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Tropical Storm Barry Will Test New Orleans Levee System; U.S. vice President Tours Detention Centers in Texas; U.S. Labor Secretary Resigns over Epstein Scandal; Hong Kong Protests; U.S. House Passes Extension for 9/11 Fund; U.K. and U.S. Discuss Persian Gulf Military Presence; Wimbledon 2019. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 13, 2019 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Imminent danger: tropical storm Barry is closing in, threatening Louisiana with epic floods just hours before it makes landfall.

The U.S. vice president visits two migrant detention facilities on the southern border and calls on Congress to act.

President Trump's Labor Secretary is leaving, marking another major departure in his cabinet.

We're live from the CNN Center here in Atlanta. I'm Cyril Vanier. It's great to have you with us.

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VANIER: Right now, about 10 million people along the U.S. Gulf Coast are directly in the path of a potentially life-threatening storm. Tropical storm Barry is hours away from making landfall, probably as a category 1 hurricane. Storm surge could be three to six feet or over two meters.

Water is already gushing over the coastal highways. Storm chaser Reed Timmer captured this video. He said some communities are already cut off from the mainland. About 20 inches of rain, 50 centimeters in the forecast. The governor said all of the floodgates have been closed to protect the city.

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VANIER: With us now on the phone is Michael Thiel. He is with the St. Tammany Parish fire protection and a compliance officer in emergency management.

How are things looking on your end right now?

MICHAEL THIEL, ST. TAMMANY PARISH FIRE DISTRICT: Well, good morning. Initially, we're not seeing much of the severe weather as of yet but we have some rain bands affecting New Orleans. We're getting ready to see more of the severe weather now. And really, anticipating a lot worse throughout the course of today and tomorrow.

VANIER: What are the most vulnerable areas?

THIEL: Areas along the lake shore are most vulnerable from the storm surge threat. We're outside the levee protection system. So you see increased threat of flooding along those areas. As the rain bands come on shore, our area's susceptible to a great deal of flood potential if we get the higher --

[03:05:00]

THIEL: -- rainfall amounts in a short period of time. Of course, no one can predict tornadoes and things like that. So we're in the northeast quadrant of the storm and as such, are susceptible to a lot more tornadic activity. And we start to see some tornado warnings coming into New Orleans Parish and St. Bernard, just to our south.

VANIER: Michael, I want to make sure I understand what you said. You said you're outside of the levee protection system?

So much of this conversation is about the levees and will they hold, are they high enough. None of that is relative to you, if I understand correctly.

THIEL: That is correct. Our area north of Lake Pontchartrain, is out of the New Orleans area. A great portion of the city, we hear about the city being below sea level and between the lake and the river and the Gulf of Mexico. There's a large portion of the area north of there that is a little higher ground but does not have that buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain.

So we don't have as much protection when it comes to the storm surge and the rain amounts.

VANIER: Then in your area, what are people doing?

And what should they be doing?

THIEL: Most people are heeding the warnings of the local government. They have stayed indoors. They've prepared as best they could. In the low-lying areas, they've picked up their personal property and ensuring the floodwaters wouldn't affect them. Others are evacuating potentially. People here --

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VANIER: Do you see many people evacuating?

THIEL: Not necessarily. I think most people realize any flooding impact is more of an inconvenience at this point. It doesn't appear that we're going to get flood levels like we've seen in the past.

But we do see some flooding. That could get worse. The timing of the storm and the speed and the fact it's moving further west than we anticipated may help us in this case. VANIER: We certainly hope it does. Fingers crossed for you and your community and those that you're helping. Michael Thiel, thank you so much.

THIEL: Thank you very much. Appreciate you having me.

VANIER: We're getting a look at conditions inside some of the migrant detention centers in Texas. The U.S. vice president toured two of them on Friday, one for migrant families that was less crowded and kids were watching TV there.

But it was an entirely different picture at a second facility for single adults. CNN's Pamela Brown went with the vice president and explains what she saw.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We're here in McAllen, Texas, where we visited two detention facilities, housing undocumented migrants. This is where the vice president toured.

The first place is called the Donna facility. It was built last May to handle the overflow so it was a fairly new building and was pretty cavernous.

That facility only houses the families. They were separated in what's called eight pods, eight different big room rooms, based on gender and age. When you walked in there, it was eerily quiet. But you did hear the crinkling of this: these are the blankets that they were sleeping under.

We were told that the cloth ones they used to use were replaced by this because it was more hygienic and you didn't have to wash them. But we did see kids watching an animated movie in Spanish. Many of them were sleeping inside. The vice president spoke to a couple of the kids, asking them how they were doing and if they were being well taken care of. And they nodded yes.

A couple of the kids said that it took them two months to get here. Another said three months to get here. They're there within 72 hours and then released by law into HHS custody.

The problem has gotten much better at these facilities housing families because of the supplemental funding. There are more beds to house them, so, they are able to leave within that window more easily. Before that funding, they oftentimes would stay beyond the 72 hours.

Here at this facility it was a very different picture. This facility houses single --

[03:10:00]

BROWN (voice-over): -- adults. We walked into one of the areas where they were crowded and packed in there, basically it seemed like behind bars. As soon as we walked in, we were taken aback by the stench. It smelled like urine. It was a horrible smell. And immediately, the migrants started yelling. They wanted to tell us how long they had been held inside of there. Some said it had been more than 40 days. They talked about not getting showers or not being able to brush their teeth.

Some yelled out they were hungry.

At one point, one of the men said to me, "This isn't human, I'm not a terrorist."

They were so packed in there they were on concrete. I was told they couldn't have cots because it would take up too much space. So that's where they were sleeping, on concrete. But there wasn't even enough room it appeared for all of them to lie down and sleep.

So there was a very different picture here at this facility, versus the ones that housed the families. And I asked the vice president about that and whether the conditions particularly at this facility are acceptable, whether he was comfortable with that.

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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The facility here at McAllen is at the very of the crisis on our southern border. This facility here today, while it's clean and sanitary, is doing their level best to deal with this unprecedented flow.

Last month alone, nearly 100,000 people coming across our border, individuals being apprehended, families are presenting, making asylum claims and some that aren't.

But what you saw today first-hand was the overcrowding we knew we would see. We're not going to keep people in individual holding cells beyond what is appropriate. And as they explained today, they had to establish a temporary facility, where people are getting three meals a day and they're getting hygiene and they're getting health care and they're being provided for in an air conditioned environment. But it's a temporary facility because this facility is simply being overwhelmed.

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BROWN: There were several pictures in the DHS IG report and I showed the vice president one of them showing the overcrowding. The faces are blurred here. That is what he was responding to during the interview, again, a very different picture from what we saw in the first facility.

And part of that is because of the supplemental funding which has eased the burden of overcrowding. Also border crossings are down right now, because of the hot temperatures and because Mexico has been stepping up more.

But clear the problem continues. I talked to an CBP agent today. He said, just yesterday, trailers were brought with showers with eight showers for the first time here. So before that, these migrants were not getting showers.

He said they do get to brush their teeth once a day. The restaurants do cater here, they get three hot meals a day. But he also agreed that the stench is horrible. He claims that the facility where we were is cleaned three times a day. So we were hearing a different story from the migrants from what the CBP chief in charge here had to say.

Now moving forward, it's unclear what is going to happen. Vice president Pence clearly putting the onus on Congress. But I did press him on the fact that Republicans, his party, were in charge of Congress not long ago and they still couldn't get it done. What we saw here today was certainly just the tip of the iceberg -- Pamela Brown, CNN, McAllen, Texas.

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VANIER: Another top official in the Trump administration says goodbye. We analyze the latest cabinet shakeup and the scandal behind it.

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VANIER: The list of departures at the Trump administration is getting longer. U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta became the latest cabinet member to quit his job when he announced his resignation on Friday. He was facing criticism for the way he handled a 2008 sex crimes case involving financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Acosta told reporters he didn't want the scandal to become a distraction and said the move was, quote, "the right thing." But President Trump said he didn't want Acosta to go.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has been a fantastic Secretary of Labor. And Alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. I just wanted to let you know, this was him, not me, because I'm with him. He was a -- he's a tremendous talent.

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VANIER: Turning now to a new day for a highly anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill. Former special counsel Robert Mueller will not testify on July 24th. That is a week later than originally planned.

House Democrats say the delay will allow him more time to speak. They are eager to hear what he has to say about Russian election interference and obstruction of justice possibly committed by Donald Trump.

Joining me is Linda Feldman ,Washington bureau chief for "The Christian Science Monitor."

Linda, the Labor Secretary says he tendered his resignation, as is protocol in those cases.

Did Trump actually fire him?

LINDA FELDMAN, "THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": It doesn't appear that he did. When he came on the South Lawn with Alex Acosta, he made a specific point of saying that he didn't fire Acosta. Acosta had come to him and said he felt he should leave. He praised Acosta. He called him a great Labor Secretary.

Usually when somebody is being fired, they don't get that kind of treatment.

VANIER: We've heard that language before when the reporting is when Trump wanted those people gone.

FELDMAN: Right. This is an interesting case. There's mixed reviews of Acosta's performance in the last few days. He came out and had a press conference and defended his role in the Jeffrey Epstein case, when he was U.S. attorney back about 11 years ago.

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FELDMAN: Trump didn't feel that Acosta defended himself that aggressively. Trump is aggressive and self-defense is very important. But he seemed to like him and didn't seem all that eager to get rid of him.

Donald Trump has had a revolving door cabinet, a lot of acting cabinet secretaries. He's a little sensitive to the idea that he can't hold on to help. Others in his administration didn't like Acosta. The acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, wasn't happy with Acosta, not over the Epstein situation necessarily but he felt Acosta wasn't aggressive enough in deregulating.

So Acosta may have been on thin ground to begin with.

VANIER: Right, he didn't have a whole lot of support --

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FELDMAN: So there were mixed feelings about him. Every time someone gets into hot water, Trump's impulse is to fight and not to cave.

VANIER: I'm pivoting now to Robert Mueller. He has agreed with committees in the House of Representatives to testify for -- not on the 17th of July but on the 24th of July. And he's going to give them more time. Three hours each instead of two hours each.

Is this the worst news the Trump team could have gotten this week? FELDMAN: No. I don't think so. The Mueller testimony is important in some ways. It will be another opportunity to hear him speak. We don't expect him to say anything all that new. As he told us a few weeks ago, his report is his testimony.

But --

VANIER: Let me interrupt you; I singled out the same comment back in May.

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ROBERT MUELLER, RUSSIA PROBE SPECIAL COUNSEL: There's been discussion about an appearance before Congress, any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made.

We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. And the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So he warned the whole country, saying I've already written everything I have to say about this.

FELDMAN: Exactly. But most Americans have not read the Mueller report and are not familiar with what's in it. Even if Robert Mueller were to sit there and give us the highlights of the report, that will create video clips of him making very important points, that would be news to some Americans.

So that is important.

VANIER: Linda Feldman, thank you for speaking with us today.

FELDMAN: My pleasure.

VANIER: Pro-democracy protesters are kicking off demonstrations in Hong Kong. Right now, they are gathering in a town close to Mainland China to raise awareness of the political situation with tourists. Throughout June and into July, enormous crowds of people have marched over a now shelved attempt to pass a law that would allow extradition to China. Matt Rivers is in Hong Kong covering this.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're not far from the mainland Chinese border known as the new territories. There's hundreds of people gathering in a protest than is significantly smaller, than the last protest.

This protest is more of a localized issue. It has to do with Mainland Chinese coming here, buying certain products you can get only in Hong Kong using a tax-free system and then bringing those products back to sell them at a profit.

The protesters here are saying it's made conditions a lot worse than they have been in the past. The home prices, property prices, food prices, they have gone up in this part of Hong Kong.

This is connected with what we've seen over the last month or so with broad protests challenging the Hong Kong government and their ability to govern this region, saying it's yet another example of what protesters would say is the Hong Kong government's inability to do right by its people.

[03:25:00]

RIVERS: In this instance, it's allowing the Mainland Chinese to come here and take advantage of the ability to buy products and ship them back. But more broadly it's about the extradition bill. And what protesters are hoping for, is to build on the momentum we've seen in Hong Kong about this bill and mainland encroachment.

It's smaller today but it's been happening in Hong Kong for the last six weeks.

VANIER: How would you characterize the tension if there is any?

We've seen police be heavy handed in the last few weeks and we've seen the protesters tip over into violence.

RIVERS: That's right. It's calm and it's following a trend. Generally speaking, during the daytime, it has been pretty non- violent, people just trying to get their message out.

We'll see happens once the sun goes down.

Will it be peaceful?

There's a police presence here but everyone is very calm. It's going to be a peaceful march to begin with. For now, very calm. Protesters just trying to get their message out to the rest of the world.

VANIER: All right. Matt Rivers, thank you very much. I know you will keep monitoring for us. Thank you.

New Orleans is facing one of the biggest flood threats it's seen in many years. Coming up, how the city plans to deal with tropical storm Barry.

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VANIER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier. Here's the top stories.

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VANIER: Tropical storm Barry is expected to be a hurricane in the coming hours. It's not the wind that worries New Orleans, it's all the rain that it's going to bring. CNN's Ryan Young has our report.

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LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Asking people to stay at home, shelter in place.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Heavy rains, powerful floods and a strong storm surge, the triple threat that Barry could pack as it churns towards Louisiana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want the folks in Louisiana to know, we're taking this very seriously.

YOUNG (voice-over): Barry is the first tropical system to threaten the U.S. this season and is presenting New Orleans with a dangerous problem.

CANTRELL: Prepare for heavy rain, slow moving with consistent rainfall.

YOUNG (voice-over): The Mississippi River is already about 10 feet above its normal level for this time of year and Barry's storm surge could cause it to rise another 2-3 feet, meaning the river could crest at 19 feet, a level it hasn't reached in nearly 70 years, according to the National Weather Service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All these components are adding to your circumstance.

YOUNG (voice-over): Officials say they are confident that none of the levees in New Orleans will be breached. The city's pumps were put to the test earlier this week when torrential rain overwhelmed the underground drainage pumps, pipes and canals, briefly flooding streets and underpasses.

JOHN BEL EDWARDS (R-LA), GOVERNOR: We feel very, very good about the situation of New Orleans and we believe it's going to be able to withstand this storm.

YOUNG (voice-over): Barry is also expected to dump anywhere from 10- 15 inches of rain, forcing mandatory evacuations in some low-lying areas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tropical storm Barry is a dangerous and life- threatening storm.

YOUNG (voice-over): Despite the evacuation order, some residents are preparing to ride it out, stocking up on sandbags and supplies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I expect some tidal surge and it may be a little flooding. I don't see no point in really have to leave.

YOUNG (voice-over): President Trump has declared a state of emergency for Louisiana and the governor has activated 3,000 National Guard troops to assist with the destruction this storm is expected to bring. And it isn't just Louisiana expected to feel the impact. Mississippi, Alabama and the Western Florida Panhandle are all also preparing for extreme rain and flooding -- Ryan Young, CNN, Louisiana.

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VANIER: All of the floodgates around New Orleans have been closed to protect the city from the Mississippi River. Here's one of those massive structures when it's being closed. Officials are optimistic that the Mississippi River, near flood stage at 17 feet, won't get much higher. That's the good news. Levees and floodgates can protect the city up to 20 feet.

Earlier, I spoke with Ricky Boyett, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. These are the people who manage the city's extensive network of levees and floodgates. I asked him how he felt about the levees and their ability to protect the city.

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RICKY BOYETT, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: The levee system is --

[03:35:00]

BOYETT: -- in great shape right now. And we have a situation where we had a little bit of good news. The river, which we've been watching really carefully over the last couple of days, has already crested. It crested about 60 centimeters less than what was projected. So that's very good news.

It doesn't quite take the river out of the concern area but it definitely lessens it. When we were looking at the surge on the outside of the city, coming in to the surrounding lakes, we have shut the system down. And we don't see anything that would be exceeding what the hurricane system is designed for.

VANIER: So when you say the river has already crested, does that take into account the coming storm surge?

BOYETT: It does. As it was coming through, the surge came in a little earlier than was anticipated, as the storm was moving over to the west. What we're looking at now with the river, is we've crested, it's going to drop. The big key is going to be all the rain that's coming in the next couple of days. And so, we'll see another little bump in the river but nothing like what we were seeing up to even this morning.

VANIER: That's where I don't quite follow. Because you still haven't seen the brunt of the storm and the rain.

So how could the river have crested?

You're going to see more water.

BOYETT: We are. So the surge itself that came in, it came in a little early. And what the surge does with the river at this level, is it almost creates a blockage. It's almost like a clogged drain. So as that storm started to move further to the west, you know, it's almost like it released that clogged drain. So we're going to see a little bit of drop in the river at this point.

But what's coming is we'll get a lot of rain, especially in those areas around New Orleans. It will have to go through the Mississippi River but it will take a bit to get to us.

VANIER: The mayor did seem to say the system could be vulnerable.

What about the water pumps that drain the water out?

BOYETT: That's what we're looking at now is the rain coming in. We're not getting it just yet. That's still to come. We're still probably about six hours away from landfall. The pumping situation in New Orleans -- New Orleans is essentially a bowl. The two highest points are the lake levees and the river levees. And if water falls in that area, it has to be manually evacuated.

The system is designed to pump an inch for the first hour and 0.5 inches every hour after that. So if you get a lot of rain in a short period, you can start to see water build up in the city.

VANIER: You're not afraid that the pumps could be overwhelmed?

BOYETT: You know, on the Corps of Engineers side, we focus on the surge. Our area is to keep the surge out of the city and then we defer to the local officials as they manage the internal drainage.

VANIER: Ricky Boyett, spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, thank you very much for your explanations, thanks.

BOYETT: Thank you, sir.

VANIER: Tropical storm Barry to make landfall in a few hours.

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[03:40:00]

VANIER: We're going to keep covering this over the next few hours. The storm is expected to make landfall in 4-6 hours.

Here are live pictures we're getting from Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. So we're going to keep covering all of that in the coming hours on CNN.

In other world news, the U.K. says it doesn't want a conflict with Iran and is taking steps to avoid another dispute. We'll tell you what they're doing in the Persian Gulf when we come back.

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(MUSIC PLAYING) VANIER: A partial victory on Capitol Hill for 9/11 first responders

and the fight to extend funding for their health care needs. The bill to reauthorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund through 2090 will now head to the Senate, after overwhelmingly passing in the House. You see some of the first responders here along with lawmakers and, at the podium, one of their biggest advocates, comedian Jon Stewart.

You might remember his impassioned speech a few weeks ago to a congressional committee, demanding funding for first responders. The group is calling out Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and others for not making this bill a priority.

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JOHN FEAL, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER: Not many people around this country can say they went to Washington, D.C., and made the process work. We made, we forced, we shamed the process to work.

So Lu Alvarez's passing is not -- is not in vain. I'm not crying. And I know Lu's smiling right now.

And when Lu gave me his shield to give to Mitch McConnell and I shook Mitch McConnell's hand -- and I'm going to keep Mitch McConnell's word that he said he was going to get this done before the summer recess.

But I can tell you now, that when we leave here today and we get off air, that we're going to make sure that Mitch McConnell sticks to his word.

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VANIER: McConnell says the Senate will, quote, "consider this important legislation soon," adding that the Senate has never forgotten the fund and isn't about to start now.

Donald Trump is warning Iran to be careful as tensions between the two nations are running high. This threat comes as U.K. is sending its own message to Iran in the form of a new warship headed to the Persian Gulf.

As CNN's Nic Robertson reports, the U.K.'s also raising the threat level for its ships.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The threat level going to its highest level for British shipping in the Gulf, going to critical level 3. This means that the vessels will have to take additional security, procedures and perhaps change their routing.

At the same time the British Royal Navy is sending in a destroyer, the H.M.S. Duncan. This vessel will replace the frigate, the H.M.S. Montrose, which was the vessel that aimed its guns at those Iranian fastboats that tried interdict a British flagged tanker in the Gulf earlier in the week. So this is a switchout, according to the British MOD of these two

vessels. Of course, everyone watching to see how long that switchover takes.

Will the Navy keep both vessels in the region for a period of time?

But what we're hearing from the foreign office, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt being very clear, saying that this is a time for cooler heads.

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JEREMY HUNT, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: None of us are looking for a conflict. And we all have a responsibility to protect shipping. So this is a time for cool heads. I'm being briefed on an hourly basis as to what is going on.

And we want to do everything we can to make sure that we don't have an unintended escalation, which could be very dangerous for the world.

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ROBERTSON: Iranian officials deny completely that they interfered with that British tanker earlier in the week. They are demanding the release of the Grace 1. That's a supertanker that's currently being held by Gibraltarian authorities. The Gibraltarians says it had 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil on board. They're charging or at least arresting the captain and the first officer, accusing them essentially of breaking sanctions and trying to get the oil to Syria.

The Gibraltarians saying in a statement on Friday that this is all about where the oil was going, not about where the oil came from.

And the Iranians are saying to the British that they're now entering or starting a dangerous game with no indication of an end. President Trump also is warning the Iranians of the dangers of what they're doing.

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TRUMP: Iran better be careful. They're treading on very dangerous territory.

Iran, if you're listening, you'd better be careful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And the British prime minister's office here in London saying that there are currently ongoing discussions between the United Kingdom and the United States about increasing security in the Persian Gulf. At the moment, there appears to be no off-ramp in the escalating tension there -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

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[03:50:00] VANIER: The White House says Turkey's acquisition of the S-400 Russian missile defense system is, quote, "a problem." The first shipment of the surface-to-air system arrived in Ankara on Friday. Washington opposes the deal and has warned Turkey it could be blocked from buying F-35 stealth fighter jets, parts of which are made by Turkish companies.

The purchase is raising fears of a schism in NATO. Turkey says it has pledged it would not integrate the missiles with any NATO systems.

It's the final day for the women at Wimbledon. Serena Williams will be chasing a record. We'll tell you about her showdown with former world number one, Simona Halep.

Plus this isn't any old bird. As you can tell, this cockatoo has spirit. Hear why he loves to dance and what scientists are finding out about it.

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VANIER: It is finals weekend at Wimbledon. Serena Williams goes for a record-equaling 24th grand slam title, when she faces former World number 1 Simona Halep later on Saturday. On Sunday Centre Court --

[03:55:00]

VANIER: -- hosts the men's final. And Roger Federer could win a record ninth Wimbledon title. He beat long-time rival Rafael Nadal in four sets in a thrilling semifinal on Friday. And will face world number 1, Novak Djokovic.

Scientists say humans aren't the only species to dance. Case in point, Snowball the cockatoo. His rhythmic routines are entertaining the Internet and teaching researchers about how complex a bird's brain actually is. Linda Kinkade reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most birds fly. Some like to fish. But Snowball, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, loves to dance. "Another One Bites the Dust" is a favorite. Snowball lets loose with a series of head-banging, toe-tapping, wing-flapping sequences. And it's not all for show. Scientists have been studying Snowball's gestures for a decade. They say he actually has 14 routines.

One of which went viral in 2007, when he rocked out to the Backstreet Boys' song, "Everybody." Researchers say it's rare for a species, other than humans, to spontaneously move to music. They say the cockatoo's ability to imitate people and form long-term bonds may make them more inclined to dance than other creatures. Snowball's owner says he can make up his own steps, which is maybe not

so scientific proof, that some birds, just like girls, just want to have fun -- Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: I can't make fun. He dances better than me.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier. You have Natalie Allen and George Howell up next. You're in great hands. Stay with CNN.

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