Trump Touts Trip to Asia
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour --</s>ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: As armored tanks roll down the streets of Harare, what's next for Zimbabwe after an apparent military coup?</s>VAUSE: Donald Trump and his most excellent adventures. A thirsty U.S. President boasts America is back after his marathon trip to Asia.</s>SESAY: And a defiant Roy Moore fights back against a growing list of accusers. Attorney Gloria Allred joins us to renew her call for a senate hearing.</s>VAUSE: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.</s>SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now. Well, Zimbabweans are anxiously waiting to see if a military takeover will bring political change. President Robert Mugabe who's ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for almost four decades is now said to be safe under house arrest. It's unclear what political role, if any, the 93-year-old president will have in a new government.</s>VAUSE: Military leaders denied they staged a coup but it sure looks like they have. Tanks and troops are stationed around key government buildings and state-run television is under their control. A number of officials have reportedly been arrested. Analysts believe the military is trying to prevent the President's wife, Grace, from taking over from her husband.</s>SESAY: CNN's Eleni Giokos is following all of this for us from Johannesburg and joins us now live. Eleni -- good to have you with us. So the military described what is happening in Zimbabwe as a move to target criminals surrounding President Mugabe to pacify the situation in the country. What can you tell us about what is happening in the country at present?</s>ELENI GIOKOS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean what we do know -- military on the ground, it's got all the markings of a potential coup. The military, of course, as you said, is not calling it a coup at this point in time. We know that the airport is still under control of the military, so too is the state broadcaster. President Robert Mugabe and the first family as we understand is being confined and under house arrest so to speak. But talking with President Jacob Zuma we know that apparently everyone is fine. I was watching the Zimbabwe news broadcast this morning, of course as I mentioned it is under military control at this point in time. And mixture of news coming through this morning but one of the key elements that came through was that peace and stability needs to kind of stay in place; that people are urged to go back to work. That it's all about peace. The military is also hosting a three-day summit in Masvingo over the weekend that is going to be focused on peace and stability. So the military I think is just going on about making sure that peace and calm remains in the country. And the reason that they need to do this is to ensure there isn't any kind of hard-core regional intervention. And we know that President Jacob Zuma's envoy has been sent there this morning and hopefully they're going to be engaging in some kind of negotiation and a meeting with President Jacob Zuma. But the region is definitely on high alert because if anything does play out, any kind of violence sparked, then it becomes a regional problem and, of course, there needs to be as much calm as possible at this point in time and a very difficult and, of course, tense situation.</s>SESAY: Jacob Zuma sending an envoy to Zimbabwe to engage in talks, as you mentioned there. But the question has to be, what is the end goal on the part of the South African envoy of Jacob Zuma being quite clear that this is a coup urging the military not to intervene or not to contravene the Zimbabwean constitution? Meanwhile, the African Union taking a more circumspect position here in all of this just saying, you know, urging restraint. So what is -- I guess, what's Zuma's end game here?</s>GIOKOS: Well, Zuma and Mugabe we know are close friends. In fact, Mugabe invited to the World Economic Forum a little earlier this year which, of course, raised a lot of eyebrows given the fact that Zimbabwe of course, has been under international scrutiny for a lot of issues over the past 20 years or so. Importantly Jacob Zuma is now the chair of the Southern African Development Community. He has to take a diplomatic stance. And he has to also ensure that he engages in SADC (ph) protocol and African Union protocol as well. It's going to be very difficult for him to stand on the sidelines. As to which side he's going to take, it's going to be interesting. We know that South Africa has always taken a stance of perhaps quiet diplomacy when it comes to Zimbabwe even during the times of violent land grabs by the Zimbabwean government in the early 2000s that resulted in food shortages and hyperinflation. South Africa perhaps stood on the sidelines and that was the view of many people. So it will be interesting to see how Jacob Zuma reacts to all of this. But also remember this is a man that has been in power for almost 40 years. Is he going to stand by and just stand down? This is going to be kind of an interesting development. It's very fluid right now as you can tell.</s>SESAY: Yes. It certainly is. I mean Robert Mugabe still held by many African leaders as, you know, this legendary figure that saw off the British there in what was Rhodesia. So it will be interesting to see how they handle this moment. Eleni Giokos -- appreciate the insight and analysis. Thank you.</s>VAUSE: Well, to Washington now and fresh off his trip to Asia, President Donald Trump says America is back, so am I; and he's restored U.S. standing in the world. And he's claiming progress on North Korea, fighting terrorism and trade.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I also had a very candid conversation with President Xi about the need to reduce our staggering trade deficit with China and for our trading relationship to be conducted on a truly fair and equitable basis. We can no longer tolerate unfair trading practices that steal American jobs, wealth and intellectual property. The days of the United States being taken advantage of are over.</s>VAUSE: Joining us now, CNN correspondents Andrew Stevens in Beijing; Paula Hancocks is in Seoul, South Korea; and here in Los Angeles, Democratic strategist Caroline Heldman; and conservative commentator Alex Datig. I hope I got that right. Thank you for being with us. Ok. So Caroline -- this was a 35-minute long speech by the President. It was billed as a major announcement but it seemed more like a travel diary and most of the entries say I was wined and dined and had a really good time and everyone liked me.</s>CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIS: And apparently he didn't have enough to drink because he was very thirsty.</s>VAUSE: There was that, too.</s>HELDMAN: This is what we remember about the speech. I thought he was teasing a major trade deal as his whole point in going on this trip was really two-fold. One was to establish a clear trade policy in the region which he's failed to do. As much as he says that he has there's nothing concrete. And the other was to share an idea of stabilization and get everybody together to coalesce against what's happening to North Korea. That didn't happen either. He got into a petty Twitter squabble with Kim Jong-Un and then, you know, he flip-flopped on Russia after meeting with Putin. So this was not a successful trip and his speech today really exemplifies the fact that nothing happened on this trip.</s>VAUSE: Alex -- how do you answer that criticism? Also, the fact that, you know, what he did outline in this speech many say it's kind of overblown? It's exaggerated.</s>ALEX DATIG, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Well, I'd like to begin like this.</s>VAUSE: Nice.</s>DATIG: Here's to you.</s>VAUSE: You're not the only one who's done that today, by the way.</s>DATIG: You know, I think he accomplished a lot by bringing those UCLA basketball players home, for starters --</s>VAUSE: That was not on the trip thought.</s>DATIG: -- and it would have been nice if they would have said thank you.</s>VAUSE: I think one did.</s>DATIG: Ok. Well, if they did, then I didn't hear it. But needless to say, I thought that was a good accomplishment. And I though, you know, I thought it was, you know, no good deed goes unpunished with this President. Nobody wants to give him any credit. He freed these students. They got admitted to UCLA, what are they doing stealing stuff?</s>VAUSE: He didn't go to Asia to free the three students.</s>DATIG: I understand and he could have negotiated something else had they not done that.</s>HELDMAN: That's why he didn't get a trade deal -- Alex? Because he was negotiating on behalf of the basketball players?</s>DATIG: He was looking toward a trade deal. He was looking to have good relations.</s>VAUSE: Ok.</s>DATIG: He was looking to have good relations with China to help with Korea so we wouldn't have an issue with Iran because we do have this nuclear agreement that is being undone right now or in the works and so forth. So I think it was a diplomatic tour very much for him. I think it was successful. And I don't think we should have expected a lot more than just for him to have good relations so that we can have higher expectations.</s>VAUSE: Well, one of the big goals of the trip was to build pressure on North Korea, especially to try and get to China do a lot more about North Korea and its nuclear and missile program. This is the assessment the President had. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: During our visit, President Xi pledged to faithfully implement United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea and to use his great economic influence over the regime to achieve our common goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. President Xi recognizes that a nuclear North Korea is a grave threat to China.</s>VAUSE: To Andrew Stevens in Beijing, did China actually agree to making denuclearization a goal here? Because in the past the priority has always been to main peace on the Korean Peninsula, never going that far.</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, China has always been looking for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula -- John. That is true. And the President's right in saying that it does wield an awful lot of economic influence over North Korea. What China would also say and has been saying repeatedly is that it is abiding by all the U.N. sanctions, those latest sanctions imposed after the September 3 hydrogen bomb test that include capping oil exports to North Korea and also looking at banning exports of textiles and also cutting back visas to North Koreans working overseas. So China says it's faithfully implementing all those and could go a lot of further if it wanted to and that would take it beyond the remit of the U.N. sanctions. And it's showing no indications it's prepared to do that. I would say though and this is being seen as not a coincidence that a special envoy from Beijing is traveling to Pyongyang tomorrow to meet with senior members of North Korea's communist party. We don't know whether he'll actually be meeting with Kim Jong-Un himself. The Chinese are saying this is a protocol visit to tell the North Koreans what happened at this recent 19th national congress held in Beijing. But a lot of the conversation here is the fact that that envoy would be bearing a message to Kim Jong-Un from Xi Jinping and relations there are not warm at all. We don't know what the message -- or what the content of that message will be but certainly -- it's quite safe to assume that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be s very, very high on those talks. What happens from there we don't know -- John. But -- the President's right in saying that China has this massive economic influence, 90 percent of North Korean international trade goes through China but there's no indication from President Xi or anyone else that it's going to do anything other than stand by the U.N. resolutions on dealing with North Korea.</s>VAUSE: Andrew -- thank you. From Beijing, we'll head over Seoul and we'll talk about the issue of North Korea because -- Paula, good to see you -- Donald Trump talked about the progress he made in dealing with North Korea. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: We have ended the failed strategy of strategic patience and as a result we have already seen important progress, including tough new sanctions from the U.N. Council. We have a Security Council that has been with us and just about with us from the beginning.</s>VAUSE: So Paula -- what's the view from there? Is progress being made on ending Pyongyang's nuclear missile program?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we did see was the U.S. President was in the region with Japan and South Korea coming out with unilateral sanctions against North Korea, potentially in order to curry favor with the U.S. President, certainly we saw those two countries pull out all the stops in order to try and impress Donald Trump. I think that's not too much of a stretch to say that. So we did have unilateral sanctions, but beyond that there was nothing concrete. Interestingly, we haven't seen any missile launches from North Korea for about two months now. That is uncharacteristically quite when you consider 2016, much of 2017 has been intense testing, the likes of which we haven't seen in North Korean history. But that can't be put down to the last couple of weeks of this U.S. President's trip in Asia and certainly from North Korea's point of view when it comes to the rhetoric, they're angered by the U.S. President by what he has said, by the Twitter spat that he's got into once again. One thing I wanted to read you a commentary from the North Korean newspaper on Wednesday said, quote, "Trump who is no more than an old slave of money dared point an accusing finger at the sun. He should know that he's just a hideous criminal, sentenced to death by the Korean people." Now, that is because they are angered that he is making personal attacks against Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader and also a fairly unusual threat on his life against the U.S. President himself. So in that respect, he's not making much headway.</s>VAUSE: I guess on North Korea we'll give him an incomplete and maybe work on his people skills. Paula Hancocks -- thank you, in Seoul. And before you -- Andrew Stevens there in Beijing. Thanks to you both. Back to Alex here because the problem for the President is that the story dominating the news right now the story that Donald Trump does not want to talk about. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should Roy Moore resign, Mr. President?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should he resign?</s>VAUSE: Ok. So this is Roy Moore, you know, the senate candidate from Alabama accused by a growing number of women, two more have come out according to the "Washington Post" the last couple of hours accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior. Donald Trump won Alabama by 28 points. If he wanted to resolve this, he could do it quickly and he could do it easily. Yes?</s>DATIG: You know, yes. But I'm not if the President is even an issue here. We have 3.1 million registered voters in the state of Alabama; 1.3 million of which voted for Donald Trump; 700,000 voted for Hillary. So, in last election in the primary they had 17.6s percent voter turnout which means 580,000 Republican votes and 109,000 Democratic for Jones. Now Moore won that over Luther Strange. So, I mean, if you have Republican turnout it may not matter what the women do or what they don't do because it's a numbers game. And while -- if these allegations are true, I find that all very sad and very horrible. I just think it's very -- it is politically motivated. I do not like seeing sexual harassment claims made at the eleventh hour against a candidate. But at the same time, children are off limits, you know? And if you're talking about us having to decide whether or not to give someone the benefit of the doubt so they can run for the United States Senate, the answer's no. And that's just my position. It's been my position for a while and I came out on Facebook about it and I got called out. But now, you see what happens. And I just, you know, I do not like sexual harassment being used in politics at all because the victims don't really get redress. They may get monetary relief but redress is impossible when they make this public.</s>VAUSE: Let's get Caroline in this --</s>HELDMAN: So they should have stayed quiet? I mean I think it's morally reprehensible that we are having a conversation about whether or not Roy Moore is fit or the timing of all of this. It is really clear, we are talking allegations of pedophilia, of sexual assault. At this point, yes, the President could step in. Terrible timing for the GOP but at the end of the day this is Steve Bannon's fault. This man was not vetted. He should have been vetted and this should have all been resolved. He never should have been the candidate.</s>VAUSE: Alex,</s>DATIG: I love that question -- John.</s>VAUSE: I'm sure.</s>DATIG: And the reason I love that question is because I'm a human trafficking survivor. I'm a sexual assault survivor. I'm a child molestation survivor. I'm a teenage rape survivor. And as a rape survivor and a sexual assault survivor, I can tell you today if I sued every person that sexually harassed me I'd be an unemployable millionaire.</s>HELDMAN: What about the 16 for Trump, though?</s>DATIG: But it doesn't matter. It's very damaging for a sexual harassment victim to come out and speak about this publicly because of the re-traumatization.</s>VAUSE: But doesn't that --</s>DATIG: It should belong in the therapist's office.</s>VAUSE: -- doesn't that lend credibility to those claims?</s>DATIG: I understand -- you know, I understand the sticking point and all that but this is not something that is healthy for a sexual assault survivor. It's not healthy.</s>HELDMAN: Wait -- no, no. They get to decide that. As a sexual assault survivor --</s>DATIG: I understand -- I understand why the sexual assault survivor gets to decide.</s>HELDMAN: They get to decide when they come forward.</s>DATIG: I understand but you know what as an advocate for child --</s>HELDMAN: You're speaking with one, as well. You're speaking with a sexual violence advocate so set that aside. Donald Trump --</s>DATIG: -- with the toughest laws in the country against child sex trafficking and Roy Moore is a child sex trafficker.</s>HELDMAN: And yet you're still -- and you're still --</s>DATIG: When you take a minor --</s>VAUSE: But should he be in the Senate?</s>DATIG: He should not.</s>VAUSE: Ok. Good.</s>DATIG: He should not. Absolutely not. We agree.</s>VAUSE: We agree. Ok. Well, it looks like he's going nowhere because he tweeted this out a short time ago. "Dear Mitch McConnell," -- the Republican Senate leader -- "bring it on." He obviously blames the Republican Party establishment for this -- what he calls a witch hunt and he's not leaving. So this goes on. Alex and Caroline -- good to see you both. Thank you.</s>HELDMAN: Thank you.</s>DATIG: Thank you.</s>SESAY: Quick break here. An accuser at the center of a political scandal comes under attack -- the latest tactic from Senate candidate Roy Moore who was