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Lawyers Wants to see Bob Mueller's Report First; New Zealand Pushes for Tougher Gun Laws; New Zealand Prime Minister Leads Tributes In Parliament; Mozambique President, Heavy Toll From Cyclone Idai; Race For The White House; Studio Exec Admits He Made Mistakes In Personal Life; Brexit Chaos; Orphans Facing Their Own Crisis In Syria. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 19, 2019 - 03:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: A new battle for the White House. Sources tell CNN that attorneys for President Trump are pushing to see the Mueller report before it goes to Congress and the public and might try to block the release of some parts of it.

Plus, New Zealand mourns the 50 victims of the devastating attack of two mosques on Friday. As the prime minister promises changes to the country's gun laws.

And.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After treatment, we're being told that he weighs about 3.7 kilograms. That is how much a newborn would weigh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The children orphaned by ISIS. CNN goes inside a displacement camp in Syria, where many of its youngest are in desperate condition, stranded with nowhere to go.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report is expected to be delivered to the U.S. attorney general anytime now.

President Trump tweeted Monday that he expected the report to reveal the probe as a sham, nevertheless, White House attorneys want to get a look at it before the attorney general sends anything to lawmakers.

Pamela Brown explains why.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We have learned that White House lawyers expect to review whatever version of Mueller's report Attorney General Barr submits to Congress before it reaches lawmakers and the public. And this is a potential flash pint, a political battle over the hotly

anticipated document. The attorneys want the White House to have an opportunity to claim executive privilege over information drawn from documents and interviews with White House officials over the past couple of years, these sources said.

But the White House is review of executive privilege claims are within its legal purview, but this could setup this political battle over the perception at the very least of President Trump trying to shield certain information from the public about an investigation that has swirled around him since the first day of his presidency.

As one source close to White House put it, there's always been tension between what looks best politically, and what represents the interests of the institution but preserving executive privilege Trump's political optics in the White House view.

Now, Rudy Giuliani, the president's outside attorney has said that he wants to assert executive privilege but that is up to the White House, it's up to the president, and the White House counsel's office doing that, and we do know executive privilege allows the president conversation with other officials be kept confidential if he chooses to assert it.

Now Justice Department lawyers could advise him against certain assertions if they don't feel that it's legally defensible, but if President Trump does assert executive privilege, the decision could be litigated in court if it's challenged which Democrats would almost certainly do.

Back to you.

CHURCH: Thank so much for that, Pamela. Well now some insight into how Americans are feeling about the economy and President Trump. In a brand-new CNN poll seven in 10 believed the economy is in good shape. 71 percent is the best rating during Mr. Trump's presidency, and the highest number since February 2001.

Now the president's approval rating tick up to 42 percent, 51 percent say they disapprove, that is the lowest number to say that in CNN polling since the start of the Trump presidency.

Well, it was a busy weekend online for President Trump, he took aim at many of his adversaries both living and dead, leaving White House officials to follow behind, attempting to clarify the president's intention.

Jim Acosta has our report.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It started over the weekend when the president made a rare trip to church, and lasted until his Monday morning executive time, an unholy tweet storm airing an avalanche of Mr. Trump's grievances.

The president last shout at the press after the mosque massacre in New Zealand, tweeting, "The fake news media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand, so ridiculous."

But it was the New Zealand killer who called attention to the president's rhetoric, describing Mr. Trump at a manifesto as a symbol of white identity. The president is back on his heels after downplaying white nationalism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't really, I think it's a small group of people that have a very, very serious problem, I guess, if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that's the case. I don't know enough about it yet. They're just learning about the person and the people involved. But it's certainly a terrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:02] ACOSTA: In response to the barrage of tweets, the husband of White House counsel Kellyanne Conway, prominent D.C. attorney, George Conway, suggested that the president suffers from some kind of personality disorder, adding, "his condition is getting worse." A view not shared by his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: No, I don't care those concerns and I was getting -- I have four kids, and I was getting on the house this morning before I got here so I talk to the president about substance, so I may not be up to speed on all of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president also attack his old nemesis John McCain accusing the late senator who died in August, of peddling a dossier of Mr. Trump's allege misdeeds before the 2016 election. Tweeting, "So it was John McCain that sent the fake dossier to the FBI and media, hoping to have it printed before the election. He and the Dems working together failed as usual." McCain's daughter fired back at the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, CO-HOST, ABC: I just thought, your life is spent on your weekends now with your family --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCAIN: -- not with your friends, but obsessing --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCAIN: -- obsessing over great men you could never live up to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCAIN: That tells you everything you need to know about his pathetic life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In a sign of political reluctance to criticize Mr. Trump, McCain's old friend, Senator Lindsey Graham offered a muted response to the president. Tweeting, "Nothing about McCain service will ever be change or diminished."

The president's poll numbers have ticked up in recent weeks, in part because of the healthy economy with 71 percent saying the nation is in good physical shape, which may explain why the president feels emboldened to call on Fox News to bring Judge Jeanine Pirro. One of the network's host who was suspended after making bigoted comments about Muslims in a rant about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Think about it, Omar wears the hijab. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president defended Pirro on the same weekend as people on New Zealand were reeling from a terror attack on Muslims. White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted Mr. Trump is not a racist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The president is not a white supremacist, I'm not sure how many times we have to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As the president attended church on Sunday, he was exposed to a message of tolerance at the service as the reverend called on Americans to reject hatred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're called whenever we overhear or oversee hateful slurs against other people. Perhaps, we need the holy courage to call them out. And to say it's not it's just not us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But the president will soon find himself in the company of a like-minded foreign leader when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visits the White House on Tuesday. Bolsonaro has been described as the Trump of the tropics. One saying on immigrants coming to Brazil are the, quote, "scum of the earth." Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: And for more on this let's turn to Scott Lucas in Britain, he's a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham. Good to have you with us.

SCOTT LUCAS, POLITICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Good evening, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, of course, while the world has been focused on the terror attacks in New Zealand and talking about them, the president has been tweeting about other issues, and downplaying the threat posed by white supremacy which has his aides insisting he's not a racist. But he still hasn't condemned their hateful ideology. Why is that do you think?

LUCAS: I could do a bit speculating, one could talk about Trump's own psychological make up. One could talk about in the past when it's Charlottesville, he refused to condemn white extremism over the violence there.

One can talk about the fact that he very quick to condemn an act of violence committed by someone who happens to be Muslim. As opposed to someone who does not happen to be a Muslim.

They are elements of race, religion and Donald Trump's own personality here. But I think for (Inaudible) let's be very clear. Donald Trump wants the attention on himself.

Christchurch took the attention away from Donald Trump. He put out an initial tweet which he later deleted which said to everybody, go read Breitbart, the hard-right site, even though many of the comments on the story were actually expressions of white supremacy.

But then what Donald Trump wanted to do is look at me, look at how horrible the Trump Russia investigation is. Look at how horrible John McCain is, his longtime foe, actually just his long-time targeted his insults.

Look at how horrible Saturday Night Live is because they make fun of me in anything. In other words, when it comes down to a decision between white supremacy and Trump's ego, even Trump's ego, Trump that issue of white supremacy even when almost 50. In fact, 50 people were killed because of that act of violence in New Zealand over the weekend.

CHURCH: I do want to move on to those new poll numbers. We read them out to people, they showed the president's approval rating up slightly to 42 percent. We also learn that 71 percent of those polls say the economy is in great shape.

[03:10:01] How unusual is it to see a president's approval rating so low at this time in his presidency, while at the same time their economy is rocking along. What does that tell us?

LUCAS: What it tells us is that people are deeply polarized about Donald Trump. Those numbers have remained the same in terms of approval and disapproval. And that despite the confidence in the economy at this point you really aren't shaking that polarization and bringing people across from one side to the other.

And let me just put it this way, Rosemary. I think we're going to see three campaigns in 2020. I think the sensible campaign for Donald Trump to run would be look at me, I have overseen this economic growth. If that economic growth continues, which is questionable he can claim competence, he can claim leadership.

But the second campaign slogan that I think Trump and some of his advisers want to run which is we don't like immigrants, they're invading America. We don't like Democrats, they are socialists. They are an enemy within. We don't like, or at least we have questions about people of color.

Now, which of those campaigns will they choose? You know, logically I would say you win with the first one. But we know that they don't necessarily follow the logic.

Remember there's a third campaign here. What do Democrats especially if the economy remains at this level? I think the Democrats will say, well, all right, let's look at the economy but let's also look at healthcare, let's look at education.

Let's look at the environment, and let's look at competence. And who's hands are you safer with wherever the economy is in 2020. And it's going to be whichever those campaigns have most appeal with the American people rather than the opinion polls that decides Donald Trump's future.

CHURCH: Right. And we shall of course who ends up being the candidate who goes toe to toe with Mr. Trump.

But I do want to ask you, too, the report from the Mueller investigation, it's expected to come out any day now. Sources say White House attorneys wants to see those findings before they are submitted r to Congress so they can claim executive privilege. How do you expect all had to play out?

LUCAS: Well first of all caution. I mean, Trump's camp has been saying since like (Inaudible) of 2017 they expected the report any day soon.

I think the latest way you've got here is, is that although Mueller obviously is closer to completing his report the White House is kicking back against the House resolution unanimously passed last week, which said that the Mueller report must be made public.

They are scared to death that if report goes public it will be very damaging to Trump. They want to insist that there are redactions, that there are things that are hidden from us, just to be honest. And that's why they want to see the report first. And that's why they're saying this is urgent because the report is coming out soon.

In other words, they are playing politics because they are very concerned.

CHURCH: It will be interesting to see how much we see of that report. Scott Lucas, always a pleasure to chat with you, many thanks.

LUCAS: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: We'll take a short break here. Still to come, New Zealand is mourning those lost in Fridays mosque attacked. We will hear the prime minister's plan to heal her nation.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The vast majority in this overcrowded and underfunded camp are children, more than 40,000 of them stranded here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The war against ISIS in Syria is to blame for this crisis, and it may be too late to help many of its youngest victims. We will head to northern Syria for a look at what is needed, later this hour.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: After an hour's long manhunt, police in the Netherlands arrested a Turkish man in connection with a deadly shooting. A gunman shot and killed three people, and wounded five others during morning rush hour on a tram in the city of Utrecht.

Authorities initially suspected terrorism, and the terror alert was raised to its highest level, but the gunman's motive is unclear at this point. A prosecutor said the shootings could have been for family reasons.

Police say the 37-year-old suspect had previous run ends with police.

The prime minister of New Zealand tells her country speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them.

Jacinda Ardern comments came Monday in parliament in their first session since Friday's mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch. The country is in mourning after the gunmen took the lives of 50 people.

Jacinda Ardern's aim was to pay tribute to those lost, and part of her tribute was in Arabic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Mr. Speaker, on Friday, it will be a week since the attack. Members of the Muslim community will gather for worship on that day. Let us acknowledge their grief as they do. Let's support them as they gather again for worship. We are one, so they are us.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ivan Watson joins us now from Christchurch. So, Ivan, Prime Minister Ardern once again continuing to show unity her support for diversity, and set the tone for the healing of her nation.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and tried to comfort this country and the people here to assure them that they can and will be safe, the threat levels are still high here for fear of possible copycat actions and to try to comfort people going forward.

Now, to get a better sense of just the sheer impact of what's clearly the deadliest act of terror in New Zealand's modern history, I'm now joined by Aliya Danzeisen.

And you were with the women's organization of Waikato Muslim Association, and apologies if I mangled the pronunciation there.

ALIYA DANZEISEN, LEAD COORDINATOR, WOWMA: It's all right.

WATSON: First of all, my condolences in the wake of this terrible tragedy. And we just heard from the prime minister. Do members of your community do they feel comforted, do they feel consoled and safe in the days since this attack?

[03:20:02] DANZEISEN: I think that we feel comforted by our prime minister. I think her response has been quite powerful and reassuring. And so, in that aspect, it has been very good.

Regarding safety, I think we are concerned, because we -- in the sense of knowing what is out there. This came as a surprise, something we didn't expect so people the unexpected that's what people are concerned about.

But in the way it happened in New Zealand, that's the most peaceful country -- or was the most beautiful country in the world. To us, it's really hard to fathom. And so, you just wonder, what else?

WATSON: Can you help explain -- I don't know if you are in direct contact with any of the families that are affected, but what are kind of support systems right now? What do people need most in the wake of this atrocity?

DANZEISEN: It depends on the age of the person, and it depends on how they were impacted by the shooting. So, you know, people don't all have their loved ones back, so that's a priority for many and to get them buried in a dignified manner and in Islamic tradition --

(CROSSTALK)

WATSON: And it does seem that the authorities have been overwhelmed by the scale of this, their schedule for returning the bodies of the victims keeps getting pushed back. DANZEISEN: Right. Yes. And it's the number. Because we are so small,

you cannot bring in a lot of people to do this and because we are so far away from other countries as well, and so that has played a factor in it.

But they are working through it, and people are doing the washing tonight of the bodies, and so in preparation for burial, but with 50, you know, it takes a while to prepare them. Yes.

WATSON: And looking forward, do you know whether or not community leaders are anticipating reopening the Linwood Mosque or the Al-Noor Mosque for prayers at a near future?

DANZEISEN: I actually was at the blessings of the -- when they went through to remove the negative experience in the concepts of traditionally that's something done in New Zealand. And everyone from those mosques were resolute that these are going to be reopened and they will come back. And so that is the plan. And I'm confident that they will be reopened, and be functioning as soon as we can get them.

WATSON: We were speaking earlier and you would mention that you are an expatriate, you're originally from the U.S.

DANZEISEN: Yes.

WATSON: And part of what attracted you to New Zealand was safety and security here. So not only was this devastating for this tiny minority of Muslims in this country, around 1 percent of the population --

DANZEISEN: Yes.

WATSON: -- but for the people around us.

DANZEISEN: It's everybody in New Zealand. So, there are over 4.5 million people impacted by this. And it's not the Muslims that are feeling, you know, hurt. It's everybody, and everybody is grieving here. From the prime minister, down to young children in schools who are aware of it, everybody has been impacted. And so, we're all in mourning.

WATSON: And you're a high school teacher?

DANZEISEN: I am a high school teacher.

WATSON: So, you've seen this with your students perhaps?

DANZEISEN: But I haven't been back to the classroom and I probably won't go for the next week, but I know that they are because the messages that they are e-mailing me is relaying that. I have former students as well, reassuring, you know, me, that obviously they couldn't believe it. But also seeking support from me, you know. To make sure that everything will be all right.

And if adults are doing that former student, you know that the students that I'm currently teaching are having that as well.

WATSON: There has already been discussion about new gun control legislation for New Zealand.

DANZEISEN: Yes. We are so supportive of that. Everybody. It needs to be, we don't need to have gun usage be augmented in this country. There is no reason to have an automatic weapon in this country. There is no reason, you know, to -- you know, other than hunting, which you don't need those type of weapons. We haven't needed it. And so, there is no reason to be selling them.

WATSON: And I was struck that the increased police presence. You have police officers carrying rifles now, and that is something New Zealand aren't used to. And it's in reaction to these terror attacks.

[03:24:57] DANZEISEN: This was, yes, and it was very similar to what happened after 9/11 where people were out in the airports with machine guns, that we hadn't seen in the --

(CROSSTALK)

WATSON: In the U.S.

DANZEISEN: -- United States before then. This is New Zealand. We -- you don't see cop -- police do not carry guns, you know. A lot of the police do.

(CROSSTALK)

WATSON: Now they do in front of the hospitals, on the streets.

DANZEISEN: In front of -- yes. In front of places that there are going to be a lot of people right now that's what they're doing. We don't anticipate that being forever. I hope it's not forever. But yes, it's -- that's not reassuring to children to say you're OK when people have guns. And they haven't seen police with guns before in New Zealand.

WATSON: Aliya Danzeisen, thank you very much for sharing --

DANZEISEN: Thank you.

WATSON: -- your perspective here. And I think that we do get a sense, Rosemary, of just truly how earth shattering this has been for people sense of security and stability in a country where everybody you talked to says we heard about these types of massacres, these terror attacks but we never thought they would reach our distant shores.

And as the events of March the 15th have proven, they truly have, and this is a country still in mourning for the 50 victims of that terrible day. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And understandably so, too. Ivan, thank you for that report. I appreciate it.

And earlier, I spoke with Hera Cook about the prospect for tougher gun laws in New Zealand. She's a professor in the Department of Republic Health at Otago University in Wellington. And we spoke about the opposition to new gun regulations. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HERA COOK, PROFESSOR, OTAGO UNIVERSITY: We had a lot of push back, and they used some of the same kinds of arguments that the NRA's uses in the U.S. Unfortunately, we don't have anything like the second amendment, and self-defense is not a legal reason to own a gun in New Zealand.

If you say you want a gun for self-defense you will be denied a gun license.

CHURCH: Right.

COOK: And that's a really, that's a great thing. But it's really going to depend on what the 90 percent of us who aren't gun users or gun license owners -- I'm sorry. Licensed gun owners, and how much push back we put into the equation.

Because what's been happening over the last 30 years, is that the gun lobby have made the rest of -- have treated the rest of us as if our opinions are our need to live in a safe society is completely irrelevant to gun policy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Hera Cook talking to me there a little earlier.

And to see how you can hope the terror victims in New Zealand just head to our web site cnn.com/impact.

Another Hollywood executive steps down after being accused of an inappropriate relationship.

Plus, Theresa May's Brexit plans have been dealt another blow, leading to new concerns over constitutional crisis in Britain. We'll explain when we come back.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers in United States and all around the world, you are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church, so let's check the headlines for you this hour.

Sources say White House attorneys want to see the findings from Robert Mueller's Russian investigation before they are submitted to Congress. So they can claim executive privilege over certain information. The U.S. Attorney General will decide how much of the report is shared with lawmakers and the public.

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern led tributes to Friday's shooting victims in her countries parliament a few hours ago. A day earlier, she and her cabinet promised tougher gun laws will be coming soon, the response comes in the wake of Fridays mass shooting. Fifty people were killed, and dozens wounded when gunmen opened fire into mosques in Christchurch. Investigators in Paris say the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash has

clear similarities to October's Lion Air crash in Indonesia that is based on early analysis of the flight data recorder that the exact cause of the Ethiopian crash is yet to be determined. The aircraft in both incidents was a Boeing 737 Max 8.

Tropical cyclone Idai, may have killed more than 1000 people according to the Mozambique according to the country's president, he calls the situation a real humanitarian disaster and warns that 100,000 people are in endanger there.

Well, Elizabeth Warren has a plan for America, the Democratic presidential candidate, one of many at this early stage in the campaign, tried to set herself apart by revealing her blueprint for America in a town hall meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Democrats, independents, and Republicans, they know a scam when they see it. And they see it in Washington working for those guys, I think they're ready to get into the fight and get a Washington, and a country, that works for the rest of America.

I will not support the building of a wall that does not make us safer. The administration itself -- people within it have already said, this is not about security. This is not how we are going to make ourselves safer. The kind of wall that is proposed now is a monument to hate and division. We are a better country than that. So, (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, it's a crowded field of Democrats, more than a dozen people have already declared their candidacy, and more are expected. Including former Vice President Joe Biden.

Another Hollywood executive's career has been derailed by accusations of an improper relationship in his past. The head of WarnerMedia's movie and TV studio, stepped down from one of the industry's top jobs Monday. WarnerMedia is the parent company of this network. And our Brian Stelter has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, this is a big change in Hollywood, as the head of one of the industry's biggest movie and TV studios is suddenly stepping down. Kevin Tsujihara is the chair and CEO of WarnerMedia and Entertainment that includes the sprawling Warner Brothers Studio. He was recently promoted into an even bigger job, overseeing more of the WarnerMedia portfolio, and of course, that was part of a broader reorganization of the media company which also owns CNN.

But days after he was promoted, the Hollywood reporter, the Day Entertainment magazine in L.A., published a detailed story about allegations that Tsujihara had an improper relationship with an actress a number of years ago. The allegation was that, he offered to help find her roles in Hollywood, get her auditions for jobs in exchange for sexual relationship.

[03:35:05] Now, Tsujihara at the time, through a lawyer, said that he never directly was involved in getting her any auditions. He did in a memo to colleagues say that he had made mistakes in his personal life, and that he was sorry for those. WarnerMedia announced an investigation, and now less than two weeks later, he is leaving his job as the head of the studio. Now, here's part of the statement from John Stankey, who is the CEO of WarnerMedia, he said that it is in the best interests of WarnerMedia, Warner Brothers, our employees, fellow partners for Kevin to step down as chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers.

Kevin has contributed greatly to the studio's success over the past 25 years and for that we thank him, but Stankey went on to say that Kevin acknowledges that his mistakes are inconsistent with the company's leadership expectations and could impact the company's ability to execute going forward. So, that's explanation from the head of the company.

Tsujihara explaining in a similar array in a memo saying that he and Stankey had spoken over the past week and they both concluded, it was in the best interest of the movie studio for Tsujihara to step aside. Now there's no immediate word on his successor, but right now, this is a time of great change, dramatic change in the television and movie industry.

Later this week, Disney and Fox studios are coming together, merging, that deal will finally be completed later this week. So, it is a time of turbulence, and dramatic change in Hollywood. Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, nobody saw it coming, in a surprise announcement in the Brexit saga, the Speaker of the House of Commons is throwing a new obstacle at Theresa May, after the British Prime Minister strike out twice, trying to get her Brexit deal approved by Parliament. John Bercow has decided to put a more than 400 year old rule into play, blocking Mrs. May from a third attempt, unless changes are made. CNN's Anna Stewart joins us now live from outside the British parliament to explain this to us, good to see you Anna. So, what does this latest curve ball mean for Brexit, do you think?

ANNA STEWART, CNN PRODUCER: I mean, just when you thought Brexit couldn't get any more dramatic, were right down to the words, 10 days away from Brexit and we get this dramatic twist, this turn of events. Essentially the Speaker of the House has said, using ancient inventions that the Prime Minister cannot bring forward her motion, her Brexit deal for House of Commons, unless it is substantially different to what it was before.

Now, we are expecting the Prime Minister to try and get this vote done this week, it wasn't expected to pass, but possibly by a small amount, unless you get some of her Brexiteers rebels on sight. And then she would have had the opportunity to maybe put up forth for a fourth vote next week before Friday, the Brexit deadline. Now, this latest turn of events makes that very unlikely that she will be able to get a vote here at all, unless she finds some sort of way of circumventing the speaker's statement. And this is as they say, 10 days from Brexit, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And that is the worry, I mean, they are fast, running at a time, so, what options does it leave Prime Minister May?

STEWART: So, the Prime Minister's is chairing a cabinet meeting this morning no one can expect that they are going to have to start talking to you what they do next. Now, I can see several options here. Number one, get a substantial change on her Brexit deal, but that seems incredibly unlikely, she had tried with the E.U, for months and months now to get some changes to this. They don't want to reopen the withdrawal agreement. It's seems highly unlikely she can do that in just 10 days' time.

Second option, well, perhaps she looks at what does the word substantially really means. Perhaps the government can find some clever way of adding something to their side or changing the wording of this motion to make it substantially different. Not sure, if that will pass, Bercow.

Third, technicality. Fight fire with fire. Is there a way that they can change this? Is there a way that maybe, since Bercow said, you can't bring the same vote forward again and again and again and (inaudible) within the same sessions. And the parliamentary session runs usually from one spring to the next year's spring. The government could crash the session of parliament. It would involve the Queen, has the ceremony closed and open a new session of parliament, but that is another option in the table.

Whatever happens, the Prime Minister is going to Brussels this week for the E.U. summit. She needs to ask for an extension, to ask for 15 extensions to Brexit, she wanted a short technical extension, while she gets steeper on board of her deal, but now you have to wonder whether any extension would have to be a lot longer to allow potentially the substantial changes to Brexit, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Of course the E.U. will only give an extension if there's a deal. And we don't really see a deal right now. So, we'll see what happens, Anna Stewart, many thanks to you. Will see what happens next. Let's take a short break here. Still to come though, the war against ISIS in Syria has produced a large number of orphans and most of them are facing serious health and mental issues. Some of their heartbreaking stories when we return.

Plus, the devastating impact of tropical cyclone Idai, is Mozambique, we will have the latest as communities begin to assess the damage. We are back in just a moment.

[03:40:06] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An intense battle continues to rage over the so called Islamic States last enclave in Eastern Syria. After weeks of fighting, us-backed Syrian Democratic forces use air strikes to pound this area of Baghouz on Monday. That's according to Reuters. SDF forces are expected to defeat ISIS soon in Syria. While meanwhile, the war against ISIS has produced a number of orphans in Syria, with no place to call home and no family to lean on. Our Jomanah Karadsheh has some of their heartbreaking stories.

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JOMANAH KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The aid worker coaxes a few words from the boy. His language, classical Arabic. The boy, Indonesian, growing up in ISIS's crumbling caliphate to parents who traveled across the world to voluntary join the terror group, and its man-made hell. They did not make it out, but in the last few days, he did. Along with eight other Indonesian orphans. With no parents for us to ask permission from, we cannot show their faces. There are now 250 children at Al-Hawl camp in Northern Syria who emerged from the war against ISIS without families, without relatives.

SHERIN MURAD-ISMAIL, UNICEF CHILD PROTECTION OFFICER: They arrived at the camp in the worst case, in the worst form. Because they are injured, they are traumatized, they are mentally -- I think they have also mental disorders.

KARADSHEH: And the tenth next door, the impact of the horrors live through their short lives play out in ways so painful to watch. Aid agencies say children here have witnessed acts of brutality and were trapped under bombardment in Baghouz and they are now showing signs of psychological distress, including nightmares and withdrawal.

[03:45:08] The vast majority in this overcrowded and underfunded camp are children, more than 40,000 of them stranded here. No one expected so many to pour out of the half square mile that remains of ISIS's so- called caliphate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is an emergency, you have to help us fast. We have called on aid groups and foreign governments to assist us, especially at Al-Hawl camp, because this is going to turn into a disaster when it comes to things like health care, and things like food and shelter.

KARADSHEH: The worry is outside aid will be slow to come for this camp associated with ISIS, the most helpless caught up in the politics of the aid, they now so desperately cling to.

Hamad is seven months old, he arrived from Baghouz on the 25th of February, and he was severely malnourished that UNICEF and care providers here had to take him to a local hospital where he stayed for the past couple of weeks. And right now after treatments, we are being told that he weighs about 3.7 kilograms that is how much a newborn would weigh.

The majority here never had a choice, ISIS's lethal legacy still defining their future. Jomanah Karadsheh, CNN, Al-Hawl camp, Northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: The American heartland has never seen flooding quite like

this, we will explain how the aftermath of last week's bomb cyclone and all the snow that was already there is making terrible history.

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CHURCH: Well, several countries in Southern Africa are coping with the aftermath of tropical cyclone Idai. It may have killed more than 1000 people is Mozambique, that's according to the country's president. He called the situation a real humanitarian disaster. And they're growing fears for more than 500,000 people in the low line port city of Beira which aid officials say is almost completely destroyed. Let's turn to CNN's David McKenzie, he joins us now from Johannesburg with more on this. So, David, what are you learning about the impact of this cyclone across parts of Southeastern Africa?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a massive impact, by this cyclone Idai, and what we know about the areas around Beira is frankly precious little at this stage, just this morning government officials were able to get into that city of around 500,000 people. As you say, it's a very low line region -- excuse me -- at least one dam had broken its banks, in the recent days which really compounded the flooding joining the forceful winds and of course, massive gust that were pushing down houses, falling over tress and just destroying parts of at least one of the main hospitals in Beira.

The access is the biggest issue, according to humanitarian work, as we've spoken to, the main highway into Beira is cut off, there have at least four for helicopters, one U.N. and the government helicopters accessing the seen, giving lifesaving food and sanitation help. This cyclone didn't just hit Mozambique, it crashed through Mozambique, Malawi and into Zimbabwe. Some key areas of Zimbabwe also have been cut off though.

Military engineers had been working to, set up road systems to allow aid to get in. Now, the severity of this is hard to judge. Just look at those images, those drone shots of Beira. You can see the massive part of that city was frankly wiped out, but the coming days will be -- there is rain forecast around Beira and the surrounding provinces. That could exacerbate the problem, Rosemary, as this flood waters increase rather than recede. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our David McKenzie, bringing us the latest there from his vantage point in Johannesburg. Many thanks.

More than 8 million people are under flood warnings in the American heartland, the extensive flooding follows a path of bomb cyclone that slammed the center United States last week with hurricane like winds and blizzard conditions, flood records were shattered, in 17 places. And more rivers were likely break pristine (ph) records this week. The state of Nebraska plans on asking U.S. President Trump for federal disaster aid. The flooding is already responsible for at least three deaths.

So, we were turned to our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri to get more on this. Pedram, what are you seeing? How long is this going to last? And how extensive is the impact?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's pretty extensive, Rosemary. You know, this is a multi-week event and the way I'm seeing this played out and we've seen this of course, in year's past when it comes to flooding. And unlike what's happening across Mozambique and the city of Beira where we have significant rainfall and a tropical cyclone leading to a flooding.

This is not from rainfall, we have some rains in the forecast, but that is not why the flood warnings are in place. That is not why the significant flooding is currently in place from the Midwest down towards the south. It's all this a result of significant warmth from the temperature department. So, it's not only a significant warmth, were expecting this to continue over the first week of the spring season, as you look at the Climate Prediction Center's forecast.

But look at this, the trans snow gaff across the northern tier of the U.S. still sitting at 12 to 24 inches. That is how much snow is on the round that is what happening at this hour. But a lot of this is melting very rapidly and in fact, when you get -- take a look at how this plays out, with the snowfall on the ground beginning to melt and rainfall on top of this in recent days as a result of warmer temperatures.

But essentially seeing that frozen landscape beneath all of this snow, the historic snow that has piled up across these regions, become essentially a barrier from the line the water to be absorb into to the soil, so that's leading to run, leading to significant flooding. The snow, the ice that is melting is getting into the rivers and streams, and creating of what I known as ice jams, essentially being block by rivers. So the water also bursting these banks across those communities.

[03:55:06] So, the Missouri and also the Mississippi River Valley, have significant flooding in place at this hour. And again, it will take several weeks from that water to melt, even in those areas that you saw with 24 inches of snow on the ground and eventually work the way down into the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico.

So, with that said, upwards of nearly 300 gauges still expected to report flooding and we know the seasons are quickly changing with the warmer temperatures upon us here. In fact, on Wednesday, just about 6:00 p.m. at Eastern Daylight Time there, we going to Spring Equinox, but we have the 12 hours of daylight between the two hemispheres. And autumn officially begins down in the southern hemisphere, and if you don't think that is impressive when it comes to -- with spring like temperatures being here.

Look at this perspective out of Seattle Washington, Monday's high temperature 76 degrees. The warmest single winter day on record, just after 12 days removed when they had snowfall in the city of Seattle. And Seattle is coming off a 21 inch winter worth of snow. That is about three or four times higher than the average in any given year. So, an impressive run here of what is essentially a summer-like temperatures through the Northwestern U.S. over the next 24 so hours with additional warmth there, Rosemary, across that region. CHURCH: We like to see that, thank you so much, Pedram, I appreciate

it. And thank you for your company I'm Rosemary Church, remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter @rosemaryCNN. I'd love to hear from you. Early Start is next for our viewers here in the United States and for everyone else, stay tuned for more news with our Max Foster in London. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.

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