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Suspect Charged: Using Weapon of Mass Destruction; Report: Trump Misused Foundation Funds; George H.W. Bush to Vote for Hillary Clinton; Refugee Crisis Dominates U.N. General Assembly Session. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 21, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour: new revelations about the alleged New York bomber -- what the FBI knew two years ago, the warning from his father, and where he got the components to build his explosives.

New allegations that Donald Trump misused charity money from his foundation including thousands of dollars for a painting of Donald Trump.

And BrexPitt -- Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are getting divorced. What is behind the shock separation?

Hello, to this hour. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

U.S. federal prosecutors have filed four criminal charges against the man suspected of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey, including using a weapon of mass destruction. The criminal complaint against Ahmad Rahami says he bought the components on the Internet and shows video of himself testing explosives in a backyard two days before the bombings. He is still in the hospital after a shoot-out with police on Monday.

Investigators are also looking into Rahami's travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan; also a turbulent relationship with his family.

CNN's chief U.S. security correspondent Jim Sciutto reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tonight U.S. officials tell CNN the FBI interviewed the father of the suspect in 2014 after a violent domestic dispute led to a tip alleging the father was calling his son a terrorist. After the father then downplayed the accusation, the FBI ultimately concluded it was a domestic matter. Today the suspect's father told CNN more about the violent altercation.

MOHAMMAD RAHAMI, SUSPECT'S FATHER: Now he's a -- he's a terrorist. I say ok.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you call the FBI two years ago? What happened?

RAHAMI: Because he doing bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's doing bad? What did he do bad?

RAHAMI: He stabbed my son. He hit my wife. And I put him to jail two years ago.

SCIUTTO: Investigators are now attempting to question the suspect, though police say he still isn't talking. One urgent question, did he have help in carrying out the alleged attacks?

Do you still believe that he acted alone with these attacks and attempted attacks?

JAMES O'NEILL, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: Jim, it's very early on in the investigation. So as we move through this, we're going to determine who his acquaintances were, family, friends, go through his social media, see if he had any phones. We'll go through all that to make that determination.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, get off the street.

SCIUTTO: Pointing to possible inspirations for the attack, a notebook the suspect was carrying when captured referenced American AQAP leader Anwar al Awlaki, killed in 2011 by a U.S. ground strike.

Investigators are now scrutinizing the suspect's travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he married and had a child and spent time in areas with a heavy Taliban presence -- this to determine if he was radicalized overseas. The Afghan Taliban has publicly denied any involvement in the bombings.

DONALD PAYNE, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: The officials are trying to determine if he had help in this endeavor. It would have taken some time to get all the materials to put these bombs together.

SCIUTTO: The explosive devices themselves hold clues as well. The devices were made with easy-to-obtain ingredients and with recipes that are accessible online. But those materials considered by experts to be a high explosive could have created a blast even bigger than was seen at the deadly Boston marathon bombings.

Federal charges have now been filed against Rahami, including using a weapon of mass destruction and in that complaint, new details that he bought the components for these explosive devices on eBay, shipping them to an address in New Jersey. But also this crucially, that he filmed himself testing out similar explosive devices as soon as two days before this attack.

Jim Sciutto -- CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Heather Williams is a senior international defense policy researcher with the Rand Corporation. She joins me now here live in Los Angeles. Heather -- thanks for coming in.

We have word that Rahami's wife is currently being questioned by the FBI in the UAE. We should say that she is not accused of doing any wrongdoing at this point. But typically, in a case like this, what does a spouse know about a situation like this?

HEATHER WILLIAMS, RAND CORPORATION: Right. Well, thanks for having me -- John.

Typically, in homegrown violent extremist cases, the individual is unmarried and they're single, it's a single man most often. So there isn't actually a wife in the picture.

[00:04:56] But in the cases where there has been a spouse, it's varied widely to what we saw in San Bernardino where the spouse was actually involved in the attack to cases where the spouse would be completely unaware of what happened to times where it's the spouse that alerts the FBI or other law enforcement that they're concerned about the activity that their husband, in most cases, is involved in.

VAUSE: So essentially it varies depending on case to case.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

VAUSE: Ok. We had a situation here where the wife actually left the country a few days before the attacks. Is there any concerns which should be raised with that?

WILLIAMS: I'm sure that's certainly something that raises suspicion and something that the FBI would look to investigate, though I think their priority is to -- I'm sure that there is not still individuals inside the United States connected to the attack.

VAUSE: Authorities allege that they have video. It was on a relative's cell phone. It was shot two days before the attack was actually carried out. It allegedly shows Rahami blowing up some kind of canister in his backyard. You can hear people laughing in the background with the noise of the explosions. It appears to be maybe some kind of test run.

That would indicate that others knew that something else was going on here -- right?

WILLIAMS: Right. Well, I think in retrospection now, certainly something like that, a video would raise questions. But if one were to go on YouTube right now, there is probably thousands of videos of individuals blowing things up in their backyards or, you know, otherwise doing things that wouldn't necessarily cause someone to think that this is being done for a practice run or for future pursuit of a terrorist attack.

VAUSE: That's if you look at everything in isolation. But what if you put everything -- I guess, you know, hindsight is 20/20. But if you do put everything together -- he had been overseas, he had a sudden change in his character, he seemed to be talking to the anti- U.S. sentiment, he had grown a beard, he is blowing things up.

You know, when you put all that together, it does seem to paint what would now be seen as a very obvious pattern.

WILLIAMS: I think there are a lot of the pieces of information that we have right now about the Rahami case that seem consistent with cases we've seen in the past where it does seem like someone travels abroad and then they come back and they're increasingly isolated from their families, or they are increasingly religious.

And then we see an action like this. But that doesn't mean that in every case where you had all those instances to begin with, they were going to lead to this outcome necessarily.

VAUSE: The father said today that he told the FBI two years ago that his son might be involved in terrorism. And again on the surface, that looks bad. But in the scheme of things, the father didn't offer up any evidence. So where do you put this sort of in building essentially a picture of what was going on here?

WILLIAMS: Yes, absolutely. What we do have from that is that the FBI did at least do some initial investigation and follow up upon that. And we'll probably hear more over time about what it was the FBI did and how this reached a criminal threshold perhaps or did not. And that's why the evidence was dismissed.

But I also think it's important to keep in mind that as time goes on, we're going to continue to have more and more of these cases where someone might have raised a flag in the past. There was an investigation. That investigation was closed. And then in the future, there was some new activity that caused that person to go down that path.

VAUSE: Are we now in a situation where we have to be very careful in looking at this pattern of behavior? I guess not jumping to conclusions.

WILLIAMS: I think that's absolutely true. And actually, it's pretty impressive how much information we already have three days after this event about the individual involved and, you know, what the circumstances of the attack, and what might have been his initial motivation. But since it does seem that he is cooperating or at least communicating with law enforcement, we'll hopefully have a little bit more concrete information in the near future.

VAUSE: Heather -- thanks for coming in. Appreciate the insight.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you.

Now here is a sign of how deeply divided the U.S. Republican Party is. Sources say former Republican President George H.W. Bush, father of another Republican president will actually vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton. He revealed his choice to a member of another prominent political family, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. She then posted it on Facebook.

Meantime, Donald Trump is on the attack while Clinton prepares for Monday's debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Her friends see you as people aren't entitled to run this country or this government. And that's what they see. They don't want you or your family to have a voice. That's why I'm running. I am your voice. I promise I will be the greatest voice you've ever had.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I tell you, I am going to do my very best to communicate as clearly and fearlessly as I can in the face of the insults and the attacks and the bullying and bigotry that we've seen coming from my opponent.

I can take it, Steve. I can take that kind of stuff. I've been at this and, you know, I understand it's a contact sport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:10:07] VAUSE: Ok. For more on what is at stake in the upcoming debate, and a few other issues, Mitchell Schwartz, who worked on Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's campaign, currently running for mayor of Los Angeles here in L.A.; also CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen who worked on Republican Mitt Romney's campaign back in 2012. Great to have you guys with us.

Mitchell, I want to pick up first on the Trump Foundation, the allegations that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been misused. In some ways, that painting of Donald Trump may symbolize the problem best. David Fahrenhold of the "Washington Post" he explains the legal problems that Trump could be facing. Listen to how he explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID FAHRENHOLD, WASHINGTON POST: Trump bought this painting with $10,000 worth of charity money in 2014. And since the charity bought it, it has to be used for charitable purposes. It can't just hang on the wall in Donald Trump's club. Yet, it is hanging on the wall in Donald Trump's club apparently.

Trip Advisor, a user at Trump's Doral Golf Resort outside Miami took that picture where apparently the portrait he bought with charity money is hanging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ok. So Mitchell, the allegation or coming from the Democrats, this is not an example of how Trump believes the rules don't apply to him.

MITCHELL SCHWARTZ, LOS ANGELES MAYORALTY CANDIDATE: I would say that it's not only coming from Democratic opponents like Hillary Clinton and her campaign. It's coming from the attorney general of New York who is looking into this. It's pretty serious stuff. It's criminal activity.

If you're using foundation money, you're using money for a charity for something that is not for charitable purposes, that's a clear violation of the law.

But he did something, and we'll see if it's illegal or not, which is just fascinating. It's so Trump-like in its gall. So he has a foundation. And he stopped funding it after I think 2007 or 2008.

VAUSE: 2008.

SCHWARTZ: So he has these other people funding the foundation, and then he gives that money away to settle legal claims against him. I'm not even sure that's legal. But if that doesn't just make you say that does not pass the smell test. It's just a horrible thing.

VAUSE: Lanhee, I want to bring you here. Is this a problem for Trump which simply is not going away right now?

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, John -- I think it's a problem in the same way that a lot of other things that Trump has done is a problem.

I think if we look at it through a conventional political lens, it's absolutely an issue. It's something that would be highly problematic.

That being said, as you know John -- pretty much nothing has stuck to Donald Trump when it comes to things like this. Now granted, this might be in a different category because of the potential legality or illegality of the activity. But at the end of the day, John, I'm really not sure it's going to matter a whole lot because I think voters have made a decision about Donald Trump to a certain degree.

I'm not saying he is inoculated from all of this. I just don't know if anything will stick to the guy.

VAUSE: Ok. Another problem for Donald Trump -- a lack of support among African-Americans. He was in North Carolina. He tried a little outreach. Listen to Mr. Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You take a look at the inner cities. You get no education. You get no jobs. You get shot walking down the street. They're worse -- I mean honestly, places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mitchell, is that the type of stuff African-Americans want to hear?

SCHWARTZ: I mean I don't know what he is describing. I mean, crime has upticked -- there has definitely been an uptick in crime. And in Los Angeles we've actually had a violent increase -- a 40 percent violent increase in two years. But that's from historic lows.

The gains that African-Americans and other minorities have made over the last 30, 40, 50 years have been pretty strong, even with the stagnation of the last. So I'm not sure what he is describing.

But what Mr. Chen -- I just want to reference something that Mr. Chen said before. He's right that nothing has stuck to Donald Trump, except now we're fighting or the Democrats and Republicans are fighting for that last 3 or 5 percent, that undecided vote. So yes, you're not going to switch the 40 percent that are with Trump no matter what, the 40 percent that are with Hillary. But you're fighting over a very small sliver. This stuff I think does start to add up.

VAUSE: Lanhee, do you get the last 3 percent with those kinds of statements about African-Americans and the communities in which they live?

CHEN: I don't think so. I mean obviously, the strategy here he is trying to pursue is to figure out if he can get some percentage of the African-American vote the Republicans have been unable to get before. It's not clear to me that the strategy he is using, in fact, I'm pretty sure the strategy he is using is not the right one.

I believe part of the statement that maybe you didn't air was when he said that African-Americans are worse off today than at any point in history. I'm pretty sure that's verifiably false. So, you know, things like that I think are not helping him. Obviously strategically, you see what they're trying to do -- he's just the wrong messenger for the message.

VAUSE: Ok. Word came through today that former President George H.W. Bush won't be voting for Donald Trump. He is actually putting his vote towards Hillary Clinton. Maybe that's surprising when you listen to the animosity between Donald Trump and former presidential candidate, his son Jeb Bush. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:15:04] JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: This is a tough business to run for president.

TRUMP: You're a tough guy, Jeb.

BUSH: And we need to have a leader that the --

TRUMP: You're tough. You're real tough.

BUSH: You're never going to be President of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency.

TRUMP: Let's see, I'm at 42 and you're at 3. So far, I'm doing better.

BUSH: It doesn't matter.

TRUMP: Am I talking or are you talking, Jeb?

BUSH: I'm talking right now. I'm talking.

TRUMP: You can go back.

You interrupted me, Jeb. Are you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one at a time.

TRUMP: Am I allowed to finish?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead, Mr. Trump.

BUSH: A little of your own medicine there.

TRUMP: I know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, Lanhee, I've been trying to work out all day long who this actually helped with Clinton supporting -- I'm sorry -- Bush, President Bush supporting Hillary Clinton. Does it help Donald Trump more or does it help Hillary Clinton more?

CHEN: Well, to the point about who the candidates are appealing to now, it's pretty clear that this probably is not helpful -- it probably is helpful to those who are independently-minded. I think they look at this race and they say ok, you've got a Republican former president, a man who is really an icon in many ways of the Republican Party of the last 20 years saying I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump. I think that does affect them.

Now I think for Donald Trump's base voters, this galvanizes them. Well, of course, it makes sense that someone in the Republican establishment is against Donald Trump. But to the point of where Donald Trump needs to go now, he needs to find out his base, yes. But he needs to figure out what Independent voters he is going to win. And not having support of a former Republican president clearly hurts him in that regard.

VAUSE: Mitchell, it also seems to me that this is another example that Trump doesn't really have an ideology. He is running an insurgent campaign.

SCHWARTZ: Yes. I mean I don't know what kind of campaign he is running. You could call it insurgent. But I think it's just a seat of the pants campaign. I really do believe that he never thought he would get this far. So now he is trying to make it up as he goes along. And he is taking the advice of Kelly Conway and those other people.

But just again to your point, to your question about does it help Hillary, I assume it does. Of course it has to because, again, you're fighting for those middle people, the swing voters which you assume are more independent and more moderate. And George Bush Senior certainly considered a moderate now.

And what happens when the other George W. Bush endorses Hillary? You have two former presidents -- granted both --

VAUSE: Are you expecting that?

SCHWARTZ: I would expect that, yes.

VAUSE: Ok, we're out of time. I know you guys are coming back next hour because there is a lot of other things we're going to talk about this campaign, about the debate and some new poll numbers that come out about working class voters in the United States and how they're actually throwing their lot in with Donald Trump. So that will be next hour.

Lanhee Chen in San Francisco and Mitchell Schwartz here in Los Angeles -- we appreciate you both being with us. Thank you.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

CHEN: Thank you.

VAUSE: And we'll take a short break.

When we come back, the refugee crisis has been a big focus at the U.N. General Assembly. But some say it's just talk, no action. We'll have more on that in a moment.

Also, Brangelina calling it quits. We'll look at how the Hollywood divorce and the memes now dominating the Internet.

[00:18:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: As world leaders gather in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, there has been a lot of talk about the refugee crisis. And crisis right now seems an understatement.

At the end of last year, more than 65 million people were refugees according to the U.N. Not since the end of World War II have so many men, women, and children been forced to flee their homes. From the U.S. President on down, there have been calls for action and warnings of consequences if there is a failure to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This crisis is a test of our common humanity. Whether we give in to suspicion and fear and build walls or whether we see ourselves in another.

Those girls being trafficked and tortured, they could be our daughters. That little boy on the beach could be our son or our grandson. And we cannot avert our eyes or turn our backs. To slam the door in the face of these families would betray our deepest values.

PETER THOMSON, U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT: We are witnessing the worst humanitarian and refugee crisis since the Second World War. Millions are fleeing armed conflict and the brutal effects of war. Others are escaping violence, persecution, and systematic violations of their human rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But beyond the words, the question remains what, if anything, is being done to try and solve what is a massive but slow moving disaster.

Salil Shetty is the secretary general of Amnesty International. He joins us now from New York. So Salil, after all the talk, what's the end result here? Where is all of this heading right now?

SALIL SHETTY, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Well, Amnesty International's assessment of what we've had in the last day in the summit is really quite collective and spectacular failure. As your commentary mentioned the refugees are dying in large numbers and they're living in appalling poverty. So the need is massive. And they are also living in huge uncertainty.

But the response from the leaders was close to nothing. We haven't had -- in the main refugee summit of the United Nations -- we haven't had a single measurable binding new target.

V32: In her first appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, the British Prime Minister Theresa May said refugees must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and she said this as well. Listen to the British prime minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTE2R: We need to improve the ways we distinguish between refugees fleeing persecution and economic migrants. This in turn will help us target support for those refugees who need it most.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Is there an argument here for distinguishing between those who are fleeing violence and those who some say are simply looking for a better job?

SHETTY: John -- I've spent a lot of time in the camps in the borders of Syria and Lebanon and Turkey. I've met a lot of women, children, and really have not heard even one of them saying that they want to go to Europe. Every one of them wants to go back to Syria. They want to go back to where they came from.

Being a refugee is not a lifestyle choice. It's people who are -- the vast majority of those are fleeing from war and persecution. So that's really not an honest argument and not an honest statement from leaders. And this is one of the big problems we're facing that, you know, you have leaders concocting all sorts of mistruths. And this is why I suppose Amnesty International's concern, we're about to launch a campaign called "I welcome refugees". If our leaders fail us, we're used to that. Let the people stand up.

And all the surveys we have done have shown that the majority of the population, even in religious countries do welcome refugees. Often they don't know the facts. They are fed with fear and misinformation.

VAUSE: Well, with that in mind, President Obama talked about the values that refugees can bring. Listen to the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We've seen in America hardworking patriotic refugees serve in our military and start new businesses and help revitalize communities. I believe refugees can make us stronger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Why is that being forgotten here and seems to be replaced with outright animosity?

SHETTY: I think it's a leadership failure. I mean take a country like Canada, right? Stephen Harper, the previous prime minister for nine years told us that Canadians don't want refugees. They're a security risk. They're going to take our jobs away.

With Justin Trudeau, the new prime minister, it's not like overnight the people of Canada changed their opinion. It's just the leaders who can portray a particular opinion.

[00:25:05] Same with Merkel in Germany, Germany has taken a million refugees. And today we have heard some commitments of a few 100,000 -- a few tens of thousand.

So I do think it boils down to a leadership choice. And, you know we have to put these things in perspective. A country like Lebanon with a four million population has one million refugees. So for the whole of Europe with 400 million, 500 million population, for them to say they cannot even take a few million refugees, it's simply not true.

VAUSE: There has been a lot of publicity in the past 24 hours or so around a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. comparing refugees to Skittles, warning some of the Skittles could actually kill you. What is your reaction to that?

SHETTY: We should be embracing them. That's the only way in which you can isolate those who are, you know, really going with extreme violence as a solution. So those are fleeing from those who are using extreme violence. If you don't embrace them, you're only extending the hands of those who are perpetrating this kind of action.

So I think it's absolutely skewed these kinds of, you know, -- I saw the tweet as well. It's just shocking. VAUSE: Salil, we'll leave there it. We appreciate everything you've

said, your insight. I wish you the best of luck. Thank you -- sir.

SHETTY: Thank you. Thank you.

VAUSE: Angry protesters are demanding answers after police shot and killed a man in Charlotte, North Carolina. Several officers have been injured in the protests. Police say they were trying to serve a warrant on Tuesday when they killed Keith Lamont Scott in the parking lot of an apartment complex. They say Scott was armed but he was not the man they were looking for. The officer who shot him is now on paid leave. The city's mayor is calling for calm and an investigation.

A short break here.

When we come back, the ceasefire in Syria is crumbling after an aid convoy is attacked. And the U.S. says Russia is to blame.

Also ahead, Russia denies any responsibility and claims a truck hauling a mortar was following that convoy.

A lot more in a moment.

[00:27:08] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I'm John Vause with the headlines.

Investigators say the man suspected of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey bought the components online, and tested explosives in a backyard days before the attacks. Ahmad Rahami now faces four federal charges including using a weapon of mass destruction.

The United States says it is holding Russia responsible for the destruction of humanitarian aid convoy in Syria. The Red Cross says at least 20 people were killed in the attack on Monday, when trucks carrying food and medicine to thousands of civilians were destroyed. The U.N. says it is now suspending aid deliveries in Syria for the time being.

But Russia denies any responsibility. Moscow says drone footage shows a truck hauling a large caliber mortar following the convoy at the time of the attack.

The U.S. says reports from the ground indicate at least two waves of air strikes, a common Russian military practice. World leaders at the U.N. General Assembly are condemning all of this, including the French President Francois Hollande.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): The Syrian tragedy will be seen by history as a disgrace for the international community if we do not end it quickly. Aleppo is today a martyred city. And it will remain in the memory of history as a martyred city. Thousands of children have died in bombing. Whole populations are starving. Humanitarian convoys are being attacked. Chemical weapons are being used. I have one thing to say here. That is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Jill Dougherty joins me now from Seattle, Washington.

She is a global fellow for the Woodrow Wilson International Center and a former CNN Moscow bureau chief.

Jill, great to have you with us.

The U.S. is saying, it appears, the air strike on that aid convoy was just too sophisticated to being carried out by the Syrian Air Force, at least the Russians are pretty much the only suspect, which then begs the question of why. What do the Russians have to gain by doing this?

JILL DOUGHERTY, GLOBAL FELLOW, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: You would think that in a sense nobody has anything to gain from this. After all, this was the whole idea, that cessation of hostilities, that aid would get into the people who needed it in Aleppo.

But you do have the United States saying essentially two things. It appears, this is number one. It appears that the Russians did it. And, of course, the Russians are denying this. But even the United States is saying if Russia did not do it, it is culpable because it was responsible for getting the Assad regime to stop, to ground its forces, its air force so that convoys like this could get in.

So on both sides, the United States is accusing Russia. And then remember, just a few days ago, Russia was accusing the United States when the coalition of the United States carried out an attack that killed apparently some Syrian soldiers.

So you have right now this cessation of hostilities almost on life support. Although today at the United Nations in New York, both Russia and the United States were saying it's not dead yet. That it really does look as if there is not a lot of hope that this is going to continue in any direction.

VAUSE: A couple of points which you brought up there.

First, the one where we told you about the Americans holding the Russians responsible for not reigning in the Syrian Air Force. Are we in a situation now where the Americans are overstating Putin's influence over the Syrian dictator, Bashar Al-Assad?

DOUGHERTY: Well, they may be. But that was apparently part of the deal. The United States was supposed to rein in those opposition forces, get them to separate from ISIS. And then the Russians were supposed to get Assad on board to stop the attacks, ground the Air Force so that they could get those humanitarian cargos in. So that was the deal. And the United States, you know, you would have to say, John, right now, trust is nonexistent. You had Ben Rhodes saying that. The deputy national security adviser. President Obama has said that there is a gap of trust between the two countries.

[00:35:00] So what began as a really intense effort to bring the two countries together, Russia and the United States, to finally be able to bring some type of aid to the people who were suffering is now falling apart with worse recriminations than ever.

VAUSE: You mentioned the fact that Secretary Kerry did say that this ceasefire is not dead yet. And it's interesting, because the Syrian government declared the ceasefire over. And Kerry's response to that is, well, it's not up to them. This is a deal between, you know, the United States and Russia.

But isn't that the problem? It's that, you know, this deal was never made with the main actors on the ground, actually signing on?

DOUGHERTY: Precisely. And that's the problem. Because the Russians would say the Americans can't get the opposition to separate from the terrorists and therefore we have to go after both of them. And the Americans are saying that the Russians can't get Assad on board.

So right now, it would look as if, you know, Russia and the United States would like this to stop. But the people who are actually on the ground are not.

VAUSE: Jill Dougherty, as always, great to speak with you.

Thank you so much for being with us.

And we'll be back in a moment. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: OK. So this is pretty much all anyone has been talking about on social media right now. Brangelina, done, over, splitsville.

Angelina Jolie divorcing Brad Pitt with that usual Hollywood reason, irreconcilable differences. The super couple has been together for more than 11 years. Married for two. They have six kids. Jolie wants sole custody, but says she will allow Pitt to have visitation rights.

Dr. Jenn Berman is with me now to talk all things Brangelina. She is a licensed psychotherapist and author of the "Relationship Fix."

Dr. Jenn, thanks for being with us.

My pleasure.

VAUSE: This is a relationship, which it began on screen, a movie about a marriage, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and it seems to have ended on one as well. A very similar movie. Here is a look at some of the scenes from "By the Sea." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"BY THE SEA" MOVIE SCENE

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, talk about bookends to a relationship, really. I mean, that last movie seems like a cry for help.

DR. JENN BERMAN, AUTHOR, RELATIONSHIP FIX: You know, I also -- I think that any time you have a couple, a Hollywood couple or otherwise who has to bring themselves to such a dark place in their relationship, it's going to be tough on the relationship. And it's hard to know which came first, the chicken or the egg.

VAUSE: Right.

BERMAN: And the sense is were they drawn to this because their relationship was in a dark place, or did this kind of suck them into a dark place when they already were having trouble.

[00:40:00] VAUSE: Right. It's a very depressing movie by the looks of it.

This seemed to be a very real surprise despite the tabloids, which for years have said they were getting a divorce.

You know, this was George Clooney's reaction when we told him the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: What happens?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: They are divorcing.

CLOONEY: I didn't know that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: She filed.

CLOONEY: I feel very sorry, then. That's a sad story and unfortunate for a family. It's an unfortunate story about a family. I feel very sorry to hear that. That's the first I've heard of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes. We should keep that in mind. This is a family.

BERMAN: Yes.

VAUSE: But in Hollywood, divorce is as common as, what, botox and boob jobs. You know, it has a very high divorce rate. But it almost seemed like, you know, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were above that in some way.

BERMAN: But let me tell you, we don't really know what the divorce rate is in Hollywood. It seems like it. It seems like Hollywood spouses change their spouses more than their underwear, but that's not really the case.

We don't hear a lot of stories about the celebrities who have been married for 50 years who died together, whose marriages last. We hear about the ones that don't. And that's what gets the press. We don't know how many of these relationships that end our publicity stunts, are, you know, other issues --

VAUSE: Or it was a publicity stunt to begin with.

BERMAN: Right. That's what I mean.

And, you know, it doesn't appear obviously that Brad and Angelina were in that kind of situation. But we're also dealing with humans. We're dealing with flawed people.

Every season on my show "Couples Therapy with Dr. Jenn" on VH1, I start off by talking to people about, you guys are dealing with the same issues that everyone else is dealing with. Except on top of that, you're dealing with love scenes. You're dealing with travel. You're dealing with temptation that most people don't have to deal with.

And, look, the truth is most celebrities to be drawn to Hollywood, you have to have a certain level of narcissism.

VAUSE: Right.

BERMAN: When you look at the stats on that, celebs tend to have higher rates of narcissism, which makes it more difficult to have a successful relationship.

VAUSE: OK. Well, a lot of people were surprised and saddened by the news. There was a lot of names out there on the Internet with Jennifer Aniston's reaction, making one of those "I told you so" looks, or you know, celebrating the news out there.

So clearly a lot of people, you know, they are still Team Jennifer. But are we kind of stereotyping this relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie? It seems kind of unfair that we're sort of stoking this rivalry between these two.

BERMAN: Well, I think it really buys into who out there hasn't been hurt, jilted, experienced disloyalty? And I think we project that all on to Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston has clearly moved on. She is happily married. She is doing her own thing. I don't know that she is sitting around thinking about Brad Pitt, you know, for five minutes of her day. But I'm sure there is a little bit of, "huh," you know.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE)

BERMAN: Exactly. VAUSE: She's probably staying classy, above it all.

BERMAN: Yes.

VAUSE: I'm sure she has had a moment.

BERMAN: You got to wonder. You got to wonder. And certainly the public did. They related to her.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Dr. Jenn, thanks so much.

BERMAN: My pleasure.

VAUSE: Talk to you again next hour.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. "World Sport" is up next. Then I'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

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