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Trump-Putin Meeting Will Go On Despite Russia Indictments; Russia Dismisses Indictments As Plan To "Spoil" Summit; Stone: I'm Probably American Referred To In Indictment; DOJ: Russia Launched Hack After Trump Asked For Emails; Israel Carries Out Largest Bombing Of Gaza Since 2014; Trump Does Damage Control After Bashing British P.M.; Trump/Putin Summit Will Go On Despite Indictments; 2 Georgia Officers in Hot Water for Using Coin-Flip App; CNN's "History of Comedy" on Oldest Form of Humor, Sexual Innuendo. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired July 14, 2018 - 17:30   ET

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


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[17:00:34]

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for joining us on this Saturday afternoon. It is on. President Trump's one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin will go on as scheduled despite the growing calls to cancel this meeting.

I want to take you live right now to the presidential palace in Helsinki, Finland. Live images, the sun setting there. The two leaders will come face-to-face here and then address the media after their sit down.

Observers had already been wondering whether President Trump would be tough enough on Putin when it came to the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but then came a new twist.

A grand jury indictment of 12 Russians, high-level military officials from Putin's own government for hacking Democratic emails and computer networks. Then they're accused of methodically releasing the information to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign. But instead of condemning Russia, President Trump is going after his predecessor, former President Obama.

We have live team coverage this afternoon, CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Helsinki, the site of Monday's summit. But we begin with CNN's Abby Phillip in Glasgow, Scotland as President Trump spends some time at one of his golf resorts this weekend. Abby, what is he saying?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hi, Ana. The president is clearly not letting the news of these indictments get in the way of the summit with Vladimir Putin. He has been tweeting several times today from his golf course not far from here in Turnberry and has been turning the blame not to Putin but to his predecessor, Barack Obama.

In his latest tweet sent this afternoon, he said, "These Russian individuals did their work during the Obama years, why didn't Obama do something about it because he thought Crooked Hillary Clinton would win. That's why. Had nothing to do with the Trump administration."

But of course, this really isn't about whether or not it happened under the Obama administration or under the Trump administration. It is about whether or not Vladimir Putin and the Russian government is responsible for it.

Just two days before the president is supposed to have this summit with Putin, it is only renewed questions about whether President Trump is willing to be tough enough on Vladimir Putin going into this meeting.

Just yesterday at a press conference, he said that he believed this special counsel investigation that handed down these indictments was still a witch hunt, non-sense standing in the way of him creating a potentially working relationship with Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, the White House says the summit going to go on. This isn't going to change their plans at all.

CABRERA: Abby, we have been seeing some Trump protests there in Scotland, including a very notable incident involving a paraglider. What can you tell us about that?

PHILLIP: Yes, really a remarkable incident here in Scotland the president does have two golf courses here, but he is quite unpopular among a lot of Scotts here. And there have been protests organized including at his golf resort.

Now this incident seems to be a paraglider from Green Peace flying over the Turnberry Golf Course while the president appears to be outside. What amounts to a stunning security breach. It is restricted air space wherever the president is.

And the Secret Service says that they are working with local law enforcement to find out who is behind this. Local law enforcement says the person responsible got away and they weren't able to apprehend them.

But it's a crime to do this and of course, they are will go looking for those person, but Green Peace is taking the credit for pulling off really a remarkable and perhaps very dangerous stunt -- Ana.

CABRERA: Abby Phillip, thank you very much for that update in Scotland for us. It's 10:00 p.m. there. Amid the controversy and fan fair now leading up to the summit on Monday, the current U.S. intelligence chief is sounding the alarm about the ongoing threat of Russian cyber-attacks. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: It was in the months prior to September 2001 when according to then-CIA Director George Tenet, the system was blinking red. Here we are nearly two decades later, and I 'm here to say the warning lights are blinking red again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is on the ground in Helsinki, Finland, ahead of Monday's Trump-Putin meeting. Fred, how is the kremlin reacting to this news of the indictment of 12 Russian military officers?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the kremlin is essentially saying what President Trump is saying. They're essentially calling it a witch hunt even though they are not using those words. They say that they believe that this was a ploy to try and derail the summit.

It's interesting because the Russian Foreign Ministry came out very quickly with a statement after this indictment was handed out and said look there is nothing new in it. These are old allegations none of them are proven.

They believed that this is all something that's been put in place to try and spoil the relationship between Vladimir Putin and President Trump that the Russians believe could be fostered at this summit that is coming up.

It's quite interesting there was a senior Russian lawmaker called Andre Klemhoff, who went on the record today and said, look, there are people in America, who don't want better relationships between Russia and the United States.

The kremlin however continues to believe that that is something that President Trump wants. And of course, during the time that President Trump has now been in Europe, the Russians have been watching that very closely.

They certainly liked what they heard from President Trump at NATO when he was very tough on America's allies. And they believe that the atmosphere that they are going to get here at the summit in Finland is going to be a lot better.

If we look at the official messaging coming out of the kremlin, they're still very careful, Ana, with the words that they are choosing. They are saying, look, we don't expect too much. We think that it's good these men are talking.

There's a lot of Russians, however, believed that fundamentally there could be much better relations under the Trump White House with Russia.

CABRERA: Fred Pleitgen, we know you will stay on top of the latest developments in Helsinki. Thanks.

Our next guest is an expert in foreign policy, he knows exactly how the Russians operate. He has met with them dozens of times before. Thomas Pickering served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and Russia as well as Israel and Jordan. Ambassador, always good to have you with us.

A number of Democrats are now calling for the president to cancel this meeting as well as one Republican in light of these indictments. Do you think President Trump should call it off?

THOMAS PICKERING, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: I don't, Ana. And that's a decision on my part to say that with some serious consideration because the indictments obviously have now been one way or another, focused the attention back on the question of meddling in the elections. That was a very serious and negative and dangerous action by the Russians.

CABRERA: It's not like Putin is suddenly going to admit that he meddled, though, right. The president talked about this in fact just a couple of days ago. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We will, of course, ask your favorite question about meddling. I will be asking that question again. He may deny it. I mean, it's one of those things. All I can do is say did you and don't do it again, but he may deny it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Is that it? Is that all he can do?

PICKERING: The president could increase the number of sanctions certainly. He could cancel the meeting with President Putin. None of those would be very helpful in looking toward some kind of a way of trying to manage the U.S./Russian relationship rather than aggravating it.

I think it's a very difficult position at the present time. The president apparently knew some weeks ago that these indictments would be forthcoming and chose himself to continue with the summit and keeping it on the agenda.

The really difficult question for us all is, is the president really prepared for a summit? It doesn't appear that he is. He seems to be in one stage making enemies of NATO allies and in some ways grinding away at NATO, which is clearly a major bull wark and something that is an important and serious defense arrangement, which would if supported by the president be one of those actions that could send Putin a message that he is serious.

Secondly, the last couple days have seen something of a fiasco with the United Kingdom and Theresa May. And clearly, one of our best allies and one of the smartest countries in international diplomacy going.

Something that he should be listening to, not complaining about, something that he should be working to build and strengthen a relationship to rather than poking sticks at the present prime minister and suggesting her formerly foreign secretary is somehow now qualified to replace her.

All things that involve the kind of most egregious intervention in the international affairs of friends and allies and setting the stage for Mr. Putin to come to the summit meeting, thinking he has had a lot of his work done for him which is essentially separating the United States from its European allies.

Creating a set of situations in which our best ally is the somehow put under conditions of enormous and difficult tension. And at the same time putting the president once again in the chair of weakness if we could call it that.

And in a way putting the president in a position that he faced in Singapore where he apparently gave away exercises with the South Koreans for very little if anything serious in return.

CABRERA: We know this is a president, President Trump who likes to have one-on-one conversations. He believes he is good in that kind of a setting, and up until this point the president had said he wanted to meet with Putin alone. He didn't want anyone else in the room, maybe a translator. Should that still be an option?

[17:10:08] PICKERING: I think Mr. Putin's English isn't good enough to handle a conversation in that language. And I suspect -- I haven't heard it Mr. Trump's Russian is even more deplorably bad. The question is how do they communicate with sign language?

They have to have the interpreters there. They are the people who, in fact, take a conversation from one language and put it very carefully in another, and they are very important. And interestingly enough, the interpreters make copious notes. So, we're not without a record of the conversation.

And whether one or the other side is making a recording in Helsinki, we won't know. But clearly there will be some kind of record, whether that record is publicized and shown is a different question.

But each side may have some interest in taking snippets from the record to somehow indicate that whatever happened in Helsinki is to their advantage or something that they can take back to the publics and say, "I'm winning this particular contest with Mr. Putin or vice versa. Putin saying the same about Trump.

So, we need to watch this very carefully, but it would be a shame if this is wasted with almost nothing achieved. Except each one trying to trumpet that somehow their own position domestically in the political area, as important as that is for them, in their political future is the only consideration taken into account.

Not the national interests, not the strategy, not the necessity of the two greatest nuclear powers in the world getting some greater measure of stability and greater measure of common sense in their relationship, something that it seems to be badly lacking now.

CABRERA: Ambassador Thomas Pickering, you are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for joining us.

PICKERING: Thank you, Ana, very much. It's a delight to be with you as well. CABRERA: Coming up the focus on legendary operative Roger Stone is intensifying. Is he the unnamed person in the latest grand jury indictment? Hear what he is now telling CNN next.

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[17:16:12]

CABRERA: Welcome back. The new indictment from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation revealed an American in frequent contact with senior Trump campaign officials was corresponding with the Russian hackers behind the DNC break-in. And we now know who the American likely is, long-term Trump associate, Roger Stone.

Here is what he told my colleague, Chris Cuomo, about the messages he exchanged with "Guccifer 2.0," someone who turned out to be a Russian military officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I have testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee that I certainly had a 24-word exchange with the persona, "Guccifer 2.0," over Twitter direct messages. Anyone, any objective person that will read that exchange, which is included in the indictment will see that based on content, context and timing it is benign. It is innocuous.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Also you?

STONE: I think I probably am the person referred to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN crime and justice reporter, Shimon Prokupecz, is joining us. He has been following every twist and turn of the Russia investigation. Shimon, I know you have poured over this indictment. Stone isn't the only unnamed American referred to in the indictment, however. None were indicted themselves. Were all the exchanges innocuous like Stone says?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, that's something that the special counsel certainly is looking into, you know. It's interesting, Ana, Stone says, I testified before Congress. It was sworn testimony. But the person who has not met with and hasn't given any testimony to is the Mueller team and the grand jury. He's not been called before the grand jury.

But his associates, people that are friends of his, longtime friends of his have been before the special counsel. In fact, one person who was handling some of Roger Stone's tweets and Twitter account has appeared before the special counsel.

We don't know exactly why that is. But certainly, the fact that the special counsel and this information about his contact with Guccifer 2.0 was mentioned in the indictment is in fact something that's very interesting and should be something that concerns Roger Stone. Whether or not it becomes a criminal matter, that is still something that the special counsel certainly is investigating. And you know, the language that they used in the indictment, the idea that multiple messages, this is Guccifer 2.0, a Russian intelligence official, was communicating in regular contact with senior members of the Trump campaign.

And for all we can say, collusion or no collusion, but here certainly, there is some signals or some messages here that indicates perhaps the Russians were in continuous communication with members of the Trump campaign.

CABRERA: We also know that these documents that were stolen were ultimately sent to a member of congress or a candidate for Congress, state lobbyist, a reporter. So, there are a lot more pieces to this puzzle and more questions we don't know. There was a moment during the 2016 campaign when then-Candidate Trump asked the Russians for help. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Russia, if you are listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Shimon, what is the indictment saying that happened on that same day Trump made the remark?

PROKUPECZ: This is a pretty extraordinary detail here in the indictment, Ana, because what it showed us was that the Russians were paying attention to what the president or then-Candidate Trump was saying.

And shortly thereafter he made those comments according to the indictment. The Russians were sent these spearfishing e-mails, trying to get folks in the Clinton campaign to click on fictitious emails that would have allowed the Russian access into the Hillary Clinton campaign servers and emails and that kind of information.

[17:20:10] A very common practice by hackers to try and get passwords and other information. But what happens was it seems that the Russians were listening and then went ahead and sent these emails.

According to the indictment it was 76 people in the summer of 2016 who got emails, spearfishing e-mails. Again, Ana, this goes to the idea that the Russians were doing everything they possibly could to help then-Candidate Trump to win the election.

CABRERA: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you for that update.

Coming up, more breaking news, fierce clashes on the Gaza strip. Israel carrying out its single largest bombing campaign against Hamas since the 2014 war. We will get a live report from the region next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:25:27]

CABRERA: Our breaking news here on CNN, militants in Gaza say they have reached a ceasefire agreement with Israel after explosions and fighting this weekend. No word from Israel just yet on this reported ceasefire.

But Gaza militants reportedly have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars towards Israel in the last 24 hours. The Israeli Air Force meanwhile carrying out its single largest bombing campaign in several years.

Let's go live to Jerusalem and CNN international correspondent, Ian Lee. Ian, what is behind this sudden spike in fighting there?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, it can all be traced back to yesterday when Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians during protests along the Gaza border with Israel. Then early this morning, residents in Southern Israel near Gaza woke up to sirens warning of incoming projectiles.

And throughout the day over 100 rockets and mortars were fired by Gaza militants towards Israel and more than 20 intercepted by the iron dome anti-missile system. Israeli fighters retaliated by hitting of dozens of Hamas targets including tunnels, training facilities, weapon depots, and command centers.

As you said, it was the single largest bombing campaign in Gaza since the 2014 war. Two Palestinian teenagers were killed, and a dozen injured during the bombings according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Israeli medical officials say three to nine people sustained light to moderate shrapnel injuries after a rocket hit their house in the town of (inaudible). These kinds of situations, though, Ana, have the potential of getting out of hand possibly leading to another war.

There were reports that the U.N. and Egypt were working hard behind the scenes to broker a ceasefire, and then a while ago, Islamic jihad and Hamas confirmed that one had been reached starting at 8:00 p.m. local time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time so, a few hours ago.

This highlights the pivotal role that Egypt has been playing in keeping the peace, although, Israel's prime minister's office had no comment on the ceasefire. Now, right now, it seems to be holding. This isn't the first time though in recent months we have seen a ceasefire like this.

There have been times where there have been a few exchanges that have taken place before it really does return to calm and just a little while ago, Ana, we got reports that there were more projectiles fired.

CABRERA: Ian Lee, we know you will stay on top of it for us. Thank you. Keep us posted.

This just in to CNN, Haiti's leader is now stepping down in the wake of deadly violence and looting there that broke out when Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant unveiled his plan to drastically increase fuel prices, 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel, 51 percent for kerosene. Mass protests erupted in Port-Au-Prince. At least four people were killed.

Coming up, it is something we barely hear from President Trump, an apology. Well sort of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: She is a total professional because when I saw her this morning, I said I want to apologize because I said such good things about you and she said don't worry. It's only the press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:33:25] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: We have this just in to CNN. Twitter now suspended accounts allegedly linked to Russians who attempted to meddle in the 2016 election. In fact, were successful in some cases. The announcement coming after a grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking the DNC and releasing messages to damage then-Candidate Hillary Clinton.

So as the president gears up for the meeting with Putin, the Trump baby balloon is on the move. Today, it flew during anti-Trump protests in Edinburgh, Scotland, after the initial launch in London where the political shock waves from President Trump's visit with Prime Minister Theresa May are still being felt. The reason? The president gave an interview to the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, "The Sun," in which he was highly critical of May's Brexit plan, the British withdrawal from the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I would have done it differently. I actually told Theresa May how to do it but she didn't agree, she didn't listen to me.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did she say?

TRUMP: She didn't listen. No, I told her how to do it. That will be up to her to say. But I told her how to do it. She wanted to go a different route.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Later, speaking to reporters, President Trump claimed he hadn't criticized her one bit and he used a phrase very familiar to American supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (on camera): I didn't criticize the prime minister. I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. And unfortunately, there was a story that was done, which was, you know, generally fine. But it didn't put in what I said about the prime minister. And I said tremendous things. And fortunately, we tend to record stories now so we have it for your enjoyment if you'd like it. But we record when we deal with reporters. It's called fake news. And we solve a lot of problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:35:11] CABRERA: Fake news, really?

We played you the recording, his own words, clearly the truth speaks for itself there.

Let's discuss the president, his relationships with other foreign leaders. Robin Wright is with us, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and contributing writer for "The New Yorker." And here with me in New York, David Andelman, a visiting scholar at Fordham University and a "New York Times" former Eastern European bureau chief.

Robin, I'll start with you.

The president, he later admitted he apologized to May for the remarks that got out. But is the damage already done?

ROBIN WRIGHT, FELLOW, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER & CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Absolutely. The president over the last two months has confronted, challenged or belittled or embarrassed key allies, the prime minister of Britain on Friday, the 28 other members of NATO earlier in the week, and last month the world's powerful economic alliance during the G-7 in Canada. I think the damage is very deep. There's a sense that the president of the United States no longer either wants to be part of or is not enthusiastic or not willing to play by the rules of our most important alliances, economic, military, security. And there's a -- a real sense that the -- the president is a -- is trying to redefine the rules of engagement with our allies and trying to dictate to them. And I think that's played out in the kind of remarks he made about telling the prime minister of Britain what she should do in terms of its relations with Europe. And it played out in trying to tell NATO what they -- what their mission should be and how much they should be paying in very unrealistic terms. And it played out at the G-7 when he basically walked away from signing a communique and insulted the host nation, Canada.

CABRERA: You mentioned this does seem to be a bit of a pattern. There's been numerous times recently where he has been going after allies. There was the blistering attack on Germany again this week at the NATO summit. And like we saw with Theresa May, he tried to play nice afterwards. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Germany is a captive of Russia because they supply -- they got rid of their coal plants. They got rid of their nuclear. They're getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia. We have a very, very good relationship with the chancellor. We have a

tremendous relationship with Germany. They have made -- we have had tremendous success.

And I congratulate you. Tremendous success.

And I believe that our trade will increase and lots of other things will increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: David, what's your take on what he is trying to do here?

DAVID ANDELMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he is trying to sow discontent and discord and all of this sort of thing and so that he can actually --American can seem to be leading and pushing the whole -- the agenda and driving the agenda of the Western world. He wants to be seen as the ultimate leader of the Western world, there's no doubt about that. And how does he go about that? He doesn't go about it by belittling himself. He does it by belittling others and what they -- their failures are our successes. It's not a zero-sum game. Diplomacy is not a zero-sum game. It's really that you have to get everybody together. You have to get 29 nations in NATO all singing off the same play book if you have success against people like Putin, like even Kim Jong-Un and Kim Jong-Il, and so on. You have to really get a sense of we're are pulling together. Trump doesn't believe that. He believes he is the head of the pack and he can drive the global agenda all by himself. And that's very dangerous. And going forward, that's very destabilizing in so many ways.

CABRERA: Well, and it's interesting because this is all building up to the summit with Putin. We saw some of the fracturing that happened with allies right before the summit with Kim Jong-Un. And so, again, a little bit of a pattern perhaps that we're seeing play out here.

Now as we look forward to the summit on Monday, Robin, which, of course, follows the indictment, too, bring that into the mix with 12 Russian military intelligence officers who hacked the DNC, the DCCC, the Clinton campaign. And now there are calls for Trump to cancel the summit. Despite all of that, the secretary of state says it's very important that they still meet. Do you agree?

WRIGHT: Well, this is really quite interesting. The secretary of state may say that, but there's a growing disconnect between the president and his top advisers when you look at what the director of National Intelligence has said about the Russian meddling, and it being similar to the threat we faced in the runup to 9/11. Whether it's the secretary of state, the national security adviser, the Intelligence Community, even right across the board, his top advisers are increasingly concerned about Russia, especially with the midterm election coming up. And the question is, does this indictment begin to change the focus? Is there anything concrete that can come out of this? Putin clearly wants to use this as a moment to say, you see, I'm important enough, despite whatever I've done in Crimea, in Syria, in using chemical weapons against former Russian spies in Britain, or meddling in an American election, that he is important enough that the American president will travel thousands of miles to meet him. And this is really a pivotal movement for the Trump administration in defining its foreign policy but also indicating whether it's strong enough to stand up to the -- what is a growing threat from Moscow.

[17:40:33] CABRERA: David, what do you think this summit could accomplish?

ANDELMAN: Well I've been trying to figure out what can Trump walk into that room and ask for that Putin could give back to him. And I've thought about a lot of these different possibilities. Obviously, Putin is not going to send 12 senior GRU agents to the U.S. for trial. That's not an ask that will be answered. Equally problematic, problems with the Syria, problems with the Crimea. Trump is not going to be able to give the Crimea to Putin. So what could he ask for? Look at nuclear weapons. There's a nuclear weapon disconnect right now between Russia and the United States. The last nuclear treaties, they're basically ancient at this point and need to be renegotiated. He could say -- and he loves -- remember he loves negotiating nuclear treaties, Iran, North Korea. Imagine now if he could pull out a reset of the nuclear weapons discussions with Russia. Because Putin has said, we have new generations of cruise missiles that can land in 10 minutes, can launch a nuclear weapon across Europe.

CABRERA: I remember even seeing the graphic where the missiles came down near Florida.

ANDELMAN: Exactly. But just starting that kind of a negotiation. Remember, that brings us back to Reagan and Gorbachev, who sign the last big START Treaty -- the IMF Treaty, excuse me. And most recently, Medvedev and Obama signed the New START Treaty, it's called. Imagine he could take a page out of the Reagan's playbook, out of Obama's play book and go one step further. And equally, Putin could one-up Medvedev. This is the kind of negotiation that could get something going out of this talk, other than -- and change the dialogue, if you will, between the two countries.

CABRERA: Well, I appreciate both ever you for being here with us. Too many smart minds that -- to not use that brain power here and help educate us. Thank you very much, Robin Wright and David Andelman.

Coming up, caught on camera. Georgia officers suspended after flipping a coin before making a decision on whether to arrest a woman for speeding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFC. KRISTEE WILSON, ROSWELL POLICE DEPARTMENT: A, heads, R, tails.

OFC. COURTNEY BROWN, ROSWELL POLCIE OFFICER: OK.

WILSON: This is tails, right?

BROWN: Yes.

So, release?

WILSON: 23.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:47:22] CABRERA: Police officers in Georgia are accused of arresting a woman based on a coin toss. This all happened in April. Sarah Webb was pulled over for speeding. In newly discovered body camera footage, you can hear the officers use a coin-flip app to decide what to do with her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILSON: A, heads, R, tails.

BROWN: OK.

WILSON: This is tails, right?

BROWN: Yes.

So, release?

WILSON: 23.

BROWN: Michael Jordan?

All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Those charges were thrown out in a courtroom this week.

Kaylee Hartung is joining us now.

Kaylee, what happened to the officers?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, both of the officers you hear and see in the body cam have been put on administrative leave. The Roswell Police Department saying as soon as they learned of the incident, they opened up an internal investigation. The investigation ongoing.

The police chief going so far as to say he's appalled. He said he's "appalled that any law enforcement officer would trivialize the decision-making process of something as important as the arrest of a person."

As you mentioned, it was back in April that Sarah Webb was driving. She was speeding down a wet road when she was pulled over. It was Officer Courtney Brown who initiated the traffic stop.

Listen to what's revealed on her body cam to get some more color about their initial exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: You think driving that fast on a wet road is a smart idea just because you're late for work? Instead of calling and saying you're late for work, you would rather risk people's lives?

SARAH WEBB, MOTORIST: I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARTUNG: After that tense exchange, Officer Brown returned to her patrol car and then the debate began with one of her colleagues, Officer Kristee Wilson. That debate, to arrest or release. The driver, the decision hinging on the flip of a virtual coin.

What's interesting though, if you really listen to that exchange, the coin landed on tails, which they had already agreed meant they would release the driver. Yet, they arrested her anyway. That 23 being the code to arrest.

These charges dropped against Sarah Webb as soon as prosecutors, Ana, saw this body cam.

CABRERA: Kaylee, real quickly, the woman, I understand, just found about this coin toss. Do we know her reaction?

HARTUNG: Her reaction to a local affiliate was one of absolute shock, as anyone human could react in that situation to have the feeling that her fate was left up to a coin toss. Ana, it was a very emotional reaction. But also relief that charges have now been dropped against her.

[17:50:06] CABRERA: Kaylee, thank you so much.

Coming up, the CNN original series, the "History of Comedy," returns with a look at one of the oldest forms of humor, sexual innuendo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAE WEST, FORMER ACTRESS: When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A 2011 top-10 "CNN Hero" refuses to let tragedy stop him. A fire destroyed Chef Bruno Serato's beloved restaurant last year. But in true heroic fashion, he found a way to continue serving hungry kids in his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:55:01] BRUNO SERATO, CHEF & CNN HERO: It's my mission, feeding children. They're hungry. But February 4, 2017, I woke up in the morning to a phone call that my restaurant was on fire. You see your restaurant, which you love through the years, go in flames and ashes. Then no more kitchen. I cannot feed the kids anymore. But the miracle happened.

How many kids love pasta?

(SHOUTING)

SERATO: I started feeding kids. Fifteen months later, we doubled the kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: For the full story, log onto CNN heros.com, and as always, while you're there, please nominate someone you think should be a "CNN Hero."

Tomorrow night, here on CNN, the original series, "History of Comedy," is back with a brand-new season. And the premier is all about the kinds of jokes that make your parents blush but still make us laugh so hard. The dirty joke could be the oldest form of comedy ever. It continues to push back against political correctness. Here, take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUCER: Turn on the rhythm. Turn on the romance. Turn on the fun with Mae West.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mae West films were so edgy for the time period because she spoke really frankly about her own sexuality and made it universal to all women's sexuality, and that had never been done before.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Why did you admit knowing so many men in your life?

WEST: Well, it's not the men in your life that counts. It's the life in your men.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was voluptuous and funny. And she really took ownership of her sexuality. She wrote a lot of her own material and she was the queen of innuendo.

WEST: When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think there was any woman in a movie who had that attitude about sex and said, isn't it great? She was the pioneer. She got to be, you know, first.

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CABRERA: Joining us now, Kliph Nesteroff. He is a standup comedian and author of the book, "The Comedians, Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of America".

Kliph, great to have you with us.

This new episode focuses on sexual humor, and how so much comedy revolves around the birds and the bees. Why is that?

KLIPH NESTEROFF, STANDUP COMEDIAN & AUTHOR: Sex is one of those subjects that's on everybody's mind. It's a universal thing that we can all relate to. But it's also something that most of us don't talk about out loud and share our dirty secrets. We all have at least one friend who only talks about sex, but most of us don't talk about it that much. When a comedian goes on stage and talks about something we can all relate to, yet we're too scared to talk about, there's a release of tension. No innuendo meant when I say that. That release of tension creates an incredible amount of laughter. Sex is a natural topic for a comedian to address.

CABRERA: Is there such a thing as going too far? Is there ever a line you can't cross?

NESTEROFF: Well, if everybody is laughing, if you've got the entire audience on your side, then you haven't gone too far. If you alienated the entire audience, then you've probably gone too far, unless that was your intention. Basically, if 51 percent of the comedy audience is on your side, you're fine. If 51 percent of them are upset, you're in trouble. Comedy is the great diffuser. There's no such thing as too far when everybody is laughing. Problems happen when everybody stops laughing.

CABRERA: I want to talk to you about the #metoo movement. You have comedians, like Louie C.K., being called out for abuse of behavior. Is this moment changing the comedy industry's attitude towards women and is it changing the kind of comedy people are doing?

NESTEROFF: Well, I don't think it's changing the type of comedy people are doing, because most of these scandals or behavior things that have happened didn't really have anything to do with the person's material. It had to do with the person themselves, how they acted off stage as opposed to on stage. I don't really see much adjustment in terms of material. Maybe it will allow women to sort of replace some of the men who have fallen from grace because of their personal behavior. That's a possibility.

But overall, I don't think anybody is really adjusting their material because there was never really -- it was never really about the material, per se. It was about the actual human being behind the material off stage as opposed to on.

CABRERA: Kliph Nesteroff, thank you very much for joining us.

Be sure to tune in to the season premiere of the "History of Comedy," tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. Thanks for being with me. I'll see you back here at 8:00 p.m. Eastern live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

"SMERCONISH" is next.

[18:00:04] MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: I'm Michael Smerconish, in Philadelphia. We welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. The president's one-on-one summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki

still happening on Monday --