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Survival Stories Emerge From Synagogue Attack; Sri Lanka Still on High Alert After Deadly Bombings; Socialist Party Wins Closely- Contested Election; Spain's Far-Right Vox Party Wins 24 Seats; Barr to Testify Before Judiciary Committee This Week; U.S. Admits It Pledged NK $2M for Student But Never Paid; Mozambique Reeling from Cyclone Kenneth. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 29, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:17] RABBI YISROEL GOLDSTEIN, WOUNDED IN ATTACK: And then the daughter, Hannah comes out screaming, daddy and mommy what's wrong? It is the most heart-wrenching sight I could have seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A rabbi recounts coming face-to-face with the man who attacked his synagogue in Southern California. We hear from more survivors including an eight-year-old girl.

Sri Lankans are on edge after authorities warned there could be more attacks following last week's devastating bombings.

And congressional subpoenas are piling up against the Trump administration, and another one could be coming soon for the U.S. attorney general.

These stories are all ahead here. Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen coming to you live from Atlanta.

CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Two communities thousands of miles apart are grieving after attacks on their places of worship. Jews in Southern California are in shock after a gunman targeted a synagogue in the city of Poway. The shooting came on Saturday, the last day of Passover.

Sri Lanka is also coming to grips with a string of deadly bombings at churches and hotels. Those blasts coming on Easter Sunday. Hundreds of people were killed, there are fears to more attacks could still be in the works.

We want to turn first to California. And while the synagogue shooting there was horrific, it could easily have been far worse. Sixty-year- old Lori Kaye is being praised as a hero, giving her life to save others. A friend says Kaye was at the synagogue to pray for her late mother when shots rang out. She got between the rabbi and the gunman. Kaye's husband is a doctor who rushed to treat the wounded.

Here's how the rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein describes what happened.

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GOLDSTEIN: I walked two, three footsteps when I hear a loud bang. I thought Lori may have fell or the table tipped over in the lobby right here. I turn around, and I see a sight that I -- indescribable. Here is a young man standing with a rifle pointing right at me. And I looked at him, he had sunglasses on. I couldn't see his eyes. I couldn't see his sole. I froze.

My first concern was, what's with Lori? Where did that noise come from? What happened to Lori? And as soon as I did that, I took a look, and more shots came running right at me, and I lifted up my hands, I lost my index finger on this hand. After four hours of surgery, yesterday to try and to save the index finger on the left hand.

I turnaround and I saw the children that were playing in the banquet hall. I ran together for them to gather. My granddaughter, four and a half years old, sees her grandpa with a bleeding hand and she sees me screaming and shouting get out, get out. She didn't deserve to see her grandfather like this.

And I walk into the lobby, and I see Lori lying on the floor unconscious. And her dear husband, Dr. Howard Kaye who's like a brother to me, is trying to resuscitate her, and he faints and he's lying there on the floor next to his wife. And then the daughter, Hannah comes up screaming, daddy and mommy what's wrong? It is the most heart-wrenching sight I could have seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The rabbi is among three survivors wounded in the attack. Another is eight-year-old Noya Dahan. She spoke in shocking detail about the attack with CNN's Sara Sidner. Her father also spoke with CNN and as you'll see, he's visibly distressed.

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NOYA DAHAN, WOUNDED IN ATTACK: My uncle, he was holding my hand and he was like patting me and stuff. And the person who's shooting, he was aiming at him. So it hit him, and when it was like that, it hit me too.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So you got hit with shrapnel?

DAHAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Little pieces?

DAHAN: No. Like the knee, one is pretty big, but these are from little pieces.

[00:05:03] So it look -- so this was like a pretty big piece, then it went back here.

SIDNER: So the piece of shrapnel went in your leg and then came out the other side?

DAHAN: Yes.

SIDNER: What were you thinking then? Did it hurt?

DAHAN: In the first place, when it was like gushing blood, I didn't even feel it. And then after like they wiped it and then like the blood was off, and it was like -- it felt like I had the tiniest bruise ever. It was just hurting bad.

ISRAEL DAHAN, father of girl wounded The second I saw the rabbi running into the shooter with his fingers cut and bleeding all over (INAUDIBLE), and then I saw him shooting in our lady that she passed away. Terrible feeling, what can I say?

It's scary that we need to live like this. It's just unbelievable. Like there is no one really to protect us.

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ALLEN: Noya spoke about her uncle Almog Peretz who was also wounded. He was visiting the United States from Israel, joining his family at Passover. When the shooting began, he saw the gunman aiming a rifle at children, this according to a congregation member. He was hit trying to help them escape.

The gun jammed. If it hadn't, the children could have been shot.

The suspected gunman is in custody, booked on one count of first- degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. He's been identified as a 19-year-old college student. Investigators think he acted alone and was not part of an organized group. He may have also written an open letter on website 8chan. It talks about the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue last year, and the shootings at New Zealand mosques in March. It also claims responsibility for a mosque fire in California last month. That mosque is nine miles from that synagogue.

Sri Lanka's president is banning burqas some Muslim women wear in the wake of the deadly Easter bombings in that country calling them a security risk and a flag of fundamentalism. The country is still on high alert as police believe more attacks could be planned in the coming days by the same perpetrators thought to be behind the bombings. More than 250 people were killed in those suicide attacks, and at least 48 suspects have been arrested as part of a nationwide operation so far. Police think a local extremist group, NTJ may be behind the bombings even though ISIS has claimed responsibility.

Meantime, people in Colombo and elsewhere are holding vigils and praying for the victims of the bombings. Some are even praying for the attackers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NATASHA ALMEIDA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISHIONER: We need to pray for victims but also to the whole world and for the people -- the bombers. They actually do not know what they are doing. If they really knew that (INAUDIBLE) they would not do that. So we pledge and pray to God that they should have mercy.

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ALLEN: How about that?

Well, CNN's Nikhil Kumar joins me now from Colombo, Sri Lanka with more about the latest. Certainly, right there an example of people in Sri Lanka definitely looking for ways to heal and forgive. But let's start with this ban on burqas there, Nikhil. And what brought that about and what's the reaction?

NIKHIL KUMAR, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: So Natalie, it was announced yesterday, on Sunday, comes into force today, Monday Local Time. The president's office announced it, they say that it's to help the security forces identify the people that they're looking for. Remember, there is a concern in the government here that there are a number of potential attackers still out there, they want to get ahead of that threat. But it also shows how the government is scrambling. It is -- you know, they're scrambling to get ahead of this threat after failing to heed the warnings that they received ahead of the Easter Sunday bombings. We know that they received three including one on the Saturday before and one just one hour before the first bomb went off last Sunday.

So, they're trying desperately to get ahead of it, something that was really driven home after a raid in Eastern Sri Lanka on Friday when authorities here uncovered a massive hall of explosives, 150 explosive sticks, a hundred thousands ball bearings, a drone camera, ISIS flags, other paraphernalia. All of which underlines the sophistication of the group behind these attacks and how well funded they were, and how much of a threat that they continue to pose.

[00:10:05] So, even as people here, the communities here, trying to mourn what happened, the devastating attacks that took place, authorities here are scrambling to make sure that no further attacks hit Sri Lanka again.

Natalie?

ALLEN: Right. And I would say that because there's so much uncertainty about whether there is a real threat that it's very difficult for people even this is a new week, very difficult for them to try and get back to any kind of normalcy.

KUMAR: That's exactly right. And, you know, this is a country that we've talked about just before, this is a country where over 26 years they were locked in a violent and vicious civil war. Where, when people went out into public spaces, when they left work in the morning -- home in the morning to go to work, they were always worried about what might lie around the corner. There was an all-pervasive fear almost that there could be bombings, that there could be attacks in which they might be caught up.

That fear was slowly fading away over the last decade. Next month marks one month since the end of that war. But that's the thing about the events of the last week. That that fear, the fear of this new threat, the fear of further bombings, the fear that these perpetrators are still out there. They arrested almost 40 people over the weekend as they're trying to get ahead of it, but that fear is very palpable here and it's coming in the way of ordinary Sri Lankans getting back to their lives.

Yesterday was one week but Catholic churches around the country didn't hold services because of security concerns. The archbishop in Colombo held a private service at home which was televised, and that televised homily was really done to make sure that worshippers could participate from the safety of their own homes because of the continuing threat over here.

Natalie?

ALLEN: Certainly can understand how difficult this is for people there because they've ever experienced anything like this across their country in this way.

Thank you so much again for your reporting, Nikhil. Nikhil Kumar for us there, thank you.

Well, let's talk now with Brian Levin. He's the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino. It's always good to have you with us, Brian, and I'm always sorry that we are talking about these egregious, outrageous acts.

I want to start here. We know about the New Zealand suspect that attacked, the Pennsylvania gunmen who attacked the synagogue, and now this college student in California. You know, they all have one thing in common, they weren't known to law enforcement. They didn't have a criminal record. And then they make a decision to attack worshippers. What is going on?

BRIAN LEVIN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF HATE AND EXTREMISM: Thank you, Natalie. And our hearts and prayers go out to the victim and their family and the Chabad congregation in Poway. Thank you so much for having me.

I think there are a variety of developments that are going on. First of all, there's been a fragmentation with regard to social media. So, whereas we have like a lot of people in the top of that funnel, much of the extremism, though not all of it, has actually migrated to more splintered and fragmented, what we call affinity base platforms. And they can include ones that allow offensive speech like Gab, Telegram, VK, the Russian Facebook, so we have this fragmented communication age that we're in, but we're also in a very polarized and splintered sociopolitical landscape as well. And when that happens particularly during a time when we've seen over decades in erosion interest of institutions, you name it, the news media, academia, organized religion. These fishers that come up during times of change often allow a spectrum of extremism, but what all guides them is this conspiratorial folklore. And the first stop on that train is anti-Semitism.

ALLEN: Yes, it is fueled by social media, our digital world for the hate that turns into these heinous acts, isn't it? And do social media forums bear some responsibility here?

LEVIN: Yes. But, you know, I think part of it too is that there's been such a change. Not only -- this is really interesting, we have a report coming out really soon. We not only saw a spike in hate crime, but we saw a spike in some of the more bigoted terms, particularly those -- arising around white genocide and anti-Semitic terms. And they almost dovetailed around certain events, like Charlottesville or the November 2016 election which was the worst month for hate crime in 14 years.

[00:15:01] Charlottesville was tied for the second worst month FBI reported hate crimes for the better part of the decade. So clearly there is something going on.

Moreover --

ALLEN: Go ahead.

LEVIN: -- the polarization that we have and this nationalism as a response to demographic and other change has really become a coalesced sociopolitical force. And what happens is, when we see one type of extremism go up, and certainly, this is a very broad and transnational one, we'll see others as well. So what's the takeaway? We're seeing all kinds of extremism, but white nationalism is the most ascendant. We had an increase in homicides last year here in the United States from 13 to 17 by white nationalists and far-right.

ALLEN: Yes.

LEVIN: But we're seeing also the splintering of social cohesion, and unfortunately anti-religion hate crimes are bearing the brunt of some of this. Since 1992, we only had four years where 20 percent of all hate crimes were religion based. Three of them were the last three. And our latest study, just coming out now, 10 United States cities, 2018, the latest data, anti-Semitic hate crimes had the second highest rate of increase, 9.3 percent, of any of the groups that we tracked in 2018. And in 30 of the major cities, we're seeing a fifth consecutive rise in hate crime overall.

ALLEN: Right. And many people want to see the U.S. president, yes he condemn this attack, but they want to see him do more to quell the hate and the violence that we're seeing in this country, certainly. He has used some rhetoric that might have charged up some of these neo-Nazis that we're seeing come forward in this country.

We'll have to leave it there. We appreciate your expertise in this area, Brian Levin. Thank you, Brian.

LEVIN: Thank you, Natalie, as always. Thank you. ALLEN: All right. We want to turn to Spain now. The Spanish people have voted, but with the country's political divide deeper than ever, it will take a lot of work to form a functioning coalition. We'll delve into that next.

Plus, a major admission from the White House, North Korea sent the U.S. a bill for $2million. We'll tell you what the money was for, and if it was paid.

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(Foreign Language)

MASATERU IMAMURA, CHEF AND OWNER, IMAMURA (through translator): Japanese people appreciate food before eating by saying "itadakimasu" Fishermen and (INAUDIBLE) are very close here. So that I can understand we eat food that someone takes good care of or fish that fishermen risk their lives to catch.

[00:20:04] We eat what used to live.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since he came to Ishinomaki here, Imamura has felt this appreciation more deeply. The farmers and fishermen have become like a family to him. And tonight, he is planning a meal to celebrate their friendship.

IMAMURA (through translator): Today, I am making a hotpot with ingredients everyone brought for us here. I would like to enjoy it while chatting about a dream for the future. The hotpot is Japan's traditional dish.

We've had it for a long time. It's a dish to have when everyone gets together. Various ingredients are put together in one pot, and each ingredient communicates with the other. Great ingredients get mixed together to complete a great meal.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

Spain's socialist party is celebrating its election victory. It won the most parliamentary seats in Sunday's hotly contested general election but fell short of an outright majority. So, now it's on to the hard task of forming a governing coalition, something Spain has never had to do before. Incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he's motivated to collaborate with other parties.

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PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The only condition we are going to push is respecting the constitution and promoting social justice, towards coexistence and political transparency. Because they are also watching us and listening to us outside Spain, particularly in Europe, and we will form a pro-European government to strengthen and not debilitate Europe.

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ALLEN: The socialist party's victory was followed by the conservative People's Party, the center-right Citizen's Party, and the far-right Vox which won 24 seats. It was a smaller win for Vox than expected, but the first time a far-right party has won parliament seats in decades.

Let's break it down now with CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas joining me from Los Angeles. Dominic, always appreciate you. We talked with you the other day, now we have an outcome. So let's look at this, the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers Party won Sunday's election in Spain but came up short of an overall majority.

Let's talk about that aspect in a minute but first, what does this win, their win signify for Spain?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that, first of all, looking at the turnout, this is a historic high set in the last 20 years, and this is the largest number of percentage wise that people have participated in the election. And I think that after so many years of multiple elections, of so much distraction around the Catalan question, the question of austerity, and the downturn in the economy, that I think it is possible to look into this as Spain making some kind of positive turn here, that the voters had the opportunity to turn down Pedro Sanchez's socialist government here. And he's only been there for about one year.

And instead of that, he was able to turn his number of seats in the Congress and increase them by 50 percent, while at the same time watching the PP, the People's Party that he displaced in a vote of no confidence lose approximately 50 percent of their votes. So I think that that is quite symbolic, and although he, as you said, has fallen short of an absolute majority, it's a very strong message from the electorate that they have a leader in Pedro Sanchez here.

ALLEN: And we talked about the other parties and how they fared in this election, but I want to talk to you about Vox. We know the far- right party Vox surge from zero seats in the current parliament to 24. What does that represent?

THOMAS: Well, I think what's really interesting is that in the last few years, the entire narrative leading up to individual European elections has been about the role of the far-right. They've shaped the conversation around immigration and Islam and national identity, whether it's, you know, put Italy first, put Spain first, and they did well. One cannot underestimate the significance of gaining about 10 percent of the votes and entering into the Spanish parliament for the first time. We certainly saw this happen in the German elections with the Alternative for Germany.

[00:25:01] But having said that, what's also really interesting about this election is that the trend in Europe has been to move to the right, and here we have one of the very few and potential socialist prime ministers in the guise of Pedro Sanchez being returned to power. And not only that but really the central issue that Vox was fighting for was around the question of Spanish unity, particularly because of the destruction around the Catalan question. And what we did see here is that the parties that scored the highest votes, in other words, the top five, are all unambiguously committed to a united Spain.

And so even though Vox has made inroads in this particular case, I think that the sort of virtual collapse of the PP party and, you know, (INAUDIBLE) some votes to going in that direction, but that all in all, they did not do as well as one thought, and it is likely that they could very well disappear because ultimately the question of the Catalan issue might very well have been rendered moved notch (ph) by the voting in this last election.

ALLEN: Right. The prime minister pointed out that this was a step away from authoritarianism, this outcome. But his Socialist Worker's Party, even though at one, came up short of an overall majority, so now they must create a coalition to govern. Where will they turn?

THOMAS: Well, it's interesting sort of numerically. And were they to just go to the Citizens Party, who of course have said that they are not interested in being in government with the socialists. They have said this previously and joined up with other parties, you would have the magic number of above 176. The most likely outcome here, and they have enough votes to do this, is to work with the Unidos Podemos, the together we can or the United We Can Party.

They would be short of a majority, but it looks like the arithmetic is thereby working with some of the Basque parties that they could arrive at a majority. And not only at a majority but a majority that would not involve them going into coalitions with some of the independents or separatists parties. So that in and of itself is quite a strong indication. There is a part of this, and when we went into this a few days ago, there was a concern that the numbers would not be there and that we might end up with another snap election.

It looks like there's a strong possibility that they would be -- that there is a path here towards creating a government and therefore to being able to legislate and to do so in a relatively quick manner, which has not always been the case after European elections in recent years.

ALLEN: Right. And all the elections they've had in the past few years to try to stabilize the political process there in Spain.

All right, we always appreciate you helping us break it down, Dominic Thomas. Thanks, Dominic.

THOMAS: Terrific. Thank you, Natalie.

ALLEN: The fight between the White House and congressional Democrats could go to a new level this week. The threat, the U.S. attorney general is making now over his appearance before a House Committee. We will delve into that coming up here.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN newsroom. Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories this hour.

[00:31:26] The city of Poway, California is mourning after Saturday's attack on a synagogue. Survivors are speaking out about the shooting, which killed one person. The rabbi, wounded in the attack, says the gunman was wearing sunglasses. He says he looked at the shooter but couldn't see his eyes. He said, "I couldn't see his soul." That rabbi lost some fingers; his hand was shot.

Well, it's been just over a week since the deadly bombings in Sri Lanka, and the country remains on high alert, with government warnings that more attacks could be imminent.

Also, Sri Lanka's president is now banning burqas, calling them a security risk and a flag of fundamentalism.

More than 270 election workers have died from illnesses related to overwork following the April 17th vote in Indonesia. According to CNN Indonesia, the election chief admits the tight timeline to deliver results and holding presidential and other legislative elections simultaneously were partly to blame.

The battle between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration could intensify this week. U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday to discuss the Mueller report. But a source says Barr objects to committee lawyers joining in the questioning, and he's threatening not to show up if that doesn't change.

Barr also objects to a closed session with committee members to discuss the full report.

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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): He is not going to dictate the format of the Judiciary Committee. We'll use all legal mechanisms to get them to comply with the subpoenas, and they will comply. I mean, because ultimately, the law says they have to comply. What the administration is doing is just seeking to draw it out and waste time. They can draw it out, they hope, for months.

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ALLEN: Joining me now is CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer. Julian, thanks for being with us.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Natalie.

ALLEN: All right. Coming up here this week, more drama over the Mueller report. The attorney general, William Barr, threatening to be a no show with this week's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, because he doesn't agree with the format; and that format would be members of the committee and layers from both parties questioning Mr. Barr. Is that course unusual? ZELIZER: Well, look, there's moments when presidents clash in terms

of what and who they're going to allow to appear before Congress. Dwight Eisenhower clashed with the McCarthy committee back in 1954.

But I think what what we're seeing is a much broader objection at this point to any kind of cooperation with the oversight committees. So we're heading closer to a clash between the two branches of government.

ALLEN: Right, and of course, this is about access to the unredacted version of the Mueller report. What if the attorney general were to skip the meeting, Julian?

ZELIZER: Well, Congress doesn't have as much power as people think. They can hold him in contempt of Congress, or they can try some kind of civil course of action. Both would be tied up in the courts for a long time, could last over a year.

So Congress doesn't have that much power to move things along speedily if the president refuses to cooperate. And that's the limit of these investigations right now.

ALLEN: Well, yes. And they've been giving pushback in many areas, the Trump administration has. It's also fighting former White House counsel Don McGahn's testimony. He gave 30 hours of testimony to the Mueller team, and the House Judiciary Committee would like to hear from him, as well.

[00:35:06] White House counselor Kellyanne Conway talked about that Sunday. Let's listen to her.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is the president going to try to block McGahn from testifying before Congress? Is he going to try to assert executive privilege?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO DONALD TRUMP: Executive privilege is always an option; it's always on the table. But Don McGahn has already talked under earth under oath for 30 hours. And this is just presidential harassment. And we know that, because the Mueller --

TAPPER: So he is? Is he going to block McGahn from --

CONWAY: I didn't say that.

TAPPER: He's going to --

CONWAY: I said it's his right. But the -- those who are subpoenaing different individuals are trying to push aside the fact that we have an entire Mueller investigation that lasted 22 months, cost about $30 million. That is the expansive, somewhat expensive, definitive, and conclusive investigation. No crime was charged. No indictment was referred.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: A lot of folks question that stance, of course, by the White House. Executive privilege, Julian, or is this executive takeover? I mean, if Congress can't get information about the executive branch, there's no longer any separation of powers as sanctified in the U.S. Constitution. How do you see it?

ZELIZER: Executive privilege is not an absolute right. When president Nixon was in office, he tried to assert that, to protect the audiotapes from his White House. And the Supreme Court said executive privilege exists, but often the public's right to know trumps that.

And in this case, what Kellyanne Conway said actually makes it more complicated for the White House. Because Don McGahn already testified and because he spoke, it's harder to claim that there's an executive privilege argument to protect him from doing that again.

So again, they can delay this. They can tie it up. It can be cumbersome. But I don't think the administration has a strong case to prevent him from speaking with Congress.

ALLEN: Is the concern by the Trump administration that whatever information could come out could be used against him in an impeachment proceeding? Is that why the White House keeps fighting this?

ZELIZER: That's absolutely the case. The report was much more damaging than they expected. Despite what White House officials are saying, Robert Mueller laid out a pretty devastating case about obstruction, and members of the House are now looking at that.

And so I think the White House officials are worried that impeachment really is on the table, and so they're doing everything possible to stop this investigation from going further.

ALLEN: Right. In the meantime, there is the Oversight Committee. That's what this House committee does. Bigger picture here, Julian. It's important to emphasize: would this not tilt the separation of powers in the U.S. toward the White House, towards the presidency, if there's not any cooperation here?

ZELIZER: That's exactly right. And that's the big-picture question people often lose sight of in the ins and outs of what happens to President Trump. That every time President Trump asserts his right to do something and goes beyond precedent; and Congress doesn't do anything or accepts it, that creates a new baseline for what presidents can do.

So both parties need to think about that, because all of the sudden, this kind of obstruction in terms of investigations will be the new normal.

ALLEN: OK. We'll see what happens this week. We'll talk with you again. Julian Zelizer, we always appreciate your insights. Thank you.

ZELIZER: Thanks for having me. ALLEN: The United States now admits it promised North Korea $2 million for the release of Americans student Otto Warmbier. Pyongyang reportedly requested the money to cover Warmbier's hospital care. The White House national security adviser says the U.S. signed the bill but never made the payment.

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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Did North Korea demand money for the release of Otto Warmbier?

JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: It appears that they did. This occurred before I came into the administration, but that's my understanding, yes.

WALLACE: Did the U.S. official who was there to get him out of the country, Joseph Yun, did he sign a document pledging the money in order to get him out?

BOLTON: That is what I am told, yes.

WALLACE: And I guess the bottom-line question is, did the U.S. pay any money to North Korea, however it was disguised, after Warmbier was released?

BOLTON: Absolutely not. And I think that's the key point. The president's been very successful in getting 20-plus hostages released from imprisonment around the world, and hasn't paid anything for any of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Otto Warmbier was released in 2017 but returned home with brain damage and died a few days later.

We'll be right back.

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[00:41:47] ALLEN: Mozambique is still dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Kenneth after it made landfall almost four days ago. Look at all that flooding.

Pedram Javaheri joins us now with more from the scene in the weather center.

And you know, Pedram, they've just had a cyclone that killed so many people. And now this -- the remnants of this storm, well, it just keeps going on with all this rain.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Natalie. And it looks like the remnants are going to be just as big as the story in some of these areas as the initial storms was four days ago when it made landfall.

And I want to show you, of course, with Idai about six weeks ago to the south there. It came onshore. At that time, the strongest system we had seen in over a decade. Kenneth comes ashore as the strongest system we've seen in this part of the world, tied with the strongest system in recorded history.

So again, an impressive system. The damage already done in Pemba, you see, with the system making landfall to the north of this region. But still, significant damage.

We had the strongest winds just north of this area. And of course, the highest storm surge north of this area, as well. But in total, some 700,000 people affected by this storm; 160,000-plus displaced and over 30,000 properties either absolutely destroyed or in part damage. So it really shows the wide-reaching impacts of this particular system.

And even at this hour on satellite imagery, thunderstorms abound across this region of northern Mozambique. So the remnants have done very little to move out of this region. So we expect additional rainfall on top of this region over the next couple of days at least. And notice in some regions, potentially 300 to 500 millimeters of rainfall north of Pemba.

And when you look at the climatological norm, we are coming off of the wet season right now, the tail end of the wet season. So the rivers have already been on the rise across this region. It gets much, much quieter in general going in towards, say, June, July and August.

But the next couple of days, that's going to be critical here, Natalie, because we could pick up just as much rainfall as we saw at landfall with this system over the next couple of days combined. So the problem's far from over for this area of Mozambique.

ALLEN: I know. You've got to feel for them. Thank you so much, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thanks, Natalie.

ALLEN: And thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen. WORLD SPORT is next. I'll be back in 15 minutes.

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[00:45:28] (WORLD SPORT)

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