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New Day
Changing the Russia Meeting Story; Wives of ISIS Fighters Held; Certain Snacks Help a Good Night's Sleep; Trump's Never-Ending Handshake. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired July 17, 2017 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00] JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Close to this investigation. But if nothing came out of this meeting because nothing was said, then that was the end of it. And I'd have to say, do you really believe that a publicist for a Russian pop star would be the intermediary? We don't even know if this woman, Veselnitskaya -- I practiced it. I thought I had it right, but I can't quite say it. But we don't even know if she -- she had a direct Kremlin connection. So the anti-Trump critics are jumping on this one more time saying, aha, finally we've got somewhere and yet the -- I -- you know, there was no follow-up. And it's so highly, highly unlikely that if this was such a secret, again, nefarious meetings, why wasn't there more follow-up? Why wasn't there other e-mails?: Why wasn't there action that was apparently taken?
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Jack, and I appreciate your, you know, your art of defense of the Trump administration and, of course, his son in this instance. But the reality of it is, we know that intent absolutely is a problem. Collusion is a word that's been used but it's intent to conspire, and that would be to break a federal election law. That law has been cited. You have to have the intent. You have to have tried to receive something, which he did. And there's one other element that, of course, I can't remember right now. But --
KINGSTON: Well, what -- which law are you talking about? Are you -- what law are you talking about?
RYE: There's a federal election law that talks about you working --
KINGSTON: What -- where is this --
RYE: Do you want me to tell you what it is?
KINGSTON: Yes.
RYE: That talks about you receiving information from an outside entity or a foreign government. That is the law. I'm happy to pull the statute and tweet it to you (INAUDIBLE).
KINGSTON: Are you talking about under FARA (ph). Are you talking about U.S. Code 531? Because neither one of them sought that.
RYE: Federal election law. OK, well, I promise -- I promise to tweet you the exact -- the exact statute. KINGSTON: They do not -- OK, well, then you will join me on the DNC and Alexandra Chalupa (ph), who was representing the Ukrainian government and digging up dirt on Trump.
RYE: And it's a -- it's another distraction. There's nothing that rises to the level of this very well-coordinated effort by the Russian government, Jack.
KINGSTON: It's the same thing. Well --
RYE: I agree with you. Anybody that --
KINGSTON: But if you broke the law, you broke the law. I'm just --
RYE: Absolutely. Absolutely.
KINGSTON: I'm just quoting what you said was the law.
RYE: And if -- and if indeed that is the case on the Ukrainian side, I will stand with you and say, no one should be receiving information to overthrow or to thwart election results. Absolutely.
KINGSTON: (INAUDIBLE).
RYE: But right now we're talking about your president. That's the problem.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman, there's two things from one of your last answers I want to get -- get some more information on right now. You said that critics are pointing to the willingness of Don Jr. to have this meeting, to get information from the Russian government as being problematic. You're not a critic of Don Jr. You're a supporter of the Trump, you know, the campaign and the Trump administration. You have no problem with Don Jr. going in under the promise of Russian government information to hurt Hillary Clinton? You have no problem with that?
KINGSTON: I think it was naive. I think what he was saying was, OK, I want to hear what these people have to say.
BERMAN: OK, but you --
KINGSTON: I would have had a huge problem if they had had some big revelations and they did not turn it over to the proper authority.
BERMAN: They thought -- the only thing -- the only thing that the Trump -- that Donald Trump Jr. seemed to be upset about after the meeting was that they didn't have bigger information. His big complaint was that they didn't deliver what was promised there. So, I -- you know, the first part of your answer that you thought he was naive by going in. So you can't just say that it's only critics who don't have a problem with it. You, too, have a problem with it. Isn't that correct?
KINGSTON: Well, I also want to say this, and say this on behalf of Angela and the other critics, is that I think it should have been reported better. Obviously, we -- at this point --
BERMAN: OK.
KINGSTON: Anything that had to do with Russia needs to be fully cards up on the table. I understand that and I support that.
RYE: But part of that was his (ph) own representation, Jack, and I think the reality of --
KINGSTON: But --
RYE: The reality of it is, is he went into this meeting. He intended to receive this information. They planned a press conference about revelations they thought they would receive. That has been corroborated by --
KINGSTON: No, those two --
RYE: Yes, it is.
KINGSTON: Those two things aren't connected to your knowledge.
RYE: They are very well connected.
KINGSTON: They're not connected at all.
RYE: Yes.
KINGSTON: They're not connected at all --
RYE: OK.
KINGSTON: Because everybody was saying stuff about Hillary's e-mails and the Ukraine and Podesta.
RYE: Everybody was staying stuff versus an actual coordinated effort with the Russian government?
KINGSTON: Podesta's sitting on the board of a Russian company and Podesta owning millions of dollars in Russian stock while advising her --
RYE: You guys are not --
BERMAN: Hang on. Hang on.
KINGSTON: There was all kinds of Russian stuff out there.
BERMAN: We don't know -- Donald Trump, the candidate Donald Trump, when he promised a big speech on Hillary Clinton, we don't know if it was tied to the meeting that his son was having. That we don't know.
RYE: The timing is eerie then.
BERMAN: You know, Jack --
KINGSTON: But -- no, there's all kind of head fakes that went on.
BERMAN: Congressman -- congressman, we don't know. The timing may be suspicious (INAUDIBLE). We don't know if that's what he was doing. The issue of who was in the meeting. You said, ah, it was just some small publicist. If it was anything serious, why would he be there? Well, why would Paul Manafort be there, who was the campaign chairman --
RYE: (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: You know, if it was just some publicist spouting rumors there? Why would the campaign chair show up at that meeting? Doesn't that raise questions for you?
KINGSTON: Well -- well, I can -- well, I can say this, having been in the headquarters many times during the campaign, there was free flow of people coming and going. And so I could see them dropping in on it. But I could also tell you this. Paul Manafort would not have walked out of there with information that he felt was a violation of the law and not done something about that. I know that much about Paul Manafort. He would not have played with uranium, if you don't mind my saying, or anything nuclear like this. Just wouldn't do that.
I think there could have been mistakes by Jared and Don because they were non-elected officials and non-political. But Paul Manafort would have known better and he would have done something about it.
[08:35:08] But I want to say this. Do you really think that they would have had five people in a meeting if this was about colluding with Russia? It just defies logic.
BERMAN: Again, all I --
KINGSTON: And would Donald Trump really go out publicly and say, I've got to do something. It just -- this is all -- this whole I gotcha now approach which the Democrats have had since the investigation first started.
RYE: But, Jack --
BERMAN: Quick last word, Angela.
RYE: He went into a press conference during the summer asking Russia to find the other 30,000 e-mails. There are a lot of things that your president has done to defy logic. Let's at least acknowledge that.
KINGSTON: Your president, too, Angela. Your president, too.
RYE: Well, he's your president.
BERMAN: The president of the United States.
Angela Rye, Jack Kingston, great to have you both with us. Thanks so much.
RYE: (INAUDIBLE)
BERMAN: Alisyn.
KINGSTON: Thanks.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, John.
Well, there are desperate stories now coming out from the wives of ISIS fighters. They have been rounded up and jailed as the caliphate collapses in Syria. Nick Paton Walsh has these powerful stories from the women, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:40:09] CAMEROTA: Wives, mothers and girlfriends now being rounded up and held in Syria as ISIS sympathizers. They are in a segregated refugee camp while authorities figure out what to do with them.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't kid yourself, they saw the videos -- girls, mothers -- some who married into ISIS who knew what they were about but still came. Now jailed in a refugee camp, stuck in limbo as ISIS collapses, trying to go home. They want your pity and that you believe them when they say it was all, all of it, a huge mistake.
WALSH (on camera): They use women for sex?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's very disgusting.
WALSH (voice-over): Three Indonesian sisters say they paid thousands of dollars to get here, lured by the false promise of free health care and school, but ended up living off selling off their jewelry and paying thousands to get smuggled out. It just wasn't as pure a caliphate as they expected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say they want to jihad for the sake of Allah, but what they want, it's only about women and sex. It's disgusting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard if they marry a widow they will get a thousand dollars.
WALSH: Single women arrivals like them kept in a commune while they look for husbands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The manner of the women inside the dorm is very different, it's very far from Islam, harsh manner, gossiping, shout each other, backbiting and fighting between the women. And, oh, I was very surprised when I see that.
WALSH: Sieda (ph) explains the dorm is a bit like tinder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): When the woman arrives in this dormitory, she makes a sort of CB (ph), puts down her age, her name, how her personality is like, what she looks for in a man. And men also post their CBs (ph).
WALSH (speaking in foreign language): This is like the tinder of the caliphate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes, it's dating. So you meet, you talk for 15, 20 minutes, and then it's a yes or no. If they both agree, then they get married. It's very quick.
WALSH: She says she came for charity work, but her husband was killed the second time they tried to flee. She's as appalled by the Paris terror attacks as she was by the coalition falling of Raqqa and just wants to go back to France.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I love life. I love to work. I love my jeans. I love my makeup. I love my parents. The only thing I want is to go back.
I'm not far from the beach. I used to go to the beach every weekend, in a bikini.
WALSH (speaking in foreign language): In a bikini?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes, in a bikini.
WALSH: May (ph) is a Syrian English teacher whose first husband was killed by a sniper in Homes and says she was traveling to Turkey when she was waylaid in Raqqa, where she met and married a Moroccan, Milar (ph).
WALSH (on camera): Were you looking for a man when you went to Raqqa?
MAY: No.
WALSH: So how come you found one just like --
MAY: (INAUDIBLE) --
WALSH: You moved into a house and, oh, my god, how's this guy next door?
MAY: I think God sent him to me.
WALSH (voice-over): She says ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammed Adnani (ph) knew Milar and allowed him not to fight. He's now in jail. She is disapproving of less pure love stories.
WALSH (on camera): Did you hear other stories of women who came looking for love?
MAY: They looked to the European men then that they are here in ISIS. They are strong man, you know, with guns and they can protect them. It's an idea that -- it's just like movies, many of them was very shocked because like when they got married from a man, you know, three, four days, one month and they divorced. I know a woman, she was married six times. And after three days, she go to court and ask the judge to divorce her from him. And when the judge asked her why you want divorce, and that man would say that she prevent him from making any, you know, sexual, you know --
WALSH: I see.
MAY: And she say I can't accept him all the time thinking of my dying husband. And the other -- so why marry him if you don't want him? And he say, I will send you to the prison as well as, you know, (INAUDIBLE). And she was crying, oh, no, it's my last time, I promise.
WALSH (voice-over): Her husband was once arrested for smoking by the religious police. And because they won't talk to women, she had to literally enter a man's world to get him out of jail.
MAY: And you know what I -- it was a crazy idea. I just put on my husband's clothes, his shoes and his, you know, (INAUDIBLE) and covered my eyes with put that black glasses and I lent a gun (ph) from my neighbor. I take it from him and I take my boy and let's go to the (INAUDIBLE).
WALSH (on camera): Can you give me your man voice now?
MAY: Yes, yes, of course.
[08:45:00] WALSH: That's how men sound to you?
WALSH (voice-over): These stories decide their fate here, whether they stay in limbo or go home.
MAY: I think that they don't believe me. (INAUDIBLE), no. Eyes speak a language more than mouth.
WALSH (on camera): Yes.
MAY: And don't you feel that there's a trust in my eyes?
WALSH: Yes.
Your husband, what if you never see him again?
MAY: I want someone to kill me because I can't kill myself. It's suicide and I can't commit suicide. So just kill me.
WALSH (voice-over): Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Inalisa (ph), northern Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: I've got to say, what a remarkable perspective. One you do not hear.
All right, the president shaking up international relations with this grip. So what's behind the never-ending handshake? We'll analyze this touch, next.
CAMEROTA: But first, certain snacks may help you get a good night's sleep. CNN health write Jacqueline Howard has more in today's "Food as Fuel." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH WRITER: Overall a healthy diet promotes good sleep, but there are some foods that might be linked to getting a better snooze.
Try foods rich in healthy carbs, lean protein and low and unsaturated fats. They may boost the production of two chemicals in your brain that are important for sleep, melatonin and serotonin. So for an evening snack, try turkey, mozzarella and spinach on a whole grain cracker.
For something on the sweeter side, go for low-fat yogurt with crushed graham crackers sprinkled on top or a bowl of oranges, pineapples and bananas, if you're not prone to acid reflux. Some studies suggest those fruits can raise your melatonin levels.
As for what you shouldn't eat before going to bed, experts recommend to avoid heavy meals, spicy foods and caffeine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:50:36] CAMEROTA: So, President Trump's handshakes with world leaders are unlike any we've seen before. But this one, this never- ending handshake with the French president takes the cake. What does the president's body language tell us about Mr. Trump?
Let's bring in our body language experts. We have international etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore and body language expert Chris Ulrich.
Great to see both of you.
CHRIS ULRICH, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: Chris, I'll start with you.
ULRICH: Yes.
CAMEROTA: John and I were flabbergasted as this handshake unfolded live on television because of all of the different maneuvers this complicated (INAUDIBLE) that they were doing. What did you see in this never-ending handshake?
ULRICH: Well, keep in mind, when President Trump meets a world leader, he's already taking up real estate in their brains. So for President --
CAMEROTA: What do you mean by that?
ULRICH: Well, literally, they have to almost prepare and be ready for him. They never know what's exactly going to come. And we see that with Macron. He steps into it and he starts to -- grabbing the president's hand and pulling it in, patting him on the back, both for dominance and support. It becomes this dance between the two of them. Literally President Trump, at about the 11-second mark, will knock Macron off his feet for a second, take him off balance by pulling him in.
CAMEROTA: OK, we need to see that. Hold on, let me see that. So somewhere here you think that he pulls him in?
ULRICH: He's going to pull him in here as he -- and he pulls him off --
CAMEROTA: Oh, we see it.
ULRICH: Just takes him off -- he literally takes him off balance for a second, Ashley (ph). So you've always got to be ready when you're dealing with the president.
BERMAN: You know, and, Jacqueline, Emmanuel Macron, what Chris is saying there is that leaders go in knowing they've got to deal with these handshakes. And in a sense, President Trump has already won there. But what do you think that Emmanuel Macron tries to do in this handshake? Because you could tell he was trying to assert some level of dominance there.
JACQUELINE WHITMORE, INTERNATIONAL ETIQUETTE EXPERT: Absolutely. They're both in a power play. You can see that there are a lot of hands involved in this handshake. And there's something called the pat and pull, which is what you see. And Trump literally takes Macron off his feet, which is very authoritative. And then when you watch the video, Trump also puts his hands on Macron's wife's shoulders. And when you see someone put their hands on a person's shoulders that close to someone's face, it's a sign of intimacy. And you only do that with someone you know extremely well.
CAMEROTA: Oh, OK. So the fact that --
ULRICH: And keep in mind --
CAMEROTA: Yes, Chris, just -- go ahead.
ULRICH: I was just going to add that handshake between the three of them with Brigitte and the president and Macron leaves Melania Trump on the outside. You know, they're all gripping hands and then finally they embrace here toward the end here. But to that awkward -- it kind of creates a perception of an awkward moment where the president, and the president's wife and Donald Trump are shaking hands but Melania is on the outside. It creates that visual perception that she's an outsider.
BERMAN: Can we have -- I want to ask one more thing we've seen repeatedly from President Trump here is that right there, the hand pat. When the president pats another leader's hand on top there, what's going on there, Jacqueline?
WHITMORE: When you pat someone's hand, that can show a little bit of affection. However, what psychologists call this is a status reminder. And it's a person letting the other person know that he or she is in control.
ULRICH: Right.
BERMAN: Wow!
CAMEROTA: It is very patronizing, or can be.
BERMAN: I've got to reassess the last four to five years of hand pats that I've been getting from everyone I know. OK.
CAMEROTA: I mean, Chris, that -- that threesome hug that you were talking about with the first lady of France, that was -- the president -- President Trump, what, showing his territory, that even here in France that he can -- I mean, as we just heard Jacqueline say, it does -- it is a statement when you approach someone else's wife, physically, and pull her in for a kiss.
ULRICH: Well, I think it's subconscious here. I don't think he's trying to dominate that in the moment but he's -- it just becomes awkward in that particular moment as he pushes in here. And you can see the three of them -- Melania's on the outside. It gives that perception that she's the outsider as they have this intimate moment of a building rapport that we're seeing happen between the two presidents and the first lady in that particular moment.
BERMAN: I kind of feel like the next time they might they're going to bring, you know, like Lou Ferigno or someone, you know, to join the circle here just to make clear who is in charge. This is now going to be a thing going forward.
All right, guys, thank you so much. That was fascinating to see all that.
CAMEROTA: Thank you, guys.
[08:54:59] BERMAN: "The Good Stuff" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Time now for "The Good Stuff."
A young boy has a new chance at life thanks to a complete stranger. Meet Officer Lindsay Bidorf (ph). She wanted to help Jackson Aronson (ph). He was in dire need of a kidney. Officer Bidorf immediately got tested after seeing an emotional plea on FaceBook posted by Jackson's mom. It turns out she was a match.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER LINDSAY BIDORF: I took an oath to serve and protect our community and now my kidney is going to serve and protect you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Officer Bidorf refuses to call herself a hero, instead says the two now share a special bond. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDORF: This kid, this little boy, is like my own son now. I just love this little boy with everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.
BERMAN: What an incredible gift. What an incredible gift.
CAMEROTA: I mean, once again, we do this all the time when we show officers going way above and beyond what they need to do and this is certainly in that category.
BERMAN: Complete stranger. Just saw it and then --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: Lovely (ph).
CAMEROTA: Gosh, people are wonderful. It's always nice to do stories like this.
BERMAN: All right, time now for CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow.
[09:00:01] Good morning, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: People are wonderful. I like starting out my Monday morning that way, Alisyn Camerota. Thank you.
CAMEROTA: I don't often say that, but today I do.
HARLOW: Thank you for that ray of sunshine, which, by the way, you look like a beautiful ray of sunshine today in that yellow.
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
