18
ISIS Fighters Fleeing Into Syria; France Begins Clearing Calais
Migrant Camp; Clinton Leads Trump In New CNN/ORC Poll; Trump: "I
Believe We're Actually Winning"; Mosul Battle May Rush ISIS Fights
Home to Europe; AT&T, Time-Warner CEOs Defend Merger Deal Aired 1-2a
ET - Part 2>
SESAY: And that is important to his legacy.
WATSON: Especially to see it validated to see the person he wanted to win does that. Don't count out President Obama after the election. There could be a number of things that he ends up getting through. Another poke in Donald Trump's eye.
SESAY: We shall see. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much. Come back and see us.
WATSON: I will.
SESAY: I will wear your nasty woman T-shirt next time.
WATSON: My three sisters will loan me theirs.
SESAY: Next on NEWSROOM L.A., the scene is beautiful and toxic. ISIS sets a mountain of sulfur on fire and it is suffocating people near Mosul.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
(HEADLINES)
[01:35:13] SESAY: The Iraqi-led fight to retake Mosul from ISIS is in its second week. There's fierce militant resistance. Peshmerga forces are fighting for control for a town and moving closer. An Iraqi tribal leader says hundreds of ISIS fighters are fleeing into Syria.
South of Mosul the skies are dark, the air heavy with toxic fumes. ISIS fighters set fire to a sulfur factory before fleeing and it has made breathing dangerous.
Senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It could be waves rippling against a shoreline on another planet. Neon streams catching the light, but this hauntingly beautiful scenery is toxic. The yellow rock formations are raw sulfur crumbling and melting under intense heat. It may look volcanic. But this is man- made.
(on camera): When ISIS withdrew from this sulfur factory, they placed explosives inside what was a massive mountain of sulfur as well as placing explosives over an expanse of around 4.5 kilometers of this factory, sending toxic poisonous fumes into the air.
(voice-over): Hundreds of people living in the area had to seek medical attention for trouble breathing, burning eyes and choking. Hospitals ran out of oxygen.
(on camera): I have no idea how the fast majority of these workers out here are able to deal with the smell and the burning in one's eyes without having proper protection. Most people don't have gas masks on but they are working tirelessly to try to bring this under control.
(voice-over): Across this other worldly landscape there are bulldozers, firefighters trying to stifle the flames with loads of dirt. This is a battlefield that has no rules or boundaries.
(on camera): And this is just one of the many ways that ISIS are trying to use whatever it possibly can to try to not only impede the advance of the security forces towards Mosul but also in doing so cause maximum damage and maximum impact on the civilian population. If this is a sign of the lengths is will go to out here it's terrifying to imagine what it plans for Mosul itself.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: As Iraqi-led forces prepare to seize control of Mosul, officials are warning of a new potential security threat, a wave of ISIS fighters returning home to Europe.
For more I'm joined by CNN contributor, Michael Weiss, in New York. He is the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the War of Terror."
Michael, good to have you with us.
Are these fears as a result of the Mosul offensive justified in your view?
MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & AUTHOR: Yes, they are. ISIS likes to distract from its battlefield losses by waging attacks that frankly no one is expecting them to. We see this at the local or national level. Look at what they have done since the offensive to retake Mosul has got under way. They waged an attack in Kirkuk. They claimed although there has been some contradictory are reporting about this that they sacked a town in Anbar Province. This is a way to draw material away from the front live.
With respect to attack abroad, whenever ISIS suffers a battlefield loss, they like to wage an assault on a western or regional city. What you are hearing from E.U. officials is be on guard or on alert for attacks in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain. These are the major targets in continental Europe for ISIS terrorism.
SESAY: Michael, when we talk about attacks waged by ISIS are we talking about ISIS directed or ISIS inspired in the aftermath of Mosul?
[01:39:49] WEISS: When it comes to coordinating these things with respect to the military dynamics on the ground I would say it's more ISIS directed. They have been sending operatives in Europe back as far as 2013, even in advance of the so-called caliphate. And the European security services underestimate the number of fighters that have come back with some training who are now in effect sleeper agents, scattered throughout the continent.
SESAY: Michael, when we talk about the potential attacks are we looking at a wave of fighters making their way to Europe or as you see it when you look at the par dime if you will, are we talking about people who are already in Europe who would spring up from a sleeper cell, so to speak?
WEISS: I think it's more the latter. I think it's difficult to move from Syria or Iraq into Europe. Turkey has more or less secured the Turkish/Syrian border. They have taken 1200 kilometers of terrain from is. But going back three years how many people in Raqqa or elsewhere made it across the border and are laying in wait? This is the danger.
SESAY: As you lay out the threat so clearly and frighteningly how do European authorities meet this when you talk about people who months gone by everybody made their way to Europe and are lying in wait as you paint the picture?
WEISS: Every time they sack a town in Aleppo, they manage to capture tranches of digital information and valuable human intelligence which can allow them to crack down and wage these dragnet operations against jihadis scattered throughout Europe. The more we squeeze them on the battlefield the harder it becomes to keep their spies and sleepers abroad. It's the old IRA saying, "The police have to be lucky all the time. We just have to be lucky once." The matter of five or 10 operatives we don't know about they could be plotting any number of attacks, ranging from a siege and suicide bombing to an assortment of gun and knife attacks. We're seeing it in North America now from inspired operatives. This is what worries the FBI. But in Europe they have a colossal problem on their hands. France has graduated fighters to ISIS and several hundred have returned to France and are now in Europe. Where are they? They are running around and plotting terrorism.
SESAY: Terrifying. Terrifying, indeed.
Michael, we appreciate the insight and the deep perspective. Thank you very much.
WEISS: Sure.
SESAY: Very frightening.
Time for a break. Now that their merger deal has been announced, AT&T and Timer-Warner set out to convince investors and regulators they can make a go of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:46:31] SESAY: Investors are responding with skepticism to the merger of AT&T and Timer-Warner. Both companies' stock fell Monday. AT&T plans to purchase CNN's parent company for $85 billion. The company's CEO's argue the corporate marriage makes strategic sense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDALL STEPHENSON, CEO, AT&T: We are not naive to think this won't be a rigorous process. It will be a rigorous review, fully expected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: RIGHT.
STEPHENSON: To the extent that there are concerns, those are remedied with conditions but we are prepared to go down that path.
JEFF BEWKESS, CEO, TIME-WARNER: When they see that it increases competition this is not legacy companies getting together. This is a disrupter trying to bring more competition and more choice for people that don't just want to have one or two capable or other local choices. They also want a third or fourth choice of their subscription packages. They want more packages, including cheaper ones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Timer-Warner and AT&T are no strangers to mergers that didn't work out.
"CNN Money's" Claire Sebastian reports, they expect this deal to benefit from lessons learned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You ain't heard nothing yet.
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 1927, Warner Brothers, "The Jazz Singer" was the first feature-length talking picture.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN: And this was the world's first telephone call in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, two different legacies trying to become one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Typically and historically big combinations of different companies of content and distribution fail because the culture is difficult to assimilate and combine and make one and one equal three instead of one and one equal one and a half.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Time-Warner has grabbled with these mergers before. In the 1980s, Timer-Warner was merged with Time, Inc., the publisher of "Time" magazine. In the 1990s they added Turner Broadcasting and CNN. That is a crucial selling point in this latest deal. In 2000, they tried to move online with AOL.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It was billed as a merger to lead the convergence of Internet and media, a bet on the future. Just nine years later, Timer-Warner spun off AOL for around 2 percent of the original price.
ANNOUNCER: You got mail, baby, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mistake was thinking that Timer-Warner was a content provider and AOL was a distribution pipeline. AOL was a portal.
SEBASTIAN: This time around, Timer-Warner and AT&T will be kept as separate entities and the companies operations don't overlap, unlike another deal AT&T attempted in 2011.
STEPHENSON: We tried to buy T-mobile. That was a horizontal integration. That was a problem the government had was that a competitor was viewed to be taken out of the market.
SEBASTIAN: Government opposition killed that deal, costing AT&T $4 billion.
(on camera): The key to making this work, analysts say, is not just learning the lessons of past deals. It's about recognizing that the way that media is distributed has changed for good and one thing matters more than anything, mobile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The era of the individual media mogul it's about who can get the content to the new consumer via mobile.
[01:50:05] SEBASTIAN (voice-over): If the deal is approved by regulators, experts says, we could see more tech and media tie ups singing the same tune.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN: Claire Sebastian, CNN Money, New York.
(SINGING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Donald Trump upset some voters when he called Hillary Clinton "a nasty woman." Now some are embracing the label and throwing it back in Trump's face. We'll explain when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: So the U.S. presidential debates are over but there are certain moments that will long be remembered, like when Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton "a nasty woman." Now her supporters are embracing that label.
Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four little words.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Such a nasty woman.
MOOS: Thrown back into Donald Trump's face.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Get this, Donald, nasty women are tough.
MOOS: Hillary supporters put on their "nasty" T-shirts.
WARREN: Nasty women are smart.
MOOS: They put on their "Make America nasty again" hats.
WARREN: And nasty women vote.
(CHEERING)
MOOS: No wonder Hillary is laughing. First, there were the remixes.
(SINGING)
MOOS: Then there were the jokes.
[01:55:13] UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: Oh, yeah. So nasty. Also quick reminder, no one respects women more than me.
MOOS: Then the merchandise from the "such a nasty woman" throw pillow to "I'm with the nasty woman" T-shirt.
"SNL" made this joke.
UNIDENTIFIED SNL COMEDIAN: Go to HillaryClinton.com and buy a limited edition nasty woman mug.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: Soon someone was selling one on Etsy.
Singer Katy Perry bought a T-shirt on a website. Its creator had it on line before the debate even ended. She sold 10,000 items.
WARREN: We nasty women are going to march our nasty feet.
MOOS: We saw no nasty slippers but there is nasty woman perfume.
Hillary fans can carry your stuff in this nasty is the new black tote.
Jeanne Moos -- TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.
MOOS: -- CNN --
TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: We're going to leave the nastiness right here.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, L.A. I'm Isha Sesay. I'll be back with more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(Byline: Isha Sesay, Sophia Saifi, Michael Holmes, Melissa Bell, Don Riddell, Jim Acosta, Arwa Damon, Michael Weiss, Claire Sebastian, Jeanne Moos )
(Guest: Ruben Neugebauer, Carlos Watson)
(High: Three attackers sieged the Pakistani Police Academy and held the cadets in hostage for six hours before being killed. The attackers which were believed to be the works of a militant group called Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, killed 59 and injure 100 more. ISIS fighters puts up a fierce fight as coalition forces push to Mosul, although, beaten, ISIS launches attacks elsewhere to distract forces while some of them fled the country to retreat to Syria; Thousands remain in Calais refugee camp as some are reluctant to settle down in French shelters and chooses to wait in Calais so they can go to their families in U.K.; CNN/ORC Poll shows Clinton leads Trump by 5 points nationally, 12 points among female voters and again leads among younger voters and minorities. The Iraqi-led fight to retake Mosul from ISIS is in its second week and there's fierce militant resistance, and an Iraqi tribal leader says hundreds of ISIS fighters are fleeing into Syria, and south of Mosul the skies are dark, the air heavy with toxic fumes, and ISIS fighters set fire to a sulfur factory before fleeing and it has made breathing dangerous. As Iraqi-led forces prepare to seize control of Mosul, officials are warning of a new potential security threat, a wave of ISIS fighters returning home to Europe. Investors are responding with skepticism to the merger of AT&T and Timer-Warner, and both companies' stock fell Monday, and AT&T plans to purchase CNN's parent company for $85 billion, and the company's CEO's argue the corporate marriage makes strategic sense, but Time-Warner and AT&T are no strangers to mergers that didn't work out, but they expect this deal to benefit from lessons learned.)
(Spec: Mosul; ISIS; Russia; Syria; South Korea; Kim Jong-un; Assassinate; Aleppo; Bombing; United Nations; Loan; Polls; Islamic State; Military; War; Health and Medicine; Europe; AT&T; Time-Warner; Businesses; Middle East; World Affairs; Politics; Government; Battleground State; Election; Peshmerga; Kurdish; Iraqi Forces; Election; Debate; Al Smith; Dinner; Fundraiser; Rodrigo Duterte; Jokes; Charity; Catholic; Body Language; Psychology)