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Dow Plunges, Asian Markets Follow; House Intel Committee Votes to Release Dems Memo; North Korea to Show Off Missiles in Military Parade; Former Facebook & Google Workers Want Healthy Tech Usage; YouTube Algorithm Criticized in Spread of Fake News; Philadelphia Celebrating Super Bowl Victory. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 06, 2018 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour: if you take credit for the sunshine do you get blamed for the rain? That's the question for the U.S. president after the Dow Jones takes a one-day record drop.
And the U.S. vice president on the way to the Winter Olympics bring a special message for the North Koreans.
Plus for all those who feel addicted to their smartphones, well, two former tech insiders say that was exactly what Silicon Valley has been trying to do.
Hello, everybody, great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. This is the second hour of NEWSROOM L.A.
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VAUSE: A bad day on Wall Street is making for a bad day on financial markets around the world. The Dow fell more than 1,100 points Monday, the biggest single day point drop ever. At one point the market was down almost 1,600 points and, despite the drop, the Dow is still up nearly 40 percent since Donald Trump was elected in November of 2016.
Quick check of the markets right now, in Asia, where a big selloff is underway, especially there in Tokyo, where the Nikkei is down almost 5 percent; Hong Kong is down almost 4 percent. Those numbers are a little better than we last looked an hour ago.
Let's bring in now CNN's Mallika Kapur. She's live in Hong Kong.
Here in Los Angeles we have global business executive Ryan Patel and financial commentator Alan Haft also standing by.
But, Mallika, first to you it seems the markets in Asia what the Trump verge giveth the Trump plummet taketh away. It's hard to say. MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. But as you pointed out just a few seconds ago, the markets are still up since the time Trump came to power. So it's -- and earlier on, just on CNN, we -- a few hours ago we did have financial analysts talk and say that he has taken so much credit for the economy being in great shape, for the stock market booming for one rally after another.
So he's also got to take some sort of responsibility for what's happening with the stock market now. But having said all that, politics aside, what -- this is really a story about interest rates. There is concern about stronger economic data. We've had those wage employment numbers come out in the U.S. on Friday. There was strong numbers, that's good news for workers.
But, of course, that translates into fears of inflation, which then means that central banks, the U.S. will be forced to raise interest rates more than it had thought to. This will lead to interest rates around the world going up. And that's really what's happening, what's putting pressure on stock markets around the world.
This is very much a story about interest rates with (INAUDIBLE) to saying this is also -- the time was right for a bit of a pullback. This is a correction, it's not a collapse and there is no need to panic just yet.
VAUSE: Thanks, Mallika.
Alan, to you, here's a good global assessment which we have "The New York Times."
It reads, "The world's largest economies are all expanding as the most important central bank the United States Federal Reserve is running billions of dollars from the financial system and raising interest rates. And investors are concerned that tenuous signs inflation could mean central banks around the world will start to remove their support even faster."
In other words, the era of low interest rates is coming to an end if it's not over already. And every time there's been a hint that someone would take the punch bowl away from the party, markets have gone into a spin.
Is that kind of what we're seeing now?
ALAN HAFT, KELLY HAFT FINANCIAL: That is exactly what we're seeing right now and over the last nine years since the market's been generally on an upward trajectory, there's been a couple of spotty times where we've heard the story before.
And I'm not trying to downplay it because I think this time it does have some validity, especially since the jobs, since unemployment is at a historical low and a couple of other indicators are showing that inflation and the Fed will likely start to raise interest rates.
It's just a question of how fast but in the few spotty times we've seen this over the last nine years, there's been momentary panic. Calmer has prevailed a few days into the panic and then we've seen some nice rebounds.
So I wouldn't exactly panic yet and I don't think the panic that we're seeing out there over the last few days is warranted nearly as much as it is. Hope it will taper off and calmer heads will prevail and people will start to realize that this isn't going to happen overnight and it's just a little bit of a wait-and-see right now.
VAUSE: Mallika, just quickly back to you, we're talking -- oh, we've lost Mallika, OK, no problem.
We'll go over to Ryan because, Ryan, you consider the commentator and number one Trump supporter, Sean Hannity, he's taking this one step further. He managed to blame the stock fall on President Obama.
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SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: Because the Obama economy was so weak all of these years, we had this artificially cheap money.
Now what's cheap money?
Cheap money is when you can borrow at ridiculously low rates.
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HANNITY: The era of cheap money at some point has to come to an end.
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VAUSE: Ryan, that assessment isn't entirely inaccurate. We're seeing that play out. But what about the fact that it was all Obama's fault for having a weak economy?
RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Well, you -- I'm laughing that he said that. The fact that you've -- all last year, you have this great market. We didn't even face any kind of resistance and there is going to be taking credit by the administration.
And then as of today and the last -- all the gains gone throughout from -- since January and not one beat from the White House, you know, you're right. He said that, you know, over -- out of -- to get out of recession it had to go down to low interest rates and it is known that interest rates are going to have to rise.
But you can't blame the Obama administration for this. August, you've got December with high jobs, you got more people investing in the market as of January because it was going on last year.
So again, you're going to blame all that on the past administration?
It doesn't make any sense to me. But I think he is trying to deflect on what is going on.
VAUSE: OK. There has been this expectation of a stock market correction for a very long time. If there is a data point for now, it seems as if that jobs report last week, which showed very strong wages growth in the U.S.
So, Ryan ,I guess once again, that proves what's good for the economy isn't always good for the markets.
PATEL: Yes. I mean, I think where investors got worried is when you have the job market going up, wages increasing as well and investors are going to see, hey, you know that kind of leads to this inflation and with this inflation then comes the worries of these investors going, OK, it's going to cost us a little bit more.
So, yes, good things don't always have to come in -- we're waiting for this pullback and, again, people are kind of shocked because we didn't get it last year. We were kind of spoiled in not having any kind of resistance, like I said.
VAUSE: And, Alan, we've heard repeatedly Donald Trump talking about record high closes on the Dow and on Wall Street. At one point saying it would actually even reduce the national debt, I think.
How much of an impact has that actually had all the stock market really?
HAFT: I think a smart investor is going to ignore all the white noise. I think the -- just look forward. It is a great time to reassess your portfolio. If you have a lot of panic over the last couple days, it's a great time to reassess what you are in and how long of a time horizon you have.
So my advice would be just to take into account all different factors but, generally speaking, fly over the radar of all the white noise out there, especially coming from Donald Trump.
But I'm not trying to -- I'm trying to stay objective and because when it comes to money you should just really look at your own situation and try to assess what the best path is for you and for how long you are going to be investing before you need to start pulling money out.
And during these times, the absolutely best time to be doing that.
VAUSE: OK. Finally, Ryan, to you, the U.S. government is expected to borrow close to $1 trillion this year, more than $1 trillion in the years which follow. The conventional wisdom has always been government should run big deficits during a recession to stimulate growth.
The U.S. economy is far away from recession and the Trump tax cuts, $1.5 trillion, and there's another one, maybe $1.5 trillion in infrastructure expenditure.
Is that pouring gasoline on an already raging fire?
PATEL: Yes, and if you take into consideration that there isn't any kind of agreement with the debt ceiling, with -- between both parties to voting on, they need 60 votes from Republican-Democrat party and they are not nowhere near close.
This is a situation where you don't want to get to a government shutdown in the midst of this potentially selloff.
VAUSE: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) situation that overheating the economy leads to greater inflation, which then leads to high interest rates and that's a vicious cycle, which we would like to avoid.
Alan, Ryan, good to see you both. Thank you.
HAFT: Thank you.
PATEL: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Well, the U.S. president was in Ohio Monday. He was touting his recently passed tax cuts and talking up the strong and robust economy. His speech to workers at a manufacturing plant was carried live by all three main news channels but as the Dow approached a 1,000-point plummet, all three switched away, even FOX News.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Continued success in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're interrupting for breaking news. There is a -- quite a drop happening on Wall Street, a massive selloff is happening today.
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VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) reports some White House aides were startled by that move by the FOX News channel. The president ignored questions about the stock market plunge as he returned to the White House after arriving on Marine One.
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VAUSE: Well, joining us now for more on this, California talk radio host, Ethan Bearman; conservative commentator and editor-in-chief of the "Front Page Index," Alexandra Datig and senior reporter for "Politico," David Siders.
OK, so (INAUDIBLE) from the department of the obvious, here's CNN's economic analyst and --
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VAUSE: -- former Trump campaign economic adviser, Stephen Moore.
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STEPHEN MOORE, CNN ECONOMICS ANALYST: A president should not look at the stock market as a -- necessarily --
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MOORE: -- occasion of how well they're doing because it's a roller coaster ride, right? You know, it goes up and it goes down --
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MOORE: -- but if you want to live by the dollar you're going to die by the dollar.
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VAUSE: OK, so, Ethan, first to you, now that the Dow could be facing a correction and you look at the Dow Futures, it's what, last time I looked it was expected (INAUDIBLE) 700 points lower on Tuesday, facing a fairly big correction here.
Forget blaming President Obama.
How does Donald Trump blame Hillary Clinton for this?
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ETHAN BEARMAN, TALK SHOW RADIO HOST: It's all Clinton's fault. But here's the thing, "live by the sword, die by the sword," right? If you're going to take credit for the stock market, you ought to take credit or blame for when it goes down.
But really the stock market -- Stephen Moore's point is absolutely correct; terrible indicator of how the economy is doing. Those are very specific sets of individuals and, by the way, that is factoring things out. And all those financial experts you had will talk about how they calculate things months and years in advance if they're expecting like the tax reform bill. They've been expecting things but now that inflation hits, now that we have a new Fed chair that's coming in, Janet Yellen's stepped down, inflation is rising, that's what I think is the factor in all of this.
VAUSE: It's a whole new world from the financial crisis of 2008.
While the president was not talking about the stock market on Monday, the White House press secretary, deputy press secretary told reporters, "Look, markets do fluctuate in the short term. I think we all know that. But the fundamentals of this economy are very strong."
And, David, he is right. The fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain very strong. To the other point that everyone knows that markets fluctuate, it would seem the president doesn't realize that markets fluctuate because he has been the biggest cheerleader for this, rising stock prices, despite what is often being viewed -- seen as something that presidents have stayed away from because it is so volatile.
DAVID SIDERS, POLITICO: No, and to his detriment, I think. What we're talking about the economy for -- it's hard stuff, knowing about numbers, what Ethan is talking about, what does this mean about the fundamentals or the stock market, it's complicated. But the people who were watching the news know something is going on bad in the economy and then because President Trump has teed this up for himself so well, it's connected to him, at least for today.
VAUSE: Alex, as a reminder, in case you have forgotten, here is Donald Trump talking about the stock market -- almost every day it seems -- except Monday.
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TRUMP: The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time.
The United States is doing fantastically well, better than we've done in decades.
The stock markets are incredible.
And you're seeing what's happening with the stock market. People are appreciating what we're doing.
The stock market is way up again today and we're setting a record literally all the time and I'm telling you, we have a long way to go. And had the other side gotten in, the market would have gone down 50 percent from where it was.
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VAUSE: OK, so, Alex, do you believe that Trump voters out there, Trump supporters and Republicans, what's the mix here?
How many voters are going to hold the president accountable for what happened on the stock market if it continues?
And how many will just give him a pass and blame something else?
ALEXANDRA DATIG, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: I don't know. That's a hard question to answer because you don't know what's going to happen, especially because we don't know what caused it to fall this way. I frankly was shocked when I saw it fall myself.
I was watching my lap today and I was just like, I couldn't believe it. But anybody remembers 2010 and remembers the movie, "The Big Short," you know, knows what happened with the subprime mortgage market and how that was created by the Bush administration, then handed to the Obama administration.
So in the second year of the Obama administration, people were looking for jobs and things were really, really tough. I remember those times. So for the stock market to fall 1,000 points, 700 points today, I'm looking at it, just adds a --
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DATIG: -- as a working woman, you know, as a working woman who has a day job, I am grateful for this presidency because I remember, I was out of work in 2010, looking for work.
VAUSE: Ethan, just to Alex's point, and what David said as well, people don't really know the ins and outs of it. They just know that something bad is happening and it could be an indicator of more bad stuff to come because right now, what is it, two-thirds of Americans actually don't put any money into a 401(k) and almost half of this country has -- don't own stock.
So the direct impact on people and their wealth and how much money they have, it's not there. It's a bigger picture later down the road, right?
BEARMAN: That's exactly what it is. And what we forget is we have this aspirational aspect of the American dream, where we want to be billionaires, too, and that's why we look up to people like -- well, some of the people do -- to Donald Trump.
But we do in general. And that's why things like the markets matter so much, because we dream of ourselves as billionaires, benefiting from the way the market is --
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BEARMAN: -- going up. And but to your point, ultimately, though, it does still affect a lot of retirees because their invest is here in California, the pension funds for government workers and for teachers is invested heavily in the stock market.
So it does ultimately indirectly affect a lot of people as well.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) for this president, he's been looking at the stock market, I think, because his poll numbers are so down, so low, at historic lows, he's sort of looked at the stock market as unofficial job approval rating.
And this must be incredibly frustrating, David, because February 5, 2010, of President Obama's first term, the Dow was up 26 percent and Donald Trump was on track to beat that until the last two days of trading.
And basically I think the Dow has given about 40 percent of the gains since the inauguration.
And this must, for a president who must continually, it seems, compares himself to his predecessor, this must hurt.
SIDERS: I didn't know that comparison but I'm willing to bet that that costs us a tweet two days from now.
VAUSE: Yes.
SIDERS: That we will all miss out on. But you're right, he uses it as an indicator and it's an odd one because of what you've talked about, about the number of people who are directly invested in the stock market.
But it is something he's been prideful of and clearly today it was not on his side.
VAUSE: And I guess, Alex, the question is, with this expected to continue, when would you expect to hear from the president to say something?
Given he has been so vocal about the smoking for so long?
DATIG: Well, I'm not exactly sure whether he's all that satisfied with the tech companies and because he did have that counsel on tech and all the big Fortune 500 companies that counts later.
I remember I remember then but I remember he dissolved it. So --
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VAUSE: -- because everyone quit.
DATIG: Yes, exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
DATIG: -- I'm not exactly sure if that's a warm and fuzzy relationship for him to begin with. I see him taking the credit when things are good. I see him going it's not my problem when it goes bad. I could see why. I can see why. I can see that.
VAUSE: Stay with us. We'll take a short break here. When we come back here on NEWSROOM L.A., there's another memo. It's headed to the U.S. president's desk awaiting declassification. This is the Democrats' rebuttal about the FBI and the Russia investigation.
But will the president declassify it?
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VAUSE: Democrats are one step closer to making their memo public on the FBI and the Russia investigation. The House Intelligence Committee voted on Monday to release it days after it was blocked by Republicans.
CNN's Manu Raju has the latest.
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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The House Intelligence Committee now putting the memo back on President Trump's desk for the second straight week, this after a unanimous vote in the committee to release the Democratic memo that provides the other side of the argument about exactly what happened and how this surveillance warrant was obtained to monitor the communications of that Trump foreign policy --
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RAJU: -- advisor Carter Page. You'll recall that the memo released last week by the committee that President Trump declassified alleges abuse by the FBI and how it obtained that surveillance warrant allowing the president himself to argue to the whole Russia investigation is a hoax and that he's been vindicated as a result of these allegations, even though these allegations that the president made have been rebutted by some members of his own party.
Nevertheless, after the Republicans opposed the release of the Democratic memo last week because they said they had not had time to review it, they now are agreeing to review. And that agreeing, a unanimous vote, (INAUDIBLE) President Trump's desk to allow him to release this memo authored by the Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff.
Now the president will have five days to decide whether or not to object or to agree to its release. After that five-day period, we'll see what the president decides to do, if he decides to redact it in any way or if he decides to block its release or allow it to happen.
And if he does decide to block it, will the House Intelligence Committee vote to override the president?
That is something that has not been decided yet by the House Intelligence Committee Republicans. Now for now the Republicans and Democrats on the committee say that the president should release this memo, allow the public to evaluate it for themselves.
But the White House tonight not say what they will do, in fact saying that they are still evaluating this is proposal, this memo. We'll see what the president decides to do within this five-day period -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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VAUSE: OK, back to our panel now.
So the president was asked specifically about declassifying that memo from the Democrats. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Democratic memo, (INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
VAUSE (voice-over): He's not saying a lot today about anything really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Alex, if the president was 100 percent in favor releasing the Republican memo at a point at which he hadn't even read it, why not the same standard for Democrats? DATIG: Well, I don't know what's in the memo --
(CROSSTALK)
DATIG: -- well, I just think that we -- everybody should read the memo, the GOP memo. Everybody should read it. They should know what's in it.
VAUSE: Well, it's a quick read. It's only 3.5 pages.
DATIG: Yes ,but it -- within those 3.5 pages we're talking about serious, serious corruption, where unverified information was used to get a FISA warrant, where were -- if you take rookie cops doing this kind of stuff, we're going to go, oh, well, it's a rookie cop. He should get fired.
But we have top government officials taking false documentation, false information, going to a foreign intelligence court getting a warrant so that there can be all kinds of activities conducted, based upon that warrant. And they've done it four times.
So if the Democrats want to explain that with their own memo --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: I just want to skip ahead here to control room question 4 because for the president, along with Alex, he looks at this memo from the Republicans as essentially complete and total vindication that he has done nothing wrong and that this is a corrupt law enforcement agency that they're dealing with.
This is what the president said in Ohio on Monday.
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TRUMP: Oh but did we catch them in the act or what. You know what -- oh, did we catch them in the act. They are very embarrassed. They never thought they would get caught. Hey, we caught them, oh, so much fun. They're like the great sleuths.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So Alex, I just want to continue with that because specifically, not generally but specifically what did the FBI do wrong?
DATIG: Well, I believe that the FBI took unverified information that was --
VAUSE: Which information was that?
DATIG: -- that was --
VAUSE: What was the information --
(CROSSTALK) DATIG: -- the Steele dossier, Christopher Steele's dossier for which he was -- he was hired by Fusion GPS. They paid him $160,000 to get intelligence, to get information --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: To get a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page, the former Trump campaign --
(CROSSTALK)
DATIG: -- correct. And so this dossier was unverified.
VAUSE: Why is that an abuse of their authority?
DATIG: Well, the dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign.
VAUSE: Well, again, that is not a --
(CROSSTALK)
DATIG: It was politically motivated.
How can you use a law enforcement agency --
(CROSSTALK)
BEARMAN: All right. So Carter Page was already under FBI investigation going all the way back to 2013 with the memo from the Republicans said in point number five specifically with the Papadopoulos, was already under investigation for working with Russia before the FISA warrant application.
The way a FISA warrant application works is you have to have some sufficient information to request surveilling an American citizen, which can't just be one piece of unverified information.
On top of it all, the FISA court judge was appointed by Republican Chief Justice John Roberts, as were all three subsequent renewals of the FISA warrant were by judges handpicked by Chief Justice Roberts.
VAUSE: David, I want to bring you in because the --
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VAUSE: -- we've covered this a lot and I've spoken with about 20 FBI agents who've all dealt with the FISA court and FISA warrants and they say every time you have a source or so on there is no such thing as completely unbiased, impartial source in these situations.
Everyone's got a barrow to push. You know, give me the dog is going to give up Tony the Greek (INAUDIBLE) he's got a barrow to push. He's not untainted. He's not unbiased. And so the judge takes that into account when they go -- they issue this FISA warrant or they don't.
So the fact that dossier -- and it's even debatable whether or not the dossier has been unverified or whether it's been corroborated, does it really have that much of a bearing?
SIDERS: It clearly has a bearing on where we are in the conversation, I think, and where partisan politics is we're talking about what's in a footnote and whether it was disclosure enough or not or whether a potentially politically motivated source.
I think it was so interesting to see the House committee vote to put out the Democratic one because it was kind of this callback to a time when that committee was a more nonpartisan factfinder.
But I think I don't see any way that this goes forward not mired in these partisan divisions. What people are really looking forward to seeing is from Mueller.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Hang on a second, because this is what Republicans have been saying about the memo and the impact it has on the Russia investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Do you agree that it vindicates Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is a separate issue.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: So you don't agree with President Trump when he says this vindicates him in the entire Russia investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually don't think it has any impact on the Russia probe for this reason.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The memo has no impact on the Russia probe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not to me, it doesn't. And I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it. There is a Russia investigation without a dossier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And Alex, Trey Gowdy read the source material. He's the lawyer that put it together.
So?
DATIG: Well, I mean, I'm concerned about what he's saying there because of what about admissibility?
What about everything that has happened subsequent after this dossier was used to get the FISA warrant, what was done with the warrant if there was wiretapping, if there was whatever -- whatever the domino effect is from this, for every action that was taken that is then going to go before a judge or would have gone before a judge had this not been discovered?
We should question the admissibility of everything that has happened thereafter.
VAUSE: Ethan.
BEARMAN: For political reasons, this is unbelievable and what everybody glosses over, two things we gloss over. Christopher Steele was the Moscow bureau chief for MI-6, our closest ally.
VAUSE: And had been a reliable source for the FBI for years.
BEARMAN: And on top of it all, for as partisan as the House panel, Intelligence panel has become, the Senate panel is going to be the one that we really need to look to because they're working bipartisanly (sic) on the same issue.
VAUSE: Someone said if we rely on Devin Nunes to uncover a deep state plot then he's your wrong guy.
(INAUDIBLE) "The New York Times" is reporting lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a month-long court battle, where the president must answer questions under oath.
David, clearly we keep having very public statements of enthusiasm and from the president about he's willing to testify, he's looking forward to it. But then we keep hearing from the lawyers saying not so fast.
So how is this playing out?
SIDERS: This is a great position for the president to be in because he can say that if he decides in the end not to testify, he can say he really wanted to but those lawyers, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
SIDERS: -- they wouldn't let me in. So I think it's a winnable -- it's a good situation.
VAUSE: But could we get to a point, Alex, where if he gets subpoenaed by Mueller, you have the President of the United States taking the 5th, refusing to answer questions on ground he could incriminate himself?
DATIG: Well, I don't see that. I don't think he needs to take the 5th. He's done nothing wrong. He said there was no collusion. There's no collusion on his part. There's no way to -- how are they going to say that he colluded with Russia?
They can connect everybody except him and it's still not him.
VAUSE: Obstruction of justice perhaps?
(CROSSTALK) BEARMAN: All they have to do is get him in a room with Mueller and he just has to say one thing that is factually untrue and it's a felony.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) "Return of the Jedi" -- it's a trap.
(INAUDIBLE).
DATIG: -- truth needs defense.
VAUSE: OK. Good to see you guys, thank you.
OK, next on NEWSROOM L.A., the Winter Olympics always have at (INAUDIBLE) hard-won medals and some exciting competition but this year politics also on the agenda. We'll explain why.
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VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Thanks for staying with us everybody, I'm John Vause. We'll check the headlines this hour.
The fell off on Wall Street is filling over to Asia, the DOW lost more than 1,100 points on Monday, single biggest point drop ever. Today's market now seeing some big declines as well, strong in employment and wage growth in the U.S., now the rest is worried about inflation and an increase in interest rates.
U.S. President Donald Trump has the next five days to decide whether to approve or block Democratic response to the Republican memo about the FBI. On Monday, the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to send it to the White House for declassification. The document is expected to rebut allegations from the republicans but that FBI abused surveillance laws.
South African President, Jacob Zuma is, again, under pressure to resign. Demonstrators both for and against his removal protested in Johannesburg on Monday. Senior leaders of Zuma's party could decide his political future with ending government state. Zuma faces hundreds of corruption allegations but he denies any wrong doing.
U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence is on his way to South Korea for Friday's opening ceremony at the Winter Olympics. He stopped in an air force base in Alaska where he spoke with reporters including CNN's Elise Labott, she asked him if he would be willing to talk to the high-leveled North Korean delegation also heading to South Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Let me say President Trump has said he always believes in talking but I haven't requested any meeting but we'll see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Well despite what is a small glimmer of hope, Pence has made
it clear his aim is to make sure North Korea's oppression and tyranny is not overlooked. Brian Todd looks at the politics it's playing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Kim Jong-un prepares to send his skaters, female hockey players, and skiers to the Winter Olympics, there are signs of growing tension on the Korean Peninsula.
SUE TERRY, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: I think the South Korean is highly anxious and very nervous right now because they just want to have smooth Olympics and there's a lot going into the mix.
TODD: Vice President Mike Pence will be at the Olympic opening ceremonies in South Korea on a mission U.S. officials say to keep Kim Jong-un's Regime from capitalizing on Kim's decision to send North Korean athletes to the games.
White House officials tells CNN that at every opportunity while he's there, Pence will point out the repression of Kim's Regime to keep the regime from hijacking the Olympic message with "propaganda." To hit home that point, Pence will have a special guest with him during the opening ceremonies. Fred Warmbier whose son Otto died after being released from North Korean captivity last year. South Korean officials eager to highlight their recent dialogue with North Korea have so far not commented on Pence's plan of messaging at the games.
TERRY: They're not going to really like the fact that vice president's coming with Otto Warmbier's father trying to highlight North Korea's human rights issue and to keep privacy of the Kim Jong- un Regime. I don't think South Koreans are going to be too happy about that or that he cannot say that out loud to the Americans.
TODD: Adding to that tension, diplomatic sources tell CNN North Korea will show off dozens of long-range missiles at a parade on Thursday.
[01:35:15]
As the games kickoff, missiles capable of hitting the U.S. It's an attempt sources tell CNN to "scare the hell out of the Americans." Analysts say as sanctions start to pinch Kim he may soon have to choose between paying for his nuclear and missile programs and buying off North Korea's elites who help keep him in power.
MARCUS NOLAND, PROFESSOR, INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: One thing that might well happen and this is what happened under his father is there is resources shift away from the party and towards the military so that generals are kept in (INAUDIBLE) and they are able to continue their military programs but the party begins to wither because the resources simply are unavailable.
TODD: How are we going to know when sanctions are really pinching Kim Jong-un? Analysts say look for signs that his elites are no longer flaunting to TVs cars and other luxury items that they've gotten in the past, that may be a sign that they're not getting those items. Also, they say, when the prices of North Korean corn and rice start to go up and when the value of their currency in the black market starts to go down, those will be signs that Kim Jong-un is really feeling the pain of sanctions. Brian Todd, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well tax are wrapping up in some of the few remaining rebel- held areas in Syria. In Eastern Ghouta, activist say airstrikes killed at least 28 people on Monday among the dead and injured six children. The area near the (INAUDIBLE) de-escalation zone under a peace agreement struck between Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
Meanwhile, U.S. says it's gravely alarmed by reports chlorine gas attacks in rebel-held indo province in Northwest Syria. The volunteer rescue group, The White Helmets says nine people were injured. Sources tells CNN they were told the chlorine gas released from Syrian helicopters.
Well, Palestinian Amar Adi came to United States years ago like so many others hoping for a new life. Now he's back in Jordan but not by choice. The businessman and father of four was deported last week even though he was seen as a pillar of the community in his adopted Ohio town. Jomana Karadsheh has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The family reunion no one here wanted. It's been years since Amar Ottman Ahdi last saw his mother. In her arms now, a broken man. Deported back to Jordan the country he left nearly four decades ago to pursue his American dream.
AMAR OTTMAN ADI, U.S. DEPORTEE: What happened is unjust, not right, and everybody back there knows that. What Trump Administration is doing is something that is in despicable. You cannot even explain it.
KARADSHEH: The successful businessman and father of four is credited with creating jobs and revitalizing downtown Youngstown, Ohio.
REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: He is an American, every sensible word.
KARADSHEH: Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan describes Adi as a pillar of their community.
RYAN: Now if you would see the breadth of support that this gentleman gets from whether its Italian, Irish, Catholic Congressman or an African-American Pentecostal republican woman who's supporting him, or the working class people I saw on his shop the day they thought he was going to get deported, this person has brought this community together in Youngstown, Ohio.
KARADSHEH: But his visa expired in the early 1990s, Adi did have a valid work permit though and paid taxes he says. His attempts to gain permanent residency were complicated by immigration officials who said his first marriage to an American was a sham. It's a claim Adi and his first wife deny.
Still, in a statement to CNN, immigration officials say, "Over the last decade, Mr. Ottman's immigration case has undergone exhaustive judicial review at multiple levels of the nation's courts. In each review, the courts have uniformly held that Mr. Ottman does not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S." Through proposed legislation specific to Adi, Congressman Ryan was able to secure consecutive states of a 2009 deportation order but with the Trump presidency came a crackdown on illegal immigration.
Tens of thousands have been rounded up by immigrations and customs agents. According to human rights watch, many like Adi are deeply rooted in their communities with no criminal conviction.
RYAN: To watch these families get ripped apart is the most heartbreaking thing any American citizen could ever see. And it doesn't mean you're not because you're for these families. It doesn't mean you're not for a secured border, it doesn't mean you're not for making sure drugs don't get into the country, it's -- it doesn't mean you're not for throwing people out of the country who are felons and violent criminals, I'm for all of those things. But I'm for a humane pathway for good people.
KARADSHEH: (INAUDIBLE) says it is only enforcing immigration policy and that no one is exempt. Adi is still in shock that he's no longer welcome in the America he believed in.
ADI: The American dream started 40 years ago for me, build this whole thing from scratch, from nothing.
[01:40:17]
Even if anybody was to stop their dream, I won't let them. I'm going to keep the fight going.
KARADSHEH: For now, Adi doesn't know when or if he'll ever see the place he calls home again.
ADI: I miss my wife and the kids and I miss Youngstown. I miss everybody.
KARADSHEH: Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Oman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well a short break here. When we come back, former Facebook and Google insiders now putting pressure on the very company say helped to build and they're doing it to keep children safe from tech addiction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well there are growing number of warnings about addiction to technology and our children seen especially vulnerable. Now a group of former employees from Facebook and Google, the Insiders you could call them are trying to reform the tech industry, the very industry which they helped to build. And they've launched a campaign to help parents save their children from becoming tech addicts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES STEYER, FOUNDER & CEO, COMMON SENSE MEDIA: More than 50 percent of kids admit that they're addicted, so that's a pretty amazing thing. And as you can imagine, over 60 percent of parents say that their kids are addicted. But parents also have to look in the mirror at their own behavior because we all have issues.
I think what the studies really show is parents and kids and all of us need help. We really need to take this on. This is changing everything --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Internet Security Analyst, Hema Nigam joins us now. He's also the founder of Online Security Firm, SSP Blue, Hema Nigam good to see you. OK. So this is a pretty big story here because these are former company insiders, people like Tristan Harris, he was a former (INAUDIBLE) he's been a very vocal (INAUDIBLE) of his old company and he's saying really (INAUDIBLE) things like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRISTAN HARRIS, FORMER GOOGLE DESIGN ETHICIST: No matter what these companies want to say that they do, that they've created -- they've unleashed Pandora's Box. They have five million advertisers Facebook has cycling through the network every single day, there's no way to check what five million advertisers how they get matched.
So they've unleashed this civilization scale mind control machine that they don't even know what thoughts of pushing into two billion people's mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A civilization scale mind control. I mean, this is not a group who talk about (INAUDIBLE) worry about their kids on their phones too much, these guys are serious.
HEMA NIGAM, INTERNET SECURITY ANALYST: No, these guys are not only serious, they're insiders like you were saying. And that means they know what they built, they know what the purpose of it was in which -- and end up sole purpose for a company like Google is to capture audience which means get you to watch and keep watching and engage and keep engaging because that's how you make money.
[01:45:10]
So, take this to their physical world that we all live in. And when we watch TV, you see the soccer moms getting upset because, "Why are they selling sugar loaded cereals to my kids when they watch Saturday morning cartoons?" But the difference between this and that is, you can see what they're selling.
VAUSE: Right. NIGAM: Here, you cannot see it. So this is why it's critical and this is a brilliant move by Common Sense Media who partnered with these insiders to say, "Let's actually bring this to the forefront and ask the audience, ask the regulators" and say, "What is it that it's really designed to do? Capture your kid, is that good, is that bad? And that's the question that has to be answered.
VAUSE: It's so insidious. I guess, is the problem here -- OK, so there's obviously an issue with the tech companies but how much are we to blame? How much is this is asked because we've just simply given so much away to these tech companies, our e-mails, our calendars, where we go, where we drive, and we trusted them with so much and they haven't really demonstrated they're worthy of that trust.
NIGAM: Well see, that's the critical mistake that's happened here which is when the technology was first being created we said, "Oh wow, that's really cool. Let's do that, let's do that." They created an addiction and now we're saying, "Get me off this addiction, I can't believe you did that."
So if you look back in the tobacco companies, that was the same challenge that was being faced. The tobacco is starting out there, people got addicted and then there was this big movement to stop it and the same thing is I think finally starting to happen in this space and it happened just like in the tobacco side, insiders breaking the news, insiders saying, "Don't trust us because I'm telling you I was on the inside, I know what I did."
VAUSE: It's mind blowing when you think about this, there's also an investigation by the "Guardian" not on similar sort of thread here, it's into YouTube's algorithm which determines which video clips up here in the up next column when you're on YouTube.
The "Guardian" focused on the month leading up to the 2016 presidential election and the videos recommended by this algorithm, listen to part of their reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of these were contained in the database of videos YouTube recommended at the time of the election, it was compiled by (INAUDIBLE), a former YouTube engineer who created a computer program to detect which videos the platform recommends.
Not all of the YouTube recommend these videos were anti-Clinton but a "Guardian" analysis found that 86 percent of them were either pro- Trump or damaging to her campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Again, a YouTuber insider sort of blowing the whistle on this. This is not about Russians planting stories, this is about the technology which is sort of written to optimize watch time as opposed to what is truthful, accurate, and balanced.
NIGAM: Right. So this is really one of those things people always say, "Oh, the engineers at YouTube or Google are brilliant." But I actually look at this and what I get out of it is, you are brilliantly un-brilliant. In other words, you created an algorithm that was specifically designed to capture an audience, to keep you watching, to create better viewers on channels that if you have lots using your channels then you will go to the top.
So when you create something like that, it's obvious that people are going to gain it and not only that, just today before coming here, I Google searched using Google what kinds of companies are telling me how to gain the algorithm. And I learned about a whole bunch of businesses out there saying, "Listen to us, we will get your channels to the top. We will get you in the up next, we'll do that" and that's exactly what's going on here which is tied to the other story we're just talking about.
VAUSE: Yes. OK. So no Russians involved in there directly but apparently according to "Politico" Russian bot who are directly involved on Twitter in what appeared to be sort of a ground swirl last week about the release of the memo that GOP (INAUDIBLE) on the FBI, the #releasethememo started trembling.
This is from "Politico," "On January 18th, it actually came from a real person but then exploded over the next 11 days. So they called this computational propaganda, the use of information and communication technologies to manipulate deceptions, affect cognition, and influence behaviors." In other words, Russians bots had a direct impact on U.S. policy.
NIGAM: Right. In plain simple English, technology was used to manipulate other technology and in fact, that same technology on the Twitter side, the bots is used to push people into videos in the YouTube site, so that also affects the algorithm which pushes things to the top.
So I know we were talking about Hilary Clinton, the reality is, people, watch salacious stuff and once you figured that out, that's why you go to the store and in the grocery line and people pick up those tabloid magazines, they never complain about their readership going down because watch from end-to-end. Same thing on the Twitter side, the bots are actually figuring out, "Oh look, this is how Twitter push this thing, this is how people pay attention. Why don't I just create an algorithm of my own and do it." Even J.P. Morgan did the quite opposite, they created an algorithm to actually decide where their ads go on YouTube because they don't trust their YouTube algorithm.
VAUSE: Wow, OK. Don't trust social media. It's another reason not to trust social media. Just watch CNN, we're very reliable and we're very safe.
[01:50:17]
NIGAM: That's my chance.
VAUSE: Exactly. Hema, thank you. Good to see you.
NIGAM: You too.
VAUSE: Well we'll take a short break. When we come back, Dodge to the chant with the Super Bowl commercial failed. We take a look at why that ad did not work and the other controversy throwing the big day at sport.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Super Bowl celebration in Philadelphia are just getting started. Fans crowded the airport to welcome the Eagles home after their win, ha-ha, over the Patriots (INAUDIBLE) championships. Schools will be closed to stay for the big parade.
And in a post-Super Bowl tradition, the game's MVP, Nick Foles was given a trip to Disney World and his very own special parade. Segun Oduolowu is here, now he's the Entertainment Journalist and Host of Rotten Tomatoes, see it, skip it, and we're seeing you now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.
VAUSE: Hey. OK. No Super Bowl is complete without a controversy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course.
VAUSE: OK. This year, a lot of people thought using the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to sell pickup trucks was just offensive. Here's part of the ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, MINISTER AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST (voice-over): If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who has greatest among you shall be your servant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK. So what's wrong with mixing Dr. King's words with some crash commercialism and unlinking patriotism.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: That is -- I mean, if I could drop the F-bomb on air and not ever be invited back, I would. You -- to use Dr. Martin Luther King to sell Dodge trucks, come on. Come on. Like that is -- that -- it's not even pandering, it's in poor taste, it is -- look, I know people want to hold on to Dr. King's legacy and maybe they feel that the family holds on to it too tightly. But for a lot of people, this man doesn't get enough recognition. And to use him to sell Dodge trucks, I find it to be offensive, very offensive.
VAUSE: So taking a knee and protestor in the national anthem, bad.
ODUOLOWU: Right. Horrible. Absolutely.
VAUSE: Using MLK's words to sell --
ODUOLOWU: Well that's American. Yes, it's America.
VAUSE: I want to say this, Chrysler has defended this ad saying, "It is 50 years today, this is on Sunday, that Dr. Martin Luther King gave such a tremendous feature at the value of service. Ram was honored to have the privilege of working with the estate of Mr. Luther King, Jr. to celebrate those words during the largest TV viewing event annually."
That's kind of a little bit misleading because you look at the tweet put out by the King Center and (INAUDIBLE) youngest daughter, they point out they're not the ones who actually have any control over it, it's a company called Intellectual Property Management which his run by Dr. King's son Dexter. They put out a statement saying, "We found that the overall message of the ad embodied Dr. King's philosophy that true greatness is due by serving others." OK. So who gets the blame here?
ODUOLOWU: Everybody gets the blame. Everybody gets the blame. The family -- the family member that allowed this to happen gets the blame, the people that thought it would be a good idea get the blame. The fact that a poll was not taken by people who are actually going to be buying Dodge trucks, they get the blame.
Listen, any focused group can tell you that if I hear the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, I don't think pickup trucks, in fact, I think the opposite of pickup trucks, I think the people driving the pickup trucks are coming to get me. So I -- that to me is just not a good idea.
VAUSE: Yes. Good point.
ODUOLOWU: Personally.
VAUSE: May I speak to corporate America, only use Dr. King to sell really savvy computers, the Apple app.
[01:55:14]
ODUOLOWU: Or just call a black guy. Call one or two black people and ask them, "Hey, do you want to use Dr. King to sell trucks?" He probably tell you no.
VAUSE: OK. Because they're using the Apple app. OK, let's moving on. The ratings were down about seven percent amid the last year, overall the NFL viewers were down 10 percent for the entire season, how much do you think Donald Trump's war on players protesting through the national anthem almost --
ODUOLOWU: Not at all. It's absolute nonsense. People need to realize it, every year ratings are going to tend to go down because how many different ways can we now consume broadcast, can consume content? You can watch it on your iPad, you can watch it on your iPhone, you can watch it on your Samsung, you can watch it on pretty much every mobile device.
So when you're charting these ratings and saying the viewership is down, that's not really fair and accurate, there are streaming services, there are so many different ways that we are bombarded with viewing things that nobody's really just sitting down and watching TV like they used to, even the Super Bowl. So their ratings being down seven percent. When everyone's ratings are down pretty much all across the board, that's misleading.
VAUSE: There's also Justin Timberlake. I mean, how much is he to blame for the dip of the ratings, how much do you need another wardrobe malfunction?
ODUOLOWU: OK. So to be fair, I am a Justin Timberlake fan, I play basketball with Justin Timberlake, I know him, I --
VAUSE: Oh, you just (INAUDIBLE)
ODUOLOWU: Look, I know him a little bit, that's all -- I'll go that far. I was not a fan of this performance. Love you JT, this was not your best. If he had brought back N'Sync and did something like that, that would have been great. Or I don't know, instead of bringing sexy back, bring Janet back, OK?
How about we bring Janet back and we bury that hatchet. Bruno Mars has set the bar so high, I know I rail against Bruno for being Prince and Michael Jackson light, but JT needed just a little bit more people.
VAUSE: What did you think of the Prince sort of tribute in the --
ODUOLOWU: I thought that was in poor taste only because the -- Prince would tell -- if -- was he alive would tell you that he does not want those types of things. In fact, he has said in death, "Don't do holograms of me, I don't need it." And then to do the song, "I Would Die for You" that one was a little bit -- it was a little bit on the nose, it was a little icky.
And from what I understand, Justin Timberlake and Prince, it's not like they were in the best of terms when Prince was alive, he wasn't the biggest fan of JT, so you know, they didn't need to do that. Listen, what would have great is if Justin Timberlake had brought Morris Day and the Time. Like, bring Morris Day and the Time. Bring Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, bring anybody from being out, bring Sheila E.
VAUSE: Bring Nipple-Gate. OK.
ODUOLOWU: Bring Nipple-Gate. What is wrong with you?
VAUSE: A lot.
ODUOLOWU: This is a lot. A lot. But look, go Eagles, this is Eagles green, that's why I'm all green, I'm an Eagles fan, not a bandwagon. All Eagles all the time. Randall Cunningham might be big --
VAUSE: Well, it's very lie. Good to see you.
ODUOLOWU: Yes, I agree. VAUSE: You've been watching NEWSROOM L.A. I'm John Vause, back with more after this short break.
