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Indian Elections Underway; South Korean President to Meet with Trump in Washington; Blizzard Conditions Strike U.S. Midwest. Aired 12p-1a ET

Aired April 11, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Is a Brexit delayed, a Brexit denied? The E.U. pushes the exit deadline to October 31, yes Halloween. Giving British law makers six months and 20 days to hold endless, non-binding votes in Parliament.

Spy game (ph) is back, U.S. Attorney General breathes new life in to the once debunked conspiracy theory that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign. And William Barr admits he has no evidence at all to back up his claim.

And in Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu on track for a place in history, a record fifth term as Prime Minister and the country's longest serving leader.

Hello, welcome to our viewers all around the world -- great to have you with us, I'm John Vause, and you're watching CNN Newsroom.

British law makers have another six months to do what they could not do in three years, agree on a withdraw deal for leaving the E.U. It's neither hither nor thither. Not the long extension the E.U. Leader Donald Tusk had suggested, nor is it the short delay the British Prime Minister wanted.

And staying in the European Union for another six months is likely to enrage hard-line (ph) Brexiteers who fear a Brexit delay could ultimately become Brexit denied. But for the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and many others -- the time has come to end this Brexit obsession.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCHER, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: I do rather regret the fact that we only talk about Brexit. I read the British- European (ph) press this morning, Brexit -- Brexit -- Brexit.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Melissa Bell live this hour for us, in Brussels. Brexit -- Brexit -- Brexit. I think we can all feel Juncker's pain at this point. But at least the way this extension has been structured, if by some miracle in the extremely unlikely event that the British Parliament agrees to an exit deal any time between now and then, they can bail.

Europe can say, "good riddance -- goodbye, nice knowing you. See you later." So what are the specific deals here of this extension? How will it work?

MELISSA BELL, CORRESPONDENT: That's right John, it was very -- a long decision to come to, the negotiations went on for six hours. In fact, the press conference that you've just been hearing from the various leaders of the E.U. really only took place in the last two or three hours. That is how long the negotiation went.

It was complicated because the positions were quite different on one hand, Angela Merkel protecting German interests really, and Germany has really a lot to lose in the case of a no deal (ph) Brexit, economically.

Potentially France really defending the interests of the E.U. and I hear Macron has made it clear from the start that it is the future of the E.U. that he was safeguarding and that he was looking after.

So different positions, in the end (ph) that compromises -- Donald just said look, "this is an extension that was as flexible as I've foreseen -- simply shorter than what I imagined." And you were right, crucially what it allows is for Britain to get its act together -- for Britain to decide to get out.

Even before taking part of the European elections, and think the calculation here is that especially for Brexiteers, for whom the idea of taking part in these European elections or staying within the E.U. any longer than is strictly necessary is not a good idea. So this will help focus their (ph) minds.

They do have the possibility at Westminster if they manage to find some kind of consensus around that idea of leaving before May 23, when the European election campaign begins.

Otherwise they will have to take part in the E.U. elections and that might just help focus their minds, and help them gather around to Theresa May's deal -- if not, all that'll happen is that they will have until the 31st of October, Halloween, to come up with a decision -- with this review process in June.

Now Emmanuel Macron managed to get the extension shortened from the December or March that had been proposed, or that had seen (ph) on the table when the negotiations began, John. John, but what he didn't do was really get too many conditions in terms of how Britain could be behave during that extension period.

There had been talk that he would seek to get them stripped of some of their rights, stripped perhaps even of a Commissioner. That in the end was set aside, but there is this review process in June -- and that allows the E.U. leaders to see how Britain has been behaving, whether it is on track to carry on staying within the spirit of the deal that was struck overnight, and therefore staying in the E.U. until the 31st of October. And the finding of some kind of solution. Clearly now though, the ball is in Westminster's camp and it'll be

interesting to see how the Brexiteers take this extension, how they feel about staying in the E.U., and whether it simply pushes them to try and get Theresa May out of office and take control themselves. Or on the contrary to allow some kind of compromise to emerge over the next couple of weeks.

But clearly time is ticking. That delay -- that date by which so many of the Brexiteers want to get out of the E.U. to avoid those European elections -- very closely there's only the 22nd of May. John.

[00:05:00]

VAUSE: I'm -- I'm guessing they won't take it well. That's just a guess. Melissa, thank you. Good to see you. Well, to make sense of the senseless, to bring clarity to confusion; CNN's European affairs commentator and resident Brexpert (ph), Dominic Thomas joins us now from Geneva.

OK. So there is a bizarre twist here that the new deadline to end the horror of the Brexit show is also Halloween. And when the European leader, Donald Tusk announced this new date, he also had a plea to British lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TUSK: Let me finish with a message to our British friend. This extension is as flexible as I expected and it's a little bit shorter than I expect but it's still enough to find the best possible solution. Please do not waste this time.

(END VIDEO)

VAUSE: But he also heard from the EUs chief negotiator who made a point in the tweet saying, "one this is important: any extension must be useful and serve a purpose." OK. So here's the question, can the U.K. government do in six months and 20 days what it has failed to do in three years?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, John, I think it's going to be extraordinarily difficult. The statement that was released at almost 1 AM local time by the EU 27, made multiple references in the nine points that were included in there to the withdraw agreement.

This is an extension for Theresa May to try and get a vote on the withdraw agreement. There is no way in which the European Union will enter into post negotiations about the future relationship.

So they've got to find a way to get this through and they have to find a way if anything to some kind of compromise that would allow for some opening into the political declaration that ultimate this is deal and this has always been a deal but it tends to try and build consensus across the parties that ultimately ends up dissatisfying most people that are sitting in the houses of parliament. If you are a far right Brexitier (ph), there is nothing there that is going to satisfy you and if you wish to remain in the European Union, the same thing is the case. So we're back to square one invariably with these two political parties that are ultimately more concerned about the potential for a general election than generally reaching some kind of consensus.

And what was so important in those nine points and indicative that came from the European Union as they never said that they would not consider a further extension and I think that without that actually being there in an explicit way, there was very little to bring these different camps together and to stop them from not continuing to fight for something they deeply believe in.

VAUSE: Yes. You know (ph) in the meantime on another planet, Theresa May is still holding out hope for a parliamentary agreement on a withdraw deal as soon as maybe next month and that means avoiding participation in the European Parliamentary elections. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I continue to believe we need to leave the EU with a deal as soon as possible. And vitally the EU have agreed that the extension can be terminated when the withdraw agreement has been ratified, which is my key request of my fellow leaders.

For example this means that if we're able to pass the deal in the first three weeks of May, we will not have to take part in European elections and will officially leave the EU on Saturday, the first of June.

(END VIDEO)

VAUSE: OK. If Theresa May and the British Parliament continues to solve this problem, especially deadlock (ph) the same way they've been doing for the past three years and that is to say they don't hold a second referendum or a general election in the coming months, is it a safe bet we'll all be back here the week of October 31st doing exactly the same thing?

THOMAS: I think that you can safely set your ticket, John, and watch it go down all the way to the -- to the deadline again. If anything, this time around she's said if the withdraw agreement does not make its way through, she would be willing to consider an alternative mechanism, something along the lines of the indicative votes that the government would respect and consider binding.

But that's a big, big, big step for the prime minister to actually genuinely commit to. And as we've watched over the past few weeks, none of those indicative votes have really yielded anything except an absolute -- a lack of appetite for a no deal.

VAUSE: You know we heard before the Summit is that, you know, Germany's Angela Merkel was talking about being flexible while France's president Emmanuel Macron was leading a group of member states (ph), which wanted to take a much harder line with the U.K. Listen to Macron speaking before the Summit began.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

EMMANUEL MACRO, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): As far as I'm concerned, nothing is a given. Nothing. Particularly listening to the rumors, not a long extension. Today we have to understand why this request is being made. What political plan justifies it and what are the clear proposals.

(END VIDEO)

VAUSE: So October 31st is being described as compromise. A kind of ugly midpoint between Merkel and Macron. It's to heal a rift between those two countries because it's sort of the worst of both worlds. Not enough time for any kind of political movement and it just takes the pressure off the British Parliament.

[00:10:00] THOMAS: Yes. And it's the -- it's the ultimate definition of a -- of a compromise. It's neither short version that either Macron or Theresa May was -- was pushing for nor the much longer version that Donald Tusk had advocated.

It's actually split right down the middle and takes us all the way to October to be able to see whether or not once and for all and this parliament has an opportunity to -- to come up with some kind of compromise.

The most likely outcome I keep coming back to during this period is the question of trying to get a general election. The conservative party lost that option in tabling a vote of no confidence. That's Jeremy Corbyn's ultimate goal and that of the rest of the opposition is to have a general election.

VAUSE: Yes, the emergency Brexit Summit we just saw, it was at least the 18th time (inaudible) have come together to talk about Brexit and clearly they've had enough. They just want Britain to get out. Just go, leave, and do not come back.

THOMAS: Does the person (ph) -- the thing that was so interesting about the Macron and the Merkel position is to really look at the two different places from which they come from. I think ultimately they agree that -- that the Brexit situation is almost irreconcilable.

This is a real deep -- deep seated political problem in the United Kingdom, they just have different ways of looking as to how compromise can come around. And I think the Angela Merkel position is quite interesting here.

Every Germany politician knows that compromise and coalition building is the path forward. This is what they have all had to do in the history of this country. And we saw Merkel do this recently. We saw Merkel even step down as the head of the CDU party in order to allow for -- for transition and for the coalition talks to -- to finally conclude. But Macron comes from a very different position. A position and a system in which the French presidency has given full authority to him. And so as they look at these particular questions and so on, you see these coming through.

But I think that ultimately what Theresa May is being asked to do is to behave much more like a main sort of land European politician and try and engage in coalition talks ultimately but this is an adversarial system in which they're not accustomed to doing this and there are not only differences across parties but as we know, major differences between the labor party within the labor party and the conservative party on these questions.

VAUSE: Dominic, we're out of time. We'll leave it there. Thank you. Good to see you.

THOMAS: Thanks John.

VAUSE: For those who make it a point of avoiding conservative media, Spygate probably doesn't mean a whole lot. But for many on the right and beyond it's a major conspiracy theory, which has run wild since the 2016 U.S. election.

At the very center is President Donald Trump, victim of Clinton friendly operatives within the intelligence community who illegally spied on his campaign. And when that all failed, they fabricated the Russian collusion hoax as a cover up to hide their attempted coo. Here's Donald Trump on FOX News just a few days ago.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We can never let this happen again in our country or to another president. I'm not talking about me; I'm talking into the future. We can never allow this treasonous -- these treasonous acts to happen to another president.

This was an attempted takeover of our government, of our country. And illegal takeover. And if it were the other way around where I was doing it to President Obama or a democrat, it would be virtually the maximum sentence that you can find no matter where you look in whatever legal book.

(END AUDIO)

VAUSE: Spygate has totally gone sensical (ph). A paranoid delusion, which has been investigated and debunked. But on FOX News, they often call it the lead story.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: This is Watergate on steroids. Remember the Nixon scandal, it was about a third rate burglary. This is a deep state political hit job now spying on an opposition party campaign, FBI spies, during an election and it gets worse.

The deep state isn't even trying to hide it and what they did, they're now bragging about it. The former Obama director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, is actually saying spying on the Trump campaign was a good thing. Has he ever heard of the Constitution.

(END VIDEO)

VAUSE: And on Wednesday during a Senate Appropriations hearing, the man Donald Trump picked to be attorney general gave Spygate its most credible and authorative (ph endorsement yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JEANNE SHAHEEN, U.S. SENATOR (D-NH): So you're not -- you're not suggesting though that spying occurred?

WILLIAM BARR, U.S ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't -- well, I guess you could -- I think -- there's spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur.

SHAHEEN: Well, let me ...

BARR: But the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated. And I'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated but I'd need to explore that. I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I'm saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it. That's all.

(END VIDEO)

[00:15:00]

VAUSE: For more joining us now from Los Angeles, CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, words matter, and when you're the attorney general of the United States, words really matter. It's seems hard to draw any other conclusion than William Barr knew exactly what he was saying, and more importantly, he knew who would be listening.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely, look, I think very quickly, William Barr has established himself as the most partisan attorney general, and certainly the attorney general who most sees his client as president rather than the country and constitution since John Mitchell in Watergate. I think he has -- he has instantly kind of moved himself -- not only through this, but through the initial handling of the -- of the Mueller report.

And -- and what you have is something essentially moving from Sean Hannity monologues to the mouth of the top launch enforcement official in the United States, I think this just a very ominous moment that kind of gives you a sense of where we are headed over now between now the November 2020 election.

VAUSE: You know what we saw there in that sound bite, we saw Barr throwing this out there and then sort walking it back. He did this...

BROWNSTEIN: Well, the hearing... VAUSE: I want you to just listen to this. Because here he is, talking about -- you know, do you have any evidence of this? Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED: Have you any evidence that there was anything improper in those investigations?

BARR: I have no specific evidence that I would say right now. I do have questions about it.

REED: So this panel you're putting together...

BARR: I'm not putting together a panel.

REED: So you -- you -- you just have some interest in this, you don't have any evidence?

BARR: I have concerns about various aspects of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know admit evidence (ph) he's going to find the evidence. He's not investigating, but he is putting together a panel but he's not. You know, he later said that you know, that he has no evidence that it happened at all. So this is sort of exactly kind of enough out there to get the spy gate aspect into the headlines. But the part about having no evidence actually ever makes it.

BROWNSTEIN: Right, well look, I mean, and it really isn't designed necessarily to, as we've talked about before, as many things in the Trump administration, it's not necessarily designed to convince voters who are not already in the Trump camp. I mean, this is really designed -- this is just gasoline on the fire that they're constantly trying to stoke among their -- among their

You know, Donald Trump has followed, kind of the twin terrors of conservative populism since World War II. It has always been a kind of the virtuous quote, "real Americans are under siege from forces above and below." And in his case, its one combination of coastal elites who distain you, the deep state that is trying to mute your political impact by going after me.

And then these kind of threats that he portrays from immigrants and from black NFL players who protested the national anthem and so forth. That kind of twin threat on people in the middle is Donald Trump's argument every day and that he is the only one that can protect them. And you see William Barr today rather incredibly kind of enlisting in that crusade.

VAUSE: And here's an example of how his words are already being politicized. It comes in a tweet from the chair of the Republican Party. She refers to the FISA process which is the legal proceedings used to get a warrant for domestic surveillance. She tweeted Attorney General Barr said that he's investigating the abusive FISA process -- he said he's not investigating --that helped launched these baseless investigations into Donald Trump -- they weren't baseless.

This is a great step forward in figuring out how the Obama administration and Comey's FBI abused FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign. And from this point, it doesn't even matter if there is any follow up on the attorney general, it's out there now. And that tweet from the chair of the Republicans, it's just so wrong on every level.

BROWNSTEIN: Well look, we have been patting ourselves on the back in the United States around the idea that our institutions have withstood the challenge from Donald Trump and his instincts to shatter both the norms and in some cases, the legal restraints on the ability of the president to unilaterally exercise presidential power. I think that is very premature, and whether it's through the incredible number of acting officials.

[00:20:00] To the comments that are on Jake Tapper Report the other day about him telling border patrol agents to ignore the law to what we are seeing from the attorney general, and the fights that we are headed toward over congressional oversight, really with the administration resisting on essentially every front.

We -- this is going to get rockier, and I think you know, in part because so much, as I said, of the political strategy of the administration is to convincing their voters that they are under siege; that they are under siege from forces coming to get them, whether it's at the border or at the upper reaches of the FBI, and that I alone can fix it, I am the human wall who can hold back all the forces that are out to get you. You need to create these kinds of confrontations; you need to create these kinds of conspiracies so that you can be fighting against them.

VAUSE: Very quickly, Ron, I want to pick up on that point you made about the institutions and the norms in this country. Because there's an interview in the Washington Post by chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff. He talks about the bigger picture here. The post-Watergate reforms are being dismantled, one by one. The Trump precedent after only two years is that you can fire the FBI director who's running an investigation in which you may be implied as president, you can hire and attorney general who has applied for the job by telling you why he thinks case against you is bogus.

That new attorney general can then selectively edit the work of an independent or a special prosecutor and allow the Congress and the public to see only parts of it. And that new attorney general can also initiate inquiries into the president's political opponents. I mean, do you see Schiff as sort of getting this correct, the way he sees it? What are the options here if he is right for Democrats for the next two years, if (ph) anything before getting to impeachment?

BROWNSTEIN: I think he is right. And there is one more step that he didn't say, that you can do all of those things and your political party will bite its lip or actively defend you in the case of Lindsey Graham and Nunes and others, as long as you meet their demands on the rest of the agenda; cutting taxes, cutting regulation, appointing conservative justices. I mean, what we are seeing is that all of our -- all -- all of the protections that we thought kind of limited the ability of any single individual, including a president to shred our constitutional norms, are flimsier than we thought.

They all relied, they all depend upon a concerted congressional, I think, effort to uphold those norms. And you know, the courts in some ways are imposing restraints, but it's not clear how far they will go. Ultimately many of these questions are going to come down to what John Roberts is willing to accept or not accept at the Supreme Court. And you know, all the things that Adam Schiff mentioned, let's say -- lets add the president's tax returns, full access to the unredacted Mueller report, information about the granting of the security clearances.

All of these questions are heading to the courts and we do not know our institutions are going to come out of this test, but as I said, it is very premature to be patting ourselves on the back that we have withstood this unprecedented -- really unprecedented challenge before we get to the final bell. I think there are many, many uncertainties ahead.

VAUSE: Mitchell O'Connell and Paul Ryan, I guess will have a lot to answer for one day, I guess. Ron, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Still to come, Benjamin Netanyahu makes history, he's now on track for a record fifth term as prime minister. Proof it's good to have friends in right winged places.

[00:25:00]

VAUSE: Benjamin Netanyahu on track to become Israel's longest serving Prime Minister after willing an unprecedented fifth term. It was surprisingly tight race, his main challenger was a political novice, but on Wednesday Benny Gantz, the former Military Chief of Staff conceited (ph) defeat.

As of now the Prime Minister's Likud party and Benny Gant's Blue and White party will both control 35 seats in Israel's Parliament, the Knesset. But Netanyahu has the advantage in forming a coalition government, pulling in support from ultra-Orthodox and smaller right- wing parties.

CNN's Michael Holmes standing by live for us in Jerusalem. So Michael, the question now is what will Netanyahu promise those far- right, those religious parties to actually get them in to his coalition? How much horse trailing (ph) will he have to do?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that is the question -- what's he going to offer those parties in order to come on board? It's interest that the last of the votes are being counted now. We're talking about soldiers and diplomats, and other people overseas.

But it's interesting, it's about 250,000 people -- well, why it's interesting is it could add another partner to the Netanyahu coalition. And that might give him another seat or two. Then what happens is that the President Reuven Rivlin starts calling in delegations next week, asks for their recommendation on who should be given the chance to form a coalition.

Next Wednesday you're going to probably get the formal results announced, and then the president has a week to make his decision on whose going to get that chance. Netanyahu of course likely to have the mandate to go ahead, and he'll have 28 days to do it. It can be extended if need be.

And as you say, in order to get that coalition together he's going to have to make promises to some far-right parties -- they may want ministries, they may want policy changes. Always works like this, as you well-know from having been based here, John.

VAUSE: Bit of a long time ago, though -- but nothing really changes. Gantz did surprisingly well, he's a newcomer to Israeli politics. He's now talking about 2020, that seems to be a clear reference to Netanyahu's legal problems and this looming threat of indictment on corruption charges. It could actually cut short Netanyahu's term here.

HOLMES: Potentially it could, depending on what happens. You know, it was interesting against giving that concession after of course, on election night claiming victory.

And yes, his party higher-ranking (ph) saying they're going to prepare now for the next election in 2020 -- like, next year. Obviously making the point that he thinks this Netanyahu government won't last due to that corruption investigation against him.

That's moving along too -- yesterday Mr. Netanyahu's lawyers got all the materials from the attorney general to prepare for a hearing that's likely to happen in July -- it could go -- be pushed to September or so, as well.

Now that hearing is going to determine whether the attorney general will indict, and he's already indicated he's inclined to do so in several cases or bribery, breach of trust. So it's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds.

If he does indict it's going to be an extraordinary situation of a sitting prime minister potentially facing charges, and yes the Blue and White party says they're going to try to make Netanyahu's life hell while they're in opposition. And they'll be helped in doing that if the prime minister does end up facing indictment, John.

VAUSE: Never a dull moment there in Israeli politics. Michael, good to see you -- thank you.

We'll take a short break, when we come back the world's largest democratic election is underway in India. We'll have all the details on what's at stake in a live report that's next.

Also, Mr. Moon goes to Washington to plea with Donald Trump, don't give up on diplomacy with the North -- maybe it could be third time lucky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

[00:31:27] British Prime Minister Theresa May will get another six months to try to get a Brexit deal through Parliament. E.U. leaders in Brussels have approved another extension, until October 31. The block will get a chance to review the U.K.'s progress in June.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers he believes the Trump campaign was spied on, but he has no evidence. Barr said he wants to look at the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation to make sure no unauthorized surveillance occurred. Democrats are outraged, saying Barr is mischaracterizing the probe to appease his boss, President Trump.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is headed for a record fifth term. As of now, his Likud party is on track to win 35 seats in the Knesset, the same as his rival, Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party. But Mr. Netanyahu's Likud is expected to secure a majority 65 seats in a block with other right-wing and ultra-orthodox groups.

Five weeks of voting are now underway in India. Nearly 900 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the world's largest general elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party are seeking reelection after a landslide victory back in 2014. Polls have them leading this time around but only by a thin majority.

The main rivals include the Indian National Congress Party led by Rahul Gandhi, a descendant of India's most influential political dynasty.

The biggest battleground is the northern state of Utter Pradesh, where 80 parliamentary seats are up for grabs. That's here our CNN's Nikhil Kumar is right now.

So Nikhil, tens of millions of people voting today. And this is just the start of a weeks' long process of voting. Why does it actually take so long? Obviously, it's a lot of people, but, you know, why is it so spread out?

NIKHIL KUMAR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Today is only the first of seven phases, and the reason quite simply is the size. You mentioned the number of voters, almost 900 million. But to make sure that all of them can vote safely, that all of the process is unfolded smoothly, a whole lot of officials, up to 10 million officials, have to be moved all across this continent-sized country. There's about 10 million officials, about a million polling booths. And under Indian law, they will have to make sure that everyone gets a fair shot at voting, so they're in every part of this large country.

And today, we're in Utter Pradesh, as you mentioned, one of the the most, if not the most significant battlegrounds in this election. Think of Ohio, Florida, all the swing states rolled into one. It basically decides who becomes prime minister.

But today, only a section of the state is voting, a section close to the capital city, Delhi. And the over the next few weeks, the rest of it will vote, along with the rest of the country.

So it's really the logistics of it, the vast human resources, and moving them around this vast, vast country -- John.

VAUSE: So where does the prime minister, Narendra Modi, stand in terms of public opinion, you know, as he is seeking this second term. Does he have any serious challengers out there?

KUMAR: So, well, as you mentioned, you know, 2014 he won with a massive landslide. Overnight, he went from being a regional leader to being the most powerful politician in this country by many, many miles.

Until quite recently, until last year, he was widely expected to just sweep through this election all over again. There were no challengers on the horizon. It all seemed to be going in his favor.

But there were a bunch of state elections at the end of last year where the BJP, his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, suffered a series of losses. And that's been a question mark. That's turned hat at one point was looking like a cakewalk into a contest. So it's very, very close. As you say, recent polls have showed that they're still ahead. But we don't really know.

In terms of challengers, this is a vast political landscape. You've got hundreds upon hundreds of parties. You've got lots and lots of candidates. The main opposition is the Congress Party, but they're very small in Parliament right now.

[00:35:08] The big question is will Mr. Modi be able to get enough seats to make sure that the opposition, even if it doesn't win enough seats by itself, one party, whether they can come together to form a coalition and displace him. We'll find out in the next few weeks -- John.

VAUSE: Nikhil Kumar there with the very latest on a very long election process in India. Thank you, Nikhil.

Well, diplomacy and North Korea will be the main talking points on Thursday at the White House, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with President Donald Trump. Moon may invite Trump to Seoul in the coming months, and he reportedly wants to broker yet another U.S.- North Korea summit.

It's been less than two months since Mr. Trump's failed summit in Hanoi with the North Korean leader. Kim Jong-un is now threatening, quote, "a telling blow" to hostile forces.

CNN's Paula Hancocks live for us this hour in Seoul.

You know, we had a situation for, you know, for President Moon that, on the one hand, he's dealing with Kim Jong-un. On the other hand, he's dealing with Donald Trump. He's the guy in the middle. He's the mediator. And yes, he keeps going at this and at this and at this. This has got to be one of the toughest jobs in the world.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. I mean, you have to feel sorry for him. He was happy when -- when Mr. Trump said that he wanted him to retain his position as mediator. But it is an incredibly difficult job.

President Moon Jae-in has staked a lot of his credibility on this working out, on the U.S.-North Korean relationship getting better, on these summits being successful.

But the Hanoi summit, walking away without an agreement, completely blindsided South Korean officials and the South Korean president. So what President Moon wants to do when he is in Washington now is try and get the two sides back to the negotiating table.

He has been at pains to say publicly that Washington and Seoul are on the same page. But it's not strictly true. South Korea would like to see, as North Korea like to see, more of a step-by-step process. They want to see the U.S. giving some corresponding measures to try and entice North Korea back to the negotiating table.

But Washington has consistently said that they want to see complete denuclearization before they lift any sanctions. When you speak to experts here and officials, they are very clear that they believe that that is not possible, that North Korea is not going to completely denuclearize without some kind of quid pro quo -- John.

VAUSE: I guess old habits die hard, but once again, Kim Jong-un talking about him delivering a serious blow to hostile forces. Should we read that as basically the clock has gone back 16 months?

HANCOCKS: Well, it's interesting. They didn't specifically mention the U.S. Or he didn't when he was talking about that. He certainly didn't mention the U.S. president, Donald Trump.

And that's what we've seen all along. Kim Jong-un is quite happy to slam what he sees as the hostile forces, which everyone reads as the United States. He isn't willing to name the U.S. president himself. So he's been very careful about that.

But just the fact that he's mentioning sanctions, as well, saying that the hostile forces, there will be a serious blow against them if they believe that they can -- that sanctions should not be lifted.

So we get back to this position once again. And what we're hearing, as well, from South Korean officials is that North Korea is -- is not doing anything at this point. Even if this inter-Korean relationship that had been in its budding form. The fact that both sides were -- were looking for remains from the Korean War within the DMZ. Even that has been stopped now after Hanoi. North Korea is simply not answering South Korean calls.

So President Moon going to Washington is not just to try and make the U.S. and North Korea talk once again. It's to try and make the North Korea-South Korea relationship work.

And we are expecting to hear something from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, this Thursday. The Supreme People's Assembly, their equivalent of the Parliament. And it will be very interesting to hear what he says about Hanoi, because he himself hasn't directly referenced it up until this point -- John.

VAUSE: Paula Hancocks there on a very noisy, busy street corner in Seoul. Thank you. We appreciate it. Talk to you next hour.

OK. Time for a short break. When we come back, believe it or not, this is what springtime looks like in the U.S. at the moment. Another snow bomb cyclone pummeling some states with blizzard conditions. We'll look at the forecast in a moment.

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[00:41:14] VAUSE: A powerful springtime snow blizzard is hitting parts of the U.S., heavy snow slamming the Rockies and the Plains. Forecasters in Minnesota say up to 60 centimeters could fall in the coming hours.

It's a temperature shock to the region, as well, that had been enjoying much warmer conditions until now.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins. We called it a bomb cyclone before the break, but that's not right. It carries quite a punch, but this ain't no bomb cyclone.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it didn't drop the characteristic 24 millibars in 24 hours. That's the criteria it needs to meet. But nonetheless, this is an extremely powerful cyclone, so strong that winds have been equivalent to a Category 2 Atlantic hurricane. And that created a significant dust storm in Pueblo, Colorado.

Look at this move through a high school there. You can see just how dramatic this footage is, that it did cause a roof to be blown off in the area and some minor damage.

But look at these wind gusts: over 170 kilometers per hour reported in Pueblo. That's an incredible amount of wind speed associated with low pressure that's located over land.

And nonetheless, that wind is going to overspread the Northern Plains and into parts of the Great Lakes, guests in the 80 to 90 kilometers per hour once again.

And you factor in snowfall, it's going to reduce visibilities, and a full-on blizzard is going to ensue. In fact, that's what's taking place across much of Kansas, into Nebraska, parts of Minnesota into Wisconsin.

Not only do we have the strong wind throughout; we have severe storms, the potential for over two feet of snow. There's a storm with a counterclockwise rotation on our satellite imagery. And we still have over 30 million Americans with some sort of wind

advisory, warning or watch. That stretches through New Mexico right through Chicago.

And look at this. The blizzard warnings continue. This is where we're focusing our attention, into Nebraska and Kansas, and portions of Western Minnesota. I mean, incredible amounts of snow starting to pile up already. You saw the video before the break.

And we're getting in some of the reports here. The potential exists for over 75 centimeters across this region. You can see how that storm evolves over the next 24 hours. A whole slew of threats with this storm, to say the least, John. But the blizzard being the most dangerous, for sure.

VAUSE: Derek, looking good. We appreciate it. Thank you.

VAN DAM: All right.

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us now. WORLD SPORT is up next. You're watching CNN.

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