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Korean Summit Uncertainty; Trump Escalates Attack on Mueller Investigators; Venezuelan Election; Ireland Abortion Referendum; Syria Regains Control of Damascus, After Seven Years of Fighting; LeBron Leads Cavs To Save 4 Victory With 44 Points; Vegas Makes History In First Ever Season; Reports: Arsenal Set To Name Unai Emery As New Coach. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired May 22, 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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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour: the White House has new doubts about the summit with North Korea just hours before President Trump meets with the South Korean president.
Plus island prepares for a divisive referendum on abortion and you will hear the issue has raised passions on both sides.
And later Pope Francis purports another gay man that God made him the way he is. But that does not make the pope a radical Catholic. And we'll explain why.
And then a story you will not want to miss. Yes, a monkey escapes its cage and runs amok in a U.S. airport. How about that.
(INAUDIBLE) news all around the world. Monkey's (INAUDIBLE). I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.
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VAUSE: With the U.S.-North Korea summit looking increasingly unlikely, South Korean president Moon Jae-in will try to keep those talks on track when he meets with Donald Trump in Washington in the coming hours.
But so those closest to the U.S. president are growing more and more skeptical as Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump tonight seems increasingly jittery over a possible summit with Kim Jong-un.
The president tweeting, "China must continue to be strong and tight on the border of North Korea until a deal is made."
Analysts say that's a reference to recent reports that China may be letting up on sanctions against Kim's regime and allowing more North Korean goods to be smuggled into China.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Why was that significant?
Because President Trump knows that if Kim Jong-un believes the Chinese are going to bail him out economically, Kim is under much less pressure to strike a deal quickly.
TODD (voice-over): Another sign of presummit jitters, "The New York Times" reports President Trump has become more and more concerned in recent days that a meeting in Singapore with Kim, quote, "could turn into a political embarrassment."
"The Times" reports the president has been pressing his aides on whether he should even go ahead with the summit and was thrown off by a statement the Kim regime made last week.
SANGER: He was quite surprised and, we're told, quite angry to read this statement from North Korea, saying we will never just trade away all of our nuclear capability for some security guarantee and a promise, vague, of some trade with the West.
TODD (voice-over): If the president does go to Singapore, he'll be meeting a young dictator well briefed on him. New information from a former British diplomat, who's recently traveled to Pyongyang, that the North Koreans are studying Trump, analysts say similar to the way the CIA has researched Kim Jong-un.
JONATHAN POWELL, FORMER CHIEF BRITISH NEGOTIATOR: I was there in December, they were reading "The Art of the Deal" and wanted to discuss the book and what it showed about the president.
When I went back at the beginning of this year, they were reading "Fire and Fury," all on PDFs, not buying the book itself, and trying to discuss what that told them about Trump, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that that is going to give Kim Jong-un insights into Trump's approach, how he negotiates, what his tactics are. So I think this is going to make for almost grand master chess- style negotiations but also a lot of posturing is probably going to result.
TODD (voice-over): A chess match with enormous stakes, experts say, between two survivors, neither of whom feels he can afford to lose face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is a financially wealthy, successful person who has survived in the shark pit of New York financial real estate dealings. Kim Jong-un has survived the acid test of North Korean politics. where you win or you die, literally.
TODD: Kim Jong-un has also likely been briefed on the summit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim has made two surprise visits to China in recent weeks and President Trump has said he thinks that Kim's change in tone over the summit , his more negative tone, might have been influenced by Xi. The Chinese have responded that their position on all of this hasn't
changed and they're pleased with the momentum for dialogue between Trump and Kim -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Live now to Seoul for CNN's Ivan Watson.
Ivan, exactly what can South Korea's president do at this point, what can he say to President Trump to keep this meeting on track, to prevent it from actually being canceled or from Trump pulling out?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a little tough for President Moon Jae-in right now because though he met face- to-face with Kim Jong-un just in late April, at a high point in North- South relations, right now North Korea is making clear it is very frustrated and angry at South Korea.
North Korean media keeps publishing --
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WATSON: -- articles that slam the South Korean government for engaging in joint military drills with the U.S. and they also kind of disinvited South Korean journalists from attending a ceremony in North Korea, that is expected to take place this week, for the decommissioning, the dismantling of their main nuclear testing site.
This after they had initially announced that South Korean journalists would be invited. That is front page news right now here in South Korea, John. So this presents challenges for Moon Jae-in, who has styled himself as a kind of North Korea whisperer and key mediator between Pyongyang and Washington.
His aides told journalists that the South Koreans are still trying to figure out what exactly it is that the North Koreans are so angry about and that he's going into this summit, the fourth one this year, with President Trump, without basically a script and they're both going to try to figure out how to try to make the planned summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump in Singapore in June a success.
VAUSE: One of the problems is being there's a lot of tension with the North Koreans because the president first knocked down talk of this lineal model, was raised by his national security adviser when it comes to denuclearization.
But there was a threat at the end of that, that essentially the fate of Moammar Gadhafi could be Kim Jong-un's fate if he does not sign a deal. This is what the vice president, Mike Pence, told FOX News a few hours ago. Listen to this.
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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was some talk about the Libya model last week. And as the president made clear, you know, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn't make a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people saw that as a threat.
PENCE: Well, I think it's more of a fact.
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VAUSE: So the vice president doubling down on the president's language.
So how could this complication matters right now?
WATSON: Certainly we're not kind of in that charmed period where President Trump was complementing Kim Jong-un and saying that he had generously treated the three U.S. prisoners, who were released less than two weeks ago, after being held in North Korea for such a long time.
Mike Pence in that interview, John, he went on to say that the military option was never taken off the table. So we've seen a sharp shift from North Korea over the course of the last week in its criticism of both Washington and Seoul.
And now we are starting to see a shift from the Trump administration as well. So it does call into question, you know, what exactly can happen within the next three weeks before this expected June 12th summit.
Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, he talked about the Trump administration not making the same mistakes of previous U.S. administrations, not doing slow confidence-building measures but coming to one grand bargain.
And it makes you wonder, is that possible right now when Washington is starting to threaten Pyongyang and vice versa?
VAUSE: This could be the posturing before the summit or it could be an ominous sign that it may not happen at all we will find out. Ivan, thank you, appreciate it.
Meanwhile, President Trump is escalating his attacks on the Russia probe. He's moved past those fiery tweets and has ordered an investigation into whether the FBI spied on his campaign for political purposes.
Critics say it's a direct assault by the president on the independence of the Justice Department. Jim Acosta reports.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein arrived at the White House for what officials insist was a prescheduled meeting. But it's clear what's on the president's mind.
While he's not answering reporters' questions about it, the president is complaining that he was spied on before the 2016 election, ranting about the presence of a confidential source working inside the Trump campaign, tweeting, "I hereby demand that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI or DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump campaign for political purposes and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama administration."
While the confidential source did speak with Trump campaign advisers, U.S. officials have told CNN the confidential source was not spying on the campaign.
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I think that's actually a very disturbing assault on the independence of the Department of Justice and I think when the president, this president or any president, tries to use the Department of Justice as kind of a private investigatory body, that's not good for the country.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Before his meeting at the White House, Rosenstein relented, announcing the Justice Department's inspector general will investigate the president's accusation, saying in a statement, "If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action."
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ACOSTA (voice-over): That came as a disappointment to Democrats.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I am concerned with some of the comments of the deputy attorney general suggesting, well, we will look in to find out whether there's any legitimate concern about a politically embedded spy.
They know that's nonsense and I hate to see them say anything to give it credence.
The president's conservative allies have been hammering the Justice Department's oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation for months. Even attorney general Jeff Sessions was labeled "a danger to Americans" over the weekend on FOX News.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The single most dangerous person to the agenda of President Trump, the Republican Party and ultimately to all Americans, is the attorney general of the United States himself, Jeff Sessions.
ACOSTA (voice-over): And the president is continuing his attacks on the Obama administration, taking jabs at former CIA director, John Brennan, tweeting comments from a conservative commentator.
"John Brennan is panicking. He has disgraced himself. He has disgraced the country. He has disgraced the entire intelligence community."
That was before the president traveled to the CIA to welcome the agency's new director, Gina Haspel. TRUMP: Most especially I want to thank you, the dedicated men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency. It is a true honor to stand here today before the most elite intelligence professionals on the planet Earth. Nobody even close.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But the president took time to give a shout-out to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who has led the GOP charge in Congress to investigate the Russia investigation.
TRUMP: A very courageous man. He's courageous. Congressman Devin Nunes, thank you very much, Devin, for being here. Appreciate it.
ACOSTA: The White House says chief of staff John Kelly will be setting up this meeting for key lawmakers like the House intelligence Committee Chairman, Devin Nunes, to review this classified information about this confidential source. That meeting, we were told, is expected to happen at the end of the week -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: Two weeks after Donald Trump pulled out the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. is now threatening to crush Iran with economic and military pressure unless it changes its behavior in the Middle East and ends its nuclear program.
This is so-called Plan B. The ultimatum came from the U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who was speaking to a conservative think tank in Washington. Among the demands, Iran pull out of Syria, shortstop its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and also reiterated President Trump's stance that Barack Obama should never have made the deal in the first place.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Strategically the Obama administration made a bet, that the deal would spur Iran to stop its rogue state actions and conform to international norms. That bet was a loser with massive repercussions for all of the people living in the Middle East.
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VAUSE: Iran's president Hassan Rouhani fired back at Secretary Pompeo, basically saying don't tell us what to do.
Earlier I spoke with CNN's European affair commentator, Dominic Thomas, and Dalia Dassa Kaye, director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation. I asked them how the European partners to the Iran deal can keep it alive, especially if you're being companies which do business with Iran are hit with U.S. secondary sanctions.
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DALIA DASSA KAYE, RAND CORPORATION: I think the Europeans were trying to strike a deal with the Trump administration before this withdrawal. And the demands today are certainly not going to make them anymore eager to do so.
I think they really went much further; the question isn't just the issue of the administration withdrawing from this deal but how they're withdrawing, with such a hard exit and such inflammatory rhetoric and threats to actually punish European companies.
So it was as strident a speech as I think we might have expected.
VAUSE: A little more from Iran's foreign minister. This was the tweet.
"U.S. diplomacy sham is merely a regression to old habits imprisoned by delusions and failed policies, dictated by corrupt special interests. It repeats the same wrong choices and will thus reap the same ill rewards. Iran, meanwhile, is working with partners for post- U.S. JCPOA solutions."
In other words, close the negotiation deal with the solutions. So Dominic, in his speech, Michael Hale also seemed to concede the obviously, that the Europeans are sticking with the deal though we know European exit and the Europeans actually continue to negotiate. Javad Zarif says in his tweet and it could be increased investment by the Europeans in Iran to make up for the absence of the U.S.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, yes. There is a distinction to be made, I think, between what the European Union is saying and what individual European heads of state are facing on the ground at the domestic level.
The fact remains that the great fear, of course, is a trade war with the United States and sanctions from the U.S. The United States is a far more important and trade partner than Iran is for the European Union outside of the 28. It is the number one place to which the export and Germany, France, the U.K., this is the same thing.
So I think that these leaders are dealing with these questions in a very real way. The other aspect of this, I think, which is --
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THOMAS: -- of tremendous concern is the -- I wouldn't say that we're getting a clear indication as to where U.S. foreign-policy is getting but patterns are emerging. And we saw this in some of Pompeo's remarks later on, that as far as he's concerned, the alignment with Israel, the alignment with Gulf State leaders and so on actually is trumping -- if you excuse the pun -- the connections with Europe and those long historical relationships are moving towards a kind of a new relationship with the U.S. with Europe and other partners are emerging.
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VAUSE: Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., this is one spectacular view of the Kilauea volcano. And it seems to be stronger than ever. We have these live images from Hawaii. That's there scene there right now.
So what are the chances this emergency, this volcano could run out of steam anytime soon?
Also ahead, a brief panic at an airport in Texas but it was not your typical security breach. Someone was monkeying around.
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VAUSE: The airline crash in Cuba on Friday has claimed another victim. The jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. One of only three initial survivors died on Monday. That raises the death toll to 111. Two remaining survivors are in critical condition with burns, abrasions as well as head trauma.
Meanwhile, Mexican authorities have suspended the airline which owned the plane while safety inspections are carried out and the incident is investigated.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is facing an international backlash after a presidential election many are calling a sham. Despite a severe economic crisis, President Maduro secured a second term and a day after the contested vote, the U.S. president Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Venezuela. CNN's Paula Newton reports now from Caracas.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Nicolas Maduro victory was widely expected and so were the U.S. sanctions that followed.
President Trump signing executive orders that basically he said would keep the Maduro regime for mortgaging the future of Venezuelans and that means that U.S. entities could no longer buy any kind of Venezuelan issued debt or debt issued from the state oil company here appended as, of course the Maduro regime are reacted saying, that was illegal and in their words barbaric. Take a listen to Venezuelan's foreign minister.
JORGE ARREAZA, VENEZUELA'S FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The U.S. president, the first he does today is add new sanctions on Venezuela on public debt and Venezuelan bonds that the state won't have the capacity to liquidate assets in U.S. territory.
It is to continue to force in this case through measures that are absolutely illegal in attachment with crazy barbaric in absolute contradiction to international rights.
NEWTON: And despite the reaction from the Venezuelan regime the E.U., Latin American countries can all join in the condemnation of this vote. [02:20:00]
NEWTON: What is interesting here though is that Russia and China continue to invest in Venezuela. China congratulated Maduro on his victory. The Trump administration has been trying to use their influence that there is a left those countries China and Russia to tell them that they are harming what they are trying to do here in Venezuela by continuing to prop up the regime, but that is the issue.
Maduro still has that kind of support, also coming off the back of the three election re-election that really will have him in office from six years from January 2019, he will now consolidate power not to send Venezuela and using intimidation tactics from the intelligence services in the national guard, but also consolidate power within his own party trying to continue to keep the all-important military on side -- Paula Newton, CNN, Caracas.
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VAUSE: Let's go now to the Kilauea volcano, live in action. These are the pictures what's happening right now in Pahoa in Hawaii. It's one of the many fissures that have been spewing lava along the eastern coast of Hawaii's big island every day for more than two weeks now.
Not only that, there is also reports that toxic gas has been released into the atmosphere after the lava has hit the Pacific Ocean. All after some 2,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. We get late details now from CNN's Stephanie Elam, reporting from Hawaii.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The lava continues to fountain here on this side of the big island. Take a look behind me and you can see just how high and how striking this fountain is as it is shooting lava up into the sky and sending it down into this sort of river of black lava that has already coursed out of the earth and has run down the side here into the Pacific Ocean.
It's still running into the Pacific Ocean and it's still sending up a large plume into the sky, that steam and hydrochloric acid as well as those glass particles that occur when you see lava hitting the saltwater of the ocean.
That all still happening; brush fires have occurred and there's a constant explosion that you may hear behind me.
And that is another fissure off in the distance that is releasing those volcanic gases with such force that they sound almost sonic boom sometimes, sometimes like a cannon, sometimes like a jet. And you can see in places, if you're at the right lighting, you can see that is forcing rocks up into the sky a couple hundred feet at a time.
All of this still continuing here as this eruption that has been going on now for over two weeks as it continues here -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Stephanie, thank you.
Voters in Ireland are just days away from an historic vote on the country's strict abortion laws. On Friday, they'll decide whether or not to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the constitution, which gives a unborn child the same right to life as that of the mother, effectively banning abortion.
If the referendum passes, the government will introduce legislation which allows abortion without restrictions up to 12 weeks into the pregnancy. Abortion remains a deeply divisive and emotional issue in Ireland, a predominantly Catholic nation. CNN's Atika Shubert shares one woman's story.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Few voices have been able to cut through Ireland's abortion debate like that Tracey Smith. Tracey's daughter, Grace was diagnosed with a fatal condition at just 22 weeks in the womb. But Tracy was not able to terminate her pregnancy early because of the eighth amendment.
TRACEY SMITH, IRISH MOTHER: My uncle has said, look, it's a gray issue my hands are tied. There's nothing I can do. I can pass you enough to wherever you decide to go, but that's it. That's all I can do legally.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Her choice, deliver Grace stillborn at full term or travel abroad to induce labor early. She decided to go to the U.K.
SMITH: I spent I think five hours in active labor and she arrives, I think, 5 o'clock in the morning. I met my second daughter. I can't be any happier than that, of course. I haven't given birth to a baby whose silence is -- there's no words imaginable for it.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But Tracey couldn't afford to return to Britain for Grace's funeral so she opted for cremation with the ashes sent home to Ireland.
SMITH: (INAUDIBLE) and Grace arrived via courier. He was carrying Grace and he was carrying my neighbor's online (INAUDIBLE).
SHUBERT: That's so heartbreaking to hear the process.
SMITH: The whole crew -- sometimes I can't believe it was me, you know, that went through it. If there is the (INAUDIBLE) carries and that part is just gone and forgotten about and into history, you know, and to never happen again to another couple. Because whatever choice you made, nobody deserves that.
SHUBERT (voice-over): That is why she says she wants Ireland to vote yes in repealing the Eighth Amendment, allowing the government to legislate for abortion in all cases, including her own. SMITH: And hopefully they'll understand that it's not a black-and- white issue. It's about healthcare at the crux of it. And there's so much that doctors can't do --
[02:25:00]
SMITH: -- because of the Eighth Amendment and obviously our stories is a big part of that. I hope they just keep me in mind, Grace in mind, all of these families in mind when they walk into the ballot box.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Ireland's vote is more about a change in law. For Tracey, it's about finally laying Grace's story to rest -- Atika Shubert, CNN, County Mayo, Ireland.
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VAUSE: Severe weather slammed areas around the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday. The sudden and heavy rains resulted in flash flooding that trapped a number of people who needed to be rescued. One woman was found dead. The weather is being blamed for number of power outages and a house fire.
Two Texas journalists were reporting on flooding in San Antonio when they noticed something struggling in the water. They jumped into action.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just grab him by the back of his neck, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Come on. I got you. There you go.
VAUSE (voice-over): The tiny puppy said he was on a newspaper reporter lowered on a rope by his colleagues with the help of a police officer.
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VAUSE: Little guy's doing OK.
We'll stay in Texas for a while. A monkey was on the loose at an airport on Monday, briefly had the run of the place after escaping his case. He ended up on the luggage belt. The airport security is -- as everybody else, scrambled to try and catch the little guy. But don't worry. They caught him and now the monkey is about to head off and enjoy his retirement because he'd been part of a research at Brown University.
Officials say he's at his new home in San Antonio.
The story you've been waiting for. A Catholic doctor calls homosexuality contrary to natural law but a new comment by Pope Francis has many asking if the Catholic Church may change one of its most controversial teachings. Details on that in a moment.
Also ahead, police officers did during Friday's school shooting in Texas which saved dozens of lives. More on that when we come back.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. We'll check the headlines this hour.
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VAUSE: We spoke earlier of Santa Fe, Texas -- still in mourning after a gunman opened fire in the local high school on Friday. The sheriff is sharing more details about the shootout police had with the accused teenager who was the gunman. He eventually surrendered after killing eight students and two teachers. Rosa Flores has the details from Santa Fe.
ROSA FLORES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are learning more about the intense approximately 30 minutes between the time that the first shot was fired and when the accused shooter surrendered to police. Now, all of this is according to the Galveston Country Sheriff who says that officers engaged the shooter within four minutes. He explains that that allowed all of the other officers who responded to the scene to evacuate students and teachers to safety. Now, about the officers that engaged the shooter, he says, that they negotiated with him through the walls, through a door that there was crossfire. He won't go into the exact number of rounds that were fired, but he will say that there was a lot of negotiation.
He won't say what exactly it was that the negotiator told the shooter that prompted him to surrender. Now, when asked if any of the 10 individuals who died from friendly fire, he says, he doesn't believe so because now he has seen the video. However, he said that to know for sure he has to wait for the results of the autopsy reports and he reiterated multiple times that the officers who responded to this shooting are heroes, not just the one that contained the shooter to the art lab portion of the building also those officers who helped evacuate students and teachers to safety. Rosa Flores, CNN Santa Fe, Texas.
VAUSE: And body count video from Miami-Dade, Florida shows the intense firefight between police officers and a gunman at a Trump resort.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired. Shots fired.
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VAUSE: Now, after that exchanged, the police officer runs into the lobby of the Trump National Doral Resort on -- this all happened on Friday. Police arrested Jonathan Oddi. They say the 42-year-old was draped in an American flag he put on the front desk again shouting and then pulls out his gun. Oddi is being held without bond. Well, still to come here, a gay man discussed his sexual orientation with Pope Francis and the Holy Father reportedly responded with a message of inclusion that doesn't actually change Catholic doctrine. More on that in a moment.
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[02:35:34] VAUSE: Well, Pope Francis is making headlines again apparently for what he reportedly said about homosexuality. Juan Carlos Cruz is a survivor of sexual abuse by a Chilean priest. He spent three days with the Pope at the Vatican in April and he tells CNN he discussed the abused he endured and his sexuality with the Pope. Cruz says Francis told him, God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this. You should love yourself and not worry about what people say. The immediate reaction to those comments from the Pope has been headlines like this one from the Los Angeles Times, Pope's reported comment to a gay man may indicate a new level of acceptance of homosexuality. And this from the Associated Press, LGBTQ community cheer Pope's God made you like this remark. But the fact is the Pope's comment don't contradict the church cheatings in any way.
The catechism says, men and women with homosexual tendencies should be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. But then goes on to stay, homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law and that homosexual persons are called to chastity. Nothing the Pope said to Juan Carlos Cruz, the victim of sexual abuse actually changes doctrine when it comes to homosexuality and it seems this maybe another example of what many have longed debated about this Pope, is he a true radical, a progressive in pontiff clothing, or just amasser of the message? Spinning the angle, so it sounds to many like the Catholic Church is changing becoming more accepting more inclusive. The answers to that question might just be found in a new documentary about the Holy Father.
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VAUSE: Wim Wenders is the director of Pope Francis - A Man of His Word and he is with me now here in Los Angeles. Thank you for coming in and congratulations.
WIM WENDERS, GERMAN FILMMAKER: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: The reviews are mostly great for the documentary and it seems to reveal a side of this Pope which many suspected was there, but we were never too sure about it. So why did he agree to this interview?
WENDERS: More than that he didn't agree. The Vatican ask for a film to be made and asked me if I was up for it. Yes, I was.
VAUSE: But why because only this sort of documentaries is so controlled that you don't get this kind of access, you know, you don't actually see the real person. They want to (INAUDIBLE)
WENDERS: They didn't want to control it. They actually said, you make your film and we are not producing it. We're not interfering your access to the Pope and to the archive, but you may do a movie and they really kept their word and never ever interfered.
VAUSE: Did you ever doubt that they would?
WENDERS: Well, it's only too good to be true. But in the end, they kept their word and they didn't ask me to cut anything and I could ask all the creations I want and I had final cut on this. So to answer your question I think he is the real deal.
VAUSE: The way you've answered that because is he really trying and is he succeeding in changing the church or he's just good at P.R.? He go, you know, (INAUDIBLE) you know, the church doctrine there people embrace and they like about acceptance and inclusion or downplaying itself that people don't like, you know, about, you know, homosexuality being about grieve depravity, which is it?
VAUSE: I think he means it when he talks a tenderness is strength not weakness and I think he's talking from a great love of people, and he's living up to his name and St. Francis was a great revolutionary in the church and no Pope ever doubt to take on this name the fact that he did from the beginning made it clear here and --
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VAUSE: He's the first one to take St. Francis, why -- please elaborate because you say that's the most significant part about this Pope.
[02:40:00] WENDERS: This man have answers to questions that still disturbed us today. St. Francis redefined our relation to nature and he said, we got it all wrong. We have to take measure more seriously. And today, 800 years later, that is more poignant than ever and he took -- he not only spoke about poverty, St. Francis, he looked for the poor and with the outcast and that was the first signal from Pope Francis was, I want a poor church for the poor and that too he means it and he shows us with his own life.
VAUSE: Very different compared to his previous (INAUDIBLE) you've interviewed Pope Francis for more than eight hours. He spoke without notes. It seems he spoke without a filter. You know, I just want to play one of those moments. Watch this.
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VAUSE: Was your strategy here allowed him to talk speak without argument just let him go?
WENDERS: Yes. I just started him with a question and I encourage him to incorporate my question. Well, I put it in a way that he start from scratch with the answer and he does go into all these topics on his own. I didn't interfere much. I didn't want to appear as voice. I really wanted him as you saw to talk to everybody and talk into everybody's eye. I thought there was such an incredible privileged. I was face to face with him. I went to put every bucket into my sit and you saw he's speaking to all of us.
VAUSE: It's very personal.
WENDERS: Yes.
VAUSE: There are some very warmer moments throughout this. At one point though there is real anger from the Pope and it comes when you asked him about pedophilia. What happened?
WENDERS: It was always a shock how angry he got and how upset he was and how much he realized he would go so much further and he would do so much more if he could it on his own. But then you realized he can only instigated and is still huge institution to move and there was a lot of anger. He was furious when he --
(CROSSTALK)
WENDERS: -- zero tolerance. I'd expected that he was going to be angry but not that it was -- that he was (INAUDIBLE)
VAUSE: Incredible. Well, Wim, thank you very much for the movie, for the documentary. It is well worth to watch there. We appreciate that. Thank you for coming in.
WENDERS: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Thanks. Good luck.
WENDERS: Thank you.
VAUSE: And thank you for watching news -- CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. You're watching CNN.
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KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello. Welcome along to "WORLD SPORT". I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center (INAUDIBLE) NBA Playoffs on Monday night here in America where the Cleveland Cavaliers were trying to take both games at home in order to tie up the Eastern Conference of the Boston Celtics. Some thought the Cavs were done after they lost the first two games. But, you can never doubt the team that has LeBron James on their roster. LeBron led the Cavs with 44 points on their 111-102 victory. This is LeBron 6th playoff game with over 40 points in NBA Playoff history.
LeBron James now rank first in point and first in field goals made that's 2357. No player has more playoff pockets than King James himself. So, now it's the best of three series, Game Five is Wednesday night back in Boston. Well, that wasn't the only playoff happening in America, all be it a different portals together in the National Hockey League. It was Game Six to the Eastern Conference Final. Tampa Bay Lightning leading the series, 3-2 against the Washington Capitals ahead of this game.
Well, it was all hustle from the Caps on Monday night in the Capitol, T.J. Oshie would finally break the tie in the second period. It was goal is before he's power-play goal where their lead becomes doubles.
Thanks to the front take missed L.A. The Caps really having a great game on the night. And three goals to nothing with the series now rolling on to Game Seven, and that will be in Tampa on Wednesday.
But the Caps have to win one more game before they face the Vegas Golden Knights. The team which has having a ball this year as their Cinderella story continue. They have made it to the Stanley Cup final in their very first year being a club.
This is the team which only just started playing together as a witty twist of be posted over the weekend on this dating golden ninth history. Actually, not much happened. We didn't haven't seen yet probably, just have some meetings. But it used have to be a fruity means spirited to deny Las Vegas this moment of joy.
Just days before the season started, the city was devastated by a mass shooting at an outdoor concert. A horrific mass killer have killed 58 people and injured more than 850, even though, the team was brand new, they became a focal point for the community, and the tragedy became a part of their identity.
Earlier, CNN's Don Riddell talked with CNN's Dan Kamal, a veteran studio analyst for his take on this extraordinary achievement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: You've been covering the NHL for a long time. You've been a fan of a sport for what more than 30 years have you ever seen anything like this?
DAN KAMAL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Never, I never have. For this team, as I say to come together as a group for the first time ever and to hit the ice proverbially running is unheard of. And they came right out of the gate and kept winning, and I keep going back to the tragedy.
You want sports success to be born of tragedy but there is an undeniable bond. There is a mission that these guys I believe feel for the city of Las Vegas.
RIDDELL: What does impressed to you most about -- you know, obviously, what this team has achieved, but the way they've gone about it?
KAMAL: They are able because of their death, because of their lack of stars, maybe. Go out the ICE stance so they always look like the fresher team. They were built with speed, Don. Credit to the general manager, elders of Augustine's achievement the way they've gone about they are able because of their depth because of their lack of stars maybe all of the ice time so they always look like the fresher team they were built with speed on our credit to the general manager George McPhee and his staff. They decided first and foremost, let's build a fast team. A good size team and they always seem to be outskating the opposition, they always seem to have the park, that's a good place to start.
RIDDELL: Obviously, they had to build this thing from scratch and they basically, some have gathered a group of sort of (INAUDIBLE) and guys are that being left out, overlooked, and clearly underrated.
Would it be possible for another team next season to replicate this particular model or resist just, to kind of once in a lifetime kind of thing?
KAMAL: It's a great question. I think the rules are more conducive to having a competitive team. But I don't think, you'll ever see this again. I really don't. I don't think, a staff would have the same foresight or pick the right guy.
Some of it had to be like a luck, a lot of it was guys getting more opportunity and taking advantage of it but how do you see that without it actually unfolding. And so, many players getting that ice time and taking advantage at the same time.
RIDDELL: Whenever happens in Stanley Cup final this is an extraordinary achievement for the Golden Knights. Comparisons with other Premier League champions of a couple of years ago is less to city 5,000-1 ended up defining all the odds and winning the title.
The obviously, found it difficult to match that success in the years afterwards. What about this team, are they built to this kind of success here on -- you know?
KAMAL: Yes, they really are. There are very few unrestricted three agents after the season, Don, very few. So, essentially, this team is going to stay together, at least for the next year or two. So, can they replicate the success? It's helpful, but you going to make it to the Stanley Cup final again, but certainly a lot more probable than we would have thought. And again, kudos to everybody involved.
Even the coach was a castoff last year, Don, Gerard Gallant was literally kicked to the curb midseason by the Florida Panthers. Look where he is likely coach of the year everybody has come together, spin the storybook. There has been a run like this in Vegas since who? Celine Dion? I don't know. There's been marketable.
[02:50:36] RIDDELL: So, it's been going to be either Tampa Bay or the Washington Capitals to play Vegas in the Stanley Cup final. Perhaps, it doesn't matter which team they play, but it will determine whether or not, they have home advantage through this final series does not matter at this point, or they just so good home on a way that it's going to be relevant. You know what? Don, it's a great question because I would have said, normally, the way the playoffs have unfolded except in Vegas that it would not matter but there is something -- I've said it before, something very palpable about that building for this team.
Not for they can't win on the road, but when they are home it seems to be a different and higher plane that they're playing on, and are already playing on a very high plane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: All right, thanks for joining down there. Arsenal Football club may have their man. They are currently on the hunt for a new manager after Arsene Wenger left the landing club at the end of this Premier League season.
Let see why they reported in the British media that the former Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla manager Unai Emery is the man's take over the Emirates. The 46 year old Spaniard is available after leaving PSG where he won one league are title and four domestic cup in two seasons and charges failures truly challenge for a Champions League trophy has been seen as a reason for his departure from the French capital, but he is a proven winner in European competition. Guiding Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League triumph between 2014 and 16th.
Coming on the show, when you're a tough football, well, you never seem to be able to anything alone because teammates are always around. So, this moments of quite for this legends of the beautiful games is really quite (INAUDIBLE), we've got that next.
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[02:54:36] RILEY: Get excited, there are, of course, various stages of excitement for football fans ahead of the World Cup. First, that's the day you took your qualification then, the draw and around about now it's the squad announcement before they kicked off in Russia on June 14th.
Several teams with big excitations have just announced their squads, and as usual, there are surprises. Well, the runners-up from the 2014 World Cup, Argentina are obviously confident that they can school goes this summer because they left into the lands, Mauro Icardi, out of the squad. He scored 29 goals in Serie A of this season. Give enough to beat the top scorer in Italy if not forget some fouling squad. But, they still have one of the most potent strike forces in the tournament.
Leonel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, and Paolo Dybala have all made the cast of chaos where within the last few days, three major European football stars has set farewell to the clubs which have to find their careers as a boys on their Torres.
Reported, Atletico in Torres, he played more than 300 games for them. And then, in his final week, he got to lift the Europa League trophy a fairytale finish there. Gigi Buffon spent 17 years of Juventus until Friday night. When he hang up his club, celebrating a league in cup double for the four consecutive year.
And then, there was Andres Iniesta, who has only ever played for Barcelona, making an emotional farewell on Sunday. Barca have already clinched the Spanish League title and they finish on the high.
Philippe Coutinho's second-half goals securing a 1-0 win against Real Sociedad. But really, this was all about the longer by (INAUDIBLE). More than 84,000 fans with that he announces his achievement for restore, he were joining the club when he was just 12. And he asked us spend more than two decades of a currently playing for what was described as the team ever assembled, and it's crucial of 674 games.
So, in that time he won 32 trophies, including the Champions League four times. Three club World Cups, and nine Spanish League titles. That's a lots to take in, and also reflect on, and he did when all the crowds had left. When your teammates have hands doesn't going home, and the after was all alone at the camp new stadium.
He had the place to himself, he wanted to feel it, he wanted around on the gross, and his bare feet and sat down in that center circle to condo more than two decades worth of memories. It must have been hard to say goodbye these pictures were taken at 1:00 in the morning.
All right, that's it from us. Thank you so much for watching in. Stay with CNN, the news is next.
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