North Korea Fulfills Pledge; Michael Cohen Claims Trump Knew Trump Tower Meeting; President Trump Asks For Assistance To Secure Brunson's Release; Pakistan Election Commission Expected To Confirm Imran Khan's Victory; Strong U.S. Q2 GDP
KRISTIE LOU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream." War remains handed over. North Korea fulfills the pledge made to Donald Trump. Michael Cohen's big claims. Sources tell CNN Donald Trump former attorney says then candidate Trump knew about the Trump's (inaudible) meeting with Russians. And, a roll of flames. A wildfire in northern California turns deadly as firefighters try to contain it. North Korea is making good on promise that leader Kim Jong-un made to Donald Trump in Singapore, returning what are said to be the remains of U.S. troops killed during the Korean War. North Korean officials handed over 55 cases in South Korea and President Trump is calling the return a great moment for many families and has thanked Mr. Kim. South Korea is also welcoming it as a humanitarian move that can help heal the pain of Korean War veterans. Our Will Ripley is in Seoul with more on the story. He joins U.S. now. And Will, what does the return the remains? What does it mean to diplomatically and especially for the families who have waited decades for this to happen?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, the families are the ones who we should always keep the top of our minds and many of them have been waiting for true closure. There are still more than 5,000 Americans believed to be missing and buried somewhere in North Korea. These are service members who fought in the Korean War. They died part of the -- some three million people who were believed to have died in that horrific three-year conflict that caused so many lives on this Korean Peninsula and yet the two Koreas ended up divided roughly in the same spot along the 38th parallel. You cannot deny the history of the day that this has happened, the first repatriation, more than a decade occurring on July 27th, the day that the Korean War armistice was signed, the day that people thought would lead to peace, but as history have shown, lead to something -- something else.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, to clear the entire Korean problem and bring about world peace.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Any hope for peace after the 1953 Armistice gave way to a bitter cold war. Sixty-five years later, the communist North and Democratic South are still divided along the 38th parallel. Very few people cross the DMZ, dead or alive. Korean War dead are no exception. Some three million people were killed including tens of thousands of Americans. Thousands of those U.S. troops are believed to be buried in mass graves, some just miles from the South but impossibly out of reach for their families. Ruth Hebert came to the DMZ searching for her father, First Lieutenant Karle Seydel. The Colorado Marine died on December 7, 1950.</s>RUTH HEBERT, DAUGTHER OF FALLEN SERVICEMAN IN NORTH KOREA: My mother here, she he had two little babies when he was killed so, it was very hard. My brother was 13 days old when my father left.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Grief made harder by the fact families may never have closure. North Korea has returned the remains of just 340 U.S. service members since 1990. The search for the missing dead abruptly ended more than a decade ago as nuclear tensions escalated, repatriation efforts stopped. But this year's Korean detente revived the hopes of military families. After the historic Singapore Summit, President Trump declared missing Korean War remains would soon be handed over possibly in days. More than six weeks later, Ruth Hebert is still waiting for news about her father.</s>HEBERT: His bones are still here in the North with so many that died there that they were not able to recover but our hearts are really comforted and strengthened being here.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): Strength and hope for closure, hope for a final end to the never ending Korean War.</s>RIPLEY (on camera): It is likely to take months or even years, Kristie, before families like Ruth Hebert's will learn if their loved ones, those who were killed in the Korean War were one of those 55 sets of remains handed over at Osan Air Base here in South Korea. Diplomatically, this is a confidence building measure on the part of the North Koreans who have been engaged in some very difficult negotiations over denuclearization with the United States. We know that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's latest trip to Pyongyang ended with very little results, both sides frustrated. Perhaps this will move things in a more positive direction, but just the fact that it took six weeks, more than six weeks for this to happen when many in the Trump administration thought it might be a matter of days before the handover took place, underscores the difficulty and the length of time that it's going to take the U.S. and North Korea especially when they start negotiating far more contentious issues, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: The return of the remains is a confidence building measure. It is also one of the commitments that was agreed to during that summit in Singapore between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. On the North Korean's side, what did the North Koreans expect to receive in return?</s>RIPLEY: The North Koreans feel that they have already done a lot, you know, the repatriation that happened today to dismantling their Sohae satellite launch facility, blowing up the Pungngye-ri nuclear site which we witnessed a couple of months ago. And now they think it's time for the U.S. to deliver. They want the U.S. to move more quickly on a peace treaty, a formal end to the Korean War and they think that the U.S. should push for that and they are frustrated that it hasn't happened according to a source of mine who is familiar with the North Korean position on these negotiations. And they also want incremental sanctions relief, a step-by-step kind of process where they get something from the United States in turn for giving something with denuclearization. Of course, the U.S. have said that maximum pressure is going to continue until North Korea gives up all of their nuclear weapons. The North Koreans have really stopped at that, you know, you heard the statement after Secretary Pompeo left Pyongyang, accusing the U.S. of being almost gangster like in their demands.</s>LU STOUT: Will Ripley reporting live from Seoul. Thank you Will. U.S. President Donald Trump on twitter just moments ago denied what could be a potential bombshell in the Russia investigation. The sources say the president's former attorney, Michael Cohen, claims then candidate Donald Trump knew and approved of the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. That is a meeting where Russians were expected offer dirt on Hillary Clinton. President Trump now saying on twitter he did not know of that meeting in this tweets. Jim Sciutto has more.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sources tell myself and Carl Bernstein that President Trump's long time lawyer, Michael Cohen, is willing to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that then candidate Trump knew in advance about his campaign's June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton and that he signed off on it. This account directly contradicting the repeated denials from President Trump, his lawyers and allies.</s>SCHMIDT: Did you know at the time that they had the meeting?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I didn't know anything about the meeting.</s>JAY SEKULOW, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: He was not aware of the meeting. He did not attend the meeting and was only informed about the e-mails very recently by his counsel.</s>SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you tell your father anything about this?</s>DONALD TRUMP, JR, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: No. It was such a nothing. There is nothing to tell.</s>SCIUTTO (voice-over): Sources tell us that Cohen alleges that he was there when Donald Trump, Jr. told his father about the meeting, but does not have evidence such as an audio recording to corroborate the claim. President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, flatly denying Cohen's account in an interview with CNN and attacking Cohen's credibility.</s>RUDY GIULIANI, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: He didn't know about it. I know that. I've been over this in great detail. I've talked to the corroborating witnesses. There's no way you're going to bring down the president of the United States on the testimony uncorroborated by a proven liar.</s>CIUTTO (voice-over): A source familiar with Cohen's testimony says that he did not tell the House Intelligence Committee that Trump had admitted knowledge of the meeting. And Donald Trump, Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that he would not have wasted his father's time with it. Trump, Jr.'s attorney standing by his testimony saying they are confident in the accuracy and reliability of the information they provided. The Trump Tower meeting has long been at the center of questions over potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. When news of the meeting first broke, Donald Trump, Jr. initially said that the focus was primarily on Russian adoptions. Days later, Trump, Jr. publicly released e-mails from publicist Rob Goldstone who set up the meeting showing that in fact it was proposed, "to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary" as part of Russia and its government support for Trump. Trump, Jr. replied to the e-mail within minutes, "If it's what you say, I love it." Four days later and two days before the Trump Tower meeting, then candidate Trump said that he'd be revealing information about Clinton.</s>TRUMP: I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very important.</s>SCIUTTO (voice-over): That speech never happened.</s>SCIUTTO: Another key detail of the story is that Michael Cohen claims that he was not the only person in the room when Donald Trump, Jr., he says, told Donald Trump, Sr. about the upcoming meeting with the Russians and what they were offering. That could provide investigators with other witnesses to question to possibly corroborate Cohen's story, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Jim Sciutto reporting there. Thank you. Now, the U.S. president's own words may also prove problematic in the Russia probe. The "New York Times" reports that Robert Moeller is reviewing Mr. Trump's twitter feed as part of the investigation into possible obstruction of justice. The special counsel is reportedly focused on the president's twitter attacks on the U.S. attorney general, Jeff sessions, as well as fired FBI director James Comey. The "Times" says this, "Mr. Moeller is examining whether the actions add up to attempts to obstruct the investigation by both intimidating witnesses and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to tamp down the inquiry." President Trump has taken to twitter to threaten Turkey over the detention of an American pastor. Now, Mr. Trump had tweeted this, "The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their longtime detainment a Pastor Andrew Brunson." Now, Turkey's Foreign Minister has shot (ph) back saying that his country will never tolerate threats from anybody. An Israeli official has meanwhile confirmed to CNN that President Trump had asked for assistance from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure Brunson's release. Now, our correspondent Jomana Karadsheh has more from this (inaudible), Jomana, a lot of new lines in the story. We're now hearing that the U.S. asked Israel for help with the release of the American Pastor Andrew Brunson. What have you learned?</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, the story originally reported by the "Washington Post" this morning, basically reporting that President Trump asked Prime Minister Netanyahu in a phone call for his assistance to help secure the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson here in Turkey. Now, an Israeli official, as you mentioned, confirmed that that request was made but did not go into details or provide details of that conversation that according to the "Washington Post" took place on July 14th. Now, what "The Post" is reporting, they asked -- is that President Trump asked Israel to release a Turkish woman, a 27-year-old who was detained in Israel facing charges of supporting Hamas. In exchange, Turkey would release Andrew Brunson. Now, what we've heard from the -- what happened was that she was released on -- according to her lawyer she was released between the 11th and 12th of July. She left Israel on the 15th of July following that phone call, but Turkish official here, Kristie, have denied this. They are calling this report completely baseless and far from reality according to the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry and another Turkish official saying they have no intention of getting involved in the country's independent judiciary as they call them.</s>LU STOUT: And Jomana, tell us more about Andrew Brunson. Who is he and why was he detained in Turkey?</s>KARADSHEH: This pastor originally from North Carolina. He has been living in Turkey for more than 20 years. Following that failed coup attempt in July of 2016, thousands of people who were detained in the crackdown that followed one of those people was Andrew Brunson who lived in the city of Izmir in Turkey. And he was accused of links to what Turkey considers to be terrorist groups, the Kurdish militant group, the PKK in addition to the Gulen movement that Turkey accuses of being behind the failed coup attempt, in addition to espionage. And he's facing 35 years in jail. Now, his trial has been going on since April. U.S. officials including President Trump have repeatedly asked Turkey to release him. Some U.S. lawmakers have attended the trial, have described it as a kangaroo court and saying that the charges against him and all the accusations were a, "compilation of nonsensical conspiracy theories" and he is described by officials including President Trump as being held hostage by Turkey because last year we heard President Erdowan hinting that he was open to the possibility of a swap, releasing Brunson in exchange for Fhetullah Gulen who is living in exile in the United States. And Turkeys has repeatedly asked for his extradition because of the accusations of his links to the failed coup attempt saying he was behind it, but that has not happened and Kristie, Brunson has really become one of the key issues when it comes to the U.S.-Turkey relationship that was deteriorating over the past few years. Recently, there were signs it was improving and speculation that Brunson would be released, but that did not happen on July 18th with his trial. And a couple of days later we saw a Turkish court basically move him from prison to house arrest. We have yet to hear reaction from President Erdogan to all of these and the stress from the U.S., Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right, Jomana Karadsheh, live in Istanbul across all the threads in the story. Thank you very much indeed. Take care. Now in Pakistan, official results haven't yet been announced but the country's election commission is expected to confirm Imran Khan's victory in Wednesday's general election. Now, the cricket start turned politician has already declared he will be the country's next prime minister following an election that has been marked by violence as was claims of vote rigging. Now Khan is believed to be the favored candidate of Pakistan's powerful military. Nick Paton Walsh is live in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. He joins us now, and Nick, Imran Khan all along, even in that address last night, live, he promised a new Pakistan. Will Pakistan change under Imran Khan? Can he solve the nation's problems?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well that's the sales pitch certainly and as you say, a new Pakistan is sort of what he was been promising. The electorate view him as a force against corruption for a change and obviously, yes. It is the second time in Pakistan independent history there has been a peaceful democratic change of government has always been held by the walls of the ruling party, the PML-N or the PPP, another opposition party. This is the first time that a third party, the PTI, which is run by Mr. Khan has taken control of the government. I say that but that isn't a hundred percent official. The latest results with 97 percent of the seats and vote counted have him on 115. He needs 137 to be able to have his own working majority in parliament. There are still some more to be counted and there are quite a lot of independents floating out there. So (inaudible) is pretty much exclusively on his side to be able to get the majority that he needs. There are couples of issues there that have come along. Many people are criticizing the pace of the vote counting, very slow. And the E.U. parliament or the European Parliament's observer mission here, they've been looking at the votes, have refer to how that do systematic moves to limits the appeal and the progress of the current ruling party, that's the PML-N. They've been marred in corruption accusations and also accusations too that the army has conspired to keep them and other opponents of Mr. Khan of the television and effectively giving him as much media coverage as possible. Now of course, that puts him in a complicated position because clearly it seems he is the military's favorite. Nobody prevails really in a Pakistani election without some kind of accomodation with the security establishment here that runs much of the economy, kind of the (inaudible) in the country. But he sold himself as a new way of life here so, quite how he manages to thread those two particular complicated past we'll see in the months ahead, but clearly at this point, nobody really doubts he is going to be the next prime minister. The question really is what is his first move with the economic issues the country is facing and its variety of foreign policy issues too, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Absolutely. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from Islamabad. Thank you. You're watching "News Stream." Still to come (inaudible) here in the program, a government official in Laos is pointing the finger of blame of the deadly collapse of that massive dam. We'll have more on that story. Also ahead, a tragedy compounded. Evidence points to arson and at least one of the deadly fires in Greece.