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Republicans Debate without Trump; Democratic Race Neck and Neck in Iowa Gets Heated; CNN Visits Ghost Town in Northern Syria; Fact Checking Republican Candidates; WHO: Zika Virus "Spreading Explosively"; Is Zika Virus Result of El Nino; Official: North Korea Possibly Tested H-Bomb Components; FBI Releases Video of Oregon Arrest, Shooting; West Bank Comedy Nominated for Oscar. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 29, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:10] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are following a wild day of election coverage.
I'm Natalie Allen.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm George Howell, from CNN World Headquarters. Good to have you with us.
So we start with the U.S. presidential race, the politics and the dueling events that split the Republican Party in two.
Donald Trump skipped the debate ahead of this critical Iowa caucus because of a feud with FOX News. Instead, he held a fundraiser that he said was for military veterans just minutes away from the debate.
ALLEN: Trump said that FOX apologized to him but it was too late. Still, he practically dominated the debate early on. The moderators called "the elephant not in the room" and the other candidates took swipes.
Trump waved off the possibility that Iowa voters would see him as a sore loser by not participating. He said he raised almost $6 million for veterans. Even though his supporters waited hours in the cold to see, Trump told them he wanted to be elsewhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I didn't want to be here. I have to be honest. I wanted to be about five minutes away. And I have enjoyed that. I have enjoyed that. All the online polls said I did very well with that, with the debates. And I've had a kick with it. You have to stick up for your rights. When you are treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: You have to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: So this was the first time that Republican candidates took the stage without Donald Trump at the debate with him. They had jabs at the billionaire businessman before moving on to jabs at each other. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me say, I'm a maniac. And everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben, you are a terrible surgeon.
(LAUGHTER)
Now that we have gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way --
(LAUGHTER)
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I kind of missed Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me.
(LAUGHTER)
We always had a loving relationship in the debates --
(LAUGHTER)
-- and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here.
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The bulk collection of the phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think that you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection -- the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old-fashion way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on the warrant and ask the judge for it, and let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought the war for independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR & DEBATE MODERATOR: Governor Bush.
CRUZ: Chris, Chris, I was mentioned in that question.
WALLACE: No. You were not mentioned.
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: No, sir, I think --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: The question was about -- it's not my question you get a chance to respond to. It's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me.
CRUZ: Your question was you --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: I would like to go on, sir. I know you like to argue about the rules but we are going to conduct the debate.
CRUZ: Chris, I would note that the last four questions have been, Rand, please attack Ted; Marco, please attack Ted; Chris, please attack Ted; Jeb, please attack Ted.
(BOOING)
CRUZ: Let me say this --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: It is a debate, sir.
CRUZ: Well, no, no, a debate is a policy issue. I will say this, gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR & DEBATE MODERATOR: Dr. Carson, this week, a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton, if the United States is still the best place to raise her three Muslim children, given what she perceives as a rise in Islamophobia in the country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this, as the Democrats suggest, and how do you answer this veteran?
DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: Well, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, we need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies --
(CHEERING)
CARSON: -- because it's going to kill us if we don't.
But, you know, I believe in a teddy Roosevelt philosophy. He said that we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everyone is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans, if they want to accept our values, and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are.
(APPLAUSE)
KELLY: Governor Bush, do you agree that Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on the immigration promise? BUSH: I'm confused. He was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill
that required a bunch of thresholds, but it ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. That is a fact. And he asked me to support that and I supported him, because I think people, when you are elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco said, 30 years. And then he cut and run because it was not popular among conservatives, I guess.
Here is what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called "Immigration War." It's $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a best seller. I can promise.
(LAUGHTER)
There won't be any -- it's affordable for everyone.
[02:05:25] SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's interesting that Jeb mentioned the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration. You used to support a path to citizenship.
BUSH: So did you.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: Well, but you changed --
BUSH: So did you, Marco.
RUBIO: You wrote a book where you changed your position from -- no, you wrote a book where you changed you position from a path to citizenship to a path to legalization. And the bottom line is this. We are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Joining to talk about the night, our political commentators, Hilary Rosen, a consultant for Democratic candidates; and Ben Ferguson, a conservative talk show host.
Good to have you both.
(CROSSTALK)
HOWELL: The debate went on. It focused on issues from foreign terror to water crisis in Flint, Michigan. It went on without Donald Trump, who skipped it, and counter programmed with a show of his own.
My question I have for the two of you is, not who won the debate, but who rather won the night.
Ben, starting with you.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Donald Trump will get a lot of media attention. I'm not sure it's the media attention you want in Iowa. Iowa voters are very educated and smart voters. They take a lot of time and think and they caucus together. It's different than most American voters that walk in and push a button and walk out. They converse with one another. He may have over played his hand. It will be interesting to see what happens. But we also know something else about Iowa voters. They like to mess with pollsters. We saw it when Santorum came from a huge come-from-behind victory and also with Mike Huckabee. I would not be surprised if the poll numbers are wrong going in to the caucus.
HOWELL: Hilary, the same question for you. Where voters were going between two video feeds, seeing Trump on one and the other candidates on the other, who won the night?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, you know, Donald Trump has been brilliant in the last week. He just knows how the take the media attention away from every other candidate. And I think that he clearly won the attention factor tonight. Look, he went and did an event with almost a thousand people and raised millions of dollars for veterans and instead, the other Republican candidates went on stage and mostly attacked each other, did not really attack him. Probably the big loser of the night was Ted Cruz. He has been the closest to toppling Donald Trump in the Iowa caucuses. Yet, tonight, he was the victim of attacks from every other candidate on the stage because he did actually show up.
HOWELL: Ben, I want to take the same question to you. When we talk about the debate, was it a good night for Cruz, who suggested to folks in Iowa that a vote for any other candidate is a vote for Trump.
FERGUSON: When you have people coming after you on the stage, it's harder. There was a lot of criticism that went to Cruz that would have gone to Trump if he would have shown up. This was not his best debit -- best debate night. But I think the voters will respect him for being up there and showing up and having a debate on the issues instead of having another side show event that Donald Trump had. I think that veterans could really be turned off by what he did. He never had a fundraiser for the campaign for veterans and to use it for counter programming is a very risky proposition for the voters. And a lot of veterans are sounding off, saying they are not excited about what he did. They say it's insulting to their service for the country and their war injuries to jump on the band weighing know of let's give money to the veterans when he has not had a fundraiser the entire campaign until tonight.
HOWELL: As Hilary mentioned, yeah, talking about that, that Trump says he raised some $6 million for veterans as he put the show on. Look, he had vets on stage. He had two of the men running against him, standing next to the podium with his name on it, and he had the Trump Sisters, "The Stump for Trump Sisters" on stage, in an effort that was seemingly to counter the image that his campaign is rarely minority. The question I have for you, first, Hilary, do you feel this event would have brought Donald Trump more votes in a tight race against Ted Cruz?
[02:09:51] ROSEN: Look, he has defied convention every step of the way. Ben is right. It was generally offensive what he did. It was exploitive tonight. He has no history of supporting veterans or veterans organizations over the course of his campaign. He had the, you know, nerve to criticize John McCain, a real war hero he said that he had most military -- he had more military experience than most veterans that served in war because he went to a military style prep school. You know, this guy is really just beyond pompous when it comes to his story.
HOWELL: I want to get your take on this quickly. When Marco Rubio was shown video of himself supporting amnesty and then not supporting it, and then Jeb Bush chiming in on that as well? Was it a critical moment against Rubio and for Bush, who are both looking to get voters?
FERGUSON: It's a critical moment for anybody on stage when you are dealing with that. I wish they would have used the video montages in the last debates. Trump's video montage would have been incredible if people could see what he said in the past on issues instead of what he is saying now. That may have been the best move for Trump to not be there. He got to dodge the bullet.
For Rubio and Cruz, I don't think it going to be anything new for the voters, per se. Most people have seen them hashing out of the gang of eight issue, this Gang of Eight, this vote in the Senate issue. Chris Christie lasted night said, if you are bored to death right now talking about the procedure on the Senate floor, welcome to my world. And vote for me. So, I don't think it's going to hurt either of them too much when it comes to voters.
I do think it's interesting to see this, you know, how the video was brought in the debate. I personally like it. I wish it was used for every candidate to show them their own words in the past.
But remember, Megyn Kelly got in trouble because she quoted Donald Trump. That's why he didn't show up tonight. So if they had played a montage of Donald Trump, he may have just stormed off the stage anyway.
HOWELL: Hilary, the same question to you. What stood out to you given the idea that Donald Trump skipped it, given that there are video montages that could have been mashed up showing the different comments that Trump made through the cycle?
ROSEN: I thought the whole evening was shameful when it came to the issue of immigration and amnesty, and I'm embarrassed for the Republican candidates who, having grown up in the United States of America, the land of opportunity. What they are trying to do is out- bid each other on who could be more hostile to immigrants.
ALLEN: Ben Ferguson and Hilary Rosen, thank you for taking time to talk to us about the debate night.
FERGUSON: Thank you for having us.
ROSEN: Thank you.
ALLEN: Before the rival event, CNN sat down with Donald Trump onboard his campaign plane. He repeated his claims that FOX News anchor, Megyn Kelly, treated him unfairly and that is why he skipped the debate.
Senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, asked if the real reason that he boycotted was that he did not want to answer questions about his past views.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ted Cruz --
TRUMP: Right.
KEILAR: -- has been -- not just Ted Cruz, but those supporting him have been hammering you when it comes to your views on late term abortion.
TRUMP: I am hammering him on his views of where he was born.
KEILAR: But they have -- they have been --
TRUMP: And he is weak -- by the way, he's very weak on illegal immigration.
KEILAR: But you said to my colleague, just recently, Dana Bash, you said, I don't want to talk about that, when you were asked about your previous support for late-term abortion. Was this -- was this --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You know why? Because everyone -- first of all, it's false. I'm pro-life. Everyone knows I'm pro-life. He knows I'm pro-life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Brianna Keilar, even in the interview, pushed Donald Trump on mentioning the word "bimbo" in a tweet, which he said he didn't mention, but did mentioned in a tweet. But a powerful interview there by our Brianna Keilar.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, took to Twitter to weigh in on Thursday's Republican debate. She said the following, "Donald Trump is not stage at the GOP debate, but you can bet the same backwards ideas and out-of-touch rhetoric will be out in force."
ALLEN: Fellow Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, did not address the debate and spent his evening campaigning in Iowa.
The race among the U.S. Democrats, remember them? Been looking the other way for a while for obvious reasons. It's intensifying as well.
HOWELL: And now, one of the candidates wants to add a last-minute debate.
Brianna Keilar has this story as well. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): The Democratic race in Iowa, neck and neck, and getting heated. Bernie Sanders bristling when a reporter asked him about concerns young out-of-state voters could help throw the caucuses in his favor.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You want to talk about negative stuff, really? Based on what? --
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: They saw David Brock's long history of honesty and integrity? The man who tried to destroy Anita Hill? Is this where this is coming from?
KEILAR: Sanders slamming one-time conservative hatch man-turned Hillary Clinton supporter, David Brock. It's a sign of how close Clinton and Sanders are in Iowa.
The former secretary of state arguing she will get things done in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:23] ANNOUNCER: Break through the grid lock, not add to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Her husband making the case for her in Iowa.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's one person that said, I will never make the perfect the enemy of good. We've got to get the show on the road right now.
KEILAR: And telling CNN his wife understands how upset voters are.
CLINTON: She is angry that so many Americans have not participated in the recovery and have had their potential and their dreams and their children's thwarted.
KEILAR: Bill Clinton campaigned in Mason City, across town from Sanders last night, while his wife attended the fundraiser on the east coast.
Sanders seizing on the moment to paint Clinton as too close to Wall Street.
SANDERS: My opponent is not in Iowa tonight. She is raising money from a Philadelphia investment firm.
(BOOING)
SANDERS: Frankly, I would rather be here with you.
(CHEERING) KEILAR: The two campaigns also sparring over future debates. Sanders charging that Clinton had a change of heart on additional debates specifically an unsanctioned meeting next week in New Hampshire, now that she is trailing in the Granite State.
SANDERS: Now she is falling apparently behind in New Hampshire, wants to change the rules. But we are willing to say if she's willing to do a number of debates later on --
KEILAR: The Clinton campaign today saying they are open to debates later in the spring.
SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS: I give you Bernie Sanders.
(CHEERING)
KEILAR: Sanders also getting back-up from Actress Susan Sarandon, who campaigned with him and also offered some sharp words for Clinton.
SARANDON: I think that's very patronizing to women to think that we all just following our genitalia to a candidate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: That was CNN senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar.
Just a bit later in the show, we will have fact checking to do on the GOP debate and statements that were made.
ALLEN: But first, in a CNN exclusive, we will take you to a town in northern Syria, under Kurdish control. It now looks like a ghost town, but you will see what ISIS left behind. That is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:21:24] HOWELL: Welcome back. The latest push for peace in Syria may now be delayed longer. It is now unlikely that talks will begin on Friday as planned. Instead, the U.N. special envoy for Syria said that the talks will start in the next few days.
ALLEN: The main opposition group invited to negotiate is threatening to boycott the talks unless the Syrian regime stops bombing civilians and allows humanitarian aid. The leader of the opposition tells CNN they are waiting on a U.N. response to those demands.
Another source of division ahead of the peace talks were over which groups were not invited. The Syrian Kurdish group known as the PYD is furious they were reportedly left out. The Kurds have been crucial in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria.
In this CNN exclusive, Clarissa War visited a town under Kurdish control and show what ISIS militants left behind. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kurdish fighters are now in control of the town of al-Tall (ph), but the shadow of ISIS looms large.
The militants left in a hurry. ISIS documents litter the floor of the courthouse. Further up the road, a Kurdish fighter, Reno Shamo (ph), showed us a hastily abandoned bomb factory. One room is stacked with land mines and crudely fashioned homemade bombs.
UNIDENTIFIED KURDISH FIGHTER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD (on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), TNT.
UNIDENTIFIED KURDISH FIGHTER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD (voice-over): In another building, barrels packed with explosives are ready to be detonated.
"All of them are filled with hundreds of pounds of TNT," he says. They load seven or eight of them on a truck and make a suicide attack. They can cause massive devastation."
These stock piles a tiny fraction, the munitions scattered all over Syria.
The battle for al-Tall (ph) did not last long. Coalition air-power saw to that.
(on camera): This town was liberated nearly two months ago, but when ISIS fled, so did all the Arab residents, and the streets here are still completely deserted.
(voice-over): Kurdish fighters told us just one of the 3,000 inhabitants remains. The rest, wary of life under Kurdish control, vanished, leaving behind shuttered shops and empty schools, an ominous sign of the deep mistrust that haunts every corner of the country.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Al-Tall (ph), Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: In northern Greece, more than 1,000 migrants are waiting for their chance to cross into Macedonia and then continue to Western Europe, but they fear their journey might get harder than before after the E.U. warned Greece to do a better job controlling the borders.
A relief worker said that the living conditions for refuges are getting worse by the minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATERINA GOULA, FIELD COORDINATOR, AID AGENCY: I think that the situation is going to get even tougher, because we do not have the facility and the ability to host people and if they stay at the camp, which is very probably because they are not going have anywhere else to go, they are going to have to suffer once again because of the cold, once again because we are not sure if we will have enough food. Since we have also young kids and families, mainly, I don't think that the conditions are going to be good for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: A refuge camp in Athens will see the Olympic flame pass through it, according to the president of the International Olympic Committee. Thomas Bach also announced a refuge team will compete in the 2016 Rio games as a delegation of its own. The move is meant to bring attention to the plight of refuges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:25:18] THOMAS BACH, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: The Olympic flame will pass the camp here, and will be shown to the refuges and one of the refuges will be invited to carry the Olympic torch. They have no home, and they have no flag to march behind, and they have no anthem, to listen to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: It's a very nice touch on behalf of the Olympic team there.
Well, Sweden is considering using charter flights to deport migrants whose asylum applications have been denied. Sweden received more than 160,000 migrants in 2015, one of the highest proportions per capita in the E.U. And its rejection rate is in line with that of other E.U. states.
HOWELL: The British prime minister is being criticized for the comments he made on the topic Wednesday, blasting the opposition. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Look at the record over the last week. They met with the unions, and they gave them flying pickets.
(SHOUTING)
CAMERON: They met with the Argentineans and they gave them a --
(SHOUTING)
CAMERON: They met with a bunch of migrants in Calais and said they could all come to Britain. The only people they do not stand up for are the British people and hardworking taxpayers.
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: After that, Labour Party leaders are demanding an apology, saying it was, quote, "shameful and inflammatory" for David Cameron to refer to refuges as, quote, "a bunch of migrants."
Meanwhile, the British announced Thursday that they will accept more unaccompanied child refuges, but not clear how many.
ALLEN: Next here on CNN NEWSROOM, we take you to ground zero of the Zika outbreak to learn how hospitals are dealing with the virus being linked to terrible birth defects.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:30:25] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A very warm welcome back to the viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Great to have you with us. I'm George Howell.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Natalie Allen.
Let's update you on the top stories this hour.
(HEADLINES)
HOWELL: So, the debate happened and U.S. Republican presidential candidates made a lot of claims during the debate. Now we take the time to dig in and find out which claims were true.
ALLEN: The CNN reality check team has taken a look at everything that the candidates said. That is quite a job, isn't it?
HOWELL: They were busy.
ALLEN: Jim Sciutto, our chief U.S. security correspondent, shows us what is fact and what is fiction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the first one, this one from Ted Cruz on Obamacare, it's one we heard often, it was a big job killer. He's what he had to say tonight.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have seen in six years of Obamacare that it's been a disaster. It's the biggest job killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs.
SCIUTTO: Millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Biggest job killer in the country. Is it true? Groups studied it, including the Kaiser Family Foundation. They found very small percentage of employers shifted staffers to part time. Another small percentage might have not hired folks, they would have otherwise, that offset by people hired full time from part time. Our judgment on this one, the claim is false.
Let's go to Rand Paul on metadata, bulk data collection. This was a big issue for both parties in the last year, year and a half. Here is his claim. SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The bulk
collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack.
SCIUTTO: Did not stop one terrorist attack. You may have remembered early on when bulk data was revealed by Edward Snowden, the administration talked about at least 50 terror threats thwarted. That talking point disappeared over time through a lot of hard questioning from people like Senator Patrick Leahy. But even the president's own intelligence reform commission found it not to be true, just one case of material support for terrorism that was prevented. We judge it as a true claim by Rand Paul.
Let's go the Marco Rubio, Cap and Trade, another hot-button issue in this election. Here is what he said tonight about his record on Cap and Trade.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If they are going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But have I never supported Cap and Trade and I never thought it was a good idea.
SCIUTTO: Never supported, never thought it was a good idea. Let's look at the record. In 2008, he told a Florida television station that he believed that Cap and Trade was inevitable and Florida should act quickly to be an early complier. Later, he proposed giving the Florida Department of Environmental Protection a mandate to decide Cap and Trade. Later, they voted unanimously to pass that mandate. We judge this claim as false.
Final one, Ben Carson, towards the end of the debate, talking about government regulation, something that the GOP candidates like to talk about. He made this claim about the number of new pages of regulations.
DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: Last year, there were an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations.
SCIUTTO: 81,000 pages. In fact, there are groups that count this kind of stuff. It was 81,611 pages. He went on to claim that would be as tall as a two-story building. So, we like to do math here, we did some measuring. 500 sheets of paper, that's two inches. 30 feet is 360 inches. Picture 180 of these stacks on top of each other. Lo and behold, that adds up to 90,000 pages. Not to put too fine a point on it, we will round it up a bit here. We will give him that 8,389 pages and rate the claim as true from Ben Carson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: All right, a score for Ben Carson.
HOWELL: A measuring of pages.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Crazy.
Well, the World Health Organization said it will hold emergency talks Monday to deal with the rapidly growing Zika outbreak.
HOWELL: Officials say the mosquito-borne virus is spreading around the Americas fast, and they warn we could see up to four million cases in the coming year.
CNN's Shasta Darlington is in Brazil, which is consider ground zero of that outbreak
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While the rest of the world is waking up to the Zika crisis and trying to figure out how it's linked to the birth defects, here in Brazil, this is the reality they are living. We are in the hospital. Here, they have turned this area in to a triage center, where they are receiving babies every day with Microcephaly every day. Behind these doors, doctors are treating them, looking for signs of Microcephaly, brain damage, and how deep the damage goes.
We'll talk to one of the patients, a little newborn baby just hours ago.
So, we have just talked. She let us come in here. She is bringing her newborn in for the first time to test for Microcephy, because he does have a small head. It's 31 centimeters, and anything under 32 is considered risky. But because he was premature, she is hopeful, and so are the doctors, that he is small all over, that he does not really have a small head that will then lead to brain damage and developmental problems. These are the first tests, but they are hopeful that the outcome will be positive.
Doctors are scrambling to put together the early stimulation programs and the early physical therapy that babies with Microcephaly need. Also, the counseling and the psychological counseling for families.
And of course, because there's no vaccine, there's no cure. Brazil is also trying to combat the mosquito that transmits this virus, the problem is, 1.5 million people may have already been affected. So, what we are seeing is a lot of very panicked expectant mothers. In many cases, the virus is asymptomatic and many fear they will not know until the day they give birth whether or not they have been infected.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: You feel for those families.
ALLEN: Absolutely.
HOWELL: Dealing with that situation.
El Nino is being blamed on many things. But now the question is being raise if the rapidly spreading Zika Virus be related to it.
ALLEN: Here's our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. He's been looking into that one.
That is an interesting twist to the story, Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It sure is, Natalie and George, but add it to the list. You know, El Nino, we blame it for increased fire risks in Indonesia, increased bush fire risks in Australia, flooding and landslide potential goes up in southern California, and now this, the potential of spreading the Zika Virus outbreak even further.
So, what do mosquitoes need? Better yet, let me ask the question, what do they require to thrive and flourish and breed per say? Well, they need warmth and wet environments. And now, doctors and biologists are starting to correlate the strong, in fact, record El Nino season that we have been experiencing in the up-tick in mosquito born illnesses. And what is correlated with a strong El Nino season, above average temperatures and shifting of extreme heavy rainfall events.
So we focus ourselves on ground zero, the area where they start to focus where the outbreak began across Brazil. You saw the piece a moment ago. Bringing us in to Brazil and, yes, they have had above average temperatures so far, and they have seen an uptick in the precipitation as well. Think of the life-stage of a mosquito, it can last from seven to 30 days, depending on several conditions. But the point is it has to go through three different stages before it becomes a full-blown biting mosquito. It goes from egg to larva to pupa and all the three stages occur in an aquatic environment. So it needs water in order to go through the stages before it reaches a full-blown mosquito. And many of us have so much stagnant water, the areas where mosquitoes thrive, just in the front of our houses. Let's say, for instance, our untreated pools, or the pooling that takes place because of heavy rainfall in the front or backyard. It's not just that. We have clogged gutters on the houses and overturned boats that accumulate water quickly. These are all prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
And once North America heads into spring and summer season, we will start to experience the warmer temperatures. And South America has already experienced that. Of course, their tropical environment, they are in summer season as we speak, and they have seen the above-average temperature, as well as increased rainfall. So that is leading to the spread of more Zika spreading mosquitoes -- George and Natalie?
[02:40:09] ALLEN: Interesting. Derek, and when is El Nino leaving us?
VAN DAM: It's here to stay, at least for the next two or three months. It's a strong El Nino season.
ALLEN: All right, thanks, Derek.
HOWELL: Derek, thank you.
ALLEN: We are learning more about North Korean claims about it successfully testing a hydrogen bomb.
HOWELL: A U.S. official says the North may have tried to test components of a hydrogen bomb when it carried out a nuclear test earlier this month. The officials say the assessment comes after careful examination of the test data. It is a shift from earlier this month when the White House said that the test was not consistent with a successful hydrogen bomb test.
ALLEN: Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, joining us from Seoul, South Korea.
Paula, it's hard to understand with this exactly what North Korea did.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is right, Natalie, and that's why the U.S. appears to be revisiting other options. It's effectively said, this U.S. official has said that the air sampling that they were doing -- and South Korea, Japan, China were doing the same -- has been inconclusive, which is what we heard from North Korea's neighboring countries as well, the fact that they could not pinpoint what the test was. So what they did in the U.S., they said they went back to the seismic data and discovered that the test was probably taking place at least twice the depths than they previously had assessed, which would be in line with what you expect from a hydrogen bomb. But the U.S. officials said it's not a final conclusion. They still don't believe it was a full hydrogen bomb. It could just have been components.
In the days after the test on January 6th, we had experts that spoke to us saying that might have tried an element that was part of a hydrogen bomb. It appears that no one believes it was a full hydrogen bomb -- Natalie?
ALLEN: We know, Paula, in retaliation for the first report, some sort of bomb, South Korea blasted propaganda across the DMZ from those giant loud speakers. Is that still going on?
HANCOCKS: It is, yes. These are 10 or 11 they have at the moment, going along the border, blasting out music and anti-regime messages and messages from defectors, telling North Koreans your regime and government is lying to you. It angers Pyongyang. Every time they have carried out their own loud speakers, heading the other way. It's hard to hear what they are saying, but they are countering that, according to officials. This is an ongoing tit for tat.
But this is more significant because the sanctions are likely next. We know Washington is pushing Beijing, for example, to support stronger sanctions. Beijing does not seem to favor strong sanctions, so, of course, over the past couple of days, we have had information from Washington, today, that there's potentially a component of an H- bomb and, yesterday, saying that North Korea might carry out a rocket launch soon. So some might suggest they are releasing all this information to help their cause when pushing for strong sanctions -- Natalie?
ALLEN: Paula Hancocks for us live from Seoul. Thank you, Paula. The FBI has released video showing the shooting death of an Oregon protester. Why authorities wanted the public to see this footage. We will have it next.
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[02:47:00] ALLEN: We turn now to Oregon, where the FBI has released video of a violent confrontation between authorities and protesters.
HOWELL: The incident happened Tuesday night when police arrested several protesters that had occupied a federal wildlife area for weeks.
The video shows the group's spokesman being shot and killed by police during a traffic stop.
ALLEN: We want to warn you the images are graphic.
CNN's Dan Simon tells us why the FBI wanted them to be released.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Natalie and George, the FBI decided to release that video because they say that when people watch it that only one conclusion can be reached, that officers acted appropriately in using deadly force. Once again, you see the man in the frame, 54- year-old LaVoy Finicum, has his hands in the air, and then moments later, it appears that his hands go towards the jacket, and that is when police opened fire. Police say he had a .9 millimeter handgun in his pocket.
GREG BRETZING, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, OREGON: For me and for the rest of those involved in this operation in the lat three weeks is, first, that we did everything that we could to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution. For a period of almost 4:00, while commands were being given, the occupants of that vehicle refused to comply with those commands, that law enforcement showed great restraint.
SIMON: Authorities say they found three other loaded weapons in the truck, further highlighting the potential for violence. And despite the fact you had numerous people arrested in the traffic stop and you had several more people brought into custody over the past 24 hours, the interest situation at that refuge remains fragile. Four people there remained armed and are refusing to come out. It is unclear how and when this will come to an end.
Natalie and George?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Dan Simon for us. Thank you.
Now to a story about the co-founder of Microsoft, who could be facing a $600,000 fine. This, after his yacht reportedly destroyed a coral reef in the Cayman Islands. ALLEN: Authorities are investigating whether Paul Allen's yacht is
responsible for damaging 11,000 square feet of reef with its anchor chain. The billionaire was not onboard at the time.
HOWELL: Helicopter on the top. Look at that.
But a spokesperson said Paul Allen and the crew are cooperating fully with investigators. It comes after Allen said that he will support a new research project designed to stabilize and restore coral reefs.
[02:49:33] ALLEN: A shame what just happened there.
A movie filmed in the West Bank is not a political drama. It's a comedy. And now it's nominated for an Oscar. We will hear from the film's director coming up.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. So there's a comedy that was filmed in the West Bank that has done so well around the world it is nominated for an Oscar.
ALLEN: We need a comedy from the West Bank, don't we?
HOWELL: Absolutely.
ALLEN: And the movie's director says there are zero politics involved.
CNN's Oren Liebermann checked it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mine field in the West Bank may not be the most common setting for a comedy, but it's where "Ave Maria," a comic short, sets up a clash of cultures. Religious Jewish settlers crash their car in the West Bank right before the Sabbath. Their only help? Devote nuns who have taken a vow of silence, a complete communications break now. It's Jews cannot use electricity on the Sabbath --
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No, no, I can't. It's against the law.
LIEBERMANN: -- and Christians who cannot speak because of their vow.
BASIL KHALIL, DIRECTOR: Perhaps it's hilarious, but for them, it's their real life. I wanted to question the rules that we take on ourselves, are they necessary?
LIEBERMANN: First-time Palestinian director, Basil Khalil, has taken the 15-minute film to 60 film festivals across 30 countries. He is aiming higher, the Oscars, where "Ave Maria" is up for a best short film.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What you sell?
LIEBERMANN: He was not trying to make a political statement with his film, and there are no flags here. He is visibly uncomfortable talking politics.
KHALIL: The Israel/Palestine conflict, oh, god.
(LAUGHTER)
[02:55:12] LIEBERMANN: He would rather talk about the people living the conflict.
KHALIL: They need to connect on a human level. And I have got Israeli friends. I have got, you know, Palestinian friends from all spectrums. And on a human level we get along.
LIEBERMANN: "Ave Maria" premiered in Jerusalem a month before the Oscars in a small, but crowded independent theater.
Huda al-Imam (ph) plays the mother superior. She says cinema is an important way of laughing at the difficulties of Palestinian life.
HUDA AL-IMAM, ACTRESS: God five me the answer.
We want to keep our sanity and humanity despite that we are controlled by inhuman elements around us.
LIEBERMANN: In a region rife with rules, political and religious, Khalil says there's value in questioning the rules, in this case, laws of Sabbath and silence, for a new perspective on an old conflict.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Comedy is important because, through comedy, many times you gain more perspective.
ALLEN: Absolutely. They had comedians that come there and do comedy and people enjoy that as well.
HOWELL: Yeah.
ALLEN: Thank you for watching this hour. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell.
Next hour, we will have more from the U.S. Republican presidential debate.
Stay with us. This is CNN.
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