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Pyongyang Gets New Party Leaders; Ryan Won't Endorse Trump; Fire in Alberta; Chibok Girls Still Missing; How Not to Call a Horse Race. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 06, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST (voice-over): This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour:

ISHA SESAY, CNN HOST (voice-over): The curtain goes up on the Workers Party Colleagues in Pyongyang, the biggest political event in North Korea in decades. It's expected to cement Kim Jong-un's grip on power.

VAUSE (voice-over): Irreconcilable differences: the highest Republican official says he can't endorse the party's presumptive nominee for president.

SESAY (voice-over): And Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, begs Americans, don't vote for Trump.

VAUSE (voice-over): Hello, we'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

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SESAY: We begin in Pyongyang, where North Korea's ruling party is holding its first congress in 36 years. About 3,000 party members poured into Pyongyang for this high-level political event that kicked off just a short while ago.

VAUSE: Leader Kim Jong-un told state-run media the congress would outline the country's goals for the coming years. He is also expected to unveil new party leaders and to consolidate his grip on power.

Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul.

Mike Chinoy is in Hong Kong for us. Mike is a former CNN correspondent, a former chief Asia correspondent as well as a senior fellow at The University of Southern California's China Institute. Last one here. He is also author of the book, "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis."

Mike, I think we got them all in there. Let's talk about the timing here. That seems to be the big question, a party congress is meant to be held every five years. There hasn't been one in more than three decades.

So why now?

MIKE CHINOY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Well, nobody really knows the answer to specifically why now. But it does seem very clear that the goal of this congress is to really consolidate Kim Jong-un's hold on power.

It's his coronation, a time when the entire North Korean system will be focused on stressing that he is in charge and giving him an opportunity to lay out his policies and his vision for the future.

Of course, the big question is, I think in the view of many analysts, whether he is going to talk about improving the North Korean economy, trying to implement some kind of economic reform and, if so, how far it will go and whether it will have any prospects of success, given North Korea's international isolation.

VAUSE: So, Paula, if there was to be a shift in policy, some economic reforms maybe, a move away from the military first policy, which they have had for a while, to this power of simultaneous development, the economy as well as the military, will the South Koreans see that as something positive?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Probably not. To be honest, John, they would probably be more concerned about it. This dual track policy of the nuclear program and a strong economy side by side was actually announced back in 2013 at a central committee meeting.

It hasn't had the official launch of this congress at this point, as far as we know.

But, certainly, that would give it even more legitimacy. The fact is, many experts are saying this is possibly why we have been seeing such a rush from Kim Jong-un when it comes to the nuclear program.

He has announced this dual track policy, nuclear and economy, and, quite frankly, he hasn't got much to boast about when it comes to the economy. So certainly, he has been carrying out more nuclear tests and he has been carrying out a large number of missile tests to get that delivery system in recent months.

VAUSE: And while you were talking there, Paula, we were looking at some old images from the last congress, which was back in 1980. Kim Jong-un wasn't even born then.

But, Mike, is this Congress now essentially the end result of the past few years of Kim Jong-un consolidating his power base?

He is now confident that he can take on those military leaders, assert his power over North Korea.

CHINOY: One of the things that's interesting here is that this is a party congress. And during the rule of Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, the focus was very much on what's called military first. And the armed forces had even more influence than they had before.

Part of what has been going on in the last few years has been that Kim Jong-un has been shifting power back to the ruling Korean Workers Party.

There have been a number of shakeups of top officials in the military. And I think this congress will essentially consolidate that.

But in terms of the economy, one of the interesting questions that we will be looking for in his comments is to see whether or not he says, in effect, now that we have successfully established ourselves as a nuclear state, we don't have to devote the same kind of resources to maintaining a conventional army because nukes --

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CHINOY: -- guarantee our own security and, therefore, North Korea could begin to shift some resources from its huge conventional military forces into the economy.

It's not clear that's going to happen. If there are signs it's going to happen, that would be, I think, very significant.

VAUSE: Quickly, last question for you, Paula. Leading up to this conference, you mentioned there's been a rush of missile tests. There was a nuclear test. It was all seen as a buildup to this congress. Now it's underway.

Will those provocations, as the South Koreans and Americans call them, will they come to an end?

HANCOCKS: I think there's certainly a hope they will. But it's fairly unlikely. We have had a couple of articles in North Korean state-run media just this morning, saying the reason they have the nuclear deterrent is because of the hostile forces in the U.S., specifying that they will always be a nuclear weapon state.

And basically, giving the excuse that they have to continue along this path because of the enemies that are facing them. So I think it's unlikely that they will stop testing. I think that's what most experts are thinking. I think officials will certainly hope at least the pace of those tests will calm down once this congress is over -- John.

VAUSE: OK, Paula, thank you, Paula Hancocks there live in Seoul.

Also our thanks to Mike Chinoy, with some very good insight there and analysis in Hong Kong.

Thanks to you both.

SESAY: Let's bring in Will Ripley, who joins us now on the phone from Pyongyang, where that Workers Party Congress is underway.

Will, as we all know, this party congress, the last one was back in 1980. You are witnessing a rare occurrence. Where exactly are you?

What's happening around you?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been a very interesting morning, Isha. We left our hotel around 7:45 am and we didn't know exactly where we were going. We didn't find out the Workers Party Congress would be held at the April 25th People's House of Culture until yesterday, about 24 hours before this event.

And when we got in the van, we still didn't know where we were going until we started driving toward the venue and they said we have a very limited amount of time to get out and take some pictures from the outside only. We were not and are not being allowed inside the venue.

So we parked a couple of blocks away.

Everybody ran down to the intersection to get their shots while they could. We interviewed a few residents and then we jumped back in the van and we just got back to our hotel. And we have been working to set up our live picture and get some video fed back in of this.

The Internet connection is a bit spotty, as it often is when we're reporting from inside North Korea. So I can tell you, I have seen the outside the building. Have no idea what's been going on inside. It hasn't been reported on state media. There are no live picture that have been broadcast.

All I can say is we saw the massive caravan of dozens of buses carrying those 3,000 members of North Korea's ruling elite Workers Party members who are inside. And we know that they will unanimously show their support for the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un. But we don't know what kind of announcement he's going to make, if there's an economic policy announcement, if he's going to talk about the North Korean nuclear program.

So we await, just like the rest of the world, information to come through the state media, even though we have can requested to witness this process first-hand. We're inside the country yet perhaps you might have more or if not more access to information at least equal access to information as to what we have as reporters working inside the country.

SESAY: Will, significant numbers of party members there, as you mentioned there, at the congress, witnessing this historic moment, if you will.

Are there international delegations?

Are there foreign dignitaries present?

What else do we know about the audience?

RIPLEY: The audience list itself is not being publically released. In fact, the government officials who we were working with weren't even sure how many members from the party would be in attendance. And so all that we have seen are pictures of large groups of people walking around, touring Pyongyang.

These are the Workers Party members, who are really the elite of the elite in this country. Everybody who lives here in the capital, Pyongyang, is considered privileged, if you will, simply because they have the highest living standard of anywhere else in North Korea.

But yet, these Workers Party members, they are even of a higher status. They often live in parts of the city that other residents are not allowed to enter. And so whether there are, we would imagine that there are perhaps some members of some of the various embassies that may be in attendance for some portions of this event.

The Swedish embassy would probably be the one closest to the United States and Western countries because they often serve as an intermediary when there are cases of Western citizens detained. But as of now, we are not getting any reports from the inside. And so we might not find out who was there and what they saw until people speak about it, if they do.

SESAY: And Will, briefly, this Workers Party Congress, as large as it is, what has that meant for life as it is in Pyongyang?

Has everything come to a standstill?

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RIPLEY: Well, leading up to this, there's what they are calling on the street a 70-day battle of royalty. Earlier this year, Kim Jong- un, the Supreme Leader, ordered everybody in the country to work at breakneck speed to prepare Pyongyang and the country for this Workers Party Congress.

So people tell me they were working 70 days literally without a single day off.

The morning alarm went off at 5:00 am instead of 6:00 am. Those are the loudspeakers that blare citywide to wake everybody up. People say they worked late into the evening, sometimes going without sleep if they had work to do that they couldn't get finished. So they worked their day jobs and then go to a construction site and work there late into the evening. And this went on for 70 days.

This kind of group labor, outside observers would call it forced labor. But here in the country everybody says they are overjoyed to do it for their Supreme Leader. But of course you are talking about someone who issued the order and has absolute power.

What else would they say?

SESAY: Remarkable moment in North Korea. Will Ripley, you are there to witness it. We appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

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SESAY: Turning now to the race for the White House. And a huge political slap in the face for Donald Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan isn't endorsing Trump's presidential campaign, at least not yet. Ryan is the highest level Republican to reject Trump since he became the last man standing.

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REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now and I hope to, though, and I want to. But I think what is required is that we unify this party and I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.

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VAUSE: Trump fired back in a statement, saying I'm not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated so badly for so long that it's about time for politicians to put them first.

SESAY: And Donald Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in West Virginia he will accept an apology from the former president of Mexico, Vincente Fox, who used some profanity earlier this year when he insisted Mexico wouldn't pay for that wall.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Vicente Fox was on television last night and he apologized and I accept his apology. I thought it was very nice.

Did you see it?

Honestly, I thought it was very, very nice because I was giving him a little hard time about something. And he apologized.

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VAUSE: I sat down with Vicente Fox a short time ago to talk about his apology, what a Trump presidency could mean for Mexico. And he also begged Americans to not vote for Trump.

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VAUSE: President Fox, thank you for being with us.

VICENTE FOX, FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT: John, it's my pleasure. And thank you for inviting me.

VAUSE: I want to ask you firstly about your comments that you made back in February about Donald Trump and the wall that he plans to build on the U.S.-Mexico border. You had some very strong language. This is what you said back then.

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FOX: I declare I'm not going to pay for that (INAUDIBLE) wall. He should pay for it. He's got the money.

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VAUSE: OK. Some strong language there.

And now, what, you are apologizing for that?

FOX: Well, I think it's a quality of greatness and a quality of compassion and leadership to accept, to apologize, even to grant pardon to people. I think it's a great visual for us human beings and gives you stature. And in front of a guy like this, I think it's the right tactic at this moment.

VAUSE: Just exactly, though, what are you apologizing for?

For the language?

For opposing the wall?

For opposing the demand that Mexico pay for the wall?

Specifically --

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FOX: No, no, no, no, only about the wording that I used because I don't agree with him. I don't agree mostly with his issues, the way he is proposing, the way he is acting like a false prophet.

I don't know why people have to believe what he is proposing. There are many things that are wrong. For instance, trade. He says that he is going to make trade wars with Mexico and China. That's, I have to say, it's stupid.

VAUSE: Now Mr. Trump was asked last night by FOX News if he specifically has a message for you. This is what he said.

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TRUMP: Yes. Get your money ready because you're going to pay for the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not backing off that, right?

TRUMP: No. Of course not. Look, we lose a fortune with Mexico. Trade deficit, $58 billion a year. The wall is going to cost 10. Believe me, they will be able to afford it. And we're going to end up having a very good relationship with Mexico.

But right now, sadly, like everybody else, they are taking advantage of our country on trade and at the border. So we'll get it straightened out.

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VAUSE: Mr. Trump also said that once that wall is -- [00:15:00]

VAUSE: -- there, it will make for great relations with Mexico.

What do you think?

FOX: No. The question here, why is he going to waste billions of U.S. taxpayers in building that wall?

Because, of course, we're not going to pay for that wall. And the answer is very simple.

There is a migration bill in Congress, sitting there for 10 years, presented by partisan, by Senator Kennedy and Senator McCain and Bush administration, Bush 43, and my administration. I worked together with them to have the best solution to the migration issue.

Migration is an asset. This country built by migrants, all along, starting with Trump and his migrant family. He uses Chinese, Chinese and let him prove against, Chinese ties, Chinese shirts.

How come he is saying the things he is saying?

He is (Speaking Spanish). He is cheating the American people. It's lie after lie.

VAUSE: You still think he's a false prophet?

You described him as a false prophet back in February.

You still think that's the case?

FOX: Yes, yes, absolutely yes. And again, I'm trying to say, with all respect, but when somebody is lying like he lies every day, that he is going to throw a bomb again, atomic bomb or that he is not going to support NATO effort in trying to bring in peace and a protection to Europe and to America itself, how can he isolate this nation in four walls and see all the leading responsibilities to others?

Today you have to be a compassionate leader. You have to learn about diplomacy. Making money is not the same as running a nation. This world is given by God to all of us 8 billion people. It doesn't belong to Trump or just to United States.

And love thy neighbor, I don't understand why evangelicals, why Catholics are saying that they support him. Our first mandate is love thy neighbor. And he hates thy neighbor.

VAUSE: It's Cinco de Mayo today. It's probably a bigger holiday in the United States and maybe in Mexico. But Donald Trump tweeted out a photo of himself. I don't know if you've seen this.

He was eating a taco bowl at his desk. And the tweet read this, "Happy Cinco de Mayo. The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower grill. I love Hispanics."

FOX: They don't know about Mexican food in Trump Tower. He going to get indigestion eating that, that he made himself there. But...

VAUSE: Do you think he loves Hispanics?

FOX: Today, he loves us, he said.

Yesterday, he said he hated us.

What is he going to say tomorrow?

Again, why don't we work together?

Don't know. Please don't hate us. Let's work together. Don't offend us. We have dignity. We can do that.

If not, I'm going to appear on the Republican convention and I'm going to pull your (INAUDIBLE) your foot out.

VAUSE: And with that, we will leave it on that note. Sir, thank you very much. It was good to speak with you.

FOX: Muchas gracias.

VAUSE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: An impassioned Vicente Fox there.

VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. He had a lot more to say, actually. He went on asking Americans just not to vote for Donald Trump. He doesn't think he will win the election. I guess we will see.

SESAY: We shall soon see.

Meanwhile, the FBI's investigation into the security of Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server is coming to an end. Officials say there is no evidence Clinton willfully violated the law while secretary of state. One of the last steps would be to interview Clinton. And she has promised to cooperate.

VAUSE: The FBI has already interviewed some of Clinton's closest aides, including her longtime adviser, Houma Abedin.

The battle goes on in Canada to control massive wildfires. Still to come here, (INAUDIBLE) in Alberta are now scrambling to evacuate thousands of people.

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SESAY (voice-over): Plus: the international community is condemning an airstrike on a Syrian refugee camp that killed at least 28 people. Details next.

VAUSE (voice-over): A Russian orchestra performs amid the ruins of the ancient of Palmyra.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.

Thousands of people are homeless in Canada as an intense wildfire burns in Alberta, destroying entire neighborhoods. The Fort McMurray wildfire has exploded in size to 85,000 hectares, bigger than Singapore.

SESAY: Evacuations are ongoing. On Friday, a 400-vehicle convoy with air support will move thousands more people to the provincial capital of Edmonton. Paul Vercammen reports.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isha, John, this conference center in Edmonton is now the makeshift shelter for thousands of evacuees. They came down here because of these flames, what they describe as a monster blaze.

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VERCAMMEN (voice-over): From the epicenter of the fire, one harrowing image after another, nearly an entire town engulfed in flames, residents fleeing for their lives. This dashcam video shows a wall of smoke and flames just feet from the road. The remaining daylight consumed by smoke as ash and embers rain onto drivers trying to flee the inferno.

Michel Chamberland (ph) was in the middle of it all.

MICHEL CHAMBERLAND (PH), WILDFIRE ESCAPEE: It's like driving through hell. Those flames, they were bright, they were big; the smoke, the embers; try not to bump into anybody.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): From a distance, the wildfire looks like an imposing thunderstorm. From above, it's even worse. Billowing smoke made the blaze tough to battle, forcing firefighters to move their command center overnight. Residents who left everything behind, now kept in shelters hours from home.

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JOANNE BATES, FORT MCMURRAY RESIDENT: It's not fair. They didn't even let us take our things when we asked. So we lost everything.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The satellite image captures the wild scope of the fire and so do the grim statistics: 1,600 structures destroyed, 80,000 people evacuated, hundreds of square miles burned so far. Perhaps the only good news: no one has been killed.

DARBY ALLEN (PH), REGIONAL FIRE OFFICIAL: The people here are devastated. Everyone is devastated. The community is going to be devastated.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The welcoming town of Fort McMurray, now urging everyone to stay away. With so much already lost, more than 1,000 firefighters are now trying to save what little remains.

The weather is mixed. The temperatures are down but the wind is blowing at times. The humidity is very low. Reporting from Edmonton, Alberta, I'm Paul Vercammen, now back to you, John, Isha.

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VAUSE: And, Paul, thank you for that.

And if you would like to help those affected by the wildfires, please head over to our website, cnn.com/impact.

SESAY: Turning now to the war in Syria. What's being called an obscene attack that could amount to a war crime. That's how the U.N. is condemning an airstrike on a Syrian refugee camp in Idlib province near the Turkish border.

The Human Rights Group says at least 28 people were killed, many of them women and children. The group says it's not clear whether Syrian or Russian planes were involved.

VAUSE: The bombing happened west of the key city of Aleppo, which is under a 48-hour cease-fire. We are getting reports of a relative reduction in the amount of violence there.

Meanwhile Russia's renowned Mariinsky Theater Orchestra performed amid the ruins of the Roman amphitheater in the Syrian city of Palmyra.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Britain's foreign secretary called the concert "a tasteless distraction from the suffering of millions of Syrians."

SESAY (voice-over): But Moscow says the event was dedicated to the victims of ISIS. In March, Russian and Syrian forces recaptured Palmyra after the terror group destroyed historic sites there.

VAUSE: Still to come here on NEWSROOM L.A., she escaped from Boko Haram terrorists who captured more than 200 other girls from her school in Nigeria. We will talk to this brave young woman, who is on a mission to find those missing girls.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY (voice-over): And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour: (HEADLINES)

SESAY: Now, more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists are still missing two years after they were taken from their dormitory in Nigeria. Dozens did manage to get away. The government promised to find the others.

But despite international outrage and the Bring Back Our Girls movement, they have not been found.

VAUSE: Then last month, our Nima Elbagir brought the world this proof of life video. It shows 15 of the girls alive reportedly last December. For the grieving parents, it was a glimmer of hope that their girls could one day come home.

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SESAY: Joining me is one of the schoolgirls who managed to escape from Boko Haram that fateful April night. We're going to call her Sa (ph), which is not her real name. And she's wearing those sunglasses to protect her identity because she still fears for the safety of her loved ones who remain in Nigeria.

Sa (ph) is joined by international human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Gari (ph).

Thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to you both.

Sa (ph), to start with you, when you saw that video showing some of the kidnapped girls, your classmates from Chibok, how did it make you feel?

SA (PH), CLASSMATE OF CHIBOK GIRLS: The truth is that they assert that video is one day before the two-year anniversary of the abduction. So immediately, when I saw that video, I recognize their faces. They are all my classmates.

And all that comes to my mind is like it reminds me of the times that we spent together. Immediately when I saw the video, I started crying. And I just wish I can talk to them. I just wish I can tell them how much we miss them.

And I just wish I can just talk to them, they can hear me on the phone while I was watching the video because that reminds me all the times we spent at school, all the times we spent in class learning, playing together with them.

It's just really sad that the government are not doing anything about those girls. And while I was happy to see some of them are still alive, even though we have heard a lot of things about them, that some of them died.

But when I saw that some of them are still alive, it gave me the courage to spoke out and tell people in the world that we need to do something about it to rescue those girls since they are still alive. SESAY: Yes. You are speaking to us from the United States. After you and a friend jumped off that truck that was carrying all of you and your friends into the forest that night, you made it to the U.S. a couple of months later with the help of a U.S. lawmaker.

As you try and just come to terms with everything that has happened, how are you doing now?

SA (PH): You know, the first time when I escaped and come here, I was always having a nightmare that Boko Haram were chasing me, Boko Haram were looking for me. But I've been praying. And people encourage me that I should forget about what happened and just follow with my future.

But I thank God I'm doing well now. I was able to make it to college. And I thank God I -- my studies, I have seen a lot of improvement in my studies. When I first came here, my English wasn't like this.

But now I'm really happy. I thank God that I have seen a lot of improvement in my studies and my English is getting much more better.

[00:35:00]

SA (PH): And I'm doing good right now.

SESAY: Well, you sound great, Sa (ph), you sound great. Let me bring in Emmanuel (ph) at this point.

Emmanuel (ph), I want to pick up with something that Sa (ph) said.

As I ask you about your thoughts when you saw that proof of life video, what went through your mind?

And I just heard Sa (ph) say -- she kind of intimated that she didn't feel that the government was taking this issue seriously enough. Talk to me about that, those two points.

EMMANUEL GARI (PH), HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: Well, I have to say that I think, like most parents, there was a huge sigh of relief that there was evidence that some of the girls are alive. The trail had really gone cold. And we hadn't heard anything for almost two years.

So just that video was quite helpful and inspiring to those of us who have been campaigning for the release or rescue of the girls, that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Now of course, the number of girls is worrisome. You will recall that the last video that the terrorists released showed over 100 of them. So to have only 15 on the video is indicating probably that many of them have been sold off and they're no longer all together within one location.

SESAY: Sa (ph), what are your hopes and dreams for the future?

I know, you said you are in college now. SA (PH): My hope is that I want to study and to be example for girls in the world that have been in a difficult situation like me, that was scared to go to school. I wanted to get a good education and to be someone important in life as an example to others.

So I go back to Nigeria and encourage people in Nigeria, especially girls like me, so that they will go to school and so that whatever happens to them will not stop them from getting education.

SESAY: I think that's a wonderful goal.

Emmanuel (ph), last word to you. You have been critical not just of the Nigerian government's handling of this but also of the international community and their response.

What is your message to the international community, now that we have passed the two-year mark that these 219 girls have been held in captivity by Boko Haram?

What would you like to say?

GARI (PH): Yes. I'd like to say that, you know, this is a challenge to contemporary civilization. This is not just a Nigerian problem. This is actually a global problem.

Apart from the girls who were abducted in Nigeria, whether we like it or not, girls in the U.S., girls in the U.K. are being lured by groups like ISIS to leave their homes and leave their schools and go into the conflict.

So it's not just a distant problem far away there except that, in this particular case, these girls were abducted from their schools. They were not lured away.

I think that international community should show the same sort of political will that they have shown in the search for the missing air Malaysia Flight 370, which is still going on two years after the fact, which has cost 180 million pounds.

We haven't seen a similar expenditure in the search for the Chibok girls who are alive, mind you, compared to the passengers in that plane, who are definitely dead. So we need to see intelligence communities come together closely and collaborate to find the girls.

SESAY: It's remarkable work that you are doing, Emmanuel (ph). Thank you again. Thank you, Emmanuel (ph).

Thank you, Sa (ph).

GARI (PH): Thank you.

SA (PH): Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: That was a great point at the end. Millions of dollars spent looking for a missing plane with no life on board as opposed to girls who are still alive.

SESAY: Yes, 219 girls still missing. A story that we remain committed to here at CNN, that we continue to follow it for you and keep it out there. Now we will be back with more on NEWSROOM L.A. in just a moment.

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VAUSE: Well, the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday, one of the most famous horse races in the world. They will competing for a likely purse of $1.6 million.

SESAY: A lot of money. But aside from the fame and fortune, every great race deserves a great announcer. Well, here's the thing: for this one, we don't have one. But we do have our own Richard Roth.

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KEN WARKENTIN, FREEHOLD RACEWAY ANNOUNCER: Huxley is up fast. We have So Bad Im Good. The Bad Deputy gets away aloofly from the inside and he will settle in.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: I'm calling today's fourth race.

What should I know?

WARKENTIN: You need accuracy and clarity. You need control. You can't get too excited. And you should use the binoculars.

ROTH: How upset could you get if a race caller makes a mistake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, very upset.

ROTH: Because I might make a mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to make a mistake. I've got full confidence in you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a half-mile track, you'll find, if you stick with the one, two, three and four, you'll probably do pretty good. Just stick with those numbers.

ROTH: I wasn't good in math, though, in school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, OK, so we'll go with the six, seven and eight then.

ROTH: During testing, I called a horse Paystobea Mean Girl. And we later learned it was PaystobeaMeangirl.

It's Paystobea Mean Girl in front.

Is that embarrassing?

WARKENTIN: Yes. That is embarrassing.

ROTH: Is it proper for a race announcer to make a bet on the race he's calling?

WARKENTIN: It's an unbiased approach to the business. You might be concentrating too much on that horse that you bet.

ROTH: $2 across on the five.

Five, Rockrockwhosthere; number six, OK Cognac; number seven, Real Mystical and number eight, Magnum Mike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My great pleasure to introduce Richard Roth.

Don't mess up, Richard.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ROTH: The fourth race at Freehold, seconds away.

Many people don't know Wolf Blitzer was a driver once. Finished 14th in the Preakness.

Breaking news, this fourth race is under way. Rockrockwhosthere, going for the early lead in the middle of the track.

Cheyenne Patti, though, along the rail, gets the lead.

Grabbing the lead, Rockrockwhosthere, along the back stretch.

Comfortably in the pocket second, Cheyenne Patti. It's Factor J. A little bit of an error there. We have Cheyenne Sportsman four. And that's OK Cognac coming out third.

Knock, knock Rockrock. Going to drive me crazy, Rockrockwhosthere, pulling away.

Magnum Mike, third, making a move.

We have got Rockrockwhosthere, in front in the fourth at Freehold.

Give me it straight.

How bad or good?

WARKENTIN: Well, you have to be a -- you had to go through the field. You know, there were some horses that you really had -- didn't give a call to at all.

I'll give you a B. ROTH: Yes.

You heard my screw-up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the middle, but you recovered quickly.

ROTH: Do I have a future?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. But that's beside the point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Luckily, he has got a day job.

SESAY: Yes. Yes. Yes, indeed.

VAUSE: Rockrockwhosthere.

SESAY: Rockrockwhosthere. To be honest, it did seem like a small challenge.

VAUSE: It was, yes.

SESAY: He did a good job, our own Richard Roth there.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

I'm John Vause. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. And we will be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You are watching CNN.

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