Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

413 People Confirmed Dead After Equador's Earthquake; Rescuers In Japan Battle Aftershocks As They Search for Quake Survivors; Death Toll At 44 In Japan After Two Earthquakes; Israeli Police Investigate Devastating Bus Explosion In Jerusalem; Defense Secretary Ash Carter Announces U.S. To Send More Troops and Faster Air Support in Iraq; Shake-Up In Trump Campaign; Supreme Court Takes Up Immigration Case; Remembering Doris Roberts. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 19, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:03] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everybody; great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay; "NEWSROOM" L.A. starts right now.

413 people are now confirmed dead in Ecuador where a powerful earthquake hit the coast late Saturday. That number has jumped significantly as more bodies are pulled from the rubble.

VAUSE: Time is working against rescuers, but they are not giving up. Three people were saved in Manta. Firefighters cut the hole in the ceiling of a collapsed building to pull them to safety.

SESAY: Aid and supplies are pouring in from around the world, but damaged roads, heavy rain and power outages are making it difficult to get relief to those who need it.

VAUSE: Those problems are also hampering rescue efforts. We have the very latest now from Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEK ROMO: In the city of Pedernales, a ray of hope. Rescuers pull a 7-year-old girl from the rubble nearly 27 hours after the earthquake hit. In the coastal city of Portoviejo, one of the hardest hit areas, relatives of the victims pleaded with the Ecuadorian vice president.

They are still alive, this man said, pointing to the mounds of rubble around his neighborhood. Moments later, a woman breaks into tears saying she badly needs help.

In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest and most populous city, rescue crews and passersby join efforts to pull out people in a car under a collapsed bridge.

"The situation is very serious but we will recover from this," President Rafael Correa said. "The only thing we can't recover are the lives that have been lost. The sorrow is immense." THOMAS HOLLYWOOD, DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES: The situation is grave. Six provinces have been declared as an emergency. Two of the provinces most hit are Esmeraldas, Manabi, which are located along the coast. These are poor and vulnerable areas of Ecuador.

ROMO: The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Saturday just before 7:00 in the evening. People were shopping at a busy supermarket on Guayaquil when the floor began shaking and they had to run for their lives, with merchandise falling off the shelves and lights going off.

This is Ecuador's deadliest earthquake since 1987 when a 7.2 magnitude trembler killed about 1,000 people.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Rescuers in Japan are battling aftershocks as they search for survivors after two earthquakes. This drone video shows long cracks in the ground that's been caused by landslides. So far the death toll is at least 44 people.

SESAY: Well they struck Kyushu Island Thursday and Saturday. Hundreds of aftershocks have followed and officials warn of more building collapses and landslides. About 180,000 people have fled their homes.

Now, Israeli police are looking for answers after a devastating bus explosion during rush hour in Jerusalem.

VAUSE: The prime minister and president calling this a terrorist attack but as Oren Lieberman explains, investigators are being more cautious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police are being very careful about the investigation into this bus bombing and the information they are putting out. They have been very methodical it seems. They have said this was a deliberate attack, but have not called it a terror attack leaving open all possibilities in the investigation.

Here is what we know happened: an explosive charge, a small explosive charge, according to the Mayor of Jerusalem, went off in the back of one of the city buses during rush hour, in South Jerusalem. That set the bus on fire and the bus right next to it and the private car right next to that. Israeli police say at least 20 people were injured in the fire, a number of them seriously wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a terror attack. Again, police not saying that definitively. Hamas praised the attack, but did not take responsibility for it. The investigation leaves open a number of questions so far. First, how did an explosive charge get on an Israeli bus; and, second, more importantly, who put it there? Those are all part of the investigation at this point.

Oren Lieberman, CNN, Jerusalem

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The U.S. is sending more troops to Iraq ho help Iraqi forces retake Mosul from ISIS. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement during a surprise visit to Baghdad Monday. The U.S. will provide Apache attack helicopters for faster air support.

SESAY: With the additional 200 soldiers serving as advisors and trainers, the U.S. troop presence will top 4,000. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city. It fell to ISIS back in June of 2014.

VAUSE: Well joining us now for more on this, CNN Military Analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona and CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst Bob Baer with us here in the studio.

Rick, just first to you, the Pentagon says U.S. forces will imbed with Iraqi [00:05:03] military down to the battalion level. Before it was just at the brigade and division level. So explain what does that actually mean? Why is it significant? Also their role to advise and assist, what is that in real English?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well advise and assist is a euphemism for just being there and providing support that they need, arranging the air support, the logistics, the intelligence, everything they need; mostly the headquarters in a division, which is a lower level headquarters. Now we're going to push them out to the brigade and even down to the battalion level.

The fighting is done at the battalion level. The brigades move the battalions into position. The battalions actually conduct the assaults, do the operations. So when you put U.S. troops down there, they're going to be more at risk, but they have the advantage of actually having eyes on the targets, eyes on what's going on. They will be there with the Iraqis and they will be able to relay to higher headquarters immediately when the Iraqis need help, when they are in trouble and even provide the leadership that the Iraqis seem to be lacking right now.

SESAY: Bob, to bring you in here, is that all they will be doing?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: I think the joint special operations command will be leading some operations there. Whether they are targeted killings or backing up Kurdish forces or the army, I think definitely we're going to be getting drawn into this more and more. The Iraqi army isn't capable of taking back Mosul on its own. Remember, the Iraqi army is largely Shia. A lot of the people wearing uniforms in the Iraqi army are actually militia types. So -- they're just not a coherent force at this point.

VAUSE: I want to get your reaction to something the U.S. Secretary of Defense said whilst he was in Baghdad. He also talked about financial aid to Iraq and also the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. This is some of what Ash Carter had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, UNITED STATES: We're going to provide financial assistance to the Peshmerga. This, with agreement of Prime Minister Abadi, which is how we do everything here, to bolster what has been (inaudible) the Peshmerga, one of the most effective fighting forces against ISIL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Is this a significant step for the U.S.?

BAER: Well, the problem is the Kurds are broke. They are bankrupt. The price of oil has gone down. The central government is not paying them. They are running out of money. Without U.S. assistance, they will collapse and we have no choice in this. They are truly, truly out of money and they need arms, they need ammunition and the rest of it. Frankly, they are doing the best against the Islamic State.

VAUSE: I want to bring Rick back in on the back of that because, Rick, as Bob was saying, you know, the Peshmerga have been one of the most effective fighting forces on the ground, but they are facing hardship. For the United States now to acknowledge that and to bankroll the Peshmerga, this part of the story doesn't seem to be getting a lot of headlines, but this does seem to be one of the more important things going which is actually going on here.

FRANCONA: Absolutely; and, you know, they've been neglected for so long. We have been earmarking money for the Peshmerga all along but everything has to go through Baghdad. All the weapon shipments, all the financial aid has go through Baghdad and gets syphoned off in Baghdad. It never gets to the Kurds.

The Kurds have been complaining for two years now that they are not getting the weapons they need. They are the most effective force. If they had better weapons, they would be that much better. So this is a welcomed development. I'm sure Secretary Carter had a tough sell with the Iraqis to get this direct funding to the Kurds.

SESAY: Bob, Rick pointed to the issues -- the pre-existing, longstanding issues that exist with the Iraqi government, issues of corruption, lack of political reform. I mean, how do you get around that? I mean, you don't have an effective partner here.

BAER: You don't. I mean, it's a failed state, Iraq.

VAUSE: It's getting worse. They had problems at the beginning, but it seems to be getting worse.

BAER: And let's not forget the Iranians.

SESAY: Yes.

BAER: The Iranians now have forces in Syria, regular forces, which is something new. The Russians are still fighting around Aleppo. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, this whole area is a quagmire and we're getting deeper into it. I mean, we have taken on the Islamic State. We intend to go all the way, but the problem is there's no political solution. What are you going to do for the Sunnis at the end of this? If you send in Shia militias into Mosul to retake it or Kurdish militias, what happens to the Sunnis there?

VAUSE: Okay, well, keep that in mind because the U.S. President was also talking about the stepped up operation. He was talking about the increased military role in Iraq. This is some of what he had to say to CBS News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: As we see the Iraqis willing to fight and gaining ground, let's make sure we're providing them more support. We're not doing the fighting ourselves, but when we provide training, when we provide special forces who are backing them up, when we are gaining intelligence, working with the coalitions that we have, what we have seen is that we can continually tighten the noose. My expectation is that by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Rick, you know, the President picking his words there very, very carefully. Do you agree with his assessment there that this stepped up military presence will create the conditions by the end of the year for the [00:10:01] U.S. and the Iraqis to retake Mosul?

FRANCONA: That would be the best case scenario. I think he's being very optimistic. I disagree with his characterization that the Iraqi forces are -- have the momentum back; they don't. If they were -- if their momentum was back, if they were actually an effective fighting force, if they were getting better, we wouldn't have to send advisors down to the brigade and battalion level. We wouldn't have to introduce 200 more troops into the country. We wouldn't have to be conducting special operations raids, the ones Bob was talking about earlier, or the directed actions. There were just a few of those in the last couple of days, very effective; but the Iraqis aren't doing this. We are and we're being drawn in.

BAER: He is absolutely right. There is no army that can take back Mosul on its own without American assistance, whether its arms or our troops actually on the ground or intelligence.

SESAY: That being said, is it going to take more U.S. troops? DO you foresee this going well over 4,000?

BAER: I'm a pessimist on the Middle East. I just see this conflict is going to be raging across the land for a very long time because we simply have not come to grips. It's a conflict between the Shia and the Sunnis. If we take side with the Iranians, there's going to be some sort of blow back. I can't tell you where.

VAUSE: Finally, to you, Rick, I think the actual -- the official number is just over 4,000. If you break it down a little closer, it's actually more than 5,000 U.S. troops on the ground now in Iraq. Then, of course, you get to the mission creep, more soldiers, more boots on the ground. Let's call it what it is. Do you see that this is just the start and that there will be a lot more U.S. troops on the ground by the year's end?

FRANCONA: Yes, and I think we're seeing that with the request in Congress. General Dunford has asked for more troops. He said there's going to be more troops. He's going to recommend to the president that we deploy additional forces. Secretary Carter seems to be going along with that. So unless there's a change of policy, this is just going to slide further and further down the hill.

Those of us old enough to remember Vietnam, this is exactly how we got involved in the mid '60s. It was more troops, just a little bit more; just a little bit more and pretty soon you have hundreds of thousands of American troops on the ground.

VAUSE: It does all sound very familiar, even the terms being used right now.

Rick Francona, our military analyst, we appreciate you being with us. Bob Baer, here in the studio, former CIA operative, thanks, Bob, again, for coming in.

SESAY: Gentlemen, thank you.

BAER: Thank you.

SESAY: Now, North Korea doesn't seem phased at all by the latest round of U.N. sanctions. In fact, one official says they will make the country work harder to develop nuclear weapons.

VAUSE: A CNN team was invited inside the secretive nation and, as Will Ripley reports, life appears to be bustling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Something unusual happened while driving around the North Korean capital, we got stuck in traffic.

Even in the last year-and-a-half that I've been coming here, there's a noticeable increase in the number of cars on the streets here in Pyongyang. The North Koreans will say they have more traffic than they have before here, and so even though there are some of the strongest sanctions that have ever been in place against this country, here in the capital city, North Koreans say, they are not feeling the impact, at least not yet.

Tough U.N. sanctions, intended to store North Korea from developing dangerous weapons, seem to be having little, if any, effect on life in Pyongyang, at least the parts we're allowed to see.

The sanctions follow this year's satellite launch and claimed H-Bomb test, actions condemned even by North Korea's most powerful friend and trading partner, China. Chinese state media says the sanctions will begin to hurt within a year.

Trying to see for ourselves -- a CNN crew in this Chinese border city last month could not independently verify if cargo to North Korea is being inspected, as the sanctions require. A longtime diplomat and former ambassador, who now runs a Pyongyang

think tank, believes sanctions won't hinder North Korea's military or economy. "We built a socialist country under U.S. sanctions ever since our

liberation" says Ri Jong Ryul. "Under our beloved comrade Kim Jong Un's lead, everyone is working hard. He is ordering more weapons test, including a recent apparent failed missile launch."

"We assert the U.S. is the real culprit of the aggravated situation in the Korean peninsula" Ri says, referring to eight weeks of U.S. and South Korea military exercises.

"We must defend our Supreme Leader's dignity, our Republic's sovereignty and our people's right to live," he says, "at any cost."

The U.S. calls it a path to further isolation and hardship. North Korea calls it the only way to survive.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, we're just a few months away now from the Rio Olympic games, but there's a lot of political upheaval there and it's raising a lot of questions. We will look at that after the break.

Plus, New Yorkers are set to vote in that state's presidential primaries, as Donald Trump issues a new warning to the Republican National Committee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BUSINESS HEADLINES)

[00:18:47] VAUSE: Brazil is set to host the Summer Olympics in less than four months, but right now, political crisis is raising a lot of concerns.

SESAY: The International Olympic Committee says not to worry. A committee spokesman described what he called "great progress in preparations." Local organizers proudly point out that the venues are almost complete. What's not clear is who will be standing as Brazil's leader during the opening ceremony in August.

VAUSE: President Dilma Rousseff says she will fight to keep her job after members of the lower house voted overwhelmingly to impeach her. They say she used state bank funds to hide budget shortfalls. She says it's all part of an attempted coup.

SESAY: A shakeup in Donald Trump's campaign team just hours before the New York Primary. Trumps National Field Director, Stuart Jolly, has resigned and the former Campaign Manager for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will take his place.

VAUSE: Rick Wiley was hired by the Trump team last week. It's not likely to have much of an impact on the vote in New York where Trump is heavily favored in the primary there. CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta has the details. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:01] JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: One day before the New York Primary, Donald Trump wants the voters to know how much he loves his home state --

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at the other folks running, they couldn't care less about New York. We do care about New York. We care about New York a lot. We care about New York values.

ACOSTA: -- and how much he hates the Republican Party system for picking a president.

TRUMP: We have a system that's rigged. We have a system that's crooked.

ACOSTA: At just about every term, Trump is warning the GOP of the consequences of denying him the nomination if he's ahead in the delegate count, but short of the magic number needed to win.

TRUMP: You're going to have a very, very upset and angry group of people at the convention. I hope it doesn't involve violence. and I don't think it will, but I will say this, it's a rigged system --

ACOSTA: For weeks he's seen delegates slip away to Ted Cruz, in places like Wyoming, where party insiders and activists pick the winner, and even in states where the real estate tycoon has won, like Georgia, some delegates are pledging their support to Cruz if Trump fails to win on the first round of voting at the July convention.

TRUMP: The fact that you're taking all these people out and wining them and dining them, nobody does that stuff better than me. I just don't want to do it.

ACOSTA: Trumps fight with the GOP is escalating into a new war of words with Cruz. In a tweet, Trump suggested the RNC is in on the scam saying, Lyin' Ted Cruz can't win with the voters so he has to sell himself to the bosses.

Crus is hitting back:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ (R-TX) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald is not a complicated man to understand. He doesn't handle losing well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Trump is sending a message to RNC officials, if he is the nominee, buckle up. He told "The Washington Post," he would like to put showbiz into the convention. Trump is looking ahead to the general election, meeting with his Diversity Council to improve his standing with minority voters.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: When I say Donald, you say Trump. ACOSTA: Despite his recent struggles, Trump is poised to go on a roll

over the next couple of weeks. Polls show he could pull off a clean sweep of New York's 95 delegates at stake, and then the calendar stays in the Northeast, where Trump could put distance between himself and Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Buffalo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Joining us now is CNN's Political Commentator, Ryan Lizza. He's also the Washington Correspondent for "The New Yorker". Ryan, welcome.

As we move towards that convention, the margin of the win is important for Trump's narrative.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORKER": Absolutely; look, he needs to have 1,237, a number you are going to hear a lot in the coming weeks. He needs to have that many delegates on June 8, when he wakes up on June 8 because the last contest is on June 7. If he doesn't have 1,237, we will go into a convention without knowing who is going to come out of that convention as the nominee.

SESAY: Ryan, turning to the democratic side, according to a new national poll, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton now in a dead heat.

LIZZA: Yes.

SESAY: The expectation is that Hillary will still win that New York primary, but is a lackluster win potentially as damaging as a defeat?

LIZZA: Well, you know, the whole campaign right now is just this -- she's just - she just has to sort of, you know, go from state to state, narrowly win here and there and she has got this - you know, I call Sanders a sort of zombie candidate because she can't actually kill him but he can do a lot of damage to her and make her sort of limp across the finish line. It's a very unusual situation that hasn't gotten as much attention.

We have never had someone who by the math -- the delegate math is definitely going to be the nominee, Hillary Clinton, but who also has this candidate who is raising $40 million a month and doesn't bow out of the race because why should he? He's got the money; he can go to the convention.

SESAY: The scenario you lay out, with Hillary being hurt by Sanders who is not going anywhere, and yet she has the math on her side to the path of becoming the nominee sets up a headache, a real problem for DNC bosses. Si what's the fix here? What's going open behind the scenes?

LIZZA: Look, Sanders is well funded and he's got this very, very aggressive army of supporters. We talked about the undemocratic parts of the primary process on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, probably the most undemocratic part of it, small "d", is the super delegates. They are basically the circuit breaker for the party leadership, in case -- frankly, in case a democratic version of Donald Trump comes along and tries to hijack the party, these super delegates, party leaders, they have a vote at the convention. If they all ban together, they can reverse the results of the primaries.

So Sanders' supporters are targeting the super delegates saying, that's not fair; that's not democratic. Oh, by the way, also, you should support Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton. That's really his only path to the nomination if the math continues to play out the way it has. He can't beat her with the [00:25:03] so-called "bound delegates", but if some very, very unforeseen situation were to come along and the super delegates said, wait a second, we need Sanders not Hillary, he could theoretically win. The situation by which that would happen would be, you know, Hillary was indicted or something catastrophic happened to her campaign.

Otherwise, he has to beat her on the playing field. He's to beat her in a big state to totally change the momentum of the race. So far, he has just not been able to crack into core democratic constituencies, and that has been his number one problem.

SESAY: Ryan Lizza, great pleasure speaking to you tonight. Thank you so much for the insight.

LIZZA: My pleasure.

SESAY: Well tune in to CNN all day Tuesday for live coverage of the New York primaries only here on CNN.

VAUSE: It's going to be an exciting day. In the meantime, we'll take a short break. When we come back, heated debate at the U.S. Supreme Court. We'll have the latest on a case which could impact 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us, everybody. You are watching "CNN NEWSROOM," live from Los Angeles; I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. [00:30:04] Israeli police are calling a bus explosion in Jerusalem a deliberate attack. At least 21 people were injured when a device set a bus and other vehicles on fire during Monday's rush hour. Israeli prime minister and president call it a terrorist attack. There's been no claim of responsibility.

VAUSE: During an unannounced visit to Iraq, the U.S. Defense Secretary said 217 more U.S. soldiers will head to the country. They'll serve as advisers and trainers as Iraq tries to retake Mosul from ISIS. The U.S. will also provide Apache attack helicopters for faster air support.

SESAY: Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up a case that could determine President Barack Obama's legacy on immigration.

VAUSE: He wants to shield four million undocumented immigrants from deportation, but many states argue the President has overstepped his authority. Here is Pamela Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[Protesters speaking in Spanish]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even before the justices heard the first argument today, the debate over immigration played out on the steps of the Supreme Court. Hundreds of protesters facing off over one of President Obama's signature decisions, an Executive Action to shield more than four million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The case brought by Texas and 25 other states, most of them Republican, test the President's authority to make such a sweeping decision without Congressional input and to grant undocumented workers the right to work and receive benefits, like Social Security and Medicare.

The case is also a watershed moment. One of the most controversial to be heard by the court's now eight justices, split evenly by ideology, four to four, after the death of Antonin Scalia. In court that split became more obvious as the Justices questioned attorneys on both sides. The conservative justices seeming to side with the states suing the administration for what they could to be executive overreach. Justice Anthony Kennedy saying, "it's as if the President is setting the policy and the Congress is executing it. That's upside down." A sentiment that the Texas solicitor general agreed with after court.

SCOTT KELLER, SOLICITOR GENERAL, STATE OF TEXAS: It transforms unlawful conduct into lawful conduct. I think if the executive, the President has the power to do that, I think that should trouble every American.

BROWN: Back inside, the court's more liberal justices seem sympathetic to the Administrations arguments. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noting there are 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S., saying inevitably priorities have to be set.

Antonio Compos says he is one of the undocumented immigrants the President is trying to help. He says he came to the U.S. from Mexico illegally in 1995. He had two children in the United States who are citizens and says he has spent many years as a community volunteer in Sacramento.

ANTONIO CAMPOS, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: When I came here, I came with my own clothes and that's it; and the hopes I can bring another life to my family. As a man of faith I have the illusion that this is going to be the beginning of a better society.

BROWN: If the Administration loses this case Campos and millions of other immigrants will remain in legal limbo.

So if the Justices are split 4-4 following the death the Scalia, that would be bad news for the Obama Administration because the lower court's ruling would stand and the programs would continue to be blocked. On the other hand, if the court finds that Texas and these other states didn't have the standing to bring this lawsuit in the first place, which was a big question during oral arguments, then that would mean the programs would go forward.

We expect the opinion on this case to come at the end of the term in June or July.

Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Helping us here today is an attorney and an expert on Immigration Law who joins us in the studio. Nelson, thank you for coming in.

SESAY: Welcome; welcome.

VAUSE: (Inaudible) into the weeds a little bit here if you look at some of the questioning that was laid out today by the Justices, would you say, just by listening to the questions that some of the justices were asking, that Obama's Executive Order is in trouble?

NELSON CASTILLO, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: They were asking some very good questions because first and foremost, they need to determine whether there is standing, whether the rights have a right to be in court. They can't overcome the hurdle the game is over for them. So there are four different issues they looked at, but the standing issue was very paramount and, of course, as you said, whether the actions of the Government are legal or not were discussed.

SESAY: So this issue of standing, talk to us about that and how -- where the line is and how clear the line is, in terms of state's ability to challenge the Federal Government.

CASTILLO: Well the U.S. Supreme Court is looking as to whether there is actual injury to the states. What the states are saying is that if this is implemented, it's going to cost them a tremendous amount of resources to give driver's licenses because they are subsidizing at this particular moment driver's licenses in Texas. So they are going to be injecting hundreds of thousands of people, possibly, to take advantage of driver's licenses.

[00:35:03] What the government is saying, you know, you are giving the subsidy. You don't necessarily have to give a subsidy. You can charge --

SESAY: So the injury is self-inflicted?

CASTILLO: It's self-inflicted and therefore you can remove that. That's obviously where the court is going to have to decide whether there is injury or not, because if there isn't, again, there's no standing and there is no lawsuit.

VAUSE: Okay; we've got the situation though - the Republican - these are mostly Republican states which are taking this action against Obama Administration. When the Justices look at the Executive Order that the President made and whether it's lawful and whether it exceed his authority, do they take into account the context at the time that the President was essentially facing Congressional deadlock on the issue of immigration, and so in their defense, I guess, he was forced to take some action or is it purely on the matter of law?

CASTILLO: It should be on the pure matter of law.

VAUSE: Are they influenced by that?

CASTILLO: Of course. They have their own ideology most likely, but my hope is that they are looking at the law and that the law - they are constrained to what the law says and what they cannot do and can do, the Government.

The main question, after getting over the standing, is whether does the Government have the legal right to do this. Of course, the Government is saying that we've been doing it over the years. We have been helping people with this deferred action program over years, millions of people over the years. If you allow me to have that power because, for instance, in terms of the deportation, I can't deport 11 million people. You only give me enough money to deport 400,000. So allow me to decide who I'm going to deport or not and have priorities.

Deferred action, to a certain extent, is just that. I'm not going to move against you. While you are here, because I deem you low priority, I'm going to allow you to work and give you a work permit because otherwise, you will be unproductive and who's going to be maintaining you. It's going to create all these challenges for the --

SESAY: Looking at the composition of the court right now, split evenly between liberals and conservatives, when you look at it right now, is there room for compromise here or do you see this coming down to a split decision and going back to the court, the lower courts?

CASTILLO: Definitely there's room for compromise.

SESAY: Can you anticipate it looking at the way the court is set?

CASTILLO: From what I read today, I read the entire transcript. I got the sense that the court is evenly divided at this particular moment. It's going to probably going to be a miracle that there's going to be one of those conservative justices that's going to move to the camp of allowing this to move forward. That's how I sense, but, then again, there's been

surprises in the past.

Chief Justice Roberts specifically, he is very, very thorough. He is pensive about these issues. Standing is very crucial for him because, again, he doesn't want to open the floods, and even the other justices mentioned, they don't want to open the floods to just anybody be suing the federal government because they don't necessarily agree with it.

VAUSE: (Inaudible) just very quickly, just to recap, this issue, in your opinion, is now essentially resting on whether or not Texas has a standing to bring the case and that's not looking positive -- CASTILLO: Standing and legal authority by the Government, those two things. There are two other issues, again, whether they give proper notice and comment to the American people and, of course, whether the Government -- the President of the United States specifically, faithfully is executing the laws.

VAUSE: Nelson, thanks for coming in.

SESAY: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Appreciate the explanation.

SESAY: Exactly. It's a murky; thank you. All right; we're going to take a quick break. First we had "Little Marco," then came "Lyin' Ted," now Donald Trump has a nickname, a new one, for Hillary Clinton.; that's just ahead on "NEWSROOM" L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:39] VAUSE: Well, there she is, actress Doris Roberts. She was known for her Emmy-winning role in the U.S. sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond." Some sad news, she has passed away. The news came from the shows former spokesperson on Monday.

SESAY: The Hollywood veteran also had a recurring role on the 1980's TV series "Remington Steele," working alongside Pierce Brosnan's title role. Doris Roberts was 90 years old.

Well long before -

VAUSE: Over to you.

SESAY: Long before he was a politician, U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump was known as simply "The Donald."

VAUSE: Now he has become the king of handing out the nicknames to his rivals. Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are nicknames designed to do more than just nick an opponent.

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lyin' Ted. Lyin' Ted. What is your name? My name is Lyin' Ted Cruz.

MOOS: From Lyin' Ted to Low Energy Jeb to -

TRUMP: Little Marco.

MOOS: Donald Trump even revels in misspelling them.

TRUMP: How would you spell that? L-Y-E-N.

MOOS: And now he's got a new nickname intended to torment --

TRUMP: Crooked Hillary. Crooked Hillary folks.

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't respond to Donald Trump and his string of insults.

TRUMP: She's been crooked from the beginning.

CLINTON: He can say whatever he wants to say about me.

TRUMP: Crooked Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: I really could care less.

MOOS: Sometimes the Donald dispenses a nickname that doesn't stick, for instance all those crazy Megyn Kelly tweets never quite took off. Trump suggested a nickname for himself when the candidates were asked what they would like their secret service name to be.

TRUMP: Humble.

[Laughter]

MOOS: Actually the Secret Service ended up code naming Trump "mogul". Mogul has been a target of nicknaming retaliation from Ted Cruz.

TED CRUZ (R-TX) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald wakes up at night in cold sweats that people will call him "Losing Donald."

MOOS: And on Monday, Hillary went on a radio show that bestows donkey of the name dishonorable mention, a zinger once aimed at her. Hillary nominated Trump.

CLINTON: I think he's the donkey of the decade.

MOOS: Of course the nickname for Donald is "The Donald." Where did that come from? His first wife Ivana, born in Czechoslovakia, called him The Donald. She was learning English. It turns out that Donald's ancestors changed the family name to Trump. When John Oliver heard the original name, well, everything old is new again.

JOHN OLIVER, HOST, "LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER": And this is true, Drumpf. Yes. Drumpf.

MOOS: Hats off to nicknames.

OLIVER: Make Donald Drumpf again hats.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Drumpf. Made Donald very happy.

VAUSE: It did; I just don't want to get the nasty tweets.

SESAY: I don't want to get those either.

VAUSE: We should move on.

SESAY: Thank you for watching "CNN NEWSROOM" live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause; "World Sport" is up next then we'll be back with news from all around the world. Stay with us; you are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

("WORLD SPORT" AIRED)