Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Impeachment Vote Looms For South Korean President Park Guen- Hye; Trump's "Thank You" Tour Rolls Into Iowa; More Controversial Appointments; Legendary U.S. Astronaut Dead At 95; Civilians Caught in Crossfire in Aleppo; Freelance Journalist Capture Photos inside Mosel; "Modern Family" Star Sued Over Frozen Embryos; Kirk Douglas Turns 100. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 09, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:00] JOHN VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. At this hour, South Korea's parliament is expected to vote on whether their president should be impeached. We're live in Seoul, with the very latest.

Also, the Donald Trump Victory Tour rolls on with the president-elect defending his controversial choices for cabinet.

And later, he had the right stuff. We remember the life of an American hero, astronaut John Glenn.

Hello everybody, thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause. We're now into the second hour of NEWSROOM L.A. We begin in South Korea where lawmakers will vote at any moment on whether to impeach President Park Geun-Hye. She has been under pressure for weeks to stand down over her alleged ties to a political corruption scandal. President Park has publicly apologized and continues to deny any wrongdoings. Our Paula Hancock is standing by live in Seoul. So Paula, walk us through the process. How is this expected to play out over the next hour or so?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, what's happening in the national assembly behind me right now is that the lawmakers are settling into the main hall and what they will be doing presumably within minutes, is casting their ballot, their vote as to whether or not they believe President Park Geun-Hye should be impeached. It is an anonymous vote. They will all physically go into a booth. No electronic voting here because that could be registered to the individual, and they want to make sure everyone can vote the way that they wanted without fearing any repercussions.

So at this point, most experts believe it probably will pass. It has to have two-thirds majority of the 300 lawmakers. So 200 have to say, yes, President Park Geun-Hye should be impeached. About 171 are opposition lawmakers. So of course, they're likely to vote against her. But it does mean some of her own party will have to vote against her and have to say, yes, we believe the president should be impeached. John?

VAUSE: Just a few days ago, maybe at the beginning of the week, there are some thought that there were maybe around 200 in favor of impeachment. It is looking a little dicey, maybe in favour of Park Geun-Hye. But then there were the revelations this week, about the fact that Park Geun-Hye was getting her hair done at the time of the Sewol Ferry disaster in 2014. That seems to have maybe done her some damage along the way, maybe won over some lawmakers to the impeachment side?

HANCOCKS: Absolutely. This is something that's been plaguing President Park Geun-Hye since that happened in April 2014. There are - there were seven hours during that morning whilst this tragedy was unfolding that have been unaccounted for, as far as the public and as far as many lawmakers are concerned. There were rumors that she was having her hair done. The Blue House, the presidential office, actually felt the need to come out and publicly say, well, yes, she was having her hair done but only for 20 minutes of that seven hours. And we now understand that the vote has just started to take place within the main hall of the national assembly behind me. Many local media suggests that it could be just an hour, even an hour and a half before we find out the result of whether or not this president will be impeached.

VAUSE: And Paula, as we're speaking here, we are looking at live pictures from inside parliament as that vote begins. If this is actually approved, if the impeachment wins the day, what happens then? Because there is still, you know, another few months to go before the president is actually formally removed.

[01:04:49] HANCOCKS: That's right. It's not a quick process. So, if today, the lawmakers do vote to impeach President Park Geun-Hye, then she is instantly suspended. She cannot run the country on a daily basis. That power then goes to the Prime Minister, usually the prime ministerial position here is ceremonial. But certainly in this case, the Prime Minister would be running the country on a daily basis. The constitutional court then has up to 6 month, 180 days to decide whether or not they think the evidence against President Park Geun-Hye means she should be fully impeached.

If they agree, then there'd be a new election within 60 days for a new president. But if they decide there's not enough evidence against her, and she should not be impeached, then they have the power to reinstate her. But certainly, you can hear there are hundreds of people and protesters just outside the gates of the national assembly, the vast majority of those protesters want her impeached. They would rather she'd stepped down straight away and resign. But they certainly want to see her impeached here today. John?

VAUSE: And finally, just very quickly, Paula, has there been any sign of the president? Has she made any public appearances?

HANCOCKS: Not since we heard from her for the third and - well, the fourth apology. We've really haven't been hearing very much of her at all. She's kept behind closed doors, apart from those public apologies, of course. The last announcement saying that if -- that she would wait and if the parliament wanted her to resign, she would, but leaving it up to the parliament to decide. So not what the protesters wanted to hear and not what many of the lawmakers wanted to hear. John? VAUSE: Yeah, absolutely. Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks, keeping a close eye on events inside the South Korean parliament. Thank you, Paula. The Trump Thank You Tour 2016 rolled into Iowa on Thursday. At a rally in front of thousands of supporters, the president-elect introduced his choice for Ambassador to China, and he also defended his controversial choices for his cabinet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the way, some of the people I put on to negotiate, you have been noticing, are some of the most successful people in the world. One newspaper criticized me. Why can't they have people of modest means? Because I want people that made a fortune, because now they're negotiating with you, OK? It's no different than a great baseball player or a great golfer. I mean, we want the people that are going to bring -- and they're so proud to do it. These people have given up fortunes of income in order to make a dollar a year.

VAUSE: Joining me now, Mo'Kelly, a political commentator and host of the Mo'Kelly radio show here in Los Angeles. Mo, good to have you back.

MORRIS O'KELLY, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND HOST OF MO'KELLY RADIO SHOW: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Just one thing about what Donald Trump was saying there, defending the choice of the billionaires in the cabinet, because there's quite a few of them. Even, I guess, the ones who are doing it tough are worth tens of millions of dollars. This is very unusual in U.S. politics, wealthy people often go into politics on both sides, but billionaires in the cabinet, do you see a problem with this?

O'KELLY: I don't see a problem with it, but there's some dissonance there when you try to create a populist message that you're a man of the people, you're a man who understands the people that he's reaching out to. And then you have a cabinet full of people who probably don't relate with the average everyday American. I said before, to the victor go the spoils.

VAUSE: Yeah.

O'KELLY: But it doesn't connect people.

VAUSE: And it doesn't seem to be draining the swamp either, in some ways?

O'KELLY: No. And he is more like putting alligators and other things back in the swamp in addition to that. I mean, this was lobbyist by another name.

VAUSE: And new critters. OK. We heard Donald Trump talking about, continually talking about it. He's going to bring this divided country together. He said it again in Iowa. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I was lucky enough to receive the TIME: Person of the Year.

They used to call it Man of the Year. But they can't do that anymore. So, they call it person. They want to be politically correct. That's OK. And they talked about heads-up, a divided nation, on the cover. They give me this honor then they have go a little bit of this stuff, a divided -- I said, "I haven't been president. What are you saying that for?" But you know what, we're going to bring the nation together.

VAUSE: Would it help to bring the nation together if Donald Trump actually took responsibility for the division which he caused during his 16-month-long campaign?

O'KELLY: I would settle for him not going on a Victory Tour of just the states in which he won, those are rallies. I mean, you're speaking to a very specific segment, those people who supported you and also voted for you. Let's not forget, he did not win the popular vote. So he's speaking to less than half of the country. He's speaking to the minority population, Electoral College, aside. It's OK that he's doing this in the sense of he's the president. He can do it. But at the same time, if we are going to talk about division of America, he's adding to it, not lessening it.

VAUSE: Would it help if he took his victory tour to a blue state?

O'KELLY: That might be part of it, but I would much rather go ahead and just stay in Trump Tower and work on the transition and those things, which are far more important than getting applause.

[01:10:01] VAUSE: Yeah, it seems he loves these moments. His aides say he draws energy from it. He really does enjoy getting in front of thousands of people. We're also hearing news about several new appointments or nominees for his cabinet. Andrew Puzder, is being tapped in Labor Secretary. He's a CEO of his fast food chains, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. He's against Obamacare. He doesn't want to raise the minimum wage. This is what he said to FOX Business News last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW PUZDER, CEO OF HARDEE'S AND CARL'S JR.: States have every right to decide what the minimum wage should be. My - I've been opposed to a minimum wage increases that kill jobs. And a lot of the state increases are the net level, where they would kill jobs. I think that's bad for American workers.

VAUSE: OK. The Labor Department is responsible for investigating violations of minimum wage and workplace violations, that kind of thing. This isn't so much to drain the swamp, it's almost like, you know, putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.

O'KELLY: Yeah, these are not bad individuals. They're just mismatched with the position. If he was maybe a small business administration, that would be more in line with his expertise but talking about labor, he hasn't been a friend to labor. VAUSE: Yeah, exactly. OK. He's also the man responsible for some famous raunchy television commercials for Carl's Jr. here in the United States. Here's one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With bacon strips, bacon jam and bacon crumbles, it's a bacon lover's fantasy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, those ads have been roundly criticized by a lot of women's groups. And last year, Puzder told the website entrepreneur this, "I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American." And again, as Labor Secretary, he'll be responsible for protecting women's rights. He'll also be responsible for lower departments, women's bureau. Do you have a lot of confidence that a guy with those ads, will live up to that task?

O'KELLY: No, but I'm confident that he fits within a Trump administration, given the campaign that Donald Trump ran and who he appealed to, to the type of ideology. It wasn't like he ran a campaign on great respect for women. So in that regard, he has been consistent.

VAUSE: OK. We have a situation now within the Trump administration as it is shaping up. We have a lot of people being appointed to agencies and departments that they philosophically opposed to. This is the list. We have Ben Carson at Housing, Betsy DeVos at Education, Tom Price for Health and Human Services, who's opposed to Obamacare, Scott Pruitt at the EPA and now, Puzder at Labor. And all of them, it seems, are being put in there to radically shake up or dismantle the very mission and philosophy of that department.

O'KELLY: Yeah. And I don't know why they're doing it. Why don't they just go ahead and cut to the chase and say, we're going to dismantle these organizations. Publicly say that now, as opposed to say that you're putting someone in who's going to help streamline the organization or help move it forward. You can't have someone like Scott Pruitt who has sued the EPA, I don't know, some 12 times -

VAUSE: 12 times, yeah.

O'KELLY: -- acting as an advocate for clean water and clean air. He's also a friend to the oil business. I mean, you can't be an advocate for bringing coal jobs back and also being an advocate for clean air. What do the people in Flint say, about a Scott Pruitt appointment?

VAUSE: Yeah, we'll continue what Donald Trump thinks about the Environmental Protection Agency and his choice of Scott Pruitt for that. He addressed the whole issue at that rally in Iowa a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We are going to end the EPA intrusion into your lives. On

energy, we will cancel the job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, and that means lower energy prices for farmers, households, and small businesses in Iowa and, frankly, all over the United States. We will also pursue an agenda of conservation, protecting our beautiful natural resources for future Americans, your family, your children and lots of other people and we're going to ensure clean air and clean water for all of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Everything he said then seems to be at odds. He said at the beginning, we're going to dismantle it with his regulations away, but still we're going to have clean air and clean water for generations to come. One does not get the other.

O'KELLY: No, but he's going to be for both. I mean, he has been consistently inconsistent telling people what they think they want to hear but not explaining what they need to know. And those are two divergent things. He says he wants to dismantle the EPA, but at the same time, he hasn't really explained to people the importance of the organization in the first place. And if you never explain that, then there's no reason for people to fight back or push back against that.

VAUSE: OK. We know that before he became president-elect, before he was the republican nominee, Donald Trump was a very famous T.V. star. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ian, you're fired.

IAN: Wow. OK.

TRUMP: Thank you. Good job, thank you.

[01:15:00] VAUSE: 14 seasons of "Celebrity Apprentice" and his name will still be there. Arnold Schwarzenegger has the role of a thud guy. Is there an issue with the president having his name on the credits for an ongoing T.V. show?

O'KELLY: There's a problem, I think, with - when he is trying to divide his attention, divide his responsibilities. If he was like an executive producer in name only, that's one thing, but it seems like he wants to have a hand, a footprint on the show. And I need him to be serious about protecting this country, guiding this country in economic sense and focusing solely on that.

VAUSE: OK. Mo, thanks a lot.

O'KELLY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you for coming in. Good to speak with you. We take a short break.

When we come back here on NEWSROOM L.A., civilian exodus happening right now, in Aleppo, Syria. CNN reporting from inside the city.

And we'll also remember an American icon from the space age. John Glenn, astronaut, senator, and hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: He was considered a national treasure, a man whose courage and achievements defined what it meant to be an American hero. John Glenn, aged 95, died Thursday in hospital, surrounded by family. Randi Kaye takes a look at the extraordinary life of the first American to orbit the earth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was a military test pilot, who in 1962, made history, that's when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God speed, John Glenn. Five, four --

KAYE: From his Friendship 7 capsule, Glenn relayed back from space.

JOHN GLENN, SENATOR FOR OHIO, ASTRONAUT AND VETERAN: Roger zero G and I feel fine. Oh, that view is tremendous.

KAYE: Glenn was one of the Mercury 7, a group chosen for the United States' first attempt to put men in space. Glenn completed three revolutions around the globe in just under five hours, earning him a spot in the history books. He was later awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and got a ticker tape parade in his honor. At the time, space travel was in its infancy. Until Glenn's flight, the Russians had led the space race.

GLENN: It's not just a matter of a space race, did we beat the Soviets to the moon or did we not? It's the long-term staying power. This is not a - this is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

[01:19:56] KAYE: Glenn had already made history in 1957 when he broke the transcontinental speed record during a flight from Los Angeles to New York. He did it in just 3 hours and 23 minutes, but it was his journey around the globe that boosted America's spirit.

GLENN: You know, people have looked up for tens of thousands a years and wondered what was up there in our lifetime. We're going up there. What a fortunate time we are in, and what a great time in history to be around.

KAYE: Later, Glenn laughed at the risks he took.

GLENN: We used to joke about it in the past when people say, what do you think about on the launch pad? And the standard answer was, "How do you think you'd feel if you know you're on top of two million parts built by the lowest bidder on the government contract?"

KAYE: Glenn learned to fly during college and joined the Marine Corps in 1943. GLENN: I spent 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I was

through two wars. I flew 149 missions.

KAYE: In 1964, Glenn resigned from NASA, after President John F. Kennedy deemed him too valuable as a national hero to risk another trip into space. In 1974, politics caught his eye. And the moderate democrat won a U.S. senate seat in Ohio. He ran for president in 1984.

GLENN: With the nomination of my party, I firmly believe I can beat Ronald Reagan.

KAYE: Glenn lost the nomination. That didn't stop him though. At age 77, he was back in space again, flying a nine-day mission on the Shuttle Discovery, the oldest person ever to travel into space. Despite it all, John Glenn never considered himself a hero, saying once, "I figure I'm the same person who grew up in New Concord, Ohio and went off through the years to participate in a lot of events of importance." Modesty from a man who took hold of space and never let go. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: I'm joined now by Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut. Thanks for coming in. You got to know John Glenn back in 1998 when he went off in the Space Shuttle Discovery for the second time around. Can you share some of the memories that you had or the experiences you had with John Glenn.

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Sure. Well, it was amazing for me. I was just starting out. I was a rookie. And I went to a function. We had a reunion every couple of years of astronauts. We get together. And he was there. And I have been an astronaut for a month, and they introduced me to John Glenn.

VAUSE: Older for like 50 years.

REISMAN: I know. And I'm like, oh, I am so far in over my head. This is crazy, you know. But he was amazing. And he was so inspirational to all of us new guys. It was so wonderful having him around, and is also really a funny guy, too.

VAUSE: You had this experience with your parents.

REISMAN: Oh, yeah.

VAUSE: Share that with us.

REISMAN: While he was getting ready to launch. So, this was - this was in the summer and his launch was in October. And as he was preparing, the last time I saw him before his mission, was in a gym, and I said to him, "Hey, I want you to know my mom and my dad, they are huge fans. They think you're, you know, just the most amazing hero they've ever met or heard about. And they're going to come see your launch. They live - they live in Florida. They're going to come to the cape, and they're going to watch your launch." And he said to me, "Well, tell them that when I launch, I'll be waving to them." And then the amazing thing was when he came back, when he came back, and the first thing he said to me after he returned from the mission was, "Did they see me?"

VAUSE: So he followed up, he remembered, which is great. That mission was officially, you know, deemed for geriatric studies but it was criticized at the time as being, sort of, a P.R. stunt to get NASA some good publicity and political favor by President Bill Clinton. Did he ever talk to you about that? What was his take on it all?

REISMAN: You know, he took the science very seriously. So he - in fact, he initiated the whole thing.

VAUSE: Yeah.

REISMAN: He, like, did the research and kind of built the case for what we could get scientifically out of the mission. I could tell you that and I know the other crew members that are on the mission with him. And he took his job on that mission which was largely to be a guinea pig, very, very seriously.

VAUSE: Yeah. You know, he was always very modest. I covered that mission back in 1998. So tell me, what would he have thought of the John Glenn action figure here? Which has John Glenn from Mercury 7, senator and as the space shuttle also on the - this is one of my favorites from the time, the John Glenn Memorial Plate, which I particularly liked. You know, do you see all these sort of stuff that happened and did he have any sort of opinions of the, you know, the sort of place he held in -

(CROSSTALK)

REISMAN: Well, you see, I'm looking at this now. I'm jealous. Where is my --

VAUSE: You don't get one. Cost me eight bucks at the time.

REISMAN: No, no. I mean, where is my commemorative plate? You know? But he is - he was so very, very humble. And we all knew, you know, who, obviously, who he was and what he had done with his life and we were all in awe. I mean, we would be in the gym and he would - we would walk by the locker room and we'd see his shoes sitting there, in front of his locker and we'd be like, "Those are John Glenn's shoes." And we're astronauts and then we're like --

VAUSE: You're up here, but he's sort of --

REISMAN: Yeah. He's on a different level, you know? And so, but the funny thing was, and the wonderful thing was, that he never acted that way.

[01:25:03] VAUSE: Right.

REISMAN: He was incredibly humble and a very decent guy.

VAUSE: Yeah, I always thought he was a profoundly decent person. REISMAN: Right.

VAUSE: He made an appearance on the sitcom Frasier. You know, this goes through his sense of humor. We're going to play the clip. And he's talking about aliens that he saw in outer space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN: Some people ask, you know, were you alone out there? We never gave the real answer. And yet we've seen things out there, strange things. But we know what we saw out there, and we couldn't - we couldn't really say anything. And the bosses were scared of this. They were afraid a War-of-the-Worlds-type stuff and about panic in the streets. And so, we had to keep quiet, and now, we only see these things in our, well, in our nightmares or maybe in the - in the movies and some of them are pretty close to being the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Good timing. I mean, he's a funny guy.

REISMAN: He has got a real talent for it. And just watching that, you know, I think he really enjoyed, kind of, playing that character, kind of, spoofing himself. And we had some fun with that, too. When you're a brand-new astronaut, one of your jobs is, you have to provide the entertainment at the Christmas party.

VAUSE: Yeah.

REISMAN: So, you have to put together skits and comedy things. And so, we did a skit where myself and another rookie are walking through a NASA facility, and there is John Glenn standing there. And we walked up to him, "Oh my God, it's John Glenn, we should go say hello." So we walked up to him and said, "Sir, it's such an honor having you hear with us and training with us. And boy, I tell you, you know, as the first American in space, it was so inspirational." And he would turn to us and he said, "Well, actually, you know, I wasn't the first American in space, that was Allen Shepherd." And I'm like, "Oh, OK. Well, when you said one small step for man --

VAUSE: Really lovely. That was awesome.

REISMAN: And he played right along, the same kind of dead pan. You know, he was just -- he was just so gracious and he spent hours with us filming that stuff.

VAUSE: That's brilliant.

REISMAN: Yeah.

VAUSE: OK. Thanks so much for sharing the stories and coming in.

REISMAN: Oh, my pleasure. Absolutely.

VAUSE: Thank you. We'll take a short break. Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., Iraqi forces are getting real-time

intelligence on ISIS fighters in Mosul. We'll take a look at their civilian informants, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:46] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

We'll check the headlines now.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: After years of fighting, the Syria government is close to retaking all of Aleppo. Russia says it is set to meet with the U.S. On Saturday to discuss a militant pullout from Aleppo. The announcement came as Sergei Lavrov met with his U.S. counterpart, John Kerry, on Thursday. Even as CNN crews heard mortar fire in Aleppo, Lavrov was making this claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREING MINISTER (through translation): I can tell you that today all active military operations of the Syrian army in eastern Aleppo have been suspended to allow for another, so far, the most wide-scale operation, to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Lavrov's comments come as Syrian rebels are close to losing their last stronghold in Aleppo. Civilians are fleeing the area and are often caught in the crossfire.

We get more from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Aleppo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the rebels lose their grip on Aleppo, Syrian armed forces continue to pound the besieged areas, many killed and wounded in the crossfire.

We came here as a man was being evacuated, claiming he was shot by rebels as he tried to flee.

"They shot me as I was running out," he says. "They won't allow anyone to get out. They said, are you going to regime areas?"

The opposition strongly denies its fighters would harm civilians but the rebels acknowledge they won't be able to hold out in Aleppo much longer. And that realization is leading to an avalanche of people trying to flee.

(SHOUTING)

PLEITGEN: Syrian troops throwing some bread but not enough to quell the hunger of many starving for months.

(on camera): The military Syrian has made major advances once again in the past 24 hours. We can see that as the army moves forward, more and more people are coming out of the former besieged areas.

(voice-over): Many of those fleeing, families with small children, struggling to carry the few belongings they were able to take. Many overpowered by emotions. Some with barely enough strength to walk. Others too frail to walk at all.

The Syrian army has amassed a massive force at the front line. The local commander with a clear message to the rebels.

"Look at this. These are your families. Surrender yourself and drop your arms and come back to the country."

But for now, the fight goes on. This family one of the many to cross into government-controlled territory, now in safety but still agony.

"Things used to be good," this elderly woman says. "May God act out revenge on those who brought us these difficult circumstances and may God protect us."

And so, they walk on, weak and traumatized, moving into an uncertain future.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Aleppo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: To Iraq now, and a rare glimpse of conditions in eastern Mosul. Freelance photographer, Gabriel Chang (ph), accompanied Iraqi forces during their push into the city.

Ben Wedeman has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(EXPLOSION)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dazed and terrified, a young girl flees her neighborhood, now a war zone in eastern Mosul.

(SHOUTING)

[01:35:10] WEDEMAN: Soldiers from Iraqi Special Forces try to console her as the battle rages nearby.

(EXPLOSION)

WEDEMAN: The offensive to retake the city is almost into its third month but progress has been slow as this rare footage obtained by CNN shows.

(EXPLOSION) WEDEMAN: ISIS is fighting back with the usual means -

(EXPLOSION)

WEDEMAN: -- snipers, suicide bombers and booby traps, while hundreds of thousands of civilians are caught in the middle trying to survive one day at a time.

"A woman was killing by shelling," says this man, "and another woman was wounded. We just need this random shelling to stop and then we can get on with our lives."

(EXPLOSION)

WEDEMAN: Prior to the offensive, Iraqi officials advised Mosul residents to stay home if they felt safe. Those who stayed behind, like this bearded young man, are able to provide Iraqi forces with real-time intelligence on the enemy just a few buildings away as he explains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kill one Daesh and now is very good.

WEDEMAN: The battle for the city is now a street-by-street slog.

(GUNFIRE)

WEDEMAN: Troops must clear every building. And they never know if what awaits them is an ambush, an IED or anxious family huddled inside.

(EXPLOSION)

WEDEMAN: So far, Iraqi forces have managed to drive ISIS out of around 30 percent of this sprawling city. Residents have come out to greet the troops. This young man has a poem ready extolling the army and cursing life under ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: "Because there was no electricity, no fuel, no medicine," he says. He finishes his poem with a kiss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: While almost everyone is quick to curse ISIS or Deash, as they call it here -

(CROSSTALK)

WEDEMAN: This bicycle repairman has a nuanced view.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SEAPKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: "50 percent of the people in Mosul don't have a problem with ISIS. Only recently it's been hard to make a living. Life was normal. But they imposed on us how to shave and how to dress. If you confirmed, it was fine, but if you didn't, they whipped you."

(EXPLOSION)

WEDEMAN: Among the houses in one east Mosul neighborhood, Iraqi troops found a training center for fighters. The walls full of diagrams of various weapons.

"It's like a school for new recruits," says this officer. "Most were boys between the ages of 12 and 14, with clothing to match what many Iraqis insist is an alien ideology."

For now, the authorities are struggling to provide the basics. This health care center is now up and running, but it's not enough.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: There are many patients with renal failure, chronic disease, leukemia. We have no hospital for treatment of such cases.

WEDEMAN: On the edge of the city, relief workers hand out food, water, blankets and clothing.

(CROSSTALK)

WEDEMAN: This volunteer is trying to repair the damage to the country's soul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from Mosul. I am Christian. I decided to help my friend, my brothers from Mosul after Deash leave.

WEDEMAN: The process of healing, of reconstruction could take a very long time, but there is hope.

(SHOUTING)

WEDEMAN: Ben Wedeman, CNN.

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:42:49] VAUSE: Yes, time has been kind to Rolling Stone's front man, Mick Jagger. At 73, he is now the proud father of a baby boy born Thursday. He was at the hospital with his girlfriend. This is Jagger's eighth child. And he is just two years younger than his great granddaughter. The Stones just delivered their studio album in 11 years. The sound track should be a top seller in Britain. How about that? A star of "Modern Family" is at the center of a lawsuit that has the potential to upend family law. Sofia Vergara is being sued by her own frozen embryos. Yes, they have names, Emma and Isabella. And were created by Vergara and her ex finance, Nick Loeb, in 2013. And since the two broke up he has been suing for custody of the embryos. They're frozen in California, but the lawsuit is being filed in Louisiana for a very specific reason.

Sara Azari joins us now, a trial attorney, for more on this.

Big picture, has there ever been a legal case like this before?

SARA AZARI, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Not at all. It's extremely strange and also the statute for -- the human embryo statute only exists in Louisiana. So clearly, the lawyers for the plaintiffs made a strategic decision to bring this case in a very pro-life state, the state that has the only human embryo statute in the United States. There has been never a case where you see plaintiffs as embryos. And this is because under the law in Louisiana embryos are treated like entities that have rights. They can sue, they can be sued. They cannot be owned or destroyed. And if there is an issue with respect to the embryos the court will find in their best interest.

VAUSE: Now it's gone to Louisiana. So, the suit alleges that Louisiana is appropriate because that is where the couple broke up. But the embryos are in California. Vergara and her ex do not live in Louisiana.

AZARI: Correct.

VAUSE: It sounds like forum shopping.

AZARI: It does. The plaintiffs are reaching for grounds. They're saying the couple broke up there and at some point, they were temporarily living there because Vergara was filming a movie and they had conversations about the IVF. They are using this conversation, you know, during a temporary residence in the state and the break up in that state as a basis for jurisdiction and that is not. Jurisdiction is like when you own property or live in a state or pay taxes in a state.

[01:45:40] VAUSE: In "The New York Times," last year, Nick Loeb wrote this, "Shouldn't a man who is willing to take on parental respondents be able to bring his embryos to term even if a woman objects to."

To a lot of people, that seems reasonable.

AZARI: But you are dealing with tissue in a petri dish in California. The embryo has not been transferred to a uterus.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Which is why they are in Louisiana.

AZARI: Exactly. At this point, you are dealing with frozen embryos created in California in the course of a relationship that was towards an anticipated marriage that relationship and that marriage are no longer, you know, happening, and so I think the woman has a right, you know, not to want -- much like the man. If he didn't want them to be born, he would have the same standing.

VAUSE: With that in mind, Vergara's lawyer has responded to this Louisiana suit, saying, "That genetic material was created pursuant to a written agreement that required both parties' written consent to attempt to create a pregnancy."

Apart for the jurisdiction issue, there is a contract. So, for this case to prevail in Louisiana, the judge has to rule that contract doesn't matter.

AZARI: Absolutely. And the plaintiffs are saying that contract is void because it doesn't provide for what happens to the embryos if the couple splits up. What man is not going the want two daughters from Sofia Vergara. They are be partially beautiful.

VAUSE: Very true.

AZARI: And he had high hopes for this relationship and these are the remnants of you know -- I agree with Vergara's lawyers he is trying to cling on to this -- you know --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: They weren't as nice about it. They said he is clinging to his last bit of fame and that's why he is bringing this suit forward.

AZARI: Right.

VAUSE: Great to speak with you. Thank you for coming in.

AZARI: Likewise, thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you for explaining it all. It's very complicated.

Sara, thank you.

AZARI: Thank you. My pleasure.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back here on NEWSROOM L.A., a new discovery out of China is a tale millions of years in the making.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREASK)

[01:51:46] VAUSE: Conservationists are warning giraffes are facing an extinction. Their numbers have plunged by 40 percent over the last 40 years. Habitat loss and illegal hunting are blamed for the decline. Scientists are calling it a once-in-a-lifetime find, the tail of a

dinosaur locked in a piece of amber. It was discovered in Myanmar. Traders thought it was a plant until a Chinese paleontologist took a closer look. It contains bone fragments and feathers. Experts say the dinosaur was the size of a sparrow. A little dinosaur.

The great American movie actor, Kirk Douglas, is adding Centarian to his credits. He played roles like Spartacus and Vincent van Gogh. He is turning 100.

Our Nick Glass has a review.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So here's to you, Kirk, that eternal dimple, that smile, that twinkle, and always that blazing masochistic intensity.

KIRK DOUGLAS, ACTOR: I'm not going to be a "hey, you" all my life. I want to hear people call me mister. I want to make something of myself.

GLASS: Looking back, we wonder do they make movie tough guys quite like you anymore?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You didn't get into a fight. You picked one, didn't you?

Me, pick a fight?

(LAUGHTER)

GLASS: 5'9", a southpaw --

(SCREAMING)

GLASS: -- and a plausible middleweight contender.

DOUGLAS: You hear that crowd? For the first time in my life, people cheering for me. Are you deaf? Did you hear them?

GLASS: Who else could dump the girl quite like you, Kirk, even if she happened to be Lana Turner.

You always seem to be going to war.

DOUGLAS: I'm moving to no place and I'm ready.

GLASS: You had the voice, almost a snarl for a speech.

DOUGLAS: A case made against these men is a mockery of all human justice. Gentlemen of the court, to find these men guilty would be a crime, to haunt each of you to the day you die.

GLASS: You could be soft. You could caress the words. DOUGLAS: Some day, when I'm really good, I'm going to do things with

this Trumpet no one has ever thought of doing. I'm going to hit a note no one has heard before.

GLASS: You have been lucky in work and in life and you know it. Surviving a helicopter crash, recovering from a stroke, and receiving an honorary Oscar.

DOUGLAS: Steven Spielberg said all those nice things about me, I walked on the stage and about 3,000 people were standing up applauding. I liked it.

(LAUGHTER)

(MUSIC)

GLASS: Let's be blunt, Kirk. You were great at playing characters under stress and always good at suffering. There was a bonus, in "Lust for Life," you looked like Vincent van Gogh.

And you were Spartacus, a bronzed 44-year-old beef cake with V-shaped torso. Not your best or favorite role, but at your great age, the one that will be the most watched.

[01:55:11] DOUGLAS: As long as we live, we must stay true to ourselves. I do know that we're brothers. And I know that we're free. We march tonight!

GLASS: Happy birthday, Kirk.

Nick Glass, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Makes you feel old.

Checking our top stories, lawmakers in South Korea are voting on whether to impeach President Park Geun-hye. This is all about her alleged ties to a corruption scandal. She has denied any wrongdoing and has made public apologies a number of time. If the vote is passed, she will be suspended and the prime minister will become acting president. A lot more on that story at the top of the hour.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. And I will be back with more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:12] VAUSE: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --