Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tech Stocks Tank As Chinese Startup DeepSeek Stuns AI World; DOJ Mass Fires Employees Involved In Trump Prosecutions; All Federal Grants And Loan Disbursement Paused By White House; Rwanda, Congo Presidents To Meet As Rebels Take Goma. Palestinians Return to N. Gaza After Israel Grants Access; Guatemala Welcomes Back Its Deported Citizens; World Marks 80 Years Since the Liberation of Auschwitz; Lawsuit: Security Video Points to Eaton Fire's Origins. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 28, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:26]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: AI upended made in China for a fraction of the cost. Hello, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has emerged as a real player in the air arms race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Could U.S. export controls intended to hobble China's development of AI have actually done precisely the opposite.

Purging the Justice Department in Donald Trump's new America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I was investigated more than any human being in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also, he claims that now those government prosecutors have been fired for doing their jobs.

And hundreds of thousands of Palestinians walking home to ruin.

15 months after many fled in fear a Gaza ceasefire has allowed families from the north to return. They return to what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause. VAUSE: We begin with what might be deep panic spreading through the

industry in the U.S. after a little known tech startup in China developed their own AI app called DeepSeek, which for the most part does almost everything chat, GPT and other industry leaders can do, but literally for a fraction of the price which saw U.S. tech stocks fall sharply on Monday.

Nvidia, the leading chip maker which powers AI, lost nearly $600 billion in market value, the largest single day loss in stock market history. Stocks of many leading tech developers in the U.S. have surged in recent years with the potential gains from AI, but they're now under increased scrutiny. And the U.S. President calling on Silicon Valley to restore American air superiority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing to win because we have the greatest scientists in the world. Even Chinese leadership told me that. They said you have the most brilliant scientists in the world and Seattle and various places, but Silicon Valley, they said there's nobody like those people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN Kristie Lu Stout following developments for us. She joins us live from Hong Kong. It's only been a couple of days, if that. So what do you actually know about Deep Seek and how much can we sort of take the Chinese at their word about all of this?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, DeepSeek is a young Chinese AI startup. It is stunning the world. It is startled U.S. markets. But is it for real? You know, a number of analysts are questioning the claims coming out of this Chinese AI company. It all started last week when DeepSeek unveiled its ChatGPT rival this generative AI platform, R1. It is a chat bot, much like ChatGPT, but operates at a fraction of the cost.

And according to the company DeepSeek says it spent only $5.6 million on computing power for its base model. Compare that to the hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars have been spent by Western tech giants like Google, like OpenAI, like Meta, et cetera. And that's what led to the market rout on Wall Street on Monday.

With shares in the tech heavy Nasdaq falling 3 perent, shares in Invidia, the AI chip giant fall percent. It sort of shattered the aura of invincibility in the American tech sector. But now analysts are questioning this. They're pouring some cold water on this claim.

I want to share with you what we heard from Isaac Stone Fish. He is the CEO founder of Strategy Risks and he told CNN this is bring it up for you, quote, how much did it actually cost DeepSeek to train its model? We won't know that until someone has properly audited its claims and the research paper it released, unquote.

Now, meanwhile, we've been learning a little bit about the company and its founder. His name is Liang Wenfeng. Liang Wenfeng, he recently met with the Premier of China, Li Qiang, a symposium that the premier hosted earlier this month underscoring a close relationship between the company and the Chinese Communist Party. The company, according to State Media, is based in Zhejiang, on China's east coast. According to State Media, it is a small lab with less than 10 employees.

And Liang has been giving on occasion interviews to Chinese media about his philosophy, including the need for Chinese companies to move from imitation to originality. We have some comments from Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek. Let's bring it up for you. This is what he said recently. He said, we often say there is a one or two year gap between China and the U.S. but the real gap is between originality and imitation. If this doesn't change, China will always be a follower, unquote, and then adds that China cannot be in a follower position forever. John Christie.

[01:05:06]

VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout was there in Hong Kong. Good to see you.

LU STOUT: You got it.

VAUSE: Well, Zach Kass is a former senior executive at OpenAI. He joins us now live from Santa Barbara in California. Zach, good to have you with us.

ZACH KASS, FORMER SENIOR EXECUTIVE AT OPENAI: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: OK, so when it comes to DeepSeek, the big factor here is obviously the cost, especially when compared to the leading AI developers in the US. Here's how one big tech investor explained the impact. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MULBERRY, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, ZACKS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: That's the real, I think disruption for the markets today is not just cheaper, but a heck of a lot cheaper. 96 percent cheaper than what we're finding from the current spend in alternate models like ChatGPT and Gemini.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But as a lot of people have said, you know, we only have DeepSeek word for all of this. So is it a valid question, as the costs had rivaled U.S. firms to develop a similar app, would this still have been impressive anyway?

KASS: Yes, I mean, I think you have to basically look at this as a major breakthrough on a couple different dimensions. It's remarkable, of course, that we now have a GPT4 equivalent rival at all out of China, given what we thought was necessary constraints to limit their activity. Moreover, to see that, you know, creativity has spurred some

exceptional innovation to build far more efficient models is, you know, is an incredible breakthrough.

VAUSE: To that end, you know, we know about these export controls that the U.S. has placed on the chips. And a paper from MIT actually found that early evidence shows that these measures are not working as intended. Rather than weakening China's AI capabilities and sanctions appear to be driving, startups like Deep Seek to innovate in ways that prioritize efficiency, resource pooling and collaboration.

So in other words, they find a whole new way of doing things, which I never did in the past. That's always been one of the restrictions in China. They're very good at imitating, they're never good at initiating. So necessity there is sort of the mother of invention.

Is this the equivalent of the U.S. Government sort of standing on a rake?

KASS: Well, look, what I would say is someone asked me earlier today, you know, is this a pie in the face to companies like OpenAI? And the answer is unequivocally no. United States companies had the luxury of having a zero interest rate environment, a ton of resources, and so we operated with those boundaries and we simply are observing now that the market behaves appropriately, that innovation finds a way and it's important to remember that these models were born from a company building quant trading models.

And so it's a reminder that capitalism works and that companies trying to find better ways to innovate will often do it. I don't think you can point at policy and say the policy was bad. I think it's simply a reminder that we are probably in a world now of sort of scientific evolutionary convergence where the research is commoditizing and that, you know, life finds a way and so do major scientific breakthroughs.

VAUSE: So there's all the positive stuff here. This new way of developing AI, there's obviously the cheap cost of this. But on the negative side or the downside, are there concerns over censorship because it is coming from China?

KASS: I mean, look, I played with DeepSeek today. There's obviously some questions that it doesn't want to answer. By the same token, there are plenty of questions that Gemini and ChatGPT don't answer. You know, one man's alignment is another man's censorship. You know, I'm of course personally inclined to models that don't favor one political party over another.

But the reality is, I think it is pretty interesting to see that DeepSeek actually behaves pretty aligned to most interests and you actually have to work pretty hard to find it doing and saying things that are unnerving. Quite honestly, it looks like a western app and I think it's one of these reminders that technology can come from lots of different places and be adopted in the United States.

VAUSE: Just very quickly. The shockwaves though from DeepSeek right now are being felt mostly on Wall Street. Chip making Nvidia, which passed Apple last week to be the most valuable publicly traded company, is now back down to number three. That's after the stock price fell 17 percent. Major power companies which have been preparing for a surge in demand for energy to power AI are also down bigly.

Long term though. Will the biggest disruption from DeepSeek or a DeepSeek 2.0 will be felt in the financial sector, the tech industry, or national defense?

KASS: Well, the first thing I'd say is I actually think that this breakthrough is great. I mean, I should be very clear and not because I'm not, you know, I don't have American interests at heart, I do, but because quite honestly, parity is actually pretty good for the world.

And in a world where a critical resource is controlled by a single company and is very expensive, it's a worse off world than where a critical resource is democratized and distributed.

[01:10:04]

And the success of open source models, wherever they come from, in this case China, is great because it actually means that better technology will be available to more people at less, at lower costs. And that's the future of abundance that sort of everyone in and around AI talks about and raves about.

So I think it's important to actually call this a victory in many cases for the science and the research. Obviously, the implications for those who are trying to invest are pretty great, which is that we used to operate in a world where we thought three things were critical to AI models, at least the training. One was energy, one was data, and one was compute. And we're now wondering if energy and certainly compute are as critical also OK. Right. That's OK.

And I think one of the things that I've been warning investors about for a while is that I do think that research commoditizes and more importantly, banking on this idea that scarce resources like compute and energy are going to be critical to frontier model training is potentially a dangerous assumption.

VAUSE: Yes. The energy side of things, that's actually probably one of the biggest bits of good news in all of this in many ways. But Zach, thanks for being with us. Really appreciate your insights.

KASS: Thanks.

VAUSE: A new era at the U.S. Justice Department has begun with more than a dozen lawyers who worked on two separate prosecutions of Donald Trump fired by the acting attorney general. The termination notice stated they could not be trusted to implement the president's agenda.

This purge was not unexpected. Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to fire special prosecutor Jack Smith. But the abrupt dismissal of so many career prosecutors has drawn criticism.

Also Monday, prosecutors who tried, but failed to bring charges against some of the January 6 rioters are now themselves under investigation after the interim U.S. attorney in Washington launched what he called a special project.

For Donald Trump, who was speaking to Republican lawmakers on Monday in Florida, now seems all that recent legal trouble is our source of humor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was investigated more than any human being in history. Scarface was not investigated as much as your president was investigated. And it turned out to be a positive thing for me. Can you believe it? It turned out to be. We got a lot of votes. I think we got a lot of votes because they saw it was weaponization. It was a fight against a political opponent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Paula Reid has more now on the memo issued at the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump has repeatedly vowed retribution against those who investigated him. And these firings are one of the first moves he is making. In a letter, the acting attorney general told these employees, you played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump. The proper functioning of government critically depends on the trust superior officials place in their subordinates. Given your significant role in prosecuting the president, I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully.

Now, we're told this move impacts more than a dozen employees. But of course, Jack Smith, his top prosecutors, they had already left before Trump returned to office. This is mostly focused on career officials who are supposed to be protected from political retaliation. And that wasn't the only news Monday out of the Justice Department.

They also took the first concrete steps to investigate prosecutors who worked on the January 6th cases. Now, the interim U.S. Attorney, Ed Martin has launched an investigation into prosecutors who charged January 6 rioters with obstruction of justice. This is a charge that was used in a few hundred cases. But the Supreme Court ruled last year that it was improper to use that charge, saying obstruction of justice can only be used in the context of interfering with a congressional investigation, not for actions related to January 6th.

So now the Trump Justice Department is seeking all documents, emails and notes related to those decisions to charge folks with obstruction of justice. Now, one senior administration official calls this, quote, a fact finding mission, saying the prior office screwed up by filing hundreds of cases that ended up getting thrown out by the Supreme Court.

And it is worth getting to the bottom of poor decision making. But there are also concerns that this is all part of an effort to undermine the legitimacy of the entire January 6th prosecution. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And the White House will pause all federal grants and loan disbursements starting Tuesday. This new order applies to all agencies which provide federal financial assistance. And the freeze could impact trillions of dollars.

The Office of Management and Budget says it's to allow officials to review the best use of federal spending and whether they align with President Trump's priorities.

The head of that office goes on to specifically mention some of the activities which could be affected, including foreign aid, diversity, equity and inclusion programs and what they call a woke gender ideology.

[01:15:05]

In a moment, fears are growing of a regional conflict in Central Africa as Rwanda backed rebels continue their advance on a key city in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, hopes of a diplomatic agreement to end days of fighting in the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Con go between government forces and Rwanda backed rebels. Officials in Kenya say the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC have agreed to a meeting on Wednesday. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has details.

[01:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is sounded like in Goma. Heavy gunfire ringing out as soldiers from the national army tried to fight off an assault by M23 rebels. They seem to have failed. And The Rwanda backed M23 group claims it seized control of the eastern Congo's largest city after driving out government troops, forcing thousands to flee. Families unsure of where to find safety.

In the chaos, inmates broke free from a local prison. Fighting between the Rwanda backed rebels and the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo had ramped up significantly in recent days. The U.N. warning that the violence has already displaced some 400,000 people in the region since the beginning of the year. Some have been forced out of their homes more than once.

FLORENCE MAPENDANO, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON (through translator): We fled the war, gunshots and bombs, and now we are here. We don't know where to flee to. We've no shelter or place to spend the night. We're outside, uncertain of our fate.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): During a lightning offensive, the M23 group grabbed territory, then set its eyes on Goma. The city, which sits on the border with Rwanda, was last held by the M23 group in 2012 during similar clashes between rebels and government forces.

At least a dozen peacekeepers from the U.N. and other international forces were killed in recent fighting. In response, the U.N. says it is temporarily relocating nonessential staff out of the area. Hospitals are overwhelmed and emergency tents have been set up to treat the wounded, some who narrowly escaped death.

JEANNETTE NEEMA MATONDO, INJURED IN FIGHTING (through translator): We packed our bags, took our children and left. When we reached the checkpoint, a bomb fell on us. I was thrown backward in the direction I had come from. I still had my baby on my back and my belongings were next to me, but everyone around me was dead.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): International groups warn that the violence could escalate into a wider regional conflict. The DRC recently severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda, which it says funds and supports M23 rebels. Rwanda denies this, but says it does have troops and missile systems in the eastern DRC. for its own security.

The U.N. has condemned the M23's advance with the support of Rwandan forces and is urging the group to withdraw. A plea for calm so far unheard, as thousands caught in the crossfire desperately seek safety and relief. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Cameron Hudson joins me now. He's a senior fellow for the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Cameron, thank you for being with us.

CAMERON HUDSON, SENIOR FELLOW, AFRICA PROGRAM, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: So right now it's not entirely clear which side controls the city of Goma, which seems to be the target of intense ongoing fighting between the Rwanda backed rebels and Congolese government forces. Here's a report on the latest situation. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK MURYAYA KATEMBWE, GOVT. SPOKESPERSON, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (through translator): As we speak, bombs are falling on hospitals and the population is terrorized because the aim is clearly to sow terror. Yesterday, bombs were already falling on displaced persons camps. That is why we want to urge all the people of Goma to stay sheltered, stay home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So what are the consequences for both sides if the city does in fact come under control of the M23 rebels?

HUDSON: Well, it wouldn't be the first time the M23 rebels have taken the whole control of Goma they did so a little over 10 years ago. And we saw massive displacement. We saw millions of people fleeing the city. The city of Goma in eastern Congo is a safe haven largely from the instability violence of militia groups that have been present in eastern Congo for many decades now.

And so you have many internally displaced, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people's camps. And so you see those camps start to empty, people start to flee. So you could have a huge displacement crisis on top of an unfolding humanitarian and warlike scenario.

VAUSE: In the big picture here, this area, this part of Congo has seen conflict, as you mentioned, for many, many years. What has been fueling that conflict and what has got us to this point that we're at now?

HUDSON: Well, the origin for the conflict and instability in eastern Congo really dates back 30 years to the Rwandan genocide. And the perpetrators of that genocide, Hutu militiamen, fled into eastern Congo, just over the border into a safe haven area. And they use that safe haven in eastern Congo to continue to launch attacks against the Tutsi army of Rwanda.

Rwanda since that time has been trying to pushed back against these Hutu militias and has increasingly used and relied upon their own proxy militias.

[01:25:00]

And it's this proxy militia, the M23, backed by the Rwandan government, which has been pushing deeper and deeper into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, trying to push back the militia groups and now even the armed forces of the Congo, to create essentially a buffer zone along the border to create more security for the Rwandan government.

VAUSE: So the question here isn't so much Rwanda's involvement or their support of the M23 rebels, but rather are those rebels backed militarily by Rwanda with boots on the ground? Here's the assessment on that from the UN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-PIERRE LACROIX, U.N. UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACE OPERATIONS: Well, I think there's no question that there are non- troops in Goma supporting the M23. Of course, it's difficult to tell exactly what the numbers are. You've seen some estimates are very significant. There are 3,000, 4,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Congolese foreign Minister described the Rwandan backed offensive as a declaration of war that no longer hides itself behind diplomatic maneuvers. On the surface, that seems a reasonable statement. Are we there at that point now?

HUDSON: Well, we very well could be. I think the difference is that the Rwandan government continues to deny any official involvement in this conflict and deny any official support to the M23 rebels. And so if it were to be determined that the Rwandan armed forces were actually engaged on the ground in a fighting capacity, that would, I think, change the nature of this conflict. It would make it not just instability in eastern Congo, but it would make an interstate conflict in Central Africa, which I think would engage the international community in a way that it hasn't been before.

VAUSE: Just quickly, an op ed which appeared in the Financial Times Monday argued that because of Rwanda's economic dependency on foreign aid as well as income from international tourism, essentially the west has a lot of leverage here to force Rwanda to back down and moderate its behavior in some way, but there just isn't a will to do so. And it goes on to argue that basically Rwanda gets a free pass. Is that true and if so, why?

HUDSON: Well, Rwanda has emerged as a very capable partner of the West. President Kagame, the Rwandan president, you'll find him in Davos, you'll find him at the Munich Security Conference. He has learned very well how to engage Western donor countries, build their confidence.

Just last year the U.K. government had signed a deal with Rwanda to send back African migrants from the U.K. back to Rwanda. So he has been, I think, a bit of a darling of the west, gaining the confidence of the west as a very capable and technocratic leader.

And I think they have given him a wide berth to pursue these security aims also related to the fact that, you know, the Tutsis of Rwanda, his tribe suffered as many as a million deaths in 100 days during the Rwandan genocide. And there's still an enormous amount of kind of guilt within the international community that we did not come to the rescue of those Rwandan civilians 30 years ago.

VAISE: Cameron, thank you for the analysis and the background. It's really valuable to understand what's actually happening and why. And thank you being with us.

HUDSON: Thank you.

VAUSE: There's no place like home. And even if that home has been laid waste. Coming up, an emotional journey for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians allowed to return to northern Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:33:01]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Israeli officials say eight of the 33 hostages to be released during phase one of the Gaza ceasefire are dead. Israel was notified of the death by -- deaths by Hamas via a list which did not reveal how they died.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have spent the last 15 months running from northern Gaza, running from a brutal and deadly Israeli offensive. But now, with a ceasefire in place and holding, they've been allowed

to return. A long walk back to homes destroyed and lives lost, but a journey home nonetheless.

Here's Jeremy Diamond.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The masses of people trekking up Gaza's coastal road are not being forced to flee. They are returning home.

"The Palestinian people are going back to their homes," this man shouts, announcing his joy to anyone who will listen. "It's a great happiness. We feel like we can fly."

After being displaced for months on end, tens of thousands of Palestinians are finally returning to northern Gaza, shielded by the guarantees of a six-week ceasefire.

This river of humanity flows for miles and miles, underscoring the magnitude of the last 15 months of war.

For many, like Eyad al-Masri, their journey began in southern Gaza, taking down their tents they hope, forever.

"I'm taking these four bags and going back to my house," Eyad says. "I don't know if it is still standing or not, but I'm going back to Beit Hanoun."

People quickly crowd around the few busses heading north. Babies and belongings hoisted with urgency.

[01:34:47]

DIAMOND: Others carry what they can, taking their chances on foot. Trudging through this uneven coastal road, young and old alike are determined to push past fatigue and return home.

For the first of many, that moment came shortly after 7:00 a.m., crossing an abandoned Israeli checkpoint where masked Hamas militants now stand watch.

Israel agreed to open the road to northern Gaza only after resolving a two-day dispute with Hamas over the fate of an Israeli hostage, Arbel Yehud. Hamas now set to release her alongside the captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger and a third hostage on Thursday.

Back in Gaza, this is what most are returning to, bombed out buildings and heaps of rubble now line the streets. Even amid the destruction, there is joy as family members, separated by war, reunite.

"Thank God," Muataz says as he kisses his mother and embraces his daughter. He hasn't seen them in ten months.

Amid the reunions, there are also tears as people set foot on the land they call home once again.

"I'm crying right now out of happiness," this man says. "I don't want anything except to enter my homeland."

The enormity of the destruction in Gaza, prompting President Trump to call for moving Palestinians out of Gaza.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd like Egypt to take people and I'd like Jordan to take people. I can -- I mean, you're talking about probably a million and a half people and we just clean out that whole thing.

DIAMOND: Among those who camped out for days near the checkpoint in northern Gaza, waiting for it to open, Trump's idea is quickly rejected.

"We say to Trump, no, and a million and one noes. We will stay here. We will stay in Gaza," he says, "even if it is a pile of rubble."

Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Nearly 1,200 people across the U.S. were arrested Monday as part of Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. The raids also appear to be made for TV and social media, with border agents told to show up, camera ready, wearing full tactical gear.

And they're armed with new legal authority to arrest undocumented migrants in churches and schools, what was once considered safe zones, leaving some parents terrified about sending even their youngest child to school.

The white House border czar has brushed off this so-called chilling effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP BORDER CZER: It shouldn't be a chilling effect unless your child is a terrorist or a public safety threat. If they are a public safety threat, a national security threat, they should be chilled. They should be afraid because we're looking for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Immigration will be the subject matter for Caribbean and Latin American leaders when they meet this week. The region is preparing for deportees from the U.S. So far, Mexico and Guatemala say there has not been an increase in the number of people sent back. But Guatemala is already welcoming those who have returned.

CNN's David Culver is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Stepping off a commercial charter and onto Guatemala City's military tarmac, 124 migrants deported for illegally entering the U.S. now back home.

They process past officials, including the country's vice president, and into a reception hall. Cookies and coffee await. One by one, they're called up to be officially documented.

Now, that's a change from their status in the U.S.

She lived ten years in the U.S. in Alabama. She did roofing, construction, and car repair while in the U.S.

Here we meet Sara (INAUDIBLE), at 43 she says she carried a criminal record related to child endangerment. She was shopping at Walmart -- con si nieto, no?

With her grandson.

And she said he didn't have a car seat. And she was pulled over as she was leaving the Walmart by a police officer in Alabama.

She went to jail for two months and was detained for five more months, she says, by immigration officials in Louisiana before being sent back here.

She's actually grateful, thanking God for being back.

Do you want to go back to the U.S.?

No.

Sara seemingly uncomfortable though, speaking with us in what she's wearing. She's eager to get to her bag, which sits in a pile of plastic sacks and stapled shut.

And as she heads into the bathroom to change, we meet Fidel Ambrocio.

So how many years altogether did you live in the U.S.?

FIDEL AMBROCIO, DEPORTED TO GUATEMALA: Almost 19 years.

CULVER: 19 years?

AMBROCIO: Yes.

And I'm scared. Because now they say they have to go. You know. Go with a criminal. But we're not a criminal, you know?

CULVER: But you have a trespassing conviction.

AMBROCIO: Yes.

CULVER: Are you going to try to stay here, or do you think you'll go back?

AMBROCIO: I have to go back for sure.

CULVER: You'll find a way back. AMBROCIO: Yes.

[01:39:46]

CULVER: While Fidel walks freely here, others are pulled aside by Guatemalan police. As soon as they arrive, accused of crimes not only in the U.S., but also here in their homeland.

They require a lot of resources so as to reintegrate the returnees.

Guatemala's vice president tells me it's about the same number, though, that have been arriving in recent years under President Biden, though she says the use of U.S. military planes, which Guatemala is permitting, is new under President Trump.

Back in the reception hall, we almost don't recognize Sara. She's changed into her indigenous wardrobe and feels more at home now, ready to step out --

To reunite with her daughter.

Obviously there's a lot of emotion in that moment between Sara and her daughter. And I asked both of them if they have any interest for Sara to go back to the U.S., or for her daughter to go for the first time.

And they were adamant they do not want to go. And it seems that in many ways it tends to echo what the Trump administration is hoping to put out there, and their messaging from these deportations in part. And that is a deterrence factor to keep people from wanting to go into the U.S. in the first place.

However, you then meet others like Fidel, who said it doesn't stop him. He's going to try as many times as possible to get back to the U.S., be it legal or illegal.

David Culver, CNN -- Guatemala City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Denmark plans to spend more than $2 billion to increase its military presence in the Arctic as a response to President Trump's recent comments on wanting to take control of the Arctic island from the European Union.

The Danish defense ministry says the money will go towards military training, as well as new arctic naval vessels, long range drones to improve surveillance and maintain sovereignty in the region.

As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, in a moment well hear stories from survivors, stories which should never be forgotten.

[01:41:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back.

The chairman of the World Holocaust Remembrance Center has accused Elon Musk of insulting victims of Nazism. That's after Musk appeared virtually at a campaign rally for Germany's far right AFD party. He told the crowd it's time to move on from past guilt.

The tech billionaire said AFD, the anti-immigrant nationalist party is Germany's best hope in next month's snap election.

Musk has increased his presence and involvement in European politics lately. Several leaders accusing him of interfering in their affairs and promoting dangerous figures.

Elon Musk's endorsement of AFD, which in the past has made anti- Semitic and anti-Muslim anti-immigrant statements, comes as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Survivors, family members and world leaders gathered on Monday to remember the atrocities at the notorious Nazi death camp. More than a million people were murdered there between 1940 and 1945.

CNN's Melissa Bell has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Their numbers dwindling, but their resolve intact. Survivors supported by their families, making the difficult journey back to Auschwitz-Birkenau -- the largest and deadliest of the Nazi camps.

JONA LAKS, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: At my advanced age, it's really courageous to come back. I must say it. I didn't want to, but it's necessary.

It's necessary for the world to know.

BELL: Jona Laks was just 14 when she was brought by cattle car to Auschwitz with her twin sister, Miriam, and their older sister Chana in 1944.

By then, most of the more than 1 million people who passed through these infamous gates had been sent straight to their deaths in the gas chambers.

But Jona and Miriam say they were spared by the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

LAKS: Obviously, they're satisfied to get an additional pair of twins for his notorious experiments.

BELL: Were you and Miriam experimented on?

LAKS: We were, of course.

BELL: The serial number tattooed on her arm may have faded, but the memories of the survivors gathered at Auschwitz on Monday were razor sharp.

TOVA FRIEDMAN, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: I held on tightly to my mother's hand in the dark cattle car for countless hours while the cries and the prayers of so many desperate women permeated my soul and haunt me to this day.

BELL: 80 years after the camp's liberation, this may be the last time that the voices of survivors are heard at Auschwitz.

MARIAN TURSKI, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (through translator): Those who lived to see freedom, there were really hardly any. So few. And now, there is only a handful left.

BELL: It will soon fall to others -- academics, monuments and museums to make sure the enormity of what happened here isn't forgotten.

How important is it that the world marks this and understands what happened?

LAKS: Perhaps it would hopefully remind the world that human life is sacred and should be honored.

[01:49:54]

BELL: Melissa Bell, CNN -- Auschwitz-Birkenau.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: South Korean investigators have reported their initial findings on the fatal Jeju Air crash. Officials are focusing on bird strike. The report says avian blood and feathers were found in each engine.

But authorities are also examining concerns over the localizer landing guidance structure near the airports runway.

The crash was the deadliest on South Korean soil. 179 people killed this December 29th.

A gas station security camera might just hold the answer to what started this month's deadly Eaton Fire in southern California. One of those people who lost their homes has just filed a lawsuit accusing a utility company of being behind the blaze.

CNN's Veronica Miracle has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A flash on this gas station surveillance camera is at first hard to see, but a new lawsuit alleges this is the start of the deadly Eaton Fire that tore through Altadena.

Video obtained by law firm Edelson P.C. allegedly shows sparking electrical power lines they say eventually erupted into the fire that killed 17 people and damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 structures. The video is a centerpiece in a lawsuit filed against utility company

Southern California Edison on behalf of an Altadena woman who lost her home.

At this point, are you confident that SCE is responsible for the Eaton Fire?

ALI MOGHADDAS, ATTORNEY, EDELSON PC: Absolutely. We filed a lawsuit against them. We believe they are responsible.

MIRACLE: SoCal Edison has repeatedly denied claims that their equipment started the catastrophic blaze. Monday morning, the company filed an update to the California Public Utilities Commission saying they found a fault on a transmission line five miles away from where the fire allegedly started.

Even though there was an issue five miles away from the alleged starting point, could that have impacted that area and cause arcing and sparking in that area and caused the fire?

KATHLEEN DUNLEAVY, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON SPOKESPERSON: So this is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to inspect and review our equipment.

MIRACLE: While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, more videos of the alleged origin of the blaze are emerging all around the same time. This new surveillance video is time stamped at 2:10 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time or 6:10 p.m. Pacific Time.

Pedro Rojas took this video just a few minutes later at 6:24 p.m. It shows flames exploding at the base of an electrical transmission tower.

Jennifer and Marcus Errico captured pictures from a similar vantage point at 6:15 p.m.

[01:54:46]

MARCUS ERRICO, ALTADENA RESIDENT: I can't say definitively that it was the power lines that caused it, but Eaton Canyon is right on the edge of Altadena and Pasadena. That's where the fire began. It was under that tower.

It began as a small, little blaze underneath, and within ten minutes, the whole hillside was engulfed in the fire.

MIRACLE: In court Monday, Southern California Edison agreed to keep this transmission tower and nearby equipment de-energized to preserve evidence. It gives Edelson's lawyers 21 days to have their own experts inspect these lines.

MOGHADDAS: What we learned today was that there could be potentially physical evidence five miles away in this other line that they reported experienced the fault at the same time as the fire.

MIRACLE: How is that possible if its five miles away? MOGHADDAS: All these lines are interconnected. These transmission

lines, they all feed together. And so when one experiences an issue miles down the line, this is traveling at the speed of light.

It has implications. It impacts lines down the way.

DUNLEAVY: Our hearts are with everyone who has been impacted by the wildfires in southern California. And right now, this is an ongoing investigation, and we're at the beginning of it.

And we are committed to working with local investigators and finding out, you know, what happened here.

MIRACLE: The judge in today's case says there are at least 19 other lawsuits against Southern California Edison. And when we spoke to the plaintiff's lawyer, he said that he's also representing hundreds of other people.

He expects to file more lawsuits. He also expects all of these cases to get folded into one big case, so that a bunch of different judges aren't making a bunch of different decisions.

And just for reference, that video that you saw at the beginning of this story, this is the Arco Gas Station, where that surveillance video came from.

The transmission tower in question is over a mile from here. Obviously, that spark would have had to have been very large and very big for it to be picked up on this camera.

Veronica Miracle, CNN -- Altadena, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Dutch police and Interpol have launched a manhunt for thieves who broke into a museum in the Netherlands early Saturday. Explosives were used to gain access to Drents Museum and four priceless ancient artifacts were stolen -- a gold helmet and three gold bracelets more than 2,000 years old.

The goods came -- they were on loan, actually, from the National History Museum of Romania. They were set to return there the day after they were stolen.

Finally, not all A.I. set ups are as successful as DeepSeek. A French language artificial intelligence chatbot named Lucie has been taken offline after giving some very crazy answers. Could be Lucie here with us right now.

Lucie says there is such a thing as cow's eggs. Quote "edible eggs produced by cows". And healthy and nutritious food. For the record, there are no such thing as cow eggs.

Lucie incorrectly said the answer to this mathematical equation was 17. It was 25. And the chatbot said, quote, "The square root of a goat is one". And we all know it's two. Lucie's developers say it remains an academic research project in its

very early stages. It was released prematurely and not ready for prime time.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. My friend and colleague Lynda Kinkade is up after a short break.

I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

[01:57:54]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)