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Upgrades to North Korea Nuclear Facility; Poland Changes Controversial Death Camps Law; Prince William: Palestinians Have Not Been Forgotten; Joe Jackson Who Created Dynasty Dead at 89. Aired 12- 1a ET
Aired June 28, 2018 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, Donald Trump gets another chance to reshape the U.S. Supreme Court. That's after one of the country's most influential justices announces his retirement.
Plus, the stakes are high, and time is short. European leaders torn apart by the migrant crisis hope to find some compromise at a crucial summit.
And this World Cup's biggest shocker, Germany becomes the latest victim of the champions curse.
Hello and thanks for joining us. I'm Nick Watt. This is NEWSROOM L.A.
The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to take a giant step to the right. Justice Anthony Kennedy who cast deciding votes in key cases upholding abortion and gay rights is retiring. That means Donald Trump can now nominate someone much more conservative to the high court. CNN's Jeff Zeleny begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He is a man who is displaying great vision. He's displayed tremendous vision and tremendous heart.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump facing a historic opportunity tonight to not only fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, but to fundamentally reshape the direction of the high court with a firm conservative majority.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We will begin our search for a new justice of the United States Supreme Court that will begin immediately. And hopefully, we're going to pick somebody who will be as outstanding. ZELENY: His retirement kept secret until the end hands another monumental victory to the president in this pivotal midterm election year. Perhaps nothing fires up conservatives more than a Supreme Court vacancy.
Justice Kennedy delivered the bombshell news himself carrying his retirement letter with him as he visited the White House, only hours after the court finished its business for the term.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I got his ideas on things including I asked him if he had certain people that he had great respect for that potentially could take his seat, which is a very hard seat to fill.
ZELENY: That's an understatement. Conservatives will demand a far more reliable vote than Kennedy. A Reagan nominee and libertarian who sided with liberals on abortion, affirmative action and gay rights. It's a chance for Trump to give the court its fifth full throated conservative.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We have a very excellent list of great talented, highly education, intelligent, hopefully tremendous people. I think the list is very outstanding.
ZELENY: The president pledged to make his selection from a public list of 25 well established conservative jurists. He said he would move swiftly, a sentiment echoed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy's successor this fall. It's imperative that the president's nominee be considered fairly.
ZELENY: McConnell infuriated Democrats by refusing to seat President Obama's Supreme Court nominee during the final year of his presidency. Democrats tried retaliating by mounting a filibuster of Trump's first nominee to the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch.
But it backfired and prompted McConnell to change the rules of the Senate, which means the next nominee needs only 51 votes to be confirmed. Trump often says putting Gorsuch on the court is his biggest achievement since taking office.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I have always felt that after the defense of our nation the most important decision a president of the United States can make is the appointment of a Supreme Court justice. Depending on their age, a justice can be active for 50 years and his or her decisions can last a century or more and can often be permanent.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Fargo, North Dakota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Now Michael Genovese is the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, and Sam Erman is a law professor at USC and a former judicial law clerk for Justice Kennedy. But Michael, I'm going to start with you, first. Could this be the most profound moment of the Trump presidency allowing him to essentially create, cement his legacy?
MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's an incredible opportunity for him to cement the legacy not just for the next couple of years but for the next couple of decades. If you nominate someone in their 40s, they could be on the court for 35 to 40 years.
And so long after Donald Trump is gone, these justices will still be making law. So, for the president and for any president it's a huge opportunity to reshape American politics through legal decisions.
WATT: What kind of justice do you think he's going to appoint?
[00:05:11] GENOVESE: Well, if the past is prelude Donald Trump will as always play to his base and want someone very conservative, someone who unlike Kennedy -- Kennedy was very conservative but not a hard- right conservative.
WATT: He wasn't a reliable conservative.
GENOVESE: Right. He voted with the liberal majority on some abortion cases, affirmative action, gay rights. So, what we should expect is someone who will have to pass the litmus test against all of those things.
Now that doesn't mean that abortion rights will be overturned overnight. The court has to wait for a ripe case to overturn it if they want to. So, unlike some people who are screaming it's going to be like "hands maid tail," it can change, and it can change in a year or two. So, there could be some dramatic changes on the horizon.
WATT: OK. On this same point, I just want to play something that our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin has been saying today, and you can tell me if you agree or not. Here's Jeffrey.
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JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Roe v. Wade is doomed. It is gone because Donald Trump won the election. You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortion outright. Just banning abortion and -- because they know that there are now going to be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Sam, is Jeffrey Toobin right?
SAM ERMAN, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW EXPERT: Well, I begin by saying that Roe v. Wade has already to a large degree ceased to be the decision that controls. Justice Kennedy in the Casey decision changed the landscape quite a bit. And that is the thing that will be overturned if overturning will happen.
WATT: Will that happen? That was from 1992, am I right? ERMAN: That's right. I think it's very likely that it will. This is the one issue the conservative legal movement has been most concerned about. They were incredibly disappointed when Republican appointees didn't overturn it in 1992 and they've worked very hard to ensure that appointees since then are ones they believe are willing to reign in and eliminate abortion rights.
WATT: So, Michael, what happens in the country if Sam is right and that decision is overturned?
GENOVESE: That will animate behavior on the left especially --
WATT: Animate behavior that's the euphemism.
GENOVESE: That's polite for going to raise hell. You will see our divided nation will be more divided. Rhetoric will be more incendiary, and I think patience will run out very quickly. This is a big issue for both sides.
It's an emotional issue for both sides and the two tribes have dug in their heels. One tribe is going to win in the next year or two, and it's probably the conservative tribe, and that's going to cause havoc on the left and may cause the Democrats to move further left than they're already moving.
WATT: Just in terms of how this works. So, Donald Trump will probably nominate somebody within the next couple weeks from this list of 25 that he put together for his last Supreme Court nomination.
Mitch McConnell has suggested this will go through some time in the fall. I mean, the Senate needs to approve this nomination. They need 51 votes. They have 51 Republican senators. Is it that simple?
GENOVESE: No, it's not because John McCain may not be there to vote.
WATT: OK, if he's not, then Vice President Pence --
GENOVESE: You would think the Democrat strategy will be, can I find one Republican? And there are a couple who might. Murkowski might say wait, abortion is too important an issue for me, or some other Republican might say, no, this is too important an issue, I'm going to go against my party.
WATT: But, of course, there is always also the possibility that some Democratic senators may vote in favor of the nomination.
GENOVESE: Less likely but possible.
WATT: But we have, I think, ten senators who are in Trump states. States that voted for Trump in 2016 that are facing reelection. If they vote against this nomination, that could hurt them politically?
GENOVESE: Well, but if they say they're going to vote against it, that raises the political stakes for them. If they're going to vote for the Supreme Court nominee, there's a chunk of voters in the Democratic Party who will sit it out. And so very few Democrats know -- they know they can't win if they support the president. They know they might lose because of it, but they know they can't win unless they vote against a candidate who believes in overturning Roe versus Wade and abortion rights.
WATT: I want to play another clip as to how this gets through the Senate. We have two sound bites from Mitch McConnell, one is from 2016, if you remember Antonin Scalia, of course, died before the presidential election, the Republicans dragged their feet, would not hold a confirmation hearing.
At that time, Mitch McConnell said THAT the American public had a right to speak, had a right in this process. He came out today and said, we are going to hold this nomination hearing before the midterms.
[00:10:02] Let's just listen to McConnell then and now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country. So, of course -- of course, the American people should have a say in the court's direction.
The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on President Trump's nominee to fill this vacancy. We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy's successor this fall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Now, Sam, Chuck Schumer, the House minority leader, of course, called that the height of hypocrisy. Double standard?
ERMAN: I think it probably is a double standard, but this is politics and --
WATT: So, that's OK?
ERMAN: Well, I think -- I had clerked for Merrick Garland and so it hurt me a great deal not to see him end up --
WATT: Merrick Garland, of course, was President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court, who he wanted to appoint before the election but wasn't allowed to.
ERMAN: That's absolutely right. But having succeeded in managing to get the seat, it's no surprise at all that they would now want to consolidate their advantage. And at this stage, what they're doing is going back to normal practice, which is moving forward on people the president nominates. So, it was the former decision that was the extraordinary one, and this one is less controversial. Albeit, it is not consistent with what they did before.
WATT: And you also clerked for Justice Kennedy as we discussed.
ERMAN: That's right.
WATT: I just want to play President Trump was in North Dakota tonight and he was having a rally and he had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I'm very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office because he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy. That's why he did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Is that the truth? Do you believe that Justice Kennedy has confidence in the president to continue his legacy?
ERMAN: I don't think it's usually the case that justices retire because of presidents. I think when you have a lifetime tenure and you've been in one of the most important jobs in the country for many years, you retire when it's your time to retire.
The justice has served much longer than most people continue serving. He has grandchildren that he loves very much. I suspect the next year will be a very fulfilling one for him. And I think it's not unusual for president Trump to claim that whatever happens is about him, but I don't think that's probably the case here.
WATT: Michael?
GENOVESE: I agree. I think that's exactly on the nose. Justice Kennedy is 81 years old, served for 30 years. He's earned a break. And I think when you hear President Trump saying what he says, that's Donald Trump's ego speaking.
He has the biggest ego in the room. I don't think Kennedy calculated carefully, Donald Trump is in there, he could have done it next year, the year before if he wanted to retire. So, I don't think Donald Trump's statement holds much water.
WATT: Michael, Sam, thank you both for your time.
ERMAN: Thank you.
GENOVESE: Thank you.
WATT: For the first time in 80 years, Germany has been eliminated from the World Cup at the first hurdle. The reigning champions ranked number one on the planet, fell to South Korea 2-0 in a stunning upset during added time. South Korea's first goal was upheld after a video review. Three minutes later Germany's fate was sealed with South Korea's easy goal into an open net.
This was the third straight time the defending champions have crashed out during the group stage. Germany fans were heartbroken to be knocked out so easy. Adding to their misery, Germany finished last in Group F behind Sweden, Mexico, and South Korea.
CNN's Atika Shubert has the reaction from Berlin.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The music is still pumping but a lot of the fans have left the fan zone. A lot of people came here to watch the match and they were hoping it would be an evening to celebrate, but that's not how it turned out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very disappointing for Germany after having won it four years ago and we expected the same kind of team where we were -- we were just disillusioned somewhat by the team effort. It seemed almost like they didn't want to be there.
[00:15:12] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not able to go faster on the plays. They are sleeping and they're not playing football. I have seen the World Cup final in 2014 in Rio live and I know the people, what can do, but that play, that is not the play they are normally playing.
SHUBERT: For the last four years, of course, Germany has been the world master of football. It's a point of national pride, which is why it's hard to see the national team go out in the first round of the World Cup. Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And next on NEWSROOM" L.A., one migration standoff is over, but the crisis is far from solved. The E.U. faces a reality check as it looks for a solution.
Plus, another Trump summit is in the works, this time with Vladimir Putin. Will Russian election meddling be on the agenda? That is just ahead.
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WATT: The migrant crisis in Europe comes to a tipping point just hours from now when E.U. leaders meet in Brussels to come up with some kind of solution.
Meanwhile, a ship carrying more than 230 migrants finally docked at a port in Malta, the ship was stranded for five days while European governments fought over who would take these desperate people in.
Now that Malta and seven other countries have agreed to help, the immediate standoff is over, but the migration problem needs to be fixed and it won't be easy.
We'll talk about the migrant crisis now and European efforts to end it with Dominic Thomas. He is our European affairs commentator and joins us from Berlin.
Dominic, Donald Tusk is chairing the summit and he is pretty gloomy, says more and more people in Europe are believing the antiimmigrant rhetoric of the right. They are supporting the idea that only anti- liberal authority can stop illegal immigration. He tweeted stakes are high, and time is short. Dominic, are they are high, and is it short?
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, yes, the stakes are very high. You're right to point out, but what we're dealing with here is really the migrants problem rather than the migrants crisis.
[00:20:02] As we well know, the numbers are dramatically down from 2015 and we are dealing less here with the problem of migrant influx and control than we are with a broader political crisis in the European Union.
And a substantial division between different political leaders and different countries within the European Union. But no matter what the question of migration is influencing all current elections.
And political leaders realized that this is something that they are going to have to reckon with and gathering in Brussels yet again to deal with this particular question is a step in that direction.
WATT: I mean, it's a step in the direction but can they actually achieve anything substantive? Are all the players that need to be there, there? Is Hungary there?
THOMAS: Yes, the players will be there. What's so interesting about this is, of course, we already hear the Italian prime minister talk about he has a 10-point plan, Angela Merkel's minister of interior has a 63-point plan.
So, there's already discrepancies and divisions here. What we see is a number of European leaders proposing and enhancing a number of existing measures and more control over the borders and outsourcing and the triage, redefining migrants versus asylum seekers.
But at the end of the day, it's the detractors they have to deal with because when it comes down to it, this meeting is about a set of countries, in this case, Italy in particular under the new government, that is playing hard ball with the European Union saying that they are disproportionately impacted having external borders by the migrate crisis and flaws.
And that they want more European Unions to help out. The help isn't just financial, it's also strategic, about resettlement, redistribution, accepting quotas. There's a number of European countries, most notably Hungary that have completely unambiguous about this and have described some of these populations as aliens and do not want them entering their countries, particularly those from Muslim countries or Muslim highly represented countries.
WATT: Dominic, I read there's something on the table called regional disembarkation platforms. Is that something designed to appease the likes of the Hungarians?
THOMAS: Well, in the case of the Hungarians they do not want anyone coming in to their country. In the case of Italy, it's a bit more ambiguous. On the one hand, the minister of the interior and the vice prime minister or co-prime minister, Matteo Salvini, has talked about the fact on the one hand he wants to restrict entries and he wants to share, quote, "the burden of responsibility" with other European countries, but has also himself adopted a number of xenophobic and racist terms.
This practice is already in place. There are many countries helping, quote, "shield" the European Union against these particular migrants. But it's certainly a step to outsource this, to prevent the migrants from making the Mediterranean crossing and dealing with them in a point of origin to determine whether or not they will have a legitimate claim for asylum should they enter the European Union.
It's one of the major measures that is being proposed. Whether or not this goes far enough in dealing with the particular emotional appeal, which is driving elections in the European Union still remains to be determined.
WATT: I just want to shift gears briefly at the end. There is, of course, a trade war between the U.S. and European Union, tariffs flying back and forth. Donald Tusk inviting people to the summit and alluded to that. He said I will share with you my political assessment of where things stand. What do you think he's going to say?
THOMAS: Well, I think this is where he's going to hit the nail on the hand is there are currently adverse factors globally, most notably the relationship with the United States and in specific President Trump's interference on the European political landscape.
Talking about and supporting far right leaders, linking his immigration ideas and policies to those of certain European leaders who have been especially problematic to the European Union and therefore to the liberal democratic values of those institutions.
And I think he's going to bring it into the open that this is not exclusively about a migrant crisis, it's the direction in which Europe is going. And European leaders need to address those divisions and factions if they're going to get to any kind of resolution.
WATT: Dominic in Berlin, thank you very much getting up early and bringing us that analysis.
Now in Syria, government attacks on rebel forces in the southwest are intensifying. A human rights monitoring group says at least three hospitals near the Jordanian border were bombed. Media reports say 45,000 people have fled the attacks.
[00:25:07] The U.N. Syria envoy warns 750,000 lives could be at risk and says the humanitarian disaster could be worst than after the fall of Aleppo.
We expect to learn Thursday when and where U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet next month. The betting right now is on Helsinki or maybe Vienna. Right after Mr. Trump attends the NATO Summit in Brussels.
Now bear in mind, he will sit down at that NATO get together with many of the same world leaders he angered at the G7. One of President Trump's closest advisers has been hammering out the details in Moscow and our Fred Pleitgen reports from the Russian capital.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): National security Adviser John Bolton face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top ministers. A quick agreement, President Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a summit next month. Still Putin taking a swipe at the U.S.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I regret to have to point out that Russian/U.S. relations are not at their best. I have mentioned this publicly more than once and I want to say it again at this meeting as well.
PLEITGEN: Sources tell CNN the most likely venue for the summit will be Helsinki. The exact date and location due to be announced on Thursday. The national security adviser previously suggested that Russia and Putin can't be trusted.
JOHN BOLTON, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: After bringing up the Russian meddling at the beginning of the meeting, which was the right thing to do, saying it was something all Americans were concerned with, Trump got to look at Vladimir Putin looking him in the eye and lying to him directly.
PLEITGEN: Today at a press conference right after his meeting with Russia' s president, brushing off the perceived change of course.
BOLTON: I don't really address what I've written in the past or said on television. It's all out there. Right now, I'm an adviser to President Trump it's his agenda we're per suing and that's the agenda that I intend to advance.
PLEITGEN: On the agenda will be major issues, like the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, U.S. sanctions against Russia and Bolton says Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
BOLTON: I think a lot of people have said or implied over time that a meeting between President Trump and President Putin would somehow prove some nexus between the Trump campaign and the kremlin, which is complete nonsense.
PLEITGEN: But Russian state tv gloating about Bolton's visit to Moscow joking about Russia's perceived reached into America's political process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Cyber security is a topic for the summit because what are the main accusations we hear in the past years from the American side that our great and terrible Russian hackers invaded the American space, which many see as aggression against the country and we caused trouble there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What trouble did we cause? We just elected Trump that's all. PLEITGEN: Russian state tv trashing CNN and "The Situation Room" in their show as America's national security adviser was busy hammering out a summit meant to improve relations between Moscow and the Trump White House. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Politically sensitive visit and an official first for a British royal. Ahead Prince Williams' day in the occupied West Bank.
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[00:30:58] WATT: You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles, I'm Nick Watt, and the headlines this hour. The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy is expected to bring major changes to the U.S. Supreme Court. The conservative judge cast the key swing votes in cases upholding abortion and gay rights. President Trump is expected to nominate a replacement further to the right.
E.U. leaders are meeting in Brussels in the coming hours to come up with a solution to the migrant problem. Meanwhile, the ship carrying more than 230 migrants, finally docked at a port in mull to the ship, was stranded for five days, while European governments fought over who would take these desperate people in.
And at the World Cup, number one, Germany, was knocked out of the tournament, Wednesday, by underdogs, South Korea, 2-0. Germany's shocking upset means Mexico advances to the rand of 16. This is the third time in a row that the defending champions have been eliminated to the group stage.
Now, new satellite images of a North Korean nuclear facility are raising questions about whether Pyongyang is really serious about giving up its nuclear program. Brian Todd has more on what these pictures show and what the experts think it means.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New evidence that Kim Jong-un could still be tweaking, making improvements to his nuclear facilities despite his promise to President Trump to draw down his nuclear arsenal. New satellite images from the monitoring group, 38 North, suggest Kim's regime is making upgrades to its nuclear research facility at Yongbyon.
Upgrades which the group says, are being done "at a rapid pace." 38 North believes much of that work took place before President Trump's Summit with Kim, on June 12th. But, it says, some of the work probably occurred after the Singapore meeting, after Kim's promise to work to denuclearize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, if you are about to demolish your house, would you be upgrading the kitchen?
OLIVIA ENOS, POLICY ANALYST, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I think that that definitely calls in to question whether or not Kim Jong-un came to the table in good faith.
TODD: 38 North says it believes Yongbyon is no longer producing plutonium, crucial for nuclear weapons. But the latest photos showed that Kim regime has made modifications to the cooling system for a reactor that has produced plutonium.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is an important reactor and you can draw the conclusion, of course, that it's intended to operate in the future, and it operated more efficiently than it could more efficiently produce plutonium.
TODD: 38 North also says its photos show Kim's regime has built two new small buildings at Yongbyong, which it believes could be intended for VIPs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could be outside inspectors intending to verify any new agreements or they could be VIPs, whether it's visiting foreign press or North Korean leaders.
TODD: Neither the White House nor U.S. Intelligence Officials are commenting on this new images. 38 North, Jul Witz said some of these upgrades could be so routine that they may not mean that Kim's going back on his pledge to denuclearize. Other analysts believe they know which way the dictator will go when he's pressured for specific cuts to his arsenal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has been very clear he wants to keep his nuclear weapons. He's declared that. It's in the North Korean constitution. Nothing in the Singapore Summit changes that.
TODD: Which leads to a lingering question, why did Kim come to the table in Singapore?
ENOS: I think that they're hoping to show normalized and so, sort of, sanitize Kim Jong-un's image, I mean, we saw these selfies with the Singapore Prime Minister, walks along Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, a handshake with the President. He wants to sanitize his image so that he can be included among other nuclear powers, like for example, China or Russia.
[00:34:57] TODD: Analysts say all of these now puts more pressure on President Trump, Mike Pompeo and the rest of the Trump team, to exert their own pressure on Kim Jong-un, to be more specific about the weapons he's going to draw down and to get some of that in writing. Experts say Kim may balk at that, he may stall, he may deceive, but they say it's still important for Kim not to be seen as the one dictating the terms of this agreement right now. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: And now, and about face, in Poland over the holocaust. The Polish Parliament has changed the law that it only been enforced since March. It imposed jail time for anyone using the term, Polish death camps or suggesting Poland was complicit in Nazi war crimes during World War II. Both the United States and Israel spoke out against the law. The government removed the threat of jail, changing it to of civil offense.
Israel says it will continue to work with Poland on issues related to the holocaust. Some of the most infamous Nazi death camps including Auschwitz and Treblinka were in German-occupied Poland. Prince William is now the first British royal to pay an official visit to the Palestinian territories. He met with the Palestinian president and tour the refugee camp, telling Palestinians, you have not been forgotten. Max Foster reports, Prince William had to walk a fine line in his calls for peace in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Prior to his arrival, Prince William was asked by the Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, to pass on a message of peace to his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, adding, tell him it's about time.
U.K. royals have the duty to stay above politics at all times, let alone on such a high-profile and historic visit.
Inside, Abbas used the opportunity to make his own case.
MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT OF PALESTINE (through interpreter): We're serious about reaching peace with Israel, where the two countries live side by side with security and stability on the borders of June 4th.
FOSTER: William chose his words carefully.
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: My sentiments are the same as yours in hoping that there is a lasting peace in the region.
FOSTER: Abbas also brought up UNRRA, the U.N. agency responsible for schools in Palestinian refugee camps. The organization is facing a financial crisis after the Trump administration slashed funding. According to one U.N. official, UNRRA might not have enough money to reopen the schools in August, after the summer break. Meaning, this one, visited by William, might have to close. 15 year-old Rahaf, was one of the school council members who met him.
RAHAF, MEMBER OF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL (through interpreter): It's to raise awareness about people leaving under occupation still, and maybe apply a bit of pressure on the Israelis to make our lives easier.
FOSTER: William's decision to highlight the work of an under school, was very much welcomed by the organization. His presence have clear show of support for the work that's done here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: On Thursday, Prince William was found here on the Mount of Olives and take in the view of the old city of Jerusalem, home to some of the most sacred sites in Christianity and Judaism and in Islam. Then, there's some unannounced visits so far, where he'll pay respect to those religions and their history. Max Foster, CNN, Jerusalem.
WATT: All right. Thanks to Max. And next on Newsroom L.A., the man behind the Jackson family musical dynasty has died. We'll remember, Joe Jackson.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:40] WATT: There would not have been the Jackson 5 without him. Joe Jackson died early Wednesday, in Las Vegas. The father of the late superstar, Michael Jackson, singer, Janet Jackson, and the rest of the musical clan, was 89 years old. CNN Stephanie Elam has more on the creative and controversial (INAUDIBLE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH JACKSON, PATRIARCH, JACKSON FAMILY: That was nice, very nice.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As the patriarch of the one of the most successful families in the entertainment industry, Joseph Jackson created a dynasty that revolutionized music. He raised his family of nine children in Gary, Indiana and groomed them to become musical sensations.
JACKSON: You're going to pass every record in the country.
ELAM: The Jackson 5 became the first pop group to have their first four singles go straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. Several of the Jacksons would go on to successful solo careers. Off stage, there were allegations by some of the Jacksons that their father beat or molested them when they were children.
JACKSON: I hope that people will understand some of the problems they were saying I was too rough with them and everybody spanked. I never beat Michael in my life but I discipline family once in a while.
ELAM: In 1979, Michael started managing his own career and severed business ties with his father. His brothers followed suit in 1983. Despite the split, Jackson's children still respected his legacy.
JACKSON: The man is a genius to me because he had all these children and he had his little job in Gary, Indiana, and he only had one kid that didn't make a name for themselves.
ELAM: Though he was often criticized for being too tough on his kids, Jackson seemed proud of the success of all of his children.
JACKSON: I'm glad I was tough because look what I came out with. I came out with some kids that everybody loved all over the world.
ELAM: While Joe Jackson was able to cultivate his family's talent, his personal affairs were less than perfect. His wife, Katherine, filed for divorce, twice. They spend time living separately but remained married for more than 60 years.
JACKSON: Katherine is a very good woman and I love her much, I still do.
ELAM: In June 2009, his son, pop icon, Michael Jackson, died from an overdose.
JACKSON: The world was like Michael, you don't know the end of wars, everybody would get along.
ELAM: Along with his wife, Joe Jackson was often present at the trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal doctor, who is convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011, in connection with the death. Afterwards, Joe Jackson went on to work on various projects perhaps none greater than the Jackson family legacy he created.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles, I'm Nick Watt. World Sport starts after the break.
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