hello, everyone. i'm john berman in new york. wolf blitzer is off today. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. from a warm embrace in poland to a possible cold shoulder in germany. president trump is in hamburg for the g-20 summit. he and german chancellor angela merkel wrapping up a bilateral meeting's behind closed doors almost an hour. we may see them shortly. the two have starkly different views from climate change, to immigration, to trade. all of this comes on the heels of the president's trip to poland where he sent conflicting messages. in a news conference, sewed

doubt whether the russians meddled in the 2016 election. >> i think it was russia, but i think it was probably other people and/or countries, and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. nobody "really" knows for sure. >> nobody really knows. that's what he said in a press conference but later issued his strongest words yet to moscow for what he called their destabilizes activities around the world. pring in cnn's fred pleitgen on the phone from hamburg. we're waiting to hear the fruits of the meeting from angela merkel and president trump. any word if it's broken up and what they discussed? >> reporter: yeah. we're not sure whether it's broken up yet, john. we do know he's been in that meeting, i would say for almost an hour now. certainly it will be interesting to see what he's going to say or what both, or either, are going to say anything.

the other thing going on and where actually i am now is at the main anti-g-20 demonstration which is now marching towards the very venue where we believe that meeting is taking place. you're absolutely right. a lot less of a warm welcome that he's receiving here than in poland. in fact, say around 10,000 protestors now that are on the move there. they obviously have a lot of issues with some of the policies of the trump administration and angela merkel did as well. she was also highly critical in newspaper articles in the run-up to this meeting taking place today saying that the two did not see eye-to-eye. especially on trade. but i migration and of course the environment. interesting to see what those two leaders have to say when they come out of that meeting, if indeed they make remarks at all. >> fred pleitgen in hamburg. again, keep us posted if you hear what is going on inside that meeting. meantime, joining me former foreign policy adviser to president george w. bush, and

former national security staffer under president obama and cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief for "the daily beast." a news-packed day already. the president questioning the intelligence over the russian meddling in the election and then he gave a speech in warsaw. right? really on the border with russia and for the first time in europe, he reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to article 5 of nato, collective security. listen to this -- >> those who would criticize our tough stance, i would point out that the united states has demonstrated not merely with words, but with its actions that we stand firmly behind article 5, the mutual defense commitment. >> paul, many nato members were hoping that would be a statement he would make in may at the actual nato meeting. how important was it for him to make it now just before his arrival in germany? >> i think it was very important. it was the timing that he

wanted. i think people that doubted he supported article 5 were off base. he was never not going to be supportive of nato and our role in it, but the president is a negotiator. like kissinger, sets the context in which he'll have a negotiation and tries to bring people to the place he wants them to have his way. that's normal. every nation wants to have its own way except in the previous administration looking for a global consensus. now the united states is seeking its own interests and that's what the president is doing here. >> charles, in addition to once again stating out loud, in europe, which is significant, his commitment to article 5 of nato, he issued his strongest words yet to russia about what he called their destabilizes activities in ukraine, and syria around the world. listen to what he said -- >> we urge russia to cease its destabilizing activities in ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes,

including syria and iran. and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of swi l civilization itself. >> that's further than he's gone before in direct, out loud critique of russia. how important is it that the president did that on the eve of his meeting with vladimir putin? >> well, i think, this, in many respects, was his second bite at the apple because the first trip didn't go so well and he affirmed a sport faffirm ed support for article 5. you can't go to poland and not talk about the russian threat because they are obsessed with it. he checked that box as well. two things i found in the speech puzzling, his talk about defending the west, because it made me wonder which west is he talking about? because some of his own policies undermine western values, like open trade. like support for democrats as

opposed to people like putin. the other thing, he didn't say anything about the european union, integration. seemed to take a couple digs at it. talked, strong independence alliance of nations. not an integrated europe. and he also talked about bureaucrats, which in europe is really a catchphrase for the eu. so it was a bit strange that he seemed to go to the heart of europe and say nothing positive about the project of european integration integration. >> i want to talk about that in a minute. the message overall sending to europe. jackie, i want to get to the conflicting themes about russian meddling. one hand, urged them to stop destabilizing activities. on the other hand, didn't seem to include russian meddling in elections as one of those destabilizing activities and made that rather stirring statement at the press conference jo nobody knows for

sure. >> this isn't the first time the president said this, obviously. he looks at it, as long as it's been a part of the conversation, he's looked at the russian meddling as a direct line to his credibility or his legitimacy as president. and he sees the two are intertwined. so he's not really inclined to -- he's not looking at the bigger picture, about how -- how this was an attack on the united states system of elections. rather, he is looking at it more internally. the biggest question is, how much of this, including his criticism, his actual criticisms of russia in the speech, how much will be part of the conversation with vladimir putin tomorrow? what will he bring up? because he has, with some of the united states allies, he has talked fairly tough. will he do that with vladimir putin in front of him? we'll have to see. >> i should tell people, live p

hamburg, germany. fred pleitgen says thousands were out there protesting the g-20 summit. far as i can tell, these are the types of protestors who gather at many of these international meetings. no word if they have specific protests beyond things like globalization, beyond the capitalization they often do at these events. right now the pictures we're seeing, things look fairly peaceful but we'll keep our eyes on them throughout this discussion. paul, back to what the president has been saying. the idea that he sewed doubt whether russia meddled in the election, questioned the free press and did so in europe. is that not handing vladimir putin exactly what he wants on the eve of their big meeting? >> i don't think so. not when he's been one of the toughest presidents on russia we've had in the last eight years. he's the one bombing his allies in syria, trying to destroy the energy market for russia. so i think it's very well calibrated to say we can have a

deal as long as u.s. interests are taken care of. but i'm not interested in fights just to have fights. that's why the president's never going to obsess over the comments about whether or not russia meddles or not. i think he's said what he's said in order to show he doesn't think that's the most important issue on the table. it's the things he's dealing with. the western civilization stuff is important. the poles and three seas nation is important to hear what they've joined, rejoined europe, will be the most important thing. that is the sovereignty of nation states and looking after their interests together. >> charles, do you agree with what you just heard? that vladimir putin will see president trump as being harder on russia than previous u.s. presidents? >> yeah. i would agree that over the last month or so, president trump has essentially gravitated to a more conventional position on russia. he met with pretra poroshenko,

and talking about the intervention and today said he thinks russia probably interfered in the election. so he's not teed up a chummy-chummy talk with mr. putin tomorrow. my guess is it's really just going to be a get to know you kind of meeting, because we know there is no ajergenagenda. the teams haven't really been able to do their homework. other than trying to build a personal rapport, i don't think we'll see much big stuff on the issues because the groundwork simply hasn't been laid. >> and talking about the framework of the president's speech earlier today. he billed this as a struggle for survival for the west. listen to what he said about the dire threats faced by the west. >> there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life. you see what's happening out there. they are threats.

we will confront them. we will win. but they are threats. >> in some ways, jackie, talking about the battle against terror. in other ways, his battle guess illegal immigration. those are words that might be accepted by his base here in the united states. maybe even in poland where the leader there shares some of his views but in western europe and parts of the united states also might be more controversial. >> you have to wonder if that was discussed during his conversation with angela merkel. because it's something he's been very critical of her publicly about germany's immigration policies. so -- that was supposed to be reportedly a, a piece of contention between the two of them. but -- yes. absolutely. this was something that played very well in poland, but back here in the united states, he still is receiving -- while the supreme court ruled that parts of his travel ban can be implemented, he's still --

facing in the fall a final decision on that. so this is something that you know, he continues to juggle both at home and abroad. >> jackie, paul, charles, thanks so much. keeping aen eye on protests. live pictures of protests now from hamburg in germany. the site of the g-20 summit. maybe 10,000 out there on the streets right now to greet the leaders of these some 20 nations. we will watch carefully. so far peaceful. meantime, president trump casting doubt on his own intelligence agency saying russia "may have" meddles in the election or maybe someone else. nobody really knows to are sure, he says. reaction from a key republican supporter coming up. plus, the president says he has strong options for north korea after they tested a new missile. what does he mean by that and is military action one of these options? stay with us. ♪

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made with carbsteady to help minimize blood sugar spikes you can really feel it. glucerna. everyday progress. let's bring you up to speed now. live pictures from hamburg, germany. protests at the g-20 summit there. fred pleitgen says maybe 10,000 or so protestors, protesting as

the meeting goes on. so far looks peaceful and the type of activism we've seen at past global meetings like this. unclear if there is anything more specific. we'll keep ow eye on it. and also watching president trump in a meeting with the german chancellor angela merkel. went behind closed doors about an hour ago and don't know if meeting finished. they did shake hands. people wondering, an issue in the past. we do not know how the meeting went. what they discussed or if, in fact, they emerged from it yet. one big meeting for the president this week. tomorrow he meets face-to-face with the russian leader vladimir putin. the man u.s. intelligence agencies pretty much agree tried to rig the 2016 election, or tried to influence or hack the 2016 election. but when asked today whether he believes russia is responsible for election meddling, whether he believes his own intelligence agency, essentially. this is what president trump

said. >> i think it could very well have been russia but i this is could well have been other countries and i won't be specific, but i think a lot of people interfere. >> i agree. i think it was russia, but i think it was probably other people and/or countries, and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. nobody "really" knows for sure. >> all right. one update we are just getting. word the meeting between president trump and german chancellor angela merkel is finished. that meeting is over. we'll bring you word what was discussed soon as it comes in to us. and meantime, serving on the foreign affairs committee, congressman, what we heard of president trump who said of russia election meddling, nobody knows for sure. is that really the case? do you have any doubt about werther russia meddled in the u.s. presidential election? >> well, i would say a couple things. one is, i believe that russia

meddled in the united states election, and without being able to give all of the details -- i mean, we, as members of congress, have been part of top secret briefings with fbi, cia, dni. we're not allowed to get into those details. i would say it is a -- a complicated investigation that isn't as simple as just saying, russia meddled. i can see where the president is coming from that there are some other components to this that we don't have completely filled in. i do believe russia meddled with the election, and it's beyond a fair game to bring up at the meeting tomorrow. something he should bring up. >> it is something he should bring up with vladimir putin, you're saying? >> yeah. there are a lot of really important topics to talk about. i wouldn't just talk about this. i also wouldn't just talk about so many other topics. i'm sure syria and isis, north korea, ukraine come up, and

there are other issues on top of that that may come up as well. two alpha-type personalities in that room. i agree with one of your last guests, hour tomorrow will be an introductory meeting. that's absolutely true. i can see with these two personalities they are going to get into it a little with each other. hopefully the meeting ends productive and not just adversarial on defeating a line, like isis. >> and do you think russian meddling in elections, u.s., french, whatever, does that count as a destabilizing activity? >> oh, yeah. russia meddles in many different ways and it does destabilize -- i mean, he we are still half way through 2017, and you and i are talking about it. many other people are talking about what happened last november. so from that standpoint where

you have people who might be ideologically divided or divided on partisan lines here in the united states, talking about that happening during the 2016 election, that's certainly a factor. they meddle where we have troops in afghanistan and the russians are aligned with the taliban. so many different ways the meddling. you pointed out, they meddle, not just last year in 2016, but been doing it a long time. >> you seem to have a lot less doubt than the president does on that subject, but let's not talk about last year. let's talk about earlier this week with the north korean missile test. the first test, we believe, successful test, of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach alaska. listen to what the president said about the north korean threat. >> as far as north korea is concerned, i don't know. we'll see what happens. i don't like to talk about what i have planned. but i have some pretty severe things that we're thinking about. that doesn't mean we're going to do them. i don't draw red lines. >> do you think there's any

military option, realistic military option at this point, congressman when it comes to north korea? >> i think that the president is in the process of developing it. i -- when we look at -- i mean, the way we appropriate under the principle of diplomacy information, military economics and all options on the table, military is certainly the last resort, but i would hope, i would encourage, sure hope it's happening that within the administration they are planning for what, that military option wou would look like if absolutely necessary. the last thing you want to get to the point to utilize this and the planning should take place and the president shouldn't be detailing those particular parts of the plan, because they won't be as effective if you outline exactly how that's going to get executed, but certainly the last possible option. >> we have heard clearly from his national security adviser

and defense secretary they are presenting possible military oep options. as you say, no sign it is in any anyway inevitable. congressman zeldin from new york. thank you for being with us. and the meeting between angela merkel and president trump has just wrapped up. any word, jeff zeleny, what happened behind closed doors? >> reporter: john, we don't yet have a readout of the meeting but know the issues going into this meeting with the german chancellor and the president. you know, a variety of things. climate change, first and forward most. trade agreements. immigration. you name it. this is such a different setting, moment, for this president. we just landed here a few moments ago from warsaw, john. i can tell you the mood in hamburg, entirely different. the president received such a warm welcome this morning as he

was giving his speech in poland. it was such a, you know, a designed rally. almost felt like an international version of a trump rally we saw so much during the election cycle, but, john, this is so different, because donald trump is one of many here. one of many world leaders here, and the issues that he has with so many of them are quite complicated, and fraught. we don't have, yet, a readout of this particular one. it is the second time that chancellor merkel and the president have had a formal meeting likes this. about the fourth time, by my memory, they have actually met each other. awkward handshakes et cetera, but the president is off to dinner with another group of he'd a leaders. more coming up, john of the meeting. >> you mentioned awkward meetings. in between showing live pictures of protests in hamburg. tens of thousands on the streets. largely peaceful protests and saw pictures of the handshake today between president trump and the german chancellor and, yes, they did shake hands.

something pointed out to me not just on social media but directly by supporters of president trump who think it's significant. it is notable that the body language this time, pictures are up now, they are better. different, than, perhaps, we'd seen in the initial meetings between the president and the german chancellor. do you get the sense the white house was preparing for this? cares about the optics of meeting between these two leaders? >> sure. i think the white house absolutely cares about the optics of this. we've seen several sort of handshakes go awry. the one sort of the worst between these two leaders came in the oval office a few months back when they simply did not shake hands. in this instance this afternoon -- i am told she initiated the handshake by a pool reporter in the room. that she initiated this handshake here. yes, optics always matter. i think we make more of them now in the age of social media than we used to.

there always are awkward moments but the substance of this meeting. so many disagreements, john, that really will be an issue for these two countries going forward. >> just saw the video. we confirm, yes, she did seem to initiate the handshake. her hand went out first. outreach. physical, literal outreach from germany to the united states. >> but we're in her home town and country. seems hospitable. she would be someone to do that. i don't find that, that strange, actually. >> white house correspondent and protocol chief jeff zeleny from hamburg. thank you for being with us. check back in if we get a receipt outwhat went on inside that meeting. president trump says he is considering "pretty severe things" when dealing with the nuclear threat from north korea. is the window for a peaceful solution quickly closing? problem is, you'reith neterrible with names. okay, this is the boss. you got this. anna!...yes! new clients? we've been there.

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all right. this just in to cnn. the federal governments ethics watchdog, badge erg the trump white house says he's leaving. the director of the office of government ethics took on the president most notably over the president's refusal to separate himself from many of his business interests and also called ot president's aide kellyanne conway for plugging products from ivanka trump during a live tv interview. schaub is taking another job for tougher campaign finance law. his resignation is effective july 19th. all right. as we heard before the break, president trump says he's considering some pretty severe

things. his words, dealing with the latest sabre rattles from north korea. the president says he does not draw red lines when it comes to pgs options. how should the u.s. deal with north korea's successful nuclear ballistic missile? barbara starr joins us, and start with you. i understand you just heard from defense secretary james mattis briefing reporters. what's going on? >> an extraordinary couple of moments. coming down to the press area speaking on the record. we will have that audio a little bit later, but i want to tell you exactly what the headline was. let me quote the secretary. he told reporters, "i do in the believe this capability in itself brings us closer to war, because the president has been very clear. the secretary of state has been

very clear, that we are leading with diplomatic and economic efforts. the military remains ready in accordance with our alliance." that is the message that defense secretary mattis thought was so important that he wanted to come and tell reporters on the record, which he usually doesn't do very directly. so when he says the capability doesn't lead them to war, he's talking about the missile that sea launched. they saw it, monitored it, knew it wasn't headed towards the united states and take it very seriously. north korea is making progress, but this missile in and of itself is not something that james mattis wraunants to see l the country to war. he has been very public that war with north korea could be a disaster, a catastrophe for the people of south korea, for the entire asia-pacific region. so he is reinforcing that what

he believes the president is talking about is that this effort still will be led with diplomatic initiatives. john? >> do you get the sense, barbara, that the defense secretary was trying -- to, maybe, cool off some of the rhetoric or at least some of the questions raised over the president's language this morning when he talked about pretty severe action? when people were briefing saying that the president was discussing military options? trying to back off a little bit? >> i think what he's trying to do is walk the line, if you will. that in his view, diplomacy leads the options at the moment nap is t . that is the view of defense secretary mattis. he served in the military for decades. right? he has a very fine knowledge of what the military options are. the military options are continuously updated. they've been updated for president trump and make no mistake, the u.s. military does need to be ready to go. he made that very clear, should

north korea engage in additional significant provocation. he doesn't think from everything told us a short time ago this one-launch capability will get the u.s. into a war with north korea at this point. >> right. >> because of the dire consequences of it. so i think he wants to cool off a bit of rhetoric, shall we say, all the way around. >> the other part of it, language choice about the capabilities not changing things, colonel, because everything we've been hearing about this test this week, this is a very different weapon. something the north koreans have never used before, shown suction wi -- success. talking about missile which could reach alaska. seems the defense secretary is quite deliberately saying, don't be alarmed just by that? >> i think that's right, john, and to add to what barbara was saying, one 67 the key things the military looks at, not only

was it capable of doing something but what is the intention of the adversary. when you who look at the intentions, you're seeing secretary mattis saying, they don't want to go to war with us either at this point. they're going to provoke. they're going to do all kinds of things, but they're not going to deliberately attack us, and they're definitely not going to send something that will land in anchorage tomorrow. >> also in conjunction with the fact, colonel, the president doesn't set red lines. the notion we just heard. the defense secretary saying the capability doesn't change things. seems to me a deliberate message from the administration, that, hey, look, a red line for us is not an icbm test? >> that's right. red line i think would be something much more significant, dare we say much more kinetic. something that would actually explode somewhere and cause casualtiesthat would be a definite red line and i think the north knows that, but what

the administration seems to be trying to do is ratchet things back. yes, they understand that this is a new capability. something that is different from what the north koreans have done before, but it is maybe not the game-changer that we thought it initially was. >> and, john, if i could just jump in one second. to underscore what cedric said. chose a specific word military people would recognize. capability. this is a missile that could have that capability, but everyone we've talked to throughout the week says, look, north korea would have to still make a number of advances, a number of improvements for it to be able to actually hit the u.s. >> all right. barbara starr, again, breaking news. comments from defense secretary james mattis, talking to reporters by choice saying the capability now is icbm capability of north korea doesn't change the situation and quite deliberately saying diplomacy is the first option. barbara starr, colonel cedric layton, thank you for joining

us. >> you bet. shortly, the german ambassador to the united states will join me live. president trump and german chancellor angela merkel just wrapping up their meeting. what did they discuss? is there common ground between the two nations? perhaps some of the conflicts between these two leaders? did they mend some of those fences?

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ordinary, but we are keeping our eye on them and let you know if anything develops there. president trump had a number of tense, high-level meetings on the agenda for this trip. tomorrow he meets face-to-face with russian leader vladimir putin, and also speaks with the chinese presidesident jinping. we want to talk about that meeting and relationship. joining us, german ambassador to the united states. ambassador, thanks for being with us. i should tell our audience, we were just talking. neither knows what happened inside that meeting that just wrapped up. wish i had a reading. neither of us knows and jump into the discussion now. leading up to the meeting, angela merkel indicated there are differences now between the united states and germany. differences the countries need to be honest about. what would you say are the biggest differences? >> first of all, the two leaders have a good and working relationship. they met in washington, were

over the phone lots of times on the whole of the international agenda, just last monday the president assured the chancellor he wants to contribute to the success of the g-20 meetings but, yes, you are right. there are some differences and i would name here climate change, of course, and trade, and i guess those differences will be, or will have been addressed during that meeting. >> how important is it for the two leaders? we're looking at pictures, i should tell you, of their greeting before the meeting and there was a handshake there. how important is it to send this image of unity, or at least greaty unity here? so much was made of the fact a meeting at the white house with no handshake. do you think it's important that the woruld see these two shakin ha hands now? >> that was overblown and didn't correspond to the friendliness of the meeting. it was productive in washington.

both satisfied. so don't read too much into that. they have a good and productive relationship, and the chancellor will go out of her way to turn this important g-20 summit, you know, where the 20 leaders of the biggest economies in the world get together, turn this into a success, and she will, you know, work to forge compromise, to find common ground, including the interests of the united states and i think this is such an opportunity that the chancellor will not want to miss for -- for the good of that forum. the g-20. >> earlier today president trump in warsaw affirmed the u.s. commitment to article 5 of nato. collective security. i know the g-20 meeting is not a nato meeting. it's a separate organization. that aside, germany is a key member of nato. how important is it for germans to have heard out loud that commitment inside europe from president trump? >> it's good that he reaffirmed it. we've heard it from the

secretary of defense, secretary of state, from general mcmaster, national security adviser many times. the president has said it before and now said it again and it's a good sign. we want to be reassured that nato is still the bedrock of our common security. for us, you know, facing challenges from a newly sort of russia in the east. facing challenges from terrorism in the middle east. that is -- a welcome sign that the president's sent out. >> i want to play sound of what the president said about trade earlier today. listen to this. >> we want reciprocal trade relationships. we don't have too many of them. i said before that the united states has made some of the worst trade deals ever in history. that's going to change. >> now, the german foreign minister, your foreign minister, was warning that the u.s. may be starting a trade war.

with europe. what's leading to that concern? >> well, we also warned of free and fair and reciprocal trade and this this open enroll-based international trade order benefited us. all of us. over the decades. has brought us prosperity and stability. we are concerned, frankly. this is one of the distinctions that i think the leaders will address during that meeting, that there is a tendency of this administration to succumb to -- a bad sign as we see it that would not basically answer the, the situation. we know there are still capacities, over-capacities by china that would hit europe, and

europe could not sit idly by, and that would be bad for us, a lose-lose situation whereas we believe potentially free, fair and reciprocal trade is a win-win situation. >> ambassador peter wittig, ambassador from germany to the united states. thank you for being with us. >> a pleasure. thank you, john. coming up, the last stand for isis in raqqa. is it the last stance? will a defeat create new problems inside syria? we have a rare look from the front line, next. vere plaque psoriasis,... isn't it time to let the real you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... with reduced redness,... thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring.

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isis strongholds in iraq and syria could be on the verge of collapse, but the big question is, what happens to these battle zones if and when isis is finally gone? cnn's senior international correspondent nick peyton walsh has the story from syria. >> reporter: i'm about 40 miles away from raqqa city itself and how things have changed since we were here 18 months ago. isis are surrounded entirely, cordoned off in what they still call the capital of their self-declared caliphate.

coalition backing the syrian and arab fighters behind me here. moving into the old city area of raqqa itself, pushing through the substantial wall around it using air strikes and being able to bypass the mines and defensive positions that isis have put in place to try to slow this acc down. it seems to be moving far slow indeed. we've been american military vehicles moving at a reasonable frequency. it's the last option center isis really control because they're pretty much days away from losing the largest city they ever had which is mosul in iraq. literally a matter of hundreds of meters for iraqi forces to clear. they smell victory but the people they face are suicide bombers with civilians as human shields. a difficult task after that when they try to build iraq, fractured as a society between the sunni ethnic group and the

shia that dominate the am i right and government. they need healing so they can rebuild and here in syria too, the broader question of what happens when raqqa is finally liberated of isis, who rebids it, who moves in. the u.s. have a plan to move in quickly and try to get things going, but they probably haven't got the budget or the patience to stick it out until the end and the syrian regime is very close by. >> that was nick in syria. we have breaking news from the streets of hamburg, germany. this the site of the g20 summit. we've been keeping our eye on this over the last hour. big protests on the streets there. some 10,000 people until this moment. until this moment, they had been peaceful protests but obviously something has changed. you're now seeing the police there, law enforcement authorities firing water canons at the crowd right there. we're seeing some projectiles thrown back in.

no idea what provoked this action on the streets there. gas of some kind being thrown, a smoke diversion, pyrotech nick device there. we should note that protests, activities like these at these international gatherings, it has been expected, come to be expected at this point. in some cases, these protest areas are penned in or walled off, you know, blocks if not miles from where the meetings are actually taking place. i do not know if that is the case inside hamburg. nevertheless, again, what we're seeing right now, the beginnings of what could be some fairly low-scale clashes between law enforcement and the protesters. we see smoke. we've seen water cannons, water being used by law enforcement to the protesters. seems they've been dispersed right now. what we're seeing right now is primarily law enforcement out in force. we should note hundreds and hundreds, i'm sure thousands on

the streets there to keep them safe and to keep that city operating. w while the leaders of the 20 industrialized nations meet. it's something they've come to expect at these gatherings but it does make it difficult. you can see the haze over the crowd right there. frederick pleitgen who was there, now we're seeing jostling to be sure. let's listen. again, let's just be completely transparent here. we don't know who these protesters are or what exactly they're proprotesting. we do at these international gatherings we do see this. you get anarchists on the one hand, anti-globalists on the other hand. people protesting any number of things. most often, peaceful protests, people who want to have their voice heard to a gathering of the leading economic nations in

the world. this had been a peaceful demonstration up until now. our frederick pleitgen was on the streets there. told us about 10,000 people, he thinks. it could have grown on the streets there. then something set this off. we saw some skirmishes back and forth right there and then the water being shot there. again, this has been going on for some time. this follows the meeting between president trump and german chancellor angular merkel. we have nod had a readout of that meeting. we do know that meeting has wrapped up and president trump has moved on to other items on this agenda, not even sure how close these meetings are to where these demonstrations are taking place. you can see a large-scale action now by law enforcement moving through the crowd, trying to break them up. trying to break them up and disperse the crowd as best they can. our frederick pleitgen has been out on the streets this whole time. fred, what are you seeing? >> reporter: yes.

good. okay. >> fred, can you hear me? >> reporter: it looks like the things are kicking off here. you can see the water cannon trucks are in use back there. we think that some smoke bombs and fireworks were set off. we're going to try to get a little bit closer but we have to try to stay safe as well because there is a police line right around here. i'm going to take you to the front here. this is really the first time the violence has kicked off here and what's happened is that the protest march was lining up. the cops then stopped them, actually around where we are right now and told people to take face masks off because you're not allowed to wear masks here, and then at some point, it seems as though, you know, one thing led to another and then the first smoke bombs were thrown and now we have this where the water cannon trucks have been in use. the cops are moving around and creating a larger perimeter as well. we're going to try to get a little bit closer for you guys. >> fred, give us a sense of who

is out there protesting. if you can still hear me. you said thousands and thousands of people and polilease take ca of yourself, fred. but who's out there? >> reporter: yeah. look, a lot of them are sort of people who are left wing. it's a very international crowd. there's some centrist people as well. i would say the vast majority of folks here are peaceful and the demonstration up until now was peaceful as well. it was quite a good atmosphere over the past couple of hours. there's obviously a small, you know, arm of the people who are looking for a fight. you did see there were some sort of black block left wing people among the crowd as well. but by and large, it was peaceful people. at the same time, they are obviously have this, you know, sort of anti-capitalist agenda, many of them highly critical of president trump especially. there was quite a scene when president trump's helicopter went over the demonstration. and as i say, you know, so far, the demonstration has been fairly peaceful, but now it seems as though things are getting a little bit out of hand. this is also quite a bottleneck. i don't know if we make the shot

a little wider. you can see we're on a road that has linings on each side. there's folks up there as well. and the protesters really are sort of squeezed in between. if we go to the front, we can probably see a little more. if you guys follow me around here, you can see, i think, this is about as far as we're going to be able to get. there's some stun grenades and smoke grenades going off but that's not to worry about. so you can see right here we're at the first sort of police front line. the cops have taken up a position here and are now moving in with the water cannon trucks. you see back there, you can see those water cannon trucks firing. it seems as though they're coming from both directions. i'd say there's three water cannon trucks up there. there's also an armored vehicle as well to clear barricades but one of the things i think the police were concerned about. you can see people were above them up there. i think there were perhaps some bottles that were thrown off that building up here. and at