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Protesters Clear Out from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; 2020 Ushers in New Laws on Pay, Guns, Marijuana; Pope Francis Apologizes After Slapping Away Woman's Hand. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 01, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

ROBERT FORD, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA: -- was about demonstrations in downtown Baghdad, Iraqis protesting against these Iranian-backed militias.

[14:30:11]

And the Iranian-backed militias have been brutal against Iraqi citizens who have been protesting for change.

But the American air strikes enabled the Iranian-backed militias to change the narrative and suddenly instead of militia brutality being the issue in Iraq, suddenly, the issue was 25 to 50 Iraqi young men killed in the American air strikes.

So, the Iranians, in a sense, were able to get us to fall into a trap and let them change the story from militia brutality to American air strikes.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Mr. Ambassador, we've also just learned that the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has delayed a trip to a number of countries, including Ukraine where as we've mentioned he was going to really go there to show solidarity with President Zelensky. But he is going to, he's staying back in the States to monitor the situation in Iraq.

We've also heard from the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He wrote that Trump's threat, sorry, he wrote to the president, you can't do anything. Adding that the president should realize that many nations hate the U.S.

Now, both sides that acknowledge tensions could escalate. But I want to ask, the secretary staying back in the U.S. to monitor, does this show how worried the Trump administration is about the current situation escalating?

FORD: I think Secretary Pompeo travels with a really good communications package, and with a team of excellent professional communications specialists, so he can monitor the situation from Baghdad from wherever he is in the world, and I've seen secretary of states do that in previous crises in the Middle East.

I think Secretary Pompeo may be trying to send a signal but practical impact, it's zero, really. I think the other thing that's important for viewers to understand is

the American military cannot through air strikes compel Iran to quit Iraq. The Iranians are deeply, deeply entrenched there in terms of the politics, in terms of the bureaucracy.

MARQUARDT: Mr. Ambassador, to what extent do you think that this is linked to the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign and the U.S. pulling out of the nuclear deal? Is it linked? Is this Iran lashing out?

FORD: I think there is an element of Iran lashing out, but I think viewers also need to understand that the Americans and the Iranians are tangling across the Middle East. There are some of these same Iranian backed militias in Syria. Those militias are getting bombed, whether by the Israelis, America's key ally in the Middle East or by the Americans themselves. I don't think the Iranians care. Then there are strikes going on back and forth in Iraq.

This is a regional contest in a sense, but it's very close to Iran's home turf, and so our challenge there is a lot harder, and it has to be done with real diplomatic and political finesse, not just air strikes

MARQUARDT: So if these protests to the embassy were a response for the air strikes and militiamen retreating, claiming victory, do you think that is -- that is that? Or what do you expect Iran to do next?

FORD: Well, I think for the time being, at least, the action shifts to the Iraqi domestic political scene. There will be some attempts by these very same militias to use the Iraqi parliament to pass a law requiring that all American military forces leave Iraq promptly. We have about 5,000 American soldiers in Iraq working to train Iraqi forces to fight ISIS.

I don't know that the parliament's going to pass such a law anytime soon, but the good news is that when the action shifts to the parliament, it shifts away from the battlefield. It shifts away from protests at the American embassy, and is an arena where American diplomats can compete with the militias to try to sway opinion among parliamentarians in Iraq.

MARQUARDT: And all of this, of course, putting those parliamentarians and Iraqi leadership in a very tough spot having to do this careful dance between its two closest allies, Iran and the U.S.

Ambassador Ford, we have to leave it there. Thanks so much.

FORD: My pleasure. Thank you.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, in this New Year, there will be new laws as well. How fresh 2020 rules and regulations will impact you.

[14:35:00]

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: A New Year brings with it new laws, from car seats to gun rights, to recreational marijuana and minimum wage hikes. Officials across the country are going to begin enforcing new rules and regulations starting today.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been looking into these. Nick, lots of changes to lots of different aspects of society? What are some of the biggest?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Happy New Year, Alex.

New rules, new laws, hundreds of them, in fact. We spent the list compiling -- the day, I should say, compiling a list. And here are some we thought most important.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): It's 2020, and with all the excitement about the New Year, you may want to make sure you're staying within the lanes of the law.

[14:40:05]

Here's what you need to know about the new laws in this New Year. Starting today, the minimum wage is going up in 21 states. According to the National Employment Law Project, in 17 of the 47 jurisdictions where wages are going up, the new rate will reach or exceed $15 per hour but it's not good news for everyone minimum wage earner. The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 for non-tipped employees.

Big news in the Midwest, pot smokers can rejoice. Beginning January 1st, anyone 21 and older can buy and possess recreational marijuana in Illinois.

Under the new law, residents can possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of concentrate and no more than 500 milligrams of THC and cannabis infused products. The new law also pardons individuals with non-violence convictions for amounts of marijuana up to 30 grams.

In New York, no more cash bail. The state becomes the latest in the money bail system for nearly all misdemeanor and non-violent felony law cases. The new law could free thousands of incarcerated people from pre-trial detention.

Hundreds of other laws would also take effect today, including in Oregon, which is now implementing a statewide ban on single use plastic bags in grocery stores. In Florida, if you like to text and drive? Don't. Unless you want a $30 ticket for non-moving violations or $60 ticket if you're texting and driving.

And some might say it's a sign of the times. The state of Texas will now require local school districts to stock bleeding control kids. The kits will be equipped with tourniquets, chest seals and compression bandages. Both students and teachers will be trained on how to use it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: For more on these new laws and others, head over to CNN.com. We have a story up there on the front page if you want more on these highlights -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Thanks, Nick Valencia. And happy New Year to you, too, my friend.

All right. Well, still to come, this isn't something that you see every day. An apology from the pope. Pope Francis is saying sorry after getting a little too aggressive with a woman who wouldn't let go of his hand. We'll show you how the whole scene played out. That's coming up.

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[14:46:34]

MARQUARDT: It turns out even the pope has his limits. Pope Francis is starting off this New Year, this new decade, with an apology for slapping a woman's hand as she grabbed him. Now, this is the incident. It happened during New Year's Eve celebrations in St. Peter's Square, in the middle of Vatican City.

He was shaking hands with the crowd, waving to people when a woman reached out pulled at his arm, trying to get his attention, you can see it right there, the pope losing patience pulls back his hand becoming quietly visibly frustrated and scolded the woman and slapped her hand.

Here was his apology he gave during this morning's New Year's day message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (through translator): Love makes us patient. So many times we lose patience even me, and I apologize for yesterday's bad example.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Admitting that it was a bad example.

John Allen is CNN senior Vatican analyst. John, it was a very human reaction. It was something that many of us would actually, would do ourselves.

The pope, of course, is the pope. This one is known as a fairly cheery, easygoing guy. High surprised were you to see that reaction?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Oh, first of all, Alex, happy New Year to you and yours.

I have to say, not terribly surprised. I mean, those of us who follow Pope Francis regularly know that although he is a figure of deity and compassion, and that's all very real, he is also, let's not forget, an 83-year-old Argentinean male and frankly, he has a little bit of a temper.

We've seen it before. When he was in Mexico in 2016, there was an overly enthusiastic teenager who tried to grab the pope actually knocked him over, causing him to fall into the lap of somebody in a wheelchair. The pope popped up and yelled at the kid for saying, don't be so selfish.

We saw it earlier this year. He was in Loreto here in Italy at a famous shrine. People trying to kiss his ring. Pope Francis does not like that. He sort of lost patience and angrily yanking his hand back.

So, you know, this wasn't entirely out of character. Remember, it was end of a very long day for the pope and let's also remember the pope has sciatica in his back. Seemed to me that this woman holding on to him is annoying him but also causing him a little bit of discomfort and he kind of blew his top.

Then, he did what we all do in those situations which is apologize. And I think in that sense, Alex, it's a reminder that popes may be potentates but they are also human beings, too.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it's kind of surprising his security detail didn't jump in there. They left him for defend for himself. But well said. He's human like the rest of us.

John Allen in Rome, happy New Year's to you. Thank you very much.

All right. Well, the world's two largest economies spent the last year and a half locked in a bitter trade war with a symbolic agreement at the end of the year. So, is the trade war with China over?

CNN's Alison Kosik has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Trade war concerns aren't done quite yet. The thorniest issues between the U.S. and China are unresolved but tension at the end of 2019 cooled dramatically.

The U.S. agreed to drop new tariffs on Chinese-made consumer goods, and the Chinese agreed to buy more U.S. farm products. The U.S. also lowered some tariffs.

[14:50:02]

It's not the complete rollback the Chinese demanded but relief for the American companies that pay the tax to the U.S. Treasury.

The wild card for 2020, President Trump can slap tariffs back on China if they don't make progress. If that happens, costs will rise for U.S. companies and consumers. One trade deal in flux, another resolved. The much-needed

modernization of NAFTA finds a rare show of bipartisanship. What's in it? Cars must have more parts made in North America by workers earning at least $16 an hour.

There is more market access for dairy farmers, $600 million to protect the environment in the region, and a provision to protect expensive biologic drugs from generic competition was taken out.

For 2020, there is potential for other trade wars. The president has threatened tariffs on French wine and cheese, and European cars.

In New York, I'm Alison Kosik.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Alison Kosik there.

Coming up, nanobots, flights to Pluto and vacations on the moon. It turns out that a lot of what we thought would happen by 2020 as actually totally wrong. So next, we'll have predictions we actually got right.

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[14:55:34]

MARQUARDT: At the beginning of every year, it's obviously common for people to make New Year's resolutions. But when it comes to scientists, pundits, even psychics, it's all about looking at the charts, the trends, maybe even crystal balls to make their predictions.

And it turns out that a lot of people in the past have made pretty lofty predictions about what the year 2020 would look like. What the world would look like. Sadly, they might have given us a lot more credit is than we are due. And I'm sure, many of you are asking, where's my jet pack, for example?

But Grace Howke from "USA Today" took a deeper dive into major predictions that sadly have not come true or not been perfected.

Grace, great to you have with us. Happy New Year.

GRACE HAUCK, REPORTER, USA TODAY: Happy New Year, Alex. Thanks for having me on.

MARQUARDT: Of course.

Let's start with some of the major failures in the tech world, the failures of the predictions. Now, we made a list of some of those things.

Invisible computers, that is somewhat true. Paper books and docs, no more docs -- wrong. Anti-gravity belts, wrong.

Personal companions, somewhat true. Tracking moves digitally, that, of course, is very true. Self-driving cars, somewhat true.

HAUCK: Right.

MARQUARDT: Voting from home, that's wrong, but, of course, there's potential.

What else are you looking at? What's on your list?

HAUCK: Yes, I mean, to be fair, each of those categories, you should dig into a little bit deeper. Yes, we are -- want to say that we haven't exactly made all the technological progress that a lot of these futurists thought we would make by the year 2020.

But we are seeing some. For example, self-driving cars. Are they fully autonomous? Are they widely used and commercially available? No.

But the technology is there. We're seeing pilot programs in places like Detroit, Phoenix, Boston, we're going to get there.

For something like invisible computers -- so that was a prediction that came from Ray Kurzweil. He's a futurist, very well-known, has sold five best-selling books and he's been affiliated with MIT, he's director of engineering with Google and in 1989, in his book, "The Age of Spiritual Machines", he said that we had invisible computers that are embedded in everything, like tables, chairs.

So, by invisible, he didn't mean they were literally microscopic and you couldn't see them, but he meant they were everywhere. They were prominent. They were ubiquitous. And we do see that.

We have smart everything these days. We have smart desks. We have smart headbands, smart forks. Bio scarves. We even have smart contact lenses and Google glass.

So, while some of these may seem like they're outrageous, some of them are kind of spot-on. And on tech prediction that was pretty spot-on was from Bill Gates in 1999. He wrote a book "Business at the Speed of Thought."

And he thought by the year 2020, we'd all have personal companions. And many of his other predictions from that year also came true.

He essentially predicted social media, but these personal companions he said share information with each other. They could help us complete our daily tasks and tell us what we need when at the grocery store. They'd share information with each other -- which is essentially Amazon Alexa, Siri, Google Homes.

So, we do see things like that.

MARQUARDT: And we just did see the general election in Great Britain that Boris Johnson prevailed in.

HAUCK: Right. MARQUARDT: He was -- he's, of course, prime minister now. And then 20 years ago, a British news organization predicted something about Boris Johnson. What was that?

HAUCK: Yes. So, this was probably one of my favorite outcomes of this project, which is stumbling across this and this is not a tech prediction. But in 1997, two journalists working for "The Independent", British journalistic organization, they said that Boris Johnson would be a top U.K. minister in the year 2020.

So, this was their prophecy. They wrote an article called "The Cabinet of the Future" and they said that Boris Johnson would be a prominent U.K. minister and he is. That's exactly right. They also nailed him, because they saw he wanted to lead Brexit at that time. Said he wanted to make the U.K. to Europe as Canada is to the U.S., aka, separate countries.

And at the time, he had never held public office. He was only a well- known columnist and editor. He was known as leader of the Write. W- R-I-T-E, not right. So, he wasn't until 2001 that he actually became an MP until 2016 under Theresa May that he became foreign secretary and was a member of the cabinet.

So this was a pretty amazing prediction for a 1997, the year the Conservative Party did not do well in elections. So they were spot-on on that one.

MARQUARDT: Yes, spot on, shockingly accurate, and Boris Johnson is nothing if not prominent.

Grace Hauck, thanks very much for joining me.

HAUCK: Right. Thanks so much, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Well, before Beyonce, before Lady Gaga, Linda Ronstadt was the first female rock icon. CNN Film's "LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE", that premieres tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time on CNN.

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