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Hala Gorani Tonight
Race for the White House; Battle for Mosul; Syria Civil War. Aired 3-3:30p ET
Aired October 18, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:00]
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HALA GORANI, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, "stop whining," that is President Obama's advice to Donald Trump after days of the Republican
nominee complaining about a rigged election.
Then this hour: fleeing for their lives as Iraq and its allies reclaim some villages around Mosul from ISIS.
And a precious pause for Aleppo as Russia stops its airstrikes for now.
Plus now that these young migrants made it to the U.K. I will speak one of the politicians who says Britain should be doing a lot more.
Hello, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. We're live at CNN London on this Tuesday. Thanks for being with us. This is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW.
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GORANI: Just three weeks left and counting, time is running out for the presidential candidates to sway undecided voters. So their third and final
showdown could be the most crucial of all.
Hillary Clinton is away from the cameras today to focus on preparing for tomorrow's debate, which you'll see live on CNN. Donald Trump though, is
out on the trail. He is expected to take the stage any time now at a rally in Colorado.
Donald Trump has been firing up his base by claiming that the election is rigged against him.
These are live images coming to us from Colorado Springs. It appears to be a deliberate strategy to discredit the process in case Clinton wins.
President Obama, for his part, slammed Donald Trump today, telling him to "stop whining." Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying
to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place. It's unprecedented.
You start whining before the game's even over?
If whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else then you don't have what it takes to be in this job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: President Obama there. Let's get more on these developments. We're joined by Sunlen Serfaty; she's live in Las Vegas. That is the site
of tomorrow night's debate. CNN political analyst Josh Rogan joins us from Washington. He's a columnist for "The Washington Post."
Sunlen, first, let's start with what the expectations are for the big showdown tomorrow, the third matchup, possibly the most crucial.
What are the expectations?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Hala, I don't think it can be overstated how important tomorrow night's debate is for each of these
candidates. This is the third and final matchup. (INAUDIBLE) so important because it really is their last chance in front of such a big national and
international audience to make their case going forward.
That can do a lot of momentum boosting going into this last three weeks of the campaign. So clearly both candidates, as they have been huddling up
with their teams, studying up for this final round, the debate, know that in the back of their mind that they want to not only score points but
really send them out into the final stretch of this campaign with a good boost of momentum.
GORANI: So we have a brand new poll for Nevada, giving Hillary Clinton -- and this must be very good news, Josh Rogan, for the Clinton camp, a clear
lead. Hillary Clinton at 47 percent in Nevada, Donald Trump at 40 percent and Gary Johnson at 7 percent.
All right.
What is the strategy now if you take into account these numbers other that were released yesterday for the Clinton camp?
JOSH ROGAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the Clinton camp faces a choice, whether or not to consolidate their growing lead in most polls, the
possible exception of Ohio, by focusing on the states where they are at an advantage. Or they could try to expand the map and challenge Donald Trump
in other states that they haven't been previously active with.
Both of these strategies are premised upon the assumption from the polls that Hillary Clinton is in the lead and that that lead is growing and that
Donald Trump's strategy of accusing the election process of being rigged, which is not based in any actual factual evidence by the way, we should
point out, it's all based on the fact that that is proving to be bad for the Donald Trump campaign.
GORANI: And Sunlen, I want to play some of the interview that Melania Donald Trump --
[15:05:00]
GORANI: -- Donald Trump's wife, gave to our own Anderson Cooper. There she responded to all of these reports and accusations that he sexually
assaulted women and after, of course, the airing of that hot mike video from 2005, where he used that lewd language, let's listen to Melania Donald
Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA DONALD TRUMP, DONALD'S WIFE: I said to my husband that the language is unappropriate (sic), it's not acceptable and I was surprised
because that is not the man that I know. I wonder if they even knew that the mike was on because they were kind of a boy talk and he was lead on
like egg on from the host to say dirty and bad stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So she defended Donald Trump, her husband, of course, Sunlen; she called it "boy talk," et cetera.
But the big question is, what is the political impact of Donald Trump's wife speaking out now?
SERFATY: Certainly, Hola, the Donald Trump campaign wanted to put out Melania Donald Trump at this particular time because they are facing such a
moment of crisis within their camp. This has been a daily drip almost of new women coming out, not only that "Access Hollywood" videotape but new
women coming out and making accusations against Donald Trump.
So certainly putting his wife out there to speak as a mother, as a wife, as a women about her experiences. So we heard her say this is not the
language I have heard him use, I believe him, I believe him more than these women, who she point-blank called liars. So certainly potentially trying
to soften the image, soften these harsh news stories going into tomorrow night's debate, where, most certainly, this will come up.
GORANI: I wonder, Josh Rogan, I listen to the whole, I watched the whole interview, I mean, clearly she -- those who were planning on voting for
Donald Trump, who are passionate Donald Trump supporters, nothing is really going to change their minds but could Melania Donald Trump sway those
undecideds who perhaps were put off by this hot mike video and these accusations?
Or will it not have an impact there?
I do wonder how her style, the way she expresses herself, the way she defended her husband, whether that resonate with the undecided voters?
ROGAN: What I think it does is I think it gives cover to Republicans, especially Republican women, to forgive Donald Trump for these alleged
transactions and hold their noses and vote for him.
She confirmed everything that he said and she argued his case very eloquently. Ultimately, what is going on here is that Donald Trump is
hemorrhaging support with suburban women, especially down 29 points to Hillary Clinton, and that was the target audience for this interview.
For those who are critical of Donald Trump's alleged actions, it won't actually move the needle because she dismissed the actual allegations,
dismissed the right of the accusers to be believed until they're disproved and also sort of reinforced this notion that there is a conspiracy between
the Clinton campaign and the media to drive these accusations.
That's not particularly different or more -- it doesn't show any more sort of credence to the allegations than Donald Trump has shown himself.
GORANI: And Sunlen, lastly, it is a tricky one for Hillary Clinton, her husband, of course, strayed, as we all know, she stood by him, I mean, this
is a hot potato for someone like Hillary Clinton. One has to wonder how politically whether she will stay away from it or whether she brings it up,
what will the strategy be here?
SERFATY: Absolutely. We saw her kind of have to balance that out at the last debate, when this "Access Hollywood" tape did come out about 48 hours
before the second debate. This is certainly still an issue front and center here on this debate. So how she factors that in, how she walks that
line will be important to watch.
I think everything that we have seen from Hillary Clinton thus far is an understanding that she believes that it is toxic for her to have to wade
into and we have seen her really to try to not directly address Donald Trump's criticisms if he does, indeed, bring up Bill Clinton's past
infidelities and switch it more to what she would do as a president, what sort of presidential posture she would take and kind of make that contrast
in terms of who has the right fitness and readiness to be commander in chief, readiness to be president so really trying to avoid it at all costs.
GORANI: All right, Sunlen Serfaty in Las Vegas, Josh Rogan in our D.C. bureau, thanks very much.
And by the way, we'll be talking more about the campaign, we'll be talking about the WikiLeaks hacked e-mails from the Clinton campaign. A little bit
more there, we're learning, on the strategy of the Clinton campaign. We'll be taking about that and much more on the U.S. presidential race.
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GORANI: But let's talk about Mosul now, a very significant development there. The sun has set on the second day of a massive battle for the city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (voice-over): Iraqi forces are blasting their way toward Mosul, faster than many people expected. But ISIS is throwing everything it has
and holding on, setting trenches full of oil on fire, take a look at this, thick black smoke, perhaps this is a way, by the way, to make airstrikes
harder.
They're spraying the approaching forces with mortar and gunfire as well. But the worst may be yet to come. Thousands of the militants are thought
to be burrowed deeply inside the city itself. Let's get you on the ground in Iraq now.
CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us from Irbil.
So, Ben, let's talk a little bit about day two then, significant developments.
Is the advance quicker than anticipated towards Mosul?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is certainly what the Americans are saying, Hala, that it is faster than usual. What we
did see yesterday was fairly dramatic progress by the Kurdish forces. They say they took 200 square kilometers and nine villages. There were no
civilians in those villages, however.
Today the actions seem to be undertaken by the Iraqi army to the south and to the east of Mosul. Today, this afternoon, they were battling outside
the town of Kadakush (ph) what was a Christian town but of course the Christian inhabitants long ago fled and others have moved in.
So that seems to be the focus of the fighting but as you mentioned, they're running into resistance. It seems that ISIS is using a lot of suicide
bombers, car bombers and trying to impede progress as much as possible.
What we have not seen, to a large extent, is a flood of civilians leaving the city. By and large, they seem to be staying put; there has been a
handful coming out but not the huge numbers that was anticipated. The Pentagon says they believe that many of these people are being held as
human shields -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. And that is one of the big concerns. Because I mean you have ISIS, they have done this in the past, they have actually walked
sometimes out of urban areas and towns holding civilians hostage.
So how does that change the calculus of how you approach a city like Mosul now?
WEDEMAN: Well I was in Fallujah in June when that city was under siege by Iraqi forces. And thousands of people were being held as human shields.
Eventually however, ISIS let them go and tried to flee the city.
Now in this case, you're talking about a much bigger city; under the best of circumstances, Mosul had a population of about 2 million and this is --
the whole civilian population is something that the Iraqi forces, the Kurdish forces, are taking into account as they approach it. And may
significantly slow down the operation.
Today I was speaking with the Kurdish commander, who said two months is how long he thinks this operation will last. But it may be well longer than
that, given the number of civilians caught in the middle. Now the U.N. says that they are expecting upwards in sort of the worst possible scenario
of 1 million people leaving the city -- Hala.
GORANI: All right, well, we will be speaking with the U.N. advisor, Jan Eglund (ph), about the very aspect of this story. Thanks very much, Ben
Wedeman is in Irbil.
Now even with the terrorists kicked out of some of the villages leading up to Mosul, the people who live there can't shake off the fear after living
under ISIS' brutal rule for more than two years.
CNN's Arwa Damon takes us to meet some of those villagers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just came across this group of people that are from one of the villages nearby. We were
actually on our way towards one of the Iraqi army nights divisions positions. That's according to what these gentleman were saying -- and we
can go now and talk to some of the women as well -- their village was liberated by the forces about two days ago.
All of these people were actually living under ISIS. And then today, they heard a rumor that ISIS was returning. So they all actually fled their
village and have now ended up here and are waiting for permission to go back home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language)
DAMON: So what these women are saying is that ISIS actually reemerged from some of the orchards, some fighters did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
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DAMON: They say we ran out; she doesn't even have her (INAUDIBLE) --
(CROSSTALK)
DAMON: -- you see this --
Lynda, under ISIS, they now have to flee, I mean, this is just one of the ongoing catastrophes of this war.
They're talking about the fact that (INAUDIBLE) and she is saying, "Every day they used to come to us.
"They would say, 'Do you have guns?'"
"We have mobile phones (INAUDIBLE). Whoever they found with a mobile phone they would kill.
"They starved us. They killed people that would smoke (ph). (INAUDIBLE)."
And they're so happy then when the army came in (INAUDIBLE). And then ISIS reemerged.
They're saying, "Come on, let's go, let's go."
And they're going back to their village.
Most of the families are returning and the Iraqi and Kurdish commanders, who we spoke to, say that there was no ISIS counterattack. But you heard
what they were saying to us. You saw how scared they were.
And this just shows you the psychological and other trauma that they have been through, where just the rumor that ISIS has returned sends them
running for their lives -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Canash (ph), Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Some are suffering there for the people who lived through ISIS and many other crises. A lot more to come this evening, including this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (voice-over): We are going to have more on the fight to retake Mosul. We'll be speaking to the spokesperson for the Iraqi
counterterrorism unit. We've seen ISIS use car bombs, suicide bombers, what is his take on this.
First, though, while that fight for Mosul steps up, the U.N. envoy for Syria has a blunt message, "Do not forget about Aleppo."
We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Well, the eyes of the world are of course on Mosul right now but the U.N. special envoy to Syria has a stark message, "Do not forget about
Aleppo."
Staffan de Mistura says if there is no solution in the historic city, quote, "will not be there any more." His words come as the skies above
Aleppo fell quiet for now. Russia has grounded its jets today. It says it is a gesture of goodwill.
And it is also announcing an eight-hour humanitarian pause on Thursday to allow for aide to get in. Let's get more with Jan Eglund (ph). He is a
U.N. senior adviser and the secretary-general or the Norwegian Refugee Council. He is in Oslo.
Thanks for being with us, Mr. Eglund (ph).
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GORANI: First of all, do you believe this eight-hour cease-fire will happen?
JAN EGLUND (PH), NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: I sincerely hope it will happen, we're working now day and night to prepare for a possible medical
evacuation from East Aleppo and the medical supplies and food into East Aleppo.
But there are still a lot of things that has to be clarified. We need to have green light from the governor of Syria, not just a pause in the
bombing of Russia and we need the armed opposition groups on the ground, the opposition inside East Aleppo, to say yes and, hopefully, it will be
able to be clarified in the next 48 hours.
GORANI: You had a U.N. convoy bombed in September, blamed on regime forces or allies of the regime forces. And you suspended aid, the U.N. suspended
aid, so it would it be extremely risky to send more convoys into Aleppo, wouldn't it?
EGLUND (PH): Yes, that convoy which was bombed in a place called (INAUDIBLE) Oren (ph), west of Aleppo, is a stark reminder of the enormous
risk of -- that humanitarians are taking every single day in Syria as well as in Iraq.
But we're ready to go, we're willing to go but we need more than the eight hours that the Russians are giving us. I think we can extend it to 11
hours a day; that gives us three days. We need four.
We're also working on that. They say Thursday; I think that is possibly too early, given that we don't have green light from everybody on the
ground. But the clock is ticking. And people are dying in East Aleppo because of lack of evacuation and lack of supplies.
GORANI: Well, that, we've seen it -- we see it every day, we cover it every day, it is extremely depressing and many, many people have become
hopeless about the situation, frankly, because they see nothing but bombing continuing to kill civilians in East Aleppo.
But the issue here is, even if you have this pause in hostilities for eight hours and people leave, what assurances do they have that they will be safe
if they utilize this eight-hour window for humanitarian evacuations?
I mean, they will be petrified that there will be retributions.
EGLUND (PH): Yes, well, what we're working on the evacuation side is to get medical evacuations out, wounded people. And they need to have the
choice of going either to government controlled areas or to opposition controlled areas. It could be several hundred wounded that need to be
evacuated.
Apart from that, we're working to have supplies into East Aleppo at the Russian initiative for civilian evacuations is not part of the U.N. plan.
We're working for medical evacuations now.
GORANI: And what is the holdup in these talks?
I mean, it seems like every few days the foreign ministers get together and the only announcement here is, ah, well, we couldn't come up with a
solution and the world is asking, what do you mean, you can't come up with a solution?
This is a humanitarian disaster.
So what is the holdup?
Why is no solution found?
EGLUND (PH): Because of the bitterness of this cruel conflict. We're not -- I mean, I blame myself but I blame the -- those who are sponsoring the
armed activists in Iran more.
Why can't Russia, Syria and those who sponsor the armed opposition groups sit down and pull together?
There is too much fuel brought to this fire by external actors. We are in the crossfire, along with the civilian population. We're willing and able
to go but we need, we really need a long cease-fire now and political (ph) talks to resume because this has gone on now for five years in Aleppo
(INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: All right, well, let's hope at least eight hours, eight hours of some sort of cessation of hostilities in Aleppo. We'll see how that
develops. Jan Eglund (ph), thank you very much for joining us from Oslo.
EGLUND (PH): Thank you.
GORANI: We appreciate your time.
Meanwhile, Bashar al-Assad's wife says she refused offers to flee Syria with her children. Asma al-Assad told a Russian television network that
the offers were, quote, "a deliberate attempt to shatter people's confidence."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASMA AL-ASSAD, BASHAR'S WIFE: First of all, I have been here since the beginning and I never thought of being anywhere else at all.
And, secondly, yes, I was offered the opportunity to leave Syria or, rather, to run from Syria. These offers included guarantees of safety and
protection for my children and even financial security.
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AL-ASSAD: It doesn't take a genius to know what these people were really after.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Asma al-Assad there.
The U.S. president, Barack Obama, moving on to Washington now, is holding his final state dinner in the coming hours for the prime minister of Italy.
Barack Obama and Matteo Renzi held a joint news conference after meeting earlier. There they are. The visit comes as many of Mr. Obama's European
allies are ousted from office or nearing the end of their tenures.
The White House sees Mr. Renzi as one of the most promising young politicians in Europe and there is a stage for him at the White House.
This happens in, if I'm not mistaken, about three hours. So that's when we will see some of the arrivals and that kind of thing, sort of what is
Michelle Obama wearing, OK, there, I said it. I am curious about it.
(LAUGHTER)
GORANI: Still ahead, imagine your hometown turning into a battlefield overnight. That's what's happening to hundreds of thousands of people who
live in Mosul. We'll hear their personal stories just ahead.
And there's a new wrinkle in the long-running drama over Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server. The issue just will not go away and the
election is just 28 days away. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Donald Trump is on the attack against Hillary Clinton ahead of their third and final debate. The Republican presidential candidate is
speaking right now at a rally in Colorado Springs.
Trump again hammered Clinton over an e-mail scandal and just announced he will press for congressional term limits if he is elected.
Also among our other top stories, Donald Trump's running mate is campaigning in North Carolina. Governor Mike Pence visited a local
headquarters for the Republican Party headquarters which was firebombed over the weekend, as GOP office. No one was injured. The attack is under
investigation but there you see the aftermath.
Also a 72 hour cease-fire is due to begin in Yemen just before midnight Wednesday. The U.N. says the pause in fighting is designed to allow aid to
be distributed throughout the country. Around 10,000 people have been killed in the violence and bombings, which has raged for nearly two years.
Iraq has dropped more than 17 million leaflets over ISIS-held areas inside the country. They're calling on ISIS militants to put down their weapons
and surrender. Right now Iraqi-led forces are mounting a massive assault on the ISIS stronghold of Mosul of course, as we've been reporting.
But for now at least, the words on those leaflets are just that, words. For many of the ordinary people who live in Mosul their hopes of liberation
overwhelmed by other fears of course there are all those reports that ISIS may be using ordinary civilians as human shields.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz (ph) has been speaking to those still trapped in the city.
You were able, Salma, (ph) to speak to people by phone who told you their stories about how they're frightened right now and they're fully aware that
this operation is underway, what have they been telling you?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ (PH), CNN CORRESPONDENT: : Well, Hala, I just want to emphasize just how rare these stories are. Cell phones are banned in
Mosul. If they're caught with one, residents tell us ISIS will kill you.
But yet some people now are trying to speak out now that this offensive is being launched on Mosul. One of them was a grandmother, she was over 70
years old and she was just sobbing on the phone, telling us that she had been separated from her sons now for almost two years.
And she just wanted to be able to see them before she passed. She could not even finish speaking to us she was so emotional.
Another mom, she was really quite defiant, she had a son that she said had not been able to go to school since ISIS took control of Mosul. She said
they changed the curriculum in the schools and become radical and she didn't want her son to be brainwashed.
She said, my son's life has been interrupted and we just want to go back to normal.
And another man, he was a policeman with a family, previously he had worked under the government and he said when ISIS came in, he had no choice but to
join their bureaucracy. And now he says, I might face jail time when Mosul is liberated.
Who will take care of my family?
So people are looking forward to the days ahead to being free of Mosul, some of them are. But almost everyone is scared of what does that day
after bring -- Hala?
GORANI: All right, Salma Abdelaziz (ph), thanks very much. She is in Irbil and she's been speaking with residents inside Mosul.
And they're very difficult to get in touch, as Salma (ph) was mentioning because cell phones are banned.
Thanks very much for that.
Well harrowing stories but ISIS doesn't want the world to know about that reality. They just put out this propaganda video, claiming to show Mosul -
- it is the view of the city they we would believe, people grabbing coffee, baking bread and just going about life as normal.
But CNN is in Iraq and we know the reality on the ground. Of course, you can imagine this is anything but business as usual on Mosul. And
interesting that this is what they think will make them look slightly more in control of a city like Mosul.
Let's get more on the fight to retake the city. I'm joined from Baghdad by Saba al-Niman (ph), a spokesman for Iraq's counterterrorism units.
Thanks very much for joining us. So we have seen ISIS use these tactics that we know they have used before, car bombs, suicide bombers, in fact,
running toward Peshmerga fighters, et cetera, et cetera.
How much of a weapon of war, how is this changing the strategy on the outskirts of Mosul?
SABA AL-NIMAN (PH), IRAQI COUNTERTERRORISM SPOKESPERSON: OK, thank you. All these ways, using by ISIS to against the security forces is very well
known by the Iraqi security forces and especially the special forces, the counterterrorism. And we have the ways that we're overcome and defeat,
these ways that may be using by ISIS.
GORANI: So you have ways of defeating them when they use these tactics such as suicide bombers, car bombs, what are these ways?
AL-NIMAN (PH): Exactly the counterterrorism (INAUDIBLE). This is a special forces, they are well trained and equipped to be focused, again
such a ways that used by ISIS and we did that before when we liberated Ramadi and Fallujah and all the area that fought by the counterterrorism
and we success to defeat ISIS this area.
And we have also a plan for Mosul. Our forces, they are well trained for a long time to fight this battle. And we are promise the Iraqi that this
will be our last mission for the security forces and counter terrorism and this will be the last place for ISIS.
GORANI: But the issue you have, too, is once you enter Mosul, you may have booby traps; you may have IEDs, you may ISIS using civilians, civilian
shields as well.
This is a very complicated battle for you, isn't it?
AL-NIMAN (PH): We know that the big challenge for the security forces is to protect the civilians and we know that maybe ISIS, they will use these
civilians as a human but to be away from the security forces --
[15:35:00]
AL-NIMAN (PH): -- but for the counterterrorism service, we trained on -- we are -- we can deal with this problem, with this big challenge and we had
that before and we liberate many cities that it's -- it was occupied by ISIS without losing any of the civilians.
And we have plans, we have a very performance procedures (ph) overcome that overcome any casualties by the civilians.
GORANI: All right, Mr. Saba al-Niman, the spokesperson for Iraq's counter terrorism units, one of the of course participants, many participants in
this operation to liberate Mosul from ISIS. Thank you very much for joining us from Baghdad, we appreciate it.
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GORANI: Let's get back to the race for the White House now, the pesky issue that is still dogging the Clinton campaign, which dates all the way
back to her time as secretary of state.
Our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, joins me now live.
Now, what are we learning about Clinton's new developments in Clinton's e- mail issues -- Joe?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right, this is about her personal e-mail server once again, an issue that has dogged her, Hala, just
about the entire campaign, even before that.
The importance of the story is that once again congressional Republicans and Donald Trump are seizing on an issue that arose when Hillary Clinton
was secretary of state, raising questions about whether or not the department played fast and loose with the rules of handling classified
documents while she was there.
And they're also asking if there was talk of an inappropriate bargain to try to accomplish that. The FBI said in a statement yesterday, no, it
didn't happen. But here's what we know.
Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, wanted the FBI to declassify a document about possible arrests in the Benghazi case, which had been
classified as secret. And he asked the FBI to downgrade that document.
According to FBI, an official at the bureau who spoke to Kennedy had been trying to reach hi to talk about addressing a need for additional space for
FBI personnel stationed in other countries and brought that unrelated issue up.
The question that later arose was whether the State Department was considering addressing the issue of additional space for agents in exchange
for changing the classification of the document which could have been construed certainly as an inappropriate quid pro quo.
The FBI says it looked into the situation, concluded there was never a quid pro quo but that the allegations were nonetheless referred to appropriate
officials for review. The FBI official in the middle of this has apparently since retired but again, congressional Republicans, Donald
Trump, others, the Speaker of the House are not satisfied. They say the situation demonstrates Hillary Clinton had a disregard for properly
handling classified information and the State Department, it says, was just trying to hide the mishandling of this information.
State, of course, has issued a statement asserting the allegation of a quid pro quo is inaccurate and doesn't --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: -- the facts -- Hala.
GORANI: Sure. But still an issue floating out there and also WikiLeaks keeps releasing in a drip-drip type of fashion every day, Hillary Clinton
campaign e-mails that it stole and it's now releasing them, what more are we learning about the inner workings of the Clinton campaign?
JOHNS: Well, I think we've learned quite a bit and every day there is just a little bit more of information they probably would have preferred wasn't
out there.
For example, over the weekend, copies of speeches by Hillary Clinton to Goldman Sachs were released and that was something that Hillary Clinton
decided not to do; she was pressed for copies of those speeches, transcripts of those speeches by Bernie Sanders during the Democratic
primaries.
So today we saw some information about the vice presidential selection process inside the Hillary Clinton campaign. All of these things are
private things that --
GORANI: Is there anything damaging?
Because I mean the big deal about these Goldman speeches was that they would reveal somehow that Hillary Clinton had been super chummy with the
bankers while publicly condemning them, et cetera.
Did they reveal any of that?
JOHNS: Nothing damaging, just information that they tried not to get out there. And in fact, some of the stuff, when you look through it very
carefully, it just shows how hard Hillary Clinton tried not to release certain information, not to apologize, because she felt that her enemies
apparently were sort of coming after her and she wasn't going to kowtow to them.
So -- but, no, I have seen nothing you could call a smoking gun that points in the direction --
[15:40:00]
JOHNS: -- of any misbehavior, if you will.
GORANI: All right, Joe Johns, thanks very much, in Washington covering that angle, we really appreciate it. And it's all about the voters in the
end on November 8th. CNN's Chris Moody and Vanessa Perkovich (ph), they've both been traveling across the U.S. in a camper, talking to voters about
the candidates.
They've arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada, just in time for tomorrow's debate.
So Vanessa, I'll start with you. And you started on this camper tour a month ago and you've run into some very interesting characters.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you spoke to, Donald Trump supporters, is that correct?
VANESSA PERKOVICH (PH), CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we had in fact ran into some very interesting characters on the road. One of the first people we
met was a guy by the name of Bob Bolis (ph). This is a man who owns an 18- wheeler and he has decorated it with Trump's face and Trump's messaging.
And Chris and I took our own little mini road trip with him, which begs the question, why did he want to do this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB BOLIS (PH), TRUCKER: I don't have to do this. I do this because I believe in this country.
You're in Pennsylvania right now, we'll see what happens out here.
You'll get a flavor of why he's going to win P.A. He knows the kind of stuff that'll -- what makes this type of stuff work. He knows the business
end of it. It's not just about me driving this stupid truck around, it's about seeing what this country is really about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERKOVICH (PH): And Bob has gone so far to start a volunteer call center unaffiliated with the campaign which really goes to show how far voters are
willing to go in order to get their candidate elected -- Hala.
All right.
But, Chris, we just heard from that Trump supporter, what about the Hillary supporters that you have met?
CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we found a Hillary supporter in an unlikely place, the state of Tennessee, which is in
the South, really a very red state, one that will most likely go to Donald Trump.
But we met a man whose name is Davy Crockett (ph), a very famous American name from the 19th century. He had an interesting take. He sais he is not
voting for Donald Trump because he has a form of multiple sclerosis and he saw videos of how Donald Trump spoke about people with disabilities.
Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVY CROCKETT (PH), DISABLED TENNESSEAN: I'm Davy Crockett (ph). I have MS. Donald would make fun of people with stuff like I have, the MS. I
don't want to vote for this man and said I hope Hillary gets it.
PERKOVICH (PH): And what would you say to Donald Trump if you got to meet him?
CROCKETT (PH): Well, if I got to meet Donald Trump, I would tell you, what in the world is wrong with you?
What makes you think that you should deserve to be president?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOODY: Now Bob Bolis (ph) and Davy Crockett (ph) are just two of the people we've met on this amazing trip. We'll have more from across the
country on cnn.com in the next couple of days.
GORANI: All right, Chris and Vanessa, thanks very much. We will find you online and on our television screens as well. Thanks very much for
bringing us the trucker who supports Trump and Davy Crockett (ph), who plans to not support Trump. Thank you.
This is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. They've been reunited with their families but many more refugee children remain stuck on their own in France's infamous
Jungle camp. Next we meet the man known as the champion of child refugees, Lord Alf Dubs. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:00]
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GORANI: The U.K. says it's working to bring over more refugee children stuck in the Jungle camp in Calais. Two groups of youngsters have been
reunited with their families this week after being brought here to the U.K. in the past few days.
But there are concerns that the current plans do not go far enough. We're blurring, by the way, the children's faces in this report, as authorities
have asked us to protect their identity. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI (voice-over): Bags packed and a final shy wave goodbye, 14 children, the second group of teenagers this week, leaving France behind,
making their way to the U.K.
As French authorities in Calais prepare to dismantle the notorious Jungle migrant camp, Britain has rushed to process asylum plans for unaccompanied
minors living there.
These boys from countries including Syria and Afghanistan brought to be reunited with family members already living in Britain. Relatives gathered
outside the immigration center in London described the pain of waiting for their loved ones to reach safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I spoke to him and he was in Iran, he was crying. My heart was burning (ph) because -- and I though, I wish I was with you,
you know, to help you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so excited, so happy. So I think it will be a lovely day after 11 years for me.
GORANI (voice-over): While there has been joy for some, the process of identifying children eligible for transfer from Calais has been criticized
as chaotic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we've seen over recent days was officials working on behalf of the government wandering around the camp with megaphones,
shouting, if you have family in Britain, please do come and see us, which is an incredibly weak process to identify children at risk.
GORANI (voice-over): Fears among aid groups that some of the most vulnerable will be missed in the rush to close down the camp.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: And for those still living in the camp who don't have relatives in the U.K., there is no immediate prospect of safe passage. That's despite
the fact that the U.K. passed a law back in May to which an amendment was attached, committing the government to resettle unaccompanied child
refugees from Europe.
The legislation is known as the Dubs amendment after British lawmaker Alfred Dubs, who introduced it. He himself was brought to the U.K. as a
child under the Kindertransport program, which rescued Jewish children from the Nazis. Lord Dubs joins me now.
Thank you very much for being here. You must be happy and satisfied that at least a handful of these minors were brought to the U.K.
But you called on the government to bring in many, many more, thousands. They're not there yet at all.
LORD ALFRED DUBS, CHILD REFUGEE ADVOCATE: Well, I'm glad some have arrived and that's good news. It has been happening very slowly and my criticism
of the government has been all along they could have moved, they could have got on with it, these children, they're in Calais, they're in Greece.
They are vulnerable to criminality, they're vulnerable to prostitution and they're in danger and they're young people. And so the argument is they
should have moved faster. I'm satisfied that now the government are doing it --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: Yes, but they're doing it for a helpful, a few dozen children who have relatives here in the U.K.
Some of them don't, some of them are not in Calais, as you mentioned. There is Greece, there is the migrant trail, parts of Central Europe.
DUBS: Yes, well, don't put me in the position of defending the government, I'm an considered opponent of the government. But my understanding is
this, because I've had the discussion with the government minister this afternoon --
GORANI: You went to the home office?
DUBS: Well, it was in Parliament and I'm now assured that, apart from the children that have family here, who could have come all along, and that's
been a slow process, and they are the ones that are arriving -- apart from that, the ones that don't have any relatives here and they're (INAUDIBLE)
in Calais, the important thing is to give them somewhere safe and then bring them to Britain as soon as possible.
And I understand --
GORANI: You have been given that assurance?
DUBS: Well, I've been give the assurance that's what the government want to do.
GORANI: But you were also given an assurance when your amendment passed a few minutes ago in Parliament and none of that --
DUBS: Besides, well, I'm just telling you what they said to me.
But my criticism all along has been that far to little has happened. It's been a very slow process. I think --
[15:50:00]
DUBS: -- they've now stepped it up a year or two, I do believe that. But the important thing is that those that are not here by the time the camp is
bulldozed must be found somewhere safe. You can't just leave them there.
The French have said they'll take the adults somewhere. The ones that have relatives here, we're moving to bring them here.
But what about the ones that haven't, that are covered by the amendment?
And I'm told the British government, the home secretary has twice talked to the French interior minister and said, Cazeneuve, and said there has got to
be somewhere safe for these children before they come here.
GORANI: And but not everyone is convinced that these young men -- they were boys -- should be allowed to join their relatives here -- or at least
that their children, there is a conservative MP, David Davies (ph), he tweeted, "These don't look like kids to me."
And we've blurred their faces because we were asked to do so. Some newspapers, though, did publish their faces. And he was basically
expressing skepticism about their ages and why are we allowing in these boys that are clearly older than 18.
What do you say to --
DUBS: Well, I think there can be a difficulty at the top of the age range but you know, some of them are as young as 8. And we're not talking just
about Calais, of course, we're talking about Greece and possibly Italy as well. But they are vulnerable. They've been traumatized. They've had a
very difficult time.
And of course it's sometimes hard to establish the age -- and by the way, they're not all boys, there are girls in Calais as well that are even more
vulnerable. And the girls in Greece --
GORANI: In fact, there was a reported rape today, not of a migrant but of an interpreter working with a French journalist. I mean, it's an extremely
difficult environment.
But I've got to tell you, when we look at these pictures, some people ask, what is going on in Britain?
Why Britain, for instance, versus Germany and Sweden is so reluctant to allow some of these more vulnerable refugees in?
What do you think is going on?
DUBS: Well, first of all, Germany has done a good job and Germany has come -- become the conscience of Europe. And I say that as somebody who was a
--
GORANI: The victim of the Nazis.
DUBS: -- Nazis. So that's good. But we're doing a little. We're taking some vulnerable Syrians, 20,000 from the region, and a few thousand on top
of that and we're beginning to move. I never argued we should take them all. I argued we should take our share. When the issue arose originally,
we were told there were some 90,000 unaccompanied child refugees in Europe. And the argument was Britain should play its part, as should other
countries. And we have not been doing that up until now.
GORANI: But do you think -- I mean, I'm going to ask a difficult question.
Do you think the reluctance is, because these kids are Muslim, generally speaking, do you think that there is a cultural issue here, that people
just don't want more Muslim people?
They associate them with danger, with terror, is that the issue?
If they were Christian kids, would it be different?
DUBS: I don't think so.
GORANI: You don't think so?
DUBS: I think there is a reluctance to have anybody come to this country. And that's been government policy for some time. I believe -- I believe
the children are particularly vulnerable group and therefore as a humanitarian argument, should say we have got to give them some priority.
No, I don't think it's because they're Muslims. (INAUDIBLE) cynically enough in this world. All I would say is that they're vulnerable, they're
victims, they have gone through very hard times, they're shocked and they're traumatized. There are some Afghans in Calais, I met some of them,
I met some young people from Eritrea. Now they weren't 18. I met ones who, I think, were 10, 12 and 14.
So some of them are pretty young and they have been through shocking experiences.
GORANI: There are images of you over there in Calais in May, I believe
(CROSSTALK)
DUBS: I went twice to Calais. And I met some of these young people. Their faces were hidden but I spoke to them and they're entitled to a
decent live there. They're entitled to safety.
GORANI: Lord Dubs, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time. It's great having your perspective on this. And we hope to
have you on again. Perhaps when more of these vulnerable minors are accepted in.
And don't forget, you can check out on our Facebook page, facebook.com/halagoranicnn, some of our latest interviews and stories.
We'll be right back after a quick break.
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[15:55:00]
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GORANI: You can spend the year with Russian president Vladimir Putin, if you like. A 2017 calendar featuring the leader in a series of carefully
crafted photos just went on sale across Moscow. Some show Mr. Putin's softer side, like cuddling a kitten, to relaxing in a tree.
Others feature the Russian president in action, riding a horse -- not shirtless this time -- wearing wet suit or even flying a fighter jet.
Russians we talked to seem to approve of the calendar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very nice, I think, because I can see cats, children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) strong man. I see it's our leader.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's very nice because it's -- I like my president so that's why I have (INAUDIBLE). I'm very proud of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Each month also features a quote from the leader, including this, Mr. Putin says, "Russia is a peace-loving and self-sufficient country. But
if there is a threat we are ready to use our weapons to ensure our safety."
They are the jewel in the crown of movie memorabilia, the ruby slippers from "The Wizard Of Oz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE WIZARD OF OZ")
BILLIE BURKE, ACTOR, "GLINDA" Tap your heels together three times and think to yourself, "There's no place like home."
GORANI (voice-over): The real home of those shoes is not over the rainbow but over at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American
History, which has as a surviving pair worn by Judy Garland. The slippers' magic is fading, though, leading the museum to launch a project to restore
them.
The Smithsonian wants to raise -- there they are -- it takes $300,000 to restore these ruby slippers. #keepthemruby is the hashtag. The money will
be used to fix loose threads and while it is a lot of cash, the Smithsonian wants to prove there's no place like home for one of its most iconic
artifacts.
I would like to see a breakdown of why it costs that much to fix the shoes.
This has been THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. I'm Hala Gorani. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.
END
