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Clinton and Sanders Spar in Michigan Debate; The State of the Republican Race; Flint Water Crisis Dominates Democratic Debate; Interview with Representative Dan Kildee; North Korea Makes New Nuclear Threats; MH-370 Two-Year Anniversary; Migrants Stuck at Greek Border; Tributes for former First Lady Nancy Reagan; Larry King Talks Nancy Reagan; Democratic Candidates Spar at Debate. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 07, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:07] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Two days away now from the U.S. presidential primary in Michigan and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took aim at each other in a feisty debate in the city of Flint. They battled over gun control, Wall Street influence, and one of the most heated exchanges, Sanders slammed Clinton for supporting free trade agreement. In turn she attacked his position on the auto industry bailout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue. But it's a little bit too late. Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: NAFTA, supported by the secretary, cost us 800,000 jobs nationwide. Tens of thousands of jobs in the Midwest. Permanent normal trade relations with China cost us millions of job.

Look, I was on a picket line in the early 1990s against NAFTA because you didn't need a PhD in economics to understand that American workers should not be forced to compete against people in Mexico, making 25 cents an hour.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'll tell you something else that Senator Sanders was against. He was against the auto bailout. In January of 2009, President-elect Obama asked everybody in the Congress to vote for the bailout. The money was there and had to be released in order to save the American auto industry and four million jobs, and to begin the restructuring.

We just have the best year that the auto industry had in a long time. I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I think that is a pretty big difference. SANDERS: Well, I -- if you are talking about the Wall Street bailout

where some of your friends destroyed this economy --

CLINTON: You know --

SANDERS: Excuse me, I'm talking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now. OK, that was probably one of the nastiest moments, like, excuse me, I'm talking here.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

VAUSE: A bit different from the Republican debate.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, there was a lot of urgency from Bernie Sanders tonight. For good reason. You know, I mean, he has done well. He has better than I think people thought at the beginning but he has done well almost entirely in predominantly white states. As you move to the big states, at least on the Democratic side, they are diverse, and Michigan is, I think, critical moment for him, whether he can stop this narrative and this dynamic that's developing where she is consistently winning about 80 percent of African-American voters. If she holds that in Michigan and in the big states that follows, there is no path for him.

VAUSE: OK. Apart from, you know, a couple of fiery exchanges.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: I guess in Democratic, that was a fiery exchange what I'm talking here.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right.

VAUSE: You know, this seemed to settle down to the traditional fault lines. You have Bernie Sanders going out to Hillary Clinton on Wall Street influence, she went up to him on guns.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

VAUSE: In particular this -- this issue of legal immunity for gun makers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: What you are essentially saying and what people are saying is that if somebody who is crazy or a criminal or horrible person goes around shooting people, the manufacturer of that gun should be held liable. And if that is your position, then what you are saying essentially, if that is the case, as I understand it, if that's what Secretary Clinton is talking about, I agree with what she said. But if that is the case, then essentially your position is there should not be any guns in America. Period. (CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Now I am --

CLINTON: That is like the NRA position.

SANDERS: Can I --

CLINTON: No.

SANDERS: Can I finish, please?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And again, you know, can I finish please?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: But, you know, this is a difficult moment for Bernie Sanders. He spent a lot of time trying to explain himself here.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

VAUSE: And he looked like he was defending gun manufacturers.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. You know what's striking about this, John, every attack from either or the other was from the left.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, I think, you know, Bernie Sanders really put on trial the entire Bill Clinton strategy. The entire new Democratic project of trying to reclaim voters who in the '70s and '80s, (INAUDIBLE) attack, the crime bill. He attacked trade, he attacked welfare reform. And then when Hillary Clinton came back, it was really from the left primarily as well. And so, you know, what you really see is kind of the polarization of the parties. Each party continues to grow more ideologically homogenous.

And you see each -- each side this kind of, and particularly, you know, on this Democratic side, this debate tonight was about who can kind of more stand for -- who is more in tune with the new Democratic Party which is a very different beast than it was under Bill Clinton.

VAUSE: Yes. Because both sides, the Republicans moving closer to the right.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: The Democrats have moved to the left, and there is such a different in tone, too, when you compare these debates.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: Obviously there was a lot of mudslinging, a lot of, you know, taunts and schoolyard stuff last week among the Republicans. And in fact it was noted by both candidates during this debate. Listen to this.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:05:02] CLINTON: We have our differences. And we get into vigorous debate about issues. But compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week.

SANDERS: You know, we are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, and Senator Sanders has received some criticism for that saying mental health shouldn't be a punch line to a joke.

BROWNSTEIN: No.

VAUSE: But, you know, I guess the point here is that the -- you know, the Democrats are talking about climate change, education came up, race relations.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes .

VAUSE: You know, and on the Republican side it seems to be all about national security and immigration.

BROWNSTEIN: And immigration.

VAUSE: How does, I guess, this play out in a general election? Two parties so far apart?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I really felt watching this debate, I mean, as we talk about before, I think that that was the biggest take away from me. These candidates, these Republican and Democratic candidates sometimes feel as though they are running for president of different countries.

You know, you have two utterly antithetical coalitions at this point. The Democratic coalition that is diverse, that is urbanized, that is younger and secular, or a Republican coalition that is still 90 percent white, that is nonurban, that is so predominantly white Christians and is older. And they have an utterly divergent set of concerns and exactly how this all comes together after the election. You know, we -- you know, in the last really in this century, we've had presidents -- no one has been able to be the president of more than 51 percent of America. And in all likelihood that is going to be the situation again come January 2017.

VAUSE: So what you're saying this is a recipe for an even further polarized United States after January next year? BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I think, you know, what you have are the two

parties diverging not only -- not only in their solutions but even the problems that they are defining as needing to be solved.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: If you compare like the discussion of Flint at this debate, of course a very perfunctory discussion in the Republican debate earlier this week when Marco Rubio essentially brushed it off, saying, hey, it's not a Republican problem. Right?

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, you know, yes --

VAUSE: And we should abolish the Environmental Protection Agency.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Both parties -- both parties are complicit in this, certainly that state government, the Republican government, also the federal EPA, but just the areas of concern are just so utterly different at this point and again, I mean, if you think about even versus Bill Clinton's strategy -- I was with Bill Clinton 24 years ago next week when he went to Flint, Michigan, stood in a GM plant that was moving to Mexico and said look, I can't turn back the tide of globalization. We have to move forward and find a way to compete in the global economy. And if you kind of think about that, that's probably not a top-tier candidate in either party at this point who is supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

VAUSE: Yes. It's interesting how both parties have turned against free trade, if you like, on both sides of the aisle.

BROWNSTEIN: Fifteen years of stagnant income.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: A lot of blue-collar frustration and anxiety in America. Most blue-collars whites in America do not believe their kids can match their living standards. That's obviously the turbulent force driving the Republican Party election this year behind Donald Trump but you also see reflected in the Democratic race as well.

VAUSE: You mentioned the Republicans, so let's take a look at that side of the race.

Marco Rubio has been campaigning in Idaho after winning the Puerto Rico primary. This is the second victory for Senator Rubio so far during this primary contest. That gives him 23 more delegates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In an open primary, where anyone can vote, not just Republicans, Democrats and independents, I got over 70 percent of the vote. Not because I became less conservative but because I took our conservative principles to people. For living the way I grew up. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so 23 more delegates for Marco Rubio. He needs to win about another thousand.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. There you go.

VAUSE: To -- 1237.

BROWNSTEIN: It's a very precarious moment in the Republican race because Donald Trump clearly has more support than any of these other candidates. But he has not moved it into second gear. I mean, you would think he would be moving into the 40s now.

VAUSE: Are you saying he has a ceiling?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, he does. He does seem -- look, he's at 35 percent of the total vote. One of my colleagues calculated, that he's at 35 percent of the total vote. The problem is I think there is an enormous divergence about how do you stop them. You know, there've been this development of this idea of divide and survive where you would have a Kasich focused on Ohio, Rubio on Florida.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: Cruz on the stage with more evangelicals. Ted Cruz as usual is not working and playing well with others. He is now running super PAC ads, attacking Marco Rubio in Florida. He sees a chance to knock him out by potentially allowing Trump to win that. The question is whether any of them on their own are strong enough to beat Trump because even though Cruz had a pretty good weekend it was in states that he should have done well in. Evangelicals. And he did not win Louisiana. A state that both Huckabee and Santorum won. So as to prove he can win non-evangelicals.

VAUSE: And I keep looking at the results from these primaries and caucuses as each weekend goes by thinking that one of these guys is going to be dominant after the weekend or after Tuesday.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. It doesn't happen.

VAUSE: And some of these mixed results at the states here and there.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

VAUSE: They're doing, you know, like you say, Cruz is doing OK but not good enough.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

VAUSE: Kasich is still hanging in there hoping for Ohio. So they got to this point now. But this is the best outcome for Donald Trump, isn't it?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right. Right. Trump is a plurality frontrunner.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: At this point. Right. As I said, normally a candidate who would have won the states that he won on Super Tuesday, you would see both voters and elected officials consolidating around them.

[01:10:05] That is clearly not happening. If anything the opposition is rising. Rubio I think has been really weakened and undermined. I mean, he has shown that his support is just too shall way across the board.

Cruz has some life but he has a big hurdle to get over. He has not won a primary in a state that is not primarily evangelical. And he will have the opportunity many times in the next couple of weeks in Michigan and in Ohio and Illinois and Florida to show that he can do that. If he can't, ultimately, he is not really a full-service threat to Donald Trump either.

VAUSE: So then this gets to the convention and it's either a brokered on contested convention --

BROWNSTEIN: Unless Trump can get there.

VAUSE: Unless he can get there. So let's say he has the plurality, so -- but what happens if you get to the situation where, you know, Rubio and Cruz, I could never see this happening but hypothetically, you say, OK, together we have over half the delegates.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: We'll combine and we'll take the nomination.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

VAUSE: Does Trump and his supporters -- I mean, do they destroy the place?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, we were talking about this yesterday with Chris Cuomo. I think he described it as a Morton's fork. But the idea is that you have two divergent paths that lead you to the same place. On the one hand if -- on a normal circumstance, Donald Trump arrives to the convention with vastly more delegates than anyone else and you deny him the nomination that is a recipe for civil war. No matter what kind of combination.

VAUSE: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: On the other hand it's pretty clear if you nominate Donald Trump you are heading for something like civil war. With Mitt Romney and John McCain, the last two nominees, openly -- dozens of former Republican national security and domestic security officials putting out an open letter saying they can't support him. And obviously this enormous outpouring of money and concern from kind of party financiers about Trump. So you either way, either you stop him and you have a fissure in the party, or you nominate him and you have a fissure in the party.

VAUSE: Wow.

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, it is a very tumultuous and uncertain prospect for Republicans about what's coming ahead.

VAUSE: Yes. It will be an interesting year to say the very least of what's happening especially on the GOP side.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: Ron, thank you for being here.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Cheers.

Well, Sunday's Democratic debate took place in Flint, Michigan. A city that has gained national attention after it was discovered lead had contaminated the water supply. Many there are suffering from varying degrees of lead poisoning.

And as Sara Sidner reports the effects extend far beyond any immediate illness. She spoke to young residents of Flint about their anxiety which they are now facing because of this crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOMINIQUE ABSELL, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Because I want to serve my country.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dominique Absell is only 18 but his lifelong dream for his future is dead.

ABSELL: That was my dream to go to the Army. And now that I can't.

SIDNER: The city he loves is now a source of anxiety, partly because of the water crisis and what has happened to his body since.

ABSELL: I start by getting headaches and passing out, seizures.

SIDNER: His family says doctors can't pinpoint exactly why he began blacking out, sometimes several times a week. It means medically he can't qualify for the Army. He isn't even allowed to drive. His blood test showed very low levels of lead, convincing his mother the contaminants in Flint's water are to blame but there's no medical proof.

(On camera): You said you don't know if it's the water. What do you think it is?

BEVERLY DAVIS, DOMINIQUE ABSELL'S MOTHER: It has to be the water. He just stopped passing out because I just stopped cooking with the water.

SIDNER (voice-over): Absell is one of the children who will inherit the city of Flint, a city that is now a shell of its former self Realty Track estimates 1 in 14 homes has been abandoned. For three consecutive years ending in 2013, Flint has had the most violent crimes per capita and about 40 percent of the residents live beneath the poverty line.

Then came the decision by government officials to save money by switching the water supply. It ended up creating a major health hazard. The biggest potential harm hitting Flint's future generations. Like 8-year-olds Julian and Nadia, who play like children but speak in extremes about the water.

(On camera): What's wrong with the water?

NADIA BAYLOR, FLINT KID RESIDENT: They have lead in it and they have poison in it because the pipes are dirty.

SIDNER: Do you know what lead does to people who drink lead?

At 8, they notice everything like the number of times it had to prep the sheltering in place in case there is a shooter. And the number of boarded up houses in their neighborhood. If it was up to them their future won't be in Flint.

And what about you? Why would you leave Flint?

BAYLOR: Because this water is poisonous. And if I drink it, I go to die and I don't want to die. Nobody wants to die.

SIDNER (voice-over): From 8 to 18, many of Flint's children and their families worry the town is dying, and a really soft-hearted young man beside himself because he truly believes he has no future at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:15:04] SIDNER: Hi, John. I'm here in Flint. We've been here for several weeks talking to residents and they have a lot of concerns but the water crisis is their number one concern right now.

They are also talking about poverty. They are talking about the situation with housing here. One in 14 homes are vacant and abandoned. So there are a lot of issues here in Flint. But again water crises number one. And we heard a lot of that during the Democratic debate. About half of the debate, they talked about Flint and the issues that people want fixed here.

And I want to bring in -- a congressman who was here. You represent Flint as part of your district.

REP. DAN KILDEE (D), MICHIGAN: Right.

SIDNER: Representative Dan Kildee is here with us to talk to us a little bit about the Democratic debate itself, I want to ask you about that, and then also just some of the issues that have happened here in Flint. Let's just first start with the water crisis.

KILDEE: Sure.

SIDNER: Because it cannot be ignored. KILDEE: Right.

SIDNER: There are -- every single resident that we have spoken to has said, we want to know if there is going to be an investigation and if the personal responsible or persons responsible will be held accountable. What do you say to them?

KILDEE: Well, they are exactly right. There is a federal investigation ongoing right now. The Justice Department has opened an investigation. They are being assisted by the FBI. And so I'm confident that the facts of this case will take those investigators wherever they may and they'll make appropriate choices about whether individuals should be criminally charged.

It certainly rises to the level of something that should be criminal. You can't just poison 9,000 kids, even if it's by neglect, and just walk away and say, I'm sorry. So my hope is that if there are individuals who are culpable that they'll be brought to justice and the fullest extent of the law will be applied to them.

SIDNER: Let's move on a bit. We watched this debate and those questions came up each and every time about who's going to fix this.

KILDEE: Right.

SIDNER: So what is your plan to help fix this problem because people still can't use their water. They can't use their tap water at all still.

KILDEE: Well, I wrote a comprehensive plan. I introduced it to the families of Flint act. Calling for the federal government and the state government to each put up an equal amount of money, even though I believe the state government clearly is principally responsible, because people of the city of Flint are American citizens and they have a right to have their federal government step up. My bill is $1.5 billion over a decade.

SIDNER: When will it get started? That's the big question. When will they get the money to start fixing them.

KILDEE: Here is the frustration. And people say don't be political about this. But here is a fact. It is the Republicans in Lansing that refuse to put the state money up and it's Republicans in Washington that refuse to allow a vote on the federal money. So people say, politics shouldn't be a part of this. Politics are what caused this. The politics of austerity. The politics of marginalizing communities of color. Marginalizing older industrial cities.

And it takes the power and the strength of people standing up and raising their voices, which is the political process, to fix it.

SIDNER: There are a lot of questions and a lot of answers that people are expecting here in Flint. This debate was a raucous one and I'm sure folks are paying a lot of attention as to what's happening here -- John. VAUSE: Sara Sidner there, thank you for that report.

Now Michigan's Republican governor Rick Snyder has responded to the Democratic debate saying this. "In the coming days political candidates will be leaving Flint and Michigan. They will not be staying to help solve the crisis. But I am committed to the people of Flint. I will fix this crisis and help move Flint forward."

A short break here. When we come back, North Korea making new nuclear threats against the U.S. and South Korea. We'll explain what is getting on Kim Jong-Un's nerves.

Also ahead, nearly two years after the disappearance of MH-370, a deadline looming for the families of the missing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:49] VAUSE: At least 35 people are dead after a suicide attack in the Iraqi city of Hilla. ISIS is claiming responsibility which injured more than 100 others. Police say a truck full of explosives drove into a busy checkpoint which leads to two prominent Shiite holy cities. Hilla was just south of Baghdad where ISIS claims suicide bombings which killed 66 people just last month.

The United States and South Korea began joint military drills just a few hours ago, and as in past years, North Korea was making some bold threats in response. They say they will conduct an indiscriminate nuclear strike against their perceived enemies if these joint exercises continue.

Paula Hancocks is live this hour in Seoul.

So, Paula, those threats of indiscriminate nuclear strike, does that have any impact whatsoever on these joint military operations?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not at this point, no, John. And I don't think we can expect that they would. These drills in past have gone on in spite of some pretty hefty rhetoric from North Korea. Every single year these drills irritate Pyongyang. They believe that the U.S. and South Korea were practicing for an invasion of North Korea.

Now Washington and Seoul both say that they're defensive in nature, these military drills. They're massive drills. They happen every year. There's about 300,000 Korean soldiers involved this year. There's about 17,000 U.S. soldiers. It's the largest ever but what we're being told is that this is not in response to anything in particular because it takes months in advance to plan this kind of -- this kind of drill.

So it's not just reacting to what's been happening in the last couple of months. Of course that nuclear test in January by North Korea followed by the satellite launch in February widely seen as a long range missile test. And then of course the U.N. sanctions which were passed against North Korea last week. But as far as the U.S. and South Korea are concerned, these are defensive in nature and they are annual and they will go ahead as planned -- John.

VAUSE: And Paula, you said the North is always unhappy. They always make some kind of threat before, during these military exercises. But this year, has the rhetoric been ramped up, talks of indiscriminate nuclear strikes?

[01:25:07] HANCOCKS: Well, I think we started from a higher point at this year because of the factors I mentioned. The tests that North Korea has carried out and these sanctions. Now the sanctions that were passed last week certainly irritated North Korea. We saw that Kim Jong-Un went to a test firing of what they called a new multiple rocket launcher system. And at that point Kim Jong-Un was talking about how he wanted all of his nuclear weapons on standby to be ready to use as soon as he wanted them.

So really before we even started these military drills, tensions were high anyway. But they are not quite as high as they have been in the past 2013 for example. North Korea once again threatened nuclear war against Washington and Seoul. And also 2014 we saw about 90 short range rockets fired by North Korea during the eight weeks of the military drills. So yes, tensions are high at this point but they have been in the past. We have seen this kind of rhetoric in the past and certainly these drills go on until April 30th. So I don't think we can expect the tensions to ease any time soon -- John.

VAUSE: Of course we should add many of the experts out there say the North Koreans still have no way of actually delivering any kind of nuclear weapon.

Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul.

Well, friends and loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are marking nearly two years since that flight went missing. A deadline is also looming to file claims against the airline.

Saima Mohsin has more now from Kuala Lumpur.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of remembrance, as the two-year anniversary approaches since MH-370 went missing. Families have flown from around the world to Kuala Lumpur where the plane was last seen as it took off.

JACQUITA GONZALES, STEWARD PATRICK GOMES' WIFE: It is important so that at least people remember that MH-370 has not come home yet.

MOHSIN: But with the two-year anniversary comes a two-year deadline. Under the International Montreal Convention, any court action to claim damages must be taken within two years from the date the aircraft should have arrived. GRACE NATHAN, MH-370 PASSENGER DAUGHTER: You only have these very

limited options and you're putting a very tight corner with a very tight deadline.

MOHSIN (on camera): And with this deadline comes a twist. In February last year, parliament passed Act 765, stipulating among other things, that MH-370 families have to ask Malaysia Airlines for permission to file a lawsuit against Malaysia Airlines.

ARUNAN SELVARAJ, MH-370 FAMILIES LAWYER: It's really absurd. I've never heard of it before. When someone is saying you have to get permission from them to sue them.

MOHSIN (voice-over): Lawyer Arunan Selvaraj is representing some of the MH-370 families. He tells me there's another twist. Malaysia Airlines will only give consent if families agree to certain conditions. If they sue MAS, they can't sue anyone else.

SELVARAJ: So you can't sue the government, you can't sue the VCE, you can't sue the immigration, you can't sue Boeing, you can't see anyone else, except MAS.

MOHSIN: CNN has asked Malaysia Airlines about these conditions and is awaiting a response. In a statement the airlines says, "MAS remains committed to ensuring a fair and equitable compensation. MAS has insurance coverage in place to meet its obligations to pay compensation to next of kin."

Many are yet to file. They remain in denial, unable to accept the disappearance or that their loved one may never return.

Saima Mohsin, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We'll take a short break here. When we come back, dozens of refugees have drowned off the Turkish coast. We're going to have the very latest on the migrant crisis which continues to overwhelm Europe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:26] VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Meanwhile, thousands of people are stuck at the Greek border unable to move into Macedonia where authorities have imposed tight restrictions on migrant crossings.

Here is Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the youngest, this will be among their first memories. Small comfort as parents try to shelter their children from their fear. Not the fear of the bombs they fled. Fear that the better life they risked so much for was just an illusion.

Upwards of 10,000 people are stuck along what was a transit point. This is the Greek side of the border with Macedonia, demarcated by a fence where there used to be none. In recent weeks, Macedonia has only been allowing a few dozen people a day through, and only Iraqis and Syrians. The overarching logic that transit and destination countries are maxed out, and that risks turning Greece into a massive refugee camp.

Ahmed and his family have been waiting around two weeks but they might never make it. His wife does not have her Syrian I.D.

"When the strikes hit, we just ran away," he says. "I happened to have my id in my pocket. Hers was in the house."

They never had a chance to go back and stricter regulations make identification many fled without, mandatory.

Ahmed said they had no idea. His relatives made it to Germany in just six days a few months ago.

The line for food, a sandwich, is a two-hour wait.

[01:35:13] (on camera): These women, young mothers from Aleppo, were just telling us that the hardest thing about all of this-- and they can put up with just about everything -- is the uncertainty of it all, not knowing how long they will have to continue living like this. They are, like the others here, aware that there are high-level meetings that will be taking place between European leaders and Turkey, and it gives them the slightest bit of hope that perhaps this misery will end.

(voice-over): Life does morph, as those who fled war know too well. Fazi (ph), who went broke getting here, reopened his Aleppo barber salon, a far cry from the business he used to own back home.

And Amed (ph), one of six siblings, highly entertained by our mic, has big plans for his future, or so we think.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: It does.

DAMON (on camera): It does.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

DAMON (voice-over): Who knows what will happen to these children's dreams, given Europe's anti-immigrant stance, and the reality that, in the last eight months, since the refugee crisis first made major headlines, instead of viable solutions, there have simply been barricades and blame games.

Arwa Damon, CNN, on the Greece/Macedonia border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: For more on the migration crisis, I'm joined via Skype by Leonard Doyle, a spokesman for the Organization for Immigration.

Leonard, thank you for being with us.

What do you know about the deal between E.U. and Turkey?

LEONARD DOYLE, SPOKESMAN, ORGANIZATION FOR IMMIGRATION: I think it is pretty basic. There is a need to support Turkey if both supporting the refugees and migrants in the country and trying to resettle them. We have to see the fine detail of it. The most important point is that Europeans are really concerned, and we are in a second year of this, and the numbers coming through are still very high and Greece is suffering, is carrying a huge burden of responsibility both for refugees and migrants.

VAUSE: Yeah, because from the details that have leaked out ahead of this meeting, which takes place in a couple of hours, it looks like there may be an agreement on Turkey taking back the economic refugees, if you like, which is code for non-Syrian refugees, and then those Syrian refugees to be resettled elsewhere in European countries. Is that your read?

DOYLE: The language you just used it not really language we subscribe to. The notion that "economic refugees," quote, unquote, is undefined in international law are somehow of less merit than classic refugees, i.e., Syrians, I man, we just don't go down that road. In the whole body of people, there are people who are extraordinary vulnerable. There could be pregnant women, there could be unaccompanied minors, there could people with the right to education. To simply accept that a politician describes them as economic refugees and they must good back, well, that's not really how things work in international law. But, indeed, we recognize at the same time the enormous pressure that countries are under and that they need to ensure those who are entitled to refugee status are given a faster track, if you will, and those others who are not are identified and returned under a voluntary process.

VAUSE: I guess the question is, how did it get to this point of being so bad that Greece is expecting yet another hundred thousand refugees to arrive there by the end of the month.

DOYLE: I think you need to look at the sources of the refugees and migrants and that's primarily Syria, and things are a little better there with the hostility, such as it is, but we have problems in Iraq and problems in Afghanistan, are they are certainly not going away. And even if fighting is reduced in certain places, pressure on people's human rights abuses do not necessarily go away. And elsewhere, in Africa, you've got advancing climate change, causing people to be unable to produce crops in their land and they are getting up and leaving. You also have extremism with Boko Haram on the rampage. There are many reasons that people are leaving, but I think those are the sources that need to be tackled.

VAUSE: It seems like the perfect storm of a lot of factors coming together and right now there doesn't seem to be a way of dealing with it, at least not effectively.

Leonard Doyle, we will leave you right there. Appreciate you being with us. Thank you, sir.

DOYLE: Thank you.

[01:39:42] VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, L.A., tributes for a much-loved former first lady.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. U.S. President Barack Obama says Nancy Reagan redefined the role of U.S. first lady. Mrs. Reagan died Sunday of heart failure. She was 94. She was known for her staunch devotion to her husband, Ronald Reagan, U.S. president during the 1980s. She will be buried next to her husband at the presidential library in California.

There was a moment of silence in honor of Mrs. Reagan at the start of the Democratic presidential debate here on CNN. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also paid tribute to her on-line. On Twitter, Secretary Clinton praising Nancy Reagan's legendary strength of character and devotion to Alzheimer's research, while Senator Bernie Sanders issued a statement saying, "Nancy Reagan had a good heart and will be dearly missed."

The Republican candidates also paid their respects. On Twitter, Donald Trump called Nancy Reagan "the wife of a truly great president and an amazing woman," saying "She will be missed." Ted Cruz tweeted "Nancy Reagan will be remembered for her deep passion for the U.S. and love for her husband." Marco Rubio also praised the former first lady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So Nancy Reagan's passing today reminds me of the end of that era. 36 years ago, when Ronald Reagan became president of the United States -- the younger people here obviously don't remember that presidency, but it's amazing, even now, that I go to rallies around the country and people are Reagan -- are wearing -- young Americans are wearing Reagan/Bush hats. This is not just about nostalgia. Ronald Reagan was at the conservative movement at its best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mr. Reagan was 94 years old. And during her life, she was interviewed many times on "The Larry King Show" here on CNN. Our legendary broadcaster, Larry King, joins us on the phone. Larry, thank you for being with us. I know you aren't feeling

particularly well. I know have you bronchitis. Thank you for being with us.

I know you were friend with Mrs. Reagan. Did she ever share with you about what she thought about the current Republican race for the White House, what she thinks or what she though, rather, of the GOP and the state it's in?

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST, THE LARRY KING SHOW (voice-over): Well, the last time we spoke a couple months ago, she was, to put it best, she was embarrassed. She said, do you believe this, you know, with a question mark. As if to say, I can't believe this. I didn't go into too much detail with her. She was rather frail at the end. But she was not happy with the way things were going. It was obvious to me. Nancy never held back with me.

[01:45:28] VAUSE: I know that many people may be surprised to learn of the influence that the first lady had during her husband's administration. In particular, on issues like foreign policy and negotiating with the Soviets.

KING: She had a great deal of influence. In fact, I don't think we would have ever had the treaty with Gorbachev and the nuclear arms treat, I don't think we would have had it without her. She pushed it. She was for it. A lot of people in the administration were not for it. But she was whole-heartedly for it. And she was the strength behind Ronald Reagan. He was a person of his own right. But they were a team. Someone said the other day, when I think of a marriage, I think about Ronald and Nancy Reagan. They complimented each other. She was a strong advocate of everything Reagan.

VAUSE: She seemed to be a strong advocate even after her husband passed away. She was fiercely loyal to him pretty much up until the day she died.

KING: Yes. And then she became quite an advocate herself on behalf of Alzheimer's disease, fighting all those health -- she got involved very much in the gun bill when she supported the Brady Amendment. I was there the day she and Ron came back to the hospital where he was taken when he was shot. They came out and supported the Brady Bill where everyone in America should have the bill, so we know who buys what guns. She was often against the right wing of her party on domestic issues. And then when the Alzheimer's thing occurred, her husband got it, she became a strong fighter, supporting for more funds for its fight. She was a hell of a lady.

VAUSE: Larry, it was good to ask you questions. You've asked me plenty over the years. Thank you for being with us and for sharing your thoughts.

KING: Thank you. Good talking with you.

VAUSE: Larry King there.

Flags at the U.S. capitol have been lowered to half staff in honor of Mrs. Reagan. The White House tweeted out a poignant photo showing President Barack Obama and Nancy Reagan walking side by side in 2009. The Obama's tweeted out, "We remain grateful for Nancy Reagan's life."

We'll be right back.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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[01:52:01] Legendary quarterback, Peyton Manning, will retire from the NFL. His team, the Denver Broncos, announced the news Sunday. He leaves the game just weeks after winning his second Super Bowl despite a season riddled with injuries. Manning set a number of records over a decorated 18-year-long career and he is a sure bet to make the Hall of Fame.

Increasing speculation, tennis star, Maria Sharapova could retire. She is set to make what her agent says is a major announcement on Monday in Los Angeles. This is days after dropping out of the Open because of an arm injury. The 28-year-old is a five-time grand-slam champ but she suffered a string of injuries in recent years.

Big night for Democrats. The candidates spared over the economy and gun control during their CNN debate if Flint, Michigan. If you missed it, here it is in 90 second.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR & DEBATE MODERATOR: We want to welcome the Democratic candidates for president of the United States.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had the opportunity to meet with a number of residents of Flint. What I heard and what I saw literally shattered me.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The governor should resign or be recalled.

SANDERS: President Sanders would fire anyone who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately.

(APPLAUSE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR & DEBATE MODERATOR: Do you think people should go to jail?

CLINTON: People should be held accountable, wherever that leads.

SANDERS: If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout where some of your friends destroyed this economy --

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: You know -- (CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Excuse me, I'm talking.

ANDERSON: Let him run.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: If you're going to talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Let me tell my story, you tell yours.

CLINTON: I will.

SANDERS: What you are essentially saying is that if someone who is crazy or a criminal or a horrible person goes around shooting people, the manufacturer of that gun should be held liable. But if that is the case, then essentially your position is there should not be any guns in America, period. Now I am --

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: The NRA --

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Can I finish, please? All right?

CLINTON: We talk about corporate greed, the gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much money as they can make.

(CHEERING)

SANDERS: We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The presidential race providing a lot of fodder for the late- night comedy skit show "Saturday Night Live." This weekend's opening skit mocked Hillary Clinton while taking jabs at Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: Aren't these people great. They are strong, they're beautiful, and they've all been punched in the nose at a Trump rally.

(LAUGHTER) And speaking of Trump, he's on track to become the Republican nominee. So to all of you voters out there who have thought for years, I hate Hillary, I could never vote for her, to you, I say, welcome.

(LAUGHTER)

Because I've got clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, and here you are stuck in the middle with me.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:55:16] VAUSE: In case you didn't get it, that was a reference to a popular song in the 1970s, "Stuck in the Middle with You."

"SNL" also spoofed a recent Trump rally, along with his controversial comments during last week's Republican debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: What a great, great night.

(LAUGHTER)

I really am running the best campaign, aren't I?

(LAUGHTER)

The media is saying they haven't seen anything like this, not since Germany in the 1930s.

(LAUGHTER)

And I mean, everybody loves me. Racist, other racists, people who didn't know they were racists.

(LAUGHTER)

Also, P.S., America, I have a great big huge (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And that's where we are with the Republican and Democrat races for president.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett after a very short break. Thanks for watching.

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