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Travel Ban Takes Effect; Twitter Trade 2.0; Victory for LGBTQ Community; Murdoch's Dominates British Media; President Moon Visits the White House; Travel Ban Takes Effect; Outrage Over President's Tweet; Freedom for Elephants. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 30, 2017 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] NATALIE ALLEN, HOST, CNN: The controversial travel ban goes into effect for certain people headed to the United States. We'll have details on who will be affected.

GEORGE HOWELL, HOST, CNN: Widespread backlash against the U.S. President after the war with his media gets ugly and personal.

ALLEN: Plus, saving Africa's elephants one at a time. An exclusive report on the conservation effort to relocate entire herds to safety.

Hello and welcome to the viewers in the U.S. and around the world. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell from CNN world headquarters. Newsroom starts right now.

ALLEN: Our top story. After months of legal battles, the White House finally has its travel ban, at least in part. It took effect Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court gave the go ahead earlier this week. Refugees and people from six Muslim majority countries are now temporarily banned from the United States unless they can prove bonafide ties there. That could be through the relationships you see here.

HOWELL: Here is the thing. It could also be through education or business ties. But it doesn't cover many other family connections like grandparents or even grandchildren.

The State of Hawaii has filed an emergency motion contesting parts of the White House plan. Advocacy groups say they've also spent -- sent researchers, I should say to U.S. airports in order to monitor developments there.

ALLEN: The fight over this ban isn't over either. The Supreme Court is set to hear a legal challenge to it later this year.

For more we're joined from London by Christi Jackson, she's an attorney and head of the practice at Laura Divine Solicitor. Did I get that name right?

CHRISTI JACKSON, IMMIGRATION LAW ATTORNEY: You got it. ALLEN: OK. Christi, well, thank you for joining us. First let's talk

about who is banned here. And it's -- it kind of seems like a war on grandparents in a certain way.

JACKSON: It does seem to be a war on grandparents. I was happy to see this morning when I woke up that fiances had been removed which initially the government's clarification of what a close family relationship was excluded fiance which is a bit shocking. Grandparents remains still shocking and is still there. There's been no update to that as well as aunts and uncles. So a lot of people who have been raised by their grandparents are going to be facing a challenge here.

ALLEN: Yes, you know, the countries that you see behind that shading, those are the ones involved in this ban. They've already been questions raised about a clarification because the bonafide family or business entity. Do you see it as vague and causing issues there?

JACKSON: Well, it is -- it's not so much that it's vague. It's that I don't think it's what the Supreme Court was intending when they said a close family or business relationship.

So they gave some examples. I don't think that they intended their examples to be an exhaustive list. And what this left us with the Trump administration sending out a cable through the department of state to name what those close relationships were.

So I think that's exactly what Hawaii is saying is grandparents. And aunts and uncles those are all close family relationships. And it's the Trump administration has taken another interpretation and a very hard line on trying to ban as many people as they can.

ALLEN: Yes. And what does this mean to refugees who -- and some refugees have say, a relationship with a refugee agency that's been working with them to come to the United States.

JACKSON: Yes, and so one of the things that they have clarified is that relationship with an immigration advocacy organization won't count as a close relationship. And many refugees may not have U.S. family member, certainly probably not a parent or sibling. And so it does put into question exactly which refugees will still be able to come to the U.S.

ALLEN: Right. And so we did see when these bans -- they tried to put these bans in earlier this year, there was, you know, chaos at airports. Do you think they've alleviated the situation that might cause that again?

JACKSON: Well, that's probably the only thing that's going to happen that maybe is positive. I don't think we're going to have the travel chaos that we did with sort of travel ban 1.0 and 2.0. I think our new travel ban 2.5 that we've got going on here is really going to be fought out at the consulates where the visas are being issued.

So individuals who already have visas and individual who are dual citizens all of that's been addressed. Permanent residents are going to be fine. [03:04:57] So I don't think we're going to see as much chaos but I

think there's a lot of questions still at the consulate to be answered even outside the family relationships with business entities, investors who may not have relationships yet but want to make them. They'll be prevented. So I think that the impact is pretty large scale.

ALLEN: And who and how and where they make these decisions -- we'll get into that as it gets underway for now we'll hold there. Cristi Jackson, thanks so much.

JACKSON: Thank you.

ALLEN: So we'll take a look at how countries around the world are reacting to this travel ban. Including a live report from our Nic Robertson, he's in Abu Dhabi. That's coming up later this hour.

HOWELL: Fair to say when it comes to real substantive issues from healthcare, from the travel ban, to North Korea, the G-20, the president has his hands full and you would think the president would be busy with those issues and not on Twitter. But that's where he is spending his time.

ALLEN: You might have heard this story already since we have been covering it extensively. So it was surprising Thursday that the president used Twitter not to promote his agenda.

HOWELL: No.

ALLEN: But to go after a couple of U.S. news anchors. And offensive language that was over the top process.

Here is CNN's Sara Murray.

SARA MURRAY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: President Trump setting off a firestorm as he blasted this out on Twitter. "I heard poorly rated Morning Joe speaks badly of me. Don't watch anymore. Then how come low I.Q. crazy Mika, along with psycho Joe came to Mar-A-Lago three nights in a row around New Year's Eve and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a facelift. I said, no."

The White House doubled down on Trump's outburst at two MSNBC anchors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think you can expect someone to be personally attacked day after day minute by minute and sit back. Look, the American elected a figther. They didn't elect somebody to sit back and do nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: But lawmakers from both parties slammed the comments as inappropriate sexist and beneath the Office of the Presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NANCY PELOSI, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MINORITY LEADER: I think it's so blatantly sexist.

LYNN JENKINS, (R) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: I think to refer to a female's face as someone that's involved in politics it's just not appropriate.

SUSAN COLLINS, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: We have to treat each other with respect and civility. And the president's tweet was completely inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Trump unwelcome outburst distracting from his agenda. And drawing scorn from the same senators he needs to back the GOP health care plan. It's the latest example of Trump making tasteless comments about women.

On the campaign trail he criticized his former GOP opponent Carly Fiorina looks, re-tweeted an unflattering photo of Senator Ted Cruz's wife and took aim at another female journalist, Megyn Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: And perhaps the most damaging moment of Trump's presidential campaign, this 2005 video came to light.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And when you're a star they let you do it, you can do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the (muted).

You can do anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: When nearly a dozen women accused him of making unwelcome advances he denied it. Trump apologized for his caught on tape comments while shrugging them off as locker room talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This was locker room talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MURRAY: Now the crass commentary is coming from the Oval Office. The

women in Trump's life have shuddered at political attack directed at Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: It is hard and there is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Melania Trump even vowed to take up cyberbullying as a cause as first lady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to find a better way to talk to each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: But today her spokeswoman said only this. "As the first lady has stated publicly in the past, when her husband gets attacked he will punch back ten times harder."

HOWELL: Sara Murray reporting for us. You know, Natalie, it raises so many questions. Is it beneath the dignity of the Office of the President of the United States?

What message does it send to our children who see this? And what message does it project around the world.

ALLEN: Absolutely.

HOWELL: You know, we've seen news groups basically take an opinion -- take a position on this you see this position here from the Daily News, "humiliation."

ALLEN: Trump's new low sexist face -- OK. So, yes, and the woman and the man Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were going to take the day off for their holiday but apparently they're coming back on the show this morning to respond to President Trump. So you can find much more reaction to this story plus all the day's political news of course at cnn.com/politics.

Other news we're following, coalition forces estimate that just a couple hundred ISIS fighters just 200 left finally are still in Mosul, Iraq. They're concentrated in a dwindling area now spanning just a couple of city blocks.

[03:10:02] HOWELL: This has been a bloody fight. It has been a hard fight for many of these people on the ground there. There is every reason though to think that the few ISIS militants still left that they will fight to the death.

Our Nick Paton Walsh reports from the front lines. NICK PATON WALSH, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Winning here

comes only with dust and ruin. This was a day Iraqi Special Forces were meant to take back the symbolic al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul's old city. But they ended up the day their leaders declared victory where they were still bitterly fighting.

Just literary to the side of the mosque is where ISIS have been. The aim was to encircle the sacred minaret ISIS themselves destroyed.

(GUNFIRE)

Yet, they've lost so many to ISIS they moved carefully against an enemy even with high-tech help they rarely see.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

When at ISIS fighter is spotted, the artillery rains down. Throughout the day. There is political patience for this fight to be over in the afternoon. A news report cited Iraqi officials elsewhere saying the mosque had been retaken.

A bizarre scene given how lethally painstakingly they were advancing. Huge political stakes here for Iraq. Yet this fight is spearheaded by a few dozen men, two bulldozers. They borrow a drone. Theirs had been shot down.

ISIS have been relatively quiet during the day but it seems a drone put up in the sky to work out more of that offensive position sends some incoming rounds towards us here.

More gunfire exchanges as they grind slowly towards the edge of the mosque. More Iraqi officials announce they have retaken it. But that's just politics. And here is the ghastly reality.

Civilians held as human shields by ISIS risking death to flee from its certainty. They're held back feared as possible suicide bombers. But the agony becomes too much. There is nothing really to say when hell is behind you and just dust before you.

"We've been shelled in the rubble he says." The injured piggybacked out. A fear so strong it led this woman to walk out with pins in her leg to get her family out. A mortar landed on their home as it's the only word little boy can say.

"There has been no liquid for days, my little ones were dying of hunger. We didn't see anybody no ISIS only the military."

This day perhaps prematurely Iraq declared ISIS vanquished. Yet their three years have likely consumed all of hers. And the ruins from which she fled and in which ISIS lie will take more than declarations of victory to rebuild.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Mosul, Iraq.

HOWELL: On the front lines Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

ALLEN: So real.

HOWELL: You're watching CNN Newsroom. And still ahead, we're following history that is being made in Germany. Lawmakers they are deciding on a vote on the issue of marriage equality. We'll take you there ahead.

ALLEN: They may make that vote this hour. Also as Hong Kong celebrates a big anniversary some are considering its future under Chinese rule. We'll have more about that. You're watching CNN Newsroom.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: And our breaking news is from Germany. In the past few minutes, Germany lawmakers have voted to legalize marriage equality. This move paves the way for same sex couples to get the same rights as straight couples including adoption.

HOWELL: The bill head to Germany's upper house next week which is expected to give its approval.

Well, following this story is CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in London. Fred, this is a big deal certainly.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes.

HOWELL: It is history in the making when you consider the background here of how Ms. Merkel's party has viewed the issue. The simple fact she suggested lawmakers that were free to vote beyond party lines demonstrate a big shift.

PLEITGEN: You know, it really is very interesting, George. And it really is a landmark law that has been passed just now to change the German Civil Code to allow for a same-sex marriage as well. And you're absolutely right. It's quite strange also in the context of what you would normally think would happen in a German political process because this whole vote was tabled very, very quickly.

And in some ways Angela Merkel even said she felt that she had been ambushed by the fact that this motion had been tabled in the first place.

But it all started with earlier this week when Angela Merkel apparently met with a same sex couple, with a lesbian couple and afterward said that she changed her position on same-sex marriage from fundamentally say that she believe that her party was against it, that they would not try to institute a law allowing for a full same-sex marriage and had said that members of her parliamentary faction could vote with their conscience in any way that they wanted them to.

And it certainly it seems that that was the thing that in the end brought this law over the hump, if you will. It was the other parties in parliament, the social democrats that are in a coalition with Angela Merkel but also the opposition parties who after that moved very, very quickly to get this motion into parliament where it has now passed. There are some members of Angela Merkel's party, the conservative

party that have very, very big misgivings about this vote taking place in the first place. So this is something that certainly is a political risk for her. But at the same time of course also is very, very interesting, especially as we have an election coming up in just a couple of months, George.

HOWELL: So let's talk just a bit more about that, Fred. So what might the impact be given this historic vote and just the history that's involved with it?

PLEITGEN: Yes, you know there were ruminations within Angela Merkel's party within the close inner circle of the German government that perhaps they would make this an issue in the election campaign, that they would change their stance on same-sex marriage, but it wasn't necessarily something that they wanted to bring in the political discussions before the election came out.

Now it seems as though her coalition partner, the social democrats moved to make this motion happen earlier than she would have anticipated. That certainly makes it somewhat of a problem with some of the more conservatives in her party especially looking forward to that election.

On the other hand, though, she is so far ahead in the polls that it really doesn't look as though this is something that could hurt her in her bid to try and get re-elected but it certainly is a very, very big step.

And really interesting, again, to see that this very, very large and fundamental change in Germany's law here as far as this is concerned happened very, very quickly within the span of a few days a and was then put in place on the last day that parliament is in session.

So, a very big vote, a very fundamental vote, one that was pushed through very, very quickly. And that certainly will change a lot of things for a lot of people in that country. There's a lot of gay rights groups that have been fighting for this for a long time.

There is many, many people around the world quite frankly up until today thought that Germany already had a legalized same-sex marriage because it is a very liberal country as far as that is concerned.

But so far they've only had civil union but now full same-sex marriage. There are some misgivings, we do have to always point out that there are some people who say they want to challenge this in Germany's constitutional court about whether or not this is allowed under the German Constitution.

[03:20:00] But that certainly is a battle that's goin to be fought later down the line. Right now, I know that there is a demonstration going on outside the German House of Parliament. And certainly a lot of people at that pro-gay marriage demonstration are going to be very, very happy with the outcome of this vote in parliament, George.

HOWELL: But again highlighting the breaking news this hour. German lawmakers approving same sex marriage bill, this bill now to head to Germany's upper house next week where it is expected to again pass.

Fred Pleitgen, live for us following the story in London. Fred, thank you.

ALLEN: Other news we're following. The Chinese President Xi Jinping is marking a big anniversary in Hong Kong by showing off Beijing's military might, it's all part of the city's special anniversary festivities.

HOWELL: A military parade on Friday celebrated 20 years since the U.K. handed over control of Hong Kong to Beijing.

When he arrived, Mr. Xi, encouraged continuing the current system that lets Hong Kong maintain some independence from China.

Following this story is CNN's Anna Coren -- following the residents in Hong Kong reacting to the anniversary. So Anna, given the background President's Xi's arrival and the show of military force is seen as a symbol of pride by some, it's unity, but others see it as oppression.

ANNA COREN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, that's right, George. Some of those people who view it as oppression are standing behind me holding press conference. That's Joshua Wong, he is the democracy leader, the face of that occupy movement that really paralyzed Hong Kong back in 2014 for almost three months.

Well, he is holding a press conference along with other pro-democracy leaders saying that President Xi's visit to Hong Kong is nothing more than a -- it's turned Hong Kong, I should say, into a police state. So there is real concern that the freedom the autonomy that Hong Kong has enjoyed for the last 20 years is fast eroding.

Breathtaking country parks and beaches, a vibrant city life and a dynamic financial hub forming a bridge between east and west. These all make up the territory of Hong Kong, a tiny archipelago on the southern tip of the Chinese mainland.

As Hong Kong marks its 20 years since Britain handed its former colony back to China the city also looks ahead to 2047 when Beijing regains full control. Already plans underway to begin merging Hong Kong into the mainland with a master plan to create a pearl river delta mega city, including surrounding cities, Macao, Zhuhai, and Guangdong.

The key part of the plan is right below us. Stretching for approximately 40 kilometers, this will be the longest bridge in the world. It's one of the most ambitious engineering fiats in history costs billions of dollars, and this along with other major infrastructure prospects is designed to third integrate Hong Kong into mainland China. Some experts say these projects are vital to shore up Hong Kong's financial future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCOS CHAN, HEAD OF RESEARCH, CBRE HONG KONG: Hong Kong do have a bottom limit in terms of land supply And I do believe, you know, the government is trying very hard to rebalance the market between supply and demand. With the bridge in place while it's going to help the tourism and the retail market because it will help to attract more tourist coming into Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: While some Hong Kong citizens support the strategy, others are concerned that closer economic ties will ultimately mean falling into line with China's politics. And freedom of speech, education and the environment which could erode Hong Kong's unique identity and culture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout the years we have people coming from China coming to Hong Kong and then different cultures actually -- it's actually changing our culture as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hong Kong will become less important than it was before. And the only thing probably that stopping China from doing that faster is probably other than law is language as well. So maybe like 10, 20 years later like Hong Kong won't be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: When the handover of Hong Kong took place in 1997, the one country, two systems deal for the next 50 years was created with the hope that China would become more democratic but with that unlikely to happen the next few years could mean a vital turning point for Hong Kong with many asking if the former British colony is destined to become just another big Chinese city.

Now George, I think it's really important to note that Joshua Wong who is speaking at the moment he was arrested two days ago for climbing on a statue and covering it with a black cloth. This of course was a gift from Beijing to Hong Kong at the time of the handover.

[03:24:59] Now he says that he was held for 33 hours without charge, that they were denied access to their medication. Police of course have charged him with being a public nuisance. He has to report to police back in September. Obviously now he's now out on bail.

But he would say that this is an indication of a crackdown of people's civil liberties. And certainly moving forward that China is going to further infiltrate, if you like, Hong Kong, which has operated with autonomy, with the freedom of press with the right to protest, with the freedom of media.

And really there is -- there are grave concerns here in Hong Kong that that is going to be eroded. That it is slowly but surely being absorbed into mainland China, George.

HOWELL: People there are concerned about the changes ahead. Anna Coren live for us in Hong Kong. Thank you for the reporting.

ALLEN: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has his (Inaudible) in his effort to add full control of British pay TV group Sky to his empire. HOWELL: The U.K. culture secretary says the deal could give 21st

Century Fox and the Murdoch's family too much influence over British media. And is weighing whether to launch an in-depth investigation into the proposal. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BRADLEY, The proposed entity would have the third largest total reach of any news provider. Lower only than the BBC and ITM and which you need clear span. News coverage on television, radio, in newspapers and online. Off-cam reports states that the proposed transaction would give the Murdoch family trust material influence over news providers with a significant presence across all key platforms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Bradley says Fox and Sky have until July 14th to respond to her concerns before she makes a final decision.

ALLEN: Coming up here, more on the impact of the U.S. travel ban and six Muslim majority countries. We'll have a live report from Abu Dhabi ahead.

HOWELL: And South Korea's president has had his first meeting with the U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol. Both leaders agree that North Korea needs to be reined in but didn't quite see eye to eye on how to do it.

You're watching CNN Newsroom live around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: You're watching CNN Newsroom. Hello, again. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you.

This hour the breaking news we're following out of Germany this hour. Lawmakers there just approved the bill to legalize same-sex marriage. It paves the way for gay couples to have the same legal rights at heterosexual couples including adoption. The bill goes to the upper house which is expected to approve it next week.

[03:29:59] The German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently softened her stance on holding a vote on same sex marriage although she cast her vote against the measure.

ALLEN: The White House is defending a series of vicious and personal tweets by Donald Trump as quote, "fighting fire with fire."

The president took aim at two U.S. TV journalists calling one low I.Q. and the other psycho. Even some republican lawmakers said the president's tweet were beneath the dignity of the office.

HOWELL: A watered down version of the U.S. President controversial travel ban are now in effect. It will impact refugees and travelers from six Muslim majority countries, that is unless they can show bonafide ties to the United States.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday to allow parts of the ban until it hears a legal challenge to the case later this year.

So the original order, it called for a 90-day ban to give the government some time to look at immigration policy with those countries that are involved.

ALLEN: The parameters for who is allowed in have been loosened and the list of nations affected narrowed to Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Joining me now, our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. And Nic, certainly many Muslim groups think this is as disparaging ban and it condemns Muslims. What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: Well, certainly a lot of people look at it that way. And principally because of precisely what Donald Trump said on the campaign trail. That, you know, he wanted to limit the -- limit and control the number of Muslims coming into the United States.

So it is being seen that way. And so, of course, people are giving it particularly in this region an awful lot of scrutiny. And they're looking at, you know, who is being defined by the United States as a close relative, parents, you know siblings, children, spouses, fiances have been brought on the list.

But it's the people left out that, you know, in a region where perhaps family ties are still stronger and longer and deeper than they are in the west. You know, the extended family that's being excluded -- to include grandparents or excluded, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins all of those extended family members are not included. And that's prompted the Iranian foreign minister to tweet quite bluntly what he thinks about this.

And it's critical of the United States. He says this. "U.S. now bans Iranian grandmothers from seeing their grandchildren. And truly shameful, blind, hostility to all Iranians." So he is not hiding what he thinks. What is different about how this is going into effect compared to what we saw earlier in the year is that there isn't the chaos at the airports, that there is -- there has been a lead time on this, and that -- that they're sort of there is a better understanding in this watered down version of who can travel and who can't.

And indeed the State Department is saying even if you're a refugee that has your visa already in hand and made and agreed you are still good to travel until the sixth of -- and until the sixth of July. So there is going to be -- appears to be less chaos but it doesn't mean that people in this region don't feel that this is unfairly targeting them.

ALLEN: All right. And the Supreme Court of course takes it up in the fall. This is temporary. And it's interesting -- I noted that in the New York Times report the Cato Institute research says "No American has been killed by terrorists from these countries on the ban list on U.S. soil since 1975."

The big question is, you've covered so many issues in all of the countries all over the world. Will there be a sense that America is more safe now?

ROBERTSON: You know, certainly -- I mean certainly it seems that you know if you're a Trump supporter that you believe he is making good on his word and is trying to do what he said and if you believe what he says and many people do, that this kind of ban makes the United States more safe.

Then, yes, there are others that take the broader view and say actually this drives up hostility against the United States. You know we've seen President Trump's ratings on a world standing have dropped in about every country around the world.

And so if you see -- if you see ties and connections with the United States represented through the respect to the presidency not faring so well then that's not a positive sign. You look at Iran, for example, and remembering Iraq was on the earlier list. Iraq has far more instances of acts of terrorism in its country than does Iran.

Therefore, you would -- you would draw the conclusion that there are more terrorists in Iran and therefore a ban on people coming from Iraq may be more worthy than Iran. Those are the kind of sort of value judgments that are placed in the interpretations that are placed in this region when people look at it.

[03:34:59] So, does it make the United States safer? The biggest threat -- the biggest terrorist threat in the United States these days is from home-grown types of terror attacks outside of gun violence.

ALLEN: We thank you, Nic Robertson for us, live from Abu Dhabi. And this travel ban is underway; we'll wait and see what happens. Thanks. Nic. George?

HOWELL: South Korea's president held his first meeting with the U.S. president but with the threat of North Korea topping their agenda. They had different ideas on how to respond to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs but they may have aligned on trade between their countries.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has this report for us.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The two leaders have met for the first time, President Moon and President Trump appeared to have a friendly meeting. There were smiles, there were handshakes, it didn't appear to be any friction, obviously a very important summit at the White House dealing with the issue of North Korea and its nuclear and missile program.

Now we did hear from officials on the South Korean side after that meeting saying that it was a fairly tense atmosphere at the beginning but then as time went on it did became fairly friendly.

Now we did hear from a senior aid aide to the presidential office in South Korea as well that past presidents have merely said that North Korea is is important and have not carried out action. There is a belief though among the Moon presidency that Donald Trump will be different that he will actually do more and they agree with him that his views of diplomacy must be based on strong power.

So there appears to be from the South Korean side a push towards showing that there is agreement between Mr. Moon and Mr. Trump. We just had a short tweet from Donald Trump after that meeting saying, quote, "Just finished a very good meeting with the President of South Korea. Many subjects discussed, including North Korea and new trade deals."

Now, those last three words took many by surprise, new trade deal there is already a trade deal between the United States and South Korea called the Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Trump has in the past said that he doesn't think it's good enough, he doesn't think it's beneficial to America and it needs renegotiating.

But there was a hope here in South Korea that it wouldn't be, that there has been from President Moon just yesterday, an announcement that some more than 50 Korean companies were investing more than $12.5 billion in investment into the United States over the next five years.

Clearly hoping that by creating more jobs in the United States they could avoid that FTA being renegotiated. No clear definition though on what that new trade deal looks like or what it is exactly. It's just from that tweet. But certainly there are some concerns about that.

Some hopes that we will hear more on Friday morning U.S. time. That's when there will be a joint statement by the two leaders. We understand, no questions but certainly we're hoping to get a few more details about whether or not the two agree on how to get to the denuclearization of North Korea clearly the end goal for both leader is the same. But the way they would like to get there from what we heard is fairly different.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

ALLEN: A top democrat in the United States Senate says President Trump is being investigated by her committee for possible obstruction of justice. We'll have details coming up here.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: There are new developments in the investigations into Russian involvement in the U.S. Election. Sources telling CNN the House intelligence committee plans to interview Susan Rice, former President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser.

HOWELL: That's right. In the meantime, though, the Senate Intel committees says that it wants to know whether there was financial ties between Mr. Trump officials, rather, and Russia.

Our Pamela Brown has this report.

PAMELA BROWN, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The investigation into Russian election meddling is ramping up as congressional committees expand their scrutiny. The Senate intelligence committee is analyzing financial data from the Treasury Department to determine any potential financial ties between Trump associates and Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK WARNER, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: It's one of the areas that we've now received two batches of information from treasury. We may make more requests. We're just starting that review.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The committee Chairman, Senator Richard Burr tell CNN he feel confident the committee will be given access to the memos James Comey wrote after his meeting with President Trump. And he claims that their investigation is quite a bit ahead of special counsel criminal probe led by Robert Mueller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BURR, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: We've been acting an investigation about four and a half months we're making tremendous progress. We'll interview well over -- we had over 40 interviews. And we continue very privately to make significant progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, the ranking democrat on the Senate judiciary committee told CNN today lawmakers on her committee are examining potential obstruction of justice surrounding the president's firing of Comey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: This is meant to be an investigation that's within our jurisdiction having to do with possible obfuscation of justice or obstruction of justice and looking at Comey's memos and what he said. And whether events were truthfully related the public. I think that's very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: She is also asking the president's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner about a security clearance form after he initially failed to disclose multiple meetings with Russian officials and other foreign contacts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEINSTEIN: What was the reason that the security form was not addressed correctly? And I'm not going to say what reasons are. We want to know what his reason is for making that error. Because it's a substantial error.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: Top republicans on the same committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley

and Senator Lindsey Graham also want to know if any Trump associates were under surveillance by the FBI as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

In a letter to the deputy attorney general and the acting director of the FBI they asked the bureau to hand over all, quote, "proposed FISA applications that the FBI and Justice Department committee to the foreign intelligence court as well as the courts responses to those applications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: I want to know was there ever any warrant issued against anybody in the Trump world. Was there a probable cause found by a judge that would allow a warrant to be issued and if that person was surveilled did anything come of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, sources tell CNN that Dan LeVin the former chief of staff to special counsel Robert Mueller who is currently investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia is in talks to join President Trump's legal team.

Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

HOWELL: To a subject that is very important to us here at CNN, the battle to end modern day slavery.

ALLEN: Human trafficking is not unique to big cities. The problem affects rural communities as well.

CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports on one town determined to do something about it.

LYNDA KINKADE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: As the morning sun peeks from the clouds, like Eureka's High School in Northern California, senior Sophie Allen starts the lesson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:44:59] SOPHIE ALLEN, SENIOR STUDENT, EUREKA HIGH SCHOOL: I'm going to read a statement and you're going to say if it's truth or false.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, it might seem unusual for a student to be teaching, the subject of this particular class lesson is even more extraordinary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: There is more slaves present in the world right now than any time in history. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: In February 2017, lawmakers in the State of California voted to require public schools teach students in grades 7 through 12 about human trafficking. According to the bill sponsors California has the highest number of reported human trafficking cases in the United States. And 75 percent involve sex trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Very few people are actually physically kidnapped, right. Most of them are manipulated or given false promises by a trafficker and then find themselves in a situation where they can't leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Eureka is the first public high school in California to incorporate the prevention project, the anti-trafficking curriculum focuses on empowering students to take action, raising awareness through projects they come up with themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELINA WESCOTT, STUDENT, EUREKA HIGH SCHOOL: I didn't know that it happened like here, like I knew it happened but I thought it was like in like other countries. I didn't know it was like here like where I lived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Principal Jennifer Johnson says this class allows students to speak openly with peers about issues like self-esteem and manipulation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER JOHNSON, PRINCIPAL, EUREKA HIGH SCHOOL: If students aren't feeling comfortable to talk to an adult to be to have a student in the role as lead is phenomenal. And to really have this freshman take on I think the seriousness of the project and really understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Beginning in 2017, a separate anti-trafficking curriculum created by the group Protect will be caught in 35 rural Californian had counties and San Diego with the goal of reaching more than 300,000 school students and teachers.

Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Boing says it's a small step for small communities to begin protecting their own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX BOING, SUPERVIDOR, HUMBOLDT COUNTY: We educate the educators, besides educating the children, so they can see the signs of people that may be being trafficked. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: When it comes to human trafficking no community is immune. And everyone can benefit a lot just by learning a little.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

HOWELL: Endangered elephants are on the move in Africa. Five hundred of the giant peaches are being drugged and lifted by cranes. Why they're get a new home. Next here on CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back. I want to tell you about a bold and high risk idea of conservation involving elephant populations that have been decimated across Africa.

ALLEN: It's been done for rhinos before in Africa. A group in Malawi now hoping to revive the herds by relocating hundreds of elephants at the same time.

CNN's David McKenzie got exclusive access to the operation.

DAVID MCKENZIE, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The chase from the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are on our way.

MCKENZIE: Capture teams at the ready. This is conservation on its absolute largest scale, a record of location. Not just a single elephant, entire herds darted.

[03:50:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to take a care, he's family group right from the oldest matriarch down to the smallest baby. There she comes. Hold on.

MCKENZIE: For the continent's most iconic species, the stakes couldn't be higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW PARKER, OPERATION DIRECTOR, AFRICAN PARK: Look here on the left, a large herd of elephants. This is how elephants should be, in their natural habitat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Tens of thousands lost each year but not in the wild.

So, maybe 20 elephants in a herd over there. They've been so successful in this part in protecting the elephants. There are so many here.

PARKER: Humans and elephants competing for space. Humans are poaching elephants for the ivory. The idealistic view of Africa as this most open landscape where animals can move freely from point a to b that doesn't exist anymore.

We can now link effectively manage affected areas across Africa moving elephants from areas where management has been successful and effective into areas where elephants have been completed. And what we're doing here now demonstrates that scale is not a limitation.

MCKENZIE: But the operation isn't without risk. An adolescent stops breathing. Every time an elephant goes down its massive weight becomes a danger to itself. This is just one of 500 elephants they hope to move. But with the very survival of the species at stake, each one is precious.

You were doing everything you can to try and revive that animal.

Yes, we try to resuscitate the animal for probably 10 or 15 minutes. We're actually within a minute or two and it's just too late.

MCKENZIE: And they're pioneering new methods to lessen the danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You try to keep the stress from the animal as low as possible. Get them into the crate as quickly as possible and wake them up as quickly as possible. It reduces the time of anesthesia and reduces the risk.

MCKENZIE: The epic journey north starts the same day too. It will be repeated several times over the next six weeks for each new herd.

What do you see over there?

SAMUEL KAMOTO, PARK MANAGER, AFRICAN PARK: There is an elephant in there. So we brought in six elephants in here last night.

MCKENZIE: There used to be 1500 elephants in Kota. Poachers slaughtered all but 70. But as the gate opens for the new arrivals, Sam Kamoto is confident.

Is the future bright for elephants in Malawi?.

KAMOTO: The future looks brighter indeed. These animals obviously they traveled a long distance and finally they are going out into sort of freedom. There is hope now that we can save the species.

MCKENZIE: His team secured the park for this very moment. Its rebirth.

David McKenzie, CNN, Malawi.

HOWELL: David, thank you.

ALLEN: What an undertaking.

HOWELL: Wow. Indeed.

ALLEN: Godspeed to elephants of Malawi for sure.

HOWELL: Yes. ALLEN: Well, cities in southwest Iran may have just endured one of the hottest days ever recorded, maybe the hottest.

HOWELL: Wow. Let's bring in our meteorologist Derek Van Dam to tell us about it. Derek, that sounds pretty rough.

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Yes, you're right, George, Natalie. No matter how we look at it it's hot. But there are a lot of the caveats with the story and I'm going to do my best to explain them to you.

Here is the temperature 53.7 degrees. Authorities they are calling this is the new absolute national record of reliable Iranian heats. I know it's a mouthful. The previous record was 53 degrees Celsius. So you can see the difference there.

Let's start with what we know for sure. This is the hottest temperature ever recorded in Iran. This is also the hottest June temperature ever recorded in mainland Asia. But is it the hottest temperature ever in the world?

Well, there was a reputable weather agency known as weather underground and they're claiming that this temperature in southwest Iran, Ava, Iran was 54 degrees Celsius, not 53.7 but 54. And if that is indeed true this needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization. That would be indeed the hottest temperature ever recorded on planet earth.

And some people would say hey, but waited a second what about 1913 Death Valley, California temperatures of 57 degrees Celsius recorded there officially. Well, that was officially debunked last year by a weather historian actually.

But when we're splitting hairs here we know the bottom line is that it was extremely hot in Iran and a lot of things led to this and contributed to excessive heat. And for a period of time we had moist air flow coming off of the Persian Gulf. So this also skyrocketed what is known as the heat index, it's the apparent heat or temperature that you feel as you step outside.

[03:54:56] It was so warm that some of the models and some of the tables that we look as meteorologist it was actually off the charts. So, bottom line is, Natalie, George, it's hot. Will it be the record temperature, time will tell. Back to you.

ALLEN: It's hot enough.

VAN DAM: Not enough.

ALLEN: Derek, thanks.

Outrage is growing over President Trump's latest Twitter tirade describing female TV news host Mika Brzezinski in a personal and vicious way.

HOWELL: And our CNN contributor Ana Navarro has definitely taken a very sharp position on this.

Jeanne Moos shows us how it played out.

JEANNE MOOS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Nothing presidential about this pronouncement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was bleeding badly from a face lift so I said no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

MOOS: Even conservative commentator Bill Kristol tweeted, "Dear at real Donald Trump, you are a pig."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MINORITY LEADER: It's really sad that this President of the United States.

JAKE TAPPER, HOST, CNN: A reminder, this is the President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: But no one seems more incensed than republican commentator and CNN contributor, Ana Navarro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA NAVARRO, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: I thought to myself this dude has got such a fixation with women and blood. What is wrong with him.

And then you remember that this dude, this disgusting dude is the President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Navarro advised republicans to confront the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAVARRO: So listen, you crazy lunatic 70-year-old man baby, stop it. You are now the President of the United States. And you need to top acting like a mean girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: As her rant went viral we decided to pit Navarro against the president's chief defender.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a president who fights fire with fire.

NAVARRO: He is embarrassing. He is shameful. He is disgusting.

HUCKABEE-SANDERS: I think the American people elected somebody who is tough, who is smart and who is a fighter.

NAVARRO: Stop enabling him. Confront this and confront this hard or it will never stop. It will take the presidency low, low, low.

HUCKABEE-SANDERS: I think that the president is pushing back against people who attack him day after day after day. Where is the outrage on that.

NAVARRO: We have a president who is immature, unstable and just acts like a crazy person with anybody who attacks him.

HUCKABEE-SANDERS: The president again isn't somebody who is bullied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: This by the way, is said to be a picture of MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski at the time Trump is claiming she was bleeding badly from a face lift. Maybe what needs facing are facts.

Jeanne Moos, CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAVARRO: Then stop sweeting. Go seek therapy. Go knit. Find a hobby. Talk to your wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: New York.

ALLEN: Anna has her special way, doesn't she?

All right. We'll hear more about the story when they're back on the show just a few hours.

HOWELL: Thank you for being with us for CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. More news from Max Foster from London right after this.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)