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Landslide Victory For Pro-Democracy Parties; Washington Post: White House Review Shows Effort To Justify Trump's Decision To Block Ukraine Aid; U.S. Navy Secretary Forced Out Over Gallagher Case; Lawmaker Challenges Netanyahu's Party Leadership; Boris Johnson Presents Conservative Manifesto; Second K-Pop Star Found Dead In Two Months; Young Elephants Captured in Zimbabwe for China's Zoos; Bloomberg Joins 2020 Race Determined to Defeat Trump. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 25, 2019 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM in Hong Kong, a huge turnout at the polls and major gains for pro-democracy parties in local elections.

ALLEN: Also had this hour, new e-mails reportedly reveal how the White House tried to justify the U.S. president's decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine.

HOLMES: Also ahead, a CNN exclusive, baby elephants in Zimbabwe separated from their families and shipped overseas.

And our top story this hour, a landslide victory for Hong Kong's pro- democracy movement in the city's local elections.

ALLEN: According to local media, the pro-democracy candidates routed supporters of mainland China winning almost 90 percent of the District Council seat up for grabs.

HOLMES: The victories fueled by record turnout. Nearly three million voters showed up on Sunday. The results appear to reflect growing support for anti-government protests that have gripped the city. This was a real test of that. The city's leader says she's going to reflect on the outcome and listen to voters.

ALLEN: Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley. He's live this hour from Hong Kong. A rare time when we come to you live and the streets are quiet. The question is, will Carrie Lam follow up on that? I'll listen to you now, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Natalie, absolutely right. The streets are quiet, but the question remains for how long? Yes, this was a huge victory, about as big as victories can get in election for the pro-democracy movement. But this was a district council election. These are very, very local level officials who don't actually make law here in Hong Kong.

The people who do make the laws are selected by a system that overwhelmingly favors pro-Beijing voices. And so the question that we have now is what will the actual tangible results of this election be? Will the chief executive go beyond listening to the people and actually make changes, push for changes, systematic changes that people are calling for.

But we know that that is a much taller order, an order that would require the approval of Beijing. And based on comments just within the last couple of hours from China's Foreign Minister who was speaking to reporters saying that Hong Kong will remain a part of China no matter what, and that any attempts to undermine or disrupt this city and its system will be met with failure.

Well, that just certainly makes you wonder, what is this actually going to lead to. You have a lot of Hong Kongers, nearly three million of them who lined up peacefully for hours across the city. It was the first weekend without tear gas in several months.

But now that they've made their voices heard, what the city does moving forward and what the government in Beijing does is going to be crucial in whether we see more violence or whether we see a higher level of discourse and attempts to actually under -- attempts to essentially implement the changes that many Hong Kongers are now are saying with their votes that they demand.

ALLEN: Yes. You get a sense that this is maybe an eerie calm on the streets there. I mean, after a month of demanding change, if they don't see it now, one would expect those streets will be crowded again.

RIPLEY: That's right. You look at this situation behind me here. This is the only way in and out of PolyU. This was Ground Zero just over a week ago, the site of those very dramatic and fiery battles between protesters and the police.

Police still have this campus surrounded. There are still couple of dozen anti-government protesters reportedly hiding out in there. And we've seen people coming to this location, hoping to go in and hoping to talk to these young people to get them to come out.

But coming out a means arrest. And for a large number of people in this city who don't trust the police, who don't trust the government, they feel that stepping into the hands of the authorities could lead to very bad things for that not only in the short term, but also in the long term.

So this election result, while it does involve in the pro-democracy movement, those fears of the establishment and the distrust in the police and the government, that still persists. And until that fundamental issue is resolved, any you know, sort of ceasefire or calm in the streets seems only temporary because people have made it very clear that if they feel their voices are not being heard, the democratic way, well, they certainly know another route that they could take, which is more protests, potentially more unrest on the streets of the city.

So it is calm for now, but it's a calm that will only stay if there is a higher level of discourse, a conversation between the protest movement and the government itself. And as of now what we're seeing is statements being put out but still no concrete plans as to conversations that need to take place and that would actually lead to something more substantial for Hong Kong.

We have an election result that is largely symbolic for now. And the reality remains that Beijing is still firmly in control of this city and firmly in control, frankly, of the people who run this city.

[01:05:32]

ALLEN: Three million speak and if people don't listen, well, we'll see what happens. They deserve to be listened to. Will Ripley for us. Will, thanks so much.

HOLMES: The top civilian at the U.S. Navy has been forced out of his job. But the reason why depends on who you ask.

ALLEN: The Pentagon says Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was fired for going outside the chain of command and proposing a secret deal with the White House for convicted Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher to remain a Navy SEAL. But that's at odds with what Spencer has said publicly.

In his resignation letter, he says he no longer shares an understanding with President Trump on good order and discipline.

HOLMES: Remarkable letter, Gallagher, by the way, you may recall was -- he was found guilty of posing with a dead ISIS fighter who appeared to be a child, perhaps not even a teenager. Gallagher was later pardoned and had his rank restored by his supporter in chief President Trump. Gallagher still faces a review by the military that could strip him of his status as an elite SEAL and his coveted SEAL Trident.

Now, for his part, President Trump says Secretary Spencer was terminated for the way the Navy handled the Gallagher case.

ALLEN: On another front, The Washington Post is reporting on the confidential White House review showing extensive efforts to justify Mr. Trump's decision to block military aid to Ukraine after the fact.

HOLMES: That delay in aid along with that whistleblower complaint, of course, at the center of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The White House has been conducting an internal review of President Trump's decision last summer to withhold nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine. Now, according to The Washington Post, that review is turning up hundreds of documents that suggest that White House officials and officials in the Office of Management and Budget we're working to draw up a legal justification for that move after the fact.

Again, this reporting suggests that this was yet another instance of a scramble by officials to essentially catch up with another one of President Trump's decisions. The Office of Management and Budget though is denying that anything improper took place.

Here's a statement from a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget Rachel Semmel. She says, "To be clear, there was a legal consensus that every step of the way that the money could be withheld in order to conduct the policy review. OMB works closely with agencies on executing the budget. Routine practices and procedures were followed."

Now, a senior administration official also told me that the legal justification for this temporary freeze on the aid was provided in late July alongside the formal notification that this aid was being frozen. This official suggested that perhaps the discrepancy involves the fact that this was something that was in the pipeline that was verbally communicated as early as late June, but ultimately didn't actually make its way into a formal notification in late July.

There is also in this Washington Post an August email exchange that is highlighted between the White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought, which suggests that Mulvaney was asking for an update on that legal justification, again, several weeks after that notification actually occurred.

Now, two senior administration officials who I spoke with said that the request for an update didn't necessarily mean that the rationale, the legal justification wasn't already in place. But what is clear is that this is leading to increased tensions inside a White House that is facing the potential for President Trump to be impeached.

We know that there have already been tensions between Mulvaney and the White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. Tonight, two senior administration officials were once again expressing frustrations with the White House Counsel's Office.

One of those officials said that Mulvaney has not yet been informed of any of the findings in that internal review. And another official criticize the White House Counsel's Office suggesting that they were responsible for the leak of these e-mails. That official said, seems like amateur hour in the White House Counsel's Office.

Now, we have also reached out for comments to the White House press office as well as the White House Counsel's Office, but we have not yet received a reply.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:10:02] HOLMES: Jeremy Diamond reporting there. Now, the top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, well, he took an aim at Mulvaney on Sunday.

ALLEN: Here's Adam Schiff speaking with our Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Yes, the President's own Chief of Staff, the person who meets with the president every day on live camera admitted exactly that vis-a-vis the most serious and that is the military aid.

But look, what Ambassador Sondland did say is everyone was in loop on the preconditioning of the meeting that Ukraine desperately sought for its recognition that it had -- that the United States had its back, that everyone was in the loop on this. There was a clear quid pro quo.

And with respect to the military aid in the absence of any other explanation, and in light of the President's own record of pressing for these investigations, two plus two equals four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And joining us now is Michael Shear, CNN Political Analyst and White House Correspondent for The New York Times. Good to see you, sir. Lots to get through. Let's get your take on the Washington Post reported these e-mails show efforts by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to after the fact justify the hold on Ukrainian aid.

What do you make of that and the impact it might have on the impeachment investigations old Mick Mulvaney and his candor for that matter?

MICHAEL SHEAR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So I look, I think there's sort of two aspects to this that are most important. One is the one that you just mentioned, which is that to the extent that he was inquiring about the legal justification for the hold on aid to Ukraine after the fact, well, after the fact that the aid was actually held up, it does suggest that they didn't look for that justification at the beginning of the process.

And so it underscores and reinforces the idea that the holdup was done for some other purpose than would be a normal process where would have a legal justification to start with. The other thing that I think it does is it just ties Mick Mulvaney even more directly into this whole question of holding up the aid.

I mean, it's not that he hadn't been implicated before. There have been obviously links to his participation and involvement. But I think that having the sort of cold hard facts of an e-mail suggesting that he was inquiring about the legal justification means that he can't really wiggle out of people who accused him of being part of this effort.

And I think that that leads to a third point, which is, does this mean Congress will now insist on him coming to testify? I mean, I think the answer to that question is while, you know, the Democrats in the House and the Senate would like him to come, they're not going to sit around and engage in a lengthy legal battle for that to happen. They've made that very clear.

So I mean, this puts more pressure on Mulvaney, but I wouldn't hold your breath for him actually showing up and testifying in the impeachment inquiry.

HOLMES: Yes. And let's remember this is some of the White House prevented from testifying and probably could have played a lot of this up. I want to talk to you about the resignation or firing of the Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. I mean, they just seems to be multiple versions now of why.

I mean, the President put out a series of tweets a little earlier on Sunday evening suggesting it was because the Navy treated that disgraced Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher badly, also something about cost overruns. Then you got the Defense Secretary Esper, saying Spencer sidestep the chain of command in dealing with the White House.

And then you've got Spencer in his resignation letter giving a pretty extraordinary reason writing in part -- he says, "I no longer share the same understanding as the commander in chief who appointed me in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline. That is pretty pointed, not to mention Esper-Trump reasons sort of contradicting each other.

SHEAR: Well, it's just -- honestly, one of the craziest developments, craziest stories that I can remember in a long time, and that's saying something for this administration. I mean, you know, at the beginning of the day, what you thought -- what we thought we had was a pretty clear clash between the top military officials, on the one hand, disagreeing with the commander in chief on the other hand. That's extraordinary enough.

But by the end of the day, we have this sort of three-way strange explanations as you suggest where everybody's explanation for what happened here is different. And look, I think you can't help but read Spencer's resignation letter in the same light that we all read Jim Mattis' resignation letter as Defense Secretary a while back.

You know, in both cases, you have top military official basically saying that they no longer believe that the President of the United States had the interest of the national security of the nation's security kind of foremost (AUDIO GAP) had to leave as a result of it.

[01:15:10]

And so, you know, the President came into office, he talked about how he loved his generals. He talked about keeping the country safe. And yet -- I mean, we've had one example after another of this President clashing repeatedly with the people that are supposed to run the military and advise him with military issues. I think it's really -- it's really remarkable.

HOLMES: We continue to live in interesting times. Michael Shear with the New York Times, always appreciate it. Thank you.

SHEAR: Yes, love talking to you. Thanks much.

ALLEN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a rare challenge from within his own party just days after he was indicted on corruption charges.

HOLMES: Yes, speaking of interesting days, the party plans to hold a leadership vote with at least one Likud lawmaker challenging Mr. Netanyahu. Paula Newton with more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to work today to a cabinet meeting where he was absolutely silent on the indictment against him. Again, the charges are fraud, breach of trust, and bribery. He denies any of it.

Although, he did not say anything in this cabinet meeting, his rivals, both within his own party and outside of it, would like him to step down.

We get first to the challenge from within the Likud Party. There is one person, Gideon Sa'ar, who has decided that it is time for him to step down. He doesn't say or assume that Netanyahu is guilty. He just says that he should be turning his attention to, in fact, fighting these political charges, not leading Israel.

At the same time, Netanyahu's chief political rival here from the Blue and White Party, Benny Gantz, also again, reiterated his call for him to step down and allow a unity government with the Blue and White Party and the Likud Party to form, for Benny Gantz to become the prime minister.

And for Benjamin Netanyahu, if he wanted to, if he was cleared of these charges, could come in and then assume the role of prime minister again. One thing is clear, Netanyahu continues to fight on, saying he will deny these charges, that he will not resign, and that leaves Israel still in the political stalemate that they have been in now for months. Paula Newton, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: OK. So, there's Israel. Let's move to Brexit, shall we? It is at the top of the agenda, but Britain's Prime Minister has other promises he's making to voters, next year, the Conservative Party's Manifesto.

HOLMES: Some people calling it a pamphlet or a brochure more than a manifesto.

Anyway, also coming up, the music world loses another star, more on the life of the K-Pop singer, Goo Hara when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) IVAN CABRERA, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: CNN "WEATHER WATCH,"

I'm meteorologist Ivan Cabrera to check in on conditions for the U.S. into the next few days' problems. And we're going to have big problems here, not just because we have two winter systems that are going to be moving through very populated areas, but because of the timing here in Thanksgiving week.

There will be a lot of folks traveling across the U.S. and this is what you can expect. We have a couple of systems, one will begin to sweep and will be mostly rain across the Midwest, on the backside of it. Portions of the upper Midwest, we'll be seeing some snow.

And then, system number two moves in as we head in through Wednesday into Thanksgiving day itself. And with cold air that will be in place behind the first system, now we're talking about snow a little bit further to the south. So, now that we involve places like Iowa and into portions of Wisconsin, as well, and we may get a little bit further south into closer to Chicago but this will be a big storm for Denver as well. Of course, the ski resorts there will not be complaining across the Rockies likewise into portions of New Mexico as well.

[01:20:13]

(INAUDIBLE) center at Winnipeg on Monday here with temperatures around four degrees from Montreal. Well out ahead of the storm system, so we're looking pretty good, but then we'll begin to see that (INAUDIBLE) moisture move in. So, rain will commence in Denver and then eventually as the temperatures drop, we'll change that over to snow. And then, a big winter storm for Wednesday and Thursday.

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ALLEN: Well, that music maybe the fits the Brexit theme.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) That's true.

ALLEN: Britain's Prime Minister promises to deliver Brexit as a Christmas gift in the coming election.

HOLMES: He's promised Brexit quite often, hasn't he? Boris Johnson presented the Conservative Party's manifesto on Sunday, warning against supporting Labour, which he said would lead to more referendums. And as Phil Black reports, he pivoted to domestic policy and spending.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It won't surprise anyone who follows British politics. So, the Conservative Party's election manifesto is built around the mantra of getting Brexit done. And anyone who's followed Boris Johnson since he became prime minister earlier this year, knows he's keen to be seen spending money on key public services. He'd already pledged more for education, health, and the police.

So, in this Manifesto, there were no huge surprises, but a range of modest, feel good and reassuring commitments like 50,000 new nurses, 2 billion pounds for fixing road potholes, and a pledge not to increase the key taxes that hit people's income and spending. All of this is designed to show the next Conservative government is one that cares, is fiscally responsible, and is excited about Britain's future outside the European Union.

BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: I don't want to waste 2020 in two more referendums. I want it to be an exciting and productive year. A year of prosperity and growth. Do you want to wake up on Friday the 13th of December and find a nightmare on Downing Street? A Corbyn -- a Corbyn sturgeon coalition of chaos? I say, let's go carbon neutral by 2050 and carbon neutral by Christmas.

BLACK: The Conservative Party's commitments are pretty timid when compared to the manifesto of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, which by its own admission, seeks to vastly increase the size of the state. And its own words to transform British society through a massive program of borrowing and increasing taxes on high incomes and some businesses and spending on infrastructure and services across the country. The Conservatives know they can't compete based on the size of their commitments alone, but they also know opinion polls consistently show they are leading this campaign. And Boris Johnson will hope this slim, low-risk manifesto will be enough to maintain that momentum and help deliver the parliamentary majority he's fighting for. Phil black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: BBC's Emily Maitlis tells CNN, Prince Andrew seemed authentic during her groundbreaking interview with him. The Duke of York answering questions, of course, about his friendship with a convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. And immediately after that interview, facing some fierce criticism. Prince Andrew agreed to step back from his public duties and has seen several organizations and companies sever ties with him. Journalist Emily Maitlis spoke to CNN on Sunday.

[01:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY MAITLIS, PRESENTER, BBC NEWS: In one way, it was a very straightforward interview. I knew that we only had one shot at this. There were no previous interviews like it, there was nothing I could go to, to try and compare it with old answers. It was an interview about getting information. And it was an interview that I knew would be watched by women who had been girls whose lives had been turned upside down by Jeffrey Epstein, and whose lives in some cases, had been damaged irreparably.

And I knew that there would be answers that they were looking for. So, the whole strategy as far as you can call it one of the interview, was just to try and get information on every step of the way. Understand the reasons he made certain decisions, understand his presence or his absence, understand why he'd agree to things when he'd lost Ghislaine Maxwell. It was just about trying to get in the most forensic way possible, an understanding of the whole picture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Prince Andrew denies allegations he had sex with an underage girl who said she'd been trafficked by Epstein. The Prince told Maitlis he had never met the woman who made the allegations despite the existence of a photo that appears to show him with his arm around her.

ALLEN: Fans are paying tribute to beloved K-Pop star Goo Hara, who was found dead on Sunday. She was reportedly discovered at her home in Seoul. So far, police have not commented on how she died. The South Korean singer and actress debuted with the girl band Kara in 2008. She later left the band, launching a career as a solo artist. Her last posts on Instagram shared with her 1.5 million followers, Saturday, was a picture of herself in bed with the caption, "Good night."

In May, Goo was found unconscious in her home after posting the word 'goodbye' on her Instagram. She was taken to the hospital, and later apologized to fans for causing concern. But the ever so reignited debate over the intense pressure of K pop stardom, which critics say is fueled by harsh online criticism of performers. Goo's death comes just over a month after K-Pop star, Sulli, was found dead in Seoul in a suspected suicide after struggling with online bullying.

And in 2017 K-Pop star, Kim Jonghyun, was also found dead of apparent suicide. Korean pop music or K-Pop is one of South Korea's biggest exports in the past decade. Many of its stars, known as idols, are trained and groomed for years before they're allowed to debut their first song. We'll back after this break.

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[01:31:18]

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Natalie Allen.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes.

Time to update you on our top story this hour.

And pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong's local elections have defeated supporters of Mainland China in a landslide local media reporting. They won almost 90 percent of the district council seats up for grabs. The race is seen as a test of support for the anti- government movement. Nearly 3 million people turning up to vote. That's a record for Hong Kong.

ALLEN: This is a heartbreaking story. CNN has exclusively obtained video of dozens of young elephants being held in cages in China. This after the elephants were separated from their herd in Zimbabwe and sold.

HOLMES: It's horrible and despite the outrage though over the images, the Zimbabwean government says it needs to sell the wild elephants to fund its conservation efforts.

CNN's David McKenzie went to the heart of elephant country to investigate. He joins us now from neighboring South Africa.

David -- what a horrible story. What did you find?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right -- Michael.

Michael and Natalie -- when I received this video from a trusted source of these young elephants, some of them just barely able to survive off of their mothers milk, it was clear that they were traumatized, stuck in these cages all the way in China, thousands of miles from Zimbabwe. We went to the Zimbabwe to investigate how this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: 30 young African elephants captured, sold and sent to China to fill amusement parks and zoos. But first they will be broken here. This cell phone video is an exclusive look at the latest shipment form Zimbabwe. In cage after metal cage, the signs of suffering are clear.

Just weeks ago, they were among family groups in Hwange National Park.

What they do when they come and capture these elephants is they separate the youngsters. Not the very youngest, but the young elephant from the rest of the herd. And scientists say that elephants are incredibly social animals. They develop bonds for a lifetime.

And by ripping them away from their families and sending them off to a foreign country, they say it's extremely traumatic for the elephant that goes and the elephant that remains.

Despite these concerns, the trade up until now has been legal. But that window is closing. New rules preventing overseas shipments from countries like Zimbabwe, come into full effect at the end of November. Zimbabwe park officials say they will abide by those new rules --

CHRISPEN CHIKADAYA, 2NSPCA (ph): There's no transparency anymore.

MCKENZIE: -- but animal rights inspector Chrispen Chikadaya says he's already seeing a shift towards secrecy.

CHIKADAYA: Something is not right.

MCKENZIE: For the past year officials blocked his team from entering the park, claiming they needed special permits that were not actually required. He fears that the already opaque sales won't end they'll just go underground.

What was it like being pushed away? CHIKADAYA: I'm a government appointed inspector. And I'm reminded to

see the welfare of the animals. They don't belong to national parks. They belong to the people of Zimbabwe.

MCKENZIE: So now we've got the GPS coordinates of where we think these elephant have been kept though some 30 elephants that were shipped to China caused global outrage.

Animal rights activists and park sources told us that just beyond this boom gate, elephants were left behind and were getting prepped to be sent away.

But is it not possible to come in now with you just to have a look.

[01:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing we can do. You know this place -- all the clients who come here, they are cleared by the manager.

MCKENZIE: We went to management and were repeatedly refused entry. They told us there was nothing to see. But they did agree to an on camera interview.

Why is Zimbabwe selling elephants to China?

TINASHE FARAWO, SPOKESMAN, ZIMPARKS: It's part of management plan. We have rangers in this part (INAUDIBLE) spend 21 days in the bush, protecting these animals. They don't have uniforms. They don't have boots (ph), and they don't have tents and they don't have food.

It's an authority (ph) -- we believe that the elephants must pay for their upkeep. They must also pay for their protection.

MCKENZIE: But protection for Zimbabwe's wild elephants is far from assured. Elephants are dying, more than 200 in just the last few months, succumbing to the severe drought that's hit the region.

In this lean season, elephants in the wild are suffering, too. But Ranger Oskar Sbanda (ph) says better to let nature take its course.

Do you think it's good that some elephants are sent away to zoos in China, Pakistan and the U.S.?

I don't think it's right. It is part of our country. These are our animals. Why shouldn't (INAUDIBLE)?

MCKENZIE: But these elephants taken from Zimbabwe remain trapped far from home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: Well, Michael and Natalie -- those elephants in those cages you see will be broken, meaning their spirit will be broken and then they will be put out for members of the public and China.

Elephant experts I've spoken to say there is this outrage about these elephants shipped to China and Pakistan, but they see at times very little difference between that and elephants that might be in captivity in zoos and circuses in Europe and the U.S.

In just the next few days, a treaty will come into place, an amendment to a treaty which will stop the shipment of these kind of wild elephants from southern Africa. But other countries will still be able to do it, due to a loophole in that situation.

And you know, just an update. We said in that report we believe there were two elephants left in that boma, in that enclosure. Well Zimparks flatly denied that.

But just in the last few days, after a court order, the Zimbabwean SPCA was able to go in there. They told me that they found two very emaciated, sick elephants in there that still might be sent away -- Natalie.

HOLMES: It's just heartbreaking.

ALLEN: It's just -- it really is. David -- thank you so much for this report. We can only hope that something will come of it because elephants, as you say, it's critical they stay in their families.

HOLMES: Yes.

They've got to stop the buying of it. Why the demand? It's just -- great reporting -- David. Thanks for bringing it to the world's attention. Heartbreaking stuff.

All right. We're going to take a short break now. When we come back the group of Democrats vying for a shot at the White House just got even larger.

ALLEN: More on Michael Bloomberg -- the latest to throw his hat into the ring, when we come back.

[01:38:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back.

Former New York City Mayor and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg wants to add another title to his resume -- president of the United States.

ALLEN: On Sunday, he made it official announcing he will join the 2020 race, less than three months before the first of voting takes place.

HOLMES: Bloomberg adds his name to well -- look at that -- quite a long list of Democratic hopefuls.

CNN's Cristina Alesci with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Bloomberg is trying to beat the odd which a rush of money and effort. He's betting that his personal life story, his track record as mayor of New York, and as a philanthropist, supporting liberal causes as well as his role as a leading Democratic donor will help him win the nomination.

Now let me give you some color on how he's positioning himself. Bloomberg described himself as a doer and a problem-solver, not a talker in a letter on his Website.

Now this letter frames the 2020 election as an existential crisis for the country and suggests he's the only candidate that can meet those challenges. He says, quote, "I'm running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America. We cannot afford four more years of President Trump's reckless and unethical actions. If he wins another term in office we may never recover from the damage. The stakes could not be higher. We must win this election."

Michael Bloomberg has many accomplishments to tout but he faces some serious headwinds. Tactically it's very late in the primary cycle to launch a campaign. Political analysts say no one who's entered the presidential race this late has ever clinched the nomination in modern history.

And the few polling data points we have for Bloomberg don't look great for him. For example, only 4 percent of voters picked him as their top choice in a national poll.

And there are more substantive hurdles to clear here. For one, he's a billionaire at a time when the term is being used as an insult, rising income inequality is a source of anger and frustration for many voters. Progressive candidates, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are trying to capitalize on those feelings, suggesting that billionaires should be disqualified from running.

Now Bloomberg may also struggle to win support among black voters. Blacks and Latinos were the primary targets of a police tactic called stop and frisk, which the New York City Police Department employed while Michael Bloomberg was mayor.

It was only last week that he apologized for not stopping the use of that tactic sooner, but it's unclear whether voters believe it's a sincere apology.

All that said, Bloomberg's net worth is estimated at more than $50 billion, according to Forbes. And it's hard to overstate the advantage that wealth gives him. He's also self-funding his campaign, so sources close to him have told me that the campaign has no budget ceiling. He'll spend whatever it takes to beat Donald Trump.

And Bloomberg himself will spin that as a positive, that he can't be bought by special interests and will make decisions based on whether he thinks they're the right thing to do free of outside influence.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: It will be interesting to see his ads and how he goes after Mr. Trump in those ads.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. He's also another older candidate. What is he -- 77 or something like that? Yes.

ALLEN: Yes.

HOLMES: Another old one joins the fray.

All right. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM everyone.

I'm Michael Holmes.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Thanks so much for watching.

"WORLD SPORT" next. We'll see you soon.

[01:43:40]

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