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Siblings Allegedly Starved, Shackled And Taunted With Food; MSF: Thousands Of Refugees Stranded In One Small Town; Couple Married By Pope Francis In Flight; House Votes to Avert U.S. Government Shutdown, Senate Unclear; Fight against ISIS; Saudis Assess Trump's First Year in Office. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 19, 2018 - 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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ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Ahead this hour, bracing for a potential U.S. government shutdown. Lawmakers in the Senate must now vote on a short-term budget measure. But it doesn't look good. The clock is ticking, less than 22 hours away.
SESAY (voice-over): Unspeakable horrors from torture to starvation. We're learning what was life was like for 13 children held captive by their parents.
VAUSE (voice-over): And later, love is in the air. The impromptu ceremony which is a first on board a papal plane.
SESAY (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE (voice-over): I'm John Vause. This is NEWSROOM L.A.
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VAUSE: And time check, everybody, it looks more and more likely that 22 hours from now, the U.S. government will shuttle down.
SESAY: That's because the U.S. Congress can't agree on a measure to fund the government. And the one currently on the table would fund it for only four weeks.
VAUSE: There was some movement by congress on Thursday. Just well enough. CNN's Phil Mattingly has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Members of Congress move forward on one aspect of trying to keep the government open, beyond Friday night at midnight. But here's the problem: they need to move forward on two aspects. The House, they passed their bill, a short-term funding bill for four weeks.
House Republicans did it basically on their own, House Democrats making clear they weren't going to help. They didn't like the short- term bill. There were pieces that they wanted in that bill that weren't there.
However, Speaker Paul Ryan and his conference were able to get it done. Send it to the Senate.
Here's the problem: the Senate currently doesn't have the votes to move anything forward, let alone the bill that the House sent over.
What that has led to, a blame game. Take a listen to what House Speaker Paul Ryan said after the passage of his bill.
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REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Senator Schumer, do not shut down the federal government. Do not jeopardize funding for our military and for our national security. Do not jeopardize funding for the Child Health Insurance Program.
Now just to lay out where everything actually is right now, there is no negotiations to try and bridge the gap. There's no talks of a deal. The White House, the congressional leaders aren't meeting in a room at this point. There is basically a scheduled vote that everybody knows will fail.
And then after that, nobody has any idea. That's just the reality. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has made very clear, there is a short-term funding bill on the table. It was passed by the House. That is what he is sticking to. He is not moving off that position.
Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, he has made very clear. Democrats want some type of DACA resolution in play before they will agree to any type of short-term solution. Neither side is moving right now. Neither side is willing to actually have talks.
Instead, both sides are digging in on their current positions, which means one thing: unless something dramatically changes at some point in the near future, unless something shifts in a major way throughout the day on Friday, this government is headed toward a shutdown.
Pretty much everybody involved right now is willing to acknowledge that. What they aren't willing to acknowledge is what the next steps forward are. And here's why. They don't know. Nobody seems to know, in either chamber, in either party, what's actually coming next -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let's bring in Democratic strategist Caroline Heldman and Republican National Committee man from California, Shawn Steel.
OK. So all of this is now in the Senate. And it seems unlikely there's the 60 votes, which this temporary funding bill needs. And again, for Republicans, even though they control the Senate, even though they control the lower house, even though they control the White house, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, believes it's all the fault of the Democrats. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: We sincerely hope that cooler heads will prevail. And we sincerely hope that Senator Schumer will abandon this shutdown strategy. Help us keep the government open. Help us keep our military funded.
And let's continue to work together in good faith. That is the choice they have to make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Shawn, let me put this to you. If there is in fact a government shutdown, which looks likely, what are the chances that the president blames not just the Democrats but the Republicans as well?
Because he has done it before.
SHAWN STEEL, CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think that's not likely because that -- the odds are going too well for Trump this time. The Democrats are falling into a fantastic trap. I enjoy watching it. it's like a slow motion train wreck with the Democrats kind of hitting each other.
Now we do know that Republicans in the House with Democrats (INAUDIBLE) bipartisan vote got to -- you know, there's going to keep the government open. And now we know that one of the Democrats is defecting from Schumer. And I think there will be a few others.
But in the meanwhile there may not --
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STEEL: -- be enough. And it's kind of a suicide watch over an issue that most Americans don't think it's the number one issue. What's the number one issue is our security and having the government function, not over some strange ideological bent.
VAUSE: So Caroline, what are the calculations here by Democrats?
Why not support the short-term budget deal, keep the government open?
Because last time it closed down, which was essentially caused by the Republican senator Ted Cruz from Texas, I think it cost like $21 billion --
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CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: In 2013, right. And then the previous government shutdown in 1996, both of which were blamed on Republicans. I think this will clearly be blamed on Republicans because, unlike -- I would completely disagree with you. I don't think providing protections for 700,000 DREAMers and funding for the opioid crisis and funding for Puerto Rico and other disaster zones are things that people don't care about it.
They do care about and this is politics, right. This is the Democrats using leverage and they have no leverage right now because of the hyperpartisanship that is taking place in Washington.
And so they're using this one little opportunity. Every time it comes up, this continuing resolution, it's the one little opportunity that Democrats have to actually push their agenda.
And this is not a -- you know, there's no mandate right now for Republicanism. And so the fact that Republicans and Donald Trump are leading in Washington as though there is a mandate, it simply does not reflect the interests of the American people.
VAUSE: And, Shawn, this issue on the DREAMers -- 600,000, 700,000 a year, 800,000 children are brought to this country illegally by their parents, through no fault of their own, whose legal status is about to expire because Donald Trump revoked Obama's executive order, which gave them that legal status --
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STEEL: Which was completely illegal.
VAUSE: -- (INAUDIBLE) the case. But this is an issue -- giving these kids some kind of legal status is supported by 72 percent of Republicans, last time I looked, and 84 percent of Democrats. This is a no-brainer.
STEEL: Actually, it is quite a brainer. I disagree. Look at the latest polls. I was cut short of ambivalent on this issue. I'm not -- my number one priority -- but if you have a hard look and they're not actually technically DREAMers or actually DACA, it's a different class of people. They're not young. The average age is 25.
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STEEL: They have been here for 10, for 15 years --
VAUSE: They don't know any other country apart from this one. OK? Let's just --
STEEL: Less than 5 percent have any kind of a college training --
HELDMAN: Oh, my goodness, 6 percent of them have started their own business, twice the national average.
STEEL: Not true.
HELDMAN: That is absolutely true.
STEEL: Most, most are terribly uneducated, much lower than the average --
HELDMAN: Those are racist stereotypes, Shawn. I have to stop you.
(CROSSTALK)
HELDMAN: You are repeating the rhetoric, the racist rhetoric of Donald Trump.
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STEEL: Viewers, anytime the Democrats are upset --
(CROSSTALK)
STEEL: -- they bring out the racist mantra --
HELDMAN: Shawn, you cannot -- you cannot --
(CROSSTALK)
HELDMAN: -- demean DREAMers. And you're right. Trump did not --
STEEL: They're not DREAMers, they're DACA.
(CROSSTALK)
HELDMAN: -- Trump did win by conjuring racial resentment --
(CROSSTALK)
STEEL: -- racial resentment is always created by the Democrats. And they're the ones that created --
HELDMAN: -- maligning -- you are maligning -- you are maligning 700,000 people.
STEEL: -- Democrats only --
HELDMAN: You are maligning 700,000 mostly Latino people in the country.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Shawn, I think your colleagues are out of line. I don't think they apply in this. The issue is, these kids were brought to this country against their will --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: -- any other country. And you send them back to a place they know nothing about. This is an issue which --
(CROSSTALK)
STEEL: -- Australian immigration. Let's talk about Singapore immigration. Let's talk about Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese immigration. I will adopt those standards any day of the week. They would not tolerate an invasion of a large group of people -- (CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: -- they also have merit-based immigration but they have a refugee program. And they have a family reunion program --
STEEL: Certainly nothing like what happened in America. And they would not tolerate the massive invasion.
VAUSE: Let's move on because one of the other issues here is of course Donald Trump's border wall, this is all wrapped up in this funding measure.
On, what, Wednesday, John Kelly, the chief of staff, sort of raised questions about, will Mexico pay for it?
He said they won't directly pay for it. It won't exactly be a wall. It won't be 2,000 miles; it'll be 700 miles.
Anyway, Donald Trump took to Twitter to reassure everybody, that that campaign promise is still alive and well.
"The wall is the wall," he tweeted. "It has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be of necessity see- through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is national protection, such as mountains, wastelands, (INAUDIBLE) or water."
Shawn, no mention by the president, though, that the Mexican government will pay for it.
STEEL: Well, actually, he did mention in the tweet. The wall has become such an iconic issue. And the fact is that Democrats voted for that twice for full funding of the wall. George Bush said he was going to support it. And once again, it's like losing at football. The football keeps being taken away. And Americans just don't trust the government is actually going to do what the promised to do.
The funding has been there. The votes have been there. Now Democrats strangely have changed in the last 10 years. They don't want a wall at all.
HELDMAN: Americans don't want a wall. Two-thirds of Americans don't want a wall.
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STEEL: And then I just don't understand why we are not calling upon President Hillary to help us.
Oh, wait a moment. She didn't get elected. By the way --
(CROSSTALK)
HELDMAN: -- let Donald Trump know that, by the way, because he focuses on her a lot. But with the wall, he's flip-flopped back and forth. First, it's going to be a solid wall. Then it's going to be a tall wall.
(CROSSTALK)
STEEL: The fact that they're not welcome anymore as illegals and we're going to start having illegal immigration system because we have a tremendous -- we have 4 million --
HELDMAN: This is a country of immigrants. We are a country of immigrants.
STEEL: Exactly. And we have a right to choose our immigrants. We need a lot more coming who have merit, who have skills, that will add to America, not subtract from America.
VAUSE: Trump apparently was reportedly furious with his chief of staff, John Kelly. He said the president's campaign promises were not fully informed. That was Kelly. And so it seems Kelly just got the presidential kiss of death. Listen to this.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is great. I think he is doing a great job.
I think -- I think General Kelly has done a really great job. He is a very special guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Every time the president has described someone doing a great job and being a special person, what, days, weeks, they're out of a job, Caroline?
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: How long is Kelly going to last?
HELDMAN: I think you are right. I think that Kelly's days are numbered. I think that Kelly is trying to present himself as this person who will manage Donald Trump. But you do that behind the scenes. You let Republicans know and maybe some Democrats but you don't do it in public. I think that was his big mistake.
And it's interesting to note that Donald Trump has had a 34 percent turnover in his staff in the first year, almost twice as much at Ronald Reagan at about under 20 percent. And that's --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: And that's three times higher than Obama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And our thanks there to Democratic strategist Caroline Heldman and Republican National Committee man from California, Shawn Steel. SESAY: Well, Donald Trump's presidency has suffered low approval ratings at home since his first day in office. Next on CNN NEWSROOM, a new poll shows just how unpopular the U.S. leadership has become right around the world.
VAUSE: Also ahead, President Trump's ISIS strategy one year on. We'll have a report from war-ravaged Mosul -- just ahead.
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SESAY: This weekend marks a year since Donald Trump was sworn in as the U.S. president. His domestic approval ratings are struggling and the world is not giving him a passing grade.
VAUSE: Gallup's latest survey puts his approval rating across 134 countries at a historic low of just 30 percent, significantly below the two presidents before him. In 2008, George W. Bush had a global approval rating of U.S. leadership of 34 percent; but it hit 28 percent in the final year of the Obama administration.
SESAY: Meanwhile, Germany is now the top rated global power. China edges out the U.S. by a hair and Russia, as you say there, trails by a few points.
One of the things President Trump vowed on the campaign trail was a more aggressive ISIS strategy. The terror group was already losing ground when he came into office almost one year ago.
But under his tenure, it was driven from cities like Mosul and Raqqa. U.S.-backed --
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SESAY: -- ground forces and airpower led to those victories but the defeat of ISIS came at a heavy human cost, brutal urban combat claimed many civilian lives and much of those cities now lie in ruins.
CNN's Arwa Damon has this look at what's left of Mosul and we must warn you, her report contains graphic images.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) told this municipal team the body of a little girl was buried under a layer of rubble.
No one knows her name or where her parents are.
Her body is curled in the fetal position, little more than dried skin and bones, next to a stuffed bunny. Her photograph will be added to a growing collection of images of the unclaimed. She's almost unrecognizable. But the workers hope that her family, if they're even alive, will recognize her toy.
In the Old City where ISIS made its final stance, where the battle and bombardment were most intense, it's hard to imagine that any rules were followed or how anyone survived.
DAMON: When President Trump inherited this war a year ago, he did not change the rules of engagement. That is the actual steps and procedures to carry out a military strike. What he did do was give the U.S. military chain of command more authority, then which resulted in a more aggressive strategy.
Now what those words actually mean on the ground, that's this.
DAMON (voice-over): The U.S. and Iraqi governments declared victory against ISIS. But for the population here, the catastrophic cost is still unknown. Six months on, the stench of death lingers. Survivors walk around in a daze. And loved ones still search for their dead with bare hands and a shovel.
These young men are looking for the body of their great uncle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
DAMON (voice-over): He was an intellectual. But what they remember most about him was his love for a Christian woman, whose family would not let them marry. But he yearned for her his entire life.
They dig up his skeletal remains on his bed.
One of his neighbors find an old magazine with an article about another of America's wars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
DAMON (voice-over): Then, like now, the U.S. has shied away from reporting overall civilian death tolls, grim realities that only become apparent later. A month-long investigation by the Associated Press found that 9,000 to 11,000 civilians were killed in Mosul, a third of them from coalition airstrikes.
A local government official we spoke to says that matches the information he has.
The U.S. military says it does look into individual reports and is acknowledging around 300 civilian deaths caused by its airpower and Iraq, which requests or approves the strikes, has established a committee to look into the overall death toll.
What you get on the ground is a glimpse of the scale of death here.
DAMON: This is a mass grave that has 20 bodies in it.
DAMON (voice-over): This man, a gravedigger, says he buried as many as 450 people in two months, many of the graves unmarked, the identities of those here unknown. But he says most were civilians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
DAMON (voice-over): Those who remain are left with the agonizing memories of what they endured.
In the ruins of his home, Saad (ph) cannot see how victory is theirs.
"To kill one ISIS man, they would fire a rocket worth millions," he tells us, "and knock down 10 homes. ISIS won by hurting us. And America won by hurting us."
Five-year-old Adra (ph) wants to find her toys, memories of a childhood gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
DAMON (voice-over): This is the one she wants. It's a dream house. Now, the only home she has. What the population suffered here is not a numbers game. What they want is accountability for all they lost, for the price they paid -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Mosul, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: The Pentagon has responded to reports of civilian casualties in the fight against ISIS. A spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department says, "While we do not discuss details of our internal processes and procedures of assessing civilian casualties, we can tell you that, unlike ISIS, the coalition works extensively --
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SESAY: -- "to reduce the risk of civilians on the ground and we leverage our technology to ensure the strikes are as precise as possible."
CNN's Arwa Damon is in Northern Iraq and she joins us now with more on all of this, live from Irbil.
Arwa, those pictures are hard to see, the devastation of Mosul is extensive. And now there are concerns of a possible resurgence of ISIS.
DAMON: Well, Isha, those concerns have been present throughout. Remember, this is an organization that, over the course of history, going back to 2004, when it was Al Qaeda in Iraq, has proven itself extremely capable of regrouping and re-emerging. There are certain pockets that have been identified as being perhaps especially vulnerable. Some senior Iraqi military commanders we were talking to were saying that they're still going after sleeper cells in specific areas.
When it comes to the population, that also does remain one of their concerns because they don't want to go through this again. They can barely come to grips with what it is that they have been through. And that completely, to a certain degree, impossible task of trying to
move on. And how do you eventually move from that kind of a nightmare -- Isha.
SESAY: Yes, and, so with that being said, with those concerns in the background or at the forefront, what do they say to you, Arwa, about how they view the future?
DAMON: You know, we asked quite a lot of people that question. And they give you something of a distant stare. And they say, you know, we hope, we hope, we hope because at this stage that's really all that they can do. But there is also a certain level of people, still trying to come to terms with what it is that they went through.
When you walk through the Old City, you do see some people beginning to try to clean up. These are all individual efforts. They still haven't received any significant assistance from the central government in Baghdad, there's been no massive international reconstruction effort.
People don't know where to begin because it is also worth remembering that, at the end of the day, even if we do have this return to normalcy, as we like to refer to it, nothing is ever going to be normal for this population.
Again, at least not in their memories. And at best right now, all they can do is hope that the future is going to be kinder to their children than the present has been to them.
SESAY: All they have is hope. Arwa Damon, joining us there from Irbil in Northern Iraq, thank you.
VAUSE: For his first overseas trip as president, Donald Trump broke with tradition and went to Saudi Arabia. He was rewarded with a lavish great and two days of gilded, over-the-top extravagance. The president sealed a billion-dollar deal to sell weapons to Riyadh over 10 years. At the time, the Saudis described Trump's visit as an historic turning point, a significant shift in relations.
Almost one year on, is the House of Said still so enamored with the U.S. president?
Nic Robertson joins us now from the capital, Riyadh.
So, Nic, in many ways it seems Donald Trump has reestablished what was the status of the U.S.-Saudi relationship in the years before President Barack Obama.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure. There was a close relationship between President Bush and the Saudi leadership. And under President Obama, President Obama did visit Riyadh a lot during his presidency. But really, you know, King Salman, his son, the crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, really see -- really see President Trump and the Republicans as having a similar view towards Iran, that Saudi Arabia views Iran as hegemonic, as having expansionist ideas in the region. United States under President Trump, the Republicans really have a
strong view that Iran is backing terrorism in the region, is a destabilizing force. So in that way, both Trump and the leadership here in Saudi Arabia, under King Salman are still very much aligned. Witness what's happening across the border in Yemen. Witness what's happening across Saudi Arabia's northern border, in Iraq and Syria.
So there are those sort of mutual concerns, a mutual understanding there, really run very closely.
VAUSE: With that enthusiastic backing of the United States, the Saudis have been unleashed I guess in terms of foreign policy. You mentioned Yemen, a few other instances. But this is sort of a new territory for the Saudis and, to put it mildly, there's mixed results.
ROBERTSON: Sure, there's a lot going on in Saudi Arabia. The crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, is really pushing this Vision 2030, to modernize the country, to try to, you know, take the next generation and prepare them perhaps for a future for the country that, where oil is not a dominant economic force.
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ROBERTSON: But, you know, where foreign policy comes into play, the spat last summer that still exists with Qatar, the view of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, that Qatar is backing terrorists in the region, that it's backing political force. Islam in the region. And that has certainly taken off in the months since President Trump's visit here.
And there's a real sense after that, that President Trump, you know, in the way of his relationship with the king here, enabled that. However, that spat is something that the United States has tried to ease, still goes on so.
So the United States doesn't seem to have a strong hand to play in that, at this time. It's much more of a regional affair. But absolutely, there is a real sense that Trump and King Salman are aligned in many things, whether it is Middle East peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Is another area, where there's understanding to be more of a meeting of the minds.
It has bought Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince, has brought a more robust leadership to Saudi Arabia. It is having a regional impact. And President Trump does play in, perhaps, to their feeling here that, with the United States, at least, they have an ally.
VAUSE: You are (INAUDIBLE) nature of the region, there's all sorts of rumors and speculation. And when Donald Trump decided to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the word was that there was a deal between the Saudis and the Israelis. The Saudis could have their way in Yemen. And the Israelis could have their way with the Palestinians. And everyone was going to be happy with that arrangement. That's completely not true. But it's just an example of how things play out in that region. But
what is true is this growing relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, perhaps the strangest bedfellows in the Middle East.
ROBERTSON: Yes, and they have a common enemy which is Iran. Iran -- for Israel, Iran is an existential threat. For the Saudis, they see it equally as a threat as a country that's extending its influence in Iraq, to the north of their border. A recent U.N. report showed how Iran is supporting the Houthi rebels inside Yemen, firing ballistic missiles, flying hundreds and hundreds of kilometers, targeted the capital, Riyadh, here, where there's a population of 7.7 million people.
So the concerns of the Saudis about Iran's growing influence, the concerns in Israel about Iran's influence in the region have a meeting point. It -- more broadly under President Trump it does seem that he views Saudi Arabia as part of an access to bring stability to the Middle East, to bring a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis, his announcement in December that Jerusalem should be Israel's capital doesn't appear so far publicly to be followed up with more strategic positioning to bring that about.
And this has led the Palestinians to essentially withdraw from talks with the Trump administration, certainly as far as public view is concerned.
But when you look at President Trump's relationship with Israel, this is one where he is making friends and trying to bring influence. But perhaps he's pushing other partners with the United States and bringing peace, perhaps he's pushing them further away. You could look to Pakistan and the way President Trump is dealing with that over Afghanistan as a way, again, of sort of having partners that are ending up by Trump's rhetoric and position by being pushed further away.
Pakistan on one hand, the Palestinians on the other -- John.
VAUSE: The destructor in chief. I guess it's true on foreign policy as well.
Nic, good to see you. Thank you.
SESAY: Coming up after the break, prosecutors describe the deplorable conditions inside a California home where 13 children were rescued from a lifetime of abuse.
VAUSE: Also, the harrowing stories of abuse from the women and girls who were abused by the Olympic team doctor, the man who brutally violated their trust.
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[02:31:42] VAUSE: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. The U.S. government shutdown is now less than 22 hours away. The House of Representatives is up to the on Thursday. It's now before the Senate which may vote on it on Friday ahead of a midnight deadline, the passage well that is far from certain. The White House says it's confident Congress will approve the measure and expect President Trump to sign it before he leaves for another weekend at his Florida result.
VAUSE: The parents of 13 severely abused children in California has pleaded not guilty to torture, bail was set to David and Louise Turpin at $12 million each. Prosecutors say the children had been harshly punished for years, had been beaten, strangled and had been left in the starvation. All of it just for the smallest of infractions.
SESAY: Well, in Brazil, one toddler is dead and 15 other people injured after a car plowed to the pedestrians in Rio. It happened on a crowded boardwalk at the (INAUDIBLE) Copacabana Beach. There's been immediate reports the driver was taken to custody, security forces say the incident wasn't terror-related.
VAUSE: Well, the alleged mistreatment of 13 children by their parents for years of years of being far worse than most could ever imagine.
SESAY: According to the prosecutor conditions inside their California home was so deplorable, they can only be described as depraved. He says emaciated children were taunted with food, they weren't permitted to eat and with toys, they weren't allowed to play with. We get more now from CNN's Stephanie Elam.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listening to the Riverside County District Attorney list all of the things they say they've discovered in this household. It all most seems too much to believe, the district attorney saying that they have found that the children were being locked for the most minor of offenses. Even including washing their hand above their wrists. They were seen as playing in the water and they could be chained up for that. They said the treatment of the children has gotten progressively worse. And they're starting these charges starting in 2010 but that's when they move to California.
We do know according to the district's attorney office that these abuse -- the abuse started earlier than that in Texas and then got worse when they moved here to California. Some of the things that they're saying about the children when the 17-year-old, the one who was bold enough to plan this escape with her siblings for over two years when she escaped she took one of her siblings with her. That sibling got scared and ran back into the house. She stayed on plan and called the police and when police got to the home, they said that they defended in this case. able to unchain the 11-year-old and the 14-year-old but the 22-year-old was still chained when the authorities made their way into the home. They said that they chained them there for weeks or months at a time to the point that they wouldn't let them out, if they needed to use the restroom based on the evidence that they saw on the house.
As far as their appearance, saying the 17-year old she didn't know what medicine was when the police first spoke to her. Some of the children didn't know what a police officer was, so they're talking about the fact that they had cognitive impairment and nerve damage only allowed to shower one time a year and that they suffered beatings and strangulations. There are so many things in here that the list goes on. But today was the first time that we actually saw the Turpin couple in court today looking stoically on as the judge went ahead and set their bail at $12 million each.
[02:35:08] They are looking despite the fact -- despite the fact that they have pled not guilty to all charges. They are looking at spending 94 years to life in prison if they are found guilty in this case. Stephanie Elam, CNN Riverside, California.
SESAY: With us now is defense attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez and CNN Law Enforcement Contributor, Steve Moore. Gentlemen welcome to you both. Ambrosio, to you first. Let's get to the question of charges and actually put up a graphic on screen that list the charges against David and Louise Turpin as they stand now. As you see them on the chart -- on the screen 12 counts of torture. They're also -- one count of a lewd act on a child that's David Turpin only. And let's bring up the rest, you see seven charges of violations of a dependent adult and also six counts of child abuse and neglect and a 12-counts of false imprisonment. Now let me ask you this, Ambrosio. Given what we know right now as this is being shared by the authorities of the charges right in your view and you expect others to be added.
AMBROSIO RODRIGUEZ, SENIOR DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Yes, I do expect more charges to be added. During the press conference today, the D.A. Mike Hestrin made a point of letting the press know that the investigation is ongoing. Whenever children that have been abused and have been obviously abused for decades begin to tell their story. They never or able to tell everything at once I mean they're going through a process where they are beginning to learn what the world really is. I mean they're being for the first time ever to be properly nourished. I think as they tell more, there will be more charges. I mean the children themselves are the evidence of the abuse, of this brutal abuse.
SESAY: Yes, indeed. And Steve more to you on that point. The children are the evidence these are children who essentially have been locked away for long period at a time, emaciated, suffering nerve damage as has been reported. Beyond getting a picture something is emerging from what authorities are sharing but where are the holes in your view -- what will authorities be drilling down on?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, actually there's not many holes in this at all, I share I mean it's a whole scenario now it's right now is immense. Because the kids -- as Ambrosio said, they have not had time, if they have not had time -- if they -- if they talk from the time of the rest until now. They haven't had time to talk about everything that happened. But one thing that's in the prosecutor's favor here is that there are -- there is at least one adult, there's a 22-year-old.
That person has a recollection and a standing with the court that's going to be easier to utilize in prosecution. It's always difficult when you're talking about five, six, seven-year-old. You don't want to make them relive these situations. And there is also all sorts of questions about what a child will remember or but when you have a 22- year-old, that's going to be some pretty good evidence and she can corroborate what the younger ones say. These people should never -- if this is all true and it appears it is. They should never see the light of day.
SESAY: Yes, I mean. Steve, it does presuppose that a 22-year-old has a cognitive ability of a 22-year-old. I mean we -- the expectation is what they've been through, that would be somewhat impaired. Ambrosio, to bring you in, I mean further on from that point authority said home was filthy. I mean (INAUDIBLE) the scent of urine, the kids as we've already detailed, you know, there were the chains, there were the alleged beatings and strangulations and whatnot. Are you surprised given what authorities found in terms of physical evidence that David and Louise have pleaded not guilty and not only that have waived their right to a speedy trial? What does that say to you?
RODRIGUEZ: Well, that's completely normal, at an arraignment that was today was. A judge would not accept a guilty plea. This is the first time that they've had a time to talk and meet with their council. The Defense attorneys haven't even received or have just received the police reports. A not guilty plea, a standard at an arraignment. It doesn't mean that they're going to not plea at a later time. Although I doubt that they will, I expect this to go to trial because I think they are psychopaths from the evidence and I don't think they think they did anything wrong.
I see him as a cult figure and she was his hand-maiden and they thought that whatever they're doing, they kind of just -- kind of horror show cult. They think that they are right. I mean that's part of being a psychopath, right? You think that whatever evil you are doing it is the right thing. So I'm, you know, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney I've had faces like this where it's just going to go to trial. And a jury will have to decide.
SESAY: Yes.
[02:40:00] Steve Moore, of the abuse of these children according to authorities began long before now. It began when they were living in Texas. They're saying that they were there for some 17 years. And authorities now appeal this help saying effectively, someone must have known something, someone must have seen something. I mean that's a pretty fair assumption to make, right?
MOORE: It is but at the same time we haven't seen anybody who knew about it in California for seven years. So it's possible that they hit it to a certain extent in Texas but you still have to go back. It is almost inconceivable to us to -- that nobody figured anything out. Like if these kids didn't know what a policeman or medicine was, then how about the people in Las Vegas, how about those people. Did they wonder why the kids didn't know certain things, why nobody knew what a cell phone was? I think there are so many questions about that.
SESAY: Yes, multiple, multiple questions. Ambrosio Rodriguez and Steve Moore always a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for the great insight.
MOORE: Thank you. VAUSE: The marathon sentencing for a disgraced Olympic team, Dr. Larry Nassar is coming to an end. More than 130 women and girls say they were sexually abused by Nassar and by the time the judge hands down to a sentence most likely early next week more than a hundred survivors are expected to tell the court about the shocking abuse they suffered at the hands of a disgusting, depraved man in a privileged position on trust. Already almost 70 survivors have spoken, aren't many for the first time. Their accounts had been heart wrenching and harrowing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DANTZSCHER, NASSAR ACCUSER: You manipulated me into thinking you were the good guy and helped me while sexually abusing me over and over and over for your own twisted sexual pleasure. You're a pathetic monster that it's only sorry you got caught. LINDSEY LINKE, NASSAR ACCUSER: I was abused so many times that I
can't even when the first time was, I just know that I was only 10 years old. Because you probably don't remember this was me when you slowly but surely piece by piece start to take advantage of me. And piece by piece took my childhood away.
NICOLE REEB, NASSAR ACCUSER: Over the past year and a half there have been moments where I have sunk so low that I have wondered if enduring all this is really worth it. I have wondered if my family would have it easier if I just wasn't here. I have spent half of my life, my entire adult life clawing my way through the aftermath of being sexually abused. It seems just to me that Larry Nassar should spend the rest of his adult life locked away in a prison so.
LINDSY GAMET, NASSAR ACCUSER: I was the care-free silly little girl until this happened. And afterwards there was a cloud and the cloud is followed me into every relationship in my life especially the most important ones.
TAYLOR COLE, NASSAR ACCUSER: This sexual assault and molestation has affected my job, my dreams, my trust in people and doctors.
JESSICA SMITH, NASSAR ACCUSER: Whereas we survivors stand here as strong and empowered women. You, Nassar, sit there as a sick man finally understanding you're overdue of faith. I hope that you will consider the endless impact and instability this weighs on my family and me as well as so many others. Everything.
ARIANNA GUERRERO: You, Larry, turned the sport I love into something I hate. Not only did you hurt me. But you hurt my family and my teammates and that is why I hate you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor. I want to thank you for allowing me to face me fears in the eyes. I know (INAUDIBLE) the peace and healing for me for allowing us to share our voices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But USA Gymnastics President and CEO Kerry Perry released a statement on the victim's testimony. Sang in part I will not waver on my commitment to remain focus each and every day on our organization's highest priority. Safety, health, and well-being of our athletes and creating a culture that empowers and supports them. My commitment is uncompromising and it is my hope that everything we do going forward makes this very clear. Better late than never.
SESAY: Yes, still to come, more on CNN NEWSROOM. In Nigeria thousands of people seeking shelter from violence and now in desperate need of food, water, and medicine. We talk to doctors without borders about how they're trying to help. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:46:49] SESAY: Hello everyone, a new report from Med Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders is giving us a shocking look at the refugee crisis in Nigeria. An enormous suffering in one small town alone.
They've all focuses on isolated enclave of Pulka where thousands of people have taken refuge from years of violence and terror attacks in Borno State. Luis Eguiluz is ahead of mission in Nigeria for Doctors Without Borders. He joins me now from the (INAUDIBLE) City, Abuja. Luis, thank you for joining us.
Can you describe for our viewers the impacts, the conflict in the northeast, has had, and is having, on the people of the region?
LUIS EGUILUZ, HEAD, MISSION FOR NIGERIA, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: Good morning.
SESAY: Good morning, can you hear me, Luis?
EGUILUZ: Yes, good morning too. Good morning from Abuja. Thank you very much to give me the opportunity to speak about the conflict and the consequences for the population.
SESAY: And go ahead, tell us about what this conflict has meant for the local population there in the northeast.
EGUILUZ: Indeed, after eight years of conflicts from -- by the army, Nigerian army and the opposition groups known as Boko Haram, the consequences are enormous for the population. We are talking about, according to United Nations, more than 1.7 million people displace in the northern States of Nigeria. In the Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa, well, majority of displacement happen in the State of Borno.
Out of these 1.7 million people, a hundred of thousands of them are displaced in what we call enclaves. Our towns, control by the military, surrounded by the armed groups with high-security conditions, with very limited movement, and with difficult, or an assistant access to public services. Water, food, health, well, the insecurity makes very difficult delivery of humanitarian aid.
Most of the humanitarian aid is used to be delivered by sometimes a helicopter, sometimes by armed corps due to as I said, security. Well, population are fully dependent of humanitarian aid to survive. Water, food, medical aid, all services. These people are living in temporary centers, some of them were raised for two years aim (INAUDIBLE) conditions.
SESAY: So, they've been living there in some cases for as long as two years with limited supplies of water, food, and, and other essentials. Talk to me about your experiences, experiences of your colleagues. I mean, what are -- what are you dealing with on a day to day basis when it comes to issues of help?
[02:49:54] EGUILUZ: Yes, indeed. As you can imagine, delivery of health in this condition is difficult. MSF is working and Doctors Without Borders is working in 11 locations, in Maiduguri, and outside Maiduguri.
So, as you can imagine, very difficult to deal and to provide health services due to a security. So, we are running several hospitals. We provide primary, secondary health care, dental or teeth services, mental health, very important in this situation.
But sometimes, we are even obliged to deliver all the kind of services than of health. Recently, we were obliged to distribute blankets in Pulka, because Pulka is one location whenever said works as a hospital, brought to the delay in delivery of by -- of (INAUDIBLE) center. There are see of some people that are sleeping outside from the cold. We were obliged, as I said to distribute blankets to be able to cope with the low temperature at nights.
Of course, MSF is very concerned by -- even as related to this poor living conditions. Diarrhea, hepatitis, meningitis, many, many illness like this. Even there was an outbreak of cholera recently started last hours, is lasted for several months. In Maiduguri and another location, with more than 5,000 cases of cholera that in the sense to play a part in the case (INAUDIBLE).
SESAY: And Luis, it's not just these, cases of diseases like, cholera, and condition like diarrhea that are affecting the populations in these areas. Well, also getting reports of sexual violence and exploitation of women and girls. In the very spaces, they fled to in search of safety. Can you talk to us about that? I mean, how widespread is this, what do you seeing? What are you hearing?
EGUILUZ: Already -- many women and girls are to say, very expose before they arrived to the -- to the locations, to sexual violence. And as -- of course, in lack of their situation, many of them they were exposed, and even in the location. I mean, we cannot forget that they are living in, in shelters, in open shelters. On the (INAUDIBLE) is supposed to cases -- we see cases of social violation, we treat those cases. We provide clinical treatment but as well mental high support.
SESAY: And Luis, to the point, to best of your knowledge, are there -- is there any move towards, getting towards investigating to holding people accountable for abuses happening in these displacement camps.
EGUILUZ: Know the (INAUDIBLE) there are -- there are certain initiatives to investigate those cases, the (INAUDIBLE) of course. This is up to the army and to the government of Nigeria to, control these investigations.
SESAY: All right, Luis Eguiluz, joining us there from Abuja. Luis, we appreciate it and thank you very much.
EGUILUZ: Thank you.
VAUSE: And just ahead, another first for the unpredictable Pope. Performing the first-ever mid-air wedding ceremony. An unplanned and unforgettable moment for the marry
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Well, a chilling couple is flying high after their surprise wedding. A jet airplane was their chapel.
VAUSE: Oh, yes, but it gets better. Because the Holy Father was the one who performed the ceremony. CNN's Rosa Flores has details.
[02:55:10] ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The papal plane turned into a wedding chapel when Pope Francis, spontaneously married two flight attendants at 36,000 feet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLOS CIUFFARDI, FLIGHT ATTENDANT, MARRIED BY THE POPE (through translator): He offered and we said, well, this is the once in a lifetime opportunity.
FLORES: Paula Podest and Carlos Ciuffardi were sitting near the pontiff during the customary flight crew photo when the conversation began. Small talk turned into a full-blown Catholic wedding when Pope Francis asked if they were married.
The couple responded, only civilly, for a natural disaster turned their wedding date upside down when the 2010 earthquake hit Chile. Destroying the church where they were supposed to tie the knot. According to the couple, Pope Francis, didn't waste any time before asking, do you want me to marry you?
CIUFFARDI (through translator): He invited us to sit down and we started talking to him. And then, that was the moment.
FLORES: Pope Francis then said, "We need a witness." So, the CEO of the airline served as much.
FLORES: The good thing about papal trips is that, Cardinals' travel with Pope Francis. So, the pontiff turned around and asked the cardinal to draft the wedding certificate.
With few resources on the plane, the couple says, one of the Cardinals used a sheet of paper from the airline to draft the document. After a brief blessing of the wedding rings by the Pope, the couple and their boss turned witness, signed the wedding certificate and made history. For this is the first wedding ever on a papal plane according to Vatican officials.
The Pope asked, "Is she still the boss?
CIUFFARDI: I told him yes.
FLORES: A reference to how the couple met, she was his boss at the time. Pope Francis gave the couple rosaries as gifts, and then said, he hopes this motivates couples around the world to marry. Rosa Flores, CNN, Northern Chile.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And everybody celebrated with a free bag of peanuts.
SESAY: (INAUDIBLE) so they put them in the microwave.
VAUSE: Yes. Oh, the nice one (INAUDIBLE).
SESAY: You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Please follow us on Twitter @CNNNEWSROOMLA, (INAUDIBLE). But you can find highlights and clips from our shows. The news continues with Natalie Allen and George Howell.
