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Connect the World
Theresa May Announces Britain Soon Ready To Invoke Article 50; Is Syria Deliberately Targeting Hospitals?; Donald Trump Steps Up Personal Attacks on Hillary Clinton; Hungary To Hold Referendum On Refugee Quotas. Aired. 11a-12p ET
Aired October 02, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:00:22] THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will invoke it when we are ready, and we will be ready soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN MANN, HOST: 100 days since the vote for Brexit, but how many more until Britain finally leaved the European Union?
Prime Minister Theresa May has been laying out her timeline for a very diplomatic divorce. We'll have details ahead.
Also this hour, the Syrian army makes gains on the ground in Aleppo as they're targeted from the air. Once again, I speak to a doctor with
firsthand experience of the terrible conditions inside.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's supposed to fight all these different things, and she can't make it 15 feet to her car. Give
me a break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Donald Trump gets personal again. We look at a weekend of insults, accusations, and impersonations in the race for the White House.
Hello, and welcome. I'm Jonathan Mann. It's now been 100 days since the stunning announcement that the United Kingdom had voted to leave the
European Union. 100 days for the highly controversial idea to sink in.
A short time ago, British Prime Minister Theresa May put a lid on talk of a new vote. She availed the all important Brexit timeline at a gather of her
conservative parties.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAY: It was right to wait before triggering article 50. But it is also right that we should not let things drag on too long. Having voted to
leave, I know that the public will soon expect to see on the horizon the point at which Britain does formally leave the European Union. So let me
be absolutely clear, there will be no unnecessary delays in invoking Article 50. We will invoke it when we're
ready, and we will be ready soon.
We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Max Foster has been watching the speech and joins us now live from Birmingham. Max, what did we learn?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got some detail finally. Because up until now for the last 100 days, all we heard from
Theresa May is that Brexit means Brexit. We know that she campaigned on David Cameron's side for UK to stay within the European Union, so we just
weren't clear on how she was going to move forward. And since then in this vacuum of information, you've had two camps really forming within the
Conservative Party, those that want a hard exit from the EU, which is invoking Article 50 as soon as possible and coming completely out of the
European Union as soon as possible, and those arguing for a soft Brexit, which is Britain coming mainly out of the European Union, but retaining
access to that single European market which is so crucial.
So we didn't know where she stood on that. And she said this is a false argument, this idea between a soft and hard Brexit, actually what the
British public showed very clearly is they wanted to leave the European Union, but they wanted to do that by retaining control of Britain's
borders, having some sort of limit on immigration, but also keeping sort of some sort of deal on the trading with European Union as well, which is what
many in Brussels just don't want to see. They say it's either in in or it's out.
She said we have to negotiate from here, and that's going to be the real challenge for her going forward. But she wants a bit of what the European
Union has already. At the same time, coming out all together.
So, we got a sense, really, of how she's going to move forward. She is going to invoke article
50 at the beginning of next year. So, she is going ahead with Brexit, which she's not going to reveal everything, but she has to have a
negotiating position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAY: There was a good reason why I said immediately after the referendum that we should not
invoke Article 50 before the end of this year. That decision means we have the time to develop our negotiating strategy and avoid setting the clock
ticking until our objectives are clear and agreed. And it is also meant that we have given some certainty to businesses and investors, consumer
confidence has remained steady.
Foreign investment in Britain has continued, employment is at a record high, and wages are on the up. There is still some uncertainty, but the
sky has not fallen in, as some predicted it would. Our economy remains strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: She also repeated several times, Jonathan, that there would be no running commentary on the negotiations because you can't give away that
negotiating position, which will be very, very tough going into a battle with Brussels, really, on this.
And one of the reasons she invoked or she when said she would invoke this Article 50 was because she is under huge pressure from Brussels. They just
won't speak to her until she's done it. She's trying to get a negotiate going before she invokes it, but at least now there's something for
Brussels to move forward on.
[11:05:30] MANN: Well, something, but it sounds like not much. She isn't going to talk about
what she's asking for in the negotiations. And it seems like Brussales isn't suggesting what it's prepared to offer?
FOSTER: Well, they just won't talk ahead of that invocation of the Article 50. And that's the system that's in place, and that's where they have got
some negotiation position as well.
Theresa May is in the position where she can invoke it and the European Union ministers over there operating through Brussels, their position is
that they don't have to talk about it until she has invoked it. So, they're playing hard ball here, but by the end of March, she should have a
sense really of how the negotiations will go and whether or not Europe can have access to the European single market, because if they allow that, if
Brussels allows that to happen, there will be other countries within the European Union who may want a loose position with the union as well.
So, this is a point of principle for Europe, also one for the UK. It's going to be a really hard battle over the next couple years, but we know
now that Britain will be leaving the European Union by the end of the decade.
MANN: Max Foster live for us in Birmingham. Thanks very much.
There's no break in sight as Syria bombards rebel-held Aleppo. The United Nations is pleading for the emergency evacuation of hundreds of people who
are badly wounded and Russia and the U.S. are fighting, well, a war of words, with Moscow warning of what it's calling terrible consequences if
the U.S. attacks any Syrian forces.
Damascus has been warning rebels to get out of Aleppo saying they'll be safe if they do. It's mustered some 10,000 soldiers there likely to fight
those who don't take that offer. The city's hospitals, of course, couldn't get out of the way. Aleppo's largest is now in ruins after being bombed
twice this week. Activists say one person was killed, 15 wounded in the latest attack Saturday. They blame Syrian forces backed by Moscow.
Our Nic Robertson has spent a lot of time covering Syria. He joins us now from Istanbul in
neighboring Turkey. Nic, what can you tell us about what's happening on the ground?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the attacks have continued today against hospitals. We know that hospital known as M3,
which is a pediatric, a children's hospital, has come under attack. There were no deaths at that hospital, but the hospital, the
largest there in the rebel-controlled part of Aleppo, more than 275,000 people in that part of Aleppo under rebel control, that hospital known as
M10, that was hit again over this weekend. The recovery area was hit, people were in that recovery area, sustained injuries. They were
recovering from injuries they had sustained in shelling just a couple days before.
So the picture that's emerging of what we're hearing is one that is a situation where people are short of food, short of fuel, which means they
can't make bread. They have got flour, but they can't make the bread. Water is in short supply because the water pumping station in the east of
the city has been damaging beyond quick repair.
And at the same time as well, you now have a situation where the government forces are taking
territory in that eastern rebel-held area, particularly a strategic hospital in the north, al Kindi (ph) in the north of that part of Aleppo,
which gives the government forces better strategic control, and they also say part of that strategic control is coming because the rebels have spent up, used up ammunition and weapons.
So the situation as the UN is describing it, absolutely desperate, and the Syrian government now saying to those troops, those rebel fighters, if you
will, we'll let you out. You can leave now.
MANN: Nic, why hospitals? I mean, it seems to violate every ny law of war, every sense of human decency. Are they using wildly inaccurate
weapons and hitting them by mistake, or are they intentionally trying to terrorize the people of Aleppo?
ROBERTSON: You are right, it does break the international laws and norms of war that you
don't target civilian infrastructure, namely hospitals. If it were wildly inaccurate ordinance, then that would be a systematic use of wildly
inaccurate ordinance over the past numbers of years.
What we have seen is the Syrian government forces now backed by Russia, specifically targeting medical institutions. The people in Aleppo and the
rebel areas are saying it's not just the hospitals that are being targeted, it's markets, mosques, places where civilians gather.
But it appears you had four or had four hospitals in the rebel part of Aleppo. You're now down to one and one partially functioning. That part
of what the Syrian government does a very, very clear tactic, it appears, because it's hard to see it in any other light, that by being targeting
hospitals they eradicate people's ability to survive over the long-term, survive the bombing and therefore break their will and therefore this is
all part of the siege effort to take control of those parts of Aleppo, Jonathan.
[11:10:35] MANN: Nic Robertson in Istanbul, thanks very much. We'll get back Syria about a half hour from now. I'll be joined by the president of
the Syrian-American Medical Society who has treated patients in the very hospital that's now been bombed out of operation.
The question, once again are hospitals being directly targeted. If so, what can be done to protect them? That's right here on Connect the World?
A war is also raging in Yemen where air strikes targeted the center of the capital in the
early hours Sunday, that according to journalist Hakim Omasmari (ph) on the ground there. He tells us they're part of a series of strikes over the
past 24 hours. It is not clear who carried out the attack. A Saudi-led air coalition is fighting rebels loyal to Iran and the country's ousted
president. CNN is trying to get some kind of comment from Riyadh.
The United Arab Emirates are part of that coalition. State media there say rebels attacked an aid
ship sailing for the port city of Aden. A rescue mission is said to by under way.
Right now, Hurricane Matthew is closing in on Jamaica and Haiti in the Caribbean. Millions of people are being told to prepare and stock up on
supplies. Now, for the latest, here's meteorologist Allison Chinchar. And we didn't mention Cuba, but Santiago de Cuba, city of half a million
people, second biggest city in the country, seemed to be on the path of the storm the last time I looked.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In all likelihood out of all three of them,
Cuba may be most likely to take the direct landfall out of Matthew.
Now, with that said, that doesn't mean the other two are in the clear from any of the impacts. And the most recent advisory that came out less than
ten minutes ago actually has a little bit of a shift to the west rather than due north, which we were kind of anticipating.
So again, a lot of changes here, and really, trying to think, kind of creates more questions than answers perhaps, just in the last couple
minutes.
So let's take a look at what we know for the stats. Right now, winds around 220 kilometers per hour, it's movement west at about 5 kilometers
per hour. So, again, I emphasize, this is not a fast-moving storm by any means. But it's the direction that we're focused on because we were
initially thinking it would take a northerly trend and slide in between Jamaica and Haiti.
But if it continues on that westerly track, it may end up shifting a little bit farther back towards say Jamaica rather than Haiti. So, a lot of
unanswered questions here.
Here's a look at where we have our watches and warnings. All of the red under a hurricane
warning. The pink being a hurricane watch, and then portions of the Dominican Republic under
tropical storm watches and warnings because they still expect some impacts, just not likely as strong as some of the other areas.
Here's a look at the track. Again, notice, kind of sliding right in between Jamaica and Haiti, that's our best guess at this point and then
likely making landfall over the eastern portion of Cuba. It's after that, after that 36 hour timeframe, that's when that begins to split off.
It could end up going farther east towards the Turks and Caicos, or a little bit farther west and end up making a lot of impacts over towards,
say, Miami, Florida. So, that's a little bit more open ended at this point.
The wave height, the storm surge, is certainly expected to be very high in some of these places.
Look at this, we're talking about 3.5 meters across portions of Southern Cuba. But the other areas -- Jamaica and Haiti, also looking at some areas
around 100 centimeters all the way up to 350 centimeters for that storm surge.
And the forecast rainfall, we're talking widespread amounts of exceeding 250 millimeters of
rain, some areas picking up even higher than that.
And the forecast winds, again, expected to be very high, especially in the short term. But we don't anticipate much weakening with this storm over
the next 72 hours. So that also is going to be a concern, especially for interests, say, in the Bahamas and some of the
other areas.
Now, we're also keeping a close eye on Typhoon Chaba, winds about 205 kilometers per hour. It is expected to increase before it makes landfall
around the Okinawa area of Japan. And then it kind of circles back around over towards the mainland, but still expecting to pack pretty intense winds
with this as it makes its way back over there.
And again, here's a look at that radar, again kind of slides up around Okinawa, then kind of takes a reverse turn back. Again, the big question
for the mainland is how strong will it be once it finally arrives back.
So, you know, again, Jonathan, we have got two big storms, the one near Japan, and the equivalent of a category 3, expected to be category 4 at
landfall, and then we have Matthew, right now a category 4 and expected to stay that when it makes landfall, likely the first major to hit Jamaica
since the 1980s, and the first major one to hit Haiti since the 1960s.
So, again, it's been some time since either of these places have really been hit with this strong of a storm.
[11:15:03] MANN: Even Cuba, which tends to prepare well, lost lives when Sandy hit. I guess that was 2012. How bad is his going to be for the
people along the coast of those countries?
CHINCHAR: If they really end up -- if Cuba really ends up taking the first landfall of this particular storm, they'll take the brunt of it, meaning
they'll get some of the strongest surge. They'll get incredibly strong winds, and again, you have to remember, the cities have great
infrastructure, but a lot of the outlying areas, especially, in Haiti, but also Jamaica and Cuba, you have to let those outlying rural areas that
don'g have the best of infrastructure, and that could also be a concern as well.
MANN: Allison Chinchar, thanks very much.
Still to come, Hungarians vote in a referendum that could affect how many migrants their country accepts. They're not eager.
And with 37 days until America picks its next president, the candidates are slugging it out. Next, the latest on the state of the race for the White
House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Jonathan Mann. Becky Anderson is off today.
With 37 days until the U.S. presidential election, both candidates are hitting each other pretty hard on the campaign trail. Donald Trump seems
to have returned to the bare knuckles style he deployed in the primary fight. At a rally Saturday, the Republican candidate doubled down on his
attacks against Hillary Clinton, challenging her fitness for the nation's top job.
He seemed to imitate Clinton a few weeks ago when she was ill and needed secret service assistance getting into a van. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And here's a woman, she's supposed to fight all of these different things, and she can't make it 15 feet to her car. Give me a break. Give
me a break. Give me a break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Clinton, for her part, has been hammering away at the fact that Trump hasn't released his tax information. And now her campaign is
latching on to a new New York Times report showing that trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995, that's nearly a billion
dollars.
CNN's Victor Blackwell has this look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The New York Times" report indicates Donald Trump in 1995 reported a $916 million loss and
lists tax benefits used after a turbulent financial period for his businesses in the early 1990s. The paper citing tax experts said Trump
could have used his loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income for nearly two decades. The paper says it obtained the three pages
of documents when they were mailed to a reporter last month. A postmark indicated the documents were mailed from New York City and the return
address claimed the envelope had been sent from Trump Tower. The paper did not examine Trump's federal return.
"The Times" said it obtained one page of his New York state resident income tax return as well as one page of New Jersey and Connecticut non-resident
turns. CNN has not independently verified the document's authenticity.
But in response to "The New York Times" report, the Trump campaign said the GOP nominee has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in other taxes
including property and real estate taxes. Quote, "The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained,
a further demonstration that 'The New York Times', like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party
and the global special interest," the statement said.
[11:20:31] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to cut taxes big...
BLACKWELL: "The New York Times" report comes less a week after Trump appeared to indicate during a debate with Hillary Clinton that he had not
paid federal income tax over an unspecified period. The Democratic nominee accused the billionaire of refusing to release his returns possibly because
he wanted to hide how little tax he had paid.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because the only years that anybody has ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over
to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. So, if he's paid...
TRUMP: That makes me smart.
REPORTER: It sounds like you admitted that you hadn't paid federal taxes and that that was smart. Is that what you meant to say?
TRUMP: No, I didn't say that at all. If they say I didn't, it doesn't matter. I will say this, I hate the way our government spends our taxes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: Victor Blackwell reporting there. While that has been going on, both candidates have been thinking about something else.
Try to win over young supporters who flocked to Bernie Sanders during the primary contest. A conservative website got ahold of a recording of
Clinton making a speech back in February talking about young would-be voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Some are new to politics completely. They're children of the great recession. And they are living in their parents' basement. They
feel that they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And
they don't see much of a future.
I think we all should be really understanding of that, and we should try to do the best we can, not to be a wet blanket on idealism, you want people to
be idealistic, you want them to set big goals but to take what we can achieve now and try to present them as bigger goals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Clinton making reference to young people living in their parents' basements and now Trump is accusing Clinton of mocking Sanders and his
supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton thinks Bernie Sanders supporters are hopeless and ignorant basement dwellers. Then, of course, she thinks people who vote
for and follow us are deplorable and irredeemable. I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: The Clinton campaign is not disputing the audio's authenticity, but it is disputing Trump's interpretation of it. It issued a statement,
noting, as Hillary Clinton said in those remarks, she wants people to be idealistic and set big goals. She's fighting exactly for what the
Millennial generation cares most about, a fairer, more equal just world.
CNN's Jake Tapper asked Senator Sanders what he thought about Clinton's comments on State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: She's calling other ideas you pitched, not the ones that you two are working on together, but she called other ones false
promises and said what you were doing was indefensible. That must bother you.
SANDERS: Well, look, we're -- of course it does.
But we're in the middle of a campaign. And I -- trust me. If you go to some of the statements that I made about Hillary Clinton, you can see real
differences. So we have differences. There's nothing to be surprised about. That's what a campaign is all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: For more on all this, CNN political analyst and editor in chief of The Daily Beast, Jonathan Avalon joins us now from New York.
Good to see you again, guy.
I have to ask you about The New York Times report. A billion dollars, it kind of gets your attention. Is it going to move votes one way or another?
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I actually think this is a big deal because it's been such a drum beat for so long that Donald Trump has
refused to release his taxes as presidential candidates have performed more than 40 years. And now the times seems to have received through legitimate
anonymous sources in terms of the actual documents, a document that showed in 1995, he lost almost a billion dollars which could create a context in
which he would not have had to pay federal income taxes for decades subsequently.
It has not been contested by the campaign, despite legal action being reflexively threatened.
I think on the simple level of fairness for folks, if they realize that this man who claims to be the most successful businessman, and that is his
criteria for why he would be a great president, not only lost almost a billion dollars in one year, but doesn't seem to have paid or could
possibly have not paid federal taxes for a decades, that is a big deal that I think will really, really resonate with voters.
It may not convince the hard partisans in either way, but for swing voters, they'll pay attention to this one.
MANN: OK.
On Trump's behalf, we had the remarkable imitation of Hillary Clinton hunched over, lurching
into a van. He keeps wanting to keep bringing up the question of her health, her fitness, her stamina. Is that going to work?
[11:25:12] AVLON: It's the line he's got, but he keeps lashing out. His instinct is sort of personal attacks and innuendo. I mean, he spent four
days this week attacking a former miss universe contestant who he had accused of gaining weight under his purview. He doesn't have the normal discipline that a political candidate would have.
It seems to be either personally tweeting in the middle of the night or politically.
So these attacks, you know, they will continue to hammer away at Hillary Clinton's quote/unquote likability. She has real issues as a candidate.
She is deeply flawed. But you can't answer a tax document that shows a nearly billion dollar loss with the implication that you might not have
paid federal taxes for decades with just more personal attacks and innuendo. They're not equivalent in the reality of what we try to do in
American political debates.
MANN: OK, one last question, and that's about Hillary Clinton's leaked comments about Bernie Sanders supporters. You know, you could see them as
insulting diatribe against a bunch of frustrated hipsters or as a more sympathetic account of how young voters feel.
Once again, how does that play out in the world of voters?
AVLON: This I think is going to be interesting to see whether it resonates. Certainly it was trending on Twitter last night.
But, look, you need to view the comments in context. And when you do, I think it's pretty clear she was trying to speak empathetically about the
frustrations many of Bernie Sanders' supporters feel because the economy has not met their expectations and their promise.
So that they were living in their parents' basements, that they hadn't gotten the jobs that they felt, and that that was driving their enthusiasm
for Bernie Sanders in a kind of economic liberal populism that we haven't seen in American politics for decades.
The point she was making about being the center-right to the center-left, which a lot of folks on the far left seized on in the context if very
clearly explainable, that Bernie Sanders occupied the far left of the spectrum, that Donald Trump has occupied the far right, something like
UKIP, an ethno-nationalist perspective, and that she's left in the center by comparison to those two folks. That's true. That's the simple state of
the play of American politics, however imperfect a messenger she may be.
MANN: John Avlon of The Daily Beast, thanks so much.
AVLON: Thanks, Jonathan.
MANN: Live from CNN Center, you're watching Connect the World. Coming up, a controversial referendum in Hungary. Will voters decide to reject EU
quotas on migrants?
And a war crime or a terrible accident? We're joined by the president of the Syrian-American Medical Society for his take on why hospitals are being
struck in Aleppo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:31:36] MANN: Hungary has been a transit point for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and economic migrants. It's been so under an
openly anti-migrant government.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin looks at the tone Hungary's leadership set in advance of the vote.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the subject of a slick, government-backed media campaign. And the message is clear: this ad talks
of the perils of Europe's migrant crisis.
How many of them are masked terrorists? It asks. Urging people to reject the EU's refugee resettlement plan, the subject of Sunday's referendum.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made it no secret how he wants things to go.
VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We lose our European values and identity the way frogs are cooked in slowly heating
water. Quite simply, slowly there will be more and more Muslims and we will no longer recognize Europe.
MCLAUGHLIN: In Budapest, Orban's campaign is seemingly everywhere. Posters warn of the dangers of accepting migrants, leaflets label various
European capitals no-go zones due to high levels of immigrants. With this kind of media offensive, it's perhaps hardly surprising that a majority no-vote is widely expected,, although
some opposition groups are calling for a boycott.
Under the EU agreement reached last fall, Hungary would only have to accept 1,294 migrants. That said, the outcome to this referendum is not legally
binding and does nothing to reverse existing EU legislation. So why is Orban bothering to have a referendum at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a piece of international PR, this is international marketing. He's selling himself as the
ideologue of a radically different migration policy to how he would characterize Merkel as being let them come. And he's saying the solution
to the refugee crisis, to the migration issues in Europe is let no one come.
MCLAUGHLIN: Last year, tens of thousands of migrants crossed the Hungarian/Serbian border to get to Germany. There was a footage of a
Hungarian camera woman tripping migrants and clashes at the border.
In response, the government erected a razor wire fence, began to recruit thousands of so-called border hunters. It's even arrested and tried
migrants on terrorism charges.
ORGAN (through translator): What we have seen so far from the people's migration have only been warm-up rounds. The real battle is yet to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This says he wants people to believe, and this is what he sees as being a primary generator of his remaining in power, and
populist parties across Europe likewise taking over the reins of power.
MCLAUGHLIN: With populism on the rise and European values challenged, the question is, where does that leave the European Union?
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: We go now to get the view from Budapest, where Tomas Borbely of our affiliate Hit TV is following today's balloting. Thanks so much for being
with us.
Hungary is being asked to accept a relatively tiny number of migrants for resettlement. Why is the opposition so fierce?
TOMAS BORBELY, REPORTER, HIT TV: Hi, Jonathan. The opposition is because the
Hungarian government did not want those migrants to come to Hungary. Mr. Viktor Orban's point of view is Brussels doesn't have to or don't have the
right to tell the EU countries to get migrants back, so the opposition is about forcing the decision.
He said if the Hungarian people would want those migrants in Hungary, then they are going to say it in the referendum. If not, then the Hungarian
government is going to Brussels with the results, and then as the EU and tell the EU that the Hungarian people didn't want it.
MANN: Tomas Borbely, of Hit TV, thanks very much.
Back now to one of our top stories. The tremendous punishing offensive against rebels and
civilians in Aleppo, Syria. And it may get much worse.
The government has amassed thousands of troops near the city, likely for a final ground campaign against rebel holdouts, a frightening thought for the
quarter of a million people who are trapped there as air strikes take out the few remaining hospitals and other infrastructure. Everything: medical
care, life itself, is just becoming more difficult.
Are hospitals being accidentally hit, though, or are they targeted? We're joined by the adviser and former president of the Syrian medical society,
and a practicing physician. Thank you so much for being with us.
You have treated patients in the hospital that was just bombed into ruins. Tell us about the work that was being done there and what people were
enduring?
ZAHAR SAHLOUL, FRM. PRESIDENT, SYRIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY: This is one of the largest hospitals in eastern Aleppo. It's the only trauma
center. It's under ground for protection.
I spent a few weeks in that hospital in the last four years, and my last medical mission was
about two months ago. And all of the victims I have treated were victims of barrel bombings. I remember this child, he was named Ahmad (ph), 5
years old, who had spinal cord injury because of the shrapnels, and we had to put them on life support. Unfortunately,
his heart stopped and he died.
If the situation was different, he would have survived.
This is the same hospital that treated Omran, Omran is the child that everyone knows right now. I saw another patient whose name was Fatima
(ph), 25 years old, who was pregnant in her third month. And she was a victim of barrel bombing. She lost two children in that attack.
So, with the bombing yesterday, it looks like the regime and the Russians are trying to deprive
the population from any access to safe health care, which is a tragedy. We're talking about a population of 300,000 people, including 85,000
children, who are right now don't have access to health care.
MANN: Now, you're making an important point, and it comes back to this question. Barrel bombs are notoriously crude devices. Are they hitting
hospitals because they're hitting just about everything, or do you think they're intentionally trying to strike places like the M10 hospital?
SAHLOUL: I mean, this is a good question. But this same hospital was hit eight times in the last two weeks, eight times. And that's why we had to
build it underground, for protection. It was hit dozens of times in the last four years.
According to Physicians for Human Rights, 263 hospitals were targeted, mostly by the Assad
regime and lately by the Russians. More than 750 doctors and nurses were killed in Syria, mostly by the Assad regime and the Russians.
Eeach one of those are war crimes because you are depriving the population from health care. And we believe that in the city, an American medical
society that we are the defenders of the Geneva convention, that the whole international community 150 years ago decided
that doctors and nurses should have the right to treat patients even in the time of conflict.
This is as doctors we swore on the Hippocratic oath, that we would treat the enemies and the friends. And what's happening right now is really a
violation of all norms that we are witnessing in the world. And it's not only affecting Syria. The new normal right now is being put by the Assad
regime is affecting all areas of conflict, and it's dangerous.
MANN: What can the outside world be doing to help?
SAHLOUL: I think the most important thing is to pay attention. Because when you have red lines crossed one time after one time with impunity,
without accountability, that means other dictators and other criminals and terrorists will use the same tactics that are used by the Assad regime and
the Russians.
The second thing is to stop the bombing. When I talk with the doctors inside Aleppo this morning, they told me please, do anything to can
convince your government, and I think President Obama also has this responsibility to stop the bombing on Aleppo, and the second thing to have
to have access to people who are under siege. They need food and medicine. They
need baby milk.
You are seeing right now pictures of children who have severe malnutrition similar to the pictures of Madaya (ph), which we witnessed a few months
ago. And this is a tragedy.
MANN: You heard probably the remarks of John Kerry that were recorded surreptitiously when he was addressing civilian aid organizations on the
sidelines of the UN. He said he argued for military intervention. And those people, the people like him who wanted the United
States to take a robust role in trying to end this slaughter, have basically been -- they have been defeated within the Obama administration.
Does that break your heart that the world's greatest power is not coming to the help of the
people of Aleppo and Syria?
[11:40:11] SAHLOUL: It breaks my heart that when I talk with the doctors in Syria they have high expectation of the leadership of my country, the
United States of America. And in prior conflicts like in Bosnia and Darfur, we really took the leadership and we protected civilians. We made sure
that we had access, Humanitarian corridors for people who are under siege. We're not doing that for the
people of Syria, for whatever reason.
I think President Obama should really review our policy in Syria because what's happening right now in Aleppo is not limited to Aleppo. The refugee
crisis, the anti-refugee sentiment, the anti -- the xenophobia that we're seeing, the terrorism we're seeing, all
of this is related to what's happening in Aleppo, what's happening in Syria.
MANN: Realistically, what do you expect is going to happen in Aleppo? Is there any question about what the outcome is going to be? Because it would
seem militarily, the Syrians, the Russians, the Iranians are ready, and what's ahead is going to be as bad as things were,
is going to be a massacre.
SAHLOUL: I mean, right now we have massacres every day. Just a couple days ago, we had 200 people killed in Aleppo. In the last two weeks, 450
were killed and more than 1,700 were injured. So we are seeing these massacres every day. The world sometimes does not pay attention to them.
But what we are expecting is much worse. And this is not Srebrenica, this is Srebrenica times 100 when you have 300,000 people who are trapped and
when you have a regime that does not respect any international humanitarian law.
MANN: How do the doctors you work with, how do the people of Aleppo find the courage to endure this?
SAHLOUL: And these are really the people who are exceptional. Talking about doctors and nurses who have been right now working day after day,
minute after minute, without interruption for the past two months. 30 doctors helping 300,000 people with the bombing, knowing that they can be killed any time.
They have no break. They have shortage of medical supplies, shortage of IV fluid, of anesthesia medicine. They have to work in extreme conditions
with very limited supplies so they can continue to provide health care to the local population.
I think these people are amazing. And they deserve our respect and our support and our protection more than anything.
MANN: They are doing such important work, you are such important work. And the suffering, it's indescribable. Zahar Sahloul of the Syrian-
American Medical Society. Thank you so much for talking with us.
You're watching Connect the World. We'll be back with more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Jonathan Mann. Welcome back. Excitement is mounting ahead of the third and final day of
the Ryder Cup. Fans geared up for the conclusion of the international golf tournament, the singles matches tee off in about 15 minutes.
First up, Patrick Reed versus Rory McIlroy.
Europe and the USA were briefly tied Saturday, but USA pulled ahead. They're now leading by three points. Europe have won in previous years.
They're homing to make a comeback to defend the title.
CNN World Sport's Patrick Snell joins us from the tournament in Chaska (ph), Minnesota. Putting Chaska on the front page, I guess.
It's been quite, quite a tournament.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: It really has, John, yeah. Frenetic. 12 singles matches. The excitement, thousands, tens of thousands on the
course. We're expecting more than 50,000, but I'll tell you what. They're getting rather vocal, and that has
already been addressed by the PGA of America that a short while ago put out a statement in essence encouraging passion, but saying please be respectful
at all times.
Now, this course ties in with what went down on Saturday when former world number one player and European star Rory McIlroy got involved with a
heckler, and Rory going there, right up to this person and confronting him, and demanding that the man be removed from the course. He reportedly was.
And Rory certainly saying after that that it's that kind of confrontation that is fueling his play here as well.
Another bit of feedback from a Spanish Rafa Cabrera telling me, look,i t's 99.9 percent of the people that are wonderfully behaved, just a small
minority that aren't, a view shared by European captain Darren Clarke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARREN CLARKE, GOLFER: It's disappointing, but I think you have 99.99 percent of the
crowd out there that are wonderfully respectful. They're patriotic, yes, but they're wonderfully respectful. And you're always going to have one or
two idiots that say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and unfortunately, that's happened.
But you know, you know, overall the fans have been absolutely superb to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Yeah, there are tens of thousands on the first tee, rather noisy. They're getting behind their team USA, who are looking to win this, John,
for the first time in eight long years as far as they're concerned.
MANN: Well, it's not over yet. What's it going to take for Europe to mount a successful comeback?
SNELL: Points on the board and quickly. They go into this final session of play three adrift. They'll be taking heart, John, from what happened
four years ago at Medina (ph) when they went into the final day four points behind. Perhaps a good omen for the European team that Davis Love III was
also the American captain on that occasion. In fact, late Saturday at one point in 2012, they were six points adrift.
So, the momentum on that occasion started Saturday and really did reach fever pitch late on Sunday.
What a memorable victory for the European team, who are looking to win this, John, for an
unprecedented fourth time on the bounce. It's going to be really, really exciting. We're just getting started.
Make no bones about it, the Americans are desperate to stop the rot. They must win this. This is the Ryder Cup. I've been saying this all week, the
Ryder Cup, John, they simply dare not lose.
MANN: Patrick Snell, live from Chaska (ph), Minnesota. I just like saying that name. Thanks very much.
Coming up, how Saturday Night Live skewers Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's performances in the first presidential debate. Actor Alec Baldwin
makes his debut as the Donald.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:13] MANN: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. Welcome back.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has spent much of his campaign in attack
mode. He's never been afraid to go after anyone he feels has insulted him.
Our Sunlen Serfaty looks back at his feisty history of feuds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's penchant for public feuds didn't start with his foray into politics. They have been part of his
persona as long as he's been in the public eye. One of his earliest squabble was over 30 years with author Graydon Carter. A few Trump carry's
on to this day. Carter was the editor of Spy magazine in the 80s and referred to Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian." Trump have never let it
go.
Listen to Carter this year on MPR.
GRAYDON CARTER, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: He'll send me pictures, tear sheets from magazines. With a gold Sharpie, he'll circle his fingers and in his
handwriting say, "See, not so short. And I know it just gives him absolute fits.
SERFATY: Marco Rubio baited Trump with it during the debates prompting this over the top response.
TRUMP: Look at those hands. Are they small hands? If they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem. I
guarantee you.
SERFATY: And who could forget Rosie O'Donnell. That feud still going strong after a decade. It all started in 2006 when O'Donnell lamb lambasted Trump
as a hypocrite for almost taking the crown away from them, Miss USA pageant winner Tara O'Connor. After tabloids reveal her drinking and using drugs.
Something that Trump finally publically forgive her for. But invoke O'Donnell iron for the man known as Playboy.
ROSIE O'DONNEL, COMEDIAN: There he is, hair looping...
SERFATY: Trump immediately doubled down.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting. I mean, both inside and out. You take a look at her she is a slob. She talks
like a truck driver. SERFATY: It's a feud that lingers today with Trump actually mentioning O'Donnell during the first debate.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account --
TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
SERFATY: For a campaign desperate to modulate their presidential contender, Trump's consistent feuds and his inability to let go of them has proven
even more problematic. The thin-skinned business titan going after Fox debate moderator, Megyn Kelly, back in March after Kelly brought up past
derogatory remarks he had made against women.
TRUMP: There was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her -- wherever.
SERFATY: In July, he continually clashed with the Khan family belittling the parents of Humayan Khan, a Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq after
they spoke out against him during the Democratic National Convention.
TRUMP: His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say.
SERFATY: When it comes to those twitter outbursts, his preferred way of needling his enemies, he had this to say to David Letterman.
TRUMP: The Twitter thing, the tweeting thing does get you in trouble. You say things and you think it is cute and smart and it comes back to haunt
you.
SERFATY: Advice from the past that many are hoping he'll take now.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: Most reputable polls say that Hillary Clinton won the first presidential debate on Monday. Some 84 million people tuned in, the
highest rating ever for a presidential debate in the U.S. It's provided a lot of material for comedians, and as expected, the American variety show
Saturday Night Live debuted their new season by poking fun at both of them.
It was the first time we saw actor Alec Baldwin impersonating The Donald.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR; My microphone is broken. She broke it with Obama, she and Obama stole my microphone. They took it to Kenya. They took my
microphone to Kenya and they broke it and now it's broken.
You hear that, it was picking up somebody sniffing here. I think it's her sniffs. She's been sniffing all night. Testing, testing. Gina, gina.
Huge gina.
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: Secretary Clinton, what do you think about that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'm going to be president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: And on tonight's Parting Shots, we revisit a vote that stunned most of the world 100
days ago. On June 23rd, 52 percent of voters said they wanted to leave the EU, leading to a dramatic shift in Britain's economic and political future.
Here's a look back at that night when the UK went to sleep a part of Europe and woke up determined to go it alone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[11:55:01] DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is time for the British
people to have their say.
BORIS JOHNSON, FRM. MAYOR OF LONDON: This Thursday could be our country's independence day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's 10:00 in the United Kingdom and polling stations are now closed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not conceding, but my sense of this is that the government's registration scheme getting 2 million voters on the 48-hour
extension, may be what tips the ballots.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A night that many had feared, some had forecast, but now appears to be turning into a reality.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPNODENT: OK, here's what's going on. It looks like the leave campaign, the Brexit camp, has gained an almost
unstoppable momentum.
NIGEL FARAGE, FRM. UKIP LEADER: Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Already, the pound is tanking. Got the euro tanking as well against the dollar. That's
questioning the whole European project. The markets need to know what David Cameron's thoughts are.
CAMERON: I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.
QUEST: The people have spoken. The majesty of the process, whether or not you like the result, first time ever a nation has voted to leave the
European Union.
It will be the smallest of majorities, and it appears tonight Brexit has won.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: That was 100 days ago. And just a short time ago, British Prime Minister Theresa
May said that the process of initiating Brexit formally will begin by the end of March of next year.
I'm Jonathan Mann, you have been watching Connect the World. Thanks for joining us.
END
