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Back and Forth Over Travel Ban; A Rare Reign of a Queen; Lawsuits for Trump; Revenge Comeback from Patriots; France's Forthcoming Elections. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 06, 2017 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Before it could all be change in hours is the legal back and forth continues over President Trump's travel ban.

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: And Donald Trump weighs in on Twitter predicting peril for the U.S.

FOSTER: Plus, a historic anniversary for Queen Elizabeth celebrating her 65th year on the thrown.

SOARES: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers in the United and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. This is CNN Newsroom.

SOARES: Now it is coming down to the wire for both sides in the legal battle over U.S President Donald Trump's travel ban.

FOSTER: And its executive order is on hold right now. But that could change. Two U.S. states, Washington and Minnesota are challenging the ban which temporarily barred people from seven Muslim majority countries and refugees from entering.

Now the states are due to far legal briefs with the ninth circuit Court of Appeals shortly. Then later Monday, the U.S. Justice Department will do the same.

SOARES: Now the department says the lower court suspension of the ban steps on President Trump's national security judgment and will fight to get his executive order reinstated.

Well this legal back and forth as Max was saying over the travel is causing confusion for traveling. Many who were unable to enter the U.S. just a week ago were now being allowed in.

FOSTER: Yes. And once again, President Trump is lashing out about the situation on...

SOARES: Twitter of course.

FOSTER: On Twitter.

Jessica Schneider has more.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After raising eyebrows and getting backlash after its Twitter tirade on Saturday, President Donald Trump once again took to his Twitter feed on Sunday continuing to rail against the justice system.

President Trump tweeting this, "I just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in bad." And then in the second tweet President trump said this. "I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming in to our country very carefully. The courts are making the job very difficult."

President Trump once again putting the target right on the federal judge and the court system not agreeing with the decisions that have been made over the weekend and not agreeing what the circuit court did early Sunday morning.

But Vice President Mike Pence is also talking about it saying that he believes that the travel ban will be put back in place. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: There is simply no question under the Constitution, and frankly, under federal law. That the President of the United States has the authority in the interest of national security to determine who has the right to come into this country. And we're going to challenge the judge's order on this basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: This legal fight will certainly into the week and coming weeks and months. But in addition, we are looking at a confirmation battle as well. Next up, is Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary. We're expecting a vote in the Senate on Monday morning.

And at this point, two republican senators have said they will not vote for Betsy DeVos. That will mean that Vice President Mike Pence will likely come in and break what is expected to be a 50/50 tie. People are expecting that nomination of Betsy DeVos for education secretary to be confirmed because of that vote by Vice President Pence.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.

FOSTER: What a lovely setting.

Dozens of U.S. tech giants and other companies are joining this legal fight over President Trump's travel ban as well.

SOARES: Yes. They include the likes of Apple, Facebook, Twitter, eBay and both as well as Microsoft. They have together filed at court brief opposing the ban with the ninth circuit Court of Appeals. That court is hearing the challenge to the suit brought by Washington as well as Minnesota. FOSTER: The brief says the ban is substantially harming the

companies. Because it hurts their ability to attract foreign talent and makes it harder for them to compete internationally.

SOARES: Well, let's get more on this. Scott Lucas joins us from Birmingham in England. he is professor of international politics in University of Birmingham and the founder and editor of E.A. WorldView, a web site in the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.

Thank you for joining us this morning, Scott. Let me ask you first about President Trump and his tweets. He's been tweeting quite prolifically over the weekend directing most of his anger at the federal judge in the Washington State. Have we ever seen other presidencies clash with the judiciary this way?

SCOTT LUCAS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM SHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS PROFESSOR: Yes. We've seen presidencies clash from the judiciary often disagreement decisions. And we have a critical point. You might remember the 1970's at the time of Watergate when Richard Nixon fought strenuously and criticized the courts trying to keep his White House takes from public view.

But this use of social media and Trump's language take this to an unprecedented level. Remember he didn't just criticize the judge, he suspended the visa ban. He called him a so-called judge.

And then yesterday what he has effectively said on Twitter is if there's a terrorist attack inside the U.S. it is the judges who will be to blame. We have not seen that before.

[03:05:05] SOARES: Yes. And Scott The federal state is going to argue that a judge shouldn't be second guessing Presidential policy on security matters. Can you beat that in court? Can you beat that argument in court?

LUCAS: Yes. I mean, there are two immediate areas that were flagged up when the circuit Court of Appeals said yesterday we are not going to re-impose the visa ban. The first is they said, look, we want to see the national security case. Show us that these tens of thousands of people that you're blocking from the U.S. pose a threat.

Secondly, national security is not the only constitutional issue here. There is something called due process of law. Remember, these people already have these visas, they have already gone through a whole series of legal steps up to 24 months to get them. Can you suddenly just revoke them almost on a whelm and not violate their rights under the 14th amendment?

SOARES: Yes. And many of you as may this, the court of appeals is considered a liberal court. And I suspect, Scott, that factors in.

LUCAS: Right. Yes and no. I mean, people are playing in terms of the reputational issue here. But at the end of the day any court has to establish its decision on the basis of legal merit. Now these are experienced judges on the circuit Court of Appeals and they're not just simply tweeting a sudden opinion. So, I think we'll see what they say and then we'll have this another round which will go to the Supreme Court. But look, here's the immediate political question.

If Court of Appeals says that the ban on the suspension of visas stays and people continue to come in, that puts basically the balance -- it puts the challenge to the Trump administration. And I think it will open up divisions within the administration. If the Trump administration is unable to enforce the executive order while this goes all the way to the Supreme Court this is a huge victory for President Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon.

SOARES: Yes. And I think, Scott, those divisions are already -- we can already see those divisions within the Republican Party.

Scott Lucas there joining us from Birmingham in England. Thank you very much, Scott. Always great to have you on the show.

LUCAS: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now President Trump is now suggesting that it could take longer to roll out a replacement to Obamacare than he and other republicans have actually said in the past.

SOARES: Yes. He told Fox News the effort to replace the Affordable Care Act is and I'm quoting him, "is very complicated."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Can Americans in 2017 expect a new health care plan rolled out by the Trump administration this year?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. In the process and maybe it will take till some time into next year. But we are certainly going to be in the process. Very complicated. Obamacare is a disaster.

You have to remember, Obamacare doesn't work. So we are putting in a wonderful plan. Its statutorily takes a while to get. We're going to be putting it in fairly soon. I think that yes, I would like to say by the end of the year, at least there were amends but we should have something within the year and the following year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the many Americans and the president was watching the Super Bowl of course on Sunday. He tuned in this Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as the New England Patriots won the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history they're saying.

SOARES: Yes. They stunned the Atlanta Falcons rallying from 25 points down to win 34-28 in overtime. Mr. Trump tweeted congratulations. This is what he said, "What an amazing comeback and win by the Patriots, Tom Brady and the player Bob Kraft and Bill Belicheck." A total winner. And he said, "wow."

FOSTER: Wow. CNN's sports correspondent Andy Scholes there was there in the big game.

SOARES: And he joins us now from Houston, Texas. How did they actually do this? How did they pull it off, Andy? Because

when they -- when Atlanta was pretty much almost winning at halftime, wasn't it?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you -- I'll tell you what guys. Yes, Atlanta was up big in the half. They were up 28 to 3 in the third quarter. At that point the Patriots were the only ones who believed they could still win this thing. Everyone thought this thing was over.

And this is going to go down as one of the greatest games in NFL history, probably the greatest game ever in terms of Super Bowls. Then there is a little question now that Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever players in the games. He's now won five Super Bowls more than anyone else.

But it was a rough start for him. Here in the second quarter he throw the interception at Robert Alford who took it backwards at touchdown. It was 21-0 Atlanta at that point. Everyone thought it was over. No team had ever come back from more than a 10-point deficit in Super Bowl history.

But the Patriots stuck with it. They kept grinding here in the fourth quarter only down by a score when Julian Edelman comes up with possibly the greatest catch in Super Bowl in history. They are keeping the bowl off the ground. I don't know how he did it. That land to a Patriots touch down.

They needed a two-point conversion to tie the game and they got it. Tom Brady by Danny Amendola. He gets in to tie the game at 28 for the first time in Super Bowl history. We had overtime. The Patriots to win the coin flip get the ball first. And Tom is right leads them down the field and James White punches it in for the game winning touchdown.

[03:10:01] Patriots would win, 34 to 28 completing an amazing comeback. And Tom Brady the Super Bowl MVP for a fourth time in his career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: Thank you to all our fans. Everyone back in Boston, New England, we love you. We've been with us all year. We are bringing this sucker home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, he really is such a super star isn't he? Isa is a bit of a fan as well.

(CROSSTALK)

SOARES: Yes. And of his wife -- of his wife as well. Very talented man.

FOSTER: Why is this such a big game for him?

SCHOLES: Well, it was a -- it was a big win for Tom Brady for Tom Brady for a couple of reasons. One he's been emotional all week talking about his family. And we came to find out that his mom has been dealing with a health issue for the past 18 months.

She hasn't been in the game all season until today's Super Bowl. She was in attendance. And after the game we saw some emotional moments from Tom Brady. When he saw his family come on the field he really broke down into tears. You see him there kissing his Gisele Bundchen and his mom right there as well wearing -- she is wearing the Brady's ladies shirt right there.

Brady very emotional after this game. And another reason this was important to Brady was all the things he went through into the deflate sage. He went to talk about it much. But for Patriots nation this year has really been called the Tom Brady revenge tour.

And Patriots fans they got their revenge today on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. You see there he is shaking Tom Brady's hand. This Goodell booed mightily when he took the stage. But Patriots fans very happy that they got this when they can finally say they got their revenge for the whole deflate gate sage that's all Tom Brady suspended for the first four games of the season.

FOSTER: Andy, thank you so much.

SOARES: I can see the Brady's ladies selling pretty well on Face...

FOSTER: Well, you want?

SOARES: And don't you think?

FOSTER: It's a good touchy little title. Thank you very much, Andy.

Now Israel's prime minister will meet his British counterpart today. Coming up, Benjamin Netanyahu his top priority in Theresa May's concerns.

SOARES: Plus, France's far right media launches a bid for the presidency. And just ahead, why Donald Trump's victory could pave the way for Marine Le Pen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT REPORTER: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN World Sport headlines.

Starting in Gabon with the African Cup of Nations where Egypt, the tournament's most successful nation were facing Cameroon on Sunday. Egypt taking the lead in this one. But Cameroon striking back dramatically with two goals coming from their two substitutes. But second one coming just two minutes from time. Cameron wins at 2-1 their fifth African title. On Sunday too, begins the Premier League in England both the big two

from Manchester City and United looking to take full advantage after Arsenal and Liverpool both lost on Saturday. United cruising to a 3- nil at Leicester City.

[03:14:59] It wasn't so easy for their crosstown rival so city who face Swansea on Sunday. At home City would need a late goal in stoppage time from the teenaged Brazilian Gabriel de Jesus to pick up three points and the 2-1 victory.

Now to world bizarre world tennis story where 17-year old Denis Shapovalov was disqualified from Canada's Davis Cup title with Great Britain for accidentally hitting the chair umpire in the head with a ball.

The teen had lost the first two sets against Kyle Edmunds in the fifth and deciding (Ph) rub on and just hammers the ball away in the first of rage to unbound in that third set. Frustrations getting the best. And he heat, meant to hit the ball into the crowd, and went straight into the left eye of the umpire. He would be OK in the end. But the disqualification gave Britain to win.

That's a look at your World Sport headlines. I'm Patrick Snell.

SOARES: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom.

Now the controversial travel ban of U.S. President Donald Trump is still on hold. But that basically means people with valid visas from the seven banned Muslim majority countries can travel to the U.S. for now.

FOSTER: It could change within the next few days or even hours that an appeals court is expected to rule on the suspension of Trump's executive order after both sides file their argument.

Our Sara Sidner has more.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The ninth circuit Court of Appeals is looking at two different things. They have already ruled on one saying that the Department of Justice cannot have that emergency administrative stay, which basically said, will you allow the travel ban back in place while you consider the next part of this suit?

And the justice said no, we want to consider this whole thing. We are going to consider the second part of what you asked, which is will you allow the travel ban back in place during the appeals process? And that's where they are right now. They have asked the other side.

That is Washington and Minnesota to go ahead and file paper works so that they can read the briefs on all sides and make a final decision. They are expecting all of that to happen at 6 p.m. Monday Eastern Time or 3 p.m. Monday California time, and then we will likely have a decision by Monday evening on this.

If they decide for the Department of Justice, then Seattle and Minnesota could respond and take it all the way to the Supreme Court. Or if they decide against the Department of Justice the Department of Justice could go to the Supreme Court. In the end, this case may likely head back to the federal court in Washington who had put this temporary halt on the travel ban while it decides the merits of this case.

SOARES: On that the travel ban executive order also stops the entrance of refugees to the U.S. for the next four months. But since the ban is currently on pause the International Organization for Migration, ION, is hoping more authorized flights for refugees could resume on Sunday.

FOSTER: Most flights would have to be booked through the organization it would only include refugees who have already being vetted and approved for entry to the U.S.

Now, Gabriella Waaijman joins us now from Nairobi in Kenya. She is a regional director for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, that reaction that, you know, the people that you work with gave you in response to this ban, I mean, how did it affect them in their lives?

GABRIELLA WAAIJMAN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: You know, Max, there are here in Kenya about half a million refugees. And if you look at the countries in the region, four countries in the region, there are about three million refugees that are hosts in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia alone.

Twenty six thousands of those refugees currently in Kenya alone have been stopped from traveling as we speak. These are people that have been in a resettlement program for years that have been vetted extensively, that have undergone medical checks.

And that were just about to board a plane to the United States. Their hopes have invest, their rights have been trampled upon. They are now in limbo wondering what is next for them.

FOSTER: But they got this window, haven't they, it's still on hold to get into the U.S. So how many of them are taking advantage of that?

WAAIJMAN: Let's hope that there is a window. Obviously the court order only came through this weekend. I understand that IOM is planning to resume the flights. So we -- we're very hopeful that indeed there is a window of opportunity for refugees to still make use of this resettlement program.

But it would only solve the problem for the ones that are in the resettlement program. This is a long-term program. This is a small contribution that United States makes and other western nations take to we alleviate the burden, the heavy burden on some of the poorer African countries that are actually hosting the majority of refugees here in the region.

[03:20:01] Out of the 3 million, 26,000 are currently in the resettlement program. This needs to continue. The ban needs to be lifted more permanently and is only temporarily.

FOSTER: If it's not lifted what's the solution here? Do you start applying to other countries or do you keep them somewhere while you work out what the options are?

WAAIJMAN: Yes. There are in general about three solutions for refugees. The first one is for refugees to get legal status in the country in which they have sought protection.

So for, example, here in Kenya, to become a Kenyan citizen that would be one solution on the table. A second solution on the table is returns. However, currently, most refugees, particularly, for example, from Somalia which is affected by the travel ban, there is currently a building drought in Somalia that looks a lot like the 2011 drought.

There is warning of famine in Somalia so it's not really a good time to send people back to Somalia. And the third solution on the table is resettlement to a third country. The U.S. has traditionally been one of the most hospitable nations when it comes to resettlement and we urge the president and this administration to reconsider this ban on resettlement of refugees.

FOSTER: OK. Gabriella Waaijman, thank you very much, indeed. And we'll of course bring updates on where that ban stands by the end of the day.

SOARES: Now the prime minister of Israel and Britain are set to meet here in London. And Israel's concerns of Iran will top the agenda. And Benjamin Netanyahu have said he will call for united front against Iranian aggression. The spokeswoman for Theresa May, she will raise that concern about Israeli resettlements in the West Bank.

Let's get more on this. And Ian Lee joins us now from Jerusalem with more. And Ian, Prime Minister Netanyahu said there are opportunities in this meeting with the Prime Minister Theresa May. What does he mean by that?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, what he means is that there's a new political landscape when it comes to the United States, when it comes to the U.K. with President Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May. And he hopes to create a stronger tie. He said that he wants to tighter relations and not only make it a tighter relations between Israel and the U.K., Israel and the United States but a trilateral tightening of relationships.

He sees this as a new opportunity to push Israel's agenda forward in the international community. As you said, Iran is the number one issue. He wants to present when he is in London. He says that Iran has been testing the boundaries with extraordinary aggression goal and defiance when it comes to the nuclear agreement, a nuclear agreement that he doesn't like and he is going to want to see change.

But don't expect them to see eye to eye in their meeting on every issue. But to this one he hopes that they will.

SOARES: Well, one issue we know they won't see eye to eye because we know Theresa May has criticized Israel several times and that's relating to the settlement activities and the independent territories considering Palestinians.

LEE: That's right. And in the past few weeks we've seen Israel announce over 6,000 new settlement units in the West bank and east Jerusalem. Even the White House which up until just last week seem to be turning a blind eye to even said he will pump the breaks on this, on the announcements of these new settlements.

But when it comes to the United Kingdom Theresa May have said that settlements undermine trust. Then last December they voted for a U.N. resolution that said that settlements had no legal validity. So, expect this to be one area where they don't see eye to eye.

SOARES: Yes. And I know that she is getting a lot of pressure here in the U.K. by opposition party to push on that front.

Ian Lee joining us there from Jerusalem. Thanks very much, Ian. Good to see you.

Now the presidential campaign of France as far right National Front leader is officially underway. Thousands of people attend to Marine Le Pen's kick-off rally. She echoed some of the themes of U.S. President Trump campaign. She attacked globalization and bowed to put France first.

FOSTER: Sounds familiar, doesn't it? She is promising to restrict immigration allowing only 10,000 immigrants in per year. She wants to hold a referendum on France leaving the European Union and she is suggesting protectionist policies to boost the country's economy.

SOARES: The job will indeed. Well, the first round of voting in the election is in April.

FOSTER: If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote then the runoff will be held in May.

Melissa Bell has more on the presidential race.

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: France's presidential campaign came to Lyon this weakened and the face of two candidates currently leading in the polls. On one hand, the former economy minister Emmanuel Macron who resigned from the government last year to stand as an centrist independent.

He is hoping to convince as many voters from the right or from the left to back his centrist platform in order to present a credible alternative to the far-right marine Le Pen.

[03:25:07] She spoke here today launching officially her campaign, a campaign that she believes is going to take her all the way to the Elysee Palace. It was an unashamedly populist speech all about the need to retreat behind France's borders, she wants to leave the European Union and hold a referendum on the matter.

She wants also to leave NATO. In fact, there are a good deal of similarities between her platform and the one on which Donald Trump stood in the United States. In fact, Marine Le Pen believes that it is the populist way that allowed Brexit to happen in the United Kingdom and Donald Trump's victory in the United States that is now going to carry her to power.

She spoke today in front of a very enthusiastic crowd of thousands of her supporters. They are convinced that her time has finally come. Both candidates Emmanuel Macron and marine Le Pen are expected to make it to the second round of the election if you believe the polls for the time being. But pollsters point out that this is going to be one of the hardest selections to call.

Melissa Bell, CNN in Lyon.

FOSTER: Still ahead, harsh criticism from top republicans over Donald Trump's comments defending Russian President Vladimir Putin. We'll have reaction from Moscow.

Plus, Queen Elizabeth reached the milestone that no other British Monarch has beat before. Now how she's marking her sapphire jubilee. Happy anniversary to the queen. We'll have those stories for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. Let's update you on our top stories this hour.

Heavy snow fall set off a series of avalanches which killed at least 117 people along the Afghan/Pakistani border.

[03:30:04] Afghan officials say the death toll could still rise as rescuers reached more isolated areas. They are working to evacuate areas people from villages buried by snow ice and rocks.

SOARES: The presidential campaign of France's National Front Party leader is officially underway. Marine Le Pen told thousands of supporters she wants to restrict immigration pull France out of NATO, and hold the referendum only in the European Union. First round of the election is April 21st.

FOSTER: The New England Patriots are Super Bowl champions yet again. They rallied from 25 points down against the Atlanta falcons to win the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. The final score 34 to 28. It's the Patriots fifth Super Bowl title with quarterback Tom Brady.

SOARES: Now Donald Trump's third week as U.S. President will likely be another busy one especially with a legal battle of his executive order travel ban.

FOSTER: You know, he is also facing a lot of pushback over other issues as well. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After just the first two weeks in office, President Trump is preparing for a judicial showdown over whether his travel ban by executive order can stand.

To the dismay of both democrats and some republican lawmakers, Trump spent part of his weekend disparaging the federal judge who temporarily suspended the ban through tweets calling him a so-called judge who made a ridiculous ruling.

Adding, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and the court system. People pouring in bad."

This could become an issue for republicans that are trying to get the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to confirm Trump's pick for Supreme Court justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch. Also republicans publicly distancing themselves from Trump's comments about Russia. When he suggested in an interview with Fox news there was a moral equivalency between the U.S. and Putin.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is now calling for a formal investigation in the Trump and Putin relationship. Monday, President Trump makes his first major public address to U.S. troops since his inauguration when he goes to McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

There he is also going to be briefed by U.S. Central Command, CENCOM, and Special Ops Command.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

SOARES: Now President Trump is raising eyebrows over his latest defense of the Russian president.

FOSTER: Yes. In an interview with Fox News Mr. Trump seem to quite U.S. actions with the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Do you respect Putin?

TRUMP: I do respect him.

(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: Do you, why?

TRUMP: Well, I respect a lot of people. But that doesn't mean I will get along with him. He is a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. Will I get along with him? I have no idea.

(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: Putin is a killer. TRUMP: We have a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers. Why you

think our country is so innocent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Let's get more on Russia's reaction with President Trump's comments. CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now from Moscow. And Clare, how is the defense of Putin being received in Moscow?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed. Those comments translated of course into Russia and playing pretty high on state news TV bulletins this morning. And it will, you know, President Trump has gone out of his way throughout the campaign.

And since his elections not to insult the president of Russia and not to overtly criticize him. This does take it one stake further because this is very similar to the kind of rhetoric that we've heard all along particularly from the Kremlin at least for the last two years in terms of its relationship with the U.S.

This kind of moral equivalent with President Putin has in the past equated Russian actions in the Crimea to what the west and U.S. did in Kosovo. You know, we saw media coverage in the lead up to the U.S. elections basically saying, you know, the divisiveness in the U.S. doesn't qualify the west to criticize Russian democracy.

So very much along those lines of, you know, why should we be preached to? And the same thing happened over in the U.S. I think it's just surprising now to see that from a sitting U.S. president.

We've heard these comments before from Mr. Trump. But the first time since he has been elected and it is certainly getting a lot of attention here, Isa.

SOARES: Yes, I can imagine. And Clare, we also heard over the weekend from Mike Pence, the Vice President who spoke about Ukraine. I want to show our viewers exactly what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: We are watching and very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern Ukraine. I know the president had a conversation with Vladimir Putin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he say he was troubled?

PENCE: They spoke at that time about Ukraine. And I expect those conversations are going to be ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Clare, do we know any more about that conversation? I know he mentioned there those increased hostilities. Do we know what else they said about the conflict in Ukraine? [03:35:02] Isa, we don't know yet exactly how the U.S. is going to

respond to this. And this is something that the Russians are watching extremely closely. I think the major concern here in Moscow is how the Ukraine crisis will play into what they hope for to be an improved relationship with the U.S.

One interesting tweet that we go overnight from a prominent Russian politician saying, "Mr. Trump should to fall into the Ukrainian trap. U.S./Russia relations should not become hostage to Mr. Poroshenko's adventurist." Policy referring of course, to the Ukrainian prime minister.

Now there's a -- you know, we don't know exactly how the U.S. administration is going to -- is going to respond to this. We know the violence in Ukraine has been escalating. And they all very much accusing here in Russia of Ukraine of spiking that violence in order to get attention and perhaps money from the U.S. So, that's very much the rhetoric that we are hearing here in Russia, Isa.

SOARES: And Clare, much has been made of the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin since President Trump took office. Both of them spoke by phone. We hear that there. But how is the Kremlin interpreting what many considered what you were talking about earlier, there's mixed messages by this administration?

SEBASTIAN: They've been playing fairly close to that chat this week honestly, Isa. They are maintaining a level of cautious optimism. But when we asked the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peshkov over a few days ago how he felt about that relationship, and he said he had never indulged in any real optimism of a dramatic change.

So, very much keeping a -- they're trying to keep a steady voice on all of this. There were comments published over the weekend from the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an Australian magazine and he said they were really -- they didn't know yet how their relationship was going to play out with key members of the Trump administration.

They were watching to see how they define their foreign policy objectives. I think as I said, the Ukraine issue is certainly a potential sticking point in that relationship.

Mike Pence, though, in his comments on Sunday leaving the door open to potentially lifting sanctions if Moscow's position changes, he said. So, there is still a lot of questions but so far the Russians are maintaining that level of cautious optimism.

SOARES: Clare Sebastian there for us in Moscow. Thanks very much, Clare.

FOSTER: This week could be critical in determining if tensions between the U.S. and Iran get worse. Iran started military drills on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions and didn't roll out military action against Iran.

SOARES: Well, in his Fox News interview Mr. Trump did not qualify what he plan to do about the nuclear deal and negotiated under the Obama administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They have total disregard for our country. They are the number one terrorist state. And they're sending money all over the place, and weapons. We can't do that.

O'REILLY: So you're not real bullish on Iran at this point?

TRUMP: No, I'm not bullish. I think they have total disrespect for our country. And I understand that deal, I would have lived with it if they said OK. We're all together now. But it was just the opposite. It's like they were emboldened and they follow our planes. They circle our ships with their little boats and they lost respect. Because they can't believe anybody could be so stupid as to make a deal like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Mr. Trump's also spoke with the New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English just a few hours ago.

SOARES: Yes. According to Mr. English's Twitter account the two world leaders spoke about the economy, trade, defense, as well as immigration.

FOSTER: Now, Mr. Trump's call with Australia's prime minister last week spark concerns meanwhile about U.S. relations with a key ally after reports of a contentious conversation between the two leaders. At issue was a deal negotiated by the Obama administration for the U.S. to accept a specified number of refugees currently detained in Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull talked to 60 Minutes Australia about the call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE OAKES, AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST: When the American president bullies an Australian prime minister and basically accuses Australia of trying to have a land of America and that mess of implications for the relationship maybe even for the alliance.

MALCOLM TURNBULL, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, Laurie, the important thing is that we have a very long standing alliance which is in us the interest of the United States and the interest of Australia.

OAKES: But this might affect the support of Australia surely after president showing that respect for Australia.

TURNBULL; Well, the important thing is that we have a frank and forthright conversation. Australians know, and you and I know each other for more years than we would like to remember.

OAKES: Sure.

TURNBULL: But you know that I always stand my ground. I defend my position, my nation's position. I've stood up for Australia. And the president has given us a commitment to honor the deal entered by its predecessor and...

(CROSSTALK)

SOARES: Now Queen Elizabeth is now the first British Monarch to reach a Sapphire jubilee commemorating 65 years on the throne. Her reign began on February 6th, 1952 after the death of her father King George VI.

FOSTER: He gave her though that sapphire necklace what they release as her image today.

[03:39:59] The Queen has no public plans there. A Royal source saying she will spend the day in quiet reflection of their home in Sandringham. And that's because in front of her mind is in the beginning of her reign I think is because her father died on that day as well.

SOARES: So some respect as well I'm guessing.

FOSTER: Yes. Now...

(CROSSTALK)

SOARES: Still ahead -- go ahead, Max.

FOSTER: Really?

SOARES: They are (Inaudible). Go ahead.

FOSTER: Thank you. I will bring you CNN's special series. Traffic in the UAE.

SOARES: We'll be tracing the journey of a young woman who was sold for sex in Dubai and her harrowing escape to freedom.

You're watching CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Well, the CNN Freedom Project is exposing human trafficking in the United Arab Emirates. The City of Dubai is known as a hot spot tourist destination but it is also has a darker side.

SOARES: Muhammad Lila has the story of a young woman who is now free after being trafficked for sex. But that freedom came at a heartbreaking cost.

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's billed as a place where dreams come true of endless beaches, glitzy shopping malls and luxury skyscrapers that seem to spring up overnight. But even here in one of the world's richest countries there's a side you never see.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I could feel was that someone was touching me and that my clothes were being narrowed from my body. Everything I could understand but couldn't react. There was no life in

my body, nothing was making sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: She is bravely sharing her story, asking us only to hide her identity. We'll call her Rishma (Ph). She was just 20 years old when she came to Dubai thinking she would be working in a beauty parlor. Instead, the people that brought her here took her passport, drugged her and trafficked her for sex.

[03:45:04] (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LILA: After two months of being raped she pretended to be sick. When her captors took her to the hospital she ran barefoot to the nearest police station. In recent years, police have been cracking down on trafficking with officers getting specific training on how to identify and help victims like Rishma (Ph).

They told her she was safe and they brought her here to the Ewaa Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: Thank for allowing us to come to your...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're most welcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: From the outside it looks like an ordinary house but on the inside it's this incredible safe haven, a place where victims get a chance to just feel normal again with daily chores, art classes and bunk beds all to make it feel just like home, with social workers and psychologists to help them recover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: People don't necessarily associate trafficking with a country like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually trafficking is associated with every single place in the world, not only advance countries or poor countries or disaster countries. It's associated with all countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: The first Ewaa Shelter opens its doors nearly 10 years ago with a federal mandate to rescue and rehabilitate victims giving many something they thought they would never get, a second chance at life.

There's even a room specifically for children, the youngest trafficking victims with stuffed animals, toys and cartoons. For Rishma this hits hard and close to home. Rishma (Ph) is pregnant. It happened when she was being held captive.

Now that she is free she is going back to her home country to deliver the baby, but like so many victims she leaves with a sense of guilt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: Who do you blame for all of this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think myself.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LILA: Why so?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's my own fault. I came here on my own decision.

LILA: How can you console someone who didn't do anything wrong but still blames herself?

I want to tell you this, we cover stories of trafficking as part of this series for CNN. This is not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. You did everything right. You should never feel as though this was something that you, yourself caused. These were bad people that did this to you.

It will take months, maybe years for Rishma (Ph) to fully recover. She said she prayed to God every night to set her free, and now thanks to the support she has gotten her prayers have been answered.

Muhammad Lila, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

FOSTER: Wow.

SOARES: What a story. If you want to know more about the Freedom Project you can go online and you'll find many of the other stories have been covering as part of that project.

FOSTER: Now heavy snow is triggering a wave of deadly avalanches as being on in Pakistan and Pakistan. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri will have details on that.

SOARES: Plus, Donald Trump's press secretary gets skewered by the comedy show Saturday Night Live and its Hollywood actress Melissa McCarthy who does the mocking and has thrived appearance is absolutely fantastic.

FOSTER: She is a genius.

SOARES: You have to watch it.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with you.

And we are in a deep, this is a time of year historically speaking where the coldest temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere are experienced and none of that to be head across the southern U.S. In fact, it is spring-like in nature. The mild temps in place and the

scattered thunderstorm in place. We're seeing some of the cold filter in around the western U.S. of course around the northern U.S. as well. And the pattern looks to change a little bit over the next couple of days.

We'll call for some snow showers around northern tier of New England where the highest elevations get in some light snow showers. Beyond that it is almost all rain because it's just too mild. The orange and the yellow indicate that.

Here comes the cold air. Thursday, a brief dip of temperatures below average. And look at this, by Saturday we are back out to moderating the temperatures across much of the United States and particularly even the eastern United States.

But you notice the spring temperatures in Atlanta, in Charlotte, even in the U.S. capital there on Tuesday almost 18 degrees. You bet in Cherry Blossom are going to be loving that with the temperatures warming up.

But Chicago, partly cloudy skies, 11. In San Francisco and Los Angeles the story continues. One storm after another just barreling through parts of the western United States. Winter weather advisories in place for the highest elevations where significant snow has already come down and will continue to come down.

Look at this, the color purple, that is top of charts level of snow fall in the forecast across parts of California. Take care.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Now a series of avalanches is in Afghanistan and Pakistan and India that killed dozens of people in recent days and more, I believed still trapped actually.

SOARES: Yes. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins now from the International Weather Center with the details. And Pedram, do we have a sense of how long this may last?

JAVAHERI: You know, it looks like it's going to be the long haul here for the folks across this region. And it's just the sheer nature of how complicated it is to get to some of these locations, Isa. When you think about the topography, the elevated landslide, the amount of snow and the order of meters that have come down in recent days.

I just want to go in for a close perspective. Because the elevated terrain the topography is really what we're looking at carefully. Because when you look at this we know the slopes here, 40 and 50 in some cases 60 degree slopes.

It only takes slopes of more than 20 degrees to really make an area prone to avalanches when you have the elements in place. And unfortunately, that has been the case across this region. And we know when you look at the numbers as far as fatalities, the folks that are trapped in this region it's not just concentrated to one area of land. Nuristan one of the communities there, a village where we know at

least 50 fatalities in the last couple of days. Just to the west of it, Sar-e Pol, the area indicated the yellow, those numbers indicate where we have folks trapped.

And some of these areas are inaccessible just because of the nature of the highways and the landscape. More than 50 fatalities in another village to the north several hundred kilometers away. You work your way down towards Chitral, in recent weeks, over 20 fatalities as well.

And when you do the math and run the numbers on this area of this massive area of land that is roughly the size of the country of U.K. there of how much land has been seen avalanches scattered about is vicinity.

So, again, it is remarkable what is taking place. And I just want to show you the elements that we have some together to create this. Because before the avalanche takes place of course you want a lot of snowfall. We have had plenty of it.

And the temps have been conducive to support that. But into the afternoon hours you get some milder temperatures that come in, some sleet begins to fall down and even some freezing rain, and you get a thin layer of ice that forms.

And that sets the stage here for additional snow to come back. When it's colder again at night and this creates the unstable layering effect that takes place within avalanches.

Of course, you get what is called a cornet that developed essentially an overhanging edge of ice because of this layers that are now not bonded well enough together. That breaks off if you have communities downstream, if you have people downstream that's how you get people trapped. And of course takes live.

[03:54:57] And if you have ever been in an area where you think it's prone to after avalanche a very easy way to be able to figure that out and see if you're in a high risk zone.

Take out a credit card just get down next to snow and run that right through the snow. If you feel that that layer is actually very easy to swipe your card through and it means the bonding is not very well. Potentially it's not a safe spot.

But if it is smaller rougher to pull that car through then, yes, that is a better bond for the snow and the ice there. So the threat would be lessened in particular situations across that region.

So, we're watching that carefully. And we're watching yet another storm system coming, Isa and Max. And that would be a late week storm that could bring in additional snow fall. So, getting to these communities, getting people help is really critical before this next system moves in, guys.

FOSTER: OK. Pedram, we'll be watching that. Thank you very much, indeed. JAVEHERI: Thank you.

SOARES: Now, Saturday Night Live took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump's Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

FOSTER: Now Mr. Spicer appear as actress Melissa McCarthy played Spicer and she captured his often contentious relationship with us, the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA MCCARTHY, ACTRESS: Now I would like to begin today by apologizing on behalf of you to me for how you have treated me these last two weeks, and that apology is not accepted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK?

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? What are you doing?

MCCARTHY: This is soapy water and I'm washing that soapy lying mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: She was absolutely brilliant. I hope we get more of that.

FOSTER: Genius. I wonder if he is laughing.

SOARES: I know. Well, I doubt it.

Thank you very much for joining us. I'm Isa Soares.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. Early Start is next for our viewers in the U.S. Everybody else, I'll be back with more news after this short break.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)