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U.S. Judge Suspends Trump Travel Ban; White House Initially Calls Court Order "Outrageous"; Trump's Army Secretary Pick Drops Out; U.S. Defense Secretary: China "Shredded Trust" In Asia; Iran Responds To New Round Of U.S. Sanctions; Russia Blames Ukraine For Donetsk Violence; CBP: Refugees With U.S. Visas Allowed On U.S. Flights. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired February 4, 2017 - 05:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:21] ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Cyril Vanier. We are following breaking developments involving U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban.

CURNOW: The White House is gearing up for a legal fight that could go all the way to the Supreme Court. On Friday, a U.S. federal judge in Washington State temporarily blocked enforcement of the president's immigration order. In response the White House said it would seek an emergency stay of the judge's ruling.

VANIER: The travel ban sparked huge protests in the U.S. and around the world. It temporarily barred travel to the U.S. from several Muslim majority nations and suspended the admission of refugees.

But in the wake of the judge's order, U.S. Customs officials are telling airlines that cancelled visas will now be reinstated. Now at least one airline says passengers with valid visas or green cards can, indeed, board flights bound for the U.S.

CURNOW: The judge's ruling comes as the U.S. president is at his Mar- a-Lago Estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Here's Jessica Schneider with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, after one week of being caught up in the courts, President Trump's executive order banning immigration from those seven Muslim majority countries is halted tonight. A federal judge in Washington State put the brakes on the order, issuing a temporary restraining order that does halt this executive order.

But the White House tonight saying that they are fighting back. They say the Department of Justice plans to issue an appeal. The White House has continued to maintain throughout the past week, continues to maintain now even in the wake of this ruling from a federal judge that what President Trump did in issuing that executive order was completely lawful.

Now we understand that the Department of Justice will file an appeal, but it will not be immediate. We are waiting for that, it likely will not be in the overnight hours or early hours tomorrow.

Of course, this entire issue has been in the courts front and center for the past week. We have seen numerous judge's ruling on this, whether it was the day after president Trump issued that executive order or numerous civil rights groups filing lawsuits in the federal courts all over the country.

This is just the latest legal wrangling that has come up and now this puts that executive order out of commission. So what the Customs and Border Protection Agency has said. They said that it is now back to business as usual.

In fact, they had a conference call with the airlines. They said that airlines should begin resuming as usual that the government will be reinstating those visas they have actually taken out of commission over the past week and that airlines should remove some o of those travel ban alerts from their websites.

So going forward, Customs and Border Protection says that they will be moving forward as if it's business as usual, as if this executive order from President Trump was never signed, but the White House vowing to fight back. The Department of Justice, they say, will be filing an appeal, so to be continued. Jessica Schneider, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: OK. Here are more details about what is in Trump's immigration order, at the center of this legal battle. It bans travel to the U.S. for 90 days, from these seven Muslim majority countries, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

VANIER: The order also suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days until so-called extreme vetting procedures are put in place, and Syrian refugees for their parts are barred indefinitely under the executive order. Also people holding certain visas will have to undergo in person interviews in order to renew them.

CURNOW: Well, earlier, our Lynda Kinkade spoke with legal analyst, Paul Callan.

VANIER: And he explained to us the significance of the case and how the Washington State ruling is different from other state rulings on the travel ban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There are 1,200 sitting federal judges in the United States. This is a ruling by one judge, who is essentially overruling the president of the United States and has issued an order to bind every court in the United States. So usually you don't see that. Usually they just sort of stay to their own federal district when they issue a ruling. So this is a very unusual ruling.

LINDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's right. We have seen a number of courts issue a ruling on this executive order. How is this one different? This is nationwide.

CALLAN: Yes, this one is different. The other judges simply issued orders that pertains to their district. So, for instance, in New York, New York has one order, Boston has a different order. But this Seattle judge said, you know something the rules about getting into the United States affect the entire United States.

So, -- and I find it unconstitutional what the Trump administration has done and we for the sake of uniformity of approach, I'm going to apply this to the entire United States.

[05:05:07]And technically, he has a right to do so because he's a federal judge, not a local judge. But it's unusual, usually federal judges don't do that.

KINKADE: It was only a matter of time before the Trump administration responded. The White House calling the order outrageous, vowing to defend it. Can they succeed?

CALLAN: That's a great question. The Boston Appellate Court that looked at the order up there rules in favor of the Trump administration. So on balance, the Trump administration has some good arguments that they can bring to a higher court to say that this lower court judge made a mistake.

But, the appellate court out on the west coast, the Ninth Circuit Court is a liberal court and it's a court that might rule against the Trump administration and if that happened, it will all wind up in the United States Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Now, airlines have been instructed by the federal government to return to business as usual, meaning before Mr. Trump's executive order.

VANIER: U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave that word late Friday to major passenger carriers. It said the U.S. government would begin reinstating travel visas immediately.

CURNOW: An airline executive told CNN the agency's director will also allow refugees with valid U.S. visas to travel to the United States. Qatar Airways is now letting passengers from those countries aboard its airplanes heading to the U.S.

VANIER: A statement by its website reads "Nationals of the seven affected countries and all refugees seeking admission presenting a valid unexpired U.S. visa or green card will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival." CURNOW: Well, people in the region directly affected by the travel ban woke up to the latest news this morning. Let's go to Iraq. Ben Wedeman is standing by. Of course, Iraq is one of the countries listed in that travel ban. We understand Qatar Airways is allowing passengers to fly. No doubt many Iraqis will be on those planes?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand after speaking to officials at Baghdad International Airport that nobody so far today has shown up with the intention to travel to the United States. Keeping in mind, of course, Robin, there are no direct flights between Iraq and the United States.

And there is another thing, even if they wanted to get to the airport this morning, it might be a bit difficult because four of the major roads here in Baghdad have been closed because 4,000 people are participating in the Baghdad annual marathon.

Therefore, that might not be so easy. But nonetheless we know many Iraqis do have valid refugee visas whether it's part of the special immigration visas for people who used to work with the United States Army, the military, the embassy here but many people are hesitant to go rushing off to the airport.

Even after hearing this news because there is a very good possibility that the United States, that this executive decision could be reinstated as a result of further legal action from the United States, so there is a good deal of uncertainty.

Keeping in mind that those who travel to the U.S. with valid visas arrived there. Those visas were cancelled. They were sent back. So many people who have valid visas to the U.S. are hesitant to go at this point because they may find that while they were in the air between Baghdad and the United States, everything has changed yet again, Robin.

CURNOW: You make a good point there. What is the reaction, though? I mean, it's been a week now besides the confusion about this latest twist and turn in this drama. What are Iraqis saying about the overall ban?

WEDEMAN: I mean, by and large, they see this ban as an insult. An insult to a country that allied with the United States in the war against ISIS, the war against terrorism. There are more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel in the country support Iraq's effort to fight against ISIS.

Iraq is not Syria or Iran, which have a long and troublesome history of rocky relations with the United States. So many people feel it's an insult in the words of one former senior Iraqi official I spoke to a few days ago.

It's like spiting in the face of Iraq. Many people point out that thousands of Iraqi soldiers have died fighting ISIS. Millions have been made homeless as a result of the war against ISIS.

And, therefore, they don't understand why Iraq has been treated as, in a sense, a terrorist exporting country and really they feel this is a country that more than many others has been a victim of terrorism -- Robyn.

[05:10:12]CURNOW: OK. In Baghdad for us, Ben Wedeman, thanks so much.

VANIER: And CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott, joins us live now from New York. Eugene, how much of a road block is this going to be for the Trump White House? Can you put this in perspective for us?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, temporarily significantly, as we saw it, everything is back to normal as the executive order was not originally planned. So the White House' vision of making America safe again and focusing on national security by implementing this ban no longer stands as we currently discuss it.

But trust and believe that the administration is working on ways to prove that this ban, whose constitutionality has been questioned is actually in the best interests of the American people and legal.

VANIER: But that's only temporary as you mentioned and the White House may have lost a legal battle. It certainly hasn't lost a political war?

SCOTT: Absolutely not. This is one of the first steps, according to White House, of a larger system they hope to put in place that they believe will improve national security. If you recall, when it was rolled out, there was a suggestion that more than these seven countries could be added to this list.

And the ban could have been extended beyond the original amount of time that the president agreed to. So they arguably are going to move forward with this process because they think this is what's in the best interest in terms of the war on terror.

VANIER: Given what we know right now, how big is this politically for Mr. Trump? I mean, is this the kind of thing that ends up being a permanent stain on a record, on a presidency or does it fade into the background with time and depending on the White House' results?

SCOTT: Well, I think we saw in covering this election that almost everything could fade into the background with time when you constantly have issues surfacing, but this is the third weekend in his administration, which has only been three weekends, where there has been significant road blocks and push backs on policies that he's hoping to implement.

Whether or not he will be able to move forward with convincing the courts, which is what's most important right now, that this is legal and that this can help America and battle terrorism and achieve every goal that he set forth, that remains to be seen.

But we've seen organizations, non-profits on both sides of the aisle, in addition to lawmakers and people and policy argue for different things regarding this ban. VANIER: Eugene, Mr. Trump has made enemies in his first two weeks in office, I mean, with parts of the general public, with politicians, but isn't that exactly what some of his voters at least want him to do?

SCOTT: Yes in the short answer. I'm not sure he's made any new enemies. I mean, if we look at some of the wars that he has been battling. Some of them are continuations of issues that he addressed the day that he announced his interests in being president of the United States.

I say yes with some hesitation because I don't know that the primary goal of his supporters is for him to make enemies as much as for him to be their friend and to be their ally in government and that's what he's arguing he is doing. The reality is there are millions of Americans who disagree with him and them.

VANIER: All right. CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott, following this rapidly developing story with us here on CNN. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

CURNOW: And coming up, President Trump has lost one of his cabinet picks. Why his nominee to be the secretary of the army is out of the running.

VANIER: Plus more world reaction to the U.S. president's actions including Iran's moves after a new round of sanctions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:51]

CURNOW: We are live following breaking news, a big setback for President Trump's travel ban, a U.S. federal judge temporarily halted the order nationwide. It has suspended travel to the U.S. from seven major Muslim countries.

VANIER: The White House again defended its ban as legal and said it plans to appeal the ruling as soon as possible. In the meantime, at least one carrier, Qatar Airways says it is allowing passengers to board U.S.-bound flights as long as they have valid documents.

CURNOW: Well, President Donald Trump's pick for army secretary is withdrawing his nomination.

VANIER: Vincent Viola says it would be too difficult for him to untangle his business ties. The billionaire from New York owns a U.S. hockey team and founded several companies.

CURNOW: Viola says he is still offering his support to Mr. Trump and the administration.

And the new U.S. defense secretary says China has, quote, "shredded the trust of other nations in the South China Seas region." China has expanded sand bars into heavily armed islands. James Mattis made the remarks before le left to Japan. He was on his first tour through parts of Asia as part of the Trump team.

VANIER: Mattis reiterated the U.S. support for Japan's claim on the disputed islands, which China also claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MATTIS, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Today the minister and I discussed a security situation and I made clear that our longstanding policy on the Sankuru islands stands. The United States will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands and as such Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty applies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: China's Foreign Ministry responded to this, telling the U.S. to, quote, "stop making wrong remarks" and affirming that the islands are, indeed, Chinese.

CURNOW: Moving on, Tehran says it will take legal measures against Americans and U.S. companies after the U.S. announced it was hitting Iran with new sanctions.

VANIER: Iranian officials plan to release the names of the companies and people they say created and helped extremists groups in the region.

CURNOW: On Friday, President Trump said Iran was, quote, "not behaving." The U.S. Treasury Department applied the new sanctions to punish Iran for its recent test launch of a ballistic missile.

VANIER: Ramin Mostaghim joins us now. He is the Tehran correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times". Listen, tell me your assessment here.

[05:20:08]How much of what we are seeing from Washington and Tehran over the last week is posturing versus how much of it is real deep substantive policy change?

RAMIN MOSTAGHIM, TEHRAN CORRESPONDENT, "L.A. TIMES": I suppose on the surface, I can say on a diplomatic level it is escalating to a very dangerous climax. So, on the surface, this is escalations beyond no end and beyond any predictable future.

VANIER: Escalation beyond any predictable future, what do you mean?

MOSTAGHIM: I mean, that we don't know and can't anticipate anything is concrete for what happens on both ends. That they are escalating the tensions. Tit-for-tat diplomacy is going on. So be on the safe side, we can say the escalation is diplomatically will go on and on until something happens, until someone -- one side is trying to exercise self-restraint. Until then it goes to a very dangerous position.

VANIER: Are you saying that the risk of conflict has once again become very real between the U.S. and Iran?

MOSTAGHIM: Yes. Yes. Unfortunately, yes. Diplomatically, we can see that and any error, something, somewhere, may just provide the fuel for a very disastrous climax.

VANIER: And we are learning this coming from the Iranian news agency force that war games and military exercises are going on in Iran or will go on shortly. Is that part of -- what is that, sending a message to Washington, I suppose?

MOSTAGHIM: It just defies, yes, defines another mode of the Southern Republic of Iran and although we can say it was pre-planned drill, it seems that the name of it contempt of American sanctions, so the name of this drill, whatever is the content of the drill is defying and tit-for-tat diplomacy, unfortunately.

VANIER: All right, Ramin Mostaghim, the "Los Angeles Times" reporter in Tehran, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Something we definitely have to watch over the coming days how this escalates or not. At least how it develops between Washington and Tehran. Thanks.

CURNOW: And Mr. Trump's calls for better ties between the U.S. and Russia are also being put to the test. Violence has flared again in Eastern Ukraine and the new U.S. ambassador to the U.N. slammed the kremlin at her first Security Council appearance.

With more on that including Mr. Trump's expected phone call with Ukraine's president, CNN Claire Sebastian joins us now from Moscow. Mr. Trump has had a number of phone calls with a number of world leaders, some of them went so well. Some of them didn't go so well. What is the Ukrainian leader hoping to get from his phone call, his chat?

CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, I think the first thing he'll be looking for is a bit of clarity, because, quite honestly, a lot of the things that Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail were extremely worrying Ukraine, among them, the fact that he at one point that he might consider recognizing the independence of Crimea, which would be extremely concerning to Ukraine.

But add to the fact that this week or this time last week when Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin spoke on the phone, there was no mention of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia add that to the comments by the U.N., U.S.' U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, this week saying, the sanctions wouldn't be lifted until Crimea was returned to Ukraine.

Not only that, that she also blamed the escalation of violence in Eastern Ukraine on Russia. It was quite a turnaround in terms of the U.S. attitudes to Russia. So I think Mr. Poroshenko will want to hear some of this in Mr. Trump's own words.

Because as of yet, we don't have much currency as to what the president, himself, thinks, simply that speech from his U.N. ambassador, which, of course, the White House, as we know from CNN sources said it was fine with, but still nothing from the president, himself. So President Poroshenko will be very much looking for clarity from that -- Robyn.

CURNOW: And also, the clarity on what is going on the ground, there is a lot of confusion, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the violence is dramatically escalating?

SEBASTIAN: You are absolutely right about confusion, Robyn. I think, you know, we do know that the escalation of violence has been some of the worse that we have seen the OSCE, the independent monitor is monitoring the ceasefire on the ground.

That there have been unprecedented levels of ceasefire violations this week, that there have been, you know, best among soldiers or fighters on both sides and amongst civilians.

[05:25:11]But if you watch the Russian TV and media coverage here versus the Ukrainian, it looks like they're covering two different wars really. Russia is showing destruction in the town of Donetsk they say caused by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine is talking about destruction in the flash point town of (inaudible), a government-held town north of Donetsk (inaudible), and they are both blaming each other for violating the town of Donetsk ceasefire and to starting this in the first place.

But the one thing they do agree on, Robyn, is that the situation force civilians in the violence is getting increasingly dire. We know from eight agencies and from the independent monitors that the violence has knocked out critical infrastructure.

That there are civilians in that area, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands without heating and electricity. Of course, in the middle of winter that creates an increasingly desperate situation in that area.

CURNOW: OK, thanks so much. We will leave it at that. Claire Sebastian joining us there from Moscow.

VANIER: We will take a very short break. When we come back, our breaking coverage of suspension to the U.S. travel ban continues.

CURNOW: And how the White House says it will respond. That's ahead.

Plus, an expert on foreign policy says the legal fight over the travel ban is a key moment for the Trump administration. Why he says it could decide how President Trump acts in the months and years ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Hi, everyone. Great to have you back with us. I'm Cyril Vanier.

CURNOW: I'm Robyn Curnow. We are live with that breaking news, a new court ruling knocking down U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban.

[05:30:06]A U.S. judge in Washington State temporarily halted the travel ban nationwide. But the Trump administration has defended the ban and says it will challenge the court order.

VANIER: Meanwhile, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told airlines that the government will begin reinstating U.S. visas in order to affected international travelers. At least one airline, Qatar Airways says it will now allow people with valid documents to fly to the United States.

Earlier, I spoke with Scott Lucas about the political fallout over the Trump travel ban. He's a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham in England.

He is also the founder of EA World View, a website on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. I asked him what he thinks the Trump administration will do next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: This is a poker game. The judicial system has just put more shifts in the pot. It is calling the Trump administration to decide whether to fold or go all in.

Let's be very clear here, the Trump administration would impose this ban so quickly and did so without consulting agencies, carried out what is effectively an unprecedented move, even for executive orders, and that was a challenge to the system.

It very much was a challenge to its own agencies and to the judiciary, which said, if you don't like it, come back at us. Well, that has happened gradually over the past week. This really from Washington State has made the stand. This is unconstitutional.

Now, will Trump's advisers, notably Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, who drafted the order, will they continue? Even though the administration fired its own attorney general, Sally Yates, when she said this cannot be legally defended? That's where we are.

GORANI: Look, you put it mildly I think when you said it was a challenge to the system. But didn't Trump's voters send him to Washington to do exactly that, to challenge the system?

LUCAS: Well, with respect, you know, the America is not just founded simply on voters determine what is legal. You know, our founding fathers said in the 18th Century, it is not tyranny of the majority or tyranny of the minority, this has to be legally right what we do if defense of freedom.

And I think we're making an assumption here that all of Trump's voters would like to see him go this far. But in the end, you don't use polls to determine what is right and what is just.

VANIER: No, Scott, my question wasn't so much about the legality of this and of course, the courts are going to have to settle this. I should point out, this has happened to other administrations in the past, including Barack Obama, for something especially in the realm of executive orders to be challenged in court and struck down.

This has happened to many other presidents before. My question was on the politics of it, and how much this helps or hurts Donald Trump. It seems to me and again I get back to the same point that Donald Trump has a mandate to go ahead and pick a fight.

LUCAS: Yes. We don't know where the politics will wind up. I'd be a fool to make a prediction given how much American politics has changed in the last 18 months. But what I can say is that this is a fight which is continuing to escalate.

This isn't the same as say a challenge to Barack Obama's executive orders where at the end of the day, we get to some kind of resolution. The Trump administration has pretty much said, we are in office. We will do whatever we say we want. Come back at us.

Now that really has ruled out the possibility of compromise. Not only with the judicial system but politically, they signal that with Congress as well. So I have to say, this is an important moment.

If the Trump administration backs down in the face of this judicial ruling, it signals a significant change in its approach politically. If the Trump administration carries on and can defy the courts or when win a federal court ruling then that is a significant marker that maybe it does think with the minority of American voters, it can succeed with its agenda.

VANIER: Well, following up on that that's what I wanted to ask you. Do you think this is causing or going to cause a rethink in the White House of how to hand handle things going forward, how to govern? You know, might this be a learning experience or on the contrary getting back to that earlier point, are they just going to want to take that fight to Washington and the courts and the establishment going forward?

LUCAS: You know, the hopeful side of you would say yes. Perhaps it's time that everyone especially the Trump administration to step back, but not based on we have observed. Look, remember, this is a president who when he has been challenged in the courts in his personal affairs has insulted judges and has not been backed down.

He has a chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who has criticized the judiciary for being out of touch with America. He's got a press spokesman effectively Kellyanne Conway who has been willing to say play with alternative facts, if she doesn't like them. So no, they don't back down. So far they don't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Meanwhile, a group of women who voted for Donald Trump say that he is doing great things for the U.S.

CURNOW: In fact, they say the only criticisms they have so far are how the media and Democrats have treated him. Martin Savidge has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so elated I could hardly stand it. It was like the best early Christmas present I could have gotten. [05:35:04]MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These Arizona women love everything about President Donald Trump and can't understand it if you don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody in this country is against anything he said he's going to do, I really worry about their judgment.

SAVIDGE (on camera): Has he made any slip up, blunders, any mistakes in your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at this point for me.

SAVIDGE: The people he is surrounding himself with?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

SAVIDGE: The cabinet choices?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Incredible people, just incredible people.

SAVIDGE: But some wonder, is he moving too fast?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he's going to move forward quickly because he's going to do everything he said he can do. I don't think he is moving fast at all. I say keep on going.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): They see nothing wrong with the president, but plenty wrong with everyone else, beginning with Democratic opposition in Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a terrible thing that the left is doing to hold things up and it's so purposeful.

SAVIDGE (on camera): But doesn't that sound so much like what the Republicans were doing during the Obama administration?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they showed us.

SAVIDGE: Tell us differently.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly right. They showed up. These people are actually not showing up for the vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People really dislike him. I don't understand that because I love him. I love who he is. I love his transparency.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Speaking of transparency --

(on camera): What about the tweeting? Should that have stopped or should he control it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it. You know what it does, it leaves you out. SAVIDGE (voice-over): The "you" Eileen is referring to is the main stream media, which the group blames for what they see as a non-stop barrage of negative news about the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You push and you push and you push and you don't back off. Frankly, I'm fed up with it.

SAVIDGE: It's not the only thing these Trump voters are fed up with, they're also sick of the demonstrators who they say can't accept that Hillary Clinton lost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get over it. Move on. Let the man get to work and better our country. Stop with the protests.

SAVIDGE: Speaking of moving on, what's with Trump's seeming fixation on the inauguration crowd size?

(on camera): Why does he bother?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's fair for him to defend himself, that's all.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): And what about the president's claim of widespread voter fraud for which he's offered no proof and officials say didn't happen.

(on camera): Do you believe president Trump when he says he thinks there were several million votes cast illegally?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And I'm really glad that he's checking that system out. Just like he's checking out the immigration problem.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Trump's immigration executive order is another issue these supporters see differently. Seeing the move not as discriminatory but rather about safety for Americans

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know as a mother of four kids, I feel that it is the right of my children to grow up in a country where they feel safe.

SAVIDGE: But what about refugee children who are now banned from reaching the safety of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We lead with our emotions. This country's sunk, you can't lead with your emotions.

SAVIDGE: It's not all gloom and doom, despite the differences they see, these women believe we can unite as a nation under President Trump. In fact, they say, we already did, for a brief period inauguration day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just touching and everybody and it was a wonderful, it's kind of like, yes, this is a transfer of power peaceful, this is how America is.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CURNOW: Well, after a calm start to winter, strong storms ramp up across Western Europe.

VANIER: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more coming up.

Plus an Iraqi couple unable to reach their young son in the U.S., why his life depends on what becomes of the White House's travel ban. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:41:54]

CURNOW: Hurricane force wind gusts slammed the coast of France on Friday with yet another storm approaching this weekend.

VANIER: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is at the World Weather Center. Derek, what's going on?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hold on to your hats, I guess, is probably the best advice I can give to people who are waking up this morning or this afternoon, I should say and getting outside and just realizing that the weather is just not playing along across Western Europe.

But it has been quite a different story over the month of January. In fact, in the U.K., according to the U.K. Met Office, they only received about two-thirds of the average rainfall. So storm systems have been slow to ramp up across this part of the world, but that is quickly changing and it's all thanks to an increase in our good friend the jet stream.

The strong upper level winds that race from east to west and that helps drive the storm systems across the Atlantic Ocean. That's what you are seeing on our satellite loop. This is the low pressure system moving across U.K.

That's the low pressure responsible for the hurricane force winds across the coast of France. In fact, take a look at there, you won't believe I will pronounce this correctly, (inaudible) along the extreme northwestern tip there, 130 kilometers per hour.

That's equivalent to a Category 1 Atlantic hurricane. Whew, that's gusty stuff. Even one 89 kilometer per hour wind gust on Friday, but it wasn't just the winds. It was the heavy rainfall. In 24 hours, we experienced about 178 millimeters of rainfall outside of Marseilles.

Wow, a very stormy weather pattern to say the least. Guess what? There is more wind on the way. So you need to be prepared for this. This could definitely slow your travel down, and certainly bring down some small branches, if not electricity poles or lines going forward.

This is the second storm system that's going to batter the coast of France overnight tonight, Saturday night into early Sunday morning, then other storm system lines up behind it. But, really that storm is set to impact a little bit further to the north. If we zoom in on the latest radar across Central France, check this out, you can actually see the eye or the center of this quote/unquote, "hurricane" that reached the coastal shores of France. I put quotes around the word "hurricane" because it wasn't actually a hurricane.

But of course, we saw the wind gusts in excess of hurricane force. Now, this is the latest kind of overall perspective of the weather patterns over the continent of Europe. This is a storm system that will ramp up as it travels into the Alps into Adriatic, Rome into Athens. You've got a lot of rain headed your way.

So if you have travel plans across this region, double check your flight plans because they could be impacted by the wild February weather. How much rain, how much snow? Well, we could experience up to 50 or even 75 centimeters of snow across the Alps and into the Parides Mountain.

I want to bring you to the other side of the world quickly, just to give you a heads up on something we are monitoring closely, this is across the Western Pacific, just off the shores of the Philippines, a tropical disturbance starting to perk our interests, at least here at the CNN World Weather Center.

[05:45:04]The good news is that the majority of this moisture and wind will stay off the capital city of Manila. It should veer away to the north and east, but wow, it was a close call. You can see some of the rainfall totals into the Legaspi and Tacloban region anywhere between 15 to upwards of 30 millimeters over the next 24 hours.

But it certainly could have been worse because that system is just a few hundred kilometers off shore. Robin, Cyril, back to you.

VANIER: Derek, thank you. Did you refer to our good friend the jet stream there?

CURNOW: A technical term.

VAN DAM: Without it, we would not have weather. So, he is our friend.

VANIER: You are about ready to be a dad.

VAN DAM: Good time here.

CURNOW: Thanks so much.

VAN DAM: You are welcome, guys.

CURNOW: Well, you are watching CNN. Thousands felt the impact of the Trump administration's travel ban. We'll introduce you to a young Iraqi boy separated from his parents as his life hangs in the balance. Stay with us.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your World Sport headlines starting off with news that the American wrestling team has been caught up in the middle of when politics and sports collide. They found out that Iran has banned them from taking part in the Sports Freestyle World Cup, which is taking place in the middle of this month, from what appears to be the first action by Tehran in response to the United States prohibiting visas for Iranian nationals. Iran is one of the seven countries whose citizens are under a temporary travel ban following U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order last week.

Tiger Woods was so desperate to prove his form and fitness after a 17 month injury layoff. But another of those injuries has caused him to withdraw from the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday on the UAE after carving a miserable 77 in round one. The 14-time major champion deciding to pull out ahead of round two, citing persistent back pain and spasms as the cause.

The L.A. Lakers maybe having a season to forget, but at least their fans can look forward to the return of the legendary Magic Johnson, their former player who is widely regarded as the greatest point guard in NBA history.

Magic won five championships and earned three MVP awards while with the Lakers will act as an advisor to franchise co-owner. The hall of famer was an honorary vice president to the Lakers until last year says he is overjoyed to be back home. That's a look at your world sport headlines. I'm Patrick Snell.

CURNOW: We are live with breaking news on that new court ruling knocking down U.S. president Donald Trump's controversial travel ban. A U.S. judge in Washington State temporarily halted the travel ban nationwide. But the Trump administration defended the ban and says it will challenge the court order.

[05:50:06]VANIER: Meanwhile, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection told airlines that the government will begin reinstating U.S. visas to affected international travelers. And at least, one airline, Qatar Airways, says it will now allow people with valid documents to fly to the United States.

Democrats are praising the suspension on the ban. Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said in a statement, "This ruling is a victory to the constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer."

CURNOW: He continued, "President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all.

Well, Donald Trump is just two weeks into his presidency. But according to one poll, most Americans are not happy with what they see so far. And a new CNN/ORC poll shows only 44 percent of people surveyed approved of how Mr. Trump is handling his job, while 53 percent don't approve, that's the highest disapproval rating for any newly elected president as polls began tracking those numbers.

VANIER: And it looks like there might be several specific reasons for that. According to the poll, 53 percent of Americans are against the travel restrictions that the president put in place last week. While six in ten oppose his efforts to build a wall along the Mexican border.

CURNOW: And the travel ban affected seven countries. Among them Iraq and the human impact of that move has certainly been well documented.

VANIER: We bring you now the story of a young Iraqi boy separated from his parents. Here's Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They give you these little gas heaters heat up and if you don't unclog it, a fire breaks out, then by the time they got him the plastic melted and fell on his face and feet.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was Delverin Muhsin's (ph) his 1st birthday, Iraq, January 4th, 2016, in an instant the soft cartilage of his nose, lips and most of his face ravaged. The images are tough to see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You realize there is something different about him and it's really sad because these kids, they run away, they're all scared of him.

GUPTA: The name Delverin (ph) means wounded heart and his story is complicated. It's a story of being trapped. His Yazidi family fleeing from ISIS to this refugee camp and now trapped in the United States without his parents.

You see this woman, (inaudible), is not Delverin's mother. She is not even a relative. She is simply a kind stranger. Delverin's parents, a world away. We tracked them down in Northern Iraq.

It's really hard, his father said. He's a little boy. He needs his parents. So what happened here? Well, after the fire and burns the British aid group, "Road to Peace" arranged for Delverin and his father, Ajeel (ph) to come to Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston for a series of operations to slowly release the contractures of his chin and lower lip allowing him to take a bottle again. But with his wife about to give birth back in Iraq, he couldn't stay and begged Adlay (ph) to watch after his son.

(on camera): At that point they say to you, please take care of him, we'll be back?

ADLAY KEJAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, YAZIDI AMERICAN WOMEN ORGANIZATION: Yes, so you know, they said, we'll be back, four-to-six weeks the most because they weren't sure of the exact due date for his wife. Six weeks go by, a month, two months, now we're at three months.

GUPTA (voice-over): When Delverin's little brother was born the day after the election, his parents grateful that the United States had provided medical care decided to name their newborn son, Trump. That's right. Trump Ajeel Muhsin.

We want to show our appreciation to America for what they are doing for our boy. That's why we named him Trump. Then despite being initially approved in early January their visas were revoked. They were in Iraq. The 2-year-old was in the United States.

His father said they didn't give us visas because they thought we would go there and stay. We want to finish our son's treatment, then return home. CNN did reach out to the State Department for comment and are told, quote, "We are not able to discuss the details of any visa case." Then things got even worse.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.

GUPTA: President Trump, likely made it impossible that his namesake, along with mom and dad, will travel to the United States any time soon.

KEJAN: That's what we're afraid of. Is they have to wait 90 days, which maybe he doesn't have that. He needs the surgery as soon as possible.

GUPTA (on camera): What is this sentiment or the emotion? Are they angry?

KEJAN: Not really, just sad and hopeless. They don't know what to do.

[05:55:08]GUPTA: Do you think there will be an exception made?

KEJAN: We are praying for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: It's worth pointing out again exactly why these visas were revoked, according to immigration officers, they say these parents could not show that they have strong enough ties in Iraq. The concern is they might come to the United States and not leave.

And the family says, look, we had visas, we could have come to the United States. Mom was pregnant at the time. Baby Trump that you just mentioned in the piece could have been born in the United States, would have been a U.S. citizen, but they chose not to do that and they want to go back to Iraq.

So that's the case that they're making. They're going to go back on Sunday to the Immigration Office once more and try and make this case and say they should be the exception to the rule. They should be the exception to this 90-day ban. They want to be with their son. We'll see what happens. Back to you.

CURNOW: Thanks so much to Sanjay, a very, very powerful story there, heart breaking, too. But we do have some good news about an infant girl from Iran who is in need of heart surgery. She should be allowed into the U.S. as early as next week. The child and her parents were on their way to Portland, Oregon, to consult with pediatric surgeons. VANIER: But then the Trump travel ban went into effect and they were suddenly turned back. Late Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the girl and her family had been granted permission to come to the U.S.

CURNOW: And that's it for us here at the CNN Center. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Robyn Curnow.

VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier. "EARLY START" begins in just a moment. That's with Christi Paul and Victor Blackwell. A good reason to stay with CNN.

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