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North Korea Defiantly Launches Two Missiles; GOP Making Efforts to Stop Trump; The Economist Says Election of Trump Could Trigger Trade War; Judge Denies Former Brazilian President Government Position; Ivory Coast Reportedly Warned Weeks Ago of Impending Terror Attack; ISIS Atrocities Labeled Genocide; SeaWorld to End Controversial Orca Breeding Program; Life Saver for LA Homeless. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired March 18, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:02] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Two more missiles fired from North Korea, this time medium range rockets, came (inaudible) Japan; another show of defiance from an angry nation. Could a Trump presidency could be as big a risk to the world economy as ISIS? A British research group says yes; and, Hollywood Story, the TV star who was attacked by a homeless man, now an advocate for the homeless.

Hello everybody; great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. The first hour of "Newsroom," L.A. starts right now.

Another show of military defiance from the North Koreans, firing two medium range ballistic missiles off their east coast, both landing in the Sea of Japan. U.S. officials confirm the launch to CNN, saying both missiles traveled about 800 kilometers. Reuters reporting that they were fired from a road mobile launcher. This comes as Pyongyang continues to demand an end to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises which began almost two weeks ago.

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Ivan Watson, is in Seoul, South Korea with the very latest. So, Ivan, what more do we know about the two missiles which were fired?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: This was a predawn launch, and North Korea has a pattern of conducting military tests shortly before dawn. That's what happened last Thursday when it fired short range missiles and in this case, it appears that there were two projectiles fired. They went across the width of the Korean peninsula, across North Korea, landing in the sea to the east. They have been described by the U.S. Defense Department as Rodong Missiles. So, again, medium-range ballistic missiles.

Now, what's curious here is that the South Korean military says that one of these projectiles actually only traveled the distance of about 18 kilometers before it disappeared from radar. There's been some speculation within the South Korean press that maybe it malfunctioned and just failed. We cannot independently confirm that.

The launch here signifies yet another example of North Korea defying United Nations Security Council resolutions which ban it from developing and testing ballistic missile technology. John? VAUSE: So, Ivan, will these missiles launched by the North increase the likelihood that the U.S. will deploy its anti-missile system to the South Korean, maybe even Japan as well?

WATSON: Possibly; the talks are still underway. And definitely what has propelled those negations forward, that was North Korea's testing of what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb back in January. That really alarmed pretty much everybody in the region and led eventually to this latest United Nations Security Council resolution passed in the beginning of this month, slapping North Korea with more sanctions for denying multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.

A couple things to keep in mind: during this period of the year, when the U.S. and Korea are conducting their annual joint military exercises, North Korea typically gets very, very angry. It's logged a formal protest letter with the United Nations Security Council about this. It views these exercises as a potential precursor to an invasion by the U.S. and South Korea, of the North. So, for example, in 2014 when these exercises were going on, North Korea, according to the South Korean military's count, fired 90 ballistic mill missiles and rockets over a roughly 8-week period. So, some of what we're seeing right now fits that pattern.

There's a separate element here. It was just a few days ago that the North Korean loader instructed his scientists and his military to carry out more ballistic missile tests, more nuclear tests with the clear goal of further developing North Korea's nuclear weapons or arsenal and its ability to put nuclear bombs on war heads to be able to be launched on intercontinental ballistic missiles. John?

VAUSE: Ivan, thank you; Ivan Watson there, live in Seoul, where it's gone after 1:00 on Friday afternoon. Thanks, Ivan.

An unprecedented move is underway within the U.S. Republican Party to stop their own front-runner from winning the presidential nomination. A group of prominent conservatives met in Washington on Thursday calling for a unity ticket and a convention fight to stop Donald Trump. Meantime, on the democratic side, Bernie Sanders has conceded the Missouri primary to Hillary Clinton, giving her a clean sweep in all five of Tuesday's contests. Now, with Trump and Clinton atop their parties, many are predicting one of the nastiest presidential campaigns ever. Suzanne Malveaux reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:02] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brace yourselves for a battle you've never seen before.

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it.

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's been involved in corruption her whole life, whether it's White Water -- I mean, her whole life is corruption. MALVEAUX: Forget about the snarky retorts of the 2008 campaign -

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENITAL CANDIDATE: You're likable enough.

MALVEAUX: -- or the relatively mild mannered exchanges that made debate audiences roar.

CLINTON: I did not mention his name.

OBAMA: Your husband did.

CLINTON: Well, I'm here. He's not.

OBAMA: Well, I can't tell.

CLINTON: Well, you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Resco, in his slum landlord business, in inner city Chicago.

MALVEAUX: This general election will likely resemble a cage match, with Donald Trump relentlessly pummeling Hillary Clinton over her honesty, energy and e-mails.

TRUMP: She shouldn't be allowed to run. What she did was a criminal act. She doesn't have the strength or the energy.

MALVEAUX: Clinton is already going after Trump's character.

CLINTON: Well I think all Americans could be concerned. He is trafficking in hate and fear. He is playing to our worst instincts.

MALVEAUX: Anti-Trump republicans are fueling the feud, by using Trump's own words against him.

[Anti-Trump commercial played]

MALVEAUX: As both candidates prepare to go mano-a-mano, they're sharpening their attacks over national security.

CLINTON: When he embraces torture, that doesn't make him strong; it makes him wrong.

TRUMP: Hillary is a disaster; okay? Hillary's a disaster. She's a disaster. Just ask Hillary about Libya. You just look at what's happened.

MALVEAUX: The attacks are also playing out online. This on Trump's Instagram. [Dog barking]

A pro Clinton Super PAC delivering this counter punch: "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things."

MALVEAUX: While both candidates are testing their themes -

TRUMP: Make America great again.

CLINTON: Make America whole again.

MALVEAUX: -- political strategists are firing warning shots.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would advise Hillary not to go down the gutter with Trump. Somebody has to stand on that stage and be the adult in the room. I think that Hillary Clinton needs to resist the temptation of trying to out Trump Trump.

Trump has warned Clinton that nothing is off the table in their battle for the White House, including criticizing her for her husband, President Bill Clinton's past sexual indiscretions; to that Hillary Clinton has said, so far, I have no response.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's National Political Reporter Maeve Reston is with us now for more on the Republican Party efforts to stop Donald Trump and why those efforts have failed so far.

Now you've really gone deep into the background here. You wrote a great article for cnn.com and you outlined very specific details here and it seems that, you know, from your reporting it's a perfect storm of bad decisions, fear, hesitation, wrong decisions, all coming together, basically, to the point where Donald Trump now looks to be the nominee.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes; it was really amazing to kind of go back through all of this history. I mean, you think about when we were first talking about Donald Trump, when he was even talking about getting in the race last year, everyone thought it was a joke, even the point of his announcement speech, even when 23 million people were tuning in to our debate.

It's just been this fascinating process where the Republican Party didn't take him seriously at first and all of the candidates were focused on their own agenda and nobody thought it was their problem to take out Donald Trump. So you now have this -- you have this last minute effort, before Super Tuesday 3, earlier this week where all of the donors got together, had this kind of siren call three weeks ago, four weeks ago, just asking Meg Whitman, other big mega donors, like Paul Singer, trying to bring all this money together to define Trump within this very short window of time.

They didn't, obviously, get what they wanted this Tuesday night, but they were able to kind of bring down his delegate count in certain states. So there's this fascinating conversation going on right now among donors about whether they continue these efforts or whether they're really putting the Republican Party at risk and destroying their nominee.

VAUSE: And throwing good money after bad, as well, I guess? RESTON: Yes, and throwing good money after bad. You know, their hope was that they could begin to incrementally shave off his support and sort of freeze this group of republican voters that were entertained by him but not feeling too strongly about -

VAUSE: Not quite committed, right.

RESTON: -- him, one way or the other, to try to get less of those people to [00:10:01] go to Trump in these states, in the primaries coming up. It seems like they were somewhat successful, in that sense -

VAUSE: Just not successful enough.

RESTON: Just not successful enough. Certainly in Florida you look at how much money was spent in Florida and he just demolished Marco Rubio --

VAUSE: He knocked it in. Speaking of Marco Rubio, you do write about Marco Rubio. At one point he was this fresh face, he was the next generation of the republicans.

RESTON: Right.

VAUSE: He was the savior. He was destroyed by Trump in Florida. He suspended his campaign. And today he now says he won't even seek re- election to the Senate. In some ways that is almost symbolic of what Donald Trump is doing to the republican establishment, isn't it?

RESTON: Right; I'm pretty sure that Marco Rubio has a good plan about his political future, potentially, but it has been fascinating to watch the way Donald Trump been able to demolish these candidates.

Thinking about Suzanne's piece, I mean, we don't know yet what Donald Trump will do to go after Hillary Clinton and how he -

VAUSE: We have a fair idea though; it's going to be nasty.

RESTON: Yes, it's going to be very nasty, but I don't think we expected anyone to be able to demolish someone like Marco Rubio. Jeb Bush was maybe an easier target -

VAUSE: Because of the family name and -

RESTON: Right; but, you know, and was so much a part of the establishment. Marco Rubio was this insurgent, fresh face. You know --

VAUSE: Golden boy.

RESTON: The golden boy; and, you know, to see - when I was with him in Florida on Tuesday night, to just see how much he lost by, it was just an amazing turn of events.

VAUSE: We're now at this point that the republican party is so desperate that Senator Lindsey Graham is now raising money and supporting Ted Cruz. This is a man that Graham joked about murdering in the Senate. He said if it was a choice between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, he'd buy a ticket to the Titanic.

RESTON: Right, or the choice between being shot or poisoned, or something.

VAUSE: You know, is this how desperate the establishment now is, that they actually like Ted Cruz?

RESTON: I think the answer is yes; absolutely. You know, it's hilarious that Lindsey Graham ended up saying he would do whatever it takes to support Ted Cruz, even raise money for him because there's so much animosity toward Ted Cruz in the Senate. The entire time he's been there, people like Lindsey Graham always felt that Ted Cruz always put Ted Cruz first, wasn't doing things for the good of the party. And the idea that all of these people are now going to have to swallow their hatred of Ted Cruz and rally behind him because he looks like the strongest candidate, potentially, at the convention -

VAUSE: And he's a real conservative.

RESTON: But, I mean, I think that's the key point is that he is considered a true conservative. They know that the movement conservatives will get behind him. The fascinating meetings today, Erick Erickson, the influential "Red States," editor, you know, talking about a unity ticket with Cruz and Kasich potentially. So everyone's hitting the books. Everyone's trying to figure out the delegate math. They're studying the 76th convention. It's just kind of a wild moment for the party right now.

VAUSE: Very quickly, even the Democrats are worried about Donald Trump, President Obama in particular?

RESTON: Yes; absolutely. I mean, I think that what -- just talking to democratic strategists over the last week, what they've seen, contest after contest, is this guy is so much stronger, electorally, in reaching those Independent voters than anyone expected. Can any of us even really believe the general election matchup polls at this point? I mean, at this point Clinton looks stronger against Trump than he does against her, or Kasich or a Cruz. Cruz and Rubio look stronger, but who knows what would happen to her after he's, you know, done his attacks on the stump for many months.

VAUSE: It's very unpredictable right now. Maeve, great to speak with you; and I would recommend everyone head over to our website, check out your article there, your report. it's in depth. It's detailed and it's a great read.

RESTON: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Well, a British research group is warning a Trump presidency would be as big a threat to the world economy as is. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a well-respected geo-political analysis firm, related to the "Economist" Magazine says electing Trump could start a "trade war" and his anti-Muslim rhetoric would be a "recruiting tool" for jihadi groups. Well, author and journalist H.A. Goodman joins me now, here in Los

Angeles, to talk more about, essentially, I guess, how the world right now is seeing Donald Trump; but let's start right now with this assessment by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranking Donald Trump alongside ISIS. You know, ISIS we know they behead people, they burn people alive in cages. They're not saying he's as bad as ISIS, but just that his policies could disrupt the economy to the same extent; right?

H.A. GOODMAN, AUTHOR & JOURNALIST: Well, number one, his policies could never get past Congress.

VAUSE: Right.

GOODMAN: Some people were saying, with Bernie Sanders, free college tuition, single parent health care couldn't get past congress. Well, actually, those things could get past Congress. With Donald Trump, none of what he says could get past the American Congress; that's number one. Number Two, he plays the media. So he's a buffoon, but he's an entertaining buffoon. So people like what he says, unfortunately.

He's also a reflection of the Republican Party. So the xenophobia, a lot of the things he says appeals to a certain base of the Republican Party. Of [00:15:01] course Donald Trump owes an apology to the Muslim-American community. He owes an apology to the Latino community. He owes many apologies. He even owes an apology to John McCain.

VAUSE: Yes.

GOODMAN: The thing he does is primarily to be in the news all the time.

VAUSE: Sure; so what you're saying when he goes out on the stump and he does these big campaign rallies and he talks about China or Mexico or whatever, it's kind of performance art?

GOODMAN: It's absolutely performance art. When you look at Donald Trump, he's not an anomaly. He's a reflection of what the political establishment has become. Donald Trump gave money to Hillary Clinton's senate campaigns. Donald Trump gave money to Hillary Clinton's - the Clinton Foundation. Donald Trump goes golfing with Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg. So he is part of the American political establishment. He's not going to eat your children or destroy the planet or do anything like that. He is extreme, of course, --

VAUSE: Yes.

GOODMAN: -- but you shouldn't fear him. If you fear him, you better vote for Bernie Sanders because Bernie Sanders beats Trump by a wider margin than Clinton.

VAUSE: Okay; so then, you know, around the world we read the headlines all the time, you know, from Europe to Australia, to Canada, you know, it does seem, to some extent, the world is kind of freaking out about the prospect of a President Trump.

GOODMAN: George W. Bush is not very popular around the world.

VAUSE: Yes.

GOODMAN: The same people who advised George W. Bush, hate Trump and are advising Clinton. So, I am not a Trump fan. I said it. I think he's a buffoon and I think he's very good at manipulating the media, but when you talk about a hawkish militant foreign policy that could destabilize the region even more, the same people who pushed for that, neo-conservatives, are on Clinton's bandwagon. They're voting for Clinton, not Trump.

Not an endorsement of Trump. What I'm saying is, if you don't want perpetual, never ending wars and destabilized regions of the world, those people are voting for Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump. So, the thing is, if you fear Trump, like I said, vote for Bernie Sanders.

VAUSE: Okay; so -- but at the end of the day, when we look at this analysis that's come out, declaring Donald Trump a global risk to the economy, the absolute zero risk in all of this is that it will impact on any of Trump's supporters; right?

GOODMAN: Everything that Trump says is to ensure that he is popular among the very vocal part of the republican base. That's why he's the front-runner now, because he says things that republicans believe.

VAUSE: Yes; some republicans believe.

GOODMAN: Some republicans believe; so he's a reflection of the republican party. They don't like what they see in the mirror, they see Donald Trump. So that's exactly who they have. He's also a reflection of American society. When you look at 2008, when Hillary Clinton used a racist campaign against Barack Obama, that was a surreptitious form of racism.

Trump doesn't -- he's overtly xenophobic. So the thing with him is that he comes from an American political establishment and an American political system where racism actually gets votes.

VAUSE: Well, from some people.

GOODMAN: From some people.

VAUSE: We've seen this playing out. Good to speak with you.

GOODMAN: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Thanks for coming in.

GOODMAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Talk to you again next hour.

GOODMAN: Thank you. VAUSE: Okay; well, we'll move on here. There is growing political turmoil in Brazil. A judge has blocked the appointment of the former president to a senior government position. Critics argue Lula da Silva was given the job to protect him from a corruption investigation. All of this prompting a new round of street demonstrations. Here's Shasta Darlington reporting in from Sao Paulo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the second day running, thousands of people have taken to the streets here in Sao Paulo to demand the ouster of the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. This is really the heart of the anti-protest movement here in Sao Paulo, although about a dozen protests have erupted in cities across the country, particularly Brasilia; and these are critics saying that the government needs to come to an end. They've gathered support in the last couple of days after Rousseff appointed former president Lula da Silva her Chief of Staff, really firing up all of these political tensions.

Critics are saying this is more of a get out of jail free card rather than any real effort to shore up her government; that's because in a long running corruption investigation and investigators had begun to move in on Lula. They had raided his home, taken him for questioning and it looked like they could be actually charging him in coming weeks. Now, he can only be tried in the superior court, at least buying him some time.

So people here in Sao Paulo and other protests across the country saying they're going to keep up the pressure; and in the next few days will be crucial to see whether or not they can keep this momentum going, even gather more momentum or whether it peters out and the government is able to sort of reign in these tensions, high emotions and settle down and start to really govern a country that's getting ready for the Olympics in just a couple months' time; that's in a deep recession; and is also struggling with the Zika virus; a country that needs to have a functioning government.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:03] VAUSE: Short break here; when we come back, the U.S. is labeling as genocide, the brutalities carried out by ISIS against minorities. We'll explain why that matters and how it might change things. Also ahead, witnesses tell CNN about the horror they witnessed after gunman attacked a resort on the Ivory Coast. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:24:14] VAUSE: The atrocities committed by ISIS have been well documented and the United States has officially declared the terror groups actions in Iraq and Syria genocide. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made the announcement at a news conference on Thursday. It came after the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution using the term on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEC. JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: My purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that in my judgment, Daish is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidi's, Christian's and Shia Muslims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Secretary Kerry says ISIS trapped Yazidi's, killed them and enslaved [00:25:02] thousands of women and girls. These are images from Mt. Sinjar, in Iraq, in 2014. Thousands of Yazidi's fled there after ISIS stormed their town.

To the Ivory Coast now, where a military source tells CNN officials there were warned weeks ago about a possible terrorist attack on a coastal resort.

CNN's David McKenzie have spoken to a number of people who survived Sunday's deadly shooting rampage. They say it took hours for security forces to arrive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Celine is now in morning, but her Sunday began as a happy day at the beach. This is the last image of Celine with her husband, Talfiq (ps), before al Qaeda terrorists struck their hotel in Grand Bassam. Celine was in their room when the shooting started.

I heard bam, bam, bam, she says. I stood up and went to the balcony. There were people running and shooting. They were everyone. I started to panic and think, where is my husband?

Talfiq was by the pool. The security cameras show him desperately seeking shelter behind the bar. Celine says he hid in a storeroom, as the attacker arrives. It becomes clear that Talfiq made a fatal mistake.

Officially the gunman killed 16 civilians, but witnesses say they murdered many more people who were swimming. Ivorian officials believe the death toll will rise; bodies washed away in the strong currents.

Everyone we've spoken to says they we were surprised the terrorists struck here, but a senior source in the Ivorian military tells us there was prior intelligence of a possible attack.

The source says that intel came from Moroccan Security Services several weeks ago. They warned that jihadi's could strike at beach resorts, but (inaudible) like (inaudible) says security forces took hours to arrive, allowing them to kill at will.

Al-Qaeda and Islamic (inaudible) has released these propaganda photos, calling the killers 'knights of the desert. That's him, says Jean, not his real names because he was too afraid.

Jean says the so-called "Knights" were, in fact, barely adults; arriving at his bar on Sunday morning in a Ford sedan.

JEAN, BAR OWNER, IVORY COAST: They asked me about cigarettes and women, he says. They argued over which local beer to drink.

He says their faces are still stuck in his head.

AQIM says they were retaliating against France and Western crusaders but these witnesses say they massacred mostly Muslims, just like Celine's husband, Talfiq. She says he was the love of her life.

They took me to identify his body, she says. He was shot three times. They shot his mouth, a bullet was in his heart and in his leg. I've seen the body of my husband.

David McKenzie, CNN, Grand Bassam

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A short break here; when we come back, a big announcement from Sea World. After years of criticism, the company changes its controversial whale program. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:32:03] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody; you're watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour: North Korea has launched two ballistic missiles. A U.S. official tells CNN they traveled about 800 kilometers and fell into the Sea of Japan. this comes a week after Pyongyang fired two missiles, also toward the sea. Meantime, the U.S. and South Korea are in the middle of military exercised. The North wants those drills to end immediately.

The U.S. is labeling as genocide the ISIS atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities like the Yazidi's. The genocide label could pressure the U.S. to take stronger military action against the terror group. The last time the U.S. declared a genocide was in Darfur, Sudan in 2004.

More than two years ago the CNN documentary "Black Fish" shocked viewers with an inside look at how some marine parks treat their killer whales. Now Sea World says it's ending its controversial breeding program and partnering with the Humane Society of the United States. The company announced the orcas currently in its care will be the final generation enclosed at its three U.S. parks. The killer whale researcher, and the co-founder of the Orca Whale Network, Howard Garret, joins us now.

Howard, I guess, would you say this is a win for that documentary "Black Fish"? Howard? Can you hear me, Howard?

HOWARD GARRETT, RESEARCHER & CO-FOUNDER, ORCA WHAT NETWORK: Yes, I can. VAUSE: Would you say that this is a win for that documentary "Black Fish"?

Okay; I think we have some problems with Howard Garrett being able to hear us right now. Howard, of course, has been involved with Orcas and killer whales and rescues for quite some time. We'll try to get back to him in a moment.

In the meantime, we'll take a short break. We'll try and have more on that story from Sea World. We'll also have a story about a Hollywood actress who's walking the mean streets of L.A. to help the homeless and how an incident actually helped her towards this mission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:36:09] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Well, we've got our problems sorted out so let's go back to Howard Garrett. He's the cofounder of the Orca Whale Network. More on this story out of Sea World, banning the breeding program for its orca whales.

So, Howard, I guess my question to you before was, is this a win for the documentary "Black Fish"?

GARRETT: Well, I'd say so. I don't think it was exactly calculated that way to -- to score wins like this, but it definitely is the "Black Fish" effect at work. It has changed the public consciousness.

VAUSE: Okay; now, the remaining 28 orcas cannot be released into the wile because the experts say they would not survive. Why won't they release them into seaside sanctuaries?

GARRETT: Well, exactly, and that was the disappointment in today's announcement, that the seaside sanctuary idea was taken off the table. It was actually ridiculed as sea cages. So that's the old Sea World attitude, sort of an authoritarian we know best and derisive kind of dismissal of what is really a very viable idea to, you know, at a slow pace, one by one, return them to the ocean in seaside sanctuaries.

They can still be cared for, have medical care. Everything can be done to make their lives better, but they'll have room to move, and they'll feel better in the oceans.

VAUSE: Sure; hey, Sea World says it's shifting its focus to rescue and rehabilitations. They're now saying to phase out orca shows. Why not stop all the shows? Stop the sea lions on the horns, stop the dolphins jumping through hoops; why don't they just do that, you know, bring it to an end altogether?

GARRETT: Well, yes; they've made a big leap forward, but they really only have gone a couple of steps when they need to go a couple of miles. So it's an attitude toward animals, in general, and nature, in general, that we should respect and not just exploit, use for entertainment, or whatever petty purposes we may have, no matter what the cost is to the animals. So I think that attitude is shifting rapidly before our eyes and we saw the evidence today. VAUSE: Very quickly, last question here, the park, Sea World is

arguing that by keeping the orcas, that they're doing their bit towards conservation. Do you buy that?

GARRETT: Well, no; that may have been true for about five years, 1960s and 70s, but then they went into complete entertainment mode and they really haven't contributed to any kind of conservation efforts. They've more ridiculed those efforts than helped with them in years past. Maybe that's changing now.

VAUSE: Howard, I'm glad we sorted out problems because it was good to speak with you. Thanks for sticking around.

GARRETT: Thank you very much; bye.

VAUSE: Well, millions around the world know her as the Abby Sciuto, the offbeat forensic scientist, on the hit TV show "NCIS", but in real life the actress who plays, Pauley Perrette, is a real life savior for the homeless, forced to live on the streets of Los Angeles. Sara Sidner has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULEY PERRETTE, ACTRESS, "NCIA" & HOMELESS ADVOCATE: You guys okay in there?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: During a homeless count on the streets of Hollywood, lies the city's extremes. A successful television actress embracing her homeless neighbors.

PERRETTE: We're trying to get you funding. That's what we're doing, I promise.

SIDNER: Fans know Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto in a mega hit TV series "NCIS", but in Hollywood, she's also known for helping the homeless.

PERRETTE: They're human beings, instead of a statistic or a number. Each one is a different story.

SIDNER: Her compassion, perhaps, helped her when a homeless man, known to police, attacked her during a random encounter on the street.

[00:40:02] PERRETT: In a second, he had grabbed my arm, he had me pinned so I could not move. He said my name is William and I'm going to kill you.

SIDNER: Police say the man then punched her hard in the face.

Did you think you were going to be killed?

PERRETT: Yes, I thought he was -- told me he was going to kill me and I absolutely believed him; and then I said, I have a little nephew named William. And, for whatever reason, he went to go punch me one more time and then he said, get the f--- out of here.

SIDNER: She escaped and saw her attacker head toward Hollywood Boulevard.

PERRETT: I was terrified that he was going to get someone else.

SIDNER: Perrette sketched this drawing and gave it to a friend, who found the man and watched him until police arrived. The man is actually David Merck. He was arrested and charged with false imprisonment by violence. He has pleaded not guilty. But, for Perrette, he is a victim in all of this too.

PERRETT: It was heartbreaking to me to think about him, wandering out there on the street.

SIDNER: You're thinking this man is so mentally ill -

PERRETTE: He needs help.

SIDNER: Since that November night, Perrette has doubled down on her role as a homeless advocate, seen here discussing the problem with the L.A. mayor and Hollywood beat cops. The problem is so bad here that the City of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency.

PERRETTE: It turns out that the man that attacked me was missing for 14 years and his family didn't know where he was.

SIDNER: Mental illness remains one of the biggest challenges for advocates. Raquel lives on a sidewalk just blocks from the home of the Academy Awards. She is convinced her long lost family will return to this very spot. Perrette says she refuses housing. All the TV Star can offer now is a warm embrace -

PERRETTE: I love you.

SIDNER: -- on the streets of Hollywood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Sara joins us now with more on this. That's an incredible story, to think that this big TV star gets out there and does something good. You don't often see that.

It's very - one of the sad and surprising facts about Los Angeles. This is a city where dreams are made.

SIDNER: Yes.

VAUSE: There's a lot of wealth here. But when you come, and you do notice there are a lot of homeless people on the streets. Is it worse here than it is elsewhere in the United States?

SIDNER: In particular, big cities, that are really expensive, are having a real problem with this. Los Angeles, over the last two years, has seen homelessness jump 12-percent each year. And when you look at why that is, the experts will say look, affordable housing, big problem. They had $108 million that was put in place for affordable housing. That dropped to 26 million in 2014. What also happened? Housing prices started creeping back up. So you do see a correlation there when you start looking at affordable housing.

Teachers here in Los Angeles have a hard time finding a place to live that they can afford. Firefighters, folks who are making a wage that is decent, for certain cities, but really difficult in a place like Los Angeles. So we are seeing an uptake in homelessness here. About 26,000 people, they believe, are homeless in the city of Los Angeles alone. The county, it's even more. that's the size of Melton Mowbray, which I'm very familiar with because I have family in Leicester, in England. The size of Key West, Florida. The entire population of small cities. There are homeless people here, in Los Angeles living on the streets.

VAUSE: And you talked about the money that was approved and they've had these plans and they do this in the city. They approve plans, but when they start talking about where is the money going to come from, the conversation stops.

SIDNER: Right; it's hard to figure out where are you going to suddenly get $100 million, which is Los Angeles has pledged, to deal with it. And they're so serious about this, they have created a state of emergency, which allows them to take from other pots which allows them to do different things to make this process happen faster, but this isn't the only place dealing with this and you know this; and you know this, John.

VAUSE: Very quickly; Pauley Perrette, this TV star in your piece, she was actually attacked again recently by a homeless person?

SIDNER: She was. Somebody tried to grab her arm to look at the time, look at her watch. She yelled at that person and they stood back, and she told them what time it was and the person walked away. A lot of people think is this a publicity stunt? What's going on.

She is out there on the streets. I have seen her. I've watched her. Just on a daily basis, she goes out -- she knows everybody. She talks to them. People know her. In Hollywood, but if you look -

VAUSE: (Inaudible) TV star, or do they know her as Pauley?

SIDNER: No; it's just Pauley to them, and I think a lot of people will assume, well, does this have something to do with being in Hollywood. No; they know her as Pauley. They don't know her as a TV star. They see her. She knows their names; they know her name. So, she's a great advocate because she's been working with them for a very long time; but if you look under any underpass you see people all over this, not just the city, but the county, and it's disturbing to a lot of people to see that. The city has to do something and so does the county, and they're working towards that. What will happen? We'll have to wait and see where that $100 million goes, if it's finally approved.

VAUSE: Sara, thank you. Okay; well, that is it for us. Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause; "World Sport" is up next.

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