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Authorities Still Looking for Answers for Lion Air's Tragedy; Merkel Says Goodbye to Politics; Anti-Semite Gunman Could Face Death Penalty; Prosecutors Begin Process To Seek Death Penalty; Trump To Visit Pittsburgh Amid Criticism Of Rhetoric; Family And Players Mourning Leicester City FC Owner; New Risk For Endangered Animals. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 30, 2018 - 03:00   ET

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


(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: -- jet that crashed at sea on Monday. But there are fears everyone on board may be dead.

Plus, a stunning announcement about her future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is eyeing retirement. What this could mean for Europe and the world.

Also, this hour. China reverses a 24-year ban that help protect endangered wildlife from the risks of poaching.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.

Search crews in Indonesia are looking for victims from Lion Air flight 610 which crashed in the waters of Jakarta on Monday. They have found smaller pieces of what's left of the Boeing 737 but still searching for the plane's fuselage and data recorders.

Most of the 189 people on board have not been recovered. And officials warn they may never find everyone's remains. Family members have gathered at Jakarta's main airport and a hospital waiting for any information.

Crews have taken at least 24 body bags containing victims remains and belongings to the hospital for examination.

CNN's Anna Coren is following the story for us from Hong Kong. She joins us live. Anna, search crews are yet to find the flight data recorders that will of course ultimately reveal what went wrong. But are investigators any closers to figuring out what happened while they wait to get those black boxes?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously this investigation is in its infancy. But they are searching desperately for that cockpit voice recorder as well as the flight data recorder, those black boxes which as you say hold the answers, to what went so terribly wrong with this Boeing 737 max 8. It literally fell out of the sky and diving into the Java Sea Monday

morning and early Jakarta time. It was meant to go on a one-hour domestic flight several minutes in, the pilots contacted air-traffic control saying they were having problems they wanted to return to base. That permission was granted. And then shortly after that, Rosemary, the plane disappeared from the radar.

Now witnesses they saw it crashing into the Java Sea and that is where the investigation is very much centered on. Debris has been found. Body parts remains have been found.

And we heard from the head of the Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency a short time ago and he said that it was unlikely that all the remains will be found of those 189 people on board because the bodies just are not intact. It gives you a sense of how fast that plane was hurdling into the ocean when it hit the Java Sea.

So, they have assured families that the identification process is happening as quickly as possible. But as you can imagine, Rosemary, this is just a painstaking search for those out at sea and looking for those remains, but obviously, also for the family, just the weight that they have to endure knowing that their this loved ones have died and hoping that they can bury their loved ones in some capacity.

CHURCH: It is so heartbreaking for all of the families and friends waiting for some answers here. And Anna, we know that the pilots requested to return to base. They never actually did that. But why would they not declare an emergency? What are authorities saying about that?

COREN: Yes, a really good question, Rosemary, and we just, we don't know the answers. Obviously, they put in that request to return, permission was granted and then minutes later they disappeared off the radar.

So, things obviously transpired very quickly, much quicker than what they thought. But you are talking about pilots. Two pilots that had 11,000 hours experience between the two of them. Now this plane which we should as was a very new plane. Lion Air had only come into the purchase of the plane in August. So, it had two months of flying time, 800 hours in total.

We do know, Rosemary that it had experienced problems the day before on a flight from Bali to Jakarta. Lion Air says those technical issues were resolved. Obviously, it was able to land and there were no further complications.

[03:04:59] But clearly, something was very wrong. So, investigators are not looking at operator error or pilot error but more so at the technical issues with this Boeing 737 max 8, Rosemary.

CHURCH: That's just tragic. Anna Coren joining us live from Hong Kong. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Well, the suspect in the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue has made his first appearance in court. The senior law enforcement official for Pittsburgh is seeking the death penalty for Robert Bowers. A penalty which must be approved by the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Now President Trump will visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay his respects along with the first lady, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Now that is despite some of the city's Jewish leaders urging the president not to come. They say his words and policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement and they called on him to speak out against it. On Monday, the White House press secretary spoke about the president's family ties to Judaism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He adores Jewish-Americans as part of his own family. The president is the grandfather of several Jewish grandchildren. His daughter is a Jewish- American and his son-in-law is a descendant of a Holocaust survivors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump blames the media for the spike in political violence, tweeting, "The fake news media is the true enemy of the people."

His press secretary doubled down on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: The president is not placing blame. The president is not responsible for these acts. Again, the very first action that the president did was condemn these heinous acts. The very first thing that the media did was condemn the president and go after him and try to blame not just on the president but everybody that works in the administration.

The major news networks first public statements were to blame the president and myself included. I mean, that is outrageous that anybody other than the individual who carried out the crime would hold that responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The city of Pittsburgh remains united in its grief. A memorial of Stars of David, one for each one for the victims now stands outside the Tree of Life synagogue.

Our Miguel Marquez has more now from Pittsburgh.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robert Bowers in court, cuffed and in a wheelchair, officially charged 29 counts in all from murder to obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, a hate crime. The government may seek the death penalty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: It was attack on all people of faith. It cannot and will not be tolerated. Subjected to the death penalty perhaps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Investigators now digging deeply, searching Bowers home and sending a bomb robot in first to insure there were no explosive traps. They've also searched his vehicle and are looking for closed-circuit video that might have captured Bowers prior to the massacre and doing a painstaking investigation of the crime scene itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT JONES, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: This was a large, complex crime scene. And much work remains to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Bowers had 21 guns registered to him. He took four into the synagogue. Three Glock handguns and an AR-15 assault style semiautomatic rifle. The Glocks he purchased legally. It is not clear how he obtained the AR-15. Investigators also recovered a shotgun from Bowers' car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: We continue to conduct interviews, scrub social media, review possible surveillance camera video and exploit digital media to determine how and why Bowers committed this terrible act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Bowers social media reads like a roadmap of hate and murder. He was particularly concern about the caravan of Central Americans migrants. And appeared to key on reporting from Fox News, right wing social media, and highlighted by President Trump's own tweets that Middle Easterners may be mixed in with the immigrants, all claims without evidence.

Bowers reposted this anti-Semitic view on immigration his gab.com account on October 4th. "Open your eyes, it's the filthy evil Jews bringing the filthy evil Muslims into the country."

Like the president, he referred to migrants as invaders. He has particular hatred for HIAS, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society which helps resettle immigrants of all backgrounds. In his final post, HIAS likes to bring in invaders in that kill our people and I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered, screw your optics, I'm going in."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAZZAN JEFFREY MYERS, RABBI, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE: At that time, I could hear the gunfire getting louder. It was no longer safe for me to be there and I to leave them. There was nothing I could do. I was not in the space at that time. I had run to safety as I called 911.

From what I've been called I was the first caller and I stayed on the phone for about 20 minutes. It seemed like eternity. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:10:01] MARQUEZ: The dead were the bedrock of the congregation. Among them, 97-year-old Rose Malinger, brothers David and Cesar Rosenthal, and a couple married 60 years, Bernice and Sylvan Simon.

Their deaths and the grotesque massacre has shaken this city of steel to its foundation. Now what is maybe most terrifying about this incident is that this was a person, you know, we have dug deeply into Robert Bowers life. And this is a person who barely cast a shadow in this world. He kind of was a nonentity essentially.

One woman who knew him for many years, decades says that he could never hold down a job, just went job to job and could never quite figure out life. He said he never utter an unkind word, that he wasn't loud and boisterous. She also said that this was a person who was a lost soul. Back to you.

CHURCH: Thank you so much, Miguel.

Well, in just a few hours, funerals for some of the victims of Saturday's horrific rampage will begin. The two devoted brothers that Miguel mentioned will be laid to rest standing alongside the synagogue's rabbi. Pittsburgh's mayor spoke to CNN about how the city will endure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL PEDUTO, PITTSBURGH: We take care of one another and then we look at the Jewish community itself. And we look in a way to be able not only to show support but to build bonds that will last long after this.

And we think ahead about how we can take something that is so horrific and find goodness. And use those few little rays of light to be able to create something here in Pittsburgh that will help to eradicate hate. That will stop the use of terms of hatred and bigotry in the public discourse on a daily basis and put it back into the basement where it belongs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The mayor also suggested that President Trump delay his visit to Pittsburgh until after the funerals conclude to keep the focus on those who died. But the synagogue's rabbi says the president is welcome to come at this time.

Well, the man accused of sending 14 pipe bombs in the mail to top Democrats to Trump critics and CNN was in court Monday in Florida. Cesar Sayoc faces five federal charges and could get up to 48 years in prison if he's convicted. His attorneys tell CNN he will plead not guilty.

Law enforcement officials meantime tell CNN that Sayoc had a list of more than 100 people he planned to target. Those people are being warned to stay vigilant. Now this comes as another suspicious package was discovered. This one

here in Atlanta it was addressed to CNN's Atlanta headquarters and was intercepted at an off-site screening facility. Authorities believe it was also sent by Sayoc.

Well, for 18 years, she has been a political force, now Angela Merkel she's calling it quits. Next, we look back on her legacy what could be next for Germany.

And Jamal Khashoggi's fiance demands answers and accountability from Saudi Arabia. We'll have that when we come back.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, in politics, Germany's immigration crisis may have been part of what pushed Europe's most powerful woman to announce she's stepping down. The chancellor said she won't stand again after her term ends in 2021.

Our Fred Pleitgen reports from Berlin.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was the announcement that spelled the beginning of the end for the German chancellor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): This fourth term is my last term as chancellor of the federal republic of Germany. In the next Bundestag election in 2021, I will not run again as chancellor. I will not run for the German Bundestag anymore and I will not take any other political positions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: After 13 years, as Chancellor Angela Merkel saying she wants to begin a new chapter. Her decision a sign of a weakened position in her party. A party that suffered poor results in the regional election this weekend.

Despite recent struggles over her long career, Angela Merkel became arguably the world's most powerful woman. She adopted several nicknames along the way, including 'Mutti' or Mamma Merkel. No matter what she's been called, though, Angela Merkel has proven to be a force to be reckoned with.

She grew up in east Germany under its communist regime, studying to be a scientist. But after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, she threw herself into the world of politics working to unify Germany after the Cold War.

She had enacted for toppling those who underestimated her. Her mentor the formidable chancellor, Helmut Kohl used to tease her for her provincial manners. And yet, within a decade she was calling for his resignation as he faced allegations of corruption.

By 2005, she'd become the country's first female chancellor.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PLEITGEN: Known for being pragmatic and understated, those some found her indecisive. Early on she was criticized for being slow to act and reticent to speak out.

Merkel showed her resolve in 2015 when she allowed more than a million refugees those fleeing from Syria's civil war to cross into Germany. It was initially applauded by many Germans, but later heavily criticized by those thought Germany was overburdened.

Merkel's answer to her critics was "Wir schaffen das," we can manage. It was a decision that has come to define her political career. Merkel is one of the longest serving leaders in Europe. She's worked alongside three U.S. presidents and four British prime ministers and four French presidents.

Under her leadership the country has grown prosperous and powerful. But Angela Merkel has also challenged Germany to open up and shoulder more responsibility for global problems. As she prepares to step down in 2021, Germany will need to decide if its new leader should continue down that path.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

CHURCH: So, let's talk more about this with Steven Erlanger. Steven is the chief diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times and he joins us now from Brussels. Welcome.

STEVEN ERLANGER, LONDON BUREAU CHIEF, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Angela Merkel will not seek re-election in 2021. But how likely is it that she will last that long, and how bumpy might her exit from power be do you think?

ERLANGER: I think she will not last that long. She'll be lucky to last a year. Quite a lot depends on the decisions that her beacons coalition partners and the social Democrats. That they pull out of the coalition, they might cause a new election and may new election she will not (Technical difficulty). So, her time is spent would be over.

[03:19:53] She had said last election that she wouldn't run again in 2021. But since, you know, she won a narrow victory (Inaudible) and put her six months to form a coalition. Her power has been every way. And fairly I think it is time she was push to the party leadership. And it's very hard to imagine her as a remaining chancellor for more than a year.

CHURCH: Wow. Well, the volatile issue of immigration of course appears to have been Merkel's downfall. But over the course of her leadership, what impact has she had on both German and global politics in essence what does she leave behind her legacy. ERLANGER: She's been an extraordinary politician. I mean, a leader, a

quite leader. Very much underestimated from the start. A lot of sexism involved. She was also (Inaudible) so there was a lot of attempts, she was kind of (Inaudible) protege and ended up knifing him and proving to everyone her lust for power.

She's exercised it with a degree of discretion. She has led one of the great economic decades in German history. And she has kept her calm. She's had a couple of strange, almost mind freezes when she decided suddenly to get rid of nuclear energy in Germany, which has caused disruption though it may work out well.

And when she decided to open the border in 2015 and a million refugees and (Inaudible) migrants came pouring in giving Germans the sense that the government had lost control. And that's damaged her quite a lot. Also, people get sick of leaders, you know, she's been a leader for 12 years so people get a little sick of it. And they want something new. And she is not a sort of charismatic figure. She's a balancer.

So, I think she will go down in German history as a remarkable success but, you know, almost all political careers end in sadness, frankly.

CHURCH: We shall see how Germany, and indeed, the world fare without Merkel. Steven Erlanger, thank you so much. Joining us there live from Brussels.

Well in his first interview since being elected Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro struck the defiant tone he's known for, the far-right candidate won with 55 percent of the vote beating leftist opponent Fernando Haddad.

Bolsonaro spoke to CNN affiliate RecordTV about Brazil's sky-high crime rate. He said the answer to safety is to arm yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAIR BOLSONARO, PRESIDENT-ELECT PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): If someone interested in doing something bad, they don't have to buy a gun in the legal market. It's easy to find a firearm on the black market. We need to abandon this political correctness, this notion that Brazil will be better if everyone is unarmed. It won't be better. Firearms not only guarantee people's lives, they guarantee their freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Bolsonaro's election comes after a bitter divisive campaign. Now he has the task of preparing the country's crippled economy, rampant crime, and pervasive corruption.

Well, Jamal Khashoggi's fiance is calling on the U.S. president to put aside his financial interests and push for the truth in Khashoggi's death. Though their story has shifted several times, the Saudis admit the journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh insist the king and crown prince had no knowledge of the operation. The White House says President Trump is weighing his options. He has

said he wants to protect a multibillion dollar arms deal with the kingdom. Khashoggi's fiance said Saudi Arabian authorities are responsible for what happened inside their consulate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HATICE CENGIZ, JAMAL KHASHOGGI'S FIANCE (through translator): I want justice to be served. Not only for those who murdered my beloved Jamal but for those who organize it and gave the order of it. I want the role of the political leadership in this brutal killing to be brought to light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, Turkish authorities still want to know who ordered the killing and what happened to the body. Though, Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor came to Istanbul to discuss the case we don't know if Turkey receive any answers.

Ben Wedeman reports.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor came to Turkey on Monday to meet with the Istanbul prosecutor who is leading the investigation into the 2nd of October murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The meeting lasted a mere hour and 15 minutes.

[03:24:55] Now the Turks were hoping the Saudis would provide them with the testimony of the 18 Saudi nationals currently being detained in the kingdom that includes the 15-member hit team that came here as well as three employees of the Saudi consulate.

Nor is it clear if the Turks shared with the Saudis the audio recording they say they have that includes the torture and murder and dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi.

Also, on Monday, the Turkish foreign minister said that the Saudis are slowly admitting everything but he warned against stalling in the investigation. The Turks very much want to know where is the body of Jamal Khashoggi and who was it that gave the order to send the hit team here in the first place.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Istanbul.

CHURCH: Back in the United States, critics say Trump's heated rhetoric may have played a role in the hate crimes. He blames the media. It's against that backdrop that Mr. Trump visits Pittsburgh later Tuesday. And the White House press secretary is asked which media outlets are the true enemy of the people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I'm not going to walk through a list. But I think those individuals probably know who they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone to CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check the headlines for you this hour.

Crews in Indonesia are trying to locate the passengers and crew from Lion Air flight JT 610. The Boeing 737 crashed in the waters of Jakarta Monday. One hundred eighty-nine people were onboard. The plane's fuselage and flight data recorders have not yet been found.

Angela Merkel says it's time for a new chapter after 13 years at the helm of Europe's largest economy. The German chancellor confirm she won't run for another term. Her coalition suffered a major setback in a regional election. Chancellor Merkel's term ends in 2021.

Another group of Central American migrants bound for the U.S. has crossed a river into Mexico. U.S. President Trump is sending more than 5,000 troops to help stop the migrants from illegally entering the country. They are weeks away from arriving at the southern U.S. border.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the suspect in the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 people dead and six wounded. Robert Bowers made his first appearance in court Monday. Prosecutors say they are treating the rampage as a hate crime.

[03:30:02] And U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called it an attack on all people of faith.

The man accused of sending 14 pipe bombs in the mail to top Democrats, Trump critics and CNN was also in court Monday in Florida. Cesar Sayoc faces five federal charges and could get up to 48 years in prison if he is convicted. His attorneys tell CNN he will plead not guilty.

Well, U.S. President Trump heads to Pittsburgh later Tuesday where he is expected to meet with members of the Jewish community. He has condemned anti-Semitism, but has refused to take responsibility for any role his fiery rhetoric might have played in the increasing violence. Instead he has returned to a familiar fall back attacking the media. Jeff Zeleny reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: With Pittsburgh voice to bury victims of a horrific hatred and slaying of the Tree of Life Synagogue. President Trump open his day not consoling mourners but falsely blaming the media. At 8:03 a.m. today he tweeted, there is great anger in our country cause in part by inaccurate and even fraudulent reporting of the news. The fake news media, the true enemy of the people must stop the open and obvious hostility and report the news accurately and fairly. That will do much to put out the flame of anger and outrage.

At a rare White House briefing today the Press Secretary Sarah Sanders denounce the mass shooting.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Above all. It was an act of evil.

ZELENY: But defended the President's words.

HUCKABEE SANDERS: The very first thing the President did was condemn the attacks both in Pittsburgh and in the pipe bombs, the very first thing the media did was blame the president and make him responsible for this ridiculous acts.

ZELENY: But attacking the media is how the president chose to use his bully puppet today. Not by calling out the anti-Semitic views of the gunman, the bully says shattered he wanted all Jews to die. But through a deflection and a familiar tirade against the press.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a much different tone frankly if the press was even handed. If the press was fair. I have a much different tone. All the time. But I'm fighting the media.

ZELENY: After 72 hours of unspeakable violence in America, two African-Americans slain outside the Kentucky grocery store, a Florida man charge with sending pipe bombs to Trump critics and the synagogue massacre. The president initially denouncing the hate crime in a weekend rally.

TRUMP: The vile hate poison of anti-Semitisms must be condemn and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears.

ZELENY: But his compassioning grief quickly evolve into an erring of his grievances.

TRUMP: And if you don't mind, I am going to toned it down just a little bit, is that OK? I had a feeling you might say that.

ZELENY: The President is facing a mixed reaction as he and the first lady plan to visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Jeffrey Myers, the Rabbi at the Tree of Life Synagogue said he welcome the president.

JEFFREY MYERS, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE RABBI: The president of United States is always welcome. I'm a citizen. He is my President. He is certainly welcome.

ZELENY: That view is hardly universal. Lynette Lederman, a former President of the congregation asking the President to stay away unless he firmly denounces hate speech.

LYNETTE LEDERMAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CONGREGATION: I do not welcome this president to my city, because he is a purveyor of hate speech. The hypocritical words that come from him tell me nothing.

ZELENY: And that is exactly the mixed view and climate that the President and first lady are walking into when they're scheduled to go on Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The White House saying the president will meet with any families who want to meet with him, but they're working out this sensitive visit even its burials are likely to be happening, but after the president visits on Tuesday. He is back to the campaign trail on Wednesday. Scheduled to hold some 11 campaign rallies in the final week before the midterm's elections. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: In times of crisis, leaders from Prime Ministers to monarchs often take on the role of comforter and chief. In the U.S. Almost every President has had to fulfill that duty. In 2016 Barack Obama reacted to the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub with a national address on the same day. 49 people were killed in that attack. He sent condolences and promises to help in any way possible. Prior to that Obama a tearful President Obama had to soothe a brokenhearted nation after an elementary school was attacked in Newtown Connecticut taking the lives of 20 children and six adults. Here he is just days before Christmas in 2012.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between ages if five and ten years old.

[03:35:00] They had their entire lives ahead of them. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women that devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams. So our hearts are broken today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We can't forget the deadliest terror attack on American soil in September 11th. In the hours following that tragedy, President George W. Bush told the nation, that freedom itself was attacked by a faceless coward. But what some say resonated with them was his Islam and peace speech. He stood up for Muslims Americans at a time when America was deeply divided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDETN OF THE UNITED STATES: America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens. And Muslims make incredible valuable contribution to our country. Those who feel like they could intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger, they represent the best of America, they represent the worst of human kind and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior. This is great country, because we share the same value of respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, let us talk about the Trump presidency with Tim Naftali, CNN's Presidential historian and the former Director of the Nixon presidential library. So good to have you with us.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Good to be here. CHURCH: Now, in the wake of the slaying of 11 people at the synagogue

in Pittsburgh, President Trump blamed and attacked the media calling them the enemy of the people, instead of calling out the anti-Semitic views of the government. Has any other U.S. President ever responded in that way in the course of a national tragedy?

NAFTALI: The American people has been fortunate, most of the time, in the cold war and in the time since the cold war. The American President has understood how to unite the people in time of mourning after a tragedy. Unfortunately President Trump seems not to be able to show that kind of unscripted empathy that Americans come to expect from their chief executive at times like this one.

CHURCH: Now I just the last few days, this country seen two African- Americans murdered outside a grocery store just because of the color of their skin. A Florida man charged with sending pipe bombs to critics of President Trump and then of course, this tragedy in Pittsburgh. Many people are calling on the President to unite and comfort the nation. But this is what the daughter of former president Ronald Reagan, Patti Davis had to say about that in a Washington Post op-ed.

This President will never offer comfort, compassion or empathy to a grieving nations. It is not in him. When questioned after a tragedy, he will always be Glib and inappropriate. So I have a wild suggestion, let's stop asking him. His words are only salt in our wounds. Is she right?

NAFTALI: Well, I agree with her. I think we saw just after the Charlottesville tragedy a year ago that President Trump was incapable of understanding what the President's responsibilities are at a time of national shock. He seemed to think of this as a political attack on him. The fact that some Americans were asking him to do more, to say more. And one gets the same sense from him now. And that I think has led a number of people, not just Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald Reagan, but many people to conclude that Donald Trump just doesn't get it.

That it is not within his understanding of what his duties are as president of United States. Time and again he reverts to that political animal who is looking for some political advantage, who is speaking only the language of the people he wants to motivate to vote for him. This is a time beyond politics. This is a moment we should not be talking about politics. We should be talking about the President as leader of the country and helping the country recover from a shock.

I think what Patti Davis and others like her are saying, is that, we should look for ourselves, we Americans should look for ourselves. We're not going to get that kind of (inaudible) from the President at this moment. We done have a president who is able to do it, so we should find recovery and reconciliation in our own communities, among ourselves.

[03:40:00] CHURCH: So, the American people don't have a President that can comfort and unite them. They should look within themselves. So where does that leave the nation reeling from unspeakable crimes against minority groups now living in fear of more attacks and how does this hasten the vision compared to other times of the periods in this country's history?

NAFTALI: Rosemary, the United States, the bigotry and anti-Semitism predates Donald J. Trump. What he's done is he hasn't understood that he has an obligation to turn the heat down on still and the pot is boiling and we need to bring the heat down. Americans, however, haven't needed the president to tell them how they feel. The president can help them heal. So the way forward is what you're seeing happening in the United States, vigils, conversations, people at the community's, leaders of various-based communities stepping up and reminding Americans of the values that they credit and they believe it, that is what you are looking for.

There are moments when you love it. Sort of a cinematic moment where you want the president to know the words, to know the sentiments necessary to unite the people. We just don't have that kind of president at the moment. We had a president who is seeking to win and do well in the midterm election and is choosing the basic code of language instead of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical language that we so desperately would want from our leader at times such as this one.

CHURCH: Tim Naftali, thank you so much of your analysis at this time, we appreciate it.

NAFTALI: Thank you Rosemary.

CHURCH: The man who brought a sporting dream and a kind word for everyone to the East Midlands of England is being remembered across the world, coming up next, the tributes pouring in for the honor of the Leicester city football club. Plus wildlife activists are furious that China has issued a directive allowing Tiger bones and Rhino horn to be used for medical purposes. That is up next after the short break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: China has just legalized the use of endangered tiger and Rhino parts for medical purposes if they come from farmed animals.

[03:45:06] Wildlife activist say it is a huge setback to their effort to protect the endangered animals it reverses a ban on Tiger bones and rhino bone both valid for the healing powers in Chinese traditional medicine. Wildlife groups say the new law could lead to increased consumer demand for the products and supplies from poachers.

Joining me now, from Johannesburg to discuss the controversy surrounding the new rule is CNN correspondent, David McKenzie. So, David why did China reverse a 1993 ban on the use of Tiger and rhino products and what impact it will is have on these endangered animal populations?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, is you just look at rhino populations here in South Africa more than 500 rhinos are poach just up until the end of August this year. There is an epidemic of poaching on the species. The same can be said

in Southeast Asia and China when it comes to tigers and the worry from conservation groups is that this will allow illegal products to filter in to the legal usage that now China says will be allowed in certain certified hospitals and from physicians using Chinese traditional medicine.

So though they say they will use the law to punish people who are doing this illegally. This often was worried that these illegal products slip into that same that same pipeline and what man conservationists have said for years is the key to stopping poaching is extinguishing the demand of these products. This seems to only be increasing the demand by making it illegal in certain circumstances, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely in China's state to counsel says rhino and tiger products can now be used in medical research and healing as long as they come from farmed animals. So which farms are they referring to and will they make sure that they do come from farms and not from poachers.

MCKENZIE: Well, there are farms for rhinos that have kind of developed over the last few years in Yunnan province in the west of the country they were able to do that despite the ban on the product until recently saying it was for a scientific purposes. So there will be a supplier in China both tiger and rhino of farmed animals.

Again, this appears to be the next step in a lobbying campaign to try unbanned the use of these products more globally, because there is a move in South Africa by some poachers to farm rhino in particular for their horns, you're able to take those horns off without killing the animals. Those advocate say, this is the only way to save the species, but conservationists said that this is really a bad move, because it will just increase the demand in Asia and that and insatiable demand will be met by in part illegal poaching which could decimate the species both here in Africa and of course in Asia, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our David McKenzie joining us live from Johannesburg with that report. And for more on this we are join via Skype from Nairobi, Colman O'Criodain from the world wide fund for nature. Thank you so much sir for talking with us. Talk to us about your reaction to this move on the part of China and what your organization and others are planning to do in response to this?

COLMAN O'CRIODAIN, WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE: Thank you very much for having me. I was they were very disappointed with this development we have always been pleased that China has had this banned since 1993 and by and large they didn't enforce it, they removed rhino horn and tiger bone from the Chinese form of traditional pharmacopeia, but neither taking a step backwards effectively. Their signaling approval of the use of these products in a situation where even since 1993. There has still been strongly demand.

So first of all, even if we go with the thesis that this is only from captopril animals and only an authorized hospitals, it presupposes that the trade pattern will stick to that and there's absolutely no basis for assuming that that's certainly not what happened with the ivory trade when they allowed trade through authorized shops, a huge parallel illegal trade, which was already there, but it just exploded in the subsequent years and we've no guarantee that the hospitals will always source legally or that I am the putting the rhino on the horn and tiger bone on trade in this way will somehow signal official approval that might encourage other people to buy it through unofficial and through the illegal channels.

[03:50:00] So one way or another. It's more than likely to stimulate illegal trade and to stimulate demand. And we are in a situation, particularly with tigers, we have less than 4000 in the wild. That's half, roughly half the number that exist in farms in China. So we very little room for maneuver and for experimenting on what works with trade and what doesn't. There's absolutely no reason for assuming that a captive bread trade when there are so few species in the wild, and it's so cheap to culture rhino compared to racing when in captivity, there is no reason to assume that when --will improve the conservation status of these species.

We are in a situation where according to the living planet report which we launched today. Overexploitation is a major threat for many species and definitely both rhino and tiger are at the acute end, when it comes to that threat, overexploitation is a much more serious threat than habitat loss and fragmentation.

CHURCH: So the impact of this it will decimate the populations for the tigers and the rhinos, is there anything absurd to wildlife experts and activists can do about this?

O'CRIODAIN: Well, we would certainly raise the issue through the convention on international trade in endangered species and through their official meetings. The next one in which will happen in May next year and we will call on the convention to take resident steps against this. We will also, of course, continue to work on the ground to do our best to curtail and keep in check the level of poaching that's going on in the natural range of the rhinos and tigers, but that is challenging and a huge proportion of the rhino poaching is still going on in Kruger unless that was the case a few years ago but still significant and that's a national Park, the size of Wales. Similarly, in Southeast Asia, where government is quite weak and where this already and significant illegal domestic trade in endangered wild life products, it is very, very difficult to keep poaching and check.

CHURCH: Coleman O'Criodain, thank you so much for joining us and explaining the situation there. We will watched to see, with your organization and others can change anything with this. Many thanks.

O'CRIODAIN: Thank you very much.

CHURCH: I want to take a very short break here, but still to come. The Leicester city football club will open a book of condolence in the next hour, so grieving fans can pay their respects to the club's beloved owner, tributes have already been pouring in. We will have more on that on the other side of the break.

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CHURCH: A book of condolence will soon be opened in the United Kingdom as fans mourn the loss of the owner of the Leicester City football club.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed Saturday in a helicopter crash along with four others. The chopper went down moments after taking off from center pitch after the team's match. The investigators are examining the flight data recorder. The tributes have been pouring in for the club's owner.

[03:55:00] His wife and son laid a wreath at the King palace stadium, Monday while Leicester City players paid their respects.

Also the Thailand's youth football team, the wild boars who spent two weeks trapped in a flooded cave and happened to be visiting the U.K. at the time of Saturday's crash.

Twitter may be about to dump the like button. The social network CEO, Jack Dorsey says, twitter has been looking at getting rid of the heart-shaped button as a way to incentivize healthy conversation, but in a tweet Monday, twitter's communications team said they are in the early stages of work and have no plans to share right now.

Well, if completing a marathon isn't tough enough, runners in Venice had an extra challenge over the weekend.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a mile. 4 1/2, very good time until this happened.

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CHURCH: Well, high tides made for some pretty soaky sneakers as runners splashed their way through the water lobe course. It is some of the worst flooding Venice's had seen in more than a decade. Cause by strong winds that pushed water into the city.

And thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on twitter @rosemarycnn. We love to hear from you. And the news continues next with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London. You are watching CNN. Stay with us.

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