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340 Climate Change Demonstrators Arrested in London Since Monday; Unseasonal Storms Leave Damage, Deaths in India; FOX News in the Doghouse with Trump. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 18, 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]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL, HOST: The redacted public version of the Mueller report drops in just a matter of hours and many Trump administration officials are dreading it because of what they said about their boss under oath.
Kim Jong-un directs the firing of a tactical guided weapon, the first test in North Korean since his failed Summit with Trump.
And determining a cause, nearly 50 investigators trying to figure out what caused the Notre Dame fire. Who they're talking to, what they're learning, and how long it could take.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN Newsroom.
A long awaited Mueller report is just hours away from being released and the timing of its roll out is sparking complaints. U.S. Attorney General William Barr is scheduled to hold a news conference on the report at 9:30 AM eastern time.
The author, special council Robert Mueller will not bet here and Congress won't receive Barr's redacted version until more than an hour and a half later. House Judiciary committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler has repeatedly criticized the handling of the report and questioned the purpose of Barr's news conference.
Now The New York Times reports the Justice Department has had numerous conversations with White House lawyers about Mueller's conclusions in recent days. That's raising concerns that Barr's loyalty is to the President and not the constitution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You'll see a lot of very strong things come out tomorrow. Attorney General Barr is going to be giving a press conference.
Maybe I'll do one after that, we'll see, but he's done - he's been a fantastic attorney general. He's grabbed it by the horn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Pamela Brown has more on what's ahead after the report comes out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The release of Mueller's nearly 400 page report, an investigation shrouded in secrecy for nearly two years, is expected to fuel democratic calls for more investigations and reveal details of hundreds of hours of interviews with officials from the highest levels of the Trump administration, many of which could embarrass or enrage President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Bottom line the result is no collusion, no obstruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And while the president has falsely complained complete exoneration...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've been totally exonerated.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The report could explain Mueller's indecision regarding obstruction of justice, detailing evidence that lays out alleged attempts by the president to derail the investigation into Russia's attack on the 2016 Presidential Election, including the firing of then FBI director James Comey and how investigators viewed the actions.
What's unclear tonight is how much the public will see of the underlying evidence Mueller gathered, both of potential obstruction and Russian interference. The Attorney General has vowed to redact information from Grand Jury interviews as well as other categories setting up a show down with democrats on the hill who plan to fight for the full, unredacted report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY NADLER, U.S. HOUSE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: Congress has need of the entire report including the Grand Jury material. If we don't get everything we will issue the subpoena and go to court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Attorney General William Barr has said much of the evidence in the obstruction case is already publicly known, but it's not clear if Mueller found examples outside of those that happened publicly, something Barr was pressed on while testifying before Congress.
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PATRICK LEAHY, U.S. SENATE DEPARTMENT: Did he express any expectation or interest in leaving the obstruction decision to Congress?
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Not that - he didn't say that to me, no.
LEAHY: So he said the obstruction decision should be up to you?
BARR: He didn't say that either, but that's generally how the Department of Justice works.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources say one of the biggest concerns is whether Mueller's interviews with the president's top aides reveal embarrassing information about Trump's behavior and operations in the White House.
The president has repeatedly tried to discredit unfavorable accounts of what happened in the west wing, accusing media outlets of using non-existent sources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the current and former officials who cooperated with Mueller are expected to be named and spoke under penalty of lying, giving the details more credence.
It's also possible the report could lay out additional contact between Trump associates and Russians beyond the at least 16 connections already known and could detail more about the multiple offers from Russian affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign that Barr referenced in his letter to Congress.
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"It's what will be hidden from public view in the report that will also be telling", Attorney General Barr says the reports redactions will be color coded concealing Grand Jury material information about ongoing investigations, sources and methods, or information about uncharged, third party individuals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN SCHATZ, U.S. Senate Democrat: But the basic question I think for the public is, are we going to get the gist of this or is it going to be on January of 2015 and then you have to flip fifteen pages to find the next text.
BARR: You will get more than the gist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The Attorney General Bill Barr will be holding a press conference at 9:30 eastern time on Thursday, hours before the report is released to Congress, raising the question of why he's holding this press conference before that.
A person familiar with the matter says that Bill Barr alongside Rod Rosenstein the Deputy Attorney General, will be talking about process - Bill Barr's thinking through the process with the redactions and an overall view of the report.
The president has also said publicly that he may hold a press conference, so we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. Pamela Brown, CNN Washington.
CHURCH: So let's turn now to CNN National Security Analyst Steve Hall. He joins us from Tucson, Arizona. Thank you so much for being with us.
STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure.
CHURCH: So the redacted Mueller report won't be released until more than 90 minutes after the start of the Attorney General's new conference.
Republican's say it's about being transparent. Democrats say it's about the president and the attorney general controlling the narrative. Why do you think William Barr's doing this?
HALL: You know for me, William Barr lost a lot of credibility when he used the phrase "spying" when he decided to characterize the counter intelligence investigations that were ongoing looking at who in the Trump administration, who in the Trump team during the campaign was in touch with the Russian government or could have been.
So if you held a gun to my head I would say the obvious, which is that there's a lot of politics going on here and I think what Barr has done by using that spying terminology is essentially send a message to the White House to his boss saying look, I got your back on this. I'll do what's necessary to try to make whatever impact this report is going to have not damaging to this administration.
CHURCH: Right, because it has to be said, traditionally how it's done in these instances with reports like this they get embargoed, allowing journalist to wade (ph) through all the documentation and the news outlets are able to release their stories at the same time that the reports officially release.
By rejecting this tradition, does it make you wonder what the attorney general and the White House are afraid of - what they're trying to conceal, perhaps, in this report?
HALL: Yes, absolutely. I mean again under normal circumstances when your - the process that you just described for example is perfectly reasonable and probably best serves the public in terms of understanding both sides of the story and what's going on.
The same holds true for redactions. Under normal circumstances, redacting some of this information out of this report makes all sorts of sense. I, as a former intelligence officer, am very concerned about revealing
unnecessary sources and methods, but under these circumstances you have to always ask yourself, all right is this a common, sensible approach to rolling this out and talking about this report or are there politics and other bad things going on? And I would vote for the latter on this one.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course we know now that The New York Times is reporting that Justice Department has been consulting with the White House for days about the Mueller report. What does that tell you about the loyalty of this attorney general?
HALL: Yes, again I think you need to look at the background here about the - the context that this is all happening because the context is important.
So under normal circumstances if we were to have a normal administration or a normal president here in the United States you might expect some limited communication between the Department of Justice and this administration on something like this, but it's unclear exactly how much conversation - how much communication has gone on between the Department of Justice and the Trump administration.
And again you have to ask yourself, OK what is the motivation for that? Is the motivation so that the public has the best view so that everything is done properly or are there other motivations? And again I've got to bet that there's other motivation involved.
CHURCH: And we are being told that the obstruction of justice section of the report will have minimal redactions - that's what we're being told at least. If that is the case, what should we all be looking for and do you think that's what's got the White House worried?
HALL: Yes. I think the White House is - if I had to bet and I have no inside knowledge on this, but analytically I would say that's probably what they're most concerned about because names are going to be named and specific allegations are going to have to be addressed.
We know from Barr's own words that the obstruction of justice issue was not one that Mueller apparently could come down firmly on even though Barr's Department of Justice has.
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Personally I'll be looking very carefully at the counter intelligence implications of this and that's going to be a little bit deeper in the weeds to see what came out during the course of the investigation, which perhaps didn't rise to a legal level where prosecution could occur but where nevertheless there might be some very, very damning information about the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
CHURCH: Right. And President Trump says he may hold a news conference after the attorney general speaks at 9:30 A.M., which means they both get a head start on making their version of the Mueller report dominate the news cycle before journalist can even sit down and read through these 400 pages.
Is that what's going on here or is that coincidence? What's your reading of that strategy?
HALL: No, no coincidence at all. I think it's a very consistent strategy from this administration because if anybody on any part of the American political spectrum or just commonsensical people say wait a second, does that really make sense?
Then the Trump administration is going to simply say, well I've already told you about these horrible press people. They're enemies of the state, they're enemies of the American people, they're liars don't believe them.
So why in the world if you believe that would you want to give them any break? Would you want to give them advance opportunity to go through this information?
So, that's all part of the Donald Trump narrative here and as a strategy from that perspective makes sense for him.
CHURCH: Steve Hall, we thank you for your analysis.
HALL: My pleasure.
CHURCH: Let's turn to North Korean now and it says it has test fired a new type of tactical guided weapon, that's according to state media which reports that Kim Jong-un climbed an observation post to oversee the test and give directions.
It is the first time Kim has tested a weapon since the failed Summit with President Trump in February and our Will Ripley is live in Hong Kong. He joins us now with all the details.
So Will, what is the latest information you have on all this?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well what we know, Rosemary, is basically what North Korean state media is reporting that there was some sort of tactic weapon test firing.
But state media is not releasing any photographs of it at this stage or at least there weren't any pictures in the front page of the main news paper, the Rodong Sinmun, which also begs the question what exactly was this? Was it artillery?
Was it some sort of a rocket launcher like what was tested according to South Korean intelligence late last year in November of 2018 at a time that diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea was also in a similar state as of now, kind of at a standstill with not very much movement?
This seems to me, Rosemary, to be an attempt by the North Korean's to send a signal to President Trump and also to President Moon in South Korea that they still have a military, still have weaponry, and are not afraid to test them if the situation turns south. But it's not such a provocative as to derail the diplomatic process
and that is absolutely deliberate on the part of the North Korean's doesn't seem like this is too concerning to the United States.
They did not detect any sort of missile launch or rocket launch and they don't view this particular weapons test to be highly provocative. If anything, it's more of a threat because it is a short range weapon it'd be more of a threat to South Korea and even the South Korean government at this stage is still very much interested in keeping diplomacy on track.
CHURCH: Right, so just an effort on the part of Kim Jong-un to send a message to President Trump, but what's he trying - what sort of leverage does he think he'll get out of this?
RIPLEY: Well ever since President Trump walked out of Summit talks in Hanoi you have seen North Korea hinting at the possibility of a return to a more militaristic posture.
And not even hinting, I mean officials with the foreign ministry including the Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui have stated publicly that Kim was reconsidering his suspension of missile and nuclear test, reconsidering engaging with the United States because the North Korean's were so disappointed and felt really disrespected after what happened in Hanoi when President Trump did not - walked out of the Summit and didn't sign some of sort a deal to give the North Korean's at least the initial sanctions release that they were hoping to get - counting on getting in order to salvage their economy, which the U.S. Secretary of State just said a couple weeks ago is shrinking as a result of all the sanctions pressure.
Although the North Korean's would never confirm any economic numbers it clearly is having a negative affect and so this is almost a hint of what could happened - a return to the tensions of before, the fire and fury days if North Korea doesn't get more in terms of sanctions relief from the United States and they expect South Korea to do it's part as well.
So everything that North Korea does whether it's a military exercise or a test it's all deliberate. It's all to - yes increase readiness, but also to send a political message.
CHURCH: Yes, it is a delicate, dangerous dance that they perform. Will Ripley bringing us the very latest from Hong Kong. He will check back in with you next hour. Thanks so much.
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And we'll also check with Paris after the short break. What investigators are learning about the fire of Notre Dame and who they plan to speak with next, plus why the U.S. is targeting Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua with a new wave of sanctions.
We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL) CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well investigators in Paris will speak with more construction workers and security staff in the coming hours as they try to figure out what caused the fire at Notre Dame.
New areal photographs show the vast damage done to the cathedrals roof. The two contract companies with work in progress at the time of the fire say no workers were on site when the blaze broke out Monday.
Prosecutors say they still think the fire was accidental, more now from CNN's Nic Robertson.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just heard now from the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron speaking about her experience of seeing the Notre Dame cathedral burn and the way that she describes it really encompasses the range of emotions that we saw everyone going through that night from despair to hope.
This is how she put it.
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BRIGITTE MACRON, FIRST LADY, FRANCE: (Foreign language).
TRANSLATION: Everything bled. Everything bled. There were four stages, first the stage of shock when we learned that it was happened.
Then when we arrived on location it was fear and anxiety that everything would crumble. Around 11 P.M., hope because at 11 P.M. the towers were there and then enormous gratitude towards all the fireman and all the men that battled the fire for their courage and perseverance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: We're also learning more about the investigation from the chief prosecutor's office. They say they've now talked to 40 different people, some of them the reconstruction workers who were on the site.
They'd been building the scaffolding around the sprier (ph). According to their employer however, their employer says that they'd all left the site about an hour before the blaze began, but of course the prosecutors office talking to them to find out what they'd been doing, what they'd seen, what they heard before they left work.
And the prosecutors office also talking to some of the firefighters and for them, very specific questions about what, for example, what color were the flames burning with because that would give the investigators a clue to was an accelerant used there to help fuel this fire like petrol or kerosene or something like that so that's one of the lines of investigation that's being pursued.
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But also some of the forensic investigators have been able to get onsite as well, even though the building is not yet fully secured, they want to work with speed on this investigation, they still believe that this was not an intentionally set fire.
That this was an accident. But they are pushing ahead even before the building is safe, so the forensic teams getting inside the Notre Dame cathedral as well. Nick Robertson, CNN, Paris, France.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Joining me now to talk more about the Notre Dame investigation is James Oliver. He is the section chief of fire investigations for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. Thank you so much for coming into the studio and talking to us.
JAMES OLIVER, CAPTAIN OF FIRE INVESTIGATIONS, ATLANTA FIRE RESCUE DEPARTMENT: Sure, thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So at this point, given your extensive firefighting background, I did want to talk to you about the process involved in trying to determine the cause of a fire like this. Certainly when you already know pretty much the location, we know it's in the attic, we know the area that the fire started in, we know at this point from witness reports that no one was actually in that location.
So talk to us about that, once they've already narrowed it down to that point, the process that's taken from there to determine the cause of the fire.
OLIVER: Sure, once you've - obviously what we're trying to do is find the area of origin of a fire to determine the cause, and once we've located that area of origin, we will go in and examine it in great detail, you know, digging through all the debris, examining any artifacts meaning burned artifacts that may indicate an ignition source and, you know, any electrical components - electrical motors, anything of that nature we're going to examine, you know, closely.
And we'll also - in those types of situations, usually collect them and send them off to the lab to be examined in more detail.
CHURCH: Right and when you learn that no one was actually in the area, does that make a difference in narrowing down, eliminating all of the other possibilities that someone was there maybe with a welder, that can't be, because no one was present or with a cigarette, that can't be part of it because they weren't - there was no person present.
So then does that - that process of elimination help in making that determination?
OLIVER: Well it certainly can but, you know, even though there was no one there at the time of the fire, sometimes things that people do have a delayed reaction. You know, such as, you know, cigarette smoke sometime - cigarettes sometimes or, you know, even construction type activities could have a delayed reaction.
You notice often times we've seen where people have welded or used a torch and you ignite some of the insulation or materials in the walls and it can smolder for hours, you know, before it actually flares up and flames up.
But to answer your question - your initial question, yes, it helps us to know that there wasn't any people in the area immediately before the fire, but it's not always an indicator that there was human involvement.
CHURCH: Right, and clearly with that process you're describing, this is going to take some time. It could take weeks, right?
OLIVER: I would think so, because even though they've got a real - it appears they've got a real good idea of the area of the origin of the fire, it still takes a lot of time to go through these things and, you know, we're talking about a lot of debris and we may be looking for something, you know, very small in the debris.
And then once we collect these items and they've still got to be analyzed and, you know, just there's a whole gamut of analyzation that just depending on what type of materials that are, you know, being examined.
CHURCH: Of course while that process is under way, they're also interviewing people. So far they've interviewed 40 witnesses and that's construction workers, security agents and other workers at the cathedral.
What sort of questions would they be asking these people?
OLIVER: Sure, well interviews are always key in our investigations and the types of things we're going to want to know is, you know, who all was here, what were they doing at the time of the fire, what had they been doing prior to the time of the fire, you know, when did - when did everyone leave or when did these individuals leave, what did they notice, you know, at the time that they were in - in the area, you know, smells, what did they see, did they see smoke, did they see fire, if so where was it at?
It's these types of things would be, you know, some of the basic initial questions we would ask that could lead to other more in depth questioning.
CHURCH: Right, and we do know at this point that there - an alarm went off at one stage, when it first went off, the people in the cathedral, they looked around, they couldn't detect any flames.
So they thought it was a false alarm. Then 23 minutes later, the second alarm went off and that is when the fire station was notified and they came to fight the fire. It took them seven hours to put it out. It was an incredible operation on the part of the fire department.
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But talk to us about that 23 minutes that was lost there and what impact that can have.
OLIVER: Sure, well you know, the alarm systems are key in getting the fire departments notified early and obviously the fire industry is key zone, you know, quick response to getting there, because obviously the longer the fire burns, the larger it gets, the more damage it does.
So obviously any delay, whether it be from the alarm system or any other action, is obviously going to cause more damage and the fire to spread.
CHURCH: Right, and of course we've been talking about the fire alarm system they had, they didn't have sprinkler systems and they didn't have fire walls. But there would be particular reasons obviously that they wouldn't have a sprinkler system, right?
OLIVER: Sure, and fire walls too because the cathedral - just the design of the cathedral is not going to be conducive to a firewall - a fire break. But yes, the sprinkler systems, although they're great, you know, for putting out the fire with all of the antique relics and such inside of the cathedrals, if you have an accidental activation of the sprinkler system, it can cause more damage, you know.
CHURCH: Yes, indeed, and they were very careful, weren't they, not to use high pressure hoses, they put the fire out. It did take them seven hours, but they didn't destroy a lot of the artwork, which was just incredible.
OLIVER: It truly was a miracle.
CHURCH: Yes, James Oliver, thank you so much for coming in and chatting with us.
OLIVER: Great, thank you.
CHURCH: Well the U.S. is targeting Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua with a new set of economic sanctions. It's an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the country supporting him, and it resurrects a decades old trade embargo on Cuba. Patrick Oppmann has our report.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The Trump administration has announced some of the most punishing sanctions on Cuba in years if not longer. For starters, it will now be possible for U.S. companies that had property seized after the Cuban Revolution to sue foreign companies that use that property here in Cuba in U.S. courts.
It is expected to open up a Pandora's box of thousands of legal actions in the U.S. and possibly cause other countries that invest in Cuba like Spain and Canada to sue U.S. companies operating in their countries as a counter measure.
The Trump administration's decision to allow these law suits to go forward was immediately criticized by Canada and the European among others. And then as well the Trump administration in his speech in Miami, National Security Advisor John Bolton said that the Trump administration is going to make it much more difficult for Americans to visit the island, that there will be more restrictions on that, possibly prohibiting many kinds of travel to Cuba, which he said enriches the government.
And they will have placed restrictions on Cuban Americans sending money home starting very soon. The Cubans will only be able to receive about $300 a month from families abroad, that is a big change and an important one since so many Cubans depend on remittances, money sent from their relatives abroad.
John Bolton said that these sanctions are meant to target the Cuban government but following President Obama's opening with the island, hundreds if not thousands of Cubans opened up hotels in their homes, began operating restaurants in other businesses, catering had increased in American tourism.
So while these sanctions may be aimed at the Cuban government, they're going to have a big impact on the Cuban people. Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we'll take a short break here, still to come a sticky situation in London as some protestors glue themselves to a train. The latest on the climate change demonstrations disrupting the city.
Plus dozens are killed when severe storms whip across three Indian states. We will take a very close look at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. Want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour.
[00:32:01] We're just hours away from the release of the Mueller report on Russian election meddling. U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, more than an hour and a half before Congress receives the redacted version. That's raised more complaints for Democrats about Barr's handling of the report.
North Korea says it has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon. State media reports that leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test and praised the weapon's capabilities. It's the first time Kim has tested a weapon since the nuclear talks with President Trump in February, where they failed to reach a deal.
Paris prosecutors will interview more construction workers and security staff in the day ahead about the Notre Dame fire. Forensics teams have been able to access some of areas of the burned-out cathedral and begin their inspections. Authorities say they still think the fire was accidental.
Well, climate change protestors have been causing citywide disruptions in London. Police say they have arrested at least 340 protestors since Monday. And now a 24-hour ban on protesting in Parliament Square is in effect.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(PROTESTORS SINGING)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's a little bit of jamming, a little bit of sleeping. It feels like somewhere between a festival and a street party. But this is part of a major protest by Extinction Rebellion on Waterloo Bridge. The method: disruption. The message: climate change is an emergency, and the government needs to act.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to get the attention of the government. We want them to listen to our demands and to acquiesce. And of course, we want them to agree to meet with Extinction Rebellion.
STEWART: The mood shifted here mid-afternoon as the police moved in. Coordinator Yanai Polstelnik warned the crowds and told those willing to be arrested to come forwards.
STEWART (on camera): No one's going to resist arrest here.
YANAI POSTCLINIC, ORGANIZER, EXTINCTION REBELLION PROTEST: No one will resist arrest, but they won't assist the arrest. So the officers will have to work to remove these people.
STEWART (voice-over): As it turned out, Yanai was arrested first.
(on camera): The protests had been peaceful here all day, but as you can see, yes, people are being arrested. And that's because, while they're being peaceful, it's not legal for them to protest here. Protestors have been told to move to (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and if they don't they are liable to be arrested and taken away.
(voice-over): Protestors were also apprehended at Canary Wharf for standing on top of tubes and gluing their hands to the doors, a short- lived demonstration.
In total, over 300 people have been arrested since Monday. Days of disruption for London's commuters. But many support the cause.
[00:35:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obviously diverting traffic and bus routes. Allegedly 66 bus routes have been basically scuppered as a result. But it is for a very valid reason.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to do something, because we have basically 12 years to save the Earth. So we need to do something, definitely. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quite, quite crazy. It shows that people here are really interested in making a change in the community, in the climate.
STEWART: Support that will be welcome here, given more protests and arrest are expected in the days to come.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: In India, at least 29 people were killed when unseasonal rain and thunderstorms battered several parts of the country.
Strong wind knocked down buildings and trees. Severe thunderstorms are expected for the next few days. And India's prime minister says the government will provide financial assistance to the families of those who died.
So let's turn to our whether weather, meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, who joins us now with all the details on this.
So where did this all come from?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we have been monitoring this storm system for a couple of days. It was forecasted to bring in much cooler temperatures, Rosemary, and as we've talked about recently, tremendous heat has been building across this region.
So it came in and it brought in the cooler temperatures. But from Afghanistan towards Pakistan, eventually into northern areas of India, this system really causing significant damage along its path. We had wind gusts upwards of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour in these areas.
And of course, you put this over an area that is prone to see building damage, and you have yourself a catastrophe and, of course, some fatalities. Dozens of it across this region, from Afghanistan eventually into Pakistan, as well.
And some of the images, even out of areas around, say, Karachi, showing these straight-line winds that have caused significant damage across this region. Certainly, power outages, and with it, a few fatalities to be had, as well.
In Afghanistan, we had flooding with the heavy rainfall that was in place. And what's really important to know, this time of year, climatologically, is as quiet a time of year as we expect across this region. We call the pre-monsoon set-up of heat.
The disturbance itself, now pushing in for the Tibetan Plateau. But when you take a look at the agricultural industry across India, we know some 250 million people are farmers across India. About half of its population works, in some capacity, in the agricultural industry.
Fifteen percent of the country's GDP revolves around the ag industry, as well. This is a major player when it comes to any rainfall. But you expect that in these four months of June through September. And notice the month of April. Literally, as quiet a month as you expect it here. So we've got a system that comes in, certainly catches people off-guard.
And notice these temperatures. Into the twenties in the overnight hours, into the 30s for the afternoon hours. That is a very cool setup for this time of year. But the trend, again, prompts additional thunderstorms the next couple
of days. That's the concern here as, again, the storms have had a history of causing fatalities and additional strong storms are possible, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Thanks for giving us a heads up on that, Pedram. Talk to you soon.
JAVAHERI: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, votes are still being counted in Indonesia's massive election. Early results show President Joko Widodo on course to win a second term in office. But final results are not expected until May 22.
To pull off the world's biggest single-day election, workers traveled by boat, horseback, plane and foot to reach as many voters as they could across Indonesia's 17,000 islands.
All right. It's time for a short break now, but just ahead, Bernie Sanders on FOX News? Why it triggered a Twitter tirade from Donald Trump. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:40] CHURCH: Seems Donald Trump has a love/hate relationship with the conservative FOX News Channel. And lately, his favorite news outlets is in the doghouse over what the president thinks are some questionable decisions. Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wave to the fake news media.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump and FOX News go together like love and marriage. An onstage hugs for Sean Hannity. Judge Jeanine Pirro gives the president a little bow.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've done an incredible job for us.
Laura, I love your show. I watch it all the time.
MOOS: But lately, the marriage has shown a few teeny-tiny cracks. "What's with FOX News?" tweeted President Trump, triggered by the enthusiastic reception Bernie Sanders got at that recent FOX News town hall.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Should we give huge tax breaks to billionaires?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! MOOS: "So weird to watch crazy Bernie on FOX News," President Trump tweeted, adding, "and now we" -- we, he said -- "have Donna Brazile?"
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR/HOST: And our brand-new FOX News contributor, Donna Brazile.
MOOS: Sort of makes a die-hard FOX fan long for the days when the network took aim at President Obama.
HANNITY: What is wrong with this president? How dumb is he?
MOOS: But what if FOX News covered Trump the way they covered Obama.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: He's kind of a celebrity president. He's kind of like Ryan Seacrest.
MOOS: Bashing Obama for the things Trump does.
STEVE DOOCY, HOST, FNC's "FOX & FRIENDS": When he's not doing executive actions, he's out on the golf course.
GLENN BECK, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: It's like golf, Mr. President. You play a lot of that.
BILL O'REILLY, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: The president seems almost obsessed with cable TV, or am I wrong?
MOOS: It's a supercut described as darkly hilarious, compiled over a couple of months by producer Michael Lester for the left-leaning video news outlet NowThis.
MICHAEL LESTER, PRODUCER, NOWTHIS: I just had so many instances of hypocrisy that I had to just narrow it down and start to put them into one video.
MOOS: Network personalities berating Obama, from 2009 to 2015.
PIRRO: Mr. President, everyone is laughing at us. You're like a schoolyard bully; no one's afraid of you. Putin sure as hell isn't.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST, FOX NEWS BUSINESS: Maybe it is time you stop looking at a TV tuned to FOX and looked in a mirror tuned to, I don't know, you.
MOOS: The height of hypocrisy? Or FOX News was just ahead of its time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a president who can never admit he's wrong.
MOOS: Who wears it better?
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're so insecure and vain at the same time.
MOOS: -- New York.
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CHURCH: Fascinating. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. Stay tuned now for WORLD SPORT. You're watching CNN. Do stay with us.
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