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NEWS STREAM

FBI's Report On Kavanaugh Received By U.S. Senate; Dutch Intelligence Stops GRU Hack Of OPCW; Mike Pence Will Give Speech On China Interference In U.S. Elections; Evacuations Ongoing In Indonesia; Slavery In Paris; World Headlines; U.S. Senators Receive FBI's Kavanaugh Report; Future of Fashion? Stunning Textiles Dyed with Bacteria. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 4, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream."

Digesting the report, U.S. Senators begin reading the FBI's findings on the supplemental investigation into Brett Kavanaugh

Widespread interference, several countries point the finger at Russia's military intelligence agency for a multitude of attacks.

And pushing back on China, why U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is preparing to say that Russia's actions pale in comparison to Beijing's.

And we begin in Washington where U.S. senators are just now getting their first look at the FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh. U.S. President Donald

Trump ordered the investigation after Christine Blasey Ford accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her when they were in high

school.

CNN has learned the White House, which received the report firs believes that there is no corroboration of the allegations. Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell has scheduled a critical procedural vote on Friday with a final confirmation vote to take place as early as Saturday.

But questions remain as to just how thorough this investigation was, as people who knew Kavanaugh in high school and college say they haven't been

interviewed b the FBI. Now, here is what his freshman year roommate at Yale told our Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ROCHE, KAVANAUGH'S COLLEGE ROOMMATE: When Brett started saying things about his drinking and his use of certain words, sexually oriented

words, you know, I knew he was lying because he was my roommate. We were in a room together. Our beds were 10 feet apart for a couple of months. And

what struck me and made me more interested in speaking out about it is not only did I know that he wasn't telling the truth.

I knew that he knew that he wasn't telling the truth. He went to parties and drank beer. Many, many people did. But there were even within that

environment there were people who were loud drunks, who were sloppy drunks, who were belligerent drunks. But even by those standards, my memory of

Brett was that he was on the far edge of this. He was notably heavier in his drinking than other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now he, the former roommate at Yale was not interviewed by the FBI. In fact, not even Christine Blasey Ford was interviewed by the FBI.

CNN's senior political analyst John Avlon joins us live from New York. John, welcome back. Good to see you. Of course everyone knows now U.S.

senators, they are cracking open and reading the FBI report, but is it going to change any votes?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, obviously, that remains to be seen, but as you noted just moments ago, U.S. senators began to have

access to the FBI investigation which was requested as a way of trying to heal the divide in the wake of this really divisive nomination. Here's what

we know about the FBI report.

President Trump said that there would be no constraints on what the FBI looked at. That appears not to be the case. Already critics are saying this

is a much more targeted tailored investigation done and constrained at White House request and many witnesses who tried to come forward were not

interviewed.

That could undercut the initial attempt of this investigation to try to get more information, to try to satisfy critics who say that accusers and

investigations hadn't been given time to get to the bottom of things. You also see a divergence of criticisms of Judge Kavanaugh at this point.

One, the original allegations of sexual assault that date back 36 years to his high school career. The other increasing attention given on his high

school and college drinking and whether he lied under oath about that and other things related to his yearbook. How those are weighed in senators'

mind will be key.

My suspicion is that for many senators, a lack of corroborating evidence about the assault allegations will be enough for them to green light this

going forward. But the key ones to watch are senators Collins and Murkowski of Maine and Alaska. Those two female Republicans could hold Judge

Kavanaugh's fate in their hands.

LU STOUT: Those are the two key swing senators to watch. And as they weigh their decision, do, you think that they're not only taking the findings

from the FBI report, but they're also going to take in the findings outside the FBI report, for example, testimony we just heard from Kavanaugh's

roommate at Yale about his drinking and truthfulness.

[08:05:04] Well look, I think that -- we know that (inaudible) careful. I think senators are particularly cautious about raising a new standard and

new precedent to how people behaved in high school or college, shy of allegations of sexual assault. Nobody is perfect and that is a standard by

which many senators and my future nominees would probably fail.

I think what's interesting about Collins and Murkowski is that not only they are confronting Kavanaugh's second interview in which he came in hot

and partisan and didn't seem to have judicial temperament, but President Trump's own comments disparaging Dr. Ford the other night.

And that, Murkowski in particular said that that rankled her. All three senators on the Republican side, Flake included, said they were sort of

appalled by that behavior. Will that impact their assessment of Kavanaugh, of the president and the integrity of the investigation they requested?

LU STOUT: So many factors will weigh on their assessment. What about the power of protests? Because we have seen those activists confront, for

example, Jeff Flake in the elevator last year. That was such raw moment. We know that protests are underway as we speak. Could this protest movement

convince swing senators to vote against Kavanaugh?

AVLON: I think it's a question of the way the protests are directed and approached. Many women are coming forward today to protest this nomination

fueled by righteous indignation and their belief that the accuser has not been granted sufficient seriousness, has not been granted sufficient

respect by the president, by the process.

Very often when there are sort of street theater protest that dive into the realm of personal demonization and the extreme and the absurd, that can

actually have a backlash effect that is not what the protesters intend. Senators can look at that from a distance and say these folks don't seem to

be interested in a civil debate. They don't seem interested in reasoning together.

But the confrontation with Jeff Flake in the elevator is a different kind. It was personal. It was senator, listen to me, hear my story. How come

you're not recognizing my pain and my experience? And what does that say about you and your judgment? That was effective in moving Jeff Flake's vote

and getting us where we are today.

LU STOUT: John Avlon, live in New York for us, as always, thank you so much. Take care.

AVLON: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Now, the Netherlands is adding its name to a growing list of western allies directly blaming Russian military intelligence for a series

of alleged cyber attacks intended to undermine the west. Just a short time ago, the Dutch defense minister said that the GRU tried to hack the world's

chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Netherlands has since expelled four Russian military intelligence officers in connection. Another GRU attack allegedly targeted the

investigation into the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine back in 20114.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANK BIJLEVELD-SCHOUTEN, DUTCH DEFENSE MINISTER (through translatoion): The OPCW was a target of undermining by the Russian military intelligence

service. As host country, the Netherlands has, as a task, to have organizations such as the OPCW who are of fundamental importance for

international law to protect them. And we did protect them. The MIVD stopped a cyber operation and four involved Russian intelligence officers

that same day were expelled from our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: The Dutch report comes after the U.K., Australia, New Zealand also pointed to the GRU saying it has waged global cyber attacks on

everything from business targets to politics. Russia is denying those claims, calling them fake.

Joining me now, senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh who joins us live from London. And Nick, you've been monitoring (ph) very

closely that Dutch press conference. Just tell us more, walk us through those remarkable claims from dutch intelligence.

NICK PATON WALSH, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Kristie, really staggering detail the likes of which frankly, you rarely see from Dutch or

any intelligence services to this degree. And it comes on the background of that U.S. -- sorry, U.K., Australian and New Zealand statements of the GRU,

Russian intelligence trying to hack various key institutions.

But it was in the Netherlands that the detail of how this worked or actually didn't work in this particular case because they were caught and

the detail of their operation actually came to light. And it is quite staggering.

It begins with four men entering Holland on diplomatic Russian passports. The serial numbers of which are very close. They are shown in a slide (ph)

briefing, being met at the airport by a man who appears to be a Russian embassy worker.

[08:09:57] They then check into the Marriott hotel in the Hague right next door to the OPCW, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,

which at that point was testing substances from Salisbury where the Russians were accused of trying to use a nerve agent to kill a former

Russian spy, but also testing samples taken from Syria where chemical weapons were thought to been used by key Russian ally, Syria.

They parked themselves in the Marriott and began taking pictures of the OPCW. They bought a substantial battery we learned, put it in a Citroen C3,

which they had and then drove that car to the parking lot right opposite the OPCW. They then appears to have gotten an enormous antenna linked that

to a battery and tried to do something called a close access hack where basically they jump onto the Wi-Fi network of the OPCW and (inaudible) to

hack it.

Now, Dutch intelligence were on to them and they say they stopped them as soon as that device became operative to prevent that no -- ensure that no

hack actually occurred. These four men were then taken to the airport and deported out of the country. But they left behind them their equipments and

some staggering details and the clues there.

Importantly, a cellphone which been activated just four days earlier in Moscow, very close to the GRU headquarters building there or one of them, a

taxi receipt from that area to Moscow airport on presumably the journey out of Russia itself, and finally a laptop that had in it a series of Wi-Fi

logins.

An entire history really of travel from Malaysia near government buildings that were insisting the investigation into MH17, that airline are full of

holiday makers from Holland blown out of the sky literally by Russian- backed separatist.

But also trips to Switzerland too, possibly near to Lausanne where there were suggestions maybe it could have been involved in hacking sport

organizations there looking into anti-doping in sport which Russia has been accused of running a state-sponsored systemic program.

A remarkable document, really, here of hacking attempts around the world. One, as you say, that Russia has denied but one, really, that shows an

intelligence unit operating without fear of being caught or perhaps not caring if it was caught. You have to question, really, what kind of spy

craft is it if you're keeping your taxi receipts on you from Moscow as you go on a job in a neighboring country --

LU STOUT: And the details are staggering, Nick. There are literally receipts, you know, and Russian military intelligence being accused by the

Dutch for hacking the OPCW, for hacking the MH17 investigation. They were also earlier in the day singled out by the British government for all these

major recent cyber attacks. The pressure is building. Again, there is evidence and yet Russia continues to deny it all?

WALSH: It's always been a tactic, though. I mean, you do remember of course, they said they haven't invaded Crimea until a few years later where

sort of Vladimir Putin got a sneak and then said maybe that was kind of ours. So, you know, this is a tactic they've long had.

The broad question really here is what does this mean for Russia's reach around the area. Do they get more aggressive? Do they feel that this is

just something they can thumb their nose at and say, hey, well, you know, we do what we like? They were using diplomatic passports, frankly.

We are expected to hear from the U.S. Department of Justice, potentially something to do with this case, an announcement. They appear to working

with their Dutch colleagues over the past months or so since August on related matters. We're supposed to hear from them. That could possibly mean

further indictments, maybe and could be further sanctions, too.

That could hurt the Russian economy, but it could also make them more aggressive, potentially even embolden them to do other things, as well. But

what we really saw here today was just remarkable detail that should have laid bear the hacking travels of this unit over the past years, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us. Nick, thank you.

The U.S. Vice President, he is set to give a speech in the coming hours, but it's not Russia he's slamming when it comes to American election

interference, it's China. Excerpts of his speech show that Mike Pence will say that what Russia is doing pales in comparison to what China is doing

across the United States.

And he will also accuse Beijing of reckless harassment of the U.S. military. It has been just a few days since that incident at sea, a Chinese

warship nearly collided with the U.S. navy ship in the South China Sea.

CNN's Will Ripley joins me now with more on that, and Will, following that again, near collision in the South China Sea. We know that the U.S. Navy is

proposing this global show of force to warn China. What would that look like?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It would be essentially the Freedom of Navigation operations like the on we saw on Sunday that resulted in that

close call near the Spratley Islands, but on a much larger more intensified scale in terms of repeated missions, ships and planes flying into what

China considers its territory.

The U.S. rejects that claim saying that the South China Sea is not under China's domain, despite the fact that it has built up considerable

infrastructure on a number of those Spratley Islands including the Gaven Reefs that the USS Decatur was sailing by on Sunday when that incident

occurred.

[08:15:01] You can see, you know, China has conflicting territorial claims with a number of countries across Asia Pacific. A piece of the vice

president's speech, though, I'll read for you, that he is expected to make says, quote, "The U.S Navy will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever

international law allows, international interest demand. We will not be intimated. We will not stand down." And Kristie, that is just one issue

that he will be bringing up when he makes that speech in the coming hours.

LU STOUT: Yes, because Mike Pence is also going to issue a warning to China on the South China Sea and he's also going to share the Trump

administration's latest line on Taiwan. What is he going to say on that?

RIPLEY: That is what I think has the potential, Kristie, to really inflame Beijing. And again, I want to read you a portion of what the vice president

is expected to say regarding Taiwan, "While our administration will continue to respect the One China Policy, Taiwan's embrace of democracy

shows a better path for all Chinese people."

Now, you know as well as I that China considers Taiwan a renegade province despite the fact they have their own democratic government. China has

missiles aimed at Taipei that could be launched in there in a matter of minutes. They believe they could retake Taiwan if they needed to at any

time.

They've never ruled that out. They intimidate companies that even refer to Taiwan as a separate country. So to have the vice president of the United

States encouraging democracy in Taiwan, that out of all of this, I think, has the potential to be most troublesome for Beijing.

LU STOUT: So, we should expect a very forceful line on Taiwan from the U.S. Vice President. And the issue of meddling, you know, last week at the

U.N., President Trump, he accused Beijing of meddling in U.S. politics. That was a comment that raised a lot of eyebrows and, yet, Mike Pence is

expected to repeat that accusation again?

RIPLEY: And to expand upon it, yes. I mean, this is echoing what President Trump told the United Nations Security Council, that the Trump

administration believes that China is meddling in the election far more than Russia ever did, in fact, not even really mentioning Russia at all,

the Trump administration.

But they are taking a lot about China. Let me read you this. It says that Beijing has mobilized covert actors, front groups and propaganda outlets to

shift American's perception of Chinese policies. So, there are accusations of election hacking.

The Trump administration feels that China is slapping tariffs on products coming from red states with conservative voters in the United States

devoted for Trump, in an attempt to try to, you know, turn those voters away from the president ahead of the midterm elections.

Of course, Trump administration is very unhappy that China took out an insert in the "Des Moines Register," the influential newspaper in the

United States in one of those influential states. You know, not to mention the fact that they have accused China of intimidating American businesses,

forcing them to speak out against the policies of the Trump administration.

So, this is really the first time that in the areas of military, trade and domestic politics you have the Trump administration launching this

rhetorical assault on Beijing and how will they respond, well that remains the open question here, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Wow, this is some speech, a speech that will certainly inflame tension with China. Will Ripley reporting as always, thank you. You're

watching "New Stream." And still to come, we are learning more about how some entire neighborhoods disappeared in Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami

disaster. How land turned into liquid and swallowed everything in sight. That's next on "News Stream"

Also, Paris parks dark secret, maybe picturesque by day, but by night, it is where trafficked sex workers are forced to make a living.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADEGE: If you go to Vincennes, they ask questions, 90 percent are slaves.

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Ninety percent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: The military in Indonesia is racing to evacuate thousands of people nearly a week after twin disasters struck the island of Sulawesi.

Emergency officials tell CNN that more than 2,000 people have already been air lifted to a city further south on the island. But on land, hopes of

finding anyone alive in the rubble are fading fast. More than 1,400 people are confirmed dead and there are fears that many more bodies may still be

buried under collapsed buildings. And now there's a new threat. Matt Rivers reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNTATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The village of Potobo is gone. Earthquakes destroy a lot of place but not many end up that

way by being sucked into the ground. When this one struck, the land acted more like a lake. It's called liquefaction.

(on-camera) So what happened during this natural phenomenon was that the ground that was solid underneath these houses and the people and the cars

of this village essentially became like a liquid which meant all the things on top got subsumed into the ground below while mud rose up.

And the result is this. This hellscape that rescuers have really no chance of digging through quickly, which means that we know there are still people

buried inside this ground that have no chance of being rescued.

The destruction here is utterly complete. Seven hundred and forty-four houses were buried, many with people inside. The searchers looking for them

are exhausted and outmatched. All of that is the reality facing those who made it out.

In this makeshift tent across town, we find an extended family all from Potobo sharing one tent. To a person, it's story after story of just

surviving.

MURYATIM GALANU, SURVIVOR (through translation): I saw houses rolling and the ground breaking open. A lot of people fell inside. It's thanks to god I

am alive now with my children.

RIVERS (voice-over): Muryatim Galanu (ph) knew the only way to escape was to take her family and run.

GALANU (through translation): We fell down into the mud. It looks like the mud was sucking us in. The mud was alive.

RIVERS (voice-over): They pulled their way out. Her parents didn't. She believes they are among the dead. (Inaudible) got stuck in the mud as well

holding her 3-month-old daughter. The mud got up to her chest before she was saved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I lifted up my baby. I was so lucky because there were people who helped me.

RIVERS (voice-over): She made it out, but her mother was stuck, too. Her mom told her to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I said, my daughter, please, just leave me. Let me die here. The most important thing is to save your

baby. Your baby is much more important. But she said no, no, I want you to live. I surrendered.

RIVERS (voice-over): And three generations of family made it out safely. It was against the odds for all of the people in the tent to make it out,

their cuts and bruises and bandages show that. They call themselves the fortunate ones. Here on Sulawesi calling yourself lucky is a low bar these

days. Matt Rivers, CNN, Palu, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Hundreds of Nigerian women have been trafficked into Paris as sex workers, lured by the promise of a new life, only to find themselves

trapped in a cycle of abuse and exploitation. The young women are often found in and around one of the city's wooded parks and police are having a

tough time stopping it. Melissa Bell explains why in this Freedom Project report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (voice-over): A nighttime exchanges in Paris's largest park the Bois de Vincennes. With just a nod, a prostitute is led into the bushes. In

France, it is buying sex rather than selling it that is illegal. But the police say that most of the women who work here are slaves.

[08:25:04] Nadege, not her real name, used to be one of them.

NADEGE: If you go to Vincennes, you ask questions, 90 percent are slaves.

BELL: Ninety-percent?

Parisian police agree. For every woman dancing freely here, they say, nine are not. By day, the park is a beautiful spot, popular with dog walkers and

ball players. By nigh, it becomes a place where men can buy sex for very little. The police believe that 150 slaves work in this park.

Like the others, Nadege was in the hands of a network to which she gave all of her earnings, and like the others, she took an oath before leaving

Nigeria binding her to a madam through juju, a traditional West African belief system.

NADEGE: Imagine you taking an oath, you lie down inside a casket, a coffin which means if you break the rules you will now come back to this coffin.

It's so powerful.

BELL: So powerful that that during the ceremony, the women are physically branded with scars that identify them back in Nigeria as cursed women. In

2017, the U.N. International Organization for migration said that there had been a nearly 600% increase in potential sex trafficking victims arriving

in Europe through Italy since 2014. Eighty percent of them were Nigerian. Our cameraman wore a hidden device to get a sense of how these

conversations take place and where the women come from.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Nigeria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Nigeria. It's 30 euros.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 euros.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20 euros?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 euros.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old am I? You tell me how old am I?

BELL: Local charities say that the women who walk these streets are getting younger and that their apparent freedom is an illusion.

AURELIE JEANNEROD, NGO, LIBERATION FOR THE CAPTIVES: They have no access to their document. They have lost their identity. They have lost their age

and they have no freeness. The only freeness they have is to go to prostitute and to give back money.

BELL (on camera): It is so shocking to see these women lined up on the streets in this park. We asked Parisian police how this could be allowed to

continue. They said there simply isn't very much they can do. The women are afraid to talk to them because of the networks and they say they're moved

around Europe very often. And then explains the police, there is the problem that there is an apparently never ending supply of Nigerian women

desperate to come to Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): As soon as you dismantle a group, it only last, the most 24 hours, because we create a vacuum for another network to set

up.

BELL: A slave amongst so many others in this park, that's what Nadege says that she was for eight months. It was the birth of her son that gave her

the strength to go into hiding, but she says no one ever really escapes.

NADEGE: No matter what I am tomorrow, I'm still going to be useless because I can't proudly say my story. I can' proudly tell the world who I

am. I will always be in the dark. It's not easy to be transported to Europe just like a bag of fruit and sold for men to eat for money. But I just

thank God I'm a survivor.

BELL: Mellsa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.

The Dutch government is blaming Russia's military intelligence for cyberattacks it says it disrupted. One target the Organization for the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which investigated the nerve agent attack in England. The other alleged attack involved the investigation into the

downing of flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russia denies the allegations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's Germany's everlasting responsibility to fight anti-semitism in her country. She made those comments during her

visit to Jerusalem after she payed homage to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis. Mrs. Merkel and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,

are looking to brush past their differences and promote cooperation between their nations.

U.S. senators are now reading the FBI's updated background investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the

Senate will vote on the Supreme Court nominee this week regardless of what is in the report.

CNN's Abby Phillip is live for us at the White House. She joins us now. Abby, again, U.S. senators, they are at this very moment reading this

updated report from the FBI. Is it going to change any of their votes?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the report came in at around 2:30 in the morning, Washington time, and the White House is

saying as a result of seeing the report that they believe that they are confident that Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed in part because they

say that nothing in the report corroborates the claims of sexual assault against him.

However, the attention is now turning to the four undecided senators who hold Judge Brett Kavanaugh's fate in their hands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The Senate will vote on this nomination this week.

PHILLIP (voice over): Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moving toward Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation vote before the FBI report even

arrived at the Senate, scheduling the first vote on the nominee for tomorrow.

MCCONNELL: There will be plenty of time for members to review and be briefed on the supplemental material.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were limited on who they can talk to. That doesn't sound like the complete thorough investigation.

PHILLIP (voice over): Sources tell CNN that around 10 people were interviewed by the FBI, including a number of individuals who Christine

Blasey Ford says were at the party where she says she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh, which he denies.

But Ford's lawyer expressing profound disappointment that Ford herself was not interviewed, writing, an investigation that did not include an

interview of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony cannot be called an investigation.

Deborah Ramirez who said that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her in college, also expressing frustration that the list of possible witnesses she

provided to the FBI does not appear to have been pursued. Ramirez telling "The New Yorker," the people who are key to corroborating my story have not

been contacted. I feel like I'm being silenced.

CNN spoken with a number of potential witnesses who say they have information about Kavanaugh's history they like to share, but they've not

been contacted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you willing to talk to the FBI?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am willing to talk to the FBI, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never been contacted about Brett by the FBI ever.

PHILLIP (voice-over): "The Washington Post" reports that while President Trump has insisted the White House was not limiting the probe, privately

the White House restricted the FBI from delving deeply into Kavanaugh's youthful drinking and exploring whether he lied to Congress about his

alcohol use.

Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah releasing a late-night statement expressing confidence in Kavanaugh, calling the nominee's background checks the most

comprehensive review of a Supreme Court nominee in history. All eyes now on the four senators who could possibly sink Kavanaugh's confirmation, who

have all condemn President Trump's mockery of Ford.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don't know. But I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember.

[08:35:01] And a man's life is in tatters, a man's life is shattered.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: I don't approve of the comments from last night. I thought that they were wrong.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: The president's comments were just plain wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that was good. Nobody would think that will be good.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: Obviously, sensitive and appalling, frankly.

PHILLIP (voice-over): The White House standing by the president's remarks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't there something wrong with president of the United States mocking somebody who said she was sexually assaulted?

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It seemed to me that he was stating facts that Dr. Ford herself laid out in her testimony.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: If anyone was hoping that this FBI probe would clear up some of the partisanship around this nomination, they would be disappointed today.

Already Democrats are saying that the FBI probe was too limited in scope by the White House, by Senate Republicans.

And Republicans are saying that now is the time to vote and that Brett Kavanaugh will be vindicated by what the FBI found. At the moment, we are

looking toward a weekend final vote on his nomination, but in the meantime, the reading continues of the FBI's final report on Kavanaugh.

President Trump has been briefed, according to the White House, and already on Twitter this morning. He is declaring that the voters are with him on

this issue and not the Democrats.

LU STOUT: Abby Phillip live from the White House, thank you. Now, there is a group of Americans who would disagree with the presidential assessment.

There are protesters who opposed Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. And a group of them are making their way from New York City

to Washington.

CNN's Athena Jones is on the bus with a group of these protesters. She joins us now live. Athena, tell us about this protest. How are they taking

action?

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie. I'm on a bus with -- one of several buses heading down to Washington from not just New

York but from other states. This protest and these folks on this bus were organized by the Women's March. That's of course the group that organize

massive protests the day after President Trump's inauguration back in 2017, and another one this year.

There are many events taking place across the country that thousands of people are expected to take part in. As for this group, once they get to

Washington, there is going to be several disobedience training. At one point, they are also going to gather outside the federal court house where

Kavanaugh currently serves.

The idea, according to the organizers, is to march from the court where he currently serves to the court that he hopes to ascend to, the Supreme

Court. They of course want to do everything they can to stop that. So, there will be a rally outside the Supreme Court and then also a rally on

the east steps (ph) of the Capitol.

One thing we are hearing from the folks we've talked to -- as I mention, we began gathering as early as just after 4:00 a.m. this morning, we departed

New York just after five -- what we are hearing from these folks who took off work to join this protest is that they are angry.

One woman described it to me as incandescent rage, as the way this Kavanaugh confirmation process has played out with Ford's allegations. And

also concerns about what message this sends to survivors of sexual violence. To be clear, some of these folks were already against Kavanaugh,

but Ford's allegation added to the opposition. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Athena Jones reporting live on board the Kavanaugh protest bus, one of many heading straight to Washington, D.C. Athena, thank you.

You're watching "News Stream." Still to come, we're going to take a look at what one designer has developed to pave the way for a greener fashion

industry. That story is next right here on "News Stream."

[08:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. And it is fashion meets science in our last story. A longstanding problem in the fashion industry is the amount of water being

used to dye fabrics. One design researcher may have found the solution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATSAI AUDREY CHIEZA, DESIGN RESEARCHER: What happens when you take a designer and place them in a biological, scientific environment, that's

when you get a new way of thinking that can catalyze innovation.

Bacteria produce pigment. I became very interested with microbes that seep it out because that seemed like a very low-tech way of actually accessing

that color.

Streptomyces coelicolor is an organism that normally found in soil. It gives the fruit (ph) its flavor. It's the smell of rain just before

thunderstorm and produces this beautiful sky blue pigment.

We quickly discovered that it could dye textiles with about 500 times less water than what ordinarily happens in industry.

We are at the Department of Biochemical Engineering at University College London. Researchers here are looking at how synthetic biology, the design

of living system, can offer us major driven ways of doing these sorts of things that chemicals normally do.

Steptomyces coelicolor produces color within seven days. It can ferment in a liquid broth of nutrients and that's when the cells start to divide.

After certain points, something is triggered, it starts to produce that pigment.

We can grow the organism directly on to the textile. And if you start to direct where those organisms are, you can start to design patterns and

prints to start to design with biology in a quite compelling way.

We can create a range of different colors by tweaking the PH. Low PH results in more blue colors towards the purple spectrum and something

that's a slightly higher PH is going to deliver bright vibrant pinks and even reds.

I think what's so fascinating about textiles is that they have always been artifacts that are sort of beyond this material that might look nice. They

tell us about where we are with our technology.

If we look at what knitting was in the 1900s compared to what we can do now with 3D forms, massive leaps have happened. There are new spaces opening up

for designers to invite this inter-disciplinary sharing of ideas. I think that's where creativity has an amazing space to expand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Innovation can be so beautiful. 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