Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Becomes GOP's Presumptive Nominee; Alberta Wildfire Forces Thousands to Evacuate; North Korea to Hold First Party Congress in 36 Years; Traveling with Russians Troops Inside Syria; Aired Drug Expert's Son Was On "Life-Saving Mission"; Holocaust Survivors Finally Have Their Bar Mitzvahs; Artist Says Trump Supporter Attacked Her Near Home; Experience The Earth Like Never Before. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 05, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour Donald Trump now the last man standing in the race for the Republican nomination. His next target, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

SESAY: Plus the out-of-control wildfire ripping through Alberta, Canada. An entire city, more than 80,000 people have been forced to pack up and leave their homes.

VAUSE: Also ahead we're learning those close to Prince sought urgent medical help for the pop legend just one day before he died.

SESAY: Hello, and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.

SESAY: There is nothing blocking Donald Trump from the U.S. Republican presidential nomination so his focus is shifting to the general election.

VAUSE: He plans to hire a bigger staff and start working with the Republican National Committee according to some sources.

Jim Acosta reports names are already surfacing as potential running mates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is the last man standing.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a beautiful thing to watch and a beautiful thing to behold. And we're going to make America great again.

ACOSTA: After a convincing win in Indiana, Trump's road to the White House just got a lot less congested. With John Kasich dropping out of the race.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life.

ACOSTA: The sudden departures of Kasich and Ted Cruz --

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We gave it everything we've got.

ACOSTA: Now present a new challenge for Trump. To unite a Republican Party that is deeply divided. A task made more difficult by the presumptive GOP nominee, who angered many in the party when he speculated that Cruz's father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. An outrageous and unsubstantiated claim ripped right out of the "National Enquirer." Trump still not offering an apology.

WOLF BLITZER CNN ANCHOR: You don't believe that conspiracy?

TRUMP: Of course I don't believe that. I wouldn't believe it but I did say, let people read it.

ACOSTA: A key Trump adviser conceded Cruz will likely need some space before he speaks with the real estate tycoon.

BARRY BENNETT, SENIOR POLITICAL ADVISER, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Certainly not going to be today. But, you know, we've just got to move past the primary, in the heat of battle people say things on all sides.

ACOSTA: Moving on, Trump has begun looking for a vice presidential running mate. A Trump source tells CNN Ohio Senator Rob Portman, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are the early favorites inside the campaign. As they'd be on anybody's short list. Trump's daughter Ivanka is expected to offer her input on the process, which is in its early stages.

But all three potential running mates mentioned, Martinez, Portman and Haley, say they're not interested. But the South Carolina governor adding in a statement, "My plate is full." Still, Trump wants to pick a politician, telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Kasich is also on his list.

TRUMP: I would be interested in vetting John. I like John. I've had a good relationship with John. I've gotten along with him well.

ACOSTA: Trump is boldly predicting he will beat Hillary Clinton in traditionally Democratic strongholds like New York. But he won't have the support of the anti-Trump "New York Daily News," which welcomed his victory with a picture of an elephant in a coffin.

RNC chairman Reince Priebus told CNN Trump will actually help the GOP.

REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: You know what, I think something different and something new is probably good for our party. ACOSTA (on camera): Trump is still planning to campaign in the states

that are holding primaries in the coming weeks to focus his attention on Hillary Clinton. And team Trump is enjoying the fact that he's driven off his rivals before Clinton has. As one Trump surrogate put it, who would have thought that we would have a nominee before the Democrats?

Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, joining us now Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson. He is a campaign consultant with Shellman Communications.

VAUSE: And Clint Arthur, a Trump supporter and a leadership and performance expert. Who better to talk about Donald Trump than a leadership and performance expert?

Clint, why doesn't anyone want to be Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate?

CLINT ARTHUR, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: They say they don't want to be his vice presidential running mate. But let's see what they say when he asks someone to be their running mate. He's a very persuasive person. And when he turns on the charm, like when I met him he was so charming to me and my wife. It's a very different perspective than what he's putting out on the news. He's posing as a tough guy and a mean person because he knows he's going to have to deal with all kinds of bullies and thugs in the international political world. But in person he's very, very persuasive and charming.

SESAY: Interesting that you say he'll have to deal with bullies and thugs. Most people say he is the bully.

ARTHUR: He is. He's being very tough. He's projecting an image that he wants to put out there into the world. But when you meet him in person, let's see you say no to Donald Trump. It won't happen.

[01:05:02] VAUSE: Dave, what are the potential problems here for someone teaming up with Donald Trump, you know, if they were to have a political future?

DAVID JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right. I mean, well, that's part of why Ted Cruz got out of the race. Right? He thinks that -- you know, he saw the writing on the wall. This thing's just all falling apart and Donald Trump is poised to lose. His unfavorables are too high. He's -- it's too much at this point for him to catch up to Hillary Clinton. At least that's Ted Cruz's perception I think at this point.

Look, the reality is it's unprecedented for a candidate to have candidates for VP turn them down at this point. But look, I think candidates like John Kasich stayed in the race so long because they were running for VP or at least a Cabinet position at this point.

VAUSE: Right. JACOBSON: I think it'd be really smart for Donald Trump to pick

someone like Robert Gates because one of his biggest issues is he's sort of -- he's erratic when it comes to foreign policy. He's all over the map. You know, he says -- you know, nations shouldn't have nukes but then South Korea and Japan and Saudi Arabia should have nukes. You know, we need to protect our allies but I'm going to pull out of NATO. I think he needs someone who's going to be sort of be a steady hand on the foreign policy front and Robert Gates would be good candidate for that.

SESAY: But he's got Ben Carson and Chris Christie as part of the efforts to finding him someone. What do you make of that?

ARTHUR: Chris -- Governor Christie has a lot of experience in this realm. And he's a good adviser. Ultimately when it comes down to it Donald Trump's going to make up Donald Trump's mind.

SESAY: Or Christie may put himself forward to be VP.

ARTHUR: Like the --

VAUSE: Like Dick Cheney. Yes.

SESAY: Like Dick Cheney.

VAUSE: OK. We've got a presumptive nominee on the Republican side. Donald Trump. You know, talk be presidential? Wolf Blitzer asked him that today. Will he change his tactics? Will he tone it down? Nope. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would say yes. I mean, and again, a lot's going to depend on how they treat me. I mean, if they treat me in a certain level, I'm not looking to do more -- you know, you've seen I'm a counterpuncher more than anything else. I don't like -- I don't really like hitting people first because I don't know how -- I guess I've always felt that I'm better, like certain boxers, they're better counterpunchers. I've been very successful. I've only been doing it for 10 months, Wolf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So in other words, what he did in the primaries he's going to do in the general election. But Clint, could that turn off a lot of voters who aren't Republicans that he's going to need come the general election?

ARTHUR: He's got more voters that have ever voted for a Republican in a long, long, long, long time. He's doing great, and I think the Donald Trump show will continue to steamroll its way as the ratings megabuster of all time. And that's what we're going to keep seeing.

SESAY: Dave, take a listen to what Hillary Clinton said to our own Anderson Cooper earlier on today when she was asked essentially is she was ready for Trump-style politics and this kind of election campaign. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he wants to go back to the playbook of the 1990s, if he wants to follow in the footsteps of those who have tried to knock me down and take me out of the political arena, I'm more than happy to have him do that.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You're ready for that?

CLINTON: Oh, please. I mean, look. This is to me a classic case of a blustering, bullying guy who has knocked out of the way all the Republicans because they were just dumfounded. They didn't know how to deal with him. And they couldn't take him on on the issues because they basically agreed with him. And they didn't know how to counterpunch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Is she going to be able to stay on the issues or essentially just be dragged into the mud with Donald Trump? Some would say he's already dragging her there.

JACOBSON: Yes, I mean, look, they've been combating each other for months now at this point. I mean, the general election started after New York essentially. Right? Look, the reality is I think she understands that her unfavorables are high. So are his. Hers are better than his. But I think she understands that she's got to take the gloves off. I think frankly she's going to be embracing sort of the 2012 Barack Obama playbook where he sort of went in -- oh, boy. What is that?

SESAY: What is that? Please show that to our viewers.

ARTHUR: It's the hot sauce. I mean, she's going to say whatever she needs to say to get voters to vote for her.

VAUSE: We've got props.

ARTHUR: And one day it's going to be hot sauce. And she said it on TMZ the other day.

SESAY: She was on a radio show, and she --

ARTHUR: Right.

VAUSE: You've got to explain this here.

SESAY: Which was a radio show for an African-American audience essentially. And she said to --

ARTHUR: She said she has hot sauce in her purse.

SESAY: She did.

ARTHUR: Like the Beyonce song. OK. So show me the hot sauce. How come she doesn't pull it out?

SESAY: I have to say, it has been reported for a long time that Hillary Clinton has an affinity for spice --

ARTHUR: Great, great. She said she's got it in the purse. What, she doesn't have the purse with her? Show me the sauce, Hillary.

JACOBSON: See, the gloves are already off.

SESAY: We're already rolling in the mud.

JACOBSON: That's right.

SESAY: Already in the mud.

JACOBSON: The mudslinging has begun.

VAUSE: OK.

ARTHUR: No, it's sauce slinging. It's different than mud. I mean, it's just -- look, she just is going to say anything to get voters to vote for her.

VAUSE: And there is that dissention, Dave. I mean, all jokes aside, there is a perception that, you know, she's not genuine, that she's just, you know, focus group tested and poll driven, and she chooses her words like a lawyer all the time.

JACOBSON: Right. And she's going to paint the picture that Donald Trump is a risky bet.

[01:10:02] I think the reality is there's no way that she's going to get out of her comfort zone when it comes to being sort of calculating and cautious. That's just who she is. She says she's not a natural politician. But I think it's incumbent upon her as a candidate against Donald Trump to sort of drive home the message that he's a risky bet, he doesn't have the experience, and is he in it or himself or is he in if for the American people?

ARTHUR: He is so not in it for himself.

VAUSE: OK.

ARTHUR: I mean, he doesn't need this.

VAUSE: OK. We want to get to the -- this new ad which Hillary Clinton's people put out. It's sort of an indication of what we can expect in this campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I am a unifier. We're going to be a unified party.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: He's a con artist.

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A phony. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is the know-nothing candidate.

CRUZ: Donald is a bully.

ROMNEY: This is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter.

TRUMP: I don't remember.

ROMNEY: Who attributed a reporter's questions to her menstrual cycle.

TRUMP: Blood coming out of her wherever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.

CARLY FIORINA (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The man who seems to only feel big when he's trying to make other people look small.

TRUMP: Don't worry about it, little Marco.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, Clint, your reaction and then Dave to follow.

ARTHUR: People know that people say not nice things about Donald Trump because he's beating them in the polls. People see through these Trumped-up commercials by the opponents. And they recognize it for what it is. The American public has a very attuned B.S. meter and they can see that this is just political muckraking.

SESAY: They are using his own words against him, though. Dave?

JACOBSON: I mean, look, where the other 17 Republicans failed in the primary was they didn't attack Donald Trump early enough in the race. And I think Hillary Clinton understands fundamentally, I was saying this earlier, she's got to embrace the 2012 playbook that Barack Obama did against Mitt Romney, sort of drive home the message like Barack did against Mitt Romney with Bain Capital, that he's in it for himself, he's in it for his big wealthy donors.

I mean, the reality she's got to sort of paint the picture that this guy can't be trusted. He's in it for himself, not the American people. And she's the one who's sort of going to bring the pragmatic experience that we need to solve problems and get things done in Washington.

VAUSE: And with that, thank you, guys. Leave the hot sauce. I'll take it.

(LAUGHTER)

ARTHUR: Amen.

SESAY: He's going to carry it in his handbag.

VAUSE: That's right. ARTHUR: Show me the sauce, Hillary.

SESAY: Clint Arthur, Dave Jacobson, always a pleasure. Thank you.

VAUSE: OK. We have more U.S. politics ahead here in NEWSROOM L.A. including an unflattering portrait of Donald Trump which may have led to the young artist behind it into a whole lot of trouble.

SESAY: Coming up in our next half hour we'll speak live with Ilma Gore about why she believes that drawing made her the target of an assault.

VAUSE: Strong gusting winds making it hard for firefighters in Canada as they battle a huge wildfire which has put the province of Alberta under a state of emergency.

SESAY: Flames are tearing through communities and authorities are telling thousands of people to get to safety.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Big flames tower over residential area in Alberta, Canada. Instead of welcoming people to Fort McMurray, authorities are scrambling to evacuate the city's 80,000 residents. The uncontrolled wildfire has already consumed some 10,000 hectares of lands, businesses and homes.

JOANNE BATES, FORT MCMURRAY RESIDENT: While it's a disaster and I find that it's not fair, they didn't even let us take our things and when we ask so we lost everything there.

GRAY: It's the largest fire-related evacuation in Alberta's history. At least one suburb is believed to be 80 percent destroyed, consumed by flames.

DARBY ALLEN, WOOD BUFFALO REGIONAL FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF: It's been the worst day of my career. And I am -- you know, the whole -- the people here are devastated, everyone is devastated, the community is going to be devastated. This is going to go on. This is going to take us a while to come back from.

GRAY: The blaze began Sunday, fuelled by high temperatures and winds. It quickly became an inferno. More than 100 firefighters and emergency workers are working to contain the fire. But weather conditions making it upheld battle.

SCOTT LONG, ALBERTA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Bad news does not get better with time. It's based on the wild fire reports, the conditions and we don't want that to happen, obviously we're working towards that, preventing that but it is a possibility that we may lose a large portion of the town.

GRAY: It's too soon to know the full financial impact the fire will have on the community and the government. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his support.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I want you to know that our government and all Canadians will stand by you and support you now and when it is time to rebuild.

GRAY: Support that will likely be needed for months to come.

Jennifer Gray, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Let's go to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with more on these wildfires. So what's the forecast in the days ahead? What are they looking at?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's improving dramatically, and unfortunately it's short-lived.

[01:15:02] That's the concern, guys, when you look at what we have in store here. And the images here just remarkable when you see the perspective of folks trying to evacuate within the flames that are surrounding the community and the broad perspective of the thermal signature of some of these fires really shows you why this is such a major, major story on our newscast.

And you take a look at the perspective. There's the town right there. Notice the thermal signature literally encompasses the entire town. So any which direction you travel you're going to be encountering fire, smoke, and that is precisely why this has been such a concern across this region.

In fact some of the images again, the aerial perspective one of our viewers shared with us as he was flying over Fort McMurray yesterday almost resembles a volcanic eruption when you see how broad of a scale this is with the fires and the smoke that has been placed.

I want to point out where this town is located because it is well to the north. That is the 60 degree latitude na'll mark. So you stretch that across going to Finland, the town -- the city of Helsinki, that is how far north this particular town is located in, you think about the winter months. The sun sets here in the 3:00 hour. So again, tells you how far north it is.

And the reason I touch on this because the temperatures absolutely are mind-boggling. We should be right around 16 degrees for this time of year. On Saturday temps made it up to 19. By Tuesday soared up to 33 degrees. Stayed that warm for two days. We expect it to drop off a little bit. But again, as you approach Sunday, another warming trend takes us above average. So that's the concern.

The heat is still there. The winds, fortunately, dying down. Initially expected to pick up later in the week. But 10,000 hectares consumed. That equates to about 100 square kilometers of land. Roughly the size of Hong Kong island. In fact, slightly larger than Hong Kong island. That is the amount of land that has been consumed or twice the size of the island of Manhattan. So again a pretty expansive area across this region. And another

interesting note here is even at this hour, it's the early morning hours, notice it is warmer. That far north the color contours do a good job showing you that even warmer than southern California, warmer than portions of Georgia with the extreme warmth in place.

And this pattern here expected to break down. That's the good news. But again, short-lived we go toward Saturday and Sunday, John and Isha. It looks like another warming trend. So these next couple of days is really when -- is the most critical for these firefighters to get everything under control.

VAUSE: Yes. Couple of very important days coming up there. Pedram, thank you.

SESAY: Thank you. Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thanks, guys. Yes.

VAUSE: Well., next here on CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, Russia has drawn down some of its forces in Syria but its fighter jets are still in the air. And CNN travels with Russian troops inside.

SESAY: Plus North Koreans are working round the clock getting ready for a once in a generation political gathering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everything we're seeing right now here in Pyongyang is the result of months of work. From the rehearsals for the mass demonstrations that will take place to the tens of thousands of flowers planted on every beloved. Now that the international media has been invited in the North Korean government wants to make sure that every detail is picture perfect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:21:45] SESAY: Hello, everyone. North Korea's state-run news agency is heaping praise on the country's leader one day before the biggest political gathering in 36 years.

VAUSE: The paper is calling Kim Jong-un a great son of the 21st century. He's had North Koreans working almost nonstop getting ready for Friday's ruling party congress.

Our man in Pyongyang is Will Ripley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): Pyongyang's morning commute begins an hour early these days. Loudspeakers wake people up at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00. The usual six-day workweek now seven. North Korea nearing the end of what they call a 70-day battle, preparing for a once in a generation political gathering.

HYAN UN MI, PYONGYANG RESIDENT: We do best for the building the thriving country.

RIPLEY (on camera): Hyan Un Mi says she hasn't taken a day off in more than two months. She's a full-time tour guide and on a work crew refurbishing Kim Il-sung stadium, one of countless improvement project in a 70-day national campaign.

(On camera): Everything we're seeing right now here in Pyongyang is the result of months of work from the rehearsals for the mass demonstrations that will take place to the tens of thousands of flowers that are planted along every boulevard. Now that the international media has been invited in, the North Korean government wants to make sure that every detail is picture perfect.

(Voice-over): Millions of North Koreans acting on orders from their highest authority.

HYAN: Leader Kim Jong-un is our father, just like our father and just like mother.

RIPLEY: The supreme leader wasn't even born when the last party congress happened 36 years ago. But ahead of his own gathering, repeated shows of force, a purported H-bomb test in January.

A satellite launch in February. And this missile launch last month along with three apparent mid-range missile test failures triggering international condemnation and some of the strongest U.N. sanctions ever.

But each successful test also allows the young leader to project power at home ahead of North Korea's most important political gathering since 1980s. Three thousand party members arriving in Pyongyang for Friday's Seventh Workers Party Congress.

(On camera): This reads "Great Party, Motherly Party." And it's one of literally hundreds of political banners that have gone up all over Pyongyang. You can't turn a corner here without a reminder of what's happening this week.

(Voice-over): Observers believe Kim will use the Congress to consolidate his power and reinforce his plan, defying the international community by continuing to grow his nuclear arsenal.

While also trying to grow the North Korean economy, despite crippling international sanctions. Many outsiders doubt the two goals are compatible and say they'll only lead to further isolation and hardship. But inside this tightly controlled world, doubt is not an option. All people can do is keep working.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We're now seeing some of a fierce 12-hour-long firefight in Iraq which led to the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL. The "Guardian" newspaper exclusively obtained this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 44 zero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:25:26] SESAY: The Pentagon says 31-year-old Navy SEAL Charles Keating was killed while helping to rescue U.S. military advisers in that attack.

More than 100 ISIS fighters and 20 vehicles raided a Kurdish Peshmerga checkpoint aiming to capture the town of Telskof. The Peshmerga are now back in control of that town.

VAUSE: A top U.N. official is calling recent attacks on Syrian hospitals and the prevention of food supplies from getting into Aleppo war crimes.

SESAY: Yes. He made those comments after the U.S. and Russia agreed to extend the cessation of hostilities to Aleppo. One human rights group says ongoing clashes there between the army and rebels are the fiercest they've been in a year.

VAUSE: Aleppo is a big test to see if this fragile cessation of hostilities will stick. The U.S. and the Russians are monitoring the situation across Syria.

SESAY: Our Frederik Pleitgen has been traveling with Russian troops there and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia's air force still flying missions at a high pace. We saw more than a dozen strike aircraft and fighters take off within only a few hours. A top Russian general says they're intensifying pressure on ISIS.

"Russian aviation was at work today in Raqqah," he says. "Also in central Syria and Deir ez-Zor. In total, Russian aviation carried out 87 sorties in the past four days. While the Russian Air Force has withdrawn several aircraft in the past month, it's ramped up other assets, deploying advanced MI-28 gunships that have already seen combat action.

(On camera): Despite Russia's announcement that it would withdraw most of its forces from here in Syria, they maintain a fleet of strike aircraft and fighter jets, showing that Russia is still very much capable of playing a decisive role in the Syria conflict.

(Voice-over): The Russians took us to what they say was the signing of a local reconciliation agreement near the town of Hama. Russian military brass say they're working closely with the U.S. to also make a ceasefire in Aleppo work to finally halt the bloodshed there. The general says so far cooperation with the U.S. has been positive.

"The coordination over air operations is going well," he says. "In the past month, a national reconciliation, frank and professional contacts have been established. We share a lot of information."

On May 9th, Russia will mark its national holiday, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany. A parade will also be held at the air base even featuring Syrian troops. While Russia celebrates past victories, a clear end to its intervention in Syria's civil war still seems elusive.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, at the Khmeimim Air Base, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Time for a quick break. New reports about music legend Prince. An attorney says an addition specialist was called in the night before Prince died.

VAUSE: Also ahead, we'll show you some incredible views of earth from the International Space Station. Our conversation with the people behind a stunning new iMax film in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:05] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: It's been two weeks now since music legend, Prince, died and a federal investigation into his death has now been officially opened.

SESAY: Plus we're getting new reports about Prince's apparent use of a painkiller and about an intervention a day too late. Here's our Stephanie Elam.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Isha, Dr. Howard Cornfeld was unable to clear his schedule to travel to Minnesota from California on the 21st but planned to arrive on the 22nd. That's according to William Mauzy (ph), the Minneapolis lawyer representing the doctor.

Instead Cornfeld sent his son, Andrew, a premed student who works with him, on a Red-Eye flight to meet with Prince Thursday morning at Paisley Park. His job was to explain to the musician how the treatment works.

Mauzy says this was an intervention being waged by Prince's team and the icon knew it was happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM MAUZY, ATTORNEY FOR ADDICTION SPECIALISTS: He set into motion a plan to deal with what he felt was a life-saving mission. And that mission was to get Prince to a doctor in Minnesota on Thursday morning.

He contacted a trusted colleague of his that Minnesota doctor cleared his schedule for Thursday morning to provide privacy to Prince. Prince did not show up for that appointment on Thursday morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: The lawyer says Andrew who arrived at Paisley Park around 9:30 a.m. Thursday with two of Prince's associates was the one who called 911 after Prince was discovered unconscious in an elevator. Prince was declared deceased about a half hour later.

In another development, a former lawyer for Dwayne Nelson, one of Prince's half siblings, claims to CNN that Dwayne told him the singer used Percocet decades ago to calm down after performances.

Attorney William Paton (ph) says Dwayne told him he would sometimes even procure the powerful painkiller for Prince. CNN cannot independently confirm the lawyer's account because Dwayne has already passed away.

Dwayne used to work for Prince at Paisley Park but was fired and ended up suing his famous half-brother. Isha and John, back to you.

[01:35:05SESAY: Thanks to Stephanie Elam there. Some news just coming in to us here at CNN. The Israeli Air Force says it has responded to Hamas mortar fire with air strikes.

VAUSE: Defense officials say the overland attacks targeted four Hamas sites in Northern Gaza after Hamas repeatedly fired artillery rounds at Israeli forces. Hamas military forces tell CNN they fired six rounds at Israeli troops near the Gaza border.

SESAY: In less than 90 minutes sirens will sound around Israel for Holocaust Remembrance Day. It honors the six million Jews the Nazis killed during World War II.

VAUSE: This is also a bittersweet time for some survivors who had their childhood stolen from them. Oren Lieberman explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This ceremony has been 70 years in the making. It's a bar mitzvah, a Jewish rite of passage, a celebration. Bar and bat mitzvahs mark the passage to adulthood at 12, 13 years old. But these men and women are in their 70s and 80s.

They are holocaust survivors and they lost their youth much earlier. It was torn from them in concentration camps or as they fled the Nazis. They never had a chance to have bar mitzvahs. This is a chance to reclaim their youth at one of Judaism's holiest sites, the western wall.

SOLOMON MOSHE, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (through translator): After we finished everybody had a spirit of harmony. Here we are. We've done it. We're here today more complete. What we felt we were lacking we got back.

LIEBERMAN: Solomon Moshe is 79 years old. He was born in Athens, Greece in 1937. As a young boy, he moved with his mother from one home to another every few months, fleeing the Nazis. He came to Israel in 1956 but never had a bar mitzvah. He says there was no one to celebrate with as he focused on a new life. His bar mitzvah decades later made him feel something he never imagined.

MOSHE (through translator): I felt we met those in heaven who are looking at us below, the previous generation who would not have imagined that a 13-year-old could have a bar mitzvah at the western wall.

LIEBERMAN: Moshe now shares his story with groups across Israel. On stage with his grandson, he reveals a family secret. The Baer Yumba that he had with him during those years in hiding. As he shows me the bear his voice cracks for the first time in our interview.

MOSHE (through translator): This bear, I will show it to our children, and we will tell them, Yumba was with your great grandfather in the worst possible moments for the Jewish people. And I will hold on to him until I go.

LIEBERMAN: Moshe says he will give this bear to his grandson, a way of passing on a story that is finally complete. Oren Lieberman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, an artist who painted a nude picture of Donald Trump says she was punched in the face by one of his supporters. And we'll talk to her next about what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:41:30]

(VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That's the Rolling Stones there, "Start Me Up." But the band wants Donald Trump to stop it, stop using their music at his rallies. The rep says the Stones never gave Trump permission to use any of their material. So far no response from the Trump campaign.

SESAY: An artist who painted a nude portrait of Donald Trump says she was punched in the face by one of his supporters. Here's the painting Illma Gore made. She says the assault near her home in L.A. on Friday was a direct result of this painting.

VAUSE: Illma posted a photo on Instagram of the bruises she suffered to her face. She joins us in our studio in Los Angeles.

SESAY: Thankfully the swelling's gone down. You know, thankfully it wasn't anything worse than a black eye.

VAUSE: How did a car full of Trump supporters seemingly sort of randomly driving by recognize you and jump out and do this?

ILLMA GORE, GENDER MAID ARTIST: I'm not sure if it was to do with the protest happening in Orange County or someone by my house has actually noticed me before and stalked me out. But I have had so many violent threats online through e-mail --

VAUSE: Because of the painting?

GORE: Because of the painting.

SESAY: And what did the threats say? Give us a sense of the gist. All directed you but saying specifically about the painting --

GORE: I mean, one says specifically this is a disgusting painting, you'd better put extra locks on your doors. You'd better watch your back. You know, we're going to find your address. Ridiculous things. From shooting me in the head to rape. It's horrible.

VAUSE: Did you expect this when you did the painting?

GORE: I mean, it's Donald Trump nude. So I expected a reaction. I could have never imagined it to go this far.

SESAY: Did you -- the way it's all -- the painting is done, the proportions and all the rest of it, I mean --

GORE: Small hands.

SESAY: Small hands.

VAUSE: And the correspondingly small everything else.

SESAY: Little dot.

VAUSE: Yes, little dot. OK.

SESAY: Is the intention here to mock him?

GORE: It actually was a political statement, but it wasn't on his immature kind of campaign. It was actually on the way we perceive our physical selves and the way we put definitive kind of ideologies on the way we actually view what's in our pants. The painting has the same feeling even if we did it with female genitalia. You can still be a massive prick despite what's in there. That's kind of the idea.

VAUSE: I don't think we can use that word on basic cable.

SESAY: It's out there now.

VAUSE: There's been a pretty big reaction here in the United States. There was this anonymous lawsuit. Banned by Facebook, is that right? And the galleries here just wouldn't show it.

GORE: A lot of galleries here had security concerns because I was receiving so many threats. Just the controversy surrounding it. And as soon as I got an offer to show it in London because no one would show it here, I just took it there straightaway.

And I had anonymous suits from Facebook, a copyright suit, which is ridiculous because it's my artwork and I own it. It's my own expression. And for some reason they won't tell me who the third party is even though I'm requesting that information.

I had to give this third party my address, my phone number, you know, every personal information that I had. And I don't know who it is.

SESAY: How frightening has this been for you? And beyond, that talk to me about the impact it's had on your own creative expression. And I know you've expressed concern for other creatives.

[01:45:06]GORE: Yes, at first I was frustrated for myself, obviously and I became extremely upset. But ultimately, when I got myself out of that funk, I realized how important this is for creatives and how sad it is that you know, Facebook was censoring us.

And creatives often use Facebook as a social media outlet to get stuff out to other people and our ideas. And to even be hit in the face, as sad as it is and as horrible as it is, I would hate for other artists to think that because of their expression they could be under the same scrutiny and the same kind of violence.

VAUSE: The threats basically.

GORE: Yes.

VAUSE: Illma, thank you very much for sharing your story. Appreciate you coming in. We wish you the best. And we should note it's for sale for 1 million pounds in London and some of the proceeds would go to kids here in shelters here in Los Angeles.

SESAY: Take care of yourself.

GORE: Thank you.

SESAY: All right, still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., experience the earth like never before with a new Imax movie. See these beautiful images and hear from the filmmakers. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Today weather watch. I'm Pedram Javaheri on CNN right now breaking down what's happening here across the United States. Notice we have a very predominant feature developing right over the central U.S. A massive ridge in place and as this happens we've got a storm on the eastern side of it, a storm on the western side of it.

We call it a blocking pattern known as an omega block because it resembles the Greek letter omega. You can easily pick it out right there. With the high pressure across the central portion of the United States, the temperatures well above the norm.

Part of the reason why the fires have been really burning out of control across areas to the north has been the heat that has built across that region. But things going to change especially around the Midwestern United States.

Look at these temps. Wind chills across portions of the great lakes down below zero over the next 24 or so hours in this region. But again, it does want to warm up. The sun quite high in the sky.

The days getting longer on the order of about two minutes every single day. Places like Atlanta go from the teens well into the 30s. Come Sunday that's mother's day across the United States. Notice the showers again expected here on Thursday while back to the west a trio of 18s up and down the I-5 corridor.

San Francisco looking at pretty nice conditions but again a change in the pattern. Watching the storm system come in from the west that should bring in at least some scattered showers around parts of California.

It could also introduce a little bit of wintry weather into California. We'll leave you with the conditions across the Caribbean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:50:06]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. A new Imax documentary is a first of its kind. "A Beautiful Planet" will show you views of the earth you have never seen before.

SESAY: It's quite remarkable. It's the first Imax movie shot only using digital cameras. The images are spectacular. The film is narrated by Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Joining us now here in our studio is producer and director of "A Beautiful Planet," Toni Myers and director of photography, James Neihouse. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

JAMES NEIHOUSE, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, "A BEAUTIFUL PLANET": Pleasure to be here.

TONI MYERS, DIRECTOR, "A BEAUTIFUL PLANET": Thanks for having us.

SESAY: It is a remarkable film. The images are absolutely breathtaking. I know you've been in the game of making films from space for a long time. Talk to me about some of what stood out for you getting this view from space at this point in time. Toni.

MYERS: Well, first off, this is the first time we've made an earth- looking film from the completed International Space Station. And it has a wonderful addition to it called the cupola, which is a window designed for viewing the earth.

So we wanted to take advantage of that absolutely. So that changes everything. We'd always looked at the earth from smaller shuttle windows. So this gave us an extra special view.

And also because of the digital cameras we were using we got to see things we'd never, ever seen before. Specifically night scenes, stars in the sky, aurora.

VAUSE: I want to ask you about those nighttime scenes because when you look at the film that's what really stands out, isn't it? Did that take your breath away?

MYERS: Absolutely took my breath away. Some of my favorite scenes and they are extremely popular with audiences as well because nobody's ever seen that before. There are clips on Vimeo but they're all time lapse, very fast moving. And these are at the speed you actually travel.

SESAY: James, you're director of photography, as I mentioned, and you also had the job of training --

NEIHOUSE: Training the astronauts.

SESAY: Talk to us about that and the challenges and how you did it.

NEIHOUSE: I tell everybody I'm the only director of photography that has to train his first unit how to shoot. That's my first challenge. But they're great students, I mean, astronauts, they're born learners. They've been selected as astronauts because they're so intelligent.

VAUSE: This documentary is about earth and of course the impact we're having on the planet. It's an incredible bird's eye view that we get that we very rarely see. But it's also about life on board the International Space Station.

There are some really wonderful human moments. Trying to put fruit into a bag. Unpacking fruit out of a bag in zero gravity. Did you expect that kind of behind-the-scenes look when you made this?

MYERS: Absolutely. I started off wanting to use the station as a metaphor for earth, spaceship earth. Basically they're both closed loop life support systems. So the intent was to spend time inside the station and learn about all that it takes to keep six people alive in a closed sealed system just like it takes seven -- the earth to keep 7 billion people alive. So there are a lot of good comparisons.

SESAY: You have Academy award-winning actress, Jennifer Lawrence narrating this film. What does her involvement bring to the project?

MYERS: Certainly thrilled when Jennifer signed on to do it. I definitely wanted a female narrator because we had several male voices as voice-over from the crews themselves in their own words and I wanted a contrasting voice, but also someone of her magnitude and talent and compassion for the subject. When she signed on, it was just a perfect thing, and I especially wanted to reach younger people with this film.

VAUSE: James, you talk about reaching younger people. When we were chatting earlier you talked about the reaction that kids had when they saw the film.

NEIHOUSE: I was fortunate in Fort Lauderdale this past week to see the film for the first time with a group of students all the way from pre-k to I think it was seventh grade. And there's 400 kids in this audience. And they are just getting into the whole rhythm of the thing.

There's one part where some music comes on where an astronaut is running on a treadmill and the kids are up and dancing in the aisles. And they're trying to pack that fruit back in the bag with cambia.

VAUSE: That must have been great to see that.

NIEHOUSE: It's great to see how involved the format gets the audience.

SESAY: And to that point, Toni, one critic described this film as a call to arms for the next generation of would-be environmentalists. Was that your intention here?

[01:55:09]MYERS: Yes. The intention was very much to -- hopefully to inspire a younger generation of kids to want to pursue careers in science and to find solutions for some of the challenging things that we're facing on earth right now.

It was definitely not our intent to berate the audience for being bad stewards of the earth. That's perfectly obvious in the tale as it's told. But it's mainly -- if we can inspire one young kid to go out and crack the fusion problem then we'll have done our job.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Guys, thank you so much for coming. Congratulations.

SESAY: Congratulations.

MYERS: Thank you so much.

SESAY: It's beautiful.

MYERS: Thank you. And it was a pleasure to be here talking to you.

SESAY: Such a beautiful view.

VAUSE: I know what I'm doing this weekend with my daughter. I'm going to take her to see the Imax film.

SESAY: I thought you're going to eat hot sauce.

VAUSE: After I got to the Imax movie.

SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. VAUSE: And I'm john Vause. The news continues next with Rosemary Church at our global headquarters in Atlanta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)