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North Korea Carries Out Two Missile Tests; Brexit Debate Plays Out Ahead of Thursday's Vote; English Communities Divided over Brexit; Clinton Warns of Dire Economy under Trump; Argentina Defeats U.S. in Copa America Semifinals. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired June 22, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea flexes its muscles with its launch of two missiles. We'll take you live to Seoul with the latest.

VAUSE: One final day of campaigning before the people of Britain decide their future in Europe and the gloves are coming off, again.

WALKER: Plus, don't cry for team Argentina. The top-ranked football squad on the planet put four goals past the USA in the Copa America.

VAUSE: Hello. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

WALKER: And I'm Amara Walker, in for Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

North Korea has fired two intermediate range missiles from its eastern coast into the Sea of Japan. And that is according to South Korean and U.S. officials.

VAUSE: Both missiles were launched Wednesday from the city of Wonsan. South Korea says the first one failed after flying 150 kilometers. The second traveled 400 kilometers. The military is still investigating. North Korea has tried four other times since April to test this type of missile.

WALKER: CNN's Paula Hancocks standing by, live in Seoul with the very latest. Let's start with what we know about these two tests -- Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Amara -- they both happened early this Wednesday morning, within about two hours of each other. A bit of a surprise that there were two tests quite so close together but it's the second one that everyone is looking at, the experts are looking at very closely now. 400 kilometers it's believed that that missile flew according to South Korea's defense ministry officials.

Now for a Musudan which this is believed to be an intermediate range missile, the estimated range could be up to 4,000 kilometers which could put the U.S. military base in Guam in North Korea's sights. Now, of course, 400 kilometers is nowhere near that. But it does appear to be further than we have seen before. So some experts are considering this to be a fair amount of progress from North Korea.

And certainly, we have been hearing from many experts that even failures for North Korea can be considered very useful. They can learn something from each of them. So certainly, there appears to be some progress being made which will make the neighboring countries very concerned.

We have already had a condemnation from Washington. The State Department says that they strongly condemn this -- Amara.

WALKER: And what is the ultimate goal, Paula, of these tests for the regime? Because it seems like we are seeing this intensity of testing these intermediate range missiles.

HANCOCKS: Yes. Certainly Kim Jong-Un has been in a huge rush to perfect this technology. I spoke to South Korea's defense minister just a few weeks ago and he says that for Kim Jong-Il, the former leader, in 18 years of power he had 18 missiles tests. But Kim Jong- Un he's been in power just over four years and he has done 27 missile tests.

So it shows that he is in much more of a rush. He wants a delivery system basically for his nuclear weapons. He claims he has miniaturized a nuclear weapon. U.S. military officials say he may have the capability although clearly it is not tested. Certainly, he doesn't have a delivery system at this point.

So to be taken seriously for this to be a true deterrent or true bargaining chip, he needs to have a delivery system which he is working on now with this intermediate range missile so that he can then use this in future negotiations or at least as a deterrent -- Amara.

WALKER: And the reaction in the region, particularly there in Seoul, South Korea?

HANCOCKS: Well, certainly there are huge concerns that this is continuing. And very interestingly, that defense ministry officials say they are still analyzing that second missile launch. The fact it went 400 kilometers. They're not calling it a failure. They are certainly not calling it a success. But they are leaving that open at the moment.

So I think the progress will certainly be concerning many. We know that Japan had the Patriot Missiles at the ready to shoot it down if necessary as, of course, this was launched from North Korea's east coast going over the Sea of Japan or what Koreans call the east sea towards Japan.

WALKER: Thanks to Paula Hancocks with the latest there in Seoul. Thanks -- Paula.

[00:04:55] VAUSE: Campaigners on both sides of the Brexit debate are using every minute in the run up to Thursday's referendum to try and win over undecided voters. WALKER: And in a news conference at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister

David Cameron urged Britons to consider the negative impact of leaving the European Union on future generations. A record 46.5 million people have registered to vote. And polls show it is just too close to call.

VAUSE: Thousands attended the final heated debate on the Brexit Tuesday night.

Nic Robertson has the details.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, this was the most lively and fiery debate so far. It was held in a sports arena at Wembley in front of a live audience of about 6,000 people. It was always going to have with it cheers and boos. It was always going to have something of an atmosphere of a sporting event. And that's the way that it played out for the best part.

There were three speakers for Remain, three speakers for Leave. They talked about immigration. They talked about security. They talked about economic -- Boris Johnson the former mayor of London, taking on the British Prime Minister David Cameron's claims that Britain will be better off in the European Union. Boris Johnson saying exactly the opposite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER MAYOR OF LONDON: They just believe that Remain side cannot think of a single one of the EU's multitude of regulations that they would get rid of, not even the clinical trials directed to prevent vital pharmacies' work from being carried.

The EU is I'm afraid a job destroying engine. You can see it all across southern Europe. And you can see it alas in this country as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now the whole debate lasted about two hours. And it felt like a debate of two halves judging by the way that the audience reacted listening to the cheers and the boos. The first half seemed to go with the Leave campaign. The Remain campaign seemed to get the second half.

Sadiq Khan, the current mayor of London who took over recently from Boris Johnson, he laid out the position saying that as far as the United States is concerned, as far as European Union is concerned, as far as NATO is concerned, Britain is safer and better off, more secure inside the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: In fact, all of them are saying, we're safer together.

GISELA STUART, BRITISH LABOR PARTY: All of them are also saying that as long as the European Union (inaudible) -- if the countries across Europe are not paying their 2 percent of the GDP which is the nation contribution, we will be weakening it.

KHAN: Stay and fight. Don't quit.

(CROSSTALK)

KHAN: Why are you a quitter? We are better than that. We can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, you could hear some of the cheers there Sadiq Khan as he was speaking. This idea of stay and fight, he was echoing what David Cameron the British Prime Minister has said earlier in the day. That seems to be the message that they want to resonate with the public at the moment.

The Remain campaign going for this stay and fight inside Europe and the Leave campaign saying, take back control and leave. A very fiery debate.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

WALKER: Well, the Brexit divide extends across the U.K. and in smaller communities. Some see EU membership as a major boost for their local economies.

VAUSE: Others though say regulations have wiped out their businesses.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen gauged opinions on England's northeast coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Britain races towards its EU referendum, Kevin Anderson hopes his country stays the European course.

KEVIN ANDERSON, BUSINESS OWNER: From the top, right down the center on the left --

PLEITGEN: Kevin he owns a kite surfing and water sports school in Bednall, on the northeast coast and says the EU has been good for business.

ANDERSON: I rely on people to have the cash to come spend with me to learn and enjoy the activities that we do. And I believe that if we do leave, it will affect the economy and people will have less money in their pockets.

PLEITGEN: The turbulent run-up to the June 23 vote has dragged the Leave and the Remain campaigns into a divisive war of words. And this region, like so many others, remains undecided.

Many residents praise the European Union for enforcing common environmental standards, important in an area with vast nature reserves and bathing spots. (on camera): EU regulations, for instance, on water quality have done a lot to help clean up England's beaches, the folks here tell us. And they say that's helped boost the tourism sector.

But of course, there are also older, more traditional industries in this region that have suffered and many here hold the EU accountable.

(voice over): Most of the trawlers lay idle on the once proud fishing town of Scarborough. Only one vessel still regularly heads out to sea. The fish auction, like the day's catch, a sad sight.

Darryn Butcher has seen Scarborough's fleet and with it this town declined for years.

DARRYN BUTCHER, FISH SALESMAN: It was a market, a big market 20 years ago -- a huge market full of fish. Two or three times a week at least. Obviously, it has gone from that to, you know, no boats or very few boats. So they have put a wall in. They don't need the space now.

PLEITGEN: Most fishermen blame EU quotas for their woes. And many of them say they will vote out this Thursday.

[00:10:09] Kevin Anderson, on the other hand, says he will cast his ballot to remain, fearing the uncertainty of a Brexit could cause Britain's economy to go out of control and possibly crash.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Bednall, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: If you are not British but want to know how the Brexit referendum could impact you, log on to CNN.com and find a comprehensive guide to all the ins and outs of the UK: In or Out.

U.S. politics now -- the race for the White House.

Presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton tearing into Donald Trump's business values.

WALKER: And she said the U.S. economy would fall apart under him. And a new report from Moody's Analytics predicts 3.5 million Americans would lose their jobs if Trump becomes president.

Jeff Zeleny has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton delivering a blistering takedown of Donald Trump's business record.

CLINTON: Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button, he shouldn't have his hands on our economy. ZELENY: It's her latest effort to brand Trump as a dangerous menace -- this time on the economy. She spoke from the floor of an auto plant in Ohio, a critical battleground where she hopes to limit Trump's appeal to working class voters.

CLINTON: Every day we see how reckless and careless Trump is. He is proud of it. Well, that's his choice. Except when he's asking to be our president -- then it's our choice.

ZELENY: Trump offering his real time response on Twitter, refuting one point after another. "How can Hillary run the economy when she can't even send emails without putting entire nation at risk" he wrote.

As she tries defining him, the Clinton machine is overwhelming him at least in traditional metrics. First, in fund raising -- a staggering $42 million to $1.3 million in the bank. And an organization, as seen by today's three-point attack. Her speech --

CLINTON: He has written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11.

ZELENY: Paired with a web video.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: You ever heard of Trump steaks?

TRUMP: You know what? You know what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever happened to Trump Airlines?

ZELENY: And a Web site called "The Art of the Steal".

CLINTON: The United States of America doesn't do business Trump's way.

ZELENY: She's hoping this coordinated campaign will turn around numbers like this. Trump leads by eight points on the economy, a new CNN/ORC poll finds. CNN has learned Clinton is narrowing her choices for a running mate, privately studying the records of a handful of prospects including Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine and Julian Castro. Her list is not limited to this three in a search that's highly secretive and intensifying.

But publicly it's all Trump, seemingly taking delight in mocking him.

CLINTON: Trump ties are made in China. Trump suits in Mexico. Trump furniture in Turkey. Trump picture frames in India. Trump barware in Slovenia. And I could go on and on. But you get the idea. And I would love for him to explain how all that fits with his talk about America first.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, Clinton delivered a point by point takedown of Trump's economic policies. But politics matters here as well. That's why she went hard after the fact that he did not use American workers as he made at least part of his fortune. That's key here in Ohio where these 18 electoral votes will be critical in the general election matchup between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

WALKER: Meanwhile, sources tell CNN that Trump plans to hit Clinton hard on Wednesday. His New York speech is expected to touch on Clinton's ties to countries that allegedly violate human rights, her support for trade deals and her e-mail scandal.

VAUSE: Right now, Trump is launching a Web site called LyingCrookedHillary.com. He made the announcement Tuesday but didn't actually have anything on the page when we checked it a little earlier. It was just a white screen.

WALKER: The Trump campaign later revised the announcement to say the site is rolling out over the next few days. And people can text for early access.

VAUSE: We will take a short break. When we come back, the International Olympic Committee announces its plans to prevent cheating and calls out two countries to special attention.

WALKER: Also, Argentina is heading to the finals in Copa America after defeating the U.S. We will have all the game highlights and a look at Lionel Messi's record setting goal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:17:01] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Incredible perspective here coming out of areas around New York City. Look at this. How about a full moon and a summer solstice in place? That's actually the first time since the 1960s it occurred. The next time it will occur when we have the two coinciding would be in 2062.

Here is what's going on across portions of the United States. Notice, the hot air does want to really begin to build back around the western portion of the U.S. The temperatures in Los Angeles, they have cooled off just a little bit from the mid 30s of recent days.

While off to the east, still looking rather toasty Dallas, Atlanta, up towards New York City -- upper 20s, low 30s -- the name of the game across this region. We're also watching a threat for some severe weather coming in across the Great Lakes area. Over 40 million people in a threat zone that I think will be for damaging winds, certainly some large hail.

Can't rule out a few isolated tornadoes on the northern fringe of this but Chicago, Milwaukee, on into places like Cleveland where, of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers are celebrating the NBA championship title there in a parade, going to be dealing with potentially some rough weather. And again, all this does shift off to the east over the next coming couple of days.

Here is what's left of tropical depression Danielle. It is all gone but a lot of tropical moisture where you expect it and bringing in heavy rainfall across the southern portion of Mexico if your travel plans take you there. Managua -- how about 32 degrees in Nassau, scattered thunderstorms there at 31. San Juan, Puerto Rico and Caracas looking at 32 with thunderstorms as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro says the robbery of an Australian paralympian at gunpoint is unacceptable. But things will get better during the Olympic Games in August.

VAUSE: The gold medal winning (inaudible) says two men threatened her and a team member at a bus stop on Sunday and stole her bicycle. Australian Olympic officials say it's not an isolated incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KITTY CHILLER, AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: The AOCC (inaudible) is writing to the IOC. We're both demanding that the security forces which number about 100,000 that firstly the level of those forces is reviewed. And also we are asking that those forces be mobilized earlier prior to game time.

It doesn't seem that 100,000 is enough. The 100,000 is a mixture of state and federal police, of military and of private security forces. It's a lot more than we had in London. But Rio is not London. And in my opinion, based on latest incidents, we need to make sure that all those competition and training venues are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: On Sunday, masked gunmen stormed a Rio hospital and tried to free an alleged drug king pin. One person was killed in that raid.

[00:19:58] VAUSE: Meantime, the International Olympic Committee is now focused on keeping the competition free from doping. The IOC (inaudible) has a summit in Switzerland where it announced its anti- doping plan. Athletes from Russia and Kenya will need to be individually evaluated to be declared eligible to compete.

WALKER: The reason, it said, is the unsatisfactory state of the country's national anti-doping bodies. The IOC also said it supports the ban on Russian track and field athletes by the International Associate of Athletic Federation but it says some Russians could still take part if they are cleared by the IAAF.

VAUSE: The President of Russia's Olympic Committee says some of the country's athletes will appeal the ban.

WALKER: Meantime, a Russia athletic official acknowledges to CNN that Russia still has a problem but it's working to make sure it doesn't repeat past mistakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKHAIL BUIKOV: The main point in our position is, ok, we can go back to the Russian athletic federation status later because we know that we have and had problems. We know that we had a lot of problems with doping, it's a main outlet. Unfortunately, but it's true. And we did a lot. We continue. And we are going to a situation now when it's absolutely impossible to come back to previous mistakes in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's not just the athletes, is it? I mean the problem that Russia has is the coaches, it's the sports officials, it's the security services. Who knows how high it goes up? It's an institutional problem in this country. What's been done to tackle that? Nothing, has it?

BUIKOV: No, no, no, I cannot agree. It was done a lot because -- I would like to address you, for example, to the results. And if you are going to the report, you can find one number. You can find that 3,000 athletes we tested during the March/May period and only three positive tests during this period if we exclude (inaudible).

But as a result, I understand well that we have still the problem with some athletes and coaches' mentality. I agree with you, absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: A Kremlin spokesman indicates Russia has not ruled out a complete boycott of this year's Olympic Games.

VAUSE: Brazil's army now says it was forced to shoot and kill a jaguar that has been displayed at the Olympic torch relay. The jaguar escaped its handler shortly after the flame stopped at the zoo where it lived. An investigation is under way.

WALKER: Argentina is heading to the Copa America finals. The top ranked team defeated the U.S. 4-0 in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Lionel Messi who many consider the world's best player set Argentina's record win with his 55th career goal. Argentina will meet either Chile or Colombia in the Copa finals on Sunday.

CNN's Raul Saenz has more now on Argentina's big win.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAUL SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. faced a tall order against an Argentinian side that has been the most prolific in the tournament, especially without key players Bobby Wood and Jermaine Jones who were serving suspensions.

But when you have a player like Lionel Messi on the pitch, most opponents even at full strength will look small. You know you are seeing greatness when everyone defending Messi backstop and hangs on his every move.

The U.S. looked rattled, slow and got a lot less touches than their opponent. Messi had a date with history becoming Argentina's all-time leading scorer and Argentina's a team on a mission reaching their third straight international final.

The fact that they have fallen short in their pursuit of the 2014 World Cup title in last year's Copa America has only made them hungrier. And regardless who they will face in the final, whether it's Colombia or defending champion Chile, Argentina will be ready and determined to end their 23-year title drought.

For the U.S., this was a very tough loss. But the tournament can be considered a success. (inaudible) fulfilled his goal of reaching the semifinals and as the last (inaudible) team standing he has quieted the critics and bought himself more time to lead the U.S. men's team without looking over his shoulder or worrying about his job security. It's been said that anyone can learn more from defeat and the U.S. just took an intensive 90-minute course.

WALKER: All right. Thanks to Raul for that report.

Also, there are more surprises in the 2016 European championships. Croatia beat two-time defending champ Spain 2-1 on Tuesday. It is Spain's first loss in 15 matches. Croatia goes on to play one of the third place teams on Saturday. Spain will play Italy on Monday.

VAUSE: And world champ, Germany secured a spot in the finals it seems with its 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland. But it's not all bad news for Northern Ireland. They also advance to the final 16.

Michelle Obama is building some street cred joining the social media platform Snapchat. The first U.S. First Lady popped up on the image and video sharing app for the first time on Tuesday afternoon and immediately gave fans another reason to cheer. Mrs. Obama is said to emulate the likes of Adele, Justin Bieber, Julia Roberts by joining late night talk show host James Corden to his popular segment carpool karaoke.

WALKER: If you're not familiar with it, the skit requires participants to lend their voices to a variety of popular songs as they drive around the town with the British comic.

[00:25:07] We don't know how the first lady will follow Adele. But we can reckon she can probably do better than her better half. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm so in love with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I actually thought that was pretty good.

WALKER: He has a beautiful voice. The President has a beautiful voice.

VAUSE: It's not bad at all. I mean if she does half as well as Barack Obama, she will be doing a good job.

WALKER: I agree. Star gazers from around the world gathered for a unique glimpse at a

strawberry moon during the summer solstice. You can see it here peaking through the skyline above 42nd Street in New York City. That's beautiful. Some New Yorkers marked the longest day of the year doing yoga under the moonlight. That doesn't even look real, does it?

VAUSE: It doesn't look real. And why would you do yoga? About 8,000 moonstruck people gathered to catch a glimpse of the moon. Why? This is the first full moon at summer solstice since 1967. They kept their clothes on which is a good thing. And this won't happen again until 2062.

WALKER: You need to find your zen. What do you mean why would they do yoga?

VAUSE: It was yoga then.

WALKER: Thanks for watching the CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Amara Walker

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. The "BEST OF QUEST" is up next. We'll be back at the top of the hour with a lot more news from around the world. You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Hello. I'm John Vause in Los Angeles. This is "CNN NEWS NOW".

[00:30:00] North Korea launched two intermediate range missiles that apparently fell into the Sea of Japan. That's according to U.S. military official. The U.S. says the tests came about two hours apart Wednesday from the port city of Wonsan. North Korea has tried four other times since April to test this type of missile.

I was more than a day now before the UK's crucial vote on whether to stay in the European Union. On Tuesday, 6,000 people attended a final heated debate showdown at Wembley Arena. Three speakers for the leave campaign squared off against three speakers for the remain in front of a rowdy crowd.

The gunman in the Orlando terror attack has been buried in Florida. Omar Mateen's father says he was interned Sunday in an Islamic ritual. Mateen killed 49 people, wounded more than 50 others. The mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse Nightclub.

California fire crews are battling several wild fires. What's known as the Fish Fire has consumed 3,000 acres and is growing. Crews were able to contain another fire, it's called the Sugar Fire, but another blaze has popped up in San Gabriel, Canyon, quickly scorching 1,500 acres.

That's your "CNN NEWS NOW," I'm John Vause. THE BEST OF QUEST is up next. You are with CNN.

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