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Evacuations Ordered Below California Dam; North Korea Confirms Latest Missile Test; Trump To Meet Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau In Washington. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired February 13, 2017 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:19] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church. We are following breaking news from Northern California.
Thousands of people living near the tallest dam in United States have been ordered to leave for their own safety. They are fleeing the area around the Oroville Dam after a hole was found in a spillway. A devastating flood could be unleashed if that hole gets worse.
HOWELL: Official say they are making progress as they try to work to plug that hole up. They say there is no danger that the dam itself will fail but they do want the public to know this is still a very risky situation. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN LAWSON, CALFIRE INCIDENT COMMANDER: We have water coming over the top of the emergency spillway. It was beginning to erode the ground, right? And when you start to erode the ground and the dirt, then everything else starts to roll off the hill. It starts to undermine itself, and when it's doing now it starts working its way back towards the emergency spillway, that portion of it. It has nothing to do with the dam itself, large portion.
But if that is not addressed and we don't take care of that and mitigate it properly, essentially what we're looking at is approximately 30-foot wall of water that would be coming out of the lake --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: All right. Joining me now on the phone is Eric Kurhi. He is a reporter for the San Jose Mercury Newspaper. Thanks so much for joining us.
So Eric, what are you able to tell us about the situation on the ground there and just how bad is this and how bad could it get? ERIC KURHI, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWSPAPER REPORTER (via telephone): Well, like the other just described, the potential for a huge wall of water coming down is there. You know, it was really scary around 4:30 to a lot of residents when they started getting these phone calls saying, you know, this was an eminent thing they thought it was going to happen in the next hour based on projections on how the hole is growing.
Thankfully, it didn't progressed that fast. And in the end the water stopped coming over the top of the dam. So, the last, last conference they had that they still weren't confident enough to let people start going back to their homes. But it certainly doesn't look as eminent as it did for a while there.
CHURCH: Yeah. We were looking at those pictures there. I mean it is an incredible size hole there. Talk to us about how that may have happened and also with all of the people that need to be evacuated from the region have done so.
KURHI: Yeah. I mean they set up evacuation centers. Some of them are full already, all the hotels, motels in the nearby towns are full. You know, the funny thing about the hole, the pictures you're probably seeing, the hole in the main spillway, the one that's usually used, the one that's actually of concern right now is the dirt berm, the emergency spillway. Now, that hole in the main one, that happened -- that started coming out on Tuesday and as a result they stopped sending as much water down that as they could just because they didn't want to exacerbate that problem.
So the end result was the water started coming over the secondary spillway and that's what caused the real problems today.
CHURCH: All right. And of course, there's concern because more rain is expected Thursday, right? What sort of impact could that have?
KURHI: Well, so they want to get the water level dropped by 50 feet and that's going to require them continuing this kind of high-volume coming out, because, yeah, Wednesday night it is supposed to coming light. Thursday it's supposed to pick up. As seen this storm is going to be mostly a little further to the south. But, you know how weather is kind of unpredictable. So, they're just -- they're hoping to get it to drop by 50 feet just kind of as a safeguard. So they have the storage capacity they need.
CHURCH: All right. Eric Kurhi, thank you so much for talking with us, bringing us up-to-date on the situation on the ground there.
I want to get more now from our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. He joins us from the International Weather Center.
Those images are amazing. So, Pedram, what are you able to pull together on this?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. It is incredible what's happening, you know, in such a short time period considering the drought that was in place across this region recently. But just to give you an idea of how serious this is and why there is such great concern. And, you know, the dam is not -- to jeopardize right now, it's the spillways that we've heard, the main spillways across parts of the Oroville Dam. There's main spillway. This particular region significantly damaged. And of course there's the emergency spillway. We know the head of the spillway also jeopardized because there's so much water in recent days that it has to go up and over this particular area where the water levels, they were at 33 percent of capacity. This dam sits at about 235 meters or over 770 feet high. It's like a 44 feet higher than the Hoover Dam which makes it the tallest in the United States.
[20:05:06] But the serious nature of all of these, as you can see the images. This is what it looked like in 2011. Pre-drought, this is what it looked like a couple of years ago when the water level has reached historic lows and now, exceeding 101 percent of capacity. So it kind of shows you where we were, where we ended up a couple of years ago and now where we are today with the video you're seeing.
But the deadliest event in California State history happened in 1906. That was the San Francisco earthquake that took with it over 3,000 lives. The second deadliest event was actually the Saint Francis Dam spillway, the collapse of that dam back in 1928. It took it hundreds of lives.
The dam here is not jeopardized but of the spillways they are jeopardized because of this tremendous amount of water. That's the concern. You get too much water coming down in an uncontrolled fashion there. It can cause mass, mass devastation across an area where we know flood warnings have been prompted. Oroville in particular down towards that parts of Yuba County as well where we know officials there are making sure over 1,000 people are exiting this location.
Over the next several days, because -- Wednesday into Thursday, one storm comes in, some rain, some snow associated with it, the concern is if it get a warm storm system, because then there's less snow and more rain and that is what is slated right now for Friday night potentially into Saturday and Sunday.
If that is the case that you get the water level that will go up very dramatically very quickly. You get snowfall that gradually melts into the spring season. The water level can then rise slowly. So you can fix the issues at hand and then see the water levels drop. But again, very, very serious situation here with what is slated to come in late this week. So, a couple of days for officials to get everything under control events.
HOWELL: We'll be watching it for sure. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much.
Other news that we're following this hour, the United States demanding that the United Nations take action after North Korea conducted a missile test. Japan and South Korea also calling for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Dan Yeng (ph) confirmed the launch Sunday, the test violates U.N. resolutions. North Korean State media claims it is a new type of medium to long-range ballistic missile.
CHURCH: South Korea's military said earlier it was likely a modified Musudan. That type of missile has an intermediate range and can reach line three on the map you're looking at right now.
Sources say, some days missile only traveled a little more than 300 miles. That's about 500 kilometers. But North Korea still calls it a success.
HOWELL: Our reporters stationed around the world bringing reporting this hour through the region. CNN's Matt Rivers is re live in Seoul, South Korea and Steven Jiang in Beijing with us.
Matt, first to you, this meeting of the U.N. Security Council has been requested by South Korea, by Japan and the United States. But what can the U.N. really do here? Does it have any leverage to change course of that nation?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the Security Council has the leverage to do would be hypothetically to enact more sanctions. I mean you saw in 2016, there were two different rounds of sanctions that were levied against the regime in Pyongyang and they were escalating the first and the second.
But remember that those sanctions were levied after two different nuclear tests. And what we're talking about here is not a nuclear test and frankly we're not even talking about a long-range ballistic missile test. We're not talking about an intercontinental ballistic missile with the kind of range that could, let's say, deliver some sort of payload to the United States.
So exactly how the U.N. Security Council is going to respond, we're not really sure yet. But what is different about this particular test compared to other tests of intermediate-range missiles is how this particular missile is being fueled.
In the past, these kinds of missiles were fueled by liquid fuel. This test appears, according to South Korean Defense Officials that we've spoken to and frankly the North Korean State Media have said this as well, is that, this missile is being fueled by solid fuel. And that gives a couple difference strategic advantages toward the North Koreans. It allows these missiles to be more mobile. They don't have to be put into place. And it is allows them to be launched that much faster.
So this isn't your standard intermediate-range ballistic missile test that we've seen many times before from the North Koreans, but it's not to the level of a nuclear weapons test and it's certainly not an intercontinental ballistic missile, something that Pyongyang is also working on as we speak.
HOWELL: Matt Rivers is live in Seoul, South Korean following the story. Matt, thank you for the reporting. CHURCH: So let's go to Steven Jiang now who is in Beijing. Steven, China is of course North Korea's only major ally, therefore has some influence over the hermit nation.
But we haven't heard from Beijing yet. We do expect to hear from them soon. When they talk what are they likely to say?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN CORRSPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, they're likely to say what they have always been saying, probably urgent old relevant sides refrain from taking any unilateral actions that would escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula.
[02:09:59] Now, one reason some say analysts say Beijing has been fairly quiet so far is because they don't view this as a threat to itself or a region as a whole, but rather they view this as a call for attention from the new Trump administration and U.S. as well as warning shot to Japan who's prime minister is actually currently visiting the U.S.
But, you're right about China is the only major ally North Korea has on the global stage and provides an economic and political lifeline to the regime in Pyongyang. But the two sides really haven't been seeing eye to eye on this issue for some time now. One tale tell sign is the Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to meet with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since he took power a few years ago.
And on the other hand of course China does feel the need of having North Korea as a security buffer between himself and South Korea which has a large U.S. military presence. And also China does not want to see a massive refugee crisis on its door step if the North Korean regime collapses.
And one other factor that's been affecting all of China's consideration lately is the planned deployment of a FAT missile defense system in South Korea by the U.S., that's probably why even the Chinese officials haven't come out to say much. The state-run newspapers having run editorials saying the latest missile test by North Korea would only give the U.S. further excuse to deploy their missile defense and harming China's strategic interest. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Many thanks to you. Steven Jiang, appreciate it.
HOWELL: For more analysis on North Korea's missile test, let's bring in now Oh Joon in Seoul, he is the former South Korean ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Oh it's a pleasure to have you with us this hour. So let's first talk about the United Nations. When it comes to suctions they have been applied before against North Korea, but that nation seems to undeterred regarding it's nuclear problems. Are sanctions the answers here?
OH JOON, FORMER SOUTH KOREAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Well I think eventually sanctions will work. You know, the toughest measures have been introduced in the course of last year only. It takes time. So I think if we can wait out North Korea but I don know if the -- considering the changes in the United States and also change of power in South Korea, I don't know if the leaders of these two countries are able to wait out until the effect of sanctions take place.
HOWELL: I want to show our viewers a map here, ambassador, a map of the range that has been considered when it comes to North Korea's ability. So, this latest missile test traveled some 300 miles or some 500 kilometers. That's represented by the number one red line that you see here. And North Korea has missiles though that can reach as far as line three on the map and it is striving for intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach lines four or five on this map that could certainly strike the United States.
So the question comes in about the possibility of more direct conversations. You look back to the six party talks. Are efforts like that still an option here or has the situation escalated beyond that?
JOON: Well that's still an option but, you know, the question right now is, what is the -- what kind of intention North Korea has this time, you know, North Korea is not known for being very rationale in making decisions. And this is also very puzzling, it seems to me.
You know, if -- I don't know if they have considered everything including the new Trump administration in the United States in making this decision. If they considered all of that they might have -- they might be doing this either for technical reasons because they need it to complete the program or for political reasons because they have their own domestic dynamics that warrants this kind of move. If they have not considered what is happening outside North Korea, it's very dangerous but I think we will have to see.
HOWELL: Ambassador, is there a possibility that timing, as you pointed out, the question is about the Trump administration when this launch took place the U.S. President was with the Japanese Prime Minister, those two leaders came together to give that joint statement. But is timing here a possibility with North Korea testing these administrations?
JOON: Yeah. That's what I'm not quite sure about, you know, whether they consider the timing, you know, back in 2009 when President Obama came in North Korea went for a nuclear bomb test in May.
[02:15:07] And I think by doing that they kind of lost on opportunity, a window for improving ties with the United States. This time around I don't know if they are considering everything but it's not a wise move in my opinion.
HOWELL: Ambassador Oh Joon live for us in Seoul, South Korea. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us and giving us your incite on this situation.
CHURCH: All right. We'll take a short break here but coming up next. President Trump will start his week with a meeting with Canadian leader Justin Trudeau.
HOWELL: And they will likely talk about some tricky continental sticking points. That's story ahead as newsroom continues.
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HOWELL: President Trump is set to welcome Canada's prime minister to the White House Monday.
CHURCH: Mr. Trump's push to negotiate or renegotiate the North American free trade agreement and stalled travel ban are expected to be major talking points. CNN's Athena Jones.
[02:20:03] ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After wrapping up a weekend of diplomacy here in South Florida with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the President is kicking off another week of diplomacy starting today with a meeting and press conference with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Now, soon after the inauguration last month the President has said that one of the top items on the agenda when he meets with the prime minister would be NAFTA. Of course renegotiating NAFTA was one of Trump's central campaign promises. Of course doing so will necessarily require the participation of Mexico. And it's not clear yet when the canceled meeting with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto will be rescheduled.
But certainly these two leaders could begin this process today. It's worth noting that the prime minister has very different views on people fleeing danger and persecution than Trump does. He was one of the world leaders who tweeted late last month in response to the President's travel ban. Tweeted out that refugees are welcome in Canada regardless of their religion.
And that travel ban was a big topic on the Sunday shows as the White House figures out its next moves in the wake of that ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, it keeps in place the temporary hold on the ban.
The President senior policy advisor Steven Miller said that the White House is considering and pursuing all options including continuing to fight for the ban in court and issuing new executive actions. Here's more what he had to say on Fox News Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR: I want to say something very clearly, and this is going to be very disappointing to the people protesting the President and the people in Congress like Senator Schumer who've attacked the President for his lawful and necessary actions. The President's powers here are beyond question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: So miller there was making the case that the travel ban was entirely within the President's statutory and constitutional powers and that this matter is not reviewable, the presidents --
(AUDIO GAP)
-- matter are not reviewable because of immigration and national security. That is an argument that did not persuade the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The bottom line here is that even though President Trump told reporters they could issuing a brand new executive order as soon as Monday or Tuesday, it's not at all clear that the White House is prepared to do that, but of course this White House is full of surprises so anything can happen and we will be watching. Back to you.
CHURCH: Joining me now to talk more about what's happening with the Trump administration is Greg Bluestein, political reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, always great to chat with you of course. And there's always so much to talk about. So let's start with White House senior policy advisor Steven Miller coming out talking about the travel ban and the executive order, and saying we're looking at all options.
Now, this despite President Trump saying they're going to rework it, they're going to get it in place really quickly. What is going on here, what are these other options he's talking about, and much power does Stephen Miller wield within the Trump administration?
GREG BLUESTEIN, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION POLITICAL REPORTER: There's a lot of options on the table. He could rewrite the entire order at this time, try to tailor it so it doesn't get into legal trouble. He can appeal to full circuit court, it's called en banc, and have the entire court listen to the case. Or he could try to appeal and write up to the U.S. Supreme Court which still deadlocked without (inaudible) being approved yet.
So there's a lot of options and Trump has sent mixed signals. A few days ago he did signal that he was going to rewrite the order, now we're hearing he could fight the battle in the courts now and you keep seeing his tweets and his public responses to the court saying basically there's a war in the judiciary right now.
CHURCH: And what's interesting too, talking about wars is looking at the various advisers within the Trump administration, it's looking very much like Michael Flynn and Sean Spicer might be in trouble, even perhaps Kellyanne Conway, what you hearing about that, is there a possibility of an eminent shake up here?
BLUESTEIN: They're definitely shifting power centers all the time. We know Jared Kushner, his son-in-law has his own power circle. We know that Sean Spicer has been frustrating to Trump. There's been reports after the Saturday Night Live issues that Trump was embarrassed by all of that. And now we're hearing Michael Flynn, I mean, we saw the Trump administration, one of Trump's to aid Stephen Miller repeatedly refuse to defend Michael Flynn when asked about Michael Flynn's apparent conversations with Russian Authorities before Trump was sworn into office.
So that is not a very good sign. Michael Flynn looks like he's on hot seat right now.
CHURCH: Wow, OK, we'll watch to see what happens there. And then President Trump tweeted on crowd size again, just want to quote this, he said, "Just leaving Florida. Big crowds of enthusiastic supporters lining the road that the fake news media refuses to mention. Very dishonest!"
Why is he still apparently obsessing about crowd sizes when there's so many other things on his plate, he's got the travel ban he needs to find some way to get that accepted and then there's North Korea with the missile test.
HOWELL: I think it's safe to say for Donald Trump the campaign has never ended.
[02:25:03] It's the same sort of rhetoric we saw for him at every campaign stop along the way. He would point out to the news media, you're not painting your cameras to the crowds and the size of the protest groups -- the size of the supporters, and you're only focusing on the protesters. Well, he's still doing this, he's still keeping this up at every stop he makes -- every time he goes out on the road where I think he feels the most comfortable by the way in his campaign rallies, he is pointing to the size of the crowds and is again, claiming the media which is in a running war within his words are diluting and not reporting what's happening.
All right, Greg Bluestein, always a pleasure, thank you very much, appreciate it.
HOWELL: Live in the United States and around the world this hour, you are watching CNN Newsroom, and still ahead, we follow the breaking news, thousands of people escaping their homes in Northern California, the latest on the hole and the spillway at the Oroville Dam. Still ahead.
CHURCH: And President Trump says he is locking out dangerous criminals but critics say he is terrorizing families who want a better life, the new crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. that's still to come. Stay with us.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri in a storm system that really crippled parts of the North Eastern United States for the past couple of days, brought in over 30 to 40 centimeters of snowfall across some of the major metropolitan cities, it is pushing in towards Nova Scotia, it is exiting the picture and as it does, leaves behind quite a mess across this region, it could still see some snow showers on Monday that will linger on into bringing in additional 20 to 30 centimeters, going to the eastern portion of Maine, around Acadia National Park there.
You could see even higher accumulations over the next several days, but place like Denver, Colorado. Extreme heat was in place last week, have cooled off now to around 10 degrees, Dallas seen a cooling trend as well. And San Francisco, remaining dry for now, temps also going up, just a little bit across that region.
But notice this seesaw battle of winter and spring across parts of the U.S.; Atlanta, case and point where it drops, wants to warm up. And Washington also much the same over the next couple of days, and you see these shots, a very concentrated cold are that are slated to come in sometime later into the week.
Other portions of the Central and South Central United States, some snow showers possibly around Intermountain West with the next storm system beginning to move in towards the area. Well, in Mexico City some high clouds rolling by, the sugar (ph) remain dry in 24 but these city a few showers in the forecast for you Monday. In Gogota looking at some thunderstorms, Brasilia coming in with some wet weather as well around 24 degrees.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, you are watching CNN Newsroom. It is good to have with you us. I'm George Howell.
CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church, let's update you now in our top stories this hour.
North Korea claims its latest missile can avoid interception and carry a nuclear warhead. State media confirm the test of a new medium to long range ballistic missile on Sunday. The U.S., Japan and South Korea condemned the launch and requested an urgent meeting at the U.N. Security Council.
HOWELL: In Mexico thousands of protesters sent a message to U.S. President Donald Trump, they marched through the streets of Mexico City wearing shirts that said "No wall and no immigrant raids." Most of estimated 20,000 demonstrators focused on Mr. Trump but some also protested against corruption in Mexico's government.
CHURCH: Nearly 200,000 people living at the tallest dam in the United States have been ordered out of the area for their own safety. Erosion has caused a hole and a spillway of Oroville Dam in Northern California. A devastating flood could be unleashed if that hole grows worse.
Officials say they have made progress in reducing the danger and they say there's no risk that the dam itself will break.
HOWELL: But again, a major story that we are following and joining us now on the line is Sean Dennis, again, one of the thousands of people who have been forced to leave their homes. Sean on the road right now with his wife, with his two children.
Sean, thank you for being with us. First of all, tell us where you are right now and how are the evacuation efforts going?
SEAN DENNIS (via-telephone): Well as of right now, I'm currently on highway 20 in California among the outskirts of the town called Davis (ph) City. We're about 30 miles down South of Oroville. So that the track we face is from if there is a catastrophic failure of this spillway, we're looking at the Feather River possibly breaking our levee or overflowing into our town. So everybody here is leaving, the evacuation efforts are doing all right. I mean, I've been in a car now for about four and a half hours and I'm just on the outskirts of town. I made it probably ten miles outside of the town center. So it's not really going that quick, but we are starting to move a little bit better now.
HOWELL: And Sean, we were just looking at some video a moment ago. If we can show that again, that you see the highway there, the road that so many people are traveling, you do get a sense that traffic is backed up. There are many people trying to get out of the way, you know, until this situation becomes more stable.
I do want to get a sense though, have you been told of a place to go where people can, you know, seek shelter wait for this to play out?
DENNIS: There was an evacuation center set up in Chico California which is actually north of Oroville. So, it wasn't even possible for us being South of Oroville.
They weren't even allowing us to head north, but there is another one west of us in collision, that's currently the route that me and my family are taking. We're heading west.
At first, we were getting initial reports that it was possible that they were going to evacuate Sacramento as well. That was our first intended target was to head down south of Sacramento and then we started hearing that there was a possibility that Sacramento could be evacuated. So we decided to take the Chico (ph) route and head west.
HOWELL: And just talk to us about what it was like when you first got that evacuation order, you know, your concern of obviously about your home, how quickly were you able to get out of that area?
DENNIS: Well, you know, to be honest it was pretty quick. It escalated rather quickly. We heard about the spillway eroding a couple of days ago, but it was kind of presented to us it's not really being that significant, they said it was under control.
When I initially got home from work today, I turned on the news and I heard that they were evacuating Lower Oroville. And within an hour, it had escalated then they had evacuated my town and all the surrounding areas as well. And it was pretty scary just because of how its bound (ph) everything was developing.
Me and my wife managed to throw as much stuff as we could into garbage bags or whatever we could find. We got both of our cars loaded down pretty well and we're not taking any chances.
HOWELL: Sean Dennis, live on the phone with us and on the road, one of the thousands of people escaping this area, again, as we continue to follow this breaking news story at the Oroville Dam in California.
Sean thanks for being with us. We'll stay in touch with you as well.
Another story we're following, the U.S. President's immigration policies and plans for a border wall, sparking huge protests in Mexico. Take a look at this, demonstrators jamming the streets in cities across that country on Sunday. One of the largest protests in (inaudible) in Mexico City, an estimated 20,000 people marched there.
CHURCH: Now many wore shirts saying "No wall, No Immigrant Raids, no aggression to Mexico". And CNN's Leyla Santiago reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We saw people here from thousands of people here from all walks of life, all political parties, parents with their children, students, activists, political leaders. I mean, this was quite a wide range of people, of thousands of people who came out to protest President Trump.
We heard things like "Fuera Trump", so that mean "Out Trump", "Bridges, not walls", a variety of messages to send not necessarily directly to the U.S. and its people, but to the White House and its president.
[02:35:04] I had a chance to speak to a Mexican Senator who has been very vocal, has really kind of critical actually of the Mexican government and what he has done in this new relationship with the United States. I want you to hear what he had to say.
ARMADO RIOS PITER, MEXICAN SENATOR: Well, it's an important call for unification of different ways of thinking how we must work against Donald Trump. And I think it's very good on the society from different kinds of people, different -- they just are here in Reforma, in the heart of Mexico of the city of Mexico, making this kind of cause (ph).
SANTIAGO: And we also saw U.S. citizens out here protesting, marching along with Mexicans in unity just to show support. We've talked to two women from Los Angeles who said they prefer to be on this side of the wall for this protest and to really show support for the people of Mexico. But something that organizers made very clear was that this was about President Trump, not the people of the United States and they do not want to, in any way, develop any anti-American sentiment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Well despite the backlash in Mexico, the backlash in the United States in fact, now the president is proud to say that his administration has arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in the last week. He tweeted this, "The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise, gang members, drug dealers and others are being removed."
CHURCH: Critics accused the Trump administration of spreading fear in immigrant communities. Immigration authorities say they will release details and photos from the arrest on Monday.
Well, tensions between Iran and the U.S. are escalating. Next we will take you to a ski resort in Iran.
HOWELL: You'll hear why moderates there are worried about the new U.S. President. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:40:29] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Tensions are escalating between Iran and the United States that could have negative consequences for conflicts in the Middle East and also for Iran's economy. Our Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live in Iran, Iran this hour.
Fred, a pleasure to have you with us. So if you look back here, when it came to the nuclear deal with Iran, it did take somewhat of a perfect storm of a moderate leader in Iran and a moderate leader in the United States to get that deal done with the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, who is no moderate, that is not the case now.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. If you look back and then you really saw the Rouhani administration here in Iran really had to tap them to run a lot of very hard line rhetoric and a lot of the conservatives here in this country. And the Obama administration of course had to fight off a lot of the hard line rhetoric there in America. And that is what made this deal happen. But right now that deal is in jeopardy. And it's certainly something that a lot of moderates here in this country fear. We went to one of Iran's primary ski resorts and spoke to some of the folks there. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: Internationally, not many people know that Iran has a wealth of ski areas. Looking at the crowd here, you could almost think you're in a European or American resort, f fewer religious conservatives, moderates. And many of those moderates here, President Donald Trump's hard stance Iran could lead to renewed conflict.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iranian people, you know, they show the relationship, a good relationship to Americans. But I don't think that Trump that show us good faith. He's against us.
PLEITGEN: We are not happy with what Trump is saying about us, this man says, but the Iranian people and the government will show the world that it's not true.
After some easing of tensions during the Obama years, the U.S.-Iranian relations have taken a nose dive since President Trump assumed office. The administration hitting around with sanctions after ten Iran conducted a ballistic missile test in later January.
Iran hitting back, its President Hassan Rouhani calling Trump a political newcomer and emphasizing that Iran will not back down from its positions. Many Iranians now fearing escalating tensions could harm the nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and several other nations that curves around nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief.
Especially moderate Iranians were very excited about the nuclear agreement thinking it would bring this country big economic benefits. Now, many of them worry that Donald Trump's tough stance at Iran could destroy the deal.
Tourism is one of the sectors Iranians hope will blossom after decade of stagnation. And many here still hope souring U.S.-Iranian relations won't derail the fledgling upswing.
We're happy when the relationship is going well he says, we need good relations, not conflict.
The new Trump administration has caused a feeling of uncertainty from many Iranians. Concerned about the deteriorating ties between the two nations, hoping the downward trajectory doesn't become even steeper.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And you can really feel that the Iranian government realizes that it's walking a very fine line right now with the United States. And you've heard that over the past couple of days with the government continuously criticizing some of the move with Trump administration but at the same time emphasizing that the Iranian government and the Iranian people have no problems with the American people. George.
HOWELL: Fred Pleitgen, not only covering all the details as he does every time but also getting a little skiing in there in that report. Fred, thank you so much with being us.
CHURCH: Well, some of the biggest stars in film were honored at the BAFTA Awards and like other award shows, this year things got political. And you will hear what celebrities had to say on the red carpet.
HOWELL: Plus the Grammy celebrate the Best in Music, we'll have the moments everyone is talking about from Sunday night's big show. Stay with us.
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[02:46:39] PATRICK SNELL: Hi. I'm Patrick Snell with the CNN World Sport headlines. You know, this time last (ph) year all the talk was of Leicester city realizing their dream of a first ever top light title. For the past 40 years, the unthinkable is now that the very real and daunting tracks of relegation after the defending primarily jumps crashed to a fifth straight defeat. Their opponent Swansea were also desperate for the points. But after these two (inaudible) win the Swans and up to 15 for Leicester member into the last 16 of the champions league, but they're right in the thick of relegation battle just a point above the drop zone.
Meantime Chelsea's title search continuing though Antonio Conte's blues move to nine of 12 point league and top of primary league. Thanks to Burnely spirited resistance of turf more on Sunday holding Chelsea to the one on draw. The hosts are now on six top flight games unbeaten in the home for the first time since the mid 70s despite not winning though, the Blues actually extend their lead their top standings to ten points.
Very weekend, the for 20 thrilled the American recording at ninth career win on Sunday, the 18th (inaudible) event of the famed ever leagues golf in Southern California. Spieth had an over ninth lead of six shots that was in cruise control in the final round that included two birdies singing a full shot win.
You know Tiger Woods by the way, they only have a golfer who had nine or more victories by the age of 23, Jordan Spieth up and running for the year. That's with your World Sports Headlines, I'm Patrick Snell.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Entertainers from around the world came together in London, Sunday for the 70th Annual British Academy Film Awards, the BAFTA's.
CHURCH: But it wasn't just the movies that grabbed people's attention. CNN's Iza Soares was on the red carpet where things got a little political.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fans were out in force and on a bitterly cold night in London, it was the stars that turned up the heat.
Excited?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, under statement of the century.
NAOMIE HARRIS, ATRESS, "MOONLIGHT": I'm really excited. Especially to me I get to share it with my mom and my step dad and a best friend come with me as well.
SOARES: It was a night where Hollywood royalty met British royalty rubbing shoulders with the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William on the red carpet. The BAFTA is often seen as one of the most unpredictable award ceremonies. Tonight offered few surprises.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the BAFTA is awarded to La La Land.
SOARES: With La La Land taking five (inaudible) including Best Director, Best Film and Best Actress for Emma Stone.
EMMA STONES, ACTRESS "LA LA LAND": Thank you so much. It's one of the greatest working experience. This is my life. And it was such a joy.
SOARES: The other favorite Manchester by the Sea took home two awards.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And BAFTA goes to Kenneth Lonergan.
SOARES: Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Casey Affleck.
[02:50:00] CASEY AFFLECK, BEST ACTOR, "MANCHESTER BY THE SEA": I'm here right tonight it's because of Kenneth Lonergan and his sublime screen play that really signifies I think every day lives and their struggles and, you know, with great compassion.
SOARES: But before the event, there were concerns. There'll be more tension on the politics, that's the performance says.
It is one of the biggest nights in British Film Calendar. But expect politics just steal the live lights. This certainly was strong messages on the night.
KEN LOCH, DIRECTOR, "I, DANIEL BLAKE": The world in their dark and danger place. People that make films contribute to public discourse, you know, that people have things to say.
VIOLA DAVIS, ACTRESS "FENCES": All my message would be a message, just congruent with August Wilson's life legacy which is honoring that every man, honoring that janitor, that maid, that garbage collector, those people who are in the graves, who's lives never mattered, uplifting their lives.
VIGGO MORTENSEN, ACTOR "CAPTAIN FANTASTIC": More then ever now not just in United States but in Great Britain and the rest of Europe. I think people need to do a lot more listening than speaking and shouting. So --
SOARES: A called to action by some of the most talented people in the industry, proving that Hollywood and the BAFTA's are not just about glitz and glamour. Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOWELL: Still Isa looks like she had fun out there.
CHURCH: I think so.
HOWELL: It was a big night for music. The 2017 Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Adele was the night's big winner. The Pop Singer swept the top Grammy Awards Winning Song and Record of the Year for her tune "Hello" and Album of the Year for 25.
CHURCH: Chance the Rapper won Best New Artist and made history as the first musician with a streaming only album to win a Grammy.
David Bowie's 25th and final album Black Star picked up five Grammy Awards including Best Rock Song and Rock Performance. The music legend died in January of last year.
Joining me now to talk more about the big moments of the 59th Annual Grammy Award is Entertainment Journalist Holland Reid, great to have you in the studio.
HOLLAND REID, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Oh, thank you for having me.
CHURCH: What a night for this and I mean there were so many great moments but it was --
REID: Yes.
CHURCH: -- the night went to Adele. I mean she won all three of the main categories including Album of the Year.
REID: Yes.
CHURCH: And so let's just look though. Because earlier she of course opened with the performance and she -- there was a tribute to George Michael. Let's just listen because she had a little bit of a fluff but stopped and then --
REID: A little bit.
CHURCH: when -- let's see how she went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADELE LAURIE BLUE ADKINS, SINGER: I'm sorry for starting again. Can you please start it again? I'm sorry, I can't mess this up for him. I'm sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But what a voice. I mean really. But were you surprised she took all three categories?
REID: I wasn't surprised she took -- she took all three categories. Every one, every single celebrity that was questioned on the red carpet, every person that was trying to predict what was going to happen between Beyonce Adele, Beyonce Adele for weeks. Nobody had an answer. It was a heavy hitter, you know, power punch type of situation. It could have gone either way. And clearly Adele was a favorite. And she is not undeserving of this. She is fantastic.
CHURCH: No.
REID: Had an amazing year with her album 25. So -- I mean it was heart-wrenching to watch the tribute just a little bit for me. I mean --
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: But Adele is the person that becomes so human and so real so quick, that we're going to forgive and we forgive her now for that fluff or whatever that happened. And as far as being a professional, she's like, you know what, let's start over and let's rewind. And then she swept to the Grammy's.
So if that wasn't fitting for Adele to who she is as a person and an artist, nothing is.
CHURCH: Absolutely. And of course Adele and Beyonce always go head to head and a lot of people are thinking --
REID: Always. Yes.
CHURCH: -- will Beyonce would come out on top with some of this as well. And it was a moment there where I think we all thought that Adele was going to give the award for Best Album to Beyonce, because she recognized what an incredible album that was.
REID: Yes. I mean you have Beyonce that her album drop was not just like releasing an album. It was an epic world, you know, seismic event. It was a video event. It was a movie, it was -- it's not just an album drop.
So, I'm not saying that Adele didn't have that type of impact. Ironically, Adele actually sold more than Beyonce. But they are two Artists in different realms that are equally powerful. And so for her to recognize her, you know, colleague, her rival, so to speak that spoke as an artist more than anything. I mean we're so divisive right now in the nation.
They came together and said, look, we are not pinned against each other. You know, we love each other, we're representing each other and I'm supporting you equally.
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: And so she did look like she was going to give her that award. I thought she was going to call Beyonce on the stage. And I wish she would have, that would be an epic --
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: But even so, it was it was beautiful to see women just support women.
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: Yes. And then women just say, you know what, we got this girl.
[02:55:14] CHURCH: Yes. Mutual respect was been extra ordinary.
REID: Absolutely.
CHURCH: And of course the baby bump was unbelievable because she can carry it off like nobody else.
REID: Yes.
CHURCH: But I want you to talk about James Corden. Because of course he carried in the entrance as well as he said roll down the stage. I'm not sure if that was by mistake or design. We'll leave that to --
REID: Yes.
CHURCH: -- to the audience to decide. But how do you think he went as a host?
REID: I it was OK. You know, I love him, late-late show we all watch it, I love. He's a -- the Michelle Obama and him doing the chariot -- I'm sorry Car Pool Karaoke. One of my favorite things ever. I think it was OK. I don't think it was like the best I've ever seen of him. But he was the -- he did play a little things a little bit. I did like the fact that he went with 21 pilots and got and make. CHURCH: I think that he's kidding and dropped his pants.
REID: When they said that that was how they decided they were going to accept their Grammy --
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: I thought that that was -- he was being inclusive but, you know, he's funny, he didn't go too far either way politically which, you know, people weren't really sure what's going to happened. But he's a fantastic comedian and I'll also continue watching him. So --
CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely.
REID: Yes.
CHURCH: -- wasn't it?
REID: It was a fantastic night. That night for the Grammy's for awhile.
CHURCH: I think so. And great to talk with you Holland Reid.
REID: At least, thank you for having me.
HOWELL: She's great.
CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Hour number two of CNN NEWS ROOM live from Atlanta, just after the break. Stay with us.
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