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Officials Hammered Details for the May Summit; Mueller's Team Prepares Questions for Trump; U.S. to Slap New Tariffs on Chinese Products; Facebook To Investigate All Apps, Restrict Data Access; Most Dapchi Schoolgirls Kidnapped By Boko Haram Freed; Police Learning More About Austin Serial Bomber; Cape Town's Day Zero Delayed To 2019; Critics School Trump For Typo Laden Tweet. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 22, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, FACEBOOK: This was a major breach of trust, and I'm really sorry that this happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Facebook CEO taking responsibility. Mark Zuckerberg speaks out after a data harvesting scandal has angered Facebook users and regulators.
The diplomatic spat that won't go away. Russia and Britain find new ways to blame each other over the poisoning of a former spy.
Plus, Donald Trump doubles down on his call of congratulations to Putin he is said to be furious with whoever leaked the story behind it.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.
After five days of silence Facebook's CEO has made a public apology for what he calls a major breach of trust. Mark Zuckerberg has been under pressure to address reports that the date of roughly 50 million users was misused by the London-based data firm Cambridge Analytica.
A former contractor said the firm access data to build voter profiles for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Lawmakers in the U.S. and U.K. are demanding answers and suggesting new regulations on social media. Some Facebook investors are now suing over the plunging share prices.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg says Facebook will investigate all apps with access to large amounts of user data and will further restrict developer's access to that data.
CNN's Laura Seagull ask about election meddling in her exclusive interview with Zuckerberg. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZUCKERBERG: You told me in 2004, when I was getting started with Facebook that a big part of my responsibility today would be to help protect to the integrity of elections against interference by other governments, you know, I wouldn't have really believed that that was going to be something that I would have to work on 14 years later.
(CROSSTALK)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to challenge you.
ZUCKERBERG: We're here now and we're going to make sure that we do a good job at it.
SEGALL: Have you done good enough job yet?
ZUCKERBERG: Well, I think we will see. But you know, I think what's clear is that in 2016 we were not as on top of the number of issues as we should have, whether it was Russian interference or fake news.
But what we have seen since then is, you know, a number of months later there was major French election, and there we deployed some A.I. tools that did a much better job of identifying Russian bots and basically Russian potential interference and reading that out of the platform ahead of the election. And we were much happier with how that went.
In 2017, last year, during a special election in the Senate seat in Alabama, we deployed some new A.I tools that we built to defect fake accounts that were trying to spread false news and we found a lot of different accounts coming from Macedonia.
So, you know, I think the reality here is that this isn't rocket science, right? I mean there's a lot of hard work that we need to do to make it harder for nation states like Russia to do election interference, to make it so that trolls and other folks can't spread fake news.
But we can get in front of this, and we have a responsibility to do this not only for the 2018 midterms in the U.S., which are going to be a huge deal this year and that's a huge focus of us. But there's a big election in India this year. There's a big election in Brazil.
There are big elections around the world, and you can bet that we are really committed to doing everything that we need to make sure that the integrity of those elections on Facebook is secured.
SEGALL: I can hear the commitment but since I got you here, do you think that bad actors are using Facebook at this moment to meddle with the -- with the U.S. midterm elections?
ZUCKERBERG: I'm sure someone is trying, right, and I'm sure that there's, you know, V-2, version two of whatever the Russian effort was in 2016. I'm sure they're working on that and there are going to be some new tactics that we need to make sure that we observe and get in front of them.
(CROSSTALK)
SEGALL: Do you know what -- and speaking of getting in front of do you know what they are? Do you have any idea?
ZUCKERBERG: I mean, yes, and I think we have some sense of the different things that we need to get in front of.
SEGALL: Are you specifically seeing bad actors trying to meddle with the U.S. election now?
ZUCKERBERG: I'm not 100 percent sure what that means because it's not -- I think the candidates aren't all define in all of that.
(CROSSTALK)
SEGALL: Are you seeing anything new or interesting?
ZUCKERBERG: What we see -- what we see are a lot o folks trying to sow division, right. So that was a major tactic that we saw Russia try to use in the 2016 election actually most of what they did was not directly, as far as we can tell from the data that we've seen, was not directly about the election, but was more about just dividing people.
[03:05:03] And so, you know, they run a group on, you know, for pro- immigration reform, and then they'd run another group against immigration reform and just try to pit people against each other. And a lot of this was done with fake accounts that we can do a better job of tracing and using A.I. tools to be able to scan and observe a lot of what is going on. And I'm confident that we're going to do a much better job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: All right. Let's go to CNN's Anna Stewart now in London. So, Anna, what steps will Facebook be taking to fix this problem?
ANNA STEWART, CNN PRODUCER: I mean, he unveiled of different steps, Rosemary. And probably the biggest one is they will be doing a very forensic audit of thousands of apps. Now these are apps that had access to huge amounts of data before Facebook changed their policy in 2014, and also apps that are displaying unusual activity and how they're accessing data at the moment.
And many app there refuses to submit to this forensic audit will be banned from Facebook. He also said he will clamp down on what data is available currently for app developers on Facebook. And he also said that he will create some sort of tool whereby, users can go on and find out whether or not their data has already been used by a rogue app.
And then after that, he also said that he would appear in front of Congress if that was the right thing to do. So, plenty of steps. But the question is this is five days on. Is it too little, too late? CHURCH: Yes, I wanted to ask you that because of course, finally
we've heard from Mark Zuckerberg, but will it be enough to quell the concerns of regulators, Facebook users, and of course, investors?
STEWART: That is the big question. And frankly, Facebook was facing an existential crisis even before this. Its user base particularly in the U.S. is in a steady decline, and lots of users will have hit delete on Facebook over this, and I have to say a lot of investors have hit delete on Facebook as a stock in their portfolios, you know.
We had a slide bounce back yesterday, but on the week Facebook shares are down 8 percent already. In terms of regulators, he hasn't said he will appear in front of Congress, he hasn't said whether or not he will agree to appear in front of the U.K. parliament, in front of the E.U. parliament.
Everyone wants to hear from Mark Zuckerberg, so we'll have to see what happens with that going forth. But he is very contrite. And you know he doesn't do TV interviews very often. You can tell how nervous he was. But it has taken five days and that's five days for people to make up their mind about what they think happened and how responsible Facebook is.
CHURCH: Yes. We will have a little bit more on this later this hour. Anna Stewart, thanks so much for joining us live from London just after 7 in the morning.
All right. So Britain is turning to the E.U. for support in its dispute with Russia over a chemical attack in England. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to ask the bloc's leaders to condemn Moscow for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
But that's no easy task because all 28 members must unanimously agree to release a statement. Meanwhile, Britain's foreign minister says the attack on the Skripals was meant to send a message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: This was really to put as it were a Russian signature on the deed. And by using a specific type of nerve agent that was known to have been developed in the Soviet Union, in Russia, it was, as it were a sign that nobody, no former Russian agent was immune, and no one could escape the long arm of Russian revenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Matthew Chance joins me now from Moscow. So, Matthew, Britain calls the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter an illegal use of force which endangered the British public and violated international law. How is Russia responding to these continued accusations?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're rejecting them, they're saying there's no way that they were involved in this nerve agent poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury in Southern England.
And there have been numerous different counter narratives that have been put out both by the Russian government and in the Russia media to explain alternative versions, alternative possibilities as to what kind what could have happened including blaming the Czech Republic, including blaming Sweden.
There was even a suggestion yesterday that United States could have done this as well. You know, they've been basically doing back flips to try and put out this idea that, you know, whatever the explanation was, it was not Russia that is responsible for this.
Take a listen to the deputy foreign minister of Russia Vladimir Yermakov and what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:09:59] VLADIMIR YERMAKOV, RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The elementary logic here tells about only two possible options. Either the British government is not able to provide protection from such a, let's say, terrorist attack on their soil, or they, whether directly or indirectly -- I am not accusing anyone have orchestrated an attack on a Russian female citizen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: So, Vladimir Yermakov they are suggesting that the Britain carried out the attack on itself essentially. Look, the British say that they're absolutely confident in their findings that this was a Russian attack. They say that they based this allegation on the fact that Russia had the intent to do this, the means to do this, and the track record of doing this.
And the intention now is to rally the allies at the moment in the European Union to try and get some sort of concerted action, first of all to prevent this sort of attack happening again, to defend against this, and secondly to raise the price of any country any individual, any country that tries to carry out this kind of attack on a western democracy.
CHURCH: So, Matthew, what is Russia's likely next move?
CHANCE: Well, I think Russia's likely next move is to sit and wait to see what happens. I mean, all eyes at the moment are on -- are on what Britain does and what British allies do. I mean, the governments of Theresa May has said that the next few days they're going to be working hard to try and work out what steps they're going to take.
There's already been some steps put into action, the strengthening of border control to prevent Russian intelligence officers they say coming into Britain more easily. They say they're going to take action against, you know, the money that comes from Russia, the illegal money, I should point out that comes to Britain from Russia.
And they want their allies in Europe, in United States and elsewhere, of course, to do the same. But, you know, it's not certain there is the appetite in the European Union, for instance, where Theresa May is speaking today, for the kind of sort of hard line sanctions that the United Kingdom I think would want to see.
CHURCH: All right. We'll continue to follow this. Our Matthew Chance joining us live from Moscow. It's just after 10 in the morning. We thank you.
Let's take a very short break here. But still to come, President Trump is reportedly fuming over the latest White House leak. How he's defending his congratulatory call to the man some call a thug and a dictator. Also ahead, the U.S. is about to fire the next shot in what could become a trade war with China. We'll have a live report for you from Hong Kong. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the Justice Department special counsel is outlining the main topics it wants to discuss with Donald Trump. The president's legal team is discussing a possible interview with Robert Mueller's investigators, but nothing is final at this point.
[03:15:07] Sources say the four main areas of interest are the circumstances surrounding Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russians in Trump tower back in 2016, the president's role in crafting a statement that miscast that meeting, Mr. Trump's firing of FBI director Comey in May of 2017, and the president's firing of national security advisor, Michael Flynn in February of 2017.
The controversy over Donald Trump's congratulatory phone call to Vladimir Putin is not dying down, thanks in large part to President Trump himself.
CNN's Pamela Brown reports.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is defending his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, writing in a tweet, "The fake news media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong. Getting along with Russia and others is a good thing, not a bad thing."
The president trashing past administrations for failing to work with Russia, writing, "Bush tried to get along but didn't have the smarts. Obama and Clinton tried, but didn't have the energy or chemistry. Remember reset. Peace through strength."
The Twitter tirade comes as the president is seething after a leak to the media that his national security adviser specifically instructed him not to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his recent re-election victory. The Washington Post reported the warnings were included in the presidents' daily briefing materials with a section in all capital letters, reading "do not congratulate," citing officials familiar with the call. A call in which the president did just that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The leak sent Trump into a frenzy, furious over who in the small group of staffers with access to that information could be responsible. White House staffers were rattled as well. A senior White House official noting that leaking presidential briefing materials is grounds for dismissal, and in all likelihood, illegal.
Some inside the White House believe the leak was an attempt to embarrass Trump as well as his national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who was with the president when the call with Putin was made. The latest leak coming as McMaster is already facing speculation that he could be the next high-level staffer to be ousted.
Chairman of the judiciary committee Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wouldn't specifically comment on Trump's decision to call Putin but told reporters that he wouldn't waste his time speaking with a criminal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY, IOWA: What he did in Georgia, what he did in Ukraine, what he's done in the Baltics, what he's done in London, poisoning people with nerve gas, that's a criminal activity. I wouldn't have a conversation with a criminal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Trump's call with Putin is just the latest example of the administration's seemingly soft approach with Putin himself. On Tuesday, the White House wouldn't say if Russia's election was legitimate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We don't get to dictate how other countries operate, what we do know is that Putin has been elected in their country, and that's not something that we can dictate to them how they operate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And just last week, Sarah Sanders refused to say whether Russia, who U.S. intelligence chief unanimously agreed meddled in the 2016 and are actively trying to undermine the 2018 elections is a friend or foe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I think that's something that Russia is going to have to make that determination. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Former CIA Director John Brennan recently suggested the president could be compromised by Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER UNITED STATES CIA DIRECTOR: I think he's afraid of the president of Russia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
BRENNAN: Well, I think one can speculate as to why, that the Russians may have something on him personally, that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. Clearly, I think it's important for us to be able to improve relations with Russia. But the fact that he has had this fawning attitude toward Mr. Putin has not said anything negative about him, I think continues to, you know, say to me that he does have something to fear. He has something very serious to fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, the White House.
CHURCH: Well, despite threats of a possible trade war, the Trump administration is expected to announce new tariffs on Chinese imports. That's on top of the steel and aluminum tariffs going into effect on Friday.
Andrew Stevens joins us now from Hong Kong with more on this. So Andrew, what impact will these tariffs on Chinese imports likely have, and how is China going to respond?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these tariffs are certainly a much bigger deal than the steel and aluminum tariffs, Rosemary. We're talking about $60 billion worth of tariffs on a wide range of Chinese goods in something like 100 categories.
[03:20:03] Now we don't know the details yet, but what's being reported is that those categories would include things like textiles, shoes, and consumer products. So there's likely to be an impact on American consumers.
Although Robert Lighthizer who is the U.S. trade representative did go of his way to say that these tariffs are targeted for maximum pressure on China and minimum pressure on U.S. consumers. He says have actually got an algorithm which can work out where the least impact will be on Americans as far as these tariffs are concerned.
Now if you look at what China is going to do, China has said all along that it does not want a trade war. This is another shot from the U.S. It is a bigger shot. Whether, though, it actually leads to a trade war, and they define that by a tit for tat escalation in tariffs in punitive actions against each other, we don't know whether that's going to spark that tit for tat or not, Rosemary. But you know, China has obviously a big trade imbalance with the U.S.
It exports to the U.S. $325 billion more of goods and services than it imports. But having said that, there are plenty of U.S. goods, particularly agricultural goods that the Chinese could hit if they wanted to.
We actually haven't heard from -- remember, we still haven't heard officially from the Trump administration about these tariffs either, other than the fact that they're on their way. So we'll just have to wait and see what China says.
CHURCH: We certainly shall. Andrew Stevens joining us there live from Hong Kong, nearly 3.30 in the afternoon. Many thanks.
Well, there appears to be plenty of diplomatic movement between the United States, South Korea, and North Korea. Informal talks involving the three countries just wrapped up in Finland. The Finnish foreign ministry says the talks were constructive. That comes as a delegation from South Korea prepares to heads to the North, and of course, as we await more details on the meeting between U.S. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Our Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul with more on this. And Paula, denuclearization was not on the agenda. So what all was talked about, and what progress was made at these talks in Finland?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, these talks are not directly related to what we'll been seeing when it comes to the preparations for the summit, the summit between Kim Jong-un and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in and also potentially that meeting between the U.S. President, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.
This was a separate issue. This is more of an academic discussion. It's a more unofficial discussion to really see where both or where all three sides are and what they are looking for. But quite often we don't even hear these talks are ongoing, so we're not expecting a detailed readout of what was discussed.
We do know, though, that there has been this flurry of diplomatic activity. We know that there are a member, a six member advance team from South Korea that's on its way to North Korea at this point. They're going to be there for a days in Pyongyang. They're going to be trying to organize this, our troop that will be heading there at the end of this month.
Beginning of next there's going to be about 160 members of a team. There's going to be K-pop stars, other singers and groups that will be performing in Pyongyang, the first of its kind really in well over a decade.
So at the same time as we're having these unofficial discussions we're seeing that happening -- or was happening in Finland, we're also seeing this cultural tie between North and South Korea become much closer.
And South Korea saying today they're going to suggest to the North that they should have high-level talks on March 29th to try and hammer out some of the details ahead of this Moon-Kim Jong-un summit. Rosemary?
CHURCH: And Paula, what is the next step in efforts to prepare for talks between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, and what are the stumbling blocks here?
HANCOCKS: Well, at this point we still don't know where it will be. We don't know when it will be. We've heard from the South Korean delegation it will be held in May. We don't know if that means before May, during May, at the end of May. It's very unclear logistically what will happen.
We don't know which country, which continent it will be on. There's potential for it being in a third country, a more neutral country. We've heard mention of Sweden, of Switzerland, of even the United States or Pyongyang. Although few except Mr. Trump to head to Pyongyang. Potentially, the DMZ between North and South Korea.
It's really up in the air at this point. Now, you would imagine there will be discussions behind the scenes trying to figure out how exactly they'll hammer out those details. We know just yesterday North Korea threw a commentary article in state run media KCNA did announce to its own people for the first time that there could be signs of change with the United States.
Bear in mind North Korea consistently has told their own people that the United States is the enemy, that they are hostile, that they are war mongering.
[03:25:03] And so now we're seeing this slight change towards preparing them for the fact that they may actually sit down, but no mention from the North Koreans officially at this point that they -- that they have acknowledged the fact that the U.S. president has accepted the invitation to meet with Kim Jong-un.
CHURCH: Interesting. Our Paula Hancocks joining us from Seoul in South Korea, where it's nearly 4.30 in the afternoon. Thanks so much.
Well, Kosovo's parliament descended into chaos when it was about to vote on a border agreement with neighboring Montenegro. Angry opposition members threw tear gas canisters into the chamber to block the measure ratifying the border is considered a crucial step where Kosovo joining the European Union. When lawmakers finally were able to take a breath, they adopted the agreement overwhelmingly.
We'll take another short break here. Still to come, after of silence from Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is finally owning up to the company's data blunders. We'll have more of CNN's exclusive report coming up.
Plus, what authorities are learning about the serial bombings in Austin, Texas from the bomber himself.
We're back with that and more in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A very warm welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Facebook CEO apologized for the reported misuse of the user's data, calling it a major breach of trust. Mark Zuckerberg said he's open to the idea of social media regulation and will testify before Congress if it's the right thing to do, his words.
U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller wants to ask Donald Trump why he fired FBI Director James Comey and national security advisor Michael Flynn. Sources say Mueller's team is also interested in that 2016 Trump tower meeting between Donald Trump, Jr. and a Russia lawyer.
In the coming hours, U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. It's not yet known what products will be targeted, but their total value is about $60 billion. That represents more than 10 percent of Chinese imports to the U.S. last year.
When Facebook first learned of the issues with Cambridge Analytica three years ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the data firm legally certified that it deleted any user data that was collected improperly, and he trusted the company on that.
[03:30:04] But in hindsight's Zuckerberg now said that was a mistake, in his exclusive interview with CNN he explained the steps he is taking to prevent future abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO FACEBOOK: We're going to a full investigation into every app that had access to a large amount of data from around this time before we lockdown the platform and we are now not just going to take people's word for it and when it gives us a legal certification, but if we see anything suspicious, which I think that they are probably were signs in this case that we could have looked into, we're going to do a full forensic audit.
We know what the apps were that had access to data, we know how much -- how many people were using that services, and we can look at the patterns of their data request and based on that, we think we'll have a pretty clear sense of whether anyone was doing anything abnormal, and we'll be able to do a full audit of anyone who is questionable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Nicholas Thompson, editor in chief of Wired Magazine, joins me now from New York. Good to have you with us.
NICHOLAS THOMPSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, WIRED: I am glad to be here.
CHURCH: Well, the two big headlines that came out of Mark Zuckerberg's interview on CNN were that he is happy to testify before Congress about the breach of Facebook user's data and that he is open to regulating the social media site as long as it's the right regulation. What would be the right regulation to ensure this level of breach doesn't happen again, is that possible?
THOMPSON: It's actually quite hard to regulate a social media company in part, because the technology changes so fast and because the technologies is changing quickly, it's hard for the law to keep up with it. So, I think the right forms of regulations are to mandate a certain amount of transparency to give a certain amount of guidance on what they should do, and then to regulate certain specific things that you can like advertising.
I think there are lots of great opportunities to regulate there, but it's very easy for regulators to overreach. So something that has to be approach quit carefully, but it is -- it is very important to note as you say, Zuckerberg is open to regulation. Clearly that's something that Facebook has thought and tried to stay away from -- for quite amount of time.
CHURCH: Yes, indeed, there has been that resistance. So, let's just take a listen to the start of Mark Zuckerberg's CNN interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZUCKERBERG: This was a major breach of trust, and I'm really sorry that this happened. You know, we have a basic responsibility to protect people's data. And if we can't do that, then we don't deserve to have the opportunity to serve people. So our responsibility now is to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Did he convince you that he is equipped to ensure this sort of breach doesn't happen again?
THOMPSON: Well, you know, a breach of trust, as he said, it is actually a -- somewhat contentious word there. It's interesting that he yields it that way. I don't know, right? What he convinced me and what he convince me in the post he did today in a conversation I had with him is convinced me, that he is taking it seriously and that Facebook is trying hard to make sure this doesn't' happen again.
And they've rolled out a bunch of policy proposals that I absolutely think will help. What I don't know is whether that will be enough, because I don't know whether it's possible. Remember, Facebook is the greatest repository of sort of personal data to ever been created. They set it up in ways to make it maximum easy for us to share all of that.
Their business model is based on targeted advertising. All of those things are what made what happened with Cambridge Analytica possible. So it's actually a tricky problem to see who can adjust the machine in such a way this doesn't happen again.
CHURCH: Yes. And Zuckerberg also said that he is sure that someone is trying to meddle in the midterm elections. So what's he going to do about that?
THOMPSON: That to me is incredibly hard, because absolutely the Russians are going to try to meddle. Other people are going to try to meddle. And they're not going to use the same tactics they use last time, so you have to have a lot of people watching. You have to very sophisticated artificial intelligence trying to analyze what's going to be done. And you have to admit that, it may not work.
And so then you have to think about the consequences when that occurs. One of the great problems in 2016 is they didn't think through the worst case scenarios, if people were to meddle, and they were not caught.
CHURCH: Yes. And this is a problem. If this happens again, that is a big problem for Facebook, because trust, as we've mentioned, it's a big factor here and some Facebook users have lost their trust, and there closing their accounts. Is there enough momentum, do you think for this scandal to pose an existential threat to Facebook or will it just end up being more of a wake-up call perhaps?
THOMPSON: I think it will end up being closer to a wake-up call. I don't think there's existential threat in the sense that I don't think Facebook is going to go away. Facebook is the only way you can connect to the internet more or less in many parts of the world. So, Facebook will be us -- be with us for a while, but this is also one of the biggest crises this company has ever had, and I do think it's absolutely going to change the company.
[03:35:06] And I do think that there's, as Zuckerberg said, there's a tradeoff between portability of data and the privacy you have in data. And for along timed Facebook has focused on making your data more portable. Making it easier for you to move it from one place to another.
Now it's going to shift and shift the focus towards making your data more private. So it's less likely this kind of thing will happen. So, that is the big philosophical change, I think you're going to see changes like that at Facebook, but I don't think this is an existential threat in the sense that Facebook will go away and be transformed or not be able to recover from this.
CHURCH: All right. So, wake-up call for Facebook and probably for Facebook users at this point. Maybe everyone will start sharing a little less. Nicholas Thompson, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
THOMPSON: Thank you so much for having me here.
CHURCH: Now, we turn now to another big story we're watching very closely. Most of the 110 schoolgirls kidnaped in Nigeria last month are now back with their relieved families in their hometown. The terror group, Boko Haram, released them on Wednesday, but five other girls reportedly died in captivity. A government spokesman said Nigeria did not pay a ransom for the girls' return. He says they were freed following back channel efforts by the government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAI MOHAMMED, NIGERIA'S INFORMATION MINISTER: We have been in negotiation with these factions of insurgents for quite a while, and one of the understandings was that while we negotiate, there will be no abductions. So, for us, the government, led by the negotiators, reminded them of the agreement that there will be non-abduction. Now the breach of that agreement that is why there is no swap, there was no money paid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The girls and their families are now speaking all about their terrifying ordeal. Our Lynda Kinkade has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: (inaudible) gather in a small Nigerian village as they hear the news. Nearly all of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped in Dapchi, Nigeria, have been returned. Tears rolling down the girls' faces as they're surrounded by friends and family once more. The students were kidnapped from the government girl's Science and Technological College on February 19th. Several of the girls said some of their friends died in captivity, one of the girls describes how they were taken by Babangida, a member of the terror group Boko Haram.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATOR): When they took us from the school, we were seated, thinking about what we could eat. Then we heard a gunshot. Everybody was confused, running Helter Skelter. They then called to us and asked us to come to the school gate. We went to the gate. They then called Babangida to bring a vehicle, and they packed us into the car.
KINKADE: There was no reason given for the girls return. The Nigerian government denies paying a ransom. It said in a statement that back-channel efforts led to their release and that it was unconditional. The girls were seen walking into Dapchi after simply being dropped off early Wednesday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): I saw with my own eyes, 11 Boko Haram vehicles. They were with the children. When they got to the tarred road, they stopped and blocked the road. They didn't' talk to anybody, they didn't greet anybody. They were just shouting Allahu Akbar. They dropped the children at one corner. Everybody came to see the children.
KINKADE: The Nigerian President, Mohammadu Buhari, had vowed to bring the girls home, deploying troops and surveillance aircraft to find them. But according to a new amnesty international report, the Nigerian government failed to act on advanced warnings of the Boko Haram raid on the school.
Nigerian army spokesman John Egan tells CNN, the allegations are false and that the army was not informed. The kidnapping of these girls is the biggest mass abduction since Boko Haram took more than 270 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in 2014. A case that triggered international outrage. Over 100 of those girls remain missing. Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: And after this short break, the Austin bomber is dead after a confrontation with police. What he did right before they closed in on him.
And a City of 4 million people running out of water. We will check in on Cape Town, South Africa, on this World Water Day. We're back in a moment.
[03:40:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The man who put Austin, Texas, on edge for more than two weeks is now dead. But police still don't know why he scattered package bombs across the city. There are a lot of clues now, including a 25-minute-long video confession. The details now from CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Five homemade pipe bombs killed and injured unsuspecting victim around Austin and San Antonio in the last three weeks. One last bomb blew up in the sender's hands. Blowing out the windows of this maroon SUV as a SWAT team closed in. Authorities say, 23-year-old, Mark Anthony Condit was the serial bomber, who unleashed the deadly chill across the city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN MANLEY, CHIEF, AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT: The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The surreal ending stunned relatives and neighbors in Condit's hometown of Pflugerville just north of Austin. Family members say Condit was a loving and peaceful man who was home schooled and briefly attended community college. The oldest of four siblings, who never showed signs of violence, but sometimes even those who are closest don't see the darkness lurking under the surface.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know they're church going people. I know they're extremely good neighbors. I like them a lot. It's extremely confusing, and I don't make anything of it, because it just I - it doesn't make sense, I suppose this type of thing never does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Condit lived in this house with two roommates. Those men are being questioned by authorities, but have not been charged. Meanwhile, investigators search Condit's home including sheds in the bomber's backyard. Investigators say they discovered a large amount of bomb-making materials inside, much of it locked in one room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
There was no completed devices in the house. There was the homemade explosive and material that we found in the house, (inaudible) bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The Texas governor an interview that investigators have discovered a treasure trove of information that could help explain the motive. -- injured five others, including a 25-minute recording left by Condit, which police describe as a confession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANLEY: I know everybody is interested in a motive and understanding why, and we are never going to be able to put a ration behind these acts. But what I can tell you having to listen to that recording, he does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate. But instead, it is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Law enforcement sources say one of the key breaks came when Condit walked into this FedEx station in south Austin wearing a hat, blond wig, and gloves to drop off two packages.
[03:45:02] Investigators began tracking his movements using surveillance cameras and cellphone towers, which led them to the violent ending along this Interstate and perhaps a little closer to understanding why a 23-year-old would unleash this kind of mayhem.
Here in Mark Condit's neighborhood, the search continues inside his home. Investigators have cordoned off an area around it. The police chief says that that video recording was made by Condit just hours before he was discovered. The police chief says that he believes Condit felt that investigators were getting closer to capturing him and that's why he made that recording. Ed Lavandera, CNN Pflugerville, Texas.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: Well, parts of southern California are under mandatory evacuation orders. Heavy rain is sparking fears of mudslides. Storms caused this massive tree to fall on a school, but thankfully no one was hurt. Over on the U.S. East Coast, the problem is snow. It made for picture-perfect postcard images in the U.S. capital, but many government employees were told to stay home Thursday.
Members of the House and Senate did trudge through the snow to get to work. Parts of the Northeast could see whiteout conditions and thousands of flight were canceled. So when will spring weather actually begin? Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now hopefully with an answer to that. Very frustrating for so many people.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I wish I did have that -- that golden ticket, the golden answer for you, Rosie. People have been asking me left, right, and center. One thing's for sure. This latest nor'easter was a major headache for travel. Of course, you can see this is on Wednesday. So we're talking yesterday along the East coast, but it's quite impressive to see. Just the cancellation at some of the major airports, LaGuardia, into JFK, well over 50 percent of flights canceled. That's International and Domestic included. You can imagine that has more of a snowball effect into the course of their Thursday. So, that will be feeling the effects of that of course, as they try to travel and get down into East coast today.
Now, look at those snowfall totals for this area. We set some daily records for Philadelphia and the Dallas, airport region. LaGuardia, Central Park, roughly about 20 to 22 centimeters of snowfall. If you think that is a lot of snow, you're right, but I don't want to state the obvious. It's interesting, though, a great producer of mine put this graphic together. The last time we saw over 70 - 6 centimeters or 30 inches of snowfall for five consecutive winter seasons was back in 1880 to 1885. It has just happened once again. So, is this normal?
Well, it certainly isn't. Now, this storm is quickly coming to an end along the New England coastline. New York to Boston really only another inch or two of snowfall. Maybe a few more inches across Eastern Long Island into the Cape Cod region. Let me take you to the left coast or the west coast. This is the other weather story we are following, the atmospheric river just funneling in a significant amount of moisture and heavy rainfall for Central and Southern California.
You can see the flood watches stretching from San Luis Obispo into Sta. Barbara and Los Angeles region. This is incredible, because the heaviest rainfall still north of Santa Barbara. But if you recall, this is the region where we had a recent fires, within the past six months. So, there's still a lot of burn scars across that region. You get heavy rainfall on top of the vegetation that is been burned and that has the recipe for disaster.
So, the potential exist for mudslides to continue across this region with 5 to 100 millimeters -- 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall expected within the next 36 hours that. So, again that could lead us to some potential flooding regions.
In that wall, it has been a rainy March for Santa Barbara. In fact, they've already experienced 113 millimeters of rainfall. You can see the normal March rainfall for that region. It has been an extremely wet, wet past 24 hours for that area, Rosie, lots of stories to cover here.
CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And thanks for covering it Derek, I appreciate it.
VAN DAM: My pleasure. CHURCH: Well, Thursdays is World Water Day, meant to focus attention
on the important of the precious liquid. In few places is that more evident than in Cape Town, South Africa. The metropolis of nearly 4 million people had feared what it called day zero, when Cape Town runs out of water. Well, day zero was just pushed back until next year, but of course, the crisis still exists. Here's CNN's David McKenzie with more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Below Cape Town's iconic table mountain, underneath the city streets, we're exploring the tunnel system were spring water flows freely. It was this constant source of fresh, clean water that led to Cape Town's founding, and now it again water or lack of it that is determining the city's very survival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been regards we can get our resources elsewhere, and so it's just been covered over and forgotten. We should be grateful for what we have even though we are living in fear of day zero approaching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:50:08] MCKENZIE: Day zero, a doomsday scenario when the taps run dry. For Capetonians, it's a real possibility as long as their city's main water supply looks like this. A few years ago this dam was at capacity. The water would have been above my head, and the question is how could Cape Town, a city founded, because of its water, face the dire prospect of running out.
Hammered by the worst drought in more than a century, experts say climate change will make Cape Town's dry years more frequent and wet years less wet. Making the situation worst, the government admits the city is still through reliant on two few dams.
The Capetonians are adopting old habits, restricted to just a few liters of water a day. These ancient springs draw the crowds again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Water will always be there. This is how the people are. We wait until something happens, and now we want water.
MCKENZIE: When did you start coming in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A long time ago when the water crisis started to sink. Of course we're all worried, but we got to do what we've got to do to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Everyone lends a hand here, but there are nervous months of summer ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to fear of our life, this is the worst it's ever been, I mean we expected rain a long, long time ago, and we haven't had it. So, yes, we're scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Water for agriculture is also being restricted. And the city is cracking down on illegal usage, but government officials admit this are emergency measure, enough to delay day zero, but without substantial rain, the crisis will remain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're seeing a definite change in our climate conditions which to us shows that we need to adopt our way of working and thinking around planning for what we term the new normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: That new normal is the old normal in the vast cape flats, where millions live in informal settlements and hundreds, back (inaudible) must share a single tap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's difficult, because I use the water all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: A drop for the ages is the great equalizer in this famously unequal city. David McKenzie, CNN, Cape Town.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: President Trump is getting slammed for his Twitter use again, when we come back, we will spell it out for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Some good news and bad news for Elon Musk. The good news is actually quite fantastic. Tesla shareholders have approved an incentive package for the CEO that could make him the richest man on the planet. If he hits certain milestones in the next decade, and drive's the Tesla's market value 12 times higher, Musk could be worth at least $176 billion, and that's not including his stake in the rocket company SpaceX.
Here's the bad news. If Musk fails to hit his goals, Tesla will not pay him at all. He will probably be just fine though, according to "Fortune Magazine," Musk's network is already almost $20 billion.
[03:55:05] And finally, when you are leader of the free world, your Twitter feed gets a lot of attention. Donald Trump has millions of followers, but his missing one thing, spell check. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump knows we're watching his tweets with eagle eyes.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I do a typo, it's like death. They just -- they go wild.
MOOS: But it was the President who went wild misspelling. Trump sets new record for most typo's in one tweet. There was whether, missing an h. There was the - the and three mistakes with the same word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He meant counsel.
MOOS: Twitter helpfully pointed out the difference between Special Counsel, a lawyer, and a Special Council, as in a meeting of say white dogs. All those mistakes got graded and mocked. He's an idiot.
We welcome you to the Donald J. Trump presidential typo and misspellings hall of fame. But all spelled correctly? The President got off to a fast start the day after his inauguration, tweeting, I am honored to serve you. Saving this for a posterity, joked one reporter, but the President was so honored, he later did it again. He has misspelled everything from hereby to tap my phones, even tapping out this unforgettable non word, perhaps while falling asleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: GOFEFE.
MOOS: He once called something China did and unprecedented act.
TRUMP: I am like a very smart person.
MOOS: Smart enough to misspell on purpose.
TRUMP: L, Y, E, N -- lying.
MOOS: Sure President Trump's predecessor blew a word or two now and then.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I read the first, told us what respect.
MOOS: But you've got to respect that we can learn from President Trump's mistakes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To whether, another typo.
MOOS: Whether is no mere typo --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whether.
MOOS: Whether is an actual word that means castrated ram, a male sheep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible). MOOS: The president may be castrating the English language, but he
sure doesn't seem sheepish about it. Jeanne Moos, CNN.
TRUMP: Trust me, I'm like a smart person.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: Always read back over your work. Thanks for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me any time on Twitter, love to hear from you. And the news continues now with Max Foster in London. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.
