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More Russia Trouble; A New Report Alleges U.S. President Donald Trump Directed His Former Fixer To Lie To Congress, Touchdown In Washington, North Korea's Lead Negotiator Arrives With A Letter At A Very Awkward Time; Human Rights Abuse In China And The U.S. Is Holding China Accountable. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 18, 2019 - 08:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST, "NEWS STREAM" (voice over): More Russia trouble. A new report alleges U.S. President Donald Trump directed his former fixer

to lie to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA MURRAY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: If this is accurate, and as you pointed out, CNN has not independently confirmed it, it's an indication

that the President was, in fact, trying to obstruct justice.

LU STOUT (voice over): Touchdown in Washington, North Korea's lead negotiator arrives with a letter at a very awkward time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This just comes just hours after Trump rolls out a missile defense strategy.

LU STOUT (voice over): Plus, human rights abuse in China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIHRIGUL TURSUN, ETHNIC UYGHUR: In the same one room, nine women die, I see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT (voice over): Now the U.S. is holding China accountable.

LU STOUT (on camera): I'm Kristi Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream." To say that Donald Trump is facing appreciate pressure

would be quite the understatement. Right now, the U.S. President is fending off new legal allegations. He is grappling with a government

shutdown, dueling with the Democrats, now dominating the House of course and trying to tame a nuclear North Korea.

A damning new Buzzfeed report says President Trump personally directed his long-time former attorney, Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his

proposed Tower project in Moscow. CNN has not confirmed the report, but if it's true, it could spell huge trouble for Donald Trump. Plus, the

shutdown showdown appears to have taken on a personal tone, with the President canceling an overseas trip for the Speaker of the House - all of

this is unfolding as Washington hosts North Korea's top nuclear negotiator with Mr. Trump unveiling a new missile defense strategy that appears to

contradict his claim that Pyongyang is no longer a nuclear threat.

But let's begin with this report by Buzzfeed News. It cites two Federal law enforcement officials, they say that Robert Mueller's office learned

about the alleged directive through witness interviews and various documents, not just Cohen. The Democrats, they are seizing on it and it

really raises the stakes for the testimony that Michael Cohen is set to give next month.

Shimon Prokupecz reports from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER, CNN: Yes, it's certainly explosive reporting and really, would be the first clear sign, like you

said, if true that the President was involved in a major cover-up, that there are obstruction issues here that we have not seen the likes of before

in terms of this White House.

So Buzzfeed went ahead and published the story, and like you guys there said just moments ago, they say that it's not just Michael Cohen's words

that Federal investigators and the Mueller team have. They say that there are text messages, e-mails, other documents that Federal investigators and

the Mueller team have which corroborate some of this information, the fact that the President wanted Michael Cohen to lie to members of Congress.

The other thing - and this is hugely significant, is that Buzzfeed says that Michael Cohen and the President met some ten times, ten times over

this deal, over the Moscow project, hugely significant because, obviously, the President has sought to downplay any role he may have had in this

project.

Now, timely in all of this is the potentially the next Attorney General just testifying days ago here on Capitol Hill was asked about this issue,

if the President would suborn perjury or if he was involved in any kind of obstruction, what could potentially and what should potentially happen.

Here is that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, U.S. SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, REPUBLICAN: So if there was some reason to believe that the President tried to coach somebody not to

testify or to testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice.

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: Yes, under that - under the obstruction statute, yes.

GRAHAM: So if there's an evidence that the President tried to conceal evidence, that would be obstruction of justice, potentially, right?

BARR: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: So the other thing in the Buzzfeed story is that the Ivanka Trump and Don Jr., they say, played a bigger role, as well. Don Jr. had

testified also before Congress. He tried to minimize his role in the entire project. Buzzfeed is saying, not so, that he was much more

involved. Obviously, many, many questions we're going to hear a lot today and the big day really will also be when Michael Cohen as you guys say

finally testifies before members of Congress on February 7th.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Shimon Prokupecz there, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst, John Avlon and John, wow, this Buzzfeed report is

out there. It is being called possibly historic, it's been called a bombshell. We have not independently confirmed it, but what is your take

on how significant it is?

[00:05:03]

JOHN AVLON, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: This is a big deal and this escalates the stakes dramatically. For a lot of folks, impeachment is

simply a partisan catch phrase, something that feels good and presented without context. But for the first time, we have a story by two excellent

reporters it should be said whose sources seem to say they have specific e- mails and documentary evidence that the President suborn perjury.

That is not an ambiguous crime. As you heard Bill Barr say in his hearings just the other day. That is a clear, bright line, and if so, impeachment

proceedings can go forward. Now, folks need to know that impeachment ultimately, in Congress, in the Senate, is a political process. And it

could be that the parties are so polarized that normal rules of law do not apply.

But this is the standard that got Richard Nixon in trouble, where Republicans came to him and said, "It's time to resign, Mr. President," and

it was one of the accusations directed at Bill Clinton. So this is serious. This is a big deal. A lot of missing information seems motivated

by greed, stupidity, and the President, as President, telling his lawyer to lie to Congress.

LU STOUT: This is serious. This is a big deal and this morning, there in America, we keep hearing the word "impeachable." This is becoming all the

more real now for the U.S. President?

AVLON: It should, you know, denial is not just a river in Egypt, as they say, but the President does have an ability to create his own reality. But

sometimes, even that world view collides with cold, hard facts, particularly when they're backed by force of law and the weight of history.

And that's what we seem to have here today.

Again, I think no one should be an impeachment enthusiast. Impeachment is a destructive process in terms of undermining faith in our elections by one

party or the other. It really does need to hit high crimes and objective standards with historic weight. But there's no way to shimmy or spin

around the fact that suborning perjury by the President, by anybody, is a crime and that's where the rubber meets the road on this one.

LU STOUT: I also wanted to get your thoughts on what Rudy Giuliani said. The President's personal attorney, his comment to all this saying, quote,

"If you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge," unquote.

Now, John, he's basically calling Michael Cohen a liar here, but Cohen has lied before. He is a problematic witness, right?

AVLON: That's right, and I should say I worked for Rudy Giuliani for many years as his chief speechwriter as the Mayor of New York and I have a lot

of respect for him in that incarnation. But he's really gone out on a series of limbs here defending the President in the court of public

opinion, which is what he sees his active job to be.

The problem is that this report does not simply seem to be a "he said he said" between Cohen and the President. Yes, Michael Cohen is an admitted

liar. But if there is documentary evidence, as these two sources who are not Michael Cohen, and the story seem to suggest, this is something far

graver.

And so the attempt to sort of say, you know, "I'm not the liar, you're the liar," as a defense for the President's counsel probably isn't remotely

sufficient. And I think that phrase should be updated, by the way, to say "I've got a penthouse in the Trump Tower Moscow to sell you."

LU STOUT: Yes, but that's the next thing to look out for, the documents, the receipt to back this bombshell of a report up. John Avlon, as always,

thank you so much and take care.

AVLON: Pleasure, take care.

LU STOUT: Now, the President's long time former cleanup man, Michael Cohen, is also at the center of another bombshell this week. Cohen now

admits he tried to rig online polls in Mr. Trump's favor back in 2015.

"The Wall Street Journal" first reported the story and said that Cohen secretly paid the head of a small tech company up to $13,000.00 in cash to

manipulate the polls. And a statement to CNN, Cohen said, there is quote, "As for the "Wall Street Journal" article on poll rigging, what I did was

at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald J. Trump. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it."

Now let's turn to the U.S. government shutdown that has now continued to play out, but now it is a personal grudge match between Donald Trump and

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The President has canceled her use of a military plane for a Congressional trip overseas. It's apparently in

response to Pelosi's letter a day earlier suggesting Mr. Trump postpone the State of the Union address until the shutdown is resolved.

Let's get straight to Joe Johns now. He joins us live from the White House, and Joe, Trump is hitting back at Speaker Pelosi, but can he do

this? Can a U.S. President cancel a trip for a leader of Congress?

JOE JOHNS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: He sure can. Look, Kristie, this shutdown is putting bare fisted political combat on public

display in the United States and it is definitely not pretty.

As you said, the President denying the Speaker of the House the customary use of military aircraft to fly to Afghanistan for a Congressional

delegation to meet with U.S. troops that are stationed there.

[08:10:10]

JOHNS: Of course, the President's letter to the Speaker of the House indicating that he was doing this, dripping with sarcasm. Here is part of

it, "In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you will agree that postponing this public relations event," as he

called it, " ... is appropriate." That followed by one day the Speaker of the House writing a letter to the President of the United States suggesting

that she would advise that he not use the House Chamber in the United States capital in order to deliver his customary State of the Union

address.

This of course deprives the President of the oxygen he wants and needs to try to make his case and surely would have made his case about the

shutdown. So this is being compared to the United States to children fighting in a sandbox. It's much more strategic than that, still, there is

this charge that has been leveled by many people including Congressman Adam Schiff, of the Intelligence Committee, a Democrat. Listen to what he's had

to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SCHIFF, U.S. CONGRESSMAN, CALIFORNIA, DEMOCRAT: All too often in the last two years, the President has acted like he's in the fifth grade. And

to have someone who has that kind of character running the country is an enormous problem at every level.

We are a coequal branch of government, and it may not have been that way over the last two years when he had a Republican Congress willing to roll

over anytime he asked, but that is no longer the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: This is much more strategic than children fighting in a sandbox. The President is playing to his base, people he needs to support him

through the re-election, through the fight over the Russia investigation and Nancy Pelosi as well as the top ranking Democrat in the government.

She's playing to her base, too -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Got it. The shutdown is turning into this highly strategic personal showdown. So much at stake here. Joe Johns, thank you for your

reporting. Now, as we mentioned, North Korea's top nuclear negotiator is in Washington. He landed just hours after the U.S. President rolled out a

new missile defense strategy.

Let's go to CNN's Will Ripley who has made 19 trips now to North Korea. Will is now reporting from Tokyo. Will, good to see you. Kim Yung-chol,

he is back in America with this reportedly letter in hand for Donald Trump. Are we going to see a repeat of what happened last time when he was in

town?

WILL RIPLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Hey, Kristie, in some ways, it is a repeat of that June - early June trip to Washington where Kim Yung-chol

hand delivered that giant envelope to President Trump in the Oval Office and then shortly thereafter, they announced that there was going to be that

historic summit in Singapore, the first time that a sitting U.S. President sat down with a North Korean leader.

What makes this trip different is the fact that Kim was allowed to overnight in Washington. That's a big deal. It's the first time it's

happened in nearly two decades. The last time was during the final months of the Clinton administration and it does seem to indicate that at the

moment, diplomacy is going very well between the U.S. and North Korea.

We could get an announcement about where this summit might be. Could it be Hanoi? Which is considered to be the front-runner in terms of location,

although really they could surprise everyone with a totally different location. We just simply don't know. We do know, according to my source

that the North Koreans will be presenting another letter, a response from Kim to the letter that President Trump sent that was flown to Pyongyang and

hand delivered over the weekend.

But, of course, all of this happening on the same day that the Pentagon of the United States rolled out this new missile defense strategy where they

labeled North Korea as an extraordinary threat to the United States which does contradict President Trump's language after Singapore when he famously

tweeted that the nuclear threat from North Korea was over.

Of course, U.S. Intelligence never said that. They have watched with their spy satellites, North Korea continuing to make updates at its missile

bases. It is widely believed that North Korea has been enriching nuclear fuel, producing war heads and perhaps has even greater nuclear capabilities

today than they did at the beginning of this diplomatic process and that certainly will be a major discussion point for the United States and North

Korea, whether they are talking about it right now in Washington, the meeting is expected very soon, within the next couple of hours, we just

don't know.

Or will they just be sorting out the specifics of this summit -- the time and the location. I have to wonder, Kristie, if there are going to be some

be some preconditions here given the fact that the U.S. and North Korea are so far apart on denuclearization. North Korea wants economic relief right

away.

The U.S. says they won't lift sanctions until North Korea gives up all of their nukes right away. Obviously, that is what has caused talks to really

grind to a halt. Are both sides now closer together? Are they willing to compromise? Because if the two leaders do get together in Hanoi or

somewhere, at some point, and they sign a vaguely worded agreement with no specifics, no timeline and no tangible progress, that is not going to be

looking very good for the denuclearization process, especially given this new Pentagon missile defense strategy -- Kristie.

[08:15:06]

LU STOUT: Yes, good point. Why talk about a sequel, another round of talks when there hasn't been much progress since the Singapore Summit of

last year. Will Ripley reporting live for us. Thank you so much.

Now, let's bring in CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. And David, again, while unveiling his plans for U.S. missile

defense, you know, while the North Korean envoy is in town, curious timing. But Donald Trump, he never talked about the threat from North Korea. But

it must be sending a message to North Korea. What's the message here?

DAVID SANGER, POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, CNN: Well, the message that the Defense Department wants to send and perhaps the message

the State Department wants to send may be a little bit different from the one that the President is sending.

As you mentioned, Kristie, in the President's comments with the Pentagon, he never talked about North Korea, other than one brief reference to say

that there was diplomacy under way. When you dig into the report, the Pentagon's first new strategy for missile defense to be published in nine

years, it is not surprisingly focused intently on Iran and North Korea.

We don't have missile defenses that can deal with overwhelming arsenals like Russia's. So the issue for the Defense Department is to try to go

build up the capability both prior to launch and after a launch happens to destroy a missile. The priority for President Trump is to appear as the

great peacemaker with North Korea and given everything else the President is dealing with in the Mueller investigation and beyond, the importance to

him now of having a major breakthrough is huge.

LU STOUT: Very key difference as you point out. The new U.S. missile defense plan on paper put forward by the Pentagon versus what was said at

the podium by Donald Trump, but from what Donald Trump said, and the perception, the danger here, could his vision, this vision of missile

defense that President Trump put forward not only potentially discourage North Korea to disarm, but could it kick off a new arms race?

SANGER: You know, I doubt it will. North Korea has recognized for some time that most of the American missile defenses that we've deployed so far

have been aimed at them. There are two major bases that have missile interceptors in the United States. One is in Alaska, one is in California.

Both are really focused on the North Korean threat.

My colleague, Bill Broad and I, reported about a year and a half ago that the United States during the Obama administration went in to sabotage some

of the missile tests that North Korea was running. And that worked until about fall of 2016 when the North Koreans moved to a different technology.

So it's not as if the North Koreans don't recognize that the United States is trying to sabotage and ultimately defeat their missile capability. The

big issue right now, as Will suggested before, is this who goes first question. And that's really going to be the focus today because the U.S.

has always insisted there has to be progress towards denuclearization before there's any lifting in sanctions and, of course, the North Koreans

have always insisted it has got to go in the other direction.

LU STOUT: Yes, preconditions, what will they be? David Sanger, we'll leave it at that. Always appreciate your reporting in the "New York

Times," always appreciate your analysis here on CNN. David, take care. Now, keep it here, you are watching "News Stream" and still ahead on the

program, we're going to take a look at the horrific stories inside China's mass internment camps for ethnic minorities and how the United States is

going to hold China accountable.

Also ahead, diplomatic tension between China and Canada are on the rise after a threat from Beijing involving Huawei.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:02]

LU STOUT: Another salvo has been fired in the deepening diplomatic dispute between China and Canada. China's envoy to Canada has warned that Ottawa

that there will be repercussions if it excluded Huawei from supplying equipment to its 5G wireless networks.

Now Canada is currently studying the security implications of 5G networks, but has not announced whether Huawei equipment will be banned, unlike some

allies. Huawei is facing allegations from the U.S. and other nations that its equipment could be used for espionage.

Meanwhile, the University of Oxford has suspended new donations and grants from the telecom giant. CNN's Steven Jiang joins us now live from Beijing

with more. Steven, this warning of repercussions from China, this is a pressure tactic. Is it going to work on Canada?

STEVEN JIANG, SENIOR PRODUCER, CNN: It's fairly unlikely at this point, Kristie, because there is now an increasing consensus in the west on the

national security and cyber security implications of using Huawei technology and products. This is especially true among the members of the

so-called 5I Intelligence Gathering Alliance. That, of course, includes the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Just in the last 24 hours, we have seen a number of moves against Huawei from western governments. You mentioned a few, but in the U.S., there is a

"Wall Street Journal" report saying that U.S. authorities are potentially opening a criminal investigation into Huawei's theft of trade secrets from

its U.S. business partners.

And in the U.S. Congress, now, there is a bipartisan proposal to ban the sale of Huawei - ban the sale of U.S. chips and components to Huawei

because of its violations of U.S. sanctions. And also, there is a bipartisan warning on the use of Huawei's solar technology and its

potential risk of crippling the entire U.S. power grid.

And also in Germany, the authorities there are set to be moving towards blocking the use of Huawei equipment in that country's 5G network, and of

course, you mentioned the latest news from the U.K. from Oxford University, and all these latest moves, in a way, Kristie, have only reinforced the

notion here in China that I had been increasingly hearing from officials as well as the members of the public that there is a concerted western effort

led by the U.S. government to crack down on Huawei based on unfounded geopolitical considerations.

So the fear right now is whether these latest moves will eventually prompt the Chinese government to retaliate against western tech firms. Now of

course, you have heard the warning of repercussions from the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, but there are also very harshly worded editorials

here including one in the "Global Times" saying if this trend continues, the companies and governments responsible for the Huawei smack down will be

to be prepared to pay a price -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, Huawei under pressure and so many friends, how is China going to strike back? We'll have to wait and see. Steven Jiang reporting

live from Beijing. Steven, thank you so much.

Members of the U.S. Congress, they are looking to hold the Chinese government accountable for the alleged mass internment of ethnic Uyghur

Muslims and other minorities in the country's Xinjiang region.

The lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday calling on the Trump administration to sanction Chinese officials over their treatment of the

Uyghurs. Ivan Watson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Kristie, American politicians agree on very little these days, and yet on Thursday, a

bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers submitted the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and it slams the Chinese government for the alleged mass detention of

hundreds of thousands of Uyghur Muslims and members other ethnic minorities in China's western Xinjiang region.

China rejects this criticism saying it is combatting Islamist extremism, but I've been talking to a growing number of Uyghur Muslims who say their

loved ones are being detained it appears simply because they have connections outside of China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): There's a lot of love in this apartment in Virginia between a mother and her children. But something, someone, actually, is

missing here.

[08:25:09]

WATSON (voice over): In 2015, ethnic Uyghur, Mihrigul Tursun, then a citizen of China gave birth to triplets in Egypt where she had been living

and working. And barely a month later, she flew home with them to Xinjiang, a region of western China. At the airport, she says Chinese

police detained her and took away her babies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIHRIGUL TURSUN, ETHNIC UYGHUR: I ask where is my baby? Please give me my baby. Then they --

WATSON (on camera): Taped your mouth?

TURSON: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): Mihrigul says police jailed and interrogated her for the next three months. The day of her release, she went to the children's

hospital in Urumqi to see her infants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURSON: When I come hospital, the doctors say, okay, my baby can go outside hospital? He say, yes, he die. I looked at him. What? What die?

He say, "Your son die of morning 6:00." I don't believe it. And I scream why you kill my son. And they say if you scream, I call the police. Stop.

Be quiet. They give me my baby. So cold. I said why he died? What happened? They say we make operation and he cannot strong. So he die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): CNN reached out for comment from Urumqi Children's Hospital, but did not receive a response. The surviving siblings have

scars on their necks. A CNN medical expert says that suggests they, like their deceased brother, received intravenous tubes for nutrition at a time

they should have been breast-feeding. Mihigul (ph) says her son's death was just the beginning of a three-year nightmare during which she was

jailed two more times and tortured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURSON: They ask questions. When I say I don't know, they start beat me so hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): During the second imprisonment, she says she was put in a crowded cell with 50 other women, all ethnic Uyghurs from her hometown

in Cherchen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURSON: Someone is my doctor, someone is my medium school teacher, someone, our neighbor. All people, 80%, I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): The U.S. government alleges this is part of a much larger, frightening pattern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BUSBY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Since April 2017, Chinese authorities have indefinitely detained at least 800,000 and

possibly more than two million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazaks and members of other Muslim minorities in internment camps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): Beijing has gone from denying these alleged mass detentions to saying prisoners are getting vocational training.

Authorities recently took some diplomats and journalists on a carefully supervised tour of some of these facilities. Some detainees told

journalists the camps reeducate them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Through a translator). All of us found that we have something wrong with ourselves and luckily enough, the Communist Party and

the government offered this kind of school to us for free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): The climate of fear in Xinjiang can be felt halfway around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARFAT: I lost contact with my family in 2017 and I just --

WATSON (on camera): So that was the last time you heard your mother's voice?

ARFAT: Yes.

WATSON: And your father.

ARFAT: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): Twenty-one year old Arfat Arakin (ph) came to the U.S. three years ago to get a university education, but gradually, his

parents stopped sending tuition money and stopped calling him. Then last September, Arfat made this desperate appeal on YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARFAT: I have confirmed that my father is sentenced with a nine-year prison and my mom is in concentration camps.

WATSON (on camera): If both of your parents are detained, who is taking care of your 10-year-old brother?

ARFAT: I don't know.

WATSON: If you could say something to your parents right now, what would you say?

ARFAT: I hope that they're just alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): Afraid to go home, Arfat has since been granted asylum in the U.S. Many Uyghur students are similarly stranded here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN ROBERTS, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: They're terrified because they don't know what to do. They don't necessarily want to declare asylum

in the United States because that reflects badly on their family. But they've also been getting messages from the region that they shouldn't come

back because they will definitely be put in one of these internment camps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): During her incarceration, Mihrigul Tursun claims she saw fellow prisoners die in detention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURSON: In this same one room, nine women die, I see. So much people die, have torture like this, I will become crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON (voice over): The Chinese government denounces criticism of its Humans Right record saying these preventive counterterrorism measures

protect more people from being devoured by extremism.

[08:30:00]

WATSON (voice over): Mihrigul and her children are now in the U.S. going through the asylum process. But it's not easy. Three-year-old Moez

suffers chronic asthma attacks and Mihrigul can't afford a pediatrician.

One day, she tells me, she'll tell her surviving children the Chinese government killed their brother.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WATSON (on camera): Kristie, I can't stress enough how powerless and anguished these Uyghurs outside of China feel knowing that their loved ones

are missing and not knowing if they're alive or dead or how they're being treated or where they are being held and even more eerie in the century is

the fact that they're terrified of even calling home to friends or loved ones because they feel simply an international call could get more people

thrown into the camps -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Wow, gut-wrenching stories of horror and heartbreak. Ivan Watson reporting there. You're watching "News Stream" and keep it here.

Just next, we're going to report on how U.S. allies say that they will keep pushing ISIS out of Syria one town at a time. CNN is taking you to the

front lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristi Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines. Buzzfeed News reports that Donald

Trump directed his long-time attorney, Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. CNN has not corroborated the

report which comes from two sources familiar with the investigation. Democrats say if it is true, it is clearly obstruction of justice.

British Prime Minister will hold a series of meetings with her Cabinet colleagues on Friday ahead of a statement to Parliament on her Plan B for a

Brexit deal due to take place on Monday. Now, Theresa May has also met with opposition lawmakers and lawmakers will debate and vote on a new

Brexit plan, provided that there is one, on January 29th.

The U.S. Defense Department has identified three of the four Americans killed in the attack against U.S.-led coalition forces in Northern Syria on

Wednesday. The identity of the fourth person killed has not yet been released. The U.S. military claims that they were killed due to wounds

from a suicide improvised explosive device. CNN reported on Thursday that the U.S. believes ISIS is behind the bombing which is still under

investigation.

Now, a stark reminder that ISIS a still a threat despite the U.S. President's claim that it has been defeated. Clarissa Ward took a

dangerous journey to the frontlines.

[08:35:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN (voice over): The battle against ISIS is still raging. As the U.S. ally Syrian Democratic

Forces known as the SDF push in on the last sliver of territory under the militant's control. Here, the fighters prepare to move into the village of

Shafa.

Flares turn the dark night into day. Coalition air crafts circle overhead, providing crushing air power. By daylight, they push further in. "This is

where ISIS ends," SDF commander Simko Shikaki tells his men. Moments later, panic breaks out. ISIS has launched a counterattack. The SDF fire

back and Shafa is quickly liberated.

We traveled down to the frontline as they approach the next village. Ours escorts insist on taking an armored vehicle, even liberated territory is

far from secure.

WARD (on camera): These roads are still dangerous, especially early in the morning because there are ISIS sleeper cells in the area. They come out

overnight and they plant roadside bombs.

WARD (voice over): We stop at a house that the SDF took from ISIS just days earlier. Mortars are fired off at militant positions. Commander

Shakaki takes us up on to the roof to show us the frontline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

WARD (on camera): So the next village over Sousa is where the frontline is now and they're hoping that they'll be able to liberate that by tomorrow.

WARD (voice over): American forces provide assistance from just a few hundred yards away. But the Commander warns the battle is not over.

"The pressure we had militarily is ending," he says," ... but the fundamental war is eradicating the ideology of ISIS." That will be a much

tougher fight to win. The support for ISIS still lingers here. On the way back, we pass through another recently liberated area.

WARD (on camera): This is what is left now of the town of Hajin. You can see it's basically been completely obliterated. And to many of the people

who were living in areas like this and others, this is what liberation looks like. Miles and miles of rubble.

WARD (voice over): Many here fear that buried in the destruction, the seeds are being sown for another war.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WARD: Now, once the village of Sousa is taken, there's really just a handful of other towns that remain under ISIS control, but what we really

saw and learned through our journey to the frontlines, Kristie is that even once those are taken, this will be a tenuous and vulnerable victory.

And just to really give you for emphasis on that point, even driving down to the general area of the front lines, a few hours back from the front

lines, our military escorts said there are towns they preferred not to go through. They don't feel comfortable in those areas. They are Kurdish led

forces in Arab-led towns where ISIS sympathies still linger.

As we said in the piece, this is not a done deal yet -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: The fight isn't over yet and even when there is victory, it is as you point out, tenuous at best. Clarissa Ward reporting live for us

from inside Syria. Clarissa, thank you so much. You're watching "News Stream" and still to come, 97-year-old Prince Philip was shaken after

flipping his SUV over on a British road. We have more details on this serious crash, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:02]

LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, this is "News Stream." And British police, they are investigating a car crash involving

Prince Philip. Buckingham Palace says it happened when the 97-year-old was driving a Land Rover near the Queen's Sandringham Estate. The Duke of

Edinburgh was not injured. Anna Stewart has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, it's now one day after the serious car accident which saw Prince Philip's vehicle, a Land Rover, a heavy

vehicle, overturned on its side. It's a miracle he wasn't seriously injured, given the nature of the accident. He went to see a doctor on

Sandringham Estate shortly afterwards and was actually given the all clear.

Now, the two females in the car, there was a driver, a passenger and in fact, also a nine-month-old baby, we've now discovered, both of those women

sustained minor injuries and they were taken to a local hospital to be treated.

Now, we're begin to go learn a bit more about how the accident happened. It's still, of course, under investigation by local police. But look

behind me. You see a very busy main road. It's an A road and you see two roads that lead on to it in this junction. Now, from eyewitness reports

and U.K. media, they believe that Prince Philip's Land Rover was trying to cross this busy road when the collision happened and it was overturned and

the car ended up falling here on its side.

Now, if you look below me, you'll see shattered glass, bits of plastic and actually part of a wing mirror that belongs to a Land Rover, so we can

presume that's probably from Prince Philip's vehicle. Significant damage. Of course, the cars themselves have since been towed away.

And all of this comes after great concern over Prince Philip's health. He wasn't seen at Sandringham over Christmas, there were some concerns that

maybe he wasn't well. Although, I would say, he has not actually been seen in public much since he retired from public duty back in 2017.

Also, earlier in this year, it was his granddaughter, Princess Eugenie's wedding and we weren't sure whether he would be able to make it. The

palace said it was very much a wait and see on the day type situation. Fortunately, he did make it.

Now, in addition to the concerns about his health, there's also the big question as to whether a 97-year-old man should be driving on big, busy

roads like this. Now, the Palace have confirmed that he has a driving license. It's renewed every three years in line with U.K. laws and

regulations, but that doesn't stop many people questioning whether he should have been behind the wheel.

LU STOUT: Wow, thank goodness, no one was seriously injured. That was Anna Stewart reporting and that is it for "News Stream." I'm Kristi Lu

Stout. But don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Amanda Davies is next.

(SPORTS)

[09:00:00]

END