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NEWS STREAM
Kushner: No Other Contacts With Russia; Muddled Message from White House on Sanctions Bill; U.S. Marines Back in Afghan Taliban Stronghold; Migrants Found Dead, Injured in Trailer in Texas; Duterte Promises Unrelenting War on Drugs; The CNN Freedom Project; Denmark: A Leader in Food Waste Prevention. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired July 24, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
President Trump's son-in-law, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner says he did not discuss anything in proper in these meeting with Russians and says that he
does not know of any collusion with Russians from anyone in the Trump campaign.
Another round of U.S. marines arrives through a service in Helmand province with the Trump administration still finalizing a plan for Afghanistan.
And the Philippine president promises to continue his controversial drug war, the war that's killed thousands of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And we begin in Washington where the U.S. president's son-in-law is standing at the epicenter of the Russia investigation.
Jared Kushner is heading to Capitol Hill to face questions from staff on the Senate Intelligence panel. They want to ask him about his Russia
contacts during President Trump's campaign and transition.
Just hours ahead of the big interview, Kushner released a statement insisting he did not discuss anything improper and he says, he didn't have
any other Russia contacts besides the four meetings he's already revealed.
And meanwhile, just days after congressional negotiators finally came together on a Russia sanctions bill, there are mixed messages from the
White House on whether or not it's on board.
And the legislation would increase sanctions on Russia and decrease the administration's ability to ease them. Our Senior Washington Correspondent
Joe Johns, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's new communications team offering muddled messaging about whether the president
supports a bill that will limit his ability to unilaterally lift sanctions on Moscow.
New appointed Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders signaling the president is open to signing the legislation.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The administration is supportive being tough on Russia particularly in putting the sanctions in
place and we support where the legislation is now.
JOHNS: But incoming White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci sounding more uncertain.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is President Trump going to sign the Russian sanctions bill?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We've got to ask President Trump that. You know, it's my second or third day on
the job. My guess is that he's going to make that decision shortly.
JOHNS: The new communications director also telling CNN that President Trump still does not accept that Russia attempted to influence the 2016
election.
SCARAMUCCI: He basically said to me hey, you know this is -- maybe they did it, maybe they didn't do it.
JOHNS: A stark contrast to the unanimous and unwavering beliefs reiterated by President Trump's own intelligence officials in the last week.
DAN COATS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: There's no dissent and I have stated that publicly.
MIKE POMPEO, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: Everyone's on board.
COATS: And stated that to the president.
POMPEO: I am confident the Russians meddled in this election as this the entire Intelligence community.
SEN. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: No doubt at all and I stand behind the intelligence -- Intelligence Committee assessment that we produced.
JOHNS: With three of his inner circles scheduled this week to speak with congressional investigators looking into possible collusion between the
Trump campaign and Russia.
The president unleashing his anger at both political parties once again calling the investigation a phony witch hunt and an excuse for a lost
election. While attacking fellow Republicans for doing very little to protect their president.
The president raising eyebrows a day earlier by asserting he has the complete power to pardon, suggesting that might include his family, his
aides, even possibly himself in relation to the Russia probe.
SCARAMUCCI: I'm in the Oval Office, so the president last week, we're talking about that. He says he brought that up, he says but he doesn't
have to be pardoned. There's nobody around him that has to be pardoned.
JOHNS: One of President Trump's lawyers offering a contradictory message.
JAY SEKULOW, MEMBER, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: We have not and continue to not have conversations with the president of the United States
regarding pardons. Pardons have not been discussed, and pardons are not on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: That was Joe Johns reporting. Now, CNN has tracked down the pop singer who helped arrange the meeting in 2016 with the Russian lawyer and
those close to Donald Trump.
CNN's Matthew Chance caught up with him in Latvia. He joins us now and Matthew, you managed to speak to the Russian pop star who was at that June
2016 meeting. What did he tell you?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he didn't tell me a lot, to be frank. I mean he didn't want to answer any of the
questions as to why that meeting was set up. Of course the emails that were released publicly by Trump Jr. showed quite clearly that he believed
or that...
[08:05:00] ... Donald Trump Jr. believed that this was a meeting that, in which he would get information that would be damaging potentially to
Hillary Clinton, his father's political opponent at the time.
And you know, he embraced that quite enthusiastically. Well, it was Emin Agalarov that, you know, instigated it seems that meeting -- set up the
meeting between Trump Jr., the other members of the Trump campaign as it was then, and that Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Again, he hasn't been willing to go on record to discuss why that meeting was set up, whether he did -- really did have information from the Russian
government that was intended to be passed on to the Trump campaign team.
But we tracked him down here to Jurmala in Latvia, where he was giving a performance at an open air concert and we put some of those questions to
him. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Did you arrange that meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer?
EMIN AGALAROV, RUSSIAN POP STAR: Come join me for the show tonight.
CHANCE: Yes, we will. Definitely. Any comments?
AGALAROV: Excellent. Excellent.
CHANCE: It's an important question. The American public want to know.
AGALAROV: Yikes.
CHANCE: Why did the Trump administration...
AGALAROV: Can I have a drink?
(CROSSTALK)
CHANCE: Yes, you can.
AGALAROV: Without your presence. Thank you very much.
CHANCE: I need to ask you, did the Russian authorities give your family information to pass on to the Trump administration?
AGALAROV: Talk to my lawyer.
CHANCE: I already talked to him, he said you wouldn't comment.
AGALAROV: So I wouldn't comment.
CHANCE: These are questions that you're not going to be able to not comment on at some point.
AGALAROV: Guys...
CHANCE: You're going to have to answer.
AGALAROV: ... I'm here to perform, to enjoy the show, and I'm not going to answer any questions.
CHANCE: Why did your publicist...
AGALAROV: Guys, I'm not going to answer the question.
CHANCE: I mean, you're asking about it. You're not going to comment.
AGALAROV: You're not going to get a comment. Am I clear? You're not going to get a comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: All right, well Emin Agalarov, the son of billionaire property developer, Aras Agalarov with whom Donald Trump partnered to stage the Miss
Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013.
Adamant that he wouldn't comment to us about this issue of that meeting, but of course, it's not an issue that's going away, Jared Kushner the
president's son-in-law will be testifying later on today.
And one of the issues he's going to be talking about is that meeting, what was discussed at that meeting and why it was organized. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Right there in Latvia, you were persistent. You're trying to get the pop star Emin Agalarov to answer your questions.
Clearly he's not ready to speak. What is known about why he allegedly organized that June 2016 meeting and his links with the Russian government?
CHANCE: Well I think it's the clear that meeting in Trump Tower in June of last year, is the clearest indication that we've yet had and we've been
following this obviously very closely indeed, that members of the Trump campaign team, as they were then, particularly Donald Trump Jr., Trump's
son, were open to the possibility of collusion.
It doesn't mean collusion took place but there was an email exchange which as you remember Donald Trump Jr. released publicly, and it said that, you
know, Aras Agalarov, this billionaire property developer and his son Emin had been offered information by Russian prosecutors that would be damaging
to the Clinton campaign.
And Trump Jr. sort of infamously responded, you know, if it's what you say it is, I love it. And so that again, is that clear indication that he was
at least open to the possibility of collusion.
And again what we -- what we don't know yet is whether that information really existed, whether that's what Emin Agalarov, this pop star from --
he's big in the former Soviet Union, certainly big in Russia.
Really did have information from the Russian authorities, the Russian prosecutors that he was told to pass on to the Trump campaign team, and at
the heart of that lies possibly the answer to the question as to whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians or not.
LU STOUT: And that's going to be the subject of some intense questioning that will take place later today in Washington. Matthew Chance reporting
live from Latvia, thank you.
Now, let's get more now on Jared Kushner's impending interview on Capitol Hill and new details that he's providing about his Russia contacts.
CNN's Pamela Brown is in Washington, she joins us now. And Pamela, Kushner earlier this morning, U.S. Time released an 11-page statement ahead of that
Senate meeting. What kind of picture is he painting about his contacts with the Russians?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN U.S. JUSTICE AND SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right. I mean this is the first time that Jared Kushner, the
president's senior adviser and son-in-law, is sharing his side of the story about his Russian contacts.
And the paint -- the picture he's painting is that these meetings were unimportant, that they were insignificant, and he said flat out in this
statement, I did not collude nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded with any foreign government. I have no improper contacts.
I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. Now, Kushner insists that he had no additional meeting
with Russians other than the four contacts that have already been reported publicly, though he did provide fresh details about those meetings.
[08:10:00] He says besides a quick meet and greet within Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak last April at the Mayflower Hotel, the only other
Russian contact during the campaign was the now infamous meeting at Trump Tower with his brother-in-law Don Jr.
Kushner claims that he did not read down the email chain where Don Jr. was told he would be receiving incriminating information from a Russian
attorney about Hillary Clinton. He claimed that he would get hundreds of emails a day and didn't get to read through each one of them.
And he also tried to emphasize in the statement how he viewed the meeting as meaningless saying, quote, reviewing emails confirmed my memory that the
meeting was a waste of our time and that in looking for a polite way to leave and get back to my work.
I actually e-mailed my assistant from the meeting after I had been there for ten or so minutes and wrote, can you please call me on cell? Need
excuse to get out of meeting. And he says he could only recall a discussion about adoption during the meeting and there was no follow-up or
no documents being offered.
Now, during the transition, he says he did meet again with Ambassador Kislyak who wanted to address U.S. policy in Syria and requested a secure
line to conduct that conversation with generals in Moscow. Kushner says he asked in response if it was possible to use communication channels at the
Russian embassy, which he says didn't happen.
After that, Kislyak's request he met with Sergei Gorkov, the head of Russian's state bank VEB, who has a direct connection to Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Kushner says that meeting only last about 20 minutes and claims it was only about relationship building and that no personal business was discussed.
That contradicts a statement from the VEB, that says the meeting was about Kushner's business, so clearly this is a first time he sort of is laying
out each meeting and his view of what that meeting was all about.
LU STOUT: And a very firm denial by Jared Kushner saying in his own words, I did not collude, dot, dot, dot with any foreign government, unquote.
Pamela Brown, reporting for us live, thank you so much.
BROWN: Thank you.
LU STOUT: The trump administration says it is close to finalizing its military plan for Afghanistan. U.S. troops have been locked in war with
the Taliban for 15 years now.
And in just the last few months, some U.S. marines have returned to Helmand province for another tour. As Nick Paton Walsh reports the challenges
they've seen -- they've seen before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here we are again, but it's been going on so long these guys have left and then come
back. Afghanistan's Helmand and America's marines, when does it end?
A year ago, the Taliban were at the gates of this key city, Lashkar Gah. Now it's not good but it's better because the marines, even though there's
only 300 of them, have brought huge firepower with them.
Afghan troops just now retook one district. The marines, not at the front, but advising on base instead and congratulating them indoors, nothing lasts
forever here, except maybe the war and the triumphs soon fades.
The rockets just hit landing about 20 meters from us outside. A total of three indiscriminate, an 8-year-old boy wounded in the attack.
President Trump is now weighing his first move in a war that for men like Colonel Reid whose birthday is September 11th is absolutely nothing new.
He was asked 7-year-ago but then with thousands of marines, so fewer now.
COL. MATTHEW REID, DEPUTY COMMANDER, TASK FORCE SOUTHWEST: There are 300 and still losing troops in the grand Gah here.
WALSH: Now they have to do it all over again.
REID: It is discouraging, right? I mean a lot of blood on the ground.
WALSH: Do you feel like an extra sense of heaviness when you try and take it all on again?
REID: There is a definite feeling and a sense of obligation to get this right because of those that have gone before us, for sure.
WALSH: So how many friends have you lost here?
REID: I don't think I have ever bothered to count. It's too many. Yes, between here and Iraq.
WALSH: Some marines advise near the front where you can just make out the Taliban's white flag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all Taliban country, all of it. So there is -- there is Taliban that come through here on a daily basis.
WALSH: But the marines aren't meant to fight them. The Afghans are and they aren't as many here as there are supposed to be. Listen to how these
45 marines almost double what's meant to be a 500 strong afghan unity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's only about 200 that are assigned right now.
WALSH: By assigned you mean that actually exist?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That actually exist.
WALSH: And they have 500.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
WALSH: Now, we have about 200.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of those 200, there are about 100 of them that aren't even here.
WALSH: Some on operations or on patrol, so 50 to 100 Afghans are actually here. This marine up unit falls back after a week. The marines are
leaving but this is only supposed to be a short mission.
They have come, they have go, and they come back again each time hoping the Afghan security forces they leave behind them will be able to do their job,
to hold the Taliban back. The question is, with only 300 of them here, marines this time, what has changed?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:15:00] STOUT: And that was Nick Paton Walsh reporting from Helmand province in Afghanistan. He joins us live from the Afghan capital.
Nick, as U.S. Marines return to Helmand more bloodshed today by the Taliban in Kabul after yet another mass casualty attack there. What kind of
challenge does the Taliban pose today?
WALSH: Well certainly in the capital Kabul which despite some exceptions that were sadly quite frequent and used to be consider the most safe place,
Taliban have projected.
There are often deadly reach in site here and the 29 now dead, and 40 injured from an attack on a mini bus appears, they say to have been
targeting Afghan Intelligence officials but the governments say simply mining ministry employees and other civilians on their way to work.
So often here, civilians caught in the violence or perhaps you might even say, targeted by the Taliban. That is the capital of Kabul.
Then Helmand has always been the most volatile place in Afghanistan partly because the opium grown narrow at such huge quantities, feels the violence,
it's an enormous source of money for the insurgency.
The marines went in when they were seeing that to the Lashkar Gah very close to falling. They have brought with them lots of fire power but
orderly, Kristie, they seem to some degree almost vulnerable.
They are so few of them there. Yes, they have another high technology protecting them but you get the feeling in your pants that it's so
different to the past when there were thousands with loads of support backing them up. It's a small operation.
It has appeared to have some effect in slowing the Taliban advance and allowing Afghan security forces to retake some areas. But just remember,
you saw that flag going up there in that reporting, Nawa, one district in Helmand.
Well, at same night, in a neighboring district 24 hours later, 18 checkpoints attacked by the Taliban, six overrun, it's always later, an
uphill challenge there, Kristie.
LU STOUT: An uphill challenge in Heldman Province as you point out a very volatile part of Afghanistan. It's going to be a tough fight there and
U.S. marines in your report. They tell you that they have this sense of obligation to get this right. What do they have to do to get it right this
time around?
WALSH: Very hard to tell, to be honest because I think those there accept their numbers are not going to radically swell at any point in the near
future. They're never going to get back to the tens of thousands they had when they had stronger sway over Helmand about seven years ago.
But they perhaps hope to have a little more if they can get slightly more hands-on contact with the Afghan that supposed to be assisting but it
really it falls to the strength of the Afghan forces themselves.
You saw there our 500 strong unit on paper ends up being within 50 to 100 really on the ground. That's the broad challenge here, that there simply
aren't the Afghan troops on the ground that need to be where they need to be.
Now, Donald Trump's White House is supposed to in the days ahead to be announcing the first major military move here for Afghanistan. What
choices do they have? Well, none of them really, Kristie, are particularly sparkling and new.
Obama himself tried a surge of over 100,000 troops that had to be limited because you can't do it forever and it didn't massively change security.
They say they want the Taliban to come to the peace table.
Well, that seems unlikely frankly given they are on their front foot militarily at this stage and increasingly radical. Remember, the leader of
the Taliban's son apparently chose to take his own life in a suicide bombing only last week in Helmand itself. These are radical people.
They can't really leave because they've seen al-Qaeda and other extremists take grip in the wake of their departure in the past. The question really
is about how much more of the same is the American public willing to accept?
We're probably going to see General Mattis, the secretary of defense announcement that possibly brings more trainers and more Special Forces.
But that's really putting your finger to try and plug the dam, to try and slow the leak. The broader issue of how you bring security to Afghanistan
after 15 years of American presence here are still eludes really most people. Kristie.
LU STOUT: Nick Paton Walsh, reporting live from Kabul, thank you. Now a manhunt is under way right now in Northern Switzerland for an attacker who
used a chainsaw as a weapon.
Several people are injured, two of them seriously, and the old town in the Swiss city of Schaffhausen has been cordoned off. Now, police describe the
suspect as a tall male with a quote, untidy appearance.
They say that the attack does not appear to be terror related. We'll bring you more details as they come in to us here at CNN.
In the Philippines, an unrelenting message from the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte has faced pressure on his controversial war on drugs but he
is not backing down. And Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, how a robot is helping clean up crews decide on their next step.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:00] STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong welcome back. This is News Stream. A cleanup crews are planning their next steps
in dealing with the Fukushima nuclear plant, thanks to new images taken by a robot.
You're looking at what is likely melted nuclear fuel inside the plant. These lava like deposits cover the floor of the submerged nuclear reactor.
The plant suffered a disastrous meltdown after a tsunami devastated the area in 2011. The plant operator sent the robot inside to see just how
severe the damage is. This discovery is a major step in the cleanup of the plant. Experts say the process could take decades.
And turning to what police describe as a deadly human trafficking case in Texas. The suspected driver of a tractor trailer expected in court a short
time from now.
Eight bodies were discovered in the trailer of the truck early on Sunday. Ninth person died in the hospital. Authorities say dozens of undocumented
immigrants were crammed into the overheated trailer. Ed Lavandera has more details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Homeland security investigators and immigrations customs enforcement agents say that the man who was
driving the truck that was discovered here at this Walmart in southwest San Antonio was 60-year-old James Bradley, from Clearwater, Florida.
Now a key part of this investigation will be figuring out who exactly Bradley was working with and where this truck had been and where it was
going. The acing ICE director said that at some point, during the journey there could have been more than 100 people inside the truck when it was
discovered here Sunday morning.
There were eight people dead inside, a ninth person died in the hospital, and nearly 20 others have been in critical condition. They've been treated
for heat exhaustion, and asphyxiation, very serious conditions and very horrifying conditions, quite frankly.
The fire chief here in San Antonio says that he believes at some point, the temperatures inside the trailer of that truck reached more than 150
degrees.
It was discovered after somebody from the truck approached a Walmart employee asking for water, and that's what led police here to make this
gruesome discovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our paramedics and firefighters found each one their heart rates over about 130 beats per minute, which again they were very hot
to the touch.
So these people were in that trailer without any signs of any type of water, so you're looking at a lot of like heat stroke, a lot of
dehydration.
LAVANDERA: And we all should point out that this Walmart is just along Interstate 35, which is a direct shot down to the nearest border point,
which is the town of Laredo, Texas.
The human smuggling numbers that come through this part of South Texas and the Texas-Mexico border really accounts for some of the largest numbers of
illegal immigration into the United States and this type of human smuggling operations is very common through this area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: A grisly and heartbreaking case there. Now, another leader who is taking a hard stand against illegal drugs Indonesian President Joko
Widodo.
He has called on police to shoot and kill drug dealers if they resist arrest, this comes after a citizen of Taiwan was gunned down during
Indonesia's biggest ever drug busts. Huma rights activist condemn the call but some analysts say it could boost his popularity among voters.
[08:25:00] Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he is determined to follow through on his crackdown on drugs. He has been giving his annual
State of the Nation Address in Congress.
He says that he will not yield to outside pressure. Thousands of people have been killed in drug-related operations since he took office just over
one year ago.
You're watching News Stream. Still to come right here on the program, CNN is exposing human trafficking across the world. How three girls in
Cambodia survived being sold for sex by their own mothers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream and these are world headlines. A Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner
is preparing to answer questions on Capitol Hill in the Russia probe.
President Trump's son-in-law has acknowledged four contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign and the transition that followed. He says he did
not collude with any foreign government and insist he did discuss anything in proper.
Two people are seriously hurt after a man wielding a chainsaw attacked multiple people in Switzerland. As police state that they have cordoned
the old town in Schaffhausen and a major operation is underway to find the suspect who is still at large.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been giving his annual State of the Nation Address. He says he is determined to continue his war on drugs.
Thousands of people have been killed in the crack down since he took office just over one year ago. The war on drugs is just one of several challenges
facing Mr. Duterte.
Let's bring in Pia Hontiveros from our affiliate CNN Philippines. She joins us now live from Manila. Pia, thank you so much for joining us.
First the war on drugs, is President Duterte still undeterred and determined to continue with his deadly crackdown?
PIA HONTIVEROS, CNN PHILIPPINES REPORTER: Well, Kristie, if his critics had hoped that President Duterte would shift gears and put things in
reverse when it comes to the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, they must be more than disappointed.
The president in his second State of the Nation Address today saying without wasting a minute, without skipping a beat saying, making it very
crystal clear that the wars -- these two wars on drugs and on terrorism will be unrelenting.
The war on drugs and I'm going to read it's an exact quote, despite he says, "international local pressure, the fight will not stop.", unquote,
telling his critics -- again I'll quote him, "your efforts better spent if you use your moral ascendancy to educate people about the evil on drugs,"
also saying he -- he will hound drug syndicates to the end of the earth.
But that he does value human life.
[08:30:00] Also at a certain point during his speech, you know, he's very used -- he likes to go off script sometimes so at a certain point he even
mentioned the U.S. rapport toward human rights and it got him a bit worked up. He was looking for her actually in the audience, in the session hall.
Also, the president saying, addressing his critics, when it comes to the war on drugs, he said, look beyond your biases, your prejudices, your
political agenda, your ambitions. And also like I said, the other war that he says will be unrelenting, the war on terrorism, he's come fresh off a
victory just 48 hours ago, the joint session of congress on Saturday overwhelmingly the approving an extension of martial law in Mindanao until
December 31st, 2017, that's the deal with the crisis in Marawi.
And, by the way, that extension provided for, is provided for by the 1987 constitution. Also President Duterte reiterating his commitment to stand by
police and soldiers in Marawi. He says, never fear, and we quote him, never fear, I stand by you. And he also says, just do your duty. And then he also
adds during that speech, take no prisoners.
Let's not forget, this is an extremely popular president, just recently the most recent survey putting his numbers at 80 and above. Those are very good
numbers for this president, for any president at this time in his presidency. Also, the president also talking about mining. All he was
saying was that he's not going to allow irresponsible mining.
He's not going to allow indiscriminate mining. As a matter of fact, his first environment secretary was forced to step aside when the bicameral
commission on appointments refused to confirm her. So the president is talking about mining, about the west Philippine sea, talking about China.
He did say thank you, China, again, and the camera's focused on Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, Shao Jianhua.
Also, the president as expected again, his speech laced with extemporaneous words, invectives heard here and there. Of course, tirades against his
favorites, human rights critics for one, and also the United States even bringing up a war that happened about 120 years ago, the Philippine-
American war, and what happened in eastern Samar in one of the towns there and reminding the Americans that they had taken two church bells from that
town and he was asking the U.S. to return those church bells.
Now also, one last thing, he was also ranting again against the left saying whether they are -- well, he had many words for the left. At this moment,
peace talks with the left in limbo for the moment. He seems very upset with them right now, talking about Jose Maria Sison who is in exile in the
Netherlands. Peace talks right now, like we said, in limbo.
Also, he batted again for the Bangsamoro Basic Law saying that it would in a sense bring peace to Mindanao. And, well, like we said, he talked about
independent foreign policy, and he said what was so important about this noninterference from other nations. Kristie?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: It sounds like this is classic Rodrigo Duterte, you know, just calling for noninterference, thank you to
China, digging up history to attack the United States while promising an unrelenting war on drugs and unrelenting war against ISIS in Marawi.
What was the mood when he delivered these remarks? We know supporters are there cheering him on, he's a very popular president in the Philippines,
but were there also protesters inside and outside the hall where Duterte spoke?
HONTIVEROS: Well, there were no protesters inside the hall. They're really not going to be allowed during a president's SONA, but there were
protesters outside the gates of the Batasan Pambansa and on the streets leading to the Batasan Pambansa. And these weren't just protesters, there
were also supporters of President Duterte, both ways they were there.
But the applause in the hall, in the Plenary Hall of course very loud, people reacting very warmly to this. You know, if you talk to critics of
President Duterte, you're going to get a mouthful. You're going to get all sorts of criticism from them about him. But if you talk to those who
believe in him, they really appreciate what he's doing, and it shows in a way, because he has those really, really high survey numbers at the moment.
LU STOUT: All right. Pia Hontiveros, reporting live. Thank you, Pia. Take care. Now, CNN has been deeply involved in the fight against human
trafficking with the CNN Freedom Project and today, we're starting
[08:35:00] a special week of investigations to expose the abuse of children and workers in Cambodia. In the first installment, we have reunited with
three girls that we first met some four years ago after they were sold for sex. Alexandra Field has their story.
(START VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was once the heart of a dark world, the epicenter of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. Svay Pak, a
place where pedophiles came to prey. More than four years ago while filming the CNN Freedom Project's 2013 documentary, "Every Day in Cambodia," we met
three girls sold into the system by their mothers.
Their parents have since expressed remorse for their actions. (INAUDIBLE)'s mother had sold her virginity and then kept selling her for sex to pay her
family's debt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): First, they took me to the hospital for a blood test. The next day, they examined me again. And then
they made me have sex with the man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: (INAUDIBLE)'s story was the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I thought if I ran away, it would cause trouble. So I decided to stay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: It happened to (INAUDIBLE) when she was 14.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was sad. I went to the bathroom and cut my arm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: The children we met then are women now. They work alongside other survivors in a factory run by anti-trafficking nonprofit Agape
International Missions or AIM, the organization that rescued all three girls. They earned their own money by their own hands. Their lives are
better and they're even stronger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: What did you hope would happen from telling your story?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): At that time, I wanted to share my story to help other girls like me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: At the trial, investigators say (INAUDIBLE) had been raped 198 times in 22 days, a number so shocking that AIM is now using 22 to raise
awareness about sex trafficking around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We want people to know that the three of us are doing well.
FIELD: Are you worried about the young girl, little girls, who live here? Are you afraid that they could be forced to go through what you all lived
through?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's hard to understand why these mothers do this. They don't have mercy, so they make their daughters work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: When I asked the women how they feel about the families that betrayed them, (INAUDIBLE) says she understands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I know my parents didn't want me to suffer like I did. But life is like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: But (INAUDIBLE) is still angry, and you can see how much she still hurts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I tried to earn money for my father, but I couldn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: (INAUDIBLE) is a mother herself now to a baby boy. She says she's working here to make sure his future is better than her past. Alexandra
Field, CNN, Svay Pak, Cambodia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: All right. Welcome back. The United Nations says that a third of all the world's produced food is either lost or wasted before it is eaten.
That's enough to feed all the hungry people on this planet three times over.
[08:40:00] In today's "Going Green," we're going to meet Selina Juul. She is an activist who has pioneered a revolution against food waste.
(START VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA JUUL, DANISH FOOD WASTE ACTIVIST: Food waste is a global scandal. About one-third of the world's produced food is either lost or wasted. It
is enough to feed 3 billion people. And today we already have 1 billion people on this planet who are starving. My name is Selena Juul, and I fight
to stop wasting food. Why do we waste food? Because we can. Because there's so much abundance.
I was born in Moscow, Russia, and I remember when communism collapsed. We had food shortages. We had to take care of our food. We didn't know if
there was going to be food in the supermarket tomorrow and coming here to Denmark and seeing this huge abundance, I saw those supermarkets filled
with food. I was shocked, and then I saw so much food waste everywhere, bakeries and supermarkets, schools.
JUUL: That is why over eight years ago, I had enough, so i started a Facebook page, stop wasting food, and three months later came Denmark's
largest discount retail chain in (INAUDIBLE) and they wanted to take action. So they have removed all bulk discounts in every shop in entire
Denmark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we look here, we sell tomatoes. We sell it by weight. And the good thing about that is before that, we would never sell the small
tomatoes. And now the customers can buy. If they want to buy a big one, they buy a big one then pay for it. And we don't throw out the small ones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JUUL: And that was a turning point because we were on national media and international media and people were starting to join the movement and
suddenly we start working with governments and today it has become a huge, huge movement. We are all food wasters.
Food waste basically is lack of respect for people who produce the food, lack of respect for the animals, for the nature, for our society. And most
of all, it is the lack of respect for all the starving people on this planet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: That's a good cause and that is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout. don't go anywhere. "World Sport with Christina Macfarlane" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
END
