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Former Acting FBI Director: Trump's Own Words Prompted Counterintelligence Investigation; Official: 1,000+ Terrorist Have Likely Fled To Iraq; Trump: Europe Must Take Back Hundreds Of ISIS Fighters; U.S. Senator: Humanitarian Aid Will Get Delivered; Guaido Urges "A Million Volunteers" To Deliver Aid; Reports: Saudi Arabia Links $20 B.N. Deals In Pakistan; Haiti Hospital Struggles after Violent Protests; Infrastructure of the Existing Rio Grande Border Wall; Louisiana Town Disappearing into the Sea; Crosses for Losses Creates Shooting Victim Memorials. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 18, 2019 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I don't care I believe Putin. The former FBI deputy director says the U.S. President trusted Russia over U.S. intelligence about North Korea's missile capabilities.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's coming up this hour. Also this, ISIS it's about to lose its last bit of land in Syria but many of his fighters have likely fled from Syria to Iraq with as much as $200 million in cash.

VANIER: The Venezuelan opposition leader is calling on one million volunteers to confront a government blockade that's been holding back aid now stockpiled at the Colombian border. Thank you so much for joining us. We're live from the CNN center here in Atlanta. I'm Cyril Vanier --

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM. We are learning more about the stunning allegations by the former acting director of the FBI and the reverberations that will trigger congressional action.

VANIER: In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Andrew McCabe explained it was Donald Trump's own words that prompted a counterintelligence and obstruction of justice investigation into the U.S. president, in particular, his comments about the Russia investigation.

ALLEN: Other events the FBI looked into included Mr. Trump asking FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and his subsequent firing of Comey.

VANIER: And following that firing, McCabe's said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire in his meetings with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, FBI: The Deputy Attorney General offered to wear a wire into the White House. He said I never get searched when I go into the White House. I can easily wear a recording device they wouldn't know it was there. Now, he was not joking. He was absolutely serious and in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. I never actually considered taking him up on the offer. I did discuss it with my general counsel and my leadership team back at the FBI after he brought it up the first time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The point of Rosenstein wearing the wire into a meeting with the president was what? What did he hope to obtain?

MCCABE: I can't characterize what Rod was thinking or what he was hoping at that moment. But the reason you would have someone wear a concealed recording device would be to collect evidence. And in this case, what was the true nature of the President's motivation in calling for the firing of Jim Comey?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, a statement from the Justice Department said Rosenstein never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references.

VANIER: The chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for his part is promising an investigation into McCabe's claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I know he's selling a book and we need to take with a grain of salt maybe what Mr. McCabe was telling us. But he went on national television, he made it that lures me. You know, I can imagine if the shoe on the other foot. This were we're talking about getting rid of President Clinton, it would be the front-page news all over the world.

Well, we're going to find out what happened here and the only way I know to find out is to call the people in under oath and find out you know, through questioning who's telling the truth because the underlying accusation is beyond stunning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: CNN Legal Analyst Areva Martin joins us now from Los Angeles. So Areva, we learned in this Andrew McCabe interview that the President's own words are what prompted a counterintelligence investigation of him and this is really a pattern with the President. He puts himself in trouble.

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Cyril. This pretty explosive interview by Andrew McCabe today not only did he talk about the words of Donald Trump which led him according to this interview the FBI to open this counterintelligence investigation, but also for there to be some conversation or consideration of invoking the 25th Amendment and actually removing the president from office.

So we're learning a great deal from Mr. McCabe and what was going on immediately following the President's termination of Mike Flynn.

VANIER: Yes. About the 25th Amendment, so it was the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who brought it up and he wondered how many cabinet members he might be able to recruit in order to unseat Mr. Trump. Is that overreach there from Rosenstein?

MARTIN: Yes. According to the Department of Justice, you know we're getting these conflicting stories about what was happening in the aftermath. What's pretty clear is that there was a pretty chaotic scene happening at the FBI. The firing of James Comey clearly led the FBI into this state of panic.

And you heard McCabe say that this counterintelligence investigation was opened the day after the firing. He wanted to preserve the record. He wanted to preserve an investigation. He didn't know if he would be fired, if he'd be replaced, if he'd be reassigned, and he didn't want an investigation into whether you know, President Trump was compromised because of some kind of financial ties or other ties to Russia to be you know, forgotten about or to be swept under the rug.

So there's all of this activity going on. But we know that Rosenstein has disputed some of the claims that McCabe has made. So at this point, there are a lot of questions about what was going on and we're getting these conflicting stories, these conflicting you know, no events or at least versions of events from now McCabe and Rosenstein.

[01:05:51] VANIER: The FBI began an investigation to determine whether the President had committed a crime by firing James Comey. That's one of the two investigations. There was also the counterintelligence investigation. We still don't know if a crime has been committed right?

MARTIN: Still don't know. We haven't gotten the final report from Robert Mueller and based on what we now know from the new attorney general Barr, it's not clear that we'll ever get that report. We know that the Department of Justice has a policy of not revealing a lot of information if there's a determination that there won't be an indictment of an individual, not likely that there's going to be an indictment of Trump and not clear that we'll ever find out whether the you know, investigation from Robert Mueller came to some conclusion about whether there was a crime committed because of this Department of Justice policy against indicted a sitting president.

VANIER: And there's another telling moment in the McCabe interview. Donald Trump refused to believe that North Korean missiles could hit the U.S. despite the assessment of his own intelligence agencies and this because Vladimir Putin told him otherwise. This --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: -- had opened their counterintelligence investigation into whether Donald Trump was acting on behalf of Russia.

MARTIN: Again, another stunning revelation from McCabe. And if you were to believe him, he said he was stunned that the President of the United States was taking the word of a foreign adversary over the information provided by its own intelligence agency. McCabe again you know, it's expressing his shock, his dismay, his disappointment, and his incredulity really about the President's response to what was going on with you know the President and his refusal to accept the information from his own intelligence agency.

VANIER: CNN Legal Analysts Areva Martin, thank you very much.

MARTIN: Thank you, Cyril.

ALLEN: We turn now to the military -- Middle East, excuse me. A military victory against ISIS in Syria will not be the terrorist's final defeat. U.S. back forces have the extremists under siege in their last Syrian enclave Baghuz Al-Fawqani. But a U.S. military official says more than 1,000 ISIS fighters have likely fled into Iraq. They could include former members of al Qaeda in Iraq and they may have more than $200 million in cash.

VANIER: The defeat of ISIS also doesn't mean an end to the war in Syria. America's Kurdish allies may be caught up in a different fight then they can't always depend on us supports. CNN's Barbara Starr is traveling with senior U.S. officials in the region. She has more on all of this from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps more than 1,000 ISIS fighters have fled Syria in the last six months of fighting into the Western Desert and mountains of Iraq and they may have $200 million in cash with them to finance future operations. All of that according to the latest U.S. assessment. All of this comes as the U.S. backed Syrian fighters with U.S. assistance are struggling to take the last ISIS stronghold in Syria. The big concern now is there may be hundreds if not thousands of civilians in the area. Many of them perhaps being held by ISIS.

The top U.S. general tonight in Baghdad talking about how little the U.S. may be able to predict when that last stronghold is taken.

PAUL LACAMERA, COMMANDING GENERAL, OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE: It's an active battle. I mean, they could capitulate while we're sitting here, more it could be several days. I mean, there's a lot of fog and friction on the battlefield. I mean, we were moving at a pretty good clip three or four days ago and then the amount of displaced civilians that we're starting to come out, civilians fighters that were trying to infiltrate or exfiltrate out with families. We slowed it -- slowed it down so that we could do the proper screenings.

STARR: And what happens after the last stronghold falls? Lieutenant General Paul LaCamera, the top commander here says the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces that the U.S. has been backing will have to make some key decisions. The U.S. is willing to continue providing weapons and aid but that may only last so long if the SDF decides its only option is to now align itself with the Assad regime.

[01:10:19] LACAMERA: So we are in Syria, because of the threat to Iraq. They are our partners in Syria to fight ISIS. Once that relationship is severed because they go back to the regime, which we don't have a relationship with, the Russians we don't have a relationship with. When that happens, then we'll no longer be partnered with them.

STARR: Now that the U.S. is pulling its troops out of Syria, the SDF may have few options. They cannot align themselves with the Turks, their enemies of course. And if they go with the Assad regime for profession, the U.S. will cut relation with them because the U.S. cannot legally do business with Assad. Barbara Starr, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: All this comes after a series of tweets from President Trump that read to many like a threat. He said Europe had to take back hundreds of ISIS fighters. And if it didn't, the U.S. would be forced to release them. For more, we are joined by Roland Lescure. He's a ruling party lawmaker in France's national assembly. Is France trying to bring back the French fighters in Syria -- I mean the French nationals?

ROLAND LESCURE, MEMBER, FRENCH PARLIAMENT: Well, all options are on the table but I like to stop by saying that you know, the ability of the U.S. President to conduct U.S. foreign policy by Twitter never ceases to amaze me. I know you guys are used to it. I'm still not.

VANIER: All right, let me -- let me ask -- let me re-ask the original question, though. What is France doing about the French nationals fighters that are members of ISIS that are currently detained by the Kurds in Syria?

LESCURE: So as you probably know, you know, there are a few hundred fighters there that are detained by the SDF. And so far so good. That's where they are. The U.S. Army is helping the SDF on the ground but those guys are currently in jail.

So we are looking at all the options except for one. We don't want these guys to be running around the country or meeting you know, the other fighters have escaped and regrouping. Basically what we want is French people's safety and security and that may require a few different options to look at including why not bringing them home and then putting them to jail. But that's -- there's a lot of other options that --

VANIER: Well, what are the other options? Because you are talking about French nationals and the Kurds who currently have them detained don't want to prosecute them. They don't want to keep them.

LESCURE: Yes. So the first option, and as you say looks unlikely now let's not completely rule it out is that they are detained by SDF on the ground. Let's not forget -- let's not forget, that where they were guilty of you know, all things. The other way is may be to send them elsewhere in the region. As you know, the ISIS so gold state was around Syria and Iraq. So why not maybe have them taken to Iraq. And you know, so that's one of the other options. Again, we are talking -- you know, the President as we'd mention 800 people. As far as French citizens concern, it's very hard to have a precise number will be call it -- we're talking about a number well (INAUDIBLE) that the President mention.

VANIER: What's the ballpark number of French citizens? Do you know?

LESCURE: No, we don't know because it changes every day.

VANIER: Are we talking dozens? Are we talking over 100?

LESCURE: No. We're talking -- we're probably talking in the dozens.

VANIER: And they're French citizens. You're talking about perhaps having them sent to Iraq or wherever they have committed crimes but again, they're French nationals.

LESCURE: Well -- yes, we won't do anything on the ground. But if you know, the SDF decide to do something with them that you know, we feel fine about. And again, what I mean is not letting them go free, then you know, that's up for them to decide to do that. Obviously --

VANIER: It sounds -- it sounds like the last thing that France wants is for them to come back to France?

LESCURE: Now, it's one of the options. I mean, again, you know, obviously as you can imagine, this is making a bit of a bit of nose back here and we want to make sure that all the options have been considered. One of them is certainly having them here. (INAUDIBLE) on the ground too.

VANIER: Is it -- do you consider Donald Trump's request that European countries come and take their nationals unreasonable?

LESCURE: No. I mean, it's very not provided that you know the U.S. decides to leave -- to leave the ground and then to go home. That changes the situation on the ground and we have to take this into account. And again, I was -- I was kind of smiling at the beginning of our conversations on the way he does things. But you know, that's fair enough. If the U.S. is leaving, then you know, they're leaving situation like that that has to be dealt with and you know, we are certainly part of the -- of the solutions on the ground.

[01:15:11] VANIER: All right, all will always be screwed. I mean, this has been a vexing issue for France, but also for other European countries whether it's Germany, whether it's the U.K. or others who know that there could also be a terror threat involved for them if their nationals are not incarcerated or somehow dealt with.

It will be very curious to see how France responds in other European countries as well. Mr. Lescure, thank you so much for joining us.

LESCURE: OK, Cyril. Thank you.

ALLEN: And next here, the looming showdown over humanitarian aid for Venezuela. The current government won't let relief in, but a U.S. senator, says it will be delivered. And Venezuela's opposition leader is enlisting his supporters to get that job done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN "WORLD SPORT" headlines. We start with what may just to be a pivotal day in the race for the Football League title in Spain, with Real Madrid losing on Sunday against a team of hardly ever wins.

Girona hadn't won a league game since November the 25th of last year, and they sat one point above the relegation zone. But two second-half goals and a league-leading 20th sending-off in his career for Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos. Meaning, a miserable day for the home fans there at the Bernabeu. 2-1 Girona, Real now nine points behind leaders Barcelona.

To Alpine Skiing now, in a weekend to savor for Austrian star Marcel Hirscher. On Sunday, he won the men's slalom at the world championships in Sweden. His seventh gold medal at the championships.

No male skier has won that many since the late 1950s. He's also closing in on an eighth consecutive overall World Cup title. Arguably, the greatest ski racer in history.

Finally, won a race in Mexico City, Formula eased the motorsports of the future, and the latest E-Prix going right down to the line. Now, look at the league's graphic here and how much power they have left. The German, Pascal Wehrlein, had been leading from pole but he was down to one percent. And with a finish line in sight, it drops to zero. As the checkered flag came out, his car just failed him and it's the Brazilian Lucas di Grassi, flying past to him to take the victory in the end.

That's the look at your CNN "WORLD SPORT" headlines, I'm Patrick Snell.

ALLEN: And welcome back. Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido wants 1 million volunteers to deliver aid to the troubled country by Saturday.

VANIER: He's calling on supporters to stand against President Nicolas Maduro, who has rejected to help. The supplies are currently sitting at a warehouse in neighboring Colombia.

[01:20:06] ALLEN: On Sunday, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio visited that storage facility. He said the relief will be delivered with or without Mr. Maduro's help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: The aid is going to get through. And I think ultimately the question is whether it gets through in a way that he's cooperative with or in a way that he's not. But there's no way you're going to stand ultimately in the way of a people whose children are starving to death, whose families are dying in hospitals because of preventable diseases, and they don't have the medicine for it.

So, obviously, tactics are something I'm not going to publicly announce to allow the regime and their allies to do make efforts to block it. But I would say this, imagine for a moment if you're a member of the National Guard or the Venezuelan military, your own family is hungry, your own family is starving, your own relatives are dying because they can't get dialysis or HIV medications? And you're going to follow an order to block that from reaching the people?

I think the biggest threat comes from these criminal bands that he's empowered. These literally, just street thugs that he's given guns to, they're the ones that present a greater danger. But I will say this to you, we know if there is violence next week and people are harmed here, we know who's responsible for it. And every single one of them will pay a price. They will -- they will face justice, and it will spend or they will spend the rest of their lives worried about justice catching up to them.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump has said nothing's off the table. Would you support any military intervention and do you believe it will come to that?

RUBIO: Well, the only military intervention that's happening now in Venezuela is the Cuban government. The Cubans that are controlling everything that's happening, the security forces, and everything else.

The United States retains the right to utilize military force in its national security interest anywhere in the world. That's not just Venezuela, that's anywhere on the planet. But that's not what we're here to do today. There's no military aid here. This is food, this is high energy bars for starving children. This is rice, this is beans and lentils. This is sanitary kits, this is medicine. That's what we're here to do and none of that has anything to do with military intervention.

CABRERA: Right.

RUBIO: Feeding people is not anything to do with the military. And, in fact, it is a crime against humanity to deny food and medicine to some unarmed and innocent civilians.

CABRERA: I understand that and I agree with you on that. But would you support military intervention ultimately?

RUBIO: Well, it's not my decision to make. I ultimately will tell you, I support defending the national interest and the national security of the United States anywhere in the world where that's being threatened.

And ultimately, I'll leave it at that because that's not what we're focused on. Right now, I will say this and I won't go any further than to say this to you. There are certain lines, and Maduro knows what they are. And if they are crossed, there will -- I am confident, based on everything I've heard from this administration, and everything I know about this administration that the consequences will be severe and they'll be swift. And he's aware of that. But again, our focus here, there's nothing to do with that. It has to do with food and medicine. That's what we're hoping will happen and we're expecting to happen starting next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Stefano Pozzebon has been covering the humanitarian crisis. He has more now from Caracas.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, no end in sight for the humanitarian aid still made the issue around the humanitarian aid here in Venezuela. With the opposition adamant that by February 23, the humanitarian aid will arrive in Caracas. But Nicolas Maduro still given no sign of balking under the pressure from the international community to let the humanitarian aid in.

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, we were able to visit a field clinic that the NGOs that are working with the opposition's plan I have set up to bring relief to the populations affected by the dramatic humanitarian and economic crisis that has been happening in Venezuela for the past four years.

We were there and we spoke with the volunteers who have signed up before Juan Guaido's plan to bring the humanitarian aid into Venezuela. And they told us that these this plan is not political. Here is what one of those -- one of those volunteer told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are not here for a political case, we are not here for Guaido or for other politicals in danger. We are here for help -- here for help. We want here for -- because we want to give these opportunity to have a good medicine for the -- for the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: But despite what that volunteer told us that the aid is not a political issue, Nicolas Maduro seems only intended to keep the border shot to the humanitarian aid. And on Sunday, a delegation of the European Parliament who was visiting Juan Guaido was -- they said, blocked at the Caracas International Airport and being deported back to Europe.

They said the delegation meant to come to Caracas to visit him, but that they were turned away from -- by Nicolas Maduro's guards. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

[01:25:11] ALLEN: To find out how you could help the people of Venezuela, we've had lots of story found that people are responding to, you can go to cnn.com/impact.

VANIER: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is kicking off his tour of Asia with deals in Pakistan reportedly worth $20 billion. The agreements focused on energy projects and investments in minerals and agriculture.

ALLEN: The crown prince hailed the agreement as the start of an economic alliance that will bring the two allies closer together.

VANIER: A violence and protests are making life difficult to Haiti's hospitals. And they already have plenty of challenges to deal with. We'll have that story when we come back.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: With your "WEATHER WATCH", I'm CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera, starting off the week across northeastern part of the U.S. with some snowfall winter storm pretty active right now. It's going to dump several centimeters of accumulation that, in fact, if you're traveling into the U.S., perhaps some delays for you particularly across Boston and a little further south that's through New York.

I don't think it will be a huge deal there, and eventually, the storm system actually moves out pretty quickly. This will be a Monday event. And then by Monday evening, this will be all gone but there you see the winter weather advisory. So you do have a winter storm warning across Southern Massachusetts there with some heavier snowfall totals.

But it's raining for D.C., right? And into Philly, this will be freezing a little bit through the early part of the day. And then temperatures will go above zero and we'll be in much better shape. But there she sees by Monday evening, this thing is out of here.

So, it's just a one-day event but it will be a significant one as it drops accumulating a snowfall here not just for -- not just for the northeastern part of the U.S. and New England, but parts of Eastern Canada as well. Montreal will see a few centimeters, and then another storm system will be moving in. Still February, we can still do this right this time of year and we will as we take a look at temperatures, they're beginning to tumble with another drop.

In Winnipeg, temperatures about 17 to below zero. We'll go above zero and add another sixteen to L.A. with sunny skies that will be a nice Monday and fair weather continues through the week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen, here our top stories this hour. The former acting director of the FBI, says he ordered a counterintelligence and obstruction of justice investigation of Donald Trump for a number of reasons, including the president's own words. In a CBS interview, Andrew McCabe said the president's request that

FBI director James Comey dropped the investigation into then-national security adviser Michael Flynn, and Mr. Comey's subsequent firing were among the reasons for launching the investigation.

[01:29:57] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: The territorial defeat of ISIS likely won't be the terror group's total demise. The extremists are under siege in their last Syrian enclave, Baghouz al-Fawqani. But a U.S. military official says more than a thousand have likely fled into Western Iraq now. And they may also have up to $200 million in cash. NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A British parliamentary committee has reviewed internal Facebook e-mails and concludes that the social media giant intentionally and knowingly violated privacy and competition laws. The claims come in a new report released Monday. Facebook denies the accusations.

VANIER: U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has toured the Colombian warehouse where American aid for Venezuela is being stored. Venezuela's sitting President Nicolas Maduro has prevented it from entering the country. But Rubio says the aid will get into Venezuela with or without Mr. Maduro's help.

ALLEN: We turn now to Haiti.

The government there begging for peace in the streets after days of violent protests. The government is asking schools, universities and businesses to reopen on Monday. It's mobilized the entire country's police force to make that happen. Over the weekend there was a tense calm as people scrambled to find food, water and fuel.

VANIER: For more than a week, angry crowds have been demanding Haiti's president step down over crippling inflation and corruption allegations.

President Jovenel Moise refuses to resign and Haiti's prime minister on Saturday called for unity promising to tackle corruption. Meanwhile the riots have blocked access to basic goods for the people who need them most.

Sam Kiley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the road to the capital's biggest hospital. More than a week of rioting has left it desolate. Its grounds are home to livestock.

Protests mark the second anniversary of Jovenel Moise's presidency with demands across Haiti that he step down.

DR. CADET JOSEPH, STATE UNIVERSITY OF HAITI HOSPITAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KILEY: Dr. Joseph tells me that most of the patients, hundreds of them, have fled. It's easy to see why.

(on camera): This is your intensive care unit?

JOSEPH: Yes. We have got nothing.

KILEY: You really have nothing. There's no machinery. There's no --

JOSEPH: Not much.

KILEY: One oxygen.

(voice over): The doctor tells me that the hospital was crippled by shortages before the riot. Now it's also short of patients.

This is the State University hospital of Haiti, and it's been cut off from the city by riots.

There's no food here or water. No medicines either.

This is Gillen. He was getting drugs. Now he is just stuck here, the doctor says.

Next to him is Madam Sandy (ph), her catheter drains into a washbowl.

DR. WISLET ANDRE, STATE UNIVERSITY OF HAITI HOSPITAL: We are blocked. We don't have drugs because all the area is blocked. This is why we exist. And it is the reason why you can do what you have to do. It is like you don't exist.

KILEY: And when already poor people feel that their very existence is doubted by their leaders they are likely to try to prove otherwise.

Sam Kiley, CNN -- in Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: The U.S. President's declaration of a national emergency Friday isn't an automatic hit even with Republican lawmakers. Some conservatives are divided over how lawful the declaration actually.

Fox News host Chris Wallace asked White House adviser Stephen Miller about the President's own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: "I didn't need to do this." How does that justify a national emergency?

STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: What the President was saying is that like past presidents, he could choose to ignore this crisis, choose to ignore this emergency as others have. But that's not what he's going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: While some Republicans remain divided over whether Donald Trump overstepped to get funds for his border wall, Democrats are united calling the move unconstitutional and they plan to challenge it.

Both sides discussed the issue on the Sunday morning talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: This is the first time a president has tried to declare an emergency when congress explicitly rejected funding for the particular project that the President is advocating. And in saying just the other day that he didn't really need to do this, he just wanted to do it because it would help things go faster. He's pretty much daring the court to strike this down.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R), OHIO: All I know is this is a serious situation. This is a crisis. Look at the drug problem, the human trafficking problem, the gang violence problem. That's why we need the border security wall. And that's what the President is committed to making sure happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: And now that there is funding to build more wall along the U.S.-Mexico borders, CNN is learning about the infrastructure and how it works.

[01:34:59] Border patrol agents say the barriers had helped their efforts to prevent people from entering the country illegally. Nick Valencia filed this report back in June 2018 but Border Patrol says the areas shown still look the same today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see -- I see any indication, any foot sign of anything that's come across so we can get on it.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We have seen a lot of things, articles left behind, articles of clothing. Even had an inhaler. Looks like a bag of salsa left behind.

These agents say they (INAUDIBLE) doing right now is trying to listen to hear for signs of foot traffic. Signs of migrants that are coming across here illegally. The river, Rio Grande is just right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This area is an ideal location for border patrol agents, you have impedance (INAUDIBLE) right here -- the wall. You have technology just behind us. That's a tower that has a day camera and a nighttime camera. And then you have the access roads right for the access and mobility of the agents so we need to have a strong capability of detecting any illegal incursion, identifying that illegal incursion and having the capability to respond to that incursion and then of course, coming to resolve it.

Now they have this wall here, they have the technology piece that is able to identify that incursion and detect that incursion early so agents can respond to it. So the traffic here has been minimized greatly.

VALENCIA: Gives you fighting chance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

VALENCIA: Here in the Rio Grande Valley sector this is the end of the border wall of the infrastructure as they call it here. With the initial project they ran out of funding so you may notice a big part of it missing.

But with the current funding allocated, they say this is one of the things that they're going to address first. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is the Rio Grande, guys, right? Right

behind me. The wall, is what, maybe, I don't know a couple of hundred yards away. So it was a really quick process or really quick run for the smugglers to get either their narcotics commodity or illegal aliens to a load-up spot.

VALENCE: So that's Mexico right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Mexico right across. They literally cross in rafts for more than seconds maybe a minute. So they are very organized the smuggling organizations. The have scouts on the Mexican side that are watching our every move, they have facilitators that are also monitoring, you know, the main roads, they are watching what border patrol agents are doing and so forth.

Very coordinated efforts it's not just a random run to see it if they can get across. In the past part of the infrastructure, the technology that is currently placed here, we have groups of like 40, 50 run across here and make it to a load-up spot really, really fast.

VALENCIA: And how has the wall changed things?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the wall has been huge not only the wall, but the technology piece here as well. And we'll go over that here in a bit. But so rather than them just running a cross a small levee, now they have the infrastructure, the border wall in place that impedes their quick movements.

Tight now they have to scale the wall, so the groups have gone down from about 40, 50 to maybe 15 or 20 at the most. And this is an area where we don't see that much traffic anymore because the smugglers know that it's been monitored.

VALENCIA: Is there certain times of day that you see more trying to get across?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are opportunists. So whenever they feel that the opportunity is there for them to earth run their narcotics or their illegal aliens, they're going to do it.

VALENCIA: So you are watching them but they are also watching you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

VALENCIA: This is something else that's been very effective for the border patrol to stop illegal migration and narcotics trafficking. This is leftover bits of the border wall, so far no one has tried their luck at it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Nick Valencia there reporting.

ALLEN: We move now for the Munich security conference wrapping up in Germany this weekend. It is an annual event that features defense officials, security experts and this year U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

VANIER: Yes. He had a special message from President Trump but maybe it didn't get quite the reaction he had hoped for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I bring greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Silence --

ALLEN: Supposed to be applause but didn't happen.

VANIER: At the conference pence also called on allies to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal even as Germany's chancellor defended standing by it.

ALLEN: Coming up here -- every hour, every day a sizable piece of the state of Louisiana disappears into the sea because of climate change. See how one town's residents are coping with the inevitable demise of the only home they have ever known.

[01:39:54] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: All right. Welcome back.

We've got a powerful cyclone threatening a number of islands in the South Pacific.

ALLEN: That's where Ivan Cabrera is joining us.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good to see you -- guys.

It is going to continue to move further south, I think in direct impact with Australia as well. We don't need that but let's talk about it as we get in on our cyclone here, south of the equator. You know, they spin clockwise -- Coriolis force -- we'll talk about that at another time.

But 95-kilometer per hour winds, gusting to 120. So if this was on the Western Pacific it would be gusting to the equivalent of what would be a typhoon, right. And I think eventually the sustained winds which is what is important will be doing that.

Look at this. Not much movement. Southwest at 11 kph. That's very close and all the while it's been dumping very heavy amounts of rain across the islands here. We have had reports of some localized damage across some of the islands in Vanuatu. So we'll watch for that. Nothing major here, but still very heavy rainfall so the flood threat is going to continue.

Watch the forecast. We'll put this in a motion and still through Tuesday and Wednesday going to be bringing very heavy rain to the islands on the southwest corner of the map that you can see Queensland and we'll begin to see some indirect impact. So we'll talk about.

But let's show you the track as we head into the next few days, it does become a pretty strong storm -- 130-kilometer per hour wind and later will make a hook to the south and east. And, yes, eventually we'll talk about some rainfall for New Zealand. But that's a ways away.

All the while though as it kind of parallels the coast, I think some of the impact will be felt across Australia. Not so much in the form of rain, which as you can see at New Caledonia, how about that, another 250 millimeters of rainfall.

But it's going to be more of the ways it's going to be impacting. So those swells will progressively get stronger and stronger. And so then by Thursday, I think that's when we peak with the potential of three to five-meter waves that crash in Orlando (ph), Queensland shore a little bit less or so further south and much less to the north.

The cyclone doesn't have to make landfall, we always talk about, for significant impact. So if you are in Australia that is going to be I think the main threat. And then of course the islands there with big rains the next few days.

[01:45:03] ALLEN: All right. Ivan -- thank you.

CABRERA: Yes.

VANIER: Ivan -- thanks.

ALLEN: Another area that is affected by all kinds of climate, and low-lying regions around the world rising sea levels of course mean longtime communities could face their final days.

VANIER: CNN's Bill Weir traveled to one such town in the bayous of Louisiana to show us how climate change will soon change lives forever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When these kids are old enough to start families, their hometown will be under water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my grandma's house.

WEIR: Their great, great, great grandparents settled here during the Trail of Tears. And for the first hundred years they farmed this land.

(on camera): You just raised that exact house above?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, yes.

WEIR (voice over): But in the last 30 years they had to raise their homes a few feet to stay dry and then a few feet more. Until before and after satellite pictures proved what they already knew -- 98 percent of the Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana has disappeared.

CHARTEL COMARDELLE, TRIBAL EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES: I always talk about water is our life and our death. Once we weren't able to farm anymore, the waters, the shrimp, the oysters, the crabs that sustain our people now it's killing us. It's killing us.

WEIR: Every hour of everyday a piece of Louisiana about the size of a football field slips into the sea -- every hour, every day.

It started when America tamed, locked and diked the mighty Mississippi, choking off the natural flow of mud that built this land. But these days, as it sinks, polar ice melts. Seas rise, big storms just keep coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been a lot of change in just the last say five years.

WEIR: And those to who study the drowning of Louisiana say it is happening faster than anyone ever predicted.

TORBJORN TORNQVIST, CHAIR, EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, TULANE UNIVERSITY: What maybe five years ago was the worst case scenario is now what we might call a fairly likely scenario.

WEIR (on camera): That's terrifying.

TORNQVIST: It is terrifying, and it basically means that climate change is here in full force.

WEIR (voice over): So Isle de Jean Charles won a first of its kind federal grant -- $48 million to move them about 40 miles north. The state recently closed on 500 acres of old sugarcane fields.

PAT FORBES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUISIANA OFFICE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: We're going to have baseball fields, fishing ponds, wetlands, homes along the back.

WEIR: But before they can even break ground --

COMARDELLE: We'd like just had a tribal meeting today.

WEIR (on camera): They are getting a harsh lesson in just how hard it is to convince Americans to uproot and retreat.

COMARDELLE: Anybody else is probably not moving.

WEIR: Really.

COMARDELLE: So yes.

WEIR (voice over): Half of the 40 families who live here say they will never leave while others still aren't convinced it's the right move.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This so-called climate change thing,.

WEIR (on camera): You put it in quotes --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WEIR: So-called.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

WEIR: But Isle de Jean Charles is just a tiny sample of how expensive and difficult the future will be. According to one estimate from the United Nations between 50 and 200 million people will be displaced by climate change by the year 2050. And most of those are the planet's most vulnerable -- fishermen and farmers who live on the edge.

(voice over): And if it is this hard moving a village, imagine moving Miami, or New Orleans.

(on camera): Do you have children?

TORNQVIST: I have an eight-year-old daughter.

WEIR: Do you think she will ever be able to say take out a 30-year mortgage in New Orleans?

TORNQVIST: I don't know. I don't know. That's -- I wouldn't bet my money on it. Let's put it that way.

WEIR (voice over): But he says it's not too late to stop burning the carbon that is cranking up the global thermostat, not too late to stop worst-case pain.

But that will depend more on human nature than mother nature. And as people argue, the seas rise every hour, of every day.

Bill Weir, CNN -- Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And Louisiana is changing so much that the Louisiana Boot is disappearing into the ocean.

Well, 26,579 and counting -- a man who has spent years making wooden crosses to honor America's shooting victims, builds five more as the latest tragedy hits too close to home. We'll have his story next.

[01:49:45] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Residents of Aurora, Illinois are mourning the senseless loss of five people gunned down in the latest mass shooting in the U.S. They were killed when a co-worker went on a rampage after he was fired from his job last week.

ALLEN: A memorial has gone up outside the Henry Pratt Building where they worked and part of that memorial five white crosses made by a man who lives in Aurora. He's actually done this thousands of times for nearly every U.S. tragedy over the past 20 years.

Scott McLean shares his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For more than two decades 68-year-old Greg Zanis has been hand making and hand delivering comfort to grieving families across America. It's a big job that takes a lot of lumber, a lot of paint, and countless nights inside of his truck.

GREG ZANIS, CROSSES FOR LOSSES: I am the kind of guy that falls asleep real easy.

MCLEAN: It's not comfortable, but neither is the task at hand.

(on camera): Most people don't want to think about these shootings until they happen on their doorsteps but you live it 365. Why?

ZANIS: Because I feel that it's making a difference.

MCLEAN (voice over): He's placed his wooden crosses at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Sutherland Springs, Texas, Orlando's Pulse Nightclub, Las Vegas, Parkland, Florida -- and that's barely scratching the surface. In total --

[01:55:03] ZANIS: 26,579. You have no idea what I have seen in this country.

MCLEAN: He's seen America at its worst yet still believes in its best.

ZANIS: We are in a country that is so full of hope.

MCLEAN: In every place he hears people say they never thought it could happen here. Even he believed that until Friday.

ZANIS: I feel so dumb that I wasn't even thinking that it could happen here. I should have thought it could happen here.

MCLEAN: Just three miles from his home in Aurora, Illinois a man opened fire on his colleagues after learning he had been let go. Five people were killed. The next day Zanis left five crosses bearing their names.

ZANIS: My heart rate was going up because I am -- I can't believe I am standing on the ground here in my town doing this. That's all -- on my turf, my town. You know, like it's like a nightmare.

MCLEAN: Following each tragedy, Zanis takes comfort in the fact that he can get in his truck and leave.

ZANIS: I put on like I am strong like I am carrying the whole weight of the world on my shoulders because I know that I'm going to be in and out.

MCLEAN: Just not this time.

ZANIS: That's why I'm having such a hard time here living here because I'm not in and out.

MCLEAN: this time it's a much heavier cross to bear.

Scott McLean, CNN -- Aurora, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Now we know who is behind all of those crosses.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier.

The news continues next on CNN with Rosemary Church. You're in great hands.

[01:56:32] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END