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Stock Markets Plunge; U.S. Doubts North Korea's H-Bomb Claims; Tensions High between Saudi Arabia, Iran; One Year Since "Charlie Hebdo" Attack; Doubt Cast on North Korea's H-bomb Test; Firearms Ownership Across the U.S.; Trump: Cruz Could Have Legal Problem as President. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 07, 2016 - 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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[02:00:33] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Errol Barnett. Our two-hour block of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
CHURCH: Chinese financial markets have plummeted for the second time this week. And circuit breakers just put in place for the New Year kicked in to stop trading. The Shanghai Composite and the CSI 600 fell more than 7 percent and the Shenzhen market was off more than 8 percent.
BARNETT: And stocks in the U.S. and in Europe also feeling the pain. The Dow shed 252 points on Wednesday, to close at 16,906. It is the market's worst start to the year since 2008.
CHURCH: For more on what's behind the plunge, CNN's Matt Rivers joins us live from Beijing.
Matt, it's the second time this week we've seen China's market fall and suspend trading. What went wrong this time?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This has been a very, very tough start to 2016 here. Speaking to different analysts, to people, the culprit seems to be the Chinese currency. The Yuan dropped to its lowest level since 2011. That seemed to spook investors. The sell- off happened almost immediately after markets opened here, 9:30 a.m. local time. They were basically shut down by 10:00 a.m., really, just about 15 minutes or so of trading. Once markets drop 5 percent, there's an automatic halt of trading for 15 minutes. That's a circuit breaker that's supposed to, according to Chinese regulators, give investors a chance to relax a little bit, to not panic.
But some of the observers think the opposite might be happening. We spoke to one such observer. Take a listen to what he has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETER LEWIS, BROKER, PETER LEWIS CONSULTING: It's almost helping the panic develop. What happens in the 15 minutes -- and the China market is largely dominated by retail investors, they get in the sell orders before the market closes. And they want to sell before everyone else does.
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RIVERS: All of the sell orders get piled up, according to this analyst. And as soon as the market reopens, the sell orders get issued and the market drops even further. And that's what we saw today. As soon as the markets reopened, it took little time for the markets to drop further to 7 percent. That's when the next circuit breaker kicks in, halting trading for the rest of the day.
CHURCH: Very interesting. Matt, how's China's government likely to respond to the second market plunge in four days? Do you think they might rethink the circuit breakers?
RIVERS: It's something they talked about earlier this week, without being specific. They talked about the circuit breaker saying it's a new policy. It just got implemented. This is the first week that the circuit breakers are being used. They are open to making this a dynamic system, to something that will be tweaked in the future. It will be likely, given what we've seen this week, that will there be tweaks. The other thing we saw the Chinese central bank, to inject some liquidity to the market. Put in about $11 or so billion U.S. dollar to quiet investors down. And they issued new regulations that would restrict the amount of selling that large major shareholders can sell at one given time, in the hope that would, perhaps, when markets open up tomorrow, would calm investors down. But you know, many analysts here are questioning the Chinese Regulatory Commissions ability and the central bank's ability to control this volatility.
CHURCH: Indeed, we'll see what happens as Europe markets open. On Monday, we saw them react negatively to the plunge. We'll see what happens.
Matt Rivers joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks.
[02:05:10] BARNETT: Turning to the breaking news roughly 24 hours ago, North Korea and its claim of testing a hydrogen bomb. World leaders are condemning the country for violating Security Council sanctions. The United States is standing firm with its allies in the region and defense commitments.
CHURCH: Barack Obama spoke with Asian leaders Wednesday about North Korea's test. The White House, along with other governments, are casting doubt on North Korea's claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The initial analysis that's been conducted of events that were reported overnight is not consistent with North Korean claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Paula Hancocks joins us with more on Seoul, South Korea.
Paula, there's a healthy dose of doubt and skepticism of this being a hydrogen bomb test. But there is agreement this is a violation. We've been here before. We can easily predict the next sequence of events, right?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty much. Three times in the past, we have seen the nuclear test. We've seen the condemnation, followed by the United Nations sanctions, followed by anger from North Korea, sometimes into a further provocation and deterioration between Pyongyang and the rest of the world. And things calm down again. It is fairly cyclical. We've been here before. The next step would be sanctions from the international community. And the United Nations is looking into that, as soon as they can. I think that Kim Jong-Un knew that when he carried out the nuclear test. This is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries on earth. And they are able to continue with their nuclear program. From that point of view, sanctions don't appear to be having much of an effect, obviously on the economy for the country. It is pretty much devastated. That's in healthy dose due to mismanagement by the regime.
One additional thing that has just come through. The Japanese defense ministry sent a few planes into the air to get radioactive dust or particles they could test to shed light on this nuclear test on Wednesday. We have heard they've come back with no abnormalities at this point. That's the first day and the first batch of dust particles. One analyst said they may not find enough dust particles to be able to test what kind of a nuclear test this was. They couldn't the third time, maybe not the fourth, either -- Errol?
BARNETT: Paula Hancocks live from Seoul, with that development from the Japanese defense ministry, not connecting anything abnormal yet. Eight minutes past 4:00 in the afternoon. Paula, thanks.
CHURCH: The International Atomic Agency is saying that evidence is being corrected to see if North Korea's claims are true. The group's director general tells CNN they are ready to send inspectors to North Korea and it will take more time to understand what exactly happened.
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YUKIYA AMANO, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: I have asked North Korea to all regulation from the Security Council and IAEA. These resolutions express serious concerns and called on North Korea to refrain from further such test. Aiea is ready to contribute to a peaceful resolution. We have experience from our conducting save guards in North Korea, and our inspectors are ready to go at short notice when requested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The IAEA has been observing North Korea since the country asked inspectors to leave it in 2009. BARNETT: We'll have more reaction to North Korea's nuclear test.
Also coming up, a look at what experts make of the timing of all of this. CHURCH: And the backlash is growing over the Saudi execution of a
Shiite cleric. We'll tell you how the Saudi kingdom is responding to domestic sectarian tensions. We're back with that and more.
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[02:13:33] BARNETT: Welcome back, everyone. Qatar is the latest country to call its ambassador back from Iran following the attack on the Saudi embassy.
CHURCH: That attack was sparked by the execution of a cleric on Saturday. And, since then, six other countries have cut or downgraded diplomatic ties with Iran.
BARNETT: And neighboring Iraq is offering to mediate between Iran and the Saudi kingdom. Iraq's foreign minister was sent to Tehran with that mission. Listen.
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IBRAHIM AL JAAFARI, IRAQ FOREIGN MINISTRY: We have solid relations with the Islamic republic of Iran as maybes, mutual interests, history and social relations. We have relations with our Arab brothers. And Iraq cannot stay silent in this crisis.
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CHURCH: Here's Nic Robertson with more.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: On the one hand, while you have the international rhetoric ramping up between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Iranians saying that Saudi Arabia is trying to destabilize the region, cover up issues in the country, Jordan coming onboard, calling the Iranian ambassador in, saying that Iran has an obligation to protect the embassies. And Djibouti cutting ties with Iran, saying it's doing that in support of Saudi Arabia. While you have an escalation of tensions there between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the sectarian between Sunni and Shia, internally, Saudi authorities want to play down the sectarian nature of it.
I spoke with the interior ministry spokesman. He described that the town that al Nimr came from, the Shiite cleric they executed over the weekend, the town that he came from, there's still a group there inspired by this cleric, who are trying to push the police out, take control of the town. This is what the spokesman said. But when I asked about the sectarian nature of it, that's something he wanted to play down. This is what he said.
[02:15:31] MAJ. GEN. MANSOUR AL TURKI, SAUDI ARABIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: We have this group of people. Who were -- taken advantage of these farms, trying to, you know, threaten everybody. Just a way of they're trying to control the city.
ROBERTSON: Is this a Shia terrorist group you're facing now?
AL TURKI: I do want to relate this to, you know, Shia or Sunni. We look at this -- the same as we look at ISIS and as much as we look at al Qaeda. This is all to us, a terrorist activities linked to al Qaeda, linked to ISIS or linked to this group.
ROBERTSON: He told me to take on this group, the people they consider terrorists, they could take them head-on. But that would cause civilian casualties. They don't want to do that. They will bring people in for questioning.
I think we can read into this. When you hear them saying they don't want to cast this along sectarian lines, there is a concern that they don't want this to get out of hand. They don't want to execution of this cleric to get out of hand to, if you will, inspire other people to violence. They are aware that can cause further problems down the road. Internationally, as rhetoric continues to ramp up and tensions rise, domestically, there's an effort, it seems here, not to make the situation any worse.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We'll take a short break. One year after a deadly attack on its Paris offices, "Charlie Hebdo" marks the anniversary with a special edition. The details to come.
BARNETT: And a big development for Netflix, the video and TV service. See why it's hailing the birth of a global TV network. Stay with us.
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[02:20:53] BARNETT: Just a few images of the few hundred million Eastern Orthodox Christians who celebrated Christmas on Thursday.
CHURCH: We want to turn to France and a painful anniversary of the deadly terror attack on satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo."
BARNETT: Two gunmen opened fire in their offices killing 12 people. In the following days, five other people died in related attacks.
CHURCH: The slogan "Je suis Charlie" became a message of solidarity, used by millions of people all around the world, to show their support. CNN's senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann, joins me now
from Paris.
Jim, this will, of course, bring back some very painful memories for so many people there. Talk to us about how this deadly attack has changed France and the way the newspaper, "Charlie Hebdo," now does business.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, I think in terms of chance, this has changed France a great deal. The country is in a state of emergency right now, not just because of the "Charlie Hebdo" attack but the later subsequent attacks on November 13th. The country came together in a massive show of unity a year ago. It was after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack. And the four days following the "Hebdo" attacks, about four million people were out in the streets, demonstrating their solidarity with the government. It was an attack on freedom of expression, something that had not been seen before. It was a targeted attack. And later, subsequently, there were attacks in a general way, indiscriminate violence that unified the country but also terrified the country in many ways.
As for the newspaper itself, financially, it is probably stronger than it ever was. It used to struggle to get along with about 30,000 copies a week. And the circulation jumped up after the attack to six- times that. And they received millions in Euros in donations from well-wishers who wanted "Charlie Hebdo" to continue. They printed an anniversary issue, which went to one million copies. The headline on the front page says, "The assassins are still out there."
And I talked to the editor about this cover and, as well, about the magazine in general. Here's what he said.
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(on camera): Can you explain what that cover means?
LAURENT "RISS" SOURISSEAU, EDITOR, "CHARLIE HEBDO" (through translation): It is clear.
(LAUGHTER)
BITTERMANN: What is it, exactly?
SOURISSEAU (through translation): It is a caricature representing the symbol of god. It is the idea of god that may have killed our friends a year ago. Wanted to widen vision of things. Faith is not always peaceful. Maybe we should live without less God.
BITTERMANN: This is not Mohammed?
SOURISSEAU (through translation): It's not Mohammed. It's the god of all believers.
BITTERMANN: Is it more difficult to be funny now?
SOURISSEAU (through translation): No, it's -- we manage to find the urge to laugh because we have the will to live. To laugh is like going to a restaurant, going to the bistro for drinks. It's a pleasure we have to continue to have. We don't have less of an urge to laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: So, "Charlie Hebdo," still very adamantly anti-religious. And that cover, by the way, brought a stinging rebuke from the Vatican today saying that the cover was blasphemous -- Rosemary?
CHURCH: As you pointed out, the magazine is stronger than ever after the attack.
Many thanks to you, Jim Bittermann, joining us live from Paris.
BARNETT: Speaking of entertainment, the small and unknown independent film storm "Star Wars" -- of course not. It's a big-budget film and it's the highest grossing film in North American history.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: The dark side, the Jedi.
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BARNETT: It's not expected to be released until Thursday. But the latest installment from a galaxy far, far away, broke the $760 million mark, set by "Avatar," back in 2009. This weekend, "Star Wars" opens in China. That's the second-biggest movie market in the world.
[02:25:26] CHURCH: Netflix is hailing its debut in 130 new countries as the birth of a global TV network. The video and the streaming television service says it's now available in about 190 countries, offering its business to billions of potential new customers. China is one of a handful of countries that won't be able to access the service. But Netflix says it's still exploring options to launch there.
BARNETT: Experts are raising doubt that North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb. Ahead, we'll analyst what Kim Jong-Un may be trying to prove.
CHURCH: Plus, the U.S. House speaker says the president should shift his focus from guns to terror groups. But which is more of a threat, gun violence or terrorism? Answers coming your way.
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[02:30:30] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everyone. This is CNN NEWSROOM. We want to welcome our viewers joining us from the U.S. and a warm welcome back to our international viewers. I'm Errol Barnett.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church.
It's time to update you on the main stories we're following this hour.
(HEADLINES) CHURCH: The U.S., South Korea, and others are casting doubt on North Korea's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. If it wasn't an H-bomb, it was a dangerous step and violation of U.N. Resolutions. The Security Council is viewing to punish Pyongyang.
BARNETT: People are debating why Pyongyang chose to carry out that nuclear test, if that's what it was, now.
Our Brian Todd has some possible answers.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the exPLOsion the size of a moderate earthquake --
(CHEERING)
TODD: -- and the uncontainable glee of a state news anchor --
UNIDENTIFIED NORTH KOREAN NEWS ANCHOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TODD: -- Kim Jong-Un makes his rivals shutter, and sends intelligence agencies scrambling. A senior U.S. officials says North Korea's nuclear test, if it's a hydrogen bomb or not, is concerning.
Analysts give a stark assessment of the danger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Korea is moving ever closer to a deliverable nuclear warhead, that is miniaturized, that can hit Japan, Guam, perhaps Hawaii. That's where they're moving. And they're doing it with impunity.
TODD: From Seoul to Washington, officials are assessing Kim's motives. One possibility, he's signaling his enemies, who he sees everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kim Jong-Un is facing threats from all fronts, domestically, internally, from his elite. He has to be able to manage and control all of that internally. But of course, there's always the threat that North Korea believes comes from its external environment.
TODD: External rivals like South Korea and the U.S., Kim can't compete and needs nuclear weapons to balance the field. But he has another motive with his rivals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With nuclear weapons, they can blackmail, intimidate and threaten the United States, South Korea and China, to get economic aid, sanctions relief and other things to preserve their regime.
TODD: A U.S. official says this test could be an important ramp-up of the Congress of the Korean Workers Party in May. North Korea hasn't held such an event for 36 years. At the gathering of the elites, Kim is expected to consolidate his rule.
Experts believe Kim is flexing his nuclear muscles now because the threat he faces are constant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has to be more fearful he doesn't get a bullet in his head. There's general officers who can't mobilize against him. But if they had an opportunity to take him out, in the future, I think he can't rest peacefully about that.
TODD: If Kim developing a deliverable nuclear weapon, is he dangerous enough, unstable enough to actually use it? Most analysts believe Kim wouldn't launch a nuclear weapon just to provoke but could do it if he's desperate, or if there's another standoff, he could miscalculate.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And Philip Yun is the executive director and COO of Ploughshares Fund. He joins us, now, via Skype from San Francisco.
Thank you so much, sir, for talking with us.
PHILIP YUN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & COO, PLOUGHSHARES FUND: Sure.
CHURCH: We know the U.S. and others are casting doubts that it tested a bomb on Wednesday. What do you think it was they tested?
[02:34:48] YUN: Right now, the intelligence and the seismic data indicates it was not a thermo-nuclear weapon. It could change that it was at most, a conventional atomic weapon that was boosted with some fusion material, which makes it basically have a little bigger bang. It's like putting some kerosene on a fire. But it's nowhere the strength of what a thermo-nuclear weapon is. There is a collective sigh of relief. People are saying they didn't do it. But you know, I think as you said in the earlier segment, the real issue is North Korea's continuing to expand its nuclear stockpile. It got about 16. They'll have 20 next year. And some people are talk to 100 in the next ten years. They're expanding the missile capability. And that just -- and they're doing this without anyone stopping them. That increases the threat to the United States and its allies.
CHURCH: Explain this to us. What is North Korea trying to prove by claiming this is a hydrogen bomb, if it wasn't that at all? Pyongyang knows that the West will be able to confirm what it is. What does it achieve by doing this and at this time?
YUN: There's internal reasons for it, as stated before. The Korean -- North Korean people, in their own minds, need a win. It will be a difficult 25 years. One of the things that Kim Jong-Un is trying to do, is promote national pride and unity. I think that right now, there's been a lot of pressure. To me, the timing -- it was somewhat unexpected. But to me, it was inevitable. There was going to be a fourth test. From a military security standpoint, they had to test one more time to either whether it's the ability to go thermo-nuclear. They had to test. This is the only way they were going to do to get, what I believe, is ultimately a smaller, nuclear arsenal that has a capability of hitting what they perceive is their enemies.
CHURCH: What do you think its closest ally, China, is going to do? And what should it be doing?
YUN: That's the big question for everyone. China can't do it on its own. I suspect they probably will -- you know, there's condemnations. But in terms of whether they do anything on the ground, remains to be seen. Conservative in the way they approach things. This would be a huge shift with them to do something in North Korea. The situation we have now is that China is using carrots. The United States, South Korea and Japan on the other hand, are using sticks. For us to get anywhere, you know, a good cop/bad cop works. But it has to be coordinated. And it's not. China has to agree to use some sticks, and the U.S., South Korea and Japan, some carrots. And we all have to agree on a lock-step program to have any hope of at least getting North Korea to freeze their program. That's the best we can hope for in the short term.
CHURCH: Philip Yun, thank you for sharing your perspective and analysis with us. We appreciate it.
YUN: Thank you.
BARNETT: As was expected, opponents of stricter gun control laws in the U.S. are ripping into President Barack Obama. This comes after he announced plans to try to make it more difficult for guns to get into the wrong hands.
CHURCH: House Speaker Paul Ryan was among those to criticize the president. He says Mr. Obama has bigger things on his plate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think it would be nice if he would focus on defeating ISIS, on calling radical Islamic terrorism what it is instead of talking about how we can intimidate and frustrate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Now, we looked into gun death and terror attack statistics and found that the number of Americans killed by gun violence, it dwarfs the number of those who died in terror attacks.
CHURCH: From 2001, to 2013, guns killed 400,000 people in the U.S. That's the most recent year data available and includes murder, suicides and gun-related accidents. Compare that to 3,380 killed by terrorism both overseas and on U.S. soil during the same period
BARNETT: How many Americans will be affected by stricter gun laws?
Tom Foreman looked into the number of gun owners across the U.S., who they are, and where they live.
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[02:40:00] TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are an estimated 300 million guns in America. That would be enough for every man, woman and child in the country. And where are they? Well, some of the best research comes from the Pugh Research Center. We'll color in those with the most guns. The northeast has the smallest number out there, with 25 percent. The southeast, 42 percent. Out west, it goes to 30 percent. And the biggest number of households or percentage of households, the Midwest, 45 percent.
Where are the guns in those areas? If you look at the cities, you will find that about 28 percent of cities households. In the suburbs, it climbs up. In the rural areas, that's where it jumps to 59 percent. Men are three-time more likely to own guns than women, 37 percent to 12 percent. And by race, the most common household to own guns would be a white household. 46 percent report one or more guns inside.
And if you look at it politically, here's a simple way to consider this map where Republicans and Democrats live. Republicans are more common in suburbs and rural areas, Democrats more common in urban areas. If you look at the map, you can tell, Republican households, more likely to have guns, Democratic households, less likely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Tom Foreman reporting there.
And CNN special look at guns in America is Thursday. The U.S. president will join CNN's Anderson Cooper during a one-hour live town hall event. You can see that at 8:00 p.m. in Washington. That's 1:00 a.m. Friday in London and 9:00 a.m. Friday in Hong Kong, here on CNN.
BARNETT: Other important stories we are following for you. A state trooper in Texas who made a controversial arrest of an African- American woman is now facing a perjury charge. The officer claimed that Sandra Bland was competitive during a traffic stop in July. Bland was found dead in her jail cell. The grand jury did not indict anyone in her death. State officials say they plan to fire the police officer.
California's governor has declared a state of emergency over a major gas leak. Look at the video we have to show you. This gas leak is discovered north of Los Angeles in October. But the gas company hasn't been able to stop it yet.
CHURCH: The methane leak has forced more than 2,000 people to leave their homes.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The smell can cause you to be nauseated. It can cause to give headaches, nose bleeds, which I have had, stomach problem.
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CHURCH: The company says it hopes to stop the leak by end of March.
People in California are also dealing with storms brought on by El Nino. Drivers in Los Angeles are facing some dangerous conditions, trying to get through flooded roads and high waist.
BARNETT: The heavy rain is causing mudslides there. California is in a major drought. It needs the water. There's concern that things like this could happen. Too much rain could wash out areas that are vulnerable from wild fires.
CHURCH: And Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us to talk about this.
We talked about the inability for the earth to absorb this.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And people are also surprised, too, with burnt soil, it's almost as repellent as pavement is. Very little water is absorbed. You have to think about this area. We had about 9,000 individual wildfires in 2015 across California, 300 square kilometers of land or larger. 9,000 fires across the state, about a million acres of land. A lot of land for water to not be absorbed. It's fascinating when you think about the forest. You think about the trees, the bushes, the leaves, the foliage that covers some of the hillside of California, with tremendous average of fire coverage up around 9,000. What is left of the forest is all burnt down. And you get a sand-like layer, a silty layer that makes up the soil there. You get a soil that's like a lid that blocks off any moisture going within the soil to be absorbed. The rainfall comes down, and absorbed into the silty layers. It gets towards the soil. As it get there's, it becomes runoff. And you move soil. You move rocks. You move debris. And all of the worst places to be. If you see a terrain above you that's been burned or blacked out, that's one of the worst places to be. That's where the tremendous high risk exists for runoff and for landslides like this occur. That's one of the primary concerns across the region. This is the jet stream across the Pacific Ocean. A classic El Nino pattern. Storms typically like to stay north of the storm track. We're driving so much moisture into central and southern California over the last couple of days. And the trend is forecast to continue over the next several weeks. You look and several months. We have had severe weather across parts of California. Several tornados. One near Hollister, California. One on the border of Orange County and San Diego County. This particular tornado would be, in fact, the first confirmed tornado since 2006 in San Diego County. Wild weather. And of course, a couple of months ago, guys, we were talking about rings being analysts across California. And trees that are 500 years old. Showing the most amount of stress they have seen from hundreds of years, from no water, no moisture. We're going into record El Nino. Opposite extremes.
[02:46:12] CHURCH: Thanks so much, Pedram. Appreciate it.
Donald Trump says his rival may have a legal problem becoming U.S. President. Ahead, what he thinks Ted Cruz should do.
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(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:50:21] CHURCH: Donald Trump is pressing the issue of his rival's U.S. citizenship. The U.S. Republic front-runner is suggested Ted Cruz go to court to get an official judgment on his citizenship.
BARNETT: A whisper campaign, you could say. Cruz was born in Canada but his mother was American.
Trump talked with Wolf Blitzer about the legal challenge that Democrats could make.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe that Senator Ted Cruz is a natural born citizen?
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I don't know. I like him a lot. I don't like the issue. I don't like bringing it up. It wasn't me that brought it up. It was "The Washington Post" doing an interview.
BLITZER: They asked you a question.
TRUMP: One of the questions they asked me, they went with it. I wasn't aggressive with the answer, except one thing. You can't have somebody running, if the Democrats threatening to bring a suit. How can you have a nominee running against a Democrat, like whoever it may be? Probably Hillary Clinton because she'll probably escape the e- mail problem, which is disgusting that she's able to, because other people are doing less, have had very, very major consequences. It's terrible. But it's probably going to be Hillary. How do you run against the Democrat, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit? A lawsuit would take two or three years.
BLITZER: He says he's a natural-born citizen because his brother was a U.S. citizen. And he's a natural-born citizen.
TRUMP: I hope he's right. I don't want to win on this point. What the Democrats are saying, he had a passport.
BLITZER: He didn't have a passport.
TRUMP: He had a Canadian passport.
BLITZER: His aides say he didn't have a passport.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I think it's wonderful if he didn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: All this is putting Cruz on the defense. He dismisses the citizenship challenge. Listen to him speaking with our Dana Bash onboard his campaign bus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're a constitutional scholar. You've argued before the Supreme Court. Why do you think on the legal basis, he's wrong?
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The legal issue is straightforward. The son of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.
BASH: It's never been tested. You know full well because you've done it on other issues.
CRUZ: The very first Congress defined that child of a U.S. business born abroad as a natural born citizen. And many of the members of the first Congress were framers at the convention. At the end of the day, this is a nonissue. But my response is, we were talking a minute ago, I tweeted a link to a video of Fonzie jumping a shark. There's too many serious issues facing this country.
BASH: On the issue of the passport?
CRUZ: What passport?
BASH: Donald Trump is suggesting that you had a Canadian passport?
CRUZ: Of course, not, no.
BASH: You asked your mother? Your dad? Never had one?
CRUZ: I'm sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: While the Cruz campaign is brushing off the issue of citizenship, it's taking a stand on another candidate's footwear, tongue firmly in cheek.
BARNETT: Jeanne Moos has the lowdown on Marco Rubio's fashion choice and its repercussions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marco Rubio may say --
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the most important election.
MOOS: It's what he elected to wear on his feet that has his Republicans and the press poking fun.
"A vote for Marco Rubio is a vote for men's high-heeled booties," tweeted Ted Cruz's communications director, linking to a "New York" magazine article with that headline, "Man heels," one reporter called them.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no. He didn't do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is beyond -- this is Austin Powers, baby.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're shagalicious.
(MUSIC)
MOOS: If it wasn't Austin Powers, it was Harry Styles from One Direction, inspiring Rubio comparisons.
When Harry wears his boots with heels, girls squeal.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I love you.
(SHOUTING)
MOOS: The heels add maybe two inches to the 5'10" Rubio. Reporters tried to figure out which designer booties he was wearing until the Rubio compare told "Politico" they were from Florshiems. Maybe this will unleash the kingly appearance in you. For 135 bucks.
Fellow candidate, Carly Fiorina, flaunted her higher-heeled boots, tweeting, "Yeah, @MarcoRubio, but can you flaunt these?"
And Rand Paul rubbed it in --
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Probably in Whoopi Goldberg's office trying to choose some new shows. We've seen Rubio has the cute boots and we're wondering if we need new shoes.
[02:55:19] MOOS: Chris Christie might, at least need some new sacks since these two seem mismatched.
But Senator Rubio's boots are made for walking. And those who dare snicker --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready, boots? Start walking.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(LAUGHTER)
CHURCH: Interesting to see how that plays out, huh?
BARNETT: Oh, yeah.
CHURCH: Lottery players in the United States will be reaching, once again, for their wallets and crossing their fingers after no one won Wednesday's $500 million power play drawing.
BARNETT: That's right. Here's a look at Wednesday's winning numbers. It doesn't matter because no one had them. The jackpot for Saturday's drawing is estimated at $660 million. That would make it the largest jackpot in the U.S. ever.
CHURCH: Yikes. Get yourself a ticket.
You can follow us on Twitter anytime. Want to hear from you.
We'll have live reports from Paris, Beijing, Seoul and more. That's next hour.
BARNETT: More CNN NEWSROOM with us, after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
