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Trump Threatens Iran After Leaders Downplayed War Chances; U.S. Focusing On Investment For Middle East Peace Plan; India's Marathon Election Reaches The Finish Line; New York Times: Bank Staff Flagged Trump, Kushner Transactions; Trump Blasts Amash for "Impeachable Conduct" Claim; Salvini Campaigns Against E.U. Rules. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 20, 2019 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: More bluster from the U.S. President towards Iran just as tensions seemed to be easing a bit.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: In India, exit polls suggest another win is possible for the Prime Minister after the country's six-week-long elections. We'll have a live report.

VANIER: What an extremely generous gift that will impact the lives of an entire graduating class.

ALLEN: You haven't heard about it, you might not believe it. We're talking generous. Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. We're coming to you live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier. CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ALLEN: U.S. President Donald Trump is once again ratcheting up tensions with Iran just as things appeared to be simmering down.

VANIER: In an aggressive tweet, he warned that if Iran wants a fight, it would mark the official end of Iran. Mr. Trump also told Tehran not to threaten America but he didn't provide context.

ALLEN: Meantime, U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is also warning Iran against "reckless behavior but says it doesn't want conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SAUDI ARABIA (through translator): Saudi Arabia does not want a war in the region and it's not seeking it and will do its best to evade it. At the same time if the other party chooses war, then we will respond with all strength and determination, and will defend itself and its interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: This week Saudi Arabia accused Iran of ordering drone strikes on two oil pumping stations. In response to alleged Iranian threats, countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have started enhanced security patrols around the Persian Gulf.

VANIER: All this comes a day after Iran's Foreign Minister also said his nation doesn't want war. Samantha Vinograd CNN National Security Analyst and former Senior Adviser to the National Security Advisor in the Obama White House joins us.

Sam, you've worked in the White House so you read this tweet by Donald Trump and you thought what?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I thought what a difference a year doesn't make. Last July, President Trump tweeted a threat at Iran. In fairness to President Trump, the Iranians had tweeted that there would be the mother of all wars against the United States. President Trump took the bait last July and tweeted at the Iranians that there'd be historic consequences if they continue to threaten the United States.

We all know where we are almost a year later. Threats are at an unprecedented level. That's why we've withdrawn diplomats from Iraq. We've had loads of London, the FAA American officials, British with it officials, Exxon, the Bahrainis warning of these increased threats and what is Trump do again, he tweets threatening Iran, and he knows that he's escalating the situation and ostensibly just doesn't care.

VANIER: Does this force the Iranians to respond?

VINOGRAD: I certainly think that we will see a war of words here. And that's why typically when presidents make official policy statements, when I was at the White House, anything that the president said normally went through an intelligent scrub especially during tense situations like this. The idea is you want to communicate a message but you don't want there to be unintended consequences.

So even while the Iranians are likely to respond with words of their own or tweets of their own, there might be a more dangerous response. And that whatever President Trump is saying can be used to inspire or direct attacks against the United States. The regime can say look at President Trump, he's threatening us. Come and launch operations against the United States. Join our proxies on the ground all across the region.

This gives the Iranian regime firepower at home. And for that reason, President Trump and I've said this multiple times needs to think before he tweets.

VANIER: How seriously do you take this? I understand it is the U.S. president. I understand that he tweets foreign policy. I understand all those things and so it should on its face be taken seriously. But I am certain some viewers will look at this, this tweet and say this is Trump being Trump. This is what he does.

VINOGRAD: It is what he does. He has this like itchy Twitter finger while he's watching television. I mean, keep in mind he was threatening war with Iran in this tweet while watching television. That doesn't really give it a lot of credibility in some respects. But as I just mentioned, whatever he says in these tweets can be manipulated by various actors. And while we may discount them, it's just one more example of the president being reckless, the president threatening Iran, again, they can use that for recruitment purposes, and really signaling that he's not aligned with his team.

Remember, just two or three days ago, all of a sudden he wanted to talk to Iran, he invited the Swiss president. Secretary of State Pompeo spoke with the Omanis who previously had been a back-channel to Iran.

So it looked like diplomacy was the new policy and his team was executing that. Fast forward two days or three days later when he's watching television, and he's going a completely different way. It is very clear that President Trump is kind of riding solo on all these things and not even working with his own team.

[01:05:08] VANIER: But we've -- but we've always already seen before that he can do -- he can sort of do two things simultaneously. He can threaten and he can open the door to diplomacy. In fact, I wanted to ask whether --

VINOGRAD: I have to disagree with that though because --

VANIER: You disagree, OK.

VINOGRAD: I disagree because it may look like that on its face. He threatened North Korea and then got a letter from Kim and engaged in diplomacy. But as we're finding out more than a year after that quote-unquote diplomacy with North Korea it was a fool's errand, so he's not really engaging in diplomacy, right.

VANIER: That was going to be my question. We don't know how that conversation between Trump and Kim is going to end, ultimately. Right now, agreed the negotiations have stalled and that conversation is not in a good place.

Still though, if you think back to how all of that storyline developed, it involved the U.S. president and the North Korean leader sending these threatening messages at each other promising to destroy each other and ultimately they sat down and talked. So you could argue that Trump perhaps is angling for the same thing with Iran.

VINOGRAD: Yes. Although I think we're mixing apples and oranges a little bit here. North Korea has certainly represented a threat -- North Korea represented a threat to forces that we have stationed on the Korean Peninsula, our allies, Japan, South Korea, etcetera. The situation with Iran is quite different.

Iran has proxies all over the region that have the ability to come into direct confrontation with U.S. assets on the ground throughout the region again. So when President Trump threatens the Iranians, he's not threatening a regime like Kim Jong-un who controls everything right. There's one decision-maker there who decides what's going to happen. He's saying things. This war of words can be manipulated by the

regime, sure, but then what about all the proxies in Yemen, Iraq, and elsewhere. I think we have to be careful not to compare the two situations directly for that reason.

VANIER: All right, Samantha Vinograd, thank you very much. Useful insight as always. Thanks for coming on.

ALLEN: All right, we turned out to another region of the Middle East. After decades of conflicts, sometimes outright war, the U.S. President son-in-law is rolling out a new U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. The White House announced the first part of its proposal Sunday. Jared Kushner and Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt are spearheading the effort.

VANIER: It focuses on economy and infrastructure and aims to make places like Gaza and the West Bank "as investable as possible." Finance ministers and business leaders are set to discuss the plan in Bahrain next month. It's being called the peace to prosperity workshop. It's not clear where the Israeli stand on all of this but we do have a pretty clear idea from Palestinians.

ALLEN: CNN's Nic Robertson has that part of the story. He's in Abu Dhabi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: With the initial reaction coming from the Palestinian authority, president's spokesman seems to be negative. He calls this current plan, this economic workshop idea a futile idea. He says we're an economic plan without a political horizon will lead nowhere.

The minimum that the Palestinian president -- Palestinian president spokesman is saying, a minimum that they need to have that the Palestinians will want out before they get engaged in conversations is the knowledge that there is a Palestinian state. There can be a Palestinian state at least and that its capital will be East Jerusalem.

And the political component of this plan that we're told by the White House is something that could come later in the year. It's very aspirational, it's very heavy on the idea of how the economy can lift the region, can lift -- can lift the lives of Palestinians.

But what we're hearing from the Palestinian authority is really a thumbs down that's saying, look, there was -- there was a workshop like this arranged in D.C. last year in the United States in March. We didn't go to that. They've lost their faith in the United States as being an international arbiter between themselves and the Israelis.

They point to the fact that when President Trump in late 2017 defense, December 2017 and I was Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, said that it moved the U.S. Embassy, did move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and that that really negated the U.S. position here to negotiate or to be a viable negotiating here. And what we have heard in recent weeks as well from Palestinian

authority leaders that their ambassador to the U.N. saying that this deal would be dead on arrival. And just a couple of days ago in London, their foreign minister saying that this plan would essentially give no sovereignty, no justice, no independence, no freedom to the Palestinians. So the message at the moment seems to be a thumbs down to this plan. Nic Robertson CNN Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: In Egypt, an explosion that apparently targeted a tour bus has wounded at least 14 people.

ALLEN: It happened Sunday near the pyramids of Giza. State media reporting that a device exploded close to the bus which was carrying 25 South African visitors. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism called it a minor explosion no word yet who's responsible.

In India, some 900 million eligible people have just wrapped up voting in the world's largest democratic election. They cast ballots for the 545 seat lower house of parliament called the Lok Sabha. Many see the election as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The official results are expected Thursday.

For more about it, let's go to our Nikhil Kumar joining us from New Delhi with more about it. Hello to you Nikhil. And you know, this election was considered a referendum on Mr. Modi who won in a landslide in 2014. He was in a tight race but there's a little hint now to whether he is going to be victorious. What do you know?

That's right, Natalie. Following the conclusion of polling on Sunday, local Indian media outlets, they've released exit polls that they conducted. CNN cannot independently verify the methodology here but they say that it points to -- that the election points to a victory for Mr. Modi and a return to power.

Now there's a big health warning here. These polls have been wrong in the past. And this comes off the back of an election which as we were heading into it was much closer, looked much closer with many, many more questions about whether Mr. Modi would return or not than people had anticipated even a year ago because of questions about his record in 2014 when he ran for office. 3

He made a bunch of promises particularly about the economy, about reforming the economy, about generating jobs for young Indians. Many of whom still struggle to find unemployment. His critics say that he's simply -- to find employment, sorry. His critics say that he still hasn't delivered on that front. Joblessness remains a problem amongst many other problems in the economy.

And so heading in, it looked a bit hazy. The campaign itself was less about the economy on Mr. Modi's side, on the Bharatiya Janata Party side, his political party and more about nationalism. And so there was this big question mark. But as I say, exit polls pointing to a potential Modi the victory, but again, a big health warning. We have to wait until the 23rd to see if that has been realized and if Mr. Modi will return to power for another five years. Natalie?

ALLEN: Yes. As far as the election, big picture goes, Nikhil. You know, its carried out for weeks. We're talking 900 million eligible voters. So talk about the scale of this. And we want to point out too that in the past, elections in India sometimes can be violent, but this not so much this go-round.

KUMAR: That's -- well, that's absolutely right. The scale when you talk about it you know, there's only one way to describe it really, its immense. 900 million roughly voters, as you said, thousands of candidates, you know, we have millions of election officials, we have polling centers around the country numbering about a million.

And it's because of the scale of it and in trying to ensure that voting is safe, that it's credible, that they have to move these officials and they have to move the accompanying security forces around the country which is why it unfolded in these phases.

Voting is via electronic voting machines and you know, they will be -- you know, buttons will be pressed on Thursday and we should have results on Thursday morning local time to tell us who is going to form the next government.

So it is a massive, massive exercise in democracy which as many people have pointed out is really quite a wonder. You know, it used to be the case back in the 90s that there would be questions about balancing about the credibility. But that really hasn't been the case for several years now as the election authorities here have tightened up that process, and that involves, of course, spreading it out over these weeks. Natalie?

ALLEN: It's massive undertaking to carry out this election. Nikhil Kumar for us, thank you. We'll waiting here the results in a few days. Thanks.

VANIER: And President Trump is lashing out at a member of his own party, his reaction to the Congressman's stand on the Mueller reports.

ALLEN: We'll have that coming up. And Italy's Deputy Prime Minister takes aim at the European Union. How the hardliners campaign could affect this week's parliament election.

[01:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT HEADLINES)

ALLEN: And welcome back. Anti-money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank reportedly raised alerts on a number of transactions by companies controlled by President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

VANIER: The New York Times reports bank employees recommended the transactions be reported to a financial crimes watchdog, but bank executives refused, and the reports were never filed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVE ENRICH, FINANCE EDITOR, NEW YORK TIMES: What we do know is that the number of Trump-related entities, including the Trump Foundation and Kushner companies, which is Jared Kushner's real estate company. Those were doing businesses -- doing transactions outside of the United States that sparked concerns among anti-money laundering experts.

We know that the Kushner transactions involved the Kushner companies, sending money to people -- to Russian individuals. And that -- the way the systems work is that the bank is a computer system that automatically screens thousands and thousands of transactions.

And in those transactions go to human beings for further review and investigation. And all of these cases, after being screened by the computer system, the humans who were investigating this, and who experts in looking for problematic transactions, all raised serious concerns about the money that was moving between Trump entities and Kushner companies and folks outside of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: So that's from the New York Times there. In a statement, here's what the Kushner companies said, "The New York Times tries to create scandalous stories which are totally false when they run out of things to write about."

VANIER: Staying here in the U.S., President Trump was quick to blast a Republican congressman for breaking ranks on the Mueller report.

ALLEN: Michigan Congressman Justin Amash said the President engaged in impeachable conduct. Boris Sanchez has our story from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Congressman Justin Amash previously criticized President Trump, but the response from the President had never been as harsh as it was, until Sunday morning.

[01:20:07] Take a look at what he tweeted about the congressman from Michigan's 3rd District. He writes that Congressman Amash is doing this for publicity, that he never actually read the Mueller report, and that in his words, he is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponent's hands, Amash clearly striking a cord with President Trump.

Other Republicans sort of echoed those remarks, including Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, she put out a statement saying that it's sad that the congressman is, in her words, parroting Democratic talking points.

Other Republicans like Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a lot more respectful of his point of view, still though, he does not agree with Justin Amash on whether the President committed impeachable offenses. Listen to what he told Jake Tapper on State of the Union, Sunday morning SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I respect him. I think it's a courageous statement. But I believe that to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don't have the elements or evidence to this document. And I also believe that an impeachment call is not only something that relates to the law, but also considers practicality and politics. And the American people just start there.

And I think those that are considering impeachment have to look also at the jury, which would be the Senate. The Senate is surely not there either.

SANCHEZ: Now, Democrats are split on the issue of impeachment. You have some like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president, who believes that impeachment should be pursued.

And then you have others, like the most powerful Democrat in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who does not believe it would be prudent, politically, to try to impeach President Trump, especially, because the election is just about two years away. She, though, does say that President Trump commits impeachable offensives every day that he is in office.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: A European Parliament elections will be held later this week, and the outcome could affect policy and leadership for the next five years.

ALLEN: The so-called Eurosceptic parties, like Italy's far-right leagues, see the election as a defining moment. CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports on the deputy prime minister's campaign against European Union rules.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In Milan, a show of support from Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and most popular politician. Salvini turned an obscure right-wing separatist party into a political movement.

Now, he set his sights on the E.U. This is the so-called League of Leagues, an uneasy alliance of Europe's far-right. Strange bed fellows with very different political agendas, united by nationalism and the disdain for the E.U.

They say they are here to take on the systems, poised to make record gains at this week's European Parliamentary elections. Eurosceptic parties are projected to take a third of the seats, even though they are accused of promoting racism, white supremacy, even fascism, allegations they deny. Salvini also rejects the label, Eurosceptic.

Some say that an alliance, a functioning alliance of the EU's Eurosceptic parties is wishful thinking, how specifically do you intend to change the European Union? TEXT: The enemies of Europe are those governing the European Union now. I would return to the pre-Maastricht with more normal economic rules where we spoke of well-being and full employment.

MCLAUGHLIN: A message that resonates with many Italians who fear they are on the losing side of the Eurozone and Europe's migration policies. The fear of being left behind is acute in L'Aquila, Italy. Ten years on from a devastating earthquake, the city struggles to rebuild what was lost.

L'Aquila once looked to the extreme left to fix its problems, now it swings for Salvini, even though Salvini once pushed for the north to cut financial ties to the south (INAUDIBLE) places such as L'Aquila, to languish. That makes no difference to Francesco De Santis --

FRANCESCO DE SANTIS, SECRETARY, LEGA YOUTH MOVEMENT: I'm very proud --

MCLAUGHLIN: -- a self-described true believer.

DE SANTIS: Salvini was the first politician in Italy that understood the importance of the discovery and defending the entity of Italian people and the European people.

MCLAUGHLIN: Do you question him at all?

DE SANTIS: No, no.

MCLAUGHLIN: Not at all?

DE SANTIS: No.

MCLAUGHLIN: Other Italians are less forgiving. A recent poll by Ipsos MORI shows support for Salvini has dropped from 37 percent to 30.

[01:25:04] The dip, after Salvini made a series of moves further to the right, including a Facebook post showing him holding a machine gun, advocating for gun rights, and an impromptu speech at a balcony infamously used by Benito Mussolini to watch the execution of his adversaries.

Mr. Salvini, Erin from CNN, can I ask you just a few more questions? You slipped in the --

TEXT: I am extremely late guys.

MCLAUGHLIN: You slipped in the polls recently, why? Why is that?

TEXT: I never believe in polls.

MCLAUGHLIN: Do you worry you have gone too far to the right?

TEXT: I am proud that the League is a reference point for change not just in Italy but in Europe. And next week with the democratic vote the Italians, we will be the first political movement in Italy and Europe that will begin a different story.

MCLAUGHLIN: Do you worry about losing touch with the people of Italy?

TEXT: No, absolutely no.

MCLAUGHLIN: As Salvini looks further and further to the right, the outstanding question to the answered at the ballot box this week, will the rest of Europe follow?

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Milan, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: All right. Well, many college graduates get gifts this time of year, but a billionaire investor gave a group of graduates in the state of Georgia, quite the gift, perhaps, a gift of a lifetime. We'll have the story coming up here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier. Let's look at your top stories this hour. U.S. President Donald Trump is, once again, ratcheting up tensions with Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:00] ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier.

Let's look at your top stories this hour.

U.S. President Donald Trump is once again ratcheting up tensions with Iran. In a tweet he warned that if Iran wants to fight, it would be the end of Iran. This comes a day after Iran's foreign minister repeated official statements that his nation doesn't want war.

ALLEN: The White House says investment is at the core of its Israeli- Palestinian peace plan. Presidential son in law, and adviser, Jared Kushner, is directing the effort. It will bring together finance ministers and business leaders at a workshop in that Bahrain in June. A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president calls the plan futile.

VANIER: In Egypt at least 14 people have been wounded in an explosion that apparently target a tour bus. It happened Sunday near the Pyramids of Giza. State media reports that a device exploded close to the bus which was 25 South African visitors. No word yet who is responsible.

ALLEN: In India, voting ended Sunday in the final phase of a weeklong election. Some 900 million eligible people cast ballots for the 545- seat lower house of parliament called the Lok Sabha. Many see the election as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The official results due Thursday.

VANIER: Tens of millions of dollars -- that's how much the 2019 graduating class of Morehouse College in the U.S. state of Georgia owes in student loan debt.

ALLEN: Well, lucky for them they won't have to pay one penny of it. Billionaire entrepreneur Robert F. Smith says his family will create a grant to pay off the student loans of the entire class of nearly 400. He made the announcement during their graduation ceremony Sunday, and explained his reasons for the generosity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. SMITH, PHILANTHROPIST: Where you live shouldn't determine where you get -- or whether or not you could get educated. Where you go to school shouldn't determine whether you get textbooks.

The opportunity to access -- the opportunity for access should be determined only by the fierceness of your intellect and the courage of your creativity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Elijah Nesly Dormeus is one of the lucky graduates. He was there at his graduation when Mr. Smith made the announcement. And He is here with us now. Congratulations on graduating.

ELIJAH NESLY DORMEUS, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE GRADUATE: Thank you.

ALLEN: And maybe even a bigger thing, congratulations on having your student loan debt paid off.

VANIER: Yes.

ALLEN: That's awesome. When he said that was there disbelief in the crowd?

DORMEUS: I would assume there was. I think because there was like a moment of silence in the crowd. A short period of silence from the graduates because we were like I don't think he really said? Let's try again. But then when we thought about it were like, oh yes he said it.

ALLEN: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

DORMEUS: He said it. He said.

VANIER: You weren't expecting it at all?

DORMEUS: No. At all -- no one had knowledge of it. I didn't have knowledge of it. He -- because the way he like did his speech, which was well memorized, it's he talked about himself, you know. He talked about his life. Talked about the things in a way that he did, right.

And then tied it back into, how we can apply the steps and stuff that he did into our future entrepreneurship. You know, even just talking about how if you want to create your own business, is not as easy as you think. You have to go through the struggle. You have to put the work in, and the time to get there.

So boom, you talk about that. You talk about all that diligent time that you put into it so then right when it came into hey, $40,000 is all gone. We're like -- wait how did that happen.

Because the thing --

VANIER: $40 million.

DORMEUS: $40 million. I was thinking about, you know, one of my tuition.

VANIER: How much did you owe? Because we don't know that. How much did you owe?

DORMEUS: So after calculating -- it's a little bit over $94,000 being that my first semester started off with full loans at $47,000. So doing it by the next year with a slight grant, that's still like $90,000 there so adding it up it keeps on going. And then that's $90,000 flat, without adding the interest on the loan.

That's not including those of my mom's. So it's just like, it keeps on building and building and building. So right now, it might be close to a -- who knows, you know.

ALLEN: Right. That's great news for you.

Now talk about your family because you are one of nine, reared by your mother. She was there --

DORMEUS: Yes, she was.

ALLEN: -- talk to us about your family.

DORMEUS: So my dear lovely Andrea Dormeus, my mother -- don't get me mom, for saying your name out loud. So my mom, she's from Trinidad and Tobago, all right. She grew up there, her life as she came over here like a few -- like real estate license, a nursing license and so on and so forth. She raised us --

ALLEN: Nine.

DORMEUS: -- nine. Yes -- raised us nine, nurtured us, cared for us. My father passed away when I was seven. So basically leaving her, not much -- you know, there's no choice, but to raise us all. My mother was, and still is, one of the strongest women I know.

[01:35:01]The reason -- how I get these like IMs of like encouragement, is through her. Growing up I seen her work for food pantries. I've seen her just giving milk to like the homeless. Just like giving, giving, giving and not once complained.

So seeing that as I grown up and like alone in the community, I'm like ok, how is she providing? But not second guessing in a way that would not allow me to be successful.

So she would come home, after a long day's work, after people probably (INAUDIBLE) saying that she's doing this kind of and she would just go in and be like hey, son you can do it. Don't give up. You can do it.

ALLEN: And you're doing it.

DORMEUS: Exactly. And it's so funny. So when I got the news about Morehouse College and that I'm going to get in. I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa -- can I really do it. You know, I've gotten all these people tell me I can't do it.

She's like be you. Being your authentic self is the only thing that makes you strong. Because it is an idea of who you are.

ALLEN: And your siblings are now also in college but you're the first to graduate?

DORMEUS: Yes first graduate out of nine. Five of us are in college out of the nine, right because the rest of them are older. Well, six at home -- five in, college one about to be a senior in high school next year.

VANIER: Talk to us about how, the lifting of the debt, the paying of your debt impacts your life? What was the plan before versus what's the plan now?

DORMEUS: So the plan before, I got an opportunity to work for AT&T in sales in Dallas, Texas. So excited for it. Thanks to the Community college for it. So my. My plan before, was basically, you know, work in sales. Be like top salesman.

Still a goal. Still will do it. And then pay off all my loans in one year. Be frugal without spending a lot of money. But still paying off loans. So not really living a life, but giving back in a sense.

So after I heard the news, of course in shock, sitting still like wait, this is a joke? I think he's lying. I got down and, said ok, God thank you. And literally shed a tear, but a tear of joy. And I stood up and I said, you know, what, that's it.

And that's the whole idea of Morehouse. So like for me -- my new plan is to pay it forward. Because now I can help my mom. She has diligently worked, year after year, year after year, fought for jobs, year after year. Even when she didn't get it, she came back she says son, you have to continue pushing.

So now it's like, I can actually do that. I can actually assist somebody with the money I make from AT&T. I can actually do something that not many people have a chance to do -- providing for my little brother, actually giving back. So like now, that's the new plan.

How can I make a difference for my family. How can I make a difference for Jeremiah Dormeus? How can I make a difference for Josiah? What is that seed that I can plant in them that they could paid forward to somebody. ALLEN: Right. Because when someone does something for you, you pay

it forward, right. What goes around comes around.

VANIER: And that's -- I just want to put a word of perspective in there. You met our supervisor earlier.

DORMEUS: Yes.

VANIER: She is 20 years into her career, hasn't finished paying her student debt.

DORMEUS: Yes. She told me yes.

VANIER: just about the impact they can have on somebody's life

ALLEN: What a blessing.

DORMEUS: It is dynamic and it is truly a blessing. Because not many people get a chance to experience that. So I'm grateful to God. I'm grateful to God for Morehouse. I'm grateful for the servant leadership. I'm grateful for my mother and friends and family, that promoted -- promoted, pushed, encouraged, just kept on even the haters.

You know you've got to love your haters I love me the haters. Because at the end of the day it's my guidance counselor that's been saying hey, you couldn't do it, or not like you couldn't do it but hey this is too big of a dream for you right now. I would not be.

If Julius did not give me that business card to say hey, in IHob after I'm singing -- here's my business card if you want to attend Morehouse College, let me know. And Tony Robinson (INAUDIBLE) -- people like continue to help me, I would not be. sitting here right now.

ALLEN: That's wonderful.

DORMEUS: And I'm thankful to God.

ALLEN: You had a village and you're going places.

Elijah Nesly Dormeus -- thank you for coming in to share your story.

DORMEUS: NO, thank you.

ALLEN: And all the best to you. We'll say we knew him once.

DORMEUS: Yes. I'm going to say it.

VANIER: Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.

ALLEN: Thanks a lot.

VANIER: And meanwhile, here's another graduation ceremony for you. The CEO of Apple, delivered a passionate speech, that one about climate change. ALLEN: Tim Cook told Tulane University in New Orleans, graduates there that his generation failed to address climate change. But he encouraged the next generation to remake the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: Get to work on building something the better. If some important ways my generation has failed you in this regard.

GRAPHIC: Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered the keynote address for Tulane University graduates.

COOK: We have been too focused on the fight and not focused enough on progress. And you don't need to look far to find an example of that failure.

GRAPHIC: Cook focused on the Rise of natural disasters.

[01:39:54] COOK: When we talk about climate change, or any issue with human cost, and there are many, I challenge you to look for those who have the most to lose. And find the real, true empathy that comes from something shared. That is really what we owe one another.

GRAPHIC: Cook also told graduates to seek out alternative viewpoints.

COOK: Today certain algorithms pull towards you the things you already know, believe, or like. And they push away everything else. Push back -- it shouldn't be this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: It is game over for "Game of Thrones". So who ended up with all the power? A hint? It's not the dragon. Up next a look back at an epic run. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Game over -- "Game of Thrones" ended its eight-year run Sunday leaving somebody new on the Iron Throne.

VANIER: We promise no spoilers here. Out of respect for Natalie who has finish watching the season and for everybody in Europe who hadn't seen the finale and everybody else around the world.

Judging by the high volume of traffic on Twitter, the finale was a complete surprise, stunning longtime viewers and loyal fans. And everyone it seems was pleased.

Armchair critics -- that would be Natalie -- were they already calling for a do-over, before the final episode even aired.

Now this truly has become a cultural phenomenon, as you know. Fans are calling this the end of an era.

ALLEN: Joining us from New York, Erik Voss comedian and host of "New Rockstars" on YouTube and, a "Game of Thrones" fanatic, Hello to you -- Eric.

ERIK VOSS, "GAME OF THRONES" FANATIC: Hello to you. Thank you for having me on.

ALLEN: Yes. So we are challenging you to talk about the ending without giving it away? Ok. Can you do that?

VOSS: Yes.

[01:45:00] ALLEN: Tell us your reaction, without giving it away? Were you please did you? Did you like it?

VOSS: Yes, I'm still processing the episode. A lot of big shocking moments happens, I won't talk about any of them in explicit detail. But I just came from a watch party with 100 people, and I can at least promise that I was on my feet clapping, screaming, gasping throughout.

So it was a whole emotional rollercoaster. And I look forward to re- watching like and truly break it all down across that thing.

ALLEN: Well, I've just started. I'm happy to say I'm in Season, episode three. But even from interviewing you before Erik that I decided, you know I have to get in there, and get in there.

I think a lot of people are coming around aren't they? The few that haven't watched, it a like ok, were missing something here.

VANIER: Talking about me.

ALLEN: like this guy

VOSS: It's never too late to start watching it and now you don't have to worry about waiting the full week. Instead (INAUDIBLE) your party now, so you can binge it all akeep it that way.

VANIER: So Eric, let me ask you a question. I haven't watched the show. But, I remember when I watched for instance, "Lost" and, you know, at the time it was one of those early really big TV series that everybody was watching at the time and talking. about.

And when you got to the end of it and you watch the final episode everyone wanted to know the final answer, the great big mystery, I was supremely disappointed like many fans were. And it kind of made me question whether I had wasted my time watching the whole thing.

So, I'm asking you, what about this one? Again without giving us the content.

VOSS: You're talking to someone who loved the "Lost" and the "Lost" finale until my dying breath. But what I can at least say about the "Game of Thrones" finale is it's less of a big question mark. I think "Lost" tried to answer some big spiritual questions with its finale. Whereas "Game of Thrones" just gets back to its roots of what it was in the first season and it kind of brings me full circle.

Without spoiling anything -- answering just some simple questions about characters, journeys and their destinies. And it kind of answers the simple question of what the "Game of Thrones" means. And what it means when it ends.

ALLEN: Right. well, has it really ended?

VANIER: Oh.

VOSS: I can answer that question, by talking about --

VANIER: No.

ALLEN: No, no. I thought there's maybe going to be a prequel or something?

VANIER: Yes.

VOSS: The "Game of Thrones" university lives on. The prequel series will explore events that happened thousands of years before the current era in Westeros on "Game of Thrones".

So yes, you will get more and more "Game of Thrones" content. But in terms of the political game between the characters in the series that we've been watching for the past six to seven years that game, as we know it, looks like it may be at and end.

VANIER: So how do you feel then? Because, I give you another one. "The Wire", when I stopped watching that one, I just felt like I had lost all my best friends.

ALLEN: You do watch TV. He does watch.

VANIER: When you spent hours with people and you don't see them from one to the next.

VOSS: Yes, I do feel pretty sad -- here's the thing, with "Game of Thrones" between season seven and eight -- they may just wait for like over a year and a half. We already had a big prime to pump, to learn how to breath and live without these characters.

I kind of feel ready to move on. The characters have gone through so many changes and turns that I think we have been disappointed in some, ways but also, maybe feel victorious and jubilant in other ways that I think they did a good job letting us feel like we can let go.

ALLEN: Thank you Emilia Clarke, et all -- right?

All right. Erik Voss -- Erik -- thanks so much we appreciate, it and maybe we will get -- I will call you when I'm done with the whole series and we'll talk about it then.

VANIER: Give her a couple of years. Thank you.

ALLEN: Thanks -- Erik.

VOSS: Thank you. ALLEN: All right, we have been watching the weather for several days

now in America's heartland because that area has been seeing some extreme weather. Europe might want to get ready too, we're told.

Pedram Javaheri has the forecast for us after this.

[01:49:12] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: A programming note for you. CNN will bring you some exclusive reporting from inside Yemen.

VANIER: CNN's Sam Kiley travels 4,000 kilometers, through northern Yemen to investigate the chronic food shortages that have left millions on the brink of starvation. It's known as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's almost a year old, but he is the weight of a baby at three months. These children are victims of a vicious circle. They're starving because of the siege at the port that supplies them and their rebel Houthi government's diversion of what little aid gets in.

In Yemen now, nearly everyone is short of food.

Malnutrition isn't only a problem among the displaced, and the host community. We have it too, even us, the employees. Our children back home are by are malnourished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Yemen of course has been racked by war. We won't want to miss Sam Kiley's exclusive report Monday. It airs at 8 pm in Hong Kong; 1 p.m. in London here on CNN.

VANIER: More tornadoes in store for the U.S. heartland, and parts of Europe should be getting ready for some weather trouble.

ALLEN: Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with the latest. I thought we were the tornado capital of the world?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We absolutely are. But certainly some severe weather to be had across portions of Europe and some of these areas actually do have a threat for tornadoes. And little fun fact for you, did you know, the U.K. highest density of tornadoes for its size than any other place in the world, even more so than portions of the United States.

And you look at this square kilometrage of that particular nation. They see about 25 to 30 tornadoes per year. So again, for its small size it does get quite a few. But severe weather concern hasn't been tornadoes just get across portions of Europe but in the Benelux region on into Germany, they have had plenty of wind damage report, and also some powerful gusts and damaging hail across the area as well. [01:54:59] And notice going in from Monday into Tuesday, the probability exists there on a scale of one to three -- it's a two, includes areas around Munich, work your way towards (INAUDIBLE) across the western region there of Ukraine also getting in some damaging winds. Potentially some heavy rainfall as well in some of these areas.

Flooding is going to be a big story as well just east of Zurich there, as much as 50 to 75 millimeters of rain in the forecast and instability is prevalent here. We've go 23 degrees thunderstorms. We've got rain in London, Paris at 18 degrees, Rome at 17. Certainly cooler than where you want to be for this time of year. But it is that time that you see some active weather and certainly the rain fall cools you off with it as well.

In the U.S. the past three days, how about some 50 plus reports of tornadoes, nearly 500 reports of hail or wind damage. The stage is set yet again for potentially the most active severe weather day of 2019 there, moving across the central portion of the U.S. The southern tier of the U.S. as well and with it notice plenty of wintry weather into the higher elevations.

Work your way towards the East, it's all about the heavy rainfall and that disparity between extreme cold and extreme warmth, of course, you get an active system moving right through this region and you have the stage set for some severe weather.

And notice this, going in towards this weekend, guys, major heat building. In fact, among the warmest temperatures ever observed potentially for portions of the southern U.S. for the month of May in store in the middle and upper thirties this weekend -- guys.

ALLEN: All right. Our city. Pedram -- thanks so much.

VANIER: Pedram Javaheri joining us from the CNN Weather Center -- thank you.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. The news continues next.

VANIER: Have a great day.

[01:56:34] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)