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Donald Trump Battles to Secure Republican Delegates; Most Republican Senators Not Supporting Ted Cruz; Clinton and Sanders Fight Moves to New York; Interview with Clay Aiken; Bizarre L.A. High-Speed Chase in Convertible; Stars Return for Last "American Idol"; France's New Prostitution Law; New "Star Wars" Film. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 08, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:14] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Just going 10:00 here on Thursday night. I'm John Vause. This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
And we will begin in New York where Donald Trump is banking on a big win in the upcoming presidential primary. He's reminding voters how Ted Cruz attacked their New York values just a few months ago. And he's also taking steps to show off his chances of winning the Republican nomination before this summer's convention.
We begin our coverage with Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No California delegate dreaming for Donald Trump. After scrapping a planned trip to the West Coast, the GOP frontrunner is in a New York state of mind.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You remember during the debate when he started lecturing me on New York values, like we're no good.
ACOSTA: The real estate tycoon is not only slamming Ted Cruz for once hitting Trump's New York values.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Most people know exactly what New York values are.
ACOSTA: A comment Trump says forgets what happened after the 9/11 attacks.
TRUMP: We all lived through it. We all know people that died. And I've got this guy standing over there, looking at me, talking about New York values, with scorn on his face, with hatred - with hatred of New York.
ACOSTA: Trump is aiming for a blowout in the New York primary. Instead of stumping in California, a top Trump adviser tells CNN, the campaign is focused on capturing all 95 delegates up for grabs in New York, as that would shrink the percentage of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to a more manageable number. And Trump is expanding his delegate operation announcing he's named newly hired strategist, Paul Manafort, as his convention manager to work alongside campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.
CRUZ: You guys are doing a great job.
ACOSTA: Helping make New York children make matzo in Brooklyn, Cruz is standing by his values jab, saying he just wants to highlight Trump's past support for the state's liberal Democrats.
CRUZ: Our friends in the media are very comfortable with the New York liberal who has supported Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer for decades, and they really want to see a general election between two New York liberals.
ACOSTA: But that could be a tough sell with the "New York Daily News" telling Cruz to take the F-U train.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Yorkers aren't stupid, Ted. After we were hit, we rallied. We built.
ACOSTA: And a new pro-John Kasich Super PAC ad is piling on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you come here and conveniently say you love New York. Forget about it, Ted.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We love New York values.
ACOSTA: Taking a big bite in the Big Apple, Kasich stopped at a Bronx deli.
KASICH: Mama Mia.
ACOSTA: And said he's poised to start eating away at Trump's delegate lead.
KASICH: We are now getting to a place where we feel we have the best chance of being able to accumulate delegates.
ACOSTA: The delegate battle is also heating up in California, where a well-organized Republican stop Trump movement is gearing up.
ROB STUTZMAN, STOP TRUMP MOVEMENT: Here in California, where Republicans are shrinking due to demographics, and we're trying desperately to turn that around and expand, Trump is an unmitigated disaster for us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins us now from the L.A. newsroom.
Jim, good to see you. Right now Donald Trump, he's doing well in the polls here.
VAUSE: But maybe California is looking a little shaky?
ACOSTA: Yes, possibly, John. There is a new poll out that shows that Donald Trump's lead here in California is not the same size as the lead he has in New York. He's leading in double digits in New York, only seven points here in California. That is a shaky lead this far out from the California primary, and you add to that some of the high- profile opposition that he has here. Remember the former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is backing John Kasich.
Now the Trump campaign says not to worry about this press conference that they cancelled in Los Angeles on Friday. They say there are more events in the works and we'll see those in the coming weeks.
VAUSE: It's all becoming about the delegates now, the delegate math, the delegate count. Is it becoming obvious that, you know, for Trump, the lack of a ground game when it comes to the delegates and the rules, is that sort of becoming the Achilles heel of his campaign at this point?
ACOSTA: It's becoming a major problem. I mean, we've seen Ted Cruz peel away delegates in states like Louisiana, a state that Donald Trump won. Ted Cruz is making a play for delegates in North Dakota, Tennessee; there's even some talk of this possibly happening down in South Carolina, according to a GOP source that I've talked to. And so this is a major concern for Donald Trump. That's why today he announced that Paul Manafort, who just signed on as a senior strategist of the campaign, is now going to be the, quote-unquote, "convention manager" and is going to be working alongside Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Donald Trump.
And so yes, this is something that they're focused on, but keep in mind, John, some of the problems that Donald Trump right now that he has are self- inflicted.
[01:05:01] If you go back to those abortion comments that happened before the Wisconsin primary; if you look at the fact that he was doing a radio call-in show with somebody who was with the never Trump movement and did not realize that, his staff did not warn him of that, there are just some structural problems and problems with the candidate himself that are causing headaches inside the Trump campaign right now -- John.
VAUSE: Yes, well, he does say he's not a professional politician so there are --
ACOSTA: That's true.
VAUSE: -- bound to be hiccups along the way, I guess.
Jim Acosta, thanks for being with us.
The shake-up in the Trump campaign comes after he was out-maneuvered by Ted Cruz in the behind-the-scenes fight for delegates. But is it a little too little too late? Has Trump shut the barn door well truly after the delegates have bolted.
For more, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord joins us now from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey, it is good to see you. It's been a long time. Donald Trump, he's a smart man, he's smart enough to know when something isn't working. You fix it. But has he left it all too late? Has it left it too late to get serious, if you like, about the delegate count?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I know Paul Manafort a little bit from years ago. He is exactly the kind of person you want to call on this kind of situation. And I have to say with Donald Trump or anyone else, when a presidential campaign starts to succeed, it expands and it is going to get more and more and more people in who have, you know, specialties and this that or the other thing.
In Paul Manafort's case, it's delegates, the Republican national convention, it's how to manage them, how to manage a convention. I've been through some of this myself. I've been to a number of conventions, starting when I was -- I hate to say this -- a 17-year- old page working my way up through the sort of channel there as a member of the Pennsylvania delegation years later.
So Paul Manafort knows all of this kind of thing. This is exactly the kind of person that Donald Trump or any other successful candidate should hire.
VAUSE: Well, if nothing else, do you think that the Trump campaign was taken by surprise that Ted Cruz was actually this good at working the system and peeling away delegates?
LORD: You know, maybe they were. You know, any candidate is sort of weary of their opposition and you know what exactly are they like. By now I think they -- the Trump people have learned that Ted Cruz is great at the ground game. So -- you know, so now it's on to the delegates and they go on from there. But he is good at the ground game. And as I point out before, when he ran for senator from Texas, he was the underdog for the Republican nomination. He faced an incumbent lieutenant governor who was personally wealthy, who was the establishment guy, and Ted Cruz out did him.
So, yes, he's very good at this and he's good at this now. So, you know, message received. Donald Trump has got to step up his game and he's doing it.
VAUSE: Well, some of the latest polling, on a different topic, show Donald Trump and his negatives, they're really peaking right now. They seemed to have surged lately. Is that a direct result of the stop Trump movement or some of Trump's self-inflicted wounds played a part here also?
LORD: It's probably -- it's probably a little bit of both but in fairness, you know, Hillary Clinton is not doing so well in that front either. And one of the things that I've learned just from experience, I mean, Ronald Reagan back in '79 was down 30 points from Jimmy Carter. And, you know, everybody in the Democratic establishment and not a small handful in the Republican establishment were convinced that if Ronald Reagan were ever nominated for president he'd lose in a landslide. It didn't happen of course. Exactly the reverse.
My point is that when you get to a point where there's two candidates in the fall, things change and they can change by a lot. And I'm sure that this election year is no different.
VAUSE: So do you think that, you know, right now Donald Trump doesn't need to make a course correction when it comes to trying to fix those negative numbers?
LORD: I think he's doing it. I think he's doing it right now. I think that's part of what Paul Manafort is about.
VAUSE: OK. Jeffrey, good to speak with you. Thanks for being with us.
LORD: Thanks, John. Anytime.
VAUSE: And Ted Cruz says he's the candidate who can stop Trump from getting the Republican Party's nomination but as our Manu Raju reports Cruz has almost no support among his Republican colleagues in the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRUZ: If you want to see the --
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ted Cruz says the GOP is rallying behind him.
CRUZ: You are looking at the entire spectrum of the Republican Party, the entire ideological spectrum coming together and uniting.
RAJU: But one influential group is still holding out. His fellow Republican senators.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I think he's made it more difficult for many senators to be supportive of him. If we're going to save this country, it's going to be in the Senate. And I think most people would wish that he would take the Senate more seriously.
RAJU: Many GOP senators dislike Cruz after two years of bitter infighting.
[01:10:02] They say he has engaged in divisive tactics to bolster his profile. Most notably a 16-day government shutdown in 2013 after he demanded Republican support to defund Obamacare.
CRUZ: And the Republicans in this body, sadly, more than a few of them, say we will take lots and lots of symbolic votes against Obamacare. But there's nothing we can do.
RAJU: The tough talk has made Cruz beloved by conservative activists, frustrated with party leaders. But in the Capitol, it has come at a price as Cruz looks for unity against Donald Trump.
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: Well, I think he's made it a little more difficult for him to round up support.
RAJU: On the campaign trail, Cruz has called his colleagues part of a corrupt Washington cartel. And he took the unusual step last year of taking to the Senate floor and accusing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of being a liar.
CRUZ: I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie.
RAJU: Many still think he went too far.
SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON (R), GEORGIA: I don't think it went over very well with McConnell.
RAJU: And some say it's time for Cruz to apologize.
HATCH: I stood up and said he should. Yes, I think that was the wrong thing to do.
RAJU: Yet Cruz quietly enlisted former Senator Phil Gramm, a long time Washington insider to do some damage control. Gramm tells CNN that, "Ted called me and asked me to help him in building a working relationship with the leadership of the House and Senate."
Cruz may soon get another endorsement, freshman Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R), ALASKA: I get along very well with Senator Cruz.
RAJU: But Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime critic and now Cruz supporter, suggests that the Texas freshman needs to do more.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think Ted would be well served to reach out to his colleagues. The more support he gets from across the spectrum of the Republican Party, the more viable alternative it becomes to Trump.
RAJU: And a big question still remains, will his one-time rival, Senator Marco Rubio, support him?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: No, I haven't even thought about the presidential race at all.
RAJU: Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And as Manu mentioned, Ted Cruz is being criticized for claiming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had in fact lied.
Our chief political correspondent Dana Bash asked Cruz about that controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that my colleague Manu Raju in the Senate has heard from several Republican senators is that they probably would think about backing you and telling all of their grassroots activist to back you if you would apologize for saying that your Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was a liar. Will you apologize?
CRUZ: You know what, Dana, this is why people are so frustrated with Washington. It's the inside battles back and forth. This isn't a game. This isn't about Washington power brokers. This isn't a smoke filled room.
If we want to turn the country around, let me tell you who should apologize. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should apologize to the American people --
BASH: But you called Mitch McConnell a liar, not --
CRUZ: They should apologize to the American people for seven years of economic stagnation. For people seeing jobs going overseas, for wages stuck. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should apologize to all the single moms who've been forced into part-time work because of Obamacare.
BASH: So no apology to Mitch McConnell? Because it could help you.
CRUZ: Look, my focus is not on Washington. That ain't going to happen. And if the Washington lobbyists want to see that happen, they can hold their breath a long, long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's called avoiding the question.
OK. I'll take a short break. When we come back we'll turn to the Democratic race next here on NEWSROOM L.A.
Bernie Sanders isn't the only one facing a challenge from Hillary Clinton in New York. Actually Hillary Clinton is also facing a challenge from a turnstile.
Also ahead, the stars who owe their careers to the TV mega hit "American Idol." They turned out for its last show ever.
And then later this hour, the world gets its first taste of the newest edition to the "Star Wars Universe."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:17:48] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do some people need to get off? (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now that's something you don't see every day. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton riding the New York subway. She took it for one entire stop. And she was more than a dozen reporters, surrounded by Secret Service as well. Like many New Yorkers, though, it took Secretary Clinton multiple swipes at the turnstile before her metro card granted her access to the train.
Clinton and her Democratic challenger, Bernie Sanders, are looking for big wins in this New York's upcoming primary, and as CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports, the attacks and the tension are escalating.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINTON: I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz anytime.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton taking the high road today, for a moment at least, as the Democratic race devolves into a war of words.
CLINTON: Let's keep our eye on what's really at stake in this election.
ZELENY: At stake is the New York primary, which Bernie Sanders is fighting hard to win, firing off some of the most personal attacks yet of the campaign over who's qualified to be president.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madam Secretary, when you voted for the war in Iraq, the most disastrous foreign policy blunder in the modern history of America.
ZELENY: In Philadelphia today, Sanders unleashed a laundry list of grievances.
SANDERS: Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?
ZELENY: Sanders said Clinton started it by diminishing his qualifications. She said he did.
It's a rough and tumble New York primary, raising questions about unifying the Democratic Party.
CLINTON: I ran a very contested campaign against then Senator Obama and it went all the way to the end. We worked really hard. He got more delegates. And so I endorsed him.
ZELENY: This map on the wall at Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn is a daily reminder of their lead in delegates. Sanders is vowing to take the fight to the convention. A move that doesn't sit well with Clinton campaign manager, Robby Mook. ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The stakes are so high.
Nobody wants -- nobody in our party wants to see Donald Trump or Ted Cruz become president. And I think people will very quickly unify behind our nominee.
ZELENY (on camera): But it is different. I mean, she was a Democrat her entire life and if he's not been a Democrat, what incentive does he have to help unify this party?
[01:20:05] MOOK: Well, that's up to Senator Sanders. He's going to have to make a decision about the role that he wants to play.
ZELENY: Would it be a mistake for the party to keep litigating this into July into Philadelphia?
MOOK: Well, I think to the point that it's obvious that a candidate has a majority of delegates and will win the nomination at the convention, I do think it will be time to come together. But we're not there yet.
ZELENY: Not there yet. And a long way to go. 12 days remaining before the New York primary. How this race plays out between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, if they keep escalating their war, it will make it more difficult to unify the party. That's what some Democrats are concerned about.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Singer-songwriter Clay Aiken ran for a U.S. congressional seat in North Carolina in 2014. These days he's actively supporting Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. He joins us now here in Los Angeles.
Clay, thank you for coming in. It's nice to have you here in Los Angeles. Last month you declared your support for Bernie Sanders. You wrote this Op-Ed for the "Huffington Post." You said you liked Hillary Clinton, you expected that she would actually end up getting the party nomination and then you went on to write, "I think she's more qualified than anyone who has run for president in decades, and I agree with her on most issues. I just wish she could embrace some of the more progressive ideals that Senator Sanders talks so enthusiastically about. She needs to be better. She needs to learn from the Bern."
What I took away from that is that seems very, very different from what a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters because from them there seems to be a lot of real anger directed towards Secretary Clinton. Why is that?
CLAY AIKEN, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, listen, I'm a Democrat first.
VAUSE: Yes.
AIKEN: And I think that the Democratic nominee, whether it's Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, is who I want to see in the White House in January of next year. I think a lot of people who support Bernie Sanders, and I'm one of them to some degree, appreciate the fact that he's not a normal politician, that he is more willing to do things and say things that normal politicians will not do. He didn't take advantage of the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal.
VAUSE: The e-mail scandal. Exactly.
AIKEN: Which a lot of typical, seasoned politicians would do, but it's a very honest move on his part. And I think a lot of people who support him appreciate that about him. When Hillary Clinton has, over the course of this campaign, up until now, used somewhat typical political attacks at Bernie Sanders, saying he's running one of the most negative campaigns in the history.
VAUSE: Right.
AIKEN: I mean, I don't know where she was in 2008, but that was pretty nasty.
VAUSE: Sure.
AIKEN: You know, certainly saying that he wanted to get rid of people's healthcare, get rid of their Obamacare. I think that probably upsets a lot of people who are Bernie Sanders supporters.
VAUSE: Sure. OK. Does it worry you that the race on this Democrat side, which has been pretty tame up until now, has really escalated in, I guess, the nastiness, if you like, with the attacks as happened really, really quickly, could this actually hurt the party in the long run when it comes to November?
AIKEN: I mean, do I think it will hurt the party in the long run?
VAUSE: Yes.
AIKEN: Probably not, when you look in comparison at what's happening on the Republican side.
VAUSE: Sure.
AIKEN: Absolutely we still look quite tame compared to that circus. That said, you know, I'm a Bernie Sanders supporter who's also perfectly willing to be objective and say I don't think that it was necessarily the most responsibly move to, A, say that Hillary Clinton is not qualified; she certainly is. I still believe the most qualified. I also don't think that it's necessarily responsible for the Sanders campaign at this point to start saying that it should be up to the super delegates to decide when a few months ago they didn't want super delegates to decide.
So I still believe that Bernie Sanders should stay in the race as long as possible. I'd like to see him stay in the convention and get some concessions out of the platform committee.
VAUSE: Which seems to be the strategy here. AIKEN: Yes, and I think it's very important to have his part of the
discussion.
VAUSE: OK. It is getting feisty out there. Former President Bill Clinton, he was out campaigning for his wife. There was this heated exchange with a protester from the Black Lives Matter group. They're angry over a 1994 crime bill which he signed, and they say it put more non-violent offenders in prison for longer periods of time.
Let's listen to some of that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African- American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn't. She didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, we haven't seen Bill Clinton like that for a long time. But does something like this help Hillary Clinton or does it hurt Hillary Clinton?
AIKEN: I don't think it does necessarily, either.
VAUSE: Right.
AIKEN: I think that -- you know, I just came from the "Idol" finale tonight.
VAUSE: Right.
AIKEN: Came right over, watching that, being there, kind of remind you about the spirit of competition in a way, and the closer you get to success, to winning, the more almost desperate you become. For Bernie Sanders, he's gotten further than I think maybe even he expected. For Hillary Clinton, she's finding herself in a race that's a lot closer than she ever planned. And so we're seeing her get frustrated, certainly Bill Clinton is starting to get frustrated, at how much of a fight Senator Sanders and his supporters are putting up.
VAUSE: Yes.
AIKEN: You know, he had some protesters at that rally, and he probably got very frustrated that here we are in the mid to late April and we're finding that Hillary Clinton hasn't wrapped up the nomination.
VAUSE: I mean, this is the point, isn't it? Because at this point in the campaign, by April, the Clinton campaign thought that they would be resting, raising money, getting ready for the general election, but yet Sanders keeps hanging in there, even though his path to victory isn't a really difficult one. [01:25:06] AIKEN: And I think that's something that's very important
for Secretary Clinton to continue to address, is the fact that there is a faction and a part of the Democratic Party that wants these progressive ideals embraced, that wants her to continue to move to the left on things like trade, like she's done after -- in the wake of Michigan. She did that to change her stance going into Ohio. I think she needs to continue to embrace that.
I think attacking Bernie Sanders at this point is probably not responsible because she's going to have to get those folks to vote for them in November.
VAUSE: Yes. We need a Kumbaya come November.
AIKEN: Yes.
VAUSE: Clay Aiken, thank you so much for coming in.
AIKEN: Thank you.
VAUSE: And before Clay went into politics, he had a very different claim to fame, "American Idol" season two runner up and now millions of fans are saying goodbye to the talent show that changed TV.
Also ahead. Police taking on a high-speed car chase right here in Los Angeles and the driver really put on a show.
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VAUSE: Coming up to 10:30 here on Thursday night. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. The headlines this hour.
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[01:30:24] VAUSE: Here in Los Angeles, it's not unusual to see one of those car chases on local television, but the wild pursuit that made headlines just a few hours ago was a little crazier than usual.
Here's Sarah Sidner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rain makes it that much worse.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Only in L.A., a high- speed chase in a convertible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see this guy. He's leaning out of his car.
SIDNER: The occupants suspected of burglary and entertain while fleeing. Dancing and doing doughnuts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that, whoo-hoo.
SIDNER: After doughnuts on Hollywood Boulevard, a view of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and then the police move in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got some spike strips. Got some spike strips.
SIDNER: The car escapes with one less tire but gets back on the freeway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever the manufacture of those tires, got to give them kudos for sure. TMZ, look at the truck.
SIDNER: Then a TMZ tour bus, changing lanes, blocks the driver's path. The fleeing passenger throws something at it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a Hollywood moment for sure. Spiderman was point at them.
SIDNER: Crowds begin gathering on the street, harkening back to this, the O.J. Simpson pursuit.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANNOUNCER: Look at all those cars stopped on freeways above it, overpasses.
SIDNER: Same celebrity culture, but this time with social media in mind.
As the chase ends, the driver poses on the hood. Selfies are taken. And "pursuit" trends on Twitter.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANNOUNCER: Those are sheriffs.
SIDNER: Police finally swoop in, detaining three people.
The chase entertaining to some, but utterly dangerous. The latest statistics from the National Institutes of Health, on average, 323 people are killed each year in police chases.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And CNN's Sara Sidner is here with more on the car chasing.
And Los Angeles has car chases but this seemed to be really unusual.
SIDNER: We weren't the only ones watching. It trended on Twitter. Social media went wild because this car chase had some extra entertainment, if you will. Yes, they're extremely dangerous. You can see a couple of times where the driver is nearly hitting other cars. He does hit a car but what you also saw was guys playing to the cameras. Everyone in this city knows that if there is a car chase there's always a helicopter above always watching what you're doing. And so they started playing to these helicopters and, in the end, they started taking selfies.
VAUSE: This was like a shared moment, a social media moment, that's what was so bizarre after this.
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: Once people got hold of social media and see this happening, everyone starts sharing. It really speaks to the celebrity culture.
VAUSE: Especially in L.A.
SIDNER: And across the country, because this wasn't just trending in L.A. And it speaks to the sort of "oh, my gosh, look at that." You can't look away. And it speaks to something else. If people start playing to cameras, and want their 15 minutes of fame, they can very easily get it doing something terrible and this could have ended very badly.
VAUSE: So what happens to the two people in that car right now? Of course, there's criminal proceedings and maybe a reality TV show when they come out.
(LAUGHTER)
SIDNER: Probably. Police are going to look at the video and every instance of a traffic violation. They were speeding through lights, doughnuts on the freeway, public nuisance, and they're suspected of burglary. That investigation has to go on, too. So, they're going to look at all these things in conjunction together and decide what to charge them.
VAUSE: As we said, an incredible moment.
Sara, thank you.
SIDNER: It was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner of "American Idol" season 15, is Trent Harmon.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wins tonight.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Trent Harmon, from Mississippi, the last America "American Idol" ever. They looked back at the show's 15 seasons. They invited back many of the stars who helped make this show so special.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
And our Brian Stelter was there to see the lights dim for the last time.
I got a little nostalgic. Sad. We grew up with this show
[01:35:06] BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: It felt like a festive funeral. Everyone is super aware, hyperaware the show was ending, but maybe not forever. We'll see. I have a feeling this program will be back. It's too good to retire forever. And it won't be back for at least a few years.
VAUSE: And Seacrest did the old "out for now."
STELTER: Out for now. And "Idol" does need to be reinvented. It was getting long in the tooth. People agreed, it's time to retire this franchise.
But let's think about how huge it was. 30, 40 million people watching 10 years ago. We're never going to see anything like that again.
VAUSE: You don't get the president to appear on your last show ever.
STELTER: And he said, "This show transforms television."
VAUSE: And we had the original judges back, Randy dog.
STELTER: Best part, Simon Cowell was back.
VAUSE: And he was the usual Simon Cowell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON COWELL, FORMER AMERICAN IDOL JUDGE: I thought this was a good opportunity on behalf of myself, Randy, Paula to apologize over the years for being so mean to the contestants when we were trying to be nurturing, helpful. You were really horrible, and I think now is the time to apologize to America.
PAULA ABDUL, FORMER AMERICAN IDOL JUDGE: Absolutely. Absolutely.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: He hasn't changed a bit.
The moment Simon Cowell left, the judge, was that a turning point? Did it all go downhill from there?
STELTER: It was death by a thousand cuts. But I think he was the biggest cut of all. There's no one like him, no way to replace him. Pro producers tried and tried. Nowadays, you get 10 million, which is still great but it's not what it used to be. It was so innovative at the time. You call in to vote. It was a big deal back then.
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: And now you take that for granted. If it is going to come back, it's going to have to be reinvented.
VAUSE: This started at "Pop Idol" from the U.K.
STELTER: we have to give the Brits credit for this. VAUSE: People copied the "American Idol" format. Copied all around the world. And there were amazing scenes on these international versions of "Idol." Take a look at this. You'll probably remember this. It came from "Bulgaria Idol."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was a girl singing the Mariah Carey song "Can't Live."
STELTER: I don't know if that was singing.
VAUSE: Can they ever repeat this? Are there conditions for something like this to be repeated?
STELTER: In some ways, anyone can become an American idle now through Instagram and SnapChat. I think we'll see a live streaming version of this kind of thing, because a talent search is as basic as apple pie, Coke or Pepsi. It's such a part of the American brand and also expected around the world.
VAUSE: You can go out there, be great, try your heart out and succeed.
STELTER: Basic story telling. And there's always a yearning for that. That's why I think it will be back some day.
VAUSE: Brian, so good to see you here in Los Angeles.
STELTER: You, too. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Next on NEWSROOM L.A., a fashion ad banned because the woman was too thin. Coming up, regulations some countries are using to protect women in the fashion industry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:42:17] VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. France is cracking down on prostitution with a new law that takes direct aim at those who pay for sex instead of those who provide it.
Here Jim Bittermann reporting from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This law, in fact, is a result of years of work of trying to get a version everybody can agree on. Basically the objective is to get prostitutes off the streets of France. There are an estimated 40,000 that pedal their trade on the streets of Paris. They modeled the law after the law in Sweden which penalizes the customers of prostitutes. And there's actually a prostitutes association, a union, saying if you go after the clients, it's bad for business, and it may force them into risky behavior, for example, going into customer's homes so they won't be arrested. That could be more of a risk than the current situation. For example, prostitutes will be given six months residency permits if they say they want to get out of prostitution. They go into a reeducation program, get a six-month permit. And that will get rid of sexual slaves, people who have come from Eastern Europe or the Middle East and being forced to do it.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Now to Britain, where regulators have banned a Gucci ad because the model appears to be underweight. It's not the first time an ad has been pulled because the model appears to be too thin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:44:58] VAUSE: Well, still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, here we go again to "Star Wars" fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There it is, the first look at a spin off -- the first spin off in the film franchise. We'll talk about that in just a minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: A major weapons test is imminent. We need to know what it is and destroy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you? If you continue to fight -- what will you become?
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Oh, those are the scenes for the first spin off in the "Star Wars" franchise. Trailer of "Rogue 1, A Star Wars Story," it follows as group of ragtag rebels who try to steal the plans for the death star.
Sandro Monetti, the managing editor of the "L.A. Business Journal," joins me.
Sandro, good to have you here.
SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL: Feel my goose bumps.
[01:50:03] VAUSE: You're all aquiver, aren't you?
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Here we go again. It's April, this movie comes out Disney. Drip, drip, drip by Disney.
MONETTI: They're milking a cash cow. And yes, I mean, this is very clever marketing of course. The mission of a teaser trailer is to wet the appetite without giving anything away.
VAUSE: And that is a good trailer.
MONETTI: It is a good trailer. It was dark, diverse, dynamic. If it had been bad, it could have set things bad, as we saw with "Batman v Superman" and it can kill things stone dead certainly in the court of public opinions. So, this has fans like me in a frenzy.
VAUSE: Disney plans to put out a new "Star Wars" film every year.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: What about franchise fatigue. We're getting to the point where it doesn't come as special.
MONETTI: It's all about making money. And when Disney bought the rights to "Star Wars" by buying Lucas Film in 2012 for $4 billion, a lot of people were thinking they over paid. Now it seems like a steal. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has already and now they have a whole series of films.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: I remember you saw the first "Star Wars" movie and then the next one and it was a huge event. It was really special. I feel like they're diluting the brand.
MONETTI: That's a good point. It's kind of like having chocolate ice cream every day. We just had a "Star Wars" movie and now we'll have another one. How we'll feel when we get to Darth Vader the teen age years. But for now it's great fun and there's so few long shots in Hollywood. Nobody wants to take chances anymore. It's paying off so far. VAUSE: So far. But "The Force Awakens," the "Star Wars" movie, which
came out last year, that was a safe bet because you had familiar story lines -- it was the same story line. This is different universe, characters, plot. Is this one a little risky? In that universe is this riskier than the rest?
MONETTI: It's still under the brand. The trailer would suggest this is a mix of old and new. We see familiar villains but new characters and they're following what they did with "The Force Awakens." A badass female lead and yeah, it seems that they've set the table for good things to come.
VAUSE: And Princess Leia and her crazy summer vacation.
MONETTI: You write it, I'll produce it, we'll sell it to Disney.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Sandro, thanks for coming in.
MONETTI: Thank you.
VAUSE: Hillary Clinton took her campaign underground. She went for a ride on the New York City subway on Sunday. But as Jeanne Moos reports, the turnstile briefly turned against her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's getting on right here, right?
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine you're sitting on a subway car just want to be left alone on your way to work.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Hey, how are you?
MOOS: Hey, she's just like us, riding the subway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hello to the next president.
MOOS: Hillary went for a subway joy ride carried live.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: I just want to explain what our viewers are looking at.
MOOS: That's a dank, dark New York City subway corridor. A mess of press hustled --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This way. This way.
MOOS: -- and squeeze to follow Hillary, who played traffic cop.
CLINTON: You're jammed in there. You've got to move a little bit. Dan's got to get more people in.
(LAUGHTER)
Do some people need to get off?
MOOS: Hillary road two stops in the Bronx, got off and got kissed by a stranger. She posed for selfies.
But it was the "Woman of the People" photo-op that the campaign was after.
The live ride ended up side by side with Ted Cruz getting slammed by the "Daily News" headline "Take the F.U. Train, Ted."
The news sandbagged Bernie Sanders with a token subway question. How do you get on the subway today? You get a token and you get in. Wrong.
[01:55:12] Hillary knows tokens gave way to metro cards more than a decade ago. But when she tried to swipe her card, it didn't work. Once, twice, three times. The fifth time was the charm.
Conservative websites pounced on Hillary's struggle. "Shocking new video. Out of touch Hillary Clinton."
(on camera): Out of touch, the touch is the problem. This happens all the time. Even to seasoned subway riders like myself. And, Hillary, it could have been worse. A failed swipe can lead to a whack in the groin.
(voice-over): Hillary laughed off her swiping snafu.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: The campaign may be getting testy, but please, no hitting below the belt.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Ow.
OK, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live in Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues with George Howell after a short break
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:08] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: An appeal for help. Police release new video of a key suspect in the Brussels airport bombing.
