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Trump Claims He Was Never Warned about Flynn; U.S.-Iran Tensions; U.S.-China Trade Talks Stalled; Voting Underway in Australia; Missouri Passes Abortion Legislation; U.S.-China Trade War Affecting Farmers; Sudanese Troops Target Female Protesters; Mexico City Choking on Air Pollution. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired May 18, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): President Trump celebrates what he calls a fantastic trade deal but it's not with China. Instead, after months of negotiating, the U.S., Mexico and Canada agree to lift tariffs.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Also in Australia. Voting is wrapping up this day, as the country decides whether to bring in a sixth leader in six years.

Plus this:

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): We are oppressed here at home, oppressed on the street, at university, at work, on public transport. All of these things motivated the girls to take to the street.

ALLEN (voice-over): Women have become the backbone of the protests against the government in Sudan. We hear how they've been specifically targeted to try to shut down the movement.

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HOWELL (voice-over): Live here on CNN, in Atlanta and all around the world. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen, CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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ALLEN: And we begin with developments revolving around the Mueller investigation. Unsealed court documents are now providing a clearer picture of exactly how Michael Flynn helped the Russia investigation. Flynn was President Trump's first national security adviser and was fired after three weeks.

HOWELL: CNN has also learned, even as Flynn was cooperating with the special counsel, he was reaching out to at least one Republican critic of the investigation. Our Pamela Brown has this.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump today an Twitter tirade, complaining again about the origins of the Russia investigation and repeating unfounded claims his campaign was spied on, tweeting -- quote -- "Treason means long jail sentences and this was treason."

Before taking issue with new details surrounding his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, saying -- quote -- "It now seems that General Flynn was under investigation long before was common knowledge. If that was the case and with me being one of two people who would become president, why was I not told so that I could that make a change?"

But that's not true. Several people, including President Obama, warned Trump about hiring Flynn when they met in the Oval Office, according to a former Obama administration official. A couple months later, acting Attorney General Sally Yates warned White House counsel Don McGahn that Flynn may have been compromised by the Russians.

SALLY YATES, FORMER ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I had two in- person meetings and one phone call with the White House counsel about Mr. Flynn.

BROWN: Newly unsealed court documents offer more details about Flynn's cooperation with the special counsel, Robert Mueller's probe, showing that Flynn was one of a select few people in the Trump campaign who were involved in discussions about whether or not to contact WikiLeaks regarding stolen Democratic Party e-mails.

Flynn also provided Mueller with multiple examples of people potentially attempting to influence his cooperation. A partially redacted court memo reads -- quote -- "Either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the administration or Congress that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation. The defendant even provided a voice-mail recording of one such communication."

The Mueller report published that voice-mail from the president's personal attorney to Flynn's attorney. "If there's information that implicates the president, then we have got a national security issue. So, you know, we need some kind of heads-up."

Even though Michael Flynn provided evidence, including the voicemail, to Robert Mueller's team, the special counsel did not prosecute anyone on the president's legal team or anyone associated with Congress as part of the obstruction probe.

If Robert Mueller does testify -- and we know there are negotiations going on between Capitol Hill and Robert Mueller and his team -- this is likely a question that will be brought up.

But a source on one of the congressional committees telling CNN that Robert Mueller will likely not testify before the first week of June -- Pamela Brown, CNN, the White House.

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HOWELL: Pam, thank you.

China is standing behind Iran, amid rising tensions with the United States.

ALLEN: China's foreign minister reportedly told his Iranian counterpart that China supports the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and opposes U.S. sanctions. Earlier Iran's foreign minister mocked the U.S. president about the standoff, saying the U.S. doesn't know what to think. Let's talk about it with CNN's --

[05:05:00]

ALLEN: -- Fred Pleitgen live in Iran.

Hello, Fred, we heard president talking about this conflict, saying with a tweet, with all the fake and made up news out there, Iran could have no idea what's actually going on but now Iran's foreign minister responded by Twitter, essentially trolling the president. Tell us about his response.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he certainly was trolling the president, in the very early morning hours of today. One of the things we need to tell our viewers the Iranian foreign minister has coined this term, what he called the B-team. The Iranians have been pushing this narrative.

On the one hand, you have President Trump who doesn't want a further conflict or war with Iran. But he says there are people trying to push him essentially against his will to get into some military contact with Iran.

He calls them the B-team, referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and then John Bolton, his own national security adviser.

We've been talking about some of the perceived differences between President Trump and John Bolton as far as Iran policies are concerned. Now Zarif tweeted, as we say, "With the #B_team doing one thing and @realdonaldtrump saying another thing, it's apparently the U.S. that doesn't know what to think. We in Iran have actually known what to think for millennia and about the U.S. since 1953.

"At this point that is certainly a good thing." Obviously referencing the fact that the Iranians know exactly what to think about this situation. It comes, of course, at an interesting time. Some of them talking about a possible miscalculation between the Iranians and the United States, both sides thanking that they other might have been planning some moves in the Persian Gulf, ramping up the situation with the deployment of that aircraft carrier, of course, with the deployment of those B-52 bombers on the part of the United States as well. Quite interesting, because two high-level Iranian ambassadors have

come out in the past couple of days and said -- this is by the way, Iran's ambassador to the U.K. and Iran's ambassador to the U.N. -- both of them saying, they are not looking for a further conflict with the United States. But they are going to do everything to defend themselves, possibly also playing into that narrative that the Iranians may have been thinking that the U.S. is planning some sort of move and beefing up their forces in the Persian Gulf because of that.

But, of course, at this point in time, absolutely unclear what prompted this move. It does seem as though, Natalie, the situation may be de-escalating just a tad over the past 24 hours.

ALLEN: That's certainly good news. The White House confirming, too, that Iran has removed missiles from two of its boats in the Gulf. We're going to talk to you about the bigger picture, President Trump and Iran. Some analysts here are saying that the White House might be overconfident, that, if it squeezes Iran, Iran will capitulate.

Any sense you have there that happening?

PLEITGEN: Well, obviously, Iran is certainly being squeezed. There's absolutely no doubt about the fact that the sanctions that the U.S. has levied on the Iranians are really hurting this country. And making it difficult for Iranians to sell oil. A lot of Iranians are finding it difficult to find jobs. Investment in this country is not happening ever since the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear agreement.

The Iranians being close to capitulating certainly does not appear to be the case. One of the things the leadership here has said, they're going to remain steadfast. While a lot don't seem to be endeared to their own leadership at the moment, they're certainly not endeared to the Trump White House, either.

So it does not look like the Iranians are going to be on their knees anytime soon. One of the things that indicate that, Iranians have been saying at this point in time, absolutely no negotiations with the Trump White House.

The foreign minister has said that, Hassan Rouhani has said that and the supreme leader has as well, saying coercion by the United States and its maximum pressure campaign, negotiations are simply not in the cards at this point in time.

The Iranians are saying their demands for negotiations are, on the one hand, they want to be able to sell their oil on international markets, they want companies to invest here in Iran without having to face the backlash of the United States.

And, of course, ultimately, they would like the U.S. to return to the nuclear agreement. Of course, we know that's something that simply is not in the cards at all right now with the current White House and current president -- Natalie.

ALLEN: Right. Our European allies would like to invest in Iran but the pushback from the United States. Fred Pleitgen -- [05:10:00]

ALLEN: -- there in Iran. Thank you so much.

If you want to learn more, including an analysis President Trump's negotiating tactics, you can always go to our website, cnn.com.

HOWELL: The road is now clear for a new North American trade agreement after a bitter dispute with two close allies seems to have come to an end.

ALLEN: The United States says it will lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico imposed a year ago for national security reasons. Canada and Mexico are also ending their retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The U.S. president calls it a win.

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TRUMP: Hopefully, Congress will approve the U.S. embassy aid quickly. The great manufacturers and farmers and steel plants will make our economy even more successful than it already is.

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ALLEN: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau agreed, saying getting the new deal a top priority.

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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Obviously these continued tariffs on steel and aluminum and our countermeasures represented significant barriers to moving forward with the new NAFTA agreement.

Now that we've had a full lift on these tariffs, we will work with the United States on timing for ratification. But we're very optimistic that we'll be able to move forward well in the coming weeks.

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HOWELL: And you'll have to remember, these three countries have been negotiating the deal for some time. Mexico's president said, "To strengthen trade and good understanding in North America, the Mexican government consulted with the Canadian government and promoted the trilateral dialogue."

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HOWELL: Let's bring in Inderjeet Parmar, a professor of international politics at City University of London.

Good to have you.

INDERJEET PARMAR, CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Thank you. Very good to be here.

HOWELL: So these tariffs on U.S. allies, was this an effective strategy by President Trump?

And do you think this replacement of NAFTA has a chance of being ratified in a politically divided Congress here in the United States?

PARMAR: That is the big problem now. I think the chances have improved because there is this kind of -- the taking away of the tariffs on aluminum and steel. And I think that will make a lot of people a bit happier.

But I think the Democrats and critics want environmental labor protections to be added in as well. So chances have improved but I think there are still some road blocks and I suspect that the Democrats will use those as leverage to try to extract concessions in other areas.

This will return the idea that Trump can't actually operate without congressional approval in all areas and I think this will strengthen the hand of Congress as a result.

HOWELL: On another front, the White House has decided to delay auto tariffs with the E.U. and Japan for six months while it continues to negotiate, keeping in mind these tariffs would be brought forward in the name of national security. The president targeting U.S. allies again.

The question to you, is this an effective strategy?

PARMAR: It could be. What it suggests is that the national security argument is actually hollow. There is no national security threat to the United States directly from the E.U. It was always a political move and it was a move which allowed the president to act in a unilateral fashion without any kind of congressional approval.

So it was a political tactic in order to try to show that President Trump was standing up for -- allegedly for American workers, taking on all comers and all competitors, including allies. And I think the fact that he's had to delay and with the move that he also made on Canada, China and Mexico suggests that he is beginning to realize something very fundamental, that the global interdependence of economies and the fact that the global economy, which goes into any kind of a tailspin with markets in turmoil, has an effect on his voting base as well.

And I think he is on the horns of a dilemma in that regard with his philosophy of economic nationalism.

HOWELL: And then finally I'd like your thoughts on the trade war currently playing out now between the United States and China. The tough talk from the White House, especially with the recent moves targeting the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, seemed to put the brakes on efforts to reach a trade deal.

Do you think these hurdles can be smoothed over when Presidents Trump and Xi meet at the G20?

PARMAR: There is a possibility but the two sides are on the horns of a dilemma themselves. They are totally interdependent with the Chinese probably more dependent on the American --

[05:15:00]

PARMAR: -- market than the other way around. Hence you can see that the ramping up the tariff war for the American side has been greater.

But on the other hand, the two economies are interdependent and what happens in them affects the global economy and then that goes all the way back to the Deep South where the U.S. -- where the levels of industrial development and agricultural employment are very high. And those sectors are being affected there and that's going to affect President Trump's voting base.

So what we have is the fact that you have an economic nationalist philosophy, an attempt to subordinate the Chinese economy, which is having deep effects on markets and the voter base that brought Trump to power. I think he's seeing that his strategy of trying to do all that against all comers will backfire on him in 2020.

And I think that this is why he's having to recalibrate that strategy to try to salvage what his prospects for 2020.

HOWELL: Inderjeet Parmar joining us in London. Thank you.

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ALLEN: Well, we're going to tell you about a revolving door in Australia's prime minister's office.

The question is, could the country's current leader already be on his way out?

Elections will tell us that. And we'll have a report on that coming up.

ALLEN: Plus, United States passes a restrictive abortion legislation. We'll have more on that controversy.

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ALLEN: Vote counting is underway in Australia's national election. Opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten is hoping to unseat incumbent prime minister Scott Morrison. If Shorten wins, he will be their sixth leader in as many years.

HOWELL: Mr. Morrison has only been in office eight months. There could be a record number of third-party votes largely because Australia has mandatory voting.

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HOWELL: To talk more about the dynamics of this election, let's bring in Jamie Tarabay, a correspondent for "The New York Times," based in Sydney, Australia, joining us from Hong Kong.

Jamie, good to have you with us. So Australians don't seem to like either of these candidates. Let's talk about Morrison.

Why do voters seem frustrated under his leadership?

JAMIE TARABAY, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I think more with Scott Morrison it is a reflection of the voter frustration with the fact that when the Liberal --

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TARABAY: -- Party came into power, the person in charge was Malcolm Turnbull. And he was ousted in a leadership spill just last summer by a faction that was led over the party's disputes about climate change.

And so Scott Morrison, who was the immigration minister before he came in, has essentially basically been campaigning since August to win over the public. They know that there had to be an election by May this year.

And so really as soon as Morrison came in, Bill Shorten knew as well from the Labor side that they were all gunning for a May election and it has been a short campaign season. But both sides have really been campaigning since Malcolm Turnbull left office.

HOWELL: Just a bit more here about Shorten. Again unpopular. Tell us more just about the reasons. There is a history there. Reasons that voters see him a certain way.

TARABAY: Well, we've had a revolving door, as you said, within the Liberal Party. Three prime ministers in the six years that the Labor Party was in opposition. But before the Labor Party was in opposition, the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was pushed out and replaced by Julia Gillard, who was also pushed out and replaced by Kevin Rudd.

And Bill Shorten was one of the people who was behind the scenes in both of those cases so he does have an element of untrustworthiness about him. Voters have been very frustrated. They elect a person as well as a party and to have that choice taken away from them is reflected in the way that both of these men have low personal approval ratings.

Bill Shorten, because of his background, has never really been able to escape that and by and large he is kind of hoping that the voters will vote for him, the politician, or will vote for Labor, the party, which is extremely diverse, is extremely representative, has about 50 percent female politicians within the cabinet and the party and has very, very popular politicians, some people like Penny Wong, who is the senator and most likely to be the first Asian Australian foreign minister should Labor win and I guess we'll find out by the end of the day.

HOWELL: Interesting, just the other day we were talking about Hawkie, as he was known there, once leader, so looking at this particular election quite a different circumstance.

I want to talk about the key issues driving this election, climate change and immigration. Climate change the lead issue there as opposed to immigration, which is a key issue here in the United States heading into the 2020 election.

Could you help our viewers understand why climate change is front and center in Australia?

TARABAY: Look, Australia is in so many ways the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the way the environment is being impacted by things like fossil fuels. Australia has had so much extreme weather, extreme drought, mass flooding.

And the Great Barrier Reef, which everyone sort of knows Australia by, there has been coral bleaching because of heat waves. So the impact of using fossil fuels and having coal mining, especially in Australia, that is one of the biggest exports that Australia relies on for its economy, it is a direct impact.

And Australians feel that very directly and keenly. And that was actually one of the biggest reasons why Malcolm Turnbull got pushed out of power last year. His party could not agree on a proper way to come together on an energy policy that they could sell amongst each other to the public.

And from the young voters particularly, this is such an issue for them because they really do see politicians gambling with their future. So the Labor Party has come out with a very ambitious platform in terms of when it comes to sort of complying with the Paris agreement and the missions targets.

And that has Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party arguing that it actually costs the economy more financially and Shorten and the Labor Party say that we pay for it now or we pay for it in the future.

So it is a real argument and a real division of ideas and a real inability to discuss a proper way forward on an issue that really impacts the entire country and, of course, the future generations.

HOWELL: It is interesting to see how Australia is taking this issue on. It is an issue that, whether you like it or not, at some point will be at your front door, already is, quite honestly. Jamie Tarabay, thank you again for your time.

TARABAY: Thank you.

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ALLEN: Back here in the United States, the state of Missouri has become the latest in the U.S. to pass legislation that severely restricts abortion.

HOWELL: That bill prohibits abortions --

[05:25:00] HOWELL: after eight weeks of pregnancy. Doctors would face up to 15 years in prison for violating that. It must still be signed by the governor, who has already voiced his support for the measure.

ALLEN: Here are the states: Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio have passed so-called heartbeat bills. Alabama is the most restrictive of all, making abortion illegal in nearly all instances, including cases of rape and incest.

These states passed measures contradictory to the longstanding U.S. Supreme Court ruling protecting women's right to choose.

HOWELL: CNN's Natasha Chen has more on the controversy that's playing out in Missouri.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Missouri House of Representatives passed this bill 110-44 after about two hours of debate on Friday. Like some other states, they looked at the moment a fetal heartbeat can be detected. But here they specifically outlawed abortion after eight weeks.

Now in case a judge strikes that down, they also have provisions for a ban after 14 weeks, then 18 weeks, then 20 weeks, all dependent on the outcome of any legal challenges.

There is also a trigger here to completely outlaw abortion, should Roe versus Wade ever be overturned. There's also no exception here for rape or incest. And that caused a lot of emotional debate today, including a moment, where protesters were asked to leave the gallery. Here are some tense moments from the debate.

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CRYSTAL QUADE (D), MISSOURI STATE REPRESENTATIVE: When you each see me in this hallway, remember what you're doing to little girls who were like me because that abuse is me and you simply don't care.

And to the women of this state and the women up here, I'm sorry. I'm sorry there aren't enough of us in this chamber to stop this. I'm sorry you're viewed as second-class citizens. Now it's up to you to change this.

MARY ELIZABETH COLEMAN (R), MISSOURI STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Abortion is the ultimate in might makes right. It is saying that if I don't have the ability to kill my child that, I, as a woman, cannot obtain whatever dreams and beliefs I may have.

It's saying that my economic opportunities will be limited if I do not pay that price with the blood of my child. Our freedom cannot bought with the blood of our children.

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CHEN: The bill does not criminalize going across state lines to seek an abortion but it does require that anyone in Missouri referring someone to an out of state abortion provide educational materials, including information about the possibility that an abortion could cause pain to a fetus.

The House also passed an emergency clause which means, as soon as the governor signs this in about a week's time, it will immediately go into effect -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Jefferson City, Missouri.

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ALLEN: Ahead here, U.S. and Chinese governments showing no signs of ending the trade dispute. Now U.S. farmers are finding themselves caught in the cross-fire.

HOWELL: Plus, take a look at that, a tornado touching down in the middle of the United States. We'll have the latest on the severe weather threat.

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HOWELL: Welcome to viewers here in the United States and around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM like in Atlanta. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Here are the top stories.

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HOWELL: In the meantime, the trade war between the United States and China, President Trump insists it will be a good thing for people in the United States.

ALLEN: In the meantime, farmers are bearing the brunt of Trump's trade policies. Martin Savidge reports from Iowa.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Robert Ewoldt readies for another day of battle. An Iowa farmer, he's on the front line of America's trade war with China, a war President Trump says he's winning but Ewoldt says he's losing.

China has stopped buying his soybeans, cutting his income by half. He still has a third of last year's crop in storage and, this season it will likely cost him more to grow his soybeans than he can sell them for.

ROBERT EWOLDT, SOYBEAN FARMER: This is survival, at this point, I mean, for a lot of operations. It is a survival thing.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Things are so bad he has taken a second job. He drives a truck all night and farms by day.

EWOLDT: That's what is allowing me to survive. That's what is keeping this farm going.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Ewoldt isn't alone. Across the Midwest, farm incomes are down and bankruptcies are up. Every morning, in thousands of farm towns like this one, farmers gather for coffee and to commiserate.

It's not just tariffs; across the Midwest and Southeast farmers are also reeling from disaster, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, even fires. It's been raining so much in Iowa, farmers are nearly a month late getting into their fields. And every day they delay costs them more money.

SAVIDGE: How far behind are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's almost nothing planted out here.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): To try and help Democrats in the House, joined by 34 Republicans, voted for a $19 billion disaster relief package, some of which would have gone to help farmers.

But President Trump opposed the plan, tweeting, "House Republicans should not vote for the bad Democrat disaster supplemental bill."

Now that relief is bogged down in the Republican-controlled Senate over how much assistance to give hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico.

And so, back in Republican voting farm districts, there is a growing bumper crop of frustration, particularly with a president --

[05:35:00]

SAVIDGE (voice-over): -- who brags about his negotiating skills.

GREG BEARMAN, IOWA FARMER: My uneducated guess is that he better hurry up and start producing a little bit because this negotiation that I'm seeing so far has not panned out.

SAVIDGE: You voted for this president.

EWOLDT: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Regrets?

EWOLDT: Well, yes.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Larry Engler adds up the money he expects to lose this year.

LARRY ENGLER, IOWA FARMER: Between me and my daughter, together, probably $100,000, 150,000.

SAVIDGE: Did you vote for Trump.

ENGLER: I did. I'll never vote for him again.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Martin Savidge, CNN, Davenport, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: At last check, President Trump has more than 60 million Twitter followers, not all of them supporters. But the ones that, as you know, are vocal.

HOWELL: The president's critics say that's dangerous because it's one thing to use social media to spread a message but another to use it to make policy, as our Brian Todd explains.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a president obsessed with polls, ratings and adulation, there is nothing he loves more than that popularity barometer in his pocket, his Twitter account.

TRUMP: I guess we have 60 million -- almost 60 million on Twitter.

TODD (voice-over): The president has become so reliant on Twitter that Politico says, in a meeting earlier this year, he stopped a conversation with frustrated lawmakers about his decision to pull troops out of Syria in order to consult his Twitter account.

Quote, get Dan Scavino in here, the president reportedly called out. Scavino, Trump's social media adviser, walked in.

"Politico" says Trump then instructed Scavino to, quote, "tell them how popular my policy is."

Scavino reportedly then took the congressman through the positive response Trump had gotten to the Syria decision on social media.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, AUTHOR: I think the thing that matters most to the president is that he be affirmed by the people who love him. The people on Twitter who follow him and respond every time he says something. He uses Twitter almost as a personal polling service.

TODD (voice-over): The president has often relied on Twitter to share his grievances and announce major decisions. But those who study him say, more and more, he seems to be using Twitter to gauge the reaction of his base over the advice of his administration.

A far cry, historians say, from presidents who relied on polling, intelligence briefings and background documents.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Donald Trump gives us the impression that he doesn't really use any of the work or not much of the work that the -- that the institutions provide him and seems to rely on Twitter. Not only for a sense of how well his policies are doing, for what -- but for what those policies ought to be and that's -- well, that's actually unprecedented.

TODD (voice-over): Twitter is where the president goes to take the pulse of his base, analysts say, before he makes a decision. But it's also a vehicle to validate his viewpoints. Illustrated by his frenzied binges of retweeting others.

D'ANTONIO: He has all the power that comes with the office and yet he's insecure. He's so insecure that he's going to his Twitter feed to pump himself up.

TODD (voice-over): Sometimes, the sources from which the president retweets have questionable credibility or are downright dangerous, like his 2016 retweet of three videos from a British anti-Muslim Twitter account.

So what does his Twitter dependence say about Trump's view of reality?

D'ANTONIO: A president who spends most of his time either watching TV or tapping out tweets on his phone is going to have a warped sense of reality. He's not in the everyday existence that the rest of us share.

TODD (voice-over): The president, today, touted his use of Twitter as a way to circumvent traditional media.

TRUMP: I have to go through a different source. It's called the switches. And go with our social media stuff which is quite powerful, I must say.

TODD (voice-over): And aides defend Trump's practice of not reading thick briefing papers or relying solely on advisers, saying Twitter gives Trump an effective way of having two-way communication with voters.

CLIFF SIMS, AUTHOR: He's able to control so much of the news cycle through Twitter and other things. It allows him to see that and then react to it in real time.

TODD: But historians are warning of the dangers of Trump's reliance on Twitter to inform so much of what he does as president.

One historian says, "To solve an international crisis, a president has to often find out what the other side is looking for, to understand that and find a common interest. "

He says, "You don't get that kind of information when you're only tapping into your Twitter feed and seeing your followers encouraging you to be tough" -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: So it is a multiday event, hard powerful weather system that will be hitting the middle of the country.

ALLEN: We've got dramatic video for you, coming out of Oklahoma, this tornado touched down there, before crossing over the state line into Kansas. And that's just one of many tornadoes reported in the central U.S.

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ALLEN: Next, CNN's exclusive reporting from inside Sudan where anti- government protests are a daily ritual and women are singled out for abuse by security forces.

HOWELL: And one of the most densely populated cities in the world is also one of the dirtiest. Thick smog in Mexico City bringing that city to a standstill.

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ALLEN: In Sudan, women have been taking to the streets for months now, protesting that government's -- they're at the heart of the biggest anti-government protest there in decades.

HOWELL: Yes. The protests led to the ouster of the country's longtime dictator. Now with the military in power, clashes are continuing. CNN has uncovered evidence that regime forces targeted female demonstrators during the uprising. Our Nima Elbagir has spoken with some of these women. Here's her exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This the moment Sudanese forces opened fire on protesters. You see the man behind the camera is a woman. She is chanting, bullets won't kill us. Staying silent does. They begin to chase. Her camera cuts out as a soldier stands over her. The woman was brutally beaten by government forces and she's not alone.

CNN has spoken to hundreds of women throughout the months of the uprising in Sudan. They say they were targeted by government forces for the worst violence because they were women. We put the question to former Sudanese intelligence officers. They refused to be filmed but agreed to be quoted, telling CNN, "They were commanded by their superiors, 'Break the girls, because if you break the girls, you break the men.'"

But it didn't work.

The next day, this woman is back at the site, limping, but defiant.

NIDAL AHMED, PROTESTER (from captions): I fell and six or seven men in uniform started to beat me. When I stood up, they hit me on my backside and said, "Run." This happened to all women.

WIFAQ QURAISHI, ACTIVIST (from captions): I was subjected to many detentions and each was different. Sometimes they force you to strip and take nude photos and sometimes they threaten you with rape.

ELBAGIR: And yet still, she, like others, persevered.

QURAISHI: We are suppressed at home, oppressed on the street, at university, at work, on public transport, all of these things motivated the girls to take to the street.

ELBAGIR: In a conservative society, taking to the streets was brave enough. Publicly speaking out about the price and others say they were forced to pay, braver still. Women's rights activists say women were targeted because they were so integral to the uprising saying that 60 to 70 percent of the protesters were female.

NAHED JABRALLAH, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST (from captions) Even the slogans were centered around women. "Rise up, this revolution is woman."

ELBAGIR: Rape was being used as a weapon of oppression?

JABRALLAH: These sexual assaults accomplish two things -- the oppression of the victim and it used to terrify others.

ELBAGIR: Whatever they did, whatever they tried to do, I didn't work.

AHMED: I'm staying out of the streets so that tomorrow can be better for all of us. For us, for those before us and the next generation.

ELBAGIR: A new generation that's already making its voices heard -- Nima Elbagir --

[05:50:00]

ELBAGIR (voice-over): -- CNN, Khartoum, Sudan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Nima's story is just one part of CNN's "As Equals" series, which covers gender inequality, wherever it occurs in the world. You can read the entire series on cnn.com/asequals.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORTS)

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HOWELL: One of the largest cities in the world is in the grips of crippling air pollution. High temperatures, car exhausts and smoky wildfires are making Mexico City's air especially hazardous.

ALLEN: And that means more than 21 million people must now cope with choking smog. CNN's Rafael Romo has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): The thick black layer seems to cover everything. It's been hovering over Mexico City, one of the most densely populated capitals in the world, for several days.

"It's terrible but what can we do?" this woman wonders. "It's making us all sick."

Mexico City officials declared an environmental emergency Tuesday due to severe air pollution exacerbated by wildfires.

But some residents say they believe officials have been too slow to react to the emergency --

[05:55:00]

ROMO (voice-over): -- in a city of more than 21 million that has been plagued by air pollution for decades.

"There's plenty of opportunity to take action and do something drastic but they have waited for too long," this resident said.

Elementary schools were ordered closed on Thursday. Some public works projects have been suspended. And drivers have been asked to stay off the roads. Authorities have also recommended residents avoid exercising outdoors.

Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum says her administration working on a comprehensive plan to address not only the current emergency but also air pollution in the long term.

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICO CITY MAYOR (through translator): In order to reduce pollution, we have to go to the sources. In the case of Mexico City's metropolitan area, it has to do with vehicles, with factories and, recently, with higher temperatures and wildfires.

ROMO (voice-over): According to Mexico's Department of the Environment there were as many as 100 wildfires burning in a total of 20 out of 32 states in the country this week.

The United Nations declared Mexico City the most polluted in the world in 1992. Since then, the megalopolis has reduced pollution by 50 percent, according to one estimate, by establishing regulations to protect the environment, including vehicle restrictions and expanded use of public transportation.

But the improvement isn't enough for people who now feel they need to cover their noses just to get past their front door -- Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. The news continues here on CNN right after the break. [06:00:00]