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Tensions High As North, South Korean Leaders Meet; China Calls For Calm On Korean Peninsula; Americans Stopped Train Attack, Called Heroes; Trump Draw 30,000 at Alabama Rally; Trump Attacks U.S. Foreign Policy Tactics; Dow Plunges 531 Points; Baylor Recruit Sentence for Sex Assault. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 22, 2015 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking right now, North and South Korea holding emergency high level talks and comes after a week of high tensions, threats, counter threats. Can the two enemies avoid a shooting war this morning?
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Also, exclusive images for you, as Americans tackle and overpower a suspected Islamist gunman on a train from France. This morning, we finally see and hear from those heroic men.
BLACKWELL: Plus this --
(VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That exclusive cell phone video as two Americans and a third man take down a man with a gun on a train in Paris. We will have the latest there.
PAUL: So grateful to have with you us as always, I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.
We are starting this morning with the breaking news on the Korean Peninsula. North and South Korean officials are meeting behind closed doors to prevent hopefully a shooting war from breaking out.
Now just a couple of hours, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un's deadline to the South expired. His ultimatum, stop blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda over loud speakers near the border or face military consequences.
CNN is covering the story from all angles and we are starting with Kathy Novak along the demilitarized zone on the DMZ. Kathy, what have you heard about this meeting? Who is there and what is on the table?
KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, it's a last-minute high level meeting that's on going right now. Two representatives from both sides, including from the South Korean side, the unification minister and from the North Korean side, Hwang Pyong-so, he is the director general of the political bureau of the Korean People's Army and also known to be very close to the leader Kim Jong-Un.
As these people get together to see if they can come to an arrangement that would stop this buildup of tension that has been going for the past couple of days, past weeks now, there is a lot of hope that they are able to get together at all.
And also a small sign of hope coming out of the way that the state news agencies, KCNA, even reported it. In its report, it referred to South Korea as the Republic of Korea.
Now ordinarily it refers to South Korea as the puppet state. And as far as we know, this is the first time it referred to it as the Republic of Korea. You have to go back a few years to find the reference of Republic of Korea in North Korean rhetoric.
So people are reading into that, but the thing is, we mentioned this deadline and this demand from North Korea for South Korea to stop its propaganda broadcasts. What we are being told by the South Korean Defense Ministry is those are still going on. They are not stopping so that is surely likely to be a sticking point as this meeting goes on -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, Kathy Novak for us there along the DMZ, thank you so much.
Let's go now to CNN's Will Ripley in Beijing. How on is China reacting to this, Will?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, in May of these previous incidents where there's been tension between the two Koreas, China has stepped in as an intermediary given its traditionally close relationship as North Korea's benefactor.
China in this case, though, has been noticeably disengaged when compared to previous incidents. There is a statement now just coming out from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and I'll read a portion of it.
"As the Korean Peninsula's close neighbor, China is paying great attention to the situation on the peninsula and is deeply concerned about the developments in the recent days. China is willing to work together with all parties toward the peace and stability of the peninsula."
China's relationship with North Korea is something that a lot of analysts and watchers have been speculating as of late. On one hand, they are very closely intertwined economically. The North Korean economy would not survive simply without the Chinese trade and assistance.
However, politically, there are things that we are noticing. For example, China is holding a major military parade next month. It is rumored that Kim Jong-Un will attend but -- as of yet and there hasn't a lot of interaction between the leaders of the countries.
And so that may explain why we are seeing a bit of a distance right now as China certainly watches this closely to see how it unfolds and urges calm and restraint -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, Will Ripley there in Beijing for us. Will, thank you so much.
PAUL: CNN's Athena Jones joins us live with the latest from Washington because Athena, we know there are 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea from the U.S.
[06:05:05] What are the conversations being had there this morning?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. We know the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey has spoken with his South Korean counterpart about this. The U.S. is of course monitoring the situation very closely. The hope being that these talks will help ease the tension and diffuse a war situation.
Let me read from you part of the statement put out about that conversation between Joint Chiefs Chairman Demsy and his counterpart. He said the two, Dempsey and Choi, his counterpart, concurred they would watch North Korea's actions closely in the coming days and would ensure that the U.S. and the Republic of South Korea would continue to work closely with one another to deter further North Korean provocation and diffuse tensions.
So they are closely monitoring this. One thing that is adding to the tension here, of course, is that the U.S. and South Korea are right now conducting an annual joint military exercise. These are exercises that take place every year but they often anger the North Koreans who criticize them as saying that they are preparations for war.
So it is not uncommon to see North Korea step up posturing during these exercises. The hope, of course, is that this will end up being just posturing and not lead to any further tensions or, of course, an all-out shooting war.
PAUL: Very good point. Athena Jones, we appreciate it. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right, joining us now for more is CNN military analyst and retired Lt. General Mark Hertling. Lt. General, you participated in these annual military joint exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.
These are, of course, an ongoing point of contention. North Korea believes that those are provocations of war. Do you think it was wise to suspend them on Thursday and then to resume?
LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I do, Victor. They were only suspended a short period of time, a few hours. I think it was a prudent measure by the admiral and this is why.
As Athena Jones has said, every year, this is unusual, every year when these exercises are held, there is always some sort of reaction and usually provocation by the North. It comes in many forms. It always happens every year. What was interesting this year was it was combined with an attack, a literal artillery attack on the South and I think the general made it prudent we need to suspend this. It's one thing when the military is exercising and another thing when you have potential civilian injuries because of erratic actions by the North.
And that could have happened very easily. As you know, Seoul is a very large city and bumps up against the border and urban sprawl has carried it even closer to the border with the North over the last decade or so because of that whenever artillery fire comes in from the north it can hurt the members of the army.
BLACKWELL: So let's talk about what's happening this morning, these talks between North and South Korea. They each now are in a position in which they have got into these talks, these negotiations. They have to leave with some face saving victory. What is on the table that either side is willing to give up or to succeed to?
HERTLING: Truthfully more attempts of face saving from the North and the South. They are always looking to gain more. Whenever they meet at the village right on the DMZ, they will always attempt to push the buttons and try to gain as much as they can from negotiations.
You have to understand Kim Jong-Un actually uses every provocation to stoke his people and the culture of the North Koreans is such, they literally hate the U.S. and South Korea. And anything he can do that can fan the flames of that and then gain a victory.
Even if it's a small political victory, it means he can publicize things and show his strength. And as a young leader, he is looking to do that in any way possible. This seems so silly.
A speaker war between the North and the South, but when look at the details of this and the ability of the South Korean speakers to go about 6 to 12 miles into the territory, we heard the speakers on the other side aren't as powerful.
They can only go about a mile in. The people of South Korea realized how crazy the leader in the North is so these things are tit for tat and in the common mind it would be absolutely ridiculous, but you have to remember the KJU wants some type of victory so that is what this is all about.
BLACKWELL: Yes, a war of decibels that become so much more.
HERTLING: Exactly.
BLACKWELL: All right, Retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, good to have you.
HERTLING: Thank you, Victor.
PAUL: The frightening attack aboard a high speed train in Europe thwarted and a group of American is being called heroes this morning for what they did to the gunman.
[06:10:08] We have a live report for you on how it played out and we have exclusive pictures from inside that train as well.
BLACKWELL: Back here in the U.S., several wildfires. Many continue to rage out of control along the west coast. We have got a report for you coming up.
PAUL: In the south, tens of thousands turn out in Alabama. Donald Trump's message for hope for America, how did it all pan out?
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You look at Baltimore, you look at Ferguson, you look at St. Louis last night over the last week, you look at all of the things that are happening. We are sitting on powder kegs. There's no spirit. There are no jobs. There's no anything. We are going to take this country. I am going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I will tell you that. I will tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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PAUL: Can you imagine if you had been on this train? These are incredible images we have to share with you this morning. Video exclusive to CNN, these are the moments, after three quick thinking Americans likely saved hundreds of lives.
They subdued an attacker with a rifle on a train that was traveling from Amsterdam to Paris and that attacker, we know, not only had a rifle, but also had a blade and, quote, "plenty of ammunition" we are told.
BLACKWELL: At a new picture of the three Americans being called heroes. One of them, Spencer Stone, standing in the blue shirt, sprinted towards the gunman as he was trying to fire.
[06:15:08] Stone is now recovering. He was wounded in that struggle. His friends were obviously quick to praise his bravery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY SADLER, SUBDUED ATTACKER ON TRAIN: My friend was the first one over there. Even after being injured himself, he went to go help the other man who was bleeding also. Without his help, he would have died. That man was bleeding from his neck like profusely and he just went over there and saved his life as he was bleeding himself.
ALEK SKARLATOS, SUBDUED ATTACKER ON TRAIN: He ran a good ten meters to get to the guy and we didn't know his gun was working or anything like that. Spencer was running any way and if anybody would have been shot, it would have been Spencer and we are lucky nobody got killed, especially Spencer.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is following the story from France. Nic, we know this investigation is ongoing. What have you learned?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Belgians have just launched what they call a terrorist investigation into this. Of course, the incident happened as the train was on its way from Amsterdam to Paris. It was actually in Belgium at the time and passed through a city of Brussels before it came to rest here in France.
We know the French interior minister has called this a barbaric vicious attack. The French interior minister is expected to talk about this very attack here in the coming minutes and we may get more details from him on the investigation.
The attacker a 26-year-old Moroccan man who was known to European counterterrorism officials were on their radar. Spencer Stone was the first to grab this gunman, he got injured. Injured quite significantly in his hand, we are told.
Local journalists here at this hospital are just outside Lille, a hand specialist has talked to nurses here who says Spencer is undergoing surgery on his hand at this time. This is not something that can be confirmed by the U.S. Embassy here in France.
He is in surgery. The investigation really, what everyone wants to know was this man a lone wolf? There were other people behind him? Where did he get on the train? Are there other plans for other attacks eminent? Details on that perhaps coming from the French interior minister in the next few minutes -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nic Robertson, stand by. We will get back to you with the latest as soon as we can. Thank you very much.
PAUL: Meanwhile, a high level meeting between the two Koreas is aimed at easing tension at the border were monitoring progress all morning with the talks and we'll bring you live coverage throughout the morning.
Also ahead, the first hurricane of the season is heading west. We have a live report on the latest storm threat after a quick break. Stay close.
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[06:21:50]
PAUL: Two hundred active duty soldiers are heading to the fires lines this morning as the drought stricken west burns. In Washington State alone we know 400,000 acres are burning right now. The fires so severe President Obama approved an emergency declaration granting additional resources.
We will have the latest information on battling those fires throughout the morning and our thoughts are going to all of the folks there. The 3,000 plus firefighters there and all of the folks are coming in to help to give them some more resources.
Meanwhile, have you heard about Hurricane Danny? It may have weakened a bit but packing a serious punch, 110 miles per hour in fact. Ivan Cabrera tracking our first Atlantic hurricane of the season. Good morning, Ivan.
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season and we are getting the update from the National Weather Service down to 100 miles per hour so no longer a major hurricane. Take you back to where this thing, I think, peaked out.
A discernible eye, this is about 24 hours ago and put this in motion and see what happens to Danny here. We lose the eye a clear indication this is continuing to weaken as it heads off to the north and west. The winds down to 100 miles an hour still far away from the Leeward and Winward Islands.
This is the wind shear map. The reason it's weakening upper level winds coming in out of the south and west and disrupting the center of circulation. It's displacing the wind shear of the thunderstorms to east here and it's not allowing Danny to continue to organize.
In fact, what it's doing is it's allowing for it to weaken. It also to deal with all of this color you see here the light brown is indicative of very dry air so it is going to continue to weaken Danny as it heads off to the north and west.
The official forecast track has it as a tropical storm heading towards the Winward and Leeward Islands and then to the Dominican Republic. I don't think we have to worry about hitting the United States as it may not survive the trip across the islands -- guys.
PAUL: We're keeping our fingers crossed for that. Thank you so much, Ivan. Appreciate it.
BLACKWELL: Ahead, Donald Trump --
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TRUMP: Who would you rather have negotiating with china, Japan, Mexico, any of them, Trump or Bush?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: He is taking his message to a crowd of tens of thousands there in Mobile, Alabama. But we are looking beyond the crowds to the content, the substantives of his message. That conversation is straight ahead.
Also ahead, a U.S. military air strike takes out a high level ISIS leader. The update in the war against terrorism is coming up.
PAUL: First, this week's Culinary Journey takes us to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet Chef Kevin Gillespie, who has a reputation for creating refined food with a southern flare. Take a look what separates his cooking style from the other top chefs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Gunshow. For Chef Kevin Gillespie, it's a centerpiece in his 18 years in the industry.
[06:25:04] That includes four nominations at the prestigious James Beard Awards.
KEVIN GILLESPIE: I wanted to build a restaurant that did not feel exclusive in any way or didn't make one class or one type of person saying I don't know if this place is meant for people like me. I wanted to build a restaurant that was 100 percent transparent that there was no mystery as to what we were doing.
You could see every piece of the work from where we store our pots and pans to the final dish. A restaurant where the cooks actually create their own menus they order, prep, cook and serve their own food table side.
When a person comes to you and says I have this thing, that's the person who made it. Gunshow stimulates a lot of senses and it's exciting and you get into it. It's a show almost. It's like going to the theater.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The theatrical experience lies in witnessing Kevin and his colleagues artfully prepare, plate, and present their dishes to an awaiting audience. For frequent patrons of Gunshow, it's clear the chef feels most at home in the America south.
GILLESPIE: Chicken and waffles is not a very difficult dish to sell in the Deep South. Even when we add the little Vietnamese spin it makes it pretty popular. It's a lot of fun.
I live in a city, Atlanta, where you're rooted in the traditions of the Deep South yet you have people from all over the world every single day here and it fields like the cuisine prepared in a city like this is one that embraces that world view.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Watch the full show at CNN.com/journey.
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[06:30:35] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We are following a breaking news story from the Korean Peninsula this morning. North and South Korean officials we know are meeting behind closed doors right now to prevent a shooting war from breaking out. Just a couple of hours ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un deadline to the South expired. His ultimatum, stop blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda over loudspeakers near the border or face military consequences.
CNN has a team of reporters following these talks. We're going to bring you all the developments as they happen this morning. Also this morning, we want to talk about three Americans who are being called heroes after they subdued a gunman on a Paris-bound train, possibly saving hundreds of lives here.
This train was in Belgium when the attack started, but officials there have now opened an anti-terrorism investigation. One of the Americans, Spencer Stone, is still recovering from injuries sustained in the struggle. The attacker is in police custody. We're going to have more on this story at the top of the hour as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wow, wow, wow! Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Thank you!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: "Friday Night Lights" so to speak. Donald Trump draws a crowd of 30,000 supporters. You just can't help to tap your toe to that song, can you? Obviously, in Mobile, Alabama, at that rally there. At the event, Trump spoke about recent controversies, about his opponents. He shared the spotlight, too, with an Alabama lawmaker. We'll get to that in a moment. But CNN's Ryan Nobles was there.
And, Ryan, first of all, I'm wondering what the reaction was this morning to Trump's visit as we heard 30,000 people there. Is there any way to gauge, were they all supporters of his? Were they curiosity seekers?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Christi, you mentioned 30,000 people were there yesterday. Many have lined up as early as 6:00 in the morning. And I spoke to a lot of people that were in line yesterday.
And the vast majority of them said that they were there because they legitimately want Donald Trump to be their next president. And this event that happened here yesterday it may have fallen short of the campaign's lofty predictions as to how many people were going to be there. But make no mistake, it was a big event.
As you mentioned, city officials telling CNN they estimated the crowd at about 30,000, which would make it the largest event that Trump has held to this point. It would be the largest of any Republican candidate for president.
You know, they initially said that some 40,000 people had RSVP'd. All of those people had shown up at that stadium. It would have been pretty packed and there were plenty of empty seats. But it was still a very large and enthusiastic crowd.
And they heard Trump give his pretty traditional speech that he's given on the stump. He gave strong statements on issues like immigration, Obamacare, the military and, of course, the billionaire's signature issue right now, jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: You look at Baltimore, you look at Ferguson, you look at St Louis last night, over the last week. You look at all of the things that are happening. We are sitting on powder kegs. There's no spirit. There's no jobs. There's no anything. We are going to take this country. I am going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I will tell you that. I will tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: And a surprise moment happened about midway through Trump's speech and that is when Alabama's popular Senator Jeff Sessions came on stage with Trump. Now, Sessions has been very complimentary of Trump's plan on immigration. Now he stopped short of giving Trump his full endorsement, but he had plenty of nice things to say about the candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Donald, welcome to my hometown, Mobile, Alabama.
(APPLAUSE)
The American people, these people want somebody in the presidency who stands up for them, defends their interest and the laws and traditions of this country. We welcome you here. Thank you for the work you've put into the immigration issue. I'm really impressed with your plan. I know it will make a difference and this crowd shows a lot of people agree with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:35:05] NOBLES: And a big target for Trump last night was, of course, Jeb Bush, one of the other frontrunners in the race for president on the Republican side. Now the Bush campaign actually pushed back a super PAC, flew a banner over top of the football stadium last night that was attacking Trump and the campaign itself sent out an e-mail to Alabama Republicans yesterday accusing Trump of not being an authentic consecutive.
And you know, Alabama is getting a lot of attention in this presidential election cycle in part because now it is a part of a group of southern states that will vote pretty early in this primary season and the beginning of March that could be crucial especially with so many candidates in this field.
In fact, Christi, Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, will be in Alabama tonight speaking to a group of Republicans in Talladega.
Christi?
PAUL: All right. Ryan Nobles, so appreciate the update. Thank you, sir.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's talk more about Trump with CNN political analyst and columnist for Bloomberg View, Josh Rogin.
Josh, good to have you on the show.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning.
BLACKWELL: So, Josh, what we heard from Donald Trump last night included some approach to foreign policy, although we haven't seen the full rollout of his foreign policy priorities, but listen to what he said about Japan in particular and then we will talk about it.
ROGIN: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We defend Japan. You know, we have an agreement with Japan where if somebody attacks Japan, we have to come to their rescue. But if we get attacked, Japan doesn't have to help us. Do you think that's a good deal?
CROWD: No.
TRUMP: That is sort of like Sergeant Bergdahl. Has anybody heard of Sergeant Bergdahl? The traitor. No, no, the traitor.
I called President Obama the five for one president -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Continuing that line of criticizing the U.S. government's negotiating tactics. What does this comment tell us about his foreign policy view? I know some, including yourself, I follow you on Twitter, have been critical of this remark especially.
ROGIN: Well, I lived in Japan for two years and studied there. The U.S.-Japan alliance was struck after World War II and dictated by the U.S. to prevent Japan from fighting abroad.
And so what Trump is doing there is he is actually criticizing the negotiating skills of the Harry S. Truman administration right? Then he is making this broad leap and tying it to Bowe Bergdahl and calling Bowe Bergdahl a trait. Well, Bowe Bergdahl is accused of desertion. Later, Trump also said that Bergdahl -- six U.S. soldiers died while searching for Bergdahl. That is not true, right?
So one fell swoop, Trump has attacked an ally and made an assertion about a deal that was struck in the 1940s, tied it to a negotiation over a deserter --an alleged deserter in 2012 and wrapped it all up in this broad criticism of the Obama administration. The bottom line is it doesn't make sense on its face.
Now does that matter? You know? He is throwing a lot of red meat out to the crowd, they seem to eat it up. Nobody is really criticizing him because on foreign policy, Trump has the same invincibility that he has on other issues where people don't expect him to be professionally, don't expect him to be an expert so they let it slide. But from the perspective of a foreign analyst, he is contradicting himself all over the place and misrepresenting history in a pretty egregious way.
BLACKWELL: And, you know, for some that also goes into his views on the military in which he told an interviewer that he watches the shows, and that is where he gets a lot of his military advice or strategic information.
You also reported that many of the other GOP candidates kind of dip into the same well for foreign policy experts. Are we expecting that that well will be opened to Donald Trump or will he even go to it?
ROGIN: Right. Well, we actually did some reporting on this. Donald Trump, when asked where he gets his foreign policy advice, he says he gets it from TV and then he mentioned former U.S. ambassador John Bolton.
Well, we followed up with John Bolton. He told us he never talked -- spoken with Trump even once. So the bottom line here is that Trump is being honest. He really is not consulting anyone on foreign policy. He's making it up as he goes along, right?
And you can see this in a lot of his speeches. When he talks about ISIS, he says, well, he wants to surround the oil, and then sell the oil on the market to the Chinese, right? That doesn't really make any sense at all. At the same time, he tells a contradictory story about how he is against U.S. troops going to Iraq and how the Iraq war was a mistake, right?
He is not really trying to get it right. He is trying to hit big themes. He is pro-Israel. He is against the Iran deal. He thinks that China is eating our lunch on the financial side.
There's a lot of sympathy for those positions, right? And he is hitting a lot of nerves and getting a lot of sort of broad, positive reaction to his criticism of the overall state of the U.S. in world affairs. But none of his solutions or policies make any sense whatsoever. He is not trying really to put any meat on the bone and we are not expecting him to build a robust foreign policy platform any more than we're expecting him to lay out detailed plans on any of the other issues that he is talking about.
BLACKWELL: You brought up China and we will have a conversation later after the sell off we saw this week. And concerns about China's economy if what happened to the last week will play into his narrative. We'll have that conversation about the economy coming up.
Josh Rogin, thank you so much.
ROGIN: Anytime.
BLACKWELL: Christi?
[06:40:13] PAUL: Yes. I'd love to talk about that.
The Dow, worst week in several years, as it shed 500 points. We will talk more, as Victor said, about what's going on there. Also, what did Baylor University know about a star football player found guilty of sex assault before they acquire him from another school?
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PAUL: Do you hear the stockbrokers' reaction when the Dow hit minus 500. There it is again. It continued to plunge 31 more points to end the day.
BLACKWELL: Yes. They were applauding there mostly because they have to, but maybe because it's over. This is it. Let's just get done with it. So three big factors drove the big drop off, that sell-off we saw this week.
And CNNMoney correspondent Cristina Alesci breaks it down for us.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is no sugar coating it. It was the worst week for stocks since 2011. Friday alone was the worst loss of the year. A 530-point drop on the Dow. It was a week of worst. And now, it's official, the Dow is in a correction. That's a 10 percent decline from the recent record high and that record, by the way, we just hit that a few months ago.
Now how quickly things have turned around. Big names like Starbucks, Facebook, Amazon are also down more than 10 percent from their recent record highs. And here is what it boils down to. The Fed, the economy, and oil.
First, let's take the global economy. China, specifically, the world's second largest economy is slowing and this past week, a new report confirmed that from investors.
Second, we have the Federal Reserve. Investors have been expecting a rate hike next month for the first time in a decade, but lately, we've been getting mixed signals from policymakers. If they hold off investors might think the Fed is worried about the economy.
[06:45:30] Finally, there's oil. It's less than $40 a barrel now. Something we haven't seen since 1999. Sure that means cheap gas, but it's not really a good thing. We've a glut of oil on the market and demand is slowing. Roll it altogether and it spells trouble for the markets all around the world.
But if there is a silver lining, it's this -- we are still in the midst of a very long and very strong bull market. It's normal and many say healthy to have these little checks every now and then.
Back to you.
BLACKWELL: All right, Cristina, thanks so much.
Let's get to the breaking news this morning. The standoff along the Korean Peninsula. North and South Korean leaders are meeting behind closed doors. Right now, questions here, will Kim Jong-un attack the South? Or will there be some peaceful solution to come out of this meeting.
PAUL: Something else a lot of people are looking at. A Baylor University football player found guilty of sexual assault. So there are a lot of questions now about how the university would green light his recruitment after the player's violent history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER (voice-over): When tennis fans arrive at the U.S. Open this year, they won't have to look far to see that the National Tennis Center's extreme makeover is well under way. Arthur Ashe Stadium is getting a much-needed roof for rainy days.
(On-camera) What has been some of the obstacles here to putting this? I mean, it's a massive operation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, for us, first and foremost, we still want to be an outdoor tournament, so it had a feel like nothing was going to change. The players would get on the court and they still feel like they were outdoors. But the thing about our land here is its really poor land conditions so the structure that you see above us right now could not support any of this roof so it had to be built completely independent from the stadium and frankly it's never been done before in the United States.
So I think just this year alone, the structure ended up becoming even more elegant than we thought it would. I think people will be pretty wowed by it, which is always part of our mantra. And what we are trying to do here is have people in awe and not just what's going on in the tennis courts but all around the surroundings on the site.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:51:07] BLACKWELL: Nine minutes to the top of the hour now. Let's talk about this. A pretty big controversy in college football. One of Baylor's football recruits has been sentenced after being found guilty of sexual assault.
Sam Ukwuachu will serve 6 months in a county jail plus ten years of felony probation. He must complete 400 hours of community service and he is going to have to register as a sex offender. But now ISEC (ph) turned to the university. Baylor's football coach Art Briles said he did not know of Ukwuachu's past, including the sexual assault allegations when he recruited him from Boise State.
With us now, Kristen Ledlow from CNN's Sports. And there are a lot of questions. The first question how is it possible that they did not know?
KRISTEN LEDLOW, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Victor. And it's a story that, of course, is still unfolding because critics right now want to know how he even got on campus in the first place.
The 22-year-old former all-American was dismissed from Boise State back in 2013 for violating unspecified rules before transferring to Baylor. Now he didn't play at all last season. And as Victor said, head coach Art Briles never gave a reason why. Briles maintained he was not aware of Ukwuachu's past including that sexual assault allegation.
But, meantime, Baylor has released a statement saying in part that maintaining a safe and caring community is central to Baylor's mission and at the heart of our commitment to our students, faculty and staff. And, Victor, as of right now, that's what we've got.
BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see if we have some answers here pretty soon.
Kristen, thanks so much.
LEDLOW: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: Christi?
PAUL: Yes. Well, let's get to the legal side of this, guys. We've got HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson with us.
So, Joey, as you know, there were an awful lot of criticisms about the sentence here. Sam Ukwuachu facing 20 years in prison was guilty of sexual assault. The jury that convicted him only suggested probation. It was the judge who ordered six months in jail.
Is this normal?
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right, Christi. Good morning to you. And so, you know, every case turns upon the facts of that particular case. And certainly when you hear the allegations concerning what happened on that October day, a couple of years ago, it's very troubling and it's troubling because, apparently, the victim described being overtaken by him and you know, certainly, many details which we won't discuss today.
And then you look and you find out when you delve into it, allegations about his past prior to him even transferring to Baylor when he was at Boise State.
And so the jury apparently heard the case, and in hearing the case, they obviously found him guilty of that second-degree assault which amounts to rape against someone's consent and in addition to that, Christi, they made the recommendation.
So who knows what underlie the recommendation that they ultimately made, but as you mentioned, the judge felt it appropriate, although they recommended the eight years probation to give him the community service, the six months in jail, in addition to having him on probation for that period of time.
PAUL: Six months for rape, Joey, is that normal?
JACKSON: Not at all. To be clear about that, not at all. And particularly when you look at the statute and the statute speaks to two years to 20 years.
And so, obviously, the statute, you know, talking about 20 years is there for a reason. Obviously no means no. And when a jury convicts you of this, it means that there is a finding of guilt as to the underlying charges which is that apparently you force yourself upon someone without their consent. And so if you look at the statute, 20 years and you look at what he got, six months and you look at your question in terms of normalcy, nothing too normal about that.
PAUL: Any repercussions here for the university possibly?
JACKSON: Now that's the larger question because the criminal process has played itself out. And, as you know, Christi, Title IX had some pretty strict mandate in terms of what it requires a university to do.
Number one, have a Title IX coordinated to get those complaints. Not that they didn't do it, but the issue will remain how they did it. Did they conduct an adequate investigation? A lot of people would say no. Why? Because there is a preponderance of the evidence standard, not beyond a reasonable doubt standard as we have in court. And even under that standard, it was found that nothing, no action was taken and then you look further into it in terms of the victim, and apparently, the statute also says no retaliation.
While there are allegations that her scholarship was reduced. There's allegations that she had to transfer as a result of that. And so all of these things, Title IX protects a victim from having to transfer.
[06:55:35] The victim needs to be accommodated. There's issues in terms of whether or not Ukwuachu was allowed to remain in contact with her even though she complained that he was in her classes and they were having contact.
Title IX says you can issue a no contact order. And so there will be a lot to be determined in terms of what the school knew, when it knew it and what it did as a result of that knowledge.
Christi?
PAUL: All right. Joey, so great to have your voice on this this morning. Thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you, Christi.
BLACKWELL: And this morning, we are keeping a very close watch on the talks between North and South Korea, aimed at easing tensions there at the border, avoiding a shooting war. We'll have a live report from the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone ahead.
PAUL: Also, CNN has exclusive new video to show you of the aftermath of that attack on that Paris-bound train in Belgium. Three Americans being called heroes this morning after they subdued that gunman. We're going to hear from two of those Americans, coming up.
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