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Massive Marches across the U.S. and Worldwide; Trump Attacks Media; Iran's Hardliners React Harshly to Trump Presidency; Europe's Far Right Spurred on by Trump Win; Chapecoense Return to the Field. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired January 22, 2017 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Out in force: hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and around the world took to the streets on Saturday to show their support for women's rights and their discontent with the U.S. president, Donald Trump.
And on the first full day of his presidency, why crowd size dominated the White House press briefing.
Plus taking a page from Trump's playbook: Europe's nationalist parties host a conference in Germany. We'll be telling you what was on the agenda.
Hi, everyone, thank you very much for joining us, I'm Cyril Vanier in Atlanta. And your CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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VANIER: Donald Trump likes to brag about the size of the crowds that gather to support him. But during his first full day as U.S. president, huge crowds turned out to march against him and in favor of women's rights.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This feels like a regurgitation. This feels like trying to take us back to the '50s, which were a disaster for women. The choices were zero. I don't think we are going to go backwards. Everyone I have talked to is, like, this is not going to happen.
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VANIER: Hundreds of thousands of people marched in U.S. cities large and small. But the biggest rally was in Washington. Our Suzanne Malveaux has more.
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight Americans of all faiths and walks of life converging on the nation's capital, protesting the agenda of the 45th president, Donald Trump.
AMERICA FERRERA, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: It has been a heart-rending time to be both a woman and an immigrant in this country. Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack.
ASHLEY JUDD, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: I am unafraid to be nasty because I am nasty like Susan, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Amelia, Rosa, Gloria, Condoleezza, Sonja, Malala, Michelle, Hillary.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): A powerful, eclectic group bringing their message of equal rights for all Americans directly to the steps of the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message is here we are here representing the majority of Americans. The majority of our fellow Americans did not want this man in the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not anti-Trump. We are pro-American. We're pro-inclusion. We're pro-grace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where do we go from here?
We stay here. We keep this fight up. We keep letting them know that we are not going anywhere.
GLORIA STEINEM, FEMINIST ICON: This is a wakeup call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And who needs to wake up?
STEINEM: We're never going to sleep again.
Nobody who cares about democracy. Anybody who cares about sanity in the presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a message for President Trump now?
STEINEM: It's time to leave.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): And the movement spanned well beyond just Washington as hundreds of thousands of dissenting Americans gathered in all 50 states, from Chicago to Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, Denver and Boston.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, women of Massachusetts.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Celebrities, politicians and everyday Americans uniting...
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- in rebuke of President Trump's past statements, standing up to say they will fight for the country they know and love.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: President Trump, I did not vote for you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My husband and I fought for 35 years for marriage and I lost him right before Christmas. And I'm here for both of us.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Jessica Agulia's (ph) mother fell ill at 48 years old, upending her life, while the old health care system devastated her financially and left her in ruins.
JESSICA AGULIA (PH), PROTESTER: I hope she would be very proud. I hope she would be very proud. And I miss her terribly. And I'm any sorry she had to go the way she went because it was not -- it was not a righteous way to go.
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VANIER: That's Suzanne Malveaux reporting there on the march in Washington.
Outside the U.S. now, thousands of people also held sister marches in cities around the world. Demonstrators rallied in support of women's rights from Prague to London and even in Tbilisi, Georgia. Some fear that those rights could be undermined in Mr. Trump's presidency.
The first full day of the Trump administration included an all-out assault against the White House press corps. Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, used his new position to scold journalists for, as he put it, "failing to report the true size" of Friday's inauguration crowd.
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SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.
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VANIER: Now take a look at these aerial photos. Make your own judgment.
On the right, you're going to see --
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VANIER: -- Mr. Trump's inauguration on Friday, just minutes after he was sworn in. Large sections of the National Mall mostly vacant. And they show white protective ground cover.
Now compare that with Barack Obama's inauguration eight years earlier on the left. There is no white ground cover there visible for contrast. But the mall in that same area was clearly full of people for the 2009 inauguration.
And President Donald Trump paid a visit to CIA headquarters during his first full day in office on Saturday. He spoke of his support for the intelligence agency but also spent much of his speech attacking the media. Jim Sciutto has the details.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I want to thank everybody. Very, very special people. And it is true. This is my first stop officially.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Day one as president and Donald Trump visiting the CIA to face the same intelligence community he has repeatedly accused of politicizing intelligence and leaking damaging information about him.
TRUMP: There is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump.
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TRUMP: There's nobody (INAUDIBLE).
SCIUTTO (voice-over): But Trump spent more than half his speech, nine out of 15 minutes to be exact, talking about issues other than the intelligence community. Standing in front of a wall honoring 117 fallen CIA officers, he took swipes at the news media and, defying the facts, blaming his feud with the intelligence community on the media.
TRUMP: As you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth.
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TRUMP: And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you're the number one stop is exactly the opposite. Exactly. And they understand that, too.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): The fact is, the president has repeatedly criticized the intelligence community, in public comments and in tweets, regarding its assessment that Russia hacked the U.S. election to help him win.
"The intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange. Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to leak into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?"
The president also used the moment to accuse the press of intentionally misstating crowd sizes at his inaugural.
TRUMP: It looked, honestly, looked like a million and a half people. Whatever it was, it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. And I turn on and, by mistake, I get this network and it showed an empty field. And it said we drew 250,000 people.
Now that's not bad. But it's a lie. We had 250,000 people, literally around -- you know, in the little bowl that we constructed. That was 250,000 people. The rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the
Washington Monument, was packed. So we caught them and we caught them in a beauty. And I think they're going to pay a big price.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): His assault on the press was met with some applause inside the CIA.
TRUMP: They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth.
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SCIUTTO (voice-over): Trump telling the crowd that he knew the military and intelligence community had mostly voted for him.
TRUMP: And probably almost everybody in this room voted for me. But I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did.
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SCIUTTO (voice-over): Mr. Trump ended on a positive tone for the gathered audience.
TRUMP: Now I just wanted to really say that I love you, I respect you. There's nobody I respect more. You're going to do a fantastic job. And we're going to start winning again and you're going to be leading the charge.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
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VANIER: So what did the intelligence community actually think of that speech?
Well, we can only tell you what former CIA director John Brennan announced as Mr. Trump's -- we can tell you he denounced Mr. Trump's speech at the CIA. Brennan's former deputy chief of staff released this statement.
"Former CIA director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes. Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself."
CNN contributor and "The New York Post" columnist Salena Zito joins us now from Washington.
Salena, day one of Donald Trump's presidency is going to remembered for Mr. Trump going after the media on a day when you're trying to set a tone.
Why doesn't he just let it go?
SALENA ZITO, "THE NEW YORK POST": We've been asking that since he won the nomination. And the relationship changed between him and the press. And I don't know that it's going to change. It worked for him in the
campaign. It worked for him in the transition period, although he did lose --
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ZITO: -- popularity in the most recent polls.
But at this moment, he's decided to stick with what has worked for him. And I don't see him changing anytime soon unless there's a really dramatic drop in the polls.
VANIER: Yesterday we discussed the protests that had taken place in Washington and other cities in the U.S. against Donald Trump. That was on Inauguration Day. You told me that was not unprecedented. You referred to George W. Bush.
Now that you've seen the crowds in Washington on Saturday and around the U.S. and, indeed, many cities worldwide, I want to ask you again, is that -- is there a special kind of concern here in this country and around the world against Donald Trump that there hasn't been, that there wasn't against other presidents?
ZITO: Well, you know, I mean, it was a month after President Obama took office that the Tea Party erupted. And there were massive protests across the country. They were popping up in towns everywhere. They were here in Washington. But mostly they were in places like Texas and parts of Pennsylvania and the South and, you know, all across the country.
And so it is our tradition that, when we believe that we need to hold power -- truth to power that we do so. And I think we saw it exhibited today and we saw it exhibited with President Obama. I mean, the Tea Party was just a spur in the boot of President Obama for his first two years in office.
And it showed to be incredibly effective because it was a very narrow protest. It was about fiscal responsibility. And two years later, 2010, (INAUDIBLE) lost the House, lost a majority in the House and lost the majority of the state legislative bodies across the country. So you can effect change that way if you are focused.
VANIER: That's very interesting, Salena.
Are you telling us that the level of pushback that was seen by those protests on Saturday in the U.S. against Donald Trump, you're actually equating that with the level of pushback you saw against Barack Obama eight years ago?
ZITO: Yes. I mean, it began in a small -- not a small way but it began in not in a large way as we saw today out on the mall. But it was real; it grew, it snowballed. I can remember in August of 2009 -- it -- or, no -- yes, 2009, there was a massive one in San Antonio, Texas. Then there was one about six months later on the mall again. I think
it was hosted by former CNN employee Glenn Beck. That thing, they had over 1 million people there. So this is not unprecedented. I think it's important to remember.
But it's where this goes from here. There's a lot of different groups here today with a lot of different issues. There was women's issues. There were anti-gun issues. There was ISIS issues. There were immigration issues.
If they want to make change, if they are unhappy with who they voted with -- who became the president, I think the next step for this sort of rebellion is to then get involved. And we'll see if that's something that they're willing to do.
VANIER: Salena Zito, thank you very much. Always appreciate your insights. Thanks.
ZITO: Thank you.
VANIER: And coming up after the break, he may have drawn worldwide protest but Donald Trump has also gained fans among Europe's far right politicians. Details on that ahead.
Plus the Iranian hardliners size up America's new commander in chief. What the Trump White House might need for the Iran nuclear deal when we come back.
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VANIER: Welcome back. A major earthquake has struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea. However, the tsunami threat has passed. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has been monitoring the situation for us.
Derek, it looks like not the worst news we were fearing a little earlier.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the immediate aftermath of the potential tsunami has passed. That's the good news coming out of this.
But now we have to refocus on the major earthquake that occurred and the number of people that felt severe shaking from this 7.9 magnitude in Papua New Guinea.
Let's put it in perspective here. It happened just after 2:30 in the afternoon local time. This is the country of Papua New Guinea and just to the south and east of this red dot here is actually the Solomon Islands; Australia would be just to the south and west. That depth was at about 153 kilometers deep. And it was just below
the surface there in the ocean so this did spawn a potential tsunami. However, from all of the available data, it doesn't appear that a destructive tsunami actually affected or impacted any of these islands.
But, nonetheless, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did issue a warning for the Solomons and Papua New Guinea region rightly so because this was a very significant earthquake that happened very close to a land mass like this.
Take a look at these numbers. We're talking about the people who felt the shaking from this massive tremor. We're talking about over 150,000 people experiencing very strong shaking; 72,000 individuals, particularly across Papua New Guinea within this small island felt severe shaking.
So yes, it was a wild day. Still looking for some pictures on social media, this is a remote part of the world. Nonetheless, we haven't seen any pictures of destruction. But we hopefully will not see those, obviously. We want to make sure that people are safe coming out of this.
USGS has the ability to compare this to previous earthquakes with similar magnitudes, similar depth and similar economic impact. And they have an indicator that gives us a yellow pager alert for the potential for fatalities with an earthquake like this.
They say that the highest probability would be between 10 and 100 people.
All right, I got to take you to the other side of the world. We have another major story that we are covering. This is coming out of the United States. This is the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, region.
I want to roll some footage of an overnight twister that left a path of destruction. You can imagine just how scary these tornadoes are when they strike at night because you cannot see them, they're often- rain wrapped and it is completely dark. They strike without notice.
There is the potential for more severe storms today.
Cyril, we'll get back to the maps and you'll see just where that is, just south of us here in the Atlanta Metro area, where the CNN headquarters is located. Just in Georgia and Florida.
VANIER: All right, Derek Van Dam. Thank you very much from the CNN International Weather Center. Thanks.
Donald Trump's presidency is doing little to ease already frosty relations between the U.S. and Iran. The new U.S. leader has threatened to undo the Iran nuclear deal. Many hardliners in the Islamic republic still see the U.S. as major enemy. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, hardliners at Friday prayers in Tehran were chanting, "Death to America," many saying they expect more animosity from the U.S. commander in chief.
"From the very beginning, America's policies towards Iran have been hostile," this man says.
"It makes no difference which president is in power."
President Trump says he wants to renegotiate the nuclear agreement between the U.S., Iran and several other countries to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief.
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani says that won't happen.
We traveled to Qom, one of Iran's holiest and most conservative cities and a main center for the scholarship of Shia Islam.
PLEITGEN: Iran's powerful religious conservatives have made clear that they're willing to take a wait-and-see approach towards President Donald Trump. But they also say they're not going to back down from any of their positions, even if it means further confrontation with the United States.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): At one of Qom's big religious schools, we even find something like appreciation for the new president's straightforward style.
"Trump seems to be clear," the head of the school tells me. "What he says seems to be what thinks. You can see the animosity in his appearance."
And there are those hoping for better U.S.-Iranian relations. We spoke to Joshua Jabbari (ph) and his wife, Madiya (ph), both from the U.S., who just brought Chicago-style deep-dish pizza to Qom.
JOSHUA JABBARI, AMERICAN PIZZA MAKER: It is a dream that everybody has, that, you know, U.S. and Iran would improve its relations so even trade could increase; you know, Iran has a lot of things that could be exported to Western countries.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While no one would dispute those words, many here in Iran believe that Donald Trump's anti-Iranian rhetoric on the campaign trail will make improving relations between Washington and Tehran all the more challenging -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Qom, Iran.
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VANIER: Far right groups in Europe hope the populist wave that carried Donald Trump to the White House will echo across the Atlantic.
At a conference of nationalist politicians in Germany on Saturday, they condemned the European Union and praised Mr. Trump's victory as a sign of things to come. CNN's Atika Shubert has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside, thousands of protesters in Coblenz, Germany, shouted, "Neo- Nazis out."
But inside, swelling music welcomed Europe's nationalist leaders, hoping to emulate President Donald Trump's victory, each trying to ride the Trump's trans-Atlantic coattails: in France for Marine Le Pen; in the Netherlands for Geert Wilders and, in Germany, for Frauke Petry, each contesting elections this year.
A far-right meeting billed as a conference under the banner of "a Europe of nations and freedom," their political bloc in the E.U. parliament. 2017, they claimed, would be, quote, "the year of the patriots and the end of the European Union."
Le Pen led the charge.
MARINE LE PEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FRONT: (Speaking French).
SHUBERT (voice-over): "I love Germany because it's German. I love France because it's French," she said to applause.
"I do not love this chimera, this legendary monster, a German body with a Greek heart; three heads, one French, one Spanish and Italian."
She called for an end to the, quote, "anti-democratic oligarchy of the E.U." and to close Europe borders to halt immigration, decrying Germany's decision to take in nearly 1 million refugees last year as a, quote, "catastrophe," the same words recently used by Trump.
But it was the notoriously anti-Islam Wilders who spelled it out.
Quote, "Blond Europeans," he said, were in danger of becoming minorities in their own countries.
GEERT WILDERS, FOUNDER, PARTY FOR FREEDOM: (Speaking foreign language)
SHUBERT (voice-over): "Here's the bitter truth," he said.
"Our political leaders have lost the capacity to see and understand the truth. They no longer value our freedom. Our politicians are supporting Islamization."
The enthusiastic crowd was largely from the ranks of Petry's alternative for Germany party.
They chanted, "Merkel must go," cheering Petry on for an election against German chancellor Angela Merkel.
FRAUKE PETRY, CHAIRPERSON, ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY: (Speaking German).
SHUBERT (voice-over): "We have to be courageous to rethink Europe and Europe's freedom," she said, "for our future, for our children.
"If not now, then when?"
SHUBERT: Now every single party leader here, when they spoke, used the word "patriot" or "patriotism." And that language that President Trump used in his inauguration speech seems to be being used here to usher in a new era of unabashed nationalism in Europe.
SHUBERT (voice-over): The words, the music, the attacks on the press -- some broadcasters were even excluded. And every speech included a glowing congratulations to President Trump.
But just as in the U.S., large counterprotests are also being mobilized. 2017 may or may not be the year of the patriots. But it will certainly be a tumultuous year for Europe -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Coblenz, Germany.
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VANIER: A football club loved in Brazil and around the world played its first game on Saturday since an awful tragedy. In November, almost all of the players and staff of the Chapecoense team were killed in a plane crash. They were on their way to Colombia at the time --
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VANIER: -- chasing their dream of winning a major South American tournament. Our Don Riddell has the story.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't how they thought they would be returning to Chapecoense. But these men are lucky to have returned at all.
Nieto, Jackson Follman and Alan Ruschel came home to their football club on Saturday for the most extraordinary trophy presentation. But for everyone involved, it was far from a happy occasion. It was, in fact, a brutal ordeal.
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RIDDELL (voice-over): No shouting, no screaming, no fist bumps or back slaps. Just profound sorrow and grief.
These are the wives, fiancees, girlfriends and children of the victims. And it was not a celebration. In their worst nightmares, none could have imagined that such a wonderful adventure would end like this.
They accepted the medals on behalf of their loved ones, consoled by the few players to have survived November's devastating (INAUDIBLE)
(INAUDIBLE) to their seats, the pain only increased as a new team stepped forward and replaced those who had died. The only ones immune to the suffering were those too young to process it.
The Brazilian champions Palmeiras were the opposition, an honor and a privilege, they said, representing the whole of world football. It was a friendly game and friendlies never usually count for anything.
But this felt different. The fans know they will never get their team back. But they would like one that is just as good.
The early signs are encouraging. Despite the most challenging of circumstances, the players kept their heads. A mentally strong performance and a very credible tour draw, not bad for a team assembled in just a matter of weeks.
Chapecoense will kick off the new season on Thursday with confidence. This club has a new direction. But the past will never be forgotten. In the 71st minute, the game was stopped to remember the 71 victims of the crash. This game will forever be remembered in the extraordinary history of this humble little club -- Don Riddell, CNN, Chapeco.
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VANIER: And that's it for us. Thank you very much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier. I'll be back in just a moment with your headlines.
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