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Trump Serves As Grand Marshal At Major NASCAR Race; 14 American Passengers Evacuated From Cruise Ship Have Tested Positive For Virus; LAPD Officer Uses Basketball To Coach Kids To Better Future; Quarantined Americans in Cruise Ship Returning Home; Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Turn to Nevada; Bloomberg Surges, Gets Attacked on Past Comments to Women. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 17, 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]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all over the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, hundreds of Americans quarantined for weeks aboard a cruise ship are finally on their way back to the United States. But they won't be headed home to their families just yet.

Plus, U.S. Attorney General William Barr under fire. Calls for his resignation from one group that says his behavior presents a grave threat to justice.

And how one police officer is using his hoop skills to transform the lives of kids living in Los Angeles.

Good to have you with us. So, any moment now, more than 300 Americans who were quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan because of the coronavirus are expected to land on U.S. soil.

A few hours ago, they took off from Tokyo on two chartered planes that are now heading to two military bases in the U.S. where they are expected to spend another 14 days under quarantine.

Meantime, Australia says it will send a charter flight to Japan to evacuate its citizens onboard the Diamond Princess Wednesday. Now this comes as the number of infections and deaths continues to rise.

Authorities say another 105 people died in mainland China on Sunday bringing the global death toll to more than 1,700. At least 71,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide -- the vast majority of them in mainland China.

And CNN's Will Ripley joins me now from Yokohama in Japan where that cruise ship, the Diamond Princess has been docked. Good to see you Will. So, this of course has been such an ordeal for everyone onboard the cruise ship. Now, at last, more than 300 or so Americans are headed home. They

should arrive very soon, but now they will have another two weeks in quarantine. What all have these passengers been through so far?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been following extensively, Rosemary, their time on the ship, nearly two weeks in quarantine, most of it spent in their cramped cabins. Then the word that the U.S. government was coming to their rescue or so they thought -- sending in two chartered flights to bring the Americans home.

But keep in mind these are people who received probably a dozen e- mails assuring them that after they finish the 14-day quarantine period on the Diamond Princess, that they would be allowed to go home, and they'll be allowed to go home on commercial flights.

And instead, what they learned is that they had to get on these converted 747 cargo planes with temporary toilets, makeshift seats and had to fly with 14 passengers who tested positive for coronavirus who were kept in isolation on the flights.

And so it was a pretty uncomfortable ride, frankly, a 10-hour flight and a pretty cold cabin. It doesn't have the kind of temperature controls of a regular airliner. So, I would imagine when these passengers land, let's be honest, they're going to be pretty -- feeling pretty miserable.

They had basically a long sleepless night. It took almost 10 hours from the time they started getting off the Diamond Princess and then boarding a convoy of busses to take a 20-minute drive to the airport and get on those flights.

So, they were already tired and pretty beleaguered even before the planes took off. We haven't spoken with any of them, obviously, during the flight. These aren't planes that have Wi-Fi. There is no ability for people to message us.

But when they land, these are people who are going to be tired, probably pretty hungry, pretty cranky, but they will be back in their home country. And they will be back, you know, on dry land with doctors that they can more easily communicate with.

And they're going to just have to kind of continue to do what they've done throughout this whole ordeal, which is learn how adjust to 14 days on a U.S. military base. The flight is landing any moment now. People will be spending the two-week quarantine period at Travis Air Force Base in California near San Francisco.

It's, you know, hopefully they can find a silver lining, Rosemary, as a lot of the passengers have done throughout all of this. There are some who are incredibly grateful and feel incredibly comforted they are now off that ship.

Especially considering the fact that the Centers for Disease Control acknowledged last week, people who remain onboard and there are still some Americans who are onboard by the way, people who have family members who are still in hospitals here in Japan. More than two dozen Americans being treated here in Japan for coronavirus, you know, but people who stay on the ship, they do face a higher risk of infection. That has been acknowledged now by U.S. health officials and that's why the U.S. government did this.

[02:05:00]

That's why Canada is following suit. The Canadian government will be sending its own citizens to a resort for a 14-day quarantine period. Australia will be getting flown in a Qantas airliner. They'll be in Darwin at a mining camp accommodation for their quarantine period.

Also Italy, South Korea, all repatriating their citizens, getting them off the ship as quickly as possible. But look, this ordeal is not over for these people.

CHURCH: It's not over, but I mean, it's good that they are off that ship because as you say, that was putting them in increased risk there. Many thanks to Will Ripley bringing us up to date on that situation.

And earlier, CNN's Michael Holmes spoke to Laurie Garrett about the outbreak. She is a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer winning writer. And he asked her if quarantining the American passengers onboard that cruise ship for two weeks after they land in the U.S. is an effective form of containment. And here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIE GARRETT, FORMER SENIOR FELLOW GLOBAL HEALTH, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, we don't really have a lot of options, do we? I mean, quarantine is the best way to do some sort of separation between potentially infected and the rest of the population. We don't have a vaccine. We don't have any magic bullets of any kind some, you know, miraculous cure or treatment or something.

And we know that we don't have enough masks to have every American wearing masks all the. Time we don't have enough protective gear even for our own health care workers. And so, we don't have really any good option except to as humanely as possible separate those who've been in an epidemic zone from those who haven't.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's interesting with the U.S too, I mean, at what level are decisions on things like quarantine made. I mean, in the U.S. many of those decisions are actually state level decisions. Is that a good idea and what is your assessment of the U.S. response so far?

GARRETT: Well, we have a unique situation in the United States. There's almost no country in the world that has a public health system like ours because in most countries, public health was established from the top down and it's a single system so the whole nation is kind of in a pyramid answering to a single structure.

But here in the United States, public health arose as a local function. And we have real patchwork, legally, a patchwork in terms of quality, in terms of funding, all over the country. No two states are exactly the same.

And even inside of states, no two counties may have the same laws and the same policies and the same levels of expertise. And so, we have a really fairly chaotic situation. Now, unfortunately, in times of crisis, most the states listen carefully to what the Centers for Disease Control says and try to follow that advice, but that's not always a 100 percent given.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And I just want to update you on some information coming in right now. Fourteen American passengers traveling onboard those flights that we've mentioned, those two flights chartered by the U.S. government to evacuate Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

They have tested positive for the coronavirus. And that is according to the U.S. Department of State and Health and Human Services. So, we will continue to follow that story and bring you additional detail.

So let's get more now from CNN's Kristie Lu Stout. She joins us live from Hongkong. Good to see you Kristie. And of course, it's very disturbing how the number of those infected and those who have died is rising. And we can only expect that to continue of course. How bad might this get?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This will go on because of what you reported just then, 14 additional confirmed cases among those Americans who were evacuated. But also, at any moment now, we are waiting to hear from China's national health commission.

They are set to release the latest numbers for all China's provinces. We heard from Hubei province earlier this morning. And as of now, the coronavirus has infected more than 71,000. The global death toll has risen to 1,770 with 100 new deaths reported in Hubei province, which is of course the epicenter of the outbreak.

And this follows a spike of new infections last week that was also when the province expanded the criteria in counting new infection. That has been opening up a huge debate about just how accurate the numbers and the information, the data from mainland China, really is.

In regards to the global death toll, the vast majority of those deaths is in mainland China. But outside mainland China, we know that five people have now died from the coronavirus in Hongkong, in the Philippines, in Japan as well as France and Taiwan.

And Paris over the weekend, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died in a hospital. That was the first death from the virus outside Asia. And then on Sunday, a Taiwanese man in his mid 60's died. He is the first confirmed death in Taiwan.

[02:10:00] And worryingly, he had no history of travel to mainland China. And finally, Rosemary, there are fears of global transmission after an 83- year-old American woman tested positive for the virus in Malaysia. Now, she was one of over 1,000 passengers who left another cruise ship, the Westerdam cruise ship that finally docked in Cambodia last week.

And we have just learned that Malaysia said that it will not allow anymore people who are onboard that cruise liner to enter its borders in a desperate bid to control the outbreak. Back to you.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our Kristie Lu Stout, bringing us that from Hongkong live. I appreciate it. Just repeating to our viewers this information that we're getting in, those 14 passengers travelling onboard the flights that were chartered by the U.S. government to evacuate Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, they have tested positive for coronavirus and that is according to the U.S. Department of State and Health and Human Services.

And according to a joint statement from the agencies, the 14 cases had been tested two to three days prior to the evacuation flights and they are part of the over 300 U.S. citizens that we know are on those two flights coming home.

Of course, we know too that they are going to have to go into quarantine for another 14 days. And of course, it will probably be a different case for those 14 additional confirmed cases of coronavirus onboard those planes.

Of course, we know there have been isolated on those planes, but even so, people are sitting there with their masks more than likely feeling very exposed but they won't be going home anytime soon, two more weeks of quarantine for them.

Well, continuing on, we will of course go back to those live pictures as we monitor and await for those citizens from the Diamond Princess to disembark and actually arrive in the United States.

But moving on, 160 million Chinese citizens are expected to return to work by Tuesday. But as David Culver reports, the streets remain largely deserted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the week that China is officially to come back to work. Businesses are expected to start re- opening following what was an extended Lunar New Year holiday. It was extended so as to keep folks from congregating back together and exposing each other potentially to the Novel coronavirus.

However, it still feels as though like it's very much in a holiday mode. You walk around and sure, certain businesses are open and you've got people that are out an about like here on Nanjing Street, a popular pedestrian shopping plaza.

But some of the businesses and some of the employees inside just look desperate to have some customers come in. They seem to be just not experiencing much activity whatsoever. And then you walk pass some of the residential areas and you'll notice several of them are chain closed, even put in English here to make it clear to the tourist, closed to the public due the outbreak of coronavirus.

Now, for the residents who live here, they're the only ones allowed in and they can only funnel through certain entrances where they have a guard posted. They require you to register and then they can keep track of who's going in and out.

And for those residents who do live in some of those areas, once they register, they then in some cases, have to quarantine for that 14-day period assuming they've come from outside of the city. It's a city that ultimately will try to get back on track. This is of course where China looks look to as its business beacon. David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll take a short break here. Still to come, U.S. presidential candidates are heading west and voters are eager to cast their votes in Nevada's caucuses.

Well, as NASCAR's Daytona 500 gets the presidential treatment, how the stock car race resembled a Trump campaign rally. That's ahead.

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[02:15:00]

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CHURCH: Democratic presidential candidates are now focusing on Nevada. The caucuses these Saturday will offer results from a diverse state, as opposed to Iowa and New Hampshire and that could shake up the results we've seen so far.

Voters appear to be eager to cast their votes. There were long lines for early caucusing. Party officials are hopeful. That means a big turnout overall. The chairman says the party has worked around the clock to make sure they don't have the same problems experienced in Iowa.

Bernie Sanders is looking to build his momentum in these caucuses. He comes in as a frontrunner and he is sharpening his attacks on his opponents. Athena Jones has the details.

ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. We are in Carson City, Nevada. This is one of the places where' Senator Sanders has been pushing to get out the vote. Early caucusing here in Nevada began on Saturday and it goes until Tuesday.

And so, one of the things the senator's campaign is hoping for is that his supporters will go straight from a rally like this one here in Carson City and go straight to these early caucusing sites. Now, I should mention that Bernie Sanders lost Nevada to Hillary

Clinton in 2016, but he did very well in the northern part of the state -- that's where we are. He won Carson City and he won other northern counties like Washaw County, which is where Reno is, only about half an hour from here.

One of the most interesting things that we saw from today's rally was to see Senator Sanders going after some of his opponents. We've seen him doing that more and more, drawing contrast with some of the other people that these voters maybe deciding amongst.

So, he attacked Pete Buttigieg saying that he's raising money from millionaires and billionaires. And he also went after Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, for what he called his support for racist policies like stop and frisk.

We heard that from Senator Sanders himself and from the current mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, also slamming Bloomberg. That sparked a lot of boos in the crowd. And it's no accident that Sanders is bringing up an issue like this here in Nevada.

Nevada is the first truly diverse state of the states to vote so far. Of course, Iowa, New Hampshire, are largely white states, more than 90 percent white.

[02:20:00]

Hispanics make up about 30 percent of the population here in Nevada. And in 2016, Sanders won the Latino vote. He won 53 percent of that vote. And so, this is the sort of criticism an opponent that could really resonate here in Nevada.

Another thing that we've heard from the Sanders campaign is that for them, turnout is very important. We've heard him say this everywhere he's competed so far, in Iowa, in New Hampshire. They believe really getting a big boost in turnout will help ensure that Sanders can win.

They say they're building a multi-racial, multi-cultural coalition of folks who many of whom feel they have been passed over overlooked by the political system. And so in talking to some of the campaign staff here, they tell us that they have had 250 staffers on the ground here making voter contacts. There are 11 offices across the state.

Since the field operation launched since June, they've knocked on more than 300,000 doors. They say Latino outreach is a very important part of all of this. At a rally that Sanders held on Saturday in Las Vegas, they not only had a rally, they didn't march. He led a march of those supporters straight to an early caucus site.

And many of the chants you heard on that march were in Spanish -- because he has the support of immigrant rights group. So, that has been very important to them. They have also pointed out that they have campaign literature. They have been training their volunteers and staff in multiple languages.

And they have campaign literature in English, Spanish, Tagalog, which is the language of the Philippines, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai. So, that multi-cultural, multi-racial coalition is something that the Sanders campaign is really going to be counting on to try to make sure they turnout a lot of voters for him so that he can win on Saturday. Back to you.

CHURCH: Thanks so much for. And Joe Biden is pushing to make up for surprising losses on Iowa and New Hampshire. And in Nevada, he is depending on minority groups to help give him the boost he needs. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more now from Las Vegas.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nevada is the first task of Joe Biden's argument that he will perform better in states with a more diverse demographics. Latino's make up a significant amount of the population here in Nevada.

And over the weekend, to that point, Biden spent the weekend courting both Latino and African-American voters saying that it's time that their voices be heard. Biden is also making a strong push when it comes to union support, trying to bring those workers on board.

He has made several back of house stops, visits at casinos here. And he's also been talking about health care, stressing that his plan would allow union workers to keep their negotiated plans that they've worked out through their unions. Take a listen to what he's had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to tell all of you who've broken your neck and given up wages and given up salaries in order to be able to have health care through your employer, and you've worked like the devil for it. You're not going to be required to give it up like the other things do. Medical care for all requires you to give it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Biden's campaign views Nevada as a launching pad towards the nomination. They are pouring more resources here into the state as they are trying to get a stronger finish than those disappointing losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. Biden telling me he doesn't think he necessarily needs to come in first place, but he does think he has a shot at winning. Arlette Saenz, CNN, Las Vegas.

CHURCH: At a rally near Las Vegas, Sunday, Pete Buttigieg addressed a key issue for many Democrats , electability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So part of why I'm running is to make sure that we are putting forward a nominee who can defeat Donald Trump. I think it's safe to say that's a key objective for most of us. That won't be easy. We are fooling ourselves if we think it will be easy to defeat this president.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And for more on all of this, Thomas Gift joins us now from Palo Alto in California. He's a lecturer in political science at University College in London. Thank you so much for being with us.

THOMAS GIFT, LECTURER, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Thank you Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, we are just days away from the Nevada caucuses and polls show Bernie Sanders in the lead, but there are also fears of a possible repeat of the Iowa debacle with concerns about the process, the technology that will be used if this happens.

And Sanders goes on to win Nevada and perhaps eventually the nomination. What does that signal for the Democratic Party and its chances of beating Donald Trump?

GIFT: Yes. That's really the big question. I do think that you have to consider Sanders the early frontrunner at this point precisely because he has performed so well in Iowa and New Hampshire. He has a national base on which he draws from a diverse, progressive, and independent minded set of Democrats.

The big question though is whether voters will ultimately get nervous about electing a self-styled Democratic socialist. And that's one reason why establishment Democrats says that maybe safer to select the more centrist nominee.

[02:25:06]

Of course, Sanders supporters say that it is equally risky to put up a moderate candidate who isn't able to excite the base and they'll cite Hillary Clinton in 2016 as sort of exhibit A on that. So, these are really two opposing theories about who his most likely to be Trump and in many ways they reflect intentions in the Democratic Party that exists right now.

CHURCH: And it is worth pointing out that as Michael Bloomberg rises in the polls, spending more than $400 million in advertising so far. His Democratic rivals are zeroing in on the former New York City mayor, seizing on his past comments about women, race and policing.

And the "Washington Post" reviewed thousands of pages of court documents. This was from the most high profile case of a former saleswoman who sued Bloomberg and his company after she told him she was pregnant. He responded to her saying, "Kill it!"

The plaintiff asked Bloomberg to repeat himself. And again he said, "Kill it!" and muttered. "Great! Number 16" and he was meaning there that it was the 16th women in his employ to fall pregnant.

Bloomberg also allegedly said that his company's financial information computers will do everything including give you oral sex. I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business, Bloomberg added.

Now, this comes as Bloomberg argues he is a champion for women in the workplace. Could this signal the end of the road for Bloomberg or can he rise above all of these attacks and revelations that are coming out now and will continue to come out?

GIFT: Well certainly, Rosemary, these accusations will be a challenge for Bloomberg and it's something that his campaign will have to address. There have been numerous allegations, as you said, inappropriate comments by Bloomberg and he has been the subject of several lawsuits with nondisclosure associated with some of these cases.

So, I do think that there are some democrats who will say, especially in the MeToo era, a candidate who states these kind of allegations isn't the best individual to represent the Democratic Party.

You know, Bloomberg, for his part, has conceded that not all of the comments that he's made in the past are solely consistent with his values, although he hasn't gotten into a lot of detail about what that actually means.

So, this will at the very least, will be something to keep an eye on. And I would expect Bloomberg's competitors to make it more of an issue going forward especially given his recent survey in the polls.

CHURCH: And we certainly are seeing them do that, aren't we. So, I'm going to put you on the spot now because I want to ask you, which one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls is best positioned to beat Trump as things stand right now?

GIFT: Well, I have to tell you, Rosemary, I'm always reluctant to go into prognostication business and it's very difficult to predict. We saw that in 2016 that really no expert knows exactly how this is going to play out.

And my own personal opinion is that, you know, despite some of these challenges that we just talked about, Bloomberg would be a viable candidate. There are a lot of critics who said that he wasn't going to rise to the top tier of the Democratic nominees.

I think he's more of the quiet effect (inaudible) with his recent surge in the polls, you know, nationally according to (inaudible) he's in third place, about 15 percent both behind Sanders and Warren. I think that spike is being driven by huge ad buys, but also the media.

With that surge, of course, comes heightened scrutiny, but I think Bloomberg has been very effective at maintaining this focus on Trump. His advertising seems to be getting a lot of traction. And I think he's trying to brand himself as this pragmatist with a record of accomplishment particularly in New York City.

So, Bloomberg certainly trending upwards -- he has a long way to go and it's really difficult to say that any candidate who would be best positioned to go up against Trump. And ultimately, I think we'll see how that plays out.

CHURCH: Yes, you're certainly right. It's a long journey ahead and we'll be watching it all the way there. Thomas Gift, thank you so very much of your analysis. Appreciate it.

GIFT: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, former U.S. Justice Department officials are speaking out. Coming up, the sharply worded rebuke of Attorney General Bill Barr. We'll take a look. Back in a moment.

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[02:33:12]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church, want to check the headlines for you this hour.

Any moment now, many of the Americans previously quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan because of the coronavirus will be landing on U.S. soil. A plane will be arriving at Travis Air Force Base in California. Once they get there, they are expected to stop another 14 days on the quarantine. We'll keep watching for the landing of that plane.

The Syrian militaries offensive in Idlib province is been condemned by Turkey and the United States. It was President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke by phone over the weekend on ending the crisis. More than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

Nevada's Democratic Party is hoping the long lines for early voting and the caucuses mean a big turnout this coming Saturday. More than 18,000 Democrats came out for the first day of early voting. The party chairman says officials are working to make sure there are no problems like Iowa had reporting results.

Well, accusations of political interference in the U.S. Justice Department are intensifying in an extraordinary public statement. Former Justice Department officials are calling for Attorney General Bill Barr's resignation.

Now, this comes after Barr intervened in the sentencing of a longtime friend of President Trump. Four prosecutors in the case against Roger Stone withdrew after the Justice Department lowered the recommended sentence.

Barr has also ordered the reexamination of the case against another Trump ally, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Jeremy Diamond has a report.

[02:34:59]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, a firestorm of controversy is continuing around the Attorney General Bill Barr's decision to intervene in that politically sensitive case involving the president's longtime political adviser Roger Stone.

Barr taking that extraordinary action to reverse a sentencing recommendation from career prosecutors. And now, we are seeing more than 1,100 career Department of Justice officials, former Justice Department officials, some of them prosecutors, career, some of them political appointees, but having served in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

And essentially, what they say in this statement is that while it's all well and good for Barr to be coming out and criticizing the president's use of Twitter to talk about some of these cases putting him in a difficult position, they're saying that ultimately Barr's actions are what really matter.

Here is what they say, "Mr. Barr's actions and doing the President's personal bidding, unfortunately, speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the rules. Law, require Mr. Barr to resign."

Now, the White House for its part has spent a couple of days insisting that the relationship between the president and the attorney general is on solid footing, despite Barr's rebuke of the president's use of social media as it relates to the Department of Justice.

What we are also seeing is the White House insisting that the president has confidence in Barr, but also, a little bit of pushback on what Barr was saying. Here is the vice president's Chief of Staff Marc Short, making that point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think that it's impossible to do this job. In fact, I think that Attorney General Barr is doing a great job because a lot of confidence inside the White House. I think that the president's frustration is one that a lot of Americans have, which feels like the scales of justice are not balanced anymore.

There has been a bias was inside the Department of Justice that Attorney General Barr is trying to correct. I think that he said that the president is not called him directly to say please do these, and he's acted independently to initiate these reviews, and I think he's doing a fantastic job with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now, I asked the president on Sunday as he returns to the White House, whether he would heed his attorney general's advice in terms of stopping his tweets about the Justice Department and Justice Department cases, the president did not answer my question as he walk back into the White House.

And the president has already made it quite clear that he has no intention of changing his behavior. In the wake of Barr's comments about the president's use of Twitter as it relates to the Justice Department, the president tweeted that while Barr said that he had not asked him to intervene in any criminal cases that the Justice Department, the president maintains that he has the right to do so.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House. CHURCH: And away from Washington, President Trump hit the track Sunday at NASCAR's Daytona 500. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more now from Florida.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump made a stop in Daytona Beach, Florida on his way back to the White House Sunday to kick off the 62nd running of the Daytona 500.

Now, he's the second U.S. president to come to this race, but he's the first to serve as the grand marshal, the person who said, gentlemen, start your engines. The president never light on the drama, kicked it up here as well. There were flyovers which were already planned, but those were amplified to include more from the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, as well as a quick flyby from U.S. Air Force One.

Now, the president took pace lap around the inner portion of the track. And the presidential limousine called the beast, oftentimes, with his motorcade, and the drivers who are competing in the great American race behind him.

It was an official stop, but at times, it definitely blurred the lines seeming like a campaign rally. This is an incredibly friendly crowd here. Part of why the president chose to stop by the Daytona 500.

People waited hours in line to go through security clearances just to get into the race to potentially see him, and he began and ended his official duties the same with the same time songs that he enters and exits his rallies to.

This was a taxpayer-funded visit because it was an official stop. However, the president didn't stay and watch the race, he was gone before the green flag actually dropped back to Washington.

Dianne Gallagher, CNN, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

CHURCH: A landslide court on camera. We will show you what happened when Mother Nature got angry in Tennessee.

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[02:42:34]

CHURCH: All right, you are looking at live pictures out of Travis Air Force Base in California, and this is where many of the Americans quarantined on that cruise ship in Japan because of the coronavirus, and now about to land in the United States.

It's a very dark shot, so, just keep your eye on that. Now, once they arrive, they are expected to start another 14 days under quarantine. Thousands of people have been stuck in their cabins under mandatory quarantine aboard that cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, which remains docked off the Japanese port city of Yokohama.

Now, it's been sitting there since February 3rd, and there are at least 356 confirmed cases of coronavirus on board, 70 of which were announced Sunday. And that means the ship has the largest concentration of novel coronavirus cases outside mainland China. And that's why a lot of people have been concerned, and have called this a failed quarantine.

Now, on February 19, the controversial quarantine period was set to finally end. On one hand, these Americans managed to get out of that quarantine early. However, as we've been telling you, for these former passengers arriving back in the United States, a new quarantine is just beginning. That will be another 14 days.

Let's go to our Will Ripley. He's back in Japan in Yokohama where that cruise ship is and will talk to us about what these people have had to endure so far. And also as they were evacuated out.

Now, we also learned those 14 additional confirmed cases.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, a lot of thoughts of kind of going through my head, Rosemary as we watched this plane arrive at Travis Air Force Base in California, north of San Francisco.

One, the fact that they allowed 14 people who tested positive for coronavirus to get on that flight. And there, they were in isolation for the 10-hour flight from other passengers. We actually don't know the division, because there's another plane in the air right now headed for Texas. They still have another two hours or so before they arrive.

But I'm just thinking of the American couple that we've been following so closely here for nearly two weeks now. Kent and Rebecca Frasure from Oregon. Because Rebecca, she is in the hospital in Tokyo, not showing any symptoms of coronavirus and she desperately wanted to get on that flight yesterday with her husband Kent.

I mean, they've been -- they've been separated as a result of her positive diagnosis. Kent remains on the cruise ship, and they were told that she didn't qualify for the flight because of the fact that she has coronavirus.

[02:45:06]

RIPLEY: So, to now learn that, in the end, at the last hour, they decided to allow 14 others who tested positive but not her, gosh, it just must be gutting. They're still here in Japan still separated from each other. And these other patients, while they are -- you know, isolated from everyone else on the plane, they are back, you know, on home turf. They're back in the United States, they're back on dry land, they'll be able to communicate more easily with their doctors, and just in many ways, feel more comfortable about the -- about the medical care that they're receiving.

Obviously, you feel more comfortable when you're home than you do when you're away. So, my thoughts are with them right now. And my thoughts are also with the -- you know, 300 passengers from the Diamond Princess, who had a really tough ordeal.

It's all relative, of course. There's so much suffering in the world and everybody's pain is different, but it is still their pain. And for these passengers who had to wait, you know, nearly 10 hours from the time they started getting off the cruise ship, boarding a convoy of buses, driving just 20 minutes to the airport, (INAUDIBLE) to airport here in Japan to get on those converted cargo 747s for the -- for the flight home.

And this has not been a fun experience for them, it was basically a long sleepless night even before they got on that 10-hour flight. They're in -- they were riding on a plane that has, you know, temporary seating, it's not very comfortable heating and cooling system onboard, because it's normally for cargo.

You know, the bathroom is almost looked like porta-potties on the inside -- portable toilets. And they were -- they were sitting in very close quarters. We were speaking with one passenger from Utah, who told us nobody's temperature was checked before they got in the plane, and she said she didn't feel safe.

She wasn't sure if the passenger sitting next to her, you know, might be asymptomatic as well, even though health authorities have insisted that everybody was tested before getting on board. And nobody was allowed on who was certainly showing symptoms of coronavirus, a fever, a sore throat, a dry cough, and that sort of thing.

But yes, they're going to be landing and I would imagine there's a lot of cranky people on that -- on that flight. But hopefully, once they set foot back in the United States, they can start to take comfort in the fact that this is the next step in their journey.

Yes, one ordeal here in Japan, nearly two weeks of quarantine on the Diamond Princess, kept in their cramped cabins most of the time with little opportunity to get out and breathe the fresh air. That is now changed. They're now going to be in a facility where they can go outside, where they can get some exercise, where they can eat more familiar food. And hopefully, that will give people some comfort once they actually arrived.

But the journey and the process to get there has been pretty excruciating for some. And keep in mind, a lot of these people are senior citizens. People in their 60s, 70s, 80s. This has not been a pleasant experience in any way, shape, or form. And their lives have essentially been on hold.

By the time this is all over. You know, one woman told me that she feels like a month of her life has been kind of taken away. She almost feels like she's a prisoner for a crime she didn't commit.

But there are others who are much more optimistic, who were grateful to the U.S. government for kind of coming in, getting them off that ship. You know, because the Centers for Disease Control did acknowledge that people who remain on board, you know, the Diamond Princess is right there behind me, it's a beautiful ship, but inside, the number of coronavirus cases has continued to increase every single day.

And health officials have acknowledged that people who remain on board, do face a higher risk of infection than those who are -- who are now off the ship, including those 300 Americans who are either back in the United States now or will be, you know, within the next couple of hours.

CHURCH: Yes, a lot of concern. A lot of people calling that quarantine a failed effort of quarantining people. And we're learning as we go along what needs to be done because there's so much that isn't known about this coronavirus.

Many thanks to you, Will Ripley, bringing us up to date as we await for the return of those Americans back to U.S. soil. But as you've pointed out, that still have another 14 days in quarantine to look forward to before they go home.

Many thanks again to our Will Ripley. We'll take a very short break, back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:52:58]

CHURCH: Chicago, played host to the 16 NBA All-Star Game. The National Basketball Association started with a tribute to Kobe Bryant. The Lakers' legend, his daughter, and seven others were killed last month in a helicopter accident. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson led Sunday's tribute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER PRESIDENT, BASKETBALL OPERATIONS OF THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS, NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: And if we can just have it quiet for eight seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The game itself took on a new twist, the format was overhaul to put in elements for charity and ensure that someone was going to hit a shot in the game. Team LeBron won 157 to 155.

And the renamed All-Star MVP award, The Kobe Bryant award was given to Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers.

CHURCH: Well, in Los Angeles, one police officer has decided to combine his love of basketball with a sense of compassion to give children a better future. CNN's Nick Watt shows us how the officer goes beyond the call of duty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, good pass.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All this began with the sound of a bouncing ball, while Officer Ivan Lombard-Jackson was out on patrol.

IVAN LOMBARD-JACKSON, POLICE OFFICER: I see a 7-year-old boy playing, dribbling basketball, and I started shooting basketballs with him. After a while, I asked him if he would like to join a basketball team. He told me at the time, hell, yes. And at that point, I was like, well, were work on your language later.

Push it, push it.

WATT: There wasn't a team, so he created this one figuring he'd also work on equipment, uniforms, and gym time later. Ultimately, all donations they entered a park league.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: We ended up going undefeated.

WATT: Jackson himself had played in college, then played pro-ball in Belize, Central America. He decided to take team on the road searching for stiffer competition.

[02:55:05]

LOMBARD-JACKSON: And I got the kids in the van with me. One of my kids, he looks up and he says, hey, coach, what is that? He's pointing to downtown L.A. And I'm like, you live 10 minutes from downtown L.A. and you have never seen downtown L.A.? And he says, no. And that's when it clicked to me, this is not a basketball program, this is about exposing these kids to as much as I possibly can.

WATT: It's about making these kids believe there are many ways to live a life.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: Kids who get into the gangs pretty much start around 11, 12, middle school age. We want to get those kids before that even happens.

WATT: It's about a positive interaction with a cop.

You're going to get the ball and you're going to pass it, he's a police officer. Is that strange? No?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: I've had parents that are not pro-police at all, and now, they're calling me every single day about their child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it up.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: So, I'll drive by and stop my kids' schools, check out the report cards, talk to the teachers --

(CROSSTALK)

WATT: Of your players.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: Of my players.

Do you split the court?

WATT: He's quite strict, though?

Setbacks turned into teaching moments.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: First tournament, we got smacked every single game. I explained to them what I'm more interested in, it is your character. Who's going to continue to come?

Get a layup, let's go.

I'm building people who do not want to quit, not just on the court, but in life.

WATT: Now, they're competing for trophies in those same tournaments where once they got smacked.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: Yes, they're pretty good.

To see the actual impact that I'm having on these young kids' lives is literally priceless.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.

WATT: Nick Watt, CNN, Watts.

LOMBARD-JACKSON: Thank you, Evelyn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: What a great inspiration he is. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter and I'll be back with more news in just a moment. You're watching CNN. Do stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END