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Trump Visits Border and Declares Country Is Full; White House Willing to Fight Demand for Trump Tax Returns to the Supreme Court; Space Business Struggles to Take Off amid Brexit Uncertainty; Mexico Grapples with Trump's Changing Positions; Joe Biden Jokes about Physical Contact Controversy; Final Polls Released before Tuesday's Israeli Vote; Vacationing Family Discovers Hidden Camera in Airbnb. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 06, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether it's asylum or whether it's anything you want, it's illegal immigration, we can't take you anymore.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): U.S. president Trump's stark message for migrants at the border. He says the country is full.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Also this hour, tense moments as renegade forces in Libya close in on Tripoli. We explain what's happening on the ground.
HOWELL (voice-over): And Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger undergoes successful heart surgery. The 75-year old says he's on the mend after postponing a big tour.
ALLEN (voice-over): He will be back. They always are.
Welcome, everyone. We're coming to you live from Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL (voice-over): I'm George Howell. From CNN World Headquarters, NEWSROOM starts now.
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ALLEN: And we begin with President Trump and his harsh message for those wanting to emigrate to the U.S., "Turn around, the United States is full."
Those words as the president visited the U.S. border with Mexico. While there, he toured the border wall, calling the idea of seeking asylum a hoax and said basically to stay out of the country. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our country is full, our area is full, the sector is full. Can't take anymore. Sorry, can't happen. So, turn around. That's the way it is.
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ALLEN: Despite backing down from his earlier threat to close the southern border, he repeated other threats to Mexico, like imposing economic penalties for drug smuggling, a 25 percent tariff on cars coming from Mexico. And if that doesn't stop illegal immigration within a year, closing the border.
HOWELL: Despite the tough talk on immigration, migrants still head to the U.S. southern border as they have for decades. The pace has slowed in recent years, though there has been a recent spike in the numbers.
ALLEN: And as for that wall the president keeps mentioning?
Our Nick Watt separates fact from hyperbole.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's message here in Calexico today was the country is full, you can't come in, turn around and go back to where you came from and there is an emergency on the border right now.
He said that the apprehension of families trying to cross over has gone up by 400 percent and he is right on that. He was also here to see this, which has been hailed by the Trump administration as the first completed section of President Trump's wall.
It is not quite what they say it is. This is, in fact, replacement fence that was earmarked for replacement back in 2009. The funding did come through in 2017, when President Trump was in office but it is a bit of a stretch to say this is the first part of his wall.
President Trump today said that they will have built 400 miles of wall in the next two years.
Now they have actually begun construction on President Trump's wall but over in Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. They began construction on a 13-mile stretch. Protesters here, their message is we don't want a wall and please do not close the border, which is something that President Trump has been threatening to do.
This little town, Calexico in California, really needs Mexicali, its much bigger Mexican neighbor over there, for the economy. They rely on people coming across here to shop in the stores. They say that, without the Mexican border crossing, without people coming over, this town would die.
They say, yes, we have problems in this area. But our problems are not the border; the problems are unemployment, the problems are health care and our problems are the environment.
So there were some people here to support President Trump, a few red hats sprinkled among the crowd but generally people are saying, we're two nations but one community. We don't want your wall and we don't want you to close the border.
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ALLEN: Nick Watt there.
The border battle isn't the only thing on the president's mind. The cloud of the Russia investigation still hanging over the White House, despite his claims the Mueller report exonerates him.
HOWELL: And now questions that have been on the horizon for years are coming to the forefront: demands by Democrats to see his tax returns. Our Pamela Brown has this report.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump's outside lawyers have escalated the fight over President Trump's tax returns sending a letter to the Treasury Department's general counsel saying the request from the House Ways and Means Committee chairman for the president's tax returns the past six years is a gross --
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BROWN: -- abuse of power, that this is all about politics, that the Democrats don't have a legitimate reason here and essentially that it is harassment.
The lawyers also point out that the president's taxes are under audit, something that has not been independently confirmed. But even if the taxes are under audit, they can still be released publicly.
But bottom line here, the president's lawyers are urging the Treasury Department's general counsel to reach out to the Department of Justice lawyers for consultation, to get legal advice on this because the outside lawyers, that is really all they can do at this point, is make their case.
Now Democrats on the Hill, for their part, they are also digging in their heels. They believe they are on solid legal footing, that this is all part of their oversight responsibility.
But an administration official telling my colleague, Jim Acosta, that, basically, officials, lawyers for Mr. Trump, for President Trump, are ready to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. So this appears to just be the beginning -- Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: Let's talk about these developments with Leslie Vinjamuri joining us from London. LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Thank you for having me.
ALLEN: Let's start with the president's comments at the border, saying the country is full, turn around.
Is he making gains with his tough stance on immigration?
VINJAMURI: Well, it is very interesting to see the reversal on just recently because, of course, although he is using this rhetoric and he's used it throughout his campaign and increasingly during the midterms to stoke division and to really rally his base, he hasn't had the support of senior Republican leaders, senior business leaders, especially those advising him on economic policy, who see the potentially devastating effects on the economy not only for Mexico but for the United States.
So there has been a lot of pushback and I think this is why, of course, he has walked back from that claim that he would close the border quickly.
ALLEN: Right. I was going to ask you about that. He has beat that drum for the past few weeks and all of a sudden, as we've seen, he sometimes talks tough and then backs away from taking concrete action. But he is talking about tariffs. He is trying to hurt Mexico somewhat here.
But could he also hurt American consumers?
VINJAMURI: That's right. Last year there were reportedly $500 billion worth of goods that legally crossed that border. That is a tremendously important border for trade between the United States and Mexico.
It is a very important border for workers to cross over. These are highly integrated economies. And, again, this is the reason that the president has clearly walked away because, at the end of the day, regardless of how much the anti-immigration, the anti-immigrant rhetoric has been to him politically, the strength of the economy certainly overrides that.
So I think, despite the threat now that he will consider auto tariffs against Mexico, the likelihood that he goes forward, I think that he will get a lot of pushback from people that are generally on his side.
ALLEN: Let's talk about the fact that people from Central America keep making that long trek to the U.S. border, despite the president saying there is no room here, please go back. They keep coming and there are more and more caravans.
What does that say about the issue at the border as well?
VINJAMURI: Well, why do people leave their countries?
Most people have no interest in leaving their families and leaving the places, their homes, people tend to leave because there are fewer opportunities, because they are at risk, violence, criminality.
So the response, of course, should be to invest in the region, to work for the United States to work with Mexico, to develop a robust and fair immigration system, to have strong borders.
Strong borders are clearly important. But if you go back to when the president said that he was going to cut America's foreign assistance to Central America, to those countries where a lot of the caravans are originating, that is likely to make the problem far worse. Not to invest in the region is tremendously shortsighted and with potentially devastating humanitarian consequences.
ALLEN: Yes, our sentence there says "touts new wall being built," but we do know that was the wall being repaired and that section of the wall was approved by a former administration.
But let's pivot to the other issue that we heard more about on Friday and that is his refusal to release his tax returns.
Why do you believe that he is digging in his heels on this one and willing to fight all the way to the Supreme Court?
VINJAMURI: Well, as we know, the president -- the first president in decades --
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VINJAMURI: -- not to have released his tax returns, either on the campaign trail or since he was inaugurated, is highly unusual but he has dug in his heels and now that we have the Democrats in charge of the House, with the very clear legal authority to request those tax returns, the president is not changing his position.
And the obvious and simple answer is that he doesn't want people to know what is in his tax returns. Obviously that raises a whole series of questions about what is there. And we simply don't know. But I think that the IRS is going to have to turn those tax returns over.
ALLEN: It brings more attention to the fact that he just won't renege on that situation, doesn't it. Leslie Vinjamuri, we always appreciate your insights. Thanks so much for giving us the time.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
HOWELL: Now to Libya, that nation spiraling into more chaos as a renegade general there leads an offensive toward Tripoli. The interior minister says a battle is underway on the outskirts of the city. The U.N.-backed Libyan government says Khalifa Haftar's forces took the abandoned international airport but it has since been liberated.
Libya has faced power struggles since its 2011 civil war; warring militias have prevented the government from taking control. Let's go live to London. Our Salma Abdelaziz is following the story.
Salma, a very tense sit there. Help our viewers understand what is happening right now on the ground.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Let's go through the last few days, General Khalifa Haftar, that military commander, who has very much emerged as a strongman in the country's east, he controls large parts of that country, including its very lucrative oil reserves, a few days ago in an audio message, he called on his men to march on Tripoli.
They did exactly that, launching a multifront advance. Now, the U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres was actually in Tripoli at the time to try to prepare for peace negotiations. He found himself very much caught in the middle. He scrambled to the east of the country to speak to Haftar, to try to calm tensions. Take a listen to what he said yesterday.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: I want to make a very strong appeal, an appeal for all military movements to stop, an appeal for containment, calm, de-escalation, both military and verbal deescalation.
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ABDELAZIZ: So you can hear him there calling for calm. And there has been a chorus of criticism from the U.S., from Europe, from others. But General Haftar is not absolutely slowing down on this. Again, they are on the outskirts of the city. There was an airport that they briefly had claimed to have taken control of, which now the U.N.- backed government in Tripoli seems to have.
This is all very unsettling for the people of Tripoli. Analysts will tell you that he could be just posturing, he could be grandstanding to try to get himself a bigger slice of the pie when it comes to U.N. talks or any future settlement of the country. But if it's just posturing, it is very dangerous.
HOWELL: All right. Salma, we'll continue to follow this story with you. Thank you so much.
Britain's space industry, one of the many victims of Brexit uncertainty. We'll explain the negative impacts that it's having.
ALLEN: Also ahead, falsely impersonating a missing boy could land a young man behind bars for years.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. A no-deal Brexit now seems more likely than ever. Less than a week remains to work out a solution and cross-party talks appear to be going, you know it, nowhere. British prime minister Theresa May is again trying to buy more time.
HOWELL: And it may be her only option to avoid crashing out come April 12th. She has asked the European Council to give her until the end of June to get an agreement through Parliament but already there is resistance among E.U. members.
The council is set to meet Wednesday. All the uncertainty is taking a toll on British businesses, whether hiring new people or attracting new business. Brexit has become quite an obstacle.
ALLEN: One case in point, a small startup in Britain's space industry. CNN's Nina dos Santos has that story.
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MICHAEL LOWETH, OXFORD SPACE SYSTEMS: OK, we got the beam and the (INAUDIBLE) of the structure.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Sixty miles from Westminster, some of the world's top engineers are trying to solve a problem. Their aim: to build something flexible, durable and able to function in a hostile environment. Like Brexit, it is a delicate balancing act.
LOWETH: Everybody (INAUDIBLE) their racing cars (ph) that solid component but what we've done here is how to make that something that we could actually deploy and flex without it shattering.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Brexit may not be rocket science, say voters disappointed at passing at happened (ph), but it could have an impact on the U.K.'s burgeoning space sector, populated by small businesses developing unique technologies.
Oxford Space Systems makes high-tech equipment for satellite, its products are so innovative they have been showcased at the British prime minister and unveiled by members of the royal family. Since launching in 2013 with just three employees, the firm now has 47 staff and $26 million in private and public sector funding.
LOWETH: Here you see (INAUDIBLE) antenna.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): But the signal potential hires are picking up from politicians is not favorable and that is a risk for an enterprise that is expanding.
LOWETH: Brexit is becoming --
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LOWETH: -- a little bit of a challenge. In Europe, people don't know whether they can come to the U.K. It is so much uncertainty that we've even had to turn down jobs to come here.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The firm is one of 89 space startups based in a technology park on the outskirts of Oxford. Businesses familiar with sending their wares into the unknown but with the U.K. set to leave the E.U.'s Galileo satellite navigation system, there are concerns that some parts of the space industry may have to relocate.
LOWETH: We did have some business in Europe and some of that European business is around some of these satellite programs like our own global positioning network. And the U.K. has now found out that we're not going to be able to get involved in that like we used to. And that runs the risk of us losing some of the expertise.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): With Brexit once again coming down to the wire, space companies like others up and down the country are hoping for clarity soon so at least, in terms of their future, they aren't left operating in the dark -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, Oxford.
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ALLEN: Nina, thank you.
Ecuador is denying reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is about to be expelled from that nation's embassy in London.
ALLEN: On Friday Ecuador's foreign ministry called the report falsehoods meant to insult Ecuador. The reports started after Ecuador's president said Assange repeatedly violated an asylum agreement they had.
HOWELL: Assange has been holed up in the embassy there for almost seven years. He is trying to avoid extradition to the United States, where prosecutors are investigating his organization.
Saudi Arabia has launched a new crackdown on dissent. Sources tell CNN the kingdom has detained seven activists, including two U.S. citizens. It is the first sweep of its kind since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year. Our Michelle Kosinski has this.
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MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: If you thought the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials, would keep the crown prince on his best behavior for a while, it didn't last long.
Now, the kingdom has rounded up a group of activists, including two American citizens. Journalist Salah al-Haidar, physician Badar al- Ibrahim. Seven people in total --
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KOSINSKI: -- according to CNN sources, under arrest, all writers and bloggers interested in social reforms and women's rights in this latest Saudi crackdown.
MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Don't give up, don't despair. We will not. KOSINSKI: Just this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to family members of American hostages, like journalist Austin Tice in Syria and those who have lost loved ones like Otto Warmbier in North Korea.
POMPEO: I want you all to know, I'm not here today to instill in you any false hope. Sometimes our best simply is not enough.
KOSINSKI: The Trump administration has made some energetic efforts to bring Americans home. More than a dozen in the last two years. And some tough cases. Finally freed from North Korea, Venezuela, Egypt. The Coleman family from Pakistan, Pastor Brunson from Turkey. The president clearly revels in these successes.
Yet, still, many nations remain undeterred to arrest more Americans, both friends and foes. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, China, Iran. Not long after Trump publicly said the arrest of a Chinese telecoms executive on U.S. charges might help in trade talks with China, as if this was politically motivated, CNN learned there are now multiple American residents believed held in China's vast internment camps.
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Because Trump is showing disdain and disrespect for the rule of law, that there's not going to be any repercussions if they do the same.
KOSINSKI: Some analysts say, the administration has been inconsistent.
KIRBY: The administration, while doing well in some areas, has not done well in others. And therefore, has a mixed reputation.
KOSINSKI: For example, not yet opening a hostage-only communications channel with Iran. A former administration official, says the U.S. has been insisting that the, at least, five Americans held there need to be released before there can be a discussion of anything else.
A stance some experts feel won't work. And Trump's refusals to hold North Korea's Kim Jong-un responsible for Otto Warmbier's death.
TRUMP: He tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word.
KOSINSKI: And the crown prince not knowing about Jamal Khashoggi sends a message on how brutal things can be explained away to those at the top. As for Americans detained around the world, it's always tough to know exactly how many there are. Some are never made public. Some are held for a short amount of time.
But top experts tell us that the best estimates they go by are that currently 3,000 Americans are held globally. And about 100 of them are considered hostages -- Michelle Kosinski, CNN --
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KOSINSKI: -- the State Department.
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ALLEN: Now we turn to the bizarre story of a young man pretending to be a boy who disappeared almost eight years ago at the age of 6.
HOWELL: Authorities are trying to figure out why he came up with the hoax. Athena Jones has this story.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Brian Michael Rini, the man who pretended to be 14-year-old Timmothy Pitzen is facing a federal charge of facing false statements to feral agents and could be facing eight years in prison. An affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint says he repeatedly claimed to be Pitzen.
The Newport, Kentucky police chief telling CNN when officers encountered Rini, he was clean shaven, acting like child-like and speaking in a childish voice. The 23-year-old Rini who also told investigators he was a child sex trafficking victim complained of abdominal pain and was examined by doctors at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. And he was also interviewed by a forensic psychologist.
Rini refused to be fingerprinted and was only properly identified after he agreed to submit to DNA testing. When confronted with his true identity, Rini admitted that he was not Pitzen and said he had seen a story about the boy on a TV program. He said he wanted to get away from his family, allegedly stating, quote, he wished he had a father like Timmothy's.
The affidavit says Rini has a history of falsely portraying himself as a juvenile sex trafficking victim.
BENJAMIN GLASSMAN, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO: Rini had actually on two prior occasions claimed to be a victim of juvenile sex trafficking.
JONES: On both cases, he was only identified after being fingerprinted. Rini also has a history of run-ins with the law. Last year, he was sentenced to a year and a half on burglary and vandalism charges and he was just released from prison on March 7th.
Rini's brother Jonathon saying he hasn't seen or spoken to his brother in years. He used expletives to describe him and said Brian even impersonated him when he was stopped for a traffic violation two years ago.
Jonathon telling CNN affiliate WEWS --
JONATHON RINI, SUSPECT'S BROTHER: He's been doing stupid stuff not this serious, but he's been doing stupid stuff for as long as I can remember. I tell the family that I'm sorry for what he's done. But for him, I wouldn't even speak to him. I'd tell him he is going down a dark road.
JONES: When Rini showed up on this Kentucky street Wednesday morning claiming to be Pitzen, missing since 2011, Pitzen's family was hopeful it was really Timmothy.
ALANA ANDERSON, GRANDMOTHER: Cautiously hopeful. And as it turns out to be him, we'll be thrilled.
JONES: Those hopes soon dashed. Pitzen's aunt telling reporters it was like reliving the disappearance all over again.
KARA JACOBS, TIMMOTHY'S AUNT: Unfortunately, this child is not our beloved Timmothy. We know that you are out there somewhere, Tim. And we will never stop looking for you, praying for you and loving you.
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ALLEN: What a terrible thing to put that family through again.
Threats of border closures to threats of tariffs, we'll get Mexico's perspective on President Trump's ever-changing positions -- ahead here.
HOWELL: Plus the former U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, is apologizing for his behavior, kind of. What the former vice president says he is sorry for and where he is doubling down.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you.
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ALLEN: Businesses in Mexico and the country's government are still trying to figure out what President Trump's ever-changing positions and threats of tariffs and border closures mean for them.
HOWELL: Mexico is, after all, the United States' third biggest trading partner. Our Paula Newton has part of the story from Mexico City.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Mexico, of course, they are relieved that the border won't be closed today but they are taking Donald Trump's threats seriously and, of course, that includes slapping that 25 percent tariff on automobiles.
Now Trump was very clear, the president saying that, look, he thought Mexico had been doing a better job in the last few days. We understand from officials here that they have been in very close collaboration with the Trump administration over the last few days.
But they are not saying that, in fact, they changed their policy here at all, only that they are highlighting what they are doing in terms of apprehensions of those Central American migrants at the southern border.
Listen now to the president of Mexico as he tries to calm down the situation. Take a listen.
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ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translator): The only thing that I can say is that we have a good relationship. There are no confrontations with the U.S. government. We are financially stable. This is what the data shows.
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NEWTON: Mexico will be grappling with this for months to come, even if they have a year. And the reason is, as one Mexican commentator put it, the president has basically shot a missile into the USMCA, the free trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
And this government here in Mexico, a very new government, will be trying to make sure that what they call their more humanitarian approach to immigration will work but also will not undermine their own economy -- Paula Newton, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Paula, thank you.
Earlier Mr. Trump weighed in on another issue making headlines, the recent allegations that the former Vice President Joe Biden invaded women's personal space.
ALLEN: The president, who has been accused of misconduct himself, says he is the right person to criticize the former vice president.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What exactly is offensive about Joe Biden's behavior and are you the right messenger for that?
TRUMP: Yes, I think I'm a very good messenger. And people got a kick out of it.
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TRUMP: He is going through a situation. Let's see what happens. But people got a kick. We got to sort of smile a little bit, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Mr. Biden now says that he is sorry he didn't understand more about how his behavior made others feel.
HOWELL: His comments came during his first public appearance since he was accused of invading personal space but as CNN's Arlette Saenz reports, the former vice president also made light of the allegations.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, a partial apology from Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sorry I didn't understand. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions. I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I never have been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman.
SAENZ: The former Vice President still grappling with how to respond to claims he made women feel uncomfortable in their interactions and acknowledging more people could come forward.
BIDEN: I wouldn't be surprised. But I've had hundreds and hundreds of people contact me and -- who I don't know and, you know, say the exact opposite.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden.
SAENZ: As he took the stage at his first public appearance since the allegations, Biden gave out a hug and made this joke.
BIDEN: I had permission to hug Lonnie.
SAENZ: And then did it a second time after calling a group of children up to the stage.
BIDEN: By the way, he gave me permission to touch them.
SAENZ: Shortly after, Biden scrambled into cleanup mode, telling reporters he wasn't making light of people's feelings.
BIDEN: I hope it wasn't taken that way.
SAENZ: Biden appearing to inch closer to that 2020 bid, hinting it's not a matter of if but when.
BIDEN: I'm told by the lawyers that I've got to be careful what I say so that I don't start a clock ticking and change my status.
Everybody else today, then I get a shot and then off to the races.
SAENZ: With a large and historically diverse field of candidates taking shape, Biden shared how he would brand himself.
BIDEN: I'm an Obama-Biden democrat, man. And I'm proud of it.
SAENZ: Biden has already drawn the attention of President Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: No, I don't see Joe Biden as a threat, no. I don't see him as a threat. I think he's only a threat to himself.
SAENZ: He is hitting back.
BIDEN: He hasn't had time to do his job. But, look, it's -- everybody knows who Donald Trump is.
SAENZ: With his White House run just around the corner, Biden says, these allegations make it clear something has to be different.
BIDEN: I think it's going to have to change some of how I campaign. It's not a bad thing. It's a new thing. It's important.
SAENZ: And Lucy Flores, the first woman who alleged Biden made her feel uncomfortable, tweeted out a statement in response to Biden's comments saying it's clear he hasn't reflected enough. We'll see if Biden offers any other responses as he gets closer to that 2020 run. The former vice president told me he'll be announcing his decision very soon -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: That is the 2020 election. Let's look at one here in 2019. Israel's election is right around the corner. And the prime minister is trying to cling to his party's seats as he faces corruption scandals. That is coming up next.
Also:
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Damage is a risk of turning a property into a business and it certainly doesn't negate the responsibility to firstly let people know that they are being surveiled. It doesn't negate his responsibility to firstly let people know that they are being surveilled.
HOWELL (voice-over): The shock of finding a hidden camera transmitting a live video signal at a vacation rental, imagine that.
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HOWELL: Israel is holding a national election on Tuesday and the final surveys before the critical vote are now out. You can see the range of numbers, from the very different polls here, showing the prime minister of the nation. Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival, Benny Gantz, has a slight edge.
ALLEN: His Blue and White party is projected to win more seats than the prime minister's Likud Party but here is the catch. As usual, Israel's next leader will likely have to form a coalition and Mr. Netanyahu has the upper hand there.
Let's talk more about it with Oren Liebermann, joining from us Jerusalem.
What are the issues dominating this election?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The biggest issues haven't really changed in terms of what voters are looking at and that is security, which is always an issue, especially in the Middle East, and the economy itself.
Israel has a very high cost of living and that always weighs on voters' minds. The biggest issue perhaps is Netanyahu as well. He has made himself the center of the campaign partially because of the investigations he faces, the corruption probes against him and his attacks on those corruption probes and an attempt to delegitimize that. And it has put that issue on the agenda.
But as you point out, it is not simply a function of who has the biggest party here. If it is, at least according to the latest polls, this would be the election of Netanyahu's rival, former chief of staff, Benny Gantz.
Instead it is who can form a coalition and who can woo the potential kingmaker. Well, this potential kingmaker might be the surprise story of the election. The Zehut Party, which means Identity, came out of nowhere a couple of months ago and may decide the next prime minister.
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LIEBERMANN (voice-over): This is what Israel's anti-establishment vote looks like, a diverse mix of young pot-smoking renegades and older religious voters. The followers of the Zehut Party, led by Moshe Feiglin, are the surprise story of the 2019 elections and they have one big demand: legalizing marijuana. They see weed as the tip of a libertarian platform.
But beyond the bong is a very different agenda. Moshe Feiglin entered politics as a religion Zionist firebrand. He has called for building a third Jewish temple on Temple Mount, a site holy to Jews and Muslims, where even a slight change to the status quo can spark tensions.
He says Palestinians and non-Jews should have a choice, declare allegiance to Israel or the country will help you leave.
LIEBERMANN: There are plenty of Palestinians, either in Gaza or in the West Bank, who don't want to declare loyalty and don't want to leave.
MOSHE FEIGLIN, ZEHUT PARTY LEADER: So now you are touching a different point, a different point of justice, who the land belongs to. And we know from history, from the basic history of Israel, that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. LIEBERMANN: And what do you plan do with those who don't declare allegiance?
FEIGLIN: They will have to decide.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Feiglin is unafraid to lecture those who don't share his world view or his interpretation of history.
FEIGLIN: It is not a question of security. It is a question of justice, who the land of Israel belongs to.
(CROSSTALK)
LIEBERMANN: No one in the international community has accepted Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank --
FEIGLIN: That is nonsense. That is nonsense.
LIEBERMANN: That is a statement of fact. No one in the international community has accepted Israeli --
[04:45:00]
LIEBERMANN: -- sovereignty in the West Bank.
FEIGLIN: I'm telling you again, that is nonsense. You should go back to your history lessons.
LIEBERMANN: The party's platforms spans the political spectrum. On the right, they favor a one-state solution, a Jewish Israel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, including the Palestinian territories.
On the left they advocate a separation of religion and state. Those different positions could make them equally unpalatable to either of the two biggest political parties.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Barely a blip on the political radar two months ago, Zehut has forced itself into the political conversation and now are polling around five or six seats and they could decide the next prime minister.
LIEBERMANN: Gantz or Netanyahu?
FEIGLIN: Whoever will give us more, that is where we'll go.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Feiglin seems to relish the role but, for now, he is focused on Election Day and making sure that his upstart campaign doesn't go up in smoke.
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LIEBERMANN: Having watched this election transform and move from the very beginning, I'll tell you, that I wouldn't be surprised if the Zehut Party has zero seats or 10 seats. Our next actual view of where everyone stands will be exit polls Tuesday at 10:00 pm local time. ALLEN: We'll wait to hear from you then. Thanks, Oren.
HOWELL: Three weeks after a cyclone slammed into Southern Africa, the situation is all the more dire.
ALLEN: At least 843 storm-related deaths have been reported from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. USAID says nearly 2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique alone and the cholera outbreak is spreading rapidly. CNN's anchor Becky Anderson traveled to Mozambique after the storm to show us the devastation.
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[04:50:00]
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: When cyclone Idai made land on March the 14th, it was the coastal city of Beira which took the brunt of the
storm and the flooding that followed has decimated huge tracts of land in Mozambique, in Zimbabwe and in Malawi.
When we arrived 11-12 days after the cyclone, it was only becoming clear just how destructive this storm had been. The water levels have dropped so quickly now, that this is actually becoming a much more dangerous trip.
You could see just tracts of muddy, brown water. It's one of the most impoverished areas in the world.
How were these hundreds of thousands of people across these areas going to cope?
They don't contribute anything like the developed world to issues of climate change. And yet they bear the brunt of it.
The water, is upwards of eight meters high. So water would have been well up towards the top of these trees.
WFP has set up a distribution center. This was in a village which was on higher ground. When we arrived, there were thousands of people, from small children to grandmothers and grandfathers, who were desperate. They were absorbing people from outlying areas who had lost everything.
Now in this village, the school had gone, houses were wrecked. They had very little food and they needed water.
(INAUDIBLE).
We were shown by one old lady the crop that had survived the cyclone, which was a lonely piece of corn. That was it.
How was she going to feed her family?
If we are to believe the climate change scientists, it is likely that areas like Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe will see more extreme weather events going forward, not fewer.
These communities need help to become more resilient. There are people who get very little help on a regular basis, as long as they have survived this initial phase of cyclone Idai, they will survive. You can see that in their eyes. They need an awful lot of help.
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ALLEN: If you would like to do something to help the victims of this massive cyclone and its impact, CNN's "Impact Your World" has the details you need. You will find a full list of organizations working to help those affected at cnn.com/impact.
We'll be right back.
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HOWELL: A family from New Zealand is describing the shocking feeling they had when they discovered a hidden camera in the Airbnb vacation home that they were renting.
ALLEN: It happened just after the Barker family, there you see them, checked into their rental in Cork, Ireland. When the high-tech savvy dad scanned for a wi-fi signal, he found a camera actually livestreaming video from the living room. CNN's Isa Soares asked the mom what she thought about it.
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NEALIE BARKER, AIRBNB TOURIST: It was one of those sort of adrenaline rush moments, he looked at me across the table and then I could see him -- I could see that he had seen something shocking on his mobile phone. (INAUDIBLE) and I peered over to have a look and I saw essentially myself looking at his mobile phone at the kitchen table. So it was such a shock.
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And for your children -- we're looking at a photo there of the family.
How did they take to it?
BARKER: Different reactions. They're --
(CROSSTALK)
BARKER: -- ages but it's safe to say that a couple of them were actually really worried and afraid. The particular house had quite a sophisticated IT system and he could also exit the front door remotely and open it and I guess the worst-case scenario sort of things --
[04:55:00]
BARKER: -- went straight to their minds and they were quite worried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Wow. Airbnb permanently banned the rental's host. But the family says the company took the action only after the public was alerted on Facebook and by the media.
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HOWELL (voice-over): Mick Jagger may be in full swing on stage again soon.
ALLEN (voice-over): The Rolling Stones legend says he is feeling much better now that he's had surgery. The operation forced the band to postpone a big tour. More about it from CNN's Polo Sandoval.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A representative for the Rolling Stones frontman confirms that Mick Jagger is, quote, "doing very well" and is expected to make a full recovery.
On Thursday, the 75-year old underwent heart surgery; this coming after a source close to the band told CNN that Jagger would be treated to replace a valve in his heart. A representative for the performer, however, declining to elaborate more. The recovering Jagger, however, taking to Twitter on Friday with a message of appreciation for not just his fans but also his medical staff, tweeting, quote, "Thank you, everyone, for your messages of support."
He write, "I'm feeling much better now and on the mend. And also a huge thank you to all the hospital staff for doing a superb job."
A reminder about a week ago Jagger also took to Twitter, apologizing, saying that he was devastated having to announce that he would have to push back his scheduled tour to parts of North America and Canada.
Jagger said, however, that he will work as hard as he can to get back on stage as soon as possible.
Now based on what we are hearing from his representatives, he said devastation could be short-lived, as he could be rocking on the stage again very soon -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: We bet he better.
The day's top stories are just ahead. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell. Be right back.
