Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Women Who Married Into ISIS Held as Sympathizers; Trump Says His Son's Russia Meeting Politics as Usual; Bride-to-Be Killed by Police After Calling 911; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 17, 2017 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:30:00] DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: -- repeal bill however popular it looks today.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The Republican voters that I sat down with recently for this voter panel, with the consistent line, get points on the board. Get points on the board. T something you promised done.

Thank you all very much, David Drucker. We appreciate it, to Karoun and Susan.

The brides of ISIS are speaking out. Wait until you hear and see this story. They talk about their dreams of wearing swimsuits at the beach, of being allowed to wear makeup, getting home to their parents.

Our Nick Paton Walsh takes us inside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: As ISIS loses ground, wives, mothers and girlfriends of ISIS fighters are being rounded up. They have not been charged with a crime, but they're being held in a separate refugee camp while authorities decide the next step.

Our Nick Paton Walsh takes us inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:35:01] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't kid yourself, they saw the videos, girls, mothers, some who married into ISIS who knew what they were about but still came. Now jailed in a refugee camp, stuck in limbo as ISIS collapses, trying to go home. They want your pity and that you believe them when they say it was all, all of it, a huge mistake.

(On camera): They use women for sex?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's very disgusting.

WALSH (voice-over): Three Indonesian sisters say they paid thousands of dollars to get here, lured by the false promise of free health care and schools, but ended up living off selling their jewelry and paying thousands to get smuggled out. It just wasn't as pure a caliphate as they expected. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say they want to jihad for the sake of

Allah, but what they want, it's only about women and sex. It's disgusting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard if they marry a widow they will get a thousand dollars.

WALSH: Single women arrivals like them kept in a commune while they look for husbands.

SAIDA: The manner of the women inside the dorm is very different. It's very far from Islam. Harsh manner, gossiping, shout each other, backbiting and fighting between the women. And, oh, I was very surprised when I see that.

WALSH: Saida explains the dorm is a bit like Tinder.

SAIDA (through translator): When the woman arrives in this dormitory, she makes a sort of CV, puts down her age, her name, how her personality is like, what she looks for in a man. And men also post their CVs.

WALSH (TEXT): This is like the Tinder of the caliphate?

SAIDA (through translator): Yes, it's dating. So you meet, you talk for 15, 20 minutes, and then it's a yes or no. If they both agree, then they get married. It's very quick.

WALSH: She says she came for charity work, but her husband was killed the second time they tried to flee. She's as appalled by the Paris terror attacks as she was by the coalition falling of Raqqa and just wants to go back to France.

SAIDA (through translator): I love life. I love to work. I love my jeans. I love my makeup. I love my parents. The only thing I want is to go back. I'm not far from the beach. I used to go to the beach every weekend, in a bikini.

WALSH (TEXT): In a bikini?

SAIDA (through translator): Yes, in a bikini.

WALSH: May (ph) is a Syrian English teacher whose first husband was killed by a sniper in Homs and says she was traveling to Turkey when she was waylaid in Raqqa, where she met and married a Moroccan, Bilal.

WALSH (on camera): Were you looking for a man when you went to Raqqa?

MAY: No.

WALSH: So how come you found one just like --

(CROSSTALK)

WALSH: You moved into a house and, oh, my god, who's this guy next door? MAY: I think God sent him to me.

WALSH (voice-over): She says ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani knew Bilal and allowed him not to fight. He's now in jail. She is disapproving of less pure love stories.

(On camera): Did you hear other stories of women who came looking for love?

MAY: They looked to the European men then that they are here in ISIS. They are strong man, you know, with guns and they can protect them. It's an idea that -- it's just like movies, many of them was very shocked because like when they got married from a man, you know, three, four days, one month and they divorced.

I know a woman, she was married six times. And after three days, she go to court and ask the judge to divorce her from him. And when the judge asked her why you want divorce, and that man would say that she prevent him from making any, you know, sexual, you know --

WALSH: I see.

MAY: And she say I can't accept him all the time thinking of my dying husband. And the other -- so why marry him if you don't want him? And he say, I will send you to the prison as well as, you know, and she was crying, oh, no, it's my last time, I promise.

WALSH (voice-over): Her husband was once arrested for smoking by the religious police. And because they won't talk to women, she had to literally enter a man's world to get him out of jail.

MAY: And you know what I -- it was a crazy idea. I just put on my husband's clothes, his shoes and his, you know, and covered my eyes with put that black glasses and I lent a gun from my neighbor. I take it from him and I take my boy and let's go to the (INAUDIBLE).

WALSH (on camera): Can you give me your man voice now?

MAY: Yes, yes, of course.

WALSH: That's how men sound to you?

(LAUGHTER)

(Voice-over): These stories decide their fate here, whether they stay in limbo or go home.

MAY: I think that they don't believe me. No. Eyes speak a language more than mouth.

WALSH (on camera): Yes.

MAY: And don't you feel that there's a trust in my eyes?

WALSH: Yes. Your husband, what if you never see him again?

MAY: I want someone to kill me because I can't kill myself. It's suicide and I can't commit suicide. So just kill me.

[10:40:07] WALSH (voice-over): Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Ain Issa, northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Wow. Nick, thank you for the reporting.

Ahead for us, the president's new statement that his son's meeting with a Russian lawyer is fine, normal, just politics. But is it? We are going to talk to the experts on opposition research.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Just a moment ago, the president wrote another defense of his son's meeting with that Russian lawyer saying that's politics. But is it?

Joining me now, two people who specialize in this opposition research or what the White House says this is.

[10:45:03] Stephen D'Amico, principal at D'Amico Strategies Communications. He's conducted opposition research on President Trump. And Alexander Smith, executive director of the America Rising PAC which produces opposition research on Democratic Party members.

Let me begin with you, Alexandra. Is this politics as usual? Is this just oppo, nothing to see here?

ALEXANDRA SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICA RISING PAC: You know, in my personal experience, this isn't just politics as usual. This is the kind of meeting where we probably would have run this by campaign council. That being said, I think it's important to know that the Trump campaign was new to the political game. And I am confident that the special prosecutor is going to look into any allegations of wrongdoing.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Does it matter if you're new -- hold on. Does it matter if you are new at it? If you choose to run for president and you get as far as President Trump did and you choose to have your son working on your campaign with you and your son-in-law, does it really fly to use the excuse they are new at this?

SMITH: Well, like I said, I don't speak for the president. I can only speak from my own personal experience saying that this isn't politics as usual to me. I do think it highlights the importance of groups like ours and professionals like ours working in opposition research. Because, you know, people like Steve and I know where the ethical lines are. We know where the legal lines are to produce the best product for our client.

HARLOW: So you're saying this is ethical or unethical, this meeting? Would you have advised your client to do this?

SMITH: No.

HARLOW: Would you have done it?

SMITH: No. But like I said, I don't speak for the White House. And you know.

HARLOW: I hear you.

SMITH: I speak as a professional.

HARLOW: I hear you. So, Steve, former Trump campaign official, Michael Caputo, was on CNN's "NEW DAY" earlier this morning. And here's how he said he thinks the meeting should have been handled. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CAPUTO, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR: I would have said, you know, kick it upstairs, kick it to the attorneys, kick it to the opposition research department to see if this is inappropriate or even worthwhile meeting.

You know, you don't want those kinds of meetings to even come anywhere close to the president or to the president's family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So he says don't get it close to the family and the president's family. Kick it to the -- you know, the council, the lawyers on the team or someone else. Don't bring it in the family. Does that matter? Does that make it OK?

STEVEN D'AMICO, PRINCIPAL, D'AMICO STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATIONS: Well, it depends what the attorney's advice. Working with the campaign attorneys that I have known and I've had to ask where the legal boundaries are, I can tell you they would probably have advised me that this was a bad idea and that furthermore we should probably report it to the FBI.

And that's exactly what's happened in the past with similar incidents. During the 2000 campaign, Al Gore's campaign was given a stolen dossier for the debates that was produced by the George W. Bush campaign.

HARLOW: That's right. They sent it to the feds.

D'AMICO: And they reported it to the FBI. Exactly.

HARLOW: They sent it to the feds. That's a very good point.

Steve, the White House and some of the president's supporters in Congress keep pointing to the work that a Ukrainian American Alexandra Chalupa did on behalf of the DNC, digging up dirt on or trying to dig up dirt on Manafort and his Russia connections. And they say look, this is apples to apples. Why are you making more of this than you are of that? It's not apples to apples for a number of reasons including the fact

that it wasn't the highest levels of government in Kiev working directly with the Clinton administration. It is worthy, many say, of investigation. But to you, is there any comparison here?

D'AMICO: I don't think there's any comparison whatsoever. And the reason is, the difference between lawfully collected information and unlawfully collected information. And as opposition researchers, we don't have the same freedom of the press protection that a member of the media might to take information that might have been stolen, for example.

And so when I read Trump Jr.'s e-mails, I get the sense that he was being seduced into this meeting with a promise of illicitly obtained information and the presence of an ex-KGB spy hunter in the meeting sort of confirms that.

With the Ukrainian situation, Paul Manafort's involvement with a pro- Russian Ukrainian politician was well known in Ukrainian political circles. And so passing that information along is just public information being passed from one person to another.

HARLOW: I've got to wrap up quickly, but do you agree, Alexandra?

SMITH: Look, I think that you can look at -- to both sides to see where ethical and legal lines have been crossed. I mean, just look no further than the Hillary Clinton campaign who set up a private e-mail server to circumvent public disclosure laws. So that made it harder for groups like ours who lawfully obtain information through those kinds of laws to actually figure out what was going on with the Clinton campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

D'AMICO: Well then, Alexandra, I'd hope that you'll join me in calling for Trump Jr. to release all of his e-mails about Russia.

HARLOW: Would you, Alexandra?

SMITH: Absolutely. I think that we should -- I think that the special prosecutor is going to look into it. And I think that for groups like ours the more disclosure, the better.

HARLOW: Thank you both very much.

D'AMICO: Thank you.

HARLOW: Ahead for us, a bride-to-be calls 911 to report a suspected crime behind her home.

[10:50:03] Police show up and she is shot and killed by them. What happened? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: A Minneapolis bride-to-be calls 911 over the weekend to report a possible sexual assault near her home. She's been shot and killed by a police officer who responded.

As Justine Ruszczyk is being remembered at a community vigil, a state investigation is now under way. The mayor says the officers had body cameras, but they were not turned on.

Joining us live is CNN's Scott McLean with the details. No dashcam or video that we know of. No body camera video. Nothing showing this yet.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. Details are few and far between at this point but here's what we do know. We know that a 911 call came in late Saturday night for a possible sexual assault. Justine Ruszczyk made that call, according to someone who knew her, a source who knew her, because she believed that a sexual assault was happening in the alley behind her home. At some point, as you mentioned, police fired a shot and Ruszczyk was killed. They were wearing body cameras, but they were not turned on.

[10:55:03] There's also no dashcam video from the squad car. The mayor of Minneapolis, Betsy Hodges, says she is deeply disturbed by this incident. She is calling on investigators to release as much information as possible. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BETSY HODGES, MINNEAPOLIS: Like you, I also have a lot of questions. I have a lot of questions about why the body cameras weren't on, questions that I hope and anticipate will be answered in the next few days. I know what a tight knit community is and a tight knot neighborhood where people know each other and know each other well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now Ruszczyk was engaged, set to be married in August. She was an American citizen from Australia who had been living in the country for about three years with her fiance.

The shooting is already raising eyebrows among activists in Minnesota who held a small vigil for her yesterday. As for the investigation, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is leading it. It is not part of the police department, but it does help police with investigations.

Of course in this case, Poppy, they will not be part of the investigation.

HARLOW: Scott McLean, thank you very much for the details. Bring us more as you have them. We appreciate it.

The Republicans' long promised plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, well, its crucial vote is now on hold again? We're following all the details ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)