Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Clinton and Sanders Meet Voters in New Hampshire Town Hall; Donald Trump Accuses Ted Cruz of Stealing Iowa; Inside a Syrian Oilfield Once Held by ISIS; Investigation of Somali Airline Explosion; India's Tata Motors Changes Zica Car Name; Robert Durst Could Face Murder Charges in L.A. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 04, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:20] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, which U.S. presidential candidate has the most cred with Democratic voters? Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders spar over the progressive labels during a live CNN town hall.
VAUSE: Donald wants a do-over. Donald Trump accuses the Cruz campaign of committing fraud in his win in Iowa.
SESAY: And investigators are working to pin down what caused an explosion that ripped a hole into the site of a commercial plane.
VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
We begin in New Hampshire, where the two Democrats who want to be the next president of the United States, are making their case to voters in the next primary state. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders answered questions in a CNN town hall Wednesday. Sanders says he wants his campaign to start a revolution against income inequality and corporate greed.
VAUSE: Secretary Clinton talked up her experience and promised to expand and improve Obamacare.
Both candidates tried to convince voters they're the real progressive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was somewhat amused today that Senator Sanders has set himself up to be the gatekeeper on who's a progressive because under the definition that was flying around on Twitter and statements by the campaign, Barack Obama would not be a progressive. Joe Biden would not be a progressive.
I'm not going to let that bother me. I know where I stand. I know who stands with me. I know what I've done. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not know any
progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street. That is just not progressive.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: As I mentioned earlier, the key foreign policy vote of modern American history was the war in Iraq. The progressive community was pretty united in saying, don't listen to Bush. Don't go to war. Secretary Clinton voted to go to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Joining us now here in Los Angeles, Democratic strategist Matthew Littman, and CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein. Welcome to you both.
VAUSE: OK. Let's start with that Iraq vote because this is Bernie Sanders go-to moment whenever there's a question about foreign policy. I didn't vote for the Iraq war. She did. And tonight Hillary Clinton went into great detail explaining why she actually voted for the authorization to use of force more than 13 years ago. Let's listen to some of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I did make a mistake. And I admitted that I made a mistake. And in large measure, that mistake really arose from the Bush administration's approach to what they thought they could accomplish in Iraq. The very explicit appeal that President Bush made before announcing the invasion, that getting that vote would be a strong piece of leverage in order to finish the inspections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. She talked a lot. She went on to say, essentially, that George W. Bush did not act in good faith. And basically they were all duped. I think that's kind of the thrust what she's going. I haven't really heard her going into this much detail before.
I want to go to you first, sir. Is this a new tactic by Clinton? Do you think this is, you know, going to resonate with voters there?
MATTHEW LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, I don't. I think that in this case Hillary is a little too defensive on the Iraq war. It was a mistake. It took her a long time in the past to admit that this was a mistake. It was a mistake. But what she needs to concentrate on, instead of talking about the Iraq war, is her experience as secretary of state. She has experience on foreign affairs in many areas that Sanders cannot match. And that's where she needs to go, instead of continuing to dwell on the Iraq war 13 years ago.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: She is probably better off at stopping at I made a mistake.
(LAUGHTER) BROWNSTEIN: I mean, I covered -- I covered that vote. I was in Washington covering that vote. I don't think any anybody had any illusions. Certainly George Bush talked about more pressure for inspections. But no one had any illusions about where it was going to lead, that it was going to lead to war. And I think, you know, she -- as Matt said, I mean, you know, she has a broader portfolio on foreign policy, vastly than Bernie Sanders. Sanders continuous to be uncomfortable talking about foreign policy really I think beyond the contrast on the Iraq war vote.
And I think she kind of went too far in trying to pin the blame on President Bush because I don't think it really is a credible argument that we were all duped. And no one who was shocked to see that this might lead to an invasion.
[01:05:04] SESAY: Another one to contrast between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, one that the senator continues to push the ties to Wall Street, saying Hillary Clinton is in the pocket of Wall Street banks. He doesn't have those ties. Our own Anderson Cooper put the question directly to Hillary Clinton about those ties.
How do you think she fared in answering those questions about the amount of money she's taken in speeches, Matt?
LITTMAN: I'm a speech writer also. And one of the things I do is I write corporate speeches for people. They give speeches -- a lot of very, very famous people, actors, models, all sorts of people they get paid big, big fees. People may not know this is a business. All they do is give their life story. And so Hillary again was way too defensive on this. A lot of people give these speeches. All they're doing is giving their life story. They might be giving it on Wall Street. They might be giving it to Nikon cameras. They might be giving it to anybody.
And really that's the explanation that she should be giving. It's not an uncommon thing. Hilary Swank does it. Kevin Spacey does it. She shouldn't be so defensive about it.
BROWNSTEIN: I think it was a larger issue really this is part of. I mean, and it goes to really the core argument in the race. Bernie Sanders is basically saying, we're drawing a line. We're on this line and everybody else is on that side of the line. And we're going to have this revolution in which we're going to topple the other side. I think Hillary Clinton's argument is more, the world is more complicated than that.
SESAY: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: You have to deal with the world as it is. Wall Street is not going to go away. Yes, you have to confront them when you think they are going too far. But you also can't simply read them out of kind of, you know, American society, the American economy. Even the Democratic Party. I mean, whether it was Tim Geithner or Robert Rubin as secretary of Treasury.
And I think -- this is the fundamental argument, when she's talked about at the end, you know, these ideas sound good. Are they realistic? Can they pass? And can you really draw a line as sharply through society as Senator Sanders --
LITTMAN: You gave that answer better than Hillary did.
SESAY: Yes. Yes.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, one of the other big stark contrasts between these two is on health care. Hillary Clinton made a very big distinction during the town hall. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Senator Sanders and I share the same goal. We want to get to universal health care coverage. Before it was Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now this really gets down to the, I'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who gets things done.
BROWNSTEIN: You know Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton all proposed universal health care. They never even got to a vote on the floor of the Senate or the House. Barack Obama passed it mostly because Rahm Emanuel cut deals with the pharmaceutical industries, the AMA, the insurance industry. It was not ideal from a liberal point of view. But now they have 17 million people with health care and no one had ever gotten it that far. And I think, you know -- I think sort of the core argument that Hillary Clinton is getting towards. The problem is there isn't a lot of inspiration in that argument. And she is facing a big inspiration gap that is translating into a generation gap that is a chasm in this race at the moment.
SESAY: And Matt, to that point, before there was Obamacare, there was Hillarycare. Still that wrapping herself up in the Obama legacy and saying they are one in lockstep in vision. How does that play with progressives. A lot of them are disenchanted with the president.
LITTMAN: I think there's some people who think Obama hasn't gone far enough. And Hillary is trying to talk about what the reality is. In other words, there's a Republican house, that's not going to change. People can delude themselves into thinking so. It's at least five years until that changes. And the Senate is probably going to go back and forth. There's only so much you can do.
Obama getting health care through, which was really Nancy Pelosi in a lot of way getting health care through, was a miracle. I mean, that was really a miracle. And so to say that we're going to now get universal health care is not happening. And I think that Hillary is right. I mean, she's the one who really started this 20 years ago. Now it's passed. She wants to make further changes to it. But I think she's in the right on that one.
BROWNSTEIN: Her challenge, though, is finding a way to provide more fuel. More inspiration. I mean, simply saying that, you know, if she spends the next five months basically telling younger voters and those attracted to Sanders that your dreams, your aspirations are unrealistic.
SESAY: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: Even if you win the nomination --
VAUSE: You're not (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: Even if you win the nomination, that's a real issue. Democrats need big numbers among younger voters. And Bernie Sanders won voters under 30, 6-1 in Iowa. Not only men under 30, but women under 30. An exact same 6-1. That's an incredible number.
SESAY: Why? Why are women not going for Hillary?
BROWNSTEIN: Because when you talked about as I did, at several Sanders rallies in Iowa, really I think they're saying that he gives them more, gives a sense that there's more fundamental change. And that gender alone was not enough to tip the balance.
LITTMAN: He's provided a little bit more. It's an easier argument in some ways because he's saying I'm going to give you free health care, I'm going to give you free college. Hillary's incremental change argument, she needs a bigger picture.
VAUSE: He's painting broad strokes, she's getting into policy arguments.
LITTMAN: Right.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: OK. The great thing about the town hall, it had some very revealing moments that you don't often get in a debate. And some of this happened tonight especially on the issue of religion. Hillary Clinton revealed she gets a scripture lesson every morning. And I think for the first time, Bernie Sanders was talking about faith.
SESAY: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I believe that as a human being, the pain that one person feels, if we have children who are hungry in America, if we have elderly people who can't afford the prescription drugs, you know what? That impacts you, that impacts me.
[01:10:11] And I worry very much about a society where some people spiritually say, it doesn't matter to me. I got it. I don't care about other people. So my spirituality is that we are all in this together. And that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And you know, I couldn't be -- it really struck me how different this was compared to on the Republican side, Matt.
SESAY: Yes.
LITTMAN: They're not using it as a divisive way.
VAUSE: Yes.
LITTMAN: On the Republican side, they're using it as a way of excluding people. On the Democratic side, they don't really talk about it unless they're asked about it. You've seen in the last couple of weeks Marco Rubio all of a sudden has become the most religious person in America.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
LITTMAN: That's been a big change.
VAUSE: Like a pastor in a church.
LITTMAN: Right. Right. BROWNSTEIN: Which is kind of odd, we'll talk about this maybe later,
from a political point of view, because that isn't really his lane.
SESAY: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: Those aren't really his voters. And look, I think most Americans want a president who at least attempts to speak to and represent the whole country. They really don't want a president to read out anyone. They don't like it I think when Republicans talk essentially about excluding Muslims. I think in the end the idea that you're going to be at war against kind of the big economic engines in society ultimately is not a sellable majority prospect in the country.
And you know, sooner or later, presidential candidates have to find a way to strike a unifying note. It isn't always early in the primaries, but eventually they have to get there because I think that is the goal of most Americans, a county who have a president who tries to speaks to the whole country.
SESAY: We heard about -- we heard them speak about faith something unusual on the Democratic side.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
SESAY: But also I was struck tonight by the tone from both of them. Both of them, softer, trying to project more humble, more ordinary if you will. For Hillary of course, 2008, we know that the tears yield their dividends. Talk to me about what you think was at play here and what you made of the tone from Hillary and from Bernie Sanders.
BROWNSTEIN: First of all, the town halls are great. The forum has been great. The Iowa one and this one were both terrific. And they are very different than the debate. They're complementary to the debates. The debates is kind of a policy duel. And this, you do get a picture. You do get a little bit more of a glimpse into them as individuals. And I do think that, look, part of Hillary Clinton's challenge is that she has been in the public eye for a long time. People kind of -- people have not seen her in anything except kind of surrounded by Secret Service and being driven around. She hasn't driven a car in over 20 years.
LITTMAN: Right.
BROWNSTEIN: And I think showing humanity and showing that she is kind of part of the society, and she understands the way people live today is a big challenge for her. And something that I thought she did pretty well tonight.
LITTMAN: I have to say I thought it was great tonight. These were probably the best moments that I've seen in any -- the entire process. I'm not just saying that because we're on CNN. But I really thought it was terrific.
VAUSE: Oh, come on. Who does that?
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: OK. OK.
LITTMAN: I really thought that they're both terrific tonight. I mean, when I watched Sanders, the first part, when I saw Sanders, I thought, wow, you can't beat that. And Hillary comes on and she's so knowledgeable. I thought they were both great compared to how angry the Republicans seem when they're yelling at everybody. I thought this was terrific.
BROWNSTEIN: And Sanders seemed a little more presidential also tonight. Not so much just the one note, kind of (INAUDIBLE) against Wall Street. He had a kind of broader I think persona and perspective.
VAUSE: OK. Matt Littman, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your insight.
SESAY: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Ron, we're going to ask you to stick around because we have to talk Republicans in just a moment, OK? Because we --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes.
SESAY: Going to make you stuck a little bit more with us.
VAUSE: Because Donald Trump was obviously watching the CNN town hall because he was tweeting about it. What else would he doing at that time of night? He said this, "Sanders runs, he wants to run against me because he doesn't want me to run against -- he doesn't want to run against me, rather. He would be so easy to beat." Anyway, good on you, Donald. OK. Donald Trump is now in a social
media cage match of sorts with the guy who beat him in the Iowa caucuses. That would be Ted Cruz.
SESAY: Cruz says Trump is becoming, in his words, hysterical, and calls his outbursts Trumper tantrums.
Jim Acosta has been following Trump, who is accusing Cruz of dirty politics in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is demanding a do-over. In a Twitter tirade, Trump says, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad."
Trump told "Boston Herald Radio" he'll probably sue.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Will you file a formal complaint?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I probably will. Yes. No, what he did is unthinkable.
ACOSTA: The real estate mogul's accusations came just hours after discussing his gracious concession speech on Monday.
TRUMP: I'm just trying to be a little bit more understated and statesman-like. Some people like that, some people don't.
ACOSTA: But Trump was clearly already stewing over false claims disseminated by the Cruz campaign while people were caucusing on Monday that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race, a potential boost to the Texas senator.
TRUMP: When they said that Ben Carson was out of the race and come vote for him, I thought that was terrible.
ACOSTA: "Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus," Trump tweeted, "either a new election should take place or Cruz's results nullified."
Cruz fired back. "Bernie Sanders is contesting Iowa results," he tweeted. "Maybe Donald Trump should go back to Iowa and join the Democrats. Bet they'd love."
[01:15:05] But the Texas Senator did admit his campaign made a mistake.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately they did not then forward the subsequent story that was Ben's campaign clarified that he was continuing the campaign and was not cancelling the campaign. And so I apologized to Ben for that.
ACOSTA: Still he later dismissed his archrival for having what he called a "Trumper-tantrum." CRUZ: Trump guaranteed a victory in Iowa. And then he lost. It is
no surprise that Donald is throwing yet another temper tantrum. You know, my girls are 5 and 7. And I got to tell you Caroline and Katherine are better behaved than a presidential candidate.
ACOSTA: One of Trump's chief surrogates, Sarah Palin, entered the fray on Facebook, slamming the Cruz camp for what she called dirty politics.
At the center of the controversy, Carson weighed in, too, revealing that Cruz had apologized to him.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He could very well have not known about it but it's obvious that there were people in his organization not only knew about it but who carried it out, who executed it.
ACOSTA (on camera): Even though Trump is trying to make a comeback in New Hampshire, he was in Arkansas tonight. Adding to the fight already on his hands, Marco Rubio announced endorsements he is picking up in Arkansas. He did that before Trump even arrived here. Trump heads back to New Hampshire with five events on his schedule for Thursday.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Little Rock, Arkansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: You know, Ron, are we now into the fifth stage of grief here for Donald Trump over the Iowa caucuses? You know, he's now in denial that he actually lost in Iowa. You know, this strategy of denying and accusing of fraud.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: Is this ego or is this strategy?
BROWNSTEIN: I --
VAUSE: Was it no?
BROWNSTEIN: I'm guessing it's more ego. Look, I think bluster sounds very different when you're on top than when you're coming off a loss like this. I mean, the weakest link for Donald Trump has always been the significant percentage of Republicans particularly those college- educated, white-collar Republicans who questioned whether he has the temperament to be president. You know, and when the "New York Times" says that they recounted all --
SESAY: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: All of the -- anybody who ever crosses him on Twitter, he attacks personally as sort of -- you know, basically their whole life is a failure. Try to imagine being president with that kind of reaction and demeanor because people disagree and cross you every day, every hour. VAUSE: Every minute of every day.
BROWNSTEIN: Every minute of every day. Somewhere either here or around the world. And I think for Trump, he has to be careful because what he is doing around Iowa is playing into reinforcing the most negative perception that Republican voters have. He also has a different problem with the general electorate. But among Republican voters, this question of his temperament is I think his biggest vulnerability.
SESAY: While Trump and Cruz go at it, talk to me about the momentum that Marco Rubio is going into New Hampshire with.
VAUSE: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: You know, I think what we saw in Iowa I think it could give us a fascinating, the possibility, as we talked about before, that for the first time in the modern primary era, Republicans could have a sustained three-way race. Because if you look at what happened in Iowa, you saw Ted Cruz consolidate evangelical voters. Both white collar and blue collar evangelical voters lined with Cruz. Trump remained very strong with those blue-collar voters who are evangelicals. Kind of the prototypical Reagan Democrats.
And then without a lot of attention, Marco Rubio won the group in Iowa that has usually picked the Republican nominee in the last few cycles, and that is voters who are college-educated and not evangelicals. The more secular, white-collar, middle manager, economic conservative voters. That's the biggest single bloc in New Hampshire. It's the biggest single bloc in most of the affluent coastal states. It's the bloc that powered Mitt Romney and John McCain to their victories.
And Rubio is kind of emerging as their choice. He got a lot of clutter to cut through still in New Hampshire. He may still get tripped up by Kasich, Christie, Bush. But you have the potential for these three distinct blocs now going forward.
VAUSE: OK. So there's been a couple of footnotes what's happened in the last few days.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: You know, metaphor alert here.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: You know you're having a bad week when your private jet is forced to make an emergency landing. Trump Force One, as we like to call it, was heading to Arkansas from New York. He was heading for a campaign rally. A reported engine trouble. Forced to divert to Nashville. This all happened on Wednesday. Donald Trump finished the trip, wrapping on those charter flight. You know, that's a bad day.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: Jeb Bush -- SESAY: Had an even worse one.
VAUSE: He's having a really bad campaign. The worst campaign moment. This is in Hanover on Tuesday. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interest of this country. To get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world. Please clap.
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Oh no.
BROWNSTEIN: You know, this campaign has done everything except the candidate, right? Who can connect with voters.
SESAY: How much longer? How much longer?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, we'll see in New Hampshire and South -- I think certainly through South Carolina, I don't think -- I don't think after South Carolina, if it doesn't get better.
VAUSE: OK. Gosh. That hurts to watch.
SESAY: It does.
BROWNSTEIN: He's had a lot of impact between now and then by preventing Rubio from emerging.
SESAY: That's very true.
VAUSE: Will he stay in just for that?
[01:20:02] BROWNSTEIN: No, I don't think he'll stay in just for that. But I do think that, you know, for all of the potential momentum that Rubio achieved in Iowa, if he cannot cut through the clutter of Kasich, Christie and Bush in New Hampshire, he may still not quite get off the runway in time to prevent this from becoming really a Cruz- Trump race.
VAUSE: I like how you mixed the runway from the jet.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
SESAY: Great job.
BROWNSTEIN: That's the equivalent of a bad day when you're really rich. When your own plane gets grounded.
SESAY: Ron Brownstein, it was a pleasure.
VAUSE: Great to have you back.
BROWNSTEIN: Good to be here.
SESAY: Thank you. Thank you.
VAUSE: If only briefly.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, that's right.
SESAY: Yes. You're heading off tomorrow, New Hampshire?
BROWNSTEIN: Tomorrow in New Hampshire. Back to the road.
SESAY: All right.
VAUSE: Enjoy.
SESAY: Thank you.
Well, we're going to take a quick break now. And we'll take you to an oil field in Syria that was liberated from ISIS control. You'll see what the militants left behind, including the writings on the walls of underground prison cells.
VAUSE: Also ahead, what investigators suspect about the explosion on board a Somali airliner.
You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he may walk out of the Ecuadorian embassy where he is being holed up and risk being arrested by British police.
SESAY: Assange faces allegations of suspicion of rape in Sweden, charges he denied. He's been in Ecuador's embassy in London for three years now.
[01:25:07] VAUSE: Assange says if the U.N. Panel of Arbitrary Detention rules against him, he'll walk out and risk arrest on Friday but if the panel rules in his favor, he is expecting his passport back and no longer to face the prospect of being arrested.
Peace talks during the civil war on Syria are on hold temporarily. The U.N. special envoy for Syria says humanitarian promises have not been fulfilled and that more work needs to be done to protect the Syrian people.
SESAY: The U.N. says the talks should resume on February 25th. But the main opposition group says they will not go back to the negotiating table until Syria and its allies stop attacking civilians. VAUSE: This video is said to show Syrian regime forces fighting
rebels in the city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria. Syrian troops with Russian air support have made key villages that had been controlled by the opposition.
SESAY: The U.S. says military tactics like this one undermine the prospects of achieving a peaceful solution to the country's civil war.
CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of this video.
VAUSE: Well, despite all the disagreements parties to the talks agree on the need to eliminate ISIS in Syria. A coalition has been trying to cut off one of the main sources of revenue for the militants, oil.
SESAY: Our Clarissa Ward takes us inside the liberated ISIS oil field in northeastern Syria and shows us the underground prisons ISIS left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bubbling beneath this desolate landscape is the black gold that has funded the ISIS war machine.
Batt Shiro (PH) is a fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces who are battling ISIS in this part of the country.
He showed us around an oil field in a rural Hasakah that was seized from the militants two months ago.
"ISIS earned a lot of money from these fields," he tells us. "People from all over this area came here to buy their fuel."
You can still hear the hiss of gas. But the pump is no longer operational.
The U.S.-led coalition has been hammering ISIS' oil, which at one time generated $40 million a month. Airstrikes have targeted refineries, pumping stations, and lines of tankers waiting for gas. Shiro says the militants learned to adapt.
"In each field, they put just one person as a cashier to sell the fuel and only one tanker could come at a time," he says. "They use this tactic because the planes are looking for big groups not individuals."
But Kurdish fighters and U.S. airstrikes eventually forced ISIS into retreat. All that remains now of their presence is some graffiti.
(On camera): The Kurds and their Arab allies here are desperate to get the oil pumping again. But they have two major problems. Firstly, the front lines are still just a few miles away from here. And secondly they don't have the money or the expertise that they would need to start repairing the damage that has been done.
(Voice-over): The trickle of oil will not become a flow for months or even longer. As ISIS fighters fled, they destroyed what they could. Electric cables were cut. Booby-traps were laid. Only one facility was left untouched. Just behind the refinery, a row of tanks turned into an underground prison.
"Each cell held up to 15 people," he tells us. "Among them women and children."
Written on the walls of one, a harrowing message, "I'm not afraid of dying. But I fear the tears of my loved ones."
Shiro and his men are now starting to clear the wreckage left behind by ISIS, but they can't erase the terror inflicted here.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Hasakah Province, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, investigators are trying to put together the clues about what caused an explosion that ripped open a Somali plane mid flight. The latest on what they found when we come back.
SESAY: Plus an Indian automaker is feeling the effects of the Zika virus. We'll tell you the change its prompted the company to make.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:45] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us. I'm John Vause.
The headlines this hour --
(HEADLINES)
SESAY: There's no definitive answers on what caused an exPLOsion on a Somali airline on Tuesday.
VAUSE: Brian Todd reports the initial investigation suggests a bomb. And if the timing of the blast had been different, the outcome would have been much worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terrifying moments after an exPLOsion rips a hole near the fuselage of this passenger jet.
(SHOUTING)
TODD: A flight attendant shouts for people to move to either end of the plane. Passengers are confused, shell-shocked. But their pilot, with herculean resolve, steers the jet back to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The exPLOsion on an Airbus operated by the Somali carrier Daallo occurred shortly after takeoff on Tuesday.
A source with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN one passenger was blown out of the hole at about 12,000 feet. Two others were injured.
(on camera): Objectively, based on the evidence we see here, what do you think happened?
PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: This has all the hallmarks of an explosive device. You have the skin of the aircraft tearing outwards. You have sooting back behind the source of the exPLOsion. It looks as though the major part of the exPLOsion was below the window level, perhaps underneath the seat, where the life preservers were kept. It's been used before.
TODD: A source with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN initial damage tests showed there was explosive residue. Exterior pictures show other possibly crucial evidence.
[01:35:13] GOELZ: The explosive device was strategically placed because, directly beneath this area, is the center wing tank of the aircraft. That's the center tank for fuel.
TODD: The pilot, in a Serbian newspaper said, quote, "I think it was a bomb."
Airline and Somali government officials say it's too early to say what caused the blast. And no group has blamed responsibility.
(GUNFIRE)
TODD: Experts say, if it was terrorism, the group al Shabaab would be the most likely culprit.
(GUNFIRE)
TODD: The al Qaeda affiliate group, fighting a vicious decade-long war against the Somali government, has targeted civilians before, killing 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013.
(GUNFIRE)
TODD: Shabaab hasn't targeted aviation to this point. But some say they have the skills and want to compete with ISIS for attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do have bomb makers. Shabaab actually allowed and ran training camps for jihadists from other areas. Some of those who now operate in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula at one point were trained in bomb making in Shabaab-held territory.
TODD (on camera): Another indication that a trained bomb maker might have been at work here? The possibility of a timed explosive device. According to a report sent out to airport officials, the plane was delayed in taking off. And the exPLOsion occurred at only 12,000 to 14,000 feet. A timer could have been set to make the blast go off when the plane was much higher, which Analyst Peter Goelz says, might have made that exPLOsion catastrophic.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Scary, indeed.
Brazil's annual carnival celebration begins on Friday in Rio, despite concerns over the Zika Virus. About a million tourists are expected to attend the big party on Copacabana Beach on Wednesday. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, told the nation they need to fight the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translation): As long as we do not find and develop a vaccine, we have to fight against the mosquito. And the most efficient way is destroying every place where it can thrive. These places are in our home. The fight against this mosquito is complex. It has to be carried out everywhere. So, we all have to work together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Brazil is enlisting hundreds of thousands of soldiers next weekend to fight Zika's spread. They will search out areas where mosquitoes breed. The will also handout information pamphlets. Many suspect the virus may be linked to birth defects.
SESAY: In India, Tata Motors says is changing the name of its new car because of the Zika Virus.
VAUSE: This comes a few weeks after a major marketing campaign for a new hatchback.
We get details from Sumnima Udas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nope, they're not excited about the mosquito-borne disease the WHO is calling a global health emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zika sounds unique.
UDAS: This is part of a multimillion-dollar campaign, introducing Tata Motors' newest hatchback -- yes it's called the Zica.
(on camera): It's short for Zippy Car, so "Z-I" for zippy and "C-A" for car. Get it?
(voice-over): Quick and speedy, strikingly fresh, the Zica was being promoted as the hatchback of the future, with none less than Lionel Messi as its brand ambassador. It's the first time the football star is promoting a car. (on camera): They were supposed to take orders for the Zica today,
but all of that is now on hold, as India's biggest automaker tries to figure out a new name.
You aren't planning on selling this care outside of India. The virus has not come to India. Why change the name?
GIRISH WAGH, VICE PRESIDENT, TATA MOTORS: I think with the connected world, while the virus may not have come now, the name and its negative connotation is already there. It is there in the media, in the minds of the customer. And we want to avoid any negative connotation before we launch the product.
UDAS: Do you think it would have had an effect on sales here?
WAGH: It's difficult to predict. But if that happened, then we would have had to change the name idea. So I think we decided to take the plunge.
UDAS (voice-over): India is, after all, prone to mosquito-borne diseases.
(on camera): It's quite spacious inside.
Tata Motors says this car is for the urban Indian youth. So, it has a brand-new entertainment system, lots of storage space inside for your iPads and iPhones.
(voice-over): We'll have to wait a few weeks to find out what the Zica will be called here after.
The virus itself may be thousands of miles from here. But you could say, India is already feeling the impact.
Sumnima Udas, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Maybe could rename it H1N1.
(LAUGHTER)
SESAY: It seems like a strange choice to begin with.
VAUSE: It's very unfortunate.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: The virus has been around since the 1940s.
[01:40:14] VAUSE: Someone didn't do their homework.
SESAY: All right.
One of the world's biggest multinational trade deals has been signed. Ministers from 12 nations signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership in a ceremony in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday. The pact has been negotiated for about five years. It's designed to deepen economic ties between the Pacific Rim countries, which include the U.S., Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who has the power?
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Protesters shut down central Auckland, blockading roads. At the signing ceremony, opponents argue the agreement could send jobs to developing countries. The deal still needs to be ratified by lawmakers in each participating country.
SESAY: Time for a quick break. The millionaire real estate heir featured in a controversial documentary may be on his way to face murder charges. Coming up on CNN, Robert Durst's latest day in court.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. The sexual assault case against entertainer Bill Cosby, will go forward in Pennsylvania. Cosby's lawyers said the case should be tossed out because a former district attorney promised in 2005 that he would not prosecute Cosby. But a judge dismissed that claim on Wednesday.
VAUSE: A spokesman for Cosby's legal team says they will appeal that decision. Dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct over the years. He has repeatedly denied the allegations.
SESAY: In the United States, Millionaire Robert Durst has pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge in New Orleans.
VAUSE: This sets the stage for the real estate heir's return here to Los Angeles to face murder charges in the death of his friend, Susan Berman, in 2000. His lawyers say he's innocent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DURST, REAL ESTATE HEIR: I did not kill my best friend. I did dismember him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's your wife?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:45:11] SESAY: Durst was the subject of "The Jinx," a controversial documentary on the HBO channel. He was arrested on the gun charge last March, one day before the show's final episode aired.
Joining us is Diana Aizman. She is a former city of Los Angeles prosecutor and she worked for the L.A. district attorney's office. VAUSE: Now you run your own legal practice and you specialize in
criminal law. That's why we have you here. This is one of the high- profile criminal cases.
Robert Durst is in a Louisiana jail. The judge has a couple of weeks to formally sign off on this plea deal. Walk us through the procedure. What's the timing? How soon before Durst is back in California to face those murder charges?
DIANA AIZMAN, ATTORNEY & FORMER L.A. PROSECUTOR: He could be back soon. As soon as the judge finalizes the plea, he gets put into the custody of the bureau of prisons. Once they place him in Terminal Island here in Los Angeles, it could be weeks or months. He has to be arraigned in august on the murder case here by the Los Angeles district attorney office.
SESAY: Was there a miscalculation on the part of Durst's attorneys for what happened in New Orleans?
AIZMAN: Absolutely. In that situation, they believed they would win on the lack of constitutionality for the search. That was the thing that led up to them finding this gun in the first place, sort of the backbone of the case he just pled to. They didn't work out a plea agreement that would have limited him to just over two years in custody. They ignored that. They said we're so confident we're going to win we're going to move forward without a plea agreement in place.
SESAY: Wow.
VAUSE: Just to ask about the case, which is pending against Durst, because one of Durst's lawyers told "The New York Times," made a statement last year, but he said this, "They have a tv show and 15- year-old evidence that wasn't good enough back then, certainly, isn't good enough now."
Clearly, that's something a defense lawyer would say. But do you agree with this?
SESAY: How strong is the case against him?
AIZMAN: 20 hours of footage. 20 hours of interviews that this guy gave without his lawyer present or anybody present to keep his mouth shut to HBO.
SESAY: His lawyer wasn't present, what does that mean?
AIZMAN: No. It's entertainment value. He wasn't being questioned by authorities. It wasn't in conjunction of an investigation. There were no Miranda issues. He gave 20 hours of unsolicited testimony. That's going to be used against him.
SESAY: The mutterings in the bathroom that they picked up, significance importance? Can you use it?
AIZMAN: Absolutely. There's nothing that would make it inadmissible because it's a statement by a party opponent. It's an admission, essentially. The prosecution can bring in the defendant's statements without the defendant being able to take the stand. And there are no evidentiary reasons or constitutional challenges as to the validity of the evidence.
VAUSE: You have a situation now, Robert Durst is sitting in a jail cell. He's going to be there for 80-something months. That gives prosecutors 80 months to build their case against him?
AIZMAN: No.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: What's the timing here? It's August.
AIZMAN: He has a right to a speedy trial. That speedy trial kicks in at the time of arraignment. Depending on how they do that, if they go by way of a grand jury, they have 60 days to bring him to trial. The by way of the complaint, they file a complaint and have 10 days to bring him up to preliminary hearing and he'll be held to answer and then they have 60 days to bring him to trial. Most times, that's not how it happens. Defense attorneys will waive time to give everybody an opportunity to complete the investigation.
VAUSE: A trial by the end of the year, probably?
AIZMAN: I think so.
SESAY: You think it's going to be a circus?
AIZMAN: Yes.
SESAY: We'll be there. We'll be part of it.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Absolutely.
SESAY: Done.
Diana Aizman, appreciate it.
AIZMAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Thank you.
It's not easy doing live television. But doing a live TV version of "Grease" is kind of brave. We'll show you how they did, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:53:00] VAUSE: More than 12 million people in the United States watched "Grease Live," on Sunday, a three-hour television production of the musical. It was a big hit. Viewers saw amazing performances, along with technical glitches, as well.
SESAY: What they didn't see may be more fascinating.
Jeanne Moos takes us inside the control room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How could a live performance of "Grease" --
(SINGING)
MOOS: -- make even a shuttle launch --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven, six, five.
MOOS: -- sound lethargic.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Two, two, two, three. Five, one. Shakes. Three bars.
MOOS: When the associate director of "Grease" posted this control room clip to Facebook --
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Two, two, three, four, one, go.
MOOS: -- people said --
(SINGING)
MOOS: All that counting, all that intensity.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: 20. Two bars.
MOOS: One commenter wrote, "That's awesome. I'm exhausted listening to you."
Broadcast Director Alex Rudzinski says he's blown away by the response.
ALEX RUDZINSKI, BROADCAST DIRECTOR: I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled to share a little bit of the art, about the choreography behind the scenes.
MOOS: Alex preplanned each and every shot during rehearsal, some 1,500 shots so the associate director could call them out, when they went live.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One, two --
MOOS: What you're hearing is a shot number, plus counting the duration of the shot in beats and bars.
Watch for the shot change when she calls for 18 and 19. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One, two, three. One, two, three, four. 18,
one, two, three, four. 19, eight bars.
MOOS: For three hours of live performance, associate director, Carrie Havel, had her head buried in a script that seemed like a musical score. Show? What show?
CARRIE HAVEL, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: She didn't get to see it. We come off air and she was like, what was the show like? I'm like, it was great.
MOOS: Let's count our way through shots 27, 28 and 29.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Three, two, three. 27. Three, two, three. 28. 29. Four bars, one beat.
MOOS: Broadcast director's favorite Facebook comment?
RUDZINSKI: Like rubbing your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.
MOOS: Take a bow, then take a nap. Bet the associated director won't be counting sheep.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One, two, three, and --
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One, two, three.
MOOS: -- New York.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One, two, three. One, two, three, four.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:55:30] SESAY: That's remarkable.
VAUSE: She's like Dina, our director.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: Praying that we stop talking.
VAUSE: She's dancing in the control room.
SESAY: That's was very impressive.
VAUSE: That was very impressive. And a pretty good show.
SESAY: I didn't see. It's my favorite musical. I can sing every number.
VAUSE: Really? I saw it for my 11th birthday. SESAY: Gosh, you're old.
VAUSE: I know, very old.
(LAUGHTER)
It came out recently in Australia.
(LAUGHTER)
You're watching CNN newsroom live from Los Angeles. John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.
The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Just days before the first primary vote in the U.S., Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton squabble over what it means to be progressive.
