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North Korea Sanctions; Russia Sanctions; White House Shakeup; Crisis in Venezuela; British Model Kidnapping; Typhoon Noru; Race Loss by Usain Bolt; Focus on the Hamptons. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 6, 2017 - 04:00   ET

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


GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Asian Ministers discussed how to handle North Korea's nuclear ambitions at the United Nation slaps heavy sanction on Pyongyang. Also, ahead this hour, Russia's ambassador who met with the former U.S. National Security Advisor is offering his side of that story.

And then later, it was supposed to just be a photo shoot, but it turned into a nightmare, how a British model in Milan was kidnapped, almost sold online. Live from CCN world headquarters in Atlanta. We want to welcome our viewers around the world.

I'm George Howell, CNN Newsroom starts right now.

Good day to you. We begin with the tough new sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program and the U.S. top diplomat likely to urge Asian leaders to isolate the nation even more. The U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the Philippines this hour for a summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN as it's better known.

North Korea sure to be a major topic at that summit, just a day ago the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed sanctions including a band on several major exports that could cut North Korea's annual export revenue by a third.

Earlier, CNN asked the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. if preemptive military action is on the table listen to the response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.N. U.S. AMBASSADOR: We're prepared to do whatever it takes to defend ourselves and to defend our allies and the ball is in North Korea's court, they now have to decide where they want to go from here.

We hope that they will go the route of peace and security. We hope that they will go the route of focusing on human rights and feeding their people. We hope that they'll go the route of stopping modern slavery that they do in terms of sending laborers overseas and then taking the money from that situation. But again, all of this now is in North Korea's court and we'll see how they respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: In the meantime, North Korea's main ally, China, is urging Pyongyang to stop nuclear provocations. Beijing is again calling on the United States to dismantle the anti-missile system being deployed in South Korea.

Let's go to Manila CCN's Ivan Watson is tracking developments there.

Ivan, good to have you with us this hour. Obviously, Mr. Tillerson has already met with several leaders. What are the major headlines that have come out of those discussions so far?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is supposed to be a gathering of Southeast Asian Nations with affiliated countries like the U.S., Russia, and China. And so far, it has been overshadowed by the question of North Korea.

With a couple of the countries here, allies of the U.S. welcoming this new United Nation's Security Council resolution slapping new sanctions, cutting North Korea's exports, among them Australia and South Korea, it sounded like the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his South Korean counterpart were calling the resolution a good outcome during their bilateral meeting. The Chinese foreign minister has addressed the sanctions and saying that they are coming at a critical point of crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER SPEAKER (THROUGH INTERPRETER): We actually had very thorough talks. The Chinese side urged the North Koreans to calmly handle the U.N. Security Council resolutions that they have just made against North Korea and not do anything unbeneficial towards the international community such as launching missiles or conducting nuclear tests.

Of course, we also urge other parties, especially U.S. and South Korea, not to increase the tension. The situation on the Korean peninsula is at a critical point of crisis. At the same time, it is a turning point to make decision to resume talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, top U.S. diplomats, George, they went into these meetings saying that they would urge ASEAN, this Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to suspend North Korea's membership in something called the Asian Regional Forum.

ASEAN pushed back on that. They said that's not a good idea. They did issue a statement expressing concern about two intercontinental ballistic missile tests carried out by North Korea just last month, but they say it would not be constructive to kick North Korea out of this international forum, and that kind of goes against an effort that the U.S. is trying to push. It says it wants to diplomatically isolate North Korea. It succeeded at the United Nations Security Council. It hasn't quite succeeded here and it'll be interesting tomorrow to see how Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State, whether or not he will interact at all with the North Korean foreign minister when they join top diplomats from more than 20 other countries in a group Asian Regional Forum Meeting on Monday here, George.

HOWELL: Ivan, I'm curious to ask you as well, this was a unanimous decision by the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China joining in along this when it comes to North Korea and these nuclear provocations.

But also there in the region, China is not a big fan of the THAAD missile defense system. And they've spoken out about that. Has the THAAD issue come up yet and will that be a topic perhaps that the Secretary of State will have to touch on?

WATSON: It could potentially in bilateral talks between the Chinese and American diplomats because that's something, a position that China has frequently held, spoken out about. It does not want that anti- missile system in South Korea.

There are a number of areas where the U.S. has disagreements with China and with Russia. And that's part of why the United Nations Security Council resolution was just passed which the U.S. proposed, that passed unanimously with Chinese and Russian support, is somewhat of a diplomatic victory for Washington, in that Beijing and Moscow were able to put aside differences, growing differences with the U.S. in a number of areas and able to actually work together on this one issue, North Korea. It does also show that North Korea has isolated itself and it has angered both China and Russia, pushing them to unite with the U.S. on this issue.

And it's interesting that the U.S ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, she pointed out in here interview with CNN yesterday that despite differences, despite the fact that U.S.-Russian relations are at all- time low according to President Trump himself, that there are some areas where the two countries still seem to be able to work together, one of them North Korea, other areas they hope where they can work together counterterrorism and the on-going conflict in Syria. And we're expecting the U.S. and Russian top diplomats to meet here in Manila as well in the coming hours.

George?

HOWELL: Our Senior International Correspondent, Ivan Watson live in Manila. Thank you for the reporting. Ivan, we'll stay in touch of you and, of course, continue to monitor that even there.

Mr. Tillerson is also set to meet with his Russian counterpart next hour as Ivan pointed out. The meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, it follows new U.S. sanctions against Moscow, a response in part to Russian meddling in the U.S. election.

The questions about that investigation of Russian activity well, they headlined in Russia, with that nation's former ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak speaking out about his side of the story on Russian television. Downplaying his conversations with the former U.S. National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, he also said they didn't discussed sanctions. Let's get the very latest live in Russia, CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in the Russian capital this hour.

Oren, good to have you with us as well. So, Mr. Kislyak says there were no secrets here and all the conversations were straightforward.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, that's been his approach to this and his take on this, that is Sergey Kislyak, the former Russian Ambassador to the U.S. and he spoke to Russia 24 about the conversations he had with Flynn.

We know he's known Flynn for a few years now, at least going back to 2013. But the time that we're specifically worried about or looking at I should say is the Trump transition. That's when the contacts with Flynn are the most interesting and that perhaps is part of what Kislyak was talking about here when he talked about what was in these conversations.

He said it was all very simple. He said there was nothing to hide, at least not on the Russian side. He said to discuss terrorism and other areas where the U.S. and Russia cooperate. And then he said part of what's interesting to us, what they didn't talk about including sanctions and the Russian take on the added U.S. sanctions.

Here is what Sergey Kislyak had to say to Russia 24.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY KISLYAK, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR (THROUGH INTERPRETER): First, I do not comment on our daily contacts with our colleagues. Secondly, I had instructions to no discuss the sanctions. We did not discuss sanctions with anyone.

And please be assured I follow my instructions very precisely. The sanctions is not our topic. We do not discuss or bargain on sanctions because we believe that they were initially introduced illegally, aggressively in a political sense of the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: And what Kislyak is talking about is all part of what the U.S. and Russia, what officials there call the deterioration in relations between the two countries.

There was, of course, an expectation that under Trump year, the relations would improve. Instead, we've seen the opposite. They are at their worst point in years, in decades perhaps. It was even Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said they're at their worst since the Cold War and the added sanctions, especially with their signature from President Trump, are all part of that.

But as Ivan pointed out, it's not all bad news in this case, especially with the unanimous passing at the U.N. Security Council of the latest North Korean sanctions. And this is where President Trump weighed in, of course, on Twitter. Here is what Trump tweeted after that unanimous vote against North Korea with the sanctions. He said, "The United Nations Security Council just voted 15 to 0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us, very big financial impact."

So both countries or all three countries I should say, China, Russia and the U.S. highlighting one of those rare areas where they very much see eye-to-eye, trying to deescalate the Korean peninsula.

George?

HOWELL: Oren Liebermann giving us the view from Russia. Thank you for the report, Oren.

In the meantime, the Russia probe, it's reaching deeper in the Trump White House, especially into Michael Flynn's relationship with the Turkish government. According to the New York Times, Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants to know if Flynn received secret payments from the Turkish government while he was working on the Trump campaign.

Let's get some context now from Scott Lucas. Scott teaches international politics at the University of Birmingham and is also the founder of EA WorldView and certainly a friend of the show.

Good to have you with us, Scott, at this hour. Let's talk about what we just discussed a moment ago with our correspondent in Russia. The topic that's making headlines there, the former ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak saying there is no there there, and all the questions surrounding his meetings with U.S officials tied to the Trump campaign, they were straightforward. They were standard.

This story and his comments are viewed so differently one side of the world as they are here in the United States.

SCOTT LUCAS: Well, the ambassador would say that, wouldn't he, about the contacts. The fact is he is there to maintain a line that there was absolutely nothing improper in any relations between the Russians and the Trump campaign and then later the Trump administration.

The problem is, of course, is that the evidence which is being gone through right now by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, will include whether or not Michael Flynn who is the first subject I think of the probe and Ambassador Kislyak did discuss sanctions in five conversations on the day in December 2016 when President Obama announced new restrictions on Russia over its election interference.

We also know that the investigation will be considering in Kislyak's other meetings, some of which may have been monitored by U.S. intelligence with other Trump associates. And we do know that going beyond Kislyak that the first thing that Donald Trump said when he met the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and in fact, Mr. Kislyak in May of this year was to brag about the fact that he had fired FBI Director James Comey who he called crazy and a nut job over the Trump- Russia investigation.

So as much as Ambassador Kislyak wants to declare that there is no smoke here, there is still a fire which I think deserves to be considered. HOWELL: There are certainly a lot of questions that are being

investigated in different probes here in the United States. Those investigations continue, Scott. And now, as far as the White House and its ability to have a cohesive media strategy on this topic and various others, you will remember there's been quite a shakeup there.

Anthony Scaramucci, the Mooch, as he was called, was hired and then fired, lasting 10 days on the job. Before that Sean Spicer resigned and now, we're seeing Mr. Trump's Senior Policy Advisor, Steven Miller, on stage. He held a press briefing on proposed changes to U.S. immigration policy. And many of the exchanges with the press, they were testy. They were combative. The type of style that it seems the Trump administration prefers with regards to the press. Let's listen to one of those exchanges with our own Jim Acosta as Mr. Miller mixed it up with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: I am shocked at your statement that you think the only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It's absolutely, it reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree that in your mind - no, this is an amazing moment. I just want to say ...

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sounds like that you're trying to engineer the racial and ethnic flow of people into this country ...

MILLER: That is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things you've ever said ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Putting on quite a show there on stage, but again the topic really -- the issue is not about Jim Acosta, but more about the American people. The question here, Mr. Miller's performance on stage, it seemed that it was a job interview in many ways. Would he add value to the Trump media strategy?

LUCAS: Let me put this in a wide context, George. What some in the White House want as Donald Trump is on a 17-day vacation occasion is just to how to reset, just to calm everything down both on the domestic front after the failure to get health care and on the foreign policy front, but there's two problems.

The first is you've got a faction which includes Steven Miller and more importantly the Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, who don't want calm. They want to push forward, where they want to be aggressive.

The whole Bannon strategy is on keeping everyone on the back foot with a new initiative, in this case, for example, immigration. The second problem I think is even more serious believe it or not. And that is there is a campaign being waged by allies of Bannon and Miller against National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster of extremely nasty material on social media, websites with anti-Semitic material trying to infer that McMaster is part of a plot, a deep-stake plot to get rid of Trump.

Now, while the White House, of course, does not endorse this campaign, Donald Trump said in a brief statement this weekend that he has faith in McMaster, there are allies of Bannon and of Trump like Roger Stone who are basically declaring that McMaster is a neocon traitor. Those exact words. And if that continues over the next two weeks, President Trump may be on the golf course, but the chaos will continue within his own administration.

HOWELL: Let's talk just a bit about Mr. President, about the president rather, as you point out taking a break, he is at his golf resort in New Jersey. He did take to Twitter though, Scott, because he wanted to dispel the notion that he was simply relaxing. He tweeted this. Take a look at this tweet that came through. "This is not a vacation," he said, "meetings and calls," I think we have it, but if not that was the statement. Now, you will remember he constantly criticized his predecessor about taking vacations and is now facing the same scrutiny.

LUCAS: Well, he certainly did and if I was being cynical, which of course I'm not. I'd say he's taking meetings on the 18th tee. First, let's give credit to the earlier story that you've been covering and that is that it was a big achievement for those in the Trump administration, in the security and foreign policy establishments to get the united show of strength against North Korea in the U.N. with the sanctions agreed with Russia and China. And that should not be the belittled at all. The problem is is that Trump shows absolutely no grasp of the domestic and foreign policy issues and that when he now spends with today will be his 46th day on the golf course since taking office, the idea is that you have a disconnected president. Now, can he turn that around with some kind of depth? We have had interviews in the past week before he took leave, including one with Politico which in fact has turned into a train wreck because he doesn't have the basic grasp of an issue from health care to the economy, to the North Korean crisis.

And that means if we're going to get stability, the best solution may be that he stays on that golf course while there are others that take control of the playground in the White House, provided we don't have a split fed by, say, Mr. Bannon and Mr. Miller.

HOWELL: Though one thing to point out though, Scott, and so we were seeing some images a moment ago of Mr. Trump in West Virginia with his base at a rally, and it could be said that even though he is criticized many times for taking vacations, he does keep very close connection with his bases as he continues to campaign, Scott, in the way that we haven't seen of other presidents of campaigning, staying in touch with the base, at the same time, polls do indicate that that base is fraying in some areas.

Scott Lucas, we appreciate you being with us today. And we'll stay in touch with you, always appreciate your perspective.

Still ahead here on Newsroom. Chilling details on the abduction of a British model in Milan, what the suspect allegedly planned to do with the 20-year-old woman still ahead, plus Typhoon Noru has already slammed Southern Japan with strong winds and heavy rains. For the latest on the storm, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: The crisis in Venezuela. An outspoken critic of the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, has been released from jail. Police took Leopoldo Lopez earlier this week for allegedly violating the terms of his house arrest. Lopez denies that, though. Now, his wife says that he has returned home. He still remains under house arrest. This comes as Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz was fired on Saturday. She had vowed to launch an investigation into the fraud allegations surrounding the election that brought in a new legislative assembly. She was dismissed by those same lawmakers on their very first day in office.

Italian police say that a British model kidnapped in Italy was going to be abducted, rather auctioned on the dark web. Police arrested this 30-year-old Polish national after he took the woman to the British consulate in Milan. Authorities say the 20-year-old woman was kidnapped when she went to a photo shoot last month, then was drugged, handcuffed and stuffed into a travel bag. Wow. CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau is following this awful story.

Barbie, what's the latest in this case?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, what the investigators right now are working on is their concern that this part of a larger networking -- and there could be other people being held in captivity to be auctioned off on the so-called dark net or deep web as it's called. That's the un-indexed part of the Internet where all sorts of sinister things take place. A lot of sex trafficking, a lot of sinister sort of pornography and things like that take place there. There's no transparency. You have to have a special browser in order to access that, sort of, thing.

This woman's picture was placed, see was taken -- pictures were taken when she was naked and drugged by this man of Polish decent. He was arrested and is in prison right now. And the pictures were put up. She was going to be auctioned for about 300,000 euro worth of bitcoin is what the asking price was. But one of the most disturbing aspects of this I suppose is the fact that it was done sort of legitimately. He was dealing with her modeling agency in the U.K that set up this photo shoot that didn't exist and that she came for. It's a disturbing sort of a situation the authorities are worried it's just not this woman who is the only victim, George.

HOWELL: This case, the details, certainly disturbing, but almost sets off a warning to other people.

NADEAU: Oh, absolutely, there are a lot of young people, especially man and women who just want to break in to the modeling world and that answer all sorts of advertisements or have their agents set up photo shoots just like this one, she came to Italy under the assumption that she was going to have a photo shoot that would get her a job in an advertisement.

It's hard to imagine that her agent or all the people that were involved and nobody smelled a rat in this. When she got here there was no photo shoot. There was just a man who drugged her, stuffed her in a suitcase and tried to sell her, George.

HOWELL: Barbie Nadeau, following the story for us live in Rome this hour. Thanks for the report, Barbie.

Typhoon Noru has already claimed two lives as it lashes southern Japan. Let's bring in our meteorologist Karen Maginnis following this, Karen?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We have watched this now for weeks. Now, the most important portion of this typhoon has been in the last four or five days as it has really lashed the Ryukyu Island and is now just about to make landfall across southern Takashima.

Right now, here is the important information, 120 kilometers per hour, moving to the northeast, moving at about 13 kilometers per hour, that's good. The faster it moves, then we're going to see that rainfall move in and move out. But it was very slow about 12 or 24 hours ago. The western edge on this has really eroded quite a bit, but there there's a tremendous amount of moisture further to the south. This is a live radar from the Japan Meteorological Agency.

This is the radar. This is where it's located. This is just about the eye. The eye is looking a little ragged, as you would imagine. It's moving into cooler water. It's interacting with the land. And so, as a consequence, it tends to tear this up just a little bit.

But we have seen tremendous amounts of wet weather here. In an area called Amami, that's just about in this vicinity, this had in excess of 600 millimeters of rainfall. That was a two-day total. I think we're going to see maybe a multiple or two of that coming up when we see all those rainfall totals.

This is going to weave its way across Japan, eventually, wind up into the Sea of Japan or the East Sea and produce some gusty winds, mud slides, landslides. That's a big threat, associated with this. In Naze, 633 millimeters reported, that is just in this area, the northern Ryuku Island, they have been impacted for the last several days, shipping interests, flights going out of that region as well, power outages and as you just heard George say, several fatalities already associated with that. This loop to loop it made across the Pacific, very interesting to watch since July 20th.

The other big story is the heat across the Mediterranean, Cordoba has consistently been hot. It is a hot area, but we saw on Saturday afternoon, the temperature soared to 44 degrees, some kids in Turin, Italy trying to cool off in a fountain. When is it going to cool off? Well, the temperature should be headed downward as we go towards the middle and later part of next week. George?

HOWELL: Certainly, some good news there. Karen, thank you very much.

A stunning upset for Usain Bolt in the final individual race of his career. American Justin Gatlin beat the world's fastest man in the 100 meters at the World Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Gatlin finished at 9.92 seconds. Fellow American Christian Coleman came in second and Bolt, the world record holder took third. Bolt said he is retiring after one final relay race next week.

That's this edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell. CNN Style is next. And we'll be back after that to bring in our viewers in the United States for a full hour of CNN Newsroom worldwide at the top of the hour. Thank you for watching, your world headline right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Live with your world headlines this hour. I'm George Howell, this is CNN News Now. The U.S. President Donald Trump says that new sanctions against North Korea's nuclear program will have, quote, "Big Financial Impact."

The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed the tough sanctions which include a ban on major exports. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley warns possible military action is still on the table. The top U.S. diplomat also has North Korea on his agenda this weekend.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the Philippines for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN as it's better known. Earlier he met with South Korea's foreign minister and both reportedly approved of the new sanctions against Pyongyang.

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was sworn in for a second term on Saturday and accused the U.S. of undermining the 2015 nuclear deal. The U.S. announced new sanctions targeting Tehran last month right after confirming Iran was honoring the deal. Venezuela's local opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been released from jail and returned home.

Lopez was taken by police earlier this week. Government officials say that it was because he violated the terms of his house arrest. Lopez, though, denies those allegations. That's your CNN news now. I'm George Howell, CNN Style is next.

DEREK BLASBERG, CNN JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: A short drive from the energetic clamor of New York City is the calm and quaint retreat of the Hamptons. The towns, dotted along the eastern tip of Long Island have been both an urban escape and creative inspiration for artists, designers and eccentrics for generations. The homes, the people and the beach atmosphere, each reflect the casual yet sophisticated character of the Hamptons and exude a timeless elegance the region is known for. Here, summer isn't just a season. It's a way of life.

BLASBERG: I'm Derek Blasberg.

TORY BURCH, DESIGNER AND ENTERPRENEUR: And this is CNN Style.

BLASBERG: The town of Southhampton was founded nearly 400 years ago, yet it still maintains a colonial charm, from the old world architecture to the preppy style of the locals milling about the town square. I'm on my way to visit a fashion icon and good friend who's made Southhampton her second home for years.

BURCH: Hi.

BLASBERG: Hi, Tory.

BURCH: How are you?

BLASBERG: Since launching her brand in 2004, designer and entrepreneur, Tory Burch has quickly become a new face of American style.

BURCH: If you asked me 15 years ago what I would be doing today, I would have said I have no idea.

BLASBERG: Today, she has invited me to her gorgeous Southampton home. Built in 1929, the neo-Georgian property is surrounded by the lush greenery and towering hedges familiar to this part of eastern Long Island.

Why did you decide on Southampton as opposed to the many other towns that dot Long Island?

BURCH: I really love Southampton because first of all, it's closer than many of the other beautiful places to New York, and that's a big plus. But I just think the hedges are something that I've always loved. I love how clean it is. The little town is beautiful and the beaches are incredible. We used to have a farm and all of us would go every weekend and spend a lot of time there. Now, we all come here.

Having three boys, you can imagine, a lot of sports are involved. We go clamming. We go crabbing. Play a lot of tennis. And really just spend a lot of time together, it really is a lot about our family time.

It's completely inspiring. And I think coming here people are always generalize about it out here saying it's such a scene. And really, I don't find that to be the case. I mean, you make what you will of Long Island.

We spend a lot of time, really, with the teams out here, designing, talking about the business. It's really essential for us. We actually basically design the collection here and then we assort it and merchandize it. And we really think about the prior collection and how we need to take certain things forward or not.

BLASBERG: Taking things forward is exactly what Tory did when she expanded her brand with Tory Sport. Started in 2015, the apparel line captures the fashionable yet leisurely lifestyle of the Hamptons.

So what is the difference between Tory Burch and Tory Sport and how do you sort of dance between the two?

BURCH: It's actually a very different aesthetic. People are dressing in a very different way. They're more casual. They want to be comfortable, but look chic.

BLASBERG: I saw here in the Hamptons your Tory Burch store became a Tory Sport store. BURCH: I think it was a good to test it. And it's much more casual

out here. People are using -- they are going swimming. They're going surfing or playing golf, tennis.

BLASBERG: For many, somewhere in the Hamptons mean switching from casual to cocktail ready at any moment.

BURCH: I like the idea of high and low. I've always been interested in that. So if you put on a pair of track pants and a great looking top and heels, you can go out for the evening. And I think that you can do that in various ways with Sport.

The idea was to really think about true function, marrying style and how do we do that? That where the function isn't necessarily a design detail. It's more of a gimmick.

BLASBERG: Tory says that as her fashion influence expanded, so did her purpose. In 2009, she founded the Tory Burch Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers access to capital, education, and digital resources to female entrepreneurs.

BURCH: The foundation from the beginning was for women. I didn't know exactly how that would transpire over time, but I realized that I had something to offer women entrepreneurs and to be able to support women entrepreneurs in the United States for now has been a gift.

BLASBERG: Unlike some holiday destinations, the Hamptons aren't just about walks on the beach and cocktail parties. There is an active athletic element too, which could be why Tory, fits in so well.

Tennis, I found is not exactly a hobby for you. You take it very seriously. How long have you played tennis?

BURCH: I've played since I was very little, but I would say it's definitely a hobby; take it seriously to a point. I'm a summer tennis person, mostly on the weekends, Saturday and Sunday. We've had the same group for about 15 years.

BLASBERG: What do you think it is about tennis that appeals so much to you?

BURCH: Well, I just think it's a little more time effective than golf. It's a great exercise. And I love playing. I mean it's great. Our tennis group isn't exactly full on playing. It's a lot of talking about what happened the night before.

BLASBERG: Tennis may be a hobby now, but Tory was known for her backhand while captain of her varsity tennis team. We headed to her home court for friendly game.

So bringing the heat, have you learned any life lessons from playing tennis?

BURCH: Many. Pick your partners wisely. Nice shot.

BLASBERG: With its storied and sophisticated history, the Hamptons conjure up imagery of classic Americana. It's clear that Tory Burch has added to that rich American landscape.

BURCH: When I think of our companies or our brand, we're proud to be an American brand, but it really has more influenced women around the world and that's something that I think is interesting, because it's rooted in a deep sense of history, an American history, but it hopefully goes beyond that.

BLASBERG: What are some of the hallmarks of Hamptons style?

BURCH: I always think of effortless and ease and elegance. And I think that really exists out there. There is, as we mentioned, the slower pace.

BLASBERG: So there's not a lot of crossover from the New York closet and the Hamptons closet.

BURCH: Not much. Not much, although every now and then. I jazz it up out here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLASBERG: The summer scenery of the Hamptons. This time of year, there's a quiet beauty that overtakes Long Island, New York East End. Like a landscape painted on canvas. Today, the Hamptons are probably best known for its quintessential style.

But what few know is that the Hamptons have also been a hotbed of inspiration for contemporary artists for generations. Celebrated artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner are pillars of the contemporary art world.

And it's here in East Hampton, at their former home turned museum, where they discovered some of their greatest inspirations. Pollock, a master of mid-century modernism and Krasner, an icon in abstract expressionism, moved from New York City to a sleepy town after marrying in 1945.

Walking through the meticulously preserved home, it's almost as if time stopped when Krasner died in 1984. Just behind the modest house is the barn turned art studio. Adorned with a large window to how natural light to spill into the room, Pollock would lay his canvases on the floor and pour paint from the four corners. The remnants of his work still cover the floor. After Pollock's death in a car crash in 1956, Krasner used the barn as her own studio, creating bright and brilliant abstracts in the space for decades.

Mid-century modernists like Pollock and Krasner are well-known in the Hamptons, but artists have found muse in the region's natural and ethereal beauty even before that.

The Parish Art Museum in Southampton highlights and honors artists who were drawn to this particular part of Long Island and have added to its rich artistic history.

TERRIE SULTAN, DIRECTOR, PARRISH ART MUSEUM: In this gallery in which we call the gateway to the permanent collection, you see that not only do we have skylights, but we also have slit windows.

BLASBERG: Terri Sultan is the museum's director and says the Hamptons has been a creative mecca for artists as far back as the late 1800s.

SULTAN: Well, it started with William Merritt Chase, who came out here when the Long Island Railroad extended to the East End of Long Island. And the artists like William Merritt Chase who painted outside were drawn here by the light, which is, in fact, very special.

The reason that really the people came out here was to work and make art. And who follows the artists? The musicians, the filmmakers, the poets and then the collectors and the dealers and that's how a community grows.

And that is more less what happened out here. And now I think it would almost be easier to name artists in the contemporary world who don't have a relationship with the East End than it would be to illuminate all the ones that do.

BLASBERG: The Parrish houses dozens of works from various creative masters, designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the 3,200 square meter museum is the perfect example of architecture as art.

Herzog and de Meuron's notable other works include the Beijing Olympic Stadium, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the Tate Modern in London. With the Parrish Art Museum, they've opted for a more simplistic, yet stunning aesthetic, one that is heavily inspired by the Hampton surroundings.

JACQUES HERZOG, ARCHITECT: What we like so much about the Parrish and the history of the Parrish is the history of the art community, the artist.

So we came up with this idea to take art studios and simulate them like ghosts of those studios in a more abstract way. And especially we were interested to arrange the windows whether daylight came in to the studio exactly as they were in this sort of case, because the light condition for an artist is key for how he or she wants to paint and to work.

We like the fact that studios were simple, they were pitched roofs, the light came in from the top. So it had something rural in a good way. It's also the way it sits in the landscape was really -- it couldn't be somewhere else. It somehow reflects the America landscape.

BLASBERG: Throughout the entire structure you can see the level of care given to every architectural and design detail.

SULTAN: We call this the spine that takes you from the east end to the west and it really is a spine. It is the heart and soul of the building, everything moves through the spine. The artwork, the people, there are no back corridors, there is no unused space, there is just the purity of what you see. To me, this is one of the most beautiful things. You are looking at

an Alan Shields, a John Torreano, a Marc Reilly, but you're also looking at a field and it helps not only make a historical connection but it also helps us make the connection from art to life.

BLASBERG: Life in the Hamptons, for most it means tranquility and a bit of solitude even for some of the world's most famous faces.

GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: I genuinely think there's something very magical about this part of the world.

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BLASBERG: There's something special about the homes in the Hamptons. As if history were chronicled on windowsills, doorways, and rooftops.

One East Hampton home holds iconic status above any other. The Grey Gardens Estate. Grey Gardens was made infamous in the 1975 documentary of the same name. The film chronicled the lives of two eccentric women, Edith Beale and Edith Bouvier Beal, a mother-daughter duo who lived here in complete squalor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: (chanting)

BLASBERG: Known by most as most as "Big Edie" and "Little Edie," the pair were the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis who financed a cleanup of the house when it was nearly condemned. They live together as recluses until "Big Edie" died in 1977. "Little Edie" sold the home in 1979 to Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: The house was a wreck, I mean it was really a wreck. Her husband just said, "You're out of your mind."

BLASBERG: Now, the estate has taken on a new life. Even with an unbelievable amount of restoration, Grey Gardens' familiar frame and classical details remain.

So what are some of the special details that Sally preserved when she took over ownership of Grey Gardens?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: She would tell me that 73 percent of the furniture she restored, a lot of it was up in the attic. The wicker pieces that we're sitting on and most of the hard pieces that you see, the tables and the chairs, and some of the bed posts and dining room tables, they were also here and she had them all restored.

She wanted to retain everything about the house down to even the books. I mean she bought all the books, some of which belonged to the Beales and were still kind of inscribed or have little doodles of them, it's a project that Sally wanted to undertake. And when you kind of look back at it, if she didn't, there would be no kind of memory of it.

BLASBERG: It's not just Grey Gardens that's had a lasting history. Throughout the decades, "Little Edie" Beale's sense of style has influenced fashion editorials and designers alike, from the pages of "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair" to the designs of John Galliano.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: You look back on it and you know that "Little Edie" wanted to be a Broadway star, she wanted to be out there in theater and she -- I think in the documentary, this was kind of her debut.

BLASBERG: How fabulous do you think it is that it's still on the tips of our tongues and that we're still talking about this little family in this nice house out in East Hampton?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Yes. It's kind of amazing to me. I mean, this is a rich history and it's a beautiful old house, 1897, it's still standing.

BLASBERG: I think "Little Edie" was -- she did not want to sell it to someone who was going to knock it down and put a McMansion up, is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Yes, that's correct. Sally was able to consummate a deal with "Little Edie" by basically saying, "I will preserve this house. I will restore it."

BLASBERG: Look around, she kept her promise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: She really did.

BLASBERG: While the Hamptons has certainly cultivated prominent figures over the years, it's also been a destination for some of the world's most famous faces. Like that of Oscar Winning Actress and my pal, Gwyneth Paltrow.

PALTROW: This is our little garden.

BLASBERG: What have we got back here?

PALTROW: We've got basil and lettuce and flat leaf parsley.

BLASBERG: I'm very impressed with your knowledge of vegetables.

PALTROW: They're not vegetables, they're herbs.

BLASBERG: Lettuce is a vegetable. Didn't you say lettuce?

PALTROW: Okay, fine. You got me.

BLASBERG: Hey, I'm a city kid. You're a city kid.

PALTROW: You're from Missouri.

BLASBERG: The tranquil environment of the Hamptons has become a hotbed for athletes, actors, and rock stars. And for Gwyneth, her affinity for the Hamptons started long before she became a household name.

PALTROW: I actually started coming here when I was in eighth grade but it was a much different place back then. It was not anywhere near as sort of like happening and chic and chi chi and everything.

It was a very old-school and I fell in love with it. You feel sort of cocooned here. You've got the bay on one side, the ocean on the other side and sort of a consistency of how all of the houses look with the shingles and I don't know, I always feels like there's something inherently very cozy about it.

BLASBERG: Why do you think there's such a magnetic quality to the Hamptons? Why do so many people want to come here to work, to play?

PALTROW: I genuinely think there's something very magical about this part of the world. I think the light is incredible, the seasons are really pronounced. It's just far enough out of Manhattan that you feel like you've really made a journey to somewhere else.

I don't know, it's just I've always loved it. I just -- I feel so lucky that I get to spend time out here.

BLASBERG: What are some of the favorite things that you like to do?

PALTROW: Beach, pool, the clam bar, Five Clams down the street. We just kind of take it easy, it's a lot of family time, a lot of rose.

I think when I take a holiday out here, the difference is I really try to completely disengage from electronics, I sleep late, and walk the kids down to the beach and it's just -- it's really heavenly to be -- to have that sense that you're really connected in nature.

BLASBERG: This summer, she's combining her love for the Hamptons with her business. Her pioneering lifestyle brand Goop opened a pop-up shop in the village of Amagansett. Gwyneth's team aimed for Hamptons authenticity when bringing the shop to life, by opening a small house built in the 1700s with Goop-approved products.

PALTROW: The Hamptons is historically a lot of farmland and things grow really well here, so a lot of people have kitchen gardens or little vegetable walkthroughs.

BLASBERG: I will say everything in this garden section is so well styled, it may actually inspire me to garden.

PALTROW: This is very Hamptons, okay guys? This is the rose holder.

BLASBERG: Although - well, to be fair, it will hold all types of wine and alcohol.

PALTROW: It definitely will. But for the purposes of the Hampton. We also look for locations to do our pops where we feel like there are movie people who are interested to come see Goop IRL. And Amagansett is also a little bit more laidback than some of the other Hamptons. I live just around the corner so it's easy for me to come pop in, and my kids are going to start working in the store in a couple weeks which is great.

BLASBERG: You're going to put your kids to work?

PALTROW: I'm going to put them to work.

BLASBERG: You're an eighth grade New York schoolgirl.

PALTROW: Yes.

BLASBERG: You're out here in the Hamptons, you're just visiting, do you ever think a couple years later you'll be having your international online empire with a pop-up shop in Amagansett?

PALTROW: I never could have imagined when we were buying hair dye at the local pharmacy and dying our hair and sneaking parents' cigarettes that we would end up here.

BLASBERG: As the sun sets here in the Hamptons, you can fully appreciate the light that's inspired artists, entertainers, and eccentrics for decades.

The cluster of towns and villages that make up this cozy part of Long Island have a classic and timeless style and effortless sophistication that's only gotten better with age.

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