Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Republican Clash Over New York Values; Clinton and Sanders Battle of New York Primary Intensifies; North Korea May Have Mid-Range Nuclear Capability; Belgian Security Services under Security over Attacks; Twitter to Live Stream Thursday Night Football. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 07, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:18] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, the U.S. race for president moves to Donald Trump's home turf. And he's wasting no time using Ted Cruz's own words against him.

And the gloves are definitely coming off on the Democratic side. Why Bernie Sanders claims Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president.

And later this hour how NFL fans will soon be able to watch their favorite team in the palm of their hand.

Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us again. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The Republican presidential Donald Trump losing in Wisconsin, just a memory. Trump is campaigning in his home state of New York where he is a heavy favorite come April 19th. Polls show Ted Cruz, who won Wisconsin, a distant third in New York. And Trump hit Cruz hard Wednesday night for criticizing New York values. Trump says the city's response to the September 11th attacks speaks for itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There was never anything like it in this country. The worst attack in the history of the United States. The bravery that was shown was incredible. We all lived through it. We all know people that died. And I have that guy standing over there, looking at me, talking about New York values with scorn in his face, with hatred. With hatred of New York. So, folks, I think you can forget about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ted Cruz, also in New York but facing a tough road ahead in the upcoming primaries.

CNN's Dana Bash reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The unlikely current hero of the GOP establishment arrived in New York, riding high after his big Wisconsin win.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It culminated four states in a row in the last two weeks where we have beaten Donald Trump over and over and over again. We won men. We won young people. We won every income group.

BASH: But as much as Ted Cruz calls his victory a turning point, privately Cruz sources and anti-Trump strategists admit the next several contests are more likely to go the billionaire's way, not just Trump's home state of New York, but also Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.

A new poll in the Empire State from Monmouth University shows Trump with a sizable lead, at 52 percent, followed by John Kasich in a very distant second at 25 percent, and Ted Cruz, dead last at 17 percent.

TRUMP: We started off with 17 people. I've now got two left. I call them the leftovers, right?

BASH: Still the Trump campaign appears to be weighing new moves to avoid squandering his favorable terrain, possibly giving newly hired veteran operative, Paul Manafort, an expanded role to better organize Trump's small and often scattershot campaign.

The potential move raises questions about the role of embattled campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.

TRUMP: Corey, good job, Corey.

BASH: Fiercely loyal to Trump and crucial to getting the billionaire to the top of the heap.

TRUMP: I don't care about rules, folks. I go out, I campaign, we win. We win. We get the delegates.

BASH: And the man who became frontrunner, following his gut and shooting from the hip, is planning something unusual for his campaign, a series of policy addresses. Aides say he is planning to give speeches in the coming weeks on issues from education to the U.S. military.

Despite Trump moves to be a more traditional candidate, he is still, well, Trump, issuing a blistering statement aimed personally at Cruz after his double-digit defeat in Wisconsin, saying, "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet. He is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses, attempting to steal the nomination."

Today, Cruz shot back.

CRUZ: He likes to yell and scream and insult and curse. And his statement last night was consistent with that.

BASH (on camera): And remember when Ted Cruz first went after Donald Trump several months ago when he accused him of having New York values? Well, now he's actually here in New York, asking New Yorkers for their votes. And of course, it's a little awkward when that issue comes up, as it did at a press conference. When asked about it, his response was, oh, no, he didn't mean Republican New Yorkers. He meant liberals, with names like de Blasio and Weiner and Cuomo.

Dana Bash, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, joining me here now is Robin Swanson, a Democratic strategist with Swanson Communications, and Larry Elder, conservative host of the "Larry Elder Show."

Guys, thanks for coming back for another around. Thanks for sticking around.

[01:05:02] You know, we've had that Donald Trump rally tonight. And boy, you know, he was out there. He was energetic. He was fired up. If he was smarting or disappointed off that loss in Wisconsin, certainly he wasn't showing it. There was classic Donald Trump moments. Lying Ted. And we also had a little bit of beat poetry about a snake. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Take me in, o tender woman. Take me in for heaven's sake. Take me in, o tender woman. Sighed the broken snake. Now she clutched them to her bosom. You're so beautiful, she cried. But if I hadn't brought you in by now, heavens you might have died. Now she stroked his pretty skin. And then she kissed him and held him tight. But instead of saying thank you, that snake gave her a vicious bite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The bite. Don't forget, the bite was great. OK, Larry, so explain what's going on here because in the past, Donald Trump has used this poem when he's talked about Syrian immigrants being the snake.

LARRY ELDER, CONSERVATIVE ANALYST: Right.

VAUSE: And biting America, you know, being dangerous. That kind of stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: We're shooting here but you think there's a difference.

ELDER: Yes. I'm not sure if he's talking about Ted Cruz or he's talking about the establishment using Ted Cruz. Either way, his argument is that Ted Cruz is only being embraced by the same people who despised him a few months ago because he is a vehicle on which they can stop Donald Trump. That's what he's really saying.

VAUSE: Yes. Do you think Ted Cruz is being used by the establishment?

ROBIN SWANSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Maybe. But can we go back to that for a moment?

VAUSE: Sure.

SWANSON: Because honestly if Hillary Clinton had done that, if she had gotten up and read that poem, people would be -- you know, saying that she's absolutely lost her mind. So Donald Trump gets away with it time and again. And it's like that crazy uncle who comes to dinner and reads the poem again. Oh, that guy -- you know, you don't want to keep inviting him back.

ELDER: Kind of like the way Hillary gets away with telling a predominantly black audience this place has been run like a plantation. And you know what I'm talking about, with her black accent.

VAUSE: OK. Yes. OK.

ELDER: So they both do silly things.

VAUSE: The -- look, politics is filled with gaffes.

ELDER: Right.

VAUSE: If there weren't gaffes, we'd have nothing to talk about at the end of the day.

ELDER: That's right.

VAUSE: But you make the point about Donald Trump -- this is the way Donald Trump campaigns. But we heard that, you know, he needs to be more presidential. He's got to do the series of policy speeches. He may even start using a teleprompter. You know, can he make that pivot? When does he make that pivot?

SWANSON: I think he's going to have to make that pivot to be taken seriously at all because I think he's doing terribly with women. And so that needs to change. But B, he's going to have to have substantial and substantive discussions. And especially in New York, he's got all of those news outlets who are going to be asking him questions. He can't just be a showman at the end of the day. He's going to have to have the foreign policy experience and things that he doesn't have to back it up.

ELDER: News bulletin, he's being taken very seriously. He was a joke eight months ago. I am astounded at how well he's done. Never having run for office before. He is the Republican frontrunner, having dispatched 14 other people, including sitting incumbent governors. And this business of building the wall is striking a nerve because a lot of Republicans feel that illegal immigration is an electoral virus that changes the electoral situation in the countries.

We're in California right now. There isn't a single Republican elected statewide in part because of illegal immigration.

VAUSE: OK. I'm going to let him slide for now because I want to stick with, you know, Donald Trump right now. But you did mention the wall. And he didn't have to say it tonight in this campaign.

ELDER: Right.

VAUSE: Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to start winning again, folks. Going to happen. Going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes. He just said, we're going to be winning, we're going to be winning, and the crowd started chanting it. You know, for a lot of people, they tend to underestimate just how volatile this issue of illegal immigration and how a populist idea of him building a wall really is.

ELDER: That's exactly right. I'm sorry.

SWANSON: No, that's OK. He's tapped into the anger. And I think that's where you're right. I just don't think that the general electorate is the same as the Republican primary. And I think that that is going to alienate a lot of people. But he knows the one- liners. He knows what gets the crowd going. And that's what he's really good at that.

VAUSE: Yes. And New York, very friendly tone for Donald Trump. Not so friendly for Ted Cruz. You know, John Kasich is polling better than Ted Cruz right now in New York. That's --

ELDER: Which tells you something.

VAUSE: That's a bad sign.

ELDER: Right.

VAUSE: But, you know, we were talking about, you know, Ted Cruz being the stop Trump Trojan horse, if you like. Put that to one side. But if Ted Cruz is coming third in the polls in New York, how much of a problem is it going to be for that stop Trump movement if he does really badly in New York?

ELDER: Well, that's right. Ted Cruz wants to at least have momentum coming into Cleveland. We got these primaries coming up in Delaware and Connecticut and in Maryland, Pennsylvania, California. And if he is not doing very well, the argument that I'm the alternative who can actually beat Hillary is not going to be there.

VAUSE: OK. I'll give you the next work after -- I want to show this report from John King.

SWANSON: OK.

VAUSE: Because he breaks down some of the delegate issues that we have in New York, should Donald Trump take that state, and what it means for the race moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:10:07] JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's say Mr. Trump wins his home state but the other candidates performed pretty well. But of the 95 delegates, they keep Trump to say 45 or so. Let's give second place to John Kasich, third place to Ted Cruz. Under this scenario, sure, Trump builds his lead. But he's not getting out here to the magic number. Right?

But let's have a different case scenario. Right now Donald Trump says I'm above 50 percent. I can win all or most of the New York delegates. So let's say a scenario like that plays out. In that case, Mr. Trump gets 68 of the 95. That would be a big day in New York for Mr. Trump. Let's say Governor Kasich and Senator Cruz split the rest of the delegates, something like that. That gives Trump a little bit more momentum as he comes out, but it's still a huge challenge. That would be a spring board out of New York. But then he has to do this.

We're going to project all the way to the end. Let's be very generous, Donald Trump wins the rest of the states in the east and the mid-Atlantic. Ted Cruz continues his success in the West. For this scenario, we gave Cruz Indiana. Then a quick come down to the biggest prize at the end of the calendar, California on June 7th. Look where Trump is. Under this scenario, he's at 1069. Let's say he wins California. Wins it by a pretty good margin. That would be a huge take out of California. Senator Cruz, we say, who comes in second there, Governor Kasich third.

Even then we've been generous to Trump here, generous to Trump in California. Even then, he's at 1189, he's still short of 1237. Let's say maybe Trump wins Indiana, not Cruz. Again, Trump gets closer, but he doesn't get to the end. And this is what is now key in the Trump campaign deliberations. If we can't get to 1237, get as close as possible. If you're at 1200, maybe you can haggle the delegates you need at the end. But if you start to fall back from that, this is where the campaign starts to think maybe we can't win on the first ballot. And if we can't win on the first ballot, a lot of people think that Donald Trump won't win at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, it's a pretty good analysis right down there by John King. I mean, when we get to this convention, wheeling and dealing and knowing the rules are going to be crucial. And that's sort of a Ted Cruz thing, isn't it?

SWANSON: I do think that that's a big Ted Cruz advantage. And that's how Ted Cruz has gotten as far as he has since he's very calculating and knows exactly which buttons to push. And frankly they've been talking to delegates and getting those loyal delegates on board that are going to stay with them at convention. And I don't think Donald Trump has done that. I know he's started to with Ben Carson. But I don't think he's done it for long enough to have the substantial amount that he needs to stay with him. VAUSE: Larry, if he doesn't get a majority, do you think he's out?

ELDER: I don't. I think his job, and I think Robin is right, is to improve his poll numbers especially with women. You come into Cleveland with a little bit under what's necessary but your numbers suggest that women are warming up to you, and minorities are warming up to you. Then he can make the argument that I can beat Hillary in the fall because these guys are interested in beating Hillary in the fall. That's what their number one goal is to do.

SWANSON: But I think California has got to be the stop gap for that stop Trump movement because it is a diverse state and is the mother lode of the delegate bath there.

VAUSE: It's the next Wisconsin, I guess.

SWANSON: Yes.

VAUSE: Guys, stay with us because we'll take a short break.

When we come back, we'll look at the Democratic candidates next here and their escalating war of words leading up to the New York primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every candidate asking for your vote owes it to you to be clear about how we are actually going to keep our promises.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me just say, in response to Secretary Clinton. I don't believe that she is qualified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:17:24] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. With a primary win in Wisconsin under his belt, Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders is upping his attacks on Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: She has been saying lately that she thinks that I am, quote/unquote, "not qualified" to be president.

(CROWD BOOS)

SANDERS: Well, let me -- let me just say in response to Secretary Clinton. I don't believe that she is qualified, if she is --

(CHEERS)

SANDERS: If she is, through her Super PAC, taking tens of millions of dollars in special interest funds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Hillary Clinton also sharpening her tone as she battles Sanders for the delegate-rich state of New York.

CNN's Brianna Keilar reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Bernie Sanders is equipped with more momentum and enthusiasm than ever before.

SANDERS: With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries.

(CHEERS)

KEILAR: But after yet another defeat, Hillary Clinton is implementing a new strategy, trying to blunt the Sanders momentum by going on the offensive.

CLINTON: Every candidate asking for your vote owes it to you to be clear about how we are actually going to keep our promises.

KEILAR: Clinton is now pointing to an interview Sanders did with "The New York Daily News" where he struggled to identify how his administration would break up the big banks.

CLINTON: I was I think a little bit, you know, surprised that there didn't seem to be a lot of substance to what he was saying.

KEILAR: And Clinton is taking that new line of attack on the campaign trail, painting Sanders as ill prepared to be president.

CLINTON: Well, a number of important areas, he doesn't have a plan at all.

KEILAR: While the Sanders campaign is warning Clinton's attacks have the potential of ripping the Democratic Party in two.

JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: There are sharp contrasts between the two, but let's not, you know, denigrate other people's supporters and tear the party apart.

KEILAR: Clinton today laughed off that notion as ludicrous, arguing she has fought for the Democratic Party for nearly four decades.

CLINTON: Senator Sanders by his own admission has never even been a Democrat.

KEILAR: And making the case that Democrats want to see her as their nominee.

CLINTON: If you look at the numbers, I'm still considerably ahead in both the popular vote and most importantly the delegate count. So I'm feeling very good about where we are.

[01:20:03] KEILAR: Even though Sanders has put together a string of victories, they haven't amounted to big gains in delegates. Sanders must start winning big in delegate-rich states like New York, which accounts for 247 pledged delegates, but recent polling shows Clinton with a double-digit advantage.

State wins aside, Sanders is hoping by the Democratic convention, Clinton's 483 super delegates will rethink their support.

SANDERS: I think that a lot of these super delegates are going to be looking around them and then are going to be saying which candidate has the momentum?

KEILAR (on camera): And as this race gets more contentious, a tussle over guns. The daughter of a Sandy Hook victim tweeting at Bernie Sanders, "Shame on you," and that he owes victims an apology for his position that gun manufacturers should not be held libel for gun violence. Hillary Clinton tweeting her support for that young women. Bernie Sanders, here in Philadelphia, asked if he does owe an apology to victims. He says maybe Hillary Clinton owes an apology to Iraq war victims.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me once again, Democratic strategist Robin Swanson and conservative radio host Larry Elder.

OK. We've finally got to this point in the campaign at least on the Democrat side, where it's, you know, don't worry about the e-mails and it was all very nice. Now we're really getting into tin tax here. Is this what you expected in this part of the campaign? Are they really going to go for it?

SWANSON: Frankly I'm surprised it didn't come much earlier. And they're still talking about substance. And frankly gun control is an issue that's emotional. And so I'm not surprised that they've taken the gloves off on that particular issue. I know Bernie Sanders have some vulnerabilities on that. And you know, they're picking each other on issues where they're vulnerable. And that's OK because at the end of the day, they actually do have the substance to back it up.

And I think Hillary Clinton's argument about the substance, and I know that Bernie Sanders really kind of had a problem with that "New York Daily News" interview, that translates to Donald Trump, frankly. So she can be consistent in talking about how a candidate needs to actually back up their policies with real solutions.

VAUSE: Larry, what does it say about Hillary Clinton that she hasn't been able to dispense a 74-year-old socialist and she's going toe-to- toe in April?

ELDER: Yes. Well, it shows you that there's a lot of anger in this country. And there's a lot of anger on the left and the right. And the reason for the anger is it's still the economy stupid. This President Obama is presiding over the worst economic recovery since the Second World War. It will be the first president ever to reside over a recovery where not one year we've had 3 percent GDP growth.

And this is an important stat. It's the first time since this stat has been taken 35 years that more businesses are dying than are being created. I argue it's because of higher taxes, Obamacare, and some of the other left-wing stuff that this guy has done. Hillary is running for the third term of Obama and most Americans feel we're on the wrong track.

VAUSE: I mean, the headline numbers are much better. As a Democrat, you'd argue against all of that, right?

SWANSON: Absolutely. I mean --

ELDER: Those are facts.

SWANSON: We've actually increased the number of jobs. And he inherited so much of this from George Bush's regressive policy.

VAUSE: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

ELDER: My goodness. Blame Bush after seven years still?

VAUSE: Well, yes, I mean, I guess you know if you -- anyway, I'll -- OK. Let's stick with Bernie and Hillary right now.

ELDER: He's in Texas. Keep up. He's farming.

VAUSE: Painting pictures right now, isn't he?

ELDER: Yes. That's right. That's right.

VAUSE: You know, I do want to get to that sound bite from Bernie Sanders when he went up to Hillary Clinton because, you know, she accused him, said he should apologize to Sandy Hook because of his stance on gun manufacturers.

ELDER: Right.

VAUSE: And he hit back really hard. This is a tone we haven't heard from Bernie Sanders. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: What happened in Sandy Hook is a tragedy beyond comprehension. But maybe Secretary Clinton might want to apologize to the families who lost their loved ones in Iraq. Or Secretary Clinton might want to apologize to the millions of workers in this country, who lost their jobs because of the disastrous trade agreements that she supported.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: You know, I listen to Bernie Sanders there and people say, if he's not serious about it, if he's a message candidate, if he would never going to go the full distance, he is really going after Hillary Clinton here for a reason, right?

SWANSON: Well, and that's an important issue to him. And he has a national stage. So absolutely he wants to talk about that and he should be able to talk about that at this point in the campaign.

VAUSE: I mean, doesn't that sort of make that argument or counter that argument that he was never really in this seriously from the beginning?

ELDER: Well, I still think he was never really thinking he's going to get this far. But honestly, this is a pillow fight. Hillary has already renounced her vote on Iraq. She already has turned her back now on NAFTA. She'd been attacked in Wall Street as ferociously as he has. What is the real difference between these two people? I can't really come up with anything other than one is a socialist and one is a socialist on layaway.

VAUSE: Well, OK. You want to answer that?

SWANSON: Well, I actually think that they appeal to very different bases in the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton has a pretty broad base and brings in African-Americans and Latinos and a very diverse group of people. And Bernie Sanders is motivating young people. So I think together they actually motivate a whole lot of the party.

VAUSE: I mean, taking you to the point, though, the difference between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton is that, you know, Bernie Sanders wants a revolution. She wants an evolution. She wants to move forward towards, you know, greater health care. Government paying for some university costs, that kind of stuff, as opposed to the full-on Bernie Sander revolution.

[01:25:10] SWANSON: I think that she's a realist. And she has said that Bernie is making a lot of promises that he can't keep. And she's a pragmatist. And honestly it's harder to be the pragmatist then go out and say, you know what, actually this is what you have to do to get the --

VAUSE: It's tough to be the responsible one.

SWANSON: Absolutely.

ELDER: One wants free tuition, one wants a debt-free tuition. What's the difference?

(LAUGHTER)

ELDER: Honestly.

VAUSE: That's the question, but I guess at the end of the day one is free tuition, everyone turns out you don't end college with a huge amount of debt, you know, that you have to pay off. ELDER: The point is, taxpayers are going to be further involved no

matter whether Hillary becomes the nominee or Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee. Taxes are going to --

VAUSE: But she has (INAUDIBLE) to the left, that's a fair point. Yes .

ELDER: We continue this march towards single-payer which both of them ultimately want. She's renounced her vote on Iraq. He's always hated that vote on Iraq. So there really isn't a whole lot of difference between the two of them.

VAUSE: OK. We get to the point now where they slug it out. How much damage if this keeps going on this, if it gets worse, what does it do for the party in the general election?

SWANSON: I think we're going to be just fine in the general election. I mentioned that Hillary Clinton stayed until June in 2008. And Barack Obama won in a landslide. I think we're going to see that again.

ELDER: They'll all come together because they feel that Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or whoever it is will be worse.

VAUSE: OK. Larry Elder --

SWANSON: I agree with that.

(LAUGHTER)

ELDER: Stunning. Bipartisanship here. We've broken gridlocks.

VAUSE: Absolutely. OK, guys. Thank you both for coming in.

SWANSON: Thank you.

ELDER: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

VAUSE: OK. We'll take a short break here.

Before we go to take a short break, a programming note. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will face off in the next debate. Fireworks should fly next week right here on CNN. Thursday, 9:00 on the East Coast, 6:00 here in the West. And you will see it only on CNN.

Now we'll take a short break. But when we come back South Korea says North Korea might be able to mount a nuclear warhead to a medium-range missile. We'll have those details in a moment.

Also Belgian's prime minister acknowledges security failures in the Brussels attacks. We'll have much more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:26] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: North Korea's Kim Jong-Un says Western sanctions will not stop his nuclear program. And South Korea now believes the threat from its neighbor is growing.

Here's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A nerve-rattling assessment of Kim Jong-Un's ability to strike his enemy. A South Korean official says Kim's regime may be able to place a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile.

(MUSIC)

TODD: North Korea, this official says, has succeeded in miniaturizing a warhead to fit onto a missile it calls the Rodon (ph). This projectile can carry a one-ton warhead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being able to deliver a one-ton nuclear warhead would certainly cause devastation to Seoul, South Korea, perhaps taking out a quarter of the city, hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.

TODD: It's not America's allies in South Korea and Japan that's in range of a nuclear-capable missile.

(on camera): American forces all over the region are vulnerable to this, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The missile could carry a payload about 850 miles. That would put the DMZ within range. And Seoul, U.S. bases and military installations all over South Korea. Okinawa would be at risk and other areas all along Japan, where U.S. forces are based.

TODD (voice-over): U.S. officials say North Korea cannot yet strike the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead, but it's been believed for some time that Kim could strike Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons. Most troubling, Kim posed last month with what the North Koreans claimed was a miniaturized warhead.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE & INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: You have to take what they do very serious because they're not idiots. And they've been at this for a long time. They'll steal the design. They'll buy the designs. They will acquire them in other ways to make smaller warheads.

TODD (on camera): In warning of the North Korean nuclear threat, the South Korean official also weighed in on Kim Jong-un's hold on power, saying Kim's leadership is, quote, "seemingly unshakable."

(voice-over): Analysts say his bloody purges and executions have eliminated some threats.

JONATHAN POLLACK, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: There's nothing to indicate, I believe, that his leadership, his direct leadership, is under threat or challenge. He has -- I think, continues to devote great efforts of security around his immediate physical perimeter. He continues to rely on family members, including his sister, who seems to be more and more by his side and playing a very, very active political role.

TODD: But analysts say Kim may be tailoring where he travels because of possible threats. Not so much from a coup, they say, but more likely from a single disgruntled general who may want to take a shot at him.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: For more on this, Philip Yun, joins us. He's the executive director of the Ploughshares Fund, a former adviser on North Korea in the Clinton administration.

Phil, thanks for being with us.

It seems North Korea has stepped up the ability in the development of these weapons. What is driving that? Not the motivation, but what is driving the technological improvement here?

PHILIP YUN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PLOUGHSHARES FUND & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR ON NORTH KOREA: Well, they've been, for a very long time, at this point, trying to miniaturize. That's something they have been working very hard towards. The fact that they've done a fourth test is actually improved their ability to do so. This is just something that they've been -- have been having -- it's a long- term goal for them to have nuclear capability. Have a -- to miniaturize and made it with a long-range missile. That's what they're shooting for at this point.

[01:35:05] VAUSE: You look from the out, it was all dormant and not going anywhere. It was treading water. But in the last year or so -- maybe I'm reading this wrong -- there seems to be big advantages in technology if the North Koreans and the South Koreans are to be believed.

YUN: I think this is something -- the North Koreans have chosen to do what they wanted to do when it was most politically advantageous for them. There's a party that's going to be happening in May. This is something that Kim Jong-Un is focusing on a great deal. And he has to have some wins. North Korea has been in a tough position over the last ten years. There's a number of people in the leadership who are, frankly, tired of being laughed at. So, he has to consolidate his power. He has to show that North Korea is standing off the United States. And so, this is a time for him right now to be able to consolidate his power and say that North Korea is now able to defend itself with a nuclear weapon, and a missile. VAUSE: I guess the problem is ignoring North Korea hasn't worked.

Sanctioning North Korea hasn't worked. Some would argue that engaging with North Koreans hasn't worked. What's option number four?

YUN: Well, right now, I think our options are getting less and less. I think ultimately what we're going to have to do, if we continue on the path we are on right now, North Korea, in the long run, will end up having a sophisticated arsenal and long-range missiles in order to deliver them. What's going to have to happen is we're going to have to get into a more coordinated -- we have to go -- we have to work a lot more closely with China. And China is going to have to be willing to do is use more sticks. And the United States has to use more carrots. We have to agree how we're going to sequence those. This is the only way we can get North Korea, I think ultimately, to at least freeze the activity. That's the interim step. Over the long term, we want to roll it back. I don't think that's in the cards for the short and medium term. The best we can hope for is going to freeze, so they can stop making more missiles, more bombs, better bombs, and not sell this stuff.

VAUSE: Yeah. And the prospects of that right now are not looking entirely promising.

Philip, thank you for being with us.

YUN: Thank you.

VAUSE: To Belgium, where Prime Minister Charles Michel is acknowledging last month's Brussels attacks were a security failure. He's rejecting the idea that Belgium is a failed state. His comments came during an interview with our Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES MICHEL, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translation): I think we mustn't be afraid of the truth. We have to see what went right, what went wrong. Where the failures are and draw lessons for the future. I don't accept the idea, that a state, such as Belgium, would be a failed state. We have a country that met successes in the fight against terrorism. But there is a failure. Just like 9/11 was a failure for the United States, just like London was a failure for the U.K., Madrid was a failure for Spain. All those countries have had to draw the lessons to improve the situation for the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Belgium security services have come under heavy scrutiny for their failure to stop the attacks.

CNN's Alexandra Field joins us from Brussels.

Alexandra, what are officials blaming for this big intelligence failure?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're responding to the criticism, John, not just the failure to stop the attacks, but the international criticism that's been lobbed at officials for failure to find Salah Abdeslam, the outstanding Paris suspect who had been hiding out in Brussels for four months before he was captures. And they've been criticized for not being able to find the other two suspects they continue to look for in the Brussels bombings. So they are responding to all of that. You heard the prime minister acknowledge there are some intelligence failures here. But those in the intelligence community say what needs to happen now is to identify what the failures were and how you stop them in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): After Paris, "Charlie Hebdo," November 13th --

(SIREN)

FIELD: -- after Brussels, the metro, the airport, taking out the threat by jihadists who left Europe for Syria and came back planning to attack could take 10 years, says Andre Jacob, the former head of counterterrorism for Belgium state security.

ANDRE JACOB, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM DIRECTOR, BELGIUM STATE SECURITY (through translation): There were errors in the function of the intelligence service here, but the nature and how serious the errors were will be determined by the parliamentary inquiry.

FIELD: The Belgian prime minister announced a new investigation into what went wrong and how to stop it from happening again.

MICHEL (through translation): We have to tell people that an attack is still possible. If we give more means to the intelligence, to the police services, they can do a better job.

[01:40:09] FIELD: Before retiring in 2010, he watched the rise of Islamic radicalism in Belgium, first in the '90s, surveilling a network with ties to Osama bin Laden, then seeing the rise of recruitment of Belgian youth by Sharia for Belgium, a dismantled terror group that's leaders have been convicted or jailed, finally, and exodus of fighters. Per capita, Belgium has sent more foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq than any other Western European country, the number estimated to be around 500 since 2012. As many as 100 may have made their way back.

But resources to counter a mounting threat didn't keep pace, Jacob said.

(on camera): Were you understaffed?

JACOB (through translation): Yes, absolutely. For the past 10 years, different services in Belgium let down the intelligence and the budget for it.

FIELD (voice-over): And there were shortfalls, he said, in Belgian law that complicated counterterrorism efforts.

JACOB (through translation): At the beginning, security in Belgium did not have the ability to carry out wiretapping. The only wiretapping possible was done by the federal police, and only in cases of judicial inquiries.

FIELD: That has changed. Other obstacles remain: difficulties in coordination, communication, as well as police operations. Some raids can only be carried out between 5:00 in the morning and 9:00 at night. Proposals to change that have been made since Belgian police started hunting for Paris bombing suspect, Salah Abdeslam. He was found last month hiding out in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels.

Even before the Brussels' bombing, authorities were searching for the brothers that carried them out. The Bakrouis were, we now know, in Brussels.

(on camera): What do you say to people in Brussels who feel their government is fighting a losing battle against terrorists?

JACOB: (through translation): It's a difficult question. I don't know if the Belgian government is losing the battle. But I think the European democracy is losing the battle. We have to work together.

FIELD (voice-over): U.S. officials believe that as many as 2,000 fighters who traveled to Syria and Iraq are back in Europe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And it is the ability of some of the fighters to move between borders in Europe, undetected, which made tracking those people so difficult for officials, not just in this country, but other countries. That's why you're hearing voices like Andre Jacob, calling for more cooperation, more intelligence sharing between European countries. He says that's the only way to find and stop these people, on top of devoting more resources internally here in Belgium to fight against terrorism, as well as more money, frankly -- John?

VAUSE: Alexandra, thank you. Alexandra Field, live in Brussels.

A short break here on CNN NEWSROOM. When we come back, NFL football coming to your Twitter feed. We'll find out what that means for the sport, the fans, and the TV networks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:46:04] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. When American pro football kicks off later this year, fans will have a new way to catch all of the action live on Twitter. The National Football League will live stream 10 Thursday night games on the popular social media site. The NFL and Twitter have partnered in the past on promotions like in- game highlights, but nothing like this.

Fitz Tepper is back with us, a writer for technology news site, "TechCrunch."

OK, Fitz, what's happening? Let's talk about --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: -- Twitter and football. Why did the NFL decide to go with Twitter? Others were in the game for this and offering more money, right?

FITZ TEPPER, WRITER, TECHCRUNCH: Twitter is paying a rumored $10 million. Peanuts.

VAUSE: Peanuts.

TEPPER: But Facebook, Google and Apple, they all bid around 15, 20. The NFL turned them all down. And Twitter is big internationally. And the NFL is not. Now they're doing games in London and Mexico City. They're trying to become an international brand franchise. And Twitter, they think, is a perfect vehicle to bring them outside of the states.

VAUSE: How will Twitter be able to monitorize this?

TEPPER: Twitter will not sell ads on the video stream. That's why the price is so low. But they will be able to sell ads inside Twitter. And they'll be able to tempt advertisers, saying, hey, we have this stream on Thursday night, buy some in-tweet ads, you know, people are going to be here watching the game.

VAUSE: The rights holders, like CBS and NBC, other TV networks in the U.S., they paid a lot of money for this, right? Are they happy about this --

(CROSSTALK)

TEPPER: CBS and NBC are paying a combined $500 million for the same thing that Twitter is getting for $10 million. That being said, CBS and NBC get to sell the ads and take the money from the ads. Twitter doesn't get to do that. And the other thing, Twitter doesn't have it on a TV, obviously. Most people are going to watch the game on a TV. This is a good alternative for people who want to combine the live features of Twitter to the NFL game stream.

VAUSE: It's another step towards cutting the cord.

TEPPER: Yes.

VAUSE: In a big way.

How can they do this? Is this an easy thing for Twitter to pull off?

TEPPER: Technologically, it's easy. They're going to assign some engineers to it. It should be done, it will be done before the season starts. The more important thing is how they're going to do it and how they'll display it for users. They'll probably put the stream of tweets next to the video stream because everyone is on their Twitter when they're watching a football game. That's the best part of it.

VAUSE: Right. Can you continue to do that? How do you tweet and watch?

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: That's the social part of Twitter. TEPPER: The $100 billion question. If Twitter can figure out how to

combine live entertainment with live tweeting, they have a gold mine. They have an opportunity to do this. The NFL is giving them the opportunity to do that.

VAUSE: They haven't got to that point yet?

TEPPER: No. The stock market is expecting they will do it. The day this deal was announced, the stock shot up 8 percent. That's mainly the market's confidence in the NFL to generate revenue.

VAUSE: So, Twitter is not going away?

TEPPER: If they can do this, they're not.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: OK.

Fitz, good to speak with you. Thank you.

TEPPER: Thank you.

VAUSE: Short break once more. When we come back, a holiday theme park, a wizarding world is about to enchant us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's like a 3D movie along with a rollercoaster, complete with the glasses. I'm going to check it out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:53:02] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Finally, in this hour, just in a short time, the Universal theme park in Hollywood will be opening a new magical attraction.

CNN's Stephanie Elam fell under its spell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Welcome to Hogsmead Village.

ELAM (voice-over): After five years of planning and building, Universal Studios Hollywood is debuting the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

(on camera): That was fun, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

ELAM (voice-over): It's as close as a muggle can get to the movie magic.

From the tilted chimneys of Hogsmead to the hooting birds in the owlry, the attention to detail is stunning. The Harry Potter attractions at Universal parks in Orlando, Florida, and Osaka, Japan, have boosted revenues for parent company, Comcast.

ALLEN GILMORE, SET DESIGNER: We want them to know they're really in Harry Potter's world.

ELAM: Allen Gilmore, who worked on the second, third and fourth Harry Potter movies, is charged with taking the film designs and turning them into places people can experience at Universal.

GILMORE: One of the biggest challenges was deciding what to include. Early on, we approached the whole world like a film in its own right, created models, storyboards. We designed it like a giant movie set.

ELAM: Complete with a Hogwarts castle and where some of the sorcery is on display.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy who lived.

ELAM (voice-over): This ride is called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's like a 3D movie along with a rollercoaster, complete with the glasses.

I'm going to go check it out.

Thank you.

(voice-over): In the quaint town of Hogsmead, the visitors can become part of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can buy the clothes they wear and eat the food and drink the drinks.

ELAM: Like the ever-tasty butter beer.

(on camera): Oh, my gosh, that's delicious. No wonder they keep drinking it.

(voice-over): You can head to Olivanders to have a wand choose you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my dear. This is your wand.

ELAM: Then work some of your own magic in the park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With your wands, you can perform magic and become a wizard.

[01:55:23] ELAM (on camera): Two, three.

(SHOUTING)

ELAM (voice-over): An interactive way to ensure guests and their wallets keep coming back to Universal. Stephanie Elam, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Yes, it's a place to go to watch all of your money disappear.

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

The news continues with Rosemary Church, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:59:50] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. presidential candidates descend on New York ahead of the crucial primary.

(HEADLINES)

CHURCH: Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and, of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. This --