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Americans Return From Cruise Ship Hit by Coronavirus; Big Turnout for Early Voting in Nevada Caucuses; Former Justice Department Officials Call on William Barr to Resign; President Trump Serves as Grand Marshal at major NASCAR race; African Americans in Nevada Prepare to Choose Candidates; North Korea Responds Swiftly to Virus; The U.S. Centers for Disease Control Warns that Coronavirus is Likely to Impact the World for Months to Come and Even Beyond This Year; White Supremacists Propaganda More Than Doubled in 2019, ADL Reports; Kobe Bryant Honored at NBA All-Star Game; Quarantined Passengers Finally Touches U.S. Soil; Democrats with High Hopes in Primary States; Storm Dennis Floods U.K. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 17, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church.

And you're looking at these pictures came in just moments ago, in fact, from Travis Air Force Base in California, and that's where many of the Americans quarantined on a cruise ship previously in Japan because of the coronavirus have just landed.

Now they are now expected to spend another 14 days under quarantine. The U.S> says 14 of the evacuees tested positive for the virus just before that flight and will move to a specialized containment area on one of the planes.

Now all this comes as the number of infections and deaths continues to rise. Officials 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 those in China.

Now for more let's turn now to our correspondents. Will Ripley is in Yokohama, Japan where that cruise ship, the Diamond Princess is docked, and Kristie Lu Stout joins us from Hong Kong. Good to see you both.

So, Will, let's start with you. And of course, now we have confirmation that this plane has landed at Travis Air Base. And to great relief no doubt to all on those on board, but unfortunately for them they now start another round of 14 days of quarantine but they must feel relieved at least knowing they are one step closer to going home. WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Rosemary. We haven't been

able to speak with any of the passengers yet because obviously their phones were switched off during the 10-hour flight from Hamada airport here in the Tokyo area to Travis Air Force base which is northeast of San Francisco.

But certainly it's got to be a relief that they've landed in the United States. It was quite an ordeal to get them to this point.

First there is, you know, nearly two weeks of quarantine on board the Diamond Princess. Most of the time spent in their cramped cabin, just maybe an hour outside every couple of days. Then when they got word that the U.S. government was sending in charter flights to evacuate them, that was welcome news followed by unwelcome news for many that, you know, what they had been told repeatedly that after they finished the quarantine period on the ship they would be allowed to go straight home. That has now changed.

The U.S. government saying that they have to out of an abundance of caution put these people in a new 14-day quarantine at either at Travis Air Force base in California or a military in Texas. And in fact, the flight is still in the air and should be landing in Texas within the next hour, an hour and a half or so.

But to get from the cruise ship to those planes, even though the airport is just 20-minute drive or so from here, was it took nearly 10 hours. They had to wait on buses, a convoy of buses that was outside the cruise ship. Some of them in excess of three hours. No access to bathrooms. Tempers were definitely flaring.

Passengers were getting into, you know, kind of confrontations with the Centers for Disease Control officials who were just trying to do their jobs, trying to keep everybody kindly of safely in place.

And then when passengers get on this flight, obviously this is probably not like the flights that they had booked home for themselves when they thought that this was going to be the end of a vacation that turned into a holiday from hell, they're riding in a cargo cabin.

They had to dress in layers, they had to bring their own food, the toilets that were set up were kind of this makeshift portable toilets, the see-through temporary seats. But now they have landed, the flight is over. If they did get any sleep it probably wasn't great sleep because the seats were packed together. And it didn't look comfortable from the video that I was seeing.

But now they are going to at some point, I'm sure it's going to be hours more processing, but at some point they're going to get to accommodations where they can have a bed, they'll be on dry land and they will be under the care of doctors that they can more easily communicate with than the doctors here in Japan.

[03:05:00]

And so, there are some who are really happy that this has happened, who are grateful to the United States government for finally bringing people home off of a ship where health officials have acknowledged they have a higher risk of infection. But yet it's not over.

They're not able yet, Rosemary, to return back to their lives. Their lives have essentially been on hold and they will continue to be on hold for another 14 days at least.

CHURCH: Absolutely. But at least as we've said, they are back on U.S. soil. They are one step closer to home. We will be watching their progress. Will Ripley bringing us the very latest there from Yokohama. Many thanks.

So, let's go now to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout. She joins us live from Hong Kong. And of course, Kristie, it's understandable they would have to go into another 14 days of quarantine, particularly now with this news that an additional the Americans who were on board that plane have been found to -- confirmed cases of coronavirus.

So, talk to us about the overall numbers, the latest numbers you're getting in on those who have died and, of course, the infections.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Precautions must be taken as the outbreak continues to grow all across the world. As of now, the coronavirus has infected more than 71,000 people. The global death toll has risen to 1,770 with those 100 additional deaths that were reported by health authorities in Hubei province this morning. Hubei being, of course, the epicenter of this corona outbreak.

China's national health commission, they are set to release the latest numbers for all of the provinces in China that is yet to be released. We will continue to monitor that for you.

Now, this all follows the spike in numbers last week, that was after Hubei expanded the criteria in counting new infections. And that just added to this massive and ongoing debate about just how reliable and accurate the data is coming from mainland China.

Now, again, the global death toll stands at 1,770. The mass majority of those deaths is in mainland China. But outside the mainland we now know five people have died in Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, and as of this last weekend, France and Taiwan as well.

In a hospital in Paris, France, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died while he was in quarantine in hospital. That was the first death outside Asia. And on Sunday a man in Taiwan, he was in his mid-60s, died. He is the first confirmed death in Taiwan from the coronavirus and worryingly, he had no history of travel to mainland China.

Now crucially, as we continue to report this story, we must report this. We also learned that Chinese President Xi Jinping knew about the outbreak in early January. This according to a transcript of a speech he made last month. It was published over the weekend.

Previously it was thought that Xi only found out about the center of the outbreak in late January, and this revelation is very significant because it exposes Beijing and the Chinese central government to getting blamed for ignoring the risk for not acting sooner as the outbreak spreads around the world. Rosemary? CHURCH: Yes, and we saw this previously with the SARS outbreak. It is

unfortunate because we need that transparency globally with anything like this. Kristie Lu Stout bringing us the very latest there from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

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.

Jeremy Diamond has our report.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, a firestorm of controversy is continuing around Attorney General Bill Barr's decision to intervene in that politically sensitive case involving the president's political advisor 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's what they say. "Mr. Barr's actions in 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 rule of 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 push back on what Barr was saying. Here's the vice-president's chief of staff Marc Short making that point.

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MARC SHORT. CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I don't think that it's impossible to do his job. In fact, I think Attorney General Barr is doing a great job. He has 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 any more. There has been a bias inside the Department of Justice that Attorney General Barr is trying to correct. I think that he has said the president has not called him directly to say, please do these things. He has 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 returned 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 walked 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 at the Justice Department, the president maintains that he has the right to do so.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: Democratic presidential candidates are now focusing on Nevada. The caucuses this 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. The chairman says the party has worked around the clock to make sure they don't have the same problems experienced in Iowa.

Arlette Saenz is in North Las Vegas covering Joe Biden. Athena Jones is in Carson City with the latest on Sanders campaign. So, let's start with Arlette first.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Nevada is the first test of Joe Biden's argument that he will perform better in states with a more diverse demographics, Latinos 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's 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 breaking your neck and giving up wages and giving 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 others do. Medicare 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.

ATHENA JONES, CNN 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 that Sanders 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 the 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 Washoe County which is where Reno is, only half an hour from here.

One of the most interesting things 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 contrasts with some of the other people that these voters may be deciding among.

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 and New Hampshire are largely white states, more than 90 percent white.

Hispanic voters make up about -- or Hispanics make up 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 of an opponent that could really resonate here in Nevada. Back to you.

[03:15:03]

CHURCH: Thanks so much for that. Well, Natasha Lindstaedt is joining us now. She is a professor of government at the University of Essex in England. Good to have you with us.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, the Nevada caucuses just days away and polls are showing Bernie Sanders in the lead. There is also increased concerns that we may see a repeat of the Iowa debacle. If that happens and if Sanders wins Nevada, perhaps goes ahead and wins the nomination, the big question here for all Democrats is can he beat Donald Trump. What's the answer to that? And who, if he can't, is better positioned to do so?

LINDSTAEDT: That's a really important question. Of course, there is a big difference between Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. I actually think in 2016 he might have been able to beat Trump. He seemed to resonate with the same types of people who ended up voting for Trump in 2016.

Now we have a completely different landscape and we're seeing Sanders being portrayed on the right side from Trump and his team. As a socialist, as someone who is incredibly dangerous and they are trying to play upon people's fears of what he's going to do. Particularly to talk to independents.

Of course, Trump's base is always going to vote for him. But it's really a battle for these independent voters. And the question is whether or not Sanders appears as too extreme. That's, of course, what Biden is talking about.

Biden's campaign was about the fact that he felt he was best suited to actually beat Trump in 2020. But we're seeing his campaign in complete disarray at the moment. He's really dropping in terms of the national support where he has somewhere around 17 percent support in terms of the average of all the national polls and Sanders is up to 23 percent.

We're also seeing Biden dip in terms of the support that he has from African- Americans. And Sanders going up by 10 percent and Biden going down by 10 percent. With Biden only having about 21 percent support from African-American voters to Sanders' 32 percent.

So, the polls aren't really looking good for Biden at the moment. They are looking great for Sanders. He's likely to come out on top in Nevada, which is a very diverse state as had been reported, about a third or 27 percent or so Hispanic, 8 or 9 percent African-American. That's supposed to be where Biden does well but we're seeing him faltering in all categories.

CHURCH: But as you point out, there's a lot of concern about Bernie Sanders. So, who do you think is better positioned or best positioned in the whole lineup of Democratic presidential hopefuls to beat Trump?

LINDSTAEDT: Originally, I thought it was Biden all the way because of how well he was doing in the polls in the swing states, in particular in the Midwest in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. He was doing really well in the polls head to head against Trump. And that was basically what lost Hillary Clinton the election in 2016.

But his campaign has just been falling apart. If he can't win the nomination, obviously he can't beat Trump. He seems to not be able to get off to a good start. South Carolina is going to be really important.

I'm also looking to Bloomberg. Bloomberg might be able to beat Trump, but, of course, he has to get past the primaries. And he's had sort of this weird campaign, lots of money that he's putting into the campaign which some people find to be problematic and the fact that the Democrats are changing the rules to include him.

And he had been a Republican in the past. He's not really a Democrat. He sort of changed and has become a Democrat more recently. But he's the other candidate that does really well head to head against Trump.

Sanders, it just depends on the poll that you look at. Sometimes he seems like he has a chance, but other times it looks like he's quite a vulnerable candidate. If we even look to the case of Nevada, we have the top union --

CHURCH: Right.

LINDSTAEDT: -- concerned about his Medicare for all plan. So, he has a lot of vulnerabilities to be worried about.

CHURCH: Yes. You mentioned Michael Bloomberg. And of course, he is rising in the national polls. As he does that his Democratic rivals are increasing their attacks on him of course, seizing on the former New York City mayor for his past comments on women, race and policing.

And then of then, of course, there was the Washington Post that reviewed thousands of pages of court documents, and this coming from the most high-profile case of a former saleswoman who sued Bloomberg and his company after she told him she was pregnant.

And he responded by saying, kill it. the plaintiff asked Bloomberg to repeat himself, and again, he said kill it and muttered great, number 16. He was meaning there that it was the 16th woman in his employ to fall pregnant.

And 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, he added.

[03:20:02]

You know, when you look at this, what impact do you expect it to have on Bloomberg's campaign and his chances? Because they're going to keep doing this to the very end, aren't they? They see him as a threat. LINDSTAEDT: They definitely do see him as a threat. And we're seeing

Democratic candidates really go after him because of his record is just so problematic. With some of the things already mentioned in the report, the stop and frisk program in New York City, and the fact that he just is very conservative and hasn't had such a great record in terms of things that are relevant to the Me Too movement.

As you mention, that's what's going to make it difficult for him to win the nomination and that is going to be the big obstacle for him because I actually think that if he did win the nomination, a lot of these issues -- Trump faces the same types of accusations.

And so, it would almost cancel out. It would be really a race to see if they can get the independent vote and then, of course, Michael Bloomberg would have to work really, really hard to bring out Democratic supporters.

And we also have to remember this X factor, is that Bernie supporters, many of them just didn't vote in 2016. They were so upset about that. So, the Democrats have to be careful to not alienate the base, but also not alienate the independents as well.

CHURCH: That's going to be interesting. We'll be watching it all the way. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for your analysis. I appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Well, storm Dennis has disrupted travel, forced evacuations and caused flooding across the United Kingdom. When we come back, we'll find out where it's headed next. Back in a moment.

[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Well, storm Dennis has been wreaking havoc all across the United Kingdom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, has he got it? He's going to go around. Is he going to go around? My God, look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Yes, just look at it there. Wind gusts caused a lot of problems for this flight struggling to land at London's Heathrow Airport. And this British Airways flight also trying to land at Heathrow was forced to abort.

Record flooding has hit parts of Wales and England especially hard. Authorities in South Wales have evacuated residents trapped in their homes. Hundreds of red alerts have been issued across the U.K. And more rain is expected Monday. Well, millions of dollars are pouring in after artists from around the

world came together to help raise funds for Australia's bushfire recovery. More than 70,000 people filled Sydney's ANZ Stadium for the firefighter Australia concert on Sunday.

It featured artists including Olivia Newton-John, Alice Cooper and Adam Lambert who joined the rock band queen to perform the same set they played with the late Freddie Mercury at the live aid charity benefit in 1985. By the end of the show, more than $9 million had been raised. Well done.

Well, if you're watching internationally, thank you so much for being with us. Iconic Budapest is up next. And if you're joining us from here in the United States, do stay tuned. We'll have more news for you on the other side of the break. Stick around.

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[03:30:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States. You are watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Let's check the headlines this hour.

Just moments ago, many of the Americans previously quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan because of the coronavirus returned to U.S. soil. Their plane is now at Travis Air Force Base in California. They are now expected to start another 14 days under quarantine. Fourteen of the evacuees tested positive for the virus before the flight and were moved to a specialized containment area on one of the planes.

Now that as 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.

In a rare move, more than 1,100 former U.S. Justice Department officials issued an open letter calling for the attorney general's resignation. The statement comes after Bill Barr overruled four prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for President Trump's long-time friend Roger Stone.

President Trump is back in Washington after a trip to Florida to serve as grand marshal at the NASCAR Daytona 500. Parts of Sunday's event took on a campaign rally quality. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more now from Florida.

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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL 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 is 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 and 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 a pace lap around the inner portion of the track in 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 with the same 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Mr. Trump's campaign manager deleted a tweet featuring a compelling image of Air Force One behind a massive Daytona 500 crowd. In the tweet, Brad Parscale wrote, "Donald Trump won the Daytona 500 before the race even started." Problem is that image was from 2004 when then President George W. Bush attended the race. Pascale later deleted the tweet and replaced it with the correct photo from the weekend.

Well, early voting continues in Nevada ahead of the caucuses this weekend. Presidential candidates are making special appeals to voters of color, a key demographic in the state. CNN's Gary Tuchman spoke with some African American voters in Las Vegas.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Fountain of Hope AME church in Las Vegas, an evangelical African American church.

(On camera): The eyes of the nation are now on Nevada, right?

CROWD: Right.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): We asked church members attending an evangelism conference to talk to us about the upcoming Nevada caucuses, the first nominating contest in a diverse state.

(On camera): How many of you are leaning towards Joe Biden? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. (Voice-over): Joe Biden is one of three candidates who did well among this group, but he wasn't number one.

(On camera): How many of you are leaning towards Elizabeth Warren? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

[03:35:00]

TUCHMAN: (Voice-over): Elizabeth Warren tied with Biden. So who is the candidate who gets the most support here?

(On camera): How many of you are leaning towards Tom Steyer? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. What do you like about Tom Steyer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like the fact that he's got fire in his belly.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Tom Steyer, a group supporting him, have spent around $14 million on TV ads in Nevada, compared to under a million for both Biden and Warren, and Steyer has spent considerable time on the campaign trail in the state.

GREGORY MCLEOD, SENIOR PASTOR, FOUNTAIN OF HOPE AME CHURCH: He seems to be passionate about the people, and he seems to be real about what it is that he's setting out to do.

DAVID JONES, CHURCH MEMBER: Tom is direct and to the point, and I believe that he can do and claim what Donald Trump really is and that's a fraud and a failure.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As for Joe Biden, his supporters tout genuineness.

LASHELLE LELEWIS, CHURCH MEMBER: I think that he honestly cares about helping not just a small group of people but the majority of the people, not just African American people but all minorities and all people in general.

SANDRA MACK, CHURCH MEMBER: I will probably caucus for Joe Biden.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But based on Iowa and New Hampshire, are you worried that he might not be electable now?

MACK: I'm not worried because I don't think Iowa and New Hampshire are reflective of the country.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): And for Elizabeth Warren --

GAIL GHOLSON, CHURCH MEMBER: I like the way she handled Trump with the Pocahontas thing. She didn't let it get to her. And she has that dismissive way, like Nancy, of putting Trump in his place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart says Elizabeth and now my mind kind of tells me Bloomberg.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Michael Bloomberg got some interest here, even though he's not on the Nevada caucus ballot.

DEMADELINE RICE, CHURCH MEMBER: I like Bloomberg because he has the money, he has the experience, and he knows what kind of person Trump really is.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): President Trump has a lot of support from evangelical Christians, so we thought he could have some support here.

(On camera): How many of you are leaning towards Donald Trump for president?

(LAUGHTER)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But that is not the case.

(On camera): Is it important to you to get a candidate who you feel can beat Donald Trump?

CROWD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Is that more important than a candidate who shares your principles who you might think may not be?

CROWD: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The Nevada caucuses are Saturday, February 22nd.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is warning that the coronavirus is likely to impact the world for months. Just a little later, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us what we can do and if a cure is coming.

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[03:40:00]

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CHURCH: The coronavirus outbreak has affected a number of countries in Asia, but North Korea has yet to report a single case of the disease. Still, the country appears to be taking the outbreak seriously as CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: North Korea is able to shut its borders in a way that very few countries in the rest of the world can, and it did shut those borders relatively quickly. We also know that North Korea has asked for help, which is quite unusual. The World Health Organization telling CNN that they have supplied medical supplies to North Korea including personal protective equipment, for example, goggles, masks, and gowns.

(Voice-over): North Korea was swift to react when news broke of novel coronavirus in neighboring China last month, shutting its borders to foreign tourists, mostly Chinese, on January 22nd, suspending all air and train routes to China nine days later and very publicly declaring a state emergency, unusual for the secretive state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Just because there is no case of the novel coronavirus in our country, it does not mean we can let our guard down. We need civil awareness and to work together for prevention.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): State run media has reported on the virus almost every day, showing the regime's efforts to disinfect public facilities, educating the public on how to stay healthy and sending Red Cross volunteers to the border for house-to-house checks.

With confirmed cases in the Chinese border regions and increasing unconfirmed reports of cases inside North Korea, some experts fear the virus may already be inside the hermit kingdom.

NAM SUNG-WOOK, PROFESSOR, KOREA UNIVERSITY (through translator): About 90 percent of North Korean trade is with China. You can see so many people as well as trucks and trains connecting the two countries on a daily basis at the border before North Korea shut its border. It's very likely North Korea has infected cases already.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): An outbreak of any kind could be very dangerous for the country with limited ability to test or treat patients. North Korea shut its borders during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the Ebola

outbreak in 2014, suggesting Pyongyang is aware of the limitations on its medical system. One former doctor who defected from north to South Korea says they may not even admit to having cases.

CHOI JUNG-HUN, FORMER DOCTOR IN NORTH KOREA (through translator): Based on my experience, I believe North Korea does not have test kits or medical devices to confirm what the virus actually is. Even if quarantine facilities exist in North Korea, the basic food supply is hard to maintain.

HANCOCKS: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also not been seen in public, according to state media, for the past couple of weeks. Now, that is an interesting development because that would be a key for the regime to protect the leader. We also heard from state run media that they have extended the quarantine period from 15 days to 30 days and there have been some concerns about foreign diplomats stationed in Pyongyang.

The German Foreign Ministry telling CNN that they know -- that they are unable to take planes and trains in and out of the country and they have noted the travel restrictions with concern and are speaking to the North Korean government about it. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for that report. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is warning that the coronavirus is likely to impact the world for months to come and even beyond this year. Now, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta invited viewers to ask questions about the virus.

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SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. CNN has asked viewers to send in their questions about coronavirus and there are a lot of questions out there and a lot of confusion. Let me see if I can get to at least a few of the questions, some of the biggest ones that we're getting. First of all, who is most infectious when it comes to coronavirus?

This is an important question. Just yesterday, I spent time with the head of the CBC, the Centers for Disease Control, who basically said, look, you know, when it comes to people who can transmit the virus, it is very clear now that even people who don't have any symptoms, who are not ill at all, but are carrying the virus in their bodies can still transmit this. So, that's obviously of concern.

[03:44:58]

GUPTA: But they also added that people who are the most sick, people who are actively coughing and sneezing, they're going to be the ones who are most likely to actually spread the virus. They're actually spreading the virus through these respiratory droplets in the air.

Sometimes, that can directly affect people or those droplets can get on surfaces. People touch those surface, then touch their nose or their mouth. That is a common way that these viruses are transmitted.

So the basic rules for any kind of cold or flu are the same. If you are sick, stay home. If you are healthy, stay away from sick people. Wash your hands often. If you -- don't touch surfaces as much as possible and don't touch your nose and your mouth or your eyes after you touch these surfaces. The basics do apply here.

Another question: Is this more dangerous than the flu, than the seasonal flu? This is such an important question, and I want to make sure we're providing the right context. You've heard the numbers of people who are infected with coronavirus and how many people have died from coronavirus. You can look at the numbers on the screen.

Now, look at the numbers for seasonal flu this season. Fourteen thousand people in the United States alone have died of the flu, and there have been 26 million or so infections of the flu. So you can see that the absolute numbers obviously are higher, more infections, more deaths, but the ratio is much lower with the flu, the fatality ratio.

So, these numbers are moving numbers. So it is true that flu is something we absolutely should be paying attention to, but we don't want to minimize the impact of coronavirus. This is a new virus. We're not exactly sure how it's going to change. We don't know exactly how it's going to behave. So there are still a lot of open questions about the coronavirus.

Is there a cure? That's another question. Again, keep in mind, we're dealing with a virus that we've just started to learn about over the last several weeks, last couple of months. So, scientists are busy at work trying to best understand this virus, exactly how it's going to behave.

There is no cure yet, but that shouldn't surprise you. There's no cure for the common cold. There is no cure for the flu as of yet. There's a vaccine. That's different than a cure. So when it comes to this coronavirus, the way that it's typically treated is symptomatic treatment. Treat the symptoms that someone has as a result of the infection.

I should point out, and this may be a little bit of good news in all this, that there seems to be a large percentage of people who, even though they're infected with this coronavirus, have very few if any symptoms at all. So we don't know exactly how many people count because those people may not go to the doctor. They may not go to the clinic. They may not get tested.

But that's another reason why that fatality ratio, when it comes to coronavirus, may be coming down. No cures of yet, but symptomatic treatment for sure. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks so much for that. White supremacist propaganda is on the rise. A look at what's being done about it. That's after the break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: White supremacist propaganda is growing at an explosive rate in the United States. That is according to new findings from the Anti- Defamation League. The ADL is reporting the most incidents ever as white supremacists ramp up their efforts. Sara Sidner has more now on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is as much about trying to mainstream racist rhetoric as it is about trying to grow their ranks and recruit.

These are the mechanics of hate, a promotional video made by a white nationalist group as it spreads its propaganda.

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ADL: We saw white supremacist propaganda distributions last year in 49 states.

SIDNER (voice-over): According to the Anti-Defamation League's new report, in 2019, white nationalist or supremacist propaganda exploded across the United States.

GREENBLATT: The ADL has been tracking extremists for decades and decades, and this year was the highest number of propaganda distributions we have ever seen in our hundred-year history.

SIDNER (voice-over): ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says their report found incidence of white nationalist or supremacist groups putting up fliers, stickers, banners and posters in public places has more than doubled from just over 1,200 in 2018 to more than 2,700 in 2019.

GREENBLATT: I think this is a charged political environment and they're trying to capitalize on the division that is so pervasive throughout society. You've seen elected officials literally adopting some of their language, using their memes, and injecting their poison into the political conversation.

SIDNER (voice-over): Last year, the president of the United States attacked progressive congresswomen of color, tweeting, "Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came?"

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you're not happy here, you can leave.

SIDNER (voice-over): Even though three of them were born in the United States and the fourth is a naturalized citizen. Online, white supremacists praised the president's comments, one saying, "This is the kind of white nationalism we elected him for."

The propaganda is often made to look innocuous but there is often a website associate with it that leads you to the true hate-filled intentions of the group. The messaging has shown up in many forms from banners being dropped in public places to stickers outside a politician's office to posters on college campuses.

Last year, we visited Chapman University in Orange County, California after white nationalist stickers were pasted over school fliers about an educational project exploring immigration and borders.

PETER SIMI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: They're flying all over the country. They do this on college campuses quite a bit. They are really focused on college campuses.

SIDNER (voice-over): Chapman University Associate Professor Dr. Peterson has studied hate groups for decades, even living with members of the groups to get deeper insight. He says the groups are working to intimidate groups of people they hate and entice like-minded people to join their ranks.

Patriot Front is one of the groups spreading large amounts of propaganda. At times, its members come out from behind their computer keyboards and on to the streets with their hate-filled message.

[03:55:00]

SIDNER (voice-over): Its public gatherings are not widely publicized. They're over quickly, but given enough time to create videos aimed at promoting their anti-immigrant racist agenda.

GREENBLATT: We don't see any signs that this extremist activity is going to slow down.

SIDNER (voice-over): Case in point, the video you're seeing the white nationalist group uploaded this month to highlight their small masked march at the nation's capital.

Yep, that happened in 2020 in the nation's capital. About 100 or so masked men in a group that says things like "deport them all," yelling "reclaim America." And experts who track this kind of rhetoric say that 2020 is ripe for more of this kind of rhetoric, not less.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Sara Sidner with that report. Chicago played host to the 69th 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 tributes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGIC JOHNSON, RETIRED PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER, HALL OF FAMER: And if we can just have it quiet for eight seconds.

CHURCH (voice-over): The game itself took on a new twist. The format was overhauled to put in elements for charity and ensure that someone was going to hit a shot to end the game. Team Lebron won 157-155 and the renamed All-Star MVP Award, the Kobe Bryant Award, was given to Kawhi Leonard of The Clippers.

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CHURCH: And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "Early Start" is up next.

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