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Ninth Circuit Declines to Reinstate Ban; Trump Affirms One China Policy; Shinzo Abe Visits Washington With Promises for Investment. Aired 8- 9a ET

Aired February 10, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:16] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

See you in court: Donald Trump vows to keep up the fight after a court refuses to reinstate his travel ban. And Mr. Trump's phone call with Xi

Jinping. Why Beijing likes what it heard from the new U.S. president.

And it's good-bye, at least for now. Uber parts ways with drivers in Taiwan, but for how long? We'll have an interview with the general

manager.

A big setback for the White House. President Trump's travel ban will remain on hold after a

federal appeals court rejected the bid to reinstate it. Three appeals court judges ruled unanimously to keep the suspension in place. Now, Mr.

Trump is lashing out at the ruling and has indicated he will keep the legal fight going. CNN's Joe Johns tells us how the judges came to their

decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Trump administration suffering a major blow. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously

refusing to reinstate the president's controversial travel ban. The three- judge panel finding the administration failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify an urgent need for the executive order to be

reinstated.

The president immediately responding on Twitter, writing in all caps, "SEE YOU IN COURT. THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" without specifying

if that means the Supreme Court and again questioning the impartiality of the appellate court.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a political decision, and we're going to see them in court, and I look forward to doing it.

JOHNS: Trump accusing the judges of being biased, despite the fact that the 9th Circuit judges were appointed by both Democratic and Republican

presidents. The court also rejecting the administration's argument that the president can act without judicial review on issues of national security.

JUDGE MICHELLE FRIEDLAND, 9th Circuit COURT OF APPEALS: Are you arguing, then, the president's decision in that regard is unreviewable?

AUGUST FLENTJE, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The -- yes.

JOHNS: But the battle over the travel ban is far from over.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We will get our day in court and have an opportunity to argue this on the merits, that we will prevail.

FERGUSON: We've seen them in court twice, and we're two for two.

JOHNS: All this coming as Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, tells senators that attacks on the judiciary are disheartening and

demoralizing. News of these comments prompted Trump to lash out at one Democratic senator who met with Gorsuch privately.

TRUMP: His comments were misrepresented. And what you should do is ask Senator Blumenthal about his Vietnam record that didn't exist after years

of saying it did.

JOHNS: The White House is not disputing the comments but claims they were not direct at Trump's attacks on federal judges.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The judges was very clear that he was not commenting on any specific matter. He literally went out of his way

to say, "I'm not commenting on a specific instance."

JOHNS: Senator Blumenthal said he disagreed on "Anderson Cooper" last night.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Was Gorsuch talking in general terms?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D) CONNECTICUT: Indisputably. He was talking about President Donald Trump's attacks on the judiciary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting. The impact of this decision is just shaking the world right now. It's provided some small

hope for refugees in the Middle East. And CNN's Muhammad Lila is in Istanbul, Turkey. This is a country that's now home to most Syrian

refugees. And Muhammad joins us live from Istanbul.

And we know that many people, Muhammad, across the Muslim world have been affected by the ban. After this court decision, is there now an immense

sense of relief?

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone across the Muslim world who hasn't

been affected by this ban. It would be very easy to say that, you know, across the Muslim world people are breathing a sigh of relief, certainly

that's true for the thousands of refugees that are looking to make it back to America, or make it to America for the first time, fleeing war zones,

people that really have had to drop everything and have been in limbo because of the status of this ban.

But then of course you'll find other people around the Muslim world that would point out that the fact that an executive order like this could be

written and issued in the first place suggests that the world that we knew just three or four months ago has changed, and the impression and the idea

of America as a home for the world's refugees, as a home for people who are escaping persecution, that idea might have changed as well.

So, of course, again it depends who you ask. Yes, there's a sigh of relief, but I think there's also a sense of uneasiness about what the next

steps are and could the ban be reintroduced. Could there be, for example, a new executive order that could have different wording that could again

almost overnight shake things up again and close those doors to the United States once again for so many millions of people.

[08:05:14] LU STOUT: You know, in the last few hours, and this was of course after word and the news broke that the travel ban remains suspended

from now, there was some interesting comments made by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seeming to be siding with Donald Trump on the intent

of his travel ban. Can you tell us more about what Bashar al-Assad said.

LILA: Yeah, it's interesting. So, this was his sort of first full length interview that he's done since the Trump inauguration and he came out and

he was very careful in his words. President Assad said, look, his role is to look after the Syrian people and establish security in Syria, and it's

not up to him to comment on whether or not a president of another country should be allowed to do something.

But he also said that he did agree with one aspect of the ban. According to President Assad, he does believe that there are terrorists, or people

who have bad intentions, that are mixing in with the refugee population that are trying to go to Europe, for example, or trying to go to the United

States.

And he pointed out that when you have people with bad intentions, it doesn't matter the quantity of those people. You don't need 100 or 1,000

people, you need a small handful of people that can cause a great amount of damage. So it's very interesting, especially with the whole political

backdrop, that President Assad seems to be sort of cautiously taking the side of President Trump.

LU STOUT: And finally, just want to ask you a question about the perception of America by Muslims around the world, an America under Donald

Trump and the ideals of America. I mean, despite the travel ban, do many people overseas, especially in the countries affected by the travel ban, do

they still respect and value American ideals?

LILA: Well, you have to lock at it this way. I mean, there are a lot of places in the Muslim world where they simply don't have security. It's

dangerous in some parts of the Muslim world to just walk outside your house and do very basic things.

These are people that are dreaming of a better life, dreaming of being able, you know, to walk down the street peacefully, being able to get your

groceries, being able to put your kids in school, being able to get normal health care, things that we in the western world often take for granted.

And so these are people that dream for a long time to have a better life and for them that includes being able to go to America and either as a

refugee or to visit family members.

And in this case those people, their lives have basically been turned upside down where what they have been dreaming for their whole life they

have been essentially told that, well, you may not be able to do that depending hon how this court battle unfolds.

So, certainly there's no question, Kristie, that perceptions of America have deeply changed.

LU STOUT: Muhammad Lila reporting live for us. Many thanks indeed for that.

Now, I want to get more now on how the White House is reacting, whether this decision sets a

precedent for future cases. CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson joins me now. Sir, thank you so much for joining us

here on the program.

This was, again, a unanimous decision by the three judges. They rejected Trump's immigration ban appeal because the government did not provide

enough evidence.

Your thoughts on that.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They certainly did. Good to be with you.

Here's the bottom line, you know, in this country, it's a country of laws and as a result of that you have a system of government where there are

checks and balances. Sure, the president can act, but the president cannot act unilaterally.

Now, consider this for one moment. The president's argument was that we had to do this for national security, but the court was concerned in as

much as the president, the administration provided no specific proof as to what, if any, harm would result. And so the question then becomes, well,

doesn't the president know more than anyone else? Isn't the president briefed? And that may be true, but it would then have been incumbent upon

the administration to provide under seal in a secretive way information for the courts such that they would know that the president's actions were

necessary, proper and appropriate.

And so I think what you did was you had a court that did not second guess the president as the administration argued, but provided a check and

balance to the president, and that's what the country is all about. Yes, you have a firm executive branch, but it was deemed an overreach by the

executive branch. That executive branch, of course, is checked by the judicial

branch which interprets the law. And an according to their reading, there just was not sufficient proof that there was any harm that was there.

The other issue then becomes what's the harm against national security balanced against the states? Well, have you people in the states where

families are separated, travel is inhibited. People -- students and professors trying to get back to public universities, can't get there, and

so as a result of that the court said the answer to the travel ban would be no.

LU STOUT: Got it. So the president has been checked and balanced here. But he is defiant. We saw it in that tweet that he sent out earlier in all

caps: see you in court. He seems determined to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

How long would that take, and could he win there?

[08:10:06] JACKSON: Well, you know, anything is possible. We have to keep in mind that there was a decision out of Boston, which ran contrary to

this.

Listen, reasonable minds might agree or disagree in terms of whether the executive branch had the authority to do this. This court said, you know

what, you don't at this particular point, because there's too many implications for constitutional issues, right: the first amendment,

religious freedoms, equal protection, everyone created equally just to name a couple of them. There are plenty more.

And so the reality is, is that, yes, there's another check. This is not the final answer, this is simply an emergency measure, a temporary

restraining order. And so as a result of that, the president could take it to a next level.

What can the president do? The president can the now go back to the 9th Circuit and say, you

know what, I want more judges to hear this. It's called a proceeding en banc (ph). That I don't think would be really a successful measure because

you had a 3-0 decision there.

So now the president could take it to the Supreme court. Remember, currently we have

eight justices. And if there's a tie with regard to the Supreme Court ruling, that would revert back to the circuit court's ruling which says no

to the ban.

The president might also consider to involve congress and establish some legislation which

would, look, the congress makes the laws, and as a result of that I think a uniform policy which considers congress, considers the public view and

otherwise incorporates the feelings of the country might be the way to go or the president could rewrite an executive order that's mayor narrowly

tailored.

So there are options. And, of course, it will go back to the district court for further proceeding So I think there's more to come. But as it

stands right now, Kristie, all things are status quo.

LU STOUT: Yeah, but as you pointed out, I mean, there are multiple paths ahead in terms of options and what's going to happen next. And as you

rightly point out, with that even number of the judges on the Supreme Court that changes a lot of things here. We'll leave it at that. Joey Jackson,

thank you so much for your insight. Take care.

JACKSON: My pleasure, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now, Mr. Trump is vowing to honor the One China policy just weeks after he questioned if the U.S. should adhere to that long-standing

protocol. He made the pledge during a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was their first

conversation since Mr. Trump took office. And Beijing is applauding that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU KANT, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The One China policy is the political foundation of China-U.S. relations. Abiding

by this policy, and the principles in the three China-U.S. joint communiques are the obligations of the U.S. government. This has been the

consistent position of China. We appreciate President Trump saying during the phone call

that the U.S. will uphold the One China policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: All right. Let's go straight to Beijing. CNN's David McKenzie is standing by. He joins us now. And David, so now the U.S. presidents

accepts the One China policy. First your thoughts on why this sudden about face from Donald Trump.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a sudden about-face in terms of publicly what we heard from the president. It could

have been that for some time. He was hearing from his advisers, particularly the new incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

that in fact maybe it was an unwise decision to try to use the Taiwan issue, the One China issue, as a negotiating chip, as President Trump had

alluded to in previous weeks.

You know, since I've been in China this time around, Kristie, several people, experts and

others have said it's absolutely a non-starter to be able to negotiate the issue of Taiwan with Beijing. And so it appears that the status quo will

remain, a status quo that's been there since 1979 and even allowed the U.S. and China to have any kind of relationship.

I think now really the hard part starts - Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, we heard from China's ministry of foreign affairs. China welcomes Mr. Trump's One China comments, but as you point out, the hard

stuff happens now.

The relationship, it's not necessarily on solid footing, is it?

MCKENZIE: No, I don't think so. And it wasn't necessarily on solid footing except for a handful of issues with the Obama administration.

You know, the world's two biggest economies, greatest powers, this the the crucial bilateral relationship for Donald Trump for the next four years at

least so you have the situation that at least they have crossed that bridge from the Chinese perspective that they are much

more comfortable now that the One China policy is off the table of negotiations and they can deal with things like trade, climate change and

sticky foreign policy issues like the South China Sea and East China Sea issues that they

have seen in recent weeks.

The issue, of course, though, for Taiwan is that this is deeply disappointing, Kristie. And they have come out with a statement saying -

reiterating that the U.S. is a close ally. I think anyone in Taiwan would have realized that real politic would have come into play here and that it

might be that Taiwan would be pushed to the side.

Of course they don't have diplomatic relations with the U.S. but they do have military and other informal ties - Kristie.

[8:15:10] LU STOUT: All right, David McKenzie, live for us from Beijing. Many thanks indeed for your reporting today.

Now, the White House is rolling out the red carpet for Japan's prime minister. Coming up, why Shinzo Abe is trying hard to woo the U.S.

president. We'll be live in Tokyo.

And Uber takes a hit in Taiwan. The ride share app suspends services after millions of dollars in government funds, but can it bounce back? We'll

hear from the general manager after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: All right. Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. You're watching News Stream.

Now, U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser is dealing with harsh criticism and possible

investigation over ethics. Bipartisan members of the U.S house oversight committee are asking the government ethics watchdog to investigate

Kellyanne Conway.

Now federal law states government employees can't endorse a private business, but Conway may have broken that rule when she talked about Ivanka

Trump's fashion brand during a Fox News interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FOX NEWS: They're using her, who has been a champion for women empowerment, women in the workplace, to get to him. I think people

can see through that. Go buy Ivanka's stuff, is what I would tell you. I'm going to -- I hate shopping and I'm going to go get some myself today.

this is just - it's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully - I'm going to just give a - I'm going to give a free commercial here, go buy it

today, everybody. You can find it online.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Kellyanne has been counseled And that's all we're going to go with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And that was, of course, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at the end saying that Conway has been, quote, counseled for those comments

made on Fox TV.

Now, a senior administration official tells us that Conway apologized directly to the president for her misstep.

Now, President Donald Trump will be taking a break from his domestic headaches for trade

talks on the golf course. Right now, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Washington. He is due to visit the White House in the coming

hours after laying a wreath for fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

And this weekend, the two leaders will head to Florida to play golf at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. But there's a lot more than a golf

game on line here. You've got discussions about military ties as well a multi-billion dollar trade deal. All that is

expected to be on the agenda.

Now, CNN's Will Ripley has more on what to expect. He's live from us from Tokyo. And

Will, not only what's on the agenda here but also why this is happening in such a way. You know, because Trump is an America first president. He has

torn up the TPP trade pact. He has tweeted against Toyota. So, why is it that we've seen Shinzo Abe just trying so hard to win Mr. Trump over?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Well, this is the strategy that he's using, Kristie. He has seen what happens when other world leaders get

agitated and publicly criticize President Trump, and it usually doesn't turn out well. I mean, this is the president of the United States, the most

important economic and military partner of Japan. Japan and the U.S. trade relationship is worth some $268 billion or so every year. Japan has a

trade deficit with the U.S. That means that Japan sells $69 billion more per year than it buys. And that is something that President Trump has been

on the attack about lately along with allegations that Japan, along with China, is

manipulating its currency, devaluing the yen to make its exports more competitive.

He has said - alluded to the fact that Japan may need to pay more to remain under the U.S.

defense umbrella. And so what Shinzo Abe has done instead of lashing out, he's coming to Washington and in a few hours he's expected to present a

proposal to create jobs in the United States, to bring billions of Japanese investment dollars to the U.S. to show President Trump what can Japan do

for America.

We'll see if it works.

[08:21:06] :LU STOUT: Yeah, and we know that Donald Trump's and his policies in particular, that travel ban has made him deeply unpopular in

many parts of the world. So, is there a risk that Mr. Abe could lose political support at home as a result of closer ties

with Mr. Trump?

RIPLEY: Well, he's certainly not going to get any criticism from Prime Minister Abe about the

travel ban, because Japan doesn't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to taking in refugees from other countries. There was a leaked

report publicized by Reuters that said Japan took in 28 refugees last year out of more than 10,000 applications.

We have not independently corroborated that report. But it is no secret that Japan is not open to

refugees from Syria and many other countries around the world.

That said, people here domestically will be concerned if they think that Prime Minister Abe

is trying too hard and giving too much.

Japan has a huge national debt, the biggest in the world when you compare it to its GDP. And

here the prime minister is talking about, and this is according to a lot of reports here in Japan, possibly $150 billion, some government money, some

private money, to invest in building infrastructure in the U.S. - bullet trains, cyber security development, artificial intelligence,

the kind of high quality technology that Shinzo Abe wants to export and claims it could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Can Japan afford this? That's the question.

LU STOUT: All right, Will Ripley reporting live from Tokyo. Thank you, Will.

After four years and millions of trips, Uber has offered its last ride in Taiwan for now. Now, the ride-sharing app suspended services today,

Friday, after racking up millions of dollars in fines.

Now, the government declared Uber services to be illegal. And here, you can see drivers protesting outside the ministry of transport as the

suspension took effect.

It's worth noting this is not Uber's first setback in Asia. It threw in the towel in Mainland China last year, selling its business to a major

local rival.

Now, earlier, I spoke with Uber Taiwan's general manager, Likai Gu to find out what's behind the company's decision and whether it still has a future

there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIKAI GU, UBER TAIWAN GENERAL MANAGER: The Chinese government has passed a recent bill that has raised fines against Uber drivers and Uber to the

highest to anywhere around the world. And what we really want to do by suspending operations is reset that dialogue and discuss how we can go --

how we can go forward to regulating ride-sharing, because we believe that that's something that both the Taiwanese people and the Taiwanese

government would like.

LU STOUT: Do you think that the problem could be not the Taiwan government, but Uber's business model and that Uber perhaps needs to

rethink its approach to local markets like Taiwan?

GU: Generally, what we're seeing is that the model of ride-sharing, which is the business that Uber is in, is being adopted pretty widely around the

world. And many different countries around the world are starting to adopt new regulations to regulate this new type of

activity. And I think they see the economic impact, they see the technological innovation, they see the mobility of benefits that ride

sharing can bring. So I think is the part that we need to discuss with the town government is that if they do believe in this model and if they do

believe that ride-sharing is good for the city and good for its citizens, then we should find a way to regulate it.

LU STOUT: And that's the crux of it because the Taiwan government believes that Uber is a tech company, but not a transportation company. And do you

fear that you're going to encounter more difficulty in other Asian markets, especially you have you have other governments suspicious about your

business model.

GU: The Philippines became the first country in the world to have national regulations around

ride-sharing. Other countries around the region such as Singapore and Malaysia have also adopted

similar types of rules to help foster this development.

So, you know, I think we very much are seeing that trend move in the right direction. And I think we want to - you know, as a Taiwanese person, we

would like to see Taiwan kind of join that and also be a leader in that so other nations can start looking at

Taiwan as an example of how to smartly regulate ride-sharing.

[08:25:04] LU STOUT: Yeah, but I mean, you can continue with the Uber gospel and to lobby and to share your messaging with people and governments

all around the world, but the criticism has really been relentless, you know, from governments, from drivers, from

labor groups, not just Asia, but again countries all over the planet.

So, do you fear that Uber is going to become not a true global tech company, but a company that will operate ultimately in just a few select

markets?

GU: One thing to note is that when we entered Taiwan back in 2013, there were no other Asian markets besides Singapore and Taiwan that we had

launched in. And today we're in all the major countries in Asia, including India, including, you know, Australia, including Malaysia, Philippines and

Singapore. So I think what we're seeing is actually the ability to kind of spread that global footprint around the world. And it's really benefited,

you know, both people who are traveling across those regions and travelers who are familiar with the service and the brand.

LU STOUT: And back to Uber Taiwan, you called this a suspense. You call this a pause. When are you going to start back up again?

GU: Well, I think that is really up to the government. I mean, I think, you know, President Tsai herself has made Uber and ride-sharing as part of

her pre-Election policy campaign. And I think, you know, she has been quite vocal in her wants to try to create this Silicon Valley of Asia for

Taiwan and create better economic development. And we think, you know, ride-sharing

fits in really well with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And that was Uber Taiwan's general manager Likai Gu speaking with me earlier. and in that interview he mentioned one of the reasons

Uber is suspending operations is because the government has raised funds for drivers making it too hard to do business.

Well, Taiwan's government has directed us to an earlier statement which reads in part this, quote, "the government has long insisted that Uber's

operation in Taiwan must be regulated, taxed and insured due to the fact that Uber provides a transportation service. It has to bear the same

responsibility and duty as other transportation service providers."

Now, you're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, while Donald Trump insists his executive order on immigration will make the

country safer, many argue the vetting process for refugees is already extreme. We'll hear from a former U.S. immigration officer about the

grueling process refugees face when trying to make it to the U.S.

And anti-Trump sentiment is running high in Tehran as Iranians mark revolution day. We'll take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:03] LU STOUT: Now, supporters of Donald Trump's travel ban argue that so-called extreme vetting would keep America safer by screening out

Islamist terrorists, but others say that when it comes to refugees from Middle Eastern and Muslim majority countries, the U.S. already does extreme

vetting.

In a Washington Post article, a former immigration officer calls the process, quote, torturous and argues it's even become even more so in the

past 15 years with more screenings and more background checks.

Natasha Hall told CNN what refugees have to go through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATASHA HALL, FRM. U.S. IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL: When I started as a DHS officer, a law enforcement officer with DHS doing these interviews, we used

to interview four cases per day. That's still several hours long. We now interview between two to one case a day in the case of Iraqis and Syrians

in particular.

So these interviews go on for hours. For most Iraqis and Syrians this vetting procedure in total goes on for years and they go through hours of

interviews.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, the process of refugee resettlement takes an average of 18 to 24 months, but Natasha Hall says Iraqis and Syrians typically wait

several years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALL: There's over 65 million refugees worldwide and these are some of the most vulnerable

people on the planet. Last year, we resettled about .1 percent of those refugees. So I think for America this is a symbolic gesture and something

that both parties for decades have been extremely proud of.

Some of these people are in incredibly vulnerable situations, some of them are still in Iraq and

some are in incredible danger here in Turkey where I am as well, because of their activism against groups like ISIS.

So I think to turn those people away, and especially people who had worked with the U.S. military and helped our government is really quite a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Natasha Hall there.

Now, the man who ran the U.S. intelligence under President Barack Obama has doubts about the Trump travel ban. Now, in this exclusive interview, James

Clapper told CNN's Jim Sciutto it may do more harm than group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Does the terror threat necessitate the ban for these seven countries?

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTION, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: I don't believe we in the I.C. were aware of extraordinary threats that we weren't already

dealing with.

SCIUTTO: Does a ban like this, does if damage U.S. image, but also counter terror partnership?

CLAPPER: Yes. I do worry about those countries in question, with whom we do deal and who are reliable partners. i also worry about this creating a

recruiting tool for the extremists, that they will point to this proof that in fact there is a war on all muslims.

SCIUTTO: And you're confident in the vetting that the U.S. is already doing for travelers from this country.

CLAPPER: I am. And we have improved that process as we've gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: James Clapper there speaking to CNN's Jim Sciutto.

Now, chanting death to America and carrying effigies of Donald Trump, Iranians are certainly sending a message of defiance to the U.S. Now,

President Hassan Rouhani addressed massive crowds in Tehran as the country marked revolution day. He never mentioned President Trump by name, but he

pledged to stand resolute against, quote, amateurs holding the reigns of power.

Revolution Day celebrates the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. It was a turning point in

Iran's history bringing an end to the pro-western monarchy and ushering in the Islamic Republic.

Now, CNN's Fred Pleitgen has been watching the celebrations in Tehran. He joins us now. And Fred, how much of this day is a celebration versus a

protest against Donald Trump?

[08:35:14] FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly is a little bit of both, Kristie. It's a day that traditionally

is one that a lot of people come out here and celebrate. Obviously, today 38th anniversary of the Islamic

Revolution, which people do come out. It is almost a festive kind of mood out there, but at the same time it is very much a protest

as well against the United States. And this time also specifically against the new Trump administration.

And it was very interesting. People coming out there really en masse. There were a lot of people who came out and also because the Supreme Leader

of this country, Ayatollah Khamenei, had told people beforehand to come out as many as possible because he said hat this day would be Iran's

answer to Donald Trump. We saw many people, as you said, with Donald Trump effigies, some of them also had anti-Trump posters with them as well. And,

you know, many of them said they were quite angry about the new sanctions that have been levied by the Trump administration on Iran over the past

couple of days. And, of course, the travel ban was a major issue as well. There were some who said that they were very happy about a court decision

yesterday to not reinstate that travel ban.

We always have to keep in mind that Iranians were especially hard hit by that travel ban.

So, relaly, a lot of antagonism towards the Trump administration. A lot of anger, of course, at America. But it's always interesting to see that the

people do want to make a point and say, look, this is haul directed at the U.S. administration, not at the people of the United

States - Kristie.

LU STOUT: Got you. So that distinction being made by protesting Iranians on this day of

celebration.

And, meanwhile, the political dynamics domestically in Iran as this anti- Trump sentiment grows do, more hardline conservative elements stand to benefit here?

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Absolutely. I think that's one of the things that we can sort of see a pattern of that happening at this point in time. We have to

keep in mind that there's presidential elections coming up here in Iran on May 17. And, of course, Hassan Rouhani, the moderate president of

Iran, he's up for re-election. He is someone who obviously was very important in brokering the nuclear agreement. He stands behind the nuclear

agreement, in many ways also stands for an easing of tensions with the west, with the United States.

And really, his power is waning with the Trump administration taking a more hard line (inaudible) hardliners themselves now in a more combating mood as

well.

And then you could see the many people turning out today, that very heavy (inaudible) also signaling that Iranians are not going to back down from

any of their position, and that certainly is something that could politically hurt Hassan Rouhani. And it will be very interesting to see

over the next couple of months how this whole dynamic is going to play out, is there going to be more confrontations? Could it be the case that the

moderates here in this country will lose momentum, will lose power and then ultimately could that mean that the nuclear agreement itself might be in

danger in the future, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right. Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us from Tehran. Thank you, Fred.

And we want to take you live to Washington now. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is starting his day with a breakfast meeting. He is talking

with U.S. business leaders at the American Chamber of Commerce. And later in the day, he'll be meeting with President Trump at the White

House. And this weekend he'll be joining the president for some golf at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago

resort in Florida.

And we're following all of this for you, so do stay with CNN throughout the prime minister's

visit.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come, astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly were part of a

ground breaking twin study. And you'll see how their commitment to that research inspired Dr. Sanjay Gupta next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:25] LU STOUT: Welcome back. Now, CNN anchors and correspondents have been looking back on individuals who have left a lasting impression

while also helping mankind. And in today's My Heroes segment CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta found inspiration from not just one,

but two individuals, twin astronauts, Scott and Mark Kelly each made huge sacrifices to help us all. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's another incredible moment that gives us hope, twin brothers, Scott and Mark Kelly, astronauts

who decided to do something that could benefit all of humanity, one brother here on Earth, the other brother going up in

space for nearly a year to basically be tested, prodded, probed to learn how the body reacts to something that we may all have to do today: start to

explore our universe, start to explore other planets.

We learned so much from what Scott did, risked his life to do. That could help us all.

The Kelly brothers inspire me because they are doing things that no one else has done.

It's easy to look at it in retrospect and say that was really a cool thing that you did, but the reality is that they had to take a lot of chances,

they had to take a lot of risks, they had to say good-bye to their family and friends and with not the clear understanding that they've ever see them

again: that's a really hard thing to do in the pursuit of trying to learn something for all of humanity.

Our planet is becoming increasingly crowded. We don't know exactly where it's all going to lead. We don't know how climate is going to affect this

planet that we live on now, and we need to start thinking about other places in the universe that we may have to live one day.

In order to understand how to do that, we've got to understand what it's going to do to us first - our bodies, our minds, our spirits and Scott

staying up there for a year in space was I think the first very important step in that understanding.

I'm fascinated with the idea that we can learn about the human body at the fringes. We learn much more when we push our bodies, we learn much more

about what our bodies are capable of doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Wow, thanks to Scott and Mark Kelly we've learned so much about ourselves and also our future in space.

That is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is next.

END