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Voter Fraud Investigation; Trump's New Immigration Orders; Trump Initiates Process to Begin Border Wall; Life in Eastern Mosul after Forces Drive Out ISIS; Grand Chancellor of Knights of Malta Forced to Resign; Mary Tyler Moore Dead at 80. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 26, 2017 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

With a few strokes of a pen, Donald Trump takes action to strengthen the U.S. border and beef up immigration enforcement.

Making up for lost time, children begin returning to school after Iraqi forces liberate eastern Mosul from ISIS.

And later, one of the pioneers of American television has died. We remember the life of Mary Tyler Moore.

Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.

NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Donald Trump is making good on his tough talk on immigration. The U.S. President is moving forward to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. He is also considering a blanket ban for up to four months on refugees coming to the U.S.

CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's a campaign promise no more. Now it's reality as President Trump signed an executive order instructing the federal government to start construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Secretary of Homeland Security working with myself and my staff will begin immediate construction of a border wall.

ACOSTA: The President unveiled the executive actions during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to the wall, the orders direct DHS to step up the identification and deportation of undocumented criminals as well as strip away federal funding from so- called sanctuary cities that harbor undocumented immigrants. But the moves are seen as an insult in Mexico where former president, Vicente Fox has adamantly said his country will not, as President Trump puts it, pay for the wall.

VICENTE FOX, FORMER PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: I'm not going the pay for that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) wall.

ACOSTA: Yes, they will, the President told ABC News but only as a reimbursement after U.S. taxpayers initially foot the bill.

TRUMP: I'm just telling you, there will be a payment. It will be in a form -- perhaps a complicated form. And you have to understand, what I'm doing is good for the United States. It's also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico.

ACOSTA: The President isn't stopping there. Next he's expected to sign an executive order temporarily suspending the nation's refugee program and restrict visas to people entering the U.S. from what the administration calls terror-prone countries.

But the White House is pushing back on reports of another executive order that would preserve the terror detention facility at Guantanamo, reconsider harsh interrogation techniques and secret CIA interrogation sites used during the Bush administration.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is not a White House document.

ACOSTA: Even though his new defense secretary James Mattis has said such harsh methods don't work, the President told ABC he supports tactics like water boarding.

TRUMP: But I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence and I asked them the question. Does it work? Does torture work? And the answer was yes, absolutely.

ACOSTA: Republican Senator and former POW John McCain is saying no way. Warning in a tweet, "POTUS can sign whatever executive orders he likes but the law is the law. We're not bringing back torture."

Mr. Trump is also standing his ground when it comes to his false claims of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. tweeting he's asking for a major investigation into voting irregularities he claims cost him the popular vote. A probe the White House suggests could target the nation's biggest states.

SPICER: There is a lot of states that we didn't compete in where that is not necessarily the case. You look at California and New York --

ACOSTA: Democratic leaders are alarmed.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: I frankly feel very sad about the President making this claim. I felt sorry for him. I even prayed for him. But then I prayed for the United States of America.

ACOSTA: And the White House insists the President is determined to intervene in high crime cities like Chicago where he tweeted he will send in the feds if street violence there continues.

SPICER: I think what the President is upset about is turning on the television and seeing Americans get killed by shootings; seeing people walking down the street and getting shot down.

ACOSTA: President Trump was scheduled to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena-Nieto next week. In a video message to Mexicans, Pena- Nieto did not scrap the trip but he emphasized that Mexico is not paying for that wall.

Jim Acosta, CNN -- the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, joining us here in L.A., Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and the senior editor for "The Atlantic".

Ron -- where to start? So much to discuss.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you again, first of all.

SESAY: Good to see you.

The President is fixated on these debunked claims of illegally cast ballots. I want you to take a listen to what he said to ABC's David Muir earlier on Wednesday when he was pushed on the fact that these are unfounded, they're unverified and quite frankly --

[00:05:04] BROWNSTEIN: They're implausible.

SESAY: -- implausible. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS HOST: What you have presented so far has been debunked. It's been called false. I called --

TRUMP: Take a look at the Pew reports.

MUIR: I called the author of the Pew report last night. And he told me that they found no evidence of voter fraud.

TRUMP: Really? Then why did he write the report?

MUIR: He said no evidence of voter fraud.

TRUMP: Excuse me. Then why did he write the report?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Why is he doubling down on this?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, there is no evidence -- right. I mean when the state of Pennsylvania under Republicans a few years ago tried to impose some of the same kind of strict voter ID rules that other Republicans face (ph) they stipulated in court that they could not identify a single case of voter fraud. There is virtually no in person voter fraud in the U.S.

Look, I think there are three different things converging here. First, clearly President Trump is very sensitive to any questions about his legitimacy whether it is related to the Russian hack or the fact that he lost the popular vote by 2.9 million votes -- more than, you know, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote more than Jimmy Carter or John F. Kennedy.

Second, I think there is a dimension of this which also goes to the executive order today on sanctuary cities that is really about cities. When he talks about voter fraud, you know, what he has in his mind --

SESAY: Is that code?

BROWNSTEIN: That is code, I think, for African-Americans in cities.

And third, there is a political agenda. As we said there are a number of Republican -- most Republican-controlled states, in fact, have moved to impose tighter restrictions on voting, higher hurdles with voter I.D. laws and I think if he, in fact, goes forward with an investigation to some extent, it maybe an attempt to lay the ground work for more of that kind of initiative, something that Jeff Sessions, his Attorney General, has supported in the past as well.

SESAY: Yes. And that's exactly right.

Many people saying is this about disenfranchisement of minority voters? And is this about voter suppression? Is that the end game here?

BROWNSTEIN: It could be.

I mean look, Republicans will argue what we're doing is safeguarding the ballot. In fact, when you look, for example, the court ruling in North Carolina said that their voter protection laws were surgically- targeted at reducing African-American turnout.

But look, the larger dimension here is that Hillary Clinton won 88 of the 100 largest counties in America. The cities -- America's cities are kind of the font of resistance and opposition to Donald Trump which we saw last Saturday when literally one out of every 100 Americans was on the streets protesting almost all -- the big majority of them in the biggest cities.

If you look at the sanctuary city proposal, if you look at the voter fraud investigation they both kind of converge at that kind of urban -- and what he said about Chicago, about sending in the feds. All of this is about kind of sharpening the conflict between a nonurban Republican coalition and an urban America that is now the backbone of the Democratic coalition.

SESAY: To any of our viewers out there who are maybe still uncertain as to whether there is any kind of basis to what the President had to say. Let's play the sound now from the author of the Pew report and listen to what he had to say, the very report that the President is citing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BECKER, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH: There is absolutely no evidence of voter fraud even approaching that scale. Does voter fraud exist? Yes it does. In very small numbers and the election officials around the country are working to investigate and prosecute those dozens of cases that might occur nationwide in an election like this.

But three to five million illegal votes, that would have been discovered not just on Election Day but well before. Fraudulent registrations, not matching the driver's license numbers and social security numbers, flagged for I.D. under federal law, extra provisional ballots being cast. All of these things we would have seen and there was zero evidence of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: All right. So Ron -- the end goal, what their objective is, is unclear. But in an attempt to get there, they're trying to march the U.S. public down the alternative facts route? Is that what's going on?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, no. Look, I think the end goal probably isn't the first goal for Donald Trump. I really do think this is fundamentally about his recoiling at any suggestion that his victory was not legitimate. And I think that -- he has said from the beginning, I lost the popular vote because there were so many illegal votes cast.

I think that is the -- it's more of a personal motivation than a policy or political motivation but I also think it is about -- I mean there does seem to be offenses on many fronts about delegitimizing any institution that criticizes him.

And you know, one thing to keep in mind in this is not only the Democratic secretaries of state but Republican secretaries of state in Ohio and Texas and states like that that have said there is simply no evidence for anything like what the President is saying.

So, on the one hand you have an administration that is moving very aggressively on all sorts of fronts on a policy and showing that they mean to do a lot of what they said; on the other you have him continue to be embroiled in this endless series of controversies that kind of extend the campaign in a way that I think raises a lot, you know, kind of reinforces that basic doubt that he faces among so many voters about his temperament.

SESAY: And this question of the investigation that he said will take place, let's put up the tweets in which he announced that this was going to be happening and share it with our viewers.

[00:10:07] He said, "I'll be asking for major investigation into voter fraud including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even those registered to vote who are dead and many for a long time. Depending on results we will strengthen up voting procedures."

BROWNSTEIN: And that's the end-game -- right. I mean that is -- you know, as we said Republican-controlled states have moved to tighten the restrictions on voting. The Obama Justice Department in many cases went to court against them.

They lost the pre-clearance authority under the voting rights act of 1965 through a decision by the Supreme Court but still they have the authority to go into court again -- and they were part of, for example, the lawsuit that overturned what North Carolina did. Now you could have an administration going in the opposite direction, supporting and even encouraging states to tighten restrictions on voting.

SESAY: So let me ask you this. In terms of this investigation, first of all, in your mind is this going to be a DOJ investigation? The Department of Justice?

BROWNSTEIN: No one seems to know exactly what he has in mind.

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: Nobody seems to know. But if he goes down that route people will say is this the politicization of the DOJ?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, certainly if the DOJ is being kind of enlisted in an effort to produce a preconceived set of facts which no one -- there's simply no evidence for this. It's not only there's no evidence -- I mean there's kind of evidence to the contrary.

SESAY: Would they go against the President who's publicly stated a position?

BROWNSTEIN: That's what -- look, this is the question that goes beyond this specific. It goes to all of the intelligence disputes that he's having with the -- will Donald Trump accept facts that dispute his world view?

You remember the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the great senator and U.N. ambassador famously said we are all entitled to our own opinions we are not entitled to our own facts. That is now under dispute and at risk here in the U.S.

SESAY: On Wednesday the President signed an executive order, as you know, to authorize the diversion of funding for the wall -- the big beautiful wall, as he has described it on the U.S.-Mexico border. This was a cornerstone campaign promise. We have discussed it many times here on this program.

But Ron -- let's put up this poll for our viewers -- the CBS poll. 59 percent of Americans oppose it; only 37 -- I mean this is the kind of thing you have to ask what are the political risks down the road for the President.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, Trump has been about deepening but not broadening. I mean, you know, we see in this first week an agenda that is very much aimed at the coalition that elected him that offers very little to those beyond. And in fact seems to be provoking them as we saw when roughly over three million people demonstrated on Saturday.

There is a limit to how far he can go toward building this wall without Congress, I think, most of all. He signed an executive order today. He can move around some money but the estimates are this is what -- $14 billion, $15 billion, $16 billion. There is not $16 billion sitting around under the couch in the DHS for him to kind of pick up the quarters and build a wall.

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: Eventually, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have to provide him the money to build the wall. And even Republicans along the route in Texas, for example, we all heard -- Republican representatives of Texas have questioned whether this is an effective and efficient use of money.

But again, you know, during the campaign, there were Trump defenders who said the problem with the press was they take him literally but not seriously. His supporters take him seriously but not literally. It turned out taking him literally was pretty good guidance because in this first week they are moving aggressively on many different fronts to do exactly the things they said they were going to do during the campaign and after the campaign as I said, which he won with a very narrow Electoral College majority and lost the popular vote.

He is pursuing the kind of change that you usually see after a landslide. And it is a formula, I think, for heightened conflict in the months ahead.

Just look at -- again tonight, a kind of pop up protest in Washington Square Park; thousands of people in the street. This is going to be a very contentious time in America.

SESAY: It certainly is.

There is so much to discuss and we're going to keep this conversation going in the next hour. But I've got to ask you very quickly before I let you go. All these executive actions, all of this we're seeing -- the flurry this week, are we looking at an imperial presidency? Is this the shapings of this?

BROWNSTEIN: I would say we're looking at a good week for Steve Bannon who is seeing those kind of populist, nationalist, insular themes on immigration and trade really move to the forefront. I do think Donald Trump is going to push the boundaries of the executive authority and with that fifth vote tha they will get at some point on the Supreme Court they may have a lot of leeway to do that.

SESAY: Much more to discuss next hour. Of course, we want to talk about the comments he made about torture and all the rest of it and dig a little deeper into sanctuary cities.

But for now Ron -- thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you.

All right. Quick break now.

Next on NEWSROOM L.A. -- an aerial view of the U.S.-Mexico border where the President wants to add a wall to the mountainous landscape.

Plus, a showdown between the Pope and the leader of an ancient Catholic order. Just ahead -- the unusual move that the Pope took that ended a month-long battle.

[00:14:53] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Weather watch for the Americas. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

And after what has been a historic start to 2017 when it comes to mild temperatures, for much of the United States it is transitioning back towards a colder trend, at least for the next couple of days. And, of course, we are coming off of a historic 2016 with the warmest temperatures globally observed as well.

But notice what's going on across parts of the Great Lakes, some snow showers, nothing significant. But still some of those favorable spots will pick up some light accumulations we're thinking generally about a five to ten centimeters which is a far cry from what these areas are capable of seeing and producing with storms that roll across that region.

Atlanta, a mild spot there at 12 degrees; Montreal, the best they can do is around 1, some snow showers expected. Notice the several bouts of cold air we see into early next week here. Looks like they're going to be more northerly confined.

The southern tier of the United States should stave off much of that action. And you notice places like Washington drop off largely; New York from 11 down to 4 degrees across that region.

While farther to the south, Belize City looking at the upper 20s. It looks like Guatemala City will keep it dry this go around at 28 degrees. Same score out of San Juan into parts of Puerto Rico as well. And thunderstorms are about from (inaudible) towards areas around Caracas, Manaus. Some scattered showers and thunderstorms in the forecast there. Should expect temps to be into the upper 20s in Parana, Manaus around 30 degrees, Lima makes about to the upper 20s as well, and Quito some thunderstorms, around 18.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello everyone.

As we've been reporting, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered construction to start immediately on a wall along the border with Mexico. Mr. Trump signed an executive order to kick off the process but Mexico insists it won't pay for any wall. Walls and fences already exist along one-third of the 3,000 kilometer-border between the U.S. and Mexico.

CNN's Ed Lavandera recently toured parts of the rugged frontier where barricades would have to be erected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This journey across the U.S.-Mexico begins in south Texas where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico and on a rugged ride in an all-terrain vehicle with Robert Cameron. He runs an ATV border tour business in the small town of Progressive.

You think people have that impression at the border that this is a scary, dangerous place?

ROBERT CAMERON, BUSINESSMAN: Scary, dangerous place -- absolutely. It's not as bad as people make it seem to be.

LAVANDERA: Cameron was born in Mexico, is now a U.S. citizen; was a long-time Democrat until Donald Trump came along and made him a Republican.

Living and working on the border reveals a blurry reality. Cameron fully supports the idea of Trump's border wall. But every day he sees the holes in that plan.

[00:20:06] A few months ago while riding along the Rio Grande, he recorded this video of what appeared to be smugglers with packs. It's the kind of story countless people along the border can share. But this is an area where a border fence is already in place yet drugs and human smuggling keep coming.

CAMERON: It hasn't stopped them, absolutely not. You have this wall all the way around to where the eye can see all the way over there.

LAVANDERA: Then it keeps going.

CAMERON: It keeps going but then it's like -- they start here -- I don't know. I'm sure there's a reason. Don't you think? They ran out of money?

LAVANDERA: This is the landscape in the Big Bend area of Texas. And that is the challenge. How in the world do you build a wall in this kind of terrain?

Marcos Paredes lives in Terlingua, a far-flung outpost in the Big Bend region of west Texas. He is a former Big Bend park ranger and now takes visitors on aerial tours of some of the most beautiful landscapes you'll ever see.

MARCOS PAREDES, FORMER BIG BEND PARK RANGER: I want to know where, in all of that, do you put a wall?

LAVANDERA: This is some of the most rugged terrain you will find along the southern border -- hard to imagine that anyone would ever try to cross illegally through here. Just simply too treacherous. Every night 88-year-old Pamela Taylor out of compassion leaves bottled water outside her home for migrants moving north and the border patrol agents chasing them. Taylor voted for Trump and wants to see illegal immigration controlled. She once found an undocumented migrant hiding from border patrol agents in her living room but she warns the rest of the country that a wall won't work.

PAMELA TAYLOR, TRUMP SUPPORTER: That wall is not going to stop them. If it's 20 feet high they're going to get a 21-foot ladder, right?

LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN -- along the Texas-Mexico border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: With us from Sacramento, California is Anthony Rendon, speaker of the California assembly. Mr. Speaker -- thank you so much for being with us.

What are your thoughts on the -- I guess, if you will, the immigration landscape that President Trump is erecting, certainly in this first week of being in office as you see that he signed executive actions, executive orders, on erecting a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, stepping up efforts to deport illegal immigrants and, of course, talking about defunding sanctuary cities. What are your thoughts on what is taking place?

REP. ANTHONY RENDON (D), CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY SPEAKER: Well, I think the landscape that he is talking about and that he seems to see seems completely antithetical to who we are here in California and what immigrants mean to us in this state.

In this state, you see an economy that's expanding. You see unemployment that's been cut in half and as low as it's been in a generation. You see the two largest ports in the United States, both in southern California. You see Silicon Valley. You see a huge agricultural economy in this state. And you see immigrants contributing to all of those sectors of our economy and to our state overall.

Immigrants are a huge part of our economy. They're a huge part of our culture. They're a huge part of our art scene. They are California. And it's a very, very, very different scene than what the President is talking about.

SESAY: Yes. I mean let's talk about this move that he's announced that effectively sanctuary cities will face a loss in federal funding if they don't comply with federal law and cooperate with immigration officials to deport illegal immigrants.

First of all, what do you think of that? I mean, where do you see this going? What position will California take?

RENDON: Well, I think the President has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a sanctuary city is and what sanctuary city status is. The sanctuary city status was meant to free up law enforcement officials so that law enforcement officials could focus on real crime and arresting real criminals. The suspension of those types of programs is really counterproductive to those crime-fighting efforts.

SESAY: Give us some perspective here for our viewers around the world. How many areas, jurisdictions if you will, in California meet that definition of a sanctuary city?

RENDON: There's a quite a few and just this past week, Santa Ana in Orange County, they filed for sanctuary city status as well. So you see them up and down -- up and down the state of California throughout the state. These are all cities that understand the contribution that immigrants have made to our state.

SESAY: So Mr. Speaker as you talk about them being up and down the state, let me ask you this, can the state afford to stand up to the federal government and say no, we're going to continue our actions of supporting illegal immigrants in our city, in our community? Can they afford that loss of funding?

[00:25:06] RENDON: I would say we can't afford to not fight up -- not afford to not stand up to this administration. This is an administration that is already attacking our immigrant population and by doing so they are attacking California, they're attacking our core values and they're attacking who we are as a state. We're going to continue to stand up to Donald Trump and to say that's not the way we do business in California.

SESAY: I want to play some sound to you from the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Listen to how he responded to this executive action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: In New York City, this executive order does not change who we are or how we will go about doing our work. The stroke of a pen in Washington does not change the people of New York City or our values. It does not change how this city government protects its people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Strong words there from Mayor Bill de Blasio. Speaker Rendon -- what is your message to President Trump?

RENDON: My message is that California feels the same way as New York City feels. This election, this president doesn't change who we are. He doesn't change what's in our hearts. He doesn't change what we believe.

SESAY: All right. Speaker Anthony Rendon -- thank you so much for joining us here from Sacramento. Very much appreciate it.

RENDON: Thank you.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now.

Next on NEWSROOM L.A., eastern Mosul is now liberated from ISIS but for many, memories of the terror group are all too fresh. What life is like there right now -- coming up.

Plus, the progressive Pope and a conservative Catholic leader go head to head. Details on what prompted their clash after this quick break.

Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:16] SESAY: Hello, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

Beloved actress Mary Tyler Moore has died at the age of 80. Co-stars and friends are remembering here as a TV pioneer and role model, who helped redefine the image of American womanhood. Moore is best known for playing a news producer on the TV show that bore her name and her role on "The Dick Van Dyke" show.

U.S. President Donald Trump has sign an executive order directing the U.S. government to begin building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican's president went on television, Wednesday, insisting Mexico would not pay for it as Mr. Trump has promised.

At least 21 people were killed in an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. Gun men blew up truck bombs outside and storm the buildings seizing control for several hours. Police say four attackers were killed. The terror group Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Now to Eastern Mosul, where residents are feeling a sense of relief after Iraqi forces liberated that part of the city from ISIS. Still the terror group left its mark.

Our own Arwa Damon takes a look at life now and what ISIS left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Children play on the streets of an affluent neighborhood just steps away from a residential home that was a local ISIS headquarters.

(on-camera): This was a security center. So that was the office and upstairs is what they transformed into a prison. This is really creepy.

(voice-over): The screams of those who were imprisoned here still haunt the neighbors too afraid to go on camera.

In the industrial zone, ISIS was manufacturing its own weapons entirely from scratch and then hiding the stockpiles throughout the city. Counterterrorism soldiers even found a partly constructed plane.

(on-camera): It is fairly crudely put together but this would take a certain level of expertise, creativity and ingenuity. They cobbled together all sorts of different parts and even used glue to try to fix some of the wires into place. (voice-over): To the north, wooden Humvees are under construction in what eerily feels like a children's wood shop were it not so sinister. ISIS would use these as decoys.

On the streets, there is a sense of relief. Women no longer have to wear the Niqab. Men can be clean shaven. Cell phones and cigarettes banned under ISIS are on full display. But the atmosphere of so- called normalcy in some areas belies the trauma.

Schools have started to reopen for the first time in over two years. The children eager to reclaim their lost education.

"ISIS would put knives in our hands," 14-year-old Mustafa tells us. "Once my parents found out, they pulled me out of school."

Their innocence stolen perhaps, but not their enthusiasm for life and the future. Little girls clamour around, jostling for attention as children do. Their sweet voices uttering phrases they never should.

"They cut a man's hand," one girl says.

(on-camera): They lashed her father because his pants weren't long enough. 50 times she said.

(voice-over): Some of the wounds will heal, but others are too profound defined by years and lives lost. Arwa Damon, CNN, Mosul, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: So many blighted lives.

Now Santiago, Chile recorded its hottest temperature ever on Wednesday, 37.4 degrees Celsius or 99.32 Fahrenheit. This as some of the largest wildfires in Chile's history range on and more than 200,000 hectares or 494,000 acres have burned this season. Hot temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds are fueling the fires.

Public health officials in Brazil are working to stop a deadly outbreak of Yellow Fever from becoming an epidemic. They have 70 confirmed cases of the disease in rural of the southeastern state. That is the highest number in the country since 2003. This outbreak comes as Brazil battles the Zika virus.

Yellow Fever is a viral disease found in tropical regions and is transmitted by the same type of mosquito that transmits Zika.

[00:35:08] Well, a dispute over condom distribution has ended with the public rebuke of conservative leader within the Catholic Church. Pope Francis met with the grand chancellor of the Knights of Malta to accept his resignation, Wednesday.

CNN's Delia Gallagher has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): A dramatic move on the part of Pope Francis to essentially force the resignation of the head of one of the Catholic Church's most ancient institutions, the Knights of Malta.

They've been around since the 11th century, involved in charity work around the world. And their spokeswoman confirmed to us that the head of that organization, Matthew Festing known as the grand master had agreed to resign after meeting with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

Now the very public clash between the Knights of Malta and the Vatican erupted in December when Mr. Festing fired one of his top officials for allegedly allowing the distribution of condoms in Myanmar through one of their charitable agencies. That official appealed the decision to Pope Francis, who said he would launch an investigation. But the leadership of the Knights of Malta defied the Pope and said they would not cooperate with the Vatican's investigation on the grounds that they are a sovereign order.

They said they have a special status within the Catholic Church that makes them something like a country. They have their own passports. They have diplomatic relations with 106 states around the world including the Vatican and the United Nations for example.

So they said the Vatican didn't have jurisdiction to investigate them. But the Pope pushed ahead anyway and the result of that investigation are seen in the news that the head of the Knights of Malta, Mr. Festing, agreed to resign.

Now this is less a story about the distribution of condoms, which the Pope would not be in favor of anyway than about the hard line removal of the official involved.

It is also a very public clash between conservative leadership in the Catholic Church and their more progressive Pope, and perhaps a lesson that in a showdown with the Pope, the Pope is probably going to win.

Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Right now, we are remembering the woman who charmed the world with her smile. Next, a look at the life of trail blazing television star and activist, Mary Tyler Moore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: An actress who dazzled the world with her smile has died. Co- stars and friends of Mary Tyler Moore are sharing their grief, calling her a gifted actress and television pioneer.

Stephanie Elam tells us about Moore's life and very long career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mary Tyler Moore, the name just rolled off the tongue and it was inextricably connected with TV. For much of the 1970s, the country spent Saturday night tuned in to the "Mary Tyler Moore" show, watching America's sweetheart Mary and the WJM gang in a fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom.

MARY TYLER MOORE, ACTRESS: I am the associate producer on the show.

ELAM: It was Moore's career-defining role and for a generation, the show symbolized a cultural shift, an unmarried 30-ish woman in the workplace.

She was born December 29th, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York. Her family moved to California when she was eight and she was still in her teens when she landed her first showbiz break in hot point commercials that ran during "The Ozzie and Harriet" show in 1955.

Not long out of Catholic high school, she married and had a son. But Mary wasn't planning to be a stay-at-home mom. In 1961 she landed her first starring role with the "Dick Van Dyke Show" as opposite Dick Van Dyke.

Mary played Laura, wife of comedy writer Rob Petrie. Laura dressed in Capri pants in a time when TV housewives sported skirts and aprons. The show ran five seasons and made Mary Tyler Moore a household name.

As her career took off, her first marriage to Richard Meeker crumbled. They divorced in 1961. A year later, she married television executive Grant Tinker. The pair created MTM Enterprises with its kitten meow stamp, producing several successful TV shows -- "Hill Street Blues, " "The Bob Newhart Show," "Rhoda" and most notably --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got spunk.

ELAM: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well.

ELAM: Seven seasons, 29 Emmys and three Golden Globes later, the show ended and Moore found it difficult to shed Mary Richards from her image. So the TV comedian turned to Broadway earning a Tony Award for "Whose Life is it Anyway?" She also shined on the big screen.

In 1980, Moore gave an Oscar-nominated performance in the motion picture, "Ordinary People," which depicted a family dealing with tragedy. Tragedy struck Moore's family the same year when her only son, Richie, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was later ruled accidental.

The following year, Grant Tinker and Moore ended their 19-year marriage. However, she found love again with third husband Dr. Robert Levine. With her new spouse at her side, Moore came clean about her decades long battle with alcoholism. In 1984, she checked herself in to The Betty Ford Clinic. A Type 1 diabetic, Moore devoted much of her later year to advocacy. She became international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and campaign for embryonic stem cell research and animal rights. In 2009, she released her memoir, "Growing Up Again: Life, Loves and Oh, Yeah Diabetes." The TV icon continues to act by making guest star appearances on various network shows.

In 2011, she underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor from her brain, but recovered. The seven-time Emmy winner carved out her place in television history by being a pioneer who opened doors for women. Even though life wasn't always perfect, Mary Tyler Moore really did make it after all.

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SESAY: Very, very special and talented woman. Our thanks to Stephanie Elam there.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" with Patrick Snell starts after the break.

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