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Iran Nuclear Deal; Russia Investigation; Taliban Captured Family Returns to Canada; California Fires; Puerto Ricans without Water; Sheriff Clarifies Timeline of Las Vegas Shooter; Harvey Weinstein Hollywood Scandal; Rohingya Crisis; Secretary Zinke Brings Colorful Quirks to Washington. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 14, 2017 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A major blow to the Iran nuclear deal. President Trump refuses to recertify the agreement leaving its future in the hands of the U.S. Congress.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Another twist in the Russia investigation. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus answers questions from the special counsel's team.
VANIER (voice-over): And a daily struggle for basic needs in Puerto Rico, people waiting hours for water that isn't even safe to drink.
ALLEN: And from a hazardous waste site. That's how desperate they are. We'll have more on that story.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER (voice-over): And I'm Cyril Vanier at the CNN NEWSROOM.
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VANIER: Nine months after taking office, Donald Trump is aggressively dismantling what his predecessor, Barack Obama, did during eight years. Against the advice of his own cabinet and key U.S. allies, the U.S. president on Friday declared that Iran was no longer in compliance with the landmark nuclear deal negotiated during the Obama administration. The fate of that agreement is now uncertain.
ALLEN: And Mr. Obama's signature health care law also under fire. On Thursday, Mr. Trump ordered an end to government subsidies to help low income Americans buy health insurance. For more, here is CNN's Ryan Nobles in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Friday was promise-keeping day at the White House. And for the Trump administration, that meant going after some of Barack Obama's key accomplishments. NOBLES (voice-over): President Trump is trying to make good on major
campaign promises with two key policy moves that could have dramatic consequences.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am announcing a new strategy to address the full range of Iran's destructive actions.
NOBLES (voice-over): Mr. Trump unveiling a new approach to the nuclear agreement with Iran, decertifying the deal and forcing Congress to come up with a plan within 60 days.
TRUMP: We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran's nuclear breakout.
NOBLES (voice-over): In addition to forcing Congress to make the deal tougher, the president promised new economic sanctions and sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guard. He warned that if he doesn't like the congressional plan, he is prepared to pull out of the deal completely.
TRUMP: In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated.
NOBLES (voice-over): This warning matches the president's strong condemnation of the Iran deal on the campaign trail.
TRUMP: The Iran deal, forget about deals between countries. This is one of the dumbest contracts I've ever seen of any kind.
NOBLES (voice-over): But pulling out completely could potentially isolate the U.S. from key allies that support the Iran agreement. It also stands in contrast to the recommendations of the president's key advisers, like Defense Secretary James Mattis, who argued the U.S. is better off in the deal.
GEN. JAMES MATTIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Absent indications to the contrary, it is something the president should consider staying with.
NOBLES (voice-over): And it comes despite the fact that the administration concedes Iran has lived up to their end of the bargain.
REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: My view of the nuclear deal is they are in technical compliance of the nuclear arrangement.
NOBLES (voice-over): While the move may make U.S. allies and diplomats nervous, it will likely be welcomed by the president's supporters, enthusiastically cheered by his speech at the Conservative Value Voters Summit.
In addition to pointing to his plan with Iran, as an example of his attempt to make good on campaign promises, the president bragged about his decision to withhold cost sharing payments for insurance companies as the first step to repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Republicans have argued for some time that the payments to insurance
companies were unlawful. Today Mr. Trump argued the payments were just making insurance companies rich.
TRUMP: As far as the subsidies are concerned, I don't want to make the insurance companies rich.
NOBLES (voice-over): But Democrats contend the White House is purposely attempting to dismantle ObamaCare in an attempt to force Congress to take action, a move that could result in many Americans paying higher insurance rates.
Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi called the move, quote, "a spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage, leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America."
The president argues he's just following through on his campaign pledge.
TRUMP: In the last 10 months, we have followed through on one promise after another.
NOBLES: And it's not surprising President Trump is focusing on health care and Iran. If you paid attention to his campaign, a key theme was an implied promise that he was going to do everything he can to undo the Obama legacy. He is now taking direct aim at two of Barack Obama's most significant accomplishments -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, at the White House.
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ALLEN: Many U.S. allies reacted with dismay at Mr. Trump's decision on the deal. They say that they will continue to honor the international agreement. But Iranian government has issued a dire warning that any U.S. action to dismantle the deal would be a strategic mistake. The Iranian president was especially harsh in his criticism of Mr. Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is an international multilateral deal that has been ratified by the U.N. Security Council. It is a U.N. document.
Is it possible for a president to unilaterally decertify this important international deal?
Apparently he is not in the know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Mr. Trump's declaration of Iranian noncompliance conflicts with the view of international inspectors and his own secretary of state. The thorny issue now goes to the U.S. Congress, which has 60 days, according to Mr. Trump, to pass tougher legislation toward Tehran that satisfies President Trump. That includes taking a harder line on Iran's ballistic missile program, which was not part of the original nuclear deal.
VANIER: Let's bring Leslie Vinjamuri now. She's in London. She's a senior lecturer in international relations at SOAS University of London.
Leslie, Mr. Trump wants to get tougher on Iran -- we know that -- and he wants Congress and the American allies to get tougher on Iran but he actually hasn't laid out how specifically.
LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: That's exactly right. What we're missing is sense of any alternative approach, any strategic thinking on this. And what is at the heart of this, of course, is the internal agreement within the United States, which is completely separate, of course, from the Iranian nuclear deal, which requires President Trump to go to Congress every 90 days, he's had to do this twice already and now he's come back.
And for him this is terribly humiliating, to have to certify, which he's done twice, he didn't do this in the third round, to have to publicly certify Iran's compliance, which, of course, has been certified internationally multiple times by the IAEA.
But for this particular president to have to do that, I think it's simply something he couldn't bear do again. But he hasn't presented an alternative plan. And instead what he's doing is he's in effect giving up his executive power over this particular strategic relationship and he is turning it back to Congress. And that is a very difficult position.
So we have Senators Corker and Tom Cotton, who will now be working on a proposed bill. But it puts the U.S. in a very difficult position. And I think one key here might be in this negotiation in Congress to give the president more space.
And I've heard of proposals out there to perhaps only require the president to return to Congress every 180 days, which would, of course, deal with this problem of the president's unwillingness to go on the public record and have to actually certify that Iran is indeed complying with the deal, which it is.
VANIER: The fundamental question is, does Mr. Trump want to leave the deal if the deal doesn't become more favorable to the U.S., in his words?
And he has leverage. We know he's capable of pulling out of these deals regardless of the consequences. Think of the Paris deal, the climate accord.
So we know that he's capable of pulling out of deals.
Does that give him leverage, both with respect to Congress for them to get a tougher deal with Iran and with respect to Iran, for them to accept a tougher deal?
VINJAMURI: It doesn't seem to be giving him a lot of leverage right now over either Iran or perhaps, more notably, over the European countries that were deeply involved in these negotiations and remain heavily committed to it, have gone on record yesterday, saying they remain committed to it.
And as well as the E.U. But with respect to Congress, of course, he's put Congress in the position where Congress now has to decide and Congress was never originally very favorable towards this agreement, which is why we're in this position in the first place because they then enacted this very separate Iranian Review Act which is really -- again, it's an internal domestic issue within the United States. But it's causing very serious international problems now.
But it gives Congress some leverage; it gives Trump some leverage over Congress. But it's not clear what the end game is. This is something that hasn't been very strategically thought through because, of course, if the bill that's put forward, if it passes, which is a very big if, it could, of course, lead to a position where it's very clear that the United States has, in fact, violated the terms of the Iran agreement.
And then the question is then what happens?
Does Europe just continue to move forward?
Does Iran stick with the deal?
In which case the U.S. becomes very marginalized, it becomes isolated, it loses access to the intelligence that it is getting now when the IAEA goes in and inspects. And it puts the U.S. really on the back foot.
So it is a negotiating strategy but, remember, the risks are tremendously high. If Iran were actually to restart its nuclear program, withdraw from the deal, this is a tremendously new and dangerous world that we'd be living in, not one that anybody wants to see going forward.
VANIER: Could Iran accept a tougher deal?
VINJAMURI: Iran has made it very clear that it has absolutely no intention of renegotiating this deal to include the sorts of things that the president has talked about, including measures on the ballistic missiles program or Iran's activity in the region.
And remember that if Iran was going to accept the tougher deal, that deal would have been agreed. Secretary Kerry worked very hard, as did President Obama, there were all sorts of alternatives considered. This is the best possible alternative. This was what was gettable. It's not as if these peoples involved in these negotiations were naive to the broader issues.
But this is the deal that was -- that they were able to achieve. And for what it is, it is a very good deal and it goes back to the first question, a question of alternatives. And it's clearly the best possible alternative and people have been sticking with the deal. Iran's sticking with the deal. VANIER: This is the deal that was gettable. All right. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you very much. We have got 60 days to see what happen, 60 days for Congress to make up its mind, find out whether it wants to impose new sanctions or get tougher on Iran or whether it is an alternative path. Leslie, thank you.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
ALLEN: Some new developments in the investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
VANIER: Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus sat down with special counsel Robert Mueller's team. Our Jim Sciutto has more from Washington.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're learning that special counsel Robert Mueller's team has now interviewed Reince Priebus, the former chief of the staff to the president.
This interview took place here in Washington at the offices of Robert Mueller. Priebus' lawyer tells CNN that it was voluntary, he was happy to cooperate. But it shows this investigation is now extending to the most senior advisers to the president. Priebus is key not only because he was chief of staff until recently but he was the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
During the campaign in 2016 when Russian meddling in the election was taking place. The list does not end there. It is our understanding that the special counsel also wants to speak with the current communications director, Hope Hicks; the current White House counsel, Don McGann as well as former White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
Topics he's interested in looking into, the firing of James Comey, the FBI director; the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn as well as a meeting on Air Force One that took place as "The New York Times" was first reporting, a meeting in June 2016 between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyers, who were promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
All of this showing how seriously the special counsel is taking those various lines of investigation -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: A Taliban linked group is being accused of rape and authorizing the murder of a baby by the family it held hostage for five years. Canadian Joshua Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were captured in 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan.
ALLEN: Boyle and Coleman arrived in Canada Friday with three children after Pakistani forces freed them just the day before. Boyle appeared angry and shaken as he accused his kidnappers of these horrendous crimes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA BOYLE, KIDNAP VICTIM: The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani Network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife, engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban controlled regions of Afghanistan, was eclipsed only by the stupidity and the evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle, as retaliation for my repeated refusal to accept an offer that the criminal miscreants of the Haqqani Network had made to me and the subsequent and the stupidity and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife, not as a lone action by one guard but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the commandant, Abu Haja (ph) of the Haqqani Network. God willing, this litany of stupidity will be the epitaph of the Haqqani Network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: (INAUDIBLE) That is Joshua Boyle. We'll probably hear more about their ordeal. They were just freed again by Pakistani forces.
As they detail what life was like for five years under the Taliban.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, deadly wildfires burn across California. The challenges that firefighters face as they work to contain the flames.
ALLEN: Also resources remain scarce in Puerto Rico, many people going to great lengths just to drink water. We'll tell you about that coming up.
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ALLEN: The latest now on those California wildfires. Exhausted firefighters are contending with strong winds as they continue to battle these flames in Northern California; 36 people confirmed dead and the flames have consumed nearly 90,000 hectares or 221,000 acres since they erupted last Sunday.
VANIER: Officials say thousands of firefighters are working around the clock to contain the 17 blazes. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In addition to the number of people who have died, there is concern that number may grow because there are so many people unaccounted for. And officials are only now able to get into those neighborhoods to start to search for people who may still be in the ruins of their homes.
This is what firefighters are dealing with a lot right now, fire out in the middle of the forest, trees that are down, you see this one has brought down an electrical line. It is a possibility that, because of the high winds and the fire that we've had, the electrical lines like this created many of the fires that we have right now.
Firefighters have been working extraordinarily hard, clearing lines, trying to fortify the lines that they have already cut so that if and when big winds come over the next 48 hours, they will be able to withstand it and keep the fire from crossing over into new communities.
But right now, it's anyone's guess. The firefighters have been working tirelessly, literally 24 hours a day, trying to cut those lines, to create protection lines so the fire can't jump it. But there are predictions for winds coming as high as 60 kilometers an hour. That could force that fire that exists right now over those lines into whole new communities and wipe them out -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, in Sonoma County, California.
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VANIER: And we're getting harrowing video from the first night the fires raged. Look at this, this bodycam footage was released by the Sonoma County sheriff's office, showing a deputy responding to the emergency. At this point in the video, he almost gets trapped by the flames. He runs through raining ash, drives through walls of flames as embers fly off his car.
ALLEN: Look at him driving through that. At one point he rescues a woman from her burning home. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you at?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's disabled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, all right, let me get her feet. Let me get her feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her husband is right behind you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff 1, 10-4, we're doing a carry out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold up, hold up, hold up. We have a house on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to get her out, you've got to get her out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Hold on. There we go. OK. Watch your leg, watch your leg, watch your leg. Watch your leg, watch your leg.
Sir! You've got to go. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: I mean, my goodness, people just did not realize because it came up so fast, right, Derek, that this is it. You have to get out now.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's incredible how fast these things can spread, 40 kilometers per hour quite easily, 30 miles per hour roughly, especially on some of the steep slopes that they have across Central California.
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ALLEN: Another area trying to come back, more than a million Puerto Ricans are still without clean water, some people are so desperate they are drinking water pumped from hazardous waste sites.
VANIER: U.S. officials say many water sources won't be safe until infrastructure is repaired and power is restored. But the problem is more than 90 percent of Puerto Ricans were without power on Friday. And that is up 8 percent from the previous day.
ALLEN: Doesn't make any sense. The acting U.S. Secretary of the Army visited the island to survey the damage. He is leading more than 10,000 soldiers on the island but he says it is clear that tremendous challenges still remain.
For many Puerto Ricans, yes, it is a daily struggle just to survive.
VANIER: Our Ed Lavandera has more on the routines becoming commonplace on the ravaged island.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along a winding road high in the mountains South of San Juan, this stream of water is a lifeline, a pit stop in the daily routine for thousands of people.
Beverly Cancel and her husband pull up under the makeshift waterspouts, PVC pipes dipped into this stream overhead to divert the water into massive tanks.
BEVERLY CANCEL, NARANJITO RESIDENT: Every day is a struggle.
He wakes up at 4:00 in the morning, he comes here, he fills up and he takes it to our neighbors.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The water isn't safe to drink, but people use it to take showers, washcloths and cleaning. And for some like Adrian Santiago (ph) who've lost their jobs since the storm. Delivering this water to residents is a way of making extra money.
Santiago delivers the water to Nelson Vazquez who lives several miles away, he keeps two large 55 gallon barrel drums in his garage next to a generator to power the basic necessities in his home, he says living in the storm's aftermath is like traveling back in time.
NELSON VAZQUEZ, NARANJITO RESIDENT: Our great grandmothers used to carry cans of water on their hip from the lake to washcloths.
LAVANDERA (on camera): The roads way into this neighborhood was washed away by the storm. There are about 40 families that live on the other side, essentially cut off from the rest of the town. So they're having to figure out ways to get in and out. And this is one of those makeshift ways, a path so people can walk in and out of their own neighborhood.
(voice-over): And on the other side of the road collapse is where we found Elizabeth Diaz carrying for her newborn baby boy. Diaz gave birth two days before Hurricane Maria struck. And when she left the hospital, she walked out into the ruins left by the storm. Her only focus now is carrying for her baby who was born prematurely. (on camera): Her house where she normally lives is unlivable right now because of the hurricane damage. So she's living here. No place for take a newborn baby.
(voice over): Here in the mountains of Central Puerto Rico many residents say they're settling into the reality that a normal day isn't even a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel yet. One man put at this way. We're prepared for a dark Christmas, there will be no holiday lights decorating the island this year-- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Naranjito, Puerto Rico.
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ALLEN: We have this just into CNN, the U.S.-led coalition in Syria says 85 percent of Raqqah, the self declared capital of the ISIS caliphate, has been liberated. A statement from the coalition says they are making steady progress and that they removed roughly 100 ISIS soldiers from the city after they surrendered. They added that there is more fighting to come with no hard timeline for when the city will be fully free.
VANIER: And a landmark deal to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons now hang in the balance. Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Tehran reacts to President Trump's decision not to recertify the international Iran nuclear deal.
ALLEN: Also ahead, after days of conflicting reports, authorities investigating the Las Vegas massacre have finally nailed down some key details of the shooting. We'll share that with you. You're watching CNN.
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VANIER: Welcome back, everyone. Good to have you with us. I'm Cyril Vanier from the CNN NEWSROOM.
ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our headlines this hour.
(HEADLINES)
ALLEN: The Iranian government has been extremely critical of Mr. Trump's unilateral decision on the nuclear deal. An official statement issued by state media warns that any U.S. action against the agreement would be met with a strong and unified reciprocal reaction.
VANIER: The statement called the nuclear deal, quote, "an outstanding achievement in contemporary diplomacy," but hardliners say Mr. Trump's action proves the U.S. cannot be trusted. We get more from CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in the Iranian capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's speech has caused a lot of anger and frustration, especially among those in power here in Iran. But also it has caused some reactions in the political sphere as well.
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani came out really very shortly after President Trump spoke and gave a speech of his own absolutely blasting the U.S. president, on the one hand saying the U.S. can't unilaterally leave the deal, because of course it's not a deal between Iran and the U.S. but between Iran, the U.S. and many other countries.
And on the other hand, also saying that Iran would stay within the nuclear agreement but also if the U.S. also plays its role as well and does not violate the terms of the agreement.
One of the other things that President Rouhani also said that's very important, he said that the speech that Trump gave today shows that, quote, "the U.S. government is against the Iranian people."
That, of course, playing to the fact that President Trump in his speech kept talking about the Iranian people being, quote, "oppressed," by what he calls "the regime" here in Tehran. It was a very fiery speech that Hassan Rouhani gave and certainly one that was watched by many people in this country.
When you look at the reactions we're seeing from ordinary Iranians, we spoke to both moderates and hardliners here in this country and among the moderates, especially, you could sense the disappointment that they feel that this new stance that the United States is showing.
Many of them had high hopes after the nuclear agreement of economic benefits because of the agreement, of an opening up towards the West and possibly even better relations with the United States.
On the other hand, you have the hardliners, who, at this point who are somewhat gloating about all this. They were always very critical of the nuclear agreement and now they're saying, look, we always told you the U.S. can't be trusted. And now this has been proven once again.
One of the other very, very important things that the Iranian government has said, not just President Rouhani but other government agencies as well is they've defended the Revolutionary Guard here in this country after the U.S. has declared it a terrorist organization at least by the U.S. Treasury.
Many government agencies here in Tehran have come out and said that they believe the Revolutionary Guard is an integral part of this country and they certainly seem to be standing by it -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Nearly two weeks after the Las Vegas massacre, where 58 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on their festival, investigators still have a lot of questions about it.
VANIER: They are, however, starting to get a better grasp on how it all unfolded. CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an emotional and at times combative news conference, the Las Vegas sheriff once again revised his story on how the Las Vegas massacre went down. Defending his previous timeline as the result of a complex investigation and not incompetence.
SHERIFF JOE LOMBARDO, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: The word incompetence has been brought forward and I am absolutely offended with that characterization. This is a very dynamic event, very big event. Thousands of people involved. Humans involved in documentation.
TODD: Police now say they believe hotel security guard, Jesus Campos, happened upon Stephen Paddock around the same time paddock began shooting on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on October 1st, not six minutes before it began, as the sheriff had said on Monday.
[11:50:00] LOMBARDO: Mr. Campos received his wounds in close proximity to 22:05.
TODD: The sheriff's revised timeline once again suggests Campos; encounter with the shooter may have led police to Paddock much sooner. That's because Campos have tried to enter the 32nd floor from the stairwell next to the shooter's room, police now say, only to find it had been barricaded.
SGT. JOSHUA BITSKO, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: He screwed shot the door with a piece of metal and some screws in the stairwell going out to the hallway right by his door.
OFFICER DAVE NEWTON, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: He knew we would be coming out that door to gain entry to his door so he tried barricade it as best as he could.
TODD: Police say Campos was forced to take another route to the 32nd floor and that once in the hallway, the shooter opened fire. Also new information from the sheriff on Paddock's tactics. He now says at one point, the killer turned his guns away from concert goers, when he saw police arriving.
LOMBARDO: It is readily apparent to me that he adjusted his fire and directed it toward the police vehicles.
TODD: With tears welling in his eyes.
LOMBARDO: Excuse me for my emotion.
TODD: Sheriff Joe Lombardo said his officers had rushed to the scene and were trying to save lives. He visited some of those officers this week.
LOMBARDO: Brady received four separate gunshot wounds. The reason I bring this one up. He asked me if I could go back to work today.
TODD: But the biggest mystery surrounding the worst mass shooting in modern American history continues to swirl.
ART RODERICK, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: To me, the biggest mystery is the motive, it's just very odd that we don't know why. When we look at not just mass shootings, but anything, we generally know what the motive is fairly quickly. And the mystery to me is that here we are almost two weeks out and we have no idea why this guy did this. I think he didn't want us to know the motive. Otherwise, we would have found it out by now.
TODD (on camera): And investigators are still doggedly trying to piece that together. The sheriff saying they're trying to establish a time line of Stephen Paddock's life and everyone he was ever associated with -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: We turn now to the scandal gripping Hollywood. The Motion Picture Academy will meet Saturday and possibly hold a vote to strip Harvey Weinstein of his membership. The Academy hosts the Oscars awards and there's reportedly a push within the group to remove him.
VANIER: That would be a huge blow to Weinstein, who has already been fired from his job at his namesake company after widespread allegations of sexual misconduct.
ALLEN: Meantime actors continue to raise their voices against him and against a culture of silence over sexual harassment in Hollywood. Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years, Rose McGowan was known for her hit TV series, "Charmed," and for her movies. But now the actress is in the spotlight for accusing former film executive Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. "The New York Times" reports that, in 1997, after McGowan appeared in
the movie, "Scream," she reached a settlement with Weinstein after an alleged incident involving him in a hotel room. Weinstein denied any wrongdoing.
Over the years, McGowan has not kept quiet about the alleged assault but never named Weinstein. Her outrage coming to a head Thursday, when she took to Twitter, accusing Weinstein of raping her.
In a tweet to Amazon's chief, Jeff Bezos, McGowan said, "I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. He said it hadn't been proven. I said, I was the proof."
That unnamed head of Amazon Studios, Roy Price. Amazon released a statement saying Price is on leave of absence effective immediately. The move comes after a female producer lodged a complaint against Price.
McGowan's followers credit her for speaking out but the actress' prolific tweeting took a hit after Twitter temporarily suspended her account on Wednesday. It outraged her followers, the hashtag "WomenBoycottTwitter started trending and calls for no tweeting Friday to support McGowan.
A Twitter spokesperson says her page was not suspended because of her Weinstein rant but because she had violated their policy by posting a private phone number. Whatever the case, her account was restored the next day.
DEE POKU SPALDING, THE OTHER FESTIVAL: Now we have the power of social. We can rally communities around these issues very, very quickly. So that's really what Rose is doing.
CARROLL (voice-over): Dee Poku Spalding is a former Hollywood agent. She, like so many others in Hollywood, knew of Weinstein's behavior.
SPALDING: It was just a sort of an accepted evil.
CARROLL (voice-over): McGowan continues to shame those who she says allowed Weinstein's misconduct to continue for years, tweeting, "You all knew." And to use her platform to advocate for women, like acting legend Tippi Hedren of Hitchcock fame.
TIPPI HEDREN, ACTOR: Oh, I don't think it'll ever stop. I don't think it ever will.
CARROLL (voice-over): Hedren recounted her experiences of alleged sexual assault from director Alfred Hitchcock in her book, titled, "Tippi."
HEDREN: I told him that I, you know, just stop it and I walked out. And as I left, he said I'll ruin your career. He didn't ruin me. And in my own mind. And that was worth everything to me.
CARROLL (voice-over): Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Coming up, another European country gearing up for a critical collection, this time Austrians are going to the polls. We'll tell you what's at stake for the country and for the continent. Stay with us.
ALLEN: Also we'll take a closer look at one of the most colorful members of Donald Trump's cabinet.
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ALLEN: A former United Nations chief is urging action in Myanmar, Kofi Annan says Rohingya refugees should be allowed to safely return to that country. He has chaired a commission on the situation and briefed the Security Council Friday.
VANIER: Annan's words come as thousands of Rohingyas are still flying Myanmar, many report horrific government-led killings and violence. The United Nations say over half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in just the past few months.
Now Austrians vote for a new government on Sunday and the world is watching because the election could open the doors to a coalition of populists and far-right leaning political parties.
ALLEN: And possibly elect a new chancellor with a hardline stance on immigration. Robyn Curnow has that.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Austrians are headed to the polls a year sooner than planned to elect the country's new national council or lower house of parliament. Austria's main party has announced the snap election in May amid a breakdown in the ruling coalition.
That breakdown between the center left Social Democratic Party and the conservative Austrian People's Party is expected to pave the way for the far right Freedom Party to enter a government coalition for the first time in more than a decade.
All eyes will be on 31-year-old foreign minister and People's Party leader Sebastian Kurz. Kurz is known for his anti-immigration stance, including shutting down a key migrant route through the West Balkans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We must not receive more people in Austria than we are able to integrate and we should help people at the source instead of receiving people here in Europe without limits. A proper protection of our European borders is required so that we can decide who comes to us and not the smugglers.
CURNOW (voice-over): He was also instrumental in passing the country's burqa ban, although not as extreme, Kurz's rhetoric is similar to the Freedom Party's. The Freedom Party is outspoken against immigration and Muslims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have a situation in Vienna and Lenz and other Austrian cities, where you already have more Muslim children in a school than Catholic children. And they have become the minority in their own country.
CURNOW (voice-over): If the People's Party wins, Kurz will become the youngest chancellor in Austria's history. It is also likely that he will form a coalition with the Freedom Party. Austria's Social Democrats are still in the race but they represent the establishment in a time when many are demanding change -- Robyn Curnow, CNN.
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ALLEN: Now to South Africa and the corruption scandal that has trailed President Jacob Zuma for years. The country's constitutional court has upheld a ruling to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma. And it means he could now face a staggering 783 charges over payments made to him and his family.
Mr. Zuma says he is disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
VANIER: Uber has launched a legal appeal that will let it keep operating in London at least for now. The move means the company can keep offering commuters rides through its smartphone apps while courts work out the status of its license.
London's Transport Authority had pulled Uber's license over concerns about its approach to serious crimes, among other things.
ALLEN: By most accounts, the Trump administration has been unconventional and one member of his cabinet has embraced that more than most. And we'll tell you about him coming up here.
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ALLEN: Our final story this hour, in past administrations, the Interior Secretary, how many of those can you name?
I can name one, I think.
VANIER: That's more than I can.
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ALLEN: It's not been a high profile figure.
VANIER: But the current occupant of that office, not so much. Ryan Zinke has been hard not to notice. Our Tom Foreman has more.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Interior secretary is proving to be one of the more controversial and colorful members of the administration. Not merely marching to his own beat, but flying his own flag.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Even outside the Interior Department, it's easy to know if the secretary is at his desk, because he's ordered the secretary's flag raised above the building when he's in and taken down when he's out, according to "The Washington Post."
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FOREMAN: The queen of England's staff follows a similar protocol but, on this side of the pond, not even the president does that.
TRUMP: Ryan is an Eagle Scout from big-sky country in Montana.
FOREMAN: Still, from the get-go, Ryan Zinke has set himself apart.
RYAN ZINKE, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR: Those that don't know me, I get my inspiration from Teddy Roosevelt.
FOREMAN: Like the 26th president, who served in the military and rode horses through D.C., Zinke is a former Navy SEAL who cowboyed up for his first day on the job, boots, hat and saddle. Like Roosevelt, Zinke is a big fan of hunting and fishing. But unlike Roosevelt, who protected 230 million acres of public land, Zinke almost immediately began issuing orders to rollback restrictions and open more public lands to fans of both sports. Even installed a deer hunting video game at the Interior building.
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FOREMAN: Zinke sponsored a Bring Your Dog to work day. And while several departments offer commemorative coins as souvenirs, Zinke took it a step farther, having one stamped out with his name.
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FOREMAN: Some of his actions have provoked sharp criticism. Several trips he made involving private jets and government aircraft are being scrutinized by federal watchdogs, including one visit to Las Vegas during which he spoke to an NHL hockey teamed owned by a political supporter.
ZINKE: Great to be here.
FOREMAN: His aides say all the trips were justified by scheduling matters. Yet environmentalists have raised alarms over how much they say Zinke is meeting privately with oil, gas and mining interests while leaving activists out.
Zinke's assessment of the uproar about the jets, well, he cited another rough rider from the past.
ZINKE: I just like to address, in the words of General Schwarzkopf, a little B.S.
FOREMAN (on camera): Which is another way of Zinke saying he's done nothing wrong.
And as to that flag, a spokesman told "The Post" it's just a sign of how committed the secretary is to transparency.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: And that is CNN NEWSROOM. We thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier. Thanks for watching. "NEW DAY" up is next for viewers in the U.S. For everyone else, "AMANPOUR."
