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Trump Lashes Out at Other Republicans; Russian Plane's Tail Found Five Kilometers Away from Rest of Debris; Ohio Votes No on Legalizing Recreational Marijuana; El Nino Storms Threatening California; Robin Williams' Widow: Williams Suffering from Undiagnosed Neurological Disease; China, Taiwan's Leaders to Meet in Singapore on Saturday; Jon Stewart's New HBO Deal. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 04, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:16] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM. Live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, the pull no punches, take no prisoners, Donald Trump is back. No longer the front runner, Trump is lashing out at pretty much everyone. Calling on his rivals to quit.

The mystery deepens as to what brought that Russian jetliner. The plane's tail recovered miles away from the rest of the crash zone.

And one of the shortest assignments ever. The "Daily Show's" Jon Stewart changes channels and signs a new deal with HBO.

Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.

A year and a few days until the U.S. presidential election and a new poll putting the Republican and Democratic frontrunners shows a very close race. In a hypothetical matchup, an NBC-"Wall Street Journal" poll shows Ben Carson and Hillary Clinton tied at 47 percent. The survey was done before last week's Republican debate. Meantime, the former Republican frontrunner Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of name-calling and insults against his rivals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a great honor. I want to thank Simon Shuster -- Jeb, he lacks the quality that you need. I think Marco is highly overrated. Highly overrated. Ben Carson does not have that energy. Marco doesn't show up to the United States Senate. What Jeb Bush was saying at the last debate, I don't know but he didn't say it well. When the e-mail problem came up Bernie Sanders lost his whole campaign. I mean, what he did was so stupid from his standpoint.

Marco Rubio's personal finances are a discredit. Oh no, he's personal -- all you have to do is look at his credit card. I mean, he is a disaster with his credit cards. He certainly lives above his means. There's no question about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And that was just a sample. Joining us now from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, CNN political commentator Jeff Lord.

Hi, Jeff. Good to have you with us. We should mention you're a Trump supporter, former Reagan White House political director.

So he's back. Mean Donald. He's there.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He's back.

VAUSE: He tried to be -- yes.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: He tried to be statesman like for a while. Clearly if these polls are any indication that didn't quite work for him. Does this sort of show that he's much better on the front foot and clearly he doesn't like being in second place?

LORD: Well, he never likes being in second place. But in all candor, I have to say about these polls, you know, an American presidential campaign is like a movie where there's three acts or three act play. You open gangbusters and then the middle act, the second act is ups and downs and ups and downs and twists and turns. And then finally you get to the third act where there is victory or defeat. We're now in the beginning, the very beginning of the second half. There are going to be polls galore. Some will show him up, some will show him down. The question is, is he going to be able to get, you know, things together for Iowa and New Hampshire, et cetera.

He is ahead in New Hampshire. He is ahead in South Carolina. He's ahead in other polls. So I just -- I mean, this is the way of the world here. And you make these attacks. This is what presidential candidates do. Heck, today's Election Day here in Pennsylvania. And I voted for candidates for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and other offices and I guarantee you the local airwaves were killed with attacks on opponents. So this is what politics is all about. There's nothing unusual about it.

VAUSE: There's a lot of rough and tumble and I would not ask you if Donald Trump is speaking as if this is the end of his popularity. We'll move on because at this book launch on Tuesday, Trump essentially called out a lot of candidates to drop out. He mocked Jeb Bush yet again. Jeb Bush, though, had his own message for Trump when he sat down to talk with CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, he's run for president twice and quit. And I've run for governor in the biggest swing state and won twice. I know how to win. I've done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: OK. So what we're seeing now is this fired up Jeb Bush, I guess, as what, three months before Iowa. Can Jeb Bush reintroduce himself and catch on fire at this stage of the campaign?

LORD: You know, I think he's got a problem here. His new motto is "Jeb can fix it." And I can only tell you here that the base of the Republican Party doesn't want this to be fixed. They don't want Washington to be fixed. I'll give you a good example. He likes to talk about education. Ronald Reagan wanted to get rid of the Department of Education. Jeb Bush wants to fix it. This is what -- this is your international audience. This is what Margaret Thatcher used to call the socialist ratchet.

So that, you know, what you have is a situation where the left moved the government in one direction then the right, quote-unquote, came in and just basically sat on it and managed it and then it kept moving left every time somebody else on the left was elected.

[00:05:06] That's in essence what Jeb Bush is proposing and I can assure you that the American people, or the base of Republican Party that's out there for Donald Trump or Ben Carson, they're not in any way connected to that.

VAUSE: Donald Trump did say that if you have been campaigning for the last, you know, three, four, maybe five months now and your numbers, your opinion poll numbers are still in the basement.

LORD: Right.

VAUSE: Barely registering at 2 percent or 3 percent, it is time to get out of the race. And there would be a lot of people who agree with him.

LORD: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, there's nothing wrong with starting the race at one or two percent. People like Bill Clinton, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, all of whom won the Democratic nomination. George H.W. Bush in 1980. I mean, they were very, very low in the polls, but the difference is they went up. They went up by a lot and they eventually captured their -- you know, their party's nomination or got on the ticket. In the case of George H.W. Bush after Ronald Reagan beat him in the primaries. So there's nothing unusual about starting low but you've got to go up. And if after this point you don't have it, the message is you don't have it.

VAUSE: Well, Jeb Bush (INAUDIBLE) has gone in the other direction. You know, he was the frontrunner.

LORD: That's right. Exactly.

VAUSE: Now he's between --

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: Right.

VAUSE: And one thing which is amazing is, you know, how Donald Trump has managed to get under Jeb's skin. Even today he was asked about -- Donald Trump was asked about his coming up appearance on "Saturday Night Live" on NBC. He said this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: My Jeb impression? No, I don't want to do that. I don't like showing a person sleeping at a podium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes. He was playing some jokes there. And you know, he's an entertainer. He's good at that kind of stuff. I bring up the "SNL" thing because this is causing a whole lot of problems not just for -- well, essentially for NBC. You know, Latino groups are protesting, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus is outraged, they're calling on NBC to stop this. And one of the reasons why I asked you this is because the polls do show that Trump is now driving Latino voters to Hillary Clinton. They're not necessarily, quote, "pro-Clinton," but they are anti-Donald Trump.

And that is now reflecting on the Republican Party. Should the rest of the candidates, the rest of the field be worried about Donald Trump and his standing right now with Latino voters?

LORD: No. You know, look, one of the things that is very disturbing here, the Democratic Party historically has been the party of race. This is the party that formulated itself around supporting slavery, then segregation, then lynching, then the Ku Klux Klan, they were big on interning Japanese Americans because of their race. You know now they're into racial quotas and now they're into illegal immigration because of skin color.

This is what they do. And so this is -- these are special interest groups that do this. And I think it's more a time for the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln to get on the ball here and reclaim their heritage because this is miserable. This is not what -- America is about ideas. A country based on ideas, not on race. And the Democratic Party, every last bit of it, including these interest groups need to be called out on it.

VAUSE: Yes, look, I just want to leave on the note, though, some people would say, well, you know, Donald Trump hasn't done a lot when he called, you know, Mexicans, some Mexicans coming here --

LORD: Illegal. Illegal immigrants.

VAUSE: Illegal immigrants. OK. We don't want to re-litigate that. That was months ago.

LORD: A hundred percent of the country is composed of descendents of immigrants. Myself included.

VAUSE: Absolutely.

LORD: Donald Trump included.

VAUSE: I'm one of the newest ones.

OK, Jeffrey Lord, thank very much for being here.

LORD: Welcome.

VAUSE: We appreciate it. Thank you.

LORD: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: And we have this programming note. Donald Trump will be a guest on "NEW DAY," that's at 7:00 a.m. here in the United States. You will see it only here on CNN.

We move on now to the Sinai peninsula where investigators are finishing their field world in the wreckage of Metrojet Flight 9268. Russian media reports the plane's tail was found about three miles or five kilometers away from the rest of the debris. Possibility an indication the flight came apart in midair. And despite speculation of a bombing, investigators have not found any traces of explosives in the wreckage so far.

For more, Nic Robertson live this hour from St. Petersburg, Russia, where the flight was heading before it crashed.

So, Nic, word this is tail of the plane was found some distance from the wreckage. How will this play into the investigation?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the Russian media here, if you like, are the ones that have, A, the strongest interest in sort of explaining all of the details that they are hearing and potentially in this case have access to many of the sources on the ground. What we are learning from a St. Petersburg newspaper this morning, this is the oldest newspaper in St. Petersburg, it's also the most respected newspaper in St. Petersburg and of course St. Petersburg is where this plane was flying to, they are now reporting something different that we haven't heard until now.

[00:10:03] They are saying there are basically two types of injuries that the people on board the aircraft sustained. That there were those at the front section of the aircraft who sustained trauma and burns from falling and those at the rear section of the aircraft, the tail section that experienced explosive trauma with metal fragments found inside the bodies.

Now of course, TASS, state news agency, yesterday said that bodies that have been tested so far for explosive residue showed no indications of explosive residue and also that there were on the bodies that have been tested so far. This is according to TASS yesterday, so there was no indication of an impact on the bodies from explosions. So you now have from different parts of the Russian media talking to their own sources and sort of beginning to be some varying accounts.

Of course here in St. Petersburg is where the families are viewing the bodies that have been returned here. So potentially in St. Petersburg the local journalists here have access to some of those forensic experts that are working with the bodies as they've been brought back here and as the families are viewing them -- John.

VAUSE: Yes. And, Nic, with that in mind, with those reports that are coming out from the Russian media and I guess various media organizations around the world, what we're getting -- daily updates from Russian officials about the recovery but there isn't a lot of official word about what actually happened. Just a lot of speculation, unsourced reports so you say from the Russian press and others. How much frustration is that causing among those there in the St. Petersburg in particular the relatives of those who are on board this flight?

ROBERTSON: Well, the few relatives that we've been able to speak to so far and the close friends really they're in a phase at the moment from our discussions with them, at least, limited discussions, that they are really coming to terms with their horrible tragic loss. And then of course, you know, they've got to then identify their loved ones. So they are in a very, very traumatic and difficult situation. And we haven't heard family members so far complaining that they're not getting adequate help, that they're not getting adequate information. That none of this is happening fast enough.

And certainly there's been an outpouring of support for the families from the Russian public, in general. And a real desire to know precisely what happened. But I think generally speaking it's reasonable to say that in Russia I think the expectations are getting quick answers. People generally don't expect that. And certainly that's what officials here are saying, saying that the investigation is being led by Egypt. That it will take several weeks. And that we can't judge anything until the final results are in.

However that said the president's spokesman has also been very keen to say don't draw unnecessary hypothetical links with this plane coming down and Russia's military actions inside of Syria. Obviously intended to sort of address that issue that ISIS itself has claimed responsibility for bringing this aircraft down. No evidence there to support that yet either -- John.

VAUSE: That's an important point which we'll be discussing next with Bob Baer who is with me in the studio. But, Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson live for us in St. Petersburg and of course Bob Baer is here. Former CIA operative and security analyst.

OK, so, you know, we had this claim come out by ISIS that they did take this plane down. What we're looking at now with this flight apart from a handful of flights like TWA 800. Most planes that break up in the air because of malice, it's either a missile or a bomb. Right? So that then leads us to the possibility there was a bomb on board. In your experience, how easy, how difficult would it be for someone to get a bomb on to a flight like this?

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's extremely easy. The explosives can be if, for instance, in the wall of a suitcase. You can take an iPad and turn it into a detonator. You simply put it alongside a suitcase and blow it out, you get a pound of explosives. Getting explosives through airport security, if there is no nitrogen testing, they swab the suitcase, it's fairly easy. In an airport like Sharma el Sheikh, the security is not the best. I

mean, they are on full alert there but it is Egypt, it's in the middle of a civil war. You have an insurgency. There's no way to make sure that the airport staff, the guys that load the baggage, are 100 percent -- you know, aren't fundamentalists at that point.

VAUSE: I've flown out of Sharma el Sheikh, you know, it's not exactly bristling with security at least when I was -- and that was a few years ago. Again this highlights a weak link in international air travel. You can get all the security you want in the United States, in Europe, you get these airports outside of the system, it makes it very easy to get something onto a flight.

BAER: Well, it gets -- and even in the United States -- it's easy. I mean, we don't -- you can't keep track of all airport staff. I mean people can get through the security checks. I mean, who knows what goes through people's heads in some point somebody at an airport a convert to the Islamic State could easily put a bomb on. And there's nothing we can do.

[00:15:10] VAUSE: So part of the investigation now clearly they'll be looking at maybe somebody at Sharma el Sheik would be involved in this. Would they be looking at the staff? What is the investigation go in terms of the possible terrorism here?

BAER: Right now the key is the residue. I mean, you've got to find the fuel that would have set this explosion off. And it could be -- it could be plastic for instance. It's the most obvious. It cuts open a plane, you don't need much explosive. They have to look at the baggage. It wouldn't necessarily be on the passengers if it were in the hold. It would be -- passengers would be shielded from the explosive blast by the suitcases. So they actually have to find the suitcases where it's -- the bomb would have gone off, and they could do it eventually.

VAUSE: I can see that the Egyptians here, you've got the Russians, you've got the French, the Irish are there because the plane was --

BAER: Yes.

VAUSE: -- released in Ireland, I think. Who's in charge? Who's running the show and is that just simply too many people calling the shots on the ground?

BAER: I think it's too many. Look at Pan Am 103. There is still a dispute.

VAUSE: Yes.

BAER: You had the Scottish appeals court said it was a travesty of justice. I mean, we can't agree on Lockerbie. So, you know, getting the Russians and the Egyptians to give us a straight up answer whether it was an explosion we may not get it.

VAUSE: We're getting these claims coming out of Moscow, claims coming out of Cairo, all this sort of unsourced reports. One thing we talked about that's interesting, we had this ISIS affiliate group that put out this video. And it was ridiculous. It was the wrong type of plane which we were seeing on the video. You know, the plane was at 31,000 feet. It was out of range of the shoulder-fired rockets which they have. How does that muddy the waters in any way in terms of the investigation?

BAER: It's muddied it because they didn't provide a key piece of evidence. If they'd said hey, we did it by a bomb, it was this kind of explosive, check it out, guys. It was this part of the plane, something that would give some sort of credibility to this tape. I mean, they have been known to claim attacks that they have had nothing to do with. So I put no value in -- in the tape at this point.

VAUSE: I mean, could another group be responsible for this? You know, that we haven't heard from them because this claims is bad, I mean, this is --

(CROSSTALK)

BAER: Al Qaeda in Yemen.

VAUSE: Because this looks like --

BAER: Yes. They could get this on. Could they have claimed it in the name of the Islamic State? Absolutely. There is no pattern to claim.

VAUSE: Yes.

BAER: Some people claim them, some people don't.

VAUSE: Sure.

BAER: I mean, if the Indian Airlines was blown up, the Korean Airlines, you have Lockerbie was same way.

VAUSE: So that sense of a claim, is it --

(CROSSTALK)

BAER: It doesn't add anything.

VAUSE: OK. This happened about 25 miles from the Israeli border. That's one of the closely watched pieces of dirt in the world. What would the Israelis be feeling into this right now and how concerned would they be that something like this potentially may have happened so close to them?

BAER: A surface-to-air missile they would have picked up.

VAUSE: Yes. Right.

BAER: And they would have said something by now and they would be very alarmed. And the only way they could get a surface-to-air missile, these groups, is by stealing from the Egyptian military. There's been no reports of that. I think we can just discount the missile at this point and we really have to go back to looking for evidence there was a bomb on this plane. It may have been the tail. We don't know. The fact that Sinai is what concerns me the most.

VAUSE: Was it?

BAER: It is a war zone.

VAUSE: Yes. Just because it's so volatile.

BAER: And there's a civil war going on in Egypt. So why -- you know, it's the kind of place where a plane gets blown up in the air.

VAUSE: And when you say surface-to-air missile you're talking about --

BAER: Yes, yes. But not a SA-7 or anything like that.

VAUSE: Nothing about that.

BAER: Yes, no.

VAUSE: OK. Bob, thanks for coming in. Good to have you into the studio for a chat. Appreciate it. Thanks.

BAER: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, a short break here. When we come back, they say buy low, sell high but not in Ohio. After voters say no to legalizing marijuana. The issue and the financial controversy just ahead.

Also, the most trusted news man in America making a comeback. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

[00:22:50] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Voters in the U.S. state of Ohio just said no to legal pot. On Tuesday they rejected a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical uses.

More details now from CNN's Stephanie Elam.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, voters in Ohio decided to pass on legalizing marijuana. This was the first time in the country voters had the chance to legalize medical and recreational marijuana use at the same time. Called Issue Three on the ballot it would have given commercial growing rights to just 10 predetermined farms owned by investors backing the campaign to legalize the cash crop.

TV and music star Nick Lachey, NFL player Frostee Rucker, fashion designer Nanette Lepore and even President William Taft's great-great grandnephews were all poised to cash in if the amendment passed. But the initiative had an uphill battle with some Ohioans who support legalization saying Issue Three wasn't the way to go since it would line the pockets of so few. There was also Issue Two on the ballot, an anti-monopoly countermeasure specifically designed to defeat Issue Three.

Ohio would have been the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana and the 24th to legalize medical marijuana -- John.

VAUSE: Thank you for that.

Well, for more, Beau Kilmer joins me now via Skype from Oakland, California, co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Center.

Beau, thanks for being with us. This measure was defeated by a pretty wide margin. But were voters saying no to legalize marijuana or were they just refusing a government-controlled monopoly of marijuana?

BEAU KILMER, CO-DIRECTOR, RAND DRUG POLICY RESEARCH CENTER: Well, John, they weren't voting on a government-run monopoly. This is a step back. I mean, as you know, a lot has been happening with marijuana policy in the state the past few years. While marijuana remains prohibited under federal law, a handful of states have passed initiatives not only removing prohibition on marijuana but also letting for-profit companies come in and begin producing and regulating marijuana. Producing and selling. But it's all regulated by the state.

In casinos, the states determine who gets the licenses. Well, it's voted on in Ohio, took it a step further. And they are only those individuals who put money into the ballot initiative, essentially they would have been able to produce commercially, and so the government would not have had the ability to choose who actually does the production. So that's why what was voted on in Ohio was different from what was voted on in the other states.

[00:25:21]VAUSE: And why did they go for that different type of scheme compared to every other state and what looks to be like another 16 states which are heading down the road of legalization?

KILMER: Well, in Ohio there are a number of individuals that were trying to make money. And so they each put in a certain amount of money in order to kind of bankroll the initiative. And if it were to pass, they would have been the only individuals who would have been able to produce marijuana for the commercial market. And so they would have been able to make profits off of that. And so it was an investment for them and it didn't pay out.

VAUSE: OK. It was all about the money. They took the gamble and they lost. I think they put about $20 million in the initiative, and it did not pay out but they will say that that ballot measure could be back as soon as next year.

Beau Kilmer, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

KILMER: John, thank you very much.

VAUSE: Still to come here, preparing for Godzilla El Nino. After the worst drought on record, California braces for a wet and wild winter.

Also a little girl with an incurable disease makes a heart-breaking decision. Go to hospital or go to heaven?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Just coming up to 9:30 on a Tuesday night. I'm John Vause. The headlines this hour.

A new poll shows a tight race in the U.S. presidential election if they were held today.

[00:00:30]

VAUSE: In a hypothetical matchup a NBC/"Wall Street Journal" survey shows Ben Carson and Hillary Clinton tied at 47-percent. Meantime, Republican, Donald Trump, who slipped to second in the national polls, he's out with a new book. It's called "Crippled America."

Russian state media say no traces of explosive devices have turned up so far in the debris of Metrojet 9268. Meantime, as a precautionary measure, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo has told employees to stay away from the Sinai Peninsula until the investigation is complete.

The Pentagon says the U.S. and Russia conducted a communications test while flying over Syria. Reports say a Pentagon spokesman denying Russian media accounts that the two countries held a joint training exercise. The spokesman says the test was part of an agreement to avoid conflict in Syrian air space.

Iran's supreme leader is clarifying his country's "Death to America" chant; Ayatollah Ali-Khamenei says the slogan is aimed at the U.S. government and its policies, not American individuals. Despite the nuclear deal, Khamenei say relations between the U.S. and Iran are not normal.

We turn to Yemen now, where parts of the country have been deluged after a rare tropical storm, which hit on Tuesday. The storm, called Paula, dumped at least a year's worth of rain and much more in some parts. Mudslides and flash flooding are a major threat to the country's dry, rugged terrain. Amateur video reportedly shows people trying to rescue some who were stuck in a car. CNN, though, cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the video.

Meantime, fog is a pretty big problem across much of Europe and the United States. Meteorologist Allison Chinchai joins us in the CNN Center. We're looking at some soupy conditions for millions of people.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Indeed, it really does. It's very widespread across two different continents. Now here's a look, actually, at Atlanta right now, and there's a key thing missing. That's the top half of many of the buildings. The fog literally cuts the buildings off, right about here, but there are many skyscrapers that are just kind of hidden underneath that fog. Now, Atlanta is not the only area that is dealing with some fog.

This was with earlier on Tuesday. Now, you see the bright white color? That's actual clouds, but the lighter, almost grayish tones, that's fog. It was very widespread across much of the southeast and even parts of the Midwestern United States. As we go in to Wednesday and even on Thursday, we are dealing with similar conditions. Cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, even Washington, D.C. going to be dealing with visibilities of two miles or less. Same thing again as we transition in to Thursday, many of the same cities, this time including New York City, also in to Memphis.

Now, it's not just the United States; Europe has also been dealing with a lot of fog. Same thing, the brighter white, that would be the clouds, especially around the storm system. Some of the gray areas you see, that was the fog earlier on Tuesday. Here you can look Wednesday morning: Copenhagen, areas like Leeds, Manchester, Hamburg, even Malmo, Sweden going to be dealing with very intense fog as we transition in to Thursday. Then it starts to just become more of a Western Europe issue.

The reason for a lot of this fog is the type of weather that we've been having; so let's take a look. Typically when you have a lot of fog like this, you've got a lot of wet ground. We've seen a lot of rain in a lot of these places. That surface becomes completely saturated. When it does, at night, those skies clear back out. All of that heat then rises up and it allows your Dew Point temperature to match what your actual evening temperature, and that's what causes a lot of the radiation fog that sits at the surface. Again, that's what we've been seeing in a lot of these areas.

One other thing to notice is also the pattern because it has been very warm and very moist in a lot of these places, especially very warm, pulling up that Gulf moisture into parts of the eastern half of the country. The temperatures have also been warm, 20 degrees above average. However, John, out to the West it's been very cool out in your neck of the woods, and also a lot of moisture. That's why we have been seeing a lot of snow and rain. That's actually been good news; a lot of the ski resorts, John, are going to be opening up in just a few days from now. So snow is exactly what they were hoping for.

VAUSE: Absolutely, a bit of moisture, a bit of cold. There you go. Good to hear. Allison, thank you.

Here in California there's a new sense of urgency; it's all because of El Nino expected to be a big one. Crews are scrambling to clean up roads in some areas which have been slammed by recent storms. More rains are expected, courtesy of that El Nino weather pattern, which many fear could be extra strong this year. Details from Paul Vercammen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: L.A. County Public Works crews making sure that every storm drain is completely clear, and they got an ominous look at just what El Nino could do when a storm went through here just about two weeks ago.

A thunderstorm pounded northern Los Angeles County. Cars became trapped when mud gushed down hillsides.

[00:35:00]

L.A. County called in the heavy equipment to clear roads, bridges. In a way, they are even fighting water with water to clear huge milkshakes of muck and storm drains.

GAIL FARBER, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR, LA COUNTY: Deal in risk every single day, and, really, our charge this year is to really emphasize and to increase that awareness.

VERCAMMEN: The Public Works Director, like her counterparts throughout California, is touring danger zones, bracing for El Nino.

FARBER: We know that these natural disasters an extreme events are going to happen. It's just what we can do a better job at, and we all can prepare and take care of each other so that we can minimize losses and damages.

VERCAMMEN: Here's the latest National Weather Service El Nino warning:

COMPUTER: October sea/surface temperature anomaly continues to reflect warming across the Tropical, Central and astern Pacific Ocean.

VERCAMMEN: Based on water now 2.4 degrees Celsius, the measurement of this El Nino is just behind the devastating 1997/1998 El Nino event. That season 30 inches of rain, twice the normal average, cascaded onto Los Angeles.

So now county works crews are digging out ahead of El Nino, clearing 82,000 catch basins and 3300 miles of storm drains. A road supervisor warns, when the rains come, stay away from slide zones, especially places stripped of vegetation by recent fires.

PAUL DEARDORFF, ROADS SUPERVISOR, L.A. COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS: Try to avoid areas where there might be a cliff or a mountainside that you could get stuck in a mudslide. Like, during this storm we had heavy hail and people were unaware and they just, you know, got caught up in heavy mudslides.

VERCAMMEN: So when might else El Nino drop its heaviest rain? The National Weather Service says El Nino's usually peak from January to March, but don't be surprised if some super heavy stuff starts to come down in December.

Paul Vercammen, CNN, Lake Hughes, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The widow of Robin Williams is talking publicly for the first time about why her husband decided to take his own life.

In an interview with ABC, Susan Williams said her husband suffered from an undiagnosed neurological disease, called Lewy Body Dementia. It affects the brain's ability to transmit signals, and it's symptoms include confusion, memory loss and motor problems. Robin Williams committed suicide August of last year. His wife says he had been sober for eight years and wasn't depressed.

What if your child was sick and couldn't be cured. Every time you took her to the hospital she was in pain, she suffered. What if she one day your five year old said she didn't want to go to the doctor anymore, instead she wanted to go to heaven? What would you do? Here's Senior Medical Correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE MOON, MOTHER: What princess are you today?

JULIANA SNOW: Cinderella.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Juliana Snow has a neuro-muscular disease that's slowly taking her life. She can't walk or breathe on her own, or even use her hands to play with glitter.

J. SNOW: There's no such thing as too much.

MOON: There's no is such thing as too much? Okay.

COHEN: The next time Juliana gets a cold, or infection, her body will be too weak to fight it off. What do the doctors tell you is likely to happen if she were to get another cold?

STEVE SNOW, FATHER: She will most likely die if she gets another cold.

COHEN: Juliana's doctors presented her parents, Steve Snow and Michelle Moon, with two devastating options: Juliana could die at home, in her pink princess room, made comfortable, surrounded by family; or, she could go to the hospital where treatment likely couldn't save her, or even if it did she would likely have a terrible quality of life.

MOON: Everyone told us there's no right answer.

COHEN: So Michelle and Steve asked Juliana something almost no parent could fathom. When she was just 4-years-old they asked what she wanted to do, go to the hospital or to heaven. You blogged about it.

MOON: Yes.

COHEN: So let's take a look.

MOON: Okay. So, me: Juliana, if you get sick again, do you want to go to the hospital or stay home? Juliana: Not the hospital. Me: Even if that means you will go to heaven if you stay home? Juliana: Yes. Me: And you know that mommy and daddy won't come with you right away, you'll go by yourself first? Juliana: Don't worry, God will take care of me. Me: And if you go hospital it may help you get better and let you come home again and spend more time with us. I need to make sure you understand that. Hospital may mean you have more time with me and daddy. Juliana: I understand. COHEN: Juliana told her parents she hated the hospital, especially a procedural called nasotracheal suctioning.

SNOW: They basically a tube on a suction machine and you stick it up the nose, down past the tongue, back into the throat, as deep as you can go, and you start suctioning. If given the choice of me or one of the respiratory techs she would usually ask for me to do it.

COHEN: Was that hard to do.

SNOW: Yeah.

COHEN: Could you watch her go through that again do you think?

SNOW: Yes, if I had to, I do.

[00:40:00]

COHEN: Would it save her life, to do it again, if she were to get an infection?

SNOW: I don't think so.

COHEN: Michelle and Steve say when the time comes they will honor her daughter's wishes to die at home and go to heaven over the hospital.

Some parents wouldn't have consulted a child so young. They would have said we are the parents. You asked your daughter at the age of four, what do you think? What should we do?

MOON: Juliana had to go through hundreds of rounds of nasotracheal suctioning. She knows exactly what that was. She was awake for every single one. She knows what that is. So, I think she has a right. I think she has a say.

COHEN: Juliana's her doctors told CNN she is an exceptionally wise 5- year-old and they support her parents' decision to carry out her wishes. For now Juliana's enjoying life with her parents, her big brother, Alex.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. SNOW: Let it go. Can't hold it back anymore. Let it go. Let it go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And her princesses, are Elsa and Anna -- I forget, are they cousins or --

J. SNOW: They're sisters.

COHEN: Oh, they're sisters.

MOON: It's Ana.

COHEN: Oh, it's Ana. I said Anna.

MOON: Yes.

COHEN: It is Ana. Sorry.

J. SNOW: I forgive you.

MOON: She forgives you.

COHEN: What are your realistic hopes for her, for the rest of the time she has left?

S. SNOW: Be comfortable. Be happy. Feel loved.

COHEN: What's gotten you through it?

S. SNOW: Faith. "Whoever you may pray with, wherever you may be, I can guarantee for certain that god listens to you and me." Faith she will be in a better place when her time comes; and we think of joining her someday and this will all pass away.

COHEN: What do you want people to remember about Juliana?

MOON: Her heart. She is just so much love. Just so much love.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Washougal, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[00:45:00]

VAUSE: We have his just in to CNN: authorities in Fox Lake, Illinois are expected to announce the death of a police officer there, back in September, was suicide. You may recall, police launched a massive manhunt after Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz was found shot to death in a wooded area. He'd radioed police headquarters a short time earlier saying he was chasing three suspects. A law enforcement official says reports by the FBI and the medical examiner's office point to suicide.

For the first time since 1949 the leaders of Taiwan and China are set to meet on Saturday in Singapore. Taiwan's central news agency reports Taiwanese President, Ma Ying-jeou, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will discuss peace. Taiwan split from the mainland at the end of China's civil war. Beijing considers it a break away province and has threatened force should Taiwan declare independence. Matt Rivers following this for us from Hong Kong. He joins us now, live.

Matt, it seems this meeting has as much to do with an upcoming election in Taiwan as it does with trying to improve relations between Taipei and Beijing.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, timing is everything. Let's start with the national elections. They are scheduled to be held next January. Many people are speculating that the party that is currently in power in Taipei is using the timing of this meeting to hopefully bolster its chances at winning the general election next year. They would hope that by strengthening ties between Taipei and Beijing, specifically economic ties, as it has done over the past eight years or so since the party has been in power, that could further improve the Taiwanese economy. As we know, Politics 101, when the economy does well, generally speaking, the incumbent party does well in the elections. So that's certainly part of it.

For Beijing's side, they would rather deal with the current administration that is in power. The Opposition Party that's going against the incumbent party next year is decidedly less willing to negotiate with Beijing. Some members of that party even going so far as to call for Taiwan to be a completely sovereign country, to be completely independent from Beijing. So that is something that Beijing would rather not deal. As you mentioned, a sovereign country not something Beijing is willing to accept, even threatening the use of force.

VAUSE: Is it clear at this point who made the first move here and what is expected to come from this meeting?

RIVERS: Taiwanese officials told CNN a little earlier today that it was, in fact, the current administration in Taiwan that first made the pitch to have the two leaders of both sides meet. That was two years ago. Since then negotiations have been ongoing, but it wasn't until recently that Beijing agreed to this high-level meeting, only if it would take place in a third-party country; and that brings us to where we are now. As for what will come out of this meeting, so far details have been relatively scarce, although State media in both countries reported that there will be no binding agreements that come out of this. So it could really just be a symbolic meeting between the two countries. That said, it's certainly an historic meeting that is set to take place. What comes out of it does remain to be seen.

VAUSE: Okay, Matt, thank you. Matt Rivers live for us in Hong Kong.

Justin Trudeau will be sworn in as Canada's 23rd Prime Minister in the coming hours. The 43 year old, father of three, and his Liberal Party won a parliamentary majority in elections two weeks ago, ousting Steven Harper's Conservatives. Mr. Trudeau is the son of the late Elliot Trudeau, who was Canadian prime minister in the '60s, '70s and early 1980s. Trudeau's not nearly as good-looking cabinet will also be sworn in.

It has been only three months since comedian Jon Stewart left our television screens, but now the former host of The Daily Show is coming back and we'll tell you where after a break. Plus, big changes happening at amazon. See how the on-line company is shifting its business. Stay with us.

[00:50:00]

(WORLD SPORTS HEADLINES AIRED) VAUSE: It's only been three months but boy do we miss him. Comedian Jon Stewart, his quick wit and biting humor, well, here's some good news. The former host of the satirical, fake newscast, "The Daily Show", has just inked a four-year deal with HBO.

CNN Senior Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter has the details. Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jon. This is a fascinating deal for Jon Stewart, that says a lot about how media has been changing. It's been three months since Jon Stewart signed off "The Daily Show", signed off Comedy Central. He's been living on his family farm in New Jersey, growing out his beard, enjoying not being on TV everyday. He said he doesn't miss "The Daily Show" one bit because it was such a demanding show. That's partly what makes this new deal different. This is a four-year production deal with HBO, which, like CNN, is owned by the media company Time-Warner.

Through this deal he'll be able to develop TV shows, he can develop movies, but he will start with web videos or what HBO calls short form digital content. So what exactly does that mean? Well it means that he'll be able to weigh in and comment on current events and whatever is going on in the world, with two to five minute long web videos that he'll develop, that he'll write, that he might narrate but might not actually appear on camera for So you can imagine a video that Jon Stewart makes about a debate where he writes it, scripts it, he records the audio for it but then animation appears in order to tell the story. He's actually working with a cloud graphics company in order to create these kinds of web videos. They'll go on-line on HBO's apps. They may not appear on HBO's television channel, but instead, they'll appear in HBO's apps.

It's as if he conquered one media, I mean, he conquered television. He had many years on "The Daily Show", and now he's off for his next act, trying out the internet instead, seeing if he can -- instead of a daily show, do an hourly show. Tell stories in a shorter way when he feels like weighing in on current events.

[00:55:00]

I'm sure for fans this is great news. They have missed him over the past few months, as opposed to some of the politicians and some of the media figures that he secure skewered, well, they may not be as thrilled to hear that Stewart will be back soon. HBO tells me this deal will start early next year, plenty of time, of course, for the 2016 election cycle.

John, back to you.

VAUSE: Brian, thank you for that good news. Well, browsing through a book at amazon has taken on new meaning, that's because the once online book seller just opened a real, actual, proper, physical store with books and stuff. The company's bricks and mortar shop opened on Tuesday in Seattle, Washington. Amazon says there you will find books which are based on customer ratings, preorders and sales and there will be one key difference: the books are lined up with the covers facing out, the entire cover, not just the spine. Below that they will have customer reviews and ratings. Look at that, they are lining up to get inside. There's probably a lot more to come.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I will be back with another hour of news after a short break. You are watching CNN.