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Hala Gorani Tonight
Americans Evacuated From Yokohama Cruise Ship Quarantine; Syrian Families' Evacuations Grow More Desperate; Interview With Donald Ayer, Former Deputy Attorney General; Leaked Records Reveal "Future Of Authoritarianism"; Over 780 Million People Under Travel Restrictions In China; With Early Turnout High, Democrats Set Sights On Nevada. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired February 17, 2020 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:21]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello, everyone. Live from CNN London on this Monday, I'm Hala Gorani.
Tonight, coronavirus lockdown: Half of China is suffering under travel restrictions, and we also hear from American citizens evacuated from a
quarantined cruise ship.
Also, fleeing for their lives: We follow women and children on the run from bombardments in Syria, a CNN exclusive report.
And racism in European football: how the sport is dealing with some extremely offensive behavior from crowds and from the commentators, in some
cases. We'll have that story coming up.
Now, nearly half of China's population is living under travel restrictions right now -- it's a huge a number of people -- as the government tries to
control that deadly coronavirus epidemic. That's more than 780 million people under some sort of lockdown, some are unable to leave their homes.
Still, the virus is continuing to spread. It has infected more than 71,000 people around the world, the vast majority, as you can see on this map, in
mainland China.
Now, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are all reporting new cases today. More than 1,700 people have died worldwide. However -- and this is a
sort of glimmer, a sliver of good news -- the World Health Organization says it seems the virus is not as deadly as SARS or MERS. But officials
warn the world to be wary of what looks like outright good news. Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIATION: The data also appear to show a decline in new cases. This trend must be
interpreted very cautiously. Trends can change as new populations are affected. It's too early to tell if this reported decline will continue.
Every scenario is still on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That's the World Health Organization, essentially saying, you know, even though the rate of increase is declining, it doesn't mean we're
out of the woods, far from it. There are at least 456 coronavirus infections on a single cruise ship, the Diamond Princess cruise ship. It's
been docked in Japan for the past two weeks. Now, the U.S. is bringing its own citizens home, including 14 who have tested positive for the virus.
Will Ripley is in Yokohama with more. Talk to us about this sort of military operation, almost, to extract these people from the ship.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly what it was, Hala. And it was a very long and arduous process for those involved. It took
basically almost 10 hours from the time passengers started disembarking the ship and there were more than 300 Americans who decided to accept the U.S.
government's strong advice to take this charter flight.
Almost 10 hours from the time they started getting off the ship to the time they actually got on board the plane. And then, of course, another 10-plus-
hour flight after that.
But one big surprise that we learned while those planes were in the air, there were 14 people on board who, when they disembarked from the Diamond
Princess, they didn't know that they had coronavirus. Those positive test results came back after they had already been handed over into U.S.
government custody.
And even though the U.S. said that nobody who was sick or infected -- because these people didn't show symptoms -- nobody would be allowed on
these flights, they decided at the last moment to let them on board. And it was quite a journey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY (voice-over): Daybreak in Yokohama, Japan, the final day on the Diamond Princess for more than 300 Americans evacuated by the U.S.
government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is converted cargo 747 --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I understand. I think that's a --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- so it has less insulation than a regular passenger jet --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, thank you for telling us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So bring some (ph) layers to stay warm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
RIPLEY (voice-over): American health officials try to prepare passengers for a long, uncomfortable journey, a journey Karey Maniscalco from Utah is
reluctant to take. She and her husband already endured nearly two weeks of quarantine on the cruise ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't like that answer.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Sorry.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Now, they're about to do it all over again at a California military base.
KAREY MANISCALCO, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: They have sent over a dozen e- mails, assuring us that there would not be an additional quarantine. And they just told us that we'd be re-quarantined for 14 more days. I've just
lost a whole month of my life.
RIPLEY (voice-over): She's angry at the U.S. government, angry they waited so long to evacuate the American passengers.
Others like Gay (ph) Quarter (ph) from Florida, are grateful.
GAY (PH) QUARER (PH): And I want to go somewhere where I can feel safe. And I just want to thank President Trump and the U.S. government. There's
been a lot of silence on this, and now we know the silence has been putting together a brilliant plan.
[14:05:09]
RIPLEY (voice-over): Executing that plan will take nearly 10 hours, even though the airport is just a 20-minute drive from the ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The buses are starting to line up.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Once they get on, there's no getting off, not even to go to the bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the best I can do is go find out where a bathroom is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go (ph) find out.
RIPLEY (voice-over): As the hours drag on, this health worker tries to break the tension.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you call a witch on the beach? A sandwich.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
(LAUGHTER)
RIPLEY (voice-over): Passengers are beginning to feel like the joke is on them.
MANISCALCO (?): We're just waiting. I don't really know what we're waiting for, but we are waiting indefinitely.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Finally, they're allowed off the bus --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!
RIPLEY (voice-over): -- and onto the tarmac, boarding two converted 747 cargo planes. The cabin? Best described as bare-bones. No windows,
makeshift toilets, temporary seats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is first-class, baby. First-class.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Lack of luxury aside, Maniscalco feels anxious.
MANISCALCO: It's not good conditions. No one on here has had their temperature taken by the federal government or any government for that
matter, so we're all in really close, tight quarters. Everybody's sitting next to each other. I have a girl sitting here in just a minute. It seems
dangerous, and not safe.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. government says they are safe, even though 14 passengers who tested positive for coronavirus are allowed on the
flight, all showing no symptoms. They're put in a specialized containment area, isolated from the other passengers.
Just after daybreak, both planes finally take off, a long sleepless night followed by a 10-hour flight.
Now they've arrived in California and Texas. One ordeal ends, another begins.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Will Ripley, reporting there.
And also, just to let you know what's going on, in Japan -- this is where this cruise ship is docked, but the coronavirus outbreak is having a very
negative effect potentially on the Japanese economy, a potential recession, some people are saying.
And also, Japan is now limiting crowds to the point that they have cancelled the emperor's birthday celebrations next week in Japan, to make
sure that if there's any risk there to the public of a further outbreak or a further spreading of the virus, that that would be contained by taking
some of these measures throughout the country.
Now, health officials are trying to figure out how many people may have been exposed to the coronavirus on the Westerdam cruise ship. This is an
entirely different boat. That's after an American woman tested positive on her way home.
The Westerdam is docked in Cambodia. It arrived last week after being turned away by several other countries. Passengers disembarked and hundreds
returned home. Now health officials are scrambling to track them all down.
The world's biggest pile of rubble, strewn with the corpses of a million children: The U.N. is warning that could be the future of northwestern
Syria, where Russian-backed government forces are trying to clear the opposition from their last major holdout.
The fighting has chased out some 900,000 people, unprecedented even by the standards of this long and brutal war. Most of the displaced are women and
children. CNN's Arwa Damon is the only Western journalist reporting from Idlib, and she found it's the children who are paying the biggest price.
Her report has images that you may find disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is barely enough light to see as we heard towards Samia's (ph) tent in one of Idlib's
sprawling camps. A couple nights ago, temperatures dropped well below zero, and the family didn't have enough to burn.
I fed my baby and he went to sleep, Samia (ph) tells us, still in shock. At 6:37, the children woke me up, screaming. I touched him, and he was icy.
The doctors told them he froze to death. Her husband walks out before he breaks down. She doesn't have a photograph of Abdel (ph) Wahab (ph) alive,
just this image as they said their final goodbyes. She can't forgive herself. She can't understand how life can be so cruel. Few people here
can.
We have made multiple trips into Idlib Province, none like this. Roads throughout the province are clogged with the traffic of those on the run,
unending waves. Many have been displaced multiple times before. But this time, it's different. They feel like no matter what they do, they won't be
able to outrun the war.
[14:10:13]
These children walked for seven hours in the middle of the night to get away from the bombing near their village. But it's not far enough.
They want to leave from here, but they -- they need to try to figure out transport or something because if they try to go walk, it would just be
impossible.
Down the road, Dima (ph) and Batoule (ph) clutch their stuffed animals for the last time. For theirs is a world where toys are not considered
essential, survival is. They don't cry or complain as they are loaded into the truck.
There is a sense of finality, claustrophobia compounded by the collective misery of those trapped here, with the regime rapidly closing in and
emptying out entire areas. One village settled down among these third- century ruins two weeks ago.
A little boy shows us a picture in his father's phone of the bombing overnight,
This is Muhanned (ph) and he's 10, and he said that he was very scared the last night because this entire area, the hillsides all around it were being
bombed.
They almost took off walking in the dark.
I would rather die than not be able to protect my children, Sefadim (ph) vows.
He used to be the village's elementary school director. His tent is considered a palace by this wretched existence's standards.
Two of his kids have fallen over into the stove. Oh, and her face, her face was burned.
His children are too young to know anything but war and hardship.
Let Trump get a bit angry and send a couple Tomahawks, Sefadim (ph) says, half joking. For those here know too well that in the world's view, they
are dispensable. The last nine years have taught them that.
Obeyid's (ph) tent is perched on a hilltop away from the countless other makeshift camps.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warnings! Russian fighter jet in the air.
DAMON: Our conversation is broken up by warnings from an app he has on his phone about where the planes are flying and bombing.
His elderly mother lies in the corner. She's been that way ever since they found out that his brother died in a regime prison, and the regime is
getting closer.
Yes, you can hear them. This is brother, who was detained in 2012 when he was part of the protests. And then in 2015, they got notification that he
was dead. This is the photograph they got of him, dead in prison.
All I have is this photo, just this memory, he says, haunted by his pain. Even if the regime tried to reconcile, it's impossible, he swears. You
can't trust them.
Nothing in this forsaken place is guaranteed. Gone is the schoolyard laughter and crowded classrooms. They have been converted into shelters and
smoke-filled living spaces. But even as new families arrive, some of those here are getting ready to flee again.
Sefadim (ph), who we met at the camp in the ruins, sends me a distressing voice message.
He's saying that the bombing was all around them overnight and that the aircraft are flying over the camps.
When we arrive, the sounds of the violence closing in echo through the hills. Sefadim's children are playing in the mud, seemingly oblivious to
the encroaching danger or just used to it.
They've called for a truck, but they're being told that there's no one who can come here that quickly because it's so -- the roads are so crowded and
clogged up with other people fleeing.
Those who managed to get transport are packing up. They still cling to a hop that someone, something will save them, that the world will realize it
can no longer turn away, that they won't be abandoned to desperately search for a lifeline that doesn't exist.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Idlib Province, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: And for all of us who have observed and reported on the Syria story over the last almost 10 years, it's difficult to imagine that
anything would leave you still as devastated, 10 years later, as it did on day one. But there you have it, this is where we are today.
[14:15:10]
And this is not bloody, there's no graphic warning. But it is probably one of the saddest videos to come out of Syria in the last few days. It's the
story I want to share with you of Salwa, who's three or four years old, and her dad, Abdullah (ph). So Abdullah (ph) doesn't want his little girl to be
afraid even though there is so much to fear, so he encourages Salwa to laugh every time they hear the sound of shelling. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNTRANSLATED)
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, it's obviously not the reason you want to hear a child laugh. And as Arwa Damon showed us in her reporting, life must go on in
Syria. And hope, in some ways, must persist.
Still ahead, he is the top U.S. law enforcement official, but William Barr is facing accusations that he's actually damaging the rule of law to
benefit Donald Trump. We'll look at new calls for Barr's resignation.
Also, an organization watching racism in Europe's football league says discrimination is more prevalent than ever and two recent incidents show
the best and worst of fan reactions. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. The U.S. attorney general is facing new calls to resign from more than 1,100 former Justice Department employees. They
issued a joint statement, saying William Barr is doing President Donald Trump's, quote, "personal bidding and has damaged the Justice Department's
integrity as well as the rule of law."
On Barr's orders, the Justice Department recently reduced its own prosecutors' recommended prison sentence for one of Mr. Trump's longtime
allies, Roger Stone.
Let's talk about this with Donald Ayer. He was deputy U.S. attorney general under Republican President George H.W. Bush and one of the signatories of
the letter. Thanks very much for joining us. You say Bill Barr must resign. Why?
DONALD AYER, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I think ultimately, we have these events that are ongoing now, which involve
probably the worst sort of injection of political considerations into the Justice Department's business.
When you're dealing with a criminal sanction and the way people are treated in the criminal process, it's more sensitive than anywhere else, that there
not be political interference or bias in the way the cases are handled.
But in Mr. Barr's case, we actually know a lot more and have seen a much longer track record than these recent events. Many people will remember
back to the early part of his term as attorney general, when the Mueller report came out.
And the Mueller report, actually, it turned out, contained very substantial evidence of obstruction of justice by the president, but Mr. Barr, before
it was released, you know, gave -- wrote a letter essentially indicating there was no evidence of it, and then gave a press conference on the same
point.
[14:20:10]
Same thing with regard to the investigation that was done by the inspector general for the Justice Department, an investigation that was done of the
Russian electoral interference. And the question was, had the FBI acted improperly in initiating the investigation or in a biased way in overseeing
it --
GORANI: Yes.
AYER: -- biased against the president. And in fact, Barr, when it came out and the -- and the investigation reported, no, it had not been improper in
those ways -- there had been problems with it, but basically it had been overseen properly -- he indicated he disagreed with that.
There's a whole series of things he's done to undermine the checks and balances of our government. We could go through a long, long list. I won't
bother with that, but now we have this.
GORANI: Do you believe -- yes. Do you believe that he, William Barr, the attorney general of the United States, is acting as the personal -- almost
as the personal attorney of the president rather than an independent law enforcement top, you know, justice official of the United States?
AYER: I think you could come away with that impression very easily, from watching what he's done. Because he has looked after those personal
interests.
But I think the problem is actually deeper than that. I think the problem is that Bill Barr has, throughout most of his adult life -- at least the
time that I've known him, which is almost 40 years -- he has nurtured an idea, which is actually quite an un-American idea. And it's the idea that
the president ought to have such unchecked powers that he is above the law.
Now, we're all pretty familiar with the idea, which I think we take on faith, that nobody in our system is above the law. That's the pride of our
rule-of-law system, is that everybody has to play by the rules. And Mr. Barr has not only done things but said things that indicates very clear
that he believes the president should be largely unchecked.
And so I don't know that he's working specifically for the president's interests. In some ways, I think the president is more a foil or a vehicle
for him to use to advance his own goal of achieving a presidency that is that unchecked and that essentially autocratic.
GORANI: If you've known him for 40 years, what do you think motivates him, then? Why would an attorney general and a man in his position embrace the
notion that the president should be above the law, who's -- a man whose decisions are unchecked by the Justice Department or even by another branch
of government like Congress?
AYER: Well, I've often wondered that myself. And you could speculate about possible reasons. I don't know the reasons. I'm prepared to believe that he
actually does believe that. I don't know why, as I say. And I think the bottom line is, it's a point of view that is completely unacceptable in our
system. And that's why we all say Mr. Barr must resign.
He is basically pursuing an un-American goal of a system of government in which the president is unchecked. And he's not only wanting to do it, he's
acting on it. And that's the real problem. He has done many things to undermine the traditional checks and balances.
Many people are quite aware of the things that were done to stonewall all investigations by Congress. Well, Congress has a very legitimate oversight
function. And he basically has come up with arguments and reasons and doctrines, and then just flatly asserted, people will not show up,
documents will not be produced. Congress can't get the president's tax returns, even though a statute says they're entitled to them. The list goes
on and one.
And now Mr. Barr --
GORANI: Are you --
AYER: Go ahead.
GORANI: Sorry to jump in. I was going to say, are you encouraged that Bill Barr ordered a new look, for instance at the Michael Flynn case or the case
against Andrew McCabe is being dropped. Those suggest, perhaps, that the attorney general is at least --
AYER: No, I mean, I think --
GORANI: -- is trying to -- yes.
AYER: -- the Andrew McCabe case should never have been brought in the -- never been investigated in the first place. It was a complete sham and it
was an effort to basically --
GORANI: But an effort by the attorney general -- an effort by the attorney general to sort of show that the -- or show -- tell the American public
that the Justice Department is independent of the -- of the White House?
AYER: Well, the attorney general, the other day, you know, made quite a show of a public statement, telling the president that he is interfering
int he department's business by tweeting about it. And essentially, you know, indicating his support for things the department is doing.
Mr. Barr did not say anything there, that he was going to do anything different. He didn't say he was going to stop his interference with the
Stone case, which is going forward. He didn't say he was going to stop his interference with the Flynn case.
He didn't say -- in fact, he went on to announce that he was going to have a committee of people who he apparently trusts, who are going to oversee
and second-guess a whole other collection of investigations going on.
[14:25:03]
So he is -- he is, if anything, accelerating his interference. The fact that after two years they have finally dropped the McCabe investigation,
which never should have existed in the first place, is hardly anything we can take comfort in.
GORANI: And lastly, what -- is this lasting damage, in your opinion, being done to the Justice Department? And if so, how do you recover from it
ultimately --
AYER: Yes.
GORANI: -- once we move on from Bill Barr?
AYER: Good question. Well, I think -- frankly, whether it's lasting damage or not depends an awful lot on how the American people respond to the
situation. And here we are. And the question is, what are they going to do and how are they going to respond?
Are we all going to sit around and just let this go forward as he now reaches into the most sensitive area of the Justice Department's business,
which, for at least the last 45 years, everybody who has anything to do with the Justice Department knows that politics and bias and personal
interest have absolutely no role to play in --
GORANI: Yes.
AYER: -- the decisions made in the Justice Department. He's doing it left and right now, and are people going to react to that? And I'm very hopeful
that they will, and we're just going to have to see how it plays out.
Obviously, if it continues on for a long time, it's going to be a terrible problem. And we are, in fact, I think, going to end up, if that continues,
living in a banana republic, as a district judge here handling the Flynn case said the other day.
GORANI: Thank you so much, Donald Ayer, the former deputy attorney general under George H.W. Bush. Thanks so much for joining us on CNN.
AYER: Thank you. Glad to be here.
GORANI: Yes.
We move on to a completely different story: two racist incidents at two European football games this weekend with two very different reactions.
First, a German football club says it is impressed by how its fans reacted to a racist incident on Sunday. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Chants of "Nazis out" can be heard in the stands as fans called out a spectator who made monkey noises -- frankly, completely unbelievable
that anybody would do this in this day and age. But, yes, you have spectators doing it. The fans said Nazis out. And fans helped out the
defender for law enforcement.
Incidents of racism in Europe's football leagues are getting worse, according to the British anti-discrimination organization, Kick It Out.
In Portugal, match officials are drawing criticism for failing to support another player facing similar insults. Christina MacFarlane has the details
of that racist incident.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the moment Moussa Marega had had enough. the Porto striker from Mali, the target of
racist abuse and money chants after scoring their winning goal.
Pointing to the color of his skin and raising middle fingers to the crowd, Marega attempted to walk off the pitch after being punished by the referee
with a yellow card for his reaction, his teammates attempting to stop him while the club manager reacted angrily to the fans attacking his player.
SERGIO CONCEICAO, MANAGER, FC PORTO (through translator): We are enraged by what happened. I know the passion that exists here in Vitoria for the
clubs, but I'm sure most fans don't identify with the attitude of some people who sat on the stands tonight insulting Marega since the warm-up.
PEDRO PINTO, INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL PUNDIT: They are taking it very seriously here in Portugal. It's a country that has not seen that many
episodes like this one yesterday. This is very rare here, and people are not even beginning to try to accept it. They're condemning it and they want
to punish those who are guilty.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): The 28-year-old Marega later took to Instagram, writing, I would only say to those racist idiots in the stands... Go F
yourselves. He also accused the referee of giving him a yellow card for merely defending the color of his skin.
PIARA POWAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FARE NETWORK: We are seeing players who are hearing this sort of abuse who want to walk off. And then there is
other individual teammates who want to stop them or the club, who disapproves of that sort of action. This is not new, this is something the
players are facing every week in international competitions across Europe.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): Police have now opened an investigation to identify the fans responsible, and the club have called it one of the low
moments in the recent history of Portuguese football. Even Portugal's president issued a strong condemnation on Monday.
As football continues to grapple with the scourge of racism, this yet another reminder of how players are often left to confront it head-on.
Christina MacFarlane, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Still to come tonight --
[14:29:58]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN ZENZ, SENIRO FELLOW, VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: This is the future of authoritarianism. This is the future of changing
populations who don't agree with the main regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Growing a beard, have too many kids, that could get you locked up in Xinjiang. Chinese government documents leaked to CNN reveal the excuses
used to lock up members of Xinjiang's Muslim population.
Also coming up, a city of 24 million people feels empty as Chinese officials restrict movement to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Over the past several years, China says it's been trying to root out Islamist extremism and terrorism in the Western Region of Xinjiang
through what it calls a massive vocational training program.
But critics and survivors say what it's actually doing is conducting a mass internment policy targeting members of the country's Uyghur Muslim
minority.
CNN's Ivan Watson obtained rare leaked documents from inside (INAUDIBLE) evidence that reveals an extraordinary level of surveillance and showing
that the Chinese government appears to be rounding up and detaining its own citizens for the most arbitrary reasons.
Here's Ivan's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Growing a long beard, making an international phone call, having a passport, these
are all reasons that can land you in what U.S. officials call concentration camps in China.
Chilling revelations detailed in what appears to be a Chinese government surveillance report on its citizens leaked from Xinjiang. That's a region
in Western China, where a mass internment policy has forced up to two million Muslims, mostly from the country's ethnic Uyghur minority into
detention.
WATSON (on-camera): The documents are spreadsheets of data on more than 300 families living in one neighborhood of (INAUDIBLE) County. They provide
highly detailed personal information, including national ID numbers, home addresses, history of foreign travel, religious practices and, whether or
not, they are a threat.
WATSON (voice-over): The authors believed to be Chinese government officials then decide whether to keep individuals in what the Chinese
government calls vocational training centers.
Beijing wants the world to believe this mass job training program is rooting out violent extremism. But several survivors tell CNN the reality
is these camps were crowded prison-like facilities where inmates were subjected to torture.
[14:35:08]
Due to China's crackdown and heavy curtain of censorship, independently confirming anything in Xinjiang is incredibly difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you here? You tell me. Why are you here?
On a recent visit to the region, Chinese security forces harassed and blocked CNN Matt Rivers from visiting the internment camps.
However, a CNN investigation tracked down Uyghurs living in exile, who verified the identities of at least eight of the families profiled in the
leaked report. The investigation takes us to Istanbul, Turkey.
Here, I meet Rozinsa Mamattohti, a mother of three from Xinjiang whose name is on the document.
ROZINSA MAMATTOHTI, RELATIVE OF DETAINEE (through translator): Rozinsa Mamattohti.
WATSON (on-camera): Rozinsa Mamattohti, that is you, that's your name.
WATSON (voice-over): Her name appeared under case number 358, which also revealed that her younger sister, Patem, was sent to a camp in March of
2018 for supposedly violating China's family planning policy that is having too many children.
MAMATTOHTI (through translator): When I saw the document and learned that my younger sister was in prison for the past two years, I couldn't sleep or
eat for days.
WATSON: Rozinsa says this is the first information she's had about her family in Xinjiang since 2016.
Many Uyghurs living overseas say communication with their family back home was completely cut off when China intensified its crackdown in Xinjiang.
But some Uyghurs are risking their lives to expose this sensitive information.
WATSON (on-camera): This is the first time you're speaking publicly about these documents.
Yes, this is the first time.
WATSON (voice-over): Tahirjan Anwar is a Uyghur activist living in exile in the Netherlands. Last summer, he received this trove of documents from a
source in Xinjiang he won't identify for their safety.
TAHIRJAN ANWAR, UYGHUR ACTIVIST: That was my birthday. And I got the attachment document. I'm very, very surprised.
WATSON: And it is Anwar, along with a patchwork of other Uyghurs living in exile who are sharing this information with the outside world.
ZENZ: This document is like a microcosm of what's happening all over Xinjiang.
WATSON: Adrian Zenz is a U.S. based academic who's been studying what he is convinced are internal Chinese government documents.
ZENZ: This is the future of authoritarianism. This is the future of changing populations who don't agree with the main regime in terms of
ideology, spirituality, political identity or other criteria.
WATSON: CNN's data analysis reveals among at least 484 people sent to camps, five were detained because they communicated with people overseas.
Twenty-five were detained for holding a passport without visiting a foreign country. And the most 114 people were labeled a threat for simply having
too many children.
WATSON (on-camera): Those Uyghurs were sent to four different camps, all apparently located within the same community. Using other open source
Chinese government documents, we were able to find the locations of the four facilities, including the number two Training Center, located near the
train (INAUDIBLE) station.
And this is where Rozinsa Mamattohti talked to the second older sister, Rozniyaz was sent, according to case number 597. Her offense, having a
passport and giving birth to too many children.
Rozinsa fears her family could be punished further, because she's going public.
WATSON (on-camera): Why are you showing your face to the outside world?
MAMATTOHTI (through translator): Because I love and miss my parents and my family so much. Because I want to know what's happened to them. I want to
know if they are alive and well. But if they are dead, I need to know that as well.
WATSON (voice-over): CNN reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Xinjiang regional government in writing with detailed questions, but
Chinese officials did not respond.
In the past, Beijing has strenuously denied allegations of mistreatment and arbitrary detention.
WANG YI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The so-called concentration camps with one million people are 100 percent rumors. It is
completely fake news.
WATSON: As for Tahirjan Anwar, he hopes that sharing these documents will force Beijing to ease its crackdown in Xinjiang and lead to information
about his own missing loved ones.
[14:40:04]
ANWAR: This is my father. He is now in the jail. I don't know what exactly crime of him. Chinese government, let's free my father immediately. And
let's free all Uyghurs immediately.
WATSON: Ivan Watson, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, you can read more about the crackdown in Xinjiang. See a redacted Chinese government PDF document and maps showing these secret of
detention facilities. That's on our website, cnn.com.
Almost 800 million people are living under travel restrictions in China and an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. That's almost half the
entire Chinese population.
Now travel is limited, the most Hubei Province that's ground zero in the outbreak, but it's also leaving the streets of major cities across the
country desolate. It just looks like some sort of movie scene where sort of humanity has melted away.
David Culver reports from Shanghai where life is anything but normal there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside Beijing South railway station passengers sporting a range of plastic protective
attire, this man dressed in a raincoat, hair net, and goggles. Another woman donning a plastic veil of sorts, purple latex gloves as she thumbs
through her phone determined to keep from contracting the novel coronavirus. Everyone abiding by the requirement to wear a mask. Security
patrols the terminal in hazmat suits, as one worker sprays a liquid bleach like substance around the feet of travelers. This is what train travel has
become in China.
Arriving in Shanghai, passengers file through a round of temperature checks. Then using smartphones, you are required to register your health
and travel history. Only then can you enter the city.
There we go.
The normally vibrant financial hub subdued. We stroll down the popular Nanjing Road, most stores closed. The shops that were open, eager for
business. To walk in, you go through what's become a standard temperature reading. Inside, the look on some of the employees' faces suggested they
are desperate for a return to normalcy.
CULVER (on camera): We are in the heart of Shanghai's financial district and just look how slowly things are moving. There's hardly any traffic at
what is normally a very busy circle. And as far as the lunch time rush, well we've seen maybe a few folks are out and about. But this certainly
does not feel like a city coming back to life.
Is that unusual?
YENA LEI, WORKER IN FINANCE: No.
CULVER (voice-over): Yena Lei tells us this elevated pedestrian plaza is normally packed, mostly with tourists trying to snap a skyline photo. As
someone who works in finance, Yena says this strange silence will come at a cost.
CULVER (on camera): Do you think that it's going to have a long impact though economically?
LEI: I think that overall the impact will be from April, May.
CULVER: Do you feel nervous?
LEI: A little but not too much. Just a reminder -- even my family is take care because out of control, out of your own control.
China's State Council had estimated at some 160 million people would be traveling in what was a post extended Lunar New Year holiday. However, as
we made our way here from Beijing to Shanghai, it seems as though those numbers may not come to fruition, at least walking around here, you also
get the feel that this city is not yet ready to restart.
David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, an armed robbery in Hong Kong has highlighted the desperation that this outbreak is causing. Police have arrested two men for allegedly
stealing 600 rolls of toilet paper and they're looking for third suspect. It was a three-man job, it appears. Staples like toilet paper are in short
supply.
Earlier this month, residents in Hong Kong cleared the shelves of supermarkets as rumors spread that supply chains from China would be cut
and that is one of the products that people are worried about running out of.
Still to come tonight. Next stop Nevada, U.S. Democrats are taking aim at each other at Donald Trump and at a candidate who isn't even running in
this state.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:37]
GORANI: The race for U.S. president is now focusing on Nevada where Democrats are campaigning hard ahead of Saturday's caucuses.
Turnout was vigorous for early voting over the weekend. M.J. Lee tells us a lot of attention is going to a candidate who is not even on the ballot yet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Democratic presidential candidates crisscrossed Nevada, uniting over an emerging rival
who isn't even competing in this week's contest.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a lot to talk about Michael Bloomberg.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got news for Mr. Bloomberg, and that is the American people are sick and tired of
billionaires buying elections.
LEE: Michael Bloomberg under fire as he continues to catapult in national polls, despite never appearing on a debate stage.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know I'm not able to beat him on the airwaves, but I can beat him on the debate stage. Because I
believe my argument for my candidacy is so much stronger.
LEE: The former New York City mayor focusing on Super Tuesday states, already spending over $400 million in advertisements nationally.
Bloomberg's rivals quickly attacking his past controversial policies like Stop and Frisk.
BIDEN: Sixty billion dollars can buy you a lot of advertising, but it can't erase your record.
LEE: Bloomberg once again issuing an apology at an event in Virginia.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is one approach that I deeply regret: the use of a police practice called Stop and Frisk. I
defended it for too long, I think, because I didn't understand the unintended pain it caused to young black and brown kids and to their
families.
LEE: But for Bernie Sanders, that's not enough.
SANDERS: We will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat Donald Trump if that candidate pursued, advocated for, and enacted racist
policies like Stop and Frisk.
LEE: Fresh off his victory in New Hampshire, Sanders also facing harsh criticism.
KLOBUCHAR: I'm the only one on that debate stage when asked, do you have a problem with a socialist leading the Democratic ticket, that I said yes.
And that is despite the fact that Bernie and I are friends.
LEE: Democratic delegate leader, Pete Buttigieg, acknowledging he has some work to do in diverse states like Nevada.
PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a process of earning trust with voters who have every reason to be skeptical, who have often
felt taken for granted by the Democratic Party. And so I am not going to take any vote for granted.
LEE: Former Vice President Joe Biden banking on minority voters after struggling in the first two states.
BIDEN: I have overwhelming support from minorities. I have overwhelming support from -- you can't win, you can't take it for granted. I'm the only
one who has the record and has the background and has the support. They know me. They know who I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: M.J. Lee reporting. While CNN's Athena Jones is live for us from Reno, Nevada. So who's feeling -- not competent, confident they're ahead of
these caucuses.
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Hala. Well, if you ask any of the candidates, they'll probably tell you they're feeling pretty confident.
But I've been following Bernie Sanders the last couple of days and he held a rally here. Not too far from here in Carson City, Nevada, and he
certainly has been expressing confidence as arguing that he's gotten momentum having won the popular vote in Iowa and in Nevada.
[14:50:58]
And one important thing to note here is that, you know early caucusing started already on Saturday. It goes until Tuesday. And so at a rally like
the one Sanders held yesterday, he was hoping that at least some of those supporters would go straight from that rally and go straight to early
caucusing sites. That's also something we saw him do in Las Vegas. The day before, he had a rally and then march with hundreds of people. He put the
number at 700. A straight to an early voting caucus site.
And one thing I should note, we've just learned this, this data -- this data point from a Nevada Democratic Party officials just a little while
ago, as of 9:00 a.m. this morning, already 26,000 people had come out to early caucus. And so that's, as a few hours ago. And that number, Hala, is
already about 30 percent of the total turnout for the caucus in 2016.
And so state party officials are saying, look, they're happy with the enthusiasm they're seeing. And they're saying that turnout here could set a
new record and that's exactly the sort of thing that someone likes Sanders wants to see. We've heard him say it in Iowa, in New Hampshire also here.
Getting big turnout is going to be key he believes to a win here. And it's one of the things that they've been focusing on trying to bring in new
voters into the process.
And I should tell you that one more thing we have from the Democratic Party is that 56 percent, so more than half of the people who have come out to
caucus already, were new, first time caucus goers. So that lends some credence to this idea that perhaps the electorate here in Nevada is
expanding. Hala?
GORANI: And I wonder, how do you explain this increased turnout potential? I mean, we don't have the final numbers, obviously, until the caucuses are
over. But what is behind this voter motivation, do we think?
JONES: Well, it could be any number of things. I mean, there you could see Democratic voters, a lot of the tops on a lot of democratic voter's minds
is getting rid of President Trump and choosing a nominee who can beat him, and so maybe there's enthusiasm there.
But certainly, if you were to talk to the Sanders campaign about this, they would say look, our hard work is paying off. We've had more than 250
staffers on the ground here in Nevada, 11 offices.
Since they launched their field operation back in June, they've knocked on more than 300,000 doors. And, you know, the -- getting out the Latino vote
has really been a focus for them in a state. This is the first diverse state really to be voting in this -- in 2020.
And so Sanders did very well among Latinos here winning them in 2016, even though he lost the state, he's hoping to do that again, and has made that a
real focus of his turnout efforts. So he would say it's their hard work that's paying off. Hala?
GORANI: And Michael Bloomberg, not on the ballot in Nevada, of course, but he'll get there soon enough. How are Democratic candidates sort of adapting
their strategies to the -- to the inevitable or at least to the expected entry of Michael Bloomberg into the race?
JONES: Well, I think that's a big question. How are they going to adapt their strategy? How can they go up against someone who's been spending
hundreds of millions of dollars it's hard to compete, but we're certainly hearing them mention Mike Bloomberg's name a lot. He's not on the ballot
here but he isn't a way competing. And he's certainly looms large on the -- in the Super Tuesday states that vote just a couple of weeks from now on
March 3rd.
So you heard Amy Klobuchar saying, look, he can't hide behind the airwaves. We want to see him join us on the debate stage. I can beat him at a debate.
I can't beat him in advertising.
You heard Joe Biden saying, you know, even millions of dollars in ads can - - can't hide your record.
And then we heard -- we've heard Sanders and his surrogates folks like the current New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, going after Bloomberg for what
they call this racist. They support for this racist Stop and Frisk policy. We heard Mayor de Blasio saying that yesterday to the crowd saying, look,
unfortunately, one of the chief proponents of Stop and Frisk which caused so much harm to black and brown families in New York, he's running for
president, that react -- that remark got some big boos in the crowd.
So this is something people -- people know that Bloomberg is looming around the corner and they're trying to begin to push back as his advances. Hala?
GORANI: Athena Jones, thanks very much, live in Reno.
Now to a different kind of race, Donald Trump's campaign manager posted this dramatic photo of Air Force One on Twitter insinuating it was from
this year's Daytona 500.
Well, the problem is the picture is actually from 2004, not 2020 when then President George W. Bush visited the Daytona 500. After this was pointed
out, the tweet was taken down.
Still to Come. A message we all need to hear one of the world's most famous conservationists tells us why we should still feel hopeful. Despite the
quote, dark times we're living in.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:55:15]
GORANI: Well, there was some catastrophic damage in some parts of the United Kingdom. Emergency teams in this country are trying to respond as
best they can to flooding and power outages after a storm hit parts of England and Wales.
Rescue worker, take a look here, helps people from their homes Monday in boats, literally. Police say one woman is presumed dead after being swept
away yesterday. Dennis is the second major storm to batter the country over just the past week.
And at age 86, British primatologist, Jane Goodall, is not slowing down in her activism as she pushes forward in the fight against climate change. She
spoke to Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE GOODALL, ENGLISH PRIMATOLOGIST AND ANTHROPOLOGIST: We're going through very dark times. Socially, politically, and especially environmentally, and
lots of people are kind of losing hope, because you get this message, think globally, act locally. But if you think globally, you get really depressed.
So the message is about acting locally. And the main message is that each one of us make some impact on the planet every single day.
I think one of the crazy thing is, the biggest difference between us chimps and other creatures is the explosive development of the intellect. So how
come the most intellectual literature ever tool the planet is destroying its only home?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What do you put that down to? How come?
GOODALL: We're putting economic development ahead of protection of the environment. We're forgetting we have part of the natural world. We depend
on it. And we don't seem to realize that if we go carrying on as though we can have unlimited economic development on a planet with finite natural
resources, it's going to be us extinct as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Jane Goodall.
Thanks for watching. I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
