for any of his victims. they were all soldiers of the technological society as far as he was concerned. he had a higher purpose, and they were immaterial to him. turkey pushes deeper into syria as the kurds issue a desperate pressure to the u.s., saying they are left to be similaritied. the u.s. president now defends rudy giuliani. donald trump says he stands by his personal attorney. >> also ahead this hour, dangerous wildfires burning in california. firefighters doing their best to contain those fires. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm george howell. the cnn "newsroom" starts right now.

it is 4:00 a.m. here on the u.s. east coast. thank you so much for your time today. they were key u.s. allies in the fight against isis, but right now kurdish fighters are being targeted by another u.s. ally. that would be turkey. the u.s. withdrawal from that region cleared the way for an offensive by the turks and arab militia in northern syria. despite criticism, u.s. president donald trump keeps defending the move. >> the kurds are tending to leave, and that's good. let them have their borders. but i don't think our soldiers should be there for the next 50 years guarding a border between turkey and syria when we can't guard our own borders at home. i don't think so. >> the largely kurdish-syrian

democratic forces accuse on the united states of betraying them. barbara starr has the story from the pentagon. >> reporter: as the turkish military action continues, cnn has learned new details how they feel about what has happened with the u.s. in his view very much turning their backs on his people. cnn has obtained an internal u.s. administration readout of a meeting that he had with a senior state department official where the syrian military leader was furious to say the least. let me read a bit of what the general, according to this readout, had to say to the u.s. state department official. he said, and i quote, you have given up on us. you are leaving us to be slaughtered. you have nothing for us. you are not willing to protect the people but you do not want

another force to come and protect us. you have sold us. this is immoral. general mazloum very passionate about defending the area where the kurdish syrian fighters have been working so closely with the u.s. to defeat isis, their villages, their towns, their areas where they consider it to be their home. and they consider the turks to be invading them. the readout goes on to say, i need to know if you are capable of protecting my people of stopping these bombs falling on us or not. i need to know, because if you're not, i need to make a deal with russia and the regime now and invite their planes to protect this region. he of course is very concerned about turk i aircraft bombing his people, and the u.s. is making it clear it will not step into the fight between the turks, which are a u.s. nato

ally, and general mazloum and his kurdish syrian fighters. barbara starr, the pentagon. >> he made it clear he thinks the u.s. sold them out. now we are seeing now and very graphic video coming out of the northern part of that country. in this video, it appears to show turkish-backed fighters shooting. one of the man who gets shot has his hands behind his back. we warn you the video you are about to see is very graphic. here it is. an activist tells the "new york times" that happened on

saturday. the gunmen are turkish-linked militants. they can be heard shouting in a arabic, film me shooting them and killing him. cnn's arwa damon has more from southern turkey. >> reporter: the wails of sorrow ebg dough throughout the gravesite in the early morning. a woman cries out for his dead son. he was too young. he was too young to die. others unwilling to let go of those they loved. those taken away too soon, too senselessly. buried her his a father of five,

killed when a barrage of rounds fell in front of the grocery store he owns. and all eight people, civilians, were killed. six of them buried here in the small cemetery up against the syrian border in the shadow of the syrian city. they were members of the minority with a tormented past and uncertain future. the turks fire and the other side retaliates. when that happens? who does it hit? it hits us. we just collect our dead and bury them, he said. he said good-bye to his cousin, who is a father of four. this is one of his four kids, the 4-year-old. but he has a newborn as well. he describes his cousin as a happy man whose only problem was he was kurdish. many here have relatives on the other side. families on both sides of this

border are caught in the crosshairs of an offensive whose consequences are unknown. the cemetery clears out quickly. even in their sorrow, people are afraid of gathering in large groups, lest more rounds fall again. for turkey, the ypg poses an existential threat and they are determined to destroy no matter the cost. it is an off shoot of the pkk, can has been designated a terrorist organization by turkey, the u.s.,ing and t and . a region whose population has been caught in turkey's war on terror before. we are being told there used to be single story homes here, but they were destroyed in the most recent clashes. very fierce fighting that broke out between turkey and the pkk. that was back in 2015. and many of the homes here were

subsequently destroyed. what people are telling us is about a month ago the turkish government gave them keys to these apartments. they had only just returned. now they have found themselves in the middle of a war zone once again. this is a video right after the strike. it's very hard to look at. a mother and her two daughters died. they were e barely teens. the kurdish population along both sides of this border know war. they know fear and uncertainty. and that war often blurs the lines between those who are armed and those who are innocent. arwa damon, cnn, turkey. back here in the united states, the u.s. president is now defending his personal attorney, a day after he appeared to distance himself from rudy giuliani. the "new york times" reporting that giuliani's dealings in eye crane are under criminal

investigation and may have violated federal lobbying lines. our jeremy diamond reports from the white house. >> reporter: even as president donald trump is mounting his own defense in house democrats rapidly advancing impeachment inquiry, the president now also tasked with defending his personal attorney, rudy giuliani, who has come under fire for his role in the ukraine scandal. now the "new york times" reporting federal investigators are probing whether or not rudy giuliani may have violated federal foreign lobbying laws. the president taking to twitter defending so now they are after the legendary crime buster examine greatest mayor in the history of new york city, rudy giuliani. he may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes but he is also a great guy and

wonderful lawyer. it comes despite the fact that we are being told privately the president has begun to express concerns to rudy giuliani and the legal exposure he may face particularly after two of his associates in the ukraine matter were arrested on campaign finance charges. now, despite the president focusing now also on defending his personal attorney, he is still on the attack against house democrats who are continuing to investigate the president over his call with the ukrainian president and the matters arising from that. the president saying that he is considering a lawsuit against congressman adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligent committees who is one of democrats leaders on this impeachment inquiry. i spoke on saturday with jay sekulow who would say nothing is off the table. but they are only in the research phase of potential legal action. cnn, the white house. let's put it into focus with

a professor of government at the university of essex joining us live from cole chester, england. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. . >> behind the scene sources saying the white house is concerned about legal exposure. as we saw with mr. trump's other personal attorney, michael cohen, does loyalty, in your view, have an expiration date with giuliani and, if so, when do you believe that will happen? >> i think it will soon. they have had a long relationship. they have known each other for decades. what trump loves is he is very aggressive. he came on board as a surrogate during the 2016 mueller probe. i thought he would be fired the first day he went on tv pause he was so confusing. but that may be by design.

misinformation kpaeups can be really effective when you don't have a good defense. as we are starting to see some cracks in this relationship, now that two of rudy giuliani's associates have been arrested, he is reportedly under investigation himself. this is really pushing trump to see how loyal he can be to giuliani. it is only a matter of time that he will start to distance himself. we started to see the seeds of than when he said, well, i don't know if he's my lawyer or not. then he backtracked a little bit. i think it is just a matter of time. >> "new york times" is reporting the former mayor is the subject of a criminal probe into whether he broke any foreign lobbying laws. giuliani is saying he's not aware of any investigation suggesting this is nothing but leaks, calling it a political attack and adding if it were an

appropriate investigation, then officials would try to keep it secret so the subjects are not aware of it. what do you make of that argument? . >> it's a crazy argument. it doesn't make sense. again, it's classic giuliani. he just puts out a lot of information out to the public that is not true. he doesn't seem to be aware of the laws that he is allegedly violating, lobbying related laws, related to his records to oust the former ambassador to ukraine. he doesn't seem to be aware that he is central to this ukraine probe. he is one of the central figures in trying to get the ukraine government to investigate trump's political opponents. so his normal response is, as i mentioned, he just creates confusion with his answers. . >> the president is taking heat over his foreign policy to pull troops out of syria and to abandon the kurds.

the kurds who fought alongside the united states against isis. in the short-term, how do you see this playing out on foreign policy? and in the long term, what's the impact here? . >> this is a huge mistake by the president. because the kurds were the only effective militia in dealing with the islamic state. they are currently holding in detention centers over 12,000 members of islamic state, 4,000 of which are foreigners. they are in secret detention centers along the turkish border. they had announced they had basically defeated the islamic state. by august the government warpbld they were coming back. they will need the u.s.'s help. instead, the u.s. has abandoned them. one, we have no credibility with some of niece non-state actors that are very critical to providing stability and to advancing u.s. security interests. the other big issue, it seems to

be inviting russia, from the clips that you already presented, to get involved, and to be seen as a peacemaker and to engineer a deal and to have more of this influence in the region. and the biggest issue is that it may look ed to the resurgence of the islamic state. we just don't know how powerful it may be able to come pack given the void that we have left in the region and the fact that the kurds are completely vulnerable to this aerial bombing campaign by the turks. >> giving us perspective on this, natasha, thank you so much. >> still ahead on cnn "newsroom", the ground in southern california, the people there dealing with raging wildfires. we met with some of them. many say they still have blessed. now that we have your attention, we will bring you that after the break. rescue efforts are in full swing in japan after

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the city of new orleans,

caress cue crews are searching for the last person missing after a building collapsed saturday morning. take a look at this. >> oh, my god. >> eyewitnesses captured that moment that the hard rock hotel crashed to the street. the building under construction. more than 100 workers were on site. the accident killed two people. at least 18 others were injured there. officials brought in a crane to help stabilize what's left of that building. in southern california, firefighters are working around the clock to contain several fast-moving wildfires. riverside county, two people died in the sandalwood fire. that fire is still burning, as we understand. saddlewood has burned more than

3,000. evacuation orders are slowly being lifted. 100,000 people in the l.a. area were forced to leave their homes. cnn is in granada hills with this story. >> reporter: so with the fire not growing any more, a lot of homeowners are returning to see what's left. the 31 homeowners who saw their houses either damaged or completely destroyed, this house belonged to the silver family. they have a son who is 10, a daughter soon to be 5. and they are overcome with emotion because they live in a tight-knit community here in this cul-de-sac. they said they cannot thank neighbors and the community enough. >> we have had such an outreach from the neighborhood. we had a lady who didn't even know us at starbucks that said i want to pay for your meal. sorry. >> our kids's teachers and staff at the school have reached out. . >> they said they bought him a

backpack and bookbinder and don't worry about school. you know, all the stuff is taken care of. they set up a -- friend of hers back east in florida, her best friend, set up a go fund me page. people are donating. it's just amazing. >> it renews your faith in humanity to see the love and support we're getting. >> reminds us the names and ages of your children, please. . >> eli ya is 10 1/2 and daughter violet will be 5 in a couple weeks. >> when you think about a teacher who notoriously who don't have enough supplies sometimes goes out and gets a backpack, that's pretty touching. >> it's amazing. amazing. . >> if you could say something to these people, what would you say? >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> i don't know what to say because i'm not one to take

handouts or ask for people from people. and i'm not asking for help. but they see the devastation. they know what it is to lose everything. to me i'm like, well, we'll rebuild everything. it's just the next chapter. >> reporter: for everyone at the end of this cul-de-sac, they hope the silvers rebuild on the fire front. moisture returning to the extremely die air and winds calming down, meaning a better outlook here in california. paul very cammen. now back to you. paul, thank you. to japan, that nation is in recovery mode after a strong typhoon hit the country's northeast. it is no longer an active system, but it caused a great deal of damage. 10 people killed, more than 100 people injured. the storm has canceled rugby world cup matches. a match between japan and

scotland will be played. let's go live to japan. christina macfarlane is with us. tell us the aftermath given this storm that has passed through. . >> george, here in tokyo, we have had bright blue skies. wind speeds of up to 195 kilometers an hour. the situation right now is sadly 15 people have died as a result of that storm. 141 injured, 9 are still missing. the biggest concern right now is still around the flooding and the potential for landslides across the country. we saw unprecedented rainfall in the last 48 hours. up to a meter in certain parts of the country. thats still very much a concern. there are still people trapped in their homes. that is what emergency services are attending to as we speak. as you can perhaps tell behind me, i am here in tokyo in front

of the stadium. three out of four of the scheduled matches have been given the green light. the biggest will be the match that take place in two hours's time when japan face scotland for a chance at the final quarterfinal spot. . >> christina, so many people who were there, who went through this storm, what are people saying to have experienced such a massive storm? >> reporter: well, i think with regard to the storm, you know, we saw many people just basically keeping out of it last night, staying in their homes, not venturing outside. as you can see now, we have thousands of fans who have come to the stadium in the hope of witnessing history here tonight. japan on the brink of qualifying for the first time in their history. and in order to do that they're going to have to win or draw

against scotland tonight. if they do go through that would set up a quarterfinal against south africa. japan defeated south africa at the rugby world cup four years ago. if they were able to do that, what a story that would be on home soil. we are counting down to the big match in the stadium behind me. >> wearing both the news and sports hat today. christina, thank you. cnn sits down with candidate bernie sanders. . >> the god's truth is if you said, bernie, did you have a heart attack last week, i would say, what are you talking about? i feel great. >> sanders opens up about his recent health issues and the race for the white house. >> plus, there's no shortage of opinions about the impeachment investigation of the u.s. president. not everyone wants to share their opinion on camera. we'll explain that story as cnn

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>> welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching cnn "newsroom" live. i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. turkey says it has seized a border town in northern syria. the largely kurdish syrian democratic forces dispute this. they say there have been very fierce clashes. in the meantime, a commander is lashing out at the united

states. according to a readout he said washington is, quote, leaving us to be slaughtered. >> u.s. president donald trump has come to the defense of his permanent attorney rudy giuliani as rudy giuliani's dealings with ukraine are now under criminal violation and he may have violated federal lobbying laws. trump tweeted it was shameful. rescue crews in are searching for the last person trapped in a collapsed hotel. officials brought in a crane to stabilize what's left of the building that came down. the hard rock hotel was under construction when it collapsed with 100 workers on site at the time. two people were killed, and at least 18 others were injured. firefighters in southern cal