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U.N. Fears At Least 700 Migrants Died Crossing Mediterranean; ISIS Seeks Control of Libyan Oil Fields; Trump Comments on John McCain Raises Questions; Zoo Defends Killing Gorilla to Save Boy; Demands Grow for Brazilian Interim President Temer to Resign; U.N. Tries to Bolster Image Ahead of Brexit Referendum; Electronic Gaming Crowds Rival Traditional Sporting Events. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 30, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


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(HEADLINES)

[02:00:44] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome our viewers here in the United States and, of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be with you, Rosemary.

Hey, everyone. I'm Errol Barnett. We appreciate you kicking off your week with us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

It has been a tragic week for migrants trying to reach Europe from the African continent.

CHURCH: The U.N. fears at least 700 people may have died in three shipwrecks while crossing the Mediterranean. Italy's Coast Guard says more than 14,000 migrants were rescued in the past week.

Senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, joins us live from Rome with more on this.

Ben, so 14,000 rescued, but hundreds missing, feared dead. How were so many souls lost?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the basic situation that you have in Libya where you have human traffickers who are at often times at gunpoint forcing people to get on these ships. They obviously paid to get on them, but they didn't realize how unseaworthy they are. They're set out to sea, and in one to have cases, the ship that went down -- it's not even a ship, a vessel that went down on Thursday, it had more than 670 passengers on board. It didn't even have a motor. It was being towed by a similar boat that had a motor and also at least 500 people on board.

Basically, they pull these boats or these boats make their way into international waters, where they send a distress call. Of course, the Italian navy and Italian Coast Guard are out there on the open seas, provided with support by aircraft as well. So they see these vessels and they go to their rescue, as they're obliged to under international law. The problem is, with the onset of summer, the seas are calmer, there are hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, waiting to make this dangerous crossing. So when there's a break in the weather, they will come and come as just thousands and thousands of people.

Thursday alone, 4,000 people were rescued at sea by the Italian Coast Guard and the navy. And we can expect as the temperatures go higher and the seas get calmer, more and more people to make this dangerous journey.

CHURCH: Ben, that is the real concern, isn't it? So what are authorities doing to try to stop people setting off on these perilous journeys?

WEDEMAN: Unfortunately, very little. There's been talk among European leaders about some sort of military action against the human traffickers. The Italian prime minister has been urging European leaders to try to do more to somehow deal with this problem, not out on the open seas, but where the roots of the problems are. The problems are in corruption, hopelessness, war, and poverty in Africa. Of course, that's not been addressed. So as long as you have a situation of instability in Libya, you have all these problems in Africa, people will continue to try to make it to Europe to find a better life. And there doesn't seem to be any real momentum in the international community to try to resolve the real problems. Whether they're in Africa, or of course, the other migrant refugee stream from Iraq and Syria, very little is being done to try to resolve the root problems.

CHURCH: So we can expect more of this.

Ben Wedeman joining us live from Rome, just after 8:00 in the morning. Many thanks to you, Ben.

BARNETT: We'll talk more about that expectation here, Rosemary.

Refugees and migrants continue to flee to Europe in staggering numbers. Take a look. More than 200,000 have reached Europe so far this year. The vast majority of them crossing the Mediterranean. That's according to the International Organization for Migration. And just look at the dramatic difference between this year and last. During the first quarter of 2016, the number of refugee arrivals is more than eight times higher than the same period in 2015. Really shocking.

[02:05:14] CHURCH: It certainly is.

We do want to turn now to ISIS in Libya. Stability has eluded the country since the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi. And it's now a talking point in the U.S. presidential race. Candidate Donald Trump says ISIS makes millions each week selling Libyan oil.

BARNETT: Now, that is simply not true. ISIS doesn't control any Libyan oil fields. But the terror group wants to.

Nick Paton Walsh reports from a major vulnerable Libyan refinery. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A distant speck from up here, but this is Libya's shimmering prize, oil, worth billions. But part paralyzed by government in-fighting and now, most troubling, in ISIS's cross hairs.

This is the Mellitah refinery, which pumps gas direct across the Mediterranean seabed to Italy. One plant worker points out what he says is a militant stronghold in a hotel just down the coast. The seas, pretty much open here.

On this jetty, the graffiti says that God is great. But you don't want to just rely on him.

(on camera): NATO has expressed concerns that ISIS is trying to get its hands on boats to fashion some sort of crude pirate navy. And in a place like this, so vital to Europe's energy, you can see how worrying that must be when you have this much shoreline to try to defend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it comes from the sea. Otherwise, maybe it comes from the land. You don't know how it is.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): ISIS has already hit some facilities in the east. The damage in oil fires caused visible from space in these NASA images.

Their own propaganda shows a wider scope of ambition. This attack on an installation in an eastern town, they want to control the industry and its potential billions, yet have so far mostly disrupted production and sown panic in the U.S. presidential race.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: ISIS is making millions and millions of dollars a week selling Libya oil. And you know what? We don't blockade, we don't bomb, we don't do anything about it.

PATON WALSH: Trump is wrong. ISIS hasn't made much money yet, and don't control any oil fields. But their attacks are costly to what's left of the crumbling Libyan state, bringing close to the day ISIS could seize control of refineries and sell fuel on the black market.

(on camera): A glorious, thriving black market trading in Libyan oil, these boats are evidence that. Tankers used to try and ship Libya's black gold. And infrastructure here that ISIS could so easily use were they to get their hands on key refineries.

(voice-over): Europe watching this slow collapse just across the water.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Mellitah, Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now to some other stories we're following for you. (HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Still to come this hour, Donald Trump honors America's veterans at a rally in Washington. But his controversial comments about Vietnam War veteran, Senator John McCain, are raising questions about Trump's sincerity.

CHURCH: Plus, Brazil continues to struggle with political corruption. The latest on the scandal that seems never ending. That's later this hour.

[02:09:34] BARNETT: And why a U.S. zoo says its workers had no choice but to kill a gorilla.

Stay with us.

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(SPORTS REPORT)

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CHURCH: The U.S. Libertarian Party has picked its presidential nominee. Former New Hampshire Governor Gary Johnson secured the nomination at the party convention in Florida Sunday.

BARNETT: With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton viewed unfavorably by many voters, Johnson says the Libertarian ticket could play a pivotal role in the November election. Listen.

Well, we don't have that sound.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump received a warm welcome in Washington, just ahead of Memorial Day, a national holiday when Americans honor fallen members of the military.

CHURCH: The presumptive Republican presidential nominee spoke at the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally Sunday, which pays tribute to prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

Scott McLean has the latest.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump talked constantly about his support for veterans, but it's not often that he gets to speak to a large crowd of them directly. Here today, he seemed to get a good reception.

But in many ways, this was a typical stump speech. He seemed to check all the boxes, talking about trade, the Second Amendment, building support for our military, and of course, veterans.

TRUMP: Our veterans have been treated so badly in this country. You have a secretary that last week said, no, the wait time doesn't matter. Forget about wait time. I know people -- and I've gotten to know so many vets. And we just raised almost $6 million for the vets because I didn't do a television show. I said let's do this. And we're announcing on Tuesday all of the groups that we put up this money. And we raised this tremendous amount of money because we love the vets.

[02:15:21] MCLEAN: That money he mentioned was raised a couple of months ago when he skipped out on a FOX News debate. But ever since then, he's been dogged by questions about where the money went. So as you heard, he's now promising a full accounting of that on Tuesday to try to put this issue to bed.

But Trump is also facing questions about comments last year about Senator John McCain, who himself was a former prisoner of war. Trump said, "I like people that weren't captured." McCain says Trump should apologize on behalf of other POWs. And then yesterday on CNN, former Senator Bob Dole, who is himself a Trump Senator, called on Trump to apologize.

Today, we asked Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, whether or not he did plan to apologize, and he said, "Not that I'm aware of."

Scott McLean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We are just over a week away from the final Super Tuesday of the U.S. election season. Despite trailing far behind Hillary Clinton in the number of delegates, Bernie Sanders says he can still win the Democratic nomination, and he says he's the candidate who can defeat Trump. Sanders has largely ignored Clinton recently, even after a State Department inspector general's report slammed her use of a personal e-mail server while she was secretary of state.

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BARNETT: Joining me now is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor of "The Atlantic."

Good to see you, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

BARNETT: I'm just wondering how damaged Hillary Clinton's leadership style is now, as we head into a new week in the wake of her e-mail issues that have continued to worsen. And is it at a point that it's even reversible at this stage?

BROWNSTEIN: That's a good question. The inspector general report, the inspector general of the State Department reporting on her e-mail use, it was a very tough report in a lot of different ways. For me, the biggest red flag is what it said about her leadership style. It really spoke to a level of insularity that is a dangerous sign for a president. It did not seem there was anyone around her to really say this is not a good idea. And in fact, as you saw in the report, when career officials raised questions, either from a recordkeeping point of view or security point of view, they were told to not raise questions. They were told to be quiet.

I think people can differ on the degree to which the e-mails themselves worry them, but what this sort of tells you is that the circle around Hillary Clinton simply did not include enough dissenting voices to say simply, is this really a good idea, is this something we should be doing?

BARNETT: Now, at this point, Bernie Sanders has essentially lost the race. Some three million more people have voted for Clinton than have voted for Sanders in these primary and caucus processes. But why doesn't it feel that way for Democrats? If you look at the landscape, Donald Trump has enough delegates to be the nominee and Hillary Clinton hasn't got there yet.

BROWNSTEIN: She will get there June, but it does not feel that way, because you're looking at the scale. You have a small boat that is preventing a super tanker from getting into port. Hillary Clinton started this race with enormous advantages, and she simply has not been able to put Bernie Sanders away.

Having said that, I do think she has beaten him. As you pointed out, she's won three million more votes than he has. She's won 55 percent. You look at all the caucuses and the primaries, she's won 55 percent of all the votes. The reason it doesn't feel that way is that he's won a lot of small state states, 20 states overall. But 12 of those 20 are in the 20 smallest states in the country. By contrast, 18 of our largest 20 states that voted, she has won 14 of those 18 large states. The reason, Errol, she wins the large states is that she dominates among the diverse components of the Democratic coalition, African-Americans and Hispanics. And every large state on the Democratic side is diverse. And Sanders has simply never cracked that.

So, yes, Clinton has not put him away, but she has pulled away and will have won this race decisively by the end, even if it doesn't feel that way.

BARNETT: On the flip side here, the federal judge who is hearing a case against Trump University, he was incorrectly described by Donald Trump as a Mexican, simply because Trump disagrees with how he's handling the case. We've seen this type of language from Donald Trump before, but what do you make of what he's doing now?

[02:19:44] BROWNSTEIN: An extraordinary moment. It was comparable to the other moment where on the Sunday before Super Tuesday, here on CNN, "State of the Union," with Jake Tapper, he would not denounce David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, and danced around that for several days. Why did Donald Trump feel it necessary?

First of all, let's go back a step. In a speech in San Diego Friday night, he delivered an extended rant against a sitting U.S. federal judge who is hearing a case against Trump University. And in the course of that rant, he felt compelled to point out that the judge, who was born in Indiana, a graduate of Indiana University, undergraduate and law school, a former assistant U.S. attorney who handled narcotics issues, was a, quote, "Mexican." That's how Donald Trump described him. That kind of racial coding and racial signaling has been central in many ways to his appeal. It has worked for him to this point.

The problem he's got is that as you look at the general election electorate, he's hoping to be defined mostly in other ways, as an outsider, a business guy bringing a kind of turn-around acumen to government and economy. But he's been tattooed for big portions of the American electorate with this kind of image of fomenting racial backlash, and those kind of comments show he's unable or unwilling to move beyond that.

BARNETT: Some say this is why Speaker Ryan has held back his official endorsement of Donald Trump. He's waiting until he behaves a bit more presidential. How long do you think Speaker Ryan can continue holding back his endorsement?

BROWNSTEIN: First of all, I don't think there is some other Donald Trump. The idea that there is a pivot to a presidential Trump I think has been exploded week after week. But certainly, this week, when he attacked the sitting Republican Latina governor of New Mexico, and made these extraordinary comments about the judge -- he is what it he is, and that appeals to a certain segment of the party. You're seeing Republicans essentially capitulate. Marco Rubio, this week. And there are hard races all of the time, but the level of personal belittling that Trump and Rubio engaged in is almost unprecedented, I think unprecedented in American primary politics. And there was Rubio today on CNN, essentially throwing in the towel and saying, almost short of running for vice president, I will do whatever he wants. And in a binary system like we have -- we don't have a multi-party system -- there's pressure on everybody to fall in line. Certainly, there's no Republican in the leadership of the Republican Party that wants Hillary Clinton to be president.

But I think Paul Ryan sees Donald Trump as kind of a threat to Ryan's vision of the party. Ryan sees himself as an heir to Jack Kemp, the idea that conservatives can go in and complete with their ideas in any community in the country, Hispanic, African-American communities. And I think he worries that Donald Trump will define the party in a lasting way as a party of racial backlash. And that is a very dangerous proposition, electorally, if for no other reason in a country where 30 percent of the voters might be non-white. For a comparison, when Ronald Reagan was first elected, it was 10 percent.

BARNETT: They can't wait for the Trump they love. They may just have to go with the Trump they have.

BROWNSTEIN: It sounds like Donald Rumsfeld there.

BARNETT: CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor of "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein, great to get your insight today.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Now to a story that's disturbed and angered a lot of people. A zoo in the U.S. is facing growing criticism for its decision to kill an endangered western lowland gorilla.

CHURCH: Jessica Schneider explains why zookeepers say they had no choice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of panic and desperation at the Cincinnati Zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is at the Cincinnati Zoo, and this is in a gorilla cage, and a 3-year-old child has fallen into the gorilla cage.

SCHNEIDER: A 4-year-old boy slips into the zoo's gorilla habitat and over a moat wall. Suddenly, Harambe, a 17-year-old 400-pound gorilla, approaches the boy. His mother watches in horror at what happens next.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER: Mommy is right here.

(CROSSTALK)

(SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, everybody, back up.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER: Mommy's right here.

SCHNEIDER: The young boy screams. The urgent calls to 911 can be heard on this bystander video.

The family tries desperately to keep him calm as Harambe takes him out of sight. Harambe drags the boy around the moat and up a ladder for a total of 10 minutes as the zoo's dangerous animal response team anxiously decides what to do next.

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: The little boy had already been talking about wanting to go in, go in, get in the water. His mother is like, no, you're not. I don't know if the screaming did it or too many people hanging on the edge, if he thought we were coming in, but then he, you know, pulled the boy down further away from the big group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Engine 32.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The gorilla has the child and it dragged him around the pen.

SCHNEIDER: Officials considered the incident so threatening, deciding Harambe must be taken down immediately.

THANE MAYNARD, DIRECTOR, CINCINNATI ZOO: The reason that tranquilizing him was not chosen is in an agitated situation, which the male was, it may take quite a while for a tranquilizer to take effect. But certainly, the instance he were hit, he'd have a dramatic response. You don't hit him, he falls over. It would take several minutes. The child wasn't under attack but all sorts of things could happen in a situation like that. He certainly was at risk.

[02:25:27] SCHNEIDER: They say their only option, a rifle.

(SHOUTING)

SCHNEIDER: Harambe was shot and killed. The child was taken to Cincinnati's Children's Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): We have rescued the child. Children's has been notified for a trauma.

MAYNARD: It's a sad day all the way around. The right choice was made. It was a difficult choice.

SCHNEIDER: Harambe was a western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species. The zoo had hoped he'd eventually father other gorillas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love this zoo. It's very friendly. Everything is beautiful here. But when you see something like that and then you have the disappointment because how -- what do you say to your grandchildren?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: It is a tough story to follow and to tell, really. But the situation would have been so different if they hadn't moved as quickly as they did.

BARNETT: And the fact of the matter is, those gorillas are highly unpredictable. We were covering them in Uganda. The gorilla was calm one moment and then charged us the next, the whole crew. So they can be highly unpredictable. And of course, they're very powerful.

CHURCH: And that is the fear.

And that was Jessica Schneider reporting.

Animal rights organization PETA said this about Harambe's death, quote, "Even under the best circumstances, captivity is never acceptable for gorillas or other primates. This tragedy is exactly why PETA urges families to stay away from any facility that displays animals as sideshows for humans to gawk at."

BARNETT: Many more big stories coming up. Danger is rising in Texas. Why thousands are rushing to get out of harm's way.

CHURCH: Plus, Brazil is facing a slew of man-made dangers. The country's fight against political corruption. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:30:24] CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the

United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. We're 30 minutes into our two-hour block.

Here's a check of our top stories.

(HEADLINES)

CHURCH: Brazil itself doesn't have a ton of reasons to celebrate lately. They are struggling with a major political and economic crisis. The hope was that the impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff would calm things down for a while.

BARNETT: But now people are demanding the interim president who replaced her resign, as well.

Ivan Watson reports from Brasilia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Honor Guard arrives to greet foreign diplomats at the presidential palace, so do the protesters --

(SHOUTING)

WATSON: -- demanding the resignation of the brand new interim president, Michel Temer. Brazil faces a political crisis during a time of great economic pain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst economic crisis Brazil has ever had since the early '30s, last century, the Great Depression.

WATSON: A fresh scandal this month forced a top cabinet minister to announce his resignation, barely 11 days after assuming office, embarrassed after audio recordings emerged of him purportedly colluding to stop a major corruption investigation. And the irony, this is one of the politicians who spearheaded the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff, forcing her to step down earlier this month for allegedly breaking budgetary laws, which she denies.

(on camera): More than two-thirds of the Congress voted in favor of an impeachment process of the elected Brazilian president. But many of these lawmakers are themselves implicated in a variety of corruption scandals.

(voice-over): Political analysts say the scale of the alleged corruption here is mind boggling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost 60 percent of the Chamber of Deputies is being investigated in some stage of criminal investigations. WATSON (on camera): 60 percent?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 60 percent, yeah.

WATSON (voice-over): That's a view echoed even by some lawmakers, like Eduardo Bosanaro (ph).

(on camera): Do you think there's a lot of corruption in this room?

EDUARDO BOSANARO (ph), BRAZILIAN LAWMAKER: I don't think. I'm sure.

WATSON (voice-over): Part of the problem is it's tough to govern here, when there are dozens of political parties represented in the Brazilian Congress. There's even a professional clown --

(SINGING)

WATSON: -- a comedian, who was applauded when he cast his vote for the impeachment of the president.

Polls show she had single-digit popularity ratings when suspended. But so does the legislature that suspended her.

(on camera): People don't respect you?

BOSANARO (ph): No. They don't respect. We don't have too much credibility with the society.

WATSON (voice-over): And it hasn't helped politician's credibility that several ministers in the new interim government also appear to be under investigation for alleged wrongdoing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the political class we have right now. We didn't go to the supermarket and buy a new one, unfortunately.

WATSON: The changing of the political guard in this country is still very, very complicated.

(on camera): The elected president, Dilma Rousseff, is still living over here in the official presidential residence, and she is vowing to fight the impeachment proceedings against her.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Brasilia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:35:14] BARNETT: All right. The U.K.'s top economists have weighed in on whether Britain should leave the E.U. This is important stuff. Take a look. Nearly nine out of 10 said leaving would damage Britain's economic future. More than 600 economists were polled.

CHURCH: Supporters of an exit say it would cut red tape and free the U.K. to negotiate its own trade deals.

As the referendum nears, the E.U. is trying to bolster its image. Erin McLaughlin shows us what they're up to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Europe, the European parliament that is. A performance meant to entertain and to educate, one of many activities across the European capitol.

(on camera): E.U. leaders say they have an image problem. Many of the citizens don't know how the politics work. So once a year, they open it up to the general public.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I think there is a huge distance between citizens and the various institutions.

MCLAUGHLIN (on camera): Do you understand how European politics work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don't know how it works. They don't understand why it's important.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Officials say lack of understanding is a threat to the union's very existence. They're worried about the rise of euro-skeptics, far-right parties across the continent and, of course, the looming British referendum on E.U. membership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does Europe deserve its own super hero? I don't think so.

MCLAUGHLIN (on camera): Do you think that a lack of understanding of the E.U. institutions is sort of fueling that debate in the U.K.?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, absolutely. I think there is a huge amount of ignorance about the European institutions and what they do.

MCLAUGHLIN: This is the room where 28 heads of state of government meet to decide on critical issues, from the economy to foreign policy. With the U.K. referendum, the question now, will the U.K. give up its seat at this table?

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A pastime that was once considered mainly nerdy has become a hot new sport. Just ahead, a look at the emerging E-sports industry.

BARNETT: Plus, one company in China is making bets that Donald Trump will be the face of the next U.S. presidency. And they're taking every detail into consideration. More on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:02] CHURCH: I want you to take a look at what the heavy rain in China has been doing to the landscape there. It's one of several landslides that have been ravaging the southern part of the country for days now.

BARNETT: That is just immense. Another slide trapped 36 people inside their homes. Firefighters rescued them by drilling homes into the walls to pull them out. The rain has also caused flooding, leaving at least eight people dead.

CHURCH: Flooding has claimed two more lives in southeastern Texas. At least six people have now died in flood-related incidents there since torrential rains inundated the region Thursday.

BARNETT: Police are searching the river west of Fort Worth for a 10- year-old boy who fell in the waters there. People along the river have been told to evacuate.

And it seems like we talk about flooding in the U.S. more frequently. That is certainly true about Texas.

Our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with more information on that.

What is happening?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're spot on about that. We've got some data that will back that up. Houston's free press summer festival had to be moved just because of flooding for the second consecutive year. That was just this weekend. So proof is in the pudding. But this is coming from climate central. They've categorized a day with two inches or more of rainfall. They consider that an extreme rainfall date, and they put all the weather data from last century to now. And you can see the uptick in more extreme days in the Western U.S. They are on the way up. Fingerprints of climate change if you ask me. The proof is in the pudding. First, moving that festival in Houston for two consecutive years and then shattering records just outside of Houston. Over 19 inches of rain in 48 hours. To put that in perspective for our viewers, in Los Angeles, that is four more inches than you received in the entire year. Unbelievable. That's equivalent to 260 billion gallons of water, filling 375,000 Olympic pools. That is astounding amounts of rainfall in a short period of time. No wonder there are flood warnings around the Houston area. We still have our flood watches outside of San Antonio and west of Austin, Texas. So we do have more rain. The bull's-eye really centered on the central and western sections of Texas. This is an already saturated area. This is the forecast rainfall through the end of the workweek. Remember, this is a public holiday on Monday in the United States. We have Memorial Day taking place.

To the other part of the world, we showed you video of, that was landslides over southeastern China. This is the onset of the East Asia rainy season. Unfortunately, the topography much different than that of Texas, because Texas is extremely flat, but this part of the world has mountainous terrain. So gravity takes hold, eventually wins. Slopes fail and we get mudslides and landslides, which have caused fatalities in China. Look at this, more rain in store for this area. We could experience easily an additional 200 to 300 millimeters of rainfall going forward. So this is an extreme event, and the onset of the rainy season begins across that part of the world. Looks like we have potential for more landslides and mudslides going forward.

We talk about the frequency of heavy rain events on the uptick and, to me, that has climate change written all over it. It's got the fingerprints of it and it seems to be a common theme here in the weather department.

BARNETT: Extreme weather events.

VAN DAM: The frequency of heavy rain.

CHURCH: All right. Thanks so much.

BARNETT: All right. Appreciate it.

[02:45:06] CHURCH: Well, America still has several months to pick their next president. But one company in China is already predicting a winner. Why they're playing the Trump card. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Now, electronic gaming has come a long way since I used to play Super Mario Brothers. I don't know what you used to play. But it's come a long way.

CHURCH: It certainly has. Today, it is a multimillion dollar industry and draws crowds that rival traditional sporting events.

Don Riddell takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

[02:49:39] DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: It's a scene you would expect at any sporting event, fans lined up outside, merchandise stands doing a roaring trade. Broadcast cameras ready for action. And fever pitch excitement --

(CHEERING)

RIDDELL: -- during the game.

Except this --

(SHOUTING)

RIDDELL: -- is a little bit different.

(SHOUTING)

RIDDELL: This is E-sports, the sport for the digital generation. Some of the world's best teams are going head to head in games like

League of Legend and Counterstrike. And it's already worth an absolute fortune.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most simple way to put it is 200 million fans worldwide watch it. This is bigger than the NHL.

RIDDELL: Last year's League of Legend's final attracted 36 million viewers, an audience that sports like the NBA can only dream of. These are games which communication and lightning reflexes and communication are critical for success. And players are like rock stars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're a player, you block everything out. But when you win, it's unreal.

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Players like League of Legends are international icons. Call of Duty players have over a million Twitter followers. So there is a stardom and celebrity element to it.

RIDDELL: Once maligned as a pastime for lethargic kids in basements, E-sports is now highly lucrative. Pakistan-born Samir Hasan (ph) has amassed career prize money of almost $2 million and he's just 17 years old.

(on camera): As you can see, there's still a niche market for video games, but things have changed so much.

Over the last 15 years, the advent of Internet technology has enabled E-sports to explode into a highly sophisticated and global gaming community.

(voice-over): The creation of Twitch, for which Amazon paid almost a billion dollars in 2014, turned it into a spectator sport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twitch is a game changer not only because of what it represents in that it represents like the first global cable channel for E-sports.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As much as I might like Stephen Curry, he'll probably never meet the guy anywhere and he'll probably never respond to a tweet of mine. It's very different in E-sports, and that's all happening on Twitch, where my favorite League of Legends player realistically might respond to my questions. I mean, I may play him.

RIDDELL: That's why sponsors are paying very close attention to the growth of E-sports. It might be the only way to reach an elusive young demographic.

Games like Starcraft 2 aren't just meant to be played, but they were designed with broadcasting in mind. That's now an industry standard. And it is impossible to cap the potential of E-sports in the future.

ANNOUNCER: He secures his championship title, 4-2. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: E-sports is a global sport. It has a huge

advantage around any other sport. And these teams are focused on regional championships and then have some international competition. E-sports is, in it's own definition, global. You can play against someone any time in the world. So from that perspective, it will be much more global than any sport can be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's safe to say E-sports will be very, very close, if not on par with the sports we see today like football, basketball, and what not. But for regional media, I could be scared, you know?

RIDDELL: Don Riddell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Very interesting.

CHURCH: Fun way to make a living.

BARNETT: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

And they do make some money.

CHURCH: They do.

The U.S. race for the White House has a long way to run yet. But one Chinese company is turning this year's presidential election into a business opportunity.

BARNETT: And they believe Donald Trump will win, but aren't ruling out Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And they are taking every detail into consideration.

As our Hannah Vaughan Jones found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNAH VAUGHAN JONES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Donald duplicated. This mask factory in eastern China making thousands of Trump masks, the owner predicting the billionaire will take the White House.

JACKY CHEN, FACTORY MANAGER, JINHUA PARTYTIME LATEX ARTS AND CRAFTS FACTORY (through translation): We built up a lot of stockpiles of him because we think when the U.S. citizens vote, they will probably vote more for him. So we've made the necessary preparations, because we don't want to miss the sales peak.

VAUGHAN JONES: But despite his prediction for Trump, the factory creates likenesses of other politicians, including Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and of course, Hillary Clinton.

No detail too small to consider for this mask maker. CHEN (through translation): The main things we considered in our

designs are the actual features of Hillary's face. You can see we've included these tiny little wrinkles, because that way the effect is more realistic. You can see with all these details, all these wrinkles, we've considered all the tiniest details.

VAUGHAN JONES: So as Americans choose who is going to be the new face of the White House, one corner of China appears to have decided that Trump trumps Clinton. But as with the real contest, this rubber rivalry has many months left to run.

Hannah Vaughan Jones, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

[02:55:12] BARNETT: He was enjoying that Hillary mask a little too much.

(LAUGHTER)

CHURCH: He did. He labored the point about the wrinkles.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

You can always follow us on Twitter any time.

I'm Rosemary Church. And you can find me at RosemaryCNN.

BARNETT: That's right. I'm Errol Barnett. My handle's right here.

We have more CNN NEWSROOM for you after a short break. More of the top stories from around the world. Please do stay with us.

CHURCH: Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:59:48] CHURCH: At least 700 migrants are feared dead after a set of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. This hour, we go live to the Italy where those rescued have been brought to safety.

(HEADLINES)