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Pope Wraps U.S. Visit; Chinese President Visits the White House; FIFA President Investigated; U.S. House Speaker Boehner Resigns; Skeptics Accept Climate Change as God's Will; Typhoon Heads for Taiwan. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired September 26, 2015 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tens of thousands gathered in New York to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis in his historic trip to the country. He has been speaking out on a number of issues and one in particular: climate change.

The investigation into corruption at football's world governing body has now gone all the way to the top. We'll have a live report from Zurich.

And a big surprise from one of America's leading lawmakers. While U.S. Republican House Speaker John Boehner is calling it quits. The pope's trip had something to do with that decision.

Hello, everyone, it's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

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ALLEN: Pope Francis is in New York where he's wrapping up a very busy visit to America's largest city. It was a key stop for him Friday, included mass with nearly 20,000 people looking on at Madison Square Garden in New York. He urged his audience to live their faith by helping the needy and poor and rejecting self-absorption. It is a message he has been spreading throughout his many appearances in the U.S. this week. CNN's Alexandra Field is in New York with more on the pope's trip.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of people all across the streets of New York lining up, waiting to see a glimpse of Pope Francis as he made his way through the city, starting at the United Nations, from there paying a visit to Ground Zero. After that, a school in Harlem, then a procession through Central Park before finally arriving at Madison Square Garden.

People lined up for hours along 7th Avenue trying to get a glimpse of Pope Francis as he rode through in his Fiat, the window down, waving to the faithful who had gathered here to see him. He went into Madison Square Garden to lead a mass before more

than 20,000 people, many of whom waited hours to go through security and get inside to finally hear Pope Francis deliver his mass. And it was well worth it to them. Certainly, a moment you will remember for your entire life.

So they lined up here for hours, people who came from across the country and really around the world. What was so striking to me was how quiet this crowd was, how patient they were, how ready they were to just catch this very brief moment. And they took it in.

Then what we saw both times, when Pope Francis went into Madison Square Garden and again when he left was just this sort of ecstatic eruption of joy. People just gleeful, cheering, shouting, yelling, just truly delighted. An extraordinary experience to be a part of it and to see the delight on people's faces. Obviously, for Catholics this is such an incredible moment, such a significant and powerful moment to see the Holy Father perhaps in your very own hometown.

But for so many New Yorkers just the experience of being here, in his presence, deeply extraordinary. Form here, he goes on to the papal residence and then it's off to Philadelphia -- in New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

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ALLEN: And many of the New Yorkers were crushed together for hours waiting for the pope to pass by. And as Alexandra reported, the pope began his very busy Friday with an address at the U.N. General Assembly. He urged world leaders there to adopt solutions that combat widespread poverty and environmental destruction across the globe.

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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Real human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be. In wars and conflicts, there are individual persons, our brothers and sisters, men and women, young and old, boys and girls who weep, suffer and die, human beings who are easily discarded when our only response is to draw up lists of problems, strategies and disagreements.

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ALLEN: Of course, talking about protecting the poor there. He also talks about protecting the Earth.

Later this half-hour, please join me as I talk climate change with a leading atmospheric scientist. She talks about the pope's message about the environment and myths about climate change.

Well, climate change will also be a key topic between U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders made progress on environmental issues like carbon emissions during their meetings at the White House. But cyber security was hailed as perhaps the biggest break through for these two. Our Asia Pacific editor Andrew Stevens has more on that.

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ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. and China have taken new steps to tackle cyber theft. But it's clear --

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STEVENS (voice-over): -- that deeds will matter more than words. It has been the biggest issue of President Xi's trip to the U.S. At a press conference at the White House, Mr. Obama announced that China and the U.S. had agreed that neither country would commit cyber crime for commercial advantage.

There was also an agreement on giving U.S. companies better access to Chinese markets. But a wary U.S. president made it clear that action was needed rather than talk and that the U.S. was watching.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even as our nations cooperate, I believe and I know you agree that we must address our differences candidly. The United States will always speak out on behalf of fundamental truths.

We believe that nations are more successful and the world makes more progress when our companies compete on a level playing field, when disputes are resolved peacefully and when the universal human rights of all people are upheld.

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STEVENS (voice-over): And Mr. Obama said sanctions against Chinese companies remained on the table. Another contentious issue, China's expansion in the South China Sea. But no progress in reining in the development of artificial islands to increase China's footprint in region, Mr. Xi point-blank saying it was Chinese territory since ancient times, although he did add the islands would not be militarized.

But it wasn't all negative. One area of clear agreement was action on climate change. Mr. Xi announced a new cap-and-trade plan to kick off in 2017 aimed at cutting his country's stifling smog. His U.S. counterpart warmly welcomed the news, which will add extra firepower at the global climate talks in Paris in December -- Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.

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ALLEN: We turn now to the sporting world and the investigation into corruption at football's world governing body. It has now gone all the way to the top in Switzerland. Prosecutors there opened criminal proceedings against FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday. Investigators questioned him and searched his office in Zurich, seizing some data. The Swiss attorney general says Blatter is investigated on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. For the latest we turn to "WORLD SPORT's" Alex Thomas. He's live in Zurich.

Looks like the sun is coming out just barely there, Alex, because there is certainly a cloud hanging over FIFA.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There is metaphorically speaking. That's certainly true, Natalie. It has been very quiet here at FIFA House, headquarters for the world governing body of football, the most popular sport on the planet this morning. But of course it was a very different story on Friday with hundreds of journalists here to hear what Sepp Blatter had to say after a scheduled executive committee meeting.

They always hold a news conference at the end of such a meeting. And it's normally always Sepp Blatter that does the talking. And it would have been the first time we'd have heard from FIFA's president since his right-hand man, the FIFA general secretary, Jerome Valcke, have been suspended from his duties over allegations of corruption. It's been a lot happening ever since those arrests back in May as part of the U.S. investigation into football corruption going back two decades.

That was just days before Blatter was re-elected for a fifth term as president. And he has been in charge since 1998.

Now as you say, the investigation goes to the very top. I mean, this time on the Swiss side, there's a separate parallel investigation being conducted by the Swiss authorities and they were here on Friday. Probably not a coincidence that it was the same day as the media being around.

Blatter said to have been, according to reports, surprised when he returned to his office after the ExCo meeting to find Switzerland's attorney general, Michael Lauber, waiting for him there along with a load of police. He was interrogated, they say, for some time. And data was seized and his office was searched. He has not been arrested. He continues to plead his innocence.

His lawyer says they're cooperating with Swiss police and the accusations are false. He has been basically charged or accused of doing a TV deal back in 2005 that wasn't in FIFA's best interest and also of giving a disloyal payment to UEFA president Michel Platini for more than $2 million.

Platini released a statement saying that he's got the paperwork to prove that the payment was aboveboard and the services for work given to FIFA. And Platini himself is not under criminal investigation, even though UEFA, also based here in Switzerland, was cooperating with the police as part of their investigations -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right. A dark day for sure there in Zurich. Thank you so much, Alex Thomas, reporting live for us.

Saudi Arabia is suggesting Muslim pilgrims who ignored security guidelines may be to blame for the stampede that killed more than 700 people. Another 900 were injured during a hajj ritual known as the stoning of the devil.

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ALLEN: Iran is calling for international action against Saudi Arabia. It is blaming the country for what happened. Thousands of people marched in Tehran Friday, chanting, "Death to the Saudi dynasty."

Iran says more than 130 of its citizens were killed in this stampede.

The top Republican in the U.S. government is stepping down. Just ahead, hear what John Boehner's meeting with Pope Francis had to do with his decision to resign.

Plus, the pope says the world needs to act when it comes to climate change.

But, what do other people say about that? That's coming up.

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ALLEN: A big surprise from one of America's leading lawmakers. U.S. Republican House Speaker John Boehner says he plans to step down and leave Congress next month. His tenure has been marked by clashes within his own party, especially over fiscal policy.

Boehner says his encounter with Pope Francis helped him make his decision. You see him here getting choked up during the pope's visit to Washington Thursday. He is the one who invited the pope to the U.S. He told reporters he woke up Friday morning and knew it was the right time to go.

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JOHN BOEHNER, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The members -- I'm glad I made this announcement at the conference with all of my Republican colleagues because it was a very good moment to help kind of rebuild the team.

Listen, I feel good about what I have done. I know that I, every day, I have tried to do the right things for the right reasons and tried to do the right thing for the country.

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ALLEN: Dana Bash joins me now to talk more about this.

And Dana, we thought we had the headlines kind of wrapped up this week, with the pope, with Obama, with Xi Jinping on climate and then John Boehner steals the thunder today.

How did this happen and why?

DANA BASH, SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the way John Boehner tells it, it is very much related to Pope Francis being not just in the United States, but being in the United States' capital on Thursday.

The idea that John Boehner, who invited the pope, as a lifelong Catholic. Boehner going to Catholic school his entire grade school, his 12 brothers and sisters did as well, went to mass every day, even trying to get a pope to come to the Capitol for 20 years since he had been in Congress.

He finally gets his wish, has a moment, we now know, privately with the pope. And he says, it sort of sent him into a moment of reflection, of spirituality, whatever you are going to call it. And so he decided to move up what we now know was a planned announcement that he was going to step down --

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BASH: -- in November, move it up to now because he says it is just time to do that.

Now it helped that he was pushed along a little bit by the unruly members of his caucus, especially the conservatives, who are not happy with the way he has been trying to keep the institution running and not sticking to principle, as they say, even if it means funding the government and even funding some parts of the government -- ObamaCare; Planned Parenthood, for example -- that they don't want to do. So that was a big part of it as well.

ALLEN: Right. So when the pope asked Congress during the joint meeting, please do not continue to remain in gridlock and we saw Boehner wipe tears, those tears were sincere, apparently.

But now, who takes his place?

Is Boehner, is the Republican Party going to change as a result of Boehner?

Or how do they march forward?

BASH: The answer to who is going to likely take his place, it looks as though the man who is now his number two, in the House Republican leadership, Kevin McCarthy, who is relatively new to Congress, given how far he has come. He was elected in 2006. He hasn't officially put his hat in the ring. But it looks like he is going to.

And, you know, at this point there doesn't seem to be anybody who looks like they can beat him.

You know what, Natalie, the answer to your question which really matters, not as much about who is in place but will things change is I still think that the conservative movement, those out there, the people who are fueling the anti-Washington, anti-politician fervor in the presidential race and, of course, in Congress as well, I don't know that they're going to be so thrilled with Kevin McCarthy because he has been part of the Boehner leadership team. And he would just move up.

So I'm not sure how much things will change if, in fact, he gets that. The question might be the leadership roles down the line, if those will be filled by somebody that those conservatives feel more comfortable with.

ALLEN: Dana Bash covering it for us. And thanks to Dana for that.

Pope Francis spoke at the United Nations Friday and climate change was priority number one.

We will talk with a climate change expert in a moment. And she will share the myths -- as she sees it -- of climate change.

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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): In all religions, the environment is a fundamental good. The misuse and destruction of the environment are also accompanied by a relentless process of exclusion, in effect a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak.

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ALLEN: That was Pope Francis speaking at the United Nations in New York City Friday.

On his travels to Cuba and the U.S. this week, Pope Francis has again been quite vocal about the need for the world to combat climate change. His opinions angered some within the Catholic Church, who believe that we as humans don't have the power to tackle the issue, even if we all commit to trying.

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ALLEN: Here in the U.S., religion is a recurring factor in the climate change debate, with many citing the power of God as the real reason our world is transforming so rapidly.

CNN.com columnist John Sutter spent a week in Woodward County, Oklahoma, which is both highly religious and statistically one of the most climate skeptical places in the U.S. It is also notorious for extreme weather. Let's take a listen to the views of people that we interviewed.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just figure that the good Lord is going to -- he's the only one that knows. You know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might say the environment is perfect today because God ultimately controls the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And maybe we shouldn't interfere with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God speaks directly to issues out of the scripture. When he said in Genesis be good stewards of this land and take care of it. That has value always.

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ALLEN: That is just a small clip of what you can see more of on our website. But despite all of the science suggesting otherwise, there are those in Oklahoma and elsewhere that contend that climate change is an irreversible process reflecting God's will.

My next guest, Katharine Hayhoe, is both an evangelical Christian and a climate scientist at Texas Tech. She believes God also gave us the power to make good choices and those choices can have an impact.

Katharine, thank you for joining us.

KATHARINE HAYHOE, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: My pleasure.

ALLEN: I want to talk first about the pope effect. Of all of the issues he chose to speak about in the United States, he continued hammer hard on climate change.

HAYHOE: It's so important because here in our society we bought into two big myths when it comes to climate change. We bought into the myth that it only really matters to the polar bear or future generations and we have also bought into the myth that to care about climate change you have to be a tree hugger or an environmentalist.

The pope is busting both of those myths big time. He is connecting the dots between poverty, injustice, the refugee crisis that we are facing today and the issue of climate change, which exacerbates the risk of the types of droughts that drove people into the cities in Syria.

He is also busting the myth that you have to be a green tree hugger. He is showing if we care about people, if we care about this planet -- and it is hard to think of any human who wouldn't care about the place where we live and other people -- then those are all the reasons we need to care about climate change.

ALLEN: Right. And I want to point out that he personally thanked President Obama for his new policies. He said, Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution.

And we should point out that a new study by Associated Press, as reported in the "Huffington Post," said 3.3 million people each year die from air pollution. At the same time, we've heard from Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum from the campaign trail, who said I'm not going to listen to the pope because he's not a scientist.

However, 97 percent of climate scientists say there's climate change. And there, we are showing the polar bears again. As you say, it is not just a polar bear problem. It is an air pollution problem that's going to continue to affect the resources we have on Earth.

Do you really think that the pope can have an impact on this?

Because I also spoke with a priest yesterday, who said he's not going to continue to bring the pope's message to his flock because the pope, again, is not a scientist.

What do you say to that?

HAYHOE: Well, first of all, the pope does have a degree in chemistry. Second of all, the pope's encyclical and everything he talks about with climate change is, as any good leader should, based solidly on the science from scientists.

For over two years, the pope has been holding meetings in the Vatican inviting leading scientists from around the world to inform the crafting of this encyclical to make sure all the scientific facts are accurate.

So we don't expect our politicians to have PhDs in physics but we do expect them to recognize that we have enormous wealth of smart scientists in this country that they can call anytime and ask for advice. The pope has done that and that's why he got the science right.

ALLEN: And of course the world will be watching when the U.N. comes together in Paris in December to try to get a global accord on cutting down air pollution.

But at the same time, Xi Jinping, the head of China, made an announcement today on cap-and-trade and he and Obama are already working on these issues.

How important is it that the United States and China show leadership here?

HAYHOE: It is essential. We're not just talking air quality, like ozone or particulates. We are talking carbon pollution very specifically because carbon is what drives the climate changes that we are seeing around us.

So for a long time we have had the Clean Air Act in place, which has accomplished many good things but it did nothing to cut our carbon emissions. Carbon emissions come every time we burn coal or natural gas or oil. We cannot avoid them but what we can do is reduce them through efficiency and through transitioning to new, clean sources of industry. That's what China is doing. For a long time here in the States

I've always heard, oh, well, we can do anything that we could. But if China is not doing anything, what's the point?

Today that argument has gotten turned on its head because today China is the world leader in wind energy, they're number one in the world in solar energy. They cut their carbon emissions last year for the first time and now they have a cap-and-trade emissions scheme in place to permanently reduce their emissions to the level they need to be at.

So rather than the U.S. leading the way and China lagging behind, now it is China who is leading the way and the U.S. is in serious danger of being left behind.

ALLEN: All right. Well, we appreciate your enthusiasm. We will wait and see how the world and the United States responds to what has been an historic week as the pope visits the United States. Thank you, Katharine Hayhoe, we appreciate it.

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ALLEN: Well, experts like Katharine say we need to make sure that the Earth does not warm more than 2 degrees Celsius. If you want to learn more about it you can go to our website. We have special coverage on this, cnn.com/twodegrees. Some scientists say we may be headed toward warming up 6 degrees. And we need to avoid that. Our warming planet, regardless, is having a profound impact on the intensity of --

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ALLEN: -- extreme weather events. Derek Van Dam is here because there is one churning right now.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, something that we are monitoring very closely that could impact Taiwan over the next 24-48 hours. But with global warming we already know that it is increasing sea level rises, with that melting of glaciers and the Arctic ice shelf, for instance.

But it's also allowing for the intensity and the frequency of these major typhoons and hurricanes to increase as well, just like Typhoon Dujuan, which I am going to show you on my weather graphics here as I walk back to our nanowall. You can see with the intensity of storm surge that's associated with these supertyphoons.

I'm taking you back to November 2013 with supertyphoon Haiyan, when it impacted the Philippines near the Tacloban region. You can see, a prime example of what an increase in sea level rise combined with an intense cyclone-like typhoon like Haiyan, what it can do; that is a prime example of storm surge.

Come to my graphics. Again, it's no incidence that the five countries most vulnerable to sea level rise and therefore storm surges due to intense cyclones is all across the southeast, Southeast Asia, I should say. We've got Indonesia, Bangladesh, we've got the Philippines. We've got Southeast China, 22.3 million people in China alone right along the coast. By 2015 -- 2050, susceptible to coastal storm surge. This is the latest, Typhoon Dujuan. This is over the Western Pacific. It's got its eyes set on the Southern Ryukyu Islands, just south of Okinawa. This is the mainland of Japan to the north.

And further that by Monday evening, Taipei, winds at 165 kilometers per hour, higher gusts. Let's take you on a time line with the storm by two days from now. That would be Monday morning local time perhaps impacting the Ryukyu Islands.

Then by Monday evening we have wind gusts in excess of 200 kilometers an hour potential for the Taipei region. Then as it moves its way into the Fujian province across Southeast China, anyone's guess from there because that's still again, five days out. But it does appear that storm system is headed towards that region.

Here is a look at the current wind gusts at the moment. This storm is intensifying very quickly, Natalie. And again, we can't directly attribute this to climate change. But one thing is for sure. These storms are getting more intense and definitely stronger as time goes by.

ALLEN: All right, Derek, thank you.

Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'll have your top stories right after this.

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ALLEN: Hello, again, I'm Natalie Allen with our top stories.

Pope Francis told world leaders at the United Nations Friday that greed for power and wealth is destroying the Earth's resources and isolating those who are poor and disadvantaged. Just hours from now, Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia for the third and final stop of his six-day visit to the U.S.

Croatia has reopened two border crossings with Serbia. The country closed seven of them last week after Hungary shut down its borders with Serbia to stop migrants from entering. Croatia's interior ministry says more than 60,000 migrants have crossed from Serbia in the past week.

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against Sepp Blatter. Authorities have questioned the FIFA president and searched his office in Zurich. The Swiss attorney general says Blatter is being investigated on suspicion of criminal mismanagement; Blatter's attorney denies that. Argentina walked away victorious against Georgia Friday in their

second match up at the Rugby World Cup. The team made a thorough come back when Georgia's team was reduced to 14 men on the field. The final score, 54-9.

That's the latest news. I will have more for you at the top of the hour with one hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Next here on "WINNING POST," racing life in Europe. And why the struggles of some riders may mirror the economic crisis gripping Europe. That's next.