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Trump Calls for Total Ban on All Muslims Entering U.S.; DOJ Launches Investigation of Chicago Police Department; New Details on California Shooting Rampage; U.S. Intelligence Releases New ISIS Report; London Stabbing Suspect Appears in Court; Oscar Pistorius in Court for Bail Hearing; Red Alert for Hazardous Air Quality in Beijing. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 08, 2015 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:11] LEMON: That's it for us tonight. I'll see you back here tomorrow night. CNN's coverage continues now with CNN's John Vause.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, the Republican frontrunner for president, Donald Trump, calls for a ban on all Muslims from entering the U.S. Winning cheers from supporter and condemnation from almost everyone else.
Try not to breathe, Beijing. For the first time ever the smog is so bad officials issue a red alert shutting down schools and businesses.
And music to heal. The Eagles of Death Metal back on stage in Paris. And we'll have a poignant tribute for an American song writer in the city of lights.
Hello. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause. The first hour of NEWSROOM L.A. begins now.
Great to have you with us, everybody. In a sharp escalation of his already controversial rhetoric, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is calling for a total ban on Muslims entering the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Mr. Trump's statement comes a day after President Barack Obama urged the country not to turn against each other out of fear.
The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called Trump's position reckless and un-American.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIHAD AWAD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN AND ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Donald Trump sounds more like the leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours. He and others are playing into the hands of ISIS. This is exactly what ISIS wants from Americans, to turn against each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Trump's call sparked an immediate political backlash. But as Randi Kaye reports, there is approval among his many supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As supporters waited in line to hear Donald Trump speak tonight in South Carolina, word started to spread about his latest idea -- banning all Muslims from entering the U.S.
(On camera): Donald Trump is now saying Muslims should not be allowed to enter this country until the U.S. figures out what's going on. Do you agree with that?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes, I do.
KAYE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't want them here. Who knows what they're going to bring into this country, bombs, ISIS, what? They need to go.
KAYE (voice-over): He's not the only supporter backing Trump's call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S. In fact, no one here we spoke with had a problem with the plan.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: That's a very prudent idea and I think that he's done due diligence when he makes that statement. We have to protect our American citizens first, and the vetting process and the whole program lacks integrity.
KAYE: That's not true. In fact, the vetting process run through multiple agencies is vigorous. Some folks here saying not all Muslims are bad when pressed, but they say don't want to take any chances, even if some are coming to terms with it slowly.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think that they should go through screening, I mean, extensive screening. I mean, We just let a terrorist into this country that did the California shooting. I mean --
KAYE (on camera): He's not saying screening. He's just saying no Muslims should be allowed to enter the country right now. Do you agree, yes or no? It's that simple.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes.
KAYE (voice-over): Trump's harsh words for ISIS have also energized his supporters. On FOX recently, Mr. Trump shared part of his plan for how he'd bring down ISIS, including targeting terrorist families.
TRUMP: You have to wipe out their homes where they came from. You have to absolutely wipe them out. It's the only way you're going to stop terrorism.
KAYE (on camera): Are you in favor of bombing terrorist homes?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. People will continue to reproduce and they will raise children in their beliefs.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Somebody just needs to go in there and take control of this. I just think it's going rampant. And I'm worried about America, worried about our safety. They're getting in. They need to be stopped.
KAYE (voice-over): At a November rally, Trump had some of his strongest words yet.
TRUMP: We got to go and knock the shit out of these people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
KAYE (on camera): Why do you think that he's the guy to take on ISIS?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: He's got the guts to take it on and he can build a coalition also of other people to take them on as well.
KAYE: And one other note, even though Donald Trump doesn't have any political experience and he's never taken the country to war or been in charge of a country at war time, people who I spoke with still say that they believe he is the guy who can combat ISIS.
[00:05:09] He is the guy who can wipe out ISIS. None of them really had any idea as to how or why they think they believe that when I pressed them, but they just believe wholeheartedly that he is the only one, the only candidate, who can get the job done.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Other Republicans running for president have been quick to condemn Trump's statement. John Kasich said, "This is just more of the outrageous divisiveness that characterizes his every breath and another reason why he is entirely unsuited to lead the United States."
And this is what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the kind of thing that people say when they have no experience and don't know what they're talking about. We do not need to resort to that type of activity nor should we.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ted Cruz said simply, "That is not my policy."
Well, joining me now to discuss this is Lynn Vavreck. She is an associate professor of political science and communications at UCLA.
Thanks for being with us. First of all, let's just talk about the nuts and bolts of this. Is this plan even constitutional? Can you have a religious test for entering the United States and does that even matter to Trump supporters?
LYNN VAVRECK, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, UCLA: Well, I think the last part of your question is in fact the most important part for the campaign right now. Trump is a great salesman. That's one thing never to forget about him. Chris Christie might be right. He's not a politician. He's a businessman and he knows what his customers want. And so in this case, his supporters have high anti-Muslim attitudes already. And he is delivering them the goods. He's telling them what they want to hear.
VAUSE: OK. So I guess it doesn't matter if it's unconstitutional because I think most people would say that it's not.
VAVRECK: That's right. That's right.
VAUSE: Yes. OK.
VAVRECK: And he's not trying to persuade his followers or even attract new followers, as much as he is saying to his set of people who have stuck with him now for six months, we are on board with this item right now.
VAUSE: OK. And, you know, if this is what his supporters want, this is in fact a vastly different position from what Donald Trump had just less than three months ago. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that Muslims pose a danger to the country?
TRUMP: I love the Muslims, I think they're great people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK. But since then the rhetoric has been escalating. Last month he called for a database for Muslims entering the U.S. and he called for surveillance of mosques. Then after that he made this claim that thousands of American-Muslims celebrated after 9/11.
And we should keep in mind that all of these -- all of these I guess evolution of this that happened before the attacks in Paris and here in California in San Bernardino. So what is actually driving this? What is driving Donald Trump to take this extreme position? VAVRECK: I think there's two things, the most important of which is
that he is a media tactician above all else. And one of his main campaign strategies is win the news cycle every day. And when he senses that he is falling out of the news cycle, whether it's the president getting more attention than him or one of the other candidates he says something bombastic to draw the media back to his campaign.
VAUSE: It's interesting you said that because the latest poll numbers we have, and let's put these up here right now. This shows Mr. Trump behind Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa, which is one of the first of the first primary voting states. Trailing by about five points.
So I guess is it fair to say that many of Trump's most outrageous comments come when he is behind in the polls like this?
VAVRECK: I think it's behind in the polls or trailing in terms of the share of news coverage or the tone of the news coverage is taking on a negative cast. And that is exactly right. He then strikes and he's dominating the news again. And then he goes up in the polls.
VAUSE: OK. It's a scary strategy when you start talking about this kind of stuff.
Lynn, thank you for being with us.
VAVRECK: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, five days after the massacre in California, the community of San Bernardino is slowly returning to normal. Authorities reopened the street in front of the Inland Regional Center, that's the building where attackers murdered 14 people at a holiday party. Employees at the Environmental Health Services Department, where the victims all worked, are expected to return to their jobs next week.
The FBI says they have not found any evidence that the husband and wife, who carried out the attack, were working with terrorist groups overseas. But as Kyung Lah reports, investigators do have new details about the careful preparation by the two killers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators now say they were a couple equally united by marriage and their desire to unleash terror. The wife, Pakistani native, Tashfeen Malik, and her American-born and raised husband, Syed Rizwan Farook.
DAVID BOWDITCH, FBI ASSIST DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES OFFICE: As the investigation has progressed, we have learned and believed that both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time.
[00:10:04] LAH: What we don't know yet is how or exactly when. The FBI says the couple secretly planned jihad in their garage, finding 19 pipes that could have easily been converted to bombs, used in a larger attack. And just days before the massacre, the couple testing their guns with target practice at a gun range in the area.
Seeking answers about 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik, Pakistani intelligence officials raided her childhood home in the southern city of Multan. She spent her early years in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, then returned to Pakistan for college. Multan, an area was rife with poverty and religious extremism. We spoke to journalist, Zahid Gishkori, who grew up near Malik and has been speaking with her family.
ZAHID GISHKORI, JOURNALIST: They're really convinced, are sure of extremism in this area. Her university life were very important. Very, very important. 2007 to '12, it's a key point. Here you witness the change.
LAH: A change, says Gishkori, to more conservative views of Islam. Her teachers tell CNN they didn't see it. One instructor only vaguely remembered her as a good pharmacy student.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She always remained busy in study. And I don't think so -- she was more religious or like that. Majority of our students, they are with the veil and wearing a burqa. And this is not the unusual behavior.
LAH: 28-year-old Farook, say friends, was always devout, coming to pray at the mosque more than once a day. He never talked politics, he had a good-paying job and a family. He shared pictures of his newborn daughter and the mosque.
GASSER SHEHATA, FAROOK ACQUAINTANCE: Even afterward when he had the baby, he was very excited and very happy, and he told us that he would learn from these masters. So that's why it's very, very surprising.
LAH: A double life, say those who prayed with him, encouraged, they believe, by online radicals.
NIZAAM ALI, FAROOK ACQUAINTANCE: I can't go and look at a person's IP address or -- and see his Web history or his e-mails and see what he is doing and who he is talking to.
LAH (on camera): Here's what's concerning to his acquaintances at the mosque. They thought they knew what the profile was, someone who may be a young man, who didn't have a job, who spoke loudly about politics. Well, here is a man who they prayed with, who came regularly, who had a new wife, a newborn and a stable, good-paying job. This isn't exactly the sort of person they thought would ever do anything like this.
Kyung Lah, CNN, San Bernardino, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Chicago now where the police department is facing a federal investigation as prosecutors release new video of another police- involved shooting.
CNN's Mary Maloney has our report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY MALONEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. Justice Department wants to know if Chicago police are violating the Constitution and federal laws. This comes after details surfaced on two separate shooting deaths by police in 2014.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the sweeping investigation will look into how officers treat suspects.
LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Including its use of deadly force, racial, ethnic and other disparities in its use of force and its accountability mechanisms.
MALONEY: Calls for federal investigation into Chicago's police force intensified after the release of dash cam video in the death of 17- year-old Laquan McDonald. That video shows McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. He now faces a first-degree murder charge. Meanwhile the Cook County state's attorney has released video of another fatal shooting from 2014 following its own investigation.
Last October, Ronald Johnson was with shot and killed by Officer George Hernandez. Police say the 25-year-old pointed a loaded weapon at them then tried to run. Today the state's attorney announced Hernandez will not face charges.
ANITA ALVAREZ, COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: We have determined that the prosecution could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of Officer Hernandez were not reasonable and permissible under the laws of the state of Illinois.
MALONEY: The deaths led to protests in Chicago and the police superintendent resigned at the request of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO: We can be judged by the failures of the past or judged by the actions we take in the future.
MALONEY: I'm Mary Maloney reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Darren Kavinoky joins us now to talk more about the case.
And so, Darren, explain the significance here about this case. Explain the significance here and the ramifications now that there is this Department of Justice investigation into the Chicago PD.
DARREN KAVINOKY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the significance is that the Department of Justice is now looking into inappropriate use of force, whether there is a pattern of constitutional violation based on racism. But ultimately, sadly, this is something that looks better on paper than I think it plays out in real life.
[00:15:02] Even if there are violations found, what this will bring about is a conversation about policy changes, possibly pursuant to court order but we're not talking about the kind of charges where somebody is going to be doing the perp walk with handcuffs behind them.
VAUSE: So we're looking at reforms rather than holding anyone accountable for this conduct?
KAVINOKY: That's exactly right. This is really about how we're able to build a new powerful future for Chicago where people actually have some confidence in the integrity of the law enforcement system. Obviously that's something that's been sorely battered and bruised. And without it, it's very difficult for a city to function.
VAUSE: OK. So let's look at the current cases right now. Two police shootings here. Charges in only one case. Explain the difference here.
KAVINOKY: Well, it's a tale of two starkly different narratives. So obviously in the McDonald case, you have horrible behavior by police officers, and then you have what appears to be an attempted cover-up afterwards with manipulated reports, things that are at odds with what the videotape shows. So obviously there we have an officer who's now charged with first-degree murder looking at spending life behind bars.
VAUSE: Right.
KAVINOKY: In this other case that now we've just heard about, in the Johnson matter, we've got a situation that if you believe the police narrative, this is a justified shooting. And as outrageous as we look at the behavior in McDonald and say, well, we can't trust the Chicago police, each and every one of this cases needs to be examined on its own merits. If you believe the police narrative outlined in painstaking detail today this was a good shooting.
However, if you look at the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Johnson's family and you listen to the attorney who's come out obviously very critical against the police, they planted the gun and this is something that's been completely manufactured by law enforcement. Ordinarily in the face of the video, those defense claims -- I'm sorry, the plaintiff in the wrongful death claims.
VAUSE: Yes.
KAVINOKY: Those claims would ordinarily fall on very deaf ears, but now in the context of --
VAUSE: Because of the atmosphere. Right.
KAVINOKY: In this atmosphere, I don't think it's a stretch for people of Chicago to say, you know what, these incidents happened very close in time. Not such a farfetched idea to think that the police would plant a gun.
VAUSE: Sure.
KAVINOKY: So it may be a better case than the civil lawsuit there.
VAUSE: You talked about corruption cover-up. In the video, in the case of McDonald, Laquan McDonald.
KAVINOKY: Yes.
VAUSE: The video has been around for about a year. Is it plausible that Chicago's mayor did never get a chance to see that video? That he did not see that video?
KAVINOKY: Well, this is really the $64,000 question. Right? It's that he saw it or he should have saw it. Right? That he knew or should have known.
VAUSE: What did he know and when did he know it.
KAVINOKY: Exactly. And I think this is something that is going to get sorted out over time and whether Rahm Emanuel will emerge from this politically intact is yet to be seen but that is a very big looking question here.
VAUSE: OK. Darren, thanks for coming in.
KAVINOKY: You bet, John.
VAUSE: We appreciate your insights.
KAVINOKY: Pleasure.
VAUSE: A short break here, but when we come back the global reach of ISIS growing and growing fast. U.S. intelligence has new numbers of possible ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria. Those details up next.
Also the suspect in a London subway station stabbing makes his first court appearance. We will tell you what prosecutors found on his phone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[00:22:01] VAUSE: U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Sunday about the threat from ISIS but many of his critics say his administration is still not taking the terror group seriously enough.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has details now from a new report by the U.S. Intelligence Committee about ISIS and it details what can be done to stop the terror group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ISIS' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi secretly travels every few months to Mosul, Iraq, to preach to his followers, apparently believing he can move faster than U.S. airstrikes can target him, a U.S. official tells CNN.
Baghdadi avoids regular patterns of travel to keep from being tracked, the U.S. official said. Getting him and other senior ISIS operatives is now a top priority for U.S. Special Operations Forces being sent into Iraq and Syria. It's even more urgent in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks because of ISIS' ability to inspire followers.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're deploying Special Operations Forces who can accelerate that offensive.
GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: Our threshold for collateral damage increases with the value of the target we're going after. And, you know, I can assure you if we're going after Baghdadi's command and control network or some other critical node, then we will go after it as aggressively as necessary.
STARR: Dozens of U.S. Special Operations Forces will now either find and kill or capture and interrogate top ISIS operatives.
COL. STEVE WARREN, COALITION SPOKESMAN: Certainly it's our preference to capture in all cases. And we prefer to capture because that allows us to collect some intelligence and to gain additional information and insights.
STARR: Getting that intelligence may now be a race against time. ISIS' global reach is growing, according to a new assessment by the U.S. intelligence community.
An estimated 23,000 ISIS fighters have been killed by coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, but ISIS is still increasing the areas it controls. Followers are now as far away as Bangladesh and Indonesia.
AKI PERITZ, FORMER CIA OFFICER: It's obvious that this organization is generating not only gains in other countries; it's also gaining recruits.
STARR: Up to 30,000 ISIS fighters and supporters could be inside Syria and Iraq, according to administration estimates.
DUNFORD: We have not contained ISIL.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have they been contained at any time since 2010?
DUNFORD: Tactically, in areas they have been. Strategically, they have spread since 2010.
STARR (on camera): On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, once again, to defend President Obama's strategy to defeat ISIS.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Counterterrorism officials in Britain have now formally charged an alleged knife-wielding attacker with attempted murder.
[00:25:02] Muhaydin Mire appeared in a London court on Monday. Witnesses say on Saturday he entered a Tube screaming, "This is for Syria." He then allegedly forced a man to the ground and slashed his neck with a knife. Prosecutors say they found images of ISIS, as well as pictures from the recent attacks in California and Paris on his phone.
More on the attacks, CNN's terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank joins us now from London.
So, Paul, this type of attack on Saturday in London, is this the kind of attack that there really is no way of trying to prevent? And it does seem, at least allegedly, that it was inspired by the events which happened in California last week?
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, they're difficult to prevent this kind of lone wolf attacks, John. And it does appear to have had some kind of link in terms of inspiration with California because the suspect had pictures and content relating to the San Bernardino shooting on his phone. Also pictures relating to the Paris attacks on his phone. So he does appear to be some degree ISIS inspired.
Difficult to stop this kind of lone wolf attacks. They're kind of relying on tips from the family. But also, in the United States, they are using sting operations, the FBI, to try and see the warning signs when people are moving from violent thoughts or violent actions, they're trolling through social media sites, looking for those warning signs in the United States. They've been very aggressive, the FBI.
But the information from the family can be very important. With the California shooting we saw that the father actual was aware that his son was sympathetic to the caliphate of Abu Bark al-Baghdadi. And in this case in the United Kingdom there was a warning to the police from the family, from the brother. He was telling local media tonight they told the police they were worried about him because of his mental health challenges and the police have acknowledged, according to British media, that they received that warning three weeks ago but were not told about radicalization.
VAUSE: And in regard to the reporting that we had just a short time ago from Barbara Starr that actually getting the ISIS leadership, the decapitation, is now a top priority in the U.S., taking out the senior commanders.
I'm just wondering how effective is that going to be short of getting al-Baghdadi himself because every time they get one of these senior commanders it seems there's another guy who just moves up the ladder?
CRUICKSHANK: John, that's exactly right. It really depends on which senior leaders they're taking out. If they can take out the very top leadership, people like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, people like Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the top leader in Syria, that will clearly make a difference. It will dent this ISIS narrative that they are winning. And that's so important to support around the world and amongst these extremists because they believe because ISIS is winning that must mean that god is behind them.
So tasking out some of these iconic leaders will make a difference. But at the mid-level they are finding it pretty easy to promote people up the ranks. They're also finding it pretty easy to find new foot soldiers. I mean, they've killed, what, 30,000 or so ISIS operatives and it's a group with still the basic same fighting force, John.
VAUSE: OK, Paul, thank you for being with us.
Paul Cruickshank in London, thank you.
Still to come here, Beijing issued its first ever red alert as air pollution hits hazardous levels in the Chinese capital. We will have very the latest in a live report.
Also ahead, heavy rainfall slams parts of Portland, Oregon. Roads and homes are flooded and the worst may still be to come.
[00:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: It's just before 9:30 on a Monday night here in Los Angeles; you're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from L.A. I'm John Vause; the headlines this hour:
(HEADLINES)
This is the first ever "red alert" in Beijing. Joining us now with the latest is CNN's Matt Rivers. He is in Beijing and Meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, is also standing by at the CNN Center. Matt, we will start with you. You are out there in the thick of it. Just how sweeping are these pollution controls and they don't seem to be working?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, these controls are everywhere. You can see them when you walk around the city. Some of them are a bit more visual than others. I'll show you one of them here: we're on top of the Second Ring Road, this is one of Beijing's busiest thoroughfares and it is very, very rare, at this time of day, to see any space between the cars. One of the restrictions that have been put in place is by only allowing cars with even number licensed plates to be on the roads and you can see the reduction in traffic.
Other restrictions include schools closed, certain work places are closed, construction sites have been halted for the day and certain factories have actually been closed for the day. So the restrictions are very much in place here in Beijing, but, as you mentioned, John, it has not had much of an affect as of yet; this smog is expected to linger until Thursday.
VAUSE: I guess the question is how determined are they to enforce those restrictions? But just on a personal level, Matt,
[00:35:00]
you've only been there a short time, so, as a new arrival there in Beijing, explain what it is like it to be breathing air which is so toxic?
RIVERS: Well, John, you used to live here so you have an idea of what it is like. It can really just be very enveloping. It gets everywhere it: it permeates your clothes; you can smell it on your clothes when you get home; and you can kind of taste it. I don't go without one of my new purchases, this would be a pollution mask. Many people on the streets here are wearing it; but, you know, aside from just the way it makes me feel, people with chronic respiratory infections, things like asthma, you know, air like this can send a lot more people to doctor's offices and hospitals with infections. You can really feel the frustration here amongst people who live here in Beijing, many of whom are just kind of resigned to say if the government hasn't done anything about this so far, they don't think that anything is going to change anytime soon.
VAUSE: And how are people reacting to these new restrictions? Their kids can't go to schools, as you mentioned businesses closed. I can imagine a lot of people who rely on going to work every day probably aren't very happy about that right now.
RIVERS: No, they are not, and the restrictions came in to place pretty late last night. They only were announced around 6:00 p.m. so that left many parents here, for example, scrambling, trying to figure out who would take care of their kids because many of them didn't go to school.
The other thing about this is that the government here, this is the first time they have issued this red alert. Many people here were wondering why this red alert wasn't issued last week. Same time last week the pollution was actually worse than it is right now. We were on the same bridge and you couldn't see as far as you can right now. So many people here speculating that this new red alert is really just the Beijing Government making up for what many are calling a mistake from last week.
VAUSE: Matt, thank you; and we should note, Matt, it is, what? 1:36 on a Tuesday afternoon. It looks like its dusk there because of the heavy haze of pollution.
Matt Rivers there live for us there in Beijing.
Let's head over to Pedram Javaheri now, our meteorologist at the CNN Center. So, Pedram, explain to us what is the particular reason, if any, behind the surge in air pollution there in Beijing?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, you know, this time of the year, John, we often talk about the cold season. It has been very cold across that region; a lot of coal being consumed. When you put that in the atmosphere, the stagnant weather pattern that they've seen, the pollutants have nowhere to go. You've got a storm system that comes, that displaces the pollutants farther to the east and then you're talking about improved air quality. That happens, usually within a week's time, but, of course, the pollution doesn't just disappear. It's displaced off to the Korean Peninsula, eventually to the western United States.
(WEATHER REPORT)
[00:40:00] VAUSE: Atlanta gets more rain than Seattle?
JAVAHERI: They do. They do; that's a very good point, and, again, a lot of people confuse it, but it is a lot cloudier there but wetter here, across Atlanta.
VAUSE: Pedram, thank you.
JAVAHERI: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Well, still to come here, the rock band whose concert was the target of a deadly terror attack. We're going to Paris. We'll show you the very warm welcome they received in the French capital.
Also ahead, an American musician pays tribute to Paris in song; he'll perform an acoustic version right here on CNN.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONO, LEAD SINGER, U2: They were with robbed of their stage three weeks ago, and we'd like to offer them ours tonight. Would you welcome the Eagles of Death Metal!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A rousing introduction from "U2" Frontman Bono there, rock band "Eagles of Death Metal" they made their triumphant return to Paris after terror attacks killed 90 people at their last show in the French capital. Eagles of Death Metal also posted a statement on their Facebook page saying, "Thank you to everyone in the world who continues to prove that love, joy and music will always overcome terror and evil."
For many, music has been a symbolic act of defiance against the terrorist. One musician in the U.S. is paying a tribute to Paris with the only way he knows how, with song. Griffin House, from Nashville, Tennessee released a song called "Paris Calling." It's a love song to his favorite city and the proceeds to the sale of this song on iTunes will go to charity. Take a listen.
(PLAYING "PARIS CALLING" BY GRIFFIN HOUSE)
VAUSE: Griffin House joins us now from Nashville. Griffin,
[00:45:00]
thanks for being with us. Tell me, I want to go back to -
GRIFFIN HOUSE, MUSICIAN, NASHVILLE: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: -- to last month, when you first heard of the attacks in Paris, in particular when you found out that a music venue, a place of entertainment and fun, that was where most people were killed.
HOUSE: Yes, it was frightening. It was scary. It was baffling and it brought it home a little bit to hear that it was the "Eagles of Death Metal", they're one of my favorite bands. I saw them at South by Southwest a couple of years ago. I fell in love with the band, and my heart went out for them. I have spent quite a bit of time in Paris myself and it was a tragedy that really is still affecting me. I'm thinking about it every day, especially having a song called "Paris Calling." (Playing song)
VAUSE: You mentioned your own personal connection with Paris; and so now we have this song "Paris Calling (Sweet Sensation)." Again, tell me about the song.
HOUSE: It's just a song that was written, sort of a love song to Paris, kind of celebrating all of my great memories there and thinking of wanting to get back one day. I live in Tennessee; so it is about a guy living in Tennessee in the summer and dreaming of getting back to Paris. I got to do that this summer and it felt great to be there and walk down the streets and feel the magic of the city. So, you know, I got to hear the song for the first time, mixed on my record, when I was back there this summer so it made it all the more bittersweet to have just been there and then hear the news of the attacks. It was mind-blowing and so sad.
VAUSE: Okay, so you are releasing this song early, "Paris Calling," and you are hoping to raise money for charity because until the end of the year all of the proceeds of the sale will go to this French charity. It's a great connection between the song and the charity which you decided to raise money for.
HOUSE: Yeah, Secours Populaire, it is a nonprofit in France and they fight poverty and exclusion all over the world. We wanted to do something to just do our part to give back and also, you know, equally as important, just to try and put some joy and love into the world and some celebration of life in the midst of the darkness that happened there a few weeks ago. So, you know, putting music into the world, hopefully, is just added some joy to some people over there.
(PLAYING "PARIS CALLING" BY GRIFFIN HOUSE)
VAUSE: Just tell me the importance of music here because we saw U-2 performing over the weekend and Eagles of Death Metal also back there, on the stage performing music. How important is music in the face as something as horrific as we saw in Paris?
HOUSE: Well, I think, in a way, it is the most important celebration for life that we for, at least, guys like me and I would assume probably guys in the Eagles of Death Metal too. I think it was completely courageous of them to go back there and just say hey, we're here and we're playing our music again and we're not going to stop because this is what we do. It was just the ultimate loving thing for them to do. I'm very inspired by what they have done and how they have reacted to it.
VAUSE: We should let everyone know the song "Paris calling" is available on iTunes and, again, the proceeds will go to charity. Griffin, we need to take a break but I understand you will come back after the commercial and you'll perform the song for us?
I will be back with my friend, Kadeisha (ps), and we'll sing the song for you.
VAUSE: Great, thanks so much. This is CNN NEWSROOM L.A. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:51:28] (WORLD SPORRTS)
VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. We'll head to Nashville again to end this hour of NEWSROOM L.A., with Griffin House and the song he's dedicated to the victims of last month's Paris attack; it is called "Paris Calling (Sweet Sensation)." Here he is:
(GRIFFIN HOUSE SINGS "PARIS CALLING (SWEET SENSATION)")
[00:56:30]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
