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Obama Gets Cool Reception in Saudi Arabia; Up to 500 Migrants Feared Dead in Ship Sinking; Reports N. Korean Restaurant Owners Tricked into Fleeing to S. Korea; Queen Elizabeth's 90th Birthday Celebrations Begin; Olympic Torch to Pass Through Refugee Camp; ISIS Deadly Campaign to Overthrow Saudi Arabia Monarchy; Mass Murderer Wins in Norwegian Court; Photographer Talks Taking Royal Photographs; U.S. Treasury Announces Plans to Change Pictures on Dollar Bills. Aired 2- 3a ET
Aired April 21, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(HEADLINES)
[02:00:34] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: A very big and warm welcome to our viewers watching from all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
U.S. President Barack Obama is facing another day of diplomacy in a region that's unhappy with his administration.
BARNETT: After meeting with Saudi King Salman Wednesday, Mr. Obama will attend a summit with gulf leaders but will push for a ramp-up battle with ISIS. Mr. Obama is on the second day of a trip that will take him from Riyadh to London to Hanover, Germany.
CHURCH: This visit comes when relations between Riyadh and Washington are strained.
Our Michelle Kosinski is in Saudi Arabia and has details on the range of issues keeping the two allies at odds.
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MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama touched down in the heat of Riyadh to a chill. No Saudi King Salman there to greet him, though the king was there to greet other Gulf leaders. No warm kisses, as President Bush got. And this is President Obama's fourth trip to the kingdom, the most by any U.S. president ever.
BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people send their greetings.
KOSINSKI: A complicated relationship that is seeing some serious strain lately. Senior Royal Prince Turki al Faisal put it bluntly to CNN. TURKI AL FAISAL, SENIOR ROYAL PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA: There's going
to have to be a recalibration of our relationship with America, how far we can go on our dependence of America, how much can we rely on steadfastness from American leadership?
KOSINSKI: He says there's no going back to how things were before, even with a new president.
The Saudis already upset over the Iran nuclear deal. The U.S. negotiating with their biggest rival.
(SHOUTING)
KOSINSKI: In Syria, unhappy President Obama didn't act on his red line over chemical weapons and strike President Assad.
Disturbed over this article in "The Atlantic," that raised questions again over whether the president sees Saudi Arabia as a real ally, whether he thinks they are pulling their weight against ISIS. He used the term "free riders." And add to that, low oil prices and the U.S. importing less Saudi oil than in the past.
But then, there is September 11th. Legislation pending in the Senate, although now on hold, it would let American victims of terror sue Saudi Arabia. The White House and some top republicans, and of course the Saudis, oppose it.
But Hillary Clinton disagrees with the president on this.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Obviously, we have to make anyone who participates in or supports terrorism pay a price.
KOSINSKI: Putting her on the same side as Ted Cruz, who sponsored the bill.
And Saudi Arabia has threatened to sell off a trillion dollars in U.S. assets if such a law passed, family members of the victims of the 9/11 hijackers, of whom 15 were Saudi, have accused the U.S. government of letting them down.
Also pending is the declassification of those 28 pages in the 9/11 Commission report that could implicate some Saudis.
Today, the prince responded.
AL FAISAL: The Saudi government has been absolved by the September 11th Commission. We have nothing to hide.
KOSINSKI (on camera): For all of that, the White House walked away from this bilateral meeting with the king saying they felt really good about it. They said it was unusual. Unlike other meetings they've had with the Saudis, it was more than two hours long. It was broad, not perfunctory, they said, as these things can be. They are calling it a big clearing of the air on many of the issues that have caused such tensions between these countries. That doesn't mean that real solutions came out of this on the differences that still exist there. But at the very least, the White House is calling this progress in the relationship.
Michelle Kosinski, CNN, Riyadh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Now to another big story we're following. Hundreds of migrants are feared dead after a ship sank in the Mediterranean. This happened last week between Libya and Italy.
CHURCH: The U.N. Refugee Agency says a few dozen people were rescued and taken to Greece.
Ben Wedeman has the details from Rome.
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[02:04:46] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As many as 500 people may have died in another disaster at sea. The precise details are still not yet clear. What we understand is that a boat left the port in eastern Libya some time late last week with 100 between 200 people, and somewhere out at sea, they met a larger ship that was also crammed with hundreds and hundreds of refugees and migrants. They were in the process of being transferred from the smaller boat to the larger ship. The larger ship capsized. According to the UNHCR, only 41 people survived from this incident. Their statement says that they floated for three days on the smaller boat before they were picked up by a merchant ship that was carrying the Filipino flag. Now, of the 41 survivors, we understand there are 37 men, three women, and a 3-year-old child. The survivors have been taken to Greece.
It's significant that this comes almost exactly one year after a similar disaster at sea where a ship going from the North African coast towards Italy went down with 850 people down onboard. The death toll of the Mediterranean continues to rise.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: We'll talk to Ben next hour and see if there's new information on that terrible tragedy.
We're following a dire new warning from North Korea from the top U.S. official. General Vincent Brooks told a U.S. Senate panel that America should not be fooled by Kim Jong-Un's latest missile test failure. He says North Korea will be able to fire long-range nuclear- armed missiles if they're not stopped, he says.
CHURCH: The general also warned that Kim Jong-Un appears to be more risk-tolerant, arrogant, and compulsive than his father, the former leader of North Korea.
BARNETT: And that is saying something. In the meantime, we're hearing conflicting reports about the fate of a group of North Korean restaurant workers who Seoul claims deflected to their country.
CNN's Will Ripley spoke exclusively with their colleagues who claim the group was tricked into fleeing to South Korea.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a mostly sleepless night for these seven women. North Korean authorities brought them from their homes for an early-morning, late-minute interview in our Pyongyang hotel.
(on camera): Hello. Hi.
(voice-over): Behind their polite smiles, a heavy burden, trying to explain how 12 of their friends were supposedly tricked into fleeing the homeland.
North Korea calls it a mass abduction. South Korea calls it a mass defection. 13 North Koreans, 12 women, one man, lured by a life they saw on TV, movies, and the Internet.
"We would never leave our parents' country and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un," she says.
They worked at a state-owned restaurant at southern China, now closed. Women, all in their 20s, waitresses. The man, their manager.
"All of this was planned by our bastard manager and the South Koreans," she says.
They said their manager lied, telling the women they were going to another North Korean restaurant in Southeast Asia.
(on camera): China has said your friends crossed the border legally into South Korea. At some point, they had to know where they were going. Why do you think they still went?
(voice-over): "They had absolutely no choice," they insist. "We didn't even have our own passports on us."
South Korea's Unification Ministry tells CNN, "13 deflectors voluntarily decided to leave, and pushed ahead with the escape without any help from the outside. Following their voluntary request to deflect, our government accepted them from a humanitarian point of view."
North Korea is believed to make millions from its dozens of restaurants in other countries. I visited this one in northeast China in 2014. Waitresses are allowed to speak with foreign customers, making them among the most-trusted citizens.
(MUSIC) RIPLEY: A mass deflection would be a humiliating blow to Pyongyang. North Korea is facing growing isolation and sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs, and allegations of widespread human rights abuse.
"To our loving friends, our leader, Kim Jong-Un, is waiting for you. Parents and siblings are waiting for you. Please come back."
These are the seven left behind, left to explain why their friends are gone, left to wonder how life suddenly came so complicated.
Will Ripley, Pyongyang, North Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:09:49] BARNETT: Now, in a few hours, British Prime Minister David Cameron will deliver birthday greetings to Queen Elizabeth, who is turning 90 years old.
CHURCH: And to celebrate, Britain's longest-serving monarch posed for pictures with her family. Her great grandchildren and two youngest grandkids and her daughter are all respected. Famed photographer, Annie Liebovitz, took the just-released images.
BARNETT: And there's one of the queen and her beloved dogs, which you just saw.
Nick Glass has more on the royal celebrations.
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NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a lifetime of occasions, Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday celebrations began with a first, an official photograph, four generations of royals, three future kings posing at Buckingham Palace. It will feature on special stamps to mark the queen's life.
It's a milestone for 2-year-old Prince George, who makes his stamp debut, his first of many to come. Pictured standing on a stack of blocks for a boost.
And her grandson, the Duke of Cambridge, paid tribute in an interview with the BBC.
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: The queen's service, her tolerance, her commitment to others, I think that's all been incredibly important to me and a real sort of guiding example of just what sort of a good monarch a can be.
GLASS: Prince William answered criticism of his commitment to royal duties. He's been called Shy William by some U.K. media. He says he's willing to take on more responsibility when the time comes.
PRINCE WILLIAM: I take my duties seriously and I take my responsibilities very seriously. But it's about finding your own way at the right time. And if you're not careful, duty can sort of weigh you down an awful lot starting at a very early age, and I think you've got to develop into the duty role.
(SINGING)
GLASS: In the first of a series of events, the queen was a guest of honor at a birthday party thrown by the Royal Mail, which itself is marking its 500th anniversary.
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GLASS: Later, the queen was greeted by crowds of well wishers in Windsor where the royal couple have their main residence.
With two full days of events, the queen is proving she can usher in her next decade with her usual vigor after 90 years in the public eye.
The birthday celebrations will culminate in June with a street party for thousands outside Buckingham Palace.
Nick Glass, for CNN, in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: As you saw there in Nick's report, the official photograph has been taken. That's what has been turned into a set of stamps, as well. This is a royal first.
CHURCH: It is. Coming up in our next half hour, we'll talk to the man behind the lens and found out how long he had to keep them like this.
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Donald Trump holds all of the delegates in New York's presidential primary. But he's still not happy with the system. That story still to come.
BARNETT: Plus, the Olympic torch will be lit in a few hours in Greece. How the International Olympic Committee is showing solidarity with refugees.
Stay with us.
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[02:17:16] CHURCH: Ted Cruz is downplaying Donald Trump's landslide win in the New York presidential primary. Surprise, surprise. He says no one will win enough delegates before July's convention.
BARNETT: As we mentioned, at this time yesterday, Trump's New York victory speech was marked by a much more cordial tone, but that didn't last long. He was back to calling Cruz Lying Ted on Wednesday and criticizing the delegate process. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: It's a rigged system, that is designed so the bosses can pick whoever they want. And that people like me can't run and can't defend you against foreign nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN estimates Trump would have to win 58 percent of the delegates to secure the nomination outright. Cruz needs to win 100 percent, and Kasich, 162 percent.
BARNETT: Still, Cruz says his success in the Midwest would keep Trump from crossing the finish line.
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SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What is clear today, that we're headed to a contested convention. Nobody is able to reach 1,237. I'm not going to reach 1,237. And Donald Trump is not going to reach 1,237. Donald is a niche candidate. He gets about one-third of the votes in any state. To win, you have to have a broad tent. I think the people of Pennsylvania deserve a debate. I think there ought to be a debate before the vote next Tuesday.
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BARNETT: Joining me from Washington is John Brabender. He's a Republican political consultant and was a senior strategist for Rick Santorum's 2012 presidential campaign.
John, welcome. It's great to have you with me.
JOHN BRABENDER, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT & FORMER STRATEGIST FOR RICK SANTORUM 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thank you.
BARNETT: To get to the number of 1,237, Donald Trump needs to improve his winning margins. At the moment, he is at about 47 percent. I thought that he might have been magnanimous after his New York win. But he might be back to his name-calling ways now. Should he be taking a more strategic approach to these next few weeks? They are crucial.
BRABENDER: Yeah, I think he should. What he has to do is to widen who his base is. And to do that, people are looking for some symbolic language that says, yes. You're more than just a bomb thrower. You're somebody with a vision. You're somebody with ideas. And you're somebody that can play long and get along with others. He took a big step yesterday to do that in his speech in New York. As we see, the old Donald Trump slips in there. And he has to be focused and more mature about that.
[02:20:09] BARNETT: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the voters there head to the polls Tuesday to pick their nominee choice. How will it change the dynamic for Republicans? We know Senator Cruz says he is heading to the convention and no one is going to hit the number. Does John Kasich have to bow out this week?
BRABENDER: I don't think anybody will bow out. I think what's going to happen is we're going to reach nomination fatigue in a sense. I think that Trump is more than likely going to have a very good week next week. I think you see Cruz coming in a weak second or a weak third. That makes his argument a little tougher. I think we're getting to a dangerous point that, if Donald Trump looks somewhat inevitable, will he get to 1,237? Or is the campaign now just to stop Donald Trump? If becomes only about that, it becomes very divisive for the Republican Party, quite frankly.
BARNETT: In many ways, Ted Cruz has tried to own the Never-Trump block, all of those trying to prevent Donald Trump from being the nominee. What do you think the Cruz factor will be, then? The attacks are likely to increase as we get closer to Cleveland because the intensity is increasing.
BRABENDER: If you look at the Ted Cruz message, it is more about Donald Trump than about Ted Cruz.
BARNETT: Right.
BRABENDER: He is clearly trying to position himself as the alternative to Ted Cruz (sic). The problem is he is not loved that much more by the establishment and the insiders, anymore than Donald Trump is. In fact, if you look, there's only like one member of the United States Senate, his colleagues, that have endorsed him. The problem he has is he's starting to trail further behind in the polls. At the same time, there's not a lot of people rallying to his campaign. I would argue if it's not going to be Donald Trump, at this point, it's more likely to go to the third or fourth round, where anybody can become the nominee at that point.
BARNETT: I know it's impossible to predict at this stage, but what does your gut tell you? Will Donald Trump get the nomination?
BRABENDER: I think he will get there or get close. Even if he gets close, people will be surprised that there will be some within the party that feel an obligation to help him get over the magic number. Because I don't think they want to see the party ripped apart by making a lot of the Trump voters feel like they were disenfranchised.
BARNETT: May be a crisis in Cleveland, either way.
John Brabender, joining us from D.C., a Republican political consultant, thanks for your time today.
BRABENDER: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
BARNETT: Democrat Bernie Sanders may have a new strategy in his fight against Hillary Clinton. We'll look at that in next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
CHURCH: In a few hours, the 2016 Olympic torch will be lit in Greece using the rays of the sun if weather permits. You are looking at pictures from the reversal on Wednesday, in ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the games.
BARNETT: A Greek gymnastics champion will be the first to run with the torch. The Olympic flame will be relayed through Greece before it's handed to Brazil next Wednesday.
CHURCH: Our senior international correspondent, Atika Shubert, joins us live from Olympic, Greece.
Atika, let's talk about the significance of it passing through a refugee camp, and what are people saying about that?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is exactly where the ceremony will begin. We're overlooking at Temple of Hera. And from here, this is where the Olympic Torch Rely will begin. The flame will go across Greece for six days. It will be making a special stop at the refugee camp.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT (voice-over): This was the first official refugee camp was set up last summer when the number of arrivals to Greece reached a peak of 10,000 a day. Since then, camps have mushroomed across the country. Often, the numbers have overwhelmed the facilities.
Two of the camps are in former Olympic sites. Take a look at what we saw when we were able to access the former field hockey stadium.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an extraordinary scene. The families sleeping out here in these abandoned buildings. Children, mothers.
SHUBERT: There's 50,000 asylum-seekers in Greece, hoping to be given a place somewhere in Europe.
Greece's prime minister says the country has become a warehouse of souls.
[02:25:09] (on camera): For the first time in history, the Olympics will have a team of refugee athletes, about five to 12 competing under the Olympic flag. And to focus the world's attention on the refugee crisis in Greece, the International Olympic Committee has selected a Syrian refugee in Greece as one of the torch runners.
How do people in Greece feel about this?
What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just heard it from you. I don't know. It's nice. I would love to see it. I would love to share this.
SHUBERT: Do you think by having the Olympic flame here, it would give hope?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Maybe.
SHUBERT: Maybe a little?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
SHUBERT (voice-over): A gesture of Olympic solidarity as thousands wait for an answer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT: Rosemary, at that camp, we spoke to a number of people who had no idea that the Olympic torch was going to go through their camp. But many said they were happy. That it was a nice gesture. But still, they wanted to see a political movement on their situation, something to allow them to find a place to seek asylum in Europe -- Rosemary?
CHURCH: Certainly understandable. But the symbolism is powerful.
Many thanks to you, Atika.
Remember to join CNN for special coverage of the Olympic torch lighting, beginning at 5:00 a.m. eastern time. And we will take you live to the ceremony from the Temple of Hera in ancient Olympia.
BARNETT: Still to come this hour, a deadly campaign targets Saudi Arabian family ties. Ahead, the chilling call to ISIS supporters.
CHURCH: A court in Norway has sided with a mass murderer in his suit against the state. The ruling that sparked outrage is just ahead.
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[02:30:11] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: A warm welcome back to everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Errol Barnett.
We're 30 minutes into our two-hour block, and let's update you on the stories.
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BARNETT: After Wednesday's meeting the Saudi King Salman, U.S. President Barack Obama will attend a summit with Gulf leaders in a few hours. Officials say Mr. Obama and the king discussed the conflict in Yemen, Iran's role in the region, and the fight against ISIS.
CHURCH: The president's push for a stepped-up battle against ISIS comes as Saudi Arabia confronts the militants' deadly campaign to overthrow the monarchy.
BARNETT: As Nic Robertson shows us, the militants are calling on their supporters to target family members that work in security forces.
And a warning, images in this report are disturbing.
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(SHOUTING)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): In the Saudi desert, something sinister.
(SHOUTING)
ROBERTSON: In this video, posted by ISIS, a man is pulled from a vehicle by the people he trusts the most, his family.
(SHOUTING)
ROBERTSON: They tell him, be quiet, stand still --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
ROBERTSON: -- as they pledge allegiance to ISIS, then they shoot him.
His name Badi Hamidi al Rashidi (ph), a Saudi SWAT squad officer.
His family tells us, he was killed by his cousins.
(on camera): We've talked to his brothers. They are distraught, struggling to understand how in Saudi Arabia where family ties trump all else, ISIS is managing to break the bonds that bind this kingdom together. Divide and conquer, separate the police from the people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ISIS's message actually is to take the police away from their way so they could approach innocent people and start committing crimes targeting civilians.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): ISIS is hyping attacks like this one, on a police inspector this month, demanding the overthrow of the royal family. The attackers chase and shoot the officer.
But recently, the attacks have taken a frightening turn, ISIS calling for fratricide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they shift and started calling the supporters to attack the relatives that are working for the police.
ROBERTSON: This young Saudi did as ISIS demanded. According to the Saudi interior ministry, he shot his policeman uncle seven times point-blank before driving to a maximum security jail and blowing himself up.
ISIS is intent on ripping apart the fabric of this close-knit, trusting society.
The police rely on the public to turn the terrorists in, 2,500 ISIS arrests in recent years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without the public support, I can say this is very hard and very difficult. But we rely a lot on the public support.
ROBERTSON: As the battle brews, heart-wrenching moments like this are becoming more common. A recently graduated police cadet begs his cousin to let him live.
(GUNFIRE)
ROBERTSON: The Saudis say he is the third to die at the hands of a relative in recent months.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The mass murderer behind Norway's worst attacks since World War II claims his rights are being violated in prison, and a court in Oslo agrees.
BARNETT: Anders Breivik spends his days in solitary confinement in a cell that, by internationals standards, is true luxury.
Fred Pleitgen has more on the courts' controversial decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anders Breivik, one of the most notorious mass murderers in recent European history, now a winner in court. The verdict saying his human rights were violated by the Norwegian government. That's because he is kept in solitary containment and frequently searched.
[02:35:02] "We litigated, and claim that Breivik's isolation in prison is too heavy in relation to Norwegian government obligation under the Commission of Human Rights and the Norwegian constitution," his lawyer said after the verdict was handed down.
Breivik sued the Norwegian govnerment, claiming breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Norway is a party to.
In its verdict, the court said, quote, "The prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment represents a fundamental value in a democratic society. This applies no matter what, also in the treatment of terrorists and killers."
And these are the conditions that he is incarcerated under in a prison southwest of Oslo. He has three cells to himself, including an exercise area, with machines. This, for a man who killed 77 people in a rampage in 2011. Eight died when he set out a bomb outside of the government headquarters in Oslo. He gunned then moved to an island where he gunned down 69 more, most of them international students.
"In general, we disagree with the parts of the verdict against us," the government's lawyer said.
The government argued that Breivik's conditions are appropriate, saying he is a threat, requiring restrictive confinement.
State lawyers say they will appeal the verdict that also requires them to pay his legal fees of around $41,000.
While there's criticism and surprise about the verdict, one survivor of the shooting says he understands the court's reasoning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we should give Breivik power to change now the way the system works. I think that's what he wants it to have the power to change the system, to change our values in a way in which we treat people. And by maintaining our values, and treating him like we treat others, we show him.
PLEITGEN: Anders Breivik, who critics say used the trial as a platform to promote his self-declared neo-Nazi agenda, is facing 21 years in prison, but he could be locked up longer if he is still deemed a threat when that term is up. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: A major U.S. city is trying to cope with deadly flooding. Now, more rain is forecast for Houston, Texas, and millions under flood watches.
CHURCH: Plus, celebrating a milestone as only the queen of England can. How Queen Elizabeth is marking her 90th birthday. And we will chat with a man who took this historic photograph.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:41:13] CHURCH: Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday is such a big deal it isn't limited to just one day. Some of the pomp and pageantry started Wednesday. But the queen took a time-out to look at the Royal Mail and look at the stamps that commemorate her life.
BARNETT: Including this one where she is posed with the three future kings. It is the first time anyone has taken this type of photo.
CHURCH: It is something, isn't it?
Joining us from London is the man who took that photo.
Randall MacKechnie, thank you so much for being with us.
If we can bring him in. There he is.
BARNETT: There he is.
CHURCH: The photographer.
I do have to ask you, how difficult was it to shoot this great portrait, four generations of royals, particularly getting Prince George to do what you needed him to do?
RANALD MACKECHNIE, PHOTOGRAPHER: Actually, shooting the family was easy. What was difficult was all of the preparation in getting the composition right. It was a special design for the stamp to mark the queen's birthday.
BARNETT: And --
(CROSSTALK)
BARNETT: Go ahead.
MACKECHNIE: The royal family were easier than my family to shoot. I have to tell you.
(LAUGHER)
Very, very relaxed. And it was a lighthearted shoot.
CHURCH: George was a very good little boy, was he?
MACKECHNIE: Absolutely. Absolutely. He was in top form. He loved to see the equipment and the lights. Once he got used to that, I just made a lot of noises and faces and we got that shot.
BARNETT: What was surprising is you said there wasn't extra furniture lying around to get Prince George high enough? How did you get his eye level to match? That was the aim to have stamps made from this image.
MACKECHNIE: That's right. I had some gym mats I used for another shoot that we could cut into pieces to get his height exactly right. It was critical between two or three millimeters on the sheet, the spacing of the individuals' heads was correct.
CHURCH: You had a while with him. What was your favorite moment during the photo session? Any gems you can share with us all?
MACKECHNIE: When that shot is used. When they are on the screen, what we call in the U.K. a bingo moment. We knew it was -- that was the one. That was the happiest moment.
On the other side, as soon as they walked in the room, my computers crashed.
BARNETT: Of course, that was the moment.
(LAUGHTER)
MACKECHNIE: We were up and running in about 60 seconds. The royal family were sympathetic and unfazed.
BARNETT: This was shot last summer. But you kept this a secret, didn't even tell your wife until Wednesday. Are you still married?
(LAUGHTER)
MACKECHNIE: Yes, just about.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHURCH: Ranald MacKechnie, thank you so much for talking with us and sharing your stories and your little gems there. BARNETT: Fantastic shot.
CHURCH: Absolutely incredible shots. Wonderful. Well done.
MACKECHNIE: Thank you.
CHURCH: All right.
The queen's birthday is actually celebrated twice a year. Though she was born on April 21st, the anniversary is officially celebrated nationally in June, usually, on the second Saturday of the month. And this year, that will be June 11th.
BARNETT: April babies, like myself. One event is the queen's parade, called Trooping the Colors. It's been part of her birthday of the British sovereign since 1748.
CHURCH: To more serious matters. Heavy rain is expected, more heavy rain in the flooded city of Houston, Texas.
BARNETT: At least eight people have been killed there. Emergency crews rescued about 1200 others. Hundreds of homes are flooded and more than nine million people are under flash flood watches at this moment.
And extreme heat is baking parts of India, a major drought in that region.
Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri here to talk about it.
If we start in Texas, you warned us. You said all of the ingredients were there. A saturated ground and a storm system.
[02:45:29] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, in Texas. And the India story is the opposite out of the spectrum. You know that about 60 percent of the population in India, relies on the agricultural industry for their livelihood. This is a big deal. And the heat has been tremendous. We know folks are walking in the heat to get water. Wells are dried up. It's a dire situation. Here's what's transpired in recent days. The meteorological area, in Bengal, where temperatures are 45 degrees Celsius. That puts it in a territory where schools are closed for a week because of the dangers because of excessive heat in year. The heat begins cranking um. 39, 40 degrees are way up there. You see where the temperatures are forecast to be, well into the mid and upper 40s. You factor in the heat index. And temps can feel as high as 47 degrees across portions of southern India. This becomes a dire, dire situation. And your body does a great job officially, cooling itself. Only the moisture content thing is lower. Across India, we know that's not the case. The only way we get the temperatures to drop is when the monsoons come in. We are expecting an above-normal monsoon season. We are expected to be 104 percent to 110 percent above average. Great news for the month of May. The tropical cyclone has formed. Something interesting. Look at the red font on the right side of your screen. This is cyclone Fantala. The strongest we've seen in the Indian Ocean, 280 kilometers per hour. If you think I've said this a lot, look at the past six months. Hurricane Patricia was the strongest. Winston, a couple months ago, impacted Fiji. That was the strongest in the southern hemisphere. I have never seen anything like this. In six-months' time, oceans around the world are setting records for strongest storms.
BARNETT: That's a bad omen of what's to come.
JAVAHERI: It is. There's a trend that storms are getting stronger, not only stronger but the strongest we've ever observed.
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BARNETT: Thanks, Pedram.
CHURCH: Thanks, Pedram. We'll talk again.
Change is on the way for several U.S. bank notes. The plans for the makeover, just ahead.
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[02:52:11] CHURCH: In the United States, thousands have been celebrating an unofficial holiday, 420 Day or Weed Day. Hundreds gathered in Denver, Colorado, Civic Park. Colorado is one of the few states where recreational marijuana use is legal. But it's not legal to smoke pot in public anywhere.
BARNETT: One of the largest gatherings was in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Thousands of pot-loves showed up there. I'm sure some people relate.
CHURCH: The U.S. Treasury has made a decision to put former slave and abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, on the $20 bill.
BARNETT: Such positive reaction. It's one of the redesign plans that also includes the $10 and $5 bills.
Anderson Cooper tells us how it happened.
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ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, A.C. 360 (voice-over): It all started last summer when the Treasury Department said it would add a woman to the $10 bill. The government wanted people's thoughts on the redesign and got them in a big way.
JACK LEW, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: When we started this conversation not quite a year ago, it wasn't clear to me that millions of Americans were going to weigh in with their ideas.
COOPER: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced the $10 bill will depict women of the suffragette movement but on the back of the bill, not the front.
The guy in the front has top billing on Broadway.
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COOPER: Hamilton creator and, who just won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, just met with the secretary to keep Hamilton on the $10.
Presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley, says when Hamilton mania took over the country, the government had no choice but to pay attention.
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DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The Treasury Department found themselves in a bind. They could no longer remove Hamilton from the $10 bill because of the pop culture phenomenon going on.
COOPER: With Hamilton staying on the $10, the new $20 came into play. Announced today the new $20 will feature Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist and women's rights activist who led enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Andrew Jackson, a slave owner, gets booted to the back of the bill.
BRINKLEY: They wisely shifted the $20 in Andrew Jackson. He is not a sustainable hero, mainly because of his genocide of native-Americans in the Trail of Tears.
COOPER: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have tweeted support for the new bill. Clinton writing, "A woman, a leader, a freedom fighter, I can't think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman."
Ben Carson said on FOX Business that Jackson shouldn't be taken off of the $20.
[02:55:15] DR. BEN CARSON, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: I love Harriet Tubman. I love what she did. But we can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill.
COOPER: The Treasury secretary said he couldn't make everyone happy. But for the first time in more than a century, a woman's face is on paper money. The last time, it was Martha Washington on a dollar certificate in the late 1800s. And for what must be the first time in history --
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COOPER: Hip-hop was a driving force in a Treasury debate.
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CHURCH: Great symbolism. BARNETT: Why would Ben Carson want her on the $2 bill that nobody
uses? That's the point.
CHURCH: Yes.
BARNETT: This is cool stuff.
CHURCH: Yes, it is.
Remember, you can always follow us on Twitter anytime.
BARNETT: It's great to hear from you.
There's more CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break, including live reports from Riyadh, Rome and Windsor Castle. Stay with us.
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[03:00:07] CHURCH: A tough crowd. U.S. President Barack Obama set to meet with allies in the Gulf amid changing priorities for both.
