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Hala Gorani Tonight
Campaigning Ramps Up Ahead Of Crucial Election; Ivanka Trump Joins Merkel At Women's Summit; North Korea Conducts Long Range Artillery Drill; House Oversight: Mike Flynn May Have Broken the Law; Satellite Images Give Rare Glimpse into Syria; Bride of ISIS Trapped in a Living Nightmare; Samsung Users Seeing Red with Galaxy S8. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired April 25, 2017 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade standing in for Hala Gorani live from the CNN Center. And this is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW.
We begin tonight in France, where the two remaining candidates in the country's election are ramping up their campaigns ahead of the May 7th
runoff. But earlier there was a pause and a somber reminder of the difficulties the country faces.
Both candidates were among the hundreds who attended a memorial for the police officer murdered in a terror attack just days before Sunday's vote.
Then it was right back out on the road.
Marine Le Pen visiting a food market near Paris while her rival, Emmanuel Macron, has been widely criticized for seemingly acting like victory was in
the bag. But in the last few hours he hit back, saying he was taking nothing for granted.
Let's go live to Paris, where CNN's Jim Bittermann is standing by. Jim, never before has the National Front attracted so many voters, yet Le Pen
has stepped aside as leader. Why?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's more optics than anything else, Lynda. Basically, she is saying that she's not
going to become the party leader, she's above politics, and in fact that call was the same one that was made by Charles de Gaulle back when he was
president saying that the president should be above politics.
Well, of course, a person who's running for president can't be above politics. So it's kind of an illusion. That's what she's done anyway.
She's turned the party over to her second in command, and it will be run probably the way she wants it anyway.
But it does give sort of an identification with Charles de Gaulle, with some voters perhaps, who she'd probably like to bring on to her side. In
any case, it has been back on the campaign trail for both candidates today.
And I want to bring into the picture here David Andelman who's the CNN commentator but also editor emeritus for the "World Policy Journal" and I
should say my former competition when he worked for CBS and I worked for NBC.
DAVID ANDELMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, CNN.COM OPINION: Here we are back together again.
BITTERMANN: Back together again. Now, David, tell me, you've been watching this from afar from the United States, what does it look like this
campaign looked like you to from the United States?
ANDELMAN: It looks a whole lot like Trump and Clinton, frankly. This is what's really quite extraordinary about it. Particularly because Obama has
now come out apparently on the side of Macron to a degree and Trump of course is supporting Le Pen.
But what's interest, having come over here and spent quite a lot of time here recently, is I don't see how he sees that as a deciding force in the
campaign here.
Partly because those of those candidates are pretty far away. There are so many more issues important right here in France for the French right now.
BITTERMANN: How do you see -- it looks like Macron has this in the bag.
ANDELMAN: You know, I'm not quite so sanguine for Macron. I have to tell you. I can see a path, a very narrow path for Le Pen to Elysee Palace.
Let me explain how I see that. I think first of all Le Pen is -- she's a seasoned politician and he's not.
But above all that is the whole question of the people who have not voted. The people -- the abstentions. There were only 22 percent of the people
who abstained in the first term, but that number could go up dramatically, partly because there is a national holiday, V.E. Day, that Monday right
after the election.
A lot of people will be out of town and his supporters come from the big cities. Those are the people who clear out of town when there is an
election.
Finally, there's the whole question of will the other candidates like Fillon, Melenchon, Fillon on the right, Melenchon on the left, will they be
able to bring their voters over to Macron? That is by no means clear either. She has a very solid base of support, and that's vital I think in
this race.
BITTERMANN: And at least some of those leaders, Melenchon, for example, have not yet told their followers exactly who to go to. So that abstention
thing could become a very critical factor in terms of the way the vote goes.
[15:05:01]ANDELMAN: It could. In addition, Macron was on television tonight for about 20 minutes on France's second channel, France 2, and it
was very interesting because the announcer asked him, the anchor asked him, what is -- what are you going to do to try to lure -- what are you going to
change to try to lure the Fillon followers, the Francois Fillon followers and the Melenchon followers, the left-wing followers, to you.
And he says, I'm not going to change anything, they simply have to come to me. It's by no means clear that they're prepared to do that at all. They
may either stay home, sit on their hands or they might indeed as many Fillon followers I talked with, go to Le Pen in the end.
BITTERMANN: That almost sounds a little bit arrogant on the part of Mr. Macron.
ANDELMAN: I had that impression really of a degree of arrogance I had not seen in him before. He kept referring to his colossal victory on Sunday
night. It seemed almost like Trump boasting about his colossal victory. It was like 2.5 percentage points.
I mean, let's face it, it was not a colossal victory. But he has embraced that as the reason why the rest of France must come to him. And frankly,
I'm not sure that the rest of France is prepared to do that.
I think they like very much the idea of either sitting it out for the moment to see what happens or perhaps going for the France first kind of
nationalism of Le Pen.
BITTERMANN: And in fact, that is a little bit of what we've seen and Macron was criticized for what he did on Sunday night, which was to have a
party. It was sort of to reward the people who had supported him.
But nonetheless, it was something that was much criticized because it made it look like what Le Pen is accusing him of being, an urbanite and someone
who eats and drinks at fancy restaurants and things to go to. I think it did probably hurt him. Back to you, Lynda.
KINKADE: Jim Bittermann live for us in Paris. Thanks so much. Well, staying with the election, a security firm believes Emmanuel Macron's
campaign was recently targeted by hackers using similar methods to those seen in the United States election. The research seems to point once again
to Russia.
Let's go live to Moscow. Diana Magnay is standing by. Diana, tell us about these telltale techniques that appear similar to the hackers who
targeted the Democratic campaign during the U.S. election.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a cyber-security firm called Trend Micro, which has been monitoring the hacks of a group they
believe to be called Pawn Storm or Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear, AP 28, it's all the same group, those names, which U.S. officials believe is tied to
Russian military intelligence and which this group and U.S. officials believe were behind the hacks on the DNC and behind a variety of other
targets too.
Erdogan's A.K. Party last year, Angela Merkel's CDU Party, and now Emmanuel Macron's campaign team. They say that they saw evidence of phishing
techniques which are typical of this group, Pawn Storm, used to try and infiltrate the Macron campaign team.
And what really differentiates this cyber-hacking group, which has been around for a very long time, since around 2002, but what differentiates
them is that they really try and specifically target individuals.
So they'll do social engineering, if you will, to identify who they can try and target in an organization and get into the organization that way. The
Macron team say that they've experienced a variety of attacks but that they were not compromised.
But something that Pawn Storm does also is that it tends to sit on information that it has until such time as it sees fit to leak it. Also
what was very interesting in this report today was that it wasn't just the Macron campaign team that was hacked recently, but also this group believes
two political think tanks associated with the two main political parties in Germany.
And of course, we do have the German elections coming up in September and the group said to me they think that those targets, those two think tanks
are essentially soft targets and a way in perhaps to the two main political parties that will be fighting it out come September -- Lynda.
KINKADE: This latest report of course the kremlin has scoffed at. What are they saying?
MAGNAY: Well, Dmitri Peskov, the press spokesman, has said these are utterly erroneous reports and essentially extremely primitive and what the
kremlin always says, that they do not interfere in the elections of another country, never have and never will.
And he said also referring to the report about hacking of these two German think tanks that he'd like to see the report before he would make any kinds
of comments on it.
[15:10:04]I think what's very interesting is that Trend Micro, the group who issued this report, says we can never be 100 percent sure which hacking
organization is behind these groups, but the digital footprint here is very similar. But also we do not attribute to a nation state but these hacks
reflect to a certain extent Russia's interests.
KINKADE: They certainly do. All right. Diana Magnay live for us in Moscow. Thank you very much.
One of the most influential women in the White House met with one of the world's most powerful women today. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is
welcoming U.S.'s first daughter, Ivanka Trump, to Berlin after personally extending that invitation.
They attended a Women's Economic and Empowerment Conference, and things got a little testy when Trump defended her father's record on women's issues.
The crowd actually hissed and booed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF U.S. PRESIDENT: He's been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive in the new reality of --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You hear the reaction from the audience. So I need to address one more point. Some attitudes towards women your father has
publicly displayed in former times might leave one questioning whether he's such an empowerer for women. How do you relate to that or are things
changing? What's your comment on that?
TRUMP: I certainly heard the criticism from the media and that's been perpetuated. But I know from personal experience, and I think the
thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector are a testament to his belief and solid
conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Let's get more now from our White House reporter, Kate Bennett. She's joining us live from Berlin. Kate, the first daughter faced a pretty
skeptical audience there. Was she prepared for that?
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Sure. I mean, I think to take it in context, the moment that we just saw happened within a larger panel that
lasted about an hour. She was also on stage with Angela Merkel, with Christine Lagarde of the IMF, and with the queen of the Netherlands.
It was a really formidable panel. This was just one moment in the panel. Otherwise, the crowd seemed to be OK with everything happening on the
panel. The discussion was about women's empowerment, women's entrepreneurship. So it wasn't necessarily about Trump policy.
However, that one moment did occur and Ivanka later on said that, you know, off camera that she's used to these things and that she was fine with it.
Others felt maybe the moderator grilled her a little too much, it was too much of a grilling and less of a panel.
And again, she said listen, politics is politics and as long as the discussion happens she's fine with it.
KINKADE: And some are calling her the president's whisperer. She has the ear of her father and she did manage to give some insight into his
decision-making, particularly in Syria, and also plans for tax reform.
BENNETT: That's right. So she definitely -- and the president has said this too, and part of the reason she's now inside the White House with an
office in the west wing as an official staff member there, is because her father relies on her and he does listen to her.
Now, she did say that reports from her brother, Eric Trump, who gave an interview saying that the president carried out the strikes on Syria
because of Ivanka's emotional reaction to it, are patently not true.
She said she did tell her father that she was, like many others, heartbroken by the images that we were seeing coming out of Syria.
However, he did not call the strike to happen simply because Ivanka said to.
She said listen, the president act not just on emotion, he has a whole group of people advising him, experts in the field, and that's what he
based his decision on.
KINKADE: Of course, throughout the campaign Donald Trump called Angela Merkel insane. He accused her of ruing Germany. Ivanka was there at the
invitation of the German chancellor. So what does that say to us about Merkel's strategy for diplomacy with the Trump administration?
BENNETT: It's pretty interesting. We remember back in March just last month when Angela Merkel did come to the White House and there was that
sort of awkward moment in the oval office where the two didn't shake hands.
That was also the same visit where she was seated next to Ivanka Trump during a roundtable discussion again about business, and that's where we
think the two sort of bonded.
Now, if the chancellor feels she's going to get more accomplished or make more inroads with the Trump administration by doing so via Ivanka, that's a
pretty smart move.
[15:15:05]So the two women seemed to bond over their passion for women's equality and entrepreneurship and the rise of business on a global scale.
So it could be a pretty smart move to sort of find a fresh conduit to her father's ear by the German chancellor.
KINKADE: All right. Kate Bennett, good to have you with us live from Berlin. Thank you.
Well, Donald Trump says the world must learn the lessons of the past and never shrink from confronting evil again. The U.S. president honored
victims of the holocaust today during a visit to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Mr. Trump thanked holocaust survivors in the room for sharing their painful stories, saying it's important to bear witness to history's darkest hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Those who deny the holocaust are an accomplice to this horrible evil and we'll never be
silent. We just won't. We will never, ever be silent in the face of evil again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Mr. Trump also pledged to confront anti-Semitism and stamp out prejudice and hatred.
Still to come tonight, North Korea celebrates the 85th birthday of its army by firing of some long-range artillery. How the White House is responding,
next.
Also, Elton John says he's grateful as he recovers from a potentially deadly illness. The details are coming up on THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. Stay
with us.
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KINKADE: Welcome back. Well, tough talk from the U.S. president isn't doing a thing to hold back North Korea. Pyongyang conducted a major live
fire exercise on Tuesday in the Wonsan region on its east coast. It was timed to coincide with Army Day and the arrival of a U.S. nuclear-powered
submarine on the peninsula. Will Ripley has more now from the North Korean capital.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Despite warnings from President Trump and the Pentagon, more provocative actions by North Korea's supreme leader, Kim
Jong-un, he conducted a military exercise, a long-term artillery drill at the very same moment that other celebrations were happening in his country
to mark Army Day, a celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army.
Now, these long-range artillery drills are concerning, especially for people in South Korea, because the North has a whole lot of these
conventional weapons pointed directly at the Seoul metropolitan area, home to tens of millions of people.
In fact, analysts believe that those weapons in the short term at least could be more harmful than North Korea's nuclear weapons, which are still
under development. There still has not been a sixth North Korean nuclear test even though analysts say that Kim Jong-un could push the button on
that at just about any time.
In the city of Pyongyang, we saw dancing in the streets, soldiers and citizens and civilians coming out to celebrate Army Day and there was also
a more somber ceremony and event to mark the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans who died in the Korean War.
[15:20:10]A wreath-laying ceremony there. All of this as the U.S. is also engaging in some provocative behavior of its own, deploying a nuclear
submarine to the waters off the Korean Peninsula as that "USS Carl Vinson" carrier strike group moves ever closer to this turbulent region with
tensions at their highest level in years.
And adding to the complicated situation, another U.S. citizen was detained here in Pyongyang over the weekend, an American professor named Tony Kim
who had been teaching at a local university for several weeks. He has been taken by the authorities.
We don't know where he's being held or what charges he's facing in North Korea, but he joins at least two other U.S. citizens who are being held
here right now. A University of Virginia student, Otto Warmbier serving a 15-year sentence for taking a sign off the wall of his hotel.
That sentence hard labor, by the way. Also U.S. Citizen Kim Donchol (ph) serving a ten-year sentence of hard labor accused of spying. So you have
the military provocations and the situation with the detained Americans. We'll have to see how President Trump reacts. Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang,
North Korea.
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KINKADE: Well, the White House has called the entire U.S. Senate in for a briefing on North Korea on Wednesday. It's an unusual step and indicates
just how much of a foreign policy challenge North Korea poses to the president.
Jeremy Diamond is joining us now live from the White House. Jeremy, President Trump is saying the status quo is unacceptable. He sent
America's most powerful submarine to the region. Just explain for us what we can expect when the senators meet tomorrow at the White House.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, one thing I think is important to recognize off the top is the fact that this is a president who
is taking the North Korean threat very seriously and who has been really quite focused on this issue. It's been probably one of the top issues --
top foreign policy issues at least since he has taken office.
Probably that and the situation with ISIS in the Middle East are probably the top two issues confronting this president, and he's really looked at
the North Korean problem with increasing urgency.
So I think when the U.S. senators tomorrow, all 100 have been invited, we don't know yet exactly how many will attend but we expect most if not all
to come here to the White House for this briefing.
Well, they're going to be looking for a better sense of what exactly this president's strategy is toward North Korea. You know, he's made clear this
is an urgent, an increasingly urgent situation. We've seen the saber rattling on both sides of this issue.
So the senators tomorrow are perhaps going to be looking for different things. Some may be looking for how decisive this president truly is and
how decisive he would be if the need to act were to come up.
Others may be looking for some reassurance that's President Trump is not going to try to escalate this situation, a situation that is really
escalating quickly. But during that briefing they're certainly going to hear from some of the top officials from this White House.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the defense secretary, the defense top -- defense intelligence chief as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff. And also Senator Jon Cornyn said today that he believes President Trump himself will step into this meeting tomorrow.
So a lot to kind of look out for out of that meeting. We'll have to wait and see exactly what kinds of signals the White House is going to be
sending as members of the Senate come here to the White House for this briefing.
KINKADE: It's not surprising that Donald Trump is focusing on this as one of his biggest issues given his predecessor, Barack Obama, said this would
be the biggest problem he faced in his first term. Trump says he doesn't think Kim Jong-un is as strong as he says he is. He seems to be prodding
him almost for a response. Why would he do that?
DIAMOND: Yes, well, some analysts have said, you know, they're a little concerned about that, it's kind of like stirring a hornet's nest here by
perhaps trying to provoke the North Korean leader. I think having covered Trump for the last couple of years I think that's simply Trump speaking out
loud, reading his thoughts out loud, saying hmm, I wonder if the North Korean leader is really actually as strong as he says he is.
But certainly as the tensions have already been escalating, trying to poke the bear, if you will, is not necessarily a strategy that is going to help
calm tensions. But beyond the president's actual words, we've seen the "USS Carl Vinson," a war ship being sent to the waters near the Korean
Peninsula, a nuclear submarine also just ported in South Korea.
All of these are signals, clear signals to the North Korean regime not to mess with the United States is essentially the boldest way of putting it.
And North Korea also ratcheting up tensions with this firing of artillery weapons just recently.
So, you know, clearly the tensions are rising on both sides. It's unclear exactly what the president's immediate strategy is when he uses that type
of language.
[15:25:09]KINKADE: President Trump has said that all options are on the table. As we see more and more aircraft carriers move into the region and
President Trump has spoken about sanctions, what options do you think he'll focus on when they meet tomorrow with the senators?
DIAMOND: Well, you know, the primary thing we've seen from this president is really trying to leverage China into helping on North Korea. And now
that's something that past administrations have also done but one thing this president has done slightly different is he's sought to kind of link
both the North Korean issue and trade, the U.S.-China trading relationship, trying to leverage that as well in order to get China to come on board and
help the United States tackle the North Korea problem more seriously.
Now the administration says that they've seen signs of progress, there have been these coal shipments that have been turned back around from China to
North Korea, sent back to China and some other steps where China has seemed to signal an increased willingness to actually tackle this problem.
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have spoken multiple times about this problem so far. But again, the question remains what exactly is
Trump doing that's very, very different here and will the Chinese finally get to the point where they also see a similar urgency in the situation
where they need to act?
Because I think it's important to remember that while China does not have the exact same position as the United States on this issue they too do not
want to see a war on the Korean Peninsula, which would be a war essentially right on their border.
They don't want to see millions of refugees flowing from North Korea into China. So they have an interest in keeping things stable here. And I
think that's also where you introduce the element of unpredictability that President Trump has tried to maintain.
Predictability is something the Chinese like. And so I think the Chinese are going to be watching closely what President Trump shares with these
senators, if anything comes out of that meeting. And the senators also will be looking for what President Trump's approach will be.
KINKADE: All right, Jeremy Diamond, we'll have to leave it there. Live for us at the White House. Thank you very much.
The United Kingdom is gearing up for a snap general election, and unsurprisingly, Brexit is at the top of the agenda. The opposition Labour
Party has been laying out their plans if they get into power, and it is very different to Theresa May's. They would guarantee E.U. nationals the
right to remain in the country and would be open to keeping access to the single market. Mrs. May described the Labour plan as, quote,
"nonsensical."
Well, now to a major health scare for music legend, Elton John, who is now thanking his fans for their support as he recovers from a potentially
deadly infection. John recently spent two days in intensive care after apparently contracting the illness while on tour in South America.
The 70-year-old singer is expected to fully recover, but he has canceled a number of concert dates. For more on all of this, CNN's Chloe Melas is
tracking this story from New York and joins us now live. Chloe, this is a huge concern. This illness being both rare and deadly. What can you tell
us about it?
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, fans didn't even know he had been hospitalized until they -- he took to social media to say
that he was recovering. So what happened is he was in Chile, he was in South America touring, and then on the flight back he became violently ill.
That's when the plane obviously landed in Britain.
He was hospitalized and in intensive care for two days. They didn't say what exactly the bacterial infection was, but there are reports out there
that it could have been deadly. But he took to Instagram to tell all of his fans that he cannot wait to get back touring and he actually apologized
for letting them down because now he's canceled the remainder of his residency in Las Vegas.
KINKADE: And this of course, this illness seemed to come just days before his trip to this -- his trip to South America to continue those tour dates.
He had his 78th birthday in Hollywood. What was it like for those celebrations?
MELAS: Yes, last month he had this big A-list celebrity-filled party in L.A., and you know, it was celebrating his life over the past seven decades
and all of his many awards and -- I mean, everybody was there. Lady Gaga, all of his celebrity friends, and he was in great spirits, great health.
I mean, previously he's been hospitalized for other health issues, but this is very serious, very severe. He's recovering at home. What we do know is
he does plan to go back on tour, not only in Vegas in the fall.
So as of right now for everybody that has tickets to his shows this spring in Vegas, those aren't going to be useful right now. But he is going to be
performing at Twickenham Stadium in London on June 3rd as of right now.
KINKADE: All right, Chloe Melas, good to hear he is going to make a full recovery. Thank you.
MELAS: Thank you.
[15:30:02] KINKADE: Well, still to come, Raqqa as you've never seen it before. CNN gets an exclusive look at the so-called ISIS capital from
above. Those fascinating images coming up.
Also ahead, this young woman sets out to find love online and ends up trapped under ISIS rule. Her dramatic story still to come on THE WORLD
RIGHT NOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Well, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron says he is taking nothing for granted in his runoff with Marine Le Pen. He was
responding to a comment from President Francois Holland, who warned of complacency ahead of the May 7th vote.
North Korea is celebrating Army Day with mass celebrations and live fire exercises in the Wonsan region on its east coast. The North tested the
capability of its long-range artillery. Those weapons are pointed directly at the Seoul metropolitan area.
Ivanka Trump is on her first international trip since joining her father's administration. She's in Berlin at the invitation of the German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. They attended a women's summit, and the crowd hissed when Trump tried to champion her father's record on women's issues.
Well, now to some big developments on Capitol Hill involving investigation into whether the Trump campaign may have assisted Russia's meddling in the
U.S. election. A new public hearing has been set for May 8th. A Senate panel will question former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
as well as former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
You may remember that Yates notified the White House in January that Michael Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail by Russia because he didn't
fully disclose his contacts with the Russian ambassador. President Trump fired Flynn as his national security advisor shortly after. Well, now
we're learning that congressional investigators believe Flynn may have broken the law.
Let's get the latest details from CNN's Tom LoBianco from Capitol Hill. Tom, the former national security advisor has broken the law according to
investigators. Just explain the case that they're trying to make. What are they saying?
TOM LOBIANCO, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Sure. So what happened today is the House Oversight Committee, led by Republican Jason Chaffetz and Democrat
Elijah Cummings, had a classified briefing here at the U.S. capitol. They reviewed the security clearance application that Michael Flynn filed in
2016, and they noted on there that he did not disclose payments he got from RTTV Russia.
[15:35:06] And what the deal there is, is that constitutes, possibly, a felony according to the rules of what you have to disclose. Now, they were
very clear they're not trying to prosecute this, but it's big trouble for him right now.
KINKADE: Well, the White House, of course, is accused of playing havoc with these investigations because they're refusing to hand over documents
that might be relevant, and they're saying that it's up to Flynn if he wants to hand them over.
LOBIANCO: Right. Actually, Elijah Cummings did bring this up earlier, and I think we have some sound of him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), RANKING MEMBER, UNITED STATES HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM: In short, the White House has refused to
provide this Committee with a single piece of paper in response to our bipartisan requests, and that's simply unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOBIANCO: So this is a really big deal going on here. What Cummings is saying is that the White House is interfering. We saw a little bit of this
already on the House Intelligence Committee investigation that's going on, and that actually ultimately led to the recusal of the Chairman of that
committee, Devin Nunes, from that investigation.
So here's another investigation where this is coming up. It's a big problem. You know, it could reflect poorly on the White House here. Sean
Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, spent almost the entire briefing today at the White House dealing with this question. You know, it's one
that's not going away.
KINKADE: All right. We'll have to leave it there, but thanks very much, Tom LoBianco. Thank you.
LOBIANCO: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, fresh off a referendum win that granted him sweeping new powers, Turkish President Erdogan is speaking out on the fight against
extremism. He says he won't allow northern Iraq's Sinjar region to become a base for the group that he labels as terrorists, including ISIS fighters
and Kurdish militants. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): We are going to keep up the fight in terms of democracy and in terms of human
rights, fundamental rights, and liberties. But at the same time, we're going to keep up the fight against PKK federalists and other terrorist
organizations such as Daesh. We will continue down this path in a very committed fashion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, now to the battle against ISIS inside Syria. Coalition forces are working to encircle the city preparing for an assault on the
extremists' so-called capital. CNN is getting an exclusive look at life from Raqqa from far above. Nick Paton Walsh shows us some remarkable
satellite images.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lynda, so under the grip of ISIS is Raqqa that we've only been able to see what life inside
it is really like through the lens of their propaganda material. But these satellite images as the noose put in place by coalition-backed Syrian rebel
fighters begins to tighten, these satellite images give some chilling details as to what it's really like inside that city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATON WALSH: The final target in the war on ISIS, their capital, Raqqa. So wretchedly isolated, held hostage in terror, the closest we get to it is
from space in these exclusive satellite pictures taken for CNN.
Here, two checkpoints in the street. And nearby, an ISIS flag. Precision strikes cutting its people further off from the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Life is not life. Life is death. We are besieged. We can't leave or walk around. Anyone who
breathes is slaughtered.
PATON WALSH: She escaped a day earlier and describes, from safety to the north, the claustrophobic paranoid world of living with ISIS in streets
covered by massive tarpaulins put up across this central market to hide ISIS fighters from coalition drone cameras overhead. Another escapee
describes how ISIS fighters differ.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The foreigners treat residents very well, but the Syrian ISIS members, they are very aggressive with
people.
PATON WALSH: ISIS used their own drone to film the damage from coalition strikes, part of a slow net slipping over the city. Images of life inside
Raqqa are rare, bar one occasion of filming the panic as residents try to flee. Only seconds of horror filmed here as ISIS have just told them the
dam at Tabqa to the west might break open, flooding Raqqa. It never happened, like so much of their propaganda. The dam was fine.
But to the west, fierce fighting backed by U.S. special forces has drawn the noose yet tighter. These coalition-backed fighters to the west, north,
and east are about to move in from the south. Then the noose will be complete, and the countdown begins to when these distant streets are open
for the world to see again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[15:40:09] PATON WALSH: Now, Lynda, we don't really know exactly how far off it is until the offensive by those coalition-backed Syrian rebel
fighters begins to actually move in on Raqqa. We do know that it is now the only real major city that ISIS still have full control over. They're
slowly but bloodily losing control over the Iraqi city of Mosul, not that far from where I'm standing here.
It may well get under way in the weeks or months ahead. We do know they have to move round to the south of Raqqa to fully isolate it, potentially
before that broader pressure on the urban sprawl of Raqqa itself gets under way. But it will most likely be a bloody last stand for ISIS to protect
their last major city and their de facto capital -- Lynda.
KINKADE: All right. Our thanks to Nick Paton Walsh for that report.
Well, millions of people meet their partners online these days, but for some, the dream of finding love on a dating website can turn into a
nightmare. That's what happened to a young Moroccan woman who met her husband online and ended up trapped in the ISIS capital of Raqqa. CNN's
Ben Wedeman has her incredible story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A steady stream of civilians is fleeing Raqqa as the noose tightens on ISIS' de facto capital,
and it's not just Syrians leaving the city. It's also those who came, some against their will, to live in this so-called caliphate.
Twenty-three-year-old Islam Mitat from Morocco has found refuge with her two small children at a guesthouse run by the YPG, the U.S.-backed Kurdish
force fighting ISIS in northeast Syria. Her journey to Syria started more than three years ago with a visit to an online Muslim matchmaking site,
Muslima.com, where she met her future husband, Ahmed Kahlil, a British national of Afghan origin.
ISLAM MITAT, FORMER ISIS WIFE: He was in Dubai, and he told me he have a job in Turkey. So he told me to come with me, he going to do his job, and
we go for holiday too, me and him.
WEDEMAN: The holiday her husband had in mind, however, was in Syria.
MITAT: It's a surprise, to go to Syria. So when we went, when I told him why he didn't ask me, why I didn't take my own decision so I will come or
no, so he told me, no, you're my wife and you have to obey me.
WEDEMAN: They crossed from Turkey into Syria with others like her and ended up in a special guesthouse for mujahidin, those who moved to ISIS'
realm.
MITAT: From U.K., from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Canada, Belgium, French, all the world. Everyone is there. Saudi Arabia.
WEDEMAN: Soon afterwards, her husband Ahmed was killed in the battle of Kobani. She was forced to remarry, a German this time, but she divorced
him two months later. She married a third time, an Australian, and moved to Raqqa where she stayed for two years.
MITAT: Honestly, I forget my normal life. And there is the situation in the last months, the situation in Raqqa, it's so bad. Like the bombs of
the coalitions and stuff like this, it's so bad. And sometimes, there's no electricity and water, and there is not too much food.
WEDEMAN: In Raqqa she had one thing in mind, escape.
MITAT: Like for two years, I'm asking people to help me, but everyone -- like someone asked me like too much money. They asked me like too much
money, like more than $5,000, like that.
WEDEMAN: Eventually, she did manage to escape but is now in limbo. Her Kurdish hosts have contacted the Moroccan government. And her father,
through this report, is hoping Morocco's king, Mohammed VI, will intercede. Islam wants to return to Morocco but worries about the future of her
family.
MITAT: I don't know where I will go. I don't know because now my life is destroyed.
WEDEMAN: A holiday in Syria turned to hell. Ben Wedeman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, this is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. A family celebrates their freedom after being treated like slaves on a Brazilian cattle ranch.
Shasta Darlington reports for CNN's Freedom Project, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:46:59] KINKADE: Welcome back. Well, CNN's "Freedom Project" heads to Brazil to look at the tragedy of modern-day slavery. The Brazilian
government is cracking down on ranchers who abuse workers by forcing them to live in horrific conditions while withholding pay. CNN's Shasta
Darlington met one family celebrating their newfound freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the small town of Arapoema, the streets turn into mud and laundry flaps in the breeze. But for this
family, it's a little patch of paradise.
It's Saturday lunch time when we visit. Luis Cardoso da Silva, or Sir Luis, and several of his eight children sip chilled Coca-Cola and feast on
rice, beans, and fried liver. The kind of normal life, they tell us, that they haven't seen for a long, long time.
LUIS CARDOSO DA SILVA, RANCH WORKER (through translator): I want to spend more time here at home, maybe line up a little something close to my
family. There would be nothing better than that.
DARLINGTON: We met Sir Luis and some of his family three days earlier in entirely different circumstances. One of Brazil's four mobile units tasked
with cracking down on labor exploitation around the country found them living and working on a nearby ranch. They tell inspectors they haven't
received money for two years.
ANDRE WAGNER, MOBILE UNITE COORDINATOR, BRAZIL MINISTRY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (through translator): They sleep here. The corral is right
here next to them. This is a chute where the cattle are removed and put on trucks. Basically sleeping like animals.
DARLINGTON: The mattress that Sir Luis and his wife share, below the cattle chute. Surrounded by pools of fetid mud.
Sir Luis, a fence maker, says they had to buy their own tools. And instead of paying salaries, he says the ranch owner paid them in food and accused
them of owing him money.
DA SILVA (through translator): Here, we get up early. By 7:00, we're already working. We come back for lunch. Then we go out again until 5:00
or 5:30. Every day, that's our work. And at the end, we don't have any money, we don't have anything.
DARLINGTON: He says he couldn't leave because he feared for his family.
Mateus Canudo is just 16. He mends fences.
MATEUS CANUDO, RANCH WORKER (through translator): We pull out the wires, dig holes, you put in the hosts, the work covers the food.
DARLINGTON: The task force comprised of labor inspectors, federal police, and prosecutors say it's one of the worst cases they've seen in years.
They're even filing criminal charges.
[15:49:59] ADRIANA SCORDAMAGLIA, FEDERAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (through translator): We found proof of people living in animal pens without
mattresses, with toxic pesticides near the locations where they were. I am confident I have enough evidence to take them to justice.
DARLINGTON: A judge is reviewing the charges. The first priority, however, removing the family from the ranch. They load up a truck with
their few valuables.
DA SILVA (through translator): When I left there, my heart opened up. It was a pleasure to get back to my house with my family. So many things have
changed.
DARLINGTON: A house that Sir Luis, nearly 70, rents in town for his youngest children, paid for with his government pension.
MARIA DALVA SOUSA GOUVEA, RANCH WORKER (through translator): I took a bath. I went to pick up my son. He was sleeping when I arrived, and I
picked him up.
CANUDO (through translator): I drank chilled water since there you can't, there isn't any. We've just been watching movies since we didn't have a
T.V. there.
DARLINGTON: The best news comes a few days later, when the ranch owner's family agrees to pay roughly $38,000 in back wages and penalties for pain
and suffering. Money they'll use to finally buy a house of their own, a safe haven for their future.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Arapoema, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Some good news there. Well, on Wednesday, you can meet the Dominican friar on the front lines in the battle against labor exploitation
in the Amazon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRIAR XAVIER PLASSAT, ANTI-SLAVERY CAMPAIGN, PASTORAL LAND COMMISSION: Slavery is a system, and it has several roots. Impunity, greed,
vulnerability, misery. If you don't address, at the same time, all of it, you will have probably the same persons coming back to the same cycle of
enslavement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Fighting to rescue the workers exploited to produce Brazil's famous grass-fed beef. That story tomorrow on the CNN "Freedom Project."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back. Well, after Samsung's last mishap, a phone model so hot some of them caught fire, they needed a flawless rollout with their
new Galaxy S8. But it wasn't to be. This time, customers are complaining about a kink with the screen. CNN's Samuel Burke joins us now from London.
Samuel, these have just been released and already, customers are seeing red.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: South Korea, we have a problem. Lynda, first it was Bixby, the virtual assistant that
was supposed to compete with Siri not ready in time for the launch. Then we found out that the facial recognition on this phone could be fooled with
a picture of somebody's face, not their actual face, using that as the password.
And now, we have users complain about a red screen. I have the phone here and I've seen it a little bit here. It's hard to tell.
Let me just put up an Instagram photo from one of the users of this phone in South Korea, the one on the left. I don't know if you can see it. It's
hard to see, but I can see there's just a slight difference there. She was able to return her phone but said she had the same problems with the other
phone, the replacement.
[15:55:04] Now, Samsung is acknowledging that there is a problem here. Let me just put up on the screen what they've been telling us and what they're
doing to fix it, quote, "Samsung has listened to feedback and has decided to release a software update starting from this week, which will provide
customers with a further enhanced ability to adjust the color setting to their preference."
The problem with all this is, this is the company that has been bragging about how amazing their quality control would be after the disaster with
the last phone. And I spoke to an expert who said, listen, this is probably something that can be solved with this software update, but they
should have caught this easily in quality control. So I think it really calls into question what type of measures Samsung has taken with these
phones after that big incident with the Note 7.
KINKADE: Well, that's right, yes. Samsung was trying to beat Apple with the release of this latest phone. The problem is, was it rushed out too
quickly? Should they have tested the market a bit more?
BURKE: Well, this is the plus and the minus of Samsung. They've really pushed the envelope and they've been able to get ahead of Samsung -- or
ahead of Apple, rather.
For instance, the dual lens camera, they had it before Apple did. They were having batteries that were seemingly very great until we found out
that they had really deep problems. And, again, the screen on this phone, it looks beautiful. It is an advanced type of screen until you really
start to look and see this kind of red hue that it has.
So overall, Samsung pushing the envelope so much that sometimes, oftentimes, it seems like they're getting ahead of themselves.
KINKADE: But for now, they're trying to make good with the customers that have had some problems.
BURKE: Yes, that's right. They're issuing this software update, but they haven't issued it yet. We don't know if it's going to work. And what one
expert told me is what they're hoping is that it will all fix itself automatically, you'll install the software, bada bing, bada boom. Except
there is a scenario where the user might have to white balance the phone.
Now, Lynda, you and I work in television, so we know what white balancing is. It's when the camera figures out what something is based on, well,
seeing white and then it knows, OK, that's what white is.
You know, sometimes our cameramen can have trouble with it every once in a while, but imagine the user having to do that. If the user is having to
kind of fix the phone themselves and tweak the screen, that would be a real disaster for Samsung.
KINKADE: Yes. You don't expect the users have to do it themselves, but that is the case for now. Samuel Burke, good to have you with us. Thank
you.
Well, this has been THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thank you so much for joining me. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
