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Vying for Jeb Bush's Endorsement; Carly Fiorina Endorses Ted Cruz; Recent Poll Has Trump Leading Nationally by 3 Points; North Korea Announces Plans to Stop Economic Cooperation with South Korea; Five Years Since Japan's Devastating Earthquake and Tsunami; The Women in Africa. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 10, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:25] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Vause; great to have you with us. Well it was a stark contrast from the name-calling and the insults of the recent U.S. Republican Presidential Debate, but there is still plenty of fireworks, as Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met on the debate stage in Miami.

SESAY: Sanders kept up his attacks on Clinton's ties to Wall Street, and Clinton tried once again to accuse Sanders of voting against the U.S. auto industry bailout. We begin with this exchange about immigration and

whether the U.S. should deport children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEC. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My priorities are to deport violent criminals, terrorists, and anyone who threatens our safety. So I do not have the same policy as the current administration does.

MODERATOR: Can you promise tonight that you won't deport children, children who are already here?

CLINTON: I will not deport children. I would not deport children. I do not want to deport family members either, Jorge.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I will not deport children from the United States of America.

MODERATOR: And can you promise not to deport immigrants who don't have a criminal record?

SANDERS: I can make that promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Well, Rosalind Gold is with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and Cindy Montanez is a former California state legislator. Good to have you both with us.

SESAY: Welcome.

CINDY MONTANEZ, FORMER STATE LEGISLATOR, CALIFORNIA: Thank you.

ROSALIND GOLD, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS: Thank you.

VAUSE: It's great for you to be here, especially after this debate in Miami, and, of course, you know, issues for many Latinos voters came up during this debate, not least of all was immigration.

First, to you Rosalyn, I guess this is one of the moments when Hillary Clinton, for the first time, really let go of her embrace of Barack Obama. She said I don't agree with the Administration on this policy; and, also, it seemed to be in stark contrast to what we're hearing on the Republican side when they're talking about mass deportation.

GOLD: Well I think both candidates realize how deeply personal the issue of immigration is for Latino families. Even if families are not immigrants themselves, they know immigrants; they live in neighborhoods with immigrants. So I think Senator Clinton is understanding that being on the side of the issue that talks to that personal side for Latinos and their families are important. But, I think it's also important to recognize that both candidates were very much the same, in terms of things like a path to citizenship, support for comprehensive immigration reform, and that this was just one of many issues they had a chance to discuss.

SESAY: And, Cindy, to bring you in it, what was your view of how they tackled it, and specifically what is emerging as a headline at this point, about not deporting children?

MONTANEZ: What we're seeing is presidential candidates, especially on the democratic side, are speaking to the emerging population that is changing in the United States; and today we saw that there was a clear attempt to reach out to what will be one of the most significant voting blocs in this 2016 presidential election, which is the importance of the Latino vote.

So what we saw is that we saw they reflected the position of most Latinos in this country. You know, over 60-percent of Latinos in this country want to see a path to citizenship that doesn't, you know, include criminals, that encourages people to learn English, and that actually supports those that have followed some type, met some type of guidelines. And that is what we're seeing. It's a more, what I believe, a more practical and pragmatic approach to how we integrate millions of people that are living in this country and can potentially have a path to citizenship.

There could be some backlash because clearly on the other side with republicans, the anti-immigrant sentiment is what is being used to -

SESAY: To galvanize -

MONTANEZ: To galvanize the Republicans, but I think for this country, what we saw from both Secretary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders was a desire to embrace the emerging America, the diversity that is necessary.

VAUSE: And there was a very emotional too when that woman from the audience got up, from Guatemala, spoke about her husband being deported.

MONTANEZ: Yes, absolutely.

GOLD: And both candidates realize that the road to the White House goes through the Latino community and you cannot become president of this country without a strategy to win and address the issues that Latinos care about.

SESAY: But today's issues go beyond immigration.

MONTANEZ: It goes beyond immigration. What we're seeing with the Latinos, if you pay attention, as people are paying attention to the last 20 years in the change in the Latino demographics. Before it was immigrants that were becoming naturalized citizens. Now it's U.S.- born Latinos and these U.S.-born Latinos tend to be younger; and what do they care about? They care about the issues that Senator Sanders is pushing Democrats to talk about.

VAUSE: And for Senator Sanders, there did seem to be a bit of a gotcha moment for him during this debate. They played I think, what, a 30-year-old [00:05:02] interview where he was seen and he talked about praising Castro and other Latin American dictators and he was asked if he regretted that; and this is his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MODERATOR: In retrospect, have you ever regretted the characterizations of Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro that you made in 1985?

SANDERS: The key issue here was whether the United States should go around overthrowing small Latin American countries.

MODERATOR: You didn't answer the question.

SANDERS: I think that that was a mistake.

[Applause]

CLINTON: I just want to add one thing to the question you were asking Senator Sanders, I think in that same interview he praised what he called the "revolution of values in Cuba" and talked about how people were working for the common good, not for themselves.

I just couldn't disagree more. you know, if the values are that you oppress people, you disappear people, you imprison people, even kill people for expressing their opinions, for expressing freedom of speech, that is not the kind of revolution of values that I ever want to see anywhere.

[Cheering and Applause]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He dodged; she attacked. I'm just curious, how does something like this impact Bernie Sanders, when it comes to Latino voters, especially in Florida?

MONTANEZ: A lot of the -- in Florida it's a key issue, right? How the - the perspectives of the Castro regime are still important, especially amongst older Cuban-American voters -

GOLD: But I -

MONTANES: -- but I do believe that amongst the younger generation it's changing and a lot of the millennials, that are the base of Senator Sanders' support, may not have that direct emotional connection to that era.

GOLD: And I would add one other really important point about the evolution of the Latino population in Florida. Puerto Ricans are now reaching close to one million residents. They're about to be close in on the number of Cuban-Americans, which is about 1.4 million. And for the Puerto Rican community, the issue of Cuba doesn't have quite the same resonance as it does for Cuban-Americans or younger voters in the state.

VAUSE: Okay; we're getting tight on time so I want to get to this next soundbite. Hillary Clinton, she was asked about Benghazi. The crowd booed when that question came up. Then she was asked about the email scandal and the FBI investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MODERATOR: If you get indicted would you drop out?

CLINTON: Oh, for goodness -- that is not going to happen. I'm not even answering that question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: She visibly bristled. What did you make of that moment, which again is coming out as a headline from tonight? Rosalind, start with you?

GOLD: Well, I think she is very concerned about the issue of trust. One of the reasons that many Latinos are not fully engaged in our political process is they don't think that voting or that elected officials are necessarily going to be accountable to them. So the issue of can we trust this person, is this someone we believe we want to vote for, and even participate, is a very, very critical and very key issue for Latinos.

SESAY: Cindy, your thoughts, briefly? MONTANEZ: She has been strong all along in defending her position, saying that she did nothing that was illegal, that former secretary of states had not done. So I think that she continues to hold that strong position. As she said, I have testified for hours, and I will continue to be very strong in saying that this is not an issue and therefore, she was really clear in saying it's a ridiculous question. I'm tired of answering, but I'll give it to you one more. but she was asked a lot of tough questions, and I have I have to say --

VAUSE: She was.

MONTANEZ: -- she did a good job in responding to really tough questions that came at her.

VAUSE: Okay --

MONTANEZ: And of course she is going to have points of dif -- change in perspectives -

VAUSE: Sure.

MONTANEZ: -- because she has been a public figure for so many years.

VAUSE: Indeed. Cindy, Rosalind, I want to leave there it, but thank you so much.

SESAY: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: It's been really great to speak with you. Thank you so much, ladies.

The Republican candidates are getting ready for their next face-off as they regroup after Tuesday's elections.

SESAY: This week former candidate Jeb Bush is meeting with every republican contender, except Donald Trump. A Bush spokeswoman says the candidates asked for the meeting. So far Bush, the former governor of Florida, has not endorsed anyone ahead that of key state's primary.

VAUSE: Meantime, former candidate Carly Fiorina endorsed Ted Cruz on Wednesday. She said she is kind of horrified by Donald Trump, does not believe he'll be the anti-Washington fighter he says he is.

SESAY: Now "Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll has Trump leading nationally, but only by three points. He was the big winner in this latest round of Super Tuesday elections, and hopes to duplicate that success next week.

VAUSE: He spoke with Anderson Cooper, and he told Anderson that he plans to knock all the other candidates out of the race, long before the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you win Ohio, Kasich drops out and you win Florida and Rubio is gone, and it's just you and Cruz, if you don't get all the delegates needed to win by the convention -

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think if I win [00:10:01] Ohio and I win Florida, pretty much -- you're going to be pretty much assured of doing that.

COOPER: You think you'll get all the delegates?

TRUMP: I think so, yeah. I really think so. I don't see the convention going that route. I see probably getting the delegates. You know, it's like the fighters, that's the ultimate way of doing it. You knock them out; if you knock them out, nothing can happen.

COOPER: You want to go for a knockout?

TRUMP: I'd rather go for a knockout; yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: You can watch the next Republican debate Friday morning at 9:30 Hong Kong time. it takes place in Miami, Florida.

VAUSE: Don't miss it. Okay, we'll move on now. Israel condemning Iran's latest missile test. Iran state media say two ballistic missiles were test fired in northern Iran and they struck targets in southeastern Iran.

SESAY: (Inaudible) news agency reports the missiles were marked with a statement in Hebrew that read, "Israel must be wiped off the earth." CNN cannot independently confirm that report. New officials say similar tests on Tuesday likely breached a U.N. resolution but not the nuclear deal.

VAUSE: Bob Baer is a CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst and author of "The Devil We Know" dealing with the new Iranian superpower; recommend it highly. He joins us now from Newport Beach in California.

So, Bob, it's pretty interesting the timing right now. Why exactly would they be test firing these missiles?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, john, I think it mostly has to do with Saudi Arabia. They're both fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen in Iraq. That's the real tension in the Middle East, rather than between Iran and Israel. I can't tell you how absurd -- I was just in Lebanon, and, you know, they're expecting this to go. Too, Saudis are sending weapons to Sunnis. Iran is funding Hezbollah, of course, and sending arms as well. So, I mean, you know, there is a lot of reasons to demonstrate their might with these missiles. What they intend to do if there is a war is hit Saudi oil facilities.

VAUSE: So more to do with Saudi Arabia than the Israelis, despite the fact that Hebrew was written on the side of the missile. Was that just, what, domestic propaganda?

BAER: I think if that's true, it's domestic propaganda. I was in Tehran a couple of years ago with this whole thing, Death to America. Death to America and, you know, I got out in the crowds and people asked where are you from. I said the United States, and they wanted visas. This is sort of standard propaganda for the Iranians. I don't think it means much. I don't see an imminent conflict between Iran and Israel. it's not important.

VAUSE: Sure; now, the Revolutionary Guard, they're the ones behind the missile tests. The Guard answer directly to the Supreme Leader. So how does this all play into those recent elections in the Iran, where we were told the moderates and reformers, they're the ones being swept into power?

BAER: Well, I think the nationalists, at the end of the day, it's pretty irrelevant. it's an important change for Iran to get these moderates in but it's the Supreme Leader who does control the military, the Revolutionary Guard Corps; and until he moderates his positions we're going to see Iran going in the same direction since Khomeini.

VAUSE: And, finally here Bob, how advance ready these missiles? Beyond their range, 1200 miles, 2,000 kilometers, how accurate are they? What kind of payload can they deliver?

BAER: They're very accurate. I mean, the Iranians are good at this. Not only are they accurate, they can also hide the missiles. They're defensible. They put them in caves and can pull them out at the last minutes. It's not like the Israelis can take them out. I think they could hit Tel Aviv and do major damage. Now, they're talking about putting nuclear warheads on the end of these someday, but I think that's just a fantasy, because the Iranians don't have that capability right now.

VAUSE: Okay, Bob, thank you. Bob Baer, former CIA operative, appreciate it; thanks, Bob.

SESAY: Now North Korea has announced plans to stop all economic cooperation with South Korea, raising already heightened tensions with its neighbors.

VAUSE: Japan is condemning Pyongyang for firing two short range ballistic missiles that landed in the sea off the country's east coast.

SESAY: This one day after the company claimed it had militarized nuclear warheads. Let's get the latest now from CNN's Paula Hancocks. She joins us now from Seoul, South Korea. Paul, good to talk to you. North Korea making a series of moves being described by provocative by some. Does South Korea plan to respond with any more than rhetoric?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Well, Isha, at this point we know that they have upped the surveillance on North Korea, as you would expect, obviously looking out for any signs of movement after those threats earlier in the week of a nuclear war and also the threats last week when Kim Jong Un said he wants his nuclear weapons at the ready. Now at this point we understand they don't appear to see anything different. So is it just rhetoric from the North Korean side as well? Certainly that is the hope.

Most analysts certainly don't think that Kim Jong Un would make good on his threat and actually launch a nuclear strike, saying it would be suicidal. But, of course, the concern is at this point that there could be a [00:15:04] miscalculation by the young leader, or there could be an error by an individual soldier, on either side of the border, which could quickly escalate given the heightened tensions in Korea at the moment; Isha?

SESAY: And Paula, as we talk about fears of miscalculation, do official there in South Korea believe claims made by the North that they have militarized nuclear warheads?

HANCOCKS: It doesn't appear so, no. We've had comments yesterday and today from the Defense Ministry effectively saying that they believe that North Korea has reached a significant level of being able to militarize a nuclear weapon but saying, "we assess that it has not been able to secure technology of militarized nuclear warheads." So as far as the North Koreans are concerned, they don't believe they have reached that ability.

It's slightly different to what we've been hearing from U.S. officials in the past. They say they believe that North Korea has the capability, of course it is untested. We have heard from one group, IHS Janes, a defense group, that has said they believe, just looking from the photos, the very initial analysis saying that it could be an atomic bomb that Kim Jong Un is standing in front of, but it doesn't appear to be a hydrogen bomb as North Korea claims it has tested in the past.

We're hearing really different things from different sides. the South Koreans say they don't believe it is the case. IHS Janes saying it's possible it's a militarized warhead, if it is an atomic bomb, and the U.S. saying they may have the capability. Isha?

SESAY: Paula Hancocks joining us there from Seoul, South Korea. Always appreciate it, Paula; thank you.

VAUSE: Well, a short break here but when we come back, CNN visits Fukushima five years after Japan's worst nuclear disaster. We'll speak with survivors and find out the challenges they face every day.

SESAY: And women in Africa walk a staggering 40 billion hours every year to get clean water. Ahead what one American singer is doing to try to change that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:21:03] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Friday marks five years since a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, killing thousands and obliterating entire towns on the northeastern coast.

SESAY: Newly released time-lapse photos show a town before the disaster. You can see the homes and businesses there.

VAUSE: But once the tsunami struck, a very different picture; entire neighborhoods wiped out.

SESAY: And around Fukushima, the rebuilding and cleanup have been slow and very painful.

VAUSE: But the most enduring disaster of Fukushima was the multiple meltdowns at the nuclear plant that left the area a radioactive wasteland. CNN's Will Ripley traveled into Fukushima's no-man's land and joins us from Tokyo.

Will, five years on, this cleanup is staggering in scale and unprecedented.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Absolutely, John. It's hard to believe tomorrow will mark five years since Japan, they call it 3/11 here. They say it was like their 9/11. Everybody remembers where they were, what they were doing when the earthquake hit; and then, of course, the tsunami, everybody watched the waves coming in. But the true horror unfolded in the subsequent days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: We've been traveling along the eastern Japan coast meeting people who say they relive the moments every day because still, five years later, they can't go home.

Whenever Sochiro Saito wants to check on his home, he has to wear this, to guard against radiation. Saito only comes a few times a year to the house his family has owned since before World War II. Each visit more difficult than the last; each room devastated. Poison does little to keep the rats away.

"It's painful," he says. "My wife doesn't want to come here. The house is getting more dilapidated."

This room pretty much hasn't been touched since the earthquake. You can see the calendar, march 2011. There is still laundry hanging that was done right before the earthquake hit.

The shaking lasted six minutes. Tsunami waves soon after. Icy cold, consuming coastal towns. Five years ago, on March 11th, 2011, almost 20,000 people died.

Many spared by nature would soon face a man-made disaster. Saito's house is three kilometers, less than two miles, from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. His town, Futaba, sits empty. More than 6,000 people once lived and worked here. Today they're allowed in for just five hours at a time. Nearly 100,000 Fukushima residents are still evacuated; nearly 19,000 still living in what was supposed to be temporary housing. Some choose to stay, others have nowhere else to go.

(Inaudible) used to live within walking distance of her children. Now they barely see each other.

"I had a happy life," she says. "The disaster made a lot of families fall apart, including mine." Saito also lived with his parents, children, and grandchildren. Now they're scattered in several cities.

What did you grow in here? the soil on his farm contaminated.

"I'm sad," he says. "I'm empty."

A feeling shared by so many here, five years later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Tomorrow, here in Tokyo and all over Japan, there will be ceremonies marking the fifth anniversary of this disaster, but the people still living in this cramped temporary housing, where they can sometimes -- they can feel [00:25:01] the wind blowing through the gaps in the walls. It was supposed to last maximum two years. They're still living in it five years later. They say they don't want ceremonies. They want to live in a permanent home, ideally their homes, and they have no idea if that will ever happen again. John and Isha.

VAUSE: And Will, very quickly, what is the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant? Have they managed to contain the radioactivity at this point, let alone clean it up?

RIPLEY: They say that it is stable but there is still radiation that is leaking underground and its really unknown what other radioactive elements will be leaking out into the ocean, for example, into the groundwater and the surrounding areas. So, actually, tomorrow -- we went along with some scientists who are measuring the contamination and just talking about the scope of this disaster just from one nuclear plant in Japan. Of course many nuclear plants are now in the process of being restarted here; tremendously controversial. We're going to talk about all of it as we continue to cover this fifth anniversary, and really the impact that will last not only for decades, but potentially hundreds of years.

VUASE: Yes, it's incredible to think it's still basically a toxic wasteland all these years later and will be for some time to come. Will, thank you. Will Ripley there live in Tokyo.

SESAY: It is hard to believe, though, that it's been five years and people are still living in the temporary housing.

VAUSE: Well, it's still going to be radioactive. It's still going to be a problem. It's still spewing radioactivity into the ocean. It's still affecting the sea life and the fish, let alone what's happening on land.

SESAY: Yes, exactly. A long time to come this will be a problem. All right; time for a quick break. Inspired by a documentary, one singer's activism is stirred. Coming up, a conversation with Lissi about her new campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:30:17] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour: (HEANDLINES)

SESAY: It was International Women's Day this week, a time to celebrate female empowerment and attempt to right one of history's greatest economic wrongs. People everywhere were asked to take the pledge for parity and close a gender pay gap that is simply too wide and gone on far too long. Women marched for more rights in Ukraine; demanded equal pay in Guatemala; and range the opening bells in New York and Cairo, demanding gender equality.

Here are the facts: on average, worldwide, women earn $11,000 a year. For men, it's more than $20,000. According to the World Economic Forum, it's a pay gap that won't be closed for more than 100 years unless something changes; and in Africa, where gender roles can be very old and very tired, women spend an average of 40 billion hours a year walking to get water.

That's a truth that doesn't sit well with American singer/songwriter Lissie and she is doing something about it, donating the proceeds of her new single "Daughters" to a nonprofit called Charity Water. They bring clean, convenient and sustainable water to areas that need it the most.

And I'm pleased to say Lissie joins us in the studio now. Lissie, welcome.

LISSIE, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Thank you.

SESAY: And congratulations on the new album, "My Wild West".

LISSIE: Thank you.

SESAY: In this album is the song "Daughters" -

LISSIE: Yes.

SESAY: -- which spotlights the issue of the clean water crisis that affects so many parts of the developing world.

LISSIE: It's the women's job to carry the water, to fetch the clean water. In a lot of developing nations, it's their duty, and women can spend hours a day going to get water. If they weren't doing that, which can be dangerous, they could be getting education, pursuing other interests and I think it's shown, now that Charity Water comes into these communities and really tailors the wells to the political, cultural, economic specialness of each territory -- they work with local teams -- that by bringing in wells and also monitoring them, if they break, and maintaining them, that they're able to give women a leadership opportunity.

A lot of the women who are the water managers can be as young as 15 years old. In Mozambique there is a 15-year-old girl named Italia who runs the water. So it empowers women. It gives them a position of leadership. It gives them time to get educated. There is a lot of statistics that show that if women are brought into the economy, we'd be able to end poverty --

SESAY: Absolutely.

LISSIE: -- in third world countries much sooner and much more easily.

SESAY: Talk about the genesis of this song, or why did you feel compelled, I guess, to write it?

LISSIE: It started actually a Norwegian friend of mine suggested I watch a documentary called "Pray The Devil Back to Hell" which is a beautiful -

SESAY: Beautiful.

LISSIE: -- beautiful documentary. Really powerful, and a woman named Lama [00:35:01] Owee won the Nobel Peace Prize but she brought together 3,000 women, Muslim women, Christian women, to peacefully, nonviolently protest, to sing and to pray against this 14-year civil war. I was so inspired by her bravery and all of these women's bravery to stand up and say no more. We've had it. We're not afraid of you anymore. They got Charles Taylor, then president, to go to Ghana and do peace talks. As they stalled, the women held their hands around this hotel where the warring factions were all discussing and they were able to pressure an agreement; which led to the election of a woman president and brought peace and ousted the troublemakers. It's just such an incredi - it's like a movie. It's incredible.

SESAY: It is an incredible story.

LISSIE: And so I had seen that and it just -- it really moved me. I grew up in America. My life has been way different but it's just a gut instinct. I'm no expert on politics; it's just a gut instinct. It's my humanity, that I really care a lot about what is happening to people. You know, seeing that movie and paying attention to the news, it's not okay.

SESAY: And you're visibly moved by it.

LISSIE: Yeah, I didn't think I was going to cry when I came on this; oh, my gosh. No, it's really, it's just terrible a lot of things that are happening to women. Even though it's not personally happening to me, I feel that we have to talk about it and we have to stop it.

I think women, when we're equal, whether it's our pay or being able to control our own bodies, or little girls not being sold into marriages, then, you know, we're going to bring peace to this world because we're going to stick up for ourselves; and that's what I would like to see happen.

SESAY: This song, first of all, let me just say, it's a very powerful song. It's very stirring, almost an anthemic song, which I think is going to rally people when they hear it.

LISSIE: Maybe, I hope. SESAY: I was certainly moved by it. You're using your music as a vehicle for advocacy, as an activist. Talk to me about that and that decision.

LISSIE: Well, it wasn't a decision; and it's not something I thought like I'm going to write this song and be an activist. It was more so just a lot of my songs are me processing emotions, experiences, thoughts. It's something that I happened to write and wanted to share but the great thing is that by partnering with Charity Water and finding a really tangible way to help people -- if you download my song, you watch the video, you can donate whatever you want to this project, and you'll be able to very tangibly be able to support women.

SESAY: It's great that you're adding your voice to this and we're so pleased that you could be here to talk about your song "Daughters" and just how strongly you feel about the issue of women and girls' empowerment. So thank you for that, Lissie.

LISSIE: Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me on. It's really nice.

SESAY: And I know - and I know you're sticking around. Lissie is sticking around and she is actually going to play "Daughters" for us, here, in the studio. So stick around for a special performance of a very, very beautiful song.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:11] SESAY: And joining us now with a very special performance of her brand-new single "Daughters" is Lissie.

(Lissie performs her song "Daughters" live)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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