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Hala Gorani Tonight
ASEAN Summit Skirts Around Myanmar Crackdown; Eyewitnesses To Atrocities In Myanmar; Geldof Returns Award To Protest Against Aung San Suu Kyi; New Accuser: "Roy Moore Assaulted Me When I Was 16"; The Changing State Of America Under Trump; Japan: Local Artists Connect To Nature Through Technology; Theresa May Speaking At Lord Mayor's Banquet. Aired 3- 4p ET
Aired November 13, 2017 - 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): Hello, everyone, I'm Hala Gorani live from CNN London. Thanks for joining us.
Tonight: when Trump met Duterte. Why the outspoken American president says his relationship with the strong man leader of the Philippines is,
quote, "great."
Also a devastating earthquake strikes on the Iran-Iraq border. Hundreds are killed in the deadliest quake of the year.
And a dramatic demonstration that has many worried. Tens of thousands of nationalists rally in the Polish capital.
Why is anger and intolerance flaring in the country?
We will have all those stories.
But we start with this. He's an authoritarian leader with an abysmal human rights record. But Rodrigo Duterte's getting some warm praise from Donald
Trump as the U.S. president's tour of Asia comes to a close.
Mr. Trump met with the Philippines president behind closed doors at a regional summit in Manila. President Duterte's war on drugs has led to
thousands of deaths. It has drawn international outrage from human rights groups.
But the White House says the leaders just briefly discussed human rights, something, by the way, that the Duterte camp denies. A Philippines
spokesperson says the issue didn't come up at all. Here is what Mr. Trump said to reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have had a great relationship. This has been very successful. We have many meetings today
with many other leaders. The ASEAN conference has been handled beautifully by the president in the Philippines and your representatives. And I've
really enjoyed being here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Mr. Trump is clearly pleased with this particular trip. There he is. By the way, that APEC summit with that very -- it looks like awkward
handshake there with Duterte to his left, he said Asian leaders ruled out a red carpet welcome for him, that perhaps nobody has ever received before.
After a little bit of fumbling, leaders grasped hands today in a show of solidarity as you see there.
Let's get the very latest from Manila. We're joined by CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins.
So the world was watching for the chemistry, the body language, what the leaders would say about and to each other. This, of course, the meeting
between President Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, who is an extremely controversial figure.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right and we have seen this really warm relationship play out between the two men. We knew that
they were much closer than Barack Obama and Duterte were. They had a very frosty relationship and often did not speak.
But ever since May, we saw President Trump praise Duterte over the way he is handling the drug trafficking crackdown here in the Philippines, which
has resulted in these extrajudicial killings that human rights groups say have killed up to 10,000 people.
But we have seen a pretty cozy relationship between President Trump and Duterte, he praised him there, as we just saw, saying he was a great host
here in the Philippines for that summit. And he talked about the great weather here in Manila. But he did not publicly bring up human rights at
all.
We know the White House says he brought it up briefly during a private meeting. But it certainly wasn't the conversation that human rights
advocates were hoping that the president would have with Duterte over this.
In fact, we've seen them grow even closer, the president called him by first name. They were joking about the media. After a bilateral meeting
that he had yesterday, they allowed a few reporters in the room.
And at the end, after each man delivered a statement, a few reporters began to ask questions of the president on human rights, if he was going to press
Duterte.
We saw Duterte interject and say this is not a press conference, this is a bilateral meeting and President Trump did not say anything after he said
that. Then the reporters left the room.
Later on when we saw them again in the same room together, President Duterte said the media needed to leave the room and joked that they were
spies. And President Trump responded by laughing.
Now Duterte is a very contentious figure who has said before that journalists are not exempt from assassination as long as they don't do
anything wrong. So a very chilling figure on the free press. And we did not see the president --
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COLLINS: -- confront him publicly or forcefully on that human rights record while he was here in Manila.
GORANI: Kaitlan Collins, live in Manila. Thanks very much for the very latest on the president's trip to Asia.
It's the last day of his trip. President Trump covered a lot of ground on the five-nation tour of Asia. He is promising to make a major statement on
North Korea and trade when he returns to Washington where a lot of controversy and certainly developments in the Russia investigation are
waiting for him there.
Let's get some perspective on this trip from CNN senior economics analyst Robert Reich. He's a former U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Thank you very much for being with us. Obviously anybody who follows you on Twitter -- and I do -- and listening to your interviews on television
and I do as well, knows you are a staunch critic of Donald Trump.
But you concede that on this trip, he has managed to remain restrained, more presidential?
What's your take on this five-nation tour?
ROBERT REICH, CNN SENIOR ECONOMICS ANALYST: Well, the baseline was pretty low to begin with. That is, Donald Trump can show restraint simply by not
being Donald Trump.
But when -- you know, he stood before a group of Japanese auto manufacturers and said, you have got to start making your cars in the
United States. I mean, that revealed that he didn't know that the Japanese automakers were making a lot of their cars in the United States.
And he doesn't stand up to Duterte. He says to reporters that Vladimir Putin has repeatedly told Trump that there was no interference by Russia in
the United States elections. And Trump has got to -- thinks he is sincere.
Step by step, I mean, Trump basically accomplished little or nothing of his agenda. His whole purpose for going to Asia, presumably, was to put more
pressure on North Korea. Now if you can find anything that he did --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- he did meet with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. I mean, we don't know. He spoke to him. They definitely discussed North Korea;
perhaps down the line there will be something coming from China that will put more pressure on North Korea so that it's unable, at least financially,
to pursue this --
(CROSSTALK)
REICH: And maybe that's perfectly -- anything is possible. But you asked me what I actually -- can we see that Trump has accomplished from this,
anything good that came out of this trip. I can't find it, quite frankly.
And you are right. People like me, I have been a critic of Donald Trump before. But the fact of the matter is, when you have the United States
president going on a 12-day Asian tour, you expect something. You expect some results, some consequences.
There's absolutely no result, no consequence except insulting a lot of people. And this last thing with Duterte, not even bringing up human
rights in ways that at least anybody else heard or saw, I think, is --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: Certainly not publically.
REICH: -- it's a frank outrage.
GORANI: The press secretary said it was brought up briefly in the context of the war on drugs. It's unclear what that exactly means.
John Brennan, the former CIA director, spoke to my colleague, Jake Tapper, about Donald Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. This is what he had
to say. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I think he is giving Putin a pass. And I think it demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by
foreign leaders, who are going to appeal to his ego and to try to play upon his insecurities, which is very, very worrisome from a national security
standpoint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: What do you make of that, Robert?
REICH: In terms of appealing to Donald Trump's ego and also his insecurities, it wasn't just Vladimir Putin. It was the Chinese. It was
also everybody else he saw. It has become, I think in terms of international diplomacy and in -- among the halls and suites of
international leaders, it's clear that what you want to do with this president is you want to flatter him.
You want to treat him like a hero. You want to give him an extraordinary welcome and a hero's welcome. You want to have as much pomp and
circumstance as possible. And that will get you something.
And I think that, unfortunately, Donald Trump has been played, not just by Putin but he has been played the entire trip.
GORANI: Let's get it back to the U.S. economy. In the end, and some analysts will say, in the absence of a strong Democratic contender that, if
the economy stays the way is it now, which is basically at full employment, with the stock market that -- certainly stock market levels don't benefit
ordinary Americans but Donald Trump will bring up stock market levels very regularly.
But overall, the numbers for the U.S. economy are --
[15:10:00]
GORANI: -- good numbers.
Is this something that Donald Trump can take credit for?
REICH: Well, it's hard to see how he can take credit for it since most of the trendline actually started in terms of the recovery in 2009. This is a
very long and it is a strong recovery. The one problem though -- and this is not just Donald Trump's problem. It's a problem that started before
that -- is stagnant wages. We have seen little or no wage growth.
We also have the problem of relatively low labor participation. Even though the official rate of unemployment is low, we have a very low
proportion of the working age population actually in jobs, relative to what we had five or 10 years ago.
This also is a structural problem. It's not Donald Trump's problem. But he is not going to be credited by most people with a rosy economy until
these problems of not only stagnant wages but also labor participation are rectified or remedied.
GORANI: In one tweet you expressed satisfaction and you were quite happy with the result of races in Virginia and New Jersey, among others, where
Democrats did well and in other smaller local races as well.
Then when you look at the Roy Moore situation in Alabama, who is running for Senate -- and there are these allegations against him, of having tried
to initiate sexual contact with a very young woman, a teenager, basically, a 14-year old, 20 percent of Alabama Republicans say there are they are
more likely to vote for Roy Moore now than they were before because they see him as becoming the target of a liberal attack.
Has -- is this what the U.S. has become, so tribal, so divided, that it doesn't really matter what somebody's candidate does anymore?
REICH: Boy, I hope not. I think one of the really dangerous consequences of Donald Trump's victory is that you are either with him or you are
against him, regardless of what he is, what he says, how many lies he says.
We are now a country that is either for Donald Trump or against Donald Trump. We're not even Democrats and Republicans anymore. And that is
dangerous because it makes it possible for Donald Trump himself, if there are revelations about a relationship with Russia, for example, he can just
say, well, it's the liberal media.
If there are -- you know, people like Roy Moore can dismiss any kind of criticism or accusation by saying, well, it's the liberal media. You know,
that is really a danger to democracy as we understand democracy because the truth is a public good.
And if we stop understanding that the truth is a public good, we have no basis for making any judgments collectively.
GORANI: Well, that was before Twitter. So things have changed. Thanks very much, Robert Reich. We appreciate it.
And on the subject of Roy Moore to our viewers, we are also hearing from another woman who's accusing Roy Moore, the Senate candidate in Alabama.
And I know so many of you around the world have been following this story as well because it has obviously wider implications than just a state race
in America.
This woman is -- I'm not sure; I think it's going on right now, right, Laura?
And we're going to get you more on that later, to see precisely, exactly what's being said and if it will have an impact on that Alabama race
because some very senior members of the Republican Party are now saying that they believe the accusers and that potentially Roy Moore should step
down.
We're beginning to get a clearer sense of the devastation caused by an earthquake between Iran and Iraq. The authorities say more than 450 people
have died. That means this is the deadliest quake in the world this year. The epicenter was near the Iraqi city of Halabja about 350 kilometers north
of Baghdad, 7,000 people were injured. Those numbers though could get worse. Nick Paton Walsh has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can hear its power and see the panic, A 7.3 magnitude earthquake caused in Kurdish
Iraq. Where the bright lights of a shopping mall helped guide shoppers outside to safety, and shook this studio, live on air, as the quake struck
just after 9 o'clock.
But it was just across the border in Iran's more remote northwest that darkness amplified the fear and chaos. Hundreds killed, thousands injured,
tremors felt in Turkey and Pakistan.
"I was under the rubble of a destroyed wall," he says. "It collapsed on my head."
Daylight, as ever, made the extent of the losses clearer. Iran --
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WALSH (voice-over): -- cursed to sit on a fault between the Eurasian and Arabian plates, has seen this before. This quake, based 40 miles below the
surface, was relatively shallow. Yet the suffering acute. Iran declared three days of mourning.
Many of the dead in just this one town (INAUDIBLE), the scale of the task ahead massive, urgent. Yet here, they have blankets, not stretchers.
Nightfall will bring the cold again and complication yet further the search for those stuck under the rubble of their former homes --- Nick Paton
Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: He's faced widespread criticism and even calls to resign over his remarks about a British citizen in an Iranian jail. Now Britain's Boris
Johnson has apologized to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family for what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: My remarks on the subject before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee could and should have been clearer and
I --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: -- acknowledge that the words I used were open to being misinterpreted and I apologize. I apologize to Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and
her family if I have inadvertently caused them any further anguish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: This all started a week ago, when Johnson was in a parliamentary committee and said Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran training
journalists, which was an issue obviously for authorities. She has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016 on espionage charges.
But her family maintains she was in the country visiting relatives. And what Boris Johnson said in that committee was seized upon by authorities
there to say that essentially it confirms their initial contention that she was not just there as a tourist but that she was there training
journalists.
So it could add to her sentence, which is extremely worrying for her husband and family.
A lot more to come this evening. First-hand accounts of unspeakable atrocities.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We travel to a sprawling refugee camp along the border and met 30-year-old Mumtaz. She says that
Burmese soldiers raped her before setting the house alight with her inside. But the burns that cover her body only hint at the horror she survived.
GORANI (voice-over): We will take you to a refugee camp where Rohingya Muslims are describing a massacre back home in Myanmar.
And after a week of political turmoil, we finally hear from Lebanon's Saad Hariri. And it wasn't so much what he said, more how he said it that has
had people across the Middle East talking.
Plus a huge display of far right nationalism in Warsaw. We'll look at why these demonstrations on Poland's independence day are growing larger every
year. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: It's been just over a week since Saad Hariri unexpectedly resigned as Lebanon's prime minister, sending the region into a spin and leading to
fears of conflict. Since then, we haven't heard from him, amid accusations he was being held in Saudi Arabia against his will -- until now.
In his first public interview, he says he wants to return and said he did what he did to protect the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAAD HARIRI, FORMER LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): There are some facts I have discovered. And I discovered many facts that we are
heading into a direction where I wanted to save the country. You know Saad Hariri would sacrifice his life. If I die, it doesn't matter. What
matters is the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Saad Hariri there. Let's get right to Beirut and to Ben Wedeman. He has been following these extraordinarily developments for the past week.
So has this quieted these rumors or conspiracy theories, which we know Middle Easterners love, that Saad Hariri is being held against his will in
Saudi Arabia?
How was the interview received?
WEDEMAN: Hala, initially, it was well received. Keeping in mind that it was eight days of complete silence from Saad Hariri from the time, on the
4th of November, when he made his announcement of his resignation from Saudi Arabia on Saudi TV. So the mere fact that he appeared did seem to
reassure a lot of people. But the Lebanese, they like to analyze. They like to discuss. They like to dissect.
And I think, after 24 hours of that, many people still aren't buying Saad Hariri's claims that he is a free man, free to travel, perhaps free to
come back to Beirut.
And among those who aren't buying that is Lebanon's foreign minister, Gebran Basal (ph), who spoke this evening with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEBRAN BASAL (PH), LEBANON'S FOREIGN MINISTER: You know, he said that to prove to us that he is free, he will come back to Lebanon in 2-3 days. And
this eventually will prove that he is free when he comes back and he announces here from Lebanon on Lebanese territory what is his decision to
do.
That will be the only proof for the Lebanese, who are confused, who are truly confused and are not convinced with what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: The proof of the pudding is when Saad Hariri actually touches down in Beirut. He said I will be back in two or three days. I will be
back soon. That was after much prompting by the woman who interviewed him, by -- her name is Paula Yacoubian (ph).
And so, until he returns home and can actually say on Lebanese on soil, I'm a free man, most people here aren't going to believe it -- Hala.
GORANI: Right. "Very soon" is not giving a specific number of days, certainly not a specific date. There was one portion of the video that
circulated online. People noticed that Saad Hariri at one point looks off camera, looks at what appears to be somebody against the wall, behind the
interviewer, holding a scroll of paper.
So we can see Saad Hariri there. He looks to the side. He notices someone in the back there, kind of fiddling with a piece of rolled-up paper. Gives
him a long look. Doesn't really listen to what the interviewer is saying and then gets back to interview.
And then in next frame, that person is gone.
What was going on there?
Do we know?
WEDEMAN: Well, I think what's important to keep in mind is what was being discussed at the time. That was when the journalist, from his own TV
station, it's worth noting, was pressing on him on when are you going to return.
So many people here are interpreting this as meaning that what was being held up on the paper is what he was supposed to say. Whether that was the
case or not, we don't know. But certainly, people are very suspicious of the circumstances of his resignation, of what exactly his status is in
Saudi Arabia. And he's just got to come home to put those concerns, suspicions, fears to rest -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. It's a short flight. We will see if he makes it in the coming days. Thanks so much, Ben Wedeman, for joining us.
Staying in the Middle East, sermons from a radical Yemeni cleric whose name you definitely know, Anwar al-Awlaki, are quickly disappearing from
YouTube. The video sharing site has removed tens of thousands of videos from the cleric, quote-unquote. YouTube prohibits inciting violence or
recruiting for terrorist organizations but Google, which owns YouTube, has decided to remove all of al-Awlaki's work, even mainstream --
[15:25:00]
GORANI: -- videos about Islam. Al-Awlaki was killed six years ago in a U.S. drone strike.
Take a look now at these incredible scenes from Warsaw over the weekend. People, nationalist protesters marching on Polish Independence Day. They
lit flares, waved flags, chanted some vile slogans.
Some of their banners say, "Pray for an Islamic Holocaust" and "Europe must be white," "clean blood" or "pure blood" was another one. Critics say the
Polish government is fostering the xenophobia with its anti-immigrant policies. Poland's economy, though, is one of the strongest in Europe.
Unemployment is relatively low.
So why are we seeing this display of hatred there now?
Helena Siomeska Schlafer (ph) is with me now. She's a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.
Thanks, Helena, for being with us. And you also teach at a university in Poland. I'm not going to venture --
(CROSSTALK)
HELENA SIOMESKA SCHLAFER (PH), LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: It's Kiosminski (ph) University in Warsaw.
GORANI: Got it. OK.
So what's going on in Poland?
SCHLAFER (PH): Well, we have just had another celebration of Independence Day, which is generally a very happy celebration of Poland's independence,
that was regained after the First World War, but in the recent years, it was dominated, has been dominated by nationalist demonstrators, who are not
necessarily celebrating Poland's independence but more of kind of right- wing, xenophobic, increasingly racist stance.
GORANI: Why is that? Because I think from the outside looking in, people who don't live in the E.U. and many who do, think here is an E.U. country
that has benefitted greatly by the way from immigration, when Poles go out to work and bring the money back. So it seems like there is tolerance for
it but in one direction.
SCHLAFER (PH): Yes.
GORANI: Why is it happening now in Poland?
The country is doing well economically.
SCHLAFER (PH): Well, it is going -- it is doing well when you look at the macro scale. But a lot of people feel like they did not really benefit
from the European Union. They feel like they have been left out. And they're not faring as well as their Western neighbors.
They also see that when, for instance, their children go abroad to countries, such as the United Kingdom, to work and see that their
lifestyles are just so much better than they still are in worse in Poland. So they --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- that's not enough -- it's not enough to explain -- because you have countries where the economic situation is worse.
SCHLAFER (PH): That's true.
GORANI: That you don't see this.
So what is the underlying -- is there -- this embracing of the white nationalism, specifically, the sort of Christian values, lots of anti-
Semitic slogans as well, not just Islamophobic ones, does it come down to also an identity crisis?
It's 2017 in an E.U. country. You wouldn't expect these horrible slogans to be chanted so openly.
SCHLAFER (PH): You wouldn't and you would because it's not like they emerged only recently in Poland. They were always around. And these
nationalist demonstrations held on November 11th have been the usual for definitely over a decade. It's just that now they're more and more --
GORANI: But why?
Tell me why.
SCHLAFER (PH): Well, one thing is the current government, which is not very vocal in condemning this type of event. So a lack of clear criticism
although some were voiced today, are in fact support. So this type of comment, racist, xenophobic, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, are gaining force,
just because they're not being actually called out.
GORANI: Thank you so much, Helena Siomeska Schlafer (ph), for joining us - -
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- we really appreciate your expertise this evening.
Still ahead, commander in chief or confounder in chief?
Just over a year since Donald Trump took office.
Are we any closer to cracking the code of the Trump era?
But first, a CNN exclusive. We'll share the horrifying stories of Rohingya refugees, forced to run for their lives and of their loved ones who say
they died in a massacre. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST, HALA GORANI TONIGHT: Human rights activists say world leaders should drop their "do-nothing approach" to atrocities and
take a stand.
They are angry that the regional summit in Asia didn't hold Myanmar accountable for a brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.
CNN is getting an exclusive look at the horrors of this humanitarian crisis. Clarissa Ward visited a refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh
just across the Myanmar border. She spoke with some people who had to run for their lives to escape a massacre. We warn you there are disturbing
elements in her report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's just a few hundred yards to safety. But it doesn't take long to see that something has gone
very wrong.
A woman's limp body is rushed through the no man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar as anxious families wait to see what has happened.
On this day, it is a husband and wife. The crowd says they were shot dead as they tried to leave Myanmar.
There are among more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims who are flooded this border to escape what the United Nations has called a textbook example of
ethnic cleansing.
Each, it seems, has a tale more harrowing than the next. Noor al-Haq (ph) says He fled a brutal massacre in his village of Tula Toli. My sons and
daughters were shot on Thursday. I can't find them, he says. There's no one left.
Haq claims local officials told residents it was safe to remain in the village. But the days later, the Myanmar military poured in and carried
out a bloodbath.
Please someone kill me, he cries. This is God's will.
Others who escaped Tula Toli tell a similar story. Ray Hanna (ph) says the soldiers rounded them up on the riverbank and separated the men from the
women.
We couldn't escape. Many children were shot and they fell on their faces, she recalls. Those lying on the ground were picked up, chopped and later
they were thrown into the river.
Cell phone footage given to CNN by Tula Toli residents appears to show the bodies of three children wash up on the shore as witnesses cry to God for
mercy.
CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the video or verify the many accounts. Access to Rakhine State is heavily restricted. But we wanted to
find out more about what happened in Tula Toli.
So, we traveled to a sprawling refugee camp along the border and met 30- year-old Mumtaz (ph). She says that Burmese soldiers raped her before setting the house alight with her inside.
But the burns that cover her body only hint at the horror she survived.
[15:05:06] (on-camera): Describe to me what happened to you. What did you see with your own eyes exactly?
(voice-over): My boy was just behind me and they hit him with a wooden stick and he collapsed to the ground dead. His head was split open, she
says. Then they took my other son from my lap and threw him into the fire.
She managed to escape with her seven-year-old daughter Razia (ph). All three of her sons were killed.
"Oh, God," she cries, "why didn't you take me?" But for the survivors of Tula Toli, there is no justice in this world.
Clarissa Ward, CNN on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: It's just absolutely heartbreaking to watch. All of us can do something to help the victims of this violence.
CNN's Impact your World has a list of organizations on the ground in Bangladesh assisting Rohingya refugees. Your donation will make a
difference no matter how small it is. Go to CNN.com/impact to find out how you can help.
And halfway around the world from Bangladesh, musician and civil rights campaigner Bob Geldof was staging a one-man protest over Aung San Suu Kyi.
He handed back his Freedom of the City of Dublin award to protest at Ms. Suu Kyi holding the same award because he doesn't believe that she has
called out authorities in Myanmar for their crackdown of the Rohingyas. He had some strong words for the de facto Myanmar leader. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB GELDOF, MUSICIAN AND ACTIVIST: (INAUDIBLE), but she sort of left us Dubliners down, she's let Ireland down because we thought she was one thing
and we've been duped. She's a murderer."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Very, very strong words against Aung San Suu Kyi by Bob Geldof. And Aung San Suu Kyi, who was hailed for so many years as a human rights
campaigner, as someone who stood up to oppression and military rule, now being roundly criticized in some quarters for not doing enough to condemn
the violence against the Muslim minority in her own country.
Still to come, what a difference a year makes? Twelve months since an election that shook the world. What have we really learned about the state
of America under Donald Trump?
And Theresa May is getting ready to give a big speech in the next few minutes as her government says lawmakers will have a final vote on Brexit.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: To the United States now and the growing controversy surrounding a Senate candidate from Alabama. Roy Moore is facing allegations that he
pursued sexual relationships with teenagers, including, in one instance, a 14-year-old when he himself was in his 30s.
[15:10:00] Now, in the last hour alone, another accuser has come forward, saying that Moore assaulted her as well. Moore's campaign is fiercely
denying all of these allegations.
Mitch McConnell, though, the Republican leader in the Senate, said earlier that Roy Moore, based on all that's happened, should step aside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roy Moore, who still is there, are you calling for him to step down from that senate race?
MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I do. I think he should step aside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But do you believe these allegations to be true?
MCCONNELL: I believe the women, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Mitch McConnell saying he believes the women. Brynn Gingras joins us now from New York with more. So, is it likely that Roy Moore will step
aside as many now senior - very senior Republicans are asking him to do?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very unclear at this point, Hala. My colleagues in Alabama right now continuing to talk to
voters before this election and there's mixed feelings.
Some people still staunchly report the Republican candidate despite even now a fifth woman coming forward, as you said to your viewers, just within
the last hour, this woman claiming that Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was just 16 years old.
This is a secret, she says, she kept inside for 40 years. And now, really gave details about all of the allegations against him, about what happened
when she was 16, even brought forward in this news conference with her attorney Gloria Allred some evidence that they both say they had, including
a yearbook where there is some correspondence with Moore and this woman who is named Beverly Young Nelson.
Again, something she says she kept inside for 40 years, Hala.
GORANI: Brynn Gingras, thanks very much for that update. We'll keep following that story.
Staying with US politics now, but moving to the White House. He was the candidate who promised to shakeup politics as we knew it and, boy, has he
just.
But over a year since the Donald became the president, it feels like the United States is anything but, whether it's response to the violence in
Charlottesville, moves that appear to target minorities such as his travel ban or the crackdown on trans-people in the military, oh, and let's not
forget the Russia investigation or the gridlock over healthcare, Donald Trump is dividing opinion on a daily basis.
Usually, he's tweeting about it. But the president insists he's making America great again, #MAGA. Taking credit for the recent stock market
rally, as well as pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement and scoring diplomatic points abroad.
Let's get more on the past year and what it has taught us. Let's speak now with Cornel West in New York. He is an author and a professor of public
philosophy at Harvard Divinity School. Thanks, professor, for being with us.
CORNEL WEST, PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC PHILOSOPHY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Thank you. It's always a pleasure.
GORANI: Yes. What do you make of the last year? Did it to match your expectations? Was it different than what you imagined it would be like?
WEST: Well, it became very clear that I live in an empire, the American empire, it's in undeniable decay, it's in relative decline, that Donald
Trump is not some isolated individual despite massive American opposition to President Trump.
He is as American as apple pie. And what I mean by that is we live in the unequal states of America. We got the top three individuals in the United
States have wealth equivalent to 160 million fellow citizens. That's 50 percent of the fellow citizens in my country have wealth equivalent to the
top three. That's the grotesque wealth inequality on the one hand. Wall Street greed. Corporate elite greed.
But at the same time, you have imperial meltdown. And what I mean by that is spiritual blackout, the clips of integrity, honesty and decency, these
addictive personalities dominating women, trashing -
GORANI: Cornel West, how is Donald Trump as American as apple pie because there is at least half the country that believes he's not representing the
country well, that his tweets are embarrassing, that he himself is not being controlled by even his closest staff in the White House and the West
Wing? In what way? Because we had eight years of Barack Obama, the antithesis of Donald Trump.
WEST: Well, no. Barack Obama wasn't the antithesis. They both supported drone strikes. They both supported massive night raids in Afghanistan and
so forth.
Barack Obama was brilliant, poised, but he was still the blackface of the American Empire. Donald Trump is the white know-nothing face of the
American Empire.
But what I mean is both are American as apple pie because a lot of people in the United States don't like apple pie, but what I mean is that Donald
Trump represents the worst of America, but he's still American. He's not alien to America. America has the best, America has the worst, like any
other empire, any other nation, any other civilization.
So, when I say he's American as apple pie, he comes out of indigenous orientations in the history of this nation that's founded on the stealing
of land of indigenous people, enslavement of Africans -
[15:45:04] GORANI: And he's a product of his age, in the sense that he's a product of social media, of reality television, also of discourse - this is
something you say as well and it's easy to agree with you because all one has to do is just check their social media feed. There's no more
conversation really.
It's become so tribal that people cannot see the good in the other side, no matter what the circumstances. So, I guess, my question to you is, how do
you fix that?
WEST: Well, I mean, one thing you want to keep in mind is that there's a lot of good things going on on the ground. You look at what William Barber
is doing with the poor people's campaign, you look at feminist attempts to keep track of this vicious patriarchal violence against them and what trans
and gays and lesbians are doing, especially Black Lives Matter movement or the movement for black lives is doing. You've got 65 organizations engaged
in coming together, trying to accent the best of America, which is the legacy of Martin King Fannie Lou Hamer.
So, these things are going on simultaneously, but those at the head of the Empire, dealing with military overreach, dealing with the corruption of
elites, and dealing with the devastated culture, the devastated forms of soul craft, and by soul craft, I mean dominant ways of being in the world.
That's mainly greed, hubris, violence, that is what we're dealing with here.
GORANI: I get that. Now, is there - your yourself are in your own bubble. I mean, those who are part of the elite academic kind of - the elite
academic world, whether it's New York, the coastal elites as they're called, is there also a lack of outreach from your circle, your world to
the other world as well where that too - there is fault on both sides here.
WEST: Well, in fact, there's a whole host of sides. Not just two sides. You've got a whole host of sides and a whole host of bubbles. You're
right. Absolutely.
GORANI: On all sides. Yes.
WEST: But many of us are trying to reach out. I believe in having respectful dialogue with a variety of different persons.
My dear brother Robbie George and I, he's a leading right-wing intellectual. I'm a particular left-wing intellectual. We travel the
country, engaging in dialogue to see what common ground, not because we agree, but rather because, as human beings, we can wrestle with issues in
such a way than end up in just - kind of dismissing or trashing.
But we have to be very honest and harsh about those who deserve serious criticism. Donald Trump engages in the kind of xenophobic, misogynist
language. He deserves harsh criticism even though he still is a human being and just happens to be driven by this kind of narcissism, driven by a
very, very myopic way of being in the world. Unfortunately, he is the face of the American Empire at this moment.
GORANI: I want to quickly get your take on the fact that Colin Kaepernick who, of course, started this kneeling protest, he's now been named the "GQ"
Citizen of the Year, which is interesting because "GQ" is probably one of the most mainstream magazines you could buy in America. So, you have
someone who is doing what's considered by some, I would say, many in America to be radical protest and "GQ" is putting him on their cover.
What's your take about that?
WEST: Well, I salute my dear brother, Colin. I think he's courageous. He's keeping up the legacy of Muhammad Ali.
But I'll say this. I don't give a lot of moral authority to "GQ." They don't have a history of speaking the truth to power and so forth. So, it's
good to see him on the cover. He's a handsome brother. His afro looks wonderful. But I don't give a lot of authority to "GQ."
Most importantly, the authority that Colin has come from those struggling in the streets, those trying to tell the truth, those willing to pay a
cost, those putting their body on the line. That's the real measure, especially in a moment of imperial decay.
GORANI: All right. Cornel West, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate your time as always and your take.
All right. We'll be right back on CNN. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:46] GORANI: Nature has always been a central part of Japanese culture, but now with the rise of technology, some feel that special
relationship is starting to vanish a little bit. Our Will Ripley has more on how local artists are trying to turn that around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mifuneyama Rakuen park has been hear in Saga Prefecture for 172 years. The fall hues have started to
take over, but there's a greater transformation in store.
This is what the art collective teamLab calls digitized nature.
TOSHIYUKI INOKO, FOUNDER OF TEAMLAB (through translator): We thought humans could create something by using nature as it is without physical
intervention. Digital art uses things like software, senses, network, light and sound. These are non-material and have no physical impact.
RIPLEY: This is Toshiyuki Inoko. He's the founder of teamLab, a group of what he calls ultra-technologists. Here, light is their paint. Computers,
their paint brush. And with that, these artists, programmers and engineers are able to create immersive new worlds.
The idea for this exhibit was developed over four years and it took an entire month to set up. The result is a 500,000-square-meter living work
of art. Aptly named A Forest Where Gods Live, this the exhibit ties back to the Japanese belief of Shintoism where every single thing has a spirit.
So, maybe without teamLab, you would have never looked twice at this rock. The project flowers transform through seasons and are being rendered in
real-time, meaning you'll never see the same thing twice.
INOKO (through translator): I think people in the past were most conscious that we're part of nature. You can see this in the park where the boundary
between the natural forest and the areas humans have touched is ambiguous.
RIPLEY: The way they are trying to break down these boundaries is to make art interactive as people walk by different sensors around the park,
patterns of light are triggered, allowing visitors to actually become part of the art.
INOKO (through translator): By making interactive digital art, you and other people's presence become an element to transform an artwork that is
creating a new relationship between people within the same space.
Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Some big news here in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister is about to give a speech at a lavish banquet in the City of London. Let's go
live to Downing Street. Diana Magnay is there.
So, the big question is, of course, what will she say about Brexit, Diana. And there she is. She is about to start.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. Well, let's hope that she gives the City of London the reassurance that
they'll get the transitional deal that they want by Christmas. That's been the message from EU businesses who she met today in Downing Street,
presumably the message from the Lord Mayor whose banquet it is and what we're expecting Theresa May to address amongst other issues, Hala.
GORANI: All right. And also, the issue is going to be Article 50, whether it's possible to extend that. Anyway, let's listen to Theresa May right
now. She started speaking.
THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: There will be ups and downs along the way, but I believe we should embrace this period with confidence and
optimism.
Not grounded in some article of faith, but with a clear understanding of our strengths as a nation.
[15:55:02] We are the fifth biggest economy in the world, the fifth largest exporter in the world and the top destination for inward investment in
Europe. We have the second largest defense budget in NATO.
We are one of the only countries to deliver our promise to spend 0.7 percent of gross national income on international development.
We have the extraordinary reach of our global brands - from the Premier League to the BBC World Service - the thought leadership of our outstanding
universities, the global finance of this great City of London and the best of British business in demand the world over.
And perhaps, above all, we have that defining British spirit and the fundamental values of fairness, justice and human rights to use our
influence in the world for good.
And these same capabilities and values that we bring to the task of leaving the European Union, we will also bring to the wider challenges facing the
world today.
For we meet here at a moment when the international order as we know it - the rules-based system that the United Kingdom helped to pioneer in the
aftermath of the Second World War - is in danger of being eroded.
A moment when some states are actively destabilizing the world order to their own ends, claiming that the rules and standards we have built, and
the values on which they rest, no longer apply.
When regional instability is driving cross-border threats, such as Islamist extremism, and fueling conflicts to which many ask whether the rules based
order has an answer.
A moment when the failure to translate the success of global trade into growth that benefits everyone is weakening support for the free markets and
open economies that have driven global prosperity for generations.
And when the rules of the game for this century are increasingly being shaped by emerging economies and powerhouses in the East.
So, as we reach out into the world and write this new chapter in our national history, the task of a global Britain is clear.
To defend the rules-based international order against irresponsible states that seek to erode it.
To support our partners in regions of instability in repelling the threats they face and to back their vision for societies and economies that will
prosper in the future and play a positive role in the world.
To harness for a new generation the dynamism of open economies to deliver fair and equitable growth. And in doing so, to build a new consensus in
support of free markets and fair societies that may be the greatest long- term defense against division, tension and conflict.
These are the issues I want to address tonight. How government and business, working together, can secure the future prosperity and security
of our nation and play our part in doing so for the world at large.
Our starting point must be to strengthen the commitment, purpose and unity of those allies and partners with whom we have built this order.
Central to this must be the enduring strength of our transatlantic partnership and our relationships with our European allies.
The role of the United States in shaping the global order is as vital now as it has ever been.
Of course, we will not always agree on each and every course of action. But underpinning this relationship is an alliance of values and interests
between our peoples, which has been a force for good in the world for generations - and must continue to be so.
The same is true of our relations with our European partners as we leave the EU. For we remain a European nation - our history marked by shared
experience, our societies shaped by common values, our economies interdependent, and our security indivisible.
As I said in my speech in Florence, the UK will remain unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe's security.
And the comprehensive new economic partnership we seek will underpin our shared commitment to open economies and free societies in the face of those
who seek to undermine them.
END
