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Trump To Declare National Emergency For Border Wall; Former Acting FBI Chief McCabe Tells CBS Justice Officials Discussed Removing Trump From Office; U.S. And China Face March 1 Deadline To Make A Deal; Pence: Iran Is The Greatest Threat To Peace In Region; Putin Hosts Erdogan And Rouhani In Sochi For Syria Talks; Saudi Men Facing Criminal Charges In U.S. "Vanishing". Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 15, 2019 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: -- you might be around the world, thanks for joining us for this next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: Let's all pray that the President will have wisdom to sign the bills so government doesn't shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But they did not pray for the president not to declare a national emergency and Donald Trump is now set in motion, a series of events which ultimately could change the authority and power the American presidency forever. And Donald Trump may not realize it, not only did he cave into congressional Democrats who refused to budge on its border war but he came to butterflies as well.

Also fake news, misinformation, and BOTS creating viral hoaxes. 70 candidates running for President in Nigeria has this ugly campaign comes to a close.

When Barack Obama did it five years ago, Donald Trump said it was unconstitutional and the President should be impeached. Now he's president and Trump looks set to declare illegal immigration and national emergency. And with that his administration believes it has the authority to pull that $6.6 billion already approved for other projects to build his border wall with Mexico.

This is basically an end-run around Congress after a budget compromise on Thursday approved just a fraction of the almost $6 billion the President had demanded. Even so Donald Trump has said he will sign the budget deal and avoid another costly government shutdown. But many in Congress Democrats and Republicans alike strongly oppose a national emergency order which will be challenged by a flood of legal suits.

Ron Brownstein is a Senior Political Analyst for CNN, also Senior Editor for The Atlantic. He is with us from Los Angeles. Unbelievable day, Ron. OK -- and uh very unexpectedly. You know, in the end it was the Senate leader, Republican Mitch McConnell who made the announcement on behalf of the President. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I've just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he -- I would say to all my colleagues has indicated he's prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. And I've indicated to him that I'm going to prepare -- I'm going to support the national emergency declaration. So for all of my colleagues, the President will sign the bill. We'll be voting on it shortly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so the spending bill passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities. So you know, does it really matter if the president was willing to sign it or not? So why would McConnell basically warning against an emergency declaration for weeks actually come on board down and support a declaration?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, look, first -- I mean, the obvious quid pro quo was the President signing the bill. I think he's very clear there were multiple conversations between the Senate Majority Leader in the White House today and all indications are he felt that the only way to get the President to sign the bill was to support the emergency declaration that as you point out there was a veto-proof majority.

Now, whether that would have held with Republicans in the Senate if in fact, he did veto the bill is less clear. You know, look, this is I think just an extraordinary day as you were -- as you're suggesting. On the one hand, this is exactly the sort of thing that so many people feared when Donald Trump won in the first place, that he would you know, simply shatter constitutional norms and in fact that Republicans would find a way to kind of sweep up the glass every time he broke a window.

On the other hand, there have been people in both parties for several months now who have felt that the only way out of the corner into which he is painted, the only way to avoid another shutdown was for him to declare a national emergency to allow him to look as though he is advancing even though it really is a retreat and hope that the courts will ultimately say no.

VAUSE: You know, under the national emergencies act, Democrats have 15 days to pass a resolution of disapproval. The Washington Post reports once that passes the lower house which will, it would trigger automatic consideration by the Senate where a simple majority vote would be required to agree to it.

Given opposition from some Republicans, that raises the prospect that a disapproval resolution would pass the narrowly divided Senate and embarrassing rebuke to Trump, a scenario McConnell privately warned the president about recently. You know, from there, the President could veto the resolution which means all of this is probably now heading to the Supreme Court. BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, about 35 years ago

maybe, the Supreme Court said that legislative vetoes of this kind had to be subject to presidential review and thus veto and that is really where we're headed. It is possible that there will be a Senate majority to say no to this. But whether there would be enough to overturn a Senate -- a presidential veto is unlikely.

So as you suggest, we've already acted a press releases from the Democratic attorneys general in the states, civil rights groups, consumer groups, some conservative think tanks said they might go to court to oppose this. The likelihood is that this will ultimately decide by what John Roberts is feeling on the morning that it you know, comes to the Supreme Court.

Does -- it seems it is possible that one of the other Republican- appointed justices might think this is a bridge too far but the Supreme Course as you know, John, has been very differential historically to the President on that, any president on national security issues and especially on immigration issues. So there's no guarantee that they will reject this.

The bigger likelihood is that he will be embroiled in this large -- for a large part of the remainder of this term and if he does not win re-election in 2020, that might be the disposition of it. They might simply go away at that point.

[01:05:32] VAUSE: You know, the plan here if it all comes together and as you say that you know, it -- depending on the court challenges is essentially for the President to go these other pots of money which were already approved for that and in many cases if a construction work you know, after natural disasters like the hurricanes in Puerto Rico, you know, the fires in California.

So they'll be taking emergency money which been allocated for real disasters, real emergencies that exist to pay for a wall to solve a crisis on the border which is non-existent.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, border apprehensions are down to a quarter of roughly of their level. When George W Bush took office, the undocumented population in the U.S. itself peaked about ten years ago. It's about 1.25 million lower than it was at the peak. Yes, there is an issue with a larger number of families and unaccompanied children but especially families coming north from Central America.

But the idea that this is some kind of pressing security emergency is not supported by the facts and it's not supported by the country. And that is the really striking thing about this. The President both through the government shutdown and now even more so through the prospect of an emergency declaration is using a means that most people oppose, two-thirds in the last CNN poll said they opposed a national emergency toward a goal that most people also oppose.

I mean, he's never had more than 45 percent support for the wall and usually, it's closer to 40 percent. So he -- I mean this really is a powerful symbol of kind of the choices he is making politically and the choice that the Republican Party is making to allow him to define it as a party that is so hostile to immigration is specific demographic change more broadly and paint them into a corner that as we said a majority of country does not want to go to.

VAUSE: And it was the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the one who stood firm against trouble all of this who seemed to issue a reminder to Republicans what's at stake here. This is what she said about two issues today firstly about this emergency declaration and also about the year anniversary of the shooting in Parkland at the High School in Florida. This is Nancy Pelosi. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: You want to talk about a national emergency. Let's talk about today, the one-year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So in other words, you know if this goes through, a future president, a Democrat could declare you know, what is actually a real emergency, the epidemic of gun violence and introduced sweeping new gun laws.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, we play this game all the time. There have been what, 100-200 instances where Donald Trump has done something and your first reaction is can you imagine what the Republican Congress would be saying if a Democratic president had said or done the same thing.

Now, I don't think the precedent will constrain them in the future. Mitch McConnell will find a way to oppose a future Democratic president if he ever serves with one who tries to use these same powers, but yes this is a precedent and an expansion of federal power that by any rational set of compass points Republicans and conservatives would oppose.

And don't forget, even a part from the litigation over the emergency declaration itself, we're going to have a whole separate round of lawsuits over the use of eminent domain if he gets that where you're going to have landowners in along the border much of which is in private hands going to court to stop the president from trying to take their land under this emergency powers.

And again, well John Cornyn say who will be running for re-election in 2020? Will he support the use of eminent domain against the Democrat, one doubtedly will oppose it in Texas? I mean this thing is going to -- and in Arizona as well, Martha McSally will be running for reelection in 2020. Is she going to support the use of eminent domain over the objection of landowners along the border?

There are lots of twists yet to come and it seems hard for me to imagine the President is going to get it very much of his wall bill before 2020 which will make this you know, right in center of that 2020 debate. VAUSE: You know, the president seems to be fixing a political mess by

creating you know, a national crisis with profound implications. Ron, thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: The former acting director of the FBI has confirmed that in 2017 discussions were held within the senior ranks of the Justice Department about removing Donald Trump from office. During an interview with CBS News Andrew McCabe revealed there were plenty more bombshells from his time running the bureau. Here's White House Correspondent Pamela Brown with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: For the first time former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the man who took over after President Trump fire James Comey talking publicly about his former boss, the president.

[01:10:10] ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, FBI: I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage and that was something that troubled me greatly.

BROWN: McCabe telling CBS he opened an obstruction probe into the President the day after Comey's firing as a way to maintain the ongoing investigations into Russian meddling of the 2016 election.

MCCABE: I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.

BROWN: CBS Anchor Scott Pelley reporting McCabe also confirmed in cliffs not yet released that there were serious discussions among senior Justice officials about evoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

SCOTT PELLEY, ANCHOR, CBS: There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the President of the United States under the 25th Amendment.

BROWN: The New York Times reporting that McCabe wrote in a memo the Deputy Attorney General rod Rosenstein had looked into the 25th Amendment issue and determined he would need a quote majority or eight of the 15 cabinet officials.

The Justice Department slamming McCabe's assertions in a statement today as inaccurate. Their response reading, as the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated based on his personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment nor was Rosenstein in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein has long denied he thinks there is a basis to remove the

President from office but has yet to deny those discussions ever occurred. Vice President Mike Pence reacting today telling MSNBC --

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I never heard of it. I never heard any discussion of the 25th Amendment and frankly I find any suggestion of it to be absurd.

BROWN: Now, it's worth noting that Andrew McCabe does have some credibility issues. He was found to be lying to investigators as part of an internal DOJ probe and he's now under investigation by the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office. For that same matter, McCabe has denied that he ever lied to investigators.

And it's also worth noting that he did take contemporaneous notes documenting many of the interactions that he talks about in his book. Pamela Brown, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A second and final day of trade talks underway this hour in Beijing with the U.S. and China trying to end their seven-month-long trade war. They face the March 1st deadline, if they fail to reach a deal, the U.S. will raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from ten percent to 25 percent. Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson live again from Hong Kong.

So you know, Ivan, we keep hearing here there's optimism, there's pessimism, they're close, they're far apart, there's like pulling teeth -- we're moving towards an agreement. So you know, where are we right now and essentially does anybody know what this ultimate deal will look like?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Frankly, we have no idea. The only real update we've gotten on the progress or lack thereof over the last day and a half in Beijing has come from the White House's economic adviser Larry Kudlow in comments he made to the press. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, ECONOMIC ADVISER, WHITE HOUSE: I've talked to the group. They're covering all the ground. They're hard at it. They are going to meet with President Xi so that's a very good sign and they're just soldiering on. So you know, I like that story and I will stay with the phrase the vibe is good but I can't give you details.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But nothing definitely?

KUDLOW: I can't give you details.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you saying --- sir, were you saying that the --

KUDLOW: One, two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- a decision on the tariffs has been made on extending the tariff?

KUDLOW: That's correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, the pressure here is not just the trade war, John, where you have the world's two largest economies that have slapped tariffs on each other's billions of dollars -- hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of each other's goods. The pressure is a deadline imposed by the White House that if there's no deal reached by March 1st, that the U.S. government would dramatically increase tariffs from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports to the U.S. thus dramatically ratcheting up the tensions and the trade war.

The White House this month has said that that is a hard deadline but then President Trump in recent days has suggested that the deadline might slide. If it does it wouldn't be the first time that that had happened. Initially, the deadline was on January 1st and President Trump pushed it back to March 1st. So now the big question is could that happen? Could the goalposts be moved once again? John?

[01:15:10] VAUSE: OK. So, let's get to what we have, actually we been hearing from all -- you know, these talks over the last couple days it seems.

You know, one of the issues here is just how, you know, committed China is to structural reforms, you know, within its economy which is still in places, still -- you know, very dependent on subsidies. And the other -- you know, criticism that is coming out of these talks is that they keep putting old recycled offers back on the table that no one's interested in.

WATSON: Yes, and President Trump has made it clear that he wants China to open up its economy. Allow American of financial services. Banks in, manufacturing in, telecommunications in. The Chinese economy is strictly controlled by the state. State-run companies enjoy huge subsidies and advantages, it's not exactly an open market. And what the U.S. is asking for in addition to rebalancing an enormous trade surplus that China enjoys with its bilateral trade with the U.S.

What the U.S. is asking for is a dramatic transformation of the relationship that the Chinese state has with its own economy. That has been criticized in a recent editorial by China's state-run newspaper at the Global Times, which says that Washington's demands on Beijing are, "Lacking a basis in international law and morality."

Also that quote, "Washington is not willing to admit that Beijing's economic strength is gradually growing and arguing that the U.S. is trying to use this trade war as a way to suppress China's trade -- growth rather than promote fair trade.

So, you can see the heart of the dispute here, then why it's so hard to try to reach a complete recreation of trade relations between the world's two largest economies. John?

VAUSE: Yes, you know, these talks, they just it's a cyclical they keep going over and over and over again, but, yes, we'll see if there's progress this time. Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson, live in Hong Kong.

Well, since day one at the Trump administration, it has blamed one country for driving the instability in the Middle East, Iran. And that was the message the U.S. vice president repeatedly made at a Security Summit in Poland's capital. Atika Shubert has details.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, said that Iran is the single greatest threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It was the centerpiece of a two-day conference hosted here in Poland.

And the vice president went out of his way to criticize and scold really European allies for attempting to skirt U.S. sanctions on Iran, hoping to preserve the JCPOA Nuclear Agreement. That agreement, of course, the Trump administration has unilaterally withdrawn from.

Now, ostensibly, this was supposed to be a conference about many issues in the Middle East. From Syria to Yemen, to the Israeli- Palestinian peace process. In fact, Jared Kushner was also here to discuss more details about the peace plan he is working on. But, as was made clear in this speech, the vice president's main goal here seemed to be pressuring U.S. allies to fall in line on Iran. Atika Shubert, CNN, Warsaw.

VAUSE: And don't leave, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a rival meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Iran. All three countries have made it clear they're counting the days until U.S. forces are withdrawn from Syria, and they all have their reasons. Here's Matthew Chance.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hosting talks with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts on the future of war-torn Syria. All three power brokers welcoming plans for U.S. forces to withdraw from the north of the country.

The Russian leader calling that proposal by the Trump administration a positive step in an area where the control of Syria's government needs to be restored. Iran also relishing moves towards, U.S. forces leaving. Its troops are on the ground battling on the opposite side of the conflict.

And even Turkey, a NATO ally is eyeing the U.S. withdrawal as an opportunity to invade the region currently controlled by ethnic Kurds it regards as terrorists, and to establish a buffer zone there. Now, there are tensions in the group. Russia says the Turkish buffer zone would be unacceptable and is pushing for joint military action in the northern Idlib province against rebel groups.

But they are all problems that they're grappling with together. As these three nations, Russia, Iran, and Turkey prepare to step into the Syrian vacuum left by the United States. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

[01:19:55] VAUSE: Remember with the banks were described as too big to fail? Well, now, the U.K. have been described as too small to prosper once it leaves the E.U. So, what does actually mean for Theresa May who's still trying to drop support for her own -- from within her own party for her Brexit plan?

Also ahead, Saudi Arabian man accused of serious crimes within United States have gone missing. (INAUDIBLE) believe the government in Riyadh may have helped him escape. The very latest in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Brexit, parliament, defeat. Wash, rinse, repeat for Prime Minister Theresa May. It was just a symbolic vote, but lawmakers voted it down anyway. A motion of support in the prime minister's exit strategy. Which included an amendment on renegotiating the Irish backstop and a nonbinding agreement to prevent the U.K. from crashing out of the E.U. without a trade deal.

A group of hardline Brexiters from within May's own Conservative Party doubt her to set back by abstaining because they want to keep the no- deal option on the table. Mrs. May's opponent say it's time for the prime minister to admit the obvious she needs a better strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER OF THE LABOUR PARTY: Tonight's vote shows there is no majority for the prime minister's course of action in dealing with Brexit. Yet again, her government has been defeated. The government cannot keep on ignoring parliament or plowing on towards the 29th of March without a coherent plan. She cannot keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Theresa May had this to say about Corbyn, that he "yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest. And yet again, by voting against the government's motion, he is in effect voting to make no deal more likely."

This latest defeat once again further undermines Theresa May with the European Union. The prime minister had said, if they renegotiate, she could get parliament to improve that revised Brexit agreement. All of this only adding to the E.U.'s going frustration with the situation in the U.K. CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports now from Brussels.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is no official reaction from either the European Council or the European Commission. None, at least, expect it but behind the scenes, I'm told that there is a growing sense of frustration and concern with the present situation. Not only has the argument that British Prime Minister Theresa May commands a majority -- stable majority within the House of Commons for her Brexit vision.

Not only has that been eroded as a result of Thursday's vote, but there is a concern about her overall strategy. One E.U. diplomat telling me that she's trying to appease the more extreme elements within her party at the expense of unifying the United Kingdom.

Another E.U. official urging a Theresa May to reach across the aisle to seriously consider the Labour opposition's proposal of a customs union as a way out of the impasse, something that Theresa May has repeatedly ruled out.

So, in the words of Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister in an interview on Thursday, saying that Brexit at this point is a ball barreling toward the cliff of Dover with no one on the U.K. side trying to stop that. Well, that continues to be the concern here in Brussels, and there's a growing frustration with Theresa May, sense that she's no longer seen as a stable negotiating partner away to mitigate the Brexit crisis. There's certainly no love loss here on Valentine's Day for the British prime minister. Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Brussels.

[01:26:13] VAUSE: Well, maybe the elephant in the room impasse, but in the Netherlands, Brexit is the big blue monster. The Dutch government launched a new campaign to encourage businesses to prepare whether there's a deal or no deal. They say all possible scenarios have been reviewed. Companies can take a test online to see how they will be impacted.

It's the case of the incredible disappearing Saudi nationals, go something like this. After a run-in with the law, somehow they secure a safe passage back home escaping justice in the U.S. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Abdulrahman Noorah was speeding, driving recklessly along a Portland Oregon street, police say when he struck 15-year-old Fallon Smart who was crossing. Smart was killed.

The 20-year-old Noorah, a citizen of Saudi Arabia studying at a nearby community college allegedly took off in his black SUV. He was arrested, charged with elevated manslaughter and forced to give up his passport. The student got out on $100,000 bail reportedly paid for by the Saudi government as was his legal team. Then, two weeks before his trial, he disappeared.

According to The Oregonian newspaper, his tracking monitor had been sliced off and thrown away. Law enforcement officials telling the paper, they believe Noorah got another passport and left the U.S., possibly on a private plane, all paid for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Which told the paper last July, that Noorah was back in the country.

SHANE DIXON KAVANAUGH, STAFF REPORTER, THE OREGONIAN: What we have is an apparent pattern in Oregon and possibly other parts of the country where Saudi defendants in the U.S. facing serious criminal charges have managed to flee the U.S. likely with the help of the Saudi government in many of these cases.

MARQUARDT: Noorah's 2016 hit-and-run case is far from the only one. A total of 17 across eight states and Canada were identified by The Oregonian of Saudi men facing serious charges and then vanishing.

DIXON KAVANAUGH: All of them have disappeared. A handful of them have been confirmed to be back in Saudi Arabia. The precise whereabouts of many of the defendants even the ones who are supposedly back in Saudi Arabia is unknown.

MARQUARDT: The earliest case is from 1988 when Abdulrahman Ali Al- Plaies caused a car crash that left a 79-year-old woman dead. Days before his trial, the Saudi embassy paid his $25,000 bail. He left jail with a Saudi military officer and was never seen in the U.S. again.

The alleged crimes are wide-ranging. Rape and sexual assault, vehicular manslaughter, child pornography among others. In a statement to CNN, the Saudi embassy said that "The notion that the Saudi government actively helps citizens evade justice after they've been implicated in legal wrongdoing in the U.S. is not true."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: This news, of course, comes on the heels of the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, fueling this reputation of a Saudi Arabia acting with other impunity. Now, Ron Wyden, who is the senior senator from Oregon, where five of those reported cases took place, he has reacted furiously, saying, it is unacceptable. And he has demanded answers from the state department which has not responded to him or to us here at CNN. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

VAUSE: It started as just another day at school one year ago, but when the sound of gunfire rang out, lives were changed forever at a high school in Parkland, Florida, we looked back in just a moment.

And four years, the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has claimed another school shooting was a hoax. The dead children did not exist. He said their parents, actors. The children were real and now the parents are fighting back and Jones will soon face their lawyers under oath.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:17] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody.

I'm John Vause with an update on our top stories this hour.

President Trump planning to declare a national emergency to pay for his border wall with Mexico. A White House official says he'll sign a budget compromise approved by Congress even though it has far less funding than he demanded. He will then use executive action to pull an extra $6.6 billion dollars from other projects.

The U.K. parliament has dealt another blow to the Prime Minister Theresa May. Lawmakers defeated a symbolic motion which would have reaffirmed their support for May's Brexit strategy. Even hardline Brexiters from within her own conservative party ensured the loss by abstaining from the vote. Across the U.S. many have been paying tribute to the victims of the

Parkland, Florida shooting that claimed 17 lives. Thursday marked the first anniversary of the massacre. Since the tragedy many of the survivors and their families have become activists demanding tougher gun control laws.

Well, of all the voices spreading conspiracy theories on the Internet, few come close to Alex Jones whose outright false comments have brought pain and anguish to those who've already suffered more than anyone ever should.

In 2012 when 20 elementary school children were murdered by a deranged young man with a military grade weapon, Jones' story of government conspiracy is set up (ph), he told his loyal audience at the time.

The parents he said, were crisis actors and the reason why -- it was a pretext to seize America's guns by the Obama administration. It ticked all the boxes for his followers and would be a recurring discussion in the years after the shooting.

On its own that baseless claim was painful and cruel but a small number of the most feeble-minded believed it to be true and they were so incensed, they went after the parents with death threats and harassment which only compounded the pain of losing a child to gun violence.

But now a Connecticut Jones has ruled that Jones must submit to a sworn deposition as part of a defamation case brought by some of the Sandy Hook parents. For five hours he will be grilled by lawyers who especially want an answer to this question -- why. What was his motive for denying not just the murder of 20 children but why deny their very existence in the first place?

Mark Barden's son Daniel was among the children who were murdered that day and Mark is with us now from Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Mark -- thank you for taking the time to talk with us.

MARK BARDEN, FATHER OF SANDY HOOK VICTIM: Thank you -- John.

VAUSE: Six years since the shooting and dealing with the loss of Daniel, I imagine was tough and bad enough on its own. But Jones and his followers took the tragedy to a whole new level for you and other families. What has been your experience?

BARDEN: Well, I will correct you on that one word there -- John. And it's "was", and this is a continuous process of really getting from one moment to the next when you're dealing with the murder of your child.

[01:34:58] Daniel was seven years old. He was the third of our three children. And he was shot to death in his first grade class from the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.

And that is a pain that is inarticulable. It's inexplicable. And then on top of that to find out that there are people out there, this Alex Jones character saying that it was a lie. That Daniel didn't exist. That we are crisis actors. That we're making this up, that we faked his death is beyond -- is beyond explanation of how horrible that is.

And then add on top of that that he's doing this for profit and he's doing it repeatedly for profit. And it is lower than I thought that humanity could actually ever get. But here we are.

VAUSE: You talk about the profit here, you know, the money factor. Because his company is private, Jones doesn't have to report financial results. But an investigation by the "New York Times" found that in a 2014 court case Jones testified that his operations were bringing in more than $20 million a year in revenue. "Records viewed by the 'New York Times' showed that most of his revenue that year came from the sale of products like supplements such as the Super Male Vitality which purports to boost testosterone, or Brain Force Plus which promises to super charge cognitive functions."

So if what you and your lawyers are alleging is true, he knowingly made up a false story which was to deny the shooting ever happened, denied the pain and suffering of the people that he attacked (ph) and then he gets -- so he could build what -- a bigger audience which would mean he could charge more advertising to sell male supplements and vitamins?

BARDEN: It just gets -- it just gets more crazy and heinous as you go. And I hope no one -- the irony isn't lost on anyone is that he was selling supplements that were supposed to increase, you know, your cognitive capacity. And then -- he's inciting as you say these small- minded, delusional, easily-led people -- inciting them to act out in dangerous ways really.

I mean to attack us verbally with death threats and with threatening behavior, and I believe there has been some physical attacks, and as you said, some families forced from their homes. You know, while you're grieving the murder of your child to then be attacked like this is unconscionable.

VAUSE: You know, the ruling by the Connecticut court, it's a big deal here because it's not just that Jones will be deposed but also a number of his business associates and a number of people who worked for him, they'll also be deposed by lawyers.

And he's also turning over financial records. He fought this every step of the way. He does not want to be doing this so specifically. What are you and the lawyers looking here. What do you need to prove to win this case?

BARDEN: There has to be a precedent set. This can't just go run amuck and you know, a slap on the wrist and say, ok, you made your hundreds of millions of dollars, now you have stop. That's just not acceptable. There has to be a precedent set that this is unacceptable and you know, this is not protected in the First Amendment.

No right is exclusive without responsibility. All rights have responsibilities. All rights have limitations. This is certainly under that category. It is dangerous, irresponsible, reckless behavior in the name of profit at the expense of others.

VAUSE: I never understood why, you know, the first amendment ruling which is, you know, the freedom of speech -- it's not freedom of speech when you yell "fire" in a crowded theater, you know. And everyone runs out and someone was hurt. Why is that not exactly the same as what Jones is doing here?

BARDEN: Well, he's willfully inciting people to act out in dangerous ways. I mean they're threatening us. They're threatening our livelihood. They're threatening our safety. They're threatening our lives. That's not acceptable. That's not protected by our constitution.

VAUSE: Yes, it seems like pretty obvious, an obvious case. I don't know why it has taken this long to make this guy, you know, stop doing what he's been doing and actually, you know, account for it.

But it does seem the tide is turning because there was a similar ruling made by a judge in Texas last month. We also know that Jones has been banned by Facebook, Twitter, Apple, YouTube -- that social media platform. He recently signed a deal for his radio show and that has been revoked, and also the distribution.

Does it feel that finally, I mean what -- it's been such a long time for this to happen -- that maybe now, you know, this is the end of people like Jones.

BARDEN: I hope so. And I hope, you know, this has not been easy by any stretch or any at all. And I mean a lot of damage has been done while he's been making money in these six years while we are grieving the murders of our loved ones. And so it's overdue. It's about time and hopefully we can forge that trail and make this better for others.

VAUSE: Yes. Mark -- thank you.

BARDEN: Thanks -- John.

VAUSE: And you know, thanks very much. And you know, good luck.

BARDEN: I appreciate that. Thank you.

VAUSE: The massacre at Sandy Hook is just one of dozens of school shootings in the U.S. in the past two decades. It was a year ago this Valentine's Day when 14 students and three staff members were shot dead at Stoneman Douglas High in Florida.

[01:40:04] With time, they all seemed to blur. Precise details like places and dates are forgotten, so too the names of the victims.

So here are the names from years ago -- the children of Sandy Hook.

Daniel Barden, Mark's son who we just spoke with, was seven years old. Charlotte Bacon, she was six. Jack Pinto, six years old as well. Noah Pozner, Jesse Lewis, both six years old. Grace McDonald, seven years old. Dylan Hockley, six. Jessica Rekos, Ana Marquez-Greene, Madeleine Hsu, Olivia Engel, James Mattioli, Chase Kowalski, Catherine Hubbard, Josephine Gay, Emily Parker, Caroline Previdi, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison Wyatt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Nigeria's presidential race is nearing the finish line. On Saturday voters in Africa's largest democracy will choose from more than 70 candidates. Two are front runners.

Atiku Abubakar there on the left. He's an entrepreneur who served as vice president for eight years.

The other is incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, one on the -- you see on the right. And he's been praised by the African Union for fighting corruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you're going to go to all of the states in this campaign.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI, NIGERIAN PRESIDENT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But some people say that you don't have the stamina for another term. What is your response to that?

BUHARI: Well, I have been (INAUDIBLE) -- I will give you another answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you are ready to take this country forward for the next four years?

BUHARI: Yes, I'm ready for it. And just a reminder this audience, just like the previous (ph) one that when we say that we're going to do it, we promise (INAUDIBLE), security, economy and (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Stephanie Busari joins us now live from Lagos (ph) so Stephanie -- when it comes to actually fighting corruption perhaps a good place to start might be the campaign of these leading candidates. Just like the U.S. back in 2016, this election has seen fake news, unsubstantiated rumors and misleading information all being spread on social media.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. Good morning -- John. That's right.

One thing that has been prominent this election cycle have been fake news. I spoke to one campaigner in Lagos who is fighting to separate fact from fiction. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A massive haul of smuggled weapons.

BUSARI: This is a CNN report, making news ahead of Nigeria's 2019 elections but listen closely to the original air date.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepares for elections in 2011.

BUSARI: Eight years after it aired, this clip has found new life on WhatsApp. Shared and reshared by Nigerians who think it is a current report. Old news that's been given life on social media in a campaign dominated by fake news.

LOLADE NWANZE, CROSSCHECK NIGERIA: The fake news this election season has been on steroids, you know. We've had loads and loads of claims on Facebook, lots on Twitter and perhaps really more annoying is (INAUDIBLE) people seem to be working around the clock.

[01:45:04] BUSARI: Lolade Nwanze is a journalist and part of Crosscheck Nigeria, a group of Nigerian media houses that hve joined forces to fight fake news.

NWANZE: There are some handles, you know, on Twitter, some pages also on Facebook that are just really, really notorious.

BUSARI: Study the posts says Nwanze and a puzzle emerges.

NWANZE: At the moment one of them posted out a story, the same story is replicated in like three or four other pages.

BUSARI: Pop star turned politician, Bankole Wellington (ph) popularly known as Banky W says his outside (ph) the political campaign was nearly derailed by fake reports.

BANKOLE WELLINGTON, FORMER POP STAR TURNED POLITICIAN: Completely false, no proof, just random tweets. And in ten minutes they had almost a thousand of these tweets, that people say yes, I knew he was corrupt. Nobody is looking for proof. Nobody is -- it's not about what is true anymore.

BUSARI: And the major parties aren't immune from fake news either. Late last year, President Buhari was forced to deny he had been cloned after reports claimed he had died for (INAUDIBLE).

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even the U.S. President who helped pushed the fake news craze into popularity has found himself caught in Nigeria's election spin when a group posted an image of Trump holding opposition leader Abubakar's picture appearing to endorse him. It was later debunked by Crosscheck Nigeria.

In statements to CNN, Twitter says it has updated its fake account policies and has been working with electoral commission to make reporting problem accounts easier.

Facebook says it is always monitoring and taking action against fake accounts and it continues to invest heavily in people and technology to prevent abuse. But recognizes it can always do more.

Now, as Africa's largest democracy heads to the polls, Nigerians hold their breath and hope the true voice of the voters wins out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUSARI: So John -- there you have it. Campaigning has ended. Polls open at 8 a.m. Lagos time tomorrow and CNN will be there.

VAUSE: There's a lot riding on this election. It is a very important not just for the country but for the continent.

But we have a situation where both these leading candidates -- essentially let's face it, old men in their 70s, neither seemed to be offering anything new and to try and tackle all the big challenges facing the country.

BUSARI: Yes, there are many challenges facing Nigeria. Not least that it has become the country with the most impoverished people in the world. Recent stats show 87 million Nigerians are living under -- living on less $1.90 a day. And the economy has tanked because of a global oil price crash. And you know, there are many problems that -- unemployment is also a factor in this election -- John.

VAUSE: Ok. Stephanie -- thank you. We appreciate the update. That election will be watched closely. Thank you.

In the battle of the butterflies versus the U.S. president strike one up for the butterflies. They scored a win in the budget compromise he's about to sign. But victory could be short-lived. We'll explain in a moment.

Also ahead, he's played a lot of golf since taking office. And now Donald Trump can work on that swing in the privacy of his own home or the White House. A pricey addition he made -- that's next.

[01:48:31] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: On balance, this probably was a good week for the President of the United States by agreeing to the compromise deal on border security. It seems he caved to the Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats who refused to budge. Even it seems to Republican lawmakers who wanted desperately to avoid another government shutdown. Even some of the towns and cities down south insisting there's no crisis on the border with Mexico.

And President Trump may not even realize it, but he also caved to the butterflied, the National Butterfly Center, to be precise. That budget hammered out by Republican and Democrat lawmakers has language which specifically exempts the wall construction on the center's property as well as land near the center.

Joining us now from McAllen, Texas is Marianna Trevino-Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center.

So Marianna -- it was a day of wins and losses for you as well, I guess but let's start what is being reported as a win. This exemption in the budget deal that says basically, you know, there will be no wall construction on your property or near your property. How do you feel about that. Does that go far enough? Are you confident that that will protect the center moving forward?

MARIANNA TREVINO-WRIGHT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTER: Well, the President has to sign it and then he has to not declare a state of emergency in which case we get a stay of execution basically because I have a feeling we'll be back on the chopping block in less than six months during the next federal budget battle.

VAUSE: So essentially it's a reprieve. It's not an end to this situation as it is right now. But we have this declaration of a national emergency. It looks like he'll get -- he wants $8 billion to press on with the funding.

Do you know if that specifically means that your property is then back in the path of the wall?

WRIGHT: We believe so because they are already clearing all of the habitat and moving in the heavy construction equipment on the refuge tracks adjacent to us.

VAUSE: So what do you do about that side of the equation? You know, if it's a national emergency are there legal options?

WRIGHT: I don't think that the United States has ever been in this situation where we have a madman declare a fake state of emergency to advance his authoritarian agenda.

VAUSE: Yes. So there's no precedent for what you do here. So I guess -- it's (INAUDIBLE) territory, it must be incredibly sort of unsettling to think about what is going to happen in the months ahead.

WRIGHT: It is. Our attorneys don't even know what to advise us at this point.

VAUSE: Right. Apart from what, throwing yourself in front of the bulldozers they used to do, you know, to prevent, you know, freeways being built or high-rises and stuff, right.

WRIGHT: Correct.

VAUSE: Ok. On the other side, we had a federal judge who threw out your bid to try and block construction of the wall near the center. And also you wanted them to stop the use of the land that you have and to access other construction sites for the wall.

So that was dismissed by a federal judge. Do you plan to appeal that ruling?

WRIGHT: We absolutely do. You see, our lawsuit was filed in December of 2017. More than three months before any congressional vote or appropriation for border wall funding because we found the government's contractors on our land cutting down our trees, mowing down our brush and widening a road in advance of border wall construction when there was no mandate for new border wall. VAUSE: And they're pushing on anyway. So I guess this then gets us

to the point that let's say, the legal options are exhausted. You can't lay down in front of the bulldozers any longer and this construction goes ahead. What will be the impact on the center there?

WRIGHT: Well, we don't imagine it will be good. We are an eco- tourism destination and a biologically sensitive remnant of native habitat. And people have a choice of where they go when they seek to enjoy nature. And we don't imagine anyone will want to go play in the outdoors when it looks like a prison yard.

VAUSE: Yes. Butterflies and walls, they don't go together, not too well.

Marianna -- thank you. We wish you the best of luck.

WRIGHT: Thank you -- John.

VAUSE: According to his annual physical, the U.S. President is in very good health overall but tipping the scales at 239 pounds, almost 110 kilograms. He's considered obese.

So maybe a new room-sized golf simulator can help the portly president lose a little weight.

The "Washington Post" reports Donald Trump paid out $50,000 of his own money to install the high-tech gizmo.

Jeanne Moos reports now on what that sort of money actually gets you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:54:59] JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the golfer in chief in need of at-home stimulation, how about a little simulation. President Trump installed a room-sized golf simulator at the White House, said "The Washington Post". So what do you get for about $50,000?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feel the realism. Play favorites such as Pebble Beach and Saint Andrews in your custom built enclosure.

MOOS: You can improve your swing, measure your ball speed, your shot distance.

TRUMP: Those hands can hit a golf ball 285 yards.

MOOS: Yes. Well, in a simulator it will fly only a few yards but before the critics club the President over the head over this consider -- the "Post" says President Trump paid for the simulator out of his own pocket. He actually upgraded an existing, less sophisticated simulator that President Obama had installed.

Back in the 50s, President Eisenhower had a putting green built on the south lawn that subsequent presidents used. President Obama and Bill Murray practiced putting into a glass in the Oval Office, while President Nixon held an ashtray for Bob Hope to (INAUDIBLE). Nixon even had a bowling alley built in the White House. You can't pin that on Trump. Though the golf simulator inspired Stephen Colbert to tweet, "Sorry Mar-a-Lago, but you should have known the President would cheat on you, too."

Commented someone else, "He's probably installing his own McDonald's branch in there, next.

Imagine a White House room carpeted with turf,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just need that killer ultimate man cave.

MOOS: Why putter around the White House when you could actually putt in your man cave.

When you hear this noise emanating from the White House late at night, you'll know who is still up.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

TRUMP: Because I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. George Howell will be up after the break.

You're watching CNN.

[01:57:04] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)