Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom Live 20170625 : comparemel

Here in the United States and all around the world. Im george howell. And im natalie allen. And cnn news rocnn newsroom s now. And we begin the hour with a deadly explosion in eastern pakistan. At least 120 people are dead, dozens more injured after an oil tanker exploded in the city sunday morning. The tanker reportedly left the road following an accident then villagers gathered to collect the oil, and that is when the truck exploded. An emergency has been declared in the city as well as in nearby towns. Cnn producer sophia saufy joins me with the latest on the situation there. Reporter yes, its a very horrific situation. It was supposed to be a time of celebration, the last day of ramadan here in pakistan. Tomorrow is a massive festival. There was a Public Holiday declared for the rest of the week. And this was not supposed to be a time of such tragedy. What we do know at 6 30 this morning, an oil tanker collided with another vehicle and fell off the road into a nearby field. This is where villages from nearby came on their bikes, carrying pots, pans, any container they could find and started carrying off as much fuel as they could in these containers. And ten minutes after they arrived, according to police sources, that is when the explosion took place. There are a hundred, over a hundred injured. We have a death toll of 120. Theres a medical emergency across the province in that region. And then in other parts of the country as well, because helicopters are taking them from one place to the next. So were seeing a medical emergency unfolding with numbers expected to rise. We can tell from the video that it was a very horrific fire and explosion that happened there. And there are no hospitals in that immediate area which have burn centers. So where are these people being taken . Reporter well, this is a matter of grave concern. They have basically, there are no burn centers. There are no proper facilities. So you have the military sending out helicopters to try to help the victims to other cities across the border and other major hospitals. The chief Ministers Office has sent in helicopters to airlift these victims from this area to other cities, a province of punjab. Hospitals are on high alert. There are numbers that are expected to rise. And theres a lot of growing anger against the way this is being managed. Because when i spoke to various police officials, many were reluctant to share numbers. But theres a share of graphic photographs, images that are very haunting and theres a lot of anger spewing on social media and on the ground right now as to how the government is managing this. It is supposed to be a tay of celebration and what a horror there. Thank you. Now to china. Authorities say the outlook is grim after a land slide that happened saturday. At least 24 bodies have been recovered. This disaster struck a village in the szechuan province. State media report a couple and their baby made it out of the rubble alive. But a local official admits it is unlikely that more survivors will be found. Matt rivers is following the story live in shanghai this morning. Were hearing of course from officials the officials theyre a lot less optimistic about the possibility of finding survivors. What are they saying about this recovery operation as it stands right now . Reporter yeah, thats the main sentiment youre getting from government officials. We are now some 30plus hours on after this happened. Really nearing 40 hours at this point, that there really is slimming chances of finding people alive, and that if they did find someone, it would be quite a miracle. Now there are some conflicting reports as to exactly how many bodies have been recovered from the rubble at this point. The latest reporting from state media that cnn has been relying on here is that 24 bodies have been recovered from the rubble. But that number is expected to be very fluid and could go much, much higher as 109 people remain unaccounted for at this point. The numbers have been changing slightly. So we can expect those numbers to not stay the same, especially as the hours go on and rescue workers continue their very grim work. Theres over 2500 rescue workers on scene there. They have 150 ditfferent machines. There are search and rescue dogs as well. So theyre doing their very best in what is extremely challenging conditions you can see from the pictures, just how expansive this landslide was. There as a number of different challenges facing rescuers, something the government has been very forthright about. Lets show you a little sound from the vice governor talking about this very step. Translator according to the geologists who have participated in the rescue operations, the chances of the missing persons surviving a landslide from such a height is small. Large scale Search Operations are hard it to conduct. In addition, the rescuers cant dig too deep to avoid triggering a new slide of the rocks. However, we will spare no effort and regard saving peoples lives as our top priority. Reporter but as far as sparing no effort, we dont doubt that, but they certainly face a litany of challenges, not the least of which is that sundown is coming in a few hours and it is expected to rain over the next few days, so they certainly have very difficult conditions in which to do their grim task of trying to find anyone alive, more than likely just recovering the bodies of those ha we those that were buried. As far as the cause, researchers are saying this can be tied back happened in szechuan province in may of 2008 that loosened the structure of these mountains. Heavy rainfall over the last couple days combined with that structure, loosening that slide. Well have our own derek van dam to tell us more about what you were describing. But matt, thank you pour tfor t reporting. Well stay in touch but. Its been one week since the uss fitzgerald collided with the cargo ship. It was much larger than the fitzgerald and nearly three times as heavy. Reporter u. S. Navy investigators are starting to learn some new details about the collision between a cargo ship and the uss fitzgerald which cost the lives of seven u. S. Navy soldiers. This investigation is ongoing but some of the initial details beginning to emerge is where the collision took place, on the starboard side of the fitzgerald, impacting the berthing areas, the sleeping quarters, forcing sailors to use Satellite Cell phones to communicate with headquarters as they attempted to keep the ship aknow. Investigators are most interested in finding out how this collision could have taken place without any of the crew aboard the fitzgerald being able to detect the incoming cargo ship and avoid the collision. Now theyre going to be reviewing radar data from the sophisticated aegis system as well as weather and other information from the cargo ship to find out how such a tragedy could have taken place that cost the lives of seven u. S. Navy sailors, back to you. Syrias staterun news reports several people were killed saturday by israeli airstrikes near the countrys disputed border in the comGolan Heights. In the meantime, israel has stepped up involvement in syrias civil war in recent months. The two countries share a border, more than 60 kilometers long, about 38 miles. Cnns ian lee spent the night with an Israeli Intelligence unit as they deployed to that area. Reporter tonights mission utilizes the darkness for cover. We are joining an israeli unit gathering intelligence on the neighboring civil war. The final orders from the commander were quickly and quietly, well be tens of miles from syria. They occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. The two states clashed again six years later in a massive tank battle. That was conventional warfare. Today, advanced israeli units patrol the frontier, watching the regime, rebels and isis on this vast, unconventional battlefield. Earlier in the day, we witnessed such class, automatic gunfire in a nearby syrian village. Fighting occasionally spills over. Last november, isis attacked an israeli patrol. A tank silenced the terror groups guns. The blazing moon illuminates the countryside and us. Soldiers secure the perimeter before beginning their mission. Were a few hundred meters from the security fence right now, just behind me. If you listen closely, you can hear dogs barking, vehicles moving around. Im told you can also hear a tank. Its a t55. Yes. Reporter a rebel tank idles roughly a mile away. The night skoeb observcope obse crew, unaware theyre being watched, smoking a last cigarette before bed. Were tracking all of the factions, the Battalion Commander tells me. We know how to differentiate and separate them. Theres a contingency for each threat. Over the past years, Intelligence Units witness attacks, regime movements and rebels training. One group in particular gets special attention. Hezbollah and lebanon and syria threatens the state of leal. We know their tactics. The unit finishes, camouflaging the position. We leave. Their watch has just begun. One hour down, 59 to go. Ian lee, cnn, in the Golan Heights. Ian lee, thank you for the report. Still ahead here on newsroom, the u. S. President is trying to shift the russia investigation away from himself. Next, why hes pointing the feng fenger to the man who held the job before him. Nger to the man job before him. Inger to the man job before him. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan. 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So we found a plan that can travel with us. Anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans endorsed by aarp, an Organization Serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. Remember, all Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans help cover what medicare doesnt pay. And could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now to request your free decision guide. And learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. I have a lifetime of experience. So i know how important that is. And welcome back to cnn newsroom. U. S. President donald trump is trying to shift the russia investigation away from himself and onto the former president barack obama. Mr. Trump is reacting to a Washington Post story that details how and when mr. Obama first learned that russia tried to sway last years election in favor of mr. Trump. That report also details how mr. Obama and his advisers wrestled with various options for retaliation. Our athena jones has more for us. Reporter the president has been wrestling with that report. It seems he accepted the conclusion that russia meddled in the election. This after calling the russian meddling story a hoax and a phony. Now its certainly possible that the president was just responding to this Washington Post report and not making a definitive same about his own beliefs about the election, but it was noteworthy. He continued his responses to that story on saturday, with a couple more tweets, ill read them to you. Even put them on the screen. He said since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 election that the russians were meddling, why no action . Focus on them, not t, trump. Another tweet, the Obama Administration officials said they choked when it came to acting on russian meddling of election. They didnt want to hurt hillary . That second tweet a direct troefrns a quote included in that Washington Post article. So its clear the president very much focussed on this story and wanting to shift the blame to his predecessor and away from himself. I should mention that he followed up those two tweets by talking about the Health Care Bill pending before the senate, putting pressure on republicans to vote for the bill, since it is of course republicans who are standing in the way. But its still very, very clear that the whole issue of russian meddling remains top of mind for the president. Well have to see what he tweets today. All right, thats from athena jones earlier today. Thank you, athena. A disturbing trend has emerged in the trump white house. Unprecedented restrictions on the news media that effectively shut out the public from the daily news briefings. More and more theyre held off camera. Oftentimes the audio is delayed. Cnn pushed back by bringing in a sketch artist. Media reporter Brian Stelter explains why the white house is doing this and why it is a mistake. Reporter the banner on the bottom of the screen sometimes says white house in crisis. It very much is. But when you think about the russia investigation, the trump aide that has been under scrutiny, but the white house wants us and the American People paying attention to events like yesterdays v. A. Signing, the new legislation intended to improve the vrmt a. It wants to focus only on that and not on these other stories. I think theyre making a mistake by requiring these events to be off the camera. In the mind sean spicer. That was Brian Stelter speaking with ana cabrera. And we are joined from london. Shes a frequent guest. Leslie, thank you for joining us u wi us. With the Washington Post report, we know the Obama Administration was conflicted in how to act, and as we saw in the athena jones story, trump tweeted this, obama officials said they choked when it came to acting on russian meddling of election. They didnt want to hurt hillary . As i understand the Washington Post report, they were concerned, their administration, that it would look like they were helping hillary thats right. We have to remember how intensely partisan the entire climate was not only in washington but well beyond. So president obama and this is detailed very well in that Washington Post report that he was very concerned to the extent that he would make a statement, that it needed to be bipartisan. So he worked very hard to try and develop a bipartisan commitment, and he failed to get that, so he was very reluctant, i think, to speak out and make look like he was trying to influence the u. S. President ial elections. The idea that the meddling could come back on the presidency, you can understand why that would be the case. It was a toxic environment and difficult to understand how to deal with the situation. Its easy to look back now and say more could have been said. If you look at Donald Trumps reaction rather than the russian meddling and disinformation campaign. Its becoming a partisan issue. Hes looking back to the last president to cast blame and deflect attention not only on the question of russia but on his own role. So in august, when president obama first became aware of this, when the first cia report came out, his instincts were to tread very carefully, to look for a bipartisan commitment and to be sure that the intelligence agencies were united in their sense of what was going on. And that wasnt initially the case. This special prosecutorer, mueller, he, he, President Trump is making a case that mueller and james comey, the fired fbi director are friends. More likely acquaintances, not close buddies, but does that taint muellers investigation, the appearance that they know each other and run in the same professional circles in washington . Its difficult to imagine appointing a special counsel. This is one of the serious appointments who have been made. These are professionals working in intelligence with similar expertise, but to suggest that these arent deeply serious people, i think muellers got incredible support from across the aisles. Hes seen as a very, very serious, credible person. So, but, again, Donald Trumps trying to look in the wrong direction, to suggest that people might not be taking their roles very seriously. I dont think hes going to get very far with this. There have been question marks about whether he would actually dismiss mueller, seems very unlikely that this step would be taken. It would make the allegations of obstruction of justice look much more credible. And i think it would cast too much dispersion on the presidency. Lets talk about the other issue we just had a report on, starting to cast shadows kind of over the white house with the media. Mm. Not able to air these briefings live and let the American People see how the president s spokes people speaks on his behalf with so many important issues. Its almost like what is the white house afraid of . Yeah, i think the white house right now certainly, the president and those around h