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Potentially Catastrophic Storm Threatens Haiti; U.S. & Russia Govt. Failed To Uphold Ceasefire; Voters Narrowly Reject Agreement With FARC Rebels; N-ORC National Poll Clinton 5 points Over Trump; Iraqi Forces Close in on ISIS-Controlled Mosul; Gunmen Steal Millions in Jewelry from Kim Kardashian; Muslim-American Woman Appears in "Playboy". Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 04, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:01:06] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

[01:01:08] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, a potentially catastrophic hurricane bears down on Haiti. Officials warn flash floods and mudslides could cripple the island nation.

VAUSE: Amid the escalating violence in Syria, the latest efforts to bring peace have now collapsed.

SESAY: And later, Kim Kardashian is back in the U.S. after a trip to Paris ends with a multi-million dollar robbery.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. This is NEWSROOM L.A.

VAUSE: Hurricane Matthew has strengthened in the Caribbean, bringing life-threatening winds, heavy rain and storm surges. Jamaica has already seen heavy flooding. The storm is a category 4 and could dump up to 100 centimeters of rain in parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

SESAY: The storm could be especially devastating for Haiti. The country's infrastructure still hasn't recovered from the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

VAUSE: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now from International Weather Center with the latest on the storm. So, that -- where are we looking at essentially impact, I guess, if you like for Haiti?

[01:02:22] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND ANCHOR: Yeah. Direct impact, guys, is within the next couple of hours, so right before sunrise. So, you would imagine people if they're able to sleep tonight certainly are going to be seeing the impact in the overnight hours and again as you approach sunrise where the most evidence area, the storm is going to be felt right there across the western corner of (INAUDIBLE) Haiti, and then we know parts of Jamaica still getting indirect impacts with the storm system, although the government of Jamaica has lifted the hurricane warning that was in place, but Haiti, easily is the most prominent concern right now. And many, many reasons of factors in play here when you think about what's happened in Haiti in recent decades. Look at the Dominican Republic. The river here that divides the two nations, you can kind of see it in the meandering across this region. Now, look at Haiti, very little in the way of foliage and the way of any sort of tree coverage. We have mass deforestation in place across a very elevated terrain. When you put this in place here, of course, any additional rainfall that's forecast to come down, and we know rainfall on the order of hundreds of meters could come down over the next several days. It would be catastrophic when you have very little soil and vegetation to absorb the moisture that's coming in across this region.

So, I want to show you exactly what we're talking about when it comes to Haiti, its landscape as well. I mean, if you look at the island itself, two-thirds of the island in fact is elevated above 200 meters. And then you bring in the rainfall, we're talking the western periphery of this region getting upwards of a half a meter of rainfall in the next couple of days. A lot of that going to be run off, of course, could be seeing a lot of landslides, flash floods in places well across this region. And as the storm system migrates well to the north, we know in the past, the most recent major earthquake - major hurricane, I should say, to impact this region of Haiti was well back in 1954. That was Hurricane Hazel that impacted this region. It was a Category 3. It was weaker than our current storm system that is coming in as a Category 4. It took with it over 2,000 lives. And then, 1980, we had Hurricane Ellen that actually came in -- never made landfall in Haiti took with it nearly 100 lives as a scour to the southern tip of the western area of Haiti there. And then in 2008, we had another storm, Category 1 came with it and took upwards of about 20 lives. And we know in 2010, the earthquake here, we had Tomas come through. Again, did not make landfall, took with it dozens of lives.

So, this could be easily the strongest storm we've seen make landfall across this region. We know a lot of people, about 1.5 million people live on this western side of Haiti, John and Isha. So, when you're talking about the poor infrastructure, of course, a lot of people still in recovery mode from what happened just six years ago with the earthquake, really going to be dealing with the brunt of this storm system, which at this point, sits there as a Category 4 hurricane approaching the island.

SESAY: Very frightening indeed.

VAUSE: OK. Pedram, thanks for the update.

SESAY: Thank you, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

SESAY: Now, activists in Syria say bunker buster bombs have destroyed another hospital in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. At least seven people were killed and more are trapped under the rubble.

VAUSE: It was the third time in a week that hospital has been hit by an airstrike after say, Syrian government warplanes have targeted civilian areas including hospitals for days.

SESAY: This, on the same day the U.S. announced it is suspending talks with Russia because of the escalating violence in Syria. Officials say Russia failed on its part to uphold the agreed upon ceasefire accusing Moscow and its Syrian regime allies of trying to quote, "bomb civilians into submission."

JOSHN EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think everybody's patience with Russia has run out. They've also spent a great deal of credibility in making a series of commitments without any clear indication that they were committed to following them.

VAUSE: At the same time, Russia is suspending an arms reduction deal with the U.S. The Russian foreign minister says, "The decision we have made is a signal to Washington: Attempts at talking to Russia in a language of sanctions and ultimatums will not succeed."

SESAY: A CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona joins us now live by Skype from Port Orford, Oregon. And Colonel Francona, good to speak to you once again. So, the U.S. suspending these bilateral talks with Russia over Syria. I mean, given all that we've seen play out in eastern Aleppo over the last couple days, I mean, what does this really mean? What's the loss here?

[01:06:31] LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the Americans and the Russians have decided that they've got no common ground on which to base any kind of talks. You know, the goal was to get some humanitarian aid into that eastern portion of Aleppo. The Russians were supposed to stop bombing and stop the Syrians from bombing and allow those aid convoys to come in. That never happened. In fact, the Russians never stopped bombing, the Syrians never stopped bombing. And as Mr. Earnest said, you know, the patience has just run out. We weren't getting anywhere, so there's no reason to try and keep up this facade of some sort of a ceasefire. There was no ceasefire.

SESAY: The conversation now has to be, "What is the plan B?" When we spoke last hour, you said you weren't clear that there is a plan B, but could we be looking at the U.S. arming moderate rebels with more powerful weaponry? Do you think that's on the table?

FRANCONA: That's a really good question. And I'm not sure. Because the United States has to now reassess what we're doing in Syria. You know, our goal all along has been the removal of ISIS, the defeat of the Al-Qaeda affiliate there, and also, the removal of the Bashar al- Assad regime hopefully via a political process. None of those seemed to be mutually beneficial right now. And they're not working together. I think that we're going to have to take off the table the removal of Bashar al-Assad, that would be our plan B, and concentrate on the decimation of ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Now, we could probably work with the Russians on that. But right now, the two sides are not talking to each other.

SESAY: One has to think that with this suspension of talks, that we may likely see a further merging of a mainstream rebel groups in Syria, where Jihadist elements. With that a possibility, do you also anticipate that we're going to see a stepped up operation on the part of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers? I mean, effectively, is the fighting and bloodshed about to get a whole lot worse?

FRANCONA: I think you're right and I think that's already started. And we're seeing the Russians preparing the battlefield with this massive amount of air power they're putting into the Aleppo and other cities as well. And we're seeing ground movements, we're seeing the Syrian army backed by the Iranian revolutionary guard corps as well as Hezbollah, and other Iraqi elements that are pushing, and they're having some success on the ground because of the cover that they're getting from the Russian air force. So, in order to survive, all of the opposition groups are banding together in this tactical alliance. Now, they have different goals, but for right now, if they - if they can't survive, they'll never meet them. So, we're seeing the Islamist groups meeting up with - what we would call the moderate oppositions, so yes, that's exactly what's happening.

SESAY: We also saw just hours before this was made public, that Russia announced that they were suspending the deal they had with the U.S. on disposing weapons-grade plutonium. I got to ask you, Colonel Francona, where is the U.S.-Russia relationship heading?

FRANCONA: Well, it looks like it's deteriorating because Putin has a - has a goal in mind. He wants to make Russia great again. And if you go to Russia, which I was there just recently, he has had great success in his domestic policies. They love him there. They think what he's doing is great. They're -- it's making Russia relevant again. So, he's not going to easily cave in to the United States. He's going to go hard line. He thinks that he can get these concessions from the United States. He looks as - well, are bargaining with the Iranians, he was able to force concessions there. He thinks he can force concessions again. So, I think we're in for another round of very tough talks with Mr. Putin.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, thank you so much. Very much appreciated.

VAUSE: Afghan forces are fighting to regain control of the northern City of Kunduz after Taliban launched a predawn attack on Monday.

SESAY: (INAUDIBLE) spokesman says security forces had recaptured the Main Square and Special Forces were backing them up. Earlier, a member of parliament said the Taliban had overrun the city center. The Taliban briefly captured the city last year. The militants claim to have the capital cities in two southern provinces surrounded.

VAUSE: After a surprise defeat at the polls, Colombia's government is scrambling to salvage a peace deal with FARC rebels to try and end a half century of conflict. President Juan Manuel Santos met with the country's political leaders on Monday. It's not known what meeting was achieved during that meeting.

SESAY: The hard one treaty was rejected by a little more than 50 percent of voters in Sunday's referendum. But the president says despite the outcome, peace is a common goal. JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, COLUMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I have heard those who said no. And I have heard those who said yes. Everybody, everybody without exception, wants peace.

SESAY: While FARC's leader said rebels will abide by ceasefire put in place last year.

VAUSE: Perhaps the best possible spin from this of referendum result came from a former negotiator for Columbia's government who told The Wall Street Journal that a narrow yes vote for the peace deal would have been even worse because it would have lacked legitimacy. Miguel Tinker Salas is a professor in Latin American Studies at Pomona College, joins us now from Claremont, California for more on what went wrong and what comes next. Professor, do you agree with that analysis that a narrow yes vote would have actually been worse?

[01:11:56] MIGUEL TINKER SALA, PROFESSOR IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES: Well, I think that I'm divided on that question. I think the fundamental issue is that Colombia is divided. I mean, this is a nation as David (INAUDIBLE) has pointed out in inspite of itself, a highly-divided nation, polarized nation in which really abstentionism one in this election. That highlights how little people feel invested in the political apparatus. 63 percent abstention is when an election deciding by 54 percent, by less than 54,000 votes. So, we really have a quandary here in terms of the political process. What really happened was that if you look at these - the areas where the FARC had actually been very active and had suffered some of the brunt of the attacks, most of those areas voted yes for the peace agreement. It was really in the urban areas. And particularly in Urban areas where Alvaro Uribe and his party, the San - the La Union Democratica had really pushed to make this a plebiscite on Santos and to begin jockeying for position for the presidential election in 2018 that turned this vote. So, I think that there is an opportunity. I think that there is an option now to engage in a national dialogue, to push the debate further. I think they've reached a point of no return on this process. So, I don't see us going back to a conflict situation.

VAUSE: Well, on that point of the former President Uribe, one of his big selling points, I guess, in this no campaign was essentially he insisted that a tougher deal was possible with FARC. Is he right?

SALAS: Well, if you really want to get into a national reconciliation, then we have to talk about not just the FARC, but also the paramilitaries. Paramilitaries that grew and expanded under Alvaro Uribe where you had his cousin, members of his family, members of his cabinet, all lof them indicted for their relationship with Narco traffickers and paramilitaries, so that the real question is how far will it process of national reconciliation go and how deep will it go? The military was also engaged a human rights violation with false positives. So you have human rights violations by the FARC, you have it by the military, you have it also by the paramilitaries and those associated with ills in the governance. So, really, a question is how deep will this call and not divide the country further? And I think that's why it go back to what I said in the very beginning. This is a country that is highly-divided, urban, rural, north, south, and in which the issues in terms of the war have now become part of an election campaign in a campaign strategy for 2018, which is unfortunate.

VAUSE: In a practical matter, we had the ceasefire which the rebels say will remain in place. surely, what is the long-term prognosis for that. How long can that situation last?

SALAS: Well, I think it'll last for the next few months. I think the reality is that this is a guerrilla group that is spent. Many of its members are 50, 60 years of age. They no longer want to continue that kind of conflict. Although, there is a younger generation, the military itself is spent on this issue, so is the population. I think the country as a whole wants peace. I think the question is the process and the mechanism to incorporate all those segments that feel left out of the political process, in particularly the 63 percent, who didn't go to vote in this election, which I think should be worrisome for both Uribe and Santos and for the political class in Colombia.

VAUSE: Professor, thanks for being with us. Professor Miguel Tinker Salas there giving us some insight into exactly what happened with that shock referendum result. Thank you, sir.

SALAS: Thank you.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. Donald Trump may not have paid personal income taxes for nearly 20 years. Coming up, what the Republican nominee has to say about the latest report on his finances.

VAUSE: Also, a Muslim American woman does something never seen before in Playboy. We'll talk to her about the controversy surrounding her hijab moment in just a moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:17:56] DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN WORLDSPORT headlines. Maria Sharapova is now just hours away from learning whether or not she can return to playing tennis on the WTA Tour. The Russian star tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in January and was banned for two years. Sharapova admitted taking the drug but said she didn't know that it had recently been added to the banned list. On Tuesday, the court of arbitration for sport will announce the verdict of her appeal.

It is only the first few days of October but already we've had our first managerial casualty in the English Premier League. After a poor start to the new campaign, Swansea's Francesco Guidolin was fired on his birthday as it happens, and replaced by Bob Bradley, the American, who's coached mainly in the United States but more recently, he was in charge of the Egyptian National team. Also fired on Monday was Aston Villa's manager Roberto Di Matteo, chopped after barely three months.

The new NBA season is just over three weeks away, and as the teams play their warm up games, it's a chance for the league to grow its brand overseas. The Oklahoma City Thunder took on Real Madrid's basketball team. And if you thought this was going to be a stroll in the park for the NBA team, think again. Thunder were winning, but then Madrid's Sergio Llull made a clutch three-pointer to put it in overtime. Real Madrid then beat them 142-137 the final score. And that is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:19:40] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Donald Trump says he's used American tax laws brilliantly. Republican presidential candidate is spinning The New York Times report that he claimed a loss of nearly $1 billion on his 1995 tax returns that could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income tax for 18 years.

VAUSE: The Times is not saying whether it has more of Trump's tax forms, but Hillary Clinton says, "It's clear the billionaire real estate developer has contributed nothing to the nation while living a life of luxury." Let's a take a look at the latest CNN/ORC poll, showing Clinton leading Trump by five points. And joining us here for more on is in Los Angeles is Matthew Lieberman. He's a Democratic strategist. Also, a - he was also a former senior advisor to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign. Also, joining us in San Francisco is CNN political commentator, former Mitt Romney public policy director, Lanhee Chen. (INAUDIBLE) poll results because it's, what, 36 days to go, Matt, Hillary Clinton, she's leading nationally as we just saw, but she's also leading in the swing states that matter right now. Obviously, she's in a much stronger position than Donald Trump at least at this point.

[01:20:46] MATTHEW LIEBERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think in what are still considered swing states, she's up in 7 out of the 11 swing states. But I think you can take a couple of swing states already out of that category. Colorado, there's no question Hillary is going to win. She's up by at least seven points in Virginia. I don't think there's any question she's won Virginia. She's now starting to develop a good lead in Florida. Trump is developing a good lead in Ohio, but in terms of where Hillary needs to be to win this thing pretty handily, if the election were today, she'd win pretty handily.

SESAY: Lanhee, how do you see, does this disclosure by The New York Times put a brake on that momentum we've seen on the part of Donald Trump in some of these swing states?

[01:21:23] LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think The New York Times article is part of a larger narrative that's been developing over these last, you know, I'd a week to 10 days that started with the debate. That was pretty rough last Monday and continued with a set of self-inflicted wounds, attacking a former Miss Universe, engaging in sort of personal character attacks against Hillary Clinton. I think that The New York Times story is just an additive kind of thing that unfortunately for Donald Trump's campaign at least has presented him with a very difficult hill to climb in many of these swing state. I think Pennsylvania is really the key state to watch here if Donald Trump is unable to get further traction there, he's going to have a very tough time winning the presidency.

VAUSE: OK. You talked about The New York Times story and you -- Donald Trump is trying to spin this into a positive story, if you like. This was Donald Trump campaigning today, and what he had to say about his tax returns.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit, and to the benefit of my company, my investors, and my employees. I mean, honestly, I have brilliantly - I have brilliantly used those laws.

VAUSE: Yeah, Lanhee, there is an argument out there by Donald Trump and his surrogates, saying he is a businessman, his tax returns are so complicated, you know, he takes about (INAUDIBLE) all of these tax loopholes much like Mitt Romney did as a businessman four years ago. But I'm not going to put my tax returns out there. This is a theory because people won't understand them and it'll turn into an attack just like this. I mean, where do you stand on that?

CHEN: Well, you're sort of in a no-win situation here if you're Donald Trump, because it's a don't put out the tax returns. You sort of get this steady drip of stories and speculation about whether in fact he's paid any taxes at all. Now, that may or may not be true, but it's impossible for us to determine that unless they put out the tax returns. And of course, if they do put out the tax returns, they've got to deal with the analysis of those returns and the different tax operations that he's exercised. And so, I do think that they're in a very, very difficult position here. What the tax return story really does, though, is it sheds light on the kind of life that Donald Trump has led and potentially the way that that life can be very different from the lives of those voters that he's trying to attract in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, so that is the principal here. Is the disconnect between Donald Trump's lifestyle and that of many of the voters he's trying to attract.

SESAY: Matt, the voters he's trying to attract may take a second thought, but his own base at least from the rallies that we've seen don't seem that put off by this. Why?

LIEBERMAN: If you could - if you could already -

SESAY: I'm going to make you a Trump supporter whisperer.

LIEBERMAN: If you could already go along with what Donald Trump's been saying for the last year, then what's the difference what's in his tax returns? I mean, but also let me say this, we're assuming that Donald Trump - that the problem with Donald Trump's tax returns is that he hasn't paid federal taxes in 20 years. We have no idea what else is in those tax returns. He's still hiding those tax returns. There's a reason why he's hiding them. If it was just about the federal taxes, they may have been released a long time ago. There may be more to it than we shouldn't assume that this is the end of the problem with his tax returns.

SESAY: Can he withstand the pressure not to release them on the back of his -

LIEBERMAN: It's too late for him to release his tax returns, at this point I agree. I mean, I think it's too late for him. He's already - it's gone on for so long and so many months that there's no victory for him in releasing them.

VAUSE: OK. And to the Clinton campaign, point of attack, they made a commercial out of this. Hillary Clinton campaigning today said this.

HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, while millions of American families including mine and yours were work hard, pay our fair share, it seems he was contributing nothing to our nation. Imagine that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not one dime. Not fair.

CLINTON: Not fair. Nothing for Pell Grants to help kids go to college, nothing for veterans, nothing for our military.

VAUSE: Lanhee, clearly that is a line which I suspect we will hear in the next presidential debate. If you are advising Donald Trump, how does he counter that?

CHEN: No question, John, she's going to continue using that line of attack but she is also a flawed messenger in this regard. She's taken advantage of many of the same tax provisions that Donald Trump has. And so I think if I were Donald Trump, really the key here is how do you continue to disqualify her and ultimately to come back to this economic message. That's the only thing that's been successful for Donald Trump in these last 10 days, has been when he's talked about the economy and the distress that many people still feel in many of these Rustbelt State like Ohio and Pennsylvania. So I think that's where he's got to go if he wants to have any hope of winning this election.

LIEBERMAN: Well, I agree with that. I'm getting tired of agreeing with you by the way. But I agree with that but also the problem I think for Trump, part of the problem for Trump I think is that I don't think he remembers all of his own policy positions. He's very good at being an attack dog and he's very good at saying we need to change the trade laws, but what are his actual policy positions when you actually get to his policy positions, people disagree very much with those too. But I don't think he's capable of getting up there memorize on all of his positions at a debate.

SESAY: But people like his passion and he had some of that on display. Earlier on this, you talked about how he was making a pivot, now it's no longer about Trump, it's about you. Take a listen.

TRUMP: The unfairness of the tax laws is unbelievable. It's something that I have been talking about for a long time. You've heard me talking about it despite being a very big beneficiary, I must admit. I am -- I am. I'm a big beneficiary. But you're more important than my being a beneficiary. So we're going to straighten it out and make it fair for everybody.

VAUSE: Lanlee, quickly, how effective is this line, you know, "Don't blame the player. Blame the game." Essentially is what he's saying.

CHEN: It's the best he can do. I mean, and I think they've tried to make lemonade out of - out of some pretty sour lemons here. So I think that's the only path way he can take with this news that's come out about his tax returns.

LIEBERMAN: I think he'll - I think this next debate is going to be fantastic. Because I think if you thought that the last debate was -- there was a lot of fighting and a lot of battling, Between the two of them. Next time it's going to be an hour and a half of just head to head combat.

SESAY: You sound so excited.

LIEBERMAN: I am, actually.

VAUSE: Good countdown. There will be blood on the floor. OK.

SESAY: Lanlee Chen, Matt Lieberman always a pleasure. Thank you, gentlemen.

CHEN: Thank you.

SESAY: Now, CNN is carrying the only debate between the vice presidential candidates as Wednesday at 2:00 A.M. if you're in London and 9:00 A.M. if you're in Hongkong. Set your clock.

VAUSE: Of course, and the presidential debate comes after that. That's the one Matt is celebrating over. So you can see that also here on CNN. We'll take a short break. When we come back, Kim Kardashian was the victim of a multi-million dollar jewel heist in Paris. How (INAUDIBLE) How the fall out, later this point. thieves broke into her private apartment. Details on that and the fallout, later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:45] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

Let's check the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Shia militias are among the pro government forces in Iraq, gearing up for the fight to reclaim the key city of Mosul from ISIS.

VAUSE: But as Ben Wedeman reports, there is one last ISIS stronghold which they need to clear first.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The occasional mortar round --

(GUNFIRE)

WEDEMAN: -- keeps the enemy at bay --

(GUNFIRE)

WEDEMAN: -- as do a few blasts of heavy machine gunfire.

(SHOUTING)

WEDEMAN: In the open, sparsely populated plains of central Iraq, pro government-led paramilitary groups, or Popular Mobilization Units, wage twilight skirmishes with invisible ISIS fighters.

"At night we always see flashlights and lasers," says fighter, Hada Shahoud (ph). "They shoot at us from that area. As soon as they come in range we deal with them."

(on camera): This is an area, which by day, Iraqi forces control. But at night, ISIS taking advantage of the darkness, comes in and the Iraqi forces have to pull back to their isolated positions.

(voice-over): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Where is Daesh, I ask the commander. "Over there," he says, "and we'll boil them if they come here."

(GUNFIRE)

WEDEMAN: The group is preparing to lead an offensive from these remote areas against the town of Hawija (ph), an ISIS stronghold that is featured in many propaganda videos.

(SINGING)

WEDEMAN: Hawija (ph) is close to the main highway linking Baghdad with Mosul, a critical supply line as preparations accelerate for the larger battle to liberate Iraq's second-largest city, under ISIS occupation since 2014.

"God willing, when we get the order to move forward we will eliminate them," he says, referring to ISIS, "then only Mosul will be left."

The group's role in the Mosul operation is unclear. There are concerns about a Shia-led force entering the predominantly Sunni city.

Last month, one of the leaders insisted his force will play a key role in that battle as well.

"We will participate in the operation to liberate Mosul, like it or not," he said at a recent parade by his troops. "No one can stop us."

More battles to come in the land of seemingly endless war.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, central Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:35:34] VAUSE: And with that we'll take a short break here. Back in a moment with a lot more news. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Kim Kardashian is back in New York after armed thieves robbed her at gunpoint in Paris on Monday. $10 million of jewelry was taken.

SESAY: West was forced to beg for her life and was bound and gagged.

Our Melissa Bell is in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: For now, investigators are remaining tight lipped about where the investigation is here in France. There is a sense of embarrassment this should have been allowed to happen at all that five men would have been able to overpower a single security guard and find themselves in the room of Kim Kardashian and able to rob her of $10 million worth of her jewelry.

French authorities are trying to lure celebrities back to Paris after a huge drop in the numbers of people who are making their way to the French capitol. This is a terrible news story, and one they will be keen to see the back of us as quickly as they can.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now for more on this, entertainment journalist, Sandro Monetti; and Scott Selby, co-author of "Flawless, Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History."

Guys, thank you for being with us.

This was a huge story when I woke up. All around the world, big news.

Scott, how much would the thieves have known about their target? Kim Kardashian is out there on social media. Look at this. This is Kim Kardashian on social media in Paris before she was robbed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:40:06] KIM KARDASHIAN, REALITY TV STAR: On our way to Givenchy. Show is about to start so -- can't wait to see her walk in it. The clothes are amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Here she is showing off that monster diamond ring. This is on Instagram.

So, Scott, how much of a target was she, especially in Paris at this time of year during the fashion show?

SCOTT ANDREW SELBY, AUTHOR: She was a huge target. The thieves know that celebrities and wealthy people attend fashion week in Paris. It's an amazing event. I have gone to four shows there myself, it's incredible. Just like the Cannes Film Festival it brings the most famous who have these jewels and you can track and follow them. She makes it easy. She tells the entire world, here's what I have and here's where I am.

SESAY: Sandro, people are saying, to Scott's point, she says, here's what I have, and inferring she brought it on herself. Is that fair? That's the name of the game, every celebrity is flaunting it. No one suspects this will be the outcome.

SANDRO MONETTI, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: They won't be doing it much longer. This is a transformative moment in celebrity culture, a wakeup call to the superstar world. No one's going to be flaunting their wealth and saying where they are and what they're wearing if it is going to end with you having a gun to your head and tied up, gagged, and in fear for your life in a bathroom.

VAUSE: With that point, there were a lot of people on social media, Kim Kardashian's natural habitat, wishing her well, hoping she was okay, but a lot of people were mocking her as well. This one tweet was typical of what was said, "Kim Kardashian robbed at gunpoint in Paris, finally, some good news on a Monday." The driving theme in all of this is that she deserved something like this. Clearly, no one deserves to be robbed but could she take more precautions.

SELBY: She didn't deserve this, and this is a terrible event. And thank god that nobody was hurt any more than they were. Of course, there is a balance between security and doing what you want in this world. You can live in a fortress but that's not much of a life. But there are basic things. We're still working out the social media stuff. This is all new that we are living out in the world like this. 10 years ago, thieves would have to follow you all the time to learn what you have and where you are, and now the information is out there.

Imagine going forward, just as celebrities have learned what the rules of social media are for their family, like they say to the nannies don't put pictures of our children online, maybe don't pictures of where we are staying or the jewelry we have with us until after the event. Those sorts of things might develop.

SESAY: The other point that has to be highlighted is that this happened in Paris, in France, which has experienced a number of high- profile heists recently.

SELBY: Yes, Paris has had more than its share of heists lately. There's been three in Cannes in the last few years, similar things. You have people in their home territory and in their home, store and environment, they are secure, but the celebrities, they come out to the events, and now they're just in a small hotel and vulnerable.

VAUSE: You say this could be a turning point for celebrities. The Kardashians are a particular case in point, given how they rely on social media and being everywhere all the time, and make a hell of a lot of money doing that.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: And then they come to the equation what is my livelihood, my life or my safety?

MONETTI: That is the dilemma at the moment. They're going to have a big rethink as are a lot of other stars. They have more social media following and need bigger security. We're talking about the biggest star in the world. We are talking about the Michael Jackson level. Michael Jackson always had seven security guards. There wasn't enough for Kim Kardashian.

And, yeah, she represents an aspirational lifestyle. And it's interesting what you were saying about the reaction on Twitter, a lot of people resent this wealth as well, and whereas there has been an outpouring of support from the celebrity community, there has been an outpouring of hate from the trolls on Twitter.

(CROSSTALK)

MONETTI: This is a real wakeup call. She is lucky to be alive after the attack. And she and a lot of other stars have to rethink their relationship with social media and their audience.

SESAY: And, Scott, what are your thoughts on tracking down the jewels? What are the chances?

SELBY: I think the chances are quite low that the jewels will be recovered. It can quite easy to move on, to melt down the precious metals, to sell on the small and medium stones through Belgium. Like I wrote in my book, "Flawless," they'll just come to America and keep changing hands. And the big stones will be changed and altered.

[01:45:15] SESAY: Is there an established system for moving something like this through?

SELBY: Yes. A fence will take it through, sell for 10 cents on a dollar and he will sell it on to people. It will be so easy. But the second and third buyer on, they will have no idea there is something wrong with it. The only hard thing is there are the amazing stones that are involved and they will be transformed before being sold off.

VAUSE: Sandro and Scott, it's an interesting story. There are so many parts to this story, how these people move forward, using social media, cashing in on it, but also keeping themselves safe.

Thanks, guys.

SESAY: Thank you.

SELBY: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., the Muslim-American journalist who does her job wearing a hijab and now is breaking new ground in "Playboy."

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. A Muslim American woman has been creating quite a stir for her appearance in "Playboy" magazine, not for what she doesn't wear but for what she does.

[01:50:01] VAUSE: Journalist Noor Tagouri is profiled in "Playboy's" "Renegade" series wearing a hijab. She is the first woman to appear in the magazine wearing the head covering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: And Noor Tagouri joins us now from Washington, D.C.

Noor, thanks for being with us.

NOOR TAGOURI, JOURNALIST: Thanks for having me.

SESAY: You knew, by agreeing to appear in "Playboy" magazine, a publication that has decades sold images of nude of semi-nude women, you'd be courting controversy. So what is your motivation here? Why do it?

TAGOURI: First and foremost, "Playboy" has undergone a rebranding and it hasn't published nudity in a long time. If they still did, I wouldn't have agreed to do the interviews. But of course, this is something I had to think about. I spoke to family, friends, mentors, and we decided that it would be important to share my message with this audience, and because this is the "Renegade" series about game- changers and rule breakers, I felt right in and the message fit in.

SESAY: Two journalists took strong exception to your decision. I want you to respond to them. In an article for "The Washington Post," they said this, "The 'Playboy' interview was a step too far. It represents Muslim women as purported represented by Tagouri, not on their own terms, but in 'Playboy's' terms, and in the process mocks the very ethics and morals that the hijab is religiously intended to reflect."

These women make the point, and I want you to respond, if one believes that the hijab is a connection to God, it is in conflict with everything that "Playboy" stands for. How do you see it? Do you see a conflict?

TAGOURI: The thing with that statement is that it makes it seem like everybody's connection to God should be the same. Everyone has their own interpretation and practice of the religion, of wearing the hijab, and what it means to them. For someone to say it's in conflict with "Playboy," I am talking about the objectification of women, combating the sexualization of women in media today. But me, being myself, being myself on the front lines of a publication

known to objectify women, that is bringing my narrative without sacrificing who I am as a person and bringing my message of light to a place that hasn't had that before. We talk about the hijab or Muslim women representation in America and around the world and we talk about it to people and platforms and audiences that are familiar with it. But to bring it to an audience that may have never even heard the story of a Muslim-American woman and to share to them what it means, this article and this interview wasn't for Muslims to go out and pick up "Playboy" and read it. It is for people reading "Playboy" to see a fresh face with a fresh message and test their own way of thought when it comes to be a Muslim-American woman and what they know about us.

SESAY: Do you think you have been successful in getting your message across or do you think it has been lost in some way amidst the noise of controversy?

TAGOURI: I think that the controversy, obviously, is going to add to certain level of the noise and that's fine. But the bigger picture and the outcome to me was successful and positive. There were people like Ashton Kutcher sharing the story to millions and millions of his followers. And for me to have a narrative of a Muslim-American woman that people are not used to shared to a new platform that is the most important thing and for me to remain myself the entire time made me feel good about what I was doing. And I came out after a week later and I penned a letter to everybody who had been confused or who was supportive of the interview and I told them my reasoning behind it and so many people reached out to me afterwards and was like I'm sorry for the assumptions I made because what happened is people saw the headline and they assumed a Muslim-American posed nude on "Playboy" and overseas, people couldn't even read it and people made assumptions. But when people read the interview no one had a problem with the message. And when people read my letter in terms of why I did it they realized this is your perspective and I understand why it was important. Whether they agree or not, which a lot of people did agree and there were people who disagreed, if they were respectfully addressing their opinion, I think the controversy started a lot of cyber bullying and harassment and threats and that was something that I just have no tolerance for. And so that was the downside.

[01:55:32] SESAY: Yeah, we should share with our viewers that your family and friends were supportive of it, and pleased you could come on and give your perspectives.

Noor Tagouri, thank you so much. Thank you.

TAGOURI: Thank you so much for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Took a lot of courage to do what she did.

SESAY: It did. Some of the feeling has been very, very strong. The article in "The Washington Post" basically said she was being exploited by "Playboy" to court controversy.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: But by getting the publicity, it's a double-edged sword. She is benefitting because she is pushing a cause, a good cause, and benefitting, too.

SESAY: Absolutely. Very interesting.

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

SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.

We'll be back with another hour of news right after this.

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