One month after Hurricane Maria Many Puerto Ricans are still struggling to get food, and power. Welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. Im Rosemary Church and this is cnn newsroom. U. S. President donald trump is under fire from critics who say he is politicizing the the deaths of four soldiers killed in an ambush in niger earlier this month. It took 12 days for the president to mention the incident and after he did, its been one misstep after another. Jeff zelleny has the store. I didnt say what that congresswoman said. Reporter today at the white house the president spoke about his call today to myesha johnson, shes the pregnant wife of la david johnson. The soldiers mother and congresswoman Frederica Wilson who both listened to the call told cnn the president disrespected johnson by saying he knew what he signed up for. The president denied using those words saying wilson totally fabricated what i said to the wife of a soldier who died in action, and i have proof, sad. He did not provide proof as the controversy escalated between the commander in chief and the fallen soldier. I did not say what she said. I had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman spapd. What was the truth, mr. President . Let her make her statement again. Wilson, a florida democrat stood by her account. The mother telling cnn the congresswomans words were acrate. The congresswoman said this when asked about it. Stunned. Still stunned. So insensitive. Mr. Trump is crazy. If t feud did little to shed light on what led to the ambush that killed johnson and three other soldiers. Asked earlier why he didnt address the attack for nearly two weeks, the president falsely claimed his pres predecessors did not contact the families of fallen troops. If you look at president obama and other president s, most of them didnt make calls. Its another mark on his credibility. Today the president abruptly reversed course on health care after signaling his support for subsidies. Were going to have great solution ultimately for health care. He all with drew his support. We Lamar Alexander is working on it very hard from our side and if something can happen, thats fine. But i wont do anything to enrich the Insurance Companies because right now the Insurance Companies are being enriched. Reporter the underlying of this back and forth is the attack in niger two weeks ago. Senator mccain said he is not getting all the information he needs about what led to that attack that killed four american soldiers, asked directly if the Trump Administration is being forthcoming, he said no. Jeff zelleny cnn the white house. And the white house says chief of staff john kelly was one of several people listening in on that condolence call. Press Sarah Sanders said they all agree its respectful and appropriate. And lashed out on the congresswoman Frederica Wilson. I think its appalling what the congresswoman has done and the way she politicized this issue and the way shes trying to make this about something that it isnt. This was a president who loves our country very much, who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in the uniform and wanted to call and offer condolences to the family and to create something that fr that that the congresswoman is doing is appalling and disgusting. Joining me now associate fellow on the u. S. Program at chat tam house. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. Theres been a lot of reaction in the United States to the words President Trump used when he called the widow of sergeant la david johnson. But we just heard from the White House Press secretary, Sarah Sanders, she attacked the congresswoman and accused her of politicizing this issue. Whats your reading of the president s conversation . Well, what weve heard from the reports, i think that the key issue here is that its a very difficult thing for any president of the United States, and its an incredibly important thing to acknowledge the death of those that have given their lives for the country. And the the phone call, as its been reported, suggests that the tone was wrong, the words were problematic. And the response from the president , of course, when facing this kind of questioning from the congresswoman would simply be to reaffirm and choose better words. To take that opportunity to correct to make the record right. To express to the country how he feels. And, of course, what weve seen time and again is the president doesnt take that opportunity. Instead he uses it to take whats on the edge of becoming political and drive it down. Weve seen it in a number of cases over the the last few years where hes gotten the tone wrong and misstepped when it comes to acknowledging those who have lost loved ones fighting for the United States. With this overwhelming reaction to mr. Trumps call and his words, his next response is critical, isnt it . And could very well impact some of the president s big agenda items, like tax reform, health care. Lets look at what he needs to do. Should he apologize for his inartful use of language or should he move on . And what will he likely do . Well, what the president should do is simply to stand up and say very clearly and with a degree of empathy, if he can put it together, and just acknowledge that the tragic loss and his feelings about that. Its very, very important that he moves away from the politicization. Its not an issue appropriately politicized. But it makes it very difficult for those around him to work with him. Weve seen this time and again. Of course, even though it creates a distancing, it makes it more difficult to work with the president. Because every Congress Persons constituency cares about this. But hes recovered from this over the years. So its unlikely to do damage. There are other things getting in his way. We have witnessed he does bounce back and senator john mccain says he is not being upfront about the ambush that killed Sergeant Johnson and three other souldiers as well a wounding two, why do you think were not seeing the information. This is a high stakes operation, something clearly went wrong. Im sure theyre looking into this very carefully right now. And it is interesting that this hasnt become more politicized in the way that if you think back to benghazi, there was a tremendous amount of attention on that. So i this particular response, of course, the unintended consequence of trumps response to the family of the sergeant who died might be to shed a light on that particular operation and to raise more questions in the Public Domain and that would be appropriate because this is a very difficult operation and it remains very unclear what happened. Leslie, thank you for joining us. We do appreciate it. We like to see and hear your perspective on these matters. Thank you. Rhetoric over the Iran Nuclear Deal heats up with the u. S. Ambassador challenging the united nations. A prominent White Nationalist is scheduled to speak at a Florida College in the coming hours and its led the governor to declare a state of emergency. Well explain when we come back. You wouldnt do only half of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently . Complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99. 9 of germs. Listerine® bring out the bold™ ive done every night isince i was a kid,hing empty my pocket change into this old jar. Its never much, just whats left after i break a dollar. And i never thought i could get quality Life Insurance with my spare change. Neither did i. Until i saw a commercial for the Colonial Penn program. Imagine people our age getting Life Insurance at such an affordable rate. Its true. If youre 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance through the Colonial Penn program for less than 35 cents a day, just 9. 95 a month. Theres no medical exam and no health questions. You know, the average cost of a funeral is over 8,300. Now thats a big burden to leave your loved ones. Add to that credit card balances and final medical bills, and youve got plenty of reasons to call for free information about this valuable coverage. Its easy and affordable to help cover your final expenses through the Colonial Penn program. As long as youre 50 to 85 you cannot be turned down because of your health. Your premium never goes up and your benefit never goes down due to age. Plus, your coverage builds cash value over time, money you can borrow against. So dont wait, call now for free information and a free gift. All i did was make a phone call and all of my questions about the Colonial Penn program were answered. It couldnt have been any easier and we both got the coverage we should have had for years now. Mmhm, with change to spare. laughing Colonial Penn jingle welcome back, everyone. A u. N. Security Council Session was supposed to be devoted to the palestinian deadlock but nikki haley accused tay ron of violating International Law and resolutions. The regime continues to play this council. They hide behind the assertion of Technical Compliance with the nuclear deal while it violates the other limits on its behavior and we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop. Fled plankton joins ut now. Fred, the Trump Administration is keeping the issue of the Iran Nuclear Deal front and center, despite the israelpalestinian deadlock was supposed to be discussed. Whats the reaction to this attack . Reporter its an ongoing attack and there have been multiple reactions not specifically to what ambassador hayly said last night but in general, everything after last friday, when President Trump gave his speech, there has been a lot of reaction. The most forceful came yesterday with the Supreme Leader of the country coming out and giving a speech blasting President Trump saying he, quote, pretends to be an idiot but iran is k not let their guard down. One of the things the Supreme Leader said he he believes the u. S. Is angry because the iranians feel theyve made headway here in the middle east. And the iranian or the ayatollah believes thats one of the reasons why the americans are so critical of them. Of course, the other big thing thats being talked about here and that President Trump spoke about is the nuclear agreement. Thats almost on everyones minds. The ie toll ya spoke about the deal as well and said they would not ditch it unless it was broken by the americans and called on the urp yens to safe it. While being critical of the europeans, saying they shouldnt be critical since they have Nuclear Weapons themselves. But you can see, theyre counting on the europeans to save the agreement some of the countries, like germany, france, britain, they are still behind the agreement. The iranians are saying they are as well, however they feel the u. S. Is currently jeopardizing that agreement and also isolating itself from the other signatories of the agreement. As this plays out, what about the average person on the street, what is their view of President Trump and the United States, and how much of this are they following . Reporter well, you know one of the things that you will hear from most iranians, i will say, it is a fairly divided society, but they appreciate the United States, the culture of the United States. They dont necessarily agree with the United States leadership. I think one of the thicks theyre seeing with President Trump is they believe the rhetoric coming out of the white house is unfair to the iranians, especially pertaining to the nuclear agreement. They feel President Trump is out to get the iranians, tl there are some politicians who came out and said the u. S. Foreign policy is for sale. Hes siding with the gulf countries. At the same time i think iranians see there have been provocations on the iranians part as well. Look where there was missile launches with hebrew writing on them. By and large one of the things you see again and again here is there are big internal divisions in this country politically, especially between moderates and hard liners but when they are attacked from the outside, verbal baa verbally and other ways they come together and form a united front. Thats the case where even a lot of hard line politicians say we believe some of the things President Trump has said, uniting politics instead of dividing it. Thank you, fred for that report from tehran. We turn to iraq and the Prime Minister has banned all armed groups except the Government Security forces. The directive is intended to help restore stability after iraqi forces on monday drove out fighters. Now the kurds are controlled the city for three years. Ben, the Trump Administration decided not to take sides as these two u. S. Allies fought over kirkuk. How do the fighters feel about that stand . Certainly there is a real anger among many kurds that the United States has betrayed them. Keep in mind the kurds were key al lies here in iraq and ser yee ya in the fight against isis. The kurds have never been shy about their desire eventually for an independent state, certainly one that would be carved out of what is iraq today. But what were seeing is that in the city of kirkuk that those tensions, the tensions between the kurds and the rest of the country are certainly broadening the fault lines which divide the ke kurds and the government in baghdad. They returned in the morning, car after car of kirkuk residents who fled when pair ra military seized control earlier this week. A car mechanic says its safe to go back home now. The situation is good he insists. Theres nothing wrong. Units of the iraq army, the federal police and the moebization units have deployed around the city replacing kerdish forces who pulled out monday morning. Relief the change was swift and, albeit by iraqi standards, relatively peaceful. I was scared he tells me. We were afraid to step outside, but Nothing Happened thank god. A kurdish veteran of the iran, iraq war looks on the price sight. Theres no difference between arabs and curds, but all is not well here. A five minute drive away and the tune is very different. People are afraid says this construction worker. He said hed leave if he had the money. Some parts of the city look almost normal. Others like this usually busy market is pretty much dead. For a few years, iraqis put their differences behind them and focussed on the fight against isis but now that isis has almost been defeated, those old differences are starting to resurfa resurface by early afternoon the roads were jammed with people fleeing the city. Rumors spreading that officials were being rounded up and clashes were about to erupt. People are afraid of war says this man, and with the fear, anger at the u. S. Which supported the kurds in their war against isis but turned their backs on their desire for a state of their own. United states bears responsibility for what is happening in kirkuk he tells me. As one conflict comes to an end, another looms large. Now we understand that overnight whats known as the popular moebization units, those iranian backed parra militaries have pulled out of kirkuk in response to the call by the Prime Minister, they pulled out of the center of the city, Iraqi Military police still control the city as a whole. As a result there were celebrations among the kurdish residents. But having spent most of the day in kirkuk yesterday i can tell you its sense. Thank you for that report. The Security Guard who was shot outside the las vegas gunmans hotel room is telling his story for the first time on the Ellen Degeneres show, he described patrolling the hauls when he was sent to the 32nd floor. At first he thought he heard drilling sounds. As i was walking down, i heard rapid fire, and at first i took cover, i felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up and i saw the blood. Thats when i called it in on my radio that shots have been be fired. While campos hid in the hallway he warned a Hotel Engineer and a woman coming out of another room to take cover. The gunman killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 in the deadliest mass shoot lg of modern u. S. History. The university of gainesville is bracing for a speech by Richard Spencer, White Nationalist, students have held rallies against spencers planned speech and floridas governor has declared a state of emergency as a security precaution. Chris sims is with the Sheriffs Office and he joins me now. Thank you for being with us. Of course, Richard Spencer says he is flattered by the state of emergency that has been declared ahead of his speech. He even thinks its quite funny. Why was the state of emergency declared. We would like our community to know and our speaker to know we are not using his name because we do not condone his speech. We would like them to know the declaration of emergency is not in place based on any belief of cr Credible Threats by violence. It was put in request by the sheriff to governor scott. Governor scott asked some tough questions, those questions were answer today his satisfaction and he agreed it would be best to place the declaration sooner rather than later. It opens up the opportunity for the Law Enforcement personnel here in the county to get that Immediate Response from additional Law Enforcement resources should that be needed, should we encounter violence or civil unrest, which are the incidents in charlottesville and berkley during similar speeches. Richard spencers message, make white great again, do you think it was wise for the university to have him speak at their campus or do you feel the right to freedom of speech is more important than those concerns . We obviously are working well with the university of florida, were working well with the city of gainesville. We do not take a stand on the decision that was made. You must understand that that decision was made based upon the First Amendment right of freedom sof speech and assembly. It is our job as constitutional officers to protect and defend that right whether we agree with it or not, we must become that neutral party. So we are going to do our very best to ensure that this event becomes a nonevent that it goes off without a hitch and were going to ensure that our community is very safe, very secure. But they have the right to make their freedoms of expression and speech as theyve been afforded by the u. S. Constitution. The message we want to provide is clear, you are welcome to your First Amendment rights, you are welcome to the freedom of speech, peaceful protest is welcomed here. What is not welcomed is violence, we will have Law Enforcement there and should you erupt in violence or civil unrest, we will take swift appropriate action to ensure that that is handled in a very proper manner. Thank you for coming on cnn and talking with us. We hope things go smoothly for you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Yes, maam. Well take a short break but when we come back, donald trump has paid the 25,000 he promised to the family of a fallen soldiers, what prompted him to write the check after nearly four months of delay. A federal judge hears an ethics lawsuit over the ownership of the washington hotel. Well explain what thats about and have more after the break. A very warm welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. The white house is firing back at a congresswoman who said President Trump disrespected the family of a fallen soldier killed this month in niger. Frederica wilson said she was listening on speaker phone when President Trump called to offer condolences to la David Johnsons widow. Her account differs from the white house. I did hear him say he knew what he was signing up for but it still hurts. And when she actually hung up the phone, she looked at me and said he didnt even know his name. Now thats the worst part. The president s call as accounted by multiple people in the room believed that the president was completely respectful, very sympathetic and expressed the condolences of himself and the rest of the country. Meanwhile, President Trump has sent a personal check for 25,000 to the family of another fallen soldier, Army Corporal dill Dillon Baldridge back in june. But it didnt happen until wednesday, the same day the post reported the the story. The white house said the payment took so long because it had to go through several agencies. Its not common for a u. S. President to make personal payouts to families of Fallen Service members. The commander in chiefs inexperience could be the reason for the inartful handling of the events but as jake tapper shows us, hes had had problems handling these situations. We try to treat this with appropriate sensitivity and respect, we do not know what President Trump said to the grieving widow of sergeant la david johnson, congresswoman Frederica Wilson said the president said he knew what he signed up for but i guess it still hurt, that the president didnt seem to know johnsons name and the congresswoman said the president s words caused the widow to break down. The president however denies this, he tweeted he had proof and the the white house said congresswoman wilson is trying to political sies the call. All of that makes difference, the family heard what they heard. T his attempt at comfort failed. Under the best of circumstances, these moments are awful. Just awful. And the problem that President Trump might have here, however, is that when it comes to sensitivity about service and sacrifice specifically, hes already made what critics have assessed to be some bad decisions. Go back to 2015, his attack on senator mccain, who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war, he was tortured, he was suicidal. As the son and grandson of admirals, he was asked to leave early but mccain refused to do it in deference to the p. O. W. S who had been there longer this is how trump saw it. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people who arent captured and then there was the gold star parents of captain kahn he belittled them after they took issue with trumps antimuslim rhetoric. As she said, she was just too broken up to discuss the loss of her fallen son. Shortly after his inauguration, the president stood in front of the Memorial Wall where there are etched 125 stars for fallen cia officers including navy sale christopher mueller, another one for former marine major douglas zack bee yak, who was killed in iraq. The president spent his time railing about the size of the media coverage. It looked like a million people, it went all the way back to the washington monument. Amidst all this, the president this week falsely accused president obama and previous president s of never having phoned gold star families. In an apparent attempt to make himself look more compassionate, i suppose. In the mist of that, the current controversy burst on the scene as another political weapon used by the president and against the president. This most internal horrific experience just one more piece of ammunition in the snark wars where nothing matters. Instead of focussing on these fallen men and women, were focussed on phone calls and letters. President trump did acknowledge that president obama did call gold star families. You can ask, john kelly did he get a call from barack obama thats a reference to his chief of staff, kelly and his wife lost his son to a land mine in afghanistan in 2010. What will honor the memory of robert and the kellys more, is to take a moment to consider robert kelly and all of the men and women who serve our nation while considering these words, quote, sons like yours who serve are men and women of character who continue to believe in this country enough to put life and limb on the line without qualification and without thought of personal gain and they serve so that the sons and daughters of the other 99 dont have to. No big deal though asthma ree, have always been the first to fight. Those were the words of general john kelly in 2010. He delivered that speech just four day gs after his beloved son rob erwas killed. Ive learned on this job that telling the stories of troops and their families, that its very important we all choose our words very carefully, its not just journalists and politicians we must imagine what these families go through. If you dont take great care and youre reckless about these kinds of sacrifices, the kind of sacrifice you see on your screen, then people might not be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if on one occasion your words come out wrong. Pain used to shut me down during pickup games. But with odor free blueemu continuous pain relief spray, i can box out any muscle or joint pain immediately. Blueemu continuous pain relief spray, it works fast and you wont stink. Theres an anticorruption measure in the u. S. Constitution thats supposed to prevent Foreign Governments from giving gifts to the president without permission from congress. Its called the the immaulments clause and a group of experts are suing donald trump over it. D. C. Area Business Owners have joined the suit. Saying President Trumps businesses are hurting their business. A federal judge heard argument wednesday and is deciding whether it can go forward. With me is the former director of the u. S. Office of government ethics joining me from d. C. To talk about this. Thank you for being with us. Thanks for having us. Ethics experts are suing the president and now a judge did needs to decide if the case will go forward. What do you think the judge will decide . The judge sounded a bit of skepticism about the plaintiffs right to go forward. The issue is whether they can establish whether they suffered an injury as a result of the president s actions. Its a very difficult standard to meet and a lot of cases get dismissed on that ground. It wasnt looking great for the plaintiffs today in the courtroom. Interesting. And, of course, we know mr. Trumps two sons took over the daytoday control of his businesses when he took office. But this plaintiff and other critics have said thats not enough. Do you agree with that . Some of the debate stems from the precise definition. You mentioned gifts and thats one of them, but the two parties disagree over what the definition of gift is. The department of justices legal opinions from prior years do establish a precedent that it can be more than gifts, for instance sprieding Services Like gave a speech or did consulting work for a Foreign Government and they offered to pay you, you cant accept that if youre an federal employee or elected official. But whats unclear is whether or not you can receive payment for services of a corporation, in this case its a hotel. So the question is whether the profits from the hotel with people staying there or Foreign Governments renting rooms for events would qualify was an immaulment, the judge sounded skeptical of the federal governments opinion and seemed to side more with the plaintiffs. The government was urging a narrow definition and the plaintiffs offered a more common sense broader definition of the obscure term. So it comes down to whose definition wins but first they have to get to court and the plaintiffs are having trouble getting over that threshold today. The United States has never had to deal with a situation like this. Whats at issue is the payment from the foreign entities to mr. Trumps clubs, hotels, restaurants. So what should he be doing with these payments . How can he avoid the situation . First of all if he had followed the the tradition of past president s, he would have divested or sold off those assets and we wouldnt have them so we wouldnt be having this debate. Were in this situation because we have a president who declared publically that a president cant have a conflict of interest, which as a matter of common sense is just illogical. But if hes going to keep the hotel, at one point he offered they would track which payments were from Foreign Governments and give that money out. They backed away from that and have refused to the carefully track the the payments from Foreign Governments. So its hard to know what they could do if theyre not willing to even se gre gait the money, much less decline it. Thats sort of what prompted these cases. Theres actually more than one case. One case is brought by members of congress and they seem more confident theyre going to get standing in this case because the constitution actually provides that congress has the sayso in whether or not a president can get this, and their allegation is they should have been consulted so they may fair better on the standing issue. We shall have to see what the judge decides on the case. Thank you for joining us and adding your perspective and analysis to this. We appreciate it. Thanks. Well take a short break here, but still to come, cnn takes you to a remote area of puerto rico where the roads are very passable and hurricane victims are still struggling to survive day by day. Stay with us. Building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral. From godaddy in fact, 68 of people who have built their. Website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. Build a better website in under an hour. With gocentral from godaddy. Emolume right now millions of americans in puerto rico still dont have power or clean running water. Its been a month since Hurricane Maria hit. But the slow pace of relief and extreme destruction make it seem like the storm hit just yesterday. Cnns bill weir reports conditions are dire for people in remote parts of the island. As dawn brings marias one month anniversary we head out of san juan by air and low to the ground. Terrain, terrain, pull up. Reporter all the better to see the mud slides, broken bridges and home. We pass one of the biggest radio telescopes in the world but we are looking for the intelligent signs of the life in the western mountains. We land and inside the airport a big group of military veterans has turned baggage claims into a bunk house and operations center. I think were at 30000, 35,000 meals. They came down on their own dime and shake their heads in frustration with fema. If it were up to them, theyll bring in the national guard. 15,000 at a time on twoweek rotations. You have to pay these guys anyway to sit at fort mccoy in wisconsin for two weeks. Youre wasting your money. All this stuff about bringing in contractors, security contractors to ride security on the trucks, ill get you 5,000 vets thatll do it for free. We get a taste of the logistics here, mariao little bit rated this highway. And the neighbors are building their own bridge. Do you feel like americans in moments like this . Do you feel taken care of as citizens . Were not people that say the government must help us, were all part of humanity. Every person does the best they can. What kind of help are you getting from the outside . Have you seen fema . We see fema. We see the group that came from connecticut, and they pure fie the water. Are these the veterans . Yeah thats right. We met them at the airport. Yeah, they were beautiful people. Thanks to juny and his mi minimmin minimonster struck we get through this and find one of femas top guys. Are you begging your guys for more help. No. Two weeks after the haiti quake with u. S. Had 22,000 troops on the ground. I dont know how much more, if i keep flooding the place with food and water, when is the local neighbors going to open their super market. Isnt it true fema was in new orleans for seven years . We were in new orleans just two years ago and we left 5,000 mobile homes there. We were there seven eight months responding there. Were going to be in puerto rico for as long as it takes. For as long as it takes . For as long as it takes. Despite what the president says . You know what, we dont follow i dont see a tv. I dont Pay Attention to them. I Pay Attention to the mission i have in my heart, which is fixing puerto rico. In just the few hours weve been shooting, an Amazing Development here, the Air National Guard out of tennessee and kentucky has arrived and theyre militarizing the airport. They tell me they have 500 guys and more are coming. Theyve been sitting home for two weeks chomping at the bit to come. There were so many layers of red tape they couldnt pull the trigger. But the good news is theyre here now. They have supplies and theyre going to start pushing them into the mountain as soon as they can. We turn now to a dramatic and scary final flight in germany. Upon arrival, the pilots of an air berlin passenger plane buzzed past the tower, they wanted to make a farewell gesture since it was the last flight for the airline. The plane landed safely on the second approach. The pilots have been suspended. Australian police had a front row seat for a spectacle. A kangaroo version of mixed marshal arts. Capturing this late throe down, theres kicking, slapping. We dont know who won. These males fight over mating rights or to establish whos dominant sound familiar . Kangaroo feet can produce bone brushing kicks that can even kill, according to national geographic. Early start is next for the viewers in the United States and everyone else, stayed tuned with hannah von jones in london. Have a great day. Dusseld demanding answers as new questions emerge about the deadly ambush on american soldiers in niger. Now senator john mccain is saying the white house is not being up front about the attack. The president was completely respectful, very sympathetic. To try to create something from that that the counsel woman is doing is frankly appalling and
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.