Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Denies Responsibility for Rally Violence; U.S. Says North Korean Submarine Missing; Japan Marks Five Years Since Devastating Quake. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired March 12, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:15] LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade and this is "CNN News Now".

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled a rally in Chicago on Friday to avoid potential violence. Some of that violence happened anyway. When the dust settled, five people had been arrested and two police officers injured.

For his part, Trump says the scuffles at the event and others before it are not his fault but are due to protesters.

Senior political analyst David Gergen spoke about the impact of this incident and what it might have on the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is maybe one of the most important moments of the entire campaign. This could cost him the nomination. It could also catapult it. We don't know which way it's going to cut.

I think a lot of people are going to be frightened and horrified. We've had this kind of -- we've had this kind of violence in Chicago in 1969, Democratic convention. Forty-eight years later, we still talk about it, you know. We had this kind of violence in George Wallace's campaign when he used language similar to Trump and bad things came out of there. There were a lot of fisticuffs, and eventually, the candidate himself was shot.

So, this is very dangerous. Here's the deal -- the candidate must set the tone for his rallies. That's his responsibility. He has set a tone that encourages his supporters to go after and punch people, and it naturally draws out bigger and bigger protests, and it sets the stage for this kind of incendiary, climatic moment.

And so, what he has -- this is a test of his leadership to be president to show he can unify in the way he claims. And what he has to do, I think he has to go to the country tomorrow, no later than this weekend, and make it clear that while he wants to have rallies, it's critically important that they be peaceful, that people come in peace and leave in peace.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: David, you said it could cost him the nomination. You think it could lose Trump voters, with the voters who support him?

GERGEN: Yes, sir. Look, I think a lot of people are going to look at these pictures and be frightened. There are going to be a lot of people -- you have to think, when you elect a president, what is life going to be like for the next four years with that person in office? If this represents the future, if this kind of chaos and the lack of control and the lack of leadership represent the future, a lot of people are going to walk away from it, as attractive as they may find Donald Trump.

I think many of his supporters will look at this and go the other way. They came, they shut him down, that's unfair, he's our candidate, and they will come out in large numbers. But I guarantee you, most American people like their politics a lot more peaceful than this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: U.S. officials say North Korea has lost one of its submarines. The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel sank or is adrift at sea off North Korea's East Coast. The officials believe it may have suffered some type of failure during a military exercise. This comes as tensions on the Korean peninsula between the North and South continue to worsen.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is holding a final campaign rally right now in the German state just west of Munich. The three state elections on Sunday will likely show how Germans feel about the chancellor's migrant policy.

Angela Merkel has faced aback lash over her handing of the crisis, and it has fueled support for an anti-migrant right-wing party.

The families of the 239 people on board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH- 370 are hoping they will get answers from a new piece of debris. A South African teen found the debris on the Mozambique coast. A different piece of debris was also found on that coast last week. Experts will investigate if the piece came from the Boeing 777, which disappeared two years ago.

In America's Southeast, at least four people have died in record- breaking rains. Hundreds of homes have flooded in Louisiana and Mississippi and they have declared states of emergency. The flooding rain is expected to continue until Monday. And that is your "CNN News Now." Stay with us for much more news coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC)

KINKADE: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and right around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC) KINKADE: Punches thrown, police officers injured and people arrested. Those were the scenes at a Donald Trump rally that turned violent in Chicago.

This fistfight took place after everyone was told to go home and the event was canceled. Protesters started arriving at the arena before the U.S. Republican presidential front-runner showed up.

[05:05:02] Some demonstrators were forcibly removed. At least five sections of the arena were filled with people protesting against Donald Trump.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny was outside with the protesters and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The streets of Chicago just west of downtown Chicago are empty and quiet now, but it was a different scene only hours ago. So many protesters from around Chicago came out to stand up to Donald Trump. They said that they did not want him speaking here. He was supposed to be at a rally.

And this is what we found on the ground just a few minutes ago, a crumpled ticket for a rally that didn't happen.

One thing I was struck by at this rally tonight, walking among the protesters, was the diversity of protesters, really representing a tapestry of Chicago's diversity. We had blacks and whites, Mexican- Americans, Asians, really something different than we've seen at a lot of Donald Trump protests.

Now, inside it was a combative moment. Outside, it was largely orderly. But this is a sign of something that is going to be continuing as long as the Trump campaign continues. The protesters we talked to were so happy that they stopped him from speaking here in Chicago. So, that certainly will embolden others across the country.

So, this heated political campaign is certainly going to get a lot more heated. This race may be something that we have not seen in generations.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Donald Trump has responded to the violence, denying that he had anything to do with it. He spoke to our Don Lemon earlier and said it was the protesters who were starting the problems, not him or his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I got to Chicago a couple of hours ago. And we had 25,000 people scheduled for tonight. We're going to have a lot outside and inside. A tremendous gathering. And a real supporters and at the same time, we had some protesters outside which was probably 2,000 or 3,000.

And I met with law enforcement. I don't want to see anybody hurt, Don. So I met with law enforcement and I think we made a wise decision to cancel.

Now, it's pretty well broken up and no major problems. And we made a decision even though our freedom of speech is violated totally. We made a decision not to go forward.

I don't want to see anybody get hurt. And you would have some people possibly getting hurt, or beyond. And so I made the decision in conjunction with law enforcement not to do the rally, we postponed it.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think that you were -- the protesters have been expected tonight at your rally. Was your campaign prepared for this?

TRUMP: Oh, I think we were prepared. But, you know, you can be prepared as you want when you have thousands of people, you don't want to see a clash --

LEMON: Yes.

TRUMP: -- and they were minor skirmishes but no major clash. So, we --

LEMON: You've seen the pictures, I'm sure, of what happen inside of that really. I'm sure you've been watching it looking at these pictures? What do you make of what you saw?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's a divided country. I think we have a very divided country, Don. And it's been all this a long time and it's very sad to see. It is divided among many groups. And frankly, it is terrible.

You look at a lot of people who are upset because they have enough salary increase in 12 years. You know, if you look at the workers of the country, our jobs are being taken away. Our jobs are being sent to Mexico. And they are being sent also to some other countries.

And our factories are closing. We have a lot of problems. And the -- we don't have a real under employment rate of 5 percent. It's much probably closer with 25 percent because --

LEMON: Do you think, Mr. Trump, with all due respect you think that --

TRUMP: -- our people as, you know, as people give up looking for jobs, Don, all of a sudden, they're considered employed, statistically. And so, it's a lot problem --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Do you think that's what caused that directly tonight the scuffle?

TRUMP: Say it again?

LEMON: Do you think that caused the scuffle directly tonight because those people who were fighting weren't fighting over job?

TRUMP: Yes. I think it is largely economic. I mean, if you look at African-American youth, they have a 59 percent unemployment rate, 59 percent. And it's -- yes, I think it's largely economic problem. Absolutely.

LEMON: Do you think it has anything to do with the tone that some have said that you have set, by telling people that get them out or punch them in the face or they would, should be taken out on a stretcher? Do you think that you bear of any responsibility for what's happen at this tonight in the rallies?

TRUMP: No, I don't -- I don't take responsibility. Nobody is been hurt in our rallies and we have, I had 25,000, 35,000 people, more than that. We had on the other day 25,000 in Florida and we've never had anybody hurt or certainly seriously hurt.

We have -- I don't even know if we had anybody hurt. So, you know, we have a tremendous large number of rallies and massive numbers of people, nobody even close to us in terms of size and great people. But we will have protesters stand up and be very, very abusive, unbelievably abusive, and in some cases swinging and, you know, punching and swinging and not a good situation.

[05:10:09] And I think we've been overall, I think we've been very mild with protesters. Then, some will stand up and we'll just usher them out. And, you know, it is not me that ushers them out is the police force. And the police had done great job.

So, until today, we've really never had much of a problem. Now we were in St. Louis today, we had a packed house. We had thousands and thousands of people that frankly couldn't get in.

And we had a few protesters. It was not a big deal. It was individual protesters standing up. There were quite a few of them, seven or eight of them, I would say. You know, seven or eight incidents is which was fine. And we had all everybody had a good time. I hope the protesters had a good time, to be honest with you. Nobody hurt.

LEMON: So, I want to ask you a question that my colleague Jake Tapper asked you last night in the debates. Do you believe that you have done anything, Mr. Trump, to create a tone where this kind of violence would be encouraged?

And, I'm going to add to that by saying, if your words and your tone inspire people to vote for you, to come to the rallies to go to the polls and vote, why wouldn't those same words inspire people to violence?

TRUMP: Well, I hope that my tone is not that of causing violence, because my basic tone is really that of securing our borders, of having a country and having a great country, of bringing our jobs back, of bringing our manufacturing back, Don, of getting people jobs. That includes African-American youth where you have a 59 percent unemployment rate.

So, I would hope that -- is not way, you know, I hope -- I certainly don't do that. I will say, we have tremendous success with people. You see the kind of polls you see the kind of, you know, popularity that we have in the rallies themselves as well. I mean, it's a love fest in the rallies themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: This, of course, is a very important week for voting with contests in Florida, Ohio and several other states.

Now, two of Donald Trump's Republican rivals are condemning the front- runner, claiming that it's his rhetoric that is inspiring violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): I want to put aside the election and any sort of talk about that for a moment and to say, look, there are consequences to words, no doubt about it.

Let me back up and say this: it is clear from watching these images that there are people that are protesting tonight that are part of organized efforts to disrupt this event. This is not some sort of organic thing that happened. It's Chicago. There are a lot of groups that do this, basically professionally in some instances, and you can see there is this group of people there, but you can tell that it is an organized and orchestrated effort.

And I don't think you have a right to disrupt an event the way they've tried to do so just because you don't like what the people are saying, OK, number one.

On the other hand, I think Mr. Trump needs to own up to the fact that the rhetoric he's used at some of his events has also contributed to the climate you've seen in parts of other rallies that he's had. There are consequences to the things people say in politics.

You know, a president, for example, can't just speak their mind. There are real consequences. They can't just say whatever comes to mind. There are real consequences to the words that someone speaks, whether it's a presidential candidate, or ultimately, as a president.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also want to mention something about the events this evening in Chicago. This is a sad day.

Political discourse should occur in this country without a threat of violence, without anger and rage and hatred directed at each other. We need to learn to have disagreements without being disagreeable, to have disagreements while respecting human beings on the other side. Any candidate is responsible for the culture of the campaign. And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you

have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discord.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: And later this hour, we'll discuss the crossroads Trump now faces and whether this can be a damning moment for the campaign that's seen him exceed expectations time and time again.

Well, in America's Southeast, hundreds of homes have been inundated with flooding rain in at least six states. In Louisiana, the National Guard has had to rescue more than 1,000 people from their homes and cars. Three people have died there. One of them was killed when floodwaters swept away his car.

Experts warn that more flash flooding is possible. And a state of emergency is in place across Louisiana, which has been hit particularly hard by this historic flooding.

[05:15:06]Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now.

Just put this into perspective for us. How bad is it?

(WEATHER REPORT)

KINKADE: Wow. So, there's no relief in sight at this point in time.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's not raining hard as of right now, but within the next 6 to 12 hours, another batch of heavy rain will move on shore.

KINKADE: OK. Derek Van Dam, good to have you with us. Thank you.

Still to come, North Korea is franticly searching for a lost submarine. The U.S. military has spy satellites, aircraft and ships watching the search.

Up next, why the vessel may be lost.

Plus, it's been five years since Japan was devastated by a deadly earthquake and tsunami, but evidence of the destruction still remains. We'll take a tour of Fukushima, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:55] KINKADE: Welcome back.

The American military has been secretly watching North Korea's apparent search for a submarine. The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel sank or is adrift off North Korea's east coast. They believe it may have suffered some type of failure during a military exercise.

Meanwhile, more than 17,000 military troops representing South Korea, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand are taking part in joint military exercises. The drills on the beaches of Pohang in South Korea come at a time of increased tensions on the Korean peninsula.

CNN's Ivan Watson has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a show of force, the U.S. and South Korean militaries carrying out drills here on a beach, performing an amphibious landing. You can see the assault vehicles coming in right into the beach right now, after exploding smoke to screen their arrival.

There are more than 17,000 U.S. and South Korean marines and sailors as well as small detachments from New Zealand and Australia that are all participating in these annual exercises. Now, the South Korean government has called these the largest joint exercises ever.

This is the U.S. military and the South Korean military's chance to show off their military preparedness, and it's coming at a time of increased tension on the Korean peninsula. North Korea says that it interprets these exercises as a precursor to a possible invasion, and they've warned about a preemptive nuclear strike in response to this. The U.S. and South Korean governments say that they've sent messages to the north, warning that this is purely defensive in nature and giving the time frame of the eight-week series of annual military drills.

This is an opportunity for the U.S. to reassure its South Korean ally within months of North Korea testing what it claims was a hydrogen bomb and firing a satellite into space.

These joint military exercises lead to annual cycles of tension between north and South Korea. The danger here is that both sides are armed to the teeth, and in case of a misstep, the risk of escalation is very, very high.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Pohang, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: It's been five years since a deadly earthquake and tsunami claimed the lives of thousands of people in Japan. The waves from the tsunami flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and caused one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in history. Parts of Japan remain uninhabitable and 2,000 people are still listed as missing.

Our Will Ripley has more from Fukushima, where much of the area remains devastated and empty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is my third visit to Fukushima prefecture, and this area in particular has changed quite a bit since I was last here a little over a year ago. You don't see the cars and the boats lying about anymore. They've cleaned a lot of that up. There are trash piles. And it appears that they are close to getting this area ready for people to move back.

Every step you take, people died. The new numbers from the fire and disaster management agency show that when you account for the dead and the missing from the disaster in March of 2011, nearly 22,000 people are gone. And you see and feel the reminders of them everywhere here.

In certain areas, the radiation levels are still so high, we have to put on this protective gear just to make sure we don't inadvertently contaminate ourselves.

These are hundreds of thousands of bags of radioactive soil. They're so heavy, crews have to use excavators to lift just two at a time.

[05:25:04] They're literally piling up. There are more than 100,000 storage sites, 100,000 across Fukushima. This is just one of them.

Japan is building this massive, 400-kilometer sea wall -- that's about 250 miles -- to protect people from future tsunamis, but there's a lot of opposition.

Critics say it won't fully guarantee people's safety. It will obstruct ocean views, and could actually hurt marine life.

It's sad to walk up and down these rows of drab, temporary housing, and think this is all people have left of their old lives. Entire communities were uprooted and planted in places like this, and nobody thought that five years later, tens of thousands would still be living here.

A lot of the younger people have moved on, they have relocated, but those left behind, often in their 60s, 70s, 80s, these are senior citizens who say they don't know where else they'll go.

I remember the last time I visited this school gym, and it was really striking, because the graduation banner was hanging on that stage, and I was told, had the tsunami happened just one day later, this whole room could have been full of people.

Thankfully, everyone here at the school survived. These workers took down the banner just today. They're here trying to clean up and trying to rebuild. But as we have seen touring this devastated area, there is still so much work that lies ahead.

Will Ripley, CNN, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: U.S. president weighs in on Donald Trump and has an important question for Republicans. President Obama wants to know, coming up next.

Also, three German states are holding elections on Sunday. What's at stake for Chancellor Angela Merkel?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:30:15] KINKADE: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

And these are the headlines we're following this hour:

Concerns over potential violence between Donald Trump's supporters and protesters forced the U.S. Republican presidential to cancel a political rally in Chicago. A fistfight broke out at the venue where some protesters had to be forcibly removed. Five arrests were reported and two police officers were injured.

North Korea has lost contact with one of its submarines. According to U.S. officials, they're unsure if the missing vessel sank or is adrift in the sea off North Korea's east coast. They believe it may have suffered some type of failure during a military exercise.

An Australian aviation official says another piece of airplane debris has been found on the Mozambique coast. Experts were investigating if it came from Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-370, which disappeared two years ago with 339 people on board. A different piece of debris was found last week in the coast of Mozambique.

In America's southeast, at least four people have died in record- breaking rains. Hundreds of homes have been inundated and two states have been declared a state of emergency. More flooding is expected to continue until Monday.

Donald Trump claims the violence at his event was not his fault and that nothing he does or says encourages violence. Rather, he claims that the protesters coming in started the problems, but that has not stopped political rivals from criticizing him. Neil Bush, whose brother, Jeb, ran against Trump for the Republican nomination, says Trump is incapable of leading the party, let alone the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL BUSH, TED CRUZ SUPPORTER: Donald Trump has used tactics that have raised an army of very ardent fans, for sure, but he's also locked in a lot of people that just don't like him. And I am not saying the people protesting there in Chicago are Republican voters by any means, but there is a growing coalition of antiestablishment Tea Party, Ted Cruz-type people and establishment folks that are rallying behind the candidacy of Ted Cruz to unify our party before the national convention so that we can have a positive message.

We don't need Donald Trump to be the head of the ticket, you know, for this great country of ours to be represented by a man with such a giant ego and with so few solutions to the problems would be tragic. And it's not in the nature of a Reagan or a Jack Kemp, or you know, a George Bush Sr. or a George W. Bush, to have someone who's got this kind of behavioral challenge.

So, I think it's tragic. I think he brought it on, you know, because of his tactics that he's used to show that he's the tough guy that's going to be able to, you know, to keep us safe from these threats. We are still the greatest country on the face of the earth, and he's not the right guy to lead us forward, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Meanwhile, Trump's supporters say that he's reacting correctly to protesters who are unlawfully blocking his First Amendment rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Tonight, he did exactly what he should have done. He shut down the rally. He didn't want violence. He said so repeatedly in your interview with him. In the statement he released, at the very end of it, he said, "Please go in peace."

He did the right thing this evening. And instead of the story being 10,000 protesters showed up, disrupted the First Amendment rights of Donald Trump and Trump's supporters -- and on the screen right now, you're not seeing people in Donald Trump shirts causing the ruckus, you are seeing the protesters.

LEMON: Who is criticizing him? I haven't heard anybody criticize Donald Trump tonight.

MCENANY: Many pundits on this network have criticized Trump and one of them said he wanted the violence that happened this evening. That's just not true. And I can tell you this, if 10,000 Tea Party activists had showed up at a Bernie Sanders rally and acted this way, those same pundits would be criticizing the Tea Party and would be calling on anyone who called out Bernie Sanders for being responsible for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: And the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, has also weighed in on the violence. She released a statement, which said, "The divisive rhetoric we are seeing should be of grave concern to us all. We all have our differences and we know many people across the country feel angry. We need to address that anger together."

Well, Donald Trump is downplaying the rally scuffles, but many critics say this could be a lasting problem.

Earlier, our Natalie Allen spoke to Jacob Parakilas. He's the assistant head of the U.S. and America's program at the London think tank Chatham House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:06] JACOB PARAKILAS, ASST. HEAD, U.S. PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Obviously, it's very dispiriting to see politics in the United States turn into such sort of displays of violence. I mean, what I'm reading is that, in fact, the police did not advise Trump to shut down the rally, that he chose to shut down the rally.

I mean, I think there's a tactic on Trump's side here to create the impression that he's the one who's under attack, when, in fact, he's been the one sort of encouraging violence and he's been the one telling attendees at his rallies to do violence to protesters. So, it's really -- it's really dangerous to see this kind of rhetoric and to see this kind of incitement to violence coming from the leading presidential candidate on one side of the American political spectrum.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And how do you think this will affect his campaign moving forward? He, of course, said this protest was about people not having jobs. Clearly, the unemployment rate for the impoverished African-Americans in Chicago is extremely high. But we saw the crowd's signs. They had signs about alleging Trump's a racist, signs that said "love not hate." This protest movement was much more than he alludes to.

PARAKILAS: Yes. I think, I mean, this will continue to be an issue for Trump as it goes forward, and it's really very difficult to predict. You know, how do you run a national campaign in an environment where tensions are so high? I mean, we don't have a very good -- you know, we have to go back to 1968 to see a campaign which was surrounded by this level of sort of political protest. I mean, we don't have a sort of modern equivalent of what that means.

And, of course, the country was very different in 1968. The way that party structures and elections worked was very different in 1968. So, I mean, there's not a particularly good model to understand what this would mean for the general election, what it would mean in terms of, you know, how the election would work, what we're likely to see. But I mean, I think it is very, very dangerous.

ALLEN: And let's talk about how much of this is the times and how much of this is Donald Trump's candidacy that's calling this divide, which he said, we have a real divide in the United State states -- which is really spurning it on right now?

PARAKILAS: Look, I mean, we've had presidential elections in bad times before. Look at 2008, you know, the world economy plunged into recession in the middle of the 2008 campaign, and you didn't see -- and it was very divisive, but you didn't see this level of violence.

And I think there's a sort of level of responsibility that Trump is sort of intentionally whipping up this kind of fervor to build a media narrative and build anticipation around his campaign. I mean, you know, I just -- I think that there's a level of incitement there that really needs to be addressed, needs to be addressed forthrightly by the media and by Trump's opponents and by the American public at large.

ALLEN: Yes, with a huge week ahead in the election process. Jacob Parakalis, as always, thank you, and I imagine we'll be talking again. Thanks for joining us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Before Friday's violence, U.S. president Barack Obama expressed his displeasure at the race for the White House by asking why the Republicans suddenly shocked by Trump. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a debate inside the other party that is fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it's the Home Shopping Network.

And then you've got the Republican establishment, they're very exercised: we're shocked that somebody would be saying these things. We're shocked! That somebody's fanning anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-Muslim sentiment. We're shocked! We're shocked that somebody could be loose with the facts. Or distort someone's record. Shocked!

You know, how can you be shocked? This is the guy, remember, who was sure that I was born in Kenya, who just wouldn't let it go. And all this same Republican establishment, they weren't saying nothing. As long as it was directed at me, they were fine with it. They thought it was a hoot, wanted to get his endorsement.

[05:40:01] And then now, suddenly, we're shocked that there's gambling going on in this establishment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: President Obama speaking there about Donald Trump and the Republican party.

Well, still to come, Germany's far right is on the rise, fueled by a frustration over the migrant crisis. Coming up, we'll hear from the leader of the anti-immigrant party ahead of this Sunday's elections.

Plus, (INAUDIBLE) China's economic decline. The nation looks to bring life to towns desolate after the crisis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel just wrapped up a rally in a German state west of Munich. It's her final rally ahead of Sunday's three- state elections. It seems that tests support Angela Merkel. The migrant crisis is expected to dominate voters' decisions, and even members of Ms. Merkel's own party are at odds with her handling of the problem.

Her right-wing, anti-refugee party is expected to do well in these elections.

Senior international correspondent Atika Shubert asked the party's leader what it represents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As campaign ads go, it's a soft sell. "Hazy images of idyllic German life for our country, for our security." No mention of specific issues or policies. The AFD, or Alternative

for Germany, is selling an idea, the only political party, it says, willing to stand up and defend German identity and values, especially on the refugee crisis.

FRAUKE PETRY, AFD LEADER: We have the label of being Nazi, of being brown, which is something very, very bad in Germany, something which frightens most people and society.

[05:45:07] And we say, hey, whatever the label is, let's discuss content.

SHUBERT: AFD leader Frauke Petry is a chemist-turned-politician, the new face of Germany's conservative movement.

She talked to CNN on the campaign trail as extra security patrolled the grounds of the local sports center where she was speaking. Petry has received threats and protests follow her campaign, but her party stands to make big gains on a policy that advocates stopping migration altogether, at least for now.

PETRY: We need to define who is allowed to stay, who's going to go back, and then we need to talk about, after that, about migration laws. And at the moment, we have the problem that we don't take these two problems apart, and that's the Merkel government afraid of sending a nuclear signal.

SHUBERT: Germany is under pressure. Last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the country to take in more than a million asylum-seekers, initially basking in (INAUDIBLE), or welcoming refugees, but then came New Year's Eve in cologne and refugees were blamed on sexual assaults on women and then the backlash, arson attacks on refugee shelters.

In one case, an angry mob blocked a bus full of refugees from moving to town.

Recent polls show that a whopping 80 percent of Germans no longer support Merkel's refugee policy, but many do not want to be lumped in with far-right anti-Islamic groups, either -- as audience members made clear to Petry during the rally we attended.

The AFD fills that gap, but Petry still struggles to define where the party stands. A local paper quoted her as saying police should use firearms, if necessary, to stop people from crossing the border illegally. That sparked magazine covers accusing her of inciting violence.

(on camera): I mean, the headline here, "The Hate Preacher," what do you make of it?

PETRY: Yes, it hurts. It hurts because what I really want to say doesn't get through anymore. We need to be very strong about that and punish everyone who's sort of involved in violence.

SHUBERT: But precisely by providing a conservative alternative to the powerful central bloc of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frauke Petry believes the AFD is here to stay.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: And this programming note -- next week, CNN's Clarissa Ward is going to take you on a harrowing journey deep into the heart of a country scarred by five years of war and isolation. You'll get an inside look inside Syria behind rebel lines and meet the people who call what's left of the embattled country home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We had to travel under cover to see a war few outsiders have witnessed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Russian planes target anything that works in the interest of the people. The goal is that people here live a destroyed life. The people never see any good.

WARD (on camera): There are snipers all around here, but this is the only road now to get into Aleppo.

(voice-over): Aleppo was once Syria's largest city, now an apocalyptic landscape. Any civilian infrastructure is a potential target, including hospitals.

(on camera): Is it possible that they did not know that this was a hospital?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Everyone knows this is a hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: And this is all part of our exclusive special coverage, "Inside Syria: Behind Rebel Lines," and it's only on CNN.

You're watching CNN.

Coming up, from the outside, this could pass as one of China's many impressive building projects, but an inside look reveals a very different story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:59] KINKADE: Welcome back.

Dramatic video out of China captures the moment a passenger bus is swallowed up by a huge hole that suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. It happened in southwest China Thursday near a train station. Surprisingly, all three people who were on that bus are safe. Officials are investigating the cause of the accident.

Well, it was once China's booming industrial heartland but is now barren, a consequence of the economic decline. And the cities that were built here are now ghost towns.

CNNMoney's Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens takes us inside China's rust belt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNNMONEY'S ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): Shenfu New Town, a city built on hope -- a monument to speculation and cheap money, born from the construction boom fueled by China's $500 billion stimulus package in 2008.

But the one thing missing here is people.

(on camera): It's 8:30 in the morning in Shenfu. In any other city in the world, that would be peak hour. Not here.

The old saying is, "Build it and they will come." Well, they certainly haven't come yet.

(voice-over): Shenfu is in Liaoning Province in northeastern China. For a decade, Liaoning was the fastest growing in China, but this region has become a casualty of plunging commodity prices and stalling economic growth. It's now known as the rust belt.

Billboards around town show what Shenfu should have looked like, but this is what it is -- rows of stores locked up and empty, their windows advertising what should have been there.

And nowhere is that misplaced optimism more pronounced than the city center.

(on camera): The American architect who designed this was asked to come up with a concept for the heart of the city, and this is what he produced, the so-called "Ring of Life" behind this artificial lake.

[05:55:04] Well, I'm sharing this view of the "Ring of Life" with just a couple of cleaners. And as you look at the buildings all around it, most of them are either vacant or unfinished.

(voice-over): And it's proving tough to fill them. Fifty-six-year- old Li Fu (ph) stands by the side of the road for seven hours a day handing out leaflets advertising apartments. There aren't many takers.

At the showroom of her employer, Liaoning Tongching (ph), it's also quiet.

(on camera): So, how much of this is built?

(voice-over): The agents tell me in somewhat of an understatement that this is a buyer's market. They say sales started falling in 2013 and haven't started turning around.

But it's critical to China's economic growth plan that they do. Places like Shenfu are now a priority for Beijing as the leadership bets on the property market to help fuel growth. (on camera): We spoke to provincial government officials about what

their proposals are to try to rehabilitate these areas. They say they're still studying the plan, so the only concrete steps so far are coming from Beijing to turn the property market around.

But in the rust belt, that is going to be a monumental task.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Shenfu New Town, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, that does it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thanks for joining me.

For viewers in the U.S., "NEW DAY" is just ahead. For everyone else, "AMANPOUR" starts in just a moment.