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ISIS Claiming Responsibility For Three Suicide Attacks In Iraq On Wednesday; Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Hours Away From Expected Start Of Impeachment Process; Mitt Romney Calls For Trump To Release His Tax Returns; Investigators Believe They Have Two Pieces Of Malaysia Air 370 Plane; Federal Judge Rules Violation of Civil Rights in Michael Schlager Shooting Case; Mayors of London and Paris Denounce Trump Immigration Policies. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 12, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is "CNN Newsroom," live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour:

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Baghdad blasts; ISIS says it's behind a series of bombings that left more than 90 people dead.

VAUSE: Police fire tear gas at protesters on the streets of Brasilia with an impeachment vote for President Dilma Rousseff underway.

SESAY: And the dodger calls for Donald Trump to tear down his tax reform wall.

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

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay; "Newsroom" L.A. starts right now.

We begin with the deadliest day so far this year in Iraq's capital. ISIS is claiming responsibility for three attacks which killed more than 90 people Wednesday.

VAUSE: The majority died when a car bomb blew up in a busy market in the largely Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City. Later in the day, suicide bombers also struck a Sunni neighborhood in Western Baghdad and another Shi'ite neighborhood.

SESAY: Well, joining us now is our Jomana Karadsheh, in Iman, Jordan and CNN Military Analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, in Port Orfort, Oregon. Welcome to you both.

Jomana, to you first, Iraqi officials recently claimed that ISIS has lost more than half its territory in Iraq, but these coordinated attacks show the terror groups capabilities to wreak havoc, those remain intact.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Absolutely, Isha. We don't have to just look at those devastating attacks we saw on Wednesday in Baghdad. That ability by ISIS to still carry out strikes in Baghdad, in areas that are not only secure by Iraqi security forces but also by Shi'a militias in these areas, these coordinated, high- profile attacks.

You also have to look at the past few weeks we've seen several of these bombings, suicide attacks, whether in Baghdad, in Diyala Province, in other parts of the country. Also, Isha, just last week we saw ISIS carry out that coordinated, really complex attack that involved more than 100 militants, attacking that town of Tel Askuf, if you remember, in northern Iraq; that attack that killed several Peshmerga fighters and a U.S. Navy SEAL.

So they still possess that ability to strike whatever they want, whenever they want. Yes, ISIS has lost some territory in Iraq, but it hasn't lost the ability to carry out these sorts of devastating, spectacular attacks, that's for sure.

SESAY: Yes; yes, that's for sure. Colonel Francona, if I could bring you in at this point. You say this latest attack is testament to the fact the pressure the Iraqi Army and the air campaign against ISIS is actually working?

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is, and over the last few weeks, the last few months we've seen much more success from the air and the Iraqi Army is actually doing fairly well on the ground; but the problem the Iraqis have is they have a finite number of resources. You can put them out in the field or you can use them to secure Baghdad. The more that ISIS mounts these attacks in Baghdad and those surrounding areas, the Iraqi people, the Shi'a residents of Baghdad and that southern part of the country, are going to demand that the government pull these forces back and defend them. They're not really concerned about retaking Mosul. They're more concerned about their own lives, their own security in Baghdad.

So the Iraqi government is in a quandary here. They need to go back to Mosul and retake it, but they can't afford to move their forces out of

defending Baghdad. As Jomana says, if they can get into Sadr City, which is protected by the Sadr's militias and the other Shi'ite militias this indicates a real capability on their part.

SESAY: Yes; and Colonel Francona, stand by. Jomana, to that point about the government and its actions, these bombings are happening at a time that the nation is plunged in a political crisis, largely due to Prime Minister Abadi's reform agenda. Give us some context to this political paralysis and is there, -- is there any sign of a political solution being brokered anytime soon?

KARADESHEH: Well, as you recall Isha, last year in the summertime, this is a time where we see a lot of protests in Iraq, that's because it gets really hot in Iraq and people take to the streets because they have no power and shortages, when it comes to water and other basic services. So we saw these massive protests in Baghdad. People were calling, -- of course, this comes after 13 years of frustration that has been building up. People wanted to see change, and they've been promised change by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. That's what really, -- you know, it stopped these protests from getting out of hand last summer. The Prime Minister's hands have been tied, Isha. He has been trying, to an extent, to present his reforms. He's been trying to change the cabinet, as [00:05:01] many people have been asking for. They want to see competent politicians, ministers, in these positions rather than this quota system we have in Iraq, where it's people who are in positions because of their political party, because of their sect and ethnicity. So they want to see this change, and that hasn't happened because of the Iraqi Parliament.

He has found a lot of resistance in Parliament. it has been this kind of scene we have seen over and over again over the years in the Iraqi Parliament, where it turns into chaos and they throw water bottles at each other rather than trying to pass these reforms and laws. If you remember, Isha, then we saw Muqtada al-Sadr really coming into the scene here. He has presented himself as the, as heading this reform process and calling for Prime Minister Abadi to present this; but it has been a very complex political scene, divisions among Shi'a parties, not just Sunni and Shi'a parties.

Of course, as we know very well, Isha, in Iraq, politics and security are so closely intertwined that you can't look at one without the other and this is the concern here, that the political situation right now doesn't look like we're seeing any solution anytime soon; but, of course, there's always backdoor dealings between Iraqi politicians and meetings, and we'll have to see what comes out of it. But the Iraqi Parliament hasn't met yet since the storming of Parliament by Sadr supporters last month, and, of course, this is great concern, Isha, is ISIS exploiting this tension in -

SESAY: Exactly.

KARADSHESH: -- the country to try and reignite that sectarian war in the country, of course.

SESAY: And, Colonel Francona, does the U.S. have any leverage to try to mediate this political paralysis, this political crisis?

FRANCONA: Well, they've been trying to and we saw the recent visit of the Vice President, Joe Biden there to try to bolster Abadi's credentials, but this has to be an internal Iraqi solution. The people are just tired of this cronyism that she referred to. It's all about the corruption inside the government, and it's not going to get fixed, and Haider Abadi is in a bad position. He's got to worry about ISIS. He's got to provide security

for Baghdad and he's got to answer the demands of Muqtada Al-Sadr.

Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as the key power broker in the country and he's going to have to be addressed, and I would not want to be Haider al-Abadi trying to serve all these masters. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but the people have had it; and as she said, it gets really hot and ugly this time of year in Baghdad. The tempers flare, and I think we're going to see demands in Baghdad. Now ISIS is taking great advantage of this. The more chaos they can create, the harder it is for them to focus on ISIS.

SESAY: Yes, it is a bad situation all around. Colonel Francona, Jomana Karadsheh, thanks so much for the insight and analysis. Thank you.

VAUSE: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff could be just hours away from being kicked out of office, at least temporarily. The senate is expected to vote within hours on whether to start impeachment proceedings.

SESAY: Police spray tear gas at protesters outside the congress. Reports say most senators plan to vote against the leader. CNN's Shasta Darlington has more from Brasilia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brazil's Senate has been gathered all day and into the night for a crucial vote that will decide the fate of President Dilma Rousseff. If a majority votes in favor of an impeachment trial, she'll be forced to step down for 180 days to defend herself; and while the speeches have gone on longer than expected, each senator given 15 minutes, and many going over, it is widely expected that that impeachment trial will be approved and Rousseff will be stepping down on Thursday, replaced by her vice president, Michel Temer.

This, again, will happen at some point during the day on Thursday. He'll be in a hurry to appoint a finance minister and other economic staff to prove to markets and investors that he's going to get the economy back on track. Unfortunately for him, he'll face a lot of the same challenges and problems that Rousseff has so far failed to overcome: a deep recession and frustration over widespread corruption.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, UCLA Professor Octavio Pescador joins us now. It's good to have you once again. Thank you for joining us.

VAUSE: Welcome back.

SESAY: As we watch these proceedings in the Senate in Brazil, it is quite hard to fathom how this has turned into a little bit of a circus. They've been in the chamber for hours, and yet there has still been no vote. It seems every senator wants to take a minute to say their peace.

OCTAVIO PESCADOR, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES: Of course; you know, remember there will be elections in 2018, regardless of the outcome right now, the Rousseff government is done. So they will either kick her out right now, which is likely to happen, and spend the next 18 months figuring out whether or not she actually broke the law, not [00:10:01] accusations of corruption but actually covering up deficits; and then they will have the vice president be in power for these 18 months plus the remainder of the term.

VAUSE: So, technically, what we're looking at here, if they vote to begin these impeachment proceedings, which we think is obviously a pretty sure bet at this point, then Dilma Rousseff is removed from her position for 180 days -

PESCADOR: Precisely.

VAUSE: -- and then they have the hearing. Technically, if she is found not guilty by a two-thirds vote of parliament in that hearing, you're saying that even though technically and legally, she should be allowed to return as president, she won't?

PESCADOR: Well, if you have your "worst enemy," and thank you for the 180 days, it's going to be very hard for her to, you know, -- the courts, -- two things in the last two months. One, today, which is prevented her from her last step to avoid the impeachment.

VAUSE: Yes.

PESCADOR: So her attorney general tried to request an annulment of the process, that didn't work; and the strong man that could have saved her and gathered political support around her, Lula, was prevented as well, from holding office with her.

VAUSE: Lula da Silva, was the former president.

PESCADOR: Precisely. So she is very much in the same case of Lula, without charisma, without resources to continue following to her supporters. Remember, Brazil has abated poverty over the last 50 years but the corruption scandal of Petrobras has affected everyone. You know, only one-fifth of the members of her party are accused in this scandal. There's other -- the larger share of the people accused are in the other parties.

SESAY: In the opposition.

PESCADOR: But, you know, everyone is, you know, blaming her and the Workers Party, so all the "allies" have moved out, including the Coalition Party that, who -- that is headed by the current vice president, who will inherent powers if she's moved out.

SESAY: So let's talk about the current vice president. He inherits power, as that is the expectation. Is he the man who steer Brazil through this economic crisis?

PESCADOR: Well, the economic crisis is the response to the price of oil. It increased today to 246. It's in an upward trend. Maybe he'll have, you know, global conscience that will help him; but, for sure, he will be, the argument is, covering up all the accusations for all the power wielders in Brazil, because, remember, they have a long history of impunity.

VAUSE: Not the crime but the cover up. Rousseff supporters say this is an attack on democracy, but isn't this how democracies work? You know, no one is immune from the law, not even the president?

PESCADOR: Well the people are even calling for a military. Remember Brazil was a dictatorship until not very long ago, but kind of an emergent democracy or a reloaded version. So, you know, the current establishment that is the Workers, the left, have been in power for four administrations. The right has very avidly used this discontent that started out, I should say, with the austerity programs and the increase in bus fares in 2013 and then has moved in a different direction. The catalyst was precisely the Petrobras scandal.

VAUSE: Thank you very much for coming in.

SESAY: Yes, thank you so much. A long night ahead.

VAUSER: Especially for the people of Brasilia.

SESAY: Thank you. All right.

VAUSE: Donald Trump's tax returns and refusal to release them are being slammed by the former republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. On Facebook Governor Romney wrote this, "It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters. There is one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size."

This is not the first time Romney has gone after Trump for not releasing his taxes. In February he speculated what Trump might be hiding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA): Frankly, I think we have good reason to believe there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes.

UNIDENFIED MALE: What do you mean?

ROMNEY: Well, I think there's something there, either he is not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is; or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay; or perhaps he hasn't been giving money to the vets or disabled hike he's been telling us he's been doing; and I think that's -- the reason that I think there's a bombshell in there is because every time he's asked about his taxes, he dodges and delays and says well we're working on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Romney's renewed attack came after Donald Trump told the Associated Press he won't release his taxes by election day unless an audit is finished first. Trump then later clarified on Twitter, "In an interview I told AP [00:15:02] that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not before the election."

Well, for more on Trump's taxes and the fight with the Republican Party, we're joined now by Frank Rich, writer-at-large for "New York Magazine." Mr. Rich, thank you for being with us.

FRANK RICH, WRITER-AT-LARGE, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": Delighted to be with you. VAUSE: Earlier on CNN, Trump's lawyers made it very clear that he was acting on their legal advice not to release his returns; this is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, SPECIAL COUNSEL TO DONALD TRUMP: So I'm going to say it to your audience, I'm going to look into the camera for you: Donald Trump is not going to release his tax returns because his counsel has advised him that he should not release it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay, so, does that explanation actually hold water?

RICH: No, of course not. You know, I think that probably everything that Mitt Romney speculates about these tax returns is true, or most of it. The thing is, I don't think it actually makes any difference in the campaign, because as we've learned nothing over the last six months or so, Trump can get away with things that other real politicians cannot. So, if you can, you know, call an anchor a bimbo, you can probably get away with not releasing your taxes.

When we get to the general election, he's just going to turn it right around on Hillary Clinton, about the Goldman Sachs speeches, about the finances and transparency of the Clinton Foundation and I think it will be a dog chasing its own tail and will amount to nothing, in terms of the bigger political scheme of things.

VAUSE: Well, Hillary Clinton, she jumped on this tax issue today. She was campaigning in New Jersey. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What about his taxes? So we'll get around to that, too; because when you run for president, especially when you become the nominee, that is kind of expected. My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns. We've got eight years on our website right now.

[Applause]

CLINTON: So you got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them? Yeah, well, we're going to find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And just to prove your point, Chris Christie, he took up the fight for Donald Trump, hitting Clinton for her own lack of transparency. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ): I find it ironic that Hillary Clinton is talking about transparency to anyone, given that she had her own e- mail server that she used constantly and had her colleagues in the State Department use in order to avoid FOIA requests and any transparency to the public. So I hardly believe Hillary Clinton's in anyplace to be giving a critique on transparency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, Frank, is this how the election campaign will go for the next couple months? She'll launch onto a scandal and Donald will divert by hitting on one of her own scandals?

RICH: Exactly; when Hillary Clinton says "what about his taxes," he'll say what about those Goldman Sachs speeches; why are you not releasing them? So, and it will just fight to a stand-off and we'll move on to other subjects.

VAUSE: Of course all of this is coming on the eve of that meeting between Donald Trump and senior Republicans on Capitol Hill. Can Trump mend fences there? Do you think he even wants to mend fences for that matter?

RICH: I think Trump's holding all the cards. I think that another thing we've learned over the past six months is every time a member of the so-called republican establishment disses him, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, he just rises in the esteem of his own fans.

Jeb Bush announced he wasn't going to vote for him and not go to the convention, did any Trump voter care? I don't think so.

VAUSE: I mean, are we at the point now in this election campaign, it is so unusual and so just completely and totally out of the ordinary that it will be a landslide win, but we don't really know for which candidate?

RICH: I think you're right. I think -- I guess it could also be close. Any prediction we make is going to be wrong, but I really think it's a very volatile situation. It doesn't follow normal liberal/conservative breakdown, red/blue breakdown, democrat/republican breakdown. I think anything can happen. For people in our business, it's quite exciting to cover whatever the results for the country, which may not be quite as terrific.

VAUSE: Yeah, to say the least. Frank Rich, thank you so much for being with us.

RICH: Great to talk to you.

SESAY: Very, very interesting.

VAUSE: There we go.

SESAY: Time for a quick break though. South Korea claims 13 restaurant workers fled North Korea in a mass defection. Pyongyang called it a mass abduction. You'll hear what the families are saying in an exclusive report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:22:06] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Well, a month ago there was a mass defection from China of North Koreans, mostly serving staff at a North Korean restaurant left for South Korea. The government there claims these 13 restaurant workers fled the South together.

SESAY: North Korea is working hard to discredit that. In this exclusive report, from our own Will Ripley, the Regime is using devastated family members to make the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Isha, it's highly likely these families received some kind of media coaching before the government brought them here to our Pyongyang hotel for these interviews; but I can tell you, sitting across from them, looking into their eyes, the heartbreak they're feeling is real.

The final gift from a daughter who disappeared. Ri Gee Yeh (ps), seen here smiling as she left North Korea to work in China, saved up to buy her newborn nephew a present. Ri's mother says when she got our letter that he was born she sent this coat and shoes. She said she wanted to see him.

They don't have Facebook here. Before they could mail this picture, this one emerged; Ri and 12 other restaurant workers in South Korea. The government says they all defected, willingly, abandoning this North Korean state-owned restaurant in China, now closed.

North Korea says agents from the South lied, tricking the group into thinking they were going to another state-owned restaurant in Malaysia. Government officials brought three families to tell their stories in a Pyongyang hotel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, via translator: This is an abduction, a kidnapping, says the mother of waitress, Ri Bun.

RIPLEY: A lot of people might think it doesn't seem likely that a whole group could be abducted. is it possible that they left voluntarily?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, via translator: How can they say my sister went to South Korea? She says they talked about all the new clothes her sister was buying in China and promised to bring some home.

RIPLEY: I never want to believe our daughter went there says the father of So Byong Ahk (ps). Ironically, his job is to train citizens working abroad.

They bring the North Korean government $1 billion to $2 billion a year. according to a U.N. report last year. Each family believes their daughters, in South Korea, are in solitary confinement, on hunger strike, nearly dead. They say relevant authorities told them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our loving, loving daughter is in a life or death situation, he says. RIPLEY: The South Korean Unification Ministry says: "The claims that

they are in solitary confinement and on hunger strike are completely untrue." South Korea also says they cannot grant a request from the North Korean families to meet with their daughters, a request the families also made to [00:25:00] the U.N. Human Rights Commission. South Korea again saying "they defected on their own free will."

All 13 will stay in South Korean Unification Ministry custody for several months; time, the government says, is needed to adjust.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My loving daughter, let me go to my loving daughter.

RIPLEY: A heartbreaking plea made countless times before on the divided Korean Peninsula.

And despite the fact those young women are perhaps 120 miles, less than 200 kilometers, from where I'm standing right now, they might as well be 10,000 miles or more, because once they cross that border into South Korea, they automatically renounce their North Korean citizenship. Then it becomes a crime for them to have direct contact with their families here. Why is the government putting them forward now? Well after the 7th Party Congress and the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un trying to project unity and happiness and strength, this humiliating apparent mass defection certainly doesn't fit the image that this country is trying to project to the world.

John; Isha?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Our thanks to Will Ripley there in Pyongyang. A short break; when we come back, Donald Trump talks. He has guts, that's what some (inaudible) in China are saying. Why all the love for the billionaire candidate.

SESAY: Plus, new charges against a former police officer more than a year after he shot an unarmed African-American man in the back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You're watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us; I'm John Vause. The headlines this hour: investigators believe they have two more pieces of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Australian officials say the engine paneling and an interior panel are almost certainly from the missing plane.

[00:30:02] The pieces were found on beaches in South Africa and Mauritius back in March.

SESAY: A series of bombing killed at least 93 people in Baghdad on Wednesday; ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The deadliest was a car bombing at a busy market in a Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City. The Prime Minister ordered stepped-up intelligence to try to prevent sleeper cells from entering cities.

VAUSE: Tensions are high in Brazil where the senate will soon decide whether to put Dilma Rousseff on trial for impeachment. Ppolice sprayed tear gas on protesters outside the debate on Wednesday. If the trial begins, Ms. Rousseff has to immediately step down up to six months.

SESAY: Investigators want to know more about the relationship between the doctor on this file video and music legend Prince. A search warrant obtained by two media outlets says Michael Shulenberg saw Prince twice in the weeks before he died. Schulenberg He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Well, a former police officer who shot and killed an unarmed African- American man in the back now faces federal charges in the U.S. A grand jury says Michael Slager violated Walter Scott's Civil Rights and misled investigators over last year's shooting in South Carolina. Slager is already facing a state murder charge.

VAUSE: Many believe cell phone video, which captured the killing, led to the charges. We're about to show you that video; and, a warning, it is graphic. It starts after Slager pulled Scott over for a traffic stop.

{Shooting Video Plays; Multiple Gunshots heard.]

SESAY: Slager has pleaded not guilty to these new charges.

VAUSE: Okay; let's discuss this case with Areva Martin. She's a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator. Areva, it's been a long time; so nice to see you.

AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY and LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

VAUSE: That's for coming in.

MARTIN: Whenever i see that video, ooh, chilling to me.

VAUSE: Yes, it's difficult. Slager is already facing state murder charges here; so what's the point now being made with these federal charges?

MARTIN: Well, two different sovereigns that are charging him, and some would ask isn't it double jeopardy to be charged twice? It's not because you have the state and Federal and they both have the ability to charge.

The Feds got involved in this case very early on and said they were going to do their own civil rights investigation and go where the evidence took them. And the evidence took them to filing these charges against this cop that shot Scott, as we saw, five times in the back as he was running away.

This case is so different from some of the other cases. You saw charges filed almost immediately by the state's district attorney. There's been a settlement of the civil lawsuit with the family, and now these Federal civil rights charges. So all the things that we saw others asking for, like in the New York case of Eric Garner, in the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, all of those things coming to play in this Walter Scott case in ways that were different from some of those earlier cases.

SESAY: So i want you to explain the charge. He's facing three charges on the federal jurisdiction: deprivation of rights under the color of the law; use of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime; and, obstruction of justice. I think the one that will catch people's attention and will need some explanation is that deprivation of rights under the color of the law.

MARTIN: Basically it's a charge that can be filed against someone who is in a government position, someone who is acting in their authority for a law enforcement agency. So that's the first criteria. He was a police officer, acting in his official capacity as a police officer, and the charge basically says you shot him, you deprived him of his right not to be subjected to this unreasonable force, and you did it knowing that you were depriving him of his civil rights. This is a pretty high burden for the Federal Government to meet in a civil rights case, very different than a state murder charge, which is beyond reasonable doubt.

So the Feds have a higher standard, but you have to keep in mind, he may get convicted on the state charges, and he could face life in prison without parole, even on the state charges. So he has two very serious charges moving forward on parallel tracks that could cause him to be in jail for life.

VAUSE: These federal charges carry the death penalty, but they've opted not to go for the death penalty in this case.

MARTIN: Yes.

VAUSE: I want to take you back to something you said earlier. You said all these things are coming together in this case. Everything that was called for in the Eric Garner case, that didn't happen, --

MARTIN: Yes.

VAUSE: -- why is it happening this time?

MARTIN: I think a couple things we can look to: One, we have a different U.S. Attorney sitting at the Department of Justice. Eric Holder, very different lawyer than Loretta Lynch. Loretta Lynch tried some very serious cases in New York when she was a federal prosecutor. So we knew when she came into office that she was going to look at these cases very differently. She doesn't do a lot in terms of press conferences, not a lot of talking, but a lot of action.

So I just think, one, we have a different prosecutor and, two, think of the activism that occurred between the Eric Garner, Michael Brown case and Walter Scott. The Black Lives Matter and all the people that said that this police brutality had to stop and that police officers had to start looking at these [00:35:01] cases very differently. So i think we have all these things coming into play. By the time Walter Scott is shot, those charges were filed almost immediately by the South Carolina District Attorney.

SESAY: And let me ask you this, he's already come out and he's pleaded not guilty.

MARTIN: Yes.

SESAY: There is video that we just showed our viewers, that showed how things went down.

MARTIN: Yes.

SESAY: As you hear the comments being made from his lawyers, what are you able to piece together, in terms of how they're going to mount a defense?

MARTIN: Yes; so, it's important to note that not guilty just preserves a defendant's right to put forth affirmative defenses. It doesn't mean I didn't do the shooting, but he may make the cha -- he's going to probably argue that it was a justifiable shooting.

We know that after the shooting occurred, he said that Scott charged at him with a Taser and that he had no choice but to shoot him. So we should expect him to try to mount a defense that says this shooting was justified based on the totality of what was happening. Now we have watched that video with our own eyes. Not so sure that's going to be a successful defense, but it is one that his lawyer and his team will be able to make in a case like this.

VAUSE: It would seem to be an uphill climb. Areva, thank you for your insight.

MARTIN: Absolutely.

SESAY: A pleasure; thank you.

VAUSE: And please joining us here tomorrow on "CNN Newsroom." Musician Ben Harper will talk to us about the police shootings of black men in the United States and he'll perform from his latest album, "Call It What It Is".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLI)

BEN HARPER, MUSICIAN: Hopefully that song will be a voice in the choir of collective consciousness in the name of change, whether that be in the way people react and act on a daily basis or whether that's a change in policy, I just want -- we all want our voices to be heard somehow in what we do; and that's CNN and that's B-E-N.

[Ben Harper Performs "Call It What It Is"]

SESAY: Our interview with Ben Harper airs tomorrow, 1:00 a.m. Eastern, 10:00 p.m. Pacific here in the U.S.; that is 6:00 a.m. in London. Now, time for a quick break. Donald Trump's tough talk on China has actually earned him some loyal fans there. What they like about Trump? we'll tell you next in a live report.

VAUSE: Also ahead, London's new mayor has a message for Donald Trump: i'm Muslim, get over it. Don't make an exception for me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone; the mayors of two major European cities are making it clear how they feel about Donald trump. Sadiq Khan is London's new mayor. Last week, he became the first Muslim mayor of any Western capital.

VAUSE: Trump has made a few remarks about Muslims, you may have heard them. Last year he called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and on Monday the presumptive Republican Candidate said he would make an exception for Mayor Khan. Mr. Khan and Paris Mayor Anne Hidago had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE HIDAGO, MAYOR, PARIS, FRANCE: Mr. Trump is so stupid. My god. My god.

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR, LONDON, GREAT BRITIAN: My message to Donald Trump and his [00:40:01] team is that, you know, your views of Islam are ignorant. It is possible to be a Muslim and to live in the West.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed China on the campaign trail, but his message appears to be resonating with some in the country. Matt Rivers joins me now from Beijing with more. Matt?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Isha, China has been one of Donald Trump's favorite targets, and that is something that we have heard time and again, just by what he said, very, very strong words. The logical thought there would, of course, be that China, here, would have quite a number of people who don't like Donald Trump. That is certainly the case; but what you might find more interesting is that there are plenty of people here who do like Donald Trump despite what he says. We managed to find some of those people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what they're doing. It's the greatest theft in the history of the world.

RIVERS: Tough talk about trade from the Republican Presumptive Nominee against one of his top targets. Yet here in China, there is respect and even admiration for Donald Trump.

GU YU, CHINESE TECH ENTREPRENEUR: i think Donald Trump had the guts to say everything that normal people feared to say. RIVERS: Gu Yu is a young Chinese tech entrepreneur, part of a vocal group of Chinese fans of the billionaire businessman. One social media user on China's Twitter equivalent, Weibo, says Hillary Clinton makes empty promises while Trump is the king of doing what he says. Another calls him sharp and pragmatic. One person even said they'd vote for him because he is so handsome.

["Celebrity Apprentice" Theme plays]

A face Chinese audiences got to know during his days on "Celebrity Apprentice," a hit here in China.

TRUMP: You're fired.

RIVERS: From TV to books, Trump's bestseller, "The Art of the Deal" in Mandarin, is found in bookstores across Beijing. His success as a businessman is, no doubt, part of his appeal as a politician. Some Chinese see a rich billionaire and want to be just like him; like the owner of Trump Consulting, a Chinese real estate firm named after the candidate himself. The irony, the owner tells CNN Donald trump is a political clown, but i wouldn't change the name of my company for that. He's a real estate tycoon after all.

His feelings on Trump the politician, shared by the media here. in March, the state-run newspaper, "The Global Times," called Trump a "rich narcissist and a clown" for statements like this.

TRUMP: Negotiating with China, when these people walk in the room, they don't say oh, hello, how's the weather, so beautiful outside. They say, "we want deal."

RIVERS: Even with all the bluster, Trump Tower is still a popular destination for tourists from Mainland China and Taiwan, visiting New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's like a superstar, you know

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody likes Trump, so i come to see - I wish that Trump would wave.

RIVERS: Still, not everyone is a fan.

UNIDENTIIFIED FEMALE: If he becomes the president, I am a little bit scared.

RIVERS: The Chinese, just like many Americans, with no shortage of opinions on Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: And while there is definitely not a huge grassroots movement here for Trump, there aren't tens of thousands of people here or supremely pro-Trump, the fact remains there are people who do like this guy, and for more proof, i'm going to show you a very poorly made T-shirt with a bad picture on It, that says "Trump 2016." This shirt is sold on a website in China,

that only ships here in China. So people are buying this shirt. i also know that this is going to look very strange on my expense report later this month.

SESAY: We'll vouch for you. We will vouch for you, Matt Rivers. Thank you so much for reporting there.

RIVERS: Thank you.

SESAY: It is truly very bizarre. Matt Rivers there, reporting from Beijing; thank you.

VAUSE: i bet you that t-shirt will run in the wash. All the colors will come out.

SESAY: That's what you're getting for Christmas.

VAUSE: I'm looking forward to it.

SESAY: It better be good. Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause; "World Sports" is up next and we'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You are watching CNN.

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