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Israel Calling Jerusalem Bus Explosion in Deliberate Act; Ecuador and Japan in Rescue Efforts After Devastating Earthquakes; Stakes High in New York Primaries; Obama to Veto 9/11 Bill Amid Saudi Threat; Explosion, Death in Kabul, Afghanistan; Heard, Depp Apology to Australia Mocked on Twitter. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 19, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour.
(HEADLINES)
SESAY: Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Great to have you with us. Another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
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SESAY: Israeli police are calling a bus explosion during evening rush hour in Jerusalem a deliberate act.
VAUSE: They haven't ruled out the possibility that it was a terror attack but they're being cautious as the investigation continues into this blast. Orrin Liebermann has the details.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel is investigating what appears to be a brazen rush hour bus bombing. The explosion ripping through this city bus, another bus nearby and a private car in Jerusalem just before 6:00 in the afternoon, as people were coming home from work.
Ambulances converged on the scene to treat the dozens injured in the attack. Thick, black smoke rose into the skyline, visible for miles. Sharp contrast from the bright orange flames coming from the buses.
"There is no doubt this is an attack," says police commander Yoram Ha- Levy. "You're asking the identity of the explosive charge, whether we know someone left it or blew himself up. We have two seriously wounded, whose identity we don't know yet so we won't now say something that is wrong or not accurate."
Police blocked off the major road in both directions for investigators trying to figure out how the charge got there and who set it off. Late today, Hamas on Al Aqsa TV praised the attack but didn't take credit for it.
Many here say the devastation could have been worse. Luckily the nearbus bus that caught on fire was empty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Israeli leaders are calling the bombing a terrorist attack. And hours after the blast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that they would settle the score.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (via Translator): We will locate those who prepared this terrorist bomb. We will reach those who dispatched it. And we will also reach those who stand behind them. We will settle this goal with these terrorists. We are in a protracted struggle against terror, knife terror, shooting terror, bomb terror, and also tunnel terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The bus blast comes amid a seven month-long wave of violence between Palestinians and Israelis throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
SESAY: Well, the death toll from Saturday's earthquake in Ecuador has soared to 413, another huge jump. Damage to the country's infrastructure is complicating relief and rescue efforts. And as Boris Sanchez reports, time is of the essence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The desperate search for life continues here, on the west coast of Ecuador. Now, a race against time as rescuers dig through debris and families pray their missing loved ones will not be part of the growing death poll. Hundreds have died since Saturday's devastating 7.8 magnitude quake.
According to tweets from Ecuador's government, 120 rescue workers from Mexico and 53 from Cuba arrived before dawn today to offer aid. Teams from Colombia, Spain, and Chile are expected as well. The task before them immense. Drone video from Porto Viejo shows the tops of buildings leaning precariously. Ecuador's president Rafael Correa toured some of the troubling scenes this morning, posting photos to his official Twitter account.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via Translator): The resources have arrived. The whole country is mobilized. This is an enormous tragedy.
SANCHEZ: Six coastal provinces are in states of emergency. No doubt the road ahead is uncertain for entire communities here, where livelihoods and neighborhoods were crushed in an instant.
(on camera): About 10,000 soldiers and 4,000 police officers are on the ground right now, sifting through rubble, trying to find survivors. I should tell you, this actually is not the deadliest earthquake that Ecuador has had. Though it is a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, a 7.2 magnitude in 1987 killed roughly about 1,000 people. So the hope is that, after all is said and done, after the recovery effort wraps up, this will not be as deadly and as catastrophic an earthquake as that one was for the country of Ecuador.
[01:05:00] Boris Sanchez, CNN, Guyaquil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And rescuers in Japan are battling aftershocks as they search for survivors of two earthquakes. This drone video shows long cracks in the ground caused by landslides. The death toll now stands at 44 people, which struck Kyuhshu (ph) Thursday as well as on Saturday.
SESAY: More than 1,000 are injured, hundreds of aftershocks have followed, and officials warn of more building collapses and landslides. About 180,000 people have fled their homes.
VAUSE: Matt Rivers is with us now from the quake zone with more on the evacuations, as well as the rescues. And so, Matt, there's been some bad weather there. Also some aftershocks, which have made a terrible situation even worse.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. The weather really was bad. We landed here about three days ago and we dealt with the same exact wind and rain that rescuers were dealing with, telling us it made their lives that much harder. But really the bigger issue has been aftershocks. It was late last night our time that there was actually a 5.8 magnitude aftershock that was registered. We certainly felt it. The van we were in at the time was swaying back and forth. And those are the conditions that the rescuers are working in.
Take a look at this building here. This -- you can see, it's not very stable. And this is the kind of thing that's very emblematic of what we're seeing around this area. And so every time one of these aftershocks hits, everyone kind of tenses up and looks at buildings like this one and wonders if that kind of a structure might come down and cause even more damage. So still things very tense here in southwestern Japan, John.
VAUSE: Yes, and just looking I think to your right there, you can see a number of houses are still intact. They're still I guess structurally sound. But many people are too afraid to go back to their homes. So what's the situation now in those evacuation centers? Also with these reports of shortages of food supplies as well as water?
RIVERS: Well, the evacuation centers are still chock full with people. You've got tens of thousands of people in these neighborhoods who, like you said, they're too afraid to go home, mainly because of those aftershocks. And what you're seeing, even though those homes look OK, is that there might be some structural issues too that may be in the foundation they're having to deal with.
In terms of food shortages and fresh water shortages, the Japanese authorities really have gotten things organized here so that doesn't seem to be as big an issue. But the cleanup process really is starting to gt really ramped up here. This house yesterday to my left. We were here 24 hours ago. That house was still relatively intact, though leaning into the street. And what authorities are doing here is figuring out what houses need to be demolished in order to be safe, to move forward. They're trying to determine can this house still be lived in? Or does it need to be demolished? This particular house was clearly determined to be demolished, and so that's what they did yesterday. And then the next step of course would be getting fresh water running through the pipes here again, as well as turning the electricity back on.
VAUSE: Yes, electricity, running water. And of course you've got so many thousands of people now living in these emergency shelters. Is there a time line at this point on how long they will be stuck there?
RIVERS: At this point, Japanese officials are not really giving us a time line, any specific number in terms of when these people are going to be allowed go home. But the really interesting part here is that a lot of these people could go home. The mandatory evacuation in some neighborhoods have been lifted. But people are actually choosing not to go home because they're too nervous.
We met with a family earlier today that decided they were going to camp out for a whole week. I mean, they had a whole setup. They had their camp. They had lots of food supplies. They were cooking rice in a rice cooker because they bought a generator. And they said, look, we're not ready to go home yet. We're just going to stick it out. Until these aftershocks die down, we're going to sleep outside.
VAUSE: Yes, there seems to a long way to go yet. Matt, thank you. Matt Rivers there with the very latest.
SESAY: Some breaking news we bring you now from Afghanistan. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman tells CNN a loud explosion was heard near the embassy compound in the capital Kabul about a kilometer away from the compound. The source of the blast is unclear.
VAUSE: Now, the embassy compound also hosts a NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. U.S. embassy and NATO military coalition say they haven't been affected by this. We'll bring you more details as soon as we get them.
SESAY: All right, in less than four months, the world will be focusing on Brazil for the summer Olympics. But right now, a political crisis there is raising a lot of concerns about these games. The International Olympic Committee says there's no need to worry. A committee spokesman described what he called great progress in preparations. And local organizers proudly point out that the venues are almost complete.
VAUSE: Meanwhile, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is speaking out after the lower house of congress voted to impeach her. [01:10:03] She says the charges of misusing state bake (ph) funds to
cover up a budget shortfall is part of what she's calling an attempted coup.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (via Translator): Above all else, I want to tell you today that I feel I have been wronged. I feel wronged because I believe that this is a process without substance. That is why I feel I have been wronged. Injustice occurs when a means to defend one's self is crushed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A lot of turmoil in Brazil. Also a lot of turmoil in Donald Trump's presidential campaign. A shakeup there just ahead. Will all that matter to voters in Tuesday's primary in New York state?
SESAY: The Twitterverse certainly has had a lot to say about Johnny Depp and his wife's apology in an Australian courtroom.
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SESAY: Hello, everyone. After weeks of campaigning, name-calling, polls, and predictions, it's finally here.
VAUSE: Lots of name-calling.
SESAY: Yes, lots and lots. Voters will start casting their ballots in New York's presidential primaries in less than five hours.
VAUSE: And we are seeing a last-minute shakeup in Donald Trump's campaign.
[01:15:01] His national field director has resigned and is being replaced by the former campaign manager for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker.
Here's CNN's Sara Murray.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): Here in the Big Apple, Donald Trump can almost taste victory.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We love this city. You look at the other folks that are running; they couldn't care less about New York.
MURRAY: Hours ahead of the New York primary, Trump appears poised for a big night.
TRUMP: If the polls are what they are, they were beyond anything that anybody's seen. MURRAY: But his rivals just keep hammering the front-runner. Today,
Ted Cruz already moving on to Maryland.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maryland, is a battleground. Maryland is going to have an outsized voice, as the nation is looking to Maryland to decide, do we nominate Donald Trump and hand the election to Hillary Clinton?
CROWD: No!
CRUZ: Or do we unite behind the Cruz campaign and beat Hillary Clinton?
MURRAY: While John Kasich stumped in New York, where he hopes to pick up a few delegates.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's what he does. He feeds into irthe anxieties and their fears. There's no question there. Does he have any solutions for how he's going to deal with it? I don't think so.
MURRAY: As the fight for those delegates rages on --
TRUMP: It's a rigged system. It's a crooked system. It's 100 percent crooked.
MURRAY: Trump says he's above wooing supporters behind the scenes.
TRUMP: Look, nobody has better toys than I do. I can put them in the best planes and bring them to the best resorts anywhere in the world. Doral, Mar-A-Lago -- that has nothing to do with democracy.
MURRAY: The GOP front-runner is issuing a sharp warning to the Republican National Committee to straighten out a process that has sometimes left him stumped.
TRUMP: They gotta do something about it. The Republican National Committee, they better get going. Because I'll tell you what, you're going to have a rough July at that convention.
MURRAY: And he's warning his supporters wouldn't stand for it if a contested convention doesn't deliver him the nomination.
TRUMP: I hope it doesn't involve violence. And I don't think it will. But I will say this, it's a rigged system.
MURRAY: But RNC chairman Reince Priebus is shrugging off Trump's complaints.
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I find it to be rhetoric an hyperbole.
MURRAY: And Trump appears to be planning ahead, suggesting to "The Washington Post" that he may not keep Priebus around if he's the nominee. And saying he wants to bring a little showbiz to the GOP convention. With an eye on the general election, he even tested out a new nickname for Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: Crooked Hillary. She's been crooked from the beginning.
MURRAY: Sara Murray, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And there is a new national poll which shows Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a virtual dead-heat. This is a national poll.
SESAY: Yes, it is. But it probably won't matter in New York, where Clinton has a strong lead ahead of Tuesday's primary. CNN's Brianna Keilar reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I need your help tomorrow.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are making their final push in New York.
CLINTON: New York had my back and I always tried to have your back. And I will again if I'm so fortunate enough to be elected your president.
KEILAR: The Clinton camp is feeling bullish. While Sanders, once talking about his chances in New York, is tamping down expectations on CNN.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the disadvantages we have, as you know, is under the New York state law Independents cannot participate in the primary. We usually win the independent vote 2-1. So we're kind of spotting Secretary Clinton a whole lot in that regard.
KEILAR: But if Clinton's lead in the polls in her adopted home state has her dancing in the streets, Sanders has nearly eliminated her lead nationally, trailing by only two points, within the poll's margin of error.
Sanders has been hammering Clinton for her ties to Wall Street and wealthy donors.
SANDERS: We don't want their money. We're going to do it a different way.
KEILAR: Saturday, his supporters made the point a different way, throwing money at Clinton's motorcade as she arrived a $33,000-a-head dinner hosted by George and Amal Clooney. The actor agreeing with Sanders on the role of money in politics, but making a veiled jab at the senator for his focusing more on his own fundraising and not other Democrats running for election. GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: It is an obscene amount of money.
The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. But the overwhelming amount of the money that we're raising is not going to Hillary to run for president. It's going to the down ticket. It's going to the congressmen and senators to try to take back Congress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Wolf Blitzer!
KEILAR: As the Democratic primary battle reaches a critical moment, "Saturday Night Live" poked s d fun at Sanders this weekend for his lack of specifics on how he would fulfill a major campaign promise, with a guest appearance by a quintessential New Yorker, Elaine from "Seinfeld".
[01:20:07] JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: But how are you going to break up the big banks?
LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: Once I'm elected president, I'll have a nice schvitz in the White House gym. Then I'll go to the big banks. I'll sit them down. And yadda, yadda, yadda, they'll be broken up.
KEILAR: And dinged Clinton for her stance on raising the federal minimum age.
KATE MCKINNON, COMEDIAN: I said 12 and/or 15.
DAVID: That's not true.
MCKINNON: Yes, it is.
DAVID: No, it is not. No, no, no!
MCKINNON: Yes, it is.
KEILAR (on camera): Bernie Sanders says polls are underestimating his support here in New York. The latest NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll has him trailing Hillary Clinton by 17 points. But polls would need to vastly underestimate his support in order to deliver for him the size of margin that he would really need for a big win to viably continue his campaign beyond New York, because he is trailing Hillary Clinton by more than 200 pledged delegates.
Brianna Keilar, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And Bernie Sanders supporter, CNN political commentator, and host of "The Bill Press Show", joins us now. Bill Press is with us. Bill, thanks for being here. The Sanders campaign is now accusing the Democrat Party and Hillary Clinton of violating campaign finance rules. This is a little bit complicated, but essentially what is the allegation here?
BILL PRESS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there's the -- the question is, the Sanders -- the Clinton campaign is having this huge fund-raisers, like they had with -- that George Clooney helped sponsor over the weekend. $33,000 a plate. And if you, a couple, raise $353,000, they were lucky enough to sit at Hillary Clinton's table.
The Clinton campaign says don't get excited about this because not all of it goes to us. Some of it goes to the DNC and some of it then goes down and filters down to state parties.
Well, there are some rules in the DNC that are very complicated ,rules in the Democratic Party, however, rules by the Federal Elections Commission, that say that you cannot necessarily commingle funds of a candidate with a party apparatus, the national committee, which is supposed to remain neutral until there is an actual nominee of the party.
So the Sanders' campaign says it looks like the Clinton campaign has violated the rules. And they're demanding on investigation or a report to make sure that's not the case.
VAUSE: Is there some politics as well into all of this, you know, the attempt by the Sanders campaign to look at Hillary Clinton and just how close she is to the big money and things just aren't ever quite transparent or a little bit shady.
PRESS: Well, here's what I think this is all about. I think what this is all about is one way of underscoring that there are two different approaches to fundraising in this campaign. And you've got two candidates. One who's Hillary Clinton, who's using the old- fashioned way, if you will, of having a super PAC, getting great big donors to max out corporate money to the PACs, lobbyists bundling money. The old fashioned way. And then you have Bernie Sanders, who has no super PAC, who is doing it entirely the new way with just small donors.
And so this is a way of Bernie saying the campaign finance system is corrupt, is obscene, which by the way even George Clooney admits, right? And Bernie is saying so -- I think Bernie has proven, whatever happens, Bernie has proven that you don't have to do it with the lobbyists and with the big, big corporate money. You can do it with grassroots money. He's raising $40 million a month. It's unheard of.
VAUSE: It is. I want to get to New York primary, just a few hours away now. Over the weekend, Obama's former campaign manager, David Axelrod, told CBS News, that basically Bernie Sanders has to have landslide win after landslide win, starting in New York, to change that delegate math. But time, according to Axelrod at least, is now starting to run out. Is that a fair point here?
PRESS: It is a tough road for Bernie. He does not have to win every upcoming state. Remember, Democrats do not have winner-take-all. Bernie just has to -- he has to do two things. Keep pace with Hillary in terms of winning delegates, but he's got to close that gap. He's now 229 delegates behind. At the beginning of this month, he was about 310 or 320 behind. So he's closed the gap, but he's got to keep winning delegates until he gets close enough to get some of the superdelegates to say, hey, wait a minute. Maybe we ought to take another look at Hillary Clinton. And maybe Bernie is the stronger candidate for November. By the way, I think the other significant poll today, maybe you're
going to ask about it, is "The Wall Street Journal" poll shows that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are tied in the national vote.
[01:25:05] Two points -- Hillary's two points ahead. Statistical tie. That is astounding that the person who thought she had the nomination wrapped up last year is in the fight for her life with Bernie Sanders and the national polls.
VAUSE: and just very quickly, with that poll, do you think if you get to the point where Senator Sanders can close the delegate count, maybe even nudge ahead, will those superdelegates then look at a poll like that and say, hey look, this is a statistical dead-heat. Maybe it's time to change. He can maybe flip some of the delegates.
PRESS: Absolutely. Number one, they're about 200 delegates, a little more, superdelegates who have not endorsed either candidate. That's good targets for Bernie Sanders. And superdelegates are party officials; they want to win. They want to keep the White House. If they see that Bernie is that close and really winning and has momentum, particularly with young people the way he's shown, darn right. They will flip in a New York second.
VAUSE: We'll wait and see. Bill Press, such a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you, sir.
PRESS: Great to join you. Thank you.
SESAY: He's pretty confident.
VAUSE: You know, they have been confident all the way along. It is astounding when you listen to these guys.
SESAY: Yes, it really is.
All right, time for a quick break. Families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks want the right to sue Saudi Arabia. Coming up, why the White House says it's a bad idea.
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SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
[01:30:00] VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause. Let's check the headlines this hour.
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VAUSE: The White House is about to veto a bill that would allow 9/11 families to take action against Saudi Arabia. The bill has bipartisan support. And on the eve of the New York State primary, most of the presidential candidates have added their backing.
SESAY: Saudi Arabia has not admitted any involvement of the terror attack but most of the hijackers were of Saudi descent and there's long been suspicion about al Qaeda's ties to the kingdom. President Obama explains his thoughts on the measure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we open up the possibility that individuals in the United States can sue other governments, we are opening up the United States to being continued sued by individuals in other countries. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Saudi Arabia warns it will sell off billions of dollars of American assets if that bill passes. Riyadh also wants the U.S. to release the classified pages of the 9/11 Commission report that deals with the role of foreign governments in the attack.
SESAY: Nic Robertson reports that this comes as President Obama heads to Saudi Arabia this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): 2009, and just in office, President Obama came to Egypt.
OBAMA: We meet at a time of great tension between the United States and Muslims around the world.
ROBERTSON: Talks of reshaping U.S. relations with Middle East nations.
(CHEERING)
ROBERTSON: The crowds loved him. Less than two years later --
(SHOUTING)
ROBERTSON: -- the same city, his host, President Mubarak, overthrown in the Arab Spring uprising. How Obama responded to the fall of his allies, set the tone of his relationship with the region next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't so much how they failed but how the U.S. went by it. That's really the beginning of this schism.
ROBERTSON: A schism that crew to rupture, with the U.S./Iranian nuclear deal. The Saudis were furious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They believe that Barack Obama sold him at the altar of Iran, their arch enemy.
ROBERTSON: In response, Saudi Arabia has ramped up its armed forces --
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE) ROBERTSON: -- overtaking Russia, to become the world's third-largest defense and security spender. And last year, formed a 34-nation Sunni Muslim coalition to follow Saudis' lead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a result of the mistrust of Barack Obama, the Saudis have a more muscular foreign policy. On the attack in Yemen and other places. And they're trying to counterbalance Iran in the region. The Americans have lost control.
ROBERTSON: Where they needed control the most, solving Syria. Saudi's new king is a very impatient ally. He wants Assad gone now. And Iran's influence removed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is going to change if there's a new president that is more amenable to Saudi interest? I don't think so. The ship has sailed.
ROBERTSON: But for all the strains, both sides need each other. Saudi Arabia needs weapons. Obama wants regional stability. This time in Riyadh will not be about divorce but easing the estrangement.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Joining us now is CNN intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer.
Bob, good to have you with us.
Let's ask the questions recording the U.S. Administration's pushback on this bill, saying it would open the door to retaliatory lawsuits abroad. Do you buy that?
BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's more likely the lawyers going after Saudi money here. That's the big problem because I think they could get it. Once you lift sovereign immunity, there's a lot of people out there that want their money. And they're talking about $750 billion. That's wide-open. And in a civil suit in this country? It would destroy Saudi Arabia.
[01:35:21] VAUSE: Would it? They have deep pockets. They have the oil reserves. I mean, $750 billion is a lot of money. You think it would tip the balance?
BAER: You know, they're in trouble financially with this Doha failure. Oil will go down, to $30, $25. They are going to run out of money. They're talking about selling off Aramco. They're fighting a war in Iran and Syria. There's a lot of dissent in the kingdom. If they're picked on by the United States in civil suits -- and there's Iran. And for them, it looks like we have sided with Tehran on all of the important issues, with the Islamic State or Syria.
VAUSE: More than looks.
BAER: We are. We are. We have sided implicitly with Iran. And that scares the Saudis.
SESAY: Given the tensions in the relationship from Yemen to Iran, as you bring up, there's those that say what's the relationship really worth these days?
BAER: Well, it remains that Saudi oil is very cheap to produce. And they are the reserve tank of the world. So, if there's any problems or the economy really takes off, we need the Saudis. You look at the geography in the whole gulf, the Arab gulf has 50 percent of the reserves. It's not something that we can easily dispense with.
VAUSE: Obama heading to Riyadh on Wednesday. The talk is the relationship has been strained, damaged. Is it broken beyond repair?
BAER: I think it's broken beyond repair.
VAUSE: Why?
BAER: You have the Iranian army is in Syria. We're siding with them in Iraq. The war in Yemen is going badly. And Americans have finally woken up that we had a dependency on cheap oil. You look at Trump and everybody else, they're coming down on the Saudis like I've never seen. The Saudis are looking for ways out.
SESAY: I want to ask you about the 28 redacted pages from the 9/11 report, that are also in play as part of the conversation. They want to say to release them. It's unclear whether the administration will. Do the pages contain the smoking gun, when it comes to 9/11, which is what the families are pinning their hopes on?
BAER: I think there's a smoking gun against the consulate here in Los Angeles. Probably against Prince Bandar, who was ambassador at the time. It's clear that the moment the hijackers got here, the subsidies going to them coming from the embassy went up six-fold. Yeah, you could get some indictments under RICO and get some convictions. But as far as convicting the king and the royal family, no.
VAUSE: It's interesting because Bandar was the guy, three days after 9/11, was smoking cigars with President George W. Bush in the White House, right?
BAER: It looks bad.
VAUSE: It does look bad. And you wrote a book, "Sleeping with the Devil" in 205. And you went through detail with connections, how dependent they were with the Saudis. That was 2005. We're in 2016. Has much changed? Is there that interdependence going on right now?
BAER: I don't think anything has changed.
VAUSE: Is it worse?
BAER: It's worse that Saudi Arabia is more vulnerable and we're not looking for a way out. Saudi Arabia is like the shah in 1978. They're on their last legs. You have the young second crown prince, who is trying to reform the kingdom, but he's frankly too young. Three princes were kidnapped in Europe, Saudi princes, and taken on airplanes back to Saudi Arabia. There's dissent in the country. And the American press is turning against the Saudis like I've never seen. We're in for rough waters.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Thanks, Bob.
SESAY: Bob, thank you.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's much-mocked apology. They were accused of smuggling the pooches into Australia. Now, they are the center of much Twitter mockery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:42:58] SESAY: We're going to bring you that Freedom Project story in a moment.
Let's get you the breaking news we have out of Afghanistan. There's been word of a loud exPLOsion near the U.S. embassy in Kabul about a kilometer away from the embassy. The Afghan prime minister says a number of people have been killed and injured.
VAUSE: An embassy spokesman says the exPLOsion was not far from the compound. There's no claim of responsibility as of yet.
Journalist Sune Engall Rasmussen joins us now from Kabul with more on this.
So, Sune, we're hearing from the president saying a number of people are being killed. He's calling it a terrorist attack. What more can you tell us?
SUNE ENGALL RASMUSSEN, JOURNALIST: Well, we know the attack happened in a crowded area of central Kabul that's home to several government offices and ministries. Also, the entrance of the presidential palace. There's reports of gunfire in the area. But the national security forces have cordoned off the area. And it's difficult for anyone to get close.
We also don't have any clear numbers on casualties. We know that emergency, which is -- they have told Reuters they received 15 wounded. That will be in addition to in town. We don't have clear numbers on injured or killed yet.
SESAY: What's you're sense of the situation at the scene? Is it under control right now? What are you hearing?
RASMUSSEN: Well, like I said, it's difficult to hear anything, to get anything from sources close by because normally, the security forces are very fast in Kabul at securing the area. And to avoid a second blast, for example, in Iraq. It is difficult for journalists to get close. We have heard reports about gun battles. But the situation is more or less under control. And now, they're trying to get a clearer image of what actually happened. But the ministry of interior, which is normally the main source, is not giving out details yet, as is also the case with the presidential palace.
[01:45:18] VAUSE: This comes from last week. The Taliban announce they would begin near the spring offensive when they go on the attack around the country. There's a concern about the resurge of the Taliban. Is there any indication to you just moving around of increased security there by the Afghan national forces?
RASMUSSEN: Well, this announcement of this spring offensive comes every year. But this comes after a winter that's more violent. Secure has been high in Kabul for a while. This is far from the first time that the Taliban, if this is the Taliban, targeting -- or managed to target government offices in central Kabul. This happens on a fairly regular basis. The scale of these attacks seems to be bigger than normal, these casualties, and getting a sense of now. But, yes, the Taliban are able to conduct attacks in the heart of Kabul. They are not able to sustain constant offensive on Kabul. But these pinpoint attacks that they are able to carry out.
VAUSE: Very quickly, Sune, do you know if there was one exPLOsion, two or three blasts? Can you clarify that at this point?
RASMUSSEN: I only heard one blast. I live a couple of kilometers away from the site. I only heard one blast around 9:00 local time.
VAUSE: Great.
Sune, thank you very much.
Sune Engall Rasmussen, joining us via Skype from Kabul.
Giving you some information that is happening in a crowded area, around part of the capitol, where there are government buildings, has been reports of the sound of gunfire. But there's no clear indication of the number of people being killed or hurt. He said at least 15 people have been admitted into a private hospital. But of course, there are concerns there were many killed or wounded, as the result of exPLOsion or maybe more.
SESAY: Maybe more. No claim of responsibility at this point in time. All eyes on the Taliban who, as you made the point a couple of days ago last week, made the announcement that the spring offensive would begin. Many looking at the Taliban to see whether they will step up and claim responsibility for this. Of course, we know the president has been trying to resurrect peace talks with the Taliban. It will be interesting to see what a large-scale attack, what impact.
VAUSE: If it was the Taliban.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: John Kerry was just in town talking about security.
A lot more on this story when we get it. In the meantime, a short break. Back in a moment.
SESAY: Stay with us.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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[01:51:46] VAUSE: The Twitterverse can be a cruel and nasty place at some times. And Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are finding out after an awkward apology.
SESAY: Heard plead guilty to providing a false immigration document after being accused of sneaking the couple's two dogs into Australia last year. But the video of the two that was played in court is what has everybody talking today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMBER HEARD, ACTRESS: Australia's a wonderful island, with a treasure trove of unique plants, animals and people.
JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: It has to be protected.
HEARD: Australia is free of many pests and diseases that are common place around the world. That is why Australia has to have such strong biosecurity laws.
DEPP: And Australians are just as unique, both warm and direct. And you disrespect Australian law, they will tell you firmly.
HEARD: And I am truly sorry that Pistol and Boo were not declared. Protecting Australia is important.
DEPP: Declare everything when you enter Australia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: For more on all this, the managing editor of the "L.A. Business Journal," Sandro Monetti
Good day.
SESAY: Sandro, thank you for having being here.
VAUSE: They say Australians don't get irony. And clearly they don't. The court accepted that as an apology.
SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL: They did. I can't get enough of this video. I've seen it 12 times.
(LAUGHTER) It gets better each time.
VAUSE: It does.
MONETTI: It's as uncomfortable as a hostage video. And it's to incredibly insincere. You notice that Johnny Depp never says I'm sorry at any stage.
VAUSE: He threw his wife under the bus.
SESAY: He doesn't move his face throughout the whole thing. He's frozen.
MONETTI: But when you think about it, the Australian authorities have done great here. This is the perfect way to punish him for a crime. He was in Australia to film "Pirates of the Caribbean" being paid $95 million. If you fine him, that's not going to work. But this is the greatest humiliation. Give him bad lighting and shoot him from under his chin. Have you seen -- they don't shoot you from down there, do they?
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: They know better from that. They know better than that. The Twitterverse is on fire, people likening this to all kinds of things. Ricky Gervais has wonderful tweets.
Let's put them on the screen and share them.
Ricky Gervais wrote this. "The Johnny Depp apology feels like a hostage video," which is what you said earlier on.
VAUSE: Yeah.
Comedian Jenny Johnson tweeted, "Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's forced apology video for smuggling the dogs into Australia looks ransomy."
SESAY: "Buzzfeed" tweeted, "That apology video is the best thing Johnny Depp has done in years."
MONETTI: Yeah. It's probably more entertaining than his last five movies. I'm thinking "Mordecai" and "Transcendence." He's finally made us laugh. Who says he can't do comedy?
VAUSE: There is a theory this has fallen flat. They didn't quite get to the satire.
MONETTI: But we know you can't take your dogs into Australia.
VAUSE: Don't we?
MONETTI: No one knows what Pistol and Boo, the Yorkshire terriers in question, feel about this. But that was an expensive and humiliating mistake.
SESAY: Your people do take these things seriously. [01:55:10] VAUSE: Well, there was a law that was broken. And it did
become a big international incident. But it's now kind of a joke, isn't it?
SESAY: All of the money and everything coming into it.
VAUSE: Who comes out looking better? The Australian government or Johnny Depp?
MONETTI: Certainly not Johnny Depp.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: The dogs.
MONETTI: It will get worse for him. It's breaking in the last few hours that Australian Airlines want to show this before you land.
VAUSE: That will be much more pleasant than the insecticide of spraying down the plane when you arrive. They still do it.
Johnny is never going to live it down.
SESAY: Never going to live it down.
(LAUGHTER)
But listen, Boo and Pistol, whatever they are called -- getting it all wrong.
MONETTI: They're OK. That's all that matters.
VAUSE: Who do you think he was channeling in the video? Do you think -- Willy Wonka, he went after -- Anna Winter or something.
MONETTI: I think he was channeling --
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: That was Michael Jackson.
VAUSE: "The Godfather?"
MONETTI: No, Whitey Bulger, his last character from his last movie, because he had a murderous expression on his face.
And what's worse, to add insult to injury, they made Amber and Johnny pay for that video.
(LAUGHTER)
SESAY: The lovely Australians.
Sandro, thank you so much.
All right. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause.
The news continues next with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett.
Please stay with us. You're watching CNN.
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