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[ music plays again ] a smarter way to wifi is awesome. introducing xfinity xfi. amazing speed, coverage and control. change the way you wifi. xfinity. the future of awesome. hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm isha sesay. >> and i'm john vause. we're live in los angeles, and it's just gone past midnight here on the west coast. thanks for being with us. we will begin this hour with new developments in the now infamous meeting between donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer link to the

kremlin. the "washington post" is reporting president trump personally dictated a misleading statement claiming the meeting was only about adoptions. trump jr. later released e-mails showing the meeting was set up to provide dirt on hillary clinton, which was provided from the russian government. >> well, the post says, quote, the strategy that advisers agreed should be for donald trump jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. they wanted to be truthful so their account couldn't be repudiated later in the full details emerged. but within hours at the president's direction, the plan changed. >> joining us now here in los angeles, cnn's senior reporter for media and former l.a. councilwoman wendy crewel and trump supporter john phillips. welcome to you all. back to the original statement that came out in response to "the new york times." this son july 9th. they're having exactly what that meeting was about. this is a statement that came from donald trump jr., why he was meeting with that

kremlin-linked lawyer. it was a short introductory meeting. i asked jared, jared kushner, and paul paul manafort to stop by. we primarily addressed a discussion about the adoption of russian children and ended by the russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow-up. so dylan, to you, we learned within days that statement from donald jr. was deliberately misleading. and if this report from "the washington post" is correct, we know why he did, because his father told him to. >> that's exactly right. the "washington post" reports by all accounts looks to be true. they're setting multiple sources. you have to think about the sources who would know that the president would have been behind such a statement. obviously. that would have had to have been present with him or around him when that happened. look, it's this sort of how many things does this white house and does this president want to sort of cover up, you know, knowing that in the modern media

culture, that information is going to come out. and at the end of the day, what this does it is shifts the focus from donald trump's son on to the president himself. it creates more questions. it once again throws the russia scandal back into the forefront of the news cycle at a time when there has been plenty of other things pour the media to focus on, not least is the palace intrigue with anthony scaramucci that you just talked about. you know, look, there are enough headaches to go around for this administration, and yet it keeps finding ways to create more. >> john, to bring you in here, i want you tao take a listen to tom hamburger, one of "the washington post" journalists who broke the story, speaking to our own jake tapper just a short time ago. >> sure. >> senior advisers to white house investigators and advisers to the president's inner circle recommended in the early going what they described to us as a more fulsome disclosure of what that meeting was like. in other words, it wasn't just

be described initially as a meeting about adoption of russian children in the united states. it would in fact be more of a disclosure of what that meeting was typically about. >> john, to pick up on what dylan was just saying, this report raises a whole new set of questionses does it not? >> but it looks like a lot of the other reports that we have seen in the past that have been these huge bombshells that we thought would dominate the presidency, where you have anonymous sources and you have stories that use the word "potential" a lot. in the first paragraph of this story, it said it had political and potentially legal peril. and the word potential was showing up all throughout the rest of this copy. i think it's just more of the same. and it's also indicative of what happens when you have an outsider who comes into the white house, and they don't have the typical cadre of political professionals around them. they wing it. and they do things that they probably shouldn't do, that probably aren't in their political best interests. >> the truth? >> no, no, back to that question. isn't the truth the truth?

>> whenever you have something like this go out you have different iterations of it. this is something that probably, if the story is true, that trump should have stayed out of. but this is what general kelly is really the task at hand for him is to professionalize these sorts of operations so you don't have situations like this popping up. >> so wendy, does that mean that general kelly will be able to make this administration essentially transparent and honest and open and put it all out there? real white hou all white house has level of intrigue to it. >> this story is never going to go away. when you are trying to cover up exactly what happened. and that i think it's very clear. because the statements that occurred from day one, it was only about adoptions. and then acknowledged it really was about the campaign are going to come back to haunt you. it's always the cover-up that causes more problems. and kelly is only going to be successful if he is able to control the president of the

united states. who tweets every single day something new. >> and dylan, just bringing you in, the key here is the involvement of the president. we know the statement was misleading. we know "the new york times" reporter, i think it was july 11th, a few davis they broke the story, that the president signed off on donald trump jr.'s initial response. this reporting now says he was intimately involved in misleading the public and putting out a misleading statement. that's the big cliffer here, right? >> yeah, absolutely. and look, to take issue with what john said. and i say this with all due respect. this effort to sort of try and cast doubt on the media any time anything negative comes out about trump, to suggest that because it's anonymous sources we shouldn't trust veteran reporters at "the washington post," to suggest that somehow the issue here is sort of the ambiguity of the reporting, forget about legality. forget about potential, what have you. the president of the united states was intimately involved in trying to mislead the

american people about a meeting his son had which involved foreign government trying to influence the presidential election in the united states. i don't think that you can cover that up. i think that's seems pretty clear-cut to me. and i think if you can put aside your partisan hat for a while, that's obviously troubling. and i think certainly you would find it troubling if it came from a democrat. so yes, it is an issue. look, i'm a media reporter. every so-called bombshell report has a way of fizzling out in a matter of days. but big picture, this russia story isn't going away. and again, even when we're focused on other things, whether it's palace intrigue or health care, this russia story has a way of rearing its head. >> speaking of the big picture, let's just remind everyone of the denials we got weeks ago from trump's lawyer about all of this, jay sekulow. take a listen. >> wasn't involved in the statement drafting at all. nor was the president.

but i'm assuming that was between mr. donald trump jr., between don jr. and his lawyer. i'm sure his lawyer was involved. that's how you do it. >> john, wendy? again, the question is how do you square that with "the washington post" reporting. >> i mean i think it's very clear. this is going to be a problem for the president of the united states. what it says there is that they lied. he was involved. i mean, this story today has legs. it's not something that is going to go away. and it is going to be looked at by mueller. every time that some other story comes up, he is still going to be looking at the russian story. i think the president is misleading the public. and that's a scary thought for this country. >> i think three days from now we're going to be moving on to something else, not remembering this story. if it is true, if he did participate in this, it's not what he should be spending his time on. >> it's not illegal in and of itself. politicians do it all the time. but there are obviously -- >> lying to the public.

>> exactly there is questions of cover-up and social justice. here is a little bit more of the reporting from "the washington post." trump say say is increeingly acting as his own lawyer, publicist and strategist, often ignoring the recommendations of the people he hired. he doesn't think he is in any legal jeopardy. he really views this as a political problem he is going to solve by himself. robert mueller, the special counsel white house preserve, all documents relating to that meeting, any disclosures about the june 2016 meeting. so again to you, dylan, either there is one thousand or so coincidences out there involving russia, or there are some serious legal questions, which are seem to be developing here. >> and of course there are serious legal questions developing here. but that is up to mueller to do his legwork and do the work it takes, take the time it takes to do it. and until that's done, you know, like john says, these stories

will sort of come up. and then they will fizzle out. but i think the larger point there about the president sort of not trusting his advisers, not trusting anyone but himself, we have seen that time and time and time again. and in fact, that is why kelly has been brought in as chief of staff there is hope here that finally order will be imposed on this administration. not only on the staff, but perhaps on the president himself. obviously, that's a tall order given this president's reluctance to listen to anyone but, you know, his what's going on in his own head when he happens to be watching cable news late at night, tweeting out his errant thoughts. >> what about that point, that the president has this repeated tendency to wade into issues that he could leave well alone? >> they made a fatal mistake at the beginning of the administration when they thought that they could bring establishment republicans into the white house and we'd all be one big happy family. a the fact of the matter is he passed over a lot of people who

were loyal to him during the campaign, who had been loyal to him for long periods of time. and instead he brought in people like reince priebus. he brought in people like sean spicer, whose loyalties were not to donald trump, whose loyalties were to the rnc. they came from a completely separate organization. and i think because of that, you've seen a lot of leaks. you've seen a lot of people who have damaged the president, who have damaged the white house to try to further their own gains. and because of that, he doesn't trust a lot of people who work for him. of people who work have to for him. and they're going to have to make some personnel changes. they've already made a bunch. >> funny you should mention that. there are more on the way. >> just a few. >> because he also brought in anthony scaramucci. and if you bought milk on the same day that anthony scaramucci was hired, it would still be fresh. the guy lasted 11 days. >> 11 day. >> this is not going to do a lot to calm the turmoil in the white house. >> even though he tweeted today white house not in chaos, in

fact it is. and the american people believe that politico did an even last week before all of this thought that it was in chaos. just imagine today if they polled they would see that it was in chaos. kelly has made some strong today on his first day, getting rid of the mooch and doing some other things. but until we see he actually has control, it's going to be a very hard job for him. and, you know, they say everyone will report to him. imagine you are ivanka and jared, and it's thanksgiving dinner. they're still going to talk to him. they're still going to be able to go around kelly. i think it's going to be an interesting task, taj. >> i think trump's point is right. i think as political junkies, all of us care about the palace intrigue. i think the man on the street doesn't care. i think the man on the street wants the look at his pension funds and see that the 401(k)s are doing well with the statemestock market is high. they want to make sure that the border is secure, that real estate prices are holding, unemployment is low. all of those things are doing

just fine right now. and donald trump is the president. >> but let me ask you this, to that point. if the man on the street doesn't see any movement in the president's legislative agenda, does he not at some point correlate with what is happening in the white house with the lack of action on capitol hill? >> they need to get health care reform through. they need to get tax reform through. but just the standard metrics we judge every president on, the stock market, i believe border security is something we should judge all of them on, in this particular case, illegal immigration has fallen off the cliff. unemployment is low. i think the man on the street is happy with their life right now. >> i would disagree. middle america is still unemployed. there is a number of people who have not gotten these brand-new jobs that the president promised him. they also were concerned enough to stand up and say we don't want that health care reform. we want to still have the aca, obamacare and some form or fashion. and it was clear there were enough republicans and the

people on the street who said i don't want the lose my health care. that 22 million individuals. >> so dylan, you're anthony scaramucci. 11 days. that is a record we believe for the shortest serving white house communication. maybe someone in the reagan administration served a little shorter. >> it's close. >> exactly. national security adviser michael flynn was fired after 23 days. flynn was the shortest. priebus was the shortest serving chief of staff, 189 days. and sean spicer was the sixth shortest serving white house spokesman. there is obviously turmoil within this white house. that obviously can't get their act together. and that is manifesting itself in so many different ways, each and every day. >> yeah. and that is really where the palace intrigue and the policy go hand in hand. you can't be an effective president of the united states if you can't keep your own house in order. if you can't keep your own west wing in order. part of the reason that all of these shake-ups matter so much, there are so many warring

factions in the white house. they have so many different agenda as, this constant stream of leaks that everyone in the white house keeps complaining about, those happen because trump enjoying having his own deputies go head to head with each other. he enjoys that fight. we saw him do it on "the apprentice" on nbc. we're seeing him do it now in the white house. that becomes very problematic later down the line when some of the voter, that base of 35, 38% of americans are saying wait a second, what happened to health care? what happened to tax reform? what happened even to perhaps building the wall with mexico? i mean a, if you're an ineffective leader, i think that begins -- that point begins to be driven home. john is right when he says that voters care about their jobs, their wages, the economy. they care about things like that. but over time, if you appear to be ineffective, both at running your own shop and pushing through any effective legislation, that is really going to wear on your

reputation, even with your base. >> it would seem that all the pressure now is on general kelly to rein the white house in, to bring order to what has been widely described as chaos. former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski had some advice for him. take a listen. >> the thing that general kelly should do is not try to change donald trump. chuck, as you know, i say you have to let trump be trump that is what has made him successful over the last 30 years. that's what the american people voted for. anybody who thinks they're going to change donald trump doesn't know donald trump. >> wendy? is that the right way for general kelly to handle? >> i think he is probably right in what he said. but i believe general kelly believes that he can change things that he can change the way in which the white house operates. i think it's a tall order, a tall task. and the first thing that really will demonstrate that he has made a difference is to not see tweets by donald trump every

single day. and that we can take bets on that whether that will happen. >> john kelly should hang on the that flight jacket. clearly that was a walk in the park. >> governor brown once said governing the state of california is like steering in a canoe. a little to the left, a little to the right, you end up in the middle. with donald trump letting trump be trump works. when he goes a little too far, they push him to the other side. he does the scripted speeches. then he gets bored with that and goes back the other way. he cruised from the canoe in the primaries. he cruised to victory in the general and the special elections. i think it might be the secret sauce. >> it's trump be trump secret sauce. >> there you go. new marketing opportunity. dylan, thank you so much and john and wendy, thank you. >> thank you so much, appreciate it. next on "newsroom l.a.," vice president mike pence warning russia do not test the u.s. but moscow is striking back at likely new sanctions. and pushback from china over

what to do about north korea's latest missile launch. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again.

the u.s. vice president mike pence is putting vladimir putin

on notice, warning the trump administration will not tolerate aggression by russia towards its neighbors. >> in estonia monday, pence said russia has tried to redraw international borders by force, and he warned the u.s. won't accept that. >> he referred to the annexation of crimea in 2014 and said the u.s. will not stand by if russia uses force, threatens or tries to intimidate the baltic states. >> and no threat looms larger in the baltic states than the spector of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east. at this very moment, russia continues to seek to redraw international borders by force, undermine democracies of sovereign nation, and divide the free nations of europe, one against another. . >> well, let's get the view from moscow on all of this. cnn's clare sebastian is in the russian capital. claire, good to see you. claire, do these comments by the vice president effectively signal that the trump administration has given up on any kind of reset of u.s.-russia

relations? >> isha, there is no doubt these are very strong comments from mike pence. and given the added sting of being delivered in estonia, a nato country on russia's western border, and he was flanked by leaders of baltic countries, this is nothing that russia hasn't heard before. i think over the last six months, a number of members of the trump administration, be it mike pence, be it u.n. ambassador nikki haley. even rex tillerson delivered much stronger stances against russia than perhaps president trump himself has. i think the real damage to the relationship was done with this passage through congress of that sanctions bill. i think that was concrete evidence to russia of just how many people in washington favor a tougher stance. one russian newspaper head lane over the past week had a caption that read president trump is a stranger among his own people.

so, yes, these were extremely strong comments. yes, they will be seen as provocative here in moscow. but i think the damage was already done. >> clare sebastian joining us there from moscow. claire, appreciate it. thank you. to london now, we'll bring in steve erlanger, "the new york times" london bureau chief. thank you for getting up early and being with us. you saw the u.s. vice president. he addressed russia's retall nation in response to the sanctions. this is what vice president pence had to say. >> we hope for better days for better relations with russia. the recent diplomatic action taken by moscow will not deter the commitment of the united states of america to our security, the security of our allies, and the security of freedom-0ing nations around the world. >> we've seen this a lot. u.s. officials go overseas. they talk tough. does it matter that those words have not come directly from president trump himself who has

remained silent about the sanctions? >> i think it matters enormously. i think all american allies want to hear these words from donald trump. he had an opportunity at nato to say them. he was supposed to say them. he didn't say them. he sort of said it later buffet the kind of language coming from pence is traditional republican language. it's what the republicans in the senate, what john mccain believe. it doesn't seem to be what the president believes. i think the president in some part of himself thinks vladimir putin was justified in expelling different diplomats from moscow in retaliation to sanctions that originally had been put on by president obama. the senate has inflicted these new sanctions on trump, who must sign the bill, if he vetoes it,

he'll be overridden. but he is clearly reluctant. so i think you're right. it matters tremendously that these words come from underlings, but not from the commander in chief. >> steve, on monday we saw another shake-up at the white house. the communication director out after 10 or 11 days. at the same time general kelly takes over as chief of staff. would european leaders be looking at those events? would they be reassured by what happened or do they just see more chaos in the oval office? >> well, i think they hope it's the end to a degree of chaos. i mean, john kelly obviously insisted on being the disciplinarian. he insisted on being chief of staff. he insisted that scaramucci, who had his own line to the president, be fired. i think most people -- no one wants a white house that fails. no one wants a presidency that fails. and it looked like the white house was on its way to failing. now the question is can general

kelly, who is a very straight forward, tough guy from boston, he can impose discipline presumably on the white house staff. it's less clear he can impose discipline on the president of the united states. what he really needs to do besides that is repair relations with the republican party. because if he doesn't, if trump doesn't, trump is not going to get anything through the senate. >> how confident are european leaders right now that the u.s. administration has the ability to deal with the crisis not of its own making? for example, the threat coming from north korea? >> well, i don't think anyone's very confident anyone can be dealing with that very well. trump has put a lot of his money on xi jinping controlling north korea. that's a hart thing. partly because xi jinping doesn't actually care that much. and the last thing he wants is a failed north korea with millions

of refugees pouring into china. i think the military response to north korea seem quite thin. it does seem north korea is sending messages that it would like to have direct talks with the united states. and trump hazy said in his campaign, he had no objection to talks with kim jong un. but they would have to be very carefully prepared. and there would have to be some real preconditions. so i don't think just relaying on china and yelling about north korea on twitter is going to do the trick. >> okay, steve. i guess it's a lot of questions about how this administration would deal with a crisis, especially like north korea, which is looming larger every day. but thank you for being with us, steve. good to talk with you. >> thanks, john. well, coming up after the break, we'll have more on the search for the next step for north korea. the u.s. president makes a promise after friday's missile launch. if you have medicare

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hello, everyone, you're watching cnn live from los angeles. >> it is time to check the headlines. the white house once again looking for a communications director. anthony scaramucci was forced it on monday, just 11 days into the job. he made headlines with a profanity-laced interview last week. one source says the new white house chief of staff, general john kelly thought scaramucci was undisciplined and had burned his credibility. "the washington post" reports donald trump initially dictated his son's statement about a meeting with a russian

president in june of last year. the meeting had been arranged to provide damaging information about hillary clinton from the russian government. u.s. vice president mike pence warning russia about trying to redraw borders with neighbors by force. in estonia he said the u.s. would not tolerate that. but it says washington will be allowed to decide who has to go home. while there is growing concern of missile capabilities after friday's launch, but little agreement about what to do about it. >> the u.s. president lashed out at china on saturday saying beijing could easily solve the problem. by monday he said the u.s. would deal with it. but he offer nod specifics. >> we're going to be able to handle it. it will be handled. we handle everything. thank you very much. >> expert says friday's missile had a flatter trajectory, it could have threatened u.s.

cities. it was new york's second intercontinental ballistic mill launch in the past month. >> clayton bibby joins me now, the director of the university of southern california's u.s. china institute. thank you for coming in. just picking up on what the president said, we'll handle it. do you view that as u.s. sakes on china to make them handle it. is that what the president is talking about here? >> it's not at all clear what the president means by when we will handle it. the administration has not spoken with one voice on north korea. you've got a cia director who has suggested that some sort of surgical strike might separate the leadership from the systems. and you've got others who recognize the complexity of any kind of military option. if the president means we're going to further pressure beijing to do something, i think he is going to be disappointed. >> and that actually could come maybe this week, according to some reports. what is interesting is there are

these hard-liners within the trump administration. and they want to get much tougher on china, not just with north korea, but they also want to roll in the issue of trade. and they're looking at putting tariffs on chinese steel and mixing this into the one issue. what do you see are the problems that that could eventuate? >> well, now it's not possible to deal with all the u.s.-china relationship in one package. these things have to be separated out. because they affect different consistencies both here and the united states and in china. you can't just lump it all together. the expectation that donald trump had was that china enjoys a trade, a good trade relationship with the united states. if they want to continue to have that, they will close the door on north korea. but that overestimates the capacity beijing has to do just that. beijing is limited.

it's hard to understand this, but beijing is limited in north korea. >> it's also limited in a sense that it doesn't really want to change the status quo there is nothing in it for them. so why are they going to do the bidding of the united states? >> no, this is quite the point is the united states interests in north korea and chinese interests in north korea are not the same. so we shouldn't expect that beijing would want to act in a way that would benefit our interest, potentially damaging their own. >> we have this aset. from the u.s. senator dianne feinstein. she was talking about the threat posed by north korea after the latest missile launch. here is what she said. >> i make it as a clear and present danger to the united states. i spent time on the intelligence at the briefings and done as much reading as i possibly could. and i'm convinced that north korea has never moved at the speed that this leader has to develop an icbm. >> if the united states is

facing a clear and present danger, there is no reason to doubt senator feinstein, should the united states be outscattered showersing this problem to china in the first place? >> no. and we tried that we asked beijing to handle it, and they demonstrated that they were not able or not willing to do so in the way we wanted. it is a clear and present danger not just in the united states, but to south korea, to japan, and to these others. and they have to be involved in any attempt at a solution. >> and we know the president spoke with the japanese prime minister on monday as well. also over the weekend, chin's president xi jinping addressed troops for army day. but this year it was different. it's the ninth anniversary of the pla. they held this great big parade in mongolia, 12,000 troops, first time ever in mongolia. you can see president xi jinping there in army fatigues. they're saying it's the first time he's ever been wearing the army fatigues.

is president executive sexi wit this, to the rest of the region and the world? >> absolutely. although the first message in china is always for the chinese people. and it's important to recognize that xi's first and most important position is to be chair of the communist party's central military commission. the party controls the gun. so that's message number one. this is the party's army. message number two is that when china was not so physical, when china's military was not so robu robust, china was preyed upon by others. and the message of the party to the people is we don't let that happen anymore. >> a lot of people don't realize that the military in china answers to the communist party, swears loyalty to the communist party, not to the nation. >> that's correct. >> thank you very much for coming in. >> my pleasure. well, when we come back, venezuela, president nicolas

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well, there are reports coming from venezuela the two opposition leaders who were under house arrest have been taken from their homes. one is leopoldo lopez. he spent time in prison after being sentenced to nearly 14 years. he was transferred to house arrest last month buzz of health concerns. >> his wife just posted this video on twitter. it shows the moment lopez was taken away by government intelligence service. his wife says president nicolas maduro is, quote, responsible if something happens to him. >> meanwhile, president maduro is lashing out after being slapped with sanctions from the u.s. any assets he had in the u.s. are frozen. and americans are banned from doing business with him. the u.s. is calling maduro a dictator after a controversial vote the white house says is a

sham. >> >> at least 125 people have guide in four months of violent clashes. now he is attacking u.s. president donald trump. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: why are they sakesing me? because i can tell the truth about persecution of mexican and latin american peoples by donald trump. the deportations, expulsions, abuse and torture of thousands of latin americans. please take note. you are either with trump or you with venezuela. >> for more on this we're joined by former foreign policy journalist peter wilson. peter, welcome to the program. the trump administration has described sunday's vote as an outrageous seize of power by nicolas maduro. and critics have called this election a tipping point towards dictatorship. do you agree with those

elections? >> yes, i do. the whole election on sunday was a farce. the election itself, the way it was called, the way it was announced was by many experts called illegal. there was no constitutional. justification for having such a referendum, especially as it was not approved by the people. it's only called for by the president. so it was a farce. the government said 8.5 million venezuelans participated. it seems far less than that participated. perhaps 2.5, 2.6 million. the fact is this as regards personal freedoms, as regards political freedoms, freedom of press, freedom of expression, freedom of protest, all of those will be curtailed drastically, especially on wednesday when the new constitutional assembly will be sworn in. when that happens, the existing parliament, the national assembly will effectively lose all of its powers.

and that body is controlled by the opposition. >> nicolas maduro someone of the few heads of state to be sanctioned by the u.s. president following in the steps of bashar al assad, kim jong un, and of course zimbabwe's president robert mugu gabe. the bad boys of politics club, if you will, they have largely continued with business as usual and have not changed actions or policies due to being sanctioned by the u.s. is there any reason to believe that nicolas maduro will somehow change his behavior, change his actions because he is now being sanctioned by the u.s.? >> of course not. president maduro may not be the smartest venezuelan president in history, be he is not stupid. i'm sure that he has always of his assets in countries where his funds cannot be touched. what the u.s. did today or last night was a very symbolic but ineffective move.

>> okay. symbolic but ineffective. let me ask you this. why stop short on the part of the u.s.? why stop short of targeting the venezuelan oil industry with sanctions, which many argue is a far more quicker, more effective way to force the hand of maduro to rein back or roll back on these dictatorial tendencies? >> i think theoretically that might make sense. it might be attractive to people looking for a short-term solution. but as we saw in cuba, economic sanctions don't really work. in cuba they were in effect for 50 years there was no change in the regime. i think the same would hold true to venezuela. both russia and china would rush in with financial support if the united states would target the oil industry. such a move by the united states would have a very short-term impact.

domestically in the u.s. probably drive up gasoline prices. and its impact after a month or so would be minimal on the venezuelan oil industry. there is a flood market. there is an oil market there a glut of oil on the market. so it would be very easy for venezuela to replace any crude lost by the united states. >> peter wilson, great the speak to you. thank you so much for the insight and the analysis. >> well, thank you. >> it's coming up 10 minutes to the hour. we'll take a short break here on "newsroom l.a." when we come back, family and friends of princess diana once again fighting for her privacy and protesting. a documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.

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allergytry new xyzal®.ou have symptoms like these for relief is as effective at hour 24 as hour one. so be wise all take new xyzal®. a world row has erupted about plans to air a documentary about the late princess of wales. 20 years after her death, family and friends are once again fighting for her privacy. >> news channel 24 says it will show a video talking about princess diana and her troubled relationship with the queen. experts were shown in 2004, but they've actually never been aired in britain. entertainment gist sandra minute net -- minetti joins us.

not one of the pack of paparazzi, but a reporter who covered princess diana? >> that's right. i started my career covering diana. and i remember she always wanted the true story to come out. she felt very overwhelmed. and i remember around that time her collaborations with andrew morton and then the martin bashir documentary. she really threw a hand grenade on the royal family by exposing what was really going on. >> there is a couple of issues here. part of the tapes have already been set, already again to air in the united states. legally, channel 24 in britain is clear to put this stuff to air because dead people don't have a right to privacy. but what about her families? >> well, this is the debate. this there is also a debate going on in britain why should channel 4 do this? from a media point of view, william and harry collaborated with the two main networks in britain, bbc and itv did their own documentary, speaking so

movingly about their emotions, about the death of their mother. they didn't give that to all channels. and that opened the door for other channels to scramble around and buy what is out there. and what channel 4 has got is this explosive tape of diana talking about all sorts of things to her voice coach at the time, to her public speaking, talking about her sexually after or lack of it with prince charles and lots of other juicy stuff, about the queen and prince philip, yeah. >> as you described it as explosive, what's the fallout here for the likes of prince charles and his wife, camilla parker-bowles, the other lady in al of this? >> yes, absolutely terrible. there is the revelation that diana claims when she confronted charles about his having a mistress, he said to her i refuse to be the first princess of wales ever not allowed to have a mistress. and this is the stuff that continues to be so fascinating about diana. >> you said that she is the most

famous woman of the 20th century. >> we're way into the 21st century. princess diana died 20 years ago in august. i just don't understand how this fascination has survived for such a long time, given so much has been written, so much has already gone to television, so much has been revealed. why can't they let it go? i really don't understand. >> the biggest movie of this year, "beauty and the beast." the whole disney princess thing. still today as they have throughout history, girls are sort of raised of this idea of the princess and fascination. a real-life princess. >> we've gone through everything. >> and we live in a more cynical and sarcastic age. >> everything to be known is already to be known there is a couple of tidbits but for the most part it is out there. move on. >> the marilyns and the jfks, and the elvis, the fascination endures. >> exactly. it would never end.

it would go on forever because she is one of the few figures in human history that fascinates so many people buzz of what she represents and what she was and who she was. >> this far on, doesn't the family and the friends of princess diana deserve some respect after everything they've already been through? >> absolutely. absolutely, yes. and they took seemingly the right move. but they need better media management. and that's always been the fault in my opinion of buckingham palace. they haven't managed the press correctly. there was a way the avoid this. and they didn't do it right. >> well, scaramucci is free. >> they're looking for a communications director. >> the mooch in london! >> the mooch in buckingham palace. >> sandro, thanks for coming in and dressing appropriately too. god save the queen. >> the mooch is out. >> yes, yes. he will not be at buckingham palace, i'm pretty sure of that. >> and we're out too. you're watching "newsroom l.a." i'm isha sesay. >> i'm john vause. the news continues on cnn, but

not with us. but it will be someone good, i'm sure. see you tomorrow.

did president trump dictate the initial response to his son's meeting with a russian lawyer? a major new report this morning that could spell further trouble for the commander in chief. well, it didn't take long for the new chief of staff to make his mark. anthony scaramucci is out as communications chief, and john kelly putting a quick end to a whirlwind 11 days. good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm alison kosik in for christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it's been an extraordinary day in news, and it's only tuesday, august 1st