Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Expected To Sign The Compromise To Avoid Another Shutdown; "El Chapo" Found Guilty And Facing Life In Prison; Venezuela Still In Crisis Mode; Murtaza A Seven-Year-Old Became Famous And His Family And Town Attacked By Taliban; Venezuelan hospitals running out of supplies, El Chapo convicted, faces life in prison, Trump not happy with budget deal compromise, U.K. PM promises meaningful vote after more talks with E.U., Iran shows off its ballistic missile capability, Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 13, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:00]
[02:00:13] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church with your next two hours of CNN Newsroom. Let's get started.
The desperation inside Venezuela's hospitals running out of medicine and food while the government refuses to accept aid.
A 12-week high drama trial ends in New York with a conviction of the notorious drug lord, El Chapo.
Donald Trump says he's not happy with a compromise deal that would prevent another government shutdown and he's keeping everyone guessing about whether he will sign it.
And we begin in Venezuela where huge crowds flooded the streets once again, both for and against President Nicolas Maduro. Opposition protesters want Maduro to allow humanitarian aid into the country, and his rival, self-declared interim President, Juan Guaido, intends to do just that.
He posted selfie in front of a huge crowd saying, humanitarian aid will arrive February 23rd and he's calling on all Venezuelans to help hand out supplies. But Maduro remains defiant, denying that there's a crisis, and says the U.S. and others are distorting the situation to justify intervention.
His Vice President went even further, saying, American aid is contaminated, poisoned and should be considered biological weapons. Maduro also stepped up his attacks on the Trump White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT: It's a political war of the United States empire of the interest of the extreme right that today governing with the Ku Klux Klan that rules the White House to take over Venezuela. They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela.
REPORTER: Is President Trump a white supremacist?
MADURO: He is publicly and openly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, the U.S. says it wants a peaceful transfer of power from Maduro to Guaido, but all options, including military force, are still on the table.
And evidence of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is all around, the currency is worthless, people cross the border into Colombia in droves [ph] to get food, and the poor who stay behind are forced to go through garbage looking for scraps. Hospitals are struggling as well, as CNN's Sam Kiley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In heavily guarded hospitals, the government here wants to keep visitors out and its shameful secrets in.
A failed economy now being crippled by American sanctions has starved hospitals of drugs in the very necessity of life itself, food. Like us, it's smuggled in by volunteers. If the government got hold of these essential supplies, these the aid workers believe they would be stolen and sold on the black market.
Angie cannot live the hospital. She lives on a ventilator. Incredibly, Venezuela's President has closed the country's borders to foreign aid.
The highest priority from these dependent on outside charity help [ph] precisely because the government refuses to take it. It will not accept that it needs help because that means the government admits that it's failed.
Anotella [ph] is six and she has a tumor in her neck. She's terminally ill and there are no cancer drugs to buy her a little extra time.
It's her mother though who is getting treatment today. She fainted from lack of food when she arrived at the hospital. Now, she's recovering on a drip, it's just saline solution. So this handout is just in time.
In every room, small donations are welcome. The staff here tell us that only three of 18 operating theaters are working, that this is the only pediatric surgical unit left in the capital and that 500 children are on its waiting list.
One doctor writes a shopping list of desperately needed supplies. She can't show her face for fear of being punished for doing this. The U.S. and many other nations blame President Nicolas Maduro for scenes like these, and they support his rival, Juan Guaido. U.S.-led efforts to cut off Maduro's access to foreign currency are intended to drive him from power. That might work eventually.
[02:05:00]
In the meantime, it can only deepen the suffering.
Sam Kiley, CNN Caracas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: International drug lord, prison escape artist, and now, at long last, the notorious head of the Sinaloa Cartel has another title, U.S. convict. A jury in New York has found Joaquin El Chapo Guzman guilty of all ten federal counts he faced, Camila Bernal reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of the jurors keeping their eyes down as that verdict was read guilty on all ten counts, El Chapo not having much of a reaction. He looked at his wife, they both looked at each other, smiled and waved. And that was essentially the end of this trial 2 1/2 months of testimony, more than 30 hours of jury deliberations, they defense saying they left it all on the battlefield. But the government on the other hand saying, this is a day of justice for the American people, for the people in Mexico and for the many people that have lost a loved one to an addiction.
RAY DONOVAN, DEA SPECIAL AGENT: Throughout the trial and many, many chilling witness testimonies, the American public and the world was introduced to the real El Chapo, a ruthless killer, a violent drug trafficker.
BERNAL: After 56 witnesses and 200 hours of testimony, the jury decided Joaquin El Chapo Guzman's fate, guilty on all ten counts, including engaging in a criminal enterprise, money laundering and drug smuggling. According to witnesses, Guzman ordered multiple executions, engaged in bribery and even committed murder. U.S. prosecutors calling this a victory for the American people and for Mexicans who have lost loved ones in the drug war.
DONOVAN: He pulled all the strings. He directed all the production, the smuggling.
BERNAL: Guzman is notorious for his Mexican prison escapes, once in 2001 and another one in 2015 through a tunnel. He was recaptured 2016 and extradited to the United States to face federal charges. And now, Guzman is expected to be sentenced to life. But his lawyers say he's not giving up hope of freedom.
WILLIAM PURPURA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's strong and he wants to let everyone know that he is going to continue his fight.
BERNAL: And the sentencing hearing will be held here in Brooklyn on June 25th at 10 A.M. That is expected to be the last day that El Chapo will get to see his wife, Emma Coronel. We talked to her today after the verdict. She said she was doing well now that El Chapo is doing well, as well, according to his defense team who says he's upbeat and ready for his appeal.
Reporting in Brooklyn, I'm Camila Bernal. Now, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: El Chapo's rivals in Mexico are using his demise as an opportunity to expand their drug and criminal operations. Earlier, we heard from former U.S. defense official official about this growing problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANA MARIA SALAZAR, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If you follow the data closely, violence in Mexico has increased in the last two years, the last year-and-a-half, it's at historic levels, and in part can be explained because there is an ongoing feud among two or three different cartels, particularly two, that are trying, in one way or the other, head these - the trafficking of drugs into the United States, which has now also changed now from cocaine. It is heroin, which is kind of invading, you know, the streets right now.
But part of the problem with going after kingpins in Mexico is that once you arrest one of them or one of them gets killed, then you have other organizations that try to take over. And they are now trafficking and doing - they have other illegal activities, such as the stealing of fuel, trafficking of people, extortion, kidnapping. So, I mean, once they have the knowhow, these organizations continue to thrive mainly because the Mexican criminal justice system has tremendous difficulties in controlling these organizations.
I mean, my God, this trial in the United States was probably one of the most expensive trials in the history of the United States, and it was difficult. I mean, they were talking about 200 hours of testimony, boxes of evidence, 14 witnesses that were under special protection. There was special security measures taken for the jurors. I mean, it's not easy to go after these - the kingpins of these criminal organizations. So you can imagine how difficult it could be for Mexico to try these types of individuals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And we will have more on El Chapo's day in court later this hour, plus the chilling evidence used to convict him.
And we are just days away from another U.S. government shutdown but Donald Trump can avoid the whole mess if he signs a bipartisan budget compromise.
[02:10:01]
Now, it may not give him all the money he wants for his border wall with Mexico, but the President says he has ways around that. CNN's Pamela Brown reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's very simple, we're building a wall.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump making clear he is not satisfied with the bipartisan conference deal.
TRUMP: I have to study it, I'm not happy about it. It's not doing the trick.
BROWN: Hinting that if he accepts the deal, he is weighing options, including various executive actions to supplement the proposed wall funding.
TRUMP: We're supplementing things and moving things around, and we're doing things that are fantastic and taking from far less - really, from far less important areas.
BROWN: Another possible option, declaring a national emergency.
TRUMP: I consider everything. I'm considering everything.
BROWN: Sources tell CNN the deal presented to the President includes more than a billion dollars for a barrier funding that will cover roughly 55 miles of new barrier along parts of the Rio Grande Valley, a priority for the White House and the Border Patrol, more than 40,000 I.C.E. detentions beds short of the number requested by the administration but with flexibility for additional funding from other sources as needed, and a $1.7 billion increase in Department of Homeland Security spending focused on technology, ports of entry security and humanitarian aid.
REP. NITA LOWEY (D), N.Y.: This is a compromise, no one got everything they wanted. But it does secure the border, it does represent our values.
BROWN: The agreement falls well short of the $5.7 billion Trump originally demanded for a wall and even falls short of the 1.6 billion included in the Senate measure the President rejected in December. Still many republicans are urging the President to take the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope the President can sign it.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), M.E.: There is no way that the country should be put through another disastrous government shutdown.
BROWN: And democrats say Trump has no choice.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), C.T.: The President ought to lead or get out of the way. Just sign this thing and enable his country to move forward.
BROWN: But even though Trump didn't commit to signing it, he also said reporters another shutdown at the end of the week is unlikely.
TRUMP: I don't think you're going to see a shutdown. I wouldn't want to go through it now. If you did have it, it's the democrats' fault.
BROWN: Now, the White House wants to thoroughly scrub all the details of this deal before making any firm commitment on what the President will do. But one thing is clear, the President wants to avoid a another government shutdown, as he had said publically, and he also wants to build the wall. So it appears that executive action as an option to get more funding for the wall is still very much on the table here at the White House.
Pamel Brown, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And still on U.S. politics, the top democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee says he's not ready to make any conclusions about whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Mark Warner says he disagrees with recent comments from Committee Chairman Republican Richard Burr. It's a rare public split for the two who have carried out a bipartisan investigation into Russian election interference thus far.
Here is what Burr has said about the probe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BURR (R), N.C.: I'm just saying what actually we found to date. We haven't finished with our investigation. And I think - just recently, I think, there was a story that said the democrat staff confirmed that that's where we were, and we've still got some investigation left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any connection between the Trump campaign and Russia?
BURR: Well, I'm not sure how to put it any clearer than I've said it before. We have no factual evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: President Trump has already seized on those comments claiming yet again the Russia investigation is a hoax being carried out by democrats.
Well, they say no man is an island, but with 44 days to Brexit, it seems one woman is. The British Prime Minister searches for support as allies close ranks against a idea whose time many think should never come.
Plus, this German teenager traveled to Syria and married an ISIS member. What Germany now says about taking her back?
And Iran isn't giving in to western pressure ahead a look at its military might on display.
We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:15:00]
[02:17:15] CHURCH: British Prime Minister Theresa May denies she is running down the clock on Brexit. The U.K. is still fit to leave the E.U. without a deal. A no second vote on her Brexit deal is insight. She is to return to parliament in with an update less than two weeks but E.U. leaders have already refused to renegotiate the deal. Still the Prime Minister remains optimistic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THERESA MAY, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: The talks are at a crucial stage and we now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time.
JEREMY CORBYN, U.K. LABOR PARTY LEADER: It appears the Prime Minister has just one real tactic, to run down the clock, hoping members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Brexit negotiations have helped strengthen ties among E.U. countries. And while the path ahead is not entirely clear, the fact that the U.K. is being left out, certainly is, CNN's Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TUSK, EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT: I have been wondering what the special place in hell looks like --
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Down to the wire, Brexit is throwing up barbs, isolating the U.K.
TUSK: -- for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan on how to carry it safely.
ROBERTSON: Frustration on both sides, PM Theresa May shot back.
MAY: A point I made to him is that we should both be working to ensure that we can deliver a close relationship between the United Kingdom, the European Union in the future, and and that's what we should be focusing on.
ROBERTSON: Trouble for May, the E.U. is focusing on a close relationship but not with her but its remaining members, particularly Ireland.
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: The Brexit issue is not the bilateral question between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, it's a European issue. HELEN MCENTEE, IRISH MINISTER OF EUROPEAN AFFAIRS: I just want to thank my colleague, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Stefan Blok, for travelling to Ireland, but most importantly, travelling here to the border.
ROBERTSON: At Brexit's physical impasse days before Tusk's outburst, an object lesson for May on E.U.-Irish unity.
STEAN BLOK, DUTCH FOREIGN MINISTER: I'm quite confident that the E.U. unity will be there until the end.
ROBERTSON: Even the normally reserved Swedes are venting their frustration with U.K. The Foreign Minister telling a group of Scandinavians, I cannot forgive the politicians responsible for the process that led to Brexit, calling it dangerous and badly handled.
In the U.S., May is also facing pushback. Congressman Brendan Boyle Tweeting, after agreeing to the Irish backstop, Theresa May's government has has now reneged on it.
[02:20:07]
Why would anyone negotiate with her now?
Last week, Ireland's Deputy PM touring D.C., meeting officials, questioning May's post-Brexit-U.S. trade deal. If Coveney and his boss, PM Leo Varadkar, were will worried about losing friends, it's behind them now.
LEO VARADKAR, IRISH PRIME MINISTER: I am for the European Union when it comes to these matters, so the Irish government and the European Union are all one when it comes to Brexit. And I'm sure people, if they haven't realized that for the past two years, they're coming to realize it.
ROBERTSON: Contrast with his counterpart, her circle of allies, even in her own party, less certain by the day.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Dublin, Ireland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The U.S. Treasury Chief is in China for another round of high stakes trade talks. Steve Mnuchin says he wants productive meetings in Beijing. The U.S. has threatened to hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods if a trade deal could not be reached by March 1st. But Trump says he could delay the deadline if the two sides are close to agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Things are going well with China. China wants to make a deal very badly. I want it to be a real deal, not just a deal that makes - you know, cosmetically, it looks good for a year. We have a chance to really make a deal, a real deal with China. We've never been in this position before. We've always been the lame duck. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Mr. Trump says he expects to meet with China's President to hammer out a final deal.
Well, the U.S. Secretary of State is predicting progress at an international meeting on the Middle East. The senior officials from 60 countries are gathering in the Poland's capital. Mike Pompeo is expected to step up the pressure on Iran over its missile program. But the foreign ministers from Germany and France won't attend. That underscores the tensions over the U.S.'s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. But Poland's Foreign Minister says, agreement with Washington is vital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACEK CZAPUTOWICZ, POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We think that the nuclear deal, JCPOA has positive aspects, but we, at the same time, understand that the United States under two different approaches toward Iran. Our aim or Poland's aim is to maybe bridge
these two positions together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: In the meantime, Iran remains firm. Tehran is showing off its ballistic missiles and promises to expand the program as long as sanctions are in place. Fred Pleitgen has the details.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran flexing its military muscle, launching missiles which the Islamic Republic says, have become more lethal in past years. At this arms expo in Tehran, a spokesman for the Elite Revolutionary Guard Corps praising the weapons, the Islamic Republic of Iran is able to respond on the same level to any threats against it, he says.
On display, ballistic missiles with ranges up to 2,000 kilometers or almost 1,300 miles, capable of hitting targets in many places in the Middle East, and highly maneuverable cruise missiles with a range of several hundred kilometers according to Iran's Armed Forces.
Hossein Kanani Moghaddam is a former Senior Revolutionary Guard Commander who used to meet regularly with Ayatollah Khomeini. He says Iran's missiles are key to its defense and bargaining power.
One of our policies to counter the sanctions is to expand our missile program, he says. This is exactly the path we're following. The more they increase the sanctions, the more we will boost our missile capabilities.
For the first time, Iran recently revealed a video of a secrete missile assembly factory. The U.S. says, Tehran is breaching U.N. resolutions by bolstering its missile programs, a claim the Islamic Republic rejects.
The Iranians say their missiles are vital to this country's defense, and they say that they have every right to not only to maintain but to also enhance both the range and the quality of their missile arsenal.
Israel says that Iran's missiles are unacceptable threat to its security and that Trump administration has hit Tehran with sanctions, also citing its ballistic missile program.
National Security Advisor, John Bolton, ripping into Iran's leadership.
JOHN BOLTON, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Iran continues to seek nuclear weapons to intimidate peaceful people all around the globe and ballistic missile they use as delivery systems.
PLEITGEN: Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but it's not backing down from its missile program, a major factor driving the confrontation between Iran and the U.S.
[02:25:08]
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: It is now day five of a vicious battle against ISIS and its Syrian enclave. U.S.-backed forces have seen residents desperate to escape. They are being in truck convoys to settlement camps. But it's not just civilians caught in the crossfire, families of ISIS members, including a teen bride who went to Syria from her home in Germany and desperate to go home.
CNN's Atika Shubert explains why that is going to be very difficult.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LENORA LEMKE: You have the passport here.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 19- year-old Lenora Lemke pulls out her German passport. She was 15 when she left home, now, stranded in northern Syria with two babies. Their father a member of ISIS.
She struggles to remember the last time she had a shower. She counts back a month ago or more. Then she remembers the day she delivered her youngest, Maria, just 20 days ago.
LEMKE: After my birth, I made warm water and I was cleaning down there.
SHUBERT: Lenora is one of hundreds of ISIS followers from Europe believed to be in Syria. But countries like Germany are not rushing to take them back. Germany's Foreign Ministry told CNN it had no information on the Lemke family and that consular help was, quote, virtually impossible.
They said, the federal government is examining possible options to enable German nationals to leave Syria especially in humanitarian cases. The S.D.F. released this photo from the arrest of Lenora's husband, Martin Lemke, but it's not clear where he would stand trial. At first, she insists he was just fixing laptops for ISIS. Then she wonders aloud what led her here and how she can get her daughters home.
LEMKE: When you eat one bread for two days, and your kid one year, she couldn't walk because she's so much hungry. She become no teeth because there is no vitamins. Every mother can accept that. And I do this for Allah here, for my God. But when your kids really are crying and wanting [ph] on earth, you say to yourself, you're crazy. Well, what does this have to do with Islam?
SHUBERT: Cradling her daughters, Maria and Habiba, Lenora boards bus number two hoping for a short stay at a refugee camp. She sends a message to her father in German. I hope to see you soon. I really love you. Hopefully we are together soon.
But Lenora's journey is far from over and it's not clear if or when Germany will welcome her home.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who once ran one of Mexico's most feared drug cartels, is now facing life in prison. When we return, hear some of the secretly recorded phone calls and other evidence that led to his conviction.
Plus, viral fame turns into violent threats for a young football fan, one of the so-called Messi boy has gone into hiding.
We'll be back in just a moment.
[02:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church, wanted to check the headlines for you this hour. Donald Trump says he is not happy with a congressional compromise to avoid another government shutdown. But he is expected to sign it anyway.
The deal includes $1.3 billion for a border barrier. The President says he will find other ways to fund his wall with Mexico. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who once ran once of Mexico's most feared drug cartels, is now facing life in prison. A jury in New York found him guilty of all 10 criminal counts, including international drug trafficking, and conspiracy to launder money.
He will be sentenced in June. British Prime Minister Theresa May told U.K. lawmakers they need to hold their nerve as she continues Brexit talks with E.U. leaders. And she promised a meaningful vote once they conclude. But opponents say she is simply running down the clock to force lawmakers into supporting her deal.
Well, Columbia's president is in Washington for talks with President Trump and congressional leaders. And there's no doubt the crisis in Venezuela will be on the agenda. On Tuesday, saw another day of mass protests in Caracas, with humanitarian aid from the U.S. and other countries still in limbo. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon is in Caracas.
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The Veneziano (ph) position staying out all night to demand, yet again, with one clear voice, that they want to see fresh presidential elections as soon as possible here in Caracas, and they want to see a way out for Nicolas Maduro.
On Tuesday, again, tens of thousands of people took onto the streets of Caracas, and many other cities across Venezuela on both, the opposition side, and the government side in what is now the third week of these deep and contentious power tussle at the heart of the Venezuelan state.
Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition, the President of the National Assembly who swore himself on January 23, triggering these crises, said today that on February 23, exactly a month after his swearing in ceremony - on February 23rd the U.N. attorney (ph) will arrive here in Venezuela. The opposition will have the strength, he said, to bring the U.N. attorney (ph) into Venezuela, despite the blockage by the president -by the president, Nicolas Maduro.
But with more and more escalating of the situation here in Caracas, and with neither of the two leaders bulking (ph) on their so much (ph) important pressure from the international community, it's hard to see how the opposition with have the strength to bring humanitarian aid, or at least to broker an end to this dramatic stalemate. For CNN, this is Sefano Pozzebon, Caracas.
CHURCH: Guilty on all counts. A jury in New York has convicted Joaquin El Chapo Guzman on 10 criminal charges that will send him to prison for life. For more than two and a half months, the jury heard testimony of unspeakable torture, murders, and other crimes that led to his conviction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOAQUIN GUZMAN, MEXICAN DRUG LORD: You're not lying, are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Incriminating records.
GUZMAN: Don't shoot whoever sells cocaine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Flashy weapons, secret tunnels, and a lot of drugs. This evidence released in court shows how the highest ranking alleged drug lord, to be tried in the U.S., lived a life straight out of a telenovela. In fact, some called the trial of Joaquin Guzman Loera, or El Chapo, an epic narco-drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world's most wanted, most dangerous drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A massive manhunt for the cartel leader is underway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guzman was a fugitive for over a decade. But it was ultimately his paranoia that led to his downfall. The same technician he hired to install spyware on his associate's phones was the one who gave U.S. authorities access to his secret conversation, evidence that would build a case against him.
[02:35:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He may have been notorious while on the run, but his trial gave us a deeper look into his dark and lavish lifestyle, like texts with his wife, Emma Coronel, that showed Guzman seeming to suggest one of their six month old twin girls should be given a firearm. He himself owned a diamond encrusted monogrammed pistol, and a gold plated AK-47, among other weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does he enjoy the fame?
EMMA CORONEL AISPURO, WIFE OF JOAQUIN GUZMAN: Honestly, I think he did. He does.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And while El Chapo's lawyers maintain that their client is not actually the drug kingpin he's being described as, the evidence presented in court built up. Beyond his extravagant lifestyle, the trial has also magnified how El Chapo allegedly led a regime full of fear and corruption. Witnesses testify that Guzman ordered multiple executions.
GUZMAN: Drug-trafficking is a culture that was passed from ancestors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Part of that culture is having loyal allies. But after being put behind bars, many former associates came out against him. Some of Guzman's closest associates have testified against the drug lord, like Alex Cifuentes who considered himself Guzman's right-hand man.
Cifuentes testified that the drug kingpin even paid $100 million to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto as a bribe so he could stay in business. Pena Nieto's former chief of staff has denied this claim, and calls Cifuentes' testimony, quote, false, defamatory, and absurd.
He says it was Pena Nieto's government which captured and extradited El Chapo. Pena Nieto, himself, did not respond when CNN reached out for comment. Evidence released in court also claimed Guzman has bribed a number of other Mexican authorities.
GUZMAN: Those cops don't beat them up anymore. You already beat them up once, they should listen now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Guzman was extradited to the U.S. he pleaded not guilty to 17 federal charges, including leading a continuing criminal enterprise, firearm violations, and money laundering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Joaquin El Chapo Guzman will be formally sentenced on June 25th. Well, viral fame has turned into a nightmare for a young Afghan boy and his family. He caught the world's attention with a homemade football jersey, and his love of superstar Lionel Messi. As CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports, that has made him a Taliban target.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fame has a totally different price in Afghanistan. Meet Murtaza, aged seven. His bid to emulate his football idle, Lionel Messi, with a plastic bag as a football shirt, and a hand written number 10 went viral over two years ago.
He got this signed shirt, and even met the Argentinean star in Qatar. But this is a story of unintended consequences, and how celebrity in Afghanistan doesn't mean paparazzi or football as wives (ph), but threats and fleeing your home in the night. Soon after Murtaza's fame, the Taliban attacked their village.
MURTAZA AHMADI, MILITANT TARGET IN AFGHANISTAN (through translator): The Taliban were killing our relatives, he says. And they were searching houses. They'd steal cars and kill their passengers, searching houses and killing people.
I told my mother to take me somewhere else. We weren't allowed to play football by the Taliban, or even go out of the house. We used to hear the sound of heavy machine guns, and Kalashnikovs, and rockets at home. We also heard people screaming. Then my mother decided to bring me here.
WALSH: His father took them to a nearby city, but had to stay behind to fight.
MURTAZA AHMADI, MILITANT TARGET IN AFGHANISTAN (through translator): The last time I saw my father, he says, was on the first day we came here. Then he went back, and I haven't seen him since then. I miss him so much. When he calls my mother, I also talk to him.
WALSH: Even here, they live behind closed doors, says his mother, Shafiqa.
SHAFIQA AHMADI, MOTHER OF MILITANT TARGET IN AFHGANISTAN (through translator): It would have been better if Murtaza hadn't gained fame, she said. He spends all of his time here inside the house.
Not only the Taliban, but some other groups have started thinking that Messi might have given him a lot of money. We stopped sending him to school because we were being threatened all of the time.
WALSH: She appeals again to Messi to help them leave Afghanistan, but their story is just one in the spotlight where there are millions of displaced here in the growing darkness. Murtaza hails from the Hazara minority, often persecuted by the Taliban, and fearful of their ascendance in any peace deal with the Americans. M. AHMADI (through translator): In Kabul, I cannot go outside the house he says. My mother doesn't let me go out. She's afraid. I only play with my friends inside. When I was in my hometown, I couldn't wear my Messi jersey because I was afraid somebody would hurt me. I want to be taken from this country because there's fighting here. I want to become a football player like Messi, and play with Messi.
[02:40:00]
WALSH: Caught now, like much of the country, in the gap between how much foreigners are willing to do to help, and what Afghans need. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: We'll take a short break here. Still to come, some French male journalists thought it would be fun to create a secret Facebook group, but the targets of the online harassment aren't laughing. Inside the League of LOL, that is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, a group of prominent French journalists said this secret Facebook group was created to have fun. But the online harassment of women wasn't funny, and it went on for years. Several of these men have been suspended, and one could lose his job. Melissa Bell explains the League of LOL.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For many years, the only people aware of their existence were the victims. Women journalists mainly, but also LGBT journalists, and journalists of color who were harassed violently online by a secret Facebook group that was formed in 2009, and made up of some 30-something high profile, but anonymous, mainly male, journalists who called themselves the League of LOL, or laugh out loud.
Victims have accused the LOL league of orchestrating targeted harassment campaigns that would result in streams of vitriolic messages on social media platforms like Twitter.
LEA LEJEUNE, JOURNALIST: We were younger them - then them. And we were just starting to be journalists. So we - we didn't have confidence after that. The thing is when this stuff happened, at first you're shaking, you're blushing. You don't know how to respond. You try to respond with humor. You try to respond, also, with logic, but it doesn't work. You cannot focus on your work.
BELL: It took 10 years, and this article by the French newspaper Liberation's (ph) fact checking website for the group to be exposed, and for the names of it's members to be revealed, among them, two journalists at Liberation itself, in what many are describing as France's own MeToo moment.
CNN reached out to Facebook, but on Tuesday had received no response. Many of the journalists involved have now apologized, like Liberation's Vincent Glad, the group's founder, who wrote that he was presenting his most sincere apologies to those who were harassed by the League of LOL. What happened was intolerable, and I was responsible, or (INAUDIBLE) who wrote that he did not think of the extent of the trauma that his victims had suffered.
[02:45:00]
There are, he wrote, no excuses. I am sorry. Too little, too late for many of their employers, like Liberation, the French music magazine, Les Inrockuptibles (ph), and the advertising group, Publicis, who are either laying off, or suspending those involved.
Liberation has also opened an internal investigation. And France's anti-racism body has called for the Paris prosecutor to investigate as well.
LEJEUNE: I think it's right, that they should be named and shamed in article (ph) in order to - to make the (INAUDIBLE) - their newspaper react. But the thing is, I don't people to be harassed on the internet, even if it's them.
BELL: It's unclear whether the original Facebook group has now been closed. But those responsible now say they're ashamed, although many wonder why it's taken 10 years for them to feel that way. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
CHURCH: And they should be ashamed. We'll move on now, and it's been more two years since a coup attempt failed to oust Turkey's president. But the government is still cracking down on the people it says are to blame. Authorities just ordered more than a thousand arrests, and launched raids across the country. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has more now from Istanbul.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Early on Tuesday morning, this major operation beginning, centered around the capital, Ankara, but also simultaneous raids taking place in more than 70 cities across the country. Authorities say that they are going after more than 1,100 individuals, for whom arrest warrants have been issued.
They say that they are allegedly linked to the banned movement of the U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accuses of being the mastermind of that failed coup attempt in 2016, something that Gulen denied.
So far, hundreds have been detained in this ongoing operation. Now, when it comes to this specific case - the specific investigation, officials say that this is related to events in 2010, what they describe as this cheating scandal where questions for a written police exam were leaked by individuals. And this is why they are carrying out these arrests.
Now, how does this link to the Gulen movement? We've seen arrests like this - operations like this - investigations like this over the past couple of years. The Turkish government has long accused members of the Gulen movement of infiltrating state institutions, security apparatus, the police, the judiciary, in what they say is this attempt to undermine the sate, and to try and create a state within a state, a parallel state, as it has been described.
And this is, of course, part of this ongoing crackdown that began in 2016, where tens of thousands of people have been detained. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs according to Amnesty International. They say more than 130,000 people were expelled from their jobs for alleged links to the Gulen movement.
And it seems that on Tuesday, this message is clear from Ankara. Two and a half years, almost, after that failed coup attempt, and this crackdown is far from over. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.
CHURCH: A former White House aide who wrote a tell-all book is accusing Donald Trump of trying to silence him. Cliff Sims is now suing the President, and challenging the non-disclosure agreement he was asked to sign. Brian Todd has the details.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was once one of the President's aides, but now he's drawing the President's ire. Cliff Sims worked on President Trump's campaign, and later in the White House as Director of Message Strategy. But now he's suing Trump, saying the President wants to stop him from getting out his own message.
CLIFF SIMS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE: He does not respond well to weakness - that he only responds to strength. And so, I - you know, I wanted to stand up and say that I'm not going to be pushed into a corner. I'm not going to be bullied on this. And stand up for our - myself.
TODD: Trump is reportedly furious with Sims over a tell-all book Sims wrote with stories of chaos and deceit inside the west wing. After Sims went on a book tour, Trump lashed out, tweeting Sims was a low- level staffer who pretended to be an insider when, in fact, he was nothing more than a gofer. Quote, he is a mess.
The Trump campaign filed an arbitration claim against Sims saying he violated his non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. Sims says he's suing Trump to stop the Trump campaign and the White House from trying to silence him.
SIMS: I served him faithfully. But - but I worked for the American people. And so, that's essentially what the - what the suit is saying. I was backed into a corner by some legal action that - that the Trump folks took.
[02:50:00]
TODD: Legal experts say if Sims signed an NDA as a White House employee, it probably wouldn't be enforceable because federal employees' rights to free speech are protected.
But in his book, Sims also dishes about his time with the campaign. At one point, writing about Trumps hair care routine on the trail, saying, quote, if there's any hair out of place, somebody in the room better have the TRESEMMO TRES TWO Hairspray, Extra Hold.
It's those comments lawyers say that could be a problem because, while Sims says he's not sure if he signed an NDA for his work at the White House, he admits he did sign one for the Trump campaign when he went to work for them in 2016.
LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If he's making statements about his time during the campaign and signed a non-disclosure agreement, then there is an enforceability factor against him for that. If however, it trails off into things related to his time at the White House, the campaign NDA does not have any weight with those matters.
TODD: Donald Trump has a history - some say an obsession, with making people sign NDAs, both for his businesses, and his private life. Trump's lawyer drew up this NDA between Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she once had an affair with Trump, which he denied.
And Trump has lashed out at former employees like Omarosa Manigault Newman, who he claimed violated an NDA she signed with the 2016 campaign when she wrote a tell-all book.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Lowlife, she's a lowlife.
TODD: A Trump biographer says his preoccupation with NDAs speaks volumes about the culture in Trump's inner circle, and his own paranoia.
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, AUTHOR, THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP: This idea of someone speaking negatively about him really does enrage him. It makes him furious, and it makes him eager to exact revenge.
TODD: Neither the White House, nor the Trump campaign would respond to CNN's requests for comment about Cliff Sims' lawsuit against the president. Last summer CNN was told by people close to the White House that a lot of White House staffers were no longer signing non- disclosure or non-disparagement agreements because they were largely seen as unenforceable. Is that still the case? We got no response from the White House when we asked that. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: Still to come, vacationers often head to Hawaii to escape winter storms, but this week they are out of luck. We'll have the details on a rare snowfall for the Aloha State. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A winter storm pummeled parts of Hawaii with gusty winds, huge waves, and a rare snowfall. Rangers say snow fell at an elevation of 1900 meters on Maui, the lowest snowfall ever reported in the state. The storm is on its way out, but not before causing power outages, and forcing some roads and parks to close. So let's turn to our meteorologist, Ivan Cabrera, who joins us now. And this is so unusual.
IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
CHURCH: I mean Hawaii is hardly equipped to deal with snow.
CABRERA: Right? And the last time they had anything similar - Rosemary, good to see you, was back in the early 1900s, so a rare event indeed. And they had several centimeters of accumulation.
You may have heard in that video as well, as we talk about the story here, the wind. And the wind was able to push all of that snow around. They had some pretty significant drifts - we're talking about the drifts of snow here in Hawaii, particularly in Maui, up to seven centimeters. The National Weather Service is still tallying all of the numbers, and we'll get those. But 1,890 meters ...
[02:55:00]
CABRERA: ... we're talking about the drifts of snow here in Hawaii, particularly in Maui, up to seven centimeters. The National Weather Service is still tallying all of the numbers, and we'll get those. But 1,890 meters, and that's pretty - pretty low, and pretty remarkable, certainly for this time of year.
What happened, (INAUDIBLE) upper level disturbance that moves through, and brought in some very cold air. It certainly wasn't snowing at the beaches, but high enough - or I guess in this case, low enough, where we got some snowfall there.
Take a look at this wind, right? Two hundred and 307 kilometer per hour winds that were (ph) rolling through, so a hurricane with some snowfall as well. The combination there, making for quite a weekend in Hawaii. By the way, yes, that was on this Sunday. The story is done there, as far as the storm.
We're focusing in on the east coast of the United States. We've got one system here. That's going be bothering folks flying in to New York. You could see some delays this morning as a result of some snowfall, especially in north and western New York, and then heading up into New England, particularly in Boston at Logan Airport there.
There you see a front through Florida. That's not looking good for beach weather here. But this is where the problems, I think, will be located as far as any travel worries. And even if your airplane does make it in, once we hit the roads it is going to be tricky travel.
Winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings were posted for several million folks across the northeast, and then into the Midwest as well. This is one storm system. It will lift out. It's not going to hang out for, you know, several days. By the time we get into late Wednesday, and we'll be out of here with this one.
Accumulations, I think, will be mostly more significant across portions of (INAUDIBLE). This is not going to be a coastal event. This one will be another storm. The one that impacted Hawaii - well, things can move east in this part of the world. And there's what is left over, and it's a lot.
A flood threat continues there. And we're talking about some massive snowfall - meters, and meters, and meters of snow. That's the way they're going to be measuring it in the Sierra there in California.
CHURCH: Wow, all right. Thank you so man, Ivan. CABRERA: Yes.
CHURCH: Thank you so man, Ivan.
CABRERA: You're welcome. Good to see you.
CHURCH: Always good to have you. We'll (ph) talk next hour. All right, well, whether it is an insult, or an honor, it's eye-catching, a massive emperor Trump float in featured in one of Italy's most famous carnival events. The huge moving sculpture is called Master Drone. It carries a sword ringed with blue Twitter birds.
Conservative commentators in the U.S. are spinning it, not as a satire, but a tribute to the U.S. president. We'll let you decide that. Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter, would love to hear from you. And I'll back with another hour of news in just a moment. Don't go anywhere. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00]
END
