Thailand Bans Gatherings of More Than 5 to End Protests; U.S. Justice Department 'Unmasking' Probe Ends with No Charges; Obama on Trump's Call to Indict Him: 'The Allegations Are So Absurd'.
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Thailand's government is banning governments of more than five in Bangkok, not because of the pandemic but to try and end months of pro- democracy protests. The announcement brought thousands to the streets of the capital on Wednesday, an unprecedented show of defiance. Jonathan Miller of the U.K.'s Channel 4 News is live this hour for us in Bangkok. So Jonathan, if this was an attempt at ending those pro-democracy demonstrations, it failed spectacularly.</s>JONATHAN MILLER, CHANNEL 4 NEWS: Well, look John, it's quite strange what happened here overnight. I woke up, as did most of the Thai people, to news that at 4 a.m., the government had issued an emergency decree which was announced on state television, and it says, as it appears, that there are many groups of people who have been cited illegal public assemblies in Bangkok. It is extremely necessary to introduce an urgent measure to end the situation effectively, and to maintain peace and order. Now, peace and order, of course, are the key words here. They're the watchwords of authoritarian regimes everywhere. But peace and order, ironically, were the very words that the junta which took control here in a coup six years ago said that they were coming in to restore then. And so, yes, in that respect they failed spectacularly. In that respect, Bangkok is no better off than the chaos of 2014. However, something is very different here now. That is that these protests are focused on the king. Or at least that's one of the focuses. Because the dictatorship, as the -- as the protesters call it, they want them out and a new constitution. But there are key elements who want to see reform of the monarchy. And this decree is trying to close them down. It's basically saying that they're banned from any public assemblies of more than five people, and from publications of broadcasts putting out anything that would create fear or affect national security. You've got to see this in the context of what has been happening here in the past few weeks. Yesterday I was out on the streets of Bangkok, and this will help you catch up fast.</s>MILLER (voice-over): In an ancient kingdom in the throes of authoritarian regression, they turned out in their thousands to march against dictatorship. For decades, Taiwan's been locked in a cycle of coups and regular spasms of violence. Now, with the economy in trouble and millions out of work, it seemed like the perfect monsoon storm. Battle lines drawn. Thousands of yellow-shirted ultra-loyalists trucked in to defend their unpopular king and his unpopular military-backed regime. The reformist protesters want the government out, a new constitution; and there are growing demands to reign in the power of the monarchy. At times, it was volatile. The protesters breaking through police lines, as they marched on Government House. (on camera): So the crowd has been surging forward here. We're now just about 100, 200 meters from Government House. This is very symbolic, because this is the seat of what these people regard as the dictatorship. But of course, it's not just a dictatorship we're talking about here. This is a military monarchy complex, where these people arranged against exactly that. They want reform. They want democracy. And they want things to change in Thailand. So it's old Thailand against new Thailand. These people represent the new. The plan tonight is to make their way into the Government House complex, and to camp out for the night. But what they've done today is absolutely remarkable and never before seen in Thailand. I didn't see this with my own eyes, because we've been kettled (ph) in with the demonstrators but we know that the king's motorcade was blocked at one stage by demonstrators. We don't know if he was in it at the time, but he would have got the message that there are people in this country who desperately want change. And that change is something that he has the power to give them and hasn't yet. (voice-over): Pictures of the royal convoy revealed a major security lapse, but it turned out the king wasn't in this car. It was the queen and the young prince. Protesters hurled abuse. As we left the scene, hundreds of riot police were moving towards the protests. They haven't gone in, but for a royalist regime feeling increasingly under siege, the use of force remains an option.</s>MILLER: Now, John, I'm standing outside government headquarters here in Bangkok, and last night the scene behind me was awash with thousands of demonstrators. You wouldn't believe it now with the traffic flowing freely. But for half an hour after the emergency decree was issued, the riot police moved in. There were arrests, including two key protest leaders; and another one, the one who'd led the calls for a monarchical reform, was picked up at 8:30 this morning. The question is whether Thais have the stomach to keep on going at this, calling for reform. Whether there are cracks in the edifice, perhaps. Everything is on the table right now.</s>VAUSE: Jonathan, thank you. Jonathan Miller there for us in Bangkok. We appreciate it. Well, now for months, President Trump and his allies have spoken in conspiratorial tones about the biggest political scandal ever in American history. It will blow your socks off. Precisely what they've been referring to is unclear. Apparently, it involves the Obama administration, Donald Trump's campaign, a domestic spying operation. And so Donald Trump asked his personal lawyer, who happens to be the U.S. attorney general, to investigate. But that investigation came up empty, and here's a shock. The Trump White House has not had a lot to say about it. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports.</s>ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An investigation that an investigation that President Trump touted as a scandal has now quietly ended in a whimper. The months-long Justice Department investigation, which was ordered by Attorney General Bill Barr, into the unfounded allegations against the Obama administration in its final days has come up empty.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a big thing going on right now, which is spying, and it's -- you can call it anything you want. The unmasking and the spying. And to me, that's the big story right now.</s>MARQUARDT: The president repeated accusations that his campaign was spied on by the Obama White House led to the investigation, which was launched this spring and led by a senior U.S. attorney. The goal: to look into the Obama administration's request for the revealing of American names, or unmasking, in intelligence reports. One name that was revealed was Trump adviser General Michael Flynn, who before the election had been speaking with the Russian ambassador, who was under surveillance. Earlier this year, Republican senators released a long unclassified list of Obama officials, excluding former Vice President Joe Biden, who had requested the unmasking, alleging that it showed the Obama White House was spying on Trump.</s>SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): This is a scandal of, really, if we weren't involved in the COVID-19 crisis, this would be a scandal, the biggest thing since Watergate.</s>MARQUARDT: But the the DOJ investigation found, according to "The Washington Post," that everything had been done legally, and there was no wrongdoing, resulting in no criminal charges and no public reporting. Unmasking is a standard part of intelligence gathering. If foreign intelligence reports contain the names of American citizens, those are always redacted. However, certain U.S. government officials have the ability to unredact, or unmask those names to better understand the report. And unmasking has actually gone up under Trump.</s>DONALD AYER, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER GEORGE H.W. BUSH: People who understand unmasking and what it is understood from the start that this was a complete nothing burger. And so it was trotted out as something that sounded sinister or could be made to sound peculiar and strange.</s>MARQUARDT (on camera): President Trump now clearly not happy with the Department of Justice or his attorney general, Bill Barr. He was asked by the right-wing news outlet Newsmax whether Barr would have a role in a possible second term. President Trump said he had no comment. That it was too early. He called the lack of indictments after this investigation a disgrace and ridiculous. Not the tone of someone who's going to let go of this idea that his campaign was illegally spied on. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.</s>VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the management company of K-pop sensation BTS is making its stock market debut. It did pretty well.