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Trump Outlines Agenda for First 100 Days; Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake Strikes Off Japan; U.S. & China Hold Military Drills Despite Tensions; Kanye West Cancels Tour After On-Stage Meltdown. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 22, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:29] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, Donald Trump speaking directly to the American people laying out an ambitious program for day one of his administration.

A strong earthquake shakes the east coast of Japan, rattling nerves around the area's nuclear power plants.

Plus, after a bizarre on-stage tirade and the cancelation of the rest of his tour rapper Kanye West is now in an L.A. hospital.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay, NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump on Monday laid out a series of executive actions he plans to take within the first 100 days of his administration. With strokes of his pen Trump vowed to enhance protection of U.S. infrastructure from terrorism including cyber attacks, impose a five-year ban on lobbying by former government officials and issue a notice of intent to withdraw from the Transpacific Partnership deal.

Here's what he said about the TPP in a short video laying out his first 100 days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: On trade, I'm going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Transpacific Partnership -- a potential disaster for our country. Instead we will negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back on to American shores.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, let's bring in CNN Money's Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens. He joins me now live from Hong Kong with more on all of this. Andrew -- good to have you with us.

With the U.S. out of the TPP, would this deal survive? ANDREW STEVENS, CNN MONEY ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Very, very unlikely.

In fact zero percent chance really, Isha. Donald Trump has made it clear pretty much throughout his campaign and for many, many years before that that he has never been in favor of these big sort of deals. On top of that, the TPP is the signature economic policy of President Obama -- a pivot to Asia.

It is a very big, widespread deal -- 40 percent of the world's GDP across 12 countries. Now the idea really of TPP was to knock tariffs, import duties down and also to create a playing field where environmental standards, labor standards were enforced. So really, there was a lot of soft stuff behind the actual trade involved in it.

But Donald Trump has never been that sort of supporter of that sort of thing. As we heard there, Isha it's all about bilateral trade deals not these multilateral trade deals.

Japan was the biggest supporter of this outside the U.S. and the Japanese prime minister has really been pushing for TPP. This is what he said just a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The TPP without the United States that none of the 12 countries that agreed to this, the TPP without the United States is meaningless. And so renegotiation is possible because the TPP without the United States will collapse the balance of the benefit. And as for the policy of the new U.S. government I don't want to discuss with any assumption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Shinzo Abe there, making it very clear Isha, that TPP is dead and buried. We now wait to see what happens next.

Donald Trump as we heard talking about these bilateral agreements which could be messy because there's so many countries doing so many bilateral agreements. They all sort of start -- sort of falling on top of each other -- makes it a little bit difficult to follow.

SESAY: We shall see what happens in his first 100 days. Andrew Stevens joining us there from Hong Kong -- always appreciate it. Andrew -- thank you.

Well, joining us now Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas -- also known as the two wise men. We have had them throughout this election campaign. And it is good to have you back with us.

Let me just pick up on the TPP point. Dave -- should this indeed happen, and Donald Trump follow-through with it, it would be the beginning of the dismantling of the Barack Obama legacy.

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Sure. But like -- I think if there was one unifying message throughout the course of this presidential campaign, whether it was the Democratic side with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton or on the Republican side with Donald Trump, like both political parties like fundamentally didn't support the TPP like moving forward.

[00:04:58] We heard Chuck Schumer, the incoming minority leader in the U.S. Senate, this weekend saying that he doesn't support it. So I don't really think that anybody is going to miss the TPP.

And I think, you know, the question is, like Donald Trump says he's going to move forward with fair trade deals. Like what does that look like -- right?

And the other question is he campaigned on a platform of not just like rolling back TPP or not implementing it but also NAFTA. And today in his first 100-day video he didn't say anything about NAFTA. So I think that's going to raise some real questions.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Donald Trump -- Dave is right -- Donald Trump was a trailblazer against TPP. Donald Trump was against TPP before Hillary Clinton was against TPP.

JACOBSON: Right.

THOMAS: It's a largely favorable thing for the nation to do that -- that's why both parties agree on this. Donald Trump is following through on some of the easy lifts -- the things that could get done the first 100 days. Things like NAFTA and repealing Obamacare and others that are more complicated that when if you repeal it or change it, you better have a good solution -- those are the things he's waiting on.

SESAY: Let me ask you this though -- John. Does the American public fully understand TPP? So in other words, for it to die would they understand that it won't lead to jobs turning up overnight? Do they truly understand?

THOMAS: I don't think they do because there's a lot of pieces to the TPP but I think they realize overall it's not giving them what they want. They want America to come first and they don't feel the TPP does that. And look, Trump campaigned hard on repealing -- or killing TPP but he did not campaign hard on what to do next. And that's what we're going to have to watch for.

SESAY: All right. One thing he did lay out in this transition video is the guiding principle of his presidency. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: My agenda will be based on a simple core principle, putting America first. Whether it's producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next-generation of production and innovation to happen right here on our great homeland, America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: John, this is where the rubber meets the road, right. This is where you campaign with high poetry and then you meet the reality of governing. Can he make good on this stuff?

THOMAS: It's hard.

Here's what we've seen so far, the Dow hit a record high today. The dollar is at a record high. The projections are that the dollar might reach parity with the Euro at some point in the near future. The Fed saying they're going to increase rates because they're worried of inflation.

The enthusiasm economically has been strong. So when enthusiasm is strong economically, that means people might want to take economic risks.

Now the question is are they going to risk capital in America or are they going to do it abroad? And largely some of it is within Trump's control and some of it isn't. I think a lot of it is going to tone and incentives to stay here. The proof will be in the pudding and he is able to keep manufacturing here or create more jobs he gets another four years.

SESAY: Dave you hear that. You know, the guiding principle of what he wants to achieve and you think what?

JACOBSON: I think it's a broad platitude but there's no like meat on the bones, right. What he largely outlined were like executive directives but it wasn't necessarily any mention in how he is going to like sort of work with Congress.

Like, he didn't mention Speaker Ryan or Leader Mitch McConnell, right. Like a lot of being president is being able to build momentum and support in the legislative branch to get bills passed so that you can sign them and then implement them. But he didn't mention anything about Congress and moving bills through that, you know, legislative body.

SESAY: But John's point, he is going for the -- to use John's words -- the easy lift here with executive action, right. And what is this? This is about giving people an easy way and a sense of early victory.

JACOBSON: I get that. But like, look, this was like a hold your nose election. Like I get that, right -- it was the lesser of two evils. But at a certain level, like people saw past his like racist misogynistic rhetoric because they believed he could get stuff done, right.

He was going to build a wall. He was going to tear apart NAFTA. He was going to dismantle -- repeal and replace ACA, the Affordable Care Act. But none of those things were mentioned in this video today. I think like people are going to hold his feet to the fire and like really see if he can move his agenda forward and get stuff done.

THOMAS: You know, I was actually pleased that he didn't just say I'm going to shred Obamacare, I'm going to shred NAFTA because that's --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: But he didn't mention the wall. He didn't mention --

THOMAS: Right. Because that's the Trump I was hoping we would see, a more measured Trump. Somebody who understands that there are consequences to actions you better have thoroughly thought through what you're going to do the day after you tear up those deals.

SESAY: I want to move on and talk about some very disturbing scenes that played out in Washington, D.C. at the weekend. I'm talking about the gathering of the alt-right movement. The alt-right movement, for our viewers just to remind them, a group defined by racism, anti- Semitism, bigotry and hatred essentially. They gathered in Washington at the weekend to celebrate the victory of Donald Trump.

Take a look at the celebrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hail Trump. Hail our people. Hail victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:10:10] SESAY: Nazi salutes on display there by some there in the crowd and some deeply offensive language that was used in remarks that were aired and that were shared during that gathering.

It has been noted by many that we saw these offensive scenes, heard the offensive words and Donald Trump who was on Twitter on the weekend did not come out and condemn these scenes, which is deeply troubling to many. John -- your reaction? Not just of the images but the silence from President-Elect Trump?

THOMAS: Sure. No doubt there is a fringe element in America that are bigots and are racists. But, I mean don't know how many people were at this event. Well over 200 people -- I don't know what the number was --

SESAY: Less than 300.

THOMAS: Right. It's -- to use Hillary's word -- deplorable. It really is, and it's despicable.

SESAY: Why didn't he condemn it?

THOMAS: Well, it's a good question. I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand you don't want to give these people attention. You don't want to make them seem bigger than they are because it's just a couple of low lives that do live in basements that came together and did stupid things.

On the other hand, the President does set the tone. So he's walking a delicate line. My guess is he's going to watch to see how this story evolves. If it grows into something bigger, if he doesn't denounce it, it's a major mistake.

SESAY: Dave -- do you take that line? JACOBSON: Look, I think at the end of the day, Donald Trump's

election, whether you supported him or not, was a watershed moment in American history. In his election night speech where he sort of talked about bringing people together, unifying the country, right -- like we haven't seen that message beyond election night.

And I think this was an opportunity, right. There is a real vacuum with the Donald Trump transition, like he's not commenting on these protests that we're seeing across the country. He said "stop it" on "60 Minutes" but beyond that like he's not addressing head-on the problem. He's not addressing some of these like, you know, the hate speech across the country or these racist elements, the alt-right movement that's sort of been, you know, borne out of his campaign.

And I think that's a real significant challenge. I think it underscores the fact that like he is not really unifying the country in any sense. Like, he is fanning the flames of the division that are pitting us against one another.

THOMAS: The same thing can be said about President Barack Obama who's, you know, when there were protests in the streets and they were burning things down and rioting -- where was the President saying don't riot, don't do things. He didn't speak and there were a hell a lot of more people than 200 making that noise.

SESAY: Yes. But you don't really kind of -- are we going to that place where we're trying to compare the two? I mean bear in mind the ugliness of what we saw in Washington, D.C. considering the nature of this campaign. This is a moment of calls-out for the President-Elect, doesn't it? I mean in a way different.

THOMAS: Yes, the only -- it's 200 freak shows versus thousands of people --

SESAY: 200 freak shows who -- the support of the President and the way he came to power, at least the way the election was carried out is deeply unsettling many corners of this country.

THOMAS: Yes, I just -- I think it's being blown up into a bigger issue than it has to be. And if it continues to linger, I think he will make a statement. But the first sign of it I just don't think he wants to give attention to.

SESAY: Dave -- final word to you.

JACOBSON: I think he's going to be judged by his inaction and his silence. I mean at the end of the day, I mean this is a guy who is increasingly looking like a hypocrite. He is not unifying the country. He's not bringing us together. He's not solving these divisions and these, you know, these warring factions that we have across our country.

And I think it's a significant challenge and I think it's going to hinder his ability to get stuff done in Congress.

SESAY: All right. Gentlemen -- the conversation continues next hour -- so much to get to.

Thank you so much. See --

JACOBSON: Thank you.

SESAY: -- you really are wise.

THOMAS: You give us too much credit.

SESAY: Yes, maybe.

THOMAS: Hey, hey.

SESAY: All right. Moving on now. We're keeping an eye on the northeastern coast of Japan after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday. The quake hit Honshu Island and triggered tsunami waves as high as 1.4 meters. All tsunami warnings and advisories have now been cancelled.

The quake hit the same part of Japan ravaged by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake five years ago. That disaster killed more than 20,000 people and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Company tells CNN the cooling system at the plant automatically stopped when Tuesday's quake hit but has now resumed operation.

For the latest, I'm joined by journalist Kaori Enjoji in Tokyo and meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Thanks to you both.

Kaori, let's start with you. This was a major earthquake. What are we hearing in terms of injuries and damage specifically to those nuclear plants?

KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: Well, Isha, this was a powerful earthquake and many of the people in Japan jolted awake this morning by this powerful earthquake. We have no reports of any deaths related to this latest earthquake or serious injury although there have been a handful of minor casualties reported from various residents around the area.

[00:15:02] The tsunami warning and advisories that were in place shortly after this earthquake took place have now all been lifted. The final warnings were lifted about an hour ago.

Many people were called on to evacuate their homes, to seek higher ground, to move into higher levels of their apartment. But as the advisories, the warnings were called off many people in evacuation centers in the northeast have told us that people are starting to go home.

However, this occurred at 6:00 a.m. local time. And since the quake was off Fukushima, I think it was a very powerful reminder of the big earthquake, the disastrous earthquake back in 2011 and you have to remember that many thousands of people remain displaced since then in some of these areas.

I think because it is Fukushima, one of the biggest concerns was about the impact on the nuclear reactor that is still there. Fukushima Daiichi in particular. As you mentioned there was a temporary halt in the cooling system. What's happening there is that there is spent fuel and there's a cooling system in place that keeps the temperature under control. But that automatically shuts off when there is a powerful earthquake as happened this morning.

But TEPCO, which is the operator of this nuclear plant, said that that was shut off for about 90 minutes and then it started to resume operations as normal and they have not seen any irregularities since them nor have they witnessed any spike in radiation levels around this nuclear plant.

This is not the only nuclear plant on the Pacific Coast. There are several others dotting the coastline. But here, too, the operators are saying they have not seen any irregularities. But still there are some delays still in some railway services, some highway services, many of the schools, the public schools in those areas have been shut down for the day.

Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is not in the country. He is currently in Argentina following the APEC meeting. But his chief cabinet secretary has called together a team at the Prime Minister's residence and has warned residents in that area to remain vigilant about possible aftershocks because they say there may be up to a week from now similar level -- similar shocks of similar magnitude -- Isha.

SESAY: All right. Kaori -- we appreciate it. Thank you so much for the update.

Let's go to Pedram now to get -- in fact, we just lost our connection with Pedram Javaheri. We were going to talk to him about the aftershocks that are taking place in Japan.

Kaori Enjoji, our thanks to you.

We'll get Pedram back for you later on in the show to get the latest on the aftershocks and what they're seeing there on the ground.

In the meantime let's take a quick break.

Some of the biggest names in music are making major political statements. We'll get reaction from Hollywood.

And reports that Kanye West is in the hospital later this hour.

Plus, reports of chemical attacks as the Syrian regime repeatedly bombs eastern Aleppo. We'll hear from the conflict's young victims. Do stay with us.

[00:18:03] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone.

Activists say another day of intense bombing in eastern Aleppo killed at least 27 people Monday. Syrian regime forces resumed air strikes on rebel-held areas a week ago. More than 300 people have died since then. It's the worst bombing since the Syria's civil war started in 2011.

Schools and hospitals have been targeted and there are reports of chemical attacks on civilians. A young Syrian boy who was apparently wounded in a chemical attack was inconsolable as he told nurses what happened to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mommy, mommy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened to you Sweetie?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in and al-Hamra. I was watching warplanes and it dropped something. I saw yellow smoke, I felt something. And then they took me to the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is anyone hurt, your siblings?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my siblings. I don't know where they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The hospital where the boy was being treated was hit in another attack. He survived.

We are joined now by Gayle Tzibach-Lemmon, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Ashley's War: the untold story of a team of women soldiers on the Special Ops battlefield". Gayle -- thank you for joining us.

It is -- the images out of Syria, you know, the devastation -- the despair it's difficult to watch especially when you see these kids there and then you hear that the offensive has escalated. Talk to us about what is happening on the ground? And what this escalation looks like because now we're hearing this reports of (inaudible) acts.

GAYLE TZIMACH-LEMMON, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I mean the heart break upon the tragedy upon the carnage. And it's the young generation, it's the little one who pay the price. So everything that's going on, you know, bombs falling from the sky, starvation on the ground and the world that basically doesn't really want to get involved except for the proxy war that is being fought and for which the kids are paying a price.

And what you see right now in Aleppo is you see people taking advantage, the regime trying to take advantage of getting as much territory back in eastern Aleppo as it possibly can.

SESAY: Is it inevitable that eastern Aleppo will fall.

LEMMON: So the U.N. today said that Aleppo will not look the same by the time the New Year comes and that is mostly because the world is doing very little as, you know, the Syrian government aided by Russian military forces and Iranian military forces really does have the advantage and is seeking to score back and win back as much terrain as possible. SESAY: I want to play some sound from the U.N. Security Council --

the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power speaking there the weekend and upbraiding the Syrian regime and its Russian supporters. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Will Russia condemn even a single air strike by the Assad regime here in this chamber today or any day? Choose any of the hospitals that the Assad regime has destroyed or any of the schools -- will Russia ever condemn its ally, Bashar al Assad, here at the council for a single one of these attacks?

We have been attending sessions like this one for more than five years. But despite all of the carnage inflicted by their regime partners they have uttered not one critical word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Will they? Will Russia ever condemn the actions of the Syrian regime?

LEMMON: The ambassador knew the answer to her question. I mean the answer is no. And it's always hinged on who do you define as the terrorist -- right? And now that Russia and the Syrian regime know that there's nobody who's going to check -- there's no counter balancing power that's going to stop them from doing what they want to do. They're just going to keep going and there's been a lot of words and very little action.

SESAY: Is the escalation in terms of Aleppo offensive tied to the transition here in the U.S.?

LEMMON: There is a lot of discussion about that. Can you change the facts on the ground before the next administration which already was more likely to go along with what the Syrian regime with Russia's help is doing gets to Washington? And the answer for a lot of people is yes, you can change the facts on the ground because who will there be left to support?

[00:24:56] SESAY: The U.N. envoy to Syria Staffan di Mistura, said that Donald Trump has a very small window if he is to indeed form an alliance with Russia to change the course of this conflict. Do you agree with that assessment? Is that alliance even plausible to you?

LEMMON: The di Mistura interview was remarkable. I knew him a little bit from Afghanistan -- right. He has seen a lot of war and what -- he has run out of words like everybody else to actually describe how horrible it is for parents and for kids on the ground.

There is no sense that the United States is going to get more involved from a military standpoint in terms of countering what the regime and Russians want to do. I mean there has been very little coming out of the camp from the President-Elect Trump that he would get more heavily involved into either supporting rebels or doing anything that would counter what Russia or the Syrian regime wants to do. So it's hard to imagine that they're going to be more active rather than less.

SESAY: So you see more of the same?

LEMMON: Absolutely. And what will there be more of the same to do?

SESAY: Yes.

LEMMON: At a certain point, a town is leveled.

SESAY: It's hard to believe. You know, as you summed up so eloquently at the beginning, you know, heart break on further devastation mixed in with more carnage.

LEMMON: And little people paying the price.

SESAY: And little people paying the price.

Gayle -- we appreciate it. We'll speak to you again next hour. Thank you.

Now, the Iraqi prime minister's office says U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is praising the Iraqi army's progress in the battle for Mosul. The city is the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq. The fight to retake Mosul is in its second month. Shia-led popular mobilization units or PMUs are fighting to block ISIS supply routes from Tal Afar to the west and Mosul.

Well, there may be military tensions between the U.S. and China but the two militaries are working together this week. Just ahead -- the reason for this rare joint exercise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

The headlines this hour.

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump says President Obama's Transpacific Partnership will be one of the first casualties of his new administration.

[00:30:00] In a short video, Monday, Trump said taking the U.S. out of the TPP trade deals will happen within his first 100 days. He also spelled out five other specific executive actions he would take that would only require his presidential signature.

Authorities say people on the northeast coast of Japan can expect aftershocks for several days after a strong earthquake struck Tuesday morning. A 6.9 magnitude quake hit Funtsu Island triggering tsunami waves as high as 1.4 meters.

Activists say at least 27 people were killed in another day of intense air strikes in Eastern Aleppo, Monday. Syrian regime forces have been bombing rebel-held areas relentlessly killing more than 300 people since last Tuesday. There had been reports of chemical attacks on civilians.

Pope Francis has given Roman Catholic priests the authority to forgive women who have had abortions. In an open letter, he reaffirms the church's position that abortion is a grave sin. The Pope also says there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach.

Well, as a candidate, Donald Trump slammed China's economic policy and threatened to impose tariffs on the country. Now some are concerned that the president-elect's actions could affect relations between the two countries. This comes as the U.S. and China carry out a rare joint military exercise.

CNN's Matt Rivers reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scenes of cooperation in Southwest China as U.S. and Chinese soldiers work together to free a victim trapped in rubble or to treat an injured person, which have build a bridge to rescue people trapped on the other side of the river. It's a joint disaster relief exercise overseen by top U.S. and China commanders.

(on-camera): This is the fourth such disaster relief drill since 2013 and it is a show of goodwill from both sides, but this friendly atmosphere going on here is a stark contrast to what's going on not far away from here where the U.S. and Chinese navies are locked in a tense standoff in the South China Sea.

(voice-over): Since 2012, the Chinese have seized territory and militarized artificial islands in the region. In response, the U.S. has sailed warships and flown planes nearby.

The delicate stalemate is part of a complicated relationship between the world's two largest militaries that the new U.S. commander-in- chief will have to manage. But what will U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's military policy toward China look like? In short, it's hard to tell. Trump largely avoided the issue on the campaign trail, driving home an anti-China economic message instead.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country. And that's what they are doing.

RIVERS: Some analysts have speculated that Trump could give China more of a free pass in the South China Sea. Instead focusing on other issues like trade, but others point to who might join Trump's administration and say a tough on China policy could be in the works.

TONG ZHAO, RESEARCH, CARNEGIE-TSINGHUA CENTER FOR GLOBAL POLICY: Very conservative people who really embrace very anti-China rhetoric.

RIVERS: Trump's pick for national security adviser Retired General Mike Flynn has said that China should, quote, "Certainly be viewed as an enemy of the United States."

Retired General James Mattis, a top contender for defense secretary, last year called for a, quote, "Policy to build the counterbalance if China continues to expand its bullying role in the South China Sea."

Back at the disaster relief exercise, CNN asked another expert four- star General Robert Brown commander of the U.S. Army Pacific what advice he would give to the Trump administration on China if asked.

GEN. ROBERT BROWN, COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY PACIFIC: The more you can build relationships, then it leads to trust. And when you lead to trust, you can have differences.

RIVERS: Those differences were put aside at this joint training, but it will be up to Donald Trump and his administration if any more group photos will be taken in the years to come.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Kunming, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: A Taiwanese airline cancelled flights for the entire day, Tuesday. TransAsia didn't give a reason for the abrupt cancellations, but said it would offer more information after a board meeting. TransAsia's stock has been suspended in Taipei. It closed 7 percent lower, Monday.

Authorities in China are blaming snow, rain and fog for a deadly car pile up. Seventeen people were killed in the 56-vehicle accident on a northern highway. China's Xinhua News Agency reports 37 people were injured. The local traffic control center said the highway was still closed, Tuesday, and official investigation is underway. Incredible pictures there. Very, very scary.

Well, a school bus driver in Tennessee is facing five counts of vehicular homicide and reckless driving after a deadly crash. Six school children were killed after the bus turned over on its side and slammed into a tree. Nearly two dozen people were taken to hospitals. Authorities are investigating if speed was a factor.

Kanye West is back at it with one of his trademark rants. This time it has landed him in the hospital. More on that after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone.

A source close to his family tells CNN Kanye West is in the hospital being treated for exhaustion. We cancelled the remainder of his tour after on stage meltdowns about the U.S. election, Thursday, and another on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, MUSICIAN: It's a new world, Hillary Clinton. It's a new world! Feelings matter. Because guess what, everybody in middle America felt a way and they showed you how they felt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: And punk rock band Green Day made their own political statement at the "American Music Awards" Sunday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GREEN DAY CHANTING "NO TRUMP, NO KKK, NO FASCIST USA")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Segun Oduolowu is an entertainment journalist and pop culture contributor to "Access Hollywood" live. He joins us here.

Segun, let's start with the news that Kanye is hospitalized. Your reaction to that especially in light of the scenes that have played out in the last couple of days?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: The last couple of years to be honest with you, I've seen Kanye in concert several times. And these rants have gotten longer, and more wild, and more just kind of schizophrenic. And to see him hospitalized, you're hoping that he gets help. But this business of hip hop music is a pressure cooker and it's a lawn mower. Like it chews you up. Wood chipper style is what should I've said.

So wood chipper, you don't get to be 70, 80 years old like the stones doing hip hop. Hip hop artist don't --

SESAY: What is it about hip hop that makes it far more destructive, if you will, to follow your thinking?

ODUOLOWU: It's a music about anger. It's where it started, you know. It's about protest. It's about passion. It's about the street. It's about originality. And how long can you keep reinventing yourself. And for someone like Kanye who is very prolific, we're talking music, we're talking fashion, you know, being married to Kim Kardashian, always in the public eye, it grates on you, it weighs on you.

You've noticed that rappers like Jay-Z and friends, Beyonce have started to distance themselves from Kanye.

SESAY: Which he mentioned loudly.

ODUOLOWU: And the most telling for me, there were people in Kanye's camp that had been saying on Twitter, on Instagram like, you know, hey, I've tried to reach him. This guy has bad people around him that aren't -- that don't have his best interests at heart. And Snoop recently was on Instagram. And Snoop was like, you know, what is this guy on? Because this dude is going crazy. That's not the actual words Snoop used. But we all understand --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: We can't repeat those.

ODUOLOWU: We can't repeat those. Maybe in Trump's America that will get repeated. But, anyway, I digress.

You can't look at other artists who know this pressure cooker, can see Kanye slipping; as a public, we should have been more aware. You know, it's not cool, or it's not hip, it's not him being avant-garde. These rants became more frequent. They became, as I said, more wild and far from left field. And let's hope that he got, that he is getting the help he needs.

He was handcuffed for his own safety...

SESAY: Yes, yes.

ODUOLOWU:...which is a very big deal.

SESAY: It's a very big deal. We all wish him the best. It's a difficult situation for anyone regardless of your standing in life to be here.

You mentioned Trump so let's talk about Trump. Green day, their protest you saw at the AMAs. We're seeing politics and pop culture collide.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely collide.

Well, we elected a pop culture president so of course the collision -- the collision is what we almost scripted for ourselves. Green Day is a Bay Area band. And you got to understand something about Green Day. One of their albums is "American Idiot." Like, I don't want to be an American idiot. But I'm not going to do the whole song.

But they've always had a little bit of an undercurrent of not just protest, but being out there, trying to -- not push an agenda, but make things aware.

Like even in their rock and punk, they are very open about their own struggles with addiction. So they are a very conscious band. Trump is going to see that there are entertainers who are going to do what he did as an entertainer, which is to fire shots, basically say, hey, we demand better from you.

And that line, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA," he ran on a platform that was very divisive to a lot of people and it's, you know, it's chickens coming home to roost as Malcolm X said.

SESAY: How did it go over with the AMA audience and the social media universe?

ODUOLOWU: Well, the AMAs were broadcast live from Los Angeles. So it's a very -- the AMA audience is a very liberal one and a very liberal town. Not so much so with the people at "Hamilton ". They got a little bit more flak.

I think that the Melania Trump -- the Melania Trump --

SESAY: Gigi Hadid impersonation.

ODUOLOWU: Yes, that impersonation didn't go over well. Again, when you are making fun of someone's accent or the way someone looks, it's very mean -- SESAY: You're on thin ice.

ODUOLOWU: It's mean-spirited. And it's like supermodel on supermodel crime. And you can be better. You know, it's low-hanging fruit to go after Melania Trump.

SESAY: We're going to pick that up next hour, because I don't know what that looks like.

Segun --

ODUOLOWU: What? As beautiful as you are, you know you'd be out there.

SESAY: Segun, next hour. Next hour.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Segun will be back next hour. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next. Stay with us.

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