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Congress Has to Approve Iran Nuclear Deal; Not Every Middle East Country Supports Iran Nuclear Deal; Critics Believe Iran Nuclear Deal Will Fail; Interview with Iranian Foreign Minister; New Video Shows Guzman Escape, Reward for Capture Offered; Plane Found from Crash Autumn Veatch Survived; Greek Lawmakers to Vote on Economic Reforms; China's Economy Figures Show Growth; Obama, Trump Leads Poll, Deletes Nazi Soldier Tweet; Homeland Security Face Tough Questions on Illegal Immigrants After Murder; Kate Steinle's Brother Says Her Death Should Not be Sensationalized; New Images of Pluto. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 14, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:13] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: From celebrations in Iran to doomsday predictions in Israel, we're following the aftermath of the historic Iran nuclear deal.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, see the very moment that one of the world's most notorious drug lord's escapes from his prison cell.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NASA EMPLOYEE: Copy that. We are locked in telemetry with the spacecraft.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: The world gets its first ever close-up look at Pluto and its heart-shaped landscape.
CHURCH: There it is.
Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.
BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. We're your anchor team for the next two hours. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
CHURCH: Now that Iran and six world powers have reached a nuclear agreement. The international diplomacy shifts to lobbying at home.
BARNETT: And everyone is selling this as a win. The grueling negotiations lasted two years before the deal was announced in Vienna. Iran will restrict its nuclear program and allow inspections in exchange for sanctions being lifted.
CHURCH: There were celebrations in Tehran's streets Tuesday but final approval there must come from the supreme leader.
The U.S. Congress has 60 days to have its say.
Jim Sciutto has details of the deal and the opposition to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Smiles and laughter to mark a historic agreement merely two years in the making and ending more than three decades of hostility.
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: The agreement reining in Iran's nuclear program comes after 18 long-winded days of meetings in Vienna, the final stretch of 20 months of negotiations. The West and Iran both immediately claimed victory.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is the good deal that we have sought. Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal we would have finished this negotiation a long time ago.
MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Today could have been the end of hope on this issue. But now we are starting a new chapter of hope.
SCIUTTO: Here's the break down. The deal curtails Iran's nuclear program but cutting the number of centrifuges operating to make highly enriched uranium and limiting but not eliminating research on more advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium much faster. The theory is to extend the estimated needed time for Iran to assemble a nuclear weapon to at least one year from the current two to three months.
To help prevent cheating, the deal provides for more intrusive inspections of the entire nuclear supply train, even tracking uranium from the time it leaves the mines.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, in charge of the inspections, signing an agreement with Iran today.
KERRY: To be able to have a covert path, Iran would need far more than one covert facility. It would need an entire covert supply chain.
SCIUTTO: Still the deal does not dismantle any of Iran's nuclear facilities, including the once-secret military facility at Fordo. And it eventually lifts a U.N. arms embargo which prevented Iran from acquiring ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S.
Fierce opposition to the deal was immediate.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: What a stunning historic mistake.
SCIUTTO: And it faces a challenge in Congress as well. REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It is going to hand
a dangerous regime billions of dollars of sanctions relief while paving the way for a nuclear Iran.
SCIUTTO: Secretary Kerry took his critics head on, touting the success so far of the interim agreement in freezing Iran's nuclear program.
KERRY: We were told by skeptics we were making the mistake of a lifetime, that Iran would never comply, that this was a terrible agreement. But you know what? They were dead wrong.
SCIUTTO (on camera): This is a remarkable diplomatic step 22 months after that phone call between President Obama and President Rouhani. But it has a shelf life, 15 years, as do many of the restrictions, for instance, on missile technology, eight years. It does not end Iran's nuclear program. It restricts and delays it.
Jim Sciutto, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: It's important to note that not every country in the Middle East supports the Iran nuclear deal.
CHURCH: CNN's Becky Anderson has more on that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARIF: I believe this is a historic moment.
[02:05:00] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This moment, long in the making, ricocheted around the region. Israel all called it historic -- a historic mistake.
NETANYAHU (through translation): In all areas meant to prevent Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons, excessive concessions have been made.
ANDERSON: The state widely estimated to have a nuclear arsenal of 80 warheads, though Israel won't confirm or deny a nuclear program, has been a fierce critic of talks with Iran.
But other Middle Eastern states are just as rattled, none more so than Saudi Arabia.
(on camera): The conservative Sunni regime has been suspicious of Iran's conservative Shiite regime since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 but the Arab/Persian rivalry is centuries old and its modern manifestation is a rash of regional proxy wars, from Syria to Lebanon to Yemen.
(voice-over): Other Arab nations are watching carefully.
Speaking to CNN back in May, Jordan's King Abdullah said any agreement would be the beginning of a long dialogue with Tehran. KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: I hope that opens the door where there are
discussions on many other issues that need to be discussed with Iran that reflect challenges in the region. So it's not just a nuclear issue.
ANDERSON: There's also expectation in other domains. As sanctions are lifted, Iran is an almost virgin market with plenty of opportunity for regional investors who are waiting in the wings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Among the countries who have the highest bilateral trade in the region are the ones that have the least political relationship with Iran in the region. Therefore, the businessmen know where to make their bucks. And I'm sure they're ready.
ANDERSON: Politically, though, regional unease at this deal is palpable. Previous American attempts to placate Gulf States fell flat. The summit in May was attended by just two heads of state and other ministers. A measure of how much the U.S. still has to do to sell it to the region.
Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Of course, President Obama is putting his legacy on the line with the Iran nuclear deal. While the White House is confident Congress won't block it, the president's critics are not holding back.
BARNETT: The critics predicting his agreement will fail, posing a major nuclear threat to the world.
CNN' senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has more reaction from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to the fallout over the Iran nuclear deal, it's all on President Obama.
OBAMA: Because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon.
ACOSTA: The call list includes Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia's king and Republicans in Congress.
BOEHNER: The deal that we have out there, in my view, from what I know of it thus far, is unacceptable.
ACOSTA: The White House strategy? Flood the Iran debate zone with social media showing all the ways that the deal will block Tehran's path to a nuclear bomb. The president's loudest critics say the billions of dollars in sanctions relief coming their way will do the opposite.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're going to put it in their war machine. This is a death sentence for the state of Israel if this is not changed.
ACOSTA: But if a deal works it is an Obama legacy show piece, right up there with health care reform, same-sex marriage and Cuba.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Congress has 60 days to review and block the deal, but much of that time will be during the lawmakers' recess, pushing a likely showdown to September.
OBAMA: I am confident that this deal will meet the national security interest of the United States and our allies so I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal.
ACOSTA: Leaders from both parties already have problems with the deal, consider the disputer resolution process, which may take 30 days to break through any Iranian opposition to inspections of suspicious sites, 30 more if the U.N. gets involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The deal doesn't provide for any time, anywhere inspections.
ACOSTA: The president phrases it differently.
OBAMA: Put simply, the organization responsible for the inspections, the IAEA, will have access where necessary, when necessary.
(APPLAUSE)
ACOSTA: Others wonder what happens to the president's comments in 2013 when he suggested that Iran would give up some of its facilities.
OBAMA: We know that they don't need to have an underground, fortified facility like Fordo in order to have a peaceful nuclear program.
REP. ED ROYCE, (R-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: The president told us that Iran doesn't need to have an underground facility like Fordo in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. Yet, this military complex will now stay open.
[02:10:03] ACOSTA (on camera): But the question comes down to this, do the deal's opponents in Congress have the two-thirds vote to override a presidential veto. The answer is that, no, they don't. The president likes to say he will live long enough to see whether or not the deal will fail. Now it is appears certain he'll have that chance.
Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: President Obama is vocally responding to criticism that the deal doesn't force Iran to get rid of its nuclear infrastructure entirely.
CHURCH: He spoke with "The New York Times". (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think that criticism is misguided. Let's see exactly what we obtained. We have cut off every pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. The reason we were able to unify the world community around the most effective sanctions regime we have ever set up, a sanction regime that crippled the Iranian economy and brought them to the table was because the world agreed with us it would be a great danger to the region, to our allies, to the world if Iran possessed a nuclear weapon. We did not have that kind of global consensus around the notion that Iran cannot enjoy nuclear power whatsoever. We have been able to assure that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon and that was always the premise of us building this strong international sanctions regime. The notion that the world signed up for the sanctions in order to achieve regime change, to solve every problem in terms of Iranian behavior or to say to them in perpetuity they can never have peaceful nuclear power, that was never something that was in the cards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Mr. Obama will talk more about the nuclear agreement at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shortly after the deal was done.
BARNETT: We aired part of that interview last hour. Zarif called the deal an historic moment but admits it's not perfect.
Here, now is the second part of their conversation from Vienna, Austria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What about the military sites?
ZARIF: It's not military sites. Its undeclared facilities can be anywhere. Managed access is the term used by the protocol and we are working within an international mechanism and we have agreed to a certain procedures in other words to address disputes.
AMANPOUR: Including what you may have done in the past?
ZARIF: That is a different thing. We already agreed with the Director General Amano and the IAEA to have an outline of what we need to do together in order to address those. We believe those are basically groundless allegation that have been made against us primarily by Israel, which is the single most important threat to the nonproliferation in the world because it possesses many -- in some estimates 200 nuclear warheads.
AMANPOUR: Are you prepared for the IAEA to find you maybe did have tinkering around with a military nuclear experiments? ZARIF: I'm not prepared for the IAEA to find that, because that would
be a lie.
AMANPOUR: How do you square what the leader said which is no access any time any place with managed access to certain sites.
ZARIF: We have said our military sites are off limits. We are prepared to cooperate with the IAEA and we have a program now to cooperate. And I think if you read the agreement it's clearly written that these -- the attempts to verify possible undeclared activity are not designed or aimed at military or other secrets of Iran or any other country. This is well established in the -- in the text and I believe we will be living up to our commitment. But according to the agreement, not to people's illusions.
AMANPOUR: Everybody's been saying what's in it for them. What is good for Iran?
ZARIF: We wanted to change the nature of our relationship with the West. We didn't believe it was good for Iran and the West, while we have common threats and common challenges in our region, to be basically, entrenching ourselves in a non-issue, in an unnecessary crisis in a fabricated crisis that has been created for over the past almost decade or more. And I think it was important to move away from that. That was the promise of President Rouhani's platform election to engage constructively with the rest of the world. I think that is important. Of course we want to get rid of sanctions. They are an imposition on our population and an inhuman burden on the people. And we have a responsibility to remove it, but maintaining our dignity and our rights.
[02:15:34] AMANPOUR: So this was the P5+1 and you. What has it been like personally to sit here and negotiate with all these top world powers and there's just you on the other side?
ZARIF: Well, it requires some confidence in the resistance of the Iranian people to pressure. The Iranian people are very forgiving and very kind and civilized people but they don't like pressure. They are allergic to pressure. And representing a people who are allergic to pressure gives you the confidence and the strength to deal with world powers.
AMANPOUR: Foreign Minister, thank you very much, indeed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: More news to come here on CNN. Mexican drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, is still on the run after an elaborate prison escape and now we have video showing the moment that the man known as el Chapo got away. That is coming up.
CHURCH: Plus, this breaking news just into CNN. Search crews have found the wreckage of the missing plane in Washington. More on that as soon as we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:20:38] BARNETT: Welcome back. A federal U.S. judge ordered the release of a police dash cam video from 2013 showing an incident where police shot and unarmed robbery suspect, or shot two suspects in California, killing one of them.
CHURCH: The video we're about to show you has been released as part of a $4.7 million settlement, even though the city tried to keep it under wraps.
But we want to warn you some viewers may find it disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNSHOTS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The video shows three men mistakenly suspected of stealing a bicycle standing in the street while officers scream at the men to keep their hands up. All of them comply. But one appears who appears to be confused by the directions, that's when the officers open fire.
BARNETT: The Gardena police chief describes the shooting as tragic for all involved. He says that the officers will soon be equipped with body cameras. But he says the department's moving forward with an appeal against the release of the video due to privacy concerns.
CHURCH: Newly released video shows the moment Mexican drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, escaped from a maximum security prison. This is surveillance video from inside Guzman's prison cell on Saturday. You can see him pacing back and forth several times.
BARNETT: About 45 seconds into the video, Guzman takes off his shoes and walks toward that right corner of his cell. Mexican officials say this is the moment where Guzman, known as el Chapo, escaped through a tunnel built under his shower in the cell. Surveillance video from outside the cell shows Guzman moments before he disappears.
CHURCH: And authorities say el Chapo used this motorcycle to move through the tunnel. New video shows the route that Guzman took as he made his get away. The tunnel led to a half-built house outside the prison walls.
BARNETT: The Mexican government is offering a $3.8 million reward for information leading to el Chapo's recapture. Authorities know he could be hiding in so many places.
CHURCH: CNN's Brian Todd looks at the lead they are following in the manhunt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new picture of the menacing drug lord, Joaquin "el Chapo" Guzman. Following his capture in 2014, DEA agents developed threads of information that Guzman's relatives and associates were looking for ways to get him out of prison.
The official says U.S. officials had no specific information on Guzman's escape on Saturday but they did pass along what they had to Mexican authorities. Mexico's interior minister denies the assertion.
A Mexican official says that 50 people have been questioned and three top officials have been fired in the investigation into Guzman's escape.
The official says Guzman may head back to mountain hideaways in Sinaloa State and his hometown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In these communities he is seen as a hero. He is venerated. He is larger than life.
TODD: A U.S. law enforcement official tells CNN Guzman has an extensive support America in Sinaloa with advanced teams of lookouts, spies and scouts who help him evade capture. A huge advantage for el Chapo, his Robin Hood reputation.
DUNCAN WOOD, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: He brings real benefits to local communities. He pays for things. Whether it is the 15-year-old party, or whether it's putting on a rodeo for the local community or paying for something in the local church. He has done that for many years.
TODD: Is this woman helping him? Emma Coronell (ph), a glamorous former beauty queen who married el Chapo when she was a teenager. Guzman was 50. Coronell (ph) is a U.S. citizen and gave birth to Guzman's twin daughters near Los Angeles in 2011. Officials say she is related to a notorious Mexican drug lord who was killed in a shootout with the Mexican army in 2010.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She comes from a similar background, from these communities in Sinaloa State, in the countryside, who have grown up around and among drug traffickers. And it's almost like a large tribe of drug traffickers.
[02:25:13] TODD: There is no indication from officials that Emma Coronell (ph) has been involved in Guzman's criminal activities or escape. And it's not clear if she is being questioned by Mexican authorities at the moment.
One Mexican official tells CNN her phone was one of the leads used in el Chapo's capture last year. As far as tracking her down, a Mexican official tells CNN she is traceable and she's usually not hiding.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Now we want to bring you breaking news coming to CNN from Washington State. Transportation officials say crews have located the wreckage in the area where a teenaged girl emerged from the woods on Monday. CHURCH: Crews have not been able to reach the site yet and have not
identified the plane or whether the girl's grandparents are in the wreckage.
16-year-old Autumn Veatch was flying with her grandparents in that small plane when it went down. She was able to call 911 after hiking through the wilderness to a highway where she was rescued.
CNN's Dan Simon has more on her harrowing experience.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Washington wilderness, spectacular, but unforgiving. No one knows that more now than 16- year-old Autumn Veatch, the survivor of this plane crash that left her alone and scared as she had to claw to safety through this mountainous terrain.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We're just impressed. It's kind of like a super hero.
SIMON: The ordeal lasting 48 hours with Autumn using every bit of her small frame to trek an unknown distance in the dark and cold.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
911 OPERATOR: Hi, this is Michael with the Okanogan County 911. What is your name?
AUTUMN VEATCH, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Autumn Veatch.
(END AUDIO FEED)
SIMON: This is the teenager talking to a 911 operator after the rescue. She had been driven by some good Samaritans to a country store. She was later described as dazed.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
VEATCH: I was riding from Montana to Bellingham, Washington, and I don't know where but we crashed and I was the only one that made it out.
911 OPERATOR: OK, made it out from the collision --
VEATCH: In from the plane.
911 OPERATOR: Or survived?
VEATCH: Yeah, the only one that survived.
(END AUDIO FEED)
SIMON: Autumn's step-grandparents, Leland and Sharon Bowman, apparently, did not make it. Mr. Bowman, 62 years old, was said to be at the controls. (BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
911 OPERATOR: Are you injured at all?
VEATCH: I have a lot of burns on my hands and I'm, like, covered in bruises and scratches and stuff.
911 OPERATOR: OK. All right, Autumn, how old are you?
VEATCH: I'm 16.
(END AUDIO FEED)
SIMON: Autumn stayed with the bodies in the wreckage for a day, hoping help would eventually arrive. But after a while, she decided to make the dangerous trek into the woods.
RICK LEDUC, STORE OWNER: Obviously, she was shaken and distraught.
SIMON: For more than 24 hours, she hiked, no cell phone coverage, no map. She says she followed the river down stream until it led her to a highway.
LEDUC: She definitely looked like she has been out in the woods for quite some time.
SIMON: The owner, Rick LeDuc, is also a pilot and knows the dangers of flying in this region.
LEDUC: It's just your classic jagged peaks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just happy she's safe.
SIMON: Autumn was taken to the hospital for observation and reunited with her weary father, who had spent and eternity wondering if he would see his daughter again.
DAVID VEATCH, FATHER OF AUTUMN: I didn't want it to be real. So I thought, nope, not until anything is confirmed. And I didn't feel like she was.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Certainly is a remarkable story of survival.
BARNETT: It really is.
CHURCH: Thanks to Dan Simon for that report.
And again, search crews have found the plane wreckage in the area but it will take some time to reach it.
BARNETT: We'll keep you posted on developments we get in the next few hours. In fact, in just a few hours from now, Greek lawmakers are set to vote
on new economic reforms to unlock a third bailout from European creditors. We'll get you live to Athens after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:32:41] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Errol Barnett. Let's get you up to date on our top stories.
Breaking news coming into us from Washington State. Transportation officials there saying crews have located plane wreckage in the area where a teenaged girl emerged from the woods on Monday. So far, they have not identified the plane or whether the girl's grandparents are in the wreckage. 16-year old Autumn Veatch survived the crash and hiked two days until she was rescued.
CHURCH: Opponents say the nuclear deal with Iran threatens the U.S. and its allies instead of making them safer. The agreement lifts economic sanctions over time in exchange for Iran restricting its nuclear program and allowing inspections of its nuclear sites.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency spoke exclusively with Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is there a difference between what the United States is saying you will do, unprecedented, thorough, comprehensive inspections, and what Iran says you will do?
YUKIYA AMANO, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: I don't think so. The IAEA is a technical organization and we focus on facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Newly released surveillance video shows the moment the Mexican drug lord escaped on Saturday. Mexican officials say Guzman, known as "el Chapo," escaped through this tunnel built under the shower in his cell and he used this motorcycle to move through the tunnel in his elaborate escape.
CHURCH: In a few hours, Greek lawmakers are set to vote on new economic reforms in other words to get a third bailout from European creditors.
BARNETT: Will this vote go through though?
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he doesn't believe in the new measures forced upon the country, but will see them through.
CHURCH: The bailout Tsipras agreed to on Monday is worth as much as $96 billion and much harsher than the one Greek voters had rejected.
Elinda Labropoulou is live in Athens with the latest developments.
So, Elinda, Prime Minister Tsipras has said he doesn't even believe in the new Greek reforms, but will see them through, nonetheless. That's an interesting way to try to sell them to parliament and to the people of Greece. Why is he approaching it this way and how likely is it he will convince the lawmakers by today's deadline considering they have rejected austerity measures up to this point?
[02:35:27] ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is precisely the way that he is approaching things in that way because the prime minister has already said this is not the deal he wanted. He already said this is not a success story, this is just the best I could bring back under the circumstances. And he went on to address Greek people in a tv interview last night saying that he had looked at the options available and really that this is the only way to at least give Greece hope for a way out of the current financial situation. Obviously, the prime minister is under tremendous pressure and while this vote takes place in parliament today, we expect protests outside. There is a big rally outside parliament planned to coincide with the voting of the measures. The unions will be there. As it is, the first measures that will be voted in. Today is two votes, one on the overall agreement and this is the signal that the Europeans are waiting for and also some specifics. And these include rises in taxation and pension cuts, two of the red lines that the government was hoping never to cross.
CHURCH: It is like the day of reckoning there. We will watch and wait to see what happens in the Greek parliament.
Elinda Labropoulou joining us there live from Athens. Many thanks to you. Errol?
BARNETT: Rosemary, we turn to China where country's economic growth beat expectations. New figures show that China's economy grew an annualized rate of 7 percent.
Senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, joins us live from Beijing with more details on this.
Ivan analysts are often suspicious of the hard data coming out of China, and also now that it appears to beat what was predicted. What is Beijing saying about that?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the head of the statistical bureau said we do not inflate the figures. The process could be improved but we do not inflate them.
Listen to what one analyst had to say where he suggests that some of the numbers down the line probably get fudged. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY KIM, INVESTMENT ANALYST: China is a large economy. It is difficult to verify a lot of the data. We know a lot of local governments fudge the numbers. We have even noticed local governments are fighting the electricity numbers because they know our leaders are looking at the electricity numbers. So you know, China does not have an independent statistics bureau.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: But let's be clear here, economists said the growth rate would be 6.9 percent and the government has said 7 percent. Either of those numbers would be magnificent growth rates for most of the countries in the world. It is it the envy of most of those countries. But for China, which has had a massive boom over the last decade, it is a sign of a slowing economy, an economy that is in transition but it is the second largest economy in the world. So these numbers matter and have an effect on the rest of the world. Economists say that electricity use here is down and exports are down, that new housing starts are down but they also say that it appears that industrial output is up and also retail consumer sales and that's very important because the Chinese government would like to see China transition from being a factory for the rest of the world making the rest of the world's stuff to being a country that consumes the things that it produces itself, having more of a consumer base of its own. And the statistics suggest that this transition is starting to take place. Chinese people are starting to buy more, which is what the Chinese government wants -- Errol?
BARNETT: And even though we have seen the week to week volatility in the Chinese markets this bolsters the view that overall the economy there continues to grow.
Ivan Watson, live for us out of Beijing. Ivan, thanks.
[02:39:42]CHURCH: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump appears to be leading in a new poll. And see his deleted tweet, which confuses Nazi troops for U.S. soldiers.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Donald Trump appears to be leading a national poll in the race for the U.S. presidency.
BARNETT: If you can believe it, a "U.S. Today" survey of Republican candidates released on Tuesday, Donald Trump has 17 percent. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush got 14 percent.
CHURCH: Look at those numbers. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker got 8 percent support while Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are just behind.
BARNETT: Let's discuss this, because it has been discussed at length online. Donald Trump posted a campaign image on his official Twitter account on Tuesday but it didn't stay up for long.
CHURCH: No, it showed his face with the American flag and shadowy images of soldiers but Twitter users noticed that the soldier uniforms were foreign. BARNETT: They were confirmed to be from a Waffen S.S. That's a Nazi
unit. Trump's spokesman said a young intern mistakenly created the photo.
CHURCH: Young intern or not, there is an expectation of a checking system with these campaigns. He'll take the heat. But we'll see how he reacts.
President Barack Obama administration is fielding tough questions about a murder which sparked an immigration debate.
BARNETT: Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant with a criminal record, is charged with the recent murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco. A member of Congress took Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to task on whether they reached out to Steinle's family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE CHABUT, (R), OHIO: Has the administration reached out to the Steinle family, to your knowledge?
JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: To who?
CHABUT: To the family of the woman who was brutally murdered by this individual, who had committed seven different felonies in four states, and my understanding, and was deported and kept coming back? Has the administration reached out to that family?
JOHNSON: I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to that question, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:45:11] CHURCH: There's some criticism that Mr. Obama has been vocal when speaking about the deaths of black youths, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, while ignoring others. Those deaths were followed by nationwide protests.
BARNETT: The brother of the victim insists that her death should not be sensationalized.
CHURCH: The statement comes after Republican presidential candidate and front runner, Donald Trump, used Steinle's murder to illustrate his agenda on immigration. But the victim's brother, Brad Steinle says that Trump did not even call his family to express condolences and is inappropriately using his sister's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD STEINLE, BROTHER OF KATE STEINLE: Donald Trump talks about Kate Steinle like he knows her. I have never heard a word from his campaign manager, never heard a word from him. It's disconcerting and I don't want to be affiliated with someone who doesn't reach out and ask about Kate and what we want. The platform that he's setting isn't exactly what our family believes in. We believe in the right for people to come to this country with the idea that it's a place where you can provide a better life for your family. And if you're here trying to obtain that goal, then you're in the right place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: The suspect in Steinle's murder has pleaded not guilty.
CHURCH: One day after commuting the sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders, President Obama made a case for overhauling the criminal justice system.
BARNETT: Speaking at the NAACP convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday he called for reforms. He lambasted the poor conditioned often seen in U.S. prisons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should not tolerate conditions in prison that should have no place in any civilized country. We should not be tolerated overcrowding in prison. We should not be tolerating gang activity in prison. We should not be tolerated rape in prison. And we shouldn't be making jokes about it in our popular culture. That's no joke. These things are unacceptable.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: These issues are sure to be back in the spotlight on Thursday when Mr. Obama visits a federal prison in Oklahoma. It will be the first such visit by a sitting president.
Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, it's Pluto as never seen before.
BARNETT: Next, see what NASA has already discovered about the dwarf planet.
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[02:52:] BARNETT: After a five billion kilometer journey nine years in the making, a U.S. spacecraft has completed the first ever mission to Pluto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NASA EMPLOYEE: Copy that. We are locked on telemetry with the spacecraft.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: There you go. That cheering is for the New Horizons probe, which successfully phoned home after a planned communications blackout.
CHURCH: Very exciting. The satellite has been taking stunning photos for days. And the best close-ups are expected to be released within hours from now. The U.S. is the first country to send a space probe to every planet and now Pluto, in our solar system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It demonstrates what this country is able to achieve when it puts its mind to it, and more than this country, it demonstrates what the world can achieve when we work together in a collective manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us to talk about this.
Look at Pluto through the years.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah.
BARNETT: Initially, from when it was discovered, fewer than 100 years ago, it was the speck in the sky. The ashes of the man who discovered it are flying by Pluto.
(CROSSTALK)
JAVAHERI: I'm glad you brought it up.
CHURCH: A long way.
BARNETT: What do we make of this?
JAVAHERI: Guys, over the past five days, we have learned more than in the past 85 years. It was discovered in 1930 at Flagstaff, Arizona. I got to see the place it was discovered in. We'll share how it looked. It was just a speck.
And the images are coming out of our solar system. But look at the perspective. A grand piano-shaped size spacecraft out there beaming the images back. Send up from Florida back in '06. 3 billion miles away and 30,000 miles an hour is how fast it is traveling. There is the speck from 1930 as you go from 1996, the Hubble space telescope and 2015, the last couple days coming in. The dot in the center of the screen was April 18th. We fast forward to June 15th you can see one of its five moons coming into zoom there. And just a few days ago we had a four million mile perspective and three days ago, 1.6 million miles away. And now, at 476,000 miles away. In the next four hours, we'll have the closest perspective. The image has been taken. It takes four and a half hours to get from there to here at the speed of light. The image will get here in about three hours.
Again, you bring this down to the surface. Look at the size of it. It is a small dwarf planet. It is about 18 percent of the earth's surface. It would hug the central United States. In Asia, it would go from Beijing to Hong Kong. In Australia, Darwin to Adelaide. Pretty impressive. But one of its moons about half the side in diameter of Pluto. Our moon is 15 percent larger than that moon as well. The spacecraft will continue its journey. We know there are icecaps and we know there is methane snow. Part of the western hemisphere are actually dark for 100-plus years at a time. And they don't see any sunlight.
(CROSSTALK)
[02:55:59] BARNETT: And we are learning this in the past few days.
JAVAHERI: And we will be learning more in the next couple hours.
BARNETT: That's what's exciting when we see these images. The world is experiencing this together.
CHURCH: I love the way you describe it. You could lecture at university.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHURCH: Thanks, Pedram.
JAVAHERI: Thanks, guys.
CHURCH: You have been watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.
BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett.
Stay with us. We're back in a moment.
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