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North Korea Launches Ballistic Missiles; U.S. Declares ISIS Attacks on Minorities as Genocide; Protests Grip Brazil as Lula Joins Cabinet; Top Conservatives Plot Anti-Trump Uprising; Trump and the Global Economy; Aired 1-1:30a ET
Aired March 18, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:28] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, yet another show of defiance from North Korea firing two ballistic missiles capable of reaching Japan.
EU leaders strike an agreement on the refugee crisis but they still need to pitch that plan to Turkey.
And a dire warning about what a President Donald trump might mean for the world economy.
Hello, everybody. Thanks for being with us. I'm John Vause. Another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.
North Korea's show of military defiance continues with the launch of two ballistic missiles. They landed in the Sea of Japan after flying about 800 kilometers. U.S. officials tell CNN they tracked the missiles and Reuters is reporting Pyongyang fired them from a road mobile launcher.
CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is in Seoul, South Korea with more on this.
So what are the details you know at this stage about exactly what they fired and where?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two projectiles fired shortly before dawn this morning from North Korea from an area called Sukchon, just a little bit north of Pyongyang, John. And one of them flew, according to South Korean, U.S. and Japanese estimates, a distance of about 800 kilometers. So just to put that into perspective the distance between Pyongyang and the Japanese city of Hiroshima is about 780 kilometers so yes, this could reach Japanese territory, and thus is being perceived very much as a threatening and provocative move to the Japanese, to the South Koreans as well, who have denounced this.
The South Korean Defense Ministry calling this a full frontal attack against the United Nations Security Council resolution which was passed earlier this month, and also a significant threat to peace and stability in the region.
Now details about the second projectile that was fired from a similar area. South Korean radar says that it only travelled about 17 kilometers before disappearing from radar. We don't know why that could be. Some South Korean media have suggested that this could have been a failure of the missile but CNN, we cannot independently confirm that yet -- John.
VAUSE: Ivan, is there any value to these launches to the North Korean military beyond this show of defiance, if you like?
WATSON: Well, this is the second missile launch in about eight days. Last Thursday there were shorter range missiles that were fired. This has come as a direct order from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, who announced just a couple of days ago, he wants his military, his scientists to carry out more missile launches, more tests of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile technology and more nuclear tests.
All of these are banned, according to multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. The goal, North Korea -- the government has announced, is to expand North Korea's nuclear weapons arsenal, to expand its ability to fire nuclear warheads on the tip of intercontinental ballistic missiles. This of course being taken much as a threat by allies like South Korea, Japan and the U.S. and even by China, North Korea' s traditional trading partner which has repeatedly called for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
And there's an additional factor here. And that is that currently the U.S. and South Korean militaries are conducting joint military exercises here in South Korea. These are annual exercises. They go on for eight weeks and North Korea hates them. It describes them as a potential precursor to an invasion of North Korea. And for example, in 2014, during these joint military exercises, North Korea, according to South Korea, fired at least 90 ballistic missiles and rockets during this period of heightened tension -- John.
VAUSE: Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson there live in Seoul where it's just gone after 2:00 on a Friday afternoon. Appreciate it.
Well, Luxemburg says European Union leaders have agreed on a migration proposal which they will pitch in the coming hours to Turkey. The plan was partially designed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and under the potential deal for each economic migrant returned to Turkey, EU members would accept a Syrian refugee.
[01:05:02] Now in return, Turkey would get money to try and help with the refugee crisis, and possibly a chance to join the EU.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (Through Translator): This is to be implemented fairly quickly. We did talk about this tonight. We will have to be seconded pretty quickly because we all know obviously that if the matters take too long, then it will indeed have this pull effect.
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (Through Translator): If we don't deal with the root cause of the difficulties, that is the origin itself of the population movement of refugees in Syria. If we don't obtain a negotiation on the future of Syria, one that would not only allow to have a sustainable truce but also a political transition, then there will always be population movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Chancellor Merkel adds to this that the negotiations should also consider Turkey's poor human rights record. That's a key concern for Amnesty International.
Some of the migrants reaching Europe are escaping possible death at the hands of ISIS. The terror group has systematically enslaved, starves and killed thousands of ethnic and religious minorities and now the U.S. is officially labeling those ISIS attacks as genocide.
Here's Elise Labott.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Images of ISIS slaughtering Yazidis in Iraq brought the world's attention to the terror group's barbaric methods. Since then ISIS has beheaded groups of Christians in Libya, crucified people in its self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, Syria, and captured thousands of Yazidi women and girls for use as sex slaves.
Today Secretary of State John Kerry formally declared ISIS atrocities against minorities a genocide.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The fact is that Daesh kills Christians because they are Christians, Yazidis because they are Yazidis, Shiite because they are Shiite.
LABOTT: The genocide label have a year-long debate inside the Obama administration and came amid mounting pressure from lawmakers who said branding ISIS massacres a genocide was long overdue.
Kerry made the call after a genocide resolution passed the House this week with overwhelming support. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry led that charge.
REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY (R), NEBRASKA: Hopefully it compels the international community to act more aggressively and it puts the whole question which I don't think has ever been done before as to how these ancient faith traditions, Christians, Yazidis, and others are going to have their rightful place restored.
LABOTT: The finding doesn't legally require the U.S. to do anything to stop genocide. But by putting ISIS on par with the conflict in Darfur, the last time the U.S. found genocide in 2004, it could put political and moral pressure on the administration to step up its bombing campaign against the militants.
Since this dramatic rescue from Mt. Sinjar two years ago, Yazidis say little has changed. And they still face ethnic cleansing by ISIS.
KERRY: Naming these crimes is important but what is essential is to stop them.
LABOTT: The finding could also ignite the debate on whether to welcome more refugees from Iraq and Syria to the U.S. For Christian groups like the Knights of Columbus who provided evidence for this designation, the time to act is now.
ANDREW WALTHER, KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS VICE PRESIDENT: The first priority is making sure that we protect the people that are being slaughtered. The policymakers and others need to sit down and strategize and figure out exactly what's that going to look like.
LABOTT (on camera): Secretary Kerry made clear the U.S. is neither the judge, nor the jury with respect to allegations of genocide, but officials hope with the U.S. finding momentum will build to document evidence of ISIS's atrocities so that the members engaged in ethnic cleansing can be held accountable. It still remains to be seen about what changes, if any, will be made to U.S. policy to rescue these minorities from ISIS now.
Elise Labott, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, to Brazil now where a corruption scandal is sparking street demonstrations. Critics say the current president Dilma Rousseff is shielding the former president Lula da Silva from investigation by giving him a top government job. A judge has now blocked that appointment.
Here's Shasta Darlington with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the second day running, thousands of people have taken to the streets here in Sao Paulo to demand the ouster of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. This is really the heart of the anti-protest movement here in Sao Paulo, although about a dozen protests have erupted in cities across the country, particularly Brasilia.
These are critics who say that the government need to come to an end. They gathered forces the last couple of days after Rousseff appointed former president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva her chief-of-staff. Really firing up all of these political tensions, with critics saying it's more of a get-out-jail free card that any real effort to shore up her government.
[01:10:05] And that's because in a long running corruption investigation these investigators have been begun to move in on Lula, they have raided his home, taken him in for questioning. And it looks like they could be actually charging him in the coming weeks.
Now, of course, he can only be tried in a superior court and least buying some time. So people here in Sao Paulo and other protest across the country saying they're going to keep up the pressure in the next few days. It will be crucial to see whether or not they can keep this momentum
going even gather more momentum or whether it tethers out and the government is able to sort of rein in the tensions with high emotions and settle down and start to really govern the country that is getting ready for the Olympics in just a couple of months' time. That's in a deep recession, and it's also struggling with the Zika virus. The country that needs to have a functioning government.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, a British research group says a President Donald Trump would be a major threat to the global economy. Details of that dire prediction in a moment.
And then later, after years of criticism, SeaWorld is ending a key part of its controversial whale program.
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[01:15:19] VAUSE: Well, to U.S. politics now and renewed desperate efforts to keep Donald Trump from the Republican presidential nomination. Top conservatives are discussing a possible third party candidate and a challenge to Mr. Trump at the convention.
Sunlen Serfaty reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to bring our party together.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Trump calls for unity, the stop Trump movement is huddling in Washington, D.C., today to do anything to stop him.
Sources tell CNN there was absolute consensus in the closed-door meeting on trying to prevent Trump from getting the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, but that there was a real division about launching a third party challenge if Trump ultimately becomes the nominee. Tonight Paul Ryan is brushing off the idea that he could be drawn in to the presidential race.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: It's not going to be me. It should be somebody running for president. People who are out there campaigning.
SERFATY: But the House speaker is not stepping away from the prospect that his party might be heading towards a contested convention.
RYAN: This is more likely to become an open convention than we thought before. So we're getting our minds around the idea that this could very well become a reality.
SERFATY: Trump's team encouraging Republicans opposed to Trump to rethink their strategy.
BARRY BENNETT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: When we get to Cleveland, he's going to be our nominee. And, you know, some of these guys are going to have to decide how much damage they're willing to do to the party because they're not -- they don't like that.
SERFATY: Marco Rubio, meantime, is back on Capitol Hill speaking for the first time today since announcing his departure from the race, but not letting up on the GOP frontrunner.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Hopefully there's time to still, you know, prevent a Trump nomination, which I think would fracture the party and be damaging to the conservative movement.
SERFATY: And avoiding questions about a possible endorsement.
RUBIO: I don't have any announcement on that today.
SERFATY: The potential for a contested convention is now pushing the GOP candidates into effectively waging two campaigns side by side, still working to win outright, but also scrambling to prepare their backup plans if the nominating fight is still unsettled before Republicans gather in Cleveland this July.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, if Donald come in -- Donald and I come in and we're neck and neck, and neither of us are at 1237, then it's a battle for the remaining delegates. Then that's actually how a convention operates.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is unlikely that anybody is going to achieve enough delegates to avoid a convention.
SERFATY: The campaigns are also closely watching the delegate math. Candidates need to get to 1237 delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. Based on the current delegate counts, Donald Trump would need to win a little more than 50 percent of the remaining delegates to reach that mark. Ted Cruz would need roughly 80 percent. And for John Kasich, it would be mathematically impossible. He would need about 108 percent.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tells CNN's Dana Bash that he sees Cruz as the best hope for stopping Trump.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: So I think the best alternative to Donald Trump, to stop him from getting to 1237, is Ted Cruz. And I'm going to help Ted in every way I can.
SERFATY (on camera): And part of that will be helping Senator Cruz raise money. Senator Graham is already slated to headline a fundraiser for him Monday in Washington, D.C., fundraising now even more essential now that this primary could last much longer than anticipated.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Houston, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston is with us now for more on the Republican Party efforts to stop Donald Trump and why those efforts have failed so far.
You've reckoned deep in to the background, you wrote a great article for CNN.com and you outlined very specific details here. And it seems that, you know, from your reporting, it's this perfect storm of bad decisions, fear, hesitation, wrong decisions, all coming together basically to the point where Donald Trump now looks set to be the nominee.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, it was really amazing to kind of go back through all of this history. I mean, you think about when we were first talking about Donald Trump, when he was even talking about getting in the race last year, everyone thought it was a joke. Even the point of his announcement speech, even when 23 million people were tuning into our debate.
And it's just been a fascinating process where the Republican Party really didn't take him seriously at first and all of the candidates were focused on their own agenda and nobody thought that it was kind of their problem to take out Donald Trump, and so you now have a -- you know, this -- you have this last minute effort before Super Tuesday three, earlier this week, where all of the donors got together, had this kind of siren call three weeks ago, four weeks ago, just asking Meg Whitman, other big mega donors, like Paul Singer, try to bring all this money together to define Trump within this very short window of time.
[01:20:06] They didn't obviously get what they wanted this Tuesday night but they were able to kind of bring down his delegate count in certain states. So there's a fascinating conversation going on right now among donors about, you know, whether they continue these efforts or whether they're really putting the Republican Party at risk and destroying their nominee.
VAUSE: And throwing good money after bad, as well, I guess.
RESTON: Yes. And throwing good money after bad. You know, their hope was that they could begin to incrementally shave off his support and sort of freeze this group of Republican voters that was entertained by him but not, you know, feeling too strongly about him.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: No (INAUDIBLE) conditions, right.
RESTON: One way or another, to try to get less of those people to go to Trump in these states in the primaries coming up. It seems like they were somewhat successful in that sense.
VAUSE: Just not successful enough.
RESTON: Just not successful enough.
VAUSE: Right.
RESTON: Certainly in Florida, you look at how much money was spent in Florida.
VAUSE: Yes.
RESTON: And he just demolished Marco Rubio.
VAUSE: He locked it in. Speaking of Marco Rubio, you did write about Marco Rubio. At one point he was this fresh face, he was the next generation of the Republicans.
RESTON: Right.
VAUSE: He was a savior. He was destroyed by Donald trump in Florida. He suspended his campaign. And today he announced he won't even seek reelection to the Senate. I mean, in some ways, that is almost symbolic of what Donald Trump is doing to the Republican establishment, isn't it?
RESTON: Right. I'm pretty sure that Marco Rubio has a good plan about his political future potentially but it has been fascinating just to watch the way Donald Trump has been able to demolish these candidates. And, you know, thinking about Suzanne's piece, I mean, we don't know yet what Donald Trump will do to go after Hillary Clinton.
VAUSE: It's a fair idea, though. It's going to be nasty.
RESTON: Yes. Yes. It's going to be very nasty. But, I mean, I don't think that we expected anyone to be able to demolish someone like Marco Rubio. Jeb Bush was maybe an easier target.
VAUSE: Because of the family name.
RESTON: Right. You know, and was so much a part of the establishment. Marco Rubio was this insurgent fresh face --
VAUSE: Golden boy. Yes.
RESTON: The golden boy. And you know to see -- when I was with him in Florida on Tuesday night, to just see how much he lost by, it was just an amazing turn of events.
VAUSE: We're now at this point that the Republican Party is so desperate that Senator Lindsey Graham is now raising money and supporting Ted Cruz. This a man Graham joked about murdering, you know, in the Senate. He said it was a choice between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, he'd buy a ticket to the Titanic.
RESTON: Right. Or the choice between being shot or poison or something.
VAUSE: Shot or being poisoned. You know, is this how desperate the establishment now is now that they actually like Ted Cruz. RESTON: Yes. I think the answer is yes. Absolutely. You know, I
mean, it's hilarious that Lindsey Graham ended up saying that he would do whatever it takes to support Ted Cruz, even raise money for him because there's so much animosity towards Ted Cruz in the Senate. The entire time that he's been there, people like Lindsey Graham always felt that Ted Cruz -- always put Ted Cruz first, wasn't doing things for the good of the party.
And the idea that all of these people are now going to kind of have to swallow their hatred of Ted Cruz and rally behind him because he looks like the strongest candidate potentially at the convention.
VAUSE: And the real conservation.
RESTON: But, I mean, I think that's the key point is that he is considered a true conservative. They know that the movement conservatives will get behind him. You have these fascinating meetings today, Erick Erickson, the influential red states editor, you know, talking about a unity ticket with Cruz and Kasich potentially. So everyone is hitting the books, everyone is trying to figure out the delegate math, they're studying the '76 convention. It's just kind of a wild moment for the party right now.
VAUSE: Very quickly, even the Democrats worry about Donald Trump, President Obama in particular?
RESTON: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think what -- just talking to Democratic strategists over the last week. What they've seen contest after contest is that this guy is so much stronger electorally, you know, in reaching those independent voters than anyone expected. And can any of us really believe the general election matchup polls at this point. I mean, at this point Clinton looks stronger against Trump than -- you know, than he does against her.
VAUSE: Against Kasich. Yes.
RESTON: Or a Kasich and a Cruz. Cruz and Rubio look stronger but who knows what would happen to her after he's, you know, done his attacks on the stump for many months.
VAUSE: It's unpredictable right now.
Maeve, great to speak with you and I would recommend heading to our Web site, check out your article there, your report, it's in depth, it's detailed and it's a great read.
RESTON: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: And Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are already trading jabs with dueling online videos. Trump posted his on Instagram Wednesday.
The Kremlin was not happy with the use of Vladimir Putin's image saying it is wrong to demonize Russia as part of the U.S. presidential campaign. Despite that a super PAC backing Hillary Clinton fired back with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:25:09] MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC'S "MORNING JOE": Who are you consulting with consistently so that you're ready on day one?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And so it begins.
A British research group is warning a Trump presidency would be as bigger a threat to the world economy as ISIS. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a well respected geopolitical analysis firm related to the "Economist" magazine says electing Trump could start a trade war and his anti-Muslim rhetoric would be a recruiting tool to jihadi groups.
Well, author and journalist H.A. Goodman joins me now here in Los Angeles to talk more about this.
OK, you know, so we've sort of narrowed this down. What they're talking about here is Donald Trump would be a threat to the economy, not that he's as bad as ISIS, which, you know, cuts off heads and burns people alive in cages. But, you know, is that a fair assessment? Would his policies, if you look at them, you know, would they actually cause that much harm to the world economy?
H.A. GOODMAN, AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST: Well, overall, it's hyperbole. And the reason is because yes, Trump is a buffoon in many ways but in terms of his affects on the global economy, when you look at who Donald Trump is, of course he owes an apology to America's Muslims, he owes an apology to the Latino community in America. But he's doing it to cater to a certain base of the Republican Party.
If you fear Trump, you better hope Bernie Sanders wins because he beats Donald Trump by a wider margin than Clinton. Hillary Clinton is being investigated by the FBI. She could face indictment. So that's the -- that's probably one of the biggest ways Donald Trump could become president.
It terms of that commercial about who they're advising -- who's advising whom. Neoconservatives are actually moving towards Hillary Clinton. They're going to be advising Hillary Clinton. The same people who pushed for Iraq, counter insurgency wars, where half, two- thirds of all Americans killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the victims of IED blasts, these are the same people advising Hillary Clinton. They don't like Trump. I'm not -- definitely don't like Trump myself, but the thing is, he could be even less militant.
VAUSE: OK. But in general, we have a lot of headlines around the world, newspapers from all over Europe to Asia. Essentially, you know, it seemed -- you know, to one degree or another, the world is freaking out over the possibility of a President Trump. Why is that? GOODMAN: The world is freaking out, if you look at the poll numbers
right now, if it's Bernie Sanders-Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders beats Trump by 10 points on average. Right now Hillary Clinton beats Trump by six points. It was three points before the never ending coverage of Trump's rallies.
VAUSE: I'll just stop you there, because the issue, though, some people raised that is that, you know, Hillary Clinton has been the target of GOP attacks, Republican Party attacks for 25 years. They really haven't started yet on Bernie Sanders which is why he polls slightly better than Donald Trump.
GOODMAN: That's -- well, one thing about Donald Trump is this. When he -- when you look at the American political establishment, he comes from that. So he's a reflection of who we are as a nation and who the Republican Party is and also who establishment Democrats are because he gave money to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaigns. He also invited the Clintons, they went to his wedding. So the thing is, nobody wants --
VAUSE: He sounds like a Democrat.
GOODMAN: Yes. I don't want a Donald Trump presidency.
VAUSE: Right.
GOODMAN: But he's part of who we are as a society unfortunately.
VAUSE: OK. So what you're essentially saying that when he gets out there on the stump and he does his speech, sounds like a performance art, because really the way the United States system is set up, if you want to have a trade war, if you want to impose a tariff, it's Congress that has to do it, it's a legislative function. If you want to go to war, Congress has to approve it.
GOODMAN: None of what he says can get through Congress, so right now he's manipulating the media. So he's always on every station all the time. I believe Bernie gets -- Bernie Sanders gets 1/23 of what Donald Trump gets. Nothing he says is going to pass Congress. So he's doing it to always be on the air. In terms of him destroying the world or eating people's children, not going to happen.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Well, on that, on eating children I think is a good time to finish.
H.A., thank you for coming in.
GOODMAN: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Good chat with you.
Take a short break here, when we come back a huge and unexpected change in SeaWorld's killer whale program. The drastic move the company is making. Details when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
