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CNN NEWSROOM

New Immigration Rules could Increase Deportations; Ceasefire Violations Reported in Eastern Ukraine; Milo Yiannopoulos Resigns from Breitbart; Fears of a Deep State in U.S. Government. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 22, 2017 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:10] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles and London.

Ahead this hour --

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Immigration crackdown: new details of the sweeping plans to deport potentially millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States.

VAUSE: It's too little, too late -- the U.S. president publicly condemns anti-Semitism and says more needs to be done after a wave of attacks targeting the Jewish community.

SOARES: And rock 'n' hall of famer Eddie van Halen will join us. His quest to get instruments into the hands of as many kids as he possibly can.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. I'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause.

SOARES: And I'm Isa Soares. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: The Trump administration is effectively putting millions of undocumented immigrants on notice. They are all targets of deportation. This is a major shift in U.S. immigration policy.

In the past, officials focused only on undocumented immigrants who committed crimes but not now. The government has issued new guidelines and new rules for border agents and local police.

SOARES: While protection for the children of undocumented immigrants known as dreamers, well, they will stay in place; thousands more border patrol agents will be hired and immigration officers can make decisions on the spot about whom to arrest. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The memo regarding the executive order of border security and immigration enforcement improvements outlines the steps that DHS will take to secure the nation's southern border, prevent further illegal immigration and to repatriate illegal immigrants swiftly, consistently and humanely. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Democratic strategist Matthew Littman joins us here in Los Angeles and from San Diego, Trump supporter and psychologist Gina Loudon. Thanks both to you for being with us.

So Gina, starting with you -- Donald Trump has repeatedly said the crime rate is skyrocketing. He's also said illegal immigration is out of control. Both of those statements are not correct. Critics say he's linking these two things together and essentially these tough new measures on illegal immigration are based on a lie.

GINA LOUDON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, I don't know where exactly you're getting your numbers because the numbers that I have seen say that yes, crime is definitely on the rise. But more importantly, experientially I live right on the border.

I am literally on the border of Mexico, see it every single day and I know from my legal immigrant neighbors who are most of my neighbors ironically -- I live in a largely legally immigrated neighborhood with a lot of illegal immigrants also.

And they tell me that, you know, they are scared. And that they do want something done to secure our borders for their children. Most of them have had some sort of crime. You know, most of the crime that is perpetrated by an illegal immigrant is on a legal immigrant. And that's no secret to the people in my neighborhood.

VAUSE: Matt.

MATTHEW LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, just in terms of the facts, we have the lowest number of people coming over without documentation. A quarter of the amount of people that we had in the year 2000 -- those numbers keep going down every year.

So when the Trump administration talks about a surge of immigration, illegal immigration coming from Mexico, that's absolutely not the case. The numbers are going down and down every year.

This is an excuse. They're going to spend about $25 billion to build a wall, billions more to bring in new agents on this. There are a lot better ways to spend this money and what we're doing is we're deterring people who want to come to this country.

The United States' economy is actually built on immigrants, people coming in with new ideas, people coming in who really love this country. To want to keep them out of the country seems like a big mistake to me.

And Trump is promising 4 percent economic growth this year. You're not going to have 4 percent economic growth if you're not letting people in the country.

VAUSE: Ok. During the White House briefing --

LOUDON: Matthew -- I don't think that -- I don't think that President Trump said anything about keeping people out of the country. I think that he, himself of course, is married an immigrant. I think we have to remember that. He's very welcoming and I've never heard him say a single thing about legal immigrants coming into this country. In fact, I think --

LITTMAN: Ok.

LOUDON: -- the vast majority --

LITTMAN: Well, what about people from -- what about the Muslim ban? What about the Muslim ban? Seven different countries where he said we're not going to let people in from those countries. There are people who are refugees --

LOUDON: Well, those were Obama's target terror countries. That has nothing to do.

LITTMAN: No, they're not actually.

LOUDON: That's not a Muslim ban. That was a temporary travel ban that was Obama's list of the most dangerous countries were those coming over --

LITTMAN: Two different things.

LOUDON: Yes, it was. It was Obama's list -- 100 percent.

LITTMAN: So Rudy Giuliani, the gift to cable television because he can't stop yapping, said that Donald Trump called him and asked how I could do a Muslim ban legally. So are you telling me that Rudy Giuliani was lying about this?

[00:05:00] LOUDON: I have no idea what Rudy Giuliani thinks or doesn't think -- but all I can tell you is that in practice and by every standard of every expert, it's a temporary travel ban, based upon Obama's hot list of the most dangerous terror countries. I don't want my kids killed in a terror incident and I doubt you do, either -- Matthew.

VAUSE: Ok.

LITTMAN: So Sean Spicer said, by the way, that there were no imminent threats from any of those countries.

VAUSE: Ok. But let's (inaudible) -- we need to get to the President's comments on anti-Semitism. He's finally spoken out after a wave of attacks on the Jewish community. Essentially this is what he said. Let's listen to what the President had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The anti-Semitic threats, targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Matt someone said that it's too little, too late.

LITTMAN: That seemed very sincere and emotional. He was reading that off of a card in front of them. He basically had to be dragged, kicking and screaming to make them. He tweets a lot about "Saturday Night Live". He tweets about a lot of different things. He can't manage to talk about anti-Semitism.

Let's remember during the campaign, he put out that picture of a Jewish star over a pile of money. Let's remember when he met with some Jewish groups. He said I'm a great negotiator like you. Let's remember that Steve Bannon is his closest adviser.

So when we talk about him not being able to condemn anti-Semitism, it's insincere and it's too late.

VAUSE: Gina.

LOUDON: Again, Matthew -- you have an interesting illustration of things that you believe happened because first of all let's consider that one of the closest people to him is Jewish, of course. Not to mention his own daughter is Jewish. So these arguments really don't make sense.

But even more than that just last week, wasn't it that he met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. So I don't know what you want they guy to do inside of 40 days. But I say this is a pretty demonstrable record of someone who is very committed to eradicating anti-Semitism.

VAUSE: Gina, if I may interrupt, why did it take very long for the President to speak out on anti-Semitism -- Gina? Why did it take so long?

LOUDON: I don't think it did. I think meeting with Bibi Netanyahu was a definite statement that he's not in any way going to condone any sort of anti-Semitism in this country.

LITTMAN: There's no -- there's no --

(CROSSTALK)

LITTMAN: Gina -- you're a psychologist. There's no connection. Meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the lone democracy Israel in the Middle East, does not have anything to do with anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism is a different issue. There have been bomb threats at Jewish centers around the country going on for a month. Those numbers have increased. The increase in anti-Semitism around the country -- groups talk about this all the time -- Donald Trump when he was asked it about twice at press conferences talked about his Electoral College victory or shot down the person who's asking him the question.

Jewish groups have been practically begging Donald Trump to make a statement. That's the statement that he chose to make --

LOUDON: And he did.

LITTMAN: -- It's too little, too late.

LOUDON: And he did. I don't know -- what do you want him to do exactly -- Matthew? Because he did -- he made the statement --

LITTMAN: How about appearing to be somewhat sincere --

LOUDON: I mean you're going to criticize the guy for what he did do that you were asking him to do?

LITTMAN: Yes. That's right. Yes. Because he should have done it a lot sooner.

LOUDON: How could Donald Trump win with you -- Matthew? How could he have done this better inside of his first month in the presidency? And he's been literally meeting with Bibi Netanyahu and also --

LITTMAN: Benjamin Netanyahu has nothing to do with this.

LOUDON: -- speaking out against anti-Semitism the first chance he has.

LITTMAN: What does Benjamin Netanyahu have to do with anti-Semitism? What's the connection? The Israel thing is not a connection

LOUDON: That's supporting Israel.

LITTMAN: That has nothing to do with anti-Semitism in the United States. These are two completely different things.

LOUDON: It has a lot to do with anti-Semitism in the United States.

LITTMAN: No it doesn't. There are threats to Jewish --

LOUDON: It absolutely does.

LITTMAN: -- Gina, let me finish.

There are threats to Jewish community centers every day -- right. I know, like we want to send my kids to a temple and we're worried about my kids going to that temple. The increases in anti-Semitism that have been going on for the last couple of months -- everybody knows about it. Everybody's talking about it.

Donald Trump won't talk about it. One out of every five days he's playing golf. He tweets about "Saturday Night Live", all the other things he cares about. He has shown that he does not care about this.

And if you watched that statement just now, does that seem like somebody who's really upset about anti-Semitism in this country?

VAUSE: Ok. And on that note --

LOUDON: It did. He's affect actually --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Ok.

LOUDON: -- I felt was very sad and very concerned.

VAUSE: Ok. And on that note, we'll say, we'll leave it there.

Gina Loudon in San Diego, Matt Littman here in Los Angeles -- thanks to you both.

LITTMAN: Thank you.

LOUDON: Thanks -- John.

SOARES: Now how do you know when a cease-fire has failed? Well that is the question right now in Eastern Ukraine. We have various reports of violations as the truce enters its third day. Ukraine's military spokesman says there are signs the fighting is dying down. But others are less hopeful about the prospect of peace. Pro-Russian separatists and government forces have been fighting off and on since 2014.

[00:09:58] Joining us now is CNN's Clare Sebastian. She's live for us in Moscow this hour.

And Clare this seems to be shaping up to be a ceasefire in name only. What do we know about the ceasefire violations?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Isa.

I think it was interesting at the U.N. on Tuesday. The head of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- that's the group that's monitoring the ceasefire. He said it's not looking good. Those were his words.

And you know, we have seen in the first few days of this ceasefire since it came into effect at midnight local time on Monday violations numbering in the hundreds, according to the OSCE.

Now it is all relative. They did say that over the weekend before the ceasefire came in there were ceasefire violations numbering in the thousands. But these have ranged from, you know, small arms fire to heavy artillery. Things like rockets and mortars, things that are banned on the Minsk that need to be withdrawn to a safe distance from each other.

According to the Minsk Agreement that, as far as we know, has not happened yet. They are still (inaudible) together according to the OSCE and that leaves open the potential for further flare-ups.

Now as to whether there is hope for the situation to be brought under control, I did ask the head of the OSCE monitoring mission in Eastern Ukraine Alexander Hug, if he thought this was possible. He says he thinks the two sides can do it. He thinks they are capable. The problem is a lack of trust between the two. And I think we see that that currently in this situation is severely lacking -- Isa. SOARES: Yes, absolutely. And meanwhile, not helping the trust factor, Clare, is the fact that President Putin has announced he's going to recognize passports that are issued by rebels in Ukraine. Action, which has been condemned by several countries as it undermines the Minsk agreement you've been speaking of, Clare.

So how can we read this? Does this move by the president further deteriorate any hopes of any kind of peace deal?

SEBASTIAN: Well, I mean I refer again to the head of the OSCE who's monitoring this mission, he said it does make the ceasefire more difficult to implement, you know. Again, one of the tenets of the Minsk Agreement is to give Ukraine full control over its eastern border and that will ensure it has full control over that. And this certainly complicates that, you know.

Ukraine has reacted angrily to this. President Poroshenko calling it a violation of international law saying, you know, it proves further that Russia has occupied that region. He said, again on Tuesday urging the E.U. to tighten sanctions against Russia over this move.

Russia says it's a humanitarian decision for their part. They are denying it's a violation of international law -- Isa.

SOARES: Clare Sebastian, joining us there from Moscow. The time is 12 minutes past 8:00 in the morning. Thanks very much -- Clare.

VAUSE: Malaysian officials want to speak with an official at the North Korean embassy and an airline employee as part of Kim Jong-Nam's murder investigation. Police have also increased security at the mortuary where Kim's body is being held after an attempted break-in. They're offering protection to any family member who comes forward to identify Kim's body. The half brother of the North Korean leader was killed last week in Kuala Lumpur.

Well, still to come here, the government in Washington, they always leaked but not like it has been in the past few weeks. Some say it's part of a dark movement to undermine the Trump administration.

Also a right-wing firebrand leaves his job amid controversy. We'll have more on the exit of one of Breitbart's biggest names.

And rock legend Eddie Van Halen making sure students get the chance to learn and play music. The rock 'n' roll legend will join us later this hour.

[00:13:30] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: For years he's been a rising of the alt-right. Many ultra conservatives embrace Milo Yiannopoulos as the ultimate truth teller, a champion of free speech.

As a senior editor for the alt-right Web site Breitbart, Yiannopoulos (inaudible) at will women, Muslims, gays and blacks. But now it seems he's finally gone too far with flippant comments seeming to endorse pedophilia. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILO YIANNOPOULOS, BREITBART: It can (inaudible) in the homosexual world particularly. Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-are relationships, the relationships for most of those older men have helped those young boys to discover who they are --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds like Catholic priest molestation to me.

YIANNOPOULOS: And you know what, I'm grateful for Father --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That interview happened over a year ago but was recirculated over the weekend on social media sparking outrage even among some of his loyal supporters. And on Tuesday Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart and offered an apology of sorts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YIANNOPOULOS: I haven't ever apologized before. And I don't anticipate ever doing it again. Name-calling doesn't bother me and misreporting doesn't bother me. But to be a victim of child abuse at the same time be accused of being an apologist for child abuse is absurd.

I regret the things that I said. I don't think I've been as sorry about anything my whole life and it isn't how I wanted my parents to find out about this either.

But let's be clear about what's happening here. This is a cynical media witch hunt from people who do not care about children. They care about destroying me and my career and by extension my allies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, for more, we're joined now by Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES". So Brian -- not much of an apology from Yiannopoulos, was it?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: No. Not at all. He quickly turned from somewhat apologize to defiant and self- aggrandizing, vowing to build up his own brand bigger than ever in the future. And now that he's left Breitbart, lost his book deal and been uninvited from CPAC (ph).

You know, what a difference a week makes. He was on the "Bill Maher Show" last weekend talking about his controversial views throwing bombs as he tends to do every single day. But then after that tape came out, the tape you just played over the weekend, that caused CPAC to back out, it caused Simon Shuster to cancel the book contract.

This press conference today was an attempt to regain control of the narrative. But I think this really goes to show, John, we're talking of a professional provocateur, someone who goes out of his way to shock and offend I wonder where this kind of moment, all of a sudden where people are rethinking the business relationships with him.

VAUSE: Well, let's listen to some of Yiannopoulos' previous repugnant comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YIANNOPOULOS: You're (inaudible) job in the United States of America, what is wrong with you?

If Hillary gets her way, Muslim migrants are going to come in here and arrive with this signature delicacies -- lamb chops, yogurt and gang rape.

He said it's a racial supremacist movement. It's Black Lives Matter.

In don't entirely believe in lesbians. There are, of course, a small -- a tiny proportion of, you know, the dungaree wearing types. You know, with the short hair cuts. Your gender studies professors who probably will never see -- more out of lack of options than preference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, you know, let's just recap. His supporters are on the right, especially about anti-Semitism is ok, racism is ok, misogyny is ok. But these comments about pedophilia, that's crossing the line now.

STELTER: Right, it is illogical. Some of his supporters fall back on the idea that a lot of what he's saying is just humorous. That he's making jokes intended to shock people but really he's just kidding. He's not actually anti-Semitic. He's not actually a racist, et cetera, et cetera. So he says these things then tries to put them in a cloak of humor. And we've seen that in the alt-right as well.

Milo says he's not part of the alt-right but that's a similar strategy on these alt-right Web sites to say things that are Islamophobic, that are homophobic, et cetera. But then to say it's all just an act. It's all just humorous.

Sometimes Milo is described as a conservative journalist. But doesn't that really does a disservice to conservatives and to journalists? What he's trying to do is be a professional provocateur.

[00:20:06] And we'll see if he can do that now without Breitbart and without this book deal. He said he's going to go release his book some other way and he's going to launch his own media company.

But I'm going to be really curious to see if a year from now, his visibility is as significant as it is today.

VAUSE: Well, to that point, during the news conference he did say that all of this is actually fantastic. It's a new beginning, a great opportunity, kind of.

Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YIANNOPOULOS: This has not been a pleasant 48 hours for me. I have an opportunity now through what has happened to reach an even larger audience and I intend to do so.

VAUSE: So I guess the question is, you know, will he fade away? And if he does aren't there plenty of others who are willing to take his place? There's money to be made here.

STELTER: That is true. That is true. Originally this was reported to be a $250,000 book deal from a division of Simon and Shuster. I do think he will go take his book somewhere else and try to publish it or self-publish if he has to.

But to your point about a long of line of others, what we've seen over the years is this conservative media entertainment complex. I think intellectual conservatives would dismiss it and say they're not real conservatives who like Milo, don't really hold conservative values. But what we've seen is this entertainment style, whether it's talk radio or whether it's Twitter yakkers. People that are making profits from being sensational, being shocked (ph), you know, nowadays in various ways by supporting by President Trump.

These are not journalists. They're not really the new media. They're this kind of opinion area, this entertainment complex of which this man has been a part of. We'll see if he changes his brand or his identity as a result of the past two days of headlines.

VAUSE: Great. Ok, Brian -- good to talk to you. Thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

SOARES: Now leaks from within the government are nothing new in Washington, we all know that. And now U.S. Presidents have complained about them for years.

But the intelligence leaks surrounding President Trump's short-lived national security adviser Michael Flynn have some asking if a shadowy deep state is forming within the government to undermine the administration.

I want to bring in CNN security analyst Stephen Hall who just wrote a piece about this very issue for cnn.com. He joins us now from Tucson, Arizona with more.

Stephen -- thank you very much for joining us.

I want to kick off our discussion really, if you can explain to our international audience what a deep state actually looks like.

STEPHEN HALL, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the theory behind deep states or deep government if you will, and again you mentioned there was a "New York Times" article recently that discussed this, is take the United States, for example. The theory would go something along the lines of inside the government you have a group of federal employees who have organized themselves against the newly elected President of the United States Donald Trump because they don't like his policies, they disagree with him.

And what they can't gain in an election they're going to try to undermine from within the government. And of course, their favorite weapon, if you will, if you believe the theory would be the leaks that you were referring to previously.

SOARES: Stephen we know that leaking is not new. We know the intelligence offices are apolitical so why are we seeing this level of leaking, leaks as you mentioned that resulted in the swift removal of Michael Flynn?

HALL: And not being a social scientist, I haven't gone over the data and seen whether there has been an increase in leaks. There has certainly been a high impact of the leaks recently. I think Mike Flynn is a good example.

And again, if you buy into the theory of the deep state, what would have happened there is as the intelligence community would have leaked the information specifically with regard to Flynn being in touch with Russian ambassador Kislyak in Washington and discussing with him perhaps the rollback of sanctions against Russia once the President was inaugurated.

Now, I think the reality of the situation is that, as you allude to correctly, leaking is sort of -- it's a sport in Washington. There is no president I don't think in the history of our country that has not complained about it. So -- but again, the theory is this is a favorite weapon of these folks who were in the deep state, if you believe that theory.

SOARES: Of course, we should be very clear. It is serious as well as this leaking is illegal. But some will go as far as saying, Stephen that President Trump has pretty much brought this upon himself when he made disparaging remarks and belittled the intelligence community. Is that a fair statement?

HALL: Well, first of all I'd like to draw attention to your first statement. Absolutely, there is no doubt that leaks are illegal and they need to be investigated. And I think you can also make the case reasonably that there may be an increase in leaks in Washington right now and especially perhaps from the intelligence community because of, you know, some of President Trump's very inflammatory comments comparing the intelligence community to Nazi, Germany and calling into question their professionalism overall.

[00:25:05] But I think at the end of the day, what you have to ask yourself is really what is more likely here? Is it likely -- is it more likely that there is, you know, a deep organization inside the government intent to secretly try to undermine the President of the United States or is it more likely that the President of the United States is very concerned about the allegations, serious allegations that have been raised with regard to his campaign's contact with Russia?

And when that happens he immediately says we need to be focused on these leaks. We need to be focused on the deep state.

I'm thinking that the second option is probably the more reasonable one.

SOARES: And I thought you might say that. Stephen Hall -- joining us there from Tucson, Arizona. Great to see you. Thanks very much. I wish we had more time to talk of this with you. Absolutely fascinating. Thanks -- Stephen.

HALL: Sure.

VAUSE: Well still ahead here, a rock legend is helping bring music back to schools, one guitar at a time. The one and only Eddie Van Halen joins us here in the studio. You will not see him on Amanpour, only here on NEWSROOM L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Isa Soares, live in London where it's 5:30 on Wednesday morning.

Let me bring you up to date with the main news headlines this hour.

Immigrant communities in the U.S. are afraid new rules could lead to more deportations of undocumented immigrants and could make it harder to get asylum. The Trump administration is keeping protections for the children of undocumented immigrants known as dreamers.

[00:29:55] Malaysian officials want to speak with the North Korea embassy and airline employees, part of King Jong-Nam's murder investigation. Police have also increased security at the mortuary where Kim's body is being held after an attempted break in. The half brother of North Korea's leader was killed last week in Kuala Lumpur.

A shaky ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russian backed separatists is entering its third day. We have various reports of violations on both sides. Ukraine's military spokesman said there are signs the fighting is dying down. The groups have been fighting off and on since 2014.

JOHN VAUSE, HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: Almost a decade on since the Great Recession and despite a healthy, even robust, American economy, the Center for Budget Priorities has found that most states are actually spending less on education now per student than before the financial crash; in some cases, a lot less.

And when schools are forced to cut budgets, it's often the music program which is first to go, even though study after study has shown a range of benefits for students who take music, everything from better grades to a lower level of use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs later in life - a point driven home in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus, the story of an aspiring composer who takes a job as a high school music teacher to pay the bills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD DREYFUSS, ACTOR: You tell them that I am teaching music, and that I will use anything from Beethoven to Billie Holiday to rock and roll, if I think it'll help me teach a student to love music.

(VIDEOCLIP PLAYS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But that was more than just your typical 1990s, feel-good, nice-guys-can-finish-first Hollywood hit. The film's composer, Michael Kamen, started a non-profit named after the movie, which has donated millions of dollars' worth of instruments to schools across the United States, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of students by giving them a chance to learn and to play music.

(VIDEOCLIP PLAYS)

VAUSE: Michael Kamen, the movie composer, died back in 2003, but his work and his dream live on with Felice Mancini, President and CEO of the foundation and the daughter of the Academy Award-winning composer Henry Mancini, and rock and roll Hall of Fame inductee Edward Lodewijk van Halen, also known as Eddie van halen, a major donor and supporter of music education for kids. Felice and Eddie, great to see you. Thanks for coming in.

EDWARD LODEWIJK VAN HALEN, ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAMER: Thanks for having us.

VAUSE: This is such an honor to have you both here. Felice, first to you, when you look at what the foundation has been doing for the last 20 years now, have you had a chance over that period of time to see the very real impact that music has on a kid's life?

FELICE MANCINI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: Absolutely.

VAUSE: What is that?

MANCINI: What is that? As you said initially, there are tons of studies. It's clear that enlightened schools know that music helps kids in all areas.

What I've seen over 20 years is a real disparity in educational outcomes for kids who don't have music, for kids who do have music. So, what we're really trying to do is give access to these kids.

We work with really low income schools. They don't have many resources. So, our job is to make sure that they have that opportunity and access to really good tools, good instruments that will make them sound good and give them confidence.

VAUSE: Eddie, the Lodewijk in your name, that's the Dutch equivalent of Ludwig as in Ludwig -

VAN HALEN: Yes, it's pronounced Lodewijk. VAUSE: Lodewijk, really? I checked with my Dutch friends. They gave me a (INAUDIBLE) on that one. Your father was a was musician. You started playing very, very young in life. Can you imagine what your life would have been like without that opportunity?

VAN HALEN: For the way I grew up, even on the nine-day boat trip from home to New York, my father was in the band on the boat and my brother and I also played piano during intermission. So, we - my whole life has been music. I could not imagine anything else.

It really hit me like a brick wall when I graduated high school and you sign everybody's yearbook and everybody asks you, so what college are you going to. Hey, yes, I think we better stick what we know and we just kept with music because that's what helped us survive and pay the rent when we came to America from home.

VAUSE: Because you formed a band, your first band, what was it, in grade four, I think.

VAN HALEN: The Broken Combs.

[00:35:00] VAUSE: Broken Combs. Were they good? Were you good?

VAN HALEN: We wrote our own songs, believe or not. I play piano. My brother plays saxophone. And a lot of fun, but we didn't really get serious about it until we - till we graduated high school.

VAUSE: So, when you look at the situation now in many American schools as they continue to cut budgets and they continue to take music away from students, could you imagine what it would be like if we're missing out on maybe the next Eddie van Halen because there's just not the opportunity there in these schools to learn music?

VAN HALEN: Music is such a necessity. It expands - it touches people's souls. Music, in general - imagine this show without the music to set it up, imagine movies without music. Music is the universal language to me; it transcends everything.

(VIDEOCLIP PLAYS)

MANCINI: Our goal isn't to create more Eddie van Halens or more Henry Mancinis.

VAUSE: That's (INAUDIBLE) right?

MANCINI: Our goal is to give kids every tool they can possibly have to succeed and music is the common denominator. You put a kid in a music class, it builds community, communication, they find a place. It's a safe haven. Playing an instrument is not easy. And when these kids accomplish something like that, they feel it and it really helps them in all academic areas.

VAUSE: Eddie, you've donated, what, I think, 75 guitars for this program?

VAN HALEN: Yes. It was very difficult at first to find a charity that would take them. They all just wanted money and then we found Felice and they welcomed us with open arms.

VAUSE: So, right now, there are 75 kids out there learning to play guitar on Eddie van Halen's old guitar.

MANCINI: More than that. The kids share the guitars, they learn, they graduate, the instruments stay in the school. And so, it's like the gift that keeps on giving.

VAUSE: So, that's the best thing. If someone has an old instrument that's working and in good condition, give it to the Mr. Holland Opus Center.

MANCINI: We'll take it. We fix it up. We refurbish it. We make sure it looks pretty. We want to give the students nice things.

VAUSE: Excellent.

MANCINI: They deserve nice things.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much and good luck. And keep up the good work.

MANCINI: Thank you.

VAUSE: Good to see you.

SOARES: Great interview there. Well, actress Natalie Portman could win her second Oscar this very weekend. Just ahead, the people she credits for influencing her career and how she says motherhood affects her work. We'll bring you that story after a very short break.

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[00:40:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just days to go until the Oscars on Sunday and few performances have earned more praise than Natalie Portman's turn as Jackie Onassis.

(VIDEOCLIP PLAYS)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE PORTMAN, ACTRESS: I believe that the characters we read about on the page end up being more real than the men who stand beside us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: I haven't watched, but I definitely want to watch. But Portman has starred in movies since the age of 13 in hits like Star Wars and Black Swan, you're seeing there, which earned her Best Actress Oscar.

In our special series, The Creators, we spoke to her about her work on and off the screen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PORTMAN: When you make a movie, the biggest desire is to connect to people.

When they're emotionally connected, when they're moved, when they're curious about it, it's what you hope for. You hope for that communication with an audience.

It's the work I find so interesting and getting to.

Play different characters and be different people and have these sort of like mini insights into other people's lives which is - the greatest thing about being human is imagining someone else's life and feeling empathy with them.

It's very similar to many people's experiences. When they hear their voice on like a message machine or something, and they're like, oh, I can't, I can't - I don't love watching myself. I'm too curious after the process of making a film not to watch it all. I usually see it once and then never again.

I am interested by the mix of having to be quite thick skinned to all of the scrutiny and criticism and then having to be emotionally vulnerable with the work. I really don't look at anything like that. I don't seek it out. Of course, you come across it by accident sometimes or people will come up and you'll be like, don't pay attention to what they're saying. And then you're like, what are they saying?

My mom and my dad are the biggest role models, I think. When you're lucky enough to actually get to live with people who are good people and observe them every day, it's, of course, the most close-up modeling you can have. I can't say that anyone has influenced me more than them.

There are people I look to in my life who I've met, who I've worked with. Mike Nichols was a great mentor to me and I think about all the times still. I always hear his voice in my ear.

I think that when you're a mother you don't really have the luxury of just like - I'm going to be in character all the time because, like, my kid would not put up with that. She'd be like, stop doing that voice. But I think it's a really good balance to have in life because you go - you do your work which is, in this case, extraordinarily emotional and heavy and then you go home and you get to return to sort of like a beautiful world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And we'll have a lot more of The Creators series all this weekend. You can see their stories and more at CNN.com/entertainment.

And join Amara Walker and me for a special edition of Newsroom LA Oscar Sunday Night. We'll bring you the highlights, the low lights, the winners, the losers, all those celebrity reactions of the 89th Academy Awards this Sunday 9 PM here in Los Angeles, 1 PM Monday in Hong Kong. So much fun.

SOARES: Says it with glee. Says it with glee. Stop rubbing it in. Thanks very much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Isa Soares in London.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause in Los Angeles. Stay with us. World Sport is next.

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[00:45:26] KATE RILEY, ANCHOR, CNN WORLD SPORT: Welcome along to World Sport. I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center.

Only one place to start and that's with the Champions League in Europe on Tuesday night. The team fixtures had everything including 14 goals, penalties, missed penalties and penalty appeals.

We saw Manchester City host Monaco to the Etihad Stadium and the hosts showed some sloppy defending when Radamel Falcao put them ahead making up for a previously missed penalty. Man City were able to draw level thanks to Sergio Aguero. It would be his second of the night.

Plenty of criticism towards John Stones, but he makes up for his mistakes as he put City ahead. The EPL side then got their fifth as Leroy Sane went from provider to goal scorer. Manchester City come from behind to win 5-3, the highest scoring first leg ever in a Champions League knockout tie.

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen also in action against really stiff competition, this time Atletico Madrid, the German side, had lost eight of their last nine Champions League knockout games, but their only game win, in fact, came against Atletico Madrid, would you believe?

This is how they fared on Tuesday. Well, it didn't take long for (INAUDIBLE) to break that deadlock. Saul Niguez got their first after just 17 minutes. Four other goals were then scored on the night before Atletico got their fourth. Fernando Torres rounding off an incredible goal fest, 4-2 the final score.

Now, the action in the Champions League continues on Wednesday when Porto face Juventus and will ignite a unique rivalry. The match will actually mark the 17th time that Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas will have played each other.

Just to compare and contrast, Casillas winning eight, Buffon four with four draws. And between them, they have 12 domestic league titles, two World Cups, two European championships, three Champions Leagues, the UEFA Cup as well.

Now, the clash at Porto, the Dragon Stadium, will be their 17th in their storied careers. Porto striker Andre Silva is relishing the opportunity to come face-to-face with the legend Buffon.

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ANDRE SILVA, STRIKER, PORTO FC (via translator): It's true that tomorrow I will face the great legend that is Buffon, but I'm extremely lucky to be able to work with another legend, Iker Casillas, and I scored goals in training against Iker. And if tomorrow, I could score against the other big legend, Buffon, of course, I'll be extremely happy in the match. But if someone else scores, that is what is important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RILEY: A serious question mark has been raised over Wayne Rooney's future. On Tuesday, the Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was asked about his striker's intentions and it's been hinted he could be out the door after the boss said the club's record goal scorer couldn't be guaranteed to be at training at Carrington next season.

Rooney has been ruled out of United's Europa League clash against St Etienne on Wednesday. He's injured, but he was seen training with the club earlier today. Rooney has been linked with a move to the Chinese Super League and their transfer window closes next week.

Now, it's been a record-breaking season for the striker, but on the pitch his influence has been somewhat dwindling, just five goals in all competitions this season so far.

Now, the Red Devils boss did say: 'I cannot guarantee that I'm here next week, how can I guarantee that a player is here next season. What I can guarantee is that if one day Wayne leaves the club, it is not because I want him to leave the club. I would never push a legend of the club to another destiny. You'll have to ask him if he sees himself staying in the club for the rest of his career or sees himself moving.

Right then. Coming up on the show, he was known as a fiery footballer in the Premier League, but his fans absolutely loved him. Dimitar Berbatov speaks to World Sport next. He gives us his assessment on his old club, Man United, and how they can do this season.

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[00:51:33] RILEY: Welcome back. There's been a bit of a sorry end to Sutton United's thrilling run to the fifth round of England's FA Cup, which ended abruptly on Monday night in defeat to Arsenal.

Earlier, the club accepted the resignation of their reserve goalkeeper for potentially breaching betting rules by eating a pie during the match.

Wayne Shaw admitted that he knew a betting company while offering odds of 8 to 1 against him eating a pie on the bench, but he went ahead and did it anyway and it is a breach of FA rules to participate in a bet directly linked to a game. Shaw offered his resignation after the event, admitting it was just a bit of banter.

Dimitar Berbatov has had an impressive career spanning nearly two decades. In that time, he has played for five different football leagues. He knows the challenges facing footballers as they enter the twilight phase of their careers too.

The Bulgarian's most successful spell was at Manchester United from 2008 to 2012 where he won the Premier League twice and finished as the league's top scorer back in 2011 under Sir Alex Ferguson.

And earlier, he told CNN's Amanda Davies that Jose Mourinho had a tough act to follow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIMITAR BERBATOV, FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALLER: To follow after Sir Alex Ferguson, it's big challenge. You need to find the right person. And even when you find the right person, you're going to take a while to get to where you want to be.

And I think they're on the right way to go there. They have one of the best manager in football. They have the players. I was there probably a month ago to see some old friends and you can see how they are really close together, the way they train, the way they speak to each other. So, I'm pretty sure they'll be back where they belong, which is first place soon.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: From a player's perspective, does Jose Mourinho still have the special powers, the magic stardust that he did perhaps in his first stint at Chelsea?

BERBATOV: To be honest, I'm not fully - to comment on this - I need to be very close to him to tell you this. But I hope he has. I'm assured he has it. So, that's why I'm pretty confident that he's going to be bring Man United where he belong, in the top.

DAVIES: There's lots of talk about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and how fantastic he's been in recent weeks, months. Speculation about what he's going to do next season. If you were him, would you stay? Would you want to stay at United for another year?

BERBATOV: Why not? He's doing great, obviously. He's scoring a lot of goals. I'm sure that everybody's treating him with the respect he deserves. He has a great bunch of players around him. The coach, he knows him. They've worked together before. So, everything he needs is there. So, I'm sure he's going to stay.

DAVIES: If you look at the current crop of strikers who are making waves in the Premier League - Zlatan, Defoe, Harry Kane - which of the big name strikers do you like the most, who impresses you the most?

BERBATOV: To be honest, the names you mentioned, I like them all. I've played with Defoe -

DAVIES: That's a politically correct version.

BERBATOV: I've played with Defoe. I know he's a great guy, he scores goals. He just loves scoring goals. He's again that age of a player when you start to think that needs to slow down now -

DAVIES: Would you have expected when you were playing with him at Spurs that he would still be what he's doing now? Was he that much of a professional?

[00:55:00] BERBATOV: He was. And because of his body structure, the way he his - the way he carries himself, he's very athletic. He doesn't have a lot of injuries. So, that helps him to be in his best shape possible.

And then you have Harry Kane, who he was in the academy when I was in Spurs, and you see how he's developed to be one of the best in the Premier League, scoring a lot of goals, and I think he's going to become even better.

And then you have Zlatan, which is the legend, probably, and everybody is looking at him, scoring at the age he is like for fun. So, it shows you that it's not about age. It's about the way you can play football.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RILEY: Just a month until the start of the new Formula 1 season and this week things really start gearing up as a lot of teams unveil their cars for the campaign ahead.

Tuesday was the turn of Renault with a model that the manufacturer hopes will put them at least fifth in the race for the championship in 2017. And it's the top two they're likely to be chasing again.

Red Bull finished second to Mercedes last season, but with 297 points adrift of the leader. The Red Bull boss Christian Horner is convinced the off-season improvement will be enough to rival other teams.

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CHRISTIAN HORNER, PRINCIPAL OF RED BULL RACING: Mercedes, for sure, is the - they are the world champions, triple world champions. They are the team to beat. And they set the bar pretty high, but that's what we are aspiring to, hopefully, we can be a real challenger team. I think the driver lineup that we have is fantastic. We've had great stability in the team and we're excited about the year ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RILEY: A lot was made of Tom Brady's missing jersey after Super Bowl LI. Several weeks on, it's still AWOL, but there is a new price tag on it. It is now valued at over $0.5 million. Police confirmed the valuation earlier, which means it is now a whole new ballgame to find this elusive shirt.

According to the police report, they have pinpointed a 15-minute window of when the theft potentially occurred, but the shirt is still said to be at large. Yes, good luck finding that one.

That is it for this edition of CNN World Sport. I'm Kate Riley. Thank you very much for watching.