousands of people living near raging wildfires in Southeastern Australia are being told right now on Sunday officials urge residents in remote parts of Victoria State to evacuate their homes. But, for those who did not, authorities say it is now too dangerous to leave, so it's better to stay put, essentially. Some of those who heeded the warning said that it was a good call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN BROWN, FIRE EVACUEE: It's hot, windy, and there's a lot of smoke about and a lot of fires still going, so I'm best off camping down here until it's all over, I think.

PETER MELEK, FIRE EVACUEE: So we would prefer to be safe. If we got stuck here, it would be a big problem for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, authorities meanwhile are moving forward with the annual fireworks display in Sydney and that is despite the scorching temperatures and prolonged drought. Look at this - a group of cyclists found this poor little koala during the ongoing heat wave near Adelaide. Officials fear the fires may have devastated Australia's koala population. This koala was parched clearly longed for that cyclist's water bottle.

[17:15:00]

GORANI: Hopefully he will make it so many did not. Tom Sater is here with the latest. Tom any good news on the horizon in terms of the weather helping out firefighters here?

TOM SATER, CNN WEATHER CENTER: Hala, great news today for South Australia and Victoria. Now the threat, really again, is in New South Wales another structure down. They've saved over 7,500 of them, as well as this one back behind it but a challenging day yesterday, waiting for a front to move in from the bite.

Now, South Australia, rough day with some of the warnings we had critical fire warnings here. Adelaide Hills just a week and half ago lost over 100 homes. It's moved now across Victoria. But a stride along that front that the winds are picking up.

Look at these numbers this is incredible. Port Augusta, 46, just north of Adelaide, Adelaide, 41 yesterday that's on top of 40 the day before that and 40 again before that. Hobart, a December high temperature record, 41 degrees this only the ninth time that Hobart's hit 40 degrees since 1882. Let that stink in.

Here with the warnings yesterday, critical the highest you can get down to the extreme into Victoria, the fires were rushing much faster than even firefighters expected. They were encroaching on this neighborhood outside of Melbourne but the conditions are much better. But look at this yesterday, we talk about these thunderstorms they don't drop rain, they're Pyrocumulus clouds, but a lightning can really form with that.

And that is right along this front. Look at Adelaide was at 35 degrees yesterday before 10:00 am so that's much better. Melbourne is at 16 but the fires are now racing down toward the coast. Nice to see some rain in the forecast, but they're not going to get much help today.

The number of fires in New South Whales is now above 100 all the way high of 115. So one more rough day down to the south. The south coast, hopefully that front will move in and give them a little bit more of a break until this weekend and the winds pickup again unfortunately.

GORANI: All right. Thank you, Tom Sater. After the break, a British teen says she was gang raped during a summer vacation in Cyprus. Now she's facing jail time herself. We'll tell you why next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: A British teenager has been found guilty of lying to Cyprus police about being gang raped back in July. The 19-year-old claimed she was raped by a dozen teenage Israeli tourists. She later recanted her statement to police but her lawyer insists she was coerced into the retraction. She'll be sentenced next month and could face up two a year in jail. The Woman's Rights Activists protested outside the court house - attorney talked with Max Foster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL POLAK, DEFENDANT'S LAWYER: Let's make it quite clear, there's no filming of consensual group sex. There are films showing other youths trying to get into the room where she was with one boy she was seeing on this holiday.

[17:20:00]

POLAK: And it doesn't for me wouldn't make good explanation for why she would put herself through everything she's gone through since giving the - making the complaint to the police? She's has spent four and half week in prison and she has gone through a whole trial process, and the evidence, the expert evidence, seems to show that she was placed under pressure to do it.

It wasn't her words. Highly unlikely to be the words of an expert English speaker without expert evidence and prosecution didn't turn up with any of the experts of their own and perhaps they thought they were starting from a position of advantage because they didn't need to bring that evidence along to the trial. We brought all the evidence along. We fully explained why she would give a retraction statement in those circumstances?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, the woman in question does plan to appeal the verdict and on the other side of this case, the lawyer for some of the Israelis, the woman accused of rape applaud her conviction. The lawyer says his client will be suing for damages.

A scientist is facing jail time for his ground breaking work. We'll tell you why his peers are calling them monstrous experiments? That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Well, it was a controversial experiment from the day it was announced. Well, now a Chinese court has sentenced a scientist to prison for his role in the creation of gene-edited babies. David Culver has details.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Chinese scientist will spend the next three years in prison and pay a hefty fine for his role in gene editing. Chinese state run media says a court sentenced He Jiankui Monday. She was said that he altered the DNA of three babies before birth when they were embryos. The scientists claiming in 2018 that his changes reduced the risks of the babies contacting HIV the announcement led to an immediate backlash. Critics from International Medical Communities slammed her and his team warning their actions could lead to unknown genetic problems for the three children later in life.

The Chinese authorities began an immediate investigation alleging He and two others violated an explicit law banning embryo editing. State media says the three men pleaded guilty ahead of their sentencing Monday, adding that He and two medical researchers "Failed to obtain a doctor's qualification and pursued profit, deliberately violated the relevant national regulations on scientific research and medical management, crossed the boom line on scientific and medical ethics and rashly applied the gene editing technology to human assisted reproductive medicine disrupting the medical treatment".

The state media also saying that prudential authorities held accountable the unit and personal involved, banning some of those involved including He, from taking part in human reproductive research for life. David Culver, CNN, Hong Kong.

GORANI: And still to come, why Hollywood actress Sharon Stone got kicked off a popular dating app. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

GORANI: Tesla is rolling out the first batch of its cars made in China and 15 Tesla employees will be taking home one of the new China made Model 3 cars. Tesla's Shanghai Factory broke ground and got up and running in under a year. It's the car company's first plant built outside the United States. Tesla is looking to make inroads in China, which is the world's largest car market.

The social media world is full of people pretending to be who they're not, but one celebrity got kicked off a social media app because no one believed that it was really her. Actress Sharon Stone took to Twitter to complain that her bumble account had been deactivated. Her account was turned off after other users saw a profile for Sharon Stone and figured well it can't possibly be her and must be fake. But it wasn't. Bumble apologized and quickly restored Stone's account. The actress has been divorced for more than a decade.

GORANI: That's going to do it for me. I'm Hala Gorani in London. "World Sport" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time for the end of year clear out this time in the NFL. David Beckham is into Miami named their new head coach for their inaugural season and its happy birthday to some of the biggest stars in global sport. This edition of CNN "World Sport" starts right now.

Hi, there. Welcome to "World Sport."