Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Military Investigating Civilian Deaths; Trump Shakes Off ObamaCare Loss; Carrie Lam Elected Hong Kong's New Leader; Las Vegas Shooting Suspect Surrenders; Undocumented Immigrants Not Reporting Abuse; Memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 26, 2017 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The Pentagon looking into allegations that U.S. air raids killed more than 200 people in Mosul, Iraq. What we know so far.

IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And Hong Kong has a new leader chosen by her committee, the country's elite. She says she will unify a divided nation.

ALLEN: Plus, why President Trump's vow to crack down on undocumented immigrants is increasing fear and worry among some domestic abuse victims.

That's all ahead here from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.

WATSON: And I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ALLEN: Our top story, grieving Iraqi civilians are demanding answers and so are the Iraqi government and the U.S. military. The Pentagon and Iraq's defense ministry are looking into allegations that several U.S.-led airstrikes have killed Iraqi civilians in Western Mosul this month.

These pictures are from the aftermath of one of those raids that occurred on March 17th. The U.S. and Iraqi forces are trying to drive ISIS out of its last major stronghold in Iraq, with the offensive maybe costing hundreds of civilian lives by accident.

CNN's Ian Lee is following all of this for us and joins us now from Cairo, Egypt.

The number of people, Ian, accidentally killed is quite high and devastating. IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Natalie. It is quite staggering from what are the reports that we're hearing about the number of people who were killed in this airstrike, allegedly killed in this airstrike on March 17th.

U.S. Central Command, who is overseeing operations by coalition forces, say they are going to be investigating this. They have opened up an informal assessment to get down to exactly how this happened and what happened.

But we're hearing reports that it took a while for rescue workers to get to this site of this explosion because it was just so dangerous, also reports that there are still people trapped and that the scene is just -- it's sheer devastation where there are body parts everywhere.

The U.S., though, trying to figure out what really happened because it is being heard that ISIS is bringing people to these front-line areas to use them as human shields, to kind of deter airstrikes, deter attacks, because of the risk of civilian casualties.

Some of the people fleeing Mosul talked about that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are being fired on and Islamic State would not let the families out. We went out in the middle of the night. People were killed. But thank God we managed to escape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were fired upon from coalition air force. The snipers go to the top of buildings that have families and the air force strikes these buildings, killing them and everyone in the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Natalie, the U.S. Central Command say that their ultimate goal is zero civilian casualties. Well, that is nearly impossible to do. They will try to figure out what exactly happened in this airstrike, how many people died.

Also looking at was the U.S. responsible, was it one of their airstrikes or was it a ISIS weapons depot that was exploded with this airstrike?

A lot of questions to be answered -- Natalie.

ALLEN: And while they look for those answers, is the fighting going to continue?

And what about the airstrikes?

Will they be suspended?

LEE: The U.S. says that they are not going to pause in the operation. We've also heard from Iraqi federal police to say they are not going to pause as well, even though there are some local provincial leaders who say there needs to be a positive kind of assess the situation and allow civilians to leave.

But the Iraqi federal police say they are going to switch up their tactics. They're going to use more stripers, more drones, less mortars, less mechanized machinery, more soldiers on foot because, when you look at the area they are going into, which is the Old City of Central Mosul, it is densely populated. These are old buildings, narrow alleyways, very difficult to fight in that area.

Also, there is the risk that there could be civilian casualties because it is so densely populated.

ALLEN: Ian Lee for us, following developments from Cairo, thank you, Ian.

WATSON: And joining me now to help explain this is retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Rick, good to see you. The reports are certainly disturbing, if it's possible that as many as 200 civilians could have been killed in one or more --

[04:05:00]

WATSON: -- airstrikes in Mosul.

Wasn't this part of the initial concern when the operation began to try to evict ISIS from this densely populated city?

Isn't that one of the major challenges the U.S. and Iraqi forces had?

How do you push a militant group out of a place with tens, hundreds of thousands of civilian residents?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, we knew this was going to be a problem. And as ISIS was bottled more into this densely populated area, any use of air artillery was going to cause civilian casualties.

The objective is to minimize the risk to the civilian population. Unfortunately, when you're dropping high explosives into a very compact area, this is what happens.

The problem is knowing what's underneath where you're striking. And this is an intelligence problem. It's also a fast-moving problem, a fluid problem.

So when these targets pop up and the Iraqi unit on the ground calls for air support, if the target is a validated target, it meets all the requirements, the Americans will strike the target. And I think that is what has happened here.

So we have to look at, is there a systemic problem in how we call in the airstrikes? WATSON: Rick, there seems to be some difference of opinion, at least, or in the facts in the reporting on this from the Iraqi government and the U.S. military Central Command, about which days there may have been airstrikes carried out that could have resulted in civilian deaths.

Can you make sense of how many of these incidents could have taken place that could have led to potentially such a high number of civilians killed?

FRANCONA: Yes, and there's so many airstrikes that happen in a short period of time, that you try to document as best as you can. But when bullets are flying and bombs are dropping, people are moving, shots are being fired, a lot of the paperwork and recordkeeping isn't up to date.

And it takes time to go back and get all that correctly. So these investigations will sort this out. But it's a painstaking progress. It's also very painstaking to figure out what happened when you don't have people really on the ground. We can't get into some of these areas yet.

We will be able to get in there once the Iraqis secure the area. But by that time, a lot of the evidence that we need will be gone.

WATSON: Let's get back to the battlefield itself in Mosul.

Where does the fight now stand in this bloody and deadly effort to try to uproot ISIS from that Northern Iraqi city?

FRANCONA: Well, you know, the city is isolated; it's surrounded. They're being -- ISIS is being pushed from all sides. They are being compacted into this tiny area. And that's why you see such vicious fighting.

There's no escape for these ISIS fighters. They're going to have to either surrender or die. And most of them have chosen to die. They are going to take as many civilians as they can with them. That's why we're seeing this uptick in civilian violence.

The Iraqis, to their credit, have said, OK, let's just take a break and see what happens. The only problem with taking a break is we know what's going to happen, ISIS is going to rearm, regroup, reposition their forces.

So I think the Iraqis are trying to do the right thing by taking the pause, let's calm, let's reassess our procedures and see if we can stop as many civilian casualties as we can.

I know the leader of the Nineveh Council has asked that all operations cease until we can guarantee the security of the civilian population. That is just impossible in this fast-moving, very dense populated area.

WATSON: Calls for a pause in this grinding battle. Retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, thank you very much for your insight. FRANCONA: Good to be with you.

ALLEN: We turn now to U.S. politics. The Trump administration says it has not given up on repealing ObamaCare, despite an embarrassing loss Friday in Congress. The U.S. Vice president Mike Pence said the issue will be fought again when conditions in Congress are more favorable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the president and I are grateful for Speaker Paul Ryan and all the House Republicans, who stood with us in this effort to begin the end of ObamaCare.

But as we all learned yesterday, Congress just wasn't ready. You saw it, with 100 percent of House Democrats, every single one, and a handful of Republicans actually standing in the way of President Trump's plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We get the latest now from CNN's Athena Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is indicating that tax reform will come next. One big question is what lessons were learned from the failure of this repeal effort that can be applied to any future legislative effort?

One senior administration official told me that going forward we can expect to see the White House get more engaged on the front end when it comes to legislation, shaping the language and the strategy.

The other big question is how the president's own sales pitch might shift. The White House has been saying in recent days that the president was all in on this bill, that he took this --

[04:10:00]

JONES: -- personally, that he was very much involved in having face- to-face meetings with members of the Republican caucus and also phone calls from early in the morning until late at night.

But if you talk to some members of the Republican caucus on Capitol Hill, they indicate that some of the president's sales tactics might be a bit lacking.

For one thing, they say that he didn't offer a strong enough rationale for why members should vote yes on this bill, other than a political one, the idea of giving him a legislative victory in his first 100 days.

And perhaps even more important here, is many members got the sense that the president did not have a good grasp of the details of this bill, the nitty-gritty policy details. Some members wanted to talk to him about their specific concerns about specific policies contained in this bill and he wasn't able to address those concerns.

My colleague, Dana Bash, reports that two sources tell her that during a Freedom Caucus meeting on Thursday night, that is the conservative wing of the House, the House Caucus, one of the members brought up a concern about one of the policy areas and the president said, "Forget about the little stuff."

He didn't say "stuff." He used another four-letter word that starts with an S.

In another meeting with moderate members of the House, one congressman from Pennsylvania, Charlie Dent, told the president that he was a no and the president replied, "Why am I even talking to you?"

A congressional aide, a GOP congressional aide tells my colleague, Jim Acosta, the bottom line her is that the president didn't care or particularly know about health care. And if you are going to be a great negotiator, you have to know about the subject matter.

So according to some members of the president's own party, he might need how to work on his dealmaking skills when it comes to dealing with Capitol Hill -- back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And we'll bring you more analysis on what the health care loss may mean for the Trump administration later in this show.

WATSON: Pro-democracy activists are protesting the election of the new leader of Hong Kong. Why some say the vote was more of a selection than an election.

ALLEN: Also ahead here, the Treaty of Rome turns 60. How rally-goers reacted to the E.U. milestone -- just ahead here. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(SPORTS)

[04:15:00]

WATSON: Welcome back to CNN. And now a story here in Hong Kong. An election committee has selected Carrie Lam as the city's new leader. She is seen as Beijing's choice for the job and she defeated a candidate who has more popular support.

She is the first woman to be selected as Hong Kong's chief executive. Earlier she addressed some of the concerns leading pro-democracy activists to protest her election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide and to ease the frustrations

and to unite our society to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now our Kristie Lu Stout joins us from another side of Hong Kong.

Good to see you, Kristie. This is historic because this is the first time that the city will be run by a woman. But, at the same time, you have got critics that are attacking this election's credibility and legitimacy.

What is fueling that frustration?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely. The announcement first was made here at Hong Kong election headquarters; as you pointed out, Carrie Lam is the new leader of Hong Kong. She's the first female chief executive in the history of the territory here.

And when the announcement was made, there were a lot of cheers in the public viewing area here in this hall. But, as you also pointed out earlier, according to the public opinion polls, she's not the people's choice.

Now she won an election involving 1,200 members of an election committee. She received 777 votes. But this election committee is said to be made up of people in Hong Kong who are broadly representative of the territory but it is really pro-business, pro- Beijing interests.

So changing this system was a key demand, as you recall, the 2014 pro- democracy Umbrella Movement protests, that in the end was not granted.

Earlier today as the ballots were being cast, as the ballots were being counted, a number of the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement figures were right outside this building, protesting against this process underway and saying that they are waiting for true universal suffrage.

And this is one of the key challenges ahead for the new leader of Hong Kong, dealing with these growing demands that are still there for one person, one vote, a growing rich-poor divide in Hong Kong and as well in addition to that, the rising influence of Beijing.

And one thing I might add, Ivan, when the announcement was made here in this election hall, it was a very compelling tableau. You had new Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, standing on the stage under a flag of the People's Republic of China flag, under the Bohemian flag of Hong Kong and there was the pro-democracy demonstrator right there in front, unfurling a yellow banner and unfurling the yellow Umbrella, asking for universal suffrage -- Ivan.

WATSON: Kristie, 777 votes electing a new official out of a city with a population of around 7 million, I can see where some of the criticism would come from. Tell us more about Carrie Lam, who used to be the number two in the city's administration. STOUT: That's right. Carrie Lam is a devout Catholic, she is a life- long bureaucrat. She was the former chief secretary, the loyal deputy to the outgoing and deeply unpopular chief executive, CY Leung.

She is seen to be as a continuation of his policies, so much so that her nickname has turned into CY 2.0.

Now compared to her main rival in this race, if you can call it that, John Tsang, he was seen as more charismatic than her. Her critics also said that she seems to be out of touch with modern life in Hong Kong and was the main --

[04:20:00]

STOUT: -- populist here in Hong Kong. But in the eyes of the establishment and in the eyes of Beijing, they see her as a pragmatist and they see her as a safe pair of hands to steer the territory forward -- back to you, Ivan.

WATSON: As Kristie Lu Stout live from Hong Kong on the appointment of a new chief executive for the city. Thank you, Kristie.

ALLEN: In London, investigators do not currently see a direct ISIS hand in Wednesday's attack outside Parliament. A British counterterrorism official tells CNN no evidence has emerged to show assailant Khalid Masood was communicating with a terror group.

Meantime, police have released all but one of the people who were arrested in connection with the attack, which killed four people.

The Las Vegas Strip is now completely reopened after police say a man shot two people, killing one of them. The suspect surrendered after a long standoff on Saturday. The shooting happening on a public transportation bus near the Cosmopolitan hotel on the Strip. Our Rachel Crane has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a very tense few hours, the suspect is now in custody. Law enforcement officials say that they were able to get him off that bus that he was barricaded on without firing any shots and that the suspect cooperated with police.

Now the Strip has reopened to pedestrian traffic and vehicular traffic after being closed for several hours during this incident. We do know, however, that one person lost their life, another person injured.

Now, of course, in light of recent terrorist attacks in Europe, people called into question if this was terror related. We now know that this was in fact not terror related at all nor was it related to an earlier incident that occurred at the Bellagio hotel, where three masked men robbed a fine jewelry store.

One of those men actually wearing a pig mask. In that incident, no shots were fired, nobody injured. But after a very tense few hours in Las Vegas, things are finally starting to get back to normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WATSON (voice-over): Those are pro-E.U. demonstrators in Berlin Saturday, celebrating 60 years since the signing of the treaty of Rome. The agreement led to the creation of the E.U.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Unity rallies in other major cities took place across Europe Saturday. All this just days before Britain is expected to start the formal process of leaving the bloc.

Anti-E.U. rallies also took place. Some spilled onto the streets of Rome, where E.U. leaders gathered to mark the treaty. Our contributor, Barbie Nadeau, was there and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There were six separate demonstrations in Rome today. Those for the continuation of the European Union, there were British people here, Scottish people here, lamenting the fact they are leaving the European Union.

There were Europeans lamenting the fact that there is a European Union. There were migrants, refugees that were demonstrating against closed borders. There were far right contingents who were demonstrating against migrants and refugees.

All in all, we don't have the exact number of people who were on the streets in Rome today. But the security forces, as you can see behind me, have been in full force all day long, trying to keep order as the day goes on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Barbie Nadeau for us there.

Chances of severe weather continue across the central U.S. and definitely coming to Australia. Derek is here with more on that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[04:25:00]

WATSON: All right. Let's bring you up to date now on some breaking news coming out of the U.S. state of Ohio, a shooting at a nightclub, police in Cincinnati say at least 14 people have been shot. At least one person is dead.

This happened at the Cameo nightclub. So far that is all the information that police are releasing. We will bring you more as soon as we get it. Still ahead, President Trump vows to overturn ObamaCare in the future. But one congresswoman tells CNN the president should first talk with health care experts before doing anything.

ALLEN: Plus, a "Los Angeles Times" reporter tells us what she saw in Western Mosul as the U.S. investigates Iraqi civilians may have been killed in coalition airstrikes. More about it straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WATSON (voice-over): Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ivan Watson, broadcasting live from Hong Kong.

ALLEN (voice-over): Nice to be with you, Ivan. And I'm Natalie Allen in Atlanta. Here are the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

ALLEN: We turn now to more on the investigation into deadly airstrikes in Iraq's second largest city. The U.S. and Iraq's defense ministry are looking into whether coalition airstrikes in Western Mosul this month killed Iraqi civilians, including women and children.

The Pentagon confirms one raid March 17th targeted ISIS fighters in the area but local civil defense officials say as many as 200 civilians may also have died.

"Los Angeles Times" reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske was at the scene Friday, one week after the raid. She spoke with my colleague, Cyril Vanier, about what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE, "LA TIMES": There were some areas where homes were just completely destroyed in rubble. So we had to sort of pick our way through. And we could see parts of people still stuck under the rubble, hands, feet; there were some remains that were wrapped in blankets. Most of them that they had retrieved, they put in body bags, in these blue body bags.

And they unzipped some of those because they wanted to show us that some of those victims were women, including at least one pregnant woman, and children. There were some babies as well.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And how many people do they believe were killed on that occasion?

HENNESSY-FISKE: Well those numbers vary. The civil defense people that we talked to had said they thought it was about 200. They had retrieved more than 100 remains by yesterday. And a photographer from the "LA Times" and I who were there, we roamed

around and we saw about 50. There were some other photographers there. They saw about the same number of remains.

It was a very crowded street. There were a lot of families with children. And they told me that Islamic State militants had forced more people in the area and that they had been sheltering inside the homes when the incident happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Moving on to the U.S., where the Trump administration says it has not given up on trying to repeal ObamaCare and will return to the issue in the future. When it does, it may wish to consult with health care experts in Congress before attempting to draft new legislation.

Take a listen to what one Democratic congresswoman told our Ana Cabrera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worked on health care for 30 years. So I know unequivocally, I was clear about how complicated it is and clear about how much work it's going to continue to take us to really get it right all across the country.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Did the president or Speaker Ryan reach out to you specifically to ask you what your thoughts were on their immigration bill?

Excuse me, their health care bill?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I had no contact from any of my Republican colleagues or my Republican colleague that represents the southern part of the state. And given that we're a --

[04:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Medicaid expansion state and stood to lose so much that it would really financially devastate the state, I'm not sure we could have recovered.

More than $11 billion in health care revenue over a 10-year period, all of our rural hospitals were at risk of closing, all of our community providers. We already have a behavior health system in collapse because we've got a governor that already took that flexibility that they were proposing more of in a Republican health care bill, that you don't have to pay for behavioral health services and you don't have to pay for addiction services.

So we know unequivocally just how terrible that would be and devastating and no one reached out to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: As Republicans and Democrats spar over the efforts to replace ObamaCare and other issues, lawmakers are having to face voters. South Carolina's Lindsey Graham held a spirited town hall on Saturday and he had to defend his position, both on health care and Russia. Our Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator Graham came, listened and, at one point, even fired back against some of the critics in the audience during what his second town hall this month.

There was one point, where a woman close to the front row, essentially accused the Republican lawmaker as well as some of his colleagues of, quote, "obstructing" this ongoing investigation into these possible ties between the Trump organization and Russia.

The lawmaker from South Carolina, putting it lightly, disagreed.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), S.C.: I think that's a bunch of garbage when it comes to me. I don't think I have obstructed anything. I think I've been more than on the case when it comes to Russia. I think I have stood up for the idea that I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and let the Russians try to undermine our democracy.

But I'm not going to -- and so, I don't agree with it.

SANDOVAL: Of course, the topic of Russia dominated the conversation, as did the Affordable Health Care Act (sic). Many of the people in the crowd did support this idea of trying to modify ObamaCare.

However, many of them were happy with the fact that it will remain in place for now. The concern is that the Republicans have not offered up another solution that would have that bipartisan support. The senator, though, making it very clear that this may not be brought up again, at least not anytime soon.

But the next issue that he would like to see taken up in Washington is tax reform -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Well, Republicans often complained that ObamaCare was originally rammed through Congress without regard to their views. But that is not quite accurate, according Avik Roy. He was health care adviser to former Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Listen to what he told our Ana Cabrera earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVIK ROY, FORMER ROMNEY ADVISER: It was actually Paul Ryan, who isn't really used to running a governing party. And this process from the beginning to the end was pretty shambolic (ph).

CABRERA: So you believe it was Ryan's fault?

ROY: Yes. I mean, he really didn't -- you know, when you do this kind of stuff -- and, by the way, if you look back on how Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama led the process that led to what we call ObamaCare in 2009-2010, they took about a year to have a lot of hearings. They even invited a lot of Republicans like Paul Ryan to chip in with their views as to how this plan should develop.

Senate Democrats engaged with Republicans, even though Democrats controlled 59 and ultimately 60 seats in the Senate.

You compare that to this process, where a bill drops on a Monday evening and Republicans are expected, within 16 days -- 16 days -- to decide whether they like this bill or not, receive threats from the president that they are being disloyal if they don't like it, a bill that's going to affect one-sixth of the economy, cut about a trillion dollars in spending.

I mean, this process really was a bit of a mess. And, again, that really goes to Paul Ryan because he didn't develop the consensus; he didn't try to forge agreement among the different parties.

And he could have. As we got to the end of this past week, the House Freedom Caucus and the moderates were coming together on what a compromise could look like. But the president and Paul Ryan decided to pull the plug. They were sick of it. They wanted to go to tax reform. And here we are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Let's talk more about that. Silvia Borrelli is a reporter for "Politico" and she joins me now live from Rome.

Silvia, thank you for being with us.

Do you agree with what we just heard, that this failed attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare is on the shoulders of Speaker Ryan and that the process was some kind of a mess?

SILVIA BORRELLI, "POLITICO": Well, the process was definitely a mess. I'm not sure if it's only Paul Ryan's fault. There's a lot of people who have been saying Obama (sic) wasn't engaged enough. They pointed to his son-in-law being in Aspen right when the bill was being negotiated and Trump being distracted with other issues.

We know that health care isn't really the president's thing. And from what I heard, my colleagues in Washington were telling me that --

[04:40:00]

BORRELLI: -- actually he was furious at the White House staff for not briefing him properly on the bill. He was furious at the Freedom Caucus for moving the post too far and putting him in the situation where he was going to risk everything and the moderates if he pushed it forward.

So I think it's on the Republican Party entirely. But who exactly is hard to tell. Of course, Trump trusted Ryan to prioritize the health care bill over, perhaps, other things he was most interested in; for example, infrastructure spending or the tax reform. But maybe it's a bit unfair to say it is only on Ryan because the

president could have engaged more and more work could have been done on this. But definitely it's a big blow for the Republicans.

ALLEN: And Donald Trump apparently told "The New York Times" that real estate deals are easier than deals within Washington and in the White House. It's not easy when you have so many different interests there representing so many people across the country.

So what might he have learned from this first foray into legislation, about getting something so huge passed?

BORRELLI: Well, I think, as you said, he's used to just writing business deals. And normally, in business deals, on the other side, you have people that actually want to close the deal. So they want you to lobby them into saying yes.

In this case, you have the Freedom Caucus, that probably didn't even want this to pass from the beginning. And they have a very, you know, close electorate and a very far right one to whom probably this bill probably wasn't OK altogether.

So now Trump is in the situation where he realizes that he has to please the Freedom Caucus on one hand but he has to rely on the majority of moderates on the other hand.

So it is much harder than what he thought. And he presented himself during the campaign as a dealmaker, as a master negotiator. And right now we have a dealmaker that isn't able to strike any deals. This was the first big legislative bill he was supposed to pass, to move onto things that interest him more.

And apparently, it's harder than what he thought. But as usual, he looks for scapegoats. And I think from this experience, he's learned that he has to probably engage more and try to negotiate in a completely different way because politics isn't business.

ALLEN: Right. And he has to, somehow, unite his party.

What about working with the Democrats, a chance on that or a possibility?

BORRELLI: Well, on the health care bill, I don't think so although he blamed the Democrats for sinking this one. We know that at this stage, this bill specifically, the Democrats weren't involved at all. There were no conversations, as you were saying before, between the Republicans and the Democrats or the White House on this specific bill.

Now, going forward, he probably will have to engage. But we know that the tax reform is another of the main items on the agenda. And that is not going to be easy, either.

So it depends on how much consensus he can rally around his propositions and how controversial these propositions are because we know so far what he's done, for example; the travel ban was passed as an executive order. And, of course, that had no chance of being discussed or agreed with Democrats on the other side.

The health care bill is another example of things that he can't get the Democrats to agree on. So it depends what he wants to push forward next.

ALLEN: Saying you're going to do something on the campaign trail is quite different from actually getting it done in Washington. So we'll wait to see what happens next. Silvia Borrelli with "Politico," thank you so much for joining us.

BORRELLI: Thank you.

WATSON: Thanks, Natalie.

Coming up after the break, the U.S. crackdown on undocumented immigrants may have unintended consequences. The crimes police and rights groups say are not reported, that's coming up just ahead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WATSON: Welcome back. We want to bring you up to date on a breaking story we're following out of the U.S. state of Ohio, a shooting at a nightclub.

Police in Cincinnati now say at least 15 people have been shot. At least one person is dead. This happened at the Cameo nightclub. So far, that is all the information that police are releasing. And we will bring you more as soon as we get it.

Moving on now to Africa, where health workers are preparing to vaccinate more than 100 million children against polio across the western and central parts of the continent. It's part of a drive by a World Health Organization to contain an outbreak of the disease in conflict-hit northeast Nigeria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL ZAFFRAN (PH), WHO: This vaccination campaign constitutes one of the largest synchronized campaign in history. A total of 190,000 vaccinators will be fanning out in 13 countries, going door to door to vaccinate every single under 5 child.

We need to synchronize the campaign and vaccinate all of the children at the same time so that the virus has nowhere to hide. And we can end polio for good in Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, as the White House pursues its crackdown on illegal immigration, undocumented immigrants may be reporting fewer crimes. The L.A. police chief said Tuesday Latinos are reporting fewer rapes and incidents of spousal abuse. This as human rights groups say fear of deportation keeps victims silent. Rafael Romo has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): This undocumented Mexican immigrant, the mother of four, says she was a victim of domestic violence for 12 years. She says that in addition to fearing her husband, she was afraid of being deported and separated from her children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My husband would always tell me that he was going to call immigration authorities and that they would take my children away.

ROMO (voice-over): Cracking down on illegal immigration was one of President Trump's main campaign promises.

TRUMP: We've put in place the first steps in our immigration plan, ordering the immediate construction of the border wall, putting an end to catch and release.

ROMO (voice-over): But human rights activists say the president's immigration policies are having an unintended effect. Domestic violence victims, they say, are now afraid to go to police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Domestic violence victims are calling us to let us know what's happening to them and what they are going through at home. But they say that they are afraid and they don't want to call the police or go to court.

ROMO (voice-over): In the first few weeks of the Trump presidency, immigration authorities carried out what they called routine raids throughout the country, detaining hundreds of undocumented immigrants.

NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The disgraceful new ICE raids targeting immigrant families are deeply upsetting, cruel and designed to spread fear.

ROMO: Organizations that protect victims of domestic violence say --

[04:50:00]

ROMO: -- many immigrants were abused don't know they can receive legal help and support, regardless of their immigration status under the Violence against Women Act of 1994.

The U.S. government also offers the U visa (ph) for victims of mental or physical abuse who are willing to cooperate with police.

ROMO (voice-over): For this undocumented mother, the U visa was the answer.

"It gave me hope that I will not be separated from my children," she says. But activists say in the polarized environment where anti-immigrant

rhetoric is commonplace, the message is not getting through to victims. Perpetrators of domestic violence, they fear, are now more likely to go unpunished -- Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Our final story of this hour right after this.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WATSON: Let's bring you back up to date on our breaking news story out of the U.S. state of Ohio. Police in Cincinnati say at least one person is dead and 15 wounded at a mass shooting at a nightclub there. According to police, several of the victims --

[04:55:00]

WATSON: -- are in surgery with life-threatening injuries. The club has been identified as Cameo, on the city's east side. Police say they do not have any suspects at this time but are interviewing witnesses. And we will, of course, keep you updated as more details become available -- Natalie.

ALLEN: Thanks, Ivan.

Now to Hollywood; saying we shouldn't be here so soon in our lives, comedian and actor Dan Aykroyd paid tribute to Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds.

Aykroyd was among 1,000 friends, family and fans at a public memorial Saturday. The Hollywood screen legends died within a day of each other last December. A tribute near their burial site in Los Angeles featured singing, dancing and a cameo by a "Star Wars" character.

It was put together by Todd Fisher, Reynolds' son and Carrie's brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD FISHER, DEBBIE REYNOLDS' SON: This entire thing, I'm calling a show, not a memorial, because my mother didn't like memorials or funerals. And she liked shows and parties. So she also loved her people. And you are all her people, not just her close friends but her extended family, her fans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Finally, Earth Hour was on Saturday. And here are some of the cities that took part. The lights went out in Moscow, one of the places all over the world

that turned out lights on major landmarks.

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower plunged into darkness, all to call attention to global warming. People and businesses also dimmed their lights for an hour at 8:30 Saturday night local time.

In Manila, "Star Wars" fans got creative. They held light saber duels to mark the 10th anniversary of Earth Hour. And it was started 10 years ago by the World Wildlife Fund.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen at CNN Center in Atlanta.

WATSON: And I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. I'll be back with another hour of news from around the world right after the break. You're with CNN, the world's news leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)