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Prosecutors Drop All Charges Against Jussie Smollett; Mozambique Beginning to Rebuild from Cyclone Idai; England Players Suffer Racist Abuse in Montenegro; Euro 2020: Denmark Over Switzerland, Spain Defeats Norway, Argentina Beats Morocco, Brazil Triumphs Over the Czech Republic. Aired 12m-1a ET
Aired March 27, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): With the Brexit iceberg dead ahead, U.K. lawmakers will spend the coming days doing what they do best, voting on nonbinding resolutions. But this could be a small window of opportunity for a win for Britain's beleaguered prime minister.
Midair scare for Boeing's 737 MAX 8 with no passengers on board and flying to a long-term storage facility, engineering problems force an emergency landing. But that seems to be just the least of Boeing's problems.
And the curious case of Jussie Smollett, the TV star who claimed to be the victim of a hate crime has had all 16 charges dropped. The state prosecutor who made that call is taking heat from city officials.
Welcome to viewers joining us all around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: Perhaps the best way to describe the coming hours and days in the U.K. Parliament would be like the passengers on board the Titanic voting on the music to be played as the ship went down or perhaps what color lifeboat they might like.
Seizing control of Brexit process from the prime minister, lawmakers will have say on what kind of Brexit they want, voting on alternatives to the prime minister's twice rejected plan.
They'll test the waters on a number of options, including a second referendum to staying in the E.U. customs union or crashing out with no deal at all.
The votes are not binding but still, another blow to Theresa May, who will meet with influential Conservative MPs before voting begins. There is speculation she may lay out a timetable for her resignation, a last-ditch effort to win over hardliners and try and back her deal. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN's European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas joins us now live from Los Angeles.
OK, so, Dominic, according to a copy of "House Business," tweeted out by a Labour MP, there'll be five hours set aside for debate on all these different options. Voting will be done by paper ballots.
There's a smorgasbord of options from which to choose. Norway plus, Canada style, second referendum, revoke Article 50, a few other options as well which don't stand a chance.
"The Guardian" newspaper reports 16 proposals have been submitted for house votes and it seems at this point Theresa May's deal is not among them which seems odd.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think maybe they're going to leave that one to her to bring up.
So we have these two worlds really, the world of Theresa May, where she's going to be devoting her attention on Wednesday to convincing the hard right Brexiteers to support her deal.
And then the members of Parliament, who will actually show up for this event tomorrow, will be there for several hours discussing and then eventually walking out with these long extended ballots, in which they will get to choose between yes or no in an attempt to try and narrow down the various options which they can then bring back to the prime minister, who will, of course, just ignore them completely.
So it's going to be an interesting process. It will, nevertheless, be revealing and, perhaps, by the end of the day, we'll have a better idea as to whether or not Theresa May will be motivated sufficiently to bring her deal to the Houses of Parliament for the vote for the third time around. That's what's going to be interesting tomorrow, too.
VAUSE: And that third meaningful vote could actually happen on Friday. It seems there's some support from the hardline Brexiteers moving towards her plan. One of the leaders of the pro-Brexit Conservatives, Jacob Rees-Mogg, explained why.
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JACOB REES-MOGG, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: I've always thought that no deal is better than Ms. May's deal but Ms. May's deal is better than not leaving at all. Inevitably, leaving the European Union, even leaving it inadequately and having work to do afterwards, is better than not leaving at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So how do you -- how do you think about this?
What's your opinion? You know, the fear of actually no Brexit, never leaving the E.U. might
just be enough to win over those hardliners and to get May's deal through Parliament.
THOMAS: Yes. I think there's some really important things that are taking place there and that are contained in that language from Jacob Rees-Moog. I think, first of all, what we have -- and many of these Brexiteers are hunters -- that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
And what they're beginning to realize is when you look at the spectrum, you have the choice between a no deal, which they would prefer that are unlikely to get, between Theresa May's deal which is at least a Brexit and, of course, then all the other options, which produce tremendous uncertainty, from a second referendum election and an extended Brexit, that is likely then to never happen or to end up a lot softer.
What is I think really indicative in what was said there is this discussion about essentially phase one and phase two. And we've not been focusing on phase two that much.
Phase one is simply the withdrawal agreement. And it may be that Theresa May by --
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THOMAS: -- by delivering Brexit, can walk away from this and pass the reins on to someone else, preferably in the case of Johnson and so on, one of them, who can then shepherd this through to the second phase, which is the all-important negotiation as to what the deal would look like.
And it is clear that they are beginning to think in terms of that time period and what they can do in that particular moment of time, which could stretch out for as long as two years, to get the deal that they actually have wanted all along. It's quite a clever ploy, if you think about it.
VAUSE: But to win over those hardliners, that's why we had this talk of Theresa May offering her resignation. They want her out -- they want the deal through but then they want her out of the way. Even then, though, she may not have enough votes because of a lack of overall support from within her own party.
I have a report from "The Sun" newspaper, that May's allies are urging her to suspend all Conservative MPs who will not vote for her deal. It's a nuclear move, they call it, because if they're suspended, it means they won't be allowed to stand as Conservatives in the upcoming election.
You know, if she heads down this road, what will be left to the Conservative Party?
THOMAS: Yes. I mean, that's the big thing. And the big question has been all along is what would be left at the Conservative Party if she actually had moved all along and gone to the center and found a deal across the aisle with the Labour Party, which would have fractured the Conservative Party.
And throughout this process she has put the Conservative Party first over the interests of passing a Brexit deal.
The other thing, of course, which they seem to be forgetting in these -- in these negotiations and what's so interesting about the far right talking about supporting her deal, is her deal does absolutely nothing -- and we know it -- to solve the question around the backstop in Northern Ireland.
And it seems that as interesting as it is that those 10 votes are going to be crucial to her if she wants to get the deal through, that the Northern Irish question seems to have been pushed into the background at the moment, as they are so concerned about simply getting the Brexit deal through.
And wouldn't it be ironic if those 10 votes of confidence and supply that they've been relying on actually ended up being the ones that would make the difference between her deal going through and her deal being rejected by the Houses of Parliament.
VAUSE: There are a lot of ironic moments which seem to be dead ahead. Alistair BURTON: , who is among those who resigned as a government minister over Brexit, he added this defense of the prime minister, kind of a defense.
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ALISTAIR BURT, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: I don't think it's about leadership. At this stage, it's about the substance of what's available on offer. Changing the leader makes no difference to what has been agreed with the E.U.
It makes no difference to these alternatives that are there. It makes no difference the calculations of people thinking what should they agree in order to provide an alternative.
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VAUSE: A very different opinion though from Brussels. Philippe Lamberts, who is on the Brexit steering group for the European Parliament, had this opinion of the British prime minister.
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PHILIPPE LAMBERTS, BREXIT STEERING GROUP, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: She must be totally devoid of the basic human skills that you need to be a political leader and that is scary.
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VAUSE: At this point, are they both right?
THOMAS: Well, I mean, at this particular stage -- I mean, Theresa May has tremendous responsibility for the way in which she has attempted to shepherd this process through. She's not a good listener. She does not consult.
She lost her majority in Parliament. On both sides, I think that the Conservative Party clearly do not want Theresa May, should they achieve Brexit, being in charge of phase two of the negotiations.
The European Union is not impressed with her negotiating deals but I think there's also a level of concern as to who may come along after her as they go back into this process.
At the moment, you know, when you look at the question of the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration, the political declaration is, at best, an aspirational document.
There isn't much in there that isn't really open to reinterpretation or negotiation. And I think that the European Union is highly concerned about what should happen if we actually get to the particular stage of negotiating for a phase two of this process. And we're getting closer and closer to that being a reality, of course.
VAUSE: And the government issued a statement, that amid all these uncertainties, question marks, there is one thing which will not happen.
"This government will not revoke Article 50. We honor the result of the 2016 referendum and work with Parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union."
Even though that might be the one option which has the most support among British voters.
THOMAS: Yes. That would be -- that's actually the case and we've seen shifts in the ways in which the voters have been responding, to both her and Jeremy Corbyn's favorability ratings are at an all-time low.
Let's see what happens tomorrow. Let's see if this is one of the amendments that ends up being voted on by the members of Parliament and how they weigh in on it. There's been a tradition of them ignoring the prime minister and of coming out with alternative plans here.
And if you're going to go into that extended period, in many ways, revoking Article 50 and going back to the drawing board would not only be ironic but it might be a good, strategic way of dealing with this.
And at the moment, when you see the calls for a second referendum and so on, we don't even know what the language --
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THOMAS: -- might be if such a people's vote. And it is highly possible for us to end up getting down the road and that being one of the options on the table. The fact that the government doesn't like it is sort of irrelevant at this stage. VAUSE: Brexit, who would have thought?
Never a dull moment. Dominic, thank you.
THOMAS: Thanks, John.
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VAUSE: We head now to the Middle East, where a pause in the fighting between Israel and the militants in Gaza did not last. Israel's military launched a second night of airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, the response to rocket fire from the militant group.
This follows Monday's fierce exchange of aerial attacks between both sides. And Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu says there could be more to come.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: I can tell you, we are prepared to do a lot more. We will do what is necessary to defend our people and to defend our state.
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VAUSE: CNN's Oren Liebermann has late details now, reporting from Jerusalem.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A roughly 16-hour period of relative calm was shattered Tuesday evening, when a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel just after 8:00 pm local time. That was followed by a second rocket just before midnight.
Israel responded by carrying out airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, including a weapons manufacturing warehouse. To give you a sense of where things stood before the renewed fighting, Israel had lifted civilian restrictions around Gaza just 15 minutes before the first rocket was fired.
So it looks like Israel's military leaders felt this round of escalation was over. The question is, what happens from here and that's a much more difficult question to answer right now .
If it were only these two rockets, there's a de facto understanding of how this plays out. Israel strikes a few Hamas targets in Gaza and then it's over. But, because this comes one day after a rocket from Gaza struck a home in central Israel and the fighting that followed that, this may be very different.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there was a lot more Israel could do when it comes to Gaza and it may seem now as the appropriate time to carry out that threat. What's important is for Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister, it is as much a political decision as a military decision, with only two weeks to go until the elections -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
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VAUSE: Now to the Boeing investigation and the latest issue for the airplane manufacturer's MAX 8 fleet. Pilots on one of those planes forced to make an emergency landing in Florida on Tuesday.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, Southwest 8701; we just lost our right engine, we need to declare an emergency. Flight heading 020.
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VAUSE: The Southwest Airlines flight from Orlando to California was actually being done for -- taking the plane to storage because the fleet has been grounded after two deadly crashes. There were no passengers on board; the plane landed safely.
The airline said a performance issue with one of the engines not related to the computer system that is under scrutiny in those MAX 8 crashes. The emergency landing comes a day before a pivotal Senate hearing on aviation safety oversight.
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VAUSE: Joining us now from Perth in Australia, Jeffrey Collins, editor-in-chief and managing director at AirlineRatings.com.
It's been a while, Jeffrey. Good to see you.
JEFFREY COLLINS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: Hey, John.
VAUSE: OK. Very quickly on the engine problems for the Southwest crew, totally unrelated to the two fatal crashes but, still, it's the last thing Boeing needed right now.
COLLINS: Absolutely, John. The last thing they needed was some more publicity relating to the MAX. Yes, totally unrelated. Nothing to do with the MCAS system and it likely landed and it will make its way onto the storage when they repair the engine.
VAUSE: OK. But by the end of this week, Boeing hopes to have its final submission to the FAA on its software update to the anti-stall MCAS system. According to our own reporting, "Pilots from the company worked with the software design team to incorporate multiple layers of protection in the event of sensor errors or other erroneous inputs. A response that would address the failure that is believed to have doomed the Lion Air flight last year that had received faulty data from a malfunctioning sensor on the nose of the plane.
There are a couple of issues here. But first, the big picture. There's some suggestion that aviation authorities in Canada and Europe that want to test the software packs themselves regardless of what the FAA decides. I can't recall a ruling by the FAA, that is what is universally accepted around the world that the Canadians and the Europeans and other countries go down this road. This is a crisis of confidence, not just in Boeing but the FAA.
COLLINS: Look, it is indeed. And this is actually very, very unfortunate. This has entered into the realm of politics and a lot of scrutiny, which of course, you know, scrutiny is important to make sure the FAA is working correctly.
But they've been working with Boeing in this particular fashion and with other manufacturers for decades and decades. This isn't something new. This is the way the Boeing 787 was certified and the Boeing 787 is a shining example of a superb product from Boeing although they did have the battery issues, which had nothing to do with the certification process.
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COLLINS: It was actually a supplier problem. So these things are coming under scrutiny.
Also what we are getting, John, is a lot of misinformation out there about the 737 MAX. There are suggestions that the aircraft was rushed through. In fact, the opposite is the case. The certification of the MAX was almost the slowest of any 737 model.
And there's also suggestions that Boeing makes money out a safety options. Well, the reality is that Airbus and Boeing hiked safety options or any option because they snarled production lines and slowed things up and actually cost them money.
So there is a lot of misinformation out there about the MAX and the industry in general. And there is a lot further to go in these investigations before we really get to the real truth of the situation.
VAUSE: OK. Which is interesting because I want to get down to this issue with the faulty sensors because a faulty reading from an angle of attack center -- that's a center which warns if the plane is at risk of stalling. It's believed to be the cause of the Lion Air crash in October, possibly, you know, related to the crash in Ethiopia a few weeks ago.
The software patch from Boeing is meant to fix that problem. Here is part of a report from the "Seattle Times". You know, context here, Boeing started in Seattle a century ago so these, you know, "Seattle Times" is actually across the story.
"The company typically uses two or even three separate components as fail safes for crucial tasks to reduce the possibility of a disastrous failure. So even some of the people who've worked on Boeing's new 737 MAX airplane were baffled to learn the company had designed an automated safety that abandoned the principles of component redundancy ultimately entrusting the automated decision-making to just one sensor -- a type of sensor that was known to fail." You know, according to this report, installing three sensors would require major, you know, retrofit.
Ultimately, though, how big of a problem is this looming for Boeing?
COLLINS: Well, a couple of comments there, John. That is the article from "The Seattle Times" but the other issue is here. When you have a stabilizer, this MCAS system activates a stabilizer runaway. When you have a stabilizer runaway, there are two switches between the pilots. They switch them off. He cast the system out. That has always been there on the 737.
On a previous model, the NG, there are four things that can cause a stabilizer true runaway, the nose pitch down that we have been talking about. On the MAX, there is five.
And the rule for dealing with it is the same for the MAX at is it for the NG. You simply switch the stabilizer trim off. You cut the power to the motor that drives this stabilizer trim. It's a memory item. You don't need to look up a manual for it, it is a memory item.
Now 40 seconds, I'm surprised it took the pilots 40 seconds. It should have taken them about 15 seconds to override it. I've spoken to a number of 737 check captains who do this stuff all the time. And they were very surprised by this 40-second number. They said 15 seconds and we can have this under control.
And the stabilizer trim, for viewers, is not a system that's in the background. It's a big wheel that sits beside the pilot and the copilot and it spins around. It makes a lot of noise; it's very visual. You absolutely know you have a runaway stabilizer. And you actually know, committed to memory, you switch it off.
And that is the perplexing part about all of this debate is why these pilots on Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air, if this is what we end up learning is the case, why they didn't turn it off And on that score, John, is why the Ethiopians and why the Indonesians have not released the cockpit voice recorders from both of those crashes so we can all better understand actually what went on in those cockpits.
VAUSE: Very quickly, because we're out of time, but are they obliged to release the data from the cockpit voice recorder?
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COLLINS: Well, it varies from country to country. But because of the importance of these particular investigations, the global fleet and the passengers generally, they've got an obligation to release it and they should release it.
VAUSE: We're out of time, Jeffrey, thank you so much. It's been a while. Good to see you.
COLLINS: It's been a pleasure.
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VAUSE: Still to come, Donald Trump taking a victory lap on Capitol Hill, over the Mueller port. But it's a major part of the story he's still getting wrong. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: The only veto so far of the Trump presidency will stand, allowing Donald Trump to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall. Congress had voted to overturn the declaration but the second time around the House failed to muster a two-thirds vetoproof majority.
Trump plans to devote billions of dollars from Treasury and Defense Departments to build the wall.
Meantime, the president is on a high. Special counsel Robert Mueller, in a report by the attorney general, found no evidence he colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. But he may be in danger of overplaying his hand. CNN's Jim Acosta reports now from the White House.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Soaking in the findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, President Trump marched up to Capitol Hill to declare victory but he didn't stick to the facts.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Mueller report was great. It could not have been better. It said no obstruction, no collusion. It could not have been better.
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TRUMP: But that's not true. While attorney general William Barr's summary of the Mueller report did state that the Special Counsel found the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government, the question of obstruction was left to the Justice Department and it was Barr and deputy attorney General Rod Rosenstein who decided not to prosecute.
Democrats aren't taking the President's word for it and demanding to see the full report.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CALIF.), HOUSE SPEAKER: We don't need an interpretation by an Attorney General who was appointed for a particular job to make sure the President is above the law, we need to see the report.
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ACOSTA (voice over): The President also accused unspecified forces of conspiring against him.
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TRUMP: We cannot let it ever happen again. It went very high up and it started fairly low but with instructions from the high up, this should never happen to a President again. We can't allow that to take place.
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ACOSTA (voice over): Mr. Trump has accused the Obama White House of wiretapping him without evidence. He has blamed the late Senator John McCain for the release of a dossier detailing the President's alleged misdeeds but one of the President's top allies, Senator Lindsey Graham now says --
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ACOSTA (voice-over): -- he urged McCain to give the dossier to the FBI.
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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE'S JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: John got the dossier, he called me up and said, "What do you think? You think I should turn it over to the FBI? I said yes, that was it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the President respond to that?
GRAHAM: No --
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ACOSTA (voice over): One area where there is some agreement, impeachment agrees to be off the table.
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TRUMP: I don't think they are talking about impeachment.
PELOSI: Impeachment is not on the table until it is on the table.
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ACOSTA (voice over): But new battle lines are being drawn, specifically over ObamaCare. After the Justice Department sided with the Federal Judge's ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act saying in a statement, that the District Court's comprehensive opinion came to the correct conclusion. The President jumped in to damage control mode. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Let me just tell you exactly what my message is. The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of health care, you watch.
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ACOSTA (voice over): In the run up to the midterms, the President vowed to take care of people with preexisting conditions, one of ObamaCare's key protections.
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TRUMP: I will always fight for and always protect patients with preexisting conditions. We have to do it.
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ACOSTA (voice over): After running on protecting ObamaCare during the midterms, Democrats are more than ready to resurrect the issue for the 2020 campaign.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Trump's position ties a two-year anchor around the neck of every Republican for the next two years.
ACOSTA (on camera): At least one target of the Russia investigation is seizing on Mueller's findings in the hopes of a pardon. Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos confirmed to CNN that his attorney is seeking a pardon from the president. Papadopoulos told CNN, if offered one, it would be an honor to accept.
The president has sounded open to the idea of pardons, though he has told reporters he hasn't given that prospect a whole lot of thought just yet -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: Just days after 58 people were shot dead in Las Vegas, we were given a crash course in bump stocks, a totally legal device that effectively turns a semiautomatic into an automatic. Now a ban is officially in place. Tens of thousands of the devices are being destroyed at a recycling facility in Texas.
President Trump called for the ban after the 2017 shooting, the worst mass shooting ever in the U.S., and is one of the few successful efforts in gun reform in years.
Gun rights groups, though, continue to challenge the ban in court.
Still to come here, a decision which rocked Chicago, all charges dropped in the Jussie Smollett case. A stunning reversal leaving a lot of unanswered questions and a few angry cops as well. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us everybody, you are watching CNN. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.
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Well, there's been a surprising turn of events in the case against Jussie Smollett. The TV actor was accused of staging a hate crime and filing a false police report. On Tuesday, though, prosecutors dropped all charges, citing Smollett community service and his decision to forfeit a $10,000 bond.
But Chicago's mayor and the police are livid; and the police union has called for an investigation of the state attorney. Smollett spoke briefly outside the courthouse.
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JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: I've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.
This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life, but I am a man of faith, and I am a man that has knowledge of my history. And I would not bring my family, our lives, or the movement through a fire like this. I just wouldn't.
Now, I'd like nothing more than to just get back to work and move on with my life, but make no mistakes: I will always continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN legal analyst Areva Martin joins us now from Los Angeles.
So you know, what? I mean, how did this happen? This is so bizarre. Before we get that, I want you to listen to the state attorney, explaining why the charges were dropped.
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JOE MAGATS, FIRST ASSISTANT, STATE'S ATTORNEY: It's a situation where Mr. Smollett was charged with a low-level felony, one that ordinarily is covered by the alternative prosecution, deferred prosecution statute. He had no prior felony background. He had no history of violence. Like I said, it is a low-level felony. Based on all the facts and circumstances, we feel it was the justest (ph) position in the case. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So in other words, what, two days' community service, giving up 10 grand in bond, that's enough punishment, which you know, John Smith, ordinary non-actor, everyday guy would've got in this case?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, John, that was the most lackluster, you know, tepid, timid statement from a prosecutor I've ever seen. Clearly, not a lot of confidence in that statement, even from the prosecutor.
And I think the thing that disturbs most of us, yes, this is a low- level felony, and yes, there could have been a plea deal, where he only got community service and maybe had to pay a fine and some restitution, but if that's the case, why not do that with transparency? Why make a call to Jussie Smollett's team last night, tell them to show up in court for an emergency hearing, give no notice to anyone else, go into that courtroom, where Jussie Smollett had just asked for cameras to be present, with no cameras present, enter some kind of deal, ask the court to dismiss the case, and then to seal the records?
I think everyone can understand that someone without a criminal record, someone who has not committed a violent crime, would be entitled to community service and restitution. That's not the issue in this case. The issue in this case is Jussie Smollett was charged with staging a hate crime. That's a very serious crime. And we worry about victims of real hate crimes now not being believed because of this alleged hoax. And this ending of this case, it ends it with a cloud over Jussie Smollett and that prosecutor's office.
VAUSE: And we're hearing from the Chicago Police Department, the superintendent who was so outspoken when these charges were first announced, he is standing by his decision. He seemed almost caught by surprise when all this came out. Here he is speaking a little earlier on Tuesday.
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EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law, so that everyone could see the evidence. You all know what the bond proffer said. You know, we all know what it said.
So, you know, I stand by the facts of what we produce. If they want to dispute those facts, then the place to do that is in court, not in secrecy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, and we heard him said, the attorney doesn't actually disagree with the facts around the case. He also believes Smollett was guilty. So here's Smollett's lawyer speaking on CNN just about an hour or so ago, responding to what the prosecutor and the police chief had to say.
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PATRICIA BROWN HOLMES, ATTORNEY FOR JUSSIE SMOLLETT: Nobody has found him guilty. He's not guilty; he is innocent.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK. All right.
HOLMES: You have a prosecutor who said he thinks that he's guilty. Now, how that is proper, I don't know, because in our judicial system, the prosecutor's view and opinion means nothing. It is the jury's view and opinion that matters --
[00:35:09] LEMON: But didn't the grand jury --
HOLMES: -- in a case like this, or in any case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Can you cut through this? Who's making sense here?
MARTIN: Well, she's right in the sense that you are presumed innocent. Once you're charged, you're not guilty just because you're charged. You're not guilty just because a prosecutor says you're charged. Even a grand jury issuing an indictment, like it did in this case, that's just saying there's probable cause to move forward, and it's more likely than not that you are guilty of the charges.
But the problem in that case is that we don't have a trial. There's not going to be a trial. There's not going to be the presentation of evidence. There's not going to be the cross-examination of witnesses and all the things that happen in a trial that allows us to get to whether someone is actually guilty or innocence.
When you go into court and the state's attorney dismisses a case, which is fine -- again, dismissals of cases happen all the time. Not usually after there's been a grand jury indictment, and 30 days later, you don't typically see these kinds of dismissals. But it's the secrecy, John.
VAUSE: Yes.
MARTIN: It's the lack of transparency. It's the sealing of the records that makes this case so troubling.
VAUSE: And one of the issues which is being raised is about the bail money. Ten thousand dollars, which Smollett is willing to walk away from, willing to give up. He's not going to court to fight for it. Again, his lawyer explains why. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: He has a $10,000 bond on a $100,000 matter. Ten percent. Do you on principle -- because he wanted his money back. Don't make any mistake about that. He wanted his money back. But do you make a principle out of that over the next two years, drag his name in the mud, have him have to pay lawyers, you know, select a jury, go through a jury trial, have the state's case fall apart, like it was falling apart, just so he can get $10,000 back?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Does that ring true to you?
MARTIN: Yes. This is an actor that makes a lot of money, John. I don't think $10,000 is consequential to him one way or the other. And I think to get beyond this matter and move forward with his life, of course he would forfeit $10,000. That's not a lot of money to someone who, according to reports, may make over $100,000 per episode, on the series that he is a part of.
So I don't think this case has been or is about the money. For me, it's about the transparency, and it's about the message that it sends about our legal system, some saying that this, you know, is clear representation of celebrity justice, and then again, for me about what happens to other hate crime victims.
When they come forward to tell their stories, will they be believed? Or will there forever be a taint with respect to anyone that comes forward to report a hate crime?
And I think to have such a high-profile case end in this way, without us hearing what happened in that courtroom, without us being able to look at those records and to review what was said and what was done, there will forever be questions about his innocence. He may be telling the truth, but we don't know that.
VAUSE: We're going to be killed --
MARTIN: Because there hasn't been that process and trial.
VAUSE: They will kill me for this. Did the police -- we talked about this when the charges were first announced -- did they make too big a deal out of this at the time and now had to walk it back?
MARTIN: Well, when you look at Chicago --
VAUSE: Yes.
MARTIN: -- when you look at the thousands of murders that have happened in that city over the last couple of years, some people say this was always a lot to do about nothing, but I don't think so.
This was about a hate crime. And hate crimes are on the rise in this country, and they are very serious, and they should be taken very seriously.
And this is a high-profile individual and, like it or not, whenever a high-profile individual is involved in a crime or an alleged crime, there is going to be media attention around that individual and the criminal process. So I don't think there was too much to do --
VAUSE: Right.
MARTIN: -- about this case. I think the ending of the case leaves us all with too many questions.
VAUSE: Yes.
MARTIN: And not a lot of faith in the judicial process.
VAUSE: And we are out of time, Areva, so thank you. Appreciate -- appreciate seeing you. Thank you.
MARTIN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Next up on CNN NEWSROOM, nearly two weeks after a cyclone devastated parts of southern Africa, there are signs the long road to recovery is underway.
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[00:41:16] VAUSE: UNICEF says $150 million is needed to restore water and sanitation services in southern Africa. After Cyclone Idai tore through the region earlier this month, the death toll well into the hundreds in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Many are homeless, food is scarce. Flooding is so severe rescuers still cannot reach many remote towns and villages.
Still, there are signs that Mozambique is slowly starting to rebuild, as CNN's Farai Sevenzo reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FARAI SEVENZO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two weeks after Cyclone Isai struck, the recovery process is underway. Every cable has once again been connected to Mozambique's national grid.
These men are some 100 kilometers from Beira, outside the town of Nhamatanda, working their way along the cyclone's path to replace broken cables.
In the town of Nhamatanda itself, the banks have reopened, but the queues for cash have not diminished. Idai disrupted networks and denied people access to their money.
The process of rebuilding after this natural disaster is the natural step for many. Roofs must be replaced, and life must go on.
For some, Cyclone Idai is slipping into memory, as schools and banks reopen.
Far from these towns, rural people who survived the cyclone have shelter. In Intope, 130 kilometers from Beira, the Intope Medical Center is looking after 50 adults and 85 young children, who lost everything to the cyclone.
There are bigger camps elsewhere, all trying to cope with Cyclone Idai's aftermath. But the sadness of loss is the same.
Rosella da Conceicao is a preventative medicine officer in Intope. ROSELLA DA CONCEICAO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Where the most people died in our province was Mutarara. There are more rivers there. Those rivers burst their banks and people were trapped there and couldn't get out. Here, the disease we're seeing the most is malaria. Cholera has not yet started. What we're seeing is severe diarrhea.
SEVENZO (on camera): Today Rosella has tested nine people for malaria, which is their biggest concern. I'm going to be the 10th person she tests today. And of those nine, two had malaria. So that they can prevent them as soon as they find out that they have malaria. They can take preventative measures and give them the medicine they need.
I see something happening, so I am clear.
DE CONCEICAO: Yes.
SEVENZO: For now.
This is cyclone water.
DE CONCEICAO: Yes.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Kids, this water can cause dysentery. And have you heard about cholera? Didn't a lot of people of here die of cholera? Do you want to die?
SEVENZO: They're going straight back after you told them.
DE CONCEICAO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: They're actually going back.
SEVENZO (voice-over): Farai Sevenzo, CNN, Intope, Mozambique.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And if you would like to help those impacted by Cyclone Idai, please head to CNN.com/impact.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT is up next. You're watching CNN.
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[00:45:45] KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, there. Welcome along to WORLD SPORT. I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center.
We're going to start with the reports of racism in football, following what happened to some of the England players in Europe this week.
UEFA is going to be under the microscope after England's black players were clearly targeted with abuse in Monday's European championship qualifier in Montenegro.
England's forward, Raheem Sterling, drew attention to the awful chants by scoring and then celebrating in front of the opposition fans there. The EPL forward cupping his ears, as if to say, "I can't hear you now."
However, the abuse was back again at the end of the game, this time, when England's Danny Rose was booked. It was a big night for the Three Lions and an emphatic 5-1 win; but it was overshadowed by the abuse.
Meanwhile, Sterling has emerged as a very considered but impassioned voice on the subject of racism. And his tweet made his position absolutely clear. This is what it said: "Best way to silence the haters (and yeah I mean racists). #2019 #getsomeeducation."
After the game both he and his teammate, Callum Hudson-Odoi, said it's time for positive change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLUM HUDSON-ODOI, ENGLAND FORWARD: I don't think discrimination should be anywhere, you know. I think, as I said, we're equal. You have a fair game and enjoy the moment. But when you're hearing stuff like that from the fans, it's not right; it's unacceptable. And hopefully, UEFA deal with it properly. Because obviously, when I went over there, me and Rosie heard it, they were making, "Ooh, ahh-ahh," monkey stuff, so the stuff's not -- we have to just keep our heads and keep a strong mentality.
RAHEEM STERLING, ENGLAND FORWARD: It's 2019 now. I keep saying it, and it's just a shame to see this keep going on. And it's just -- you know, we can only bring awareness to the situation and light to the situation. It's now the time for the people that are in charge to put a real stamp on it, because you know, you can fine someone, but what's that going to do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: England's young popular manager, Gareth Southgate, has also got some interesting perspective on this. Perhaps previous England managers might have glossed over an incident like this. However, not this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARETH SOUTHGATE, ENGLAND'S MANAGER: I certainly heard when Danny Rose was booked, and it's acceptable. I've spoken to our players, individually. We've got to support them.
More importantly for me is that the players in the dress room know that as a group of staff, and as an organization, we're there for them, and that's the most important thing.
We have to make sure that the education is right, for everybody in our country, the same. I've said this before. I'm not sitting here just criticizing what's happened tonight, because in our country, we have the same issue. We're not free of it.
And you can sanction clubs, but frankly, that's not going to stop one or two people who are of a mindset from doing what they want to do. So we -- we have to make sure that we educate young people, because we have a better chance with young people, and then we've got to lead that as far and as wide as we possibly can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: Well, what's happening now with all of this, UEFA has opened an investigation and charged the Montenegro Football Association on five counts, including racist behavior and crowd disturbances. The Montenegro F.A. say they will try to identify the individuals involved and ban them.
And earlier, we got the thoughts of the "Daily Mirror" newspaper's football writer, Darren Lewis, on this matter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARREN LEWIS, "DAILY MIRROR" FOOTBALL WRITER: Last week, Birmingham City was fined nine points for spending too much. It's not hard when there's money involved. It is hard when it's on the basis of someone's -- of the color of someone's skin.
We saw three men jailed for streaming football last week for a total of 17 years. It's not difficult when there's money involved. It is difficult when it's on the basis of the color of someone's skin.
I want to see point deductions. I want to see stadium closures. I want to see the kind of punitive action that we would level in other areas. I want to see that for racism. When that happens, when there comes punishment and the onus is on clubs to do better, to say to fans, "Look, it might be just one or two of you. It might be 10 or 20 of you, but you are punished for everybody else," then they'll clean up their act.
At the moment we are in a stasis. We are in a holding pattern, because clubs are not strong enough. The authority's not strong enough. We cannot lecture Montenegro when the problem here still exists, and we do so little about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: All right. Darren Lewis from "The Daily Mirror" newspaper there.
Right. Well, it certainly was a crazy night in Europe. There was a total of 12 goals in just two fixtures. We can't wait to tell you about that in just a moment's time.
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RILEY: All right, then. Back to Euro 2020 qualifying, for a moment that absolutely no one saw what we're about to tell you coming. There were not one, but two 3-3 draws on Tuesday night. We're going to start with Norway, salvaging a point against Sweden late into stoppage time in the Scandinavian derby. And that's nothing compared to the late, late, late drama between Switzerland and Denmark. With six minutes to play, the Danes were down 3-0 but staged a room miraculous comeback, all thank to goals from Mathias Jorgensen, and then Christian Gytkjaer two minutes later, and then Henrik Dalsgaard's effort made sure the points were shared, in increased time. Wowie.
Meanwhile, one of the continent's heavyweights in action on Tuesday. At the weekend, Spain made a winning start against Norway. On Tuesday, they were in action away to Malta. It was a dominant performance from Spain, but the goals were hard to come by. Alvaro Morata has been inconsistent for his club side, Atletico Madrid, so his goal here just after half an hour, well, have given him an awful lot of confidence.
And in the 73rd minute, he was at it again, doubling the advantage. Spain win and are well on their way at the top of Group F.
It's been a historic night for the Italian national team, who thrashed Liechtenstein in their Group J qualifier. Paris Saint-Germain's Marco Verratti put the Azzurri 2-0 up after just half an hour. And then points (ph) did fall on hard times, playing half the game with just 10 men.
But it was the 36-year-old Fabio Quagliarella who stole the headlines. This week he's back in the national team for the first time since 2010. And he converted two penalties, and that makes him the oldest player to score for the Italian national team.
Final score, 6-0 to the host in Parma.
Curiously, the next player to score after Quagliarella was Moise Kean. This weekend, he became the youngest player to start for Italy since 1912, and he's only 19 years old.
Well, it has been a hard week for Argentina. They were beaten by Venezuela in a friendly on Friday.
Earlier, they were in action against Morocco. Lionel Messi was injured and left out of the squad. And they didn't need him, at least if the result was the only thing that mattered.
In truth, it was a very forgettable game, but Argentina edged it by a goal to nil. It came 7 minutes from time in Tangier. Angel Correa got the winner, and he will have enjoyed it, coming off the bench to score his first international goal in some four years. One-nil, the final score there.
Meanwhile, their South American rivals Brazil were in action against the Czech Republic in Prague. And you would have thought that this would have been easy for the South Americans. The Czechs lost 5-0 against England the other day. But it was the Czechs that took a lead in this one, going 1-0 up through David Pavelka eight minutes before the interval.
Brazil aren't exactly firing on all cylinders these days. They drew against Panama over the weekend. But they got one back through Roberto -- Roberto Firmino, in fact, early in the second half. Eventually, though, they would find the winner some minutes from time. Neres gets behind and squares it to Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus for the tap in. He would add another, as well, as Brazil win this one 3-1.
And speaking of Manchester City strikers, there Jesus and Co. will be playing in the Premier League Asia trophy this summer. City won the tournament the very last time they played in it, and that was in 2013. They won't be the only EPL side to take part in this competition, which is hosted every other year. City will be joined by West Ham, Newcastle, and Wolves, as it all plays out in China this July.
The club, who are in second in the EPL right now, said in a statement that China is a very special place for City. It's where Pep Guardiola began his City tenure in 2016. We look forward to that one.
And that is it from us. Many thanks for watching, as always. Stay with CNN. The news is next.
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