White Helmets Evacuated into Jordan by Israel; One Dead in L.A. Hostage Standoff; Criticism over Putin's Invitation to Washington; Russia Allegedly Funded Montenegro Coup Plot.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news in the Syrian conflict. Israel has evacuated members of the White Helmets rescue group from Jordan. We're live in Jerusalem with the story, ahead.</s>NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Also this hour, terrifying moments inside a Los Angeles grocery store. A hostage standoff leaving one woman dead. The suspect in custody.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): And dangerous weather lashing parts of Asia. A typhoon in Vietnam turns deadly and a heat wave scorches Japan.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We're coming to you live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): And I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters. NEWSROOM starts right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.</s>ALLEN: Our breaking news is this: you've seen them countless times, running and digging through the rubble to save civilians in the Syrian conflict but now Israel and Jordan have come to the rescue of the White Helmets.</s>HOWELL: A group of 800 Syrian civilians, including members of the volunteer rescue group, they've been evacuated into Jordan. Israel says its military completed the humanitarian effort at the request of the U.S. and the European countries. For the very latest on this, let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann, following the story live in Jerusalem. Oren, these civilians and the White Helmets are now safely out of Syria. Tell us where they are now and where they go from here.</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was an overnight operation that took them from Southern Syria, one of the last areas that hasn't been fully retaken by the Syria regime, through Israel and then into Jordan. Jordan says through a spokesman for the Jordanian foreign ministry that they're being held in what he terms restricted areas. They'll be there for three months before they are transferred to Western countries, where they will be given safe haven. Among those countries, Canada, Germany and the U.K. And that gives you an idea of the support the White Helmets have internationally. It also gives you an idea of how sensitive an operation this was. Of course, any operation between Syria and Israel, humanitarian or otherwise, is already sensitive. Remember that the White Helmets are considered a terrorist organization by the Syrian regime and by the Russians, which means getting them out of Syria becomes that much more delicate and crucial, especially as the Syrian regime, with the help of the Russians, closes in on the last parts of Southern Syria. We know for a few days now there have been -- there has been an international effort to make sure these White Helmets and these other civilians have a way out. George and Natalie, we just saw how that came through here.</s>HOWELL: It is interesting at the same time that the United States not really on that list of other nations that you mentioned, as these civilians and the White Helmets have been evacuated from Syria.</s>LIEBERMANN: Well, the U.S. was part of the effort to put together this operation, to make sure there was a way out. From what we know right now, which is a statement from the Jordanians as well as a statement from the Canadian foreign ministry, it doesn't look like the U.S. will take in any of these White Helmets, even over the course of the last few years since the White Helmets began operating several years ago, the U.S. has contributed millions of dollars to the White Helmets as have other nations. And that's because of their critical work. This is a volunteer rescue group that, in the fighting of Syria, in the chaos of Syria, has become an incredibly important factor and an incredibly important group for saving lives. They say there are roughly 4,000 members of the White Helmets, according to the organization, and they say they've saved more than 100,000 lives in the years of fighting in Syria.</s>HOWELL: Oren, if you could remind our viewers around the world what the White Helmets have done in Syria, over the many years, just the work they did, digging through the rubble and trying to avoid these double taps of these continued bombings from Syrian troops.</s>LIEBERMANN: Absolutely. And through all of the fighting, through the Syrian civil war, the White Helmets were an unarmed volunteer rescue group that did search and rescue, provided medical aid, would go in shortly after a bombing, in incredibly dangerous areas, and try to help those in need of desperate medical assistance. And we saw them once again in the front pages of the headlines back in April, when it was the Syrian regime that used chemical weapons in Douma near Damascus. It was the White Helmets who went right in and brought us the images that showed the world what had happened there. Once again, we were reminded of the work the White Helmets do and why they're so critical as the Syrian civil war continues.</s>HOWELL: Again, Oren Liebermann, on the breaking news, some 800 civilians, including the group, the White Helmets, evacuated from Syria. Thank you for the reporting, Oren, we'll stay in touch with you.</s>ALLEN: Another top story we're following here, the gunman who held hostages for hours at a Los Angeles grocery store sits in jail this hour.</s>HOWELL: We just learned that --</s>HOWELL: -- the woman who you see here, who was an employee, was caught in the crossfire as a gunman barricaded himself inside a Trader Joe's store and traded gunfire with police. Melyda Corado died at the scene.</s>ALLEN: The standoff lasted several hours with the suspect making demands to police. It ended when the gunman surrendered peacefully after all of that and left the store with the remaining hostages.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect, at the end, asked for handcuffs, he handcuffed himself and then released himself into the custody of LAPD, as I mentioned, LAFD, our fire department, is under LAPD's careful eye, treating the suspect's wounds.</s>HOWELL: And the suspect got those wounds while on the run from police, this after shooting his grandmother and another woman. Police chased him to that Trader Joe's store, where he crashed his car. And that's when the standoff started. During the standoff, some people were able to escape through a back door and a window in the back of the store. A mother of one employee was relieved when she saw her daughter on television, running from the store.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just praying, I was just praying and I was just like in disbelief. But once, you know, she was smart enough to hear what she heard and she ran out through the back.</s>HOWELL: One can only imagine; in disbelief, she says. CNN Miguel Marquez was on the scene at the incident and filed this report for us.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just an incredibly tense several hours here in Los Angeles. One person dead, others shot and possibly could expire as well. All of this at a Trader Joe's, a popular grocery store in Southern California. This is the remnants of what was a hostage barricade situation. About 1:30 Pacific time in the afternoon, the individual shot his grandmother several times. He took someone else with him, a young woman with him. Police later in Los Angeles picked him up and started following him. They were in literally hot pursuit when the young man crashed into a pole outside this Trader Joe's with a gun in hand, starts running in, exchanges gunfire with police. That's when somebody inside the Trader Joe's, a young woman, was hit. Police followed him in, tried to resuscitate her but she expired at the store. And for then several hours, the individual held up in the store, taking hostages at one point and then letting them all go later in the afternoon, surrendering himself to police, asking for a pair of handcuffs, which he handcuffed himself and then turned himself over to police. It has ended -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>ALLEN: As all this was happening, Miguel also spoke with a Trader Joe's employee, who explained how he and other workers were able to escape.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't sure if I had a viable exit on the ground floor, so I proceeded upstairs, where we have an upstairs storage space. I moved through the storage space to a back kind of a break room that we have, where we have an emergency ladder. Grabbed the emergency ladder, proceeded even further back to a back storage area. I grabbed a couple of my co-workers, brought them back as well. I barricaded the hallway as best I could, grabbed a weapon and put the ladder out the window. And after getting the attention of a SWAT officer, was able to indicate I wanted to go out the ladder. He gave me the thumbs up and I went down the ladder, held the ladder and was able to get three of my other coworkers to follow me out.</s>MARQUEZ: And so you were getting people out. Were you bringing people up with you as well as trying to barricade wherever you guys were?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one person coming down the stairs that was going up, I grabbed her. There was another person back in the break room, I grabbed her. There were additional people upstairs already. I just tried to figure a way out.</s>ALLEN: Well, we'll bring you any new developments as we continue to follow this story.</s>HOWELL: Major story out of California that we'll stay on top of. Now the U.S. president at one of his golf resorts this weekend but he still found time to blast the Russia investigation on Twitter. Also targeting his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Mr. Trump started his Saturday with this, "Inconceivable that the government would break into a office early in the morning, almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer --</s>HOWELL: -- "would tape a client, totally unheard of and perhaps illegal."</s>ALLEN: Of course it was not proven that that was unheard of for the federal investigators to go into his lawyer's office. But Cohen had recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump just before the election, talking about this woman, former "Playboy" model, Karen McDougal. You may remember she alleges she had an affair with Mr. Trump. He denies it.</s>HOWELL: After that tweet about Michael Cohen, the president turned his anger toward another very familiar topic. Our Ryan Nobles has more on that.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The president is spending the weekend at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. And his Twitter feed was busy on Saturday. He specifically took the opportunity to suggest that the investigation into his campaign's potential ties to the Russian government during the 2016 election could end up having an effect in the election in 2018. The president tweeting, quote, "No collusion, no obstruction but that doesn't matter because the 13 angry Democrats were only after Republicans and totally protecting Democrats. Want this witch hunt to drag out to the November election. Republicans better get smart fast and expose what they're doing." Now the president's tweet storm comes against the backdrop of increasing criticism for his decision to have this summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Helsinki and subsequently his decision to invite President Putin to Washington sometime this fall. And there's been a lot of talk about the reaction from the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, who was at a security summit in Aspen. Coats learned of the president's invitation during an interview with NBC. And Coats seemed to be a little bit shocked. Well, Coats attempted to clear the record on Saturday night. He put out a statement that said, quote, "Some press coverage has mischaracterized my intentions in responding to breaking news presented to me during a live interview. My admittedly awkward response was in no way meant to be disrespectful or to criticize the actions of the president. "I and the entire intel community are committed to providing the best possible intelligence to inform and support President Trump's ongoing efforts to prevent Russian meddling in our upcoming elections, to build strong relationships internationally in order to maintain peace, denuclearize dangerous regimes and protect our nation and our allies." You'll note that the Director of National Intelligence makes no mention of whether or not he thinks it is a good idea for President Trump to invite Vladimir Putin to Washington sometime this fall. But there is certainly one person who thinks that the president's interactions with Russia have not been going very well and that's his former opponent, Hillary Clinton. She had some harsh criticism for President Trump during a festival on Saturday. Take a listen.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The great mystery is why the president has not spoken up for our country. And we saw that most clearly in this recent meeting with Putin. We don't know what was said in the room with just the two of them.</s>NOBLES: And there's no doubt that we've grown a bit accustomed to President Trump and Hillary Clinton trading barbs long after the 2016 election has been decided. But it's worth pointing out that this is really out of the norm. Usually, after an election like this, the two sides go to their respective corners and are respectful of the jobs that they have to do after the fact. That's certainly not the case this time around and just one other example of how the Trump administration is unlike any presidency we've ever seen -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, New Jersey.</s>ALLEN: Well, in a related development, for the first time in FBI history, the agency has made public its highly classified application for a FISA warrant, FISA standing for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the warrant the FBI to conduct surveillance on a suspect. In this case, this man right here, former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.</s>HOWELL: The warrant states that the FBI believes that Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government. It goes on to say the FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government earlier this year. The 400-page warrant became a political hot potato in Congress. Some Republicans allege it showed the Russian investigation was biased against the U.S. president because the warrant relied on the so-called Steele dossier, which was funded by Mr. Trump's political enemies. But Democrats say the warrant showed the FBI had a legitimate concern about people in the Trump campaign, which predated the Steele dossier.</s>ALLEN: Let's talk about this with Steven Erlanger. He's chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for "The New York Times." He joins us from Brussels. Steven, always good to have you with us. I want to begin with what does this development with the FISA warrant reveal about the FBI's investigation and does it give credence to Republican claims of bias by the FBI?</s>STEVEN ERLANGER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, first of all, we should note that it came out of a Freedom of Information Act request by many news agencies. So that's --</s>ERLANGER: -- why we -- that's why we have it. I think it actually undermines the Republican claim that this was all a fraud aimed at helping Hillary Clinton. If you read the papers, which are fairly thick, Carter Page was under suspicion before this famous Steele memo. The FBI sought to surveil him before. Now it is true he was working for Mr. Trump as a kind of adviser. But that's what set the FBI off. The fact is that he was in contact, according to these documents, which are intended to allow this kind of surveillance on an American citizen. Judges agreed to do that. But these documents show that Mr. Page was in contact with Russian officials, intelligence officers for quite some time. And this is what bothered the FBI. I think people who suggest that all of this surveillance was simply a method for the FBI to hurt Donald Trump and help Hillary Clinton, I think this will help show that they're wrong.</s>ALLEN: Carter Page, one of the avenues of the investigation into potential collusion between the Trump team and Russia, let's talk more about the other development with the president and Russia. His courting of Vladimir Putin continues to baffle people, Steven, in the United States, even his own administration, which stays after the summit have still not been informed of what was discussed. But the world got a sense of the meeting with the president's remarks at the news conference that followed when he kowtowed to Mr. Putin repeatedly. Let's listen to a few of those remarks.</s>TRUMP: I think we're doing really well with Russia as of today. I thought we were doing horribly before today. A good competitor he is and I think the word competitor say compliment. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be. I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.</s>ALLEN: Baffling that the U.S. president continues to praise Vladimir Putin. And this is a president who has insulted our close allies in Europe while embracing Putin. What do you make of it, Steven?</s>ERLANGER: Well, Trump, I think, has two things on his mind, really, and they overshadow everything. That is, I won the election so anything that puts a taint on my election victory is horrible and I need to fight it; hence, charges of Russian collusion. So he has to show that he and Putin are fine. And, two, he is absolutely convinced that he can do a deal with anyone in the world one on one because he's the great negotiator and he doesn't have to listen to advice and he doesn't have to listen to his experts, he doesn't have to listen to Dan Coats, he just has to play golf and get up and go into a meeting and have a conversation. So that's the other thing that is very much on Trump's mind. And all this is in the context, of course, of the November midterm elections. I think Mr. Trump sees the political danger of charges of collusion and so this is what he wants to beat off. Also, anything that President Obama has done Mr. Trump regards as bad, weak, bad, sad. So when Obama tried do a reset with Russia, which didn't work very well, now Mr. Trump has to say, well, I did it. I did the reset. Obama couldn't do it, everything was bad and now everything is perfect. So that's the other thing that's very much in the president's head. And the details of foreign policy, I mean, it's extraordinary to people that he did not stand up and say, look, you know, you -- not meddled; meddled's one of those nice words. You tried to interfere in our election, in our democratic election and it's intolerable. And he was given a chance to say that and he didn't. He was given a chance to talk about the annexation of Crimea as illegal and he said nothing. It was Putin who said Trump says it's -- I think some ways Putin was trying to give Trump a leg up here to help him.</s>ALLEN: Yes, he looked a little uncomfortable while Mr. Trump was talking. We'll have to leave it there and we'll discuss more as we -- if, in fact, Steven --</s>ALLEN: -- we learn more about -- from Mr. Trump about what happened at that meeting. We always appreciate you being with us. Thanks so much.</s>ERLANGER: Thanks, Natalie.</s>HOWELL: The story ahead, about a woman who made it through the Missouri tour boat tragedy, now she is trying to make it through and survive a great deal of pain.</s>TIA COLEMAN, DUCK BOAT SURVIVOR: Lord, if I can't make it there's no use in keeping me here. So I just let go and I started floating.</s>HOWELL: We'll bring you that terrifying story of a mother who lost her husband and lost three young children.</s>ALLEN: That's ahead here. Plus we'll have an update on the torrential rains across parts of Vietnam that have led to deadly flash floods and landslides. Derek Van Dam with that story for us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.