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Cab Cruz and Kasich Stop Donald Trump?; Fans and Family Mourn Prince; Interview with Gene Simmons; Previewing the New CNN Series 'United Shades of America'; Vacation to Space; Nigeria's Fight for Its Kidnapped Girls; First Female Rabbi for Orthodox Jews; 'Parts Unknown' Visits the Philippines. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 24, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just fine for him. That's that the campaign is ...
[19:00:01] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: ... saying he can change? What's that all about?
CARROLL: Well, you know, he said -- caution the audience he said careful about changing. It seems like what he's been doing has been working out just fine for him, that's what the campaign is saying about what's his supporters like, Pamela.
They like it when he is non-presidential. They like it when he is off-color. That's what seems to work. And from what we heard today, he doesn't have any plans to change any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the smart pundits said, wait a minute, why would Trump change? I'll change, I'll do whatever. It's so much easier to be presidential because I don't have to use any energy. You know, I can just walk out.
So much easy, you think this is easy? Ranting and raving at ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROL: So you see him there sort of joking about the whole situation. One part that he was not joking about and that's the delegate system. He was still very critical. Still calling it a crooked system and a rigged system lashing out at Ted Cruz basically saying that Ted Cruz is bribing delegates in order to win them over. Despite all of that, Trump looking well in all five states that are up for grabs on Tuesday. Pamela?
BROWN: And it seems like Ted Cruz is really trying hard to make sure Donald Trump doesn't reach that magic 1237 number. But how confident does Donald Trump seem in terms of getting the delegates needed to avoid a floor fight at the convention come July?
CARROLL: Well he does seem fairly -- very confident. I mean in fact, telling the crowd here who showed up that he expects to win and have that magic number of 1237 on the first round.
BROWN: All right Jason Carroll, thank you very much for bringing us the latest there is Hagerstown, Maryland.
And Senator Ted Cruz admits he will not be able to reach that needed number of delegates for the nomination but can he and Kasich win enough to stop Trump and force a contested convention? That is the big question and so was it fair.
Joining me now to discuss, Washington Correspondent for "The New Yorker" Ryan Lizza, the host of the "Buck Sexton Show" and Ted Cruz's reporter Buck Sexton. Both CNN political commentators as well as CNN Politics Reporter Tom Lobianco.
Thank you all three to you, for coming on this show. Donald Trump says outright that the delegate system is rigged. We've been hearing this for weeks now and his son said the same thing this morning on "State of the Union".
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR. SON OF DONALD TRUMP: The fact that the average voter doesn't even know that their vote may not matter or that, you know, their vote matters, but if you don't talk about the delegates, you know, my father could do more wooing than anyone.
He just doesn't want to play the game that way. He doesn't think that's right for the country. Why should a couple of people who are establishment and leaders get to go in beautiful vacations?
So you could actually win the state in a winks [ph] like. And over the 70 something delegates that are there, you only get 17. The other 50 in change, they're up for grabs for whoever bribes them.
I mean, this isn't America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So he's talking there about the Pennsylvania Primary were majority of the delegates are on bound regardless of how the voters decide come Tuesday.
So Buck, to you, does he have a point?
BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITCAL COMMENTATOR: Pennsylvania does have kind of a strange system if you're going to look at it honestly. The fact that no one really knows how those delegates will vote on the first round until the actual convention happens does seem to open up the door pretty wide to criticism.
That said, this is a continuation of an error from a Trump campaign that adds and flows based upon how it turns out for Trump on any given day that the system is what it is. In New York, he got obviously many more in terms of delegates as percentage was much higher than his percentage of the actual vote.
So that's a case where all of a sudden the rules are great and the delegate system is fantastic and it's part of making America great again, I supposed. But when you look at Pennsylvania, when you look at other states where it's not as useful to Trump campaign, you hear this sort of thing. And when they talk about things by the way like stealing and bribery, now they're actually accusing people in some cases of malfeasance or crimes.
I mean this is a little bit beyond the pale, I would hope. But given more it seems from the Trump campaign so far it's really not anything unusual I supposed.
So, yes, you can criticize Pennsylvania but take it up with the state GOP and with the delegates in Pennsylvania. Don't blame the Cruz campaign for actually doing what's necessary to try to turn out their supporters and get it done.
BROWN: And yet, I talked to an uncommitted Republican delegate in Pennsylvania yesterday, asked him if he felt committed to vote for the candidate who won the majority in his state.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALVIN TUCKER, POTENTIAL RNC DELEGATE: That's going to be one input into my decision-making process. I have three things that I look at.
I'm going to look at what the voters say. Secondly, I'm going to talk to the business, political, and civic leadership in the community. And I am talking to all of the candidates and their surrogates about policies.
I have some specific interests in urban policy. And I want to see what each one of them are on those issues and then ultimately I'll make my decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, in other words, Tom, he's basically saying even if one of the candidates has a clean sweep in Pennsylvania, he's not necessarily committed to pledging to that candidate at the convention.
[19:05:11] Is that a common sentiment among these unbound, uncommitted delegates?
TOM LOBIANCO, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, in some cases. You know, North Dakota has, is similar and that you have these unbound delegates. You could call them free agents. A lot of them said they were uncommitted, they didn't want to say who they were supporting, but in a lot of cases, Cruz has locked them up at least this early on, at least on the surface. You know, it's not a little bit of this in Colorado and Wyoming, and when they signed those forms for Cruz at the start of it, that kind of locks them in. Pennsylvania and north Dakota are a little bit different. You know, what's interesting about this and I think this is why you can see the frustration from the Trump campaign here is this is that buffer that trump needs. This goes to that buffer that he needs heading into July, heading into the convention.
If he doesn't get to 1237, let's gets -- let's say he gets 1200 or let's say gets 1150. He needs --he has room to work with, with these free agents to actually kind of push him over the edge, mockingly, some of those republican opponents and so, have said that he should use the art of the deal in this regard.
BROWN: Right, live with that. Right, exactly,
LOBIANCO: But this goes, Pennsylvania is important because of that. That's that buffer that he has to work with. He really needs them.
BROWN: Yeah, you know, I was wondering, Ryan, talking to this unpledged delegate, unbound delegates who claims he's uncommitted. I mean these candidates have been campaigning for, you know, a year now. There's been debate after debate. I mean aren't they really uncommitted or is there's one of the incentive or leverage that they're hoping for by not coming out and throwing their support behind a candidate. And I'm just curious from your reporting and your experience.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I was down in Florida at the RNC spring meeting. So, I was talking to a lot of delegates and I will tell you, I -- too a fault, I was impressed with how serious they all take this process. How they realize that the eyes of world will be on them in Cleveland, if there is an open convention. And as your interview with the gentleman from Pennsylvania suggested he's taking it very seriously. He's not discounting the will of the people in Pennsylvania, but as he -- as a basically in elected representative not much different than a member of the House or a member of the Senate. He's taking all of the issues of his constituents into account when he makes that decision. I think that's sort of what our system is all about in the sort of Republican small or system that's what you want these delegates, these representatives to do.
And, you know, I think the way that Trump talks about this system is as if he woke up yesterday and learned that this -- these were the rules. I mean, these rules were adopted and ratified and made clear to all the campaigns back in early October of 2015. There's no mystery. I mean, I do think he's right and he has shown a light on this sort of strange system that we do use to nominate our presidential candidates, but it's transparent and it's the rules of the road. You understand when you join a party and run for the nomination.
I do think it goes a little too far when he says it's rigged or he sort of questions the legitimacy of what's going on. So far that I've seen and I've been reporting this pretty closely, I'm not seeing any rigging or any illegal on try bribery. And he's right, though, that it's a not purely small the Democratic system and of course he is -- as Buck pointed out he's benefited more than anyone from that because he's won ...
BROWN: Right.
LIZZA: ... 38 percent of the vote but he's won 45 percent of the delegates, so.
BROWN: I mean and of course politically, you know, if loses and he can just say, "Look" that its the system. "It wasn't me, the system is rigged." And if he wins, he can say, "Look I beat the system."
I want to switch gears quickly and talk about the Koch brothers, the billionaires that have run several Republican super PACs. And I want to play you something that Charles Koch said about Hillary Clinton. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: So, is it possible another Clinton could be better than another republican?
CHARLES KOCH, BUSINESSMAN, POLITICAL DONOR: It's possible. Then it's possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You couldn't see yourself supporting Hillary Clinton, could you?
KOCH: Well, that he -- we would have to believe her actions would be quite different than a rhetoric. Let me put it that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: All right. So, Buck, you are a Cruz supporter. What do you make of this? A guy who has given millions of dollars to support Republicans saying that Democrat Hillary Clinton could be a better president.
SEXTON: When he said theoretically, he left the door open and it was hardly a ringing endorsement for Hillary Clinton.
BROWN: It was not a ringing endorsement, but still.
SEXTON: And this is also -- good this is - this is coming from somebody or right, but this is coming from somebody who also is very favorably disposed towards open borders or organizations, think tanks and other places that are for. If not open borders a sort of De facto open border state, legalization of pathway.
[19:10:02] All the things, by the way, that a Trump campaign has been using from the very beginning in order to gain its seemingly unassailable lead and oppose for the GOP. So, it's not surprising that the - this of that Mr. Koch would be in some way open to the idea of the Hillary Clinton presidency because he on the core issue with the Trump campaign about building the wall, about securing borders and about, yes, even the deporting large numbers of people. Mr. Koch has a distinctive difference. So that's not surprising and the establishment, by the way, of the GOP is increasingly, I think, uneasy with the fact that it might be Donald Trump and therefore you're got to have people that say, "Yeah, we'll do anybody, but Trump including perhaps Hillary", which is not helpful to the whole notion of a unified ticket that will be needed after the convention.
BROWN: All right Buck Sexton, we'll leave it there, Ryan Lizza, Tom Lobianco, thank you so much for that.
SEXTON: Thanks, Pam.
LOBIANCO: Thank you.
BROWN: And on Tuesday, voter in five more states head to the polls including the big delegate prize, Pennsylvania, joining us for all-day coverage on Super Tuesday, right here on CNN.
And ahead this hour, looking back at the legacy of the music icon Prince, we'll go live to his home in Paisley Park.
Plus, the music industry has been rocked over his death. What legendary kiss front man Gene Simmons has to say about who he was as a musician and as a man.
And later, is it the ultimate vacation? All space tour is most getting closer to be in reality. You're live and within [ph] Newsroom. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, two places in Minneapolis are purple-colored pilgrimage sites this week ends for music fans. The legendary First Avenue club or Prince first performed Purple Rain.
People gathered there all week end, singing and dancing to the music of the Twin Cities' famous son. And crowds are still gathered outside Prince's home, in recording studio, sharing their grief the best way they know how, by just being there.
CNN's Ryan Young is live at Paisley Park compound. So, what's the mood like there, Ryan?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the mood is people are still coming. I mean honestly, some with smiles in their faces, some with tears in their eyes. You talked about first Avenue, they go in partying until 7:00 a.m. almost every single day since Thursday. So you can see the outpouring of people who just decide to come out of here.
And if you look in this direction, we're going to walk down just to see you how large the crowds are because we thought the rain would stop people from coming, but that did not happen. It's been a steady flow all day long. Even when it was raining very hard, people decided to stay here.
For some people who were standing in the rain.
[19:15:00] And did hear people start singing Purple Rain. So, you understand how they felt, who we met this group of people who decided to come together from all over the country to be here as friends so they can come and commemorate Prince's life.
This -- but first refers to all, you guys have you're -- you've flew in from all different cities. What cities did you guys come from to be here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're from Chicago?
YOUNG: And where else?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Charlotte, North Carolina.
YOUNG: Charlotte, North Carolina
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Chicago.
YOUNG: And Chicago as well, so what made you guys want to come here as a group to be here for Prince?
CATHERINE ROBINSON, PRINCE FAN: Because we come together to see him when he performs and we felt it just appropriate to be together, to pay our homage [ph] to him, to show him our love, just to be together, unite for his music, just to be together to support each other. It just felt appropriate. We have to be here.
YOUNG: And you were actually saying to me that you were at the last show, as well, you went to Atlanta.
CHRISTINA GONZALES, PRINCE FAN: I was. I went to Atlanta with my daughter last minute, and I have no regrets what so ever.
YOUNG: And you actually went to both of the last shows.
GONZALES: Both shows.
YOUNG: What's that like knowing that you saw one of his last shows?
GONZALES: It hurts. I'm grateful that I got to see him. I saw him here when he did his microphone and piano tour. The first show before it was even called a tour and then I saw him in Atlanta, both shows.
YOUNG: Obviously this is amazingly emotional and personal to all three of you. What did Prince mean to your life in just in terms of the music that he performed?
DIANA RIVERA, PRINCE FAN: His music, he is incredible, the leader. My kids, you know, they love Prince, and just to see them, they are hurting also, you know?
YOUNG: I'll leave you guys with this last question because I mean a lot of people might not understand how large this is, when you see all of these people who are showing up here, how has that been for you guys to see it?
RIVERA: Its love, its love is unbelievable. It is love and they're feeling the same thing that we're feeling.
YOUNG: Thank you guys so much for sharing that with us. So as you can see as we walk to this direction so many people have stories where they wanted to come out here and they wanted to experience this for themselves.
They called each other as soon as they found that out and they decided to get on a plane. We talked to the guy from Japan today, a guy from Australia they all wanted to do that. Just the back gate was the focus yesterday, Pamela, you remember us standing here when the private memorial service was going and we saw those family members and band members coming out here.
Today it's been pretty quiet, in fact the sheriff's office told us today they'll be opening this road back up tomorrow to normal traffic, so some of this will change. Some of these people who are standing in the middle of the street won't be able to do that. We're not sure what's going to happen to the, fence here. We believe they're going to leave that alone for now, but we do know traffic will resume tomorrow but you can feel the emotions from people here as they talk about Prince.
BROWN: Yeah, I mean. The woman you talked to who've got teared up just talking about him and his legacy and so many people here paying tribute. Ryan young, thank you so much for that.
And musicians from every genre, jazz and classical, even country, they're telling us about the mastery of Prince's arts and the huge void left by his death.
Up next, one of America's hardest rockers tells me about the time he was floored watching Prince on stage for the first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:38] BROWN: Well a little while ago, I talked to Kiss Co-founder Gene Simmons about the time he met Prince backstage. It was right before Prince really made it big.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GENE SIMMONS, KISS BASSIST & VOCALIST: It was the early '80s. It was the beginning of his career. At the time I was with Diana Ross, so I told her let's go check this guy out, you're going to flip out. So we went to a small club in New York, maybe, 400 people.
We were just floored. We went backstage just to say a few hellos and I will tell you that the same person who was on stage who dominated everything, huge personality and charisma, backstage was shy, unassuming, no ego, could not look Diana in the face when she was talking to him.
Spoke very -- I mean, this is a guy who didn't live in London, New York or -- he lived in Minneapolis and stayed true to who he is all of the way until, unfortunately, his passing. Very few -- very few people know who Prince really was off stage. A very private shy man.
I got to see him a little bit off stage, but I can't really say I knew him all that well. I don't know that many people did. All of the way to the end, he was a very private person
Again, lived in Minneapolis from the beginning until the end and one more thing that I want to say about his humanism, that very few people know that during his concert tours he asked his fans if you bought tickets to a Prince concert, I want you to bring canned goods and contribute to those less advantaged.
Come on, that's cooler than any rock star that gets up on stage and says look at me, look at me.
BROWN: Yeah.
SIMMONS : This is a unique guy, and it would be a crime if the next generation of 14 year olds don't look up and say, you know what? That's who I've got to emulate instead of the modern sort of pop artists who have producers and back events, remember, it's the guy who wrote, produced, arranged, engineered, did it all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: My thanks to Gene Simmons. And the KISS front man isn't the only celebrity paying tribute to Prince. Others are pouring in from people who felt the electrifying touch of his music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVIE WODNER, AMERICAN MUSICIAN: It's a heartbreak to lose a member of that army of love.
VOICE OF DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: That's a loss. That's a major, major loss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a shock. It's a real blow to the family of music.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What could we have done what happened?
VOICE OF ARETHNA FRANKLIN, SINGER: I'm at a loss for words.
VOICE OF LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: This is really sad and the world is mourning an incredible artist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a genius. We've lost such a genius.
ALAN LIGHT, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: On a stage, there was nobody who could compete with what Prince could do.
JON PARELES, MUSIC CRITIC, NEW YORK TIMES: Every iota of his life force was in making music and he just poured it out. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't make music. He didn't do music. Music was just part of who he was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can pick up any instrument and play it, but play it better than you do.
ZENA BURNS, FORMER MUSIC INSUDTRY EXECUTIVE: He truly is one of the greatest guitar players of all time.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, JOURNALIST: When I think about Prince, I think about liberation. He wanted to speak out as an artist. He was like a special effect. He was a beautiful mystery.
"DOWNTOWN"JULIE BROWN, FORMER MTV DJ: He wasn't bound by time or race or gender or space.
[19:25:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was such an undeniable force because he didn't really have a color.
WONDER: I just hope that we celebrate his music and celebrate his purpose.
JONES: The world needs to know that it wasn't just the music. The music was one way he tried to help the world, but he was helping every single day of his life.
WONDER: I'm just glad that I was able to say to him, "I love you", the last time I saw him.
WARWICK: I think the big and the sky that we call God, I think he's putting together the most spectacular event that will ever, ever happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for all of the Prince love.
BRIWN: Such a legend. Well after this break, police in Ohio continue their man hunt after eight people were killed at four separate crime scenes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We'll begin with the breaking news on the urgent man hunt under way right now in Ohio. Ohio's attorney and generals now saying marijuana grow operations were found at three of the four locations where eight members of the same fami1y were found killed.
And CNN has obtained photos of four of the victims. Hannah Rhoden was just 19 years old. Clarence Frankie Rhoden was 20 years old and there was also Dana Rhoden. She was 37 years old and Christopher Rhoden Jr., was just 15 years old.
Authorities say the execution-style killings were preplanned and that they've told surviving family members to use caution and, quote "be armed".
CNN'S Nick Valencia has been following the investigation in Pike County.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We now have a potential clue in the investigation with the attorney general here in Ohio, Mike Dewine, the local sherif in Pike County announcing that marijuana grow operations were found at three of the four crime scenes where the eight members of the Rhoden family were shot in the head execution style.
Now that is fueled speculation here by many residents that these murders could have been drug related.
[19:30:00] Although officials did not make that connection, they did, however, say that they received more than 100 tips and interviewed between 50 and 60 people. They've also gathered 18 pieces of crucial evidence, some of which is being tested by DNA.
We have been talking to members of this community and they say that they are fearful. The local sheriff here tried to put some of those fears at ease saying that this was a pre-planned execution, a sophisticated operation specifically targeting the Rhoden family.
We have caught up with friends and family of the Rhodens. The best friend of Dana Rhoden and we asked her directly if they had any connection to drugs or that a nefarious underworld. All she was telling us -- all she was willing to tell us, I should say, is that everyone has skeletons in the closet, including the Rhodens but that overall, they were good people. There is still no official motive, no suspect or suspects. A lot of people here in this community are still very fearful that they could be targeted next.
BROWN: Nick Valencia, thank you for that. And by the way, we just learned the marijuana discovery in the homicide investigation of the eight people in Pike County was not for personal use and this was a quote, it says, "This operation was not for personal use. It was something -- for something much bigger than that." That's according to an official with knowledge of the operation who also says it was a very sophisticated operation and the source also adding that the killings happened before dawn. We will continue to follow that story in Piketon, Ohio.
Meantime, President Obama saying she is on the right side of history. That's what he said about German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding her stands on allowing refugees into Germany.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I want to once again commend Angela for her courageous leadership as Germany and Europe respond to migrants who were desperately fleeing the Syrian conflict and conflicts elsewhere in the region. Perhaps because she once lived behind a wall herself, Angela understands the aspirations of those who have been denied their freedom and who seek a better life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Mr. Obama is in the European nation at least partly to drum up support for a free trade accord that he says could bring billions of dollars to both countries. But some Germans aren't so happy with this agreement. They say the partnership would take away jobs from their country. And as you see right here, they took to the streets to protest.
Well, straight ahead in the newsroom, CNN's news series is putting its host in some uncomfortable situations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": This guy said he was coming alone. Why did I believe him? Camera crew or not, this seems like a bad idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: A rare inside look at the KKK in America. A preview of CNN's "United Shades of America" with W. Kamau Bell is next. You won't want to miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:48] BROWN: Well, CNN's new original series "United Shades of America" takes a look at the U.S. through an unexpected lens. And in the first episode tonight, host W. Kamau Bell has a clandestine meeting with the leader Ku Klux Klan leader in Arkansas. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: All right, there's a car with the headlights on. If that's him, he'll blink his headlights. One, two.
Let's go.
This guy said he was coming alone. Why did I believe him? Camera crew or not, this seems like a bad idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, before we start anything, you hear, my voice is going to be disguised, right?
BELL: Absolutely.
UNITEDIFIIED MALE: Then, I'm going to let you know, I'm the Imperial Wizard of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
BELL: Imperial Wizard of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir, I'm the president of the organization.
BELL: You're the president? First of all, thanks for meeting with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAKE: OK.
BELL: I guess my first question is Klan, historically, as I'm sure you know has been a group associated with violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not associated with violence.
BELL: I know, but I'm saying historically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're out to look at the Klan in the 21st century.
BELL: Don't you think that by wearing the same robes that you're -- that it's hard to separate those two different Klans? Like...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have an opportunity to wear a Klansman's robe. Why? Because I'm white and I believe in the ideals, rituals and beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan. I was raised that way. This is always going to be Klan regalia.
BELL: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And I asked Kamau just how this meeting came about. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: As a black man in America, I have always been curious about the Klan. I've done a lot of research, watched a lot of documentaries so I wasn't surprised by the things he said, I was just aware of the moment. It felt different than reading about it in a book or seeing it in a movie.
And it was set up by all the Klan groups in the country. We have websites and Facebook pages and social media. And so, the producer reached out to a lot of them and three of them were interested in us sitting down and meeting with them.
BROWN: And what's it like? I mean, take us inside, what it's like to be a member of the KKK in 2016, what has changed over the last several years and what hasn't changed?
BELL: Well, I mean, you know, let's be straight. The KKK is one of America's homegrown terrorist groups from back in the end of the Civil War until the modern day. But the new Klan, as they call themselves, says that they don't hate black people, they just really love white people. And they say they don't advocate violence. They just want to celebrate white supremacy. But that, of course, leads to the idea of having a whites-only country. They believe America was founded as a whites-only country which we all know that that's not true because we know how history works. But they believe that this is a white country.
BROWN: And you've studied the Klan obviously over the years. You were interested in them but did anything surprise you about the Klan just from doing the series? BELL: You know, we went to a cross burning and we were there for about three or four hours because we had to wait for it to get dark. And they definitely were trying to intimidate me a little bit at first. But after we were there for a while, it was a hot day in Kentucky and while we weren't filming, they would take their hoods off and it was just eventually about guys outside talking about the heat.
And that's what I think a lot of the show is about. It's about you can feel however you want to feel about me, you can hate, you can dislike me but we still should be grooving for each other's humanity. I should be able to live my life. You should be able to live yours.
And so, I think we got to some of those moments in the show and we'll see. It doesn't mean that they like me anymore or that I like them or agree with them but this is a big country that we're all in here together and we have to figure out a way to live together.
BROWN: And you have said that humor plays a big role in "United Shades of America." Why is that important in this context?
BELL: Humor is the best way to communicate anything. You can talk to somebody and they can just nod their head and you think they're listening but you don't know if they're listening. If people are laughing, you know they're paying attention. So every time I got the Klan to laugh, I knew they were paying attention and I also know they were hearing me.
And I also think about laughter as powerful, you know, it's a weapon because if you can get somebody to laugh at you, people don't generally kill you while they're laughing at the things you say. So I think that it's, you know, it's sort of helps blunts the myth of white supremacy that they believe in.
[19:40:09] BROWN: And tell us about some of these other episodes are about.
BELL: Well, yes. I'm excited to get past the Klan episode. My Twitter timeline is blowing up and I'm fighting all day.
So, we have an episode next week, it's in San Quentin about a life is in prison. And then we have an episode after that where we'll be in Portland, Oregon talking about hipsters and gentrification. And then we're just going to go to Alaska at some point and hang out in Alaska and see what's that's like, and that's a much less contentious episode.
BROWN: I would say Alaska, who didn't want to go there? Kamau Bell, thank you very much for that.
And you won't want to miss this new CNN original series "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA." The premiere is tonight 10:00 Eastern in Pacific only on CNN.
And coming up, pack your bags. It's a vacation to space?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What are these systems going to be used for? I mean, is this a space hotel? Is this going to be a space station?
ROBERT BIGELOW, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER: What we're doing is trying to create a sort of generic facility, a habitat. We want to be able to entertain entities, companies, space agencies.
CRANE: What you're describing sounds like a landlord.
BIGELOW: It is. It basically is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now, how much 60 days in space will cost you? You're watching CNN. We'll be right back.
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BROWN: Well, have you ever dreamed of traveling into space and maybe hanging out for a while? One real estate developer has set his sights on a space hotel that would actually float high above the earth much like the International Space Station. And get this, he says it could be ready for visitors as early as 2018.
CNN's Rachel Crane shows us how this would work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: Space hotels, they're not something of science fiction anymore. I mean, you're saying in 2018.
[19:45:02] BIGELOW: Not really. No, not really. Theoretically, it could be done as early as that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: Meet Robert Bigelow, a real estate developer who made his fortune building a chain of low-cost motels. Now he's looking to grow his real estate empire off earth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: I mean to imagine floating around in here, do you envision tourists also inhabiting these?
BIGELOW: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: He believes his company Bigelow Aerospace may have the solution to our space housing problem, expandable habitats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CRANE: All of this at one point when it's first launched is going to be compacted into a really small space and then expanding into this massive structure.
BIGELOW: Right. So, it's squeezing a core and then expansion takes place around that core, and now you have the shape of your spacecraft.
CRANE: How does this thing actually expand once it's launched into space?
BIGELOW: We just pump in gas. And then...
CRANE: What kind of gas?
BIGELOW: Nitrogen and oxygen.
CRANE: Because these habitats start out deflated and small, it makes them easier and cheaper to launch than metal structures.
BIGELOW: The new alternatives for the ISS have run into several billions of dollars to produce a habitat and four or five years of construction.
CRANE: You can do it faster and cheaper, you say?
BIGELOW: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: It's not just cheaper. He says the 18-inch walls of his habitats will better protect us from space debris and radiation. Once it expands, the B-330 prototype has the same volume as a small three- bedroom house and their largest model, the Olympus, is twice the size of the International Space Station.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: What are these systems going to be used for? I mean, is this is a space hotel? Is this going to be a space station?
BIGELOW: What we're doing is trying to create a sort of a generic facility, a habitat. We want to be able to entertain entities, companies, space agencies.
CRANE: What you're describing sounds like a landlord.
BIGELOW: It is. It basically is.
CRANE: And the going rate to lease 110 cubic meters of volume for 60 days? $25 million. That may sound pricey, but that's still a fraction of what it costs now and that's because there are only two habitable locations off earth, the International Space Station and China Space Station.
BIGELOW: Up to now, this place is characterized mostly by nations being able to only be the ones to do various kinds of things. And it's been prohibitively expensive. We're trying to attack both of those things.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: Bigelow isn't the only one trying to make space more accessible. He's part of a new clan of wealthy businessmen turned space entrepreneurs, but unlike other tech-savvy moguls, he's surprisingly old-fashioned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: Do you use a laptop?
BIGELOW: No.
CRANE: Do you use e-mail?
BIGELOW: No, I don't. I don't want to bother with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: His fascination with space started as a young boy growing up in Nevada, and hearing about his grandparent's encounter with a UFO.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIGELOW: After hearing that story a few times, I realized there was a tremendous amount of things that we didn't know.
CRANE: When you are talking about things that we didn't know much about, are you talking about alien activity?
BIGELOW: Absolutely, yes.
CRANE: Do you believe in aliens?
BIGELOW: If you really bother to do the in-depth research, you come away with unequivocally that that is the only answer for all of the various kinds of events that occur to people at very close range.
CRANE: And it's that belief in the impossible that drove Bigelow to pursue his design. Because the technology behind his inflatables is something NASA started toying with in the '60s. They dropped the idea because the materials they were using weren't strong enough.
BIGELOW: We're trying to size their ecosystems for six people as a max.
CRANE: But Bigelow saw promise. He licensed the technology from NASA in the '90s and started his aerospace company.
CRANE: You've sunk about $200 million of your own money into this.
BIGELOW: Actually 275 but who's counting?
CRANE: Why sink all this money into this seemingly impossible task? BIGELOW: We don't think it's impossible, that's the first problem (ph) is that -- because if we did, we wouldn't attempt it. We just think it's difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: This isn't just an idea. His company has already sent two prototypes into orbit, and they have a contract with NASA to test one of its habitats on the ISS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIGELOW: We're addicted to that direction of space and doing whatever we can.
CRANE: To get us there.
BIGELOW: Yeah.
CRANE: And keep us there?
BIGELOW: Yes, right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CRANE: Now, one of Bigelow Aerospace's modules was just attached to the International Space Station last week, meaning the International Space Station just got bigger. It just got another room. And that room was launched in just one launch which is absolutely incredible.
Now, this thing hasn't been inflated yet and that won't happen for about another month, but once it is, astronauts will go inside once every couple of months for two years to test things like the structural integrity of the module, the temperature, radiation production. I mean how well does this thing actually withstand space debris? A very important thinking in a module on space, you don't want a little micro-meteorite traveling at 17,000 miles per hour to puncture the structure especially if there are people inside.
[19:50:07] Now, Bigelow has grand ambitions for his company and his modules. He even spoke to me about hopefully one day putting one of these modules on the moon. Hopefully we'll be able to get a reservation at that space hotel. Pamela.
BROWN: We'll have to wait and see. Interesting stuff. Rachel Crane, thank you for that and coming up, it was a title no woman held until now.
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LILA KAGEDAN, FIRST WOMAN ORTHODOX RABII: And I said, "I want to be a rabbi." And she said, "That's really not a good job for a nice Jewish girl."
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BROWN: Meet the female Rabbi breaking barriers in the Orthodox community. Her remarkable story up next.
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BROWN: It is the third night of the Jewish holiday of Passover and in that spirit, we want to introduce you to the very first woman to hold a title of Rabbi for an Orthodox Jewish congregation. Here's her story in this week's "American Opportunity."
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KAGEDAN: My name is Rabbi Lila Kagedan and I'm the first woman hold the title Rabbi to serve in an orthodox synagogue.
I have been dreaming about being a rabbi my entire life. When I was a little girl growing up in Montreal, Canada, my paternal grandmother, my bubby asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said, "I want to be a rabbi." And she said "that's really not a good job for nice Jewish girl.
Orthodox communities are used to a certain aesthetic. They're used to seeing a male rabbi on the bima (ph) at the pulpit. A rabbi is a spiritual leader. A rabbi is a teacher.
[19:55:06] I grew up in an Orthodox home. My father was my greatest teacher. His message to me was to focus on my education and that opportunities would hopefully present themselves if I was ready to accept them.
I wasn't sure what community would hire me. While I do feel very well-equipped to serve a community, there was some hesitation, maybe even some risks involved.
I think that we don't have the luxury in Judaism of passing up any talented, thoughtful, caring, sensitive leaders who are capable. There's 50 percent of the Jewish community who should have the opportunity to serve. There is really very little in rabbinic literature, Biblical literature that suggests that women cannot enter into religious leadership.
I had always been considering the title, the title of rabbi. I didn't want to walk into a room or a space and have there be any ambiguity of what it is that I was there to do, what my training was, what my skill set was. I think putting women in leadership positions ensures that we will maintain tradition.
We are in 2016, but misogyny is alive and well. We are really on the cusp of certain progress that we have to advocate for ourselves and advocate for our needs as women. Women have to find support where they can so that they don't give up. In some ways, women have to look at themselves in the mirror every morning knowing that what they're about to do is going to be very difficult and very challenging, but they're going to do it anyway. They're going to do it because of their call and their drive and because they are the best person for that position.
BROWN: And in addition to serving as a rabbi, she also works as a medical ethicist and chaplain.
I want to tell you about a brand new series of investigations kicking off on CNN's "NEW DAY" tomorrow morning. Right on the heels of her groundbreaking reporting on the girls kidnapped by the terror group Boko Haram, our Nima Elbagir follows the story of how the Nigerian government is slowly gaining ground and its fight against the terror group.
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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two years ago when we visited Chibok after the mass abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls. Parents described to us how they followed the trail of their daughters to the front gates, to the entry point of the Sambisa Forest and were unable to move any further. This is the Sambisa.
The Nigerian government has been able to start clawing back territory here from Boko Haram, but the Sambisa fortress, the territory right in the center, that is still where they're moving towards.
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BROWN: You won't want to miss this exclusive report tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern on "New Day" only on CNN.
And tonight on CNN, Anthony Bourdain is back with all-new episodes of "PARTS UNKNOWN" and here is a sneak peek of tonight's premier, the Philippines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, "PARTS UNKNOWN" HOST: Name of the band is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keystone.
BOURDAIN: Keystone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOURDAIN: How long have you been playing together?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five years.
BOURDAIN: Five years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys here we go. Adobo is in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOURDAIN: Looking pretty. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: As one does, I dragooned the band Keystone in a lunch assuming correctly as it turned out that one of these young punks would know how to make a good adobo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: Is there a good authentic adobo recipe or does everybody do it differently?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone would stay claim to having the best adobo but the ingredients I think will remain the same.
So, it's garlic, pork. We can now add the chicken, vinegar, peppercorns, bay leaf, soy sauce.
BOURDAIN: This adobo is amazing. I mean this is really, really good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh man, thank you. Thank you.
BOURDAIN: Delicious. Where did you learn to cook adobo?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I learned this from my mom.
BOURDAIN: So, the answer as always to who makes the best adobo is mom makes it.
(CROSSTALK)
BOURDAIN: Little bit of life feeding people--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes?
BOURDAIN: What else do Filipinos like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Filipinos are hospitable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody knows how to sing. They don't necessarily have to be in tune but if they want to sing, they like to sing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been listening to music from a very young age.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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BROWN: That's on the 9:00 Eastern then at 10:00, a new CNN original series, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA." The premiere is tonight. I'm Pamela Brown. Have a great week.
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