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: Protests Erupt After Rousseff Impeachment Vote; Zika Virus Prompts Call To Postpone Olympics; 9/11 Role Of Saudis Living In U.S. Questioned; Republican Leaders: Working To Unite With Trump; Interview with Ben Harper; Inside Look at North Korean Regime; Song Contest, Clash of Politics, Entertainment Have British Thinking of Another Type of Brexit. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 13, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
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VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause.
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
VAUSE: Brazilians are protesting in Sao Paolo and other cities as the country's Senate takes a huge step towards impeaching President Dilma Rousseff.
SESAY: Demonstrators set fires and marched through the streets some in support of Ms. Rousseff. Others are opposed to the interim president, Michel Temer, who was sworn in Thursday. CNN Shasta Darlington has the latest from Brasilia.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The numbers on the Brazilian Senate Board Thursday were clear, a majority vote to launch an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff accused of illegally meddling with the budget which she denies.
Rousseff came out swinging calling the process against her a coup d'etat.
DILMA ROUSSEFF, SUSPENDED BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): When a Brasilia or when a president is impeached for a crime that is not committed the name that we have for this in the democracy is, it is not impeachment, it is a coup.
DARLINGTON: Soon after her statement, she stepped into a swarm of people outside the presidential offices in Brasilia. What happens next, Rousseff is now suspend for up to six months. This man, Vice President Michel Temer is stepping in as interim president. On Thursday, he announced his cabinet. It included no women for the first time since the 1970s.
MICHEL TEMER, ACTING BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is urgent that we calm the nation and unite all of Brazil. It's urgent to form a government of national salvation, political parties, leaders and the Brazilian people should cooperate so we can come out of this grave crisis.
DARLINGTON: Rousseff had to vacate the presidential palace, but will be allowed to continue to live in the presidential residence as she prepares her defense.
And although she lit the Olympic torch right here in Brasilia just last week, it doesn't look like she will be at the helm to preside over the games, which starts on August 5th.
A country just under three months away from hosting the Olympics, mired in a major Zika health crisis, economic recession, and political uncertainty that has divided the country with no end in sight. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: The International Olympic Committee says games won't be influenced much by the regime change because much of the planning is already done. But ticket sales have been slow and there are also concerns about violence in Rio.
VAUSE: Many are worried about the Zika virus in Brazil, which is being linked to birth defects and other health problems.
SESAY: Joining me now is Professor Amir Attaran from the University of Ottawa. Professor Attaran, thank you so much for joining us.
In your piece for the "Harvard Public Health Review," you're calling for these Olympic Games to be postponed or moved. There is a lack of consensus among scientists on the impact of Brazil's Olympics, impact of the tourists will have on the spread of Zika. Why are you so certain we could be facing a public health disaster?
AMIR ATTARAN, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND LAW, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA: Well, there actually is no lack of consensus. Everybody agrees on the following thing. Number one, Brazil's Zika crisis was caused by a single infected traveler coming to the Americas. It only took one traveler to cause what we now see as a horrible Zika disaster.
And everyone also agrees that sending a half million international visitors into Rio where they can become infected and sent back can only speed up the process of spreading the virus.
In other words, nobody is saying this will slow it down or make it better. How could it when you are talking 500,000 opportunities to spread the virus. There is actually no scientific debate about that at all.
SESAY: Well, there is a debate on the side from, World Health Organization, that don't agree with you. So there is, there is a lack of consensus from that side of things. They're not calling for the games to be --
ATTARAN: Not the case, actually, Isha. The World Health Organization following my paper reiterated how to stay safe in Rio.
SESAY: Absolutely.
ATTARAN: But did not say they disagreed with what I just told you or anything in the paper. If you read the WHO statement nowhere does it say we are finding fault with the paper published in the "Harvard Journal."
[01:05:01]SESAY: You are absolutely right. You are absolutely right. They are not finding fault with what you are saying, Professor Attaran. That we are on the same page on, but they're not accepting your call, or seeing the need that you are spotlighting that these games need to be postponed or delayed.
ATTARAN: Well, that is not clear either. WHO said today that visitors should avoid crowded places and should avoid places with poor sanitation, not that you would expect crowded places at the Olympics, or that Rio has relatively poor areas with terrible sanitation. WHO simply is mincing words here. If they're saying avoid crowds, avoid unsanitary conditions, they're basically saying don't go to Rio.
SESAY: Professor Attaran, so in your view, how well is Brazil doing getting the situation under control. I mean, more bluntly put -- is it safe?
ATTARAN: Here's the fact. As you know, Brazil mounted a massive operation against mosquitoes earlier this year. That Brazilian government's only statistic show that mosquito transmitted disease is up 600 percent over last year, 600 percent up despite the mosquito control efforts.
Now would you care to bet your health and the world's health on Rio being clean by the Olympics? And the fact the WHO has never said anything until today -- and yet, they continue not to say that I'm wrong or that there is a single fact that I published in the "Harvard Review of Public Health" that's wrong. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.
SESAY: Professor Attaran, it's a great pleasure to speak to you and to get your perspective on all of this. We shall be watching very closely and hope to continue the conversation with you. Thank you very much.
ATTARAN: Thank you, Isha.
SESAY: Very interesting.
VAUSE: Yes, you know, this is, I guess, you know valid point that he is making, there are a lot of concerns. But you know, the WHO is also saying at the same time, maybe things will change closer it gets to the Olympics. SESAY: Maybe, we will be watching. We'll get him back on.
VAUSE: Yes, we'll see. Absolutely. OK, some U.S. officials are calling for a new investigation into the role of Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 terror attack.
SESAY: And CNN is getting new information about the potential involvement of Saudi citizens living here in the United States. Our Jim Sciutto reports.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an allegation that has lingered almost since the moment the towers fell. That Saudi Arabia was somehow tied to the 9/11 attacks.
Now speaking to CNN by telephone, former 9/11 commissioner, John Lehman says the classified 28-pages of a congressional report into 9/11 contain evidence that as many as six Saudi individuals supported al Qaeda in the run-up to the attacks.
Those individuals he says worked for the Saudi Embassy in the U.S., Saudi charities, and a government-funded mosque in California. Lehman makes clear that the 28 pages which are mostly FBI summary reports contain no smoking gun.
And like the 9/11 Commission concluded Lehman does not believe the Saudi government or any of its senior officials supported or were aware of the 9/11 plots.
However, Lehman says that evidence of lower level Saudi involvement was never sufficiently investigated and should now be, quote, "vigorously pursued." Other commission members including former federal prosecutor, Richard Ben-Venista (ph) are echoing Lehman's call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would not be so arrogant as to think that we with our limited time and resources have investigated every single aspect that there is to look at in the 9/11 disaster.
SCIUTTO: When it completed its investigation in 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded, it found, quote, "no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded al Qaeda." Saudi leaders have repeatedly cited that conclusion as eliminating the possibility of any official Saudi role.
PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, FORMER SAUDI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: If you look at the commission report, it deals specifically with Saudi Arabia's role that there was not a Saudi role, nor any official role in this situation.
SCIUTTO: Some 9/11 Commission members to not dispute that defense.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTA, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: There is a substantial jump to suggest that somebody who had a job in a consulate is a representative of the Saudi government. SCIUTTO: However, Lehman says the commission's conclusion intentionally left open possibility that lower level government officials or employees may have played some role.
Even if they were not instructed by Saudi leadership. It is that lingering question he hopes the 28 pages release and further investigation, will answer once and for all.
[01:10:04]The 9/11 investigation was terminated, Lehman told CNN before all the relevant leads were able to be investigated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Lehman points to some clever semantics in that 9/11 report, conclusion, saying, for instance that the Saudi government as an institution or that senior Saudi officials did not fund al Qaeda.
That that left open the possibility that lower level Saudi officials did play a role perhaps without the direction of the Saudi leadership.
Now to be clear, the Saudi government also supports releasing those 28 pages. The Saudi foreign minister saying exactly that just last week in Geneva. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
VAUSE: Terry Strada is the national chair of the group, 9/11 Families and Survivors United Justice Against Terrorism. Her husband, Tom, was in the World Trade Center, one of the 2,996 innocent people killed on September 11th. She joins us from New York.
Terry, thank you for being with us. These comments that we are hearing now from John Lehman, the former 9/11 commissioner that lower level Saudi officials were involved in the attack. Do you think now slowly the truth is actually coming out?
TERRY STRADA, HUSBAND DEAD IN 9/11: It is amazing that it has taken this long for the truth to finally come out but, yes. The fact that the Saudis were involved in the attacks of 9/11, it's certainly seems to be the truth. That's what we have been fighting for, for 15 years now.
VAUSE: Lehman goes on to say the role of these low level Saudi officials never fully investigated at the time, but he says it should be now. Shouldn't the role have been investigated 14 years ago?
STRADA: I certainly think it should have been fully investigated 14 years ago. The commission itself didn't have the resources or time to continue with their investigation. But there was enough there that absolutely, we should have been -- continuing with the investigation or we should be reopening it now and looking into these facts now.
VAUSE: I mean, do you buy that excuse that the commission didn't have the resources or the time to look into this? I mean, it just seems, for what such a tragic and monumental event 9/11 was, you would think that no expense would be spared to find out how exactly all this went down. STRADA: That's exactly what we would have expected, but that is not what happened. It seems like at every turn the Saudis' role was hushed. It was always, you know, "we are not going to continue with this investigation, we are just going to end it right here and worse than that, we are going to classify what we do know, what little that we could tell the public."
So it has been a very, very painful, long, 15 years of fighting for the truth and, accountability for the murder of our loved ones. You know, we are getting tired of it, but we are not going to stop.
VAUSE: You mentioned the classified pages, 28 pages which, you know, the government has the never released. The Obama administration is reportedly moving closer to releasing at least some of those pages. What is holding them back?
STRADA: I have no idea what is holding them back. Some of those pages is not satisfactory. We want all 28 pages. If you need to redact a name to protect somebody that is no longer under investigation, or has been cleared, that's fine. But do not give us only part of the 28 pages. We want all 28 pages.
And we want all of the rest of what the investigation into the 9/11 attacks. All of the papers that you have concerning the Saudi involvement. There is so much more than just the 28 pages. It's the tip of the iceberg and we want all of it.
VAUSE: Yes, we are coming up to the 15th anniversary of September 11th so for people like you, who had someone who died in the twin towers and died on that day, you know, there must be such incredible frustration and anger at the government. First the Bush administration and now the Obama administration. That this government, both governments, both administrations are holding back vital information.
STRADA: Absolutely, it is frustrating. It's painful. It makes us all very angry. We want to know the truth. We deserve it, but so does our country. Our country can't be safe if we don't know what actually happened prior to 9/11 and how those 19 hijackers were in our country. How the support networks were financed.
If we don't know that truth, we can't protect ourselves because I think the cell still exists. We don't admit they were there, they have never been taken down. This is something that Bob Graham has the said time and again. We need to get to the truth.
And, he is the one who's fought for it longer than anybody else. If that man, the man who co-chaired the inquiry has been demanding for these pages to come out for the last 15 years then we really should be doing it.
VAUSE: Yes, this is about as much about the future as it is about the past. Terry, thank you for making time for us.
STRADA: OK, thank you.
SESAY: The families have been through so much.
VAUSE: It's ridiculous that we still don't know what happened.
[01:15:04]SESAY: We are going to take a quick break now. Donald Trump has begun his charm offensive trying to court Republican Party leaders in Washington. Up next, a look of what progress if any was made.
VAUSE: Plus, he was acquitted in a controversial shooting. Now George Zimmerman wants to cash in on the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin.
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KATE RILEY, CNN SPORTS: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sport headlines. We have 85 days until the Olympics in Rio get underway. The country now has a new acting president and a new minister of sport. Michel Temer has taken over from the suspended president, Dilma Rousseff. She is facing an impeachment trial that's likely to last through the games in August.
One of Temer's first actions in office was choosing Leonardo (inaudible) as the new minister of sport. He is the third person to fill the position in as many months.
The search is on to replace Roberto Martinez who was sacked as Everton boss. They have one of their last ten matches and also lost the semifinals of the FA Cup and Lee Cup this season. Everton have one more game left to play this season against relegated site Norich City on Sunday.
The favorite to replace Martinez is Frank Deburr, the former (inaudible) boss who stepped down from his job earlier on Thursday. Days after missing out on the Dutch title.
Meanwhile, manager, (inaudible) Potatino from strength to strength at Tottenham. The club confirmed the Argentine has extended his contract with the club until 2021 after guiding the spurs to their best ever finish in the premier league era he said. It was an easy decision to make. No better place to be right now. That's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
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JONES: Hello, everyone. Donald Trump and Republican leaders seem to be laying the ground work to unite their party after taking shots at each other for months.
VAUSE: Both sides emerged from their long awaited peace summit on Thursday. Smiling, but Trump still did not get the endorsement he wants. Here is Dana Bash.
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DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an event congressional Republicans never imagined in their wildest dreams. Gathering to greet their nominee for president, Donald Trump, and they all could not sound more eager to get beyond the discourse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The headline is positive first step to unifying our party.
PAUL RYAN (R), REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER: I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified.
BASH: In fact, Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan even issued a carefully crafted joint statement using a version of the word unite three times in one paragraph.
[01:20:09]Including, "we will be having additional discussions but remain confident there is a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall."
But also said, "While we were honest about our few differences, we recognized there are also many important areas of common ground." The differences ran deep during the primaries.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A total and complete shutdown.
BASH: Ryan recoiling at Trump's tone and tenor especially Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims last December.
RYAN: This is not conservatism.
BASH: CNN is told that today behind closed doors Ryan made clear to the billionaire it would be up to Trump to unite the GOP. A source familiar with the meeting says Ryan told Trump that while millions voted for him, many Republicans oppose him too.
RYAN: I represent a wing of the conservative party you could say. He is bringing a whole new wing. He is bringing new voters that we have never had for decades. That's a positive thing.
BASH: Still, Ryan was not yet ready to endorse Trump.
RYAN: This is a first, very encouraging meeting, but again, in 45 minutes, you don't litigate all of the processes and all issues and the principles that we are talking about.
BASH: A source familiar with the meeting also said Ryan brought up something near and dear to his heart, balancing the budget by reforming Medicare and Social Security, which Trump has argued he doesn't want to touch.
And, sources tell CNN, that during the meeting, Trump mostly listened add said all the right things. The most anticipated meeting of the day was the first. Just these three men, Trump, Ryan, and Republican Party chair, Reince Priebus.
CNN is told Priebus has been working hard behind the scenes over a week to bridge the divide between the two.
REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: It is important to be unified.
BASH (on camera): But it is not usually this hard?
PRIEBUS: You know what, this was not a usual election. I mean it was a very contentious, tough primary. Obviously no one can deny that. It's something that a lot of us haven't been through.
BASH: Do you feel like a couple's therapist?
PRIEBUS: No, you know what. You wouldn't say that if you were in the room. It was very, it was great. I think that, it had very good chemistry between the two of them.
BASH: Ryan did say he thought Trump was warm and personable and he was glad to spend time with the billionaire for the first time really since they had only met briefly about four years ago before today. And that was a sentiment among senators and House members. That they found Trump charming.
However, even some top Republicans said that they really pressed him on his tone on the campaign trail. As saying for example, that he needs to be more cautious, and talking to and about Hispanics.
Texas Senator John Cornin noted that he won a majority of Hispanics back home and maybe he could have tips for trump on how to deal better with that. Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Let's bring in Republican strategist, Luis Alvarado. He is a Latino political and media consultant. Luis, always good to have you with us.
LUIS ALVARADO, LATINO POLITICAL AND MEDIA CONSULTANT: Always a pleasure.
VAUSE: He meant that. Very genuine.
SESAY: Listen, let me ask you this. We are trying to measure how much progress was made in the meeting between Trump and Ryan. At the end of the day, if there was no endorsement, doesn't that effectively mean there was no progress made?
ALVARADO: This is the just a first meeting for the chess match. This is a chess match. Everybody is going to play a role. Mr. Ryan has a role to play and that's to protect Congress and to also ensure that Republicans actually are seen as someone who are cohesive, someone who is in charge of the adult in the room.
And Donald Trump is still almost a kid in the room who is just promising candy to everybody and rhetoric, and I'm going to do this, and the wall just went two more feet higher. So, two more feet actually means that there has to be some kind of law, has to be allocation of funds for Congress if there ever was to be a wall.
Mr. Ryan knows this. He is the one who is bringing a little bit of seriousness to the development running for president. Ensuring policy is discussed with details because he understands the Democrats are going to use this and attack not only Mr. Trump but every single Republican they can get their hands on.
VAUSE: OK. One of the big issues for the Republican Party, especially the leaders of the Republican Party is Donald Trump's tone. Seeing him dial it back a bit. This thing gets to the question why would he?
If you look at the primary vote, he has had more Republicans or more people turn out to vet for him in primary than any other Republican presidential nominee ever. I mean, he now holds the record, 10.9 million votes, George W. Bush had the record before, 10.8 contrasting that to McCain in 2008, 9.9, and Romney, last time around with 9.8 million.
And so that's within the Republican side of things. And then he points to the Quinnipiac poll which came out just the other day, which is look, in the general election, take a look at these numbers in three key swing states, neck in neck right now with Hillary Clinton.
[01:25:06]You run campaigns. You know that it is much easier to convince politicians to change what they do when it is not working, when it is going wrong. But this time it is not going wrong at least not yet.
ALVARADO: Well, he is still at the party, right. Everybody is having a good time because the appetizers are still hanging around, but the reality is as he gets further in, there will be a hangover.
It's going to be a hangover when you actually have to demonstrate cohesiveness on the policy positions you take. Those numbers are very difficult to argue against. He is winning. He is winning a lot. He is winning.
But he is winning in the primary. The primaries are about to be over. We really have to pivot to the general. That's when he is going to have to actually have some details for his plans.
And Hillary Clinton is going to make sure that he puts them out on the -- on the carpet. Calls him out on the carpet, on all these things that he says he is going to do. That's why he is in Washington, D.C. because now he needs the establishment to actually help him create those policies.
SESAY: So, let me ask you. Not only does he need the establishment to help him the create policies, he needs establishment to basically unlock the money, to unlock those GOP donors, to open up their wallets and to give generously.
By some estimates Trump is saying he needs $1.5 billion for this general election. For as long as Ryan, Paul Ryan withholds the endorsement, do those people sit out? I mean --
ALVARADO: There are some that are sitting out. I'm not talking about Wall Street. I'm talking about donors who really truly are conservative and believe in Republican ideology and what it stands for.
VAUSE: Like the Koch brothers.
ALVARADO: Certainly. And they were very clear that they are not happy with a Donald Trump, who happens to be saying -- said the entire primaries, I'm going to self-fund. Self-funding has been shoved away now.
VAUSE: Something else shoved away is the -- the issue about the temporary travel ban on Muslims. Donald Trump seems to be dialing that back. This is what Paul Ryan said about the temporary ban on Muslims entering the country I think last year. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN: What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for and more importantly it's not what this country stands for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And now, this is Donald Trump and his modified position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (via telephone): We have a serious problem. It's a temporary ban. It hasn't been called for yet. Nobody has done it. This is just a suggestion until we find out what is going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is he doing that because he thinks he needs to modify it to win the election or was he doing it to try and please Paul Ryan?
ALVARADO: A combination of both. Truly a combination. This is his first attempt at pivoting. He is trying to gauge. Something very, very subtle. He is going to see what kind of blowback he is going to get from his base.
As we get further into the general these pivots are going to become more -- greater. They're more detailed and people are going to be scratching their heads. We have seen them pivot away from things he has said in the past.
Where he said he made a mistake on how he has talked about women for example and Howard Stern. The reality is I think America as we get closer to the general election they're going to realize that truly there is a little bit to be desired when it comes to his seriousness or conviction of his ideology.
That may haunt him in the general once Hillary Clinton unloads her war chest making sure people understand what positions she's represented in the past.
VAUSE: We will see, I guess. Luis, thanks for coming in. ALVARADO: Always a pleasure.
SESAY: Thank you.
All right, another social media post is stirring up controversy around the Trump campaign. But this time it's from his former butler.
VAUSE: Anthony Senecal posted this on Facebook, "Obama should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term." He admitted to CNN he wrote post, but claimed he actually said the president should have been hanged.
SESAY: Senecal was Trump's butler for 17 years and gave group tours of Trump's Mar-A-Lago Florida estate.
VAUSE: Trump's campaign released a statement saying, "We totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by Senecal regarding the president."
Let's turn to the Democrats now, Bernie Sanders has a tough mountain to climb if he hopes to beat frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. Maybe that's why he took a break from the campaign to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, which features those larger than life sculptures of four U.S. presidents. Sanders said it was his first visit to the national monument.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You sit here and think this is our country at its very best. What an incredible achievement to sculpt those faces of our presidents. And this is what the National Park Service is supposed to be about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, South Dakota holds its Democratic primary next month. Sanders needs to win there and pretty much everywhere. Clinton is less than 150 delegates away from clinching the nomination.
[01:30:00] VAUSE: Time for a break. When we come back, Musician Ben Harper is asking fans to "Call It What It Is". We'll hear his song about the killing of young African-American men at the hands of authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.
Headlines this hour --
(HEADLINES)
VAUSE: George Zimmerman's attempt to sell the gun he used to fatally shoot Trayvon Martin has been stopped by two auction houses. One auction house cited unwanted publicity. Another said hosting the sale was not in its best interest. Zimmerman was acquitted in the Florida shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: "Call It What It Is" a powerful new song and album by Grammy winning musician, Ben Harper.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ben joins us in the studio.
Ben, welcome.
BEN HARPER, MUSICIAN & SINGER: Thank you so much for having me.
SESAY: Great that you are here with us.
VAUSE: Thank you.
HARPER: I am honored.
[01:35:13] SESAY: You have done so many songs. Some of them in the past have touched on issues like the environment, have touched on things like poverty, politics, talk to us about "Call It What It Is"?
HARPER: It is a slippery slope to a degree telling people, or, informing people the direction they should take a song in when they hear it. It is very personal and very private that moment where you connect with a song. I wouldn't want to undermine that in any shape or form. But I, I guess I hope it some how empowers them in a way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: When I listen to your song -- we have an epidemic, people describe as an epidemic, people walk away free, you focus on three victims in particular, Trayvon Martin in 2012, he was a kid with a hoodie and the Skittles, he was shot dead by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted by a jury in Florida. Also Michael Brown, again, fatally shot by a police officer. That sparked the riots in Ferguson. Here in Los Angeles, Ezell Ford, 25-year-old man, had a mental illness. He was killed after a scuffle with the LAPD. So, I guess the question -- you know out of all the victims of these shootings, why focus on the three?
HARPER: Because, otherwise, it would take me the entire record to name them all. That's where there is the danger. That's why I -- I am proud to be a voice in the choir.
SESAY: Uh-huh.
HARPER: You know, people, people will get on you when you do this kind of thing won't they? They will come after you, in its best day and strongest voice it draws a distinct line, doesn't it, in the lyrical content? I hope. And with that said -- again, a voice in the choir. I don't want to overstate it. But if you are going to test my resolve, I am not backing down. "Call It What It Is" -- murder.
Collective consciousness has changed. Collective conscious is doom. I am a voice. Hopefully, the song can be a voice in the choir of collective consciousness, in the name of change. Whether that be in the way people react/act on a daily basis or change in policy. I just want -- we all want our voices to be heard some how in what we do. That's CNN, and B-E-N.
SESAY: What was the moment that led you to this song? You describe being with some young people.
HARPER: Yeah, I am a skateboarder. Well, I am a skate enthusiast. When Ferguson was going down, we, just sat us all down. A strong community of skateboarders who are -- highly socially aware and active and through this tribe and this community of skaters in a discussion with them, the song came to life. And I had to get it down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In your music, you are not pulling any punches here. Do you feel that you are at the stage in your career, either personally or financially, you are comfort doing this now?
HARPER: It has been there since day one. Maya Angelou let me put a poem of hers to music. It was a special moment for me because she allowed that to happen. And a song called, "I Will Rise." You may write me down in history with your bitter twists lies, drop me down in the very dirt, still the dust will rise, does my happiness upset you, why are you beset with gloom, because I walk back and I've got an oil well in my living room. You may shoot me with your words, cut me with your eyes, but I still arise. To Songs like "Oppression" and "You Will Learn to Fear Me," "Black Rain, Better Way." It's just what I do, who I am. I never shied away from that kind of thing.
SESAY: We have seen in recent months, Beyonce with the performance of formation at the Super Bowl.
HARPER: Incredible.
SESAY: Incredible performance. We know Prince before he died did the song for Baltimore as well. Do you feel at a moment where -- black artists are using their voices more in the way you have for a long time used your voice. Do you see something? Do you feel something? HARPER: Something is going on.
SESAY: Yeah.
HARPER: Yeah, yes. And I hope it equates to change. Before it gets past the tipping point. If we are not already past that point. I don't know. It's not for me to say. I hope there is a shift in the culture -- in the way we approach race especially in America. And especially through law enforcement and black youth. I hope that I hope there is a shift because I have a great deal of honor and respect for the necessity and the role of law enforcement. But the murder has to stop.
[01:40:31] SESAY: Ben Harper, such a pleasure. Thank you.
HARPER: Thank you for having me on.
John, thank you.
VAUSE: Ben, thank you for coming in.
You have the album.
SESAY: Yes, in vinyl. Ben Harper, "The Innocent Criminals," "Call It What It Is." A great album. Do give it a listen.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break now and come back in a moment.
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(SINGING)
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VAUSE: Solar Impulse II, completed a leg of its round the world journey landing in Oklahoma a few hours ago. The plane powered by the sun and rechargeable batteries, started in Abu Dhabi more than a year ago. The pilots expect to complete their trek in late summer.
SESAY: Well done to them on this latest leg.
VAUSE: Yeah.
SESAY: They did have the break in Hawaii because of the battery problems.
VAUSE: Yeah. Nine months in Hawaii.
SESAY: Let's move on, shall we?
North Korea's historic party Congress is giving us a rare look at some of the inner workings of the country.
VAUSE: We are finding out more about leader Kim Jong-Un's sister and who his confidants are.
Brian Todd reports on the message Kim is trying to send to the rest of the world.
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(SHOUTING)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An enormous display of fanfare with cutouts of missiles, marchers waving pink bouquets, and Kim Jong-Un, strides past his generals and waves from beyond the square in Pyongyang. Hundreds chant their leader's name.
(CHANTING)
[01:45:08] TODD: The clothes of the Workers' Party Congress, where Kim is believed to have tightened his hold on power, sending a powerful message of the strength the leader wants to project. Part of the new message, this is a hip and modern regime, showcased by performance of Kim's hand-picked all girl band, Morenbach.
(SINGING)
TODD: Yearbook-style photos of Kim and his inner circle, Kim smiling broadly, a rare apparently untouched image.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some level, they're trying to perhaps capture a bit of sense of a personality. He is the only one who is smiling in all of these pictures. Maybe he has reason to.
TODD: One of the photos is a surprise, of General Ryong Gill (ph), said to have been executed in February. Turns out, he is now a member of the powerful central committee. Part of the pageantry, Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo-Jong, seen collecting flowers for him at parade finale. She, too, has been elevated to central committee according to the North Korean government. Kim Yo-Jong is believed to be about 20 years old and has enormous influence in Kim's inner circle. Analysts say she works right in her brother's office, controls access to him and manages all his events.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is going to make sure that all of the schedule goes right. And all of the, right people can see him. But also she has, she is directly responsible for propaganda role. So really showing, showcasing Kim Jong-Un's image.
TODD: Experts say Kim has an older sister who has his ear. Kim Sol- Song, operates in the shadows no verifiable pictures of her but seen as a mentor to Kim and his younger sister, crucial to developing relationships inside the treacherous halls of power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has got to have people who he feels are going to be unquestionably loyal to him, who are not going to undermine him, who are going to protect him under all circumstances.
TODD (on camera): Kim has two siblings neither he nor his father have trusted to be close to him. His two older brothers, Kim Jong-Nam and Kim Jong-Chol, passed over for the leadership role not interested in the job. Why didn't they get top positions unlike their sisters? Analysts say, both are considered potential threats to Kim, possibly creating rival factions within the regime. So the two brothers have kept distance or forced to.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Fascinating.
Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, Brexit fever reaches a song contest, and music lovers in the U.K. think it may be time to bow out.
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[01:51:45] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Filmmaker Woody Allen kept his word and ignoring questions linked to allegations of past sexual abuse. His estranged son, Rowan Farrow wrote an opinion piece saying the media should challenge Allen on allegations of assaulting his sister.
VAUSE: They asked about Farrow's essay, which called Allen a predator. The director told them he hasn't read it and never will. He told a "Variety" reporter, "I have said all I have to say about it."
SESAY: In five weeks, voters in the U.K. will decide to whether or not to leave the European Union. Right now, though, Britons are caught up in Eurovision song contest.
VAUSE: As CNN's Claire Sebastian reports, a clash of politics and entertainment have the British thinking about another sort of Brexit.
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(SINGING)
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this underground bar in London, you would never know Britain's place in Europe was even in question.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN (on camera): This is a glimpse into the life of Britain's diehard Eurovision fans. They hold an event like this once every month throughout the year. (INAUDIBLE)]
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Alasdair Rendall is president of the U.K. Eurovision fan club, which claims to be the biggest in the word. There is very little he doesn't know about the contest.
(on camera): Who was the host country in 1975?
ALASDAIR RENDALL, PRESIDENT, U.K. EUROVISION FAN CLUB: In 1975, it was Sweden. Hosted in Stockholm, because that was the year after Abba had won.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Despite the hardcore fans, recent poll showed 60 percent of Brits would actually vote for a Brexit from the song contest, the highest proportion in Europe.
RENDALL: If you look at the U.K. attitudes towards the EEC in the 60s and 70s, we were keen to join in the '60s. We joined in the '70s. And they were years we were doing well at Eurovision.
SEBASTIAN: In the '60s and '70s, they had three wins and three top ten placings.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN: Fast forward to the late '90s, no to the Euro and no more wins at Eurovision.
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN: Since 2003, singing duo Gemini, first of three recent entries to come last.
RENDALL: Perhaps over the last 15 years or so, we felt politically removed from the European continent, politically removed from the European Union. I think that does have crossover and our attitudes towards Eurovision.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Good evening, Euro!
SEBASTIAN: Perhaps, appropriately, this year's theme of the contest is "Come Together."
(SINGING)
SEBASTIAN: The British entry is called "You're Not Alone."
RENDALL: Could it be a reference to the U.K. position in Europe? Who knows? Maybe we should ask again on the June 23 after the referendum.
SEBASTIAN: Claire Sebastian, CNN Money, London.
(SINGING)
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VAUSE: Wow, they're good those guys. Sour grapes much or what?
SESAY: I don't know, I always enjoyed watching Eurovision song contest.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: No, I get it. Not going to touch it, thank you.
All righty. The election cycle has been full of weird surprises. So American TV host Jimmy Kimmel decided to join the political absurdity.
[01:55:13] VAUSE: Kimmel announced he will be running for vice president earlier in Hollywood. Our colleagues in Washington got the exclusive.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Jimmy, Wolf Blitzer of CNN.
(APPLAUSE)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Hey, Wolf.
BLITZER: Jimmy Kimmel confirmed he is running for vice president of the United States. He has no running mate -- he claims not to be a Washington insider, or outsider. And believes he'll make a great number two despite the fact that sources are telling us that in high school, he got a d in social studies.
Let's go over to the wall, see how he is polling right now.
Jimmy, take a look at this. Right now, all indications are you are polling at 100 percent.
(APPLAUSE)
KIMMEL: Wow, that's -- wow, that's great news!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Huh. If I could vote, I would vote for him.
SESAY: Jimmy Kimmel. Got to love him.
VAUSE: OK. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.
The news continues with Natalie Allen right after this.
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