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Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Strikes Albania; Secret Papers Shed Light on China's Detention Centers; British Liberal Democrats Defend Their Brexit Stance; Trump's Finances To Stay Private For Now; U.S. Justice Department To Appeal Ruling That Former White House Counsel Don McGahn Must Testify; Prosecutors May Be Looking Into Giuliani's Business. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 26, 2019 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Coming up on CNN Newsroom, a denial. Hong Kong Chief Carrie Lam called Sunday's election results quite diverse despite a landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates.

A big win for House Democrats investigating President Trump. A judge rules White House staffers can't ignore congressional subpoenas, but that doesn't mean they'll actually show up. And in Dresden, a race against time. Police hurry to recover a priceless food of stolen jewels before they disappear forever.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHURCH: More stories in just a moment, but we begin with Breaking News. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Albania just a short time ago, not far from the capital Tirana. Health officials say at least 140 people have been injured. And journalists Blendi Salaj of our affiliates A2 joins me live on the line from the capital.

So good to have you with us. Talk to us about the situation on the ground there. Do you know of any of the injuries and any casualties and damages as well?

BLENDI SALAJ, JOURNALIST, A2: Well, good morning, Rosemary. It's been a horrible, horrible morning here in Albania. People have been screaming and they've been hurt. We know of at least one casualty that's been confirmed, but we suspect there will be more because it has buildings collapse.

And now we got rescue teams go on to the sides and trying to pull people out from wreckages. It's an incredible sight to see. You know, whole buildings has come down. Half of them are still standing and half of them is still -- you know, I mean on the ground. And you can see people's rooms as the next position as to what their lives were before this earthquake.

We know with 6.4 magnitude earthquake. It happened that around -- it was just before 4:00 in the morning. So it was before dawn and it was dark. And then everybody kind of ran out of their building. The epicenter has been by the Adriatic, in the city of Durres. That's about 20 miles from the capital of Tirana to the West.

And we know that these 300 people who have showed up at area hospitals. I mean, there's a lot of rescue teams going all over the place. Another place that was hard hit was the town of (INAUDIBLE). It is 30 miles north of Tirana. And there were at least 20 families that are suspected to be under the collapsed buildings in (INAUDIBLE).

So it's been you know, a tough morning here in Albania, very -- people are scared, school has been called off for the -- for the center of the country, you know, the areas most affected. So it's been -- it's been very tough.

CHURCH: And Blendi, as you've been speaking to us on the phone, we've been looking at these pictures coming into us. So we see -- we see first responders there on the scene. We see the police and many people. And we see many people underneath the rubble. So talk to us about access to earth moving equipment. What is the situation with that?

SALAJ: Well, I mean, they are trying to -- first of all, they're trying to move the equipment first because they want to see -- there's people under those wreckages and trying to pull those -- trying to talk to those people. They can hear screams, they can use children, and other people who have been stuck underneath them.

So they're not using the equipment just yet. But in the -- in those collapse buildings where they know that there's nobody inside, or where they don't hear calls from the inside, then they've been trying to move some of these wreckage and debris that's falling on, you know, on top of on top of those buildings there.

So, I mean, there's been a series of earthquakes this morning. The last shake was just second. And that lasted for about 15 minutes. So the situation is not yet stable and people are trying to do their best. You know, you're -- I mean, there's a lot of solidarity. There's people who've shown up at their hospital trying to give blood and then to be there for whatever help might be needed.

So you got the police out, you know, you got 300 members of the armed forces of the Albanian army who have gone to the scenes and trying to rescue those people. But you got to remember it's just dawn here. You know, it was dark before the sun so it's hard to see.

And in the city of Durres, there was no electricity as the -- you know, because of the earthquake so it's been kind of tough to communicate and to have those you know, live connection setup. Things that we've been using, you know, cell phones and all that, those things are working fine that's why -- that's why you get those images from A2.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, as you're speaking to us, we're looking at these pictures. We are seeing some earth moving equipment there and extensive damage it has to be said certainly in the building we're looking at there. But to the left of it, there's a building completely intact. Talk to us about the structures there in western Albania and how some would withstand 6.4 and others wouldn't.

[01:05:16]

SALAJ: Yes. Well, you know, we had another great that was in September. September 21st, we had the strongest earthquake that I am 40 years old, I had seen nothing like it. So we thought, OK, that's it. You know, I mean, it takes a long time for another earthquake to build up and all that energy has been released. So we were not expecting another earthquake in almost exactly two months.

It's only been two months and three days since the last one. And this is stronger, this is a longer, and it was even, you know, harder in magnitude. Now, the first one cause a little damage, you know. I mean, almost no damage at all. And it was kind of reassuring that the systems in the buildings are OK.

Like in Tirana, we don't have any -- that's not very far from the epicenter there in Durres, but we don't have any buildings collapse here. I mean, there was damage to my own apartment. I had a little bit of crack in the walls, and my books flew off the shelf, but nothing to speak up, and it was scary. We had to take the kids out of the house this morning at 4:00 a.m. and put them in the car. You know, we felt safer in the car. At least you are -- nothing can fall on top of you.

But I mean, some of these buildings, they've been -- the older buildings have been built during communism area probably in the 60s and the 70s, and it looks like they were in need of maintenance. But a stronger and newer construction has been -- had show no damage so far except for these two or three in that area. The rest of them have been OK at least in the capital.

Now, keep in mind that in Albania, people have been building, you know, a little bit out of control. And a lot of these buildings maybe went up without having proper specialist and architects work on them.

So some of them are, you know, expected to collapse if something like that happened. But we had never seen anything like this since 1926. The hardest one that was compared to this and none of us were alive at that point. It's a very long time ago. You know, we can't remember anything like this in our lifetime.

CHURCH: And you can see the concern on the faces of those people on the ground there. It is a real worry for them. And as you mentioned, one person was killed. We're getting confirmation from Albania's president. Indeed, one person confirmed dead. It is early yet.

We know from the health minister that 140 people have been injured and we will continue to follow this story very closely. Bendi Salaj joining us there on the line from Tirana, Albania, thank you so very much.

So Hong Kong's chief executive admits the results of the city's local election show discontent with the government while also insisting that the views expressed were "quite diverse." Carrie Lam spoke about pro- democracy candidates who won nearly 90 percent of district council seats.

Now, the landslide was viewed as a referendum on the anti-government protests and on the Beijing backed leader. Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Hong Kong with the latest on this. So Nick, we're hearing Carrie Lam very much playing down this landslide victory on the part of pro-democracy candidates. And she's also indicating the tolerance for protests has come to an end. Where's she going with all this?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It is possible to interpret these comments as a bit of a parallel reality, frankly, of the chief executive here in Hong Kong after seeing record turnout, a startling landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates. Some of whom, frankly, were explicitly involved in the protests as they campaign for local council seats.

There was no doubt about the message sent by voters over the last 48 hours that despite the extraordinary disruption across Hong Kong, the damage to the economy that's now slipped into recession, that in fact, they still want this move of greater democracy in Hong Kong to continue.

You might possibly interpret Ms. Lam's comments as a reflection of the fact that if you count the individual votes, then the pro-democracy movements got sort of about the high 50 percentage or so. So yes, there are others in Hong Kong who did vote possibly in more direction of the establishment.

But the way they're counted, the first past the post system resulted in this extraordinary 90 percent of local council seat heading in that opposite direction. She did go on to say, after saying yesterday that they'd be indulging in serious reflection, that they wanted to negotiate to find possibly a way for consensus moving forward. But still, last night, we saw protests outside the PolyU campus. There's been minor demonstrations in Hong Kong today.

I sense possibly that the democratic movement here is emboldened by this extraordinary landslide. Why wouldn't it be? But also Carrie Lam perhaps struggling to find the words here today in order to express how she can continue with our current policy despite the overwhelming referendum against it we've seen in the last 48 hours.

[01:10:09]

CHURCH: And of course, we know China commented in the initial stages saying no matter what, Hong Kong is part of China. What have they been saying since then, if at all?

WALSH: Well, they have said that they would like to see the United States not intervene in China's internal affairs. That's a reference to some of these sort of leaks and new stories that have come out and the run up towards the election, but also to the Hong Kong bill which Donald Trump has yet to sign which would censure officials involved in cracking down on the protests here. But China is in a difficult bind, obvious like it has been. It can't

necessarily crack down here with the full strength of martial law because that would damage the economy here and then subsequently damaged China's mainland economy too.

What are the same -- it may actually not have to do anything at all. It may let this surge in popular anger, popular mandate for the protests continuing just slowly subside. Remember, the local councils themselves decide pretty much nothing of consequence, local issues, bathrooms, trash collection.

This is yes, an extraordinary moment of unity, the people behind the democratic movement here. And it will possibly in two years, two years plus have a slight impact on who succeeds Carrie Lam here in the 2022 chief executive elections, but it doesn't change who has their hands on the levers of power.

And that's the fundamental problem for the protest movement here and the pro-democracy movement. They've had this extraordinary show of unity is extraordinary mandate to continue on their path. But the vote hasn't changed the status quo here in Hong Kong.

So possibly it's back to further protest, possibly its back, some pro- Beijing analysts saying that maybe the presence of pro-democracy movements and local councils will enable them to enter the political process and feel less obliged to go to the streets.

But frankly, we've seen no sign of that so far. And I think the concern possibly is that people begin to feel increasingly disappointed in the pro-democracy movement that this extraordinary landslide victory just simply hasn't changed how Hong Kong is run and that's still by China. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes. We will watch very closely to see where this goes next. Many thanks to our Nick Paton Walsh on the ground there with a live report from Hong Kong. We'll take a break here. Still to come, a pair of brazen burglars and a collection of priceless jewels. When we return, we will tell you why a Dresden museum heist reads like the plot of a Hollywood movie. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello, everyone, I'm CNN Meteorologist Karen Maginnis, and this is your weather watch. Over $30 million people across the United States will be impacted by some sort of winter weather, maybe blizzard conditions, ice and snow making for dangerous highways already.

Flights out of Denver's airport, hundreds of flights canceled for Tuesday. Now we're watching this storm system make its way out of the Rockies, into the Central Plains, on its way towards the Great Lakes before Another storm system moves down across the west coast.

And as if that were not enough, now we're looking at the potential for severe weather all the way from St. Louis, Jefferson City, down towards Cape Girardeau, Memphis, and into North Central sections of Louisiana, could see some isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, also some hail.

But we are watching this storm system as it exits Denver, it could produce a significant amount of snowfall there on its way towards Des Moines. And Chicago, it stays fairly mild but then once that front goes through, you will see those temperatures really start to drop.

And then for the West Coast, here comes another Pacific storm system, although this one is going to produce some rainfall, we think, down in portions of the L.A. basin, around the San Francisco Bay area as well. So, take it easy for Thanksgiving.

[01:15:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Well, a manhunt is underway in Germany after thieves made off with a priceless haul of jewelry. The brazen heist took place early Monday morning. This surveillance footage shows two burglars smashing their way into the Green Vault Museum in Dresden Castle, stealing around 100 pieces of historic treasure. CNN's Phil Black has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The target, one of Europe's most valuable collections of treasure, suggests a technically complex professionally planned and executed movie style heist. But as this security video shows, it was far less sophisticated. One of the two thieves is seen repeatedly striking a display case with an axe. The museum's interactive tour shows the contents of that case. They escaped with three sets of jewelry, including finely-crafted necklaces.

Together, the sets were made up of around 100 individual diamonds, pearls, and rubies. The Green Vault is famous for its extraordinary, priceless collection from the early 1700s. The incredibly ornate rooms were first built by local leader Augustus The Strong when he was keen to turn the region into a Florence like hub of arts and culture. The collection survived World War II, but the vault's rooms like much of Dresden were rebuilt. The museum says the value of the stolen pieces can't be calculated accurately, because they're too well-known to ever be sold on the open market.

But news that the Green Vault raid inspired shock among local officials who say the collection is invaluable as part of the region's culture, history and identity.

ROLAND WOELLER, INTERIOR MINISTER OF SAXONY, GERMANY (through translator): It's not just about the material value but also the immaterial value, which is inestimable for the state of Saxony. As our state premier has said, overnight the haul of Saxony was stolen from.

BLACK: Police don't know if the thieves had hoped to get away with more. But one extraordinary piece of treasure was well beyond their reach, the famous 41 carat Dresden green diamond is currently on loan to the Met Museum in New York. Phil Black, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And of course, unloading such recognizable jewelry on the open market, would be a near impossible task. Earlier, I spoke to Scott Selby, he is the co-author of the book "Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History" and he explained why it would be difficult for thieves to sell the pieces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT SELBY, CO-AUTHOR, FLAWLESS: INSIDE THE LARGEST DIAMOND HEIST IN HISTORY: These are beautiful pieces that together are so much more than the sum of their parts. But the thing is, is there's nothing you can do with them as they are. If you have a diamond encrusted scabbard for a beautiful sword, you know anybody would recognize it. So, what you're going to have to do is take it all apart, and then probably melt down the precious metals, take these individual stones and transform what they look like. Because even the smaller ones are very distinguishable as they were cut very differently back then. And the big ones could take some serious, you know, changes. It's really a sad loss to all of us. And we're just lucky that the big green stone was safe in The Met.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we will hear more from Scott Selby in the next hour about why the heist is such a historic loss.

We turn to Washington now, and the Supreme Court ruling that will keep Donald Trump's financial records private for now. The Justices blocked lawmakers from getting a hold of documents from the President's accounting firm until they decide whether to take up the case. House Democrats say one of the main reasons they need the records is to see if the President has any conflicts of interest. Mr. Trump's attorneys must file their opening brief by December 5th.

[01:20:11]

A U.S. federal judge says a former White House Counsel Don McGahn must testify before a House committee, considering the impeachment of President Trump. But don't expect any blockbuster revelations just yet. CNN's Manu Raju explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, the ruling that Democrats are hailing that would force Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee is probably not going to impact how the House is moving in his own impeachment proceedings that could lead to the vote of this president being impeached before the end of the year. That's because Democrats do not want to go the route that they went with Don McGahn when it comes to other witnesses who have defied subpoenas. People like Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House Chief of Staff; Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State; John Bolton, the former National Security Adviser; Charles Kupperman, who was a Bolton deputy, all of whom have resisted demands to come and testify before the House impeachment probe.

While this ruling could have implications for those individuals, it could take some time to get them to come and testify before the House Impeachment Inquiry. They can be forced to go to court; they can be forced to try to get the same ruling that they got from this district judge in the McGahn case. And at the same time, the McGahn case is already going to be appealed by the Justice Department. So, that may not be resolved for some time.

So, Adam Schiff made clear, before that ruling came out, saying in a letter to his colleagues, that they was not -- they were not going to let the president or others, quote, drag this out for months on end in the courts. They're making clear that these individuals don't want to testify. It's on them, they're going to then use that as evidence of obstruction of Congress that they believe can be rolled into an article impeachment against the president. But the ruling from Don McGahn does add some pressure from Democrats to also include an articles of impeachment -- article that of obstruction of justice, which is, of course, was laid out in the Mueller probe, instances of the President seeking to undercut the Mueller probe.

There will -- there are already some Democrats I've talked to will made clear they believe that should be part of the articles of impeachment going forward. But talking to Democratic leaders is also clear, they want to keep this focused narrowly on Ukraine, on the President's handling of Ukraine policy. Their allegations of President abuses office in dealing with that country, and dangling aid that the end country wanted while pushing for investigations into his political rivals, they want that to be the focus, not necessarily Mueller, not necessarily Don McGahn. So, while this ruling is being hailed by Democrats, ultimately, may not impact what will happen here in just a matter of weeks, which is almost certainly that the President could be the third American president in history to get impeached. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Federal prosecutors investigating associates of Rudy Giuliani may be looking into some serious allegations against him as well. A grand jury subpoena sent to one witness points to possible criminal charges, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and campaign finance violations. Donald Trump's personal attorney has not been charged with anything and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. The President defended Giuliani on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rudy is the best Mayor in the history of New York. In my opinion, the strongest mayor, the best mayor. Rudy is a great crime fighter. Rudy is a great person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Jessica Levinson, she joins us now, she's a professor of law at Loyola Law School. Great to have you with us from Los Angeles.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Good to be here.

CHURCH: All right, so some big legal decisions made Monday. Let's start with the federal judge ruling that former White House Counsel Don McGahn must testify before the House Impeachment Probe, adding that presidents are not kings. Now, this will, of course, be appealed. But what impact might the ruling potentially have on other resistant witnesses like John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney?

LEVINSON: So, I think that the ruling could really be like just the warm embrace that John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney need to run into the open arms of the House Committee that's investigating impeachment in the sense that they have been saying basically, we're stuck between two branches. They've been saying that, you know, Congress has subpoenaed us, the legislative branch has told us we need to come in and testify. But the President of the United States, the head of the executive branch is telling us, no, your constitutionally immune, don't walk in the door.

And so, what this judge said in 120 pages and really kind of a Smackdown decision, she said, No, you have to comply with a congressional subpoena. This allegation of broad constitutional immunity for White House advisors, either past or present, that just doesn't hold any water. So, it -- as you said, it's not just significant for Don McGahn it's significant for the other witnesses that, frankly, have been kind of holdouts and not sure exactly what they're going to do.

[01:24:59]

CHURCH: Yes, we'll watch to see what their next step is. And, of course, a big win for the President, Monday, with a ruling from the Supreme Court that puts a temporary hold on allowing access to President Trump's tax records. But how likely is it that the Supreme Court will ultimately decide to hear a case on his financial records? And where do you see that going?

LEVINSON: Yes, well, one thing I would say is, I'm not sure that this is a huge win for President Trump so much as this is what typically happens when a case is appealed to the Supreme Court. What the court did by saying we're staying the ruling, you do not have to turn over the tax returns and financial records right now, is they just said we're keeping the status quo while we decide either that we're going to decide, or that we're not going to decide. So, what you need on the Supreme Court is four votes to take up the case. I think that there may be four votes on the current Supreme Court to say, yes, we need to make this decision as to the reach of the subpoenas whether or not the President has to give this information over. If that's the case, then where is it going to a hearing and then a decision by the end of June of 2020.

CHURCH: You know what, we won't even try and determine what that outcome will be, but also Monday, a federal grand jury subpoena indicates that federal prosecutors are interested in the business dealings of the President's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. This broad investigation could include criminal charges ranging from conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and more. What could this mean for Giuliani and possibly President Trump?

LEVINSON: So, this could mean a lot of real legal exposure for Rudy Giuliani, particularly because some of his associates are already under arrest. So, what this investigation looks like, as you outlined, are some very serious allegations of criminal, not just criminal but potentially felony, misconduct. So, of course, it's too soon for us to know what will happen if there will be a grand jury, an indictment, a trial. All that is far down the road, but these are various allegations.

We know that Rudy Giuliani has actually been a key player in the alleged wrongdoing. Both it was described in the Mueller report and then in the impeachment proceedings now. So, it is absolutely time for the President's personal attorney to get a personal attorney.

CHURCH: No, just very quickly, according to House Intel Committee chair, Adam Schiff, a report summarizing the inquiry's findings so far will be sent to the Judiciary Committee after Congress returns from Thanksgiving recess. What does that indicate to you?

LEVINSON: So, it indicates to me that they've essentially wrapped up their fact finding, that they're not going to call other witnesses unless something extraordinary happens, that they basically have all the information they want. That they're not going to go to court and fight the subpoenas for the witnesses that didn't testify, they'll leave that to the Judiciary Committee. It also indicates to me, I think, that they've focused in on basically two buckets for impeachment, impeaching based on the substance of the Ukraine issue. And then, impeaching based on essentially in thwarting the impeachment process. And I think that's ultimately the report that will be transmitted to the Judiciary Committee.

CHURCH: All right. Jessica Levinson, always great to have you with us. Many thanks.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

CHURCH: They look like prisons. And a new document leak shows they are run like prisons. The latest from Beijing on China's detention camps, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:49]

CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Rosemary Church.

More now on our breaking news this hour. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Albania just a short time ago not far from the capital Tirana. The country's president says at least one person is dead, 140 are injured.

We turn now to our meteorologist Karen Maginnis who brings this update on the situation. And Karen -- we were looking at some footage when we had a journalist bringing us up to date on the situation on the ground and it is extensive damage.

MAGINNIS: It is extensive damage. And when we first heard about this 6.4 magnitude earthquake it is not considered a major earthquake. It is considered a strong earthquake.

Now, you're looking at some video, this coming from A2TV. This is Albanian television. And there you can see some extensive damage. There was severe shaking -- this is not a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. But just from looking at how the terrain was across this region, it almost looks like a cadaver dog or it was hard to tell from my vantage point what that was.

But they are absolutely looking to see if there are any people who are trapped. There are reports coming from there. We saw reports initially from social media. And now we are now seeing the video coming out of Albania.

This happened about 20 to 25 kilometers just to the west of Tirana which is the capital. You can imagine just how people have become quite shaken up from the 6.4 magnitude. It was also 20 kilometers deep.

Now, what I'm also seeing as far as aftershocks, what we've seen are 5.0 and 5.3 magnitude aftershocks. Now, typically you wouldn't even feel that but across this region you become hypersensitive. Anytime there's a earthquake, you become hypersensitive to any kind of shaking.

This happened at about 4:00 local time in the morning, so this happened when people were in their homes, in their sleep. And to be jolted out of your bed, perhaps to hear homes around you crumbling or crashing is very upsetting, very disturbing. So a lot of people out on the streets.

It is this tiny area where we've seen the bulk of the damage, the worst of the shaking. And they're estimating the damage to be between $100 million and about a billion and perhaps a number of fatalities between 10 and 100. I know that's a wide number but already, just shortly after this earthquake already one fatality and a number unaccounted for right now.

Back to you -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. And Karen -- we're just getting word from the police there in Tirana, Albania that three people are now confirmed dead. And this is the worry in the wake of an earthquake like this.

As you say 6.4 doesn't appear to be such a strong earthquake, there are a lot of variables that come into play there. But at this point three people confirmed dead.

Karen Maginnis -- many thanks to you, bringing us up to date on the situation.

[01:34:55] CHURCH: Well, now to another big leak of secret Chinese government

documents, the second in just over a week and these reveal how those huge detention centers in China's Xinjiang Province are run. They're basically operating manuals from 2017 that say the detainees mostly Uighur Muslims are not allowed any contact with the outside world. And these inmates they call students must never escape.

The documents also say the program focuses on language and manners training as well as ideological education. The papers were released by a group of global journalists on Sunday. CNN cannot independently verify what's in those documents.

With a look at China's reaction, we turn to CNN's Steven Jiang who joins us live from Beijing.

So talk to us about what we do know about these leaked documents and how China is responding to this?

JIANG: Well, Rosemary Chinese officials responded to those latest leaks very swiftly and angrily. A foreign ministry official on Monday described the latest reporting based on these leaked documents as a despicable ploy by these a media outlets to hype up this issue and to smear China's counterterrorism efforts in Xinjiang, in his words, Xinjiang's social stability and ethnic harmony are the best counter attacks against these fabricated stories.

Now as you mentioned, this is the second trove of leaked documents to be published by international media in just over a week. Remember, November 16th the "New York Times" revealed is that -- were more than 400 pages of sensitive Communist Party documents and really also leaked by another anonymous source of the newspaper which the paper is reporting linking Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time to the launch of these massive camps.

And at that time officials here also called the "Times" report fake news but interestingly though in both instances they did not dispute the authenticity of the documents themselves -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Right. And what sort of lengths would China be going to right now to hunt down the leaker or leakers of these documents as well of the ones that came prior to this?

JIANG: That's right. That is one question on the mind of a lot of people that that's also one thing the government here and officials here are not addressing at all publicly. But it is likely they are going to deploy a great amount of resources trying to track down this individual or individuals.

And they have in the past taken drastic measures in Xinjiang in the name of security and social stability including, for example, a few years ago cutting off the entire region's Internet access and international telephone calls for almost a year.

Now what's also worth pointing out, of course, is what the documents revealed in terms of the broader themes and pictures we have known for a long. But it's the details and the information you mentioned really is further proof of what's going on, on the ground here in Xinjiang contradicting what their government has been claiming publicly -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Right. Steven Jiang -- many thanks to you bringing us that live report from Beijing.

We're going to take a quick break now on CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.

[01:38:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back.

Well remainers versus leavers -- Brexit has divided Britain for more than three years. Now, the U.K. and Europe are in suspense waiting for the December 12th general election. The result will decide who runs the British government and what happens next in the Brexit mess.

The head of the liberal Democrats says if her party gains power Brexit disappears.

CNN's Scott McLean looks at how Jo Swinson is hitting back at accusations he doesn't respect the will of the people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jo Swinson maybe a boxing novice but she is taking a big swing at Brexit despite the unmistakable message voters sent to Westminster in 2016.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: 52 percent to 48 percent nationwide in favor of Brexit.

MCLEAN: Swinson, the fresh-faced leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats is aiming to capitalize on the central issue of the election campaign -- Brexit. She's courting the 48 percent who voted to remain by pledging to cancel Brexit altogether -- revoking the Article 50 process, no debate, no vote.

JO SWINSON, PARTY LEADER, BRITISH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: This is democratic elections now and people can make a choice. And if they want to stop Brexit as a Liberal Democrats, we are standing up for what we believe is the right position (ph).

MCLEAN: Do you not respect the 52 percent of people who voted to leave the E.U. or do you just think that you know better than them?

SWINSON: I respect them. And respectfully disagree with them.

MCLEAN: Swinson's party is polling a distant third nationally but hopes to do better after making a pact with two smaller pro-remain parties, who have agreed not to stand against each other in 60 constituencies -- all to consolidate the remain vote.

The Green Party is part of that pact, but candidate Caroline Lucas is no fan of Swinson's plan to cancel Brexit without a vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) you have friends on the sectional I want to play you a clip.

CAROLINE LUCAS, GREEN PARTY: She wanted to send a message to 17.4 million people that you don't give (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about what they just said. Why don't you just say so?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caroline Lucas -- you potty mouth.

LUCAS: Well see, in my defense I didn't realize that bit was being record so, although I stand by the sentiment.

MCLEAN: On his call-in radio show, host Iain Dale regularly gets an earful from voters who feel like it's the political establishment and the country's elite calling the shots, not them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their reason (ph) to (INAUDIBLE) the last party that haven't betrayed the vote that the referendum campaign called for.

IAIN DALE, RADIO HOST: The people who lost the referendum can't really bear it. They think the people who voted for Brexit were stupid, sick, racist whatever. They just haven't come to terms with that resolve. And I'm afraid -- I don't think they ever will.

MCLEAN: And it's not just Swinson. Dale thinks politicians of all stripes have spent the last three years only pretending to move ahead on Brexit.

DALE: What they're actually doing is subverting democracy. And it's a very dangerous game that they are playing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they're not very subtle anymore.

DALE: Some are more subtle than others.

MCLEAN: Subtlety it seems is no longer required -- only one major party, Conservative, has promised to follow through with Brexit. The Scottish National Party has vowed to remain and the opposition Labour Party wants a second referendum.

So while Swinson's odds of becoming prime minister are long, She doesn't need to win outright to derail Brexit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wonder what kind of precedent you think that sets for democracy?

DALE: There will be a lot of people that withdraw from the democratic process altogether. They will think what is the point of voting if the politicians and the elites in Westminster don't respect that vote?

MCLEAN: Scott McLean, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Rosemary Church.

"WORLD SPORT" is coming up next.

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