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President Trump Launches Vindictive Impeachment Victory Lap After Impeachment Acquittal; Democratic National Chair Calls for Recanvass in Iowa; Japan Reports New Coronavirus Infections on Quarantined Cruise Liner; Public Outcry Over Coronavirus Death of Whistleblower Doctor; Trump Peppers Speech With Misleading Statements; India Police: Man Arrested For Rape Of Five-Year-Old Girl; Violence Surges Between Israel And Palestinians. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 07, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause at CNN's world headquarter in Atlanta where it has just gone 2: a.m. Friday morning.
Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom," President Trump feeling vindicated and vindictive after his Senate acquittal, telling supporters he did nothing wrong and now going after his critics once more.
Drama in Iowa. How the Democratic National Committee is stepping in after the delayed results of the Democratic Party's caucuses. And more passengers tested positive for coronavirus on board a quarantine cruise ship. We are live at this hour in Yokohama, Japan.
President Trump took a victory like no other for his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial. It all started at the National Prayer Breakfast where he served up a dish of insults against his political opponents and rivals. He took a shot at the religious faith of Senator Mitt Romney as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But wait, there is more. They came later at the White House. He held up The Washington Post, a newspaper he ridicules almost every week with the headline, "Trump Acquitted."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is really not a news conference. It is not a speech. It's not anything. It is just we are sort of -- it's a celebration. We have been going through this now for over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars.
They should never, ever happen to another president ever. It has been very unfair to the country. We were treated unbelievably unfairly. And you have to understand, we first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all (bleep). (LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I want to thank my legal team.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You guys stand up. Right at the beginning, they said, sir, you have nothing to worry about, all of the facts are on your side. I said, you don't understand, that doesn't matter, that doesn't matter, and that was really true.
And the only one that voted against was a guy that can't stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency. Say hello to the people of Utah and tell them, I am sorry about Mitt Romney. I'm sorry. OK?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We can say that Mike Lee is by far the most popular senator from the state. You have some that use religion as a crutch. They never used it before. An article written today never heard him use it before. If I didn't fire James Comey, we would have never had this stuff. Because when I fired that sleazebag, all hell broke out.
They were rattling on each other. They were running for the hills, dirty cops and bad people. If this happened to President Obama, a lot of people would have been in jail for a long time already.
I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. She wanted to impeach a long time ago when she said, I pray for the president, I pray for the president. She didn't pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But I doubt she prays at all. We did a prayer breakfast this morning, and I thought that was really good. I had Nancy Pelosi sitting four seats away. I'm saying things that a lot of people wouldn't have said, but I meant every word of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: When Donald Trump attacked Nancy Pelosi over her faith at the National Prayer Breakfast. She was seated not far from him on the stage. The House speaker made no mention of the insults when she took no stage, but she did not let the president's remarks go unanswered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I do not know if the president understands about prayer or people who do pray. But we do pray for the United States of America. I pray for him. I pray hard for him because he is so off the track of our Constitution, our values, our country, the air our children breathes, the water they drink, and the rest. [02:05:02]
PELOSI: He really needs our prayers. It's a prayer breakfast and that is something about faith. You know, it may not be something I agree with, but it is appropriate. But to go into the stock market, raising up his acquittal thing and mischaracterizing other peoples' motivation, he's talking about things that he knows little about: faith and prayer.
I don't need any lessons from anybody, especially president of the United States, about dignity. Dignity -- is it OK to start saying 'four more years' in the House of Representatives? It is just unheard of.
It's appalling the things that he says and then you say to me, tearing up his falsehoods, isn't that the wrong message? No, it isn't. It's just I have tried to be gracious with him. I'm always dignified. I thought that was a very defied compared to my exuberance as some have said.
That was not a State of the Union. That was a state -- his state of mind. We want a State of the Union -- where are we, where we going, and the rest. Not, "let me just show you how many guests I can draw and let me say how I can give a medal of honor." Do it in your own office. We don't come in your office and do congressional business. Why you're doing that here?
I feel very liberated. I feel very liberated. I feel that I have extended every possible courtesy. I have shown every level of respect. I extend the hand of friendship to him, to welcome him as the president of the United States, to the people's House. It was also an act of kindness because it looked to me like he was a little sedated. He looked that way last year, too.
But he did not want to shake hands. That was that -- that meant nothing to me. It had nothing to do with my cheering up. That came much later. He has shredded the truth in his speech. He's shredding the Constitution in his conduct. I shredded his state of the mind address.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thomas Gift is a lecturer of political science at University College London, and he joins us live this hour. OK, so Thomas, if you thought that relations between Pelosi and Trump were as bad as they were ever going to get before today, clearly they have gone a lot more and this is the total breakdown of whatever relationship was left. What are the implications out moving forward? Obviously, these two can't work together.
THOMAS GIFT, POLITICAL SCIENCE LECTURER, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: You're right. Obviously, these two can't work together. One of the things that really struck me most, John, is that over the last several months, there have been a lot of comparisons, John, between the impeachment of Donald Trump and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. I think we can learn a lot from how both presidents handled their acquittals in the Senate because they could not have been more different. What we saw today from Trump speaking to Nancy Pelosi was just pure defiance, a lack of remorse, a huge amount of vitriol. Contrast that with Clinton who asked during his acquittal, asked the public for forgiveness and said that he was humbled by the process, wanted to move forward and bring the country together.
So America came out of the Clinton trial divided, nowhere near the level of polarization that we see right now. I think that is a large part due to Trump's rhetoric and attacks, the vitriol and so on. It is going to make it very, very difficult for Democrats and Republicans to come together and get anything done during the last several months of Trump's presidency.
VAUSE: Yes. The actual content of the president's -- whatever it was that he was doing in the entry to the White House, obviously seemed like he had this pent-up frustration and bitterness and anger, which have been brewing for almost three years. It was mixed in with Fox News talking points and right wing conspiracy theories that were debunked and not true and outright lies. It was very weird mix of a world which didn't seem to exist.
GIFT: I don't think I can say it any better than you just did. You know, one of the justifications that some senators gave for acquitting Donald Trump was that they thought he learned his lesson from this entire process. To me, that is difficult to reconcile. The president continues to say that he did nothing wrong in Ukraine, that the impeachment was a witch hunt, that his political opponents have been acting in bad state and continue to do so.
Just think about the Mueller report. The day after Mueller testified before Congress, the very next day, John, Trump was on the phone with President Zelensky trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Bidens and interfere with the next election. The notion that Trump will be tempted to engage in this kind of behavior again and there is no accountability strikes me as odd. At the very least, it can't be ruled out.
VAUSE: Susan Collins is right when she says he probably learned a lesson. But the lesson he learned is that he can get away with it, right? I mean, there has been no attempt by the Republicans to hold him accountable for anything which has happened in the past three years. And the system doesn't work when one party is completely beholden to the executive. That is where the problem lies with all of this.
[02:10:00]
GIFT: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. Basically, what this does is create a culture of impunity, and I think that it does give Donald Trump a sense to behave in ways in the future that are inconsistent with the Constitution.
The problem isn't just the president but this will set for future presidents going forward. It is the potential precedent that will set for Donald Trump because it certainly not a foregone conclusion that he will lose in 2020. He could be given four more years. I think what is really concerning to a lot of Democrats is the idea of a Trump presidency totally unrestraint and totally unaccountable.
VAUSE: Thomas, we are out of time. He didn't seem willing to listen and being contrite. When in Donald Trump's life has he ever showed any sign of contrition or learning a lesson and changing his behavior? I don't think that is going to ever happen and it certainly has not happened now. Thank you for being with us, Thomas. We appreciate it.
GIFT: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, the Democratic National Committee chair is calling for a re-canvas of all the results in the Iowa caucuses. Tom Perez tweeted, "Enough is enough." All the numbers released by the state to be checked begets results recorded at the caucus sites. With all precincts now reporting in, the former South Bend, Indiana mayor, Pete Buttigieg, is locked in a virtual tie with Senator Bernie Sanders. We should note that CNN analysis shows errors in the count reported by the Democratic Party.
And the Democratic candidates have moved on to New Hampshire now, which holds its primary next week. But the bad taste of Iowa lingers on. CNN Ryan Nobles has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the caucus count that just won't add.
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: Iowa, you have shocked the nation.
(APPLAUSE)
NOBLES (voice-over): After three days of counting, the Iowa Democratic Party is facing a new challenge. Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeting, "Enough is enough. I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a re- canvas." His request comes as the current result shows a razor-thin margin in the state delegate equivalents between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.
The IDP responded to Perez, saying it would require an official request from a campaign to begin the re-canvas process, something that at this point has not happened. Still, the ambiguity in Iowa has not stopped both Buttigieg --
BUTTIGIEG: We are going on to New Hampshire victorious!
(APPLAUSE)
NOBLES (voice-over): And now, Sanders from declaring victory.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In terms of the popular vote, we want a decisive victory.
NOBLES (voice-over): But the rules of the Iowa caucus make it clear that the winner is determined by the state delegate equivalents, not the popular vote. Still, for Sanders, win, lose or draw, he is ready to put Iowa in the rear view mirror.
His campaign announced a massive $25 million fundraising haul in January, his best of the campaign, and he has invested more than $5 million in new ads. He is now putting all his energy and focus into New Hampshire.
(On camera): Do you think it is time to start having the conversation about New Hampshire --
SANDERS: Yeah, I think so, given the fact that we are in Manchester, New Hampshire.
NOBLES (on camera): Right.
SANDERS: So that is what we are. We are working really hard.
NOBLES (voice-over): And the race here has become an earnest.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't criticize him. He calls himself a Democratic socialist. Well, we're already seeing what Donald Trump is going to do with that.
NOBLES (voice-over): With former Vice President Joe Biden coming off a disappoint showing in Iowa, calling out both Sanders and Buttigieg by name.
SANDERS: I believe in raising the minimum wage to a living wage. I believe in health care for all. You want to call it socialism? That is socialism for working people. That is the fundamental difference between Trump and me.
NOBLES (voice-over): Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren, on track for a third place finish in Iowa, is shifting her approach, pulling back ad spending in Nevada and South Carolina, hoping for a comeback in New Hampshire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will try our best with our resources being a non-profit and fundraising and sponsorship for all of those things. It is very limited.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we will see if we can fix that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to Ryan Nobles for that report. Another Democrat wrapped a CNN town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire just a few hours ago. Senator Bernie Sanders started by addressing divisions within the party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANDERS: Campaigns have become contemptuous and people will say things about other things. I have known Joe Biden for so many years. Joe was a friend of mine. He's a very decent human being. Some people are going to say things during the heat of the campaign, I want somebody' vote, you know, I will say something, somebody else will say something.
But at the end of the day, because of the threat that Trump poses to the future of this country, because of this ugliness, because of his racism and his sexism and his homophobia and his xenophobia and his religious bigotry, because he is trying to divide our people up, I have zero doubt that we will bring the party together.
BUTTIGIEG: Because this president now believes and the Senate GOP has given him reason to believe that you can get away with anything. It is OK to lie, it is OK to cheat. It is even OK to involve foreign governments in domestic politics for your own gain.
[02:15:05]
BUTTIGIEG: And in all of this, the good news, if you can call it that, the silver lining is that this is 2020, this is an election year, and so the Senate may have been the jury yesterday, but we the people are the jury now and the final verdict on the president and on the Senate is going to be up to us this year.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I look at this way. There were so many people in this race, as you know, and I am now in the top five. I think there are a lot of people that did not predict I would get through that initial announcement speech in the middle of the blizzard.
They were literally predicting that I could not make it through the snow. Then they were predicting I wouldn't make it through the summer, and then it was debate by debate by debate. And every single time, I have exceeded expectations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And a quick programming note, remember to tune into CNN on Tuesday for our extensive coverage of the New Hampshire primary.
Still to come here, a doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the Wuhan coronavirus is now the latest victim of the virus. And on online, his death is causing huge outcry in China. We are live from Beijing in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:20:00]
VAUSE: The Wuhan coronavirus has now killed more than 600 people with well over 31,000 others confirmed to have the virus. The vast majority are in mainland China. Among the latest, the Chinese doctor who first reported the new virus back in December. At the time, he was accused by Chinese authorities of spreading rumors, and he was warned not to speak about it.
Two more evacuation flights are now en route to the U.S. from Wuhan with about 300 people on board. They are expected to land in the United States sometime on Friday.
More than 300 cases of the disease have now been confirmed outside of China, including 61 people on board a cruise ship now quarantined in Yokohama, Japan.
That is where CNN's Matt Rivers is joining us now live. Matt, there are a lot of people stuck on that ship behind you and the conditions are not especially good.
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, they are not, John. We have been talking to people on the ship. They say that they are only allowed out of their rooms for certain amount of time each day. This is some 3,700 people or so that are stuck on that massive ship there behind me, and they are likely going to be there for roughly another two weeks or so, according to the Japanese government.
Government officials here are taking zero chances. They are clearly concerned that the people on board that ship, if they were to get off the ship, could infect people here in Japan. When you see how the numbers have increased, it is hard to blame the Japanese government for taking this abundance of caution.
It was just yesterday that there were 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus. People are infected with the virus on board that ship. Today, that number jumped by 41, bringing the total number of cases to 61. Not everyone on board the ship has been tested. We know that hundreds of people have been but that number could very well rise over the next couple of days.
Of the 3,700 people on board, we know that 428 of them are Americans. We spoke to two of those Americans who were on their honeymoon on board that ship. They say that the conditions on board are really difficult. They are really frustrated. We messaged with them earlier today on WhatsApp and they said in one of their messages, "We just want to get the hell off the ship. We are deathly afraid we are going to catch this virus being trapped on the ship."
You can only imagine what they are going through, John, being able to look out from their balcony, see land, see media crews here, and yet not being able to leave.
VAUSE: This sounds like a holiday from hell to put it mildly. So, these people are trapped in the boat. Some have the virus. But keeping them altogether seems to be a guaranteed and sure way that everyone ends up with the virus. So, is anything going to prevent that?
RIVERS: Yeah. Well, what they are going is keeping people separated from one another. They are not allowed to go room to room. They are not allowed to talk to each other. They are just taking their meals and shutting their doors.
But you are right. I mean, the one thought, and according to some of the people that we have been speaking to on this ship, they are saying, why not let us off? Why not get us into hospitals and secure areas? But what the Japanese government is saying is, well, we know that -- if we know you are not infected on board the ship, why are we going to bring you into our hospitals and expose you to more people? We can leave you on the ship in that quarantine and that is their argument there.
It is not a good argument for the people who are on board that ship. They are quite frustrated. You can completely understand why they want to get off. But so far, the Japanese government is not giving an inch of ground in terms of acquiescence to those requests. They are keeping those people on board that ship for the time being.
VAUSE: Matt, thank you. Matt Rivers live for us there with the very latest on the situation on board the miserable cruise ship. Hopefully, it will be over soon. Thank you, Matt.
There has been an enormous reaction across China to the death of the Wuhan doctor who first reported the coronavirus back in December. Officials of the government say there will be an investigation into some "issues raised by the masses." That's their word. Steven Jiang joins me now from Beijing. Steven, precisely, what are these issues that were raised by the masses that they will be looking at?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: They are now saying what issues they will be looking. But obviously, this is their attempt to contain this raw emotions unleashed in the past few hours after the death of Dr. Li. This is an extraordinary outpouring of the grief and anger by millions of people across the nation and actually across political spectrum.
We are talking about police officers, former government officials, as well as decedents and activists really united in a very unusual way in their mourning of the passing of Dr. Li, as well as asking very angry and soul-searching questions as to what really led to his death.
As you said, Dr. Li, of course, last December was among the first to raise an alarm about this outbreak. He was warning his college friends, something that he was just doing as an instinct. But instead of being recognized, he was threatened by police and forces on a confession by silencing him and other whistleblowers.
Many people thought that was the reason why this virus was not contained as its initial stage and led to what it is now, a global disaster.
[02:25:02]
JIANG: That is why this story has resonated so well with people across the country because this is unlikely a tragic hero. Now, of course, people are asking other questions in terms of, you know, government accountability and demanding an apology for Dr. Li, as well as saying, where is our freedom of expression, as government censors continue to work fanatically to delete messages and posts and images of this doctor. Now, another thing, John, we just learned was as recently as yesterday, on Thursday, police in another province, southwest province (INAUDIBLE) detained five medical workers, according to state media report, for filming and disclosing information in terms of what was going on in their hospital amid this outbreak. So, history seems to be repeating itself. John?
VAUSE: Yeah. Also, a lot of the blame has been put to local officials, too, which is kind of how Beijing likes it. Steven Jiang, thank you. Steven is live for us with the very latest.
We will take a short break. We'll be right back. Donald Trump has always had this tenuous relationship with the truth and now alternative facts will play a big part in his election campaign. We will explain in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm John Vause with headlines at this hour. The death toll for the Wuhan coronavirus has now risen to 638. More than 31,000 people are infected. Our Chinese doctor who tried to warn of the virus is among the latest fatality. When Li Wenliang made his findings public on social media back in December, authorities accused him of spreading rumors and warned he will be prosecuted if he did not remain silent.
VAUSE: All precincts in Iowa have reported in and still a virtual tie between former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
[02:30:00]
The party's national committee chair is now calling for a recanvas of all the results. Donald Trump claiming total vindication in his impeachment trial acquittal, lashing out at his critics and political pundits on Thursday as evil scum. He mocked through religious faith of Republican Senator Mitt Romney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Donald Trump also distorted the truth to that White House celebration. He made misleading or false statements. They had alternative facts that was actually challenged and there were lies. Here's a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me tell you, if we didn't win, the stock market would have crashed. They made up facts. A corrupt politician named Adam Schiff made up my statement to the Ukrainian president. He brought it out of thin air, just made it up. THEY say he's a screenwriter, a failed screenwriter. He tried to go -- unfortunately went into politics after that.
They don't think it's corrupt when a son that made no money that got thrown out of the military, that had no money at all, is working for $3 million up front, 83,000 a month. And that's only Ukraine. Then he goes to China, picks up $1.5 million. He then goes to Romania, I hear, and many other countries. They think that's OK. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Presidents frequent use of alternative facts will be playing a central role in his reelection campaign. CNN's Tom Foreman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A torrent of unbridled praise for President Trump raging attacks on his perceived enemies.
TRUMP: I called the fake news the enemy of the people.
FOREMAN: And howls of fake news anytime his actions come under fire.
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: People need to understand what the Democrats did was dishonest, and it was corrupt, and it had no other motive than to take him out in 2020.
FOREMAN: That is what Atlantic Staff Writer McKay Coppins jumped into a few months ago when you created a Facebook pseudonym, liked Donald Trump's reelection page and those of several supporters. Yet even the seasoned journalist was unprepared for the tidal wave that soon flooded in.
MCKAY COPPINS, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: It really is like you're fully immersed and almost drowning in the sea of misinformation and conspiracy theories and lies.
FOREMAN: Coppins spells out how time and again he would watch news events during the day.
GORDON SONDLAND, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO EUROPEAN UNION: Was there a quid pro quo?
FOREMAN: Say, damning testimony in the president's impeachment trials --
SONDLAND: The answer is yes. And within hours, it was re couched as mere speculation.
SONDLAND: I came to believe --
MARIE YOVANOVITCH, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: I believe -- that--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is what I believe
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe --
FOREMAN: Witnesses were cast as misleading. The investigation was called a coup.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We cannot accept a second term for Donald Trump.
FOREMAN: And President Trump was presented as the only possible savior.
TRUMP: And I'm restoring government of, by, and for the people.
COPPINS: The overall effect of scrolling through this feed being bombarded with one piece of kind of misinformation, propaganda, conspiracy theory after another, it starts to take a toll on you.
FOREMAN: In what way?
COPPINS: Well, I started to question every headline I saw from every news outlet and every Web site.
FOREMAN: And it is all expected to grow.
BRAD PARSCALE, MANAGER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: This is not just a one election or two election thing. This is -- this is a movement it's going to continue well passed into the future.
FOREMAN: The architect of Trump's online outreach in 2016. Brad Parscale is his campaign manager now, operating from an office tower near D.C. called by some The Death Star. They're planning to spend more than $1 billion. And Coppins worries that pro-Trump forces are poised to wage what could be the most extensive disinformation campaign in U.S. history.
Yes, the Democrats have their own partisan echo chambers, but Science suggests team Trump is going to use this method to push very, very hard this election season, suggesting that they're not promoting alternative realities, but the only reality that matters. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, police in India have made an arrest of a shocking crime against a five-year-old girl. And the alleged crime happened on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy. More on that, we're live in Delhi in just a moment.
[02:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The White House now says the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is dead. Qassim al-Rimi led the terror group's franchise in Yemen, that's why he was killed by U.S. Air Strike. No word on when he died, but CNN reported last week that he had been targeted.
The news follows two other U.S. military efforts to remove Middle East leaders or terrorist leaders last month, and American drone strike killed Iran's most senior general Qasem Soleimani. And in October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a raid by U.S. forces on his compound in northern Syria.
We head to India now where police say they have arrested the suspect in the rape of a five-year-old girl. She was attacked on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Vedika Sud joins us now live from the Indian capital. So this is what -- this story is awful in itself, and it has made even more worse by the fact that it happened on the grounds of the American Embassy.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Absolutely, John. Let me just tell you what we know as far as this case is concerned. It, unfortunately, was a five-year-old girl who on the ground of the American Embassy was raped allegedly by a neighbor. Remember, the latest government data in India talks about how in 93 percent of rape cases, the victim knows the accused. This is one such case.
We've also got a statement, an official one from the American Embassy where they talk about condemning the incident but they also go on to talk about how prompt they were to help the family, the parents not only filing the complaint, but also helping them with medical aid, and they're fully cooperating with the police.
We spoke with the police. They say this man is in judicial custody. Now if you do remember in the year 2018 in India, as far as rapes of minors, and especially girls under the age of 12 is concerned, this man could face 20 years imprisonment. If convicted, he could face a lifetime. In rare cases, it even goes up to the death penalty.
Also, what we do know is after that law was amended, as far as minor girls are concerned under the age of 12, this case has to be investigated within the next two months, and the trial has to be completed within the next six months. John?
VAUSE: Vedika, thank you for the details and the update there. Vedika Sud there live in New Delhi. Israeli police say a suspect has been arrested after a car ram into a group of Israeli soldiers Thursday morning in Jerusalem. 12 soldiers were wounded, a sign that tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are once again on the rise.
The latest attack came less than 24 hours after three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank during days of protests against U.S. President Trump's Middle East peace plan, the so-called deal of the century. More now from CNN's Oren Liebermann.
[02:40:11]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: It's easy to look at these attacks in the sudden uptick in violence and see that they come in the wake of the Trump administration's peace plan and the link the two. And that may be the reason behind some of what we're seeing in the sudden violence in the last 24 hours, but there's more to it than that.
There are some attacks here that may well be related to the anger and the frustration over the peace plan. Palestinian factions, chief among them Hamas has called for more attacks on Israelis and awake of the plan as a way of expressing an outright rejection and anger over it. Early Thursday morning police a Palestinian driver carry out a ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem, wounding 12, one of them seriously. The suspect was arrested Thursday evening in the West Bank. Similarly, Shooting attacks in the Old City of Jerusalem and in the
Central West Bank may also have anger over the plan at their root. And that goes for rocket and mortar fire from Gaza as well. But what happened in Jenin in the northern West Bank is a different story. That starts early Thursday morning when Israeli soldiers go into Jenin to demolish the home of a Palestinian convicted of murdering a rabbi some two years ago.
In the clashes that broke out following the demolition, one Palestinian was shot and killed. Israel says he had shot with a sniper rifle at Israeli soldiers who responded. A second Palestinian was also shot and killed in Jenin, a member of Palestinian police. A video posted by Fatah which controls the Palestinian Authority shows the officer standing at his place of work, not taking part in any clashes or protests when he's shot and killed. Israeli military says it's investigating the incident.
Where does this go from here? And does it get worse? It's certainly tense and there's a tremendous amount of strain on Israeli Palestinian security coordination, which is crucial to both sides. Where does this go from here then? Well, it could spy are out of control quickly. And one of the big questions here is can both sides put a lid on it as quickly as possible to stabilize the situation and do they want to. Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Former Vice President Joe Biden may finish fourth in Iowa but he's a big winner to one 12-year-old boy after Biden opened up his own lifelong struggle with stuttering. What he had to say that's coming up. Also, in the southeastern U.S., they're battling flooding, and tornadoes, and the worst maybe yet to come. Stay with us. That's up next.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN World Sports headlines. We start in Spain where it's been another week of drama for the league champions Barcelona. This past week, we witnessed a very public spat between star player Lionel Messi and his former teammate turned sporting director Eric Abidal who claimed players simply weren't working hard enough on the previous head coach Ernesto Valverde.
Well, Messi was one of the Barca stars on duty this Thursday in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal. Once again things going badly wrong for the Catalan club who lose to opponents Bilbao in the third minutes of stoppage time there. Bilbao booking their spot in the semis.
And on a truly dramatic night in Spanish football, fellow powerhouse team Real Madrid are also out after a shock home loss to Real Sociedad. Remember the name Martin Odegaard. Well, the Norwegian wonder kid still officially a Madrid player, but what a moment as the 21-year-old puts Sociedad with whom he's on loan ahead. Amazingly, Sociedad then go four-one up before Real begin their comeback. But too little too late, 4-3 Sociedad the final score. And we can tell you the city of Los Angeles is scheduled to hold a
public memorial in honor of the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant on Monday, February 24th. This according to a source close to the family. Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people died in a helicopter crash last month in California.
Those are Sports headlines I'm Patrick Snell.
[02:45:00]
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VAUSE: Soyuz capsule with American astronaut Christina Koch landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday. Also on board, a European Space Agency astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. Koch returns to earth after 328 days in space, the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She also took part of the first all-female spacewalk with fellow astronauts, Jessica Meir.
Well, scientists are baffled by the discovery of an unusual giant galaxy that existed 12 billion years ago, and probably died. The new study finds the so-called monster galaxy churned out stars at an incredibly fast rate when the universe was a young thing, then suddenly just switched off. Galaxy created the equivalent of 1,000 of our suns every year for millions of years. That's a lot of suns, more than 300 billion stars in all. The study's authors can't really explain it yet, but they say they might have to change their ideas about how early galaxies stop forming stars. How about that?
A powerful storm system is causing a lot of trouble across the eastern U.S. At least two people have been killed, a number of others injured, nearly two dozen tornadoes have been reported, and torrential rains cause flooding across the southeastern U.S. Up north, snow and ice a hammering in New England making travel dangerous and it's not over yet. Derek Van Dam is following all of this. He has the very latest. So DVD, what's going on?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John, the southeast was the battleground states between the warm and the cold air masses that created the severe weather outbreak but also the heavy rain leading the flooding. And check out this video. This is an Amazon delivery truck driver being rescued from his delivery truck as the floodwaters rose around them. This is just outside of Atlanta, northeast Georgia.
And when we talk about how much rain has actually fallen, we've seen a wide swath of generally two to four inches, but there have been locations across the Carolinas and into portions of Georgia as well as Alabama that have seen upwards of six, even eight inches of rainfall. So a widespread flooding across these locations, but it's also been the severe weather.
And when we tally up over the past 24 hours, the amount of tornadoes that have been reported, we're talking nearly two dozen, as you already mentioned, but also nearly 170 reports of wind damage and over 30 reports of hail. So, this was a major early spring severe weather outbreak that not only led to tornadoes, but also flooding.
So come back to see some of the damage that was left over from these tornadoes. This, by the way, was confirmed as an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. This is just a measurement of the damage in wind speed that tornadoes cause and you can see that just completely obliterating some of the mobile homes in Central Alabama. Unfortunately, one fatality coming out of this but signature damage from an F1 -- EF-1 tornado here to say the least. You can see that vehicle completely damaged as well.
Now, the line of storms that caused the havoc across Alabama and into Georgia earlier on Thursday evening is pressing South across southern Florida. There's still, in fact, a tornado watch in effect just outside of Fort Lauderdale and Miami. That's set to expire within the next hour or so. So the severe weather threat currently diminishing. That's the good news.
But look at this. Behind the storm, there's enough cold air to transition the rainfall to snow in places like Nashville, as well as Knoxville, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the rainfall moving across the New England states that's of course cold enough to bring in the rain-snow mix, maybe even some ice across upstate New York, as well as Vermont, into New Hampshire. So that's what we have winter weather advisories. In fact, that covers about 30 million Americans.
But check this out. Lots of wind associated with this 70 million Americans plus with some sort of wind advisory or warning through the course of your Friday. So we've got a breezy kind of an all outright mess to start off the early weekend across the East Coast. But the storm system should exit fairly quickly tonight and into the day on Saturday, but not before leaving a nice coating of ice along northern New England. That'll create some travel nightmares. You can Believe it.
If you're heading to the airports across upstate new -- Upstate New York into Vermont, and New Hampshire. That's an area that you want to double-check your plans. But I do believe that this will stay all rain for the major East Coast cities from D.C. to Philadelphia, as well as New York, and Boston.
You can see that indicated in our rain-snow accumulation map. But snowfall totals, again, across northern New England, we could see anywhere from eight to 12 inches of snow by the time the storm system finally exits the region. But wow, what a wild past 24 to 48 hours across the southeast to say the least, John.
[02:50:32]
VAUSE: So pack a good book, pack some patients, and (INAUDIBLE).
VAN DAM: Yes, three-hour delays reported across the southeast too.
VAUSE: Thanks, Derek.
VAN DAM: All right. VAUSE: Well, there was supposed to talk about tax plans, and health care, and public schooling at the Thursday town hall with U.S. Democratic presidential candidates, all important policy issues to be sure. But then Senator Bernie Sanders was asked about his Jewish heritage and how it impacts his politics. He said it does so profoundly explaining how growing up poor and understanding his Jewish background shape his views.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I remember as a kid looking at these big picture books of World War II, and tears would roll down my cheeks when I saw what happened to the Jewish people. Six million people were killed by Hitler.
A few years ago, my wife, and I, and my brother, and his wife went back to the town in Poland where my father was born. And we were shown people that were very, very nice and we were shown an area where the Nazis had put in some 300 people and just mowed them down in a -- in a ditch.
So that's how, you know, how horrible people can be to other people in the names of racial superiority, or etcetera certainly has been with me for my entire life. And that is why I will do everything I can to end the kind of divisiveness that Trump is fomenting in this country.
We are one people and I don't care if you're black, you're white, you're Latino, Native American, Asian American, you're gay, you're straight. That's not what it's about. What it's about is that we are human beings and we share common dreams and aspirations.
So, you know, the pain that my family, my father's family suffered in Poland is something that has impacted my life, absolutely.
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VAUSE: At a CNN town hall a night earlier, former Vice President Joe Biden opened up about his lifelong struggle with stuttering. His honestly has been an inspiration for many others to speak out about their own similar experiences. Here's CNN's Arlette Saenz with this report.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brayden Harrington is like any other 12-year-old kid. He likes drawing and basketball. And now he shares a personal connection with Joe Biden.
BRAYDEN HARRINGTON: I felt like a really like close vibe between us because he had like the same thing going on.
SAENZ: Brayden's father, Owen, took his son to watch Biden this week in New Hampshire, knowing he too grapples with stuttering.
OWEN HARRINGTON, BRAYDEN'S FATHER: We want to show Brayden that stuttering is not a limit in life, and it didn't stand in the way for Joe Biden. And it hasn't stood in the way for him.
SAENZ: In a CNN Town Hall, the former vice president opened up about his lifelong struggle and the message he gives to kids coping with the same issue.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I still occasionally when I find myself really tired. I catch myself saying something like that. It has nothing to do with your intelligent quotient. It has nothing to do with your intellectual makeup. It's critically important for them not to judge themselves by their speech, to not let that define them.
SAENZ: It's a moment that highlights one of Biden's key attributes as he runs for president, empathy. He often mentions his stutter on the campaign trail and in some interviews, including a recent in-depth sit down with the Atlantic. Biden says he personally keeps in touch with more than a dozen people who stutter, some even approaching him at campaign events to mention that bond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been stuttering myself so find them very inspirational.
BIDEN: By the way, you know, I used to be a very bad stutter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I know. I saw you.
BIDEN: And I've spoken a lot about it. I'm involved in a national organization as well. Don't -- it does not define you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
BIDEN: It cannot define you.
SAENZ: Brayden Harrington had that chance too when he met Biden after his speech this week.
B. HARRINGTON: It was shocking to shake someone's hand who like has the same trade as me, and I was like the same thing going on.
BIDEN: I met him. I could tell when I met him. You see the face, you can see the anxiety their faces.
SAENZ: Biden then invited Brayden backstage, even explaining how he prepares for his speeches.
B. HARRINGTON: He showed me how he put like diagonal lines through like the words to like, pause, take no breath, and just pause to like, chill out a little bit.
SAENZ: The former vice president discussing technique in a CNN Town Hall.
BIDEN: So what I do if I say the Democratic presidential Town Hall is tonight on CNN. I will say, the presidential town hall, slash, is on CNN tonight, slash, is going to have the following people, slash. Anderson Cooper is going to speak, slash. It forces me to think in terms of not rushing. [02:55:11]
SAENZ: Biden ultimately asked for Brayden's number telling him he'll check in from time to time to talk through their mutual challenge in life.
O. HARRINGTON: He took the time to say I want you to go out back. I know this isn't easy for us to talk right now. And I want to take some time just you and me one on one. And that's a really kind act.
B. HARRINGTON: It's kind of cool to shake a dude's hand and have like -- and having him call me like, and other kids.
SAENZ: Now, Britain even showed us his journal where he wrote down that memory with Joe Biden so he can take it with him once he leaves the house and goes to college. And as for his parents, his father told me he's an independent. He went to that Joe Biden event undecided. But now both he and his wife will be voting for Biden in the New Hampshire primary. They were both impacted by that moment in such a big way. Arlette Saenz, CNN Manchester New Hampshire.
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VAUSE: Thank you for joining us. I'm John Vause. CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment. Please stay with us.
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VAUSE: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause, and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio 7 at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, sometimes it's good to let it all out. And so the U.S. President did just that. A day after his impeachment acquittal came a rambling hour-long stream of consciousness.
He was silenced by authorities when he tried to raise the alarm about China's coronavirus. And now he's among the latest victims of that virus.
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