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Bumpy Week Ahead for Trump; Girl Free After Being Trafficked in Dubai; Le Pen Launches Run for French Presidency. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 06, 2017 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: -- pile in the coming hours.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Plus, the New England Patriots wins Super Bowl. Its quarterback, Tom Brady's record-breaking fifth NFL Championship.
VANIER: Hi, everyone, glad to have you back. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Cyril Vanier.
CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
The clock is ticking for both sides in the legal battle over U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban.
VANIER: The states of Washington and Minnesota, which are challenging this ban must submit their arguments to the Federal Appeals Court early Monday. Then the U.S. Justice Department will make its case to get the President's executive order reinstated.
CHURCH: The ban remains on hold at the moment. That means people from seven Muslim majority countries as well as refugees can enter the U.S. for now at least.
VANIER: And President Trump is furious over this and he's lashing out at the District Court Judge who suspended his travel ban.
CHURCH: Yes. Mr. Trump suggested on Twitter, the Judge would be to blame if there were an attack. Jessica Schneider has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After raising eyebrows and getting backlash after his is Twitter tirade on Saturday, President Donald Trump once again took to his tweeter feed on Sunday continuing to rail against the justice system. President Trump tweeting this, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens, blame him and court system. People pouring in bad." And then in the second tweet, President Trump said this. "I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country very carefully. The courts are making the job very difficult." President Trump once again putting the target right on the federal judge and court system not agreeing with the decisions that had been made over the weekend and not agreeing with what the circuit court did early Sunday morning. But Vice President Mike Pence is also talking about it saying that he believed the travel ban will be put back in place. Take a listen.
MIKE PENCE, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT: There's simply no question under the constitution and frankly under federal law that the President of the United States has the authority in the interest of National Security to determine who has the right to come into this country. And we're going to challenge the judge's order on that basis.
SCHNEIDER: This legal fight will certainly continue into the week and coming weeks and months. But in addition, we're looking at a confirmation battle as well. Next up is Betsy DeVos, the nominee for Education Secretary. We're expecting a vote in the senate on Monday morning. And at this point, two republican senators have said they will not vote for Betsy DeVos. That will mean that Vice President Mike Pence will likely come in and break what is expected to be a 50/50 tie. People are expecting that nomination of Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary to be confirmed because of that vote by Vice President Pence. Jessica Schneider, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: And the battle over this travel ban is proving to be a major early test for the Trump Presidency.
CHURCH: Yes. We spoke a short time ago with CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein and we asked him how damaging this legal fight could be for the President.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: President Trump is in the same sort of difficult position that President Obama was often in during his administration. And basically what we see here is that the democratic states of Washington and Minnesota are using a weapon against President Trump that republican states forged to use against President Obama. Under President Obama, we saw republican attorney general repeatedly suing in conservative areas of the country to block Obama initiatives, such as his clean power plant, his Medicaid expansions and most relevant, his expansion of his dreamer program to provide legal status to adults here who have citizen - children. And what happened in that case was, that went from a conservative justice, and a judge in Texas into the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and then reached a divided Supreme Court, and ultimately President Obama was blocked and stalemated. President Trump is now in a difficult situation because the next court that will hear this case will be the Court of Appeal for the ninth circuit, which is known as the ninth circuit in the U.S., which is the most liberal and democratic leaning circuit of all of the circuits in the U.S. (INAUDIBLE) system. And then waiting at the end of that, of course, is a four-four divided Supreme Court. So there is no guarantee at all that he is going to prevail on the legal merits of this going forward.
CHURCH: Yes. And as we heard Monday's confirmation vote for President Trump's Education Secretary pick, Betsy DeVos may be in trouble with two GOP senators vowing not to support her. Mike Pence will need to step in of course and cast his deciding vote. But is there any possibility another republican senator may also refuse to support her. Can you see that at all?
[01:04:50] BROWNSTEIN: It's possible. You know, if you were going to be that last vote you would probably not say anything until the final minute. Still considered most likely that you'll get the 50-50. People should understand how rare it is for cabinet officers to be defeated. The last one in - with either party, after drawing the senate was John Tower in 1989, who President H. W. Bush had nominated as Secretary of Defense. I believe the last time a President's cabinet nominee was defeated on a floor vote on the senate with his own party controlling the senate, was 1925. So either there's a lot of deference to the President. We saw that for example where John McCain and Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio had raised big questions about Rex Tillerson, but ultimately fell in line and voted for him. I still think most people would be surprised if Betsy DeVos is not confirmed but her confirmation hearing was so disastrous that it really kind of stretched the boundaries and gave you the sense that what can a nominee do when there - when the President's party controls the senate to be defeated if this wasn't enough.
CHURCH: And Ron just very quickly, going into the third week of the Trump administration, how is it looking and how has it gone so far do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: I think there's a very clear answer. I mean, what you see under Donald Trump, the President, is that it is accelerating, intensifying, widening all the divides that we saw under Donald Trump, the candidate. Most of what he is doing is drawing good marks from his core constituency of republicans, blue-collar whites and non-urban voters, but he is facing enormous even unprecedented resistance among other groups in the electorate. Millennials, minorities, college educated whites, democrats. He has the lowest approve - a lot of people are enthusiastic about what he is doing. But he has the lowest approval rating and the highest, by far, disapproval rating of any President this year in his Presidency. One interesting statistic, eight days into his Presidency, he reached 50 percent of the country disapproving his -- of his performance in the Gallup poll. And for President Obama, it was about 600 days. For Ronald Reagan, it was about 700 days. For George W. Bush, about 1200 days. So we have a deep level of polarization. And I think all the signs are going to continue to govern in a way that hardens the lines that we already see emerging in American society around his Presidency.
VANIER: During an interview with Fox News, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that he wants Vice President Mike Pence to lead a commission on voter fraud. Mr. Trump told Bill O'Reilly that Pence would look into voter registration.
CHURCH: The President has claimed without providing any evidence that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton. That's similar to the margin of Clinton's popular-vote victory. But a high ranking republican leader isn't backing the U.S. President's push for a federal voter fraud investigation.
VANIER: Here's what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH MCCONELL, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM KENTUCKY: The democrats always claim there's no election fraud at all. That is of course not true. Election fraud does occur. There is no evidence that it occurred in such a significant number. It would have changed the Presidential Election, and I don't think we ought to spend any federal money investigating that. I think the states can take a look at this issue. Many of them have tried to tighten their voter rolls, tried to purge people who were dead and otherwise not eligible to vote. I think we ought to leave that at the state level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANIER: As Super Bowl Sunday now, the New England Patriots have won the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. They stunned the Atlanta Falcons rallying from being 25 points down to win 34 to 28 in overtime.
CHURCH: And U.S. President, Donald Trump watched the game at his Mar- a-Lago estate in Florida. He tweeted his congratulations saying this, "What an amazing comeback and win by the Patriots, Tom Brady, owner, Bob Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick, a total winners. Wow!"
VANIER: CNN Sports Correspondent Andy Scholes was at the big game, of course, in Houston, Texas, he joins us now. How did the Patriots pull it off? I mean, we blinked and we missed it. It looked, you know, like Atlanta was going to win.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, God, it's really a minor miracle. The Falcons were up by 25 points at one point in this game. No team had ever come back from a deficit more than 10 in the Super Bowl. But the Patriots accomplished that in Super Bowl 51. I'll tell you what, I've been to a handful of Super Bowls in my time. This one to me, the greatest game I've ever seen. Had so much emotions, back and forth. And really, there's no question now, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. He's now won a record five Super Bowls. But this one was not easy. In the second quarter, Brady making a huge mistake as he throws an interception to Robert Alford and he even takes it back for a touchdown. That made it 21 to 0, Atlanta.
No team like I've said had ever come back from a deficit more than 10 in a Super Bowl. But the Patriots were able to rally in the fourth quarter making the comeback. And check out this catch by Julian Edelman, maybe the greatest catch we've ever seen in the NFL. Able to snatch this ball just right before it touched the ground. That led to a Patriots touchdown, and then they need a two points to send this game to overtime.
[01:10:06] And Brady would find Danny Amendola to do just that. For the first time ever, we had overtime in the Super Bowl and Brady and the Patriots would get the ball first, marched right down the field, and James White would cap it off with a touchdown run. New England with an incredible comeback, wins it 34-28, and Tom Brady just adding to his legend, and he was once again named Super Bowl MVP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: Thank you to all our fans, everyone back in Boston; New England, we love you. You've been with us all year. We're bringing this sucker home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Home. OK.
SCHOLES: That is (INAUDIBLE) Brady.
VANIER: Yes.
CHURCH: So, Andy, talk us to about why this fifth championship is so special to Tom Brady?
SCHOLES: Well, you know, he got emotional quite a few time this week when talking about his family. And we've come to find out his mother had been dealing with a health issue for the past 18 months. She hadn't been in the game all season long, but she was here at the Super Bowl tonight, and we saw them celebrating on the field after the big win. Brady breaking down in tears after winning this one, and then seeing his family. See the pictures there of them hugging, his wife Gisele and then there's his mom right there in front of him. So that was very important to Tom Brady, one of reason he got emotional.
Another reason that Brady did not let on an all-year long, was the fact that this for the Patriots fans was about revenge. And you see here, him shaking the hand of NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell who suspended him for the first four games of this season for that deflate game saga. And this in the end, is the ultimate revenge for Patriots fans that they came back and they won the Super Bowl despite Brady having to miss the first four games of the season.
CHURCH: No one is talking deflate games anymore. Are they?
VANIER: No. They won't.
CHURCH: Not even mentioning the word.
VANIER: No. He silenced all the critics. And so, that.
SCHOLES: Sure did. Yes.
CHURCH: All right. Thanks, Andy, appreciate it.
Well, a legal battle is brewing over President Trump's travel ban. After the break, why the next hours and days will be critical to Mr. Trump's executive order.
VANIER: Plus, a Syrian refuge in Germany is suing Facebook, why he fears for his life after a selfie went viral. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN WORLD SPORTS headlines starting in Gabon, the Africa Cup of Nations where Egypt, the tournament's most successful nation were facing Cameroon on Sunday. Egypt taking the lead on this one but Cameroon striking back dramatically with two goals coming from their two substitutes. The second one coming just two minutes from time. Cameroon win it 2-1, their fifth AFCON title.
[01:14:53] Sunday's two big games, and the Premier League in England, both (INAUDIBLE) the victor from Manchester City United looking to take full advantage after Arsenal, Liverpool both lost on Saturday. United cruising to a 3-0 win at Leicester City. It wasn't so easy for the crosstown rival, the City who face Swansea on Sunday at home city. Would need a late goal in stoppage time from the teenage Brazilian Gabriel de Jesus to pick up three points in the 2-1 victory.
Now, toward a bizarre story in tennis where 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov was disqualified from Canada's Davis Cup title (INAUDIBLE) for accidentally hitting the chair umpire in the head with a ball. The teen had lost the first two sets against Kyle Edmund in the fifth and the final rubber, and just hammers the ball away in a fit of rage, 2-1 down in that third set. Frustrations getting the better, when he hit -- meant to hit the ball into the stand, but it went straight into the left eye of the umpire. He would be OK in the end. But the disqualification gave Britain the win. That's a look at your WORLD SPORT headlines. I'm Patrick Schnell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VANIER: And President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban is still on pause for the legal battle is just getting started.
CHURCH: Mr. Trump has been attacking the federal judge who put his travel and refugee ban on hold. Our Sara Sidner explains why the following days will be crucial for a resumption of the ban.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at two different things. They already ruled on one thing. But the Department of Justice cannot have an emergency administrative stay, which basically said will you allow the travel ban back in place while you consider the next part of this suit? And the justice said, no, we want to consider this whole thing. we are going to consider the second part of what you ask, which is will you allow the travel ban back in place during the appeals process? And that's where they are right now. They have asked the other side, that is Washington, and Minnesota, to go ahead and file paperwork so that they can read the briefs on all sides and make a final decision.
They are expecting all of that to happen 6:00 p.m. Monday Eastern Time or 3:00 p.m. Monday, California time. And then we will likely have a decision by Monday evening on this. If they decide for the Department of Justice, then Seattle and Minnesota could respond and take it all the way to the Supreme Court or if they decide against the Department of Justice the Department of Justice could go to the Supreme Court. In the end, this case may likely head back to the federal court in Washington, who had put this temporary halt on the travel ban while it decides the merits of this case.
CHURCH: All right. Well Troy Slaton joins us now from Los Angeles. He a legal analyst and a criminal defense attorney. Good to be speaking with you.
TROY SLATON, LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks Rosemary.
CHURCH: So let's start with the U.S. appeals court rejecting President Trump's attempt to reinstate his travel ban. What happens next and how do you think this will likely be resolved?
SLATON: So, the Trump administration, through the Department of Justice, has asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to essentially put a restraining order on the restraining order that was issued out of the federal court in Seattle. So what they're asking for is for this court of appeal to allow the ban, allow the executive order to remain in place while they litigate whether or not the measure is constitutional in the first place.
CHURCH: Well, how's that likely to turn out, do you think?
SLATON: Well, I think ultimately the President will prevail. As the President has been given broad authority by congress to not allow any number of class of aliens from entering the United States for national security purposes. That means that under the United States constitution, the congress, the House of Representatives and senate are given full authority to regulate immigration. But they passed the law in the 1950s, the Immigration Act, that gave the President the authority to determine who gets in and who doesn't.
CHURCH: Yes, there seems to be mixed views on this, doesn't there? Because over the weekend, the federal judge in Washington State issued that temporary restraining order. Right? The state's lawyers arguing that the executive orders banning from seven mainly Muslim nations violate the constitution. What's your view of that argument?
[01:19:49] SLATON: Well, I think it's not likely to prevail. And the issue will ultimately go before the United States Supreme Court, which right now has only eight members. So theoretically, there could be a four to four tie which would mean that the lower court decision would stand. But before it gets there, it would be decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
CHURCH: OK. So not surprisingly, travelers from those banned nations are taking advantage of the federal judge's move to suspend that travel ban. But Mr. Trump says that puts the United States in peril. He attacked the judge, saying "he would be to blame if something happens." What's your reaction to the head of the executive publicly berating a member of the judiciary?
SLATON: Yes. He also called the judge a so-called judge. Now, in this country we don't have so-called judges. Look, Presidents have been critical of the judiciary since time in Memorium, since we've had Presidents, they've been critical. I mean, it's new that we have social media and a President whose attacking a specific judge through Twitter. But judges have been critical of the executive branch, the executive branch have been critical of the judicial branch. It's part of our interplay in our system that has three co-equal branches of government. So this is the -
CHURCH: But as publicly -as publicly as this? I mean, yes, there is a new tool here and President Trump is taking advantage of Twitter. But to see such public displays of ridicule out there against the judiciary from the head of the executive is stunning, is it not?
SLATON: It is, especially to call out one specific judge. But like I said, Presidents have been critical of the judiciary in this country. The judiciary gets to have a check on the power of the executive. And so that's nothing new. It is new to see it in the age of social media and Twitter, though.
CHURCH: Now, going back over how this was all rolled out and the chaos that we saw in the beginning, it could have all been very different, couldn't it? If President Trump had waited for his Supreme Court nominee to be in place for starters. And his attorney general, it would be a very different story, wouldn't it?
SLATON: It could have been. But the President felt that this was a matter of national security, that it was urgent that this go into place immediately. But now we're in a situation where the department of Homeland Security and the department of state have said that they will abide by this judge's decision. Now, it's important to note the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal although they denied the stay that was requested by the President yesterday, they requested briefing that is due in a couple hours. It's due by 1:00 in the morning, tomorrow, which is about two hours. And then the response from the federal government will be 3:00 p.m. California time tomorrow. So we could hear a decision about whether or not that Seattle judge's decision stands for now by tomorrow night.
CHURCH: Yes. 10:23 p.m. there where you are in Los Angeles. Many thanks Troy Slaton for joining us and sharing your legal analysis with us. We appreciate it.
SLATON: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: And another landmark case, this one in Germany, a Syrian refuge is suing Facebook for defamation.
VANIER: He says that Facebook did not do enough to stop fake news articles that labeled him as a terrorist. Our senior international correspondent Atika Schubert has more from Berlin.
ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the photo that started it all. 18-year-old Anas Modamani couldn't believe his luck, thrilled to snap a selfie with German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The photo went viral on every newspaper, every newscast capturing a rare human moment for the normally reserved German leader and his smiling face became synonymous with Merkel opening the country's doors to tens of thousands of refugees. Then came the Brussels terror attack. Suddenly the photo reappeared on Facebook falsely labeling Anas as one of the attackers. He explains at first I cried, that thought this is not me. I thought
immediately what does this mean? What will the future hold? This is really not a joke now. Serious. The Brussels bombing, berlin Christmas market attack, Anas, his face has now been plastered accross fake news articles falsely accusing him of carrying out multiple attacks. He has received threats online. Life for him and his family has been turned upside down. They screened their mail, watch for suspicious vehicles. Anke Moeuw is fiercely protective of this teenager she has taken into her family.
ANKE MOEUW, ANAS FOSTER MOTHER: The first time in my life that I'm fearing - have fear for my family and fear for the - for the house and the things I do. And most of all, I fear - I'm afraid for Anas and his security.
SCHUBERT: Now, Anas and Anke are taking Facebook to court. They say the social network took too long to respond to multiple requests to take down the false postings now shared tens of thousands of times. In response to a request for comment, Facebook said "We're sorry to hear about Mr. Modamani's concern with the way some people have used his image." The statement went on to say "We have already quickly disabled access to content that has been accurately reported to us by Mr. Modamani's legal representatives so we do not believe that legal action here is necessary or that it is the most effective way to resolve the situation.
Anas says it's not just about him. He told us, I will find a solution. It's not just me. If anyone can write whatever they like on Facebook, spreading these falsehoods and no one is punished, then it's not only my problem, it's the problem of the world, he said. Facebook has taken steps to identify and takedown fake news more quickly before it spreads and Germany may be among the first to test Facebook's responsiveness as it considers a law to find for each fake news report the site fails to take down. For Anka, she hopes that having the matter heard in court will make people realize that spreading lies on social media has real life consequences.
MOEUW: We are real people. He's a real man. He's a real young man living in real Germany and a real family with real friends with a real jobs, with a real school and it has impact in his real life.
SCHUBERT: But in a world of alternative facts and fake news, for Anas and Anka, getting back to normal life seems more hope than reality. Atika Schubert CNN, Berlin.
VANIER: Donald Trump is lashing out on Twitter again after the latest block to his travel ban. We'll have more on that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:32] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rosemary Church.
We want to check the stories we've been following this hour.
(HEADLINES)
CHURCH: Donald Trump's third week as president promises to be as bumpy as his first two.
VANIER: He's facing a lot of pushback, including his executive order travel ban.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After just the first two weeks in office, President Trump is preparing for a judicial showdown over whether his travel ban by executive order can stand. To the dismay of both Democrats and some Republican lawmakers, Trump spent part of the weekend disparaging the federal who temporarily suspended the ban through tweets calling the judge a "so- called judge who made a ridiculous ruling," adding, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens, blame him and the court system. People pouring in, bad."
This could become an issue for Republicans that are trying to get the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to confirm Trump's pick for Supreme Court justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Also, Republicans publicly distancing themselves from Trump's comments about Russia when he suggested in an interview with FOX News there was a moral equivalency between the U.S. and Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, FOX HOST, O'REILLY REPORT: Do you respect Putin?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do respect him.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: You do? Why?
TRUMP: I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I will get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. Will I get along with him, I have no idea.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Putin is a killer.
TRUMP: There's a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. You think our country is so innocent?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is now calling for a formal investigation into Trump and Putin relationship.
Monday, President Trump makes his first major public address to the U.S. troops since is inauguration when he goes to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. There he's also going to be briefed by U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, and Special Ops command.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Let's get more on Russia's reaction to President Trump's comments. CNN's Claire Sebastian joins us live from Moscow.
Good to see you, Claire.
Let's start with that FOX interview and President Trump responding by a question of Vladimir Putin saying, "We've got a lot of killers, you think our country is so innocent." How's that defense of Russia and President Putin being received in the country?
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORERSPONDENT: Rosemary, it's certainly getting a lot of attention, those comments by President Trump, and a subsequent interview his Vice President Mike Pence gave where he left the door open to lifting sanctions on Russia should Moscow change their position on certain things. They are getting a lot of attention in Russia, leading state news news bulletin both overnight and this morning. I think the sanctions issue is to the key priority for President Putin to see that lifted. But that's hardly to explain why this is getting so much attention.
But sitting in Moscow, I think the striking thing about this is not just the reaction but how you can see a parallel in the type of rhetoric with what the Kremlin tends to do when it refers to the U.S. and the West. We heard President Putin in 2014 comparing Russian actions in Crimea to what the West did in Kosovo. And even to the U.S. elections, a lot of state TV and media coverage looked how Russia is constantly accused of having a weak democracy, but look how divisive the U.S. election has been. This is the kind of rhetoric we constantly see from the Kremlin, from the Russian media. I think that's and why it's so unusual and so striking to see it from a sitting U.S. president -- Rosemary?
[01:35:38] CHURCH: Of course, when we consider, too, and you mentioned it, mixed messages from the Trump administration, the president defending Russia and its leader, while the U.S. vice president put Moscow and Mr. Putin on notice. That must be fairly confusing though, people wondering, which is it?
SEBASTIAN: The official line we're getting on these messages coming out of the U.S. is that they're basically going to wait and see. The foreign minister summed it up yesterday in comments published in an Austrian newspaper, with Sergei Lavrov saying they don't know yet what the key foreign policy priorities will be from key members in the administration and they will wait to see what that will be. But there is a level of optimism still. They said they were satisfied with the results of a phone call a week ago, between President Trump and President Putin. So, a level of cautious optimism.
But there is one key concern here, the conflict in Ukraine. The Russians are watching very closely to see how the U.S. will respond to that. The line that the Russians are taking is saying Ukraine provoked that violence that we've seen escalating the last week in order to try to get attention and, potentially, money out of the U.S. So, they are watching very closely to see how the U.S. responds to that conflict -- Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yeah, indeed. I know you've be watching that closely.
Claire Sebastian joining us from Moscow, where it is 9:36 in the morning. Many thanks.
The U.S. president spoke with New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English Sunday night.
VANIER: According to Mr. English's Twitter account, the two world leaders discussed the economy, trade, defense and immigration. Officially, none of the tension that came out of the conversation last week between Mr. Trump and the Australian prime minister.
CHURCH: Yes. Still ahead, the first part of CNN's special series "Trafficked in the UAE." We will trace the journey of a young woman who has sold for sex in Dubai and her harrowing escape to freedom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:41:06] VANIER: Welcome back, everyone. This is something important to us. This week, the CNN Freedom Project is exposing human trafficking in the United Arab Emirates. The city of Dubai is known a hot-spot tourist destination, but it turns out it has a darker side.
CHURCH: Yeah. Muhammad Lila has the story of a young woman who is now free after being trafficked for sex. But that freedom came at a heartbreaking cost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's billed as place where dreams come true --
(MUSIC)
LILA: -- of endless beaches, glitzy shopping malls and luxury skyscrapers that seem to spring up overnight. But even here in one of the world's richest countries, there's a side you never see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LILA: She is bravely sharing her story, asking us only to hide her identity. We'll call her Richma (ph).
She was just 20 years old when she came to Dubai thinking she'd be working in a beauty parlor. Instead, the people that brought her here took her passport, drugged her, and trafficked her for sex. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LILA: After two months of being raped, she pretended to be sick, and when her captors took her to the hospital, she ran barefoot to the nearest police station.
In recent years, police have been cracking down on trafficking, with officers getting specific training on how to identify and help victims like Richma (ph).
They told her she was safe and they brought here to this Yuwa (ph) Shelter for victims of human trafficking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(on camera): Thank you for allowing us to come.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are most welcome.
LELA (voice-over): From the outside, it looks like an ordinary house. On the inside, it's this incredible safe haven, a place where victims get a chance to feel normal again. With daily chores, art classes and bunk beds, all to make it feel like home, with social workers and psychologist to help them recover.
(on camera): People don't necessarily associate trafficking with a country like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, trafficking is associated every single place in the world. Not only poor countries or disaster countries, associated with all countries.
LELA (voice-over): The first Yuwa Shelter (ph) opened its doors nearly 10 years ago, with a federal mandate to rescue and rehabilitate victims giving many something they thought they would never get, a second chance at life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LILA: There is even a room specifically for children, the youngest trafficking victims with stuffed animals, toys and cartoons.
For Richma (ph), this hits hard and close to home. She is pregnant. It happened when she was being held captive. Now that she's free, she's going back to her home country to deliver the baby. But like so many victims, she leaves with a sense of guilt.
(on camera): Who do you blame for all of this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think myself.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LELA (voice-over): How can you console someone who didn't do anything wrong but still blames herself.
(on camera): I want to tell you this. We cover stories of trafficking as part of this series for CNN. This is not your fault.
(SINGING)
LILA: You didn't do anything wrong.
(SINGING)
[01:45:12]LILA: You did everything right. You should never feel as though this was something that you yourself caused. These were bad people that did this to you.
(SINGING)
LELA (voice-over): It will take months, maybe years for Richma (ph) to fully recover. She says, she prayed to God every night to set her free, and now, thanks to the support she's gotten, her prayers have been answered.
Muhammad Lila, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Extraordinary story there.
CNN is teaming up with young people around the globe for a unique student-led day of action against modern day slavery with the launch of My Freedom Day on March 14t h. Driving My Freedom Day is a simple question, what does freedom mean to you?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Freedom to me means going to school. What about you?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I think for me freedom is the ability to be yourself everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: This high school, we love My Freedom Day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Send us your answer via text, photo or video across social media using the My Freedom Day hashtag.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:50:18] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The presidential campaign of France's far-right National Front Party leader is officially under way. Thousands of people attended Marine Le Pen's kick-off rally. She echoed some of the themes of U.S. President Trump's campaign. She attacked globalization and vowed to put France first.
VANIER: She is promising to restrict immigration, allowing only 10,000 immigrants in the country per year. She wants to hold a referendum on France leaving the European Union, and she is suggesting protectionist policies to boost the country's economy. The first round of voting in the French presidential election is April 23rd.
CHURCH: Le Pen is hoping for the kind of upset we have seen in Britain and the United States.
Jim Bittermann has more on her chances.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More than four decades, the flag-waving super patriots of the National Front Party have been the outsiders of French politics, struggling to shed the party's extremist image, which has made it something of a pariah among more mainstream voters.
But now, the current party leader, Marine Le Pen, believes her time has come. With waves of populism sweeping away traditional politics and politicians in Britain and the United States, she's more confident than ever that despite her underdog standing in opinion polls, she can win the presidential elections here in April.
(on camera): The common political wisdom is, of course, Marine Le Pen cannot be elected president of France, but after the miscalculations of the pollsters and pundits ahead of the votes on Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, there's a nagging suspicion here that the common political wisdom may be wrong once again.
(voice-over): While the party is still staunchly against immigration, Le Pen is labored to reduce the impression that it's racist and xenophobic.
Deed Aval (ph) has helped them. The son of African immigrants, he used to work for the Socialist Party but now has jumped across the political spectrum to the National Front. He says he had no problem being accepted by the party.
DEED AVAL (ph), JOINED NATIONAL FRONT PARTY: I met different people, exceptional. I feel in this party that all the people love France, no matter where you're from, what's your color, et cetera, et cetera.
BITTERMANN: But it's the National Front's call for a French exit of the European Union, a Frexit, that has surprising traction among young people, who were supposed to be the principle beneficiaries from united Europe. Have a conversation with young National Front supporters and you find out why.
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL FRONT SUPPORTER (through translation): We don't believe in the European Union. We believe in an independent nation within Europe.
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL FRONT SUPPORTER (through translation): The problem with the European Union, bit by bit, they're taking our sovereignty away. We're pushing countries together that are completely different and have opposite legal and economic policies.
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL FRONT SUPPORTER (through translation): What attracts a young person to the National Front is something new, a party with a program radically new.
BITTERMANN (on camera): People are saying that this is the new populism that's sweeping around the world, the Brexit, the election of Trump in the United States. Is it a new populism in France, too?
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL FRONT SUPPORTER (through translation): If being populist is on the side of the people, then our slogan for the president "in the name of the people"
BITTERMANN (voice-over): If that notion of being on the side of the people has a familiar ring to it, so does the goal of these young people.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONALF FRONT SUPPORTER: Make France great again.
(LAUGHTER)
BITTERMANN: Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: What do we start with, "Saturday Night Live" or Super Bowl and Lady Gaga?
CHURCH: Let's do "Saturday Night Live."
VANIER: All right. Donald Trump's press secretary has become the target of comedians. And a source tells CNN that Sean Spicer is now receiving advice on how to deal with being the butt of so many jokes.
CHURCH: "Saturday Night Live" poked fun at Sean Spicer over the weekend. Actress Melissa McCarthy made a surprise appearance as Spicer. She captured his often-contentious relationship with the media. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
MELISSA MCCARTHY, ACTRESS: Settle down. Settle down! Settle down.
(LAUGHGTER)
Before we begin -- (INAUDIBLE) -
(LAUGHTER)
All right. All right.
When I say rocky start, I mean it in the sense of "Rocky" the movie because I came out here to punch you.
(LAUGHTER)
And also, I don't talk so good.
(LAUGHTER)
I would like to begin tonight by apologizing on behalf of you to me --
(LAUGHTER)
-- for how you have treated me these last two weeks. And that apology is not accepted.
(LAUGHTER)
Because I'm not here to be your buddy. I'm here to swallow gum and I'm here to take names.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:55:25] CHURCH: I know he won't be happy, but she does do a very good job, right?
VANIER: The first press conference was kind of rocky.
CHURCH: It was.
All right, moving on then. The Patriots victory wasn't the only stunner at the Super Bowl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Halftime performer, Lady Gaga, brought some bad romance to NRG Stadium at Houston, Texas.
VANIER: She began at the top of the stadium as a fleet of drones flew the U.S. flag behind her. And she sang patriotic tunes, like "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land." This, before doing a death-defying cable drop to the stage below. The Grammy winner belted out several of her hits and even gave a shout-out to her parents before closing the show.
CHURCH: Very nice.
That does wrap up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.
VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier.
Do stay tuned for more news around the world with Max Foster and Isa Soares.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:14] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to --
