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Modi Claims Landslide Victory in India's Elections; Botswana Lifts Ban on Elephant Hunting; U.S. President Demands Democrats End Phony Investigation; Judge Upholds Subpoenas for Trumps Financial Records; Sciutto: Russia and China Waging "Shadow War" Against U.S.; Central U.S. Ripped by Tornadoes and Record Flooding; When Will Boeing 737 Max Planes Fly Again; Children's Author Judith Kerr Dies at 95. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 23, 2019 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Tonight it's good news, bad news and out right who knows news for three of the world's most powerful leaders.
It is 7:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi, 11:00 in the morning in Washington, D.C., 8:30 at night in New Delhi. And we are connecting all of those for you
this hour. I'm Becky Anderson. This is CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for joining us.
The biggest election in the world with about 1 in every 8 adults on earth voting now becoming an historic one. Define even the expectations of his
own party Narendra Modi is claiming victory in India by a landslide. The main opposition conceding defeat and world leaders congratulating the Prime
Minister on his reelection. Remember, this context directly affects more than a billion people. Almost twice as many as those voting in Europe over
the next few days. But as Mr. Modi puts it, together we grow together, we prosper and together we will build a strong and inclusive India.
CNN's Sam Kiley has more from New Delhi. A victory seemingly against the odds. Five more years then for Mr. Modi. Not everyone might agree with
his use of his term inclusive India -- Sam.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, by no means, Becky. For Hindu liberals and indeed non-Hindus, this represents something of a
blow. The scale of the BJP victory, which takes them to some expected seats of about 305 out of 542 itself pretty devastating. If you add to
that their electoral allies, it takes them over the 350 mark. That gives the Modi movement -- I think we should probably call it now, Becky -- an
unassailable command of India's Parliament and therefore of the executive.
Now he campaigned very strongly on a kind of security ticket with regard to Pakistan. But above all really hammering the Hindu nationalist issues.
It's been interesting to see the responses externally too. Where the first person to congratulate him is fellow right-wing nationalist arguably
Benjamin Netanyahu congratulating India's reelected prime minister on his reelection. And pretty rapidly after that, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran
Khan offering something of an olive branch congratulating him and looking forward to peaceful relations. But domestically there is going to be a lot
of speculation as to how heavily he drives that Hindu nationalism.
ANDERSON: Sam Kiley, well done. Thank you for that.
Well despite that message of congratulations from -- well I'll tell you what, will do that bit later. We've been watching three key issues in this
election and we want to look at them in detail with our next guest. Firstly the economy. An overhaul of that was one of Mr. Modi's big
promises five years ago. But statistics show joblessness is getting worse. So what's going on? And there's national security critical given a recent
spike in tensions with Pakistan. Finally the weakness of the opposition and the importance of those issues isn't confined to India. An estimated
3.3 million Indians live here in the UAE. That is around 30 percent of the population.
Well joining me now are Rahul Sagar, global network associate professor of political science at NYU Abu Dhabi. And Anjana Sankar who is assistant
editor for the "Khaleej Times." You spent some time on the campaign trail not least in Mr. Modi's constituency. I really appreciate you both coming
in. It's an incredibly important story, not just for India. We know there is global residents, but for the 3.5 or so million Indians who live here.
They have been glued to what is going on as we see these votes tallied. Is this the result you expected?
ANJANA SANKAR, ASSISTANT EDITOR, KHALEEJ TIMES: Not at all. Not at all. It came as a bit of a shock to me because I was on the ground. There's no
doubt Mr. Modi still remains the most popular leader, politician in India.
[11:05:02] But on the ground, I sense there was a bit of -- not a bit of, palpable disappointment. There were disgruntled waters. They were voicing
their disappointment about how the economy has not fared. Especially if you link it to demonetization. Livelihoods have been wiped off. So people
are unhappy. They felt the trust that they had in Modi, he let them down. So I could sense that. So I knew he would come back to power definitely.
I knew from the number. But I did not expect this kind of numbers.
ANDERSON: The NDA, of course, being the National Democratic Alliance. When you look at these numbers and we're still looking at the votes being
tallied. But just walk us through for those who haven't got a sense of the Indian election, very briefly where are we at this point? When we talk
about a resounding victory, what we mean by that?
RAHUL SAGAR, GLOBAL NETWORK ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NYU ABU DHABI: We mean that the NDA is close to 350 seats and the BJP on its own is now likely to
be about 300 seats which is the single largest outcome for a party in 30 years.
ANDERSON: What happened?
SAGAR: The popularity of Mr. Modi, an excellent electoral machine and BJP's leader, Amit Shah. And a series of fairly successful policies that
actually resonated with voters.
ANDERSON: He says together we grow, together we prosper, together we will build a strong and inclusive India. We were just discussing with Sam. His
critics will say -- I mean you've said some successful policies. On the economic promises but many disappointed by what has happened on national
security, the rise of Hindu nationalism. When we talk about inclusion, you'd be hard pressed to give Narendra Modi a tick against that box,
wouldn't it?
SAGAR: No, I'm not so sure. The danger we run on that point in particular is the Hillary Clinton deplorables danger. Which is that fringe groups,
large, vocal, aggressive minorities that kind of demean his party and his image shouldn't be taken to represent all of his voters. You can get
extreme elements that don't represent him. He certainly hasn't publicly come out in favor of any of these. He could've said much more in terms of
being critical. That certainly is something that is a strike against him. But I would hesitate to describe both the BJP and its voters as being
characterized by this small fringe.
ANDERSON: You make a very good point. Here's a recent "Time" magazine cover labeling Mr. Modi India's divider in chief. Do you think that's a
fair characterization of his political style?
SANKAR: You know, I'll have to stand in the middle part there. Because Modi, I think himself, his biggest political I would say plus point is that
he knows how to appeal to a different set of waters. When he talks to ruling waters, he's that man who is one among them. And he has a similar
appeal to the business honchos. So I guess as Rahul said, Mr. Modi has failed in terms of saying enough and saying it strongly enough to give that
message to the fringe elements, to the hard-core Hindu foot soldiers on the ground who have been lynching people and unleashing mob violence. He did
not say enough. That is the biggest disappointment. But at the same time I guess there are enough voices within BJP who is trying to reach out to
the minorities. I don't know how successful he is.
SAGAR: I'd like to add one understated, under realized aspect of the BJP's expansionist success, is its growth in the northeast of India. Where it
has had a remarkable sort of following and it's been very success in at least three of the states. In this is an ethnic and religious in some
cases minority that's been historically discriminated against. In the BJP has made enormous gains because it's been willing to have sort of a big
dent approach.
ANDERSON: The Indian elections certainly don't lack for pageantry as we know. Even the way they covered it on television. I just want our viewers
to have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look at that. It's beautiful. Amazing, the door opens and right through the mock India gate out there. I have my
guests entering in two fantastic shiny new vehicles. Wonderful. This is what I call a grand entry into a big studio.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You have this element of spectacle of course but fitting the world world's biggest election.
[11:10:00] SAGAR: Well this is sort of modern polling. Modern campaigning has decisively arrived in India. So you have multimedia sort of blitzes
that run from WhatsApp groups, to messages and so on, Robo phone calls, all of those sort of things. So India is at the cutting edge.
ANDERSON: Let's talk about the global resonance, the significance and ramifications outside of India for this next five-year term if you will.
SANKAR: I guess, you know, definitely Mr. Modi has reached out to various leaders and he works with a personal charisma. And I think he brings a
kind of personal energy when he reaches out to foreign leaders through his foreign policy. So I think my assumption is that most of the countries
would be happy to engage with another Modi government, BJP government, because that is a sense stability. As against (INAUDIBLE) that was just
not an option for Indians. Also there is a continuation of the policies which Mr. Modi has started especially talking about West Asia and the
Middle East. That has been I think one of the most successful foreign policies of Narendra Modi.
ANDERSON: What about the idea of him being sort of India's Mr. Trump? I mean, 2014 I was there covering the elections in 2014. What we didn't know
then was that to a certain extent we were seeing a trial balloon for what was going to happen next around the world. If you put him in that sort of
more nationalistic sort of box, you saw the beginning of a wave of populism as Narendra Modi was elected in what is the biggest exercise in democracy.
Let's underline that and say this is an excellent, excellent exercise in democracy. There are many critics of these sort of Trumpian type
characters around the world at this point. Should we be concerned?
SAGAR: Not in the case of Narendra Modi. I mean I divide my time between New York and Abu Dhabi and the world, these are very different worlds and
approaches from between Modi and Trump. Trump represents the backlash of a group that feels it is potentially going to become a minority. That feels
that it's older, more conservative in a range of social issues and worries greatly about things like their identity and assimilation of immigrants.
Those are not the concerns in India. They aren't concerns about immigration. They aren't concerns about sort of income inequality quite
the same way as you have in say Europe. Rather Modi represents a new, young rising India. He has been extremely successful and popular in the
urban cities. He's not being voted for by the red states and rural populations the way Trump is. When Trump is disliked let me say in many
cities, particularly on the two coasts. That's not the case for Modi.
ANDERSON: My sense in 2014 -- and I wonder whether this continues today -- was that here was a man who was in Trump's sort of world you would describe
as draining the swamp. It seemed to me that the sort of liberal elite -- or it was not seemed to me -- it was absolutely clear to me that Narendra
Modi was no friend of the liberal elite, nor were they friends of his. Have they gotten used to him at this point?
SANKAR: I don't think he's not friends with them even now. Things haven't changed. But on the ground, I think what's interesting is -- at least what
I sensed from the results today is the more the liberal elite are his opponents, criticize him for divisive politics, polarization, the more
people back him, defend him, the more they'll love him.
ANDERSON: That's fascinating. Voting, of course is underway right now in Europe. So were going to have to do that story as well. We've seen Mr.
Modi approach levels of popularity amounting to worship these days. You've got filmmakers telling his life story even. How is this cult personality
affecting India's political landscape? Finally, to both of you.
SANKAR: I think India is slowly becoming -- our current election has become more like a presidential election. Because this election was
definitely a vote or referendum on Mr. Modi, his personality and his politics. So what we see is -- especially for his supporters -- they're
not looking at the candidates which BJP has fielded and there are some very questionable candidates like (INAUDIBLE), but their vote is for Mr. Modi.
They don't care who the candidate is, unlike in the Congress where they weigh in the merit of the candidate. So I think Modi and his personality -
- this has become very personality driven politics.
[11:15:00] And I think is going to be like that for the next 10 years or so.
ANDERSON: Final word.
SAGAR: Two quick points. One is that India is changing. It's very important to see that. As India urbanizes, as it modernizes, its people
become more well-traveled and aware, inevitably they start to think about national issues rather than local or parochial issues. And so you look for
national figures, leaders. Someone who could appeal across this very wide and diverse and large country. So it's not surprising from that
perspective that a significant figure is appearing.
And then secondly, there's been a change -- as I was sort of mentioning earlier -- both in technology and in the marketing and selling and the
machinery of elections. And the BJP has been fantastic at it. And so, his image is not plastic. The man is very much aware. He has his finger on
the pulse of the people. So it isn't pure PR. It is grounded in deep recognition of a changing India.
ANDERSON: I'm delighted the two of you had time to join us tonight. Your insight and analysis incredibly important to the viewers around the world.
Thank you very much indeed and let's do this again.
Voting is underway now for the European Parliament elections as people in the U.K. and the Netherlands take to the poles. British Labour Party
leader Jeremy Corbyn cast his vote earlier. Over four days and 500 million Europeans will do the same as they choose a new Parliament. Now many are
calling this a pivotal election shaping the future of the EU all together.
Still to come --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You've grown up in this country. You are from Botswana. What's it like to see these magnificent
beasts killed like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think anybody in the world has seen the number of dead elephants that I've seen over the last two years at the great
elephant census. And for me this becomes a lot more personal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well that clip from CNN reporting back in 2016 illustrated the horrific loss of elephants in Botswana. But now, well it could get even
worse. We're going to explain more on that after this.
Also, war off the Rose Garden. President Trump heats up and storms out. Find out about his startling new proposal to Democrats.
And --
Take a look at that. Just one of more than two dozen tornados that have brought destruction on the Central U.S. and that is not the only extreme
weather to batter the region.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. We are out of Abu Dhabi. More on all of that after this.
[11:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: But their satellite tracking shows that the elephants use incredible levels of intelligence to avoid poaching hot spots in
neighboring countries, retreating to the relative safety within Botswana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well that safety soon to be a thing of the past. The government has lifted the country's ban on hunting. A ban which only came in 2014
saying elephants raid crops, kill livestock and destroy water supplies and sometimes injure people. Well for insight into the effect this could have
let's take another look back at a report by CNN's David McKenzie.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Hundreds of air crew counted elephants in 18 countries across the continent over two years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elephant seven, seven elephants.
MCKENZIE: Flying the distance to the moon and then some. Their results more shocking than anyone imagined.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've spent thousands of hours of counting, flying over areas where elephants historically occurred but are no longer present in
these habitats.
MCKENZIE: Killed for their ivory, in seven short years up to 2014 elephant numbers dropped by a staggering amount, almost one-third. Across Africa
the numbers are crashing. If nothing changes, the elephant population will half in less than a decade. In some areas they will go extinct.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: OK, well I want to bring in Botswana's minister of environment and natural resources, conservation and tourism. Now he joins me from
Gaborone in Botswana Why are you doing this, sir?
ONKOKAME MOKAILA, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, CONSERVATION AND TOURISM (via phone): I think, Becky, you need to
understand where this comes from. When government imposed a suspension way back in 2014, it was just to take stock. But generally the issue is about
the range of elephants expanding in Botswana. And what I want to make clear, Becky, is this. Is that when we introduced hunting is not about
reducing numbers of elephants. It's a management tool. That we have been hunting over all these years. So I think there's a misconception that we
are going to be going all out to kill elephants to reduce their number but that is not our objective.
ANDERSON: But sir, you must understand that hunting of elephants to so many people around the world is a blood sport.
MOKAILA: I don't know where they live. I know where I live in the Republic of Botswana. We've lived with these elephants since I was born.
We found them here and we've allowed them to grow. I think the question, Becky, you should be asking is why has Botswana been such a success, and
not in just Botswana and our neighboring countries. Why are elephants blossoming in southern Africa, why are they diminishing in other parts of
the continent. That is the issue we should be talking about.
ANDERSON: Let's talk then. Let's talk. You'd be happy to see the numbers dramatically reduced, would you?
MOKAILA: Absolutely not.
ANDERSON: Hang on, sir. So you're telling me this will have nothing to do with the numbers, are you?
MOKAILA: We -- in your preface you are showing about the intelligence of elephants. Our intention is not to reduce numbers. Ours is to ensure they
don't encroach on people. Which is what the issue is. We lose lives in Botswana, many lives as a result of the expanding range of elephants. And
there is no anger. Botswana has lived with them all this time. That is what you have to understand.
ANDERSON: So you're going to give out 400 licenses a year. What, to tourists?
MOKAILA: No. Not in the history of this country have we ever given out those 400 licenses. Even up to 2014 when hunting was on before the
suspension, we've never issued that amount. The approach is scientific. We will never issue that amount. It is a misrepresentation of what we are
doing. The narrative out there is wrong and therefore it needs to be corrected.
[11:25:00] We are not culling. Government has not accepted culling. We are not going to be issuing more than the 400. We will never even come
close to that figure.
Let me ask you this question. OK. All right. And that's why you're on the show tonight. We want to get this cleared.
MOKAILA: And thank you for the opportunity.
ANDERSON: thank you, sir. Do you support the hunting of elephants as justified tourism?
MOKAILA: We support hunting as a management tool to ensure there is coexistence between humans and elephants. I'm sure you'll understand that
one elephant needs three square kilometers of feeding. While we have the drought in this country and people can't make livelihood, the two can't be
compared. But we are saying because we have this cooperation between our countries, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe to open up a
bigger area. We are investing money in ensuring that we conserve.
ANDERSON: Right, you didn't specifically answer the question but anyway -- I'm going to run out of time at this point. How will you ensure that
poachers -- we are well aware of the huge multibillion-dollar industry that is elephant ivory for example. So as you loosen the legislation, how will
you ensure that poaching doesn't become an enormous issue once again in Botswana? What are you going to do to protect your country, your
reputation from those who might see this as an opportunity just to come right on in?
MOKAILA: We will have absolutely no-nonsense approach to poachers. We have deployed all our security forces and we continue to do so as we
continue with other solutions for the coexistence of our order.
ANDERSON: Sir, I really do appreciate your time tonight. I know you've picked up the phone to us on what is an incredibly important story and one
that is resonating around the world. So I appreciate your time, thank you.
And for the opposite perspective let's take you over to the wildlife expert Jeff Corwin. He joins us now live. So you just listen to my discussion
with the environment minister. Your response?
JEFF CORWIN, WILDLIFE EXPERT: Well it's an incredibly complex depressing issue. So I think we have to peel back the layers here, Becky. What's
causing this? So in Botswana the population of elephants, hovers at around 130 to 150,000 individuals which seems like a lot. But when you look at
the whole elephant population in Africa, in the last century it's been reduced from tens of millions to under a half a million animals. Not far
away from Botswana in Zambia, the population is down from 400,000 animals to 20,000 animals in less than five decades. And we see this incredible
challenge with the management of these animals. Is the challenge that their population is increasing or is the challenge that human beings are
encroaching on their ecosystem and we're getting tremendous competition?
ANDERSON: OK. Let's just discuss some of what the minister told me. Conservation is in our DNA. We have never been reckless. Our
responsibility towards conservation has not changed. But our responsibility to people has not changed either, he said.
CORWIN: That's an interesting point. Here's what I can say about Botswana. Historically they have had an incredible excellent reputation
when it comes to conservation. That's why they have such a high elephant population there. Now interesting, not too long ago they had a moratorium
on hunting. Why did they do this? Because it's the juxtaposition, it's an irony of how you can allow the professional recreational hunting of animals
that are endangered like elephants and rhinos.
So just a few years ago there were only a handful of countries that allowed hunting. As of 2014, as you mentioned, they eliminated hunting. Now
they're bringing it back. Now, Becky, compare this to the United States.
[11:30:00] What we've done under the Trump administration, under the former secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke, from the influence of Donald Trump
Jr., we actually allowed the importation of trophies of endangered species like elephants, like lions. I wonder if there's a connection here.
ANDERSON: Sir, we're going to leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us. The opposing views on the story quite frankly is
making news all over the world. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you.
President Trump refusing to work with Democrats if they continue their multiple investigations. Could his latest move bring lawmakers closer to
impeachment?
The world of football still struggling to address a spate of racist incidents against players of color. Now FIFA's general secretary sees the
way forward. That is later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well end all investigations or there will be no legislation. That is what the U.S. President threatened after storming out of a White
House meeting with Democrats on Wednesday. It was about this time in fact. The high drama came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We believe that the President of the United States was engaged in a coverup.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk into look at people that have just said that
I was doing a coverup. I don't do coverups. This whole thing was a takedown attempt at the President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:35:03] ANDERSON: Donald Trump now refusing to work with Democrats until they stop what he calls their phony investigations. Pelosi accused
Mr. Trump of having a temper tantrum for us all to see. But the President is under enormous pressure at the moment. As calls for impeachment grow
louder among Democrats, New York state lawmakers have approved two bills that allow Congress access to Mr. Trump's state tax returns. Now it seems
all bipartisan cooperation is at a standstill. A lot to discuss. CNN's Lauren Fox from Capitol Hill, Jim Sciutto is live from New York and Jeremy
Diamond at the White House. So let's start with you Lauren. Is government effectively at a standstill, shutdown essentially?
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well you know, that's the big question. It is hard enough to get anything done on Capitol Hill
between Republicans and Democrats, not to mention the fact that the President of the United States is saying he's not willing to move forward
with infrastructure.
Let's layout exactly what Congress has to get done over the next couple of months. Right now they're trying to negotiate a disaster aid package to
help those affected by storms, hurricanes, tornados. All of that is being negotiated as we speak. It's still unclear whether the president stands on
that.
And then as you head toward the fall, you have a huge spending deadline beginning in the first of October. You also will have to eventually raise
the debt ceiling. That's all stuff that Republicans and Democrats are starting to negotiate trying to work through. If the President essentially
is saying that he's not willing to work with House Democrats if they continue to investigate him, that's not really a good sign of progress.
Because we know two things. We know that in the beginning of the fall we're going to have to deal with the spending deadline. We also know that
Democrats are not going to stop investigating the President. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been very clear on that. That her caucus is united in
continuing those investigations -- Becky.
ANDERSON: So Jeremy, ahead of this meeting on infrastructure that he was supposed to be having with Pelosi yesterday, she holds a meeting that he's
well aware of just before and suggests that he's -- as he said, I'm being accused of coverups. He says enough of these phony investigations. I
mean, we were watching this all unfold from Abu Dhabi where we are but I'm sure the rest of the viewers around the world were sort of going, well, in
his defense he's getting an awful lot thrown at him at the moment and he comes out saying I'm not deserving of this.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. And that is the case he's trying to make. He's trying to shift the narrative essentially.
A lot of the narrative is focused on the fact that the President is under these various investigations and he's stonewalling those investigations.
He's refusing to cooperate with what is legitimate Congressional oversight.
Now the President's view on that is that these investigations are not legitimate, that they're rehashing what the Mueller investigation has
already covered. Of course, Democrats are actually looking to take Mueller's findings and go further particularly because Mueller did not
reach a conclusion on this key question of obstruction of justice. But essentially, we're seeing the President's frustrations with those
investigations. Now get in the way of some of this policy making that the President and many of his advisors frankly had been hoping to get done.
The President and his advisors in particular, wanted to get infrastructure done. They wanted to get the USMCA past through Congress. That's the
revamped NAFTA free trade agreement. Now all of that is perhaps up in the air. And a lot of the President's advisors who I speak with, believe that
the USMCA, getting that through, is going to be pretty key to his reelection chances coming up in 2020 particularly as he continues to have
this trade war with China. They really are looking for a win on the trade front here.
So the question is, will the President continue with this stance? We saw him after the November midterm election say that he wasn't going to work
with Democrats if they investigated him. And then when they did investigate him, he was starting to work with Democrats. He had met with
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi several times. Now we're back to where we started. Though the question is does this last, or do we see a change once
again.
Yes, and Jim, I want to discuss that with you. Does this last? But another setback for President Trump. A second federal judge has refused to
block Congressional subpoenas seeking access to his financial records. Follow the money, his money, his critics have always said, and the dirt
will be revealed. Is this a smoking gun, just out of interest?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well we don't know if it's a smoking gun but it does look like with these court decisions that
the public, that Congress will go to look at these financial records to answer whether there is anything remiss there. And the judges basically
pushing back on what the Trump White House strategy has been with all of these investigations, which is to refuse everything.
[11:40:00] Subpoenas, witness testimony, fight these requests in court and now you have two court losses in a week that show, well that's not going to
work every time. And the timeline -- spoke a lot about this on my own program this morning -- the timeline is such that within weeks and months
you begin to see at least some of these financial records. So well before the 2020 election day, November 2020, which seem to be part of the Trump
strategy here, was to push this out beyond that election. But it doesn't appear they're going to be able to do it.
ANDERSON: We rely here on CNN on our fantastic colleagues stateside to sort of pick apart what's going on. Because at times it just seems
incredibly confusing and intriguing, I have to say.
How long does all of this last? We are into effectively the campaigning for 2020 now. What happens next?
SCIUTTO: Well and this is America, right? So the campaign begins the day after the last one in a way. We are deep into it now. So much of these
decisions and these debates are about the politics of 2020. Listen, it's going to be a contentious next year and a half clearly. We knew that post
midterms. You had Democrats controlling the House so the President not being able to kind of run the gamut here controlling both Houses. So you
knew there was going to be conflict.
But there was potential for some cooperation and a big piece of that blew up yesterday. Because infrastructure was and always has been the one thing
that you could point to that Democrats and Republicans might agree on. Spending money to fix our roads, bridges, trains, et cetera. But the
President taking personal offense at Nancy Pelosi's comments yesterday regarding a coverup and is now saying he's not going to work with Congress.
The President says lots of things that he doesn't follow through on. He may make a political calculation, that no, well I should work with them on
this or that. Jeremy mentioned a replacement for the NAFTA deal as a possible necessity or he may not. He may make a calculation that
politically it's better for him to be fighting all the time. In which case everyone suffers because nothing gets passed, no problems get solved. And
we just continue on in this political melodrama.
ANDERSON: Yes, well as we continue to watch what I think is a very well described as a political melodrama, that's what's going on in front of our
eyes. You've just published a book entitled, " The Shadow War, Inside Russia and China Secret Operations to Defeat America". I mean, you've
spent some time in researching this book. What did you find behind the scenes in what are these shadowy worlds that we perhaps don't do enough
reporting on?
SCIUTTO: What I've found and this is the consensus view among U.S. national security intelligence officials and Western as well. I
interviewed European officials, Presidents, intelligence officials too that China and Russia are fighting a war against the U.S. and the West on
multiple fronts. Some of which Americans, Europeans and others are aware of. Russia interfering with the election. Russia invading Ukraine. China
creating territory in the South China Sea.
But there are other fronts that they are not aware of or less aware of. For instance are folks aware that China and Russia have both tested and
deployed weapons in space. They're floating up above our heads now, 200, a couple thousand miles up, with the capability of destroying, disabling or
even removing -- China has a kidnap satellite -- as U.S. space command refers to it -- that can grapple and take satellites out of orbit. Why
does that matter? Because the U.S. military, as well as civilian institutions depend on satellite technology, GPS systems. You know, smart
bombs aren't smart without satellites. Drones don't fly, navigation, surveillance, nuclear early warning. That's a front folks aren't aware of.
Under the waves there is an enormous arms race in nuclear submarine, in submarine technology. Both Russia and China testing and deploying faster,
quieter submarines. That's a problem because a quiet submarine, one you can't detect, can pop up along your coastline and in the event of war
launch nuclear weapons. Russia pops up off the coast of Florida in surprise form to deliver a message. They could do that. China popped up
in the midst of a U.S. carrier group without warning.
So it's multiple fronts at the same time and certainly as well in the cyber sphere all intended to undermine the U.S. and the West. But below the
threshold of where they think the U.S. will respond definitively. They've been very good at testing that threshold and getting away with a lot of
stuff without pushback.
ANDERSON: "The Shadow War," an unashamed plug for my colleague. Thank you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Thank you, Becky.
And thank you, Lauren. Fascinating times both in front of our eyes and as it were behind.
[11:45:00] Before we move on just let's zip back to Donald Trump in full-on campaign mode.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Is that so? No, it's not. Listen to this. American taxpayers forking out more than $100 million to keep him out on the greens. That is
according to our post analysis. And just on Wednesday Mr. Trump enjoying day number 250. That's it, 250 at one of his properties since taking
office.
I've got a get you this. A deadly outbreak of tornados has hit the Central U.S. Residents in Missouri's capital woke up to this.
Tornados already blamed for killing three people in Golden City, Missouri. More than two dozen tornados carved a path from Oklahoma to Missouri in the
last 24 hours alone. Oklahoma, meanwhile, has been hit by record flooding with water just sweeping away homes. Rescues are still underway at this
hour. CNN's Omar Jimenez has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rising flood waters swallowing this entire house and carrying it downstream. And another home
swept away by raging waters. The Cimarron River overflowing, eroding the shores and forcing residents to flee their homes. And officials warning
people who live along rivers or creeks to prepare to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said -- what did you say? And she said, our house is gone. Our son called us and told us get the heck out of there.
JIMENEZ: And Oklahoma residents dealing with the one-two punch, historic flooding and tornados.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Depending on how much rain we get with the next couple round of storms we could also be looking at another flash flood event with
the river flooding.
JIMENEZ: Rescuers working around the clock to save those who are traps. Emergency crews having to pull this woman out of a second-story window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot drive up to their house. We have to get a boat in the water or two boats in the water. It's going to take us a long
time to get to them.
JIMENEZ: The storms are blamed for at least 7 deaths in the region. Officials say dozens of people hurt in Oklahoma alone.
C.T. BYNUM, TULSA, OKLAHOMA MAYOR: As long as we are working and Tulsan's take this seriously and pay attention and prepare, then we will get through
this safely.
JIMENEZ: The army corps of engineers releasing 215,000 cubic feet of flood waters every second in an effort to keep the Keystone dam from topping its
floodgates. Tulsa's Mayor warning the threat isn't over.
BYNUM: If people don't take this seriously and don't prepare and that is how lives could be endangered.
JIMENEZ (on camera): No to understand some of the risks ahead, you have to take a look back. Mainly at the fact that this is a region of the country
that has been slammed by heavy storms leading to flooding that stretches really back to March at this point. We've seen flooding everywhere from
Iowa to Texas and now here in Oklahoma. And that's significant because it makes places like these that much more vulnerable when you look at systems
ahead and we do expect rain in the coming forecast.
I'm Omar Jimenez, CNN, Guthrie, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Up next, a story that worries us all. To tragedies a world apart with one thing in common, the Boeing 737 Max airplane. Could one of
them have been avoided if Boeing had decided one was too many.
[11:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You see here the aftermath of two devastating airline accidents. On the left the Lion Air flight that crashed off Indonesia last October,
189 people were killed. On the right, the remnants of an Ethiopian Airlines flight went down outside Addis Ababa in March of this year, 157
lives were host there.
The two tragedies on opposite sides of the world have one thing in common, the Boeing 737 Max jet. Today U.S. regulators will meet with Boeing
officials to talk about getting those planes back in the air. This amid questions about whether the Ethiopian Airlines flight might have been
preventable or at least the accident. That meeting being held in Fort Worth in Texas. CNN's Drew Griffin joins us from there. And I know that
you've heard from a number of stake holders here. What have you been told?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Those stake holders from across the globe, Becky, are here to try to figure out if the FAA's
process to recertify this plane is meeting their standards as well as the FAA standards. And at the base of this is the in fact this plane was
certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration once before. Then there were two crashes. So the question I posed to Dan Elwell, who is the
acting administrator of the U.S. FAA is how can anybody have faith in what you're doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN ELWELL, ACTING FAA ADMINISTRATOR: The 737 Max was certified between 2012 and 2017. So there is a concerted effort to look back at those five
years on how we did it and the processes and that's ongoing. We have an IG examination of that. We have a special committee that Secretary Chao
initiated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: So the answer is they don't know yet if that certification process by the FAA was correct or not. There are now three different
investigations looking into that. But right now, Becky, the FAA is dealing with trying to get these planes back up in the air. It's got to convince
the global aviation community that the recertification will be much better, much more stringent than the original certification. That is an uphill
climb especially when you have Boeing continually tripping over itself when trying to fix what is apparently, a damaged plane -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes, Drew Griffin, on the story for you out of Texas. And important stuff, Drew, thank you.
Coming up next on CONNECT THE WORLD -- got a couple of minutes left. Remembering beloved children's author Judith Kerr and how her stories
shaped so many of our young lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:55:00] ANDERSON: Finally this hour, we remember author Judith Kerr, who has died at the age of 95. Now, she is best known for her classic
children's tales first and foremost "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" published back in 1968. Kerr famously created the story for her own kids but it
became a beloved story for children all over the world. Including me. She wrote and illustrated dozens of books over her career spanning the five
decades since. My colleague Christiane Amanpour sat down with Kerr a few years ago to reflect on her career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What do you hope families have got from these books?
JUDITH KERR, AUTHOR: Well, you know I'm terribly pleased they like them. What more can one ask for really? I never dreamt anything like that would
happen to me. I wanted originally like everybody who goes to art school to be a painter and I just wanted to draw. I still do. It's the one thing I
want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well those that knew Kerr, how she lit up every room that she walked into. Always displaying a youthful exuberance that absolutely
betrayed her age. Her books do the same. And though she is now gone her work will keep bringing smiles to children's faces for many, many years to
come. If you haven't read her books, read them.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. Wherever you are watching in the world, thank you for watching. CNN of course continues after this
short break.
END
