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North Korea Reported to Test Nuclear Warhead, Ballistic Missiles; Russia Begins Troop Withdrawal from Syria; Syrian Civil War Marks 5 Years; Confidence High Among GOP Candidates; Russia Withdrawing Troops from Syria; Inside Look at Aleppo, Syria; Tumult on Trump Circuit. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 15, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:44] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rosemary Church.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining our two-hour block. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Now we begin this hour with breaking news out of Syria. Russian troops there have started pulling out of the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal, seemingly out of the blue on Monday, the same day Syrian peace talks resumed in Geneva.

CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the pull back. And both leaders calling for an intensified process to end the civil war. We will have more from our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, on the line from Moscow in just a few minutes from now.

Well, just hours after North Korea reported that it will test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying one, the rest of the world is trying to figure out whether the closed regime has the technology to carry out a successful test.

BARNETT: That's right. South Korea says they doubt this point, but no one really knows for sure, of course. Newly released photos show North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, reviewing a ballistic rocket simulation. Mr. Kim has been issues various threats to the U.S. and South Korea for several weeks now.

Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, live from Seoul with more on this.

Ivan, if this is a response to what the U.S. and South Korean governments have been saying about the launches, what is the message from the north?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, the message is clearly that North Korea will not be abandoning its nuclear weapons program. It's continued to try and develop it. That's the first message. The second is, unlike the previous, nearly daily drum beat, including the threat of pre-emptive nuclear strikes in response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise underway on this side of the demilitarized zone, this latest statement read much more like a scientific press release in which North Korea explained that it had achieved what it claims is reentry capability for its missile arsenal, that it was testing what is effectively and what looks like in the photos to be the nose cone of a missile under intense heat, and illustrating that it now has the technology to place that on a missile so that it would allow a rocket, a missile to go up into orbit and then come back down to hit a potential target, and that it could presumably carry a nuclear warhead.

And just last week, North Korea claimed it had achieved the technology to miniaturize one of its device so it could be fitted on top of such missile. So, this is the newest evolution that North Korea claims to have made in its nuclear technology and, understandably, it's great of concern to its neighbor, South Korea -- Errol?

BARNETT: And these kinds of aggressive military statements and the posturing seems to happen weekly from North Korea. We know you'll continue to watch this closely.

Ivan Watson live for us in Seoul, South Korea. Just past 3:00 p.m. there. Ivan, thank you.

Now we want to get back to the breaking news this hour out of Syria, where Russian troops have started pulling out of the country.

CHURCH: Russia began air strikes in support of the Syrian government back in September, you'd recall, and Vladimir Putin says his mission has now been accomplished.

Senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, joins us on the phone from the Russian capital with the latest.

Matthew, what is behind this surprise troop withdrawal by President Putin? What is he hoping to achieve here, and the timing, too?

[02:04:56] MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, we don't really know what the exact motives are. This is an unexpected announcement. Vladimir Putin once again proving how unpredictable he can be with the abrupt pull out of Russian forces from Syria.

But he's saying we achieved our main goals in Syria and now it's time for us to leave. And the Kremlin does not want to get involved in the quagmire of Syrian war anymore than it absolutely has to. And it's provided support for its ally, Bashar al Assad, and prevented the Syrian government from being defeated. That was a real possibility six months ago. It's effectively brought the warring parties to the negotiating table, and negotiations getting underway right now in Geneva. And that's what the Russians say is their emphasis is finding a diplomatic solution.

But what they've done is show they are global players, that they should be taken seriously on the international stage. And so it's done enormous things for bolstering Russian's pride. I think that will be seen by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin as the main victory in all of this.

CHURCH: So, Matthew, what does Russia want to see come out of the peace talks in Geneva?

CHANCE: Russia wants to see a Syria in which its interests are protected. That involves the continuing of Bashar al Assad in power. Bashar al Assad is a long-standing ally of the Kremlin in Syria, and he allows Russia to have strong economic and military interests in the country. They still have the two military bases in Syria, the air base near Latakia and the naval base, and they want that to continue.

I suppose what they've succeeded in doing is turning around the situation on the battle field to give Bashar al Assad much more power, much more influence in those negotiations. So, in that sense, having given him the strength, Putin has decided now it's the time to cut his losses and to get out before he gets dragged into a long-running conflict in that country.

CHURCH: And, Matthew, how well will this play at home for President Putin?

CHANCE: I think it will play pretty well. Putin's popularity high, an 86 percent approval rating, which is astronomical. And the loss of life in terms of Russian service personnel, as a result of the Syrian intervention, has been pretty low. There's been two people that they lost, a pilot and a Marine who were sent on a rescue mission sent to rescue a pilot when one of their planes was shot down by the Turks. But you haven't seen the kind of loss of life that would turn public opinion against this Russian intervention. As far as the Russian public is concerned, and they've been watching state television, and so they have been influenced by it, but there's a certain degree of truth as well, this has been a short but effective campaign, that Russia has gone into Syria, minimal loss of life, and achieved the result it set out to achieve. I think this is going to bolster, if anything, Putin's popularity.

CHURCH: We'll continue to watch this story. As we were reporting there, breaking news, saying Russia's troops withdrawing from Syria.

And many thanks there from our Matthew Chance reporting on the line from Moscow.

BARNETT: Now Tuesday marks five years since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria. The U.N. estimates it's claimed at least 300,000 lives. More than 11 million people have been forced from their homes. And it all began when Bashar al Assad crushed peaceful protests that were demanding he step aside.

Our next guest was once a friend of Mr. Assad's and he's now become the voice of descent. Syria activist, Ayman Abdulnour, joins us from Los Angeles where he's editor-in-chief of the "All for Syria" bulletin.

Ayman, thank you for your time and joining us on CNN today.

First, what do you make of this breaking development? Russia's plan to withdraw forces from Syria it's taking place at this hour? And why do you think this is happening now?

[02:09:28] AYMAN ABDULNOUR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ALL FOR SYRIA BULLETIN: I think this is good news and it happens because of three elements jointly pushed Putin to reach that decision. Number one is the drop of the oil price last year to 70 percent, which make the economy of Russia 3.6 percent shrink. So, for the first time last week, Putin, since 2000, he took a decision to reduce the defense budget 5 percent. And number two, is the President Obama decision to deploy permanent combat brigades in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe along the Russian border, which is very important to Russia.

They can't keep the three threats and maintaining this huge army they have, number two, securing this western front, plus having the huge presence and engagement inside Syria with $3 million budget per day. They cannot afford that. Plus, this element, there's another one that there's a news leak that there's a discussion between the Syrian regime and Iranians to reach a political solution led by U.N. and U.S. and Russia. So, this is also help the Russians to reach that conclusion.

BARNETT: So, you think maybe a separate deal Syria is making with Iran as all of these pieces move. Tell me about the ceasefire. As the allowed humanitarian aid to get to the many places its need? How dire is that situation?

ABDULNOUR: It's good, I think. The Syrian people are fed up and really very need the ceasefire. And it's implemented around 90 percent via the estimated percentages of it but there's still many besieged areas, some under ISIL but most of them are from the regime that doesn't allow access and efforts to reach the medical help for all the people inside. So, they're using the starvation as a weapon in this war, which is for the first time ever happened. So, this is very -- you see the images -- very disturbing for anyone that has any dignity to see them. And this is the name number that the U.N. used last year. So, they stopped counting, which is very upsetting for all the Syrians that they stopped counting all the dead. They have families, hopes in the future and we need the help of the international community.

BARNETT: Now, you fled years ago and now reside in the states but you're connected to many of the activists and opposition figures who started this Assad resistance. How many are you able to stay in contact with?

ABDULNOUR: Really I don't know what to tell you. But every time I want to search for a name in my phone book and I scroll the screen, my eye catches one or two, they are now dead, tortured or killed. So, there's many inside my phone book and this is not only my case, this is similar case to every singling Syrian. There's no Syrian who wasn't touched by this unjust war led by the Assad regime. And others will not die. They are scattered all over the world. Some move with their families and die in the sea while trying to reach Greece from Turkey and others trying to immigrate and 2.7 million in Turkey's refugee camps and 700,000 in Jordan and around another 1,000,000 in Lebanon. So this is a disastrous situation. And the biggest work is still ahead. After we reach the political solution, and post-Assad regime, this is when the work will start and this is when we need the world to stand with us, and also U.S., as it's led now the humanitarian war with $4 billion to lead the construction effort in the future.

BARNETT: You can't find a Syrian who hasn't been impacted in some way personally by this civil war. I know you're hopeful that there will a transitional government and a constitution and there will be elections eventually.

But we appreciate you joining us with the breaking news that Russian forces are beginning to withdraw.

Ayman Abdulnour, the editor-in-chief of "All for Syria" bulletin, thank you for your time and joining us on CNN today.

ABDULNOUR: Thank you for having me. Thank you.

CHURCH: Turkey suspects a separatist terrorist organization is behind the deadly bombing in Ankara. At least 35 people were killed when a car exploded near a busy transport hub. Officials say the attackers were a female suicide bomber and her male accomplice. At least 10 people have been detained in connection with the bombing. Turkey's president says the law needs to be changed to punish not just terrorists but also their supporters.

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RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER; The person who pulls the trigger or blows up the bomb is a terrorist but his supporters and abettors who made that possible should also be defined as terrorists. Therefore, I believe we should change the definition of terrorism in criminal code as soon as possible.

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[02:15:24] CHURCH: Victims were buried Monday as Turkish war planes reportedly struck Turkish militants in northern Iraq.

BARNETT: CNN is bringing you exclusive reports from behind rebel lines in Syria all week. And this hour, we will take you to what's left of the war torn city of Aleppo.

CHURCH: Plus, a pivotal round of primaries is about to begin in the U.S. presidential race. We'll have that and more when we come back.

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BARNETT: We've said this before but we really mean it this time. In just a few hours, another round of voting could shake up the landscape in the race for the White House. [02:20:00] CHURCH: It is being billed as Super Tuesday three. Five

states, some with winner-take-all delegate prizes, are holding Democratic and Republican primaries, and all six candidates are full of confidence.

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JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win Ohio. I think it's going to happen because we've had a good record here and I think when people look at some of the nonsense they're seeing on the trail, the negativity, the name calling, I think they are becoming -- really recognizing that positive campaign really make as difference.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We are going to win, win, win. We're going to win so much you are going to be so proud of your country again. I love you Ohio. You can make the difference. You can make the difference.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Tell your friends, vote for Trump. I promise you, I am going to do such a great job.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We now have a candidate that uses profanity. We have never had a presidential candidate that has to be bleeped out. We have a candidate now leading the Republican primary that we have to explain to our children.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With John Kasich, it's mathematically impossible for him to become the nominee. He cannot beat Donald Trump. So a vote for Kasich or Rubio is a vote that's thrown away.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: If I'm so fortunate enough to be the Democratic nominee. Two --

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: -- to lead a campaign against whoever the Republicans nominate, pointing out the indisputable fact that America's economy does better when we have a Democrat in the White House.

(CHEERING)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A few weeks ago, people were saying Bernie Sanders winning, Ohio? No way. Well, guess what? We have a good vote tomorrow. People come out. We're going to win here in Ohio.

(CHEERING)

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CHURCH: Hold on to your hats. There's still a long way to go in the election process, at least that's what most of the remaining candidates hope.

BARNETT: That's right, for at least two the voting could make-or- break their chances of winning the White House.

Jonathan Mann explains why.

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JONATHAN MANN, CNN HOST, POLITICAL MANN: Next up, Super Tuesday, round three.

CRUZ: We're in the middle of March madness.

MANN: Primaries are set in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and the biggest prize, Florida. And it's do-or-die for at least two of the remaining Republican candidates. Florida for Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio governor, John Kasich, must win their home states to keep their White House hopes alive and keep a cash of delegates out of frontrunner Donald Trump's hands.

KASICH: It's really critical because if you can't win your home state, you have to think about calling it a day.

MANN: Both know the stakes. Both are spending big. And while they're running behind Trump in recent polls, both are pledging to win.

MARCO: I need your help next Tuesday, because we're not just going to win the Florida primary, we're going to win Florida in November.

MANN: And this Super Tuesday is winner-take-all, so whoever wins Florida gets all 99 of its delegates. A total of 367 at stake in five states. This is the last best chance for the other candidates to stop Trump's momentum.

TRUMP: If we win Florida, it's over.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: If we win Florida and Ohio, it's really over, OK.

(CHEERING)

MANN: Not yet over, but another big Tuesday for Trump could all but clinch the GOP nomination.

Jonathan Mann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Joining us now to predict Tuesday's results and the path to the nomination is political analyst, Gian-Carlo Peresutti, who also served as an aid to former George H.W. Bush, or Bush 41.

Thanks for joining us on CNN today.

GIAN-CARLO PERESUTTI, POLITICAL ANALYST: My pleasure, Errol. Nice to be with you.

BARNETT: Florida could be the most decisive vote because of Rubio. If he loses, it shuts the door on his political ambitions. This is his home state, and that's saying something. But you see a scenario in which he could lose and remain in the race. Explain how that would work.

PERESUTTI: Well, it's not a likely scenario, Errol, and clearly Marco Rubio needs to perform well in Florida, his home state, as you mentioned. However, being that this election really is all about expectations, I think that if Rubio loses by a slim margin and beats expectations that he could remain viable for the duration of this race, which clearly will be splintered, especially if John Kasich prevails in Ohio, heading right to the convention in Cleveland.

BARNETT: And speaking of Governor Kasich in Ohio, he is expected to win. Does he then become the likely prime non-Trump candidate? If you look at recent primaries and caucuses, Senator Ted Cruz occupies that space.

PERESUTTI: If he prevails, he presents the Republicans with another alternative to Trump. Clearly, Ted Cruz is not someone who's palatable to many in the so-called Republican establishment and a Kasich victory opens up another avenue, another vessel for the support for that faction of the party for sure.

[02:25:25] BARNETT: But all the possibilities point towards a contests convention in which Donald Trump will be denied the nomination. And you have this growing fear that the manner in which Donald Trump revs up his crowds will continue to lead to violence. So how does the Republican establishment send up a nonviable non-Trump nominee without infuriating Trump supporters more than they are no now?

PERESUTTI: The responsibility for that lies with one and one only, Donald Trump. He needs to the claim the mantle of leadership he's earned during this campaign and he needs to tell his supporters to cool their jets. The burden is on him to make sure we have a calm and controlled electorate heading into Cleveland. No one can control his supporters better than he can, so the onus is on him to do just that.

BARNETT: You've been around politics a long time. What has surprised you the most in the Republican electorate specifically this election cycle?

PERESUTTI: I think it's the degree to which the so-called establishment misread the sentiment of a large swath of the voters in their own party. There's a faction of the party that's angry, upset, that believes their party, the Republican Party, has not spoken to their wants, hopes, needs and desires. And I think we're seeing the backlash because of that and we're seeing the support that Mr. Trump has garnered during this campaign.

BARNETT: We shall see what happens next.

Political analyst, Gian-Carlos Peresutti, joining us from Richfield, Connecticut. Thanks for your time.

PERESUTTI: Thank you, Errol.

CHURCH: We take a quick break. But still to come, peace talks in Syria's civil war have resumed in Geneva. We'll have a live report with the latest on the negotiations now that Russian forces are pulling out of Syria.

BARNETT: Plus, our latest exclusive report from inside rebel- controlled Syria. A look at the ruins of a once-great city after the break.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

[02:30:48] CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers all across the globe. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett.

We're a half an hour in. Let's update you on our top stories.

(HEADLINES)

CHURCH: And let's return to the Syrian peace talks amid a fragile ceasefire.

CNN International diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joins us live from Geneva with the latest developments.

Nic, we have been reporting this breaking news of Russian troops preparing to pull out of Syria just as Russia's President Putin announced would happen. How much pressure would have been put on Russia to make this pullout happen?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, certainly the message coming from the Sunni alliance who back the Syrian opposition have been making it very clear to the Russians that their actions right now would be studied very, very closely. If Russia wanted to have a relationship with the Sunni part of the world, then they couldn't continue to back Assad in the way that they've been backing him.

That's one level of pressure, and sure, great, you can have Iran as a friend but if you want us as friends, too, then you're going to have to moderate and change the way you're behaving in Syria. No surprise that the Munich summit about a month and a half ago, when there was agreed to hold a ceasefire, the talks about we began to hear about talks between Saudi Arabia and Russia on freezing any potential increase of oil production. That a key thing there for the economy in Russia. And another part of the picture as well is that the capability and the

will among the Sunni alliance, to escalate the fighting in Syria, provide surface to air missiles to rebels and while Russia is in the driving seat and that's been recognized by diplomats, particularly in the Middle East, while they're in the driver seat, there was a lot of pressure on Russia.

How it plays out here is something the opposition say they really want to see how president Putin's words are translated into actions on the ground and here in Geneva, where the words and actions could have the most significant impact, and that's I think perhaps what we're going to see play out in the coming days.

CHURCH: What are the expectations and what impact will this Russian troop withdrawal likely have on the outcome?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, one of -- one of the significant things, Rosemary, that we can expect to happen is what -- how the Syrian government delegation is going to respond. When they went into talks yesterday, it was like a repeat of the talks two years ago. They said look, they just wanted to talk about procedural issues and something that happened two years ago. When the Syrian delegation came to the talks in Geneva, the world expected Russia to really get into the talks and negotiate. They didn't, the talks failed and the attention turned to what will Russia do this time.

Now we see Putin pulling down troops, which is potentially a strong symbol for President Bashar al Assad. Your time as president, Mr. Assad, is running out. Your team is here to negotiate a new government, a new political dispensation that there should be new elections in less than 18 month's time. So this potentially changes the game for the Syria government. How are they going to respond? That's the key thing.

And, of course, today is the first meeting with the Syrian opposition when they go into the talks here. They are cautiously optimistic that President Putin's announcement can make a difference. They're saying let's look what happens on the ground to be sure -- Rosemary?

[02:35:55] CHURCH: We know you'll be watching very closely that Syrian government delegation to see their response to this and what happens next at the talks.

Many thanks to our Nic Robertson joining us there live from Geneva.

BARNETT: And as the diplomatic talks resume, CNN's senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, went deep undercover into war-torn Syria where virtually no Western journalists have gone for more than a year. She took the last remaining rebel-held group into Aleppo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can tell when you're getting closer to Aleppo. The streets are pock marked with the aftermath of fresh air strikes, burning the earth to protect the way from enemy fire. It's a dangerous journey to a city few dare to visit.

(on camera): We now have to drive extremely quickly along this portion of the road, because, on one side, you have the regime and, on the other side, you have Kurdish fighters who are fighting against rebel forces and snipers all around, but this is the only road to get into Aleppo.

(voice-over): As you arrive in the city, the scale of the destruction is breathtaking, stretching on and on entire residential neighborhoods reduced to rubble.

Aleppo was once Syria's largest city, a bustling economic hub, now an apocalyptic landscape.

(SIREN)

WARD: Russian war planes have bombed these areas relentlessly, allowing government ground forces to encircle the rebel-held eastern part of the city.

Still, we found pockets of life among the devastation. The fruit market huddled in the shadow of a bombed-out building, a line of people waiting patiently to collect water a precious resource here.

(on camera): This is what is left of rebel-held Aleppo after months and months of thousands of Russian bombs reigning down. The streets are largely deserted. The buildings have been destroyed. And the people who once lived here have been pushed out. And the very few who are still here, who we've spoken to, have told us that they don't expect the situation to get any better. In fact, they're convinced it will only get worse.

(voice-over): 70-year-old Siad (ph) has lived here for 40 years. Her grandson, Farook (ph), is a fighter with an Islamist rebel group. In all, nine members of her family have been killed in the fighting, including two of her three sons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): They all died on the frontline. They weighed our head high for them. God willing they are in paradise.

WARD (on camera): What would it take for you to leave Aleppo?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): It's enough for us to express our religion and faith as free people without anyone stopping us. It is enough to for us to defend our honor and our women.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Should we leave our country and go to another country? No, this is our country and we will remain in this until we die.

WARD (voice-over): The people clinging to life here feel that the world has abandoned them, leaving them only with God. Their existence becomes more precarious with every passing day. But surrender is unthinkable.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Aleppo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In her next report, Clarissa Ward has an exclusive look at the state of civil institutions in rebel-held Syria and the forces set on destroying them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): Any civilian infrastructure is a potential target, including hospitals. Last month, four were hit in a single day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): They want to kill the maximum number of people. Also, they want to forbid the area from having medical service. If there's no doctor, no nurse, no hospital, then there's no health care for the people and people will flee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:40:27] CHURCH: It's all part of our exclusive coverage all week, "Inside Syria, Behind Rebel Lines, only here on CNN.

BARNETT: Donald Trump's political rallies aren't known for their decorum, putting that lightly. Supporters and protesters are striking angry tones. We'll explain what's behind them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: The press is now calling this thing, oh, but there's such violence. You know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? I think like basically none. Other than I guess maybe somebody got hit once or something. But there's no violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Republican presidential front runner, Donald Trump, there. And despite what he says, the evidence over the past few weeks suggests otherwise.

BARNETT: And whoever you support or blame, there is something different about Trump events.

Our Gary Tuchman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There would be no wandering into this last Donald Trump rally before Super Tuesday three. That's because people attending the rally took buses from a parking lot about seven miles away from the Youngtown, Ohio, rally site. Trump organizers say it was not done this way to try to keep out possible Trump opponents. They say parking was limited. But one of the Trump volunteers on the buses wasn't completely on message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People walk in with Trump's a bad guy. You don't want that. This is a rally and it's paid for by Trump. So, we want Trump supporters there.

[02:45:13] TUCHMAN: Security keeps getting more elaborate at Trump rallies. As the buses pulled in, Secret Service, local police and private security were keeping a close eye on everything and many people were look over their soldiers.

(on camera): If you see protesters, what will you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell them to go whine somewhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those people have an agenda.

TUCHMAN: What's their agenda?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To destroy.

(SHOUTING)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This past weekend saw more tumult on the Trump circuit following the violence in Chicago on Friday.

(SHOUTING)

TUCHMAN: Secret Service and Trump's private security scrambled when a man charged towards the stage at an Ohio rally. Trump was noticeably startled but continued on.

And at another rally in Kansas City, Donald Trump showed no signs of flexibility to protesters.

TRUMP: Hello, darling. Go home to mom. Go home to mommy. Get him out.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: Get him out. Out.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: I hope these guys get thrown into a jail.

We are going to take our country back from those people, those people.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: They do nothing.

TUCHMAN: And on Sunday, this is what Trump said on CNN's "State of the Union."

TRUMP: When I say things like, I'd like to punch them, frankly, this was absolutely violent and like a crazed individual. A lot of them are -- I don't even call them protesters, I call them disrupters.

TUCHMAN: The Trump supporters we talked to here have no problems with their candidate's more controversial comments.

(on camera): Do you think Donald Trump has any responsibility?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The media should stop showing it over and over and over, because that makes people want to do it.

TUCHMAN: Is the news media's fault?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the news media. It's not Donald Trump. He's perfect.

TUCHMAN: People can argue until they're blue in the face about who's responsible for the violence at the recent Donald Trump rallies, but what is evident is that everyone realizes there's the potential for more.

TRUMP: All right, get them out of here.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Many people here say Trump should not change his language one bit towards protesters one bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we need a leader who has authority and in charge. And if that's what it takes to be in charge, that's what it takes.

TUCHMAN (on camera): And you think that's an OK message to send?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine with me.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Trump supporters still very faithful.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Youngstown, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We'll take a break right here. But still to come, traveling around the world on a budget. Richard Quest shows us how it's done on his low-speed, high-cost journey. Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[02:50:33] CHURCH: And parts of Europe will be starting to feel spring-like conditions over the next several days at last.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joining us now from the International Weather Center.

This is all good news.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is, absolutely. It's been a long time coming. If you're tuned into this region of Europe, you know what's been going on. Look at this expansive area of high pressure. This is a massive ridge of high pressure. If you can see a storm sneaking in on the reverse side of the storm system but clear skies north of England and even Iceland seeing generally clear skies. It is a spectacular set up on a mid-march day across this region. And coming outside and enjoying the sunshine that's been in place over this region. And the mild air indicated in the green, all the way as far north as Iceland.

And conditions unseasonably mild to say the least. And sitting right around 9.5 degrees. The average for this time of year, by the way is right at three degrees. Climatologically, that's a May 28th temperature across Iceland. What it's doing is deflecting multiple storm systems that are trying to track this way and they're being shunted well to the north before some weather tries to come back and brings in wet weather across the southern portions of Europe. Work your way out towards eastern France into western Italy, higher elevations get showers. Paris makes up to 13 degrees and London also temps about 13 as Prague warms up. And we know the days will be 12 hours long as well as the nights. And that happens around 4:30 GMT on Sunday. And of course, the opposite in the southern hemisphere with autumn upon us in the next few days. So again, feeling the changes across parts of our planet -- guys?

BARNETT: And it's a welcome change.

CHURCH: Air conditioner and no coat, these are all good signs.

Thanks, Pedram.

BARNETT: Thanks, Pedram. See you next hour.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

BARNETT: Time to check back on Richard Quest's round-the-world journey on low-cost airlines. He's about one-third of the way through a trip on 10 airlines to nine countries in eight day for just over $2000. The airlines keep it simple with no business or first class.

CHURCH: Most fly into secondary airports, like Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Before Richard left the United Arab Emirate, he explains what he's learned so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Coming to the end of day three in the round-the-world trip and so far I've been in London, Brussels, Prague and Dubai, and now I'm in another part of the UAE Emirates, about to take the Air out-of- beer flight. It's our way of getting from one continent to the next.

We're already seeing some big differences about the way the different low-cost carriers' model is interpreted. Some giving meals, others are quite basic. And as we go around the world, we expect to see even more differences as we head into Asia and down towards the South Pacific.

Oh, yes, those challenges at #flywithquest, well, I've eaten a camel burger in Dubai. There was goulash in Prague and a waffle in Brussels. And just look at the different sights I've seen, from the Charles Bridge to the largest, tallest building in the world. And there's plenty more to come.

Richard Quest, CNN, around the world in low-cost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Might be low budget but he's having fun.

And you can follow Richard's progress and all the details on CNN.com or follow along on Twitter with the #flywithquest.

BARNETT: Now, we have this cool story before we go. The play "Hamilton" mixes American history with hip-hop and it is the hottest ticket on Broadway and sold out for at least a year.

CHURCH: And the U.S. president is a big fan and welcomed the cast to the White House Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This show brings unlikely folks together.

"Hamilton" I'm pretty sure is the only thing Dick Cheney and I agree on.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:55:15] BARNETT: Now, later the show's creator and star did a surprise free-style performance with a little help from the commander- and-chief. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You ready? You giving the cue?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All set.

OBAMA: All right. Drop the beat.

(RAPPING)

OBAMA: How good is that?

(LAUGHTER)

That -- you think that's going viral? (LAUGHTER)

That's going viral.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CHURCH: Do you think it's going viral? Well, reach out to us on social media and let us know.

BARNETT: I did retweet that. It's very cool.

In the world right now, there is a lot of stake. Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins after this short break.

CHURCH: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:09] CHURCH: Packing up. Russia begins its military withdrawal from Syria as promised.