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CNN NEWSROOM

Pass a Budget Deal or Have a Government Shutdown; African Leaders Upset with Trump's Racist Comments; North and South Korea Meets for the Second Time; Innovations in War Soon to Come; Driverless Car Leading the Road; Democrats Passion to Overpower Republicans. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 15, 2018 - 03:00   ET

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


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[03:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no, I'm not a racist. I'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN HOST: And that's the latest from the U.S. president on a topic on this the today, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the famed leader of the Civil Rights movement.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN HOST: And on the Korean Peninsula, second meeting between North and South Korean officials. We'll have the latest for you from Seoul.

ALLEN: Plus, CNN goes inside Syria to the city where so many hope to find refuge, and instead found more suffering.

Hello. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier. Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom.

It's going to be a busy weekend in Washington. The government will shut down Friday if Congress doesn't act, while defiant democrats demanding a deal on immigration.

ALLEN: At issue DACA, the program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. It was on a discussion on immigration last week that led the president to allegedly describe African nations as a less than polite word as you recall.

VANIER: And that's what led to chorus of critics, saying the President of the United State is a racist, a charge that he flatly denies.

Boris Sanchez has the details from Florida.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump taking time before dinner to answer questions from reporters alongside House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California on Sunday night. The president making news on several fronts, answering some uncomfortable questions, specifically, whether he is a racist after it was reported on Thursday that several remarks the president made specifically about African nations and Haitian immigrants to the United States drew ire from both democrats and republicans.

Listen to the president's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, no, I'm not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president also addressed the potential for a looming government shutdown as that Friday night deadline approaches for lawmakers to come up with a budget deal. He said that there should not be a shutdown, but that he wasn't sure if one might happen or not. Listen to more of what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't know if there will be a shutdown there shouldn't be, because if there is, our military gets hurt very badly. We cannot let our military be hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now getting back to those reported comments that the president allegedly made during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House on Thursday when discussing immigration. There is some division among lawmakers about what the president actually said.

Some republicans like Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue initially said that they couldn't recall what the president said during a meeting. On Sunday, both of them are outright denying that the president ever said those derogatory remarks about African nations or about Haitians.

Others, like republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement that he confronted the president about his remarks, though, he didn't specify what those remarks were. Reportedly, he did tell fellow republican Senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, that the reports about the president's conversation was accurate.

Beyond that you also have Senator Dick Durbin confirming that the president made those remarks, and saying that they were hate-filled.

All of that the backdrop of this not only a disagreement what the president said, but also on policy with the government shutdown looming on Friday, we could potentially see some kind of deal from lawmakers to keep the government funded, or a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded and punt on this conversation about DACA and immigration. Or we could see a government shutdown if some democrats follow along

as they have promised to not vote on any kind of budget without a resolution to the issue of DREAMers being included.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

VANIER: Let's talk about all of this with Leslie Vinjamuri, international relations professor at SOAS University of London. Leslie, the president really begins a critical week. And Boris laid it out for us. He needs to avoid a government shutdown. And perhaps, perhaps there is still hope for an immigration deal. And yet this is what we're talking about. Listen to Congressman John Lewis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LEWIS, (D) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: We have come so far, we have made so much progress. And I think this man, this president has taken us back to another place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think President Trump is a racist?

LEWIS: I think he is a racist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we do about it?

LEWIS: We have to stand up, we have to speak up and not try to speak it under the rug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So Leslie, this is what the conversation has become. Can the president get out from under this, or does this sort of cripple his ability to act and get deals done?

LESLIE VINJAMURI, SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, it's undoubtedly the case that this has really drug the nation and to a certain extent the large part of the world down into a conversation that is very much focused on the president, his attitudes, whether he represents the values that have been absolutely central to the United States for so long. And certainly, in the more recent years.

[03:05:09] And it's distracting from this very crucial time in terms of the movement that need to strike an immigration deal. It had looked like there was some progress on that until reports of these comments have come out which have been very, very damaging obviously.

VANIER: Listen now to Congresswoman Mia Love, a republican from Utah.

MIA LOVE, UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: We cannot let this derail us. I think the worst thing that can happen right now is for DACA, for there not to be a fix at all. There are people that are depending on us, not just Americans on border security, but families that are waiting, that are in limbo, that need something that a president can't give or take away from them. We have to find a way to fix the immigration issue, fix the DACA issue. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So, look, can negotiators, can lawmakers get back to the negotiating table in a few hours perhaps or starting Tuesday and somehow get to a deal on immigration by the end of the week?

VINJAMURI: Well, this is the question. It does seem like there is certainly a lot of reason to get that immigration deal through. But Trump's advisers, Stephen Miller seems to be pushing him hard to hold the line and ask for more on border security.

The context here of course, is that the majority of Americans are very sympathetic towards the DREAMers. Remember when Donald Trump said he was going to end that program, there was a tremendous backlash across the United States from all sides, even republicans and supporters of Donald Trump by a slim majority support the DREAMers.

These are people who -- people feel -- children who came undocumented that most Americans feel have the right to stay and should have a path to citizenship. The courts, as we know have pushed backed on Donald Trump. So he is being required to continue to support that program.

So, even if there isn't a deal reached, it's hard to imagine that there would be any political support for sending any of the DREAMers home. Having said this, it's absolutely right what we just said. The uncertainty that it creates. The backlash that it creates, the instability that it creates for individuals is not to be understated.

But the politics of this I think of course are tremendously problematic now because there is all this doubt coming out of where does the president really stand. Does he support the immigration? Does he support individuals? And is he taking a very racist line on this?

VANIER: So that's what I want to know from you. Walk us through the politics of this. Because Mr. Trump has been tweeting this. He says "DACA is probably dead. Because the democrats don't really want it, they just want the talk ad take desperately needed money away from our military.

Here's what I'm wondering. Can Mr. Trump really afford to alienate democrats now, this week of all when he needs their votes to keep the government funded?

VINJAMURI: No, of course, and the democrats I think are aware that they -- they have a very strong hand on this. Sympathy is on their side. And of course there is a deal that needs to be made to secure that government funding, to keep the government open.

And yet, the president's style and Twitter as we've seen for so long doesn't take a step back in the face of what are often very difficult politics. I think the compromises, if there are to be compromises will be made behind closed doors.

But even then what we're hearing and what we're seeing is that he is continuing to push very hard, and again in part because he is being advised to use this moment to really press forward on his desire to have more funding for border security, in large part so that he can turn to his base. I think as we approach.

Remember, we're coming right up to that one-year anniversary of his inauguration where he can turn back and say I've secured my campaign promises. But of course if the price is too high, it's hard to imagine that the president wouldn't make some sort of compromise deal.

VANIER: Yes, January 20th. It will be a year since he's been in office. We're coming up to the date...

(CROSSTALK)

VINJAMURI: That's right.

VANIER: ... in just a few days I know. Leslie Vinjamuri...

(CROSSTALK)

VINJAMURI: Very rapidly.

VANIER: Yes. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you very much for joining us on the show. It was a pleasure.

ALLEN: A floor has collapsed inside the building of the Jakarta Stock Exchange in Indonesia. Officials now say that trading will continue as normal for the second half of the day. The collapse happened in a space where tourists usually gather near and entrance.

VANIER: It's unclear for the moment what caused the floor to collapse or if there are any casualties at this stage. A source says most people have been rescued. That's what we know for the moment.

And new procedures are being put in place in Hawaii to prevent another emergency missile alert being sent out by mistake. Remember this one? Officials say a state employee pushed a wrong button during a routine drill. And that's why this was sent out. Saying an inbound missile, this warning came to cell phones, TVs and radios saying a missile was inbound headed for Hawaii.

[03:10:06] ALLEN: Yes. And as you know, people panicked, scrambled to find shelter Saturday morning. Thirty eight minutes it took for the mistake to finally be corrected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERN MIYAGI, ADMINISTRATOR, HAWAII EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: From my side, I just want to apologize to the folks. Because it's my team, my responsibility. It was my fault. But we need to continue to understand, we need to continue preparation for this hazard because it's still there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've reevaluated some of the procedures. We've taken positive steps to ensure that this will never happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We hope not. Now the lawmaker from Hawaii says the problem goes beyond this false alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, (D) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: What makes me angry is yes, that this false alarm went out, and we have to fix that in Hawaii. But really, we've got to get to the underlying issue here of why are the people of Hawaii and this country facing a nuclear threat coming from North Korea today? And what is this president doing urgently to eliminate that threat?

All right. We're going to move on to North Korea and South Korea meeting again for the second time in only a week after more than two years without direct discussions.

For now, both sides are focusing on how the North will participate in the Winter Olympics next month in South Korea. Pyongyang says sanctions had nothing to do with why they agreed the talk.

VANIER: And the north also says it's trying to improve relations with its southern neighbor. However, in case you're thinking this could perhaps move the needle on its nuclear program, the answer is no. The North has made very clear that it will not negotiate its nuclear weapons.

ALLEN: Well, it certainly is an open door in some respects. CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson joins us from Seoul, South Korea monitoring these talks. What do we know about this round, Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, it's remarkable. You know, North and South Korea didn't speak to each for some two years. And now on the second round of discussion underway today they're talking about where to put a stage at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for North Korean performance group. That's a remarkable shift that we've seen in a very short period of time.

These are working group level discussions taking place in that Panmunjom complex on the demilitarized zone, this time on the North Korean side of the line of demarcation. Among the people participating from the North Korean side is a woman named Hyon Song Wol, and she leads a group that's called the Moranbong band for fans of North Korean pop culture and the music industry there.

This band is an all-female group that includes instrumentalists and singers and dancers that are often featured on North Korean state TV and presumably they are part of the quite large delegation that North Korea intends to send to these Winter Olympics. They're discussing other nuts and bolts issues.

For example, the South Koreans have proposed to try to make a joint women's ice hockey team. We haven't heard yet whether the North Koreans have agreed to that proposal. One of the key questions going forward is how do you just get a bunch of North Koreans, not just athletes, because only two North Korean figure skaters have actually qualified for the Olympics. But how do you get this larger entourage to the Olympics, and how do

you house them and take care of them when there are so many economic sanctions in place that the South Koreans will have to deal with here.

And already we have heard that the North Koreans have essentially agreed to another round of discussions scheduled for Wednesday. And this would be at a higher level. So the Olympic diplomacy is moving forward. Natalie?

ALLEN: Certainly is. We thank you. Ivan Watson for us there in Seoul.

And next here on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: His wife was killed in Aleppo six years ago. He is raising his two sons on his own. We ask where the boys are now, and his eyes fill with tears. "We fled from Aleppo to get here."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: They fled one humanitarian disaster. Now face another. Arwa Damon reports from inside Syria's Idlib. That's coming up.

VANIER: And drones could be used by terrorists to cause wide scale damage. How officials are trying to prevent such attacks.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Next Saturday marks one year since President Trump took office. He was a critic. You may recall of the Obama administration's policy on the Syrian civil war and promise to do things differently.

VANIER: In April, he ordered a missile strike on Syrian forces after a chemical weapons attack. He is also taking credit for driving ISIS from Raqqah. The terror group is near defeat. However, the bloodshed continues.

As CNN's Arwa Damon reports, the city of Idlib could become the next Aleppo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: It feels like one is peering into a macabre doll house of broken lives. Bits of concrete tumble down as people try to clean up or salvage what they can amid the horrors that they can't escape.

"There have five of his relatives were killed in that building, three children among them."

Images like this are familiar a year ago from the siege of Aleppo. But this is Idlib city. This is where families were supposed to be safe. This was meant to be a refuge, one of the last remaining ones. Part of a so-called de-escalation zone that lately has become anything but.

The four strikes that hit here happened five days before we arrived. And many of those we met had actually fled from Aleppo.

"So lucky they were in that back room." Ahmed Haqab (Ph) he is haunted by all he has lost. His wife was killed in Aleppo six years ago. He is raising his two sons on his own.

[03:19:59] We ask where the boys are now, and his eyes fill with tears. "We fled from Aleppo to get here," he tells us, whispering, choking on his words. There is no solution. There is just no solution. The boys were both studying for exams when the bombs shook the building, sucked the air out of the room and everything went pitch- black."

"They were screaming, daddy, daddy, Mohammed remembers. He couldn't find them right away. When the kids were younger, during happier times, what childhood," he laments, what childhood? Children have lost everything in life."

We head south where some towns already feel deserted. And Ma'ad and Raman (Ph) Closer to the front lines of the fighting, children rummage through the aftermath of bombs to look for plastic to sell. "We do get scared. We hide from the bombs," they say.

The Syrian regime and its foreign backers latest push seems aimed at eliminating or at the very least suffocating the last major rebel stronghold.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been on the move the last few weeks. Many fleeing ahead of what they know is coming, or as soon as the first strikes hit. Some live in make-shift camps along the road to Turkey, bringing everything they can, including their livestock.

By now everyone is resigned to knowing that no one is going to save them. No one is going to stop the violence. "Vada (Ph) and her family were initially in ISIS territory over a year ago. As they were fleeing, there was an explosion. Her daughter Sabil (Ph) almost lost her leg.

"I don't like to remember," the 7-year-old tells us. They thought they would be safe. But then the regime and the Russians started bombing. And four days ago, they arrived here.

Turkish aid organizations are building new and expanding old camps in Syria right up against their border. Azaf Karim Mohammed's (Ph) youngest was board in the camp the day they arrived. He is saying "freedom" Azaf Karim bitterly jokes. "If the barrel bomb had hit us when we were sleeping, it would have been more merciful."

Syria's remaining rebel areas risk turning into the next Aleppo. Only this time even fewer people are watching. Even fewer seem to care. For many we spoke to here, it's not about if this area will also get bombed, it's about when, and how many souls can get crushed into the shrinking safe space. And what happens when it's gone?

Arwa Damon, CNN, Idlib, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: Well, Russia's foreign minister is in Moscow right now holding

a news conference addressing world issues. No word yet on if Sergei Lavrov has mentioned the war in Syria that goes on.

He has said that Russia would work to preserve the Iran nuclear deal despite Washington's misgivings about the agreement. He also said Russia is ready to support direct talks between all parties in the North Korean missile crisis. This is his annual news conference on Russian diplomacy.

Again, live video there of him still giving that news conference that Paula Newton has been monitoring it from Moscow. And she joins us now with more on what he has had to say. Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey, Natalie. So before we get to the North Korean issue, and we'll talk what Sergei Lavrov was saying there, I do want to address Arwa's latest piece and the fact that he did talk than. Such a heartbreaking piece from Arwa.

We've seen her have to go into Syria again and again to tell those stories of people escaping. Something key in Arwa's package was the fact that she said these people in Idlib were supposed to be in de- escalation zones.

Those are zones that Sergei Lavrov and the Russian government are very proud of. They say that against al efforts from the United States that it was they and Iran and Turkey and Syria that built up those de- escalation zones. And what you see on the ground though, Natalie, is the reality that is quite different.

Again, we are starting 2018, Natalie, the way we ended 2017, with Russia blaming the United States and the United States blaming Russia for what you see on the ground there in Syria.

You know, he perhaps started this press conference, Natalie, with the understatement of 2018, to say that 2017 the year was not easy. And unfortunately, for people suffering through this on the ground, it will continue. He meant that not just in Syria but on many issues.

I want to highlight though, again what is going on right now with North Korea. We see those direct talks between South Korea and North Korea. Russia is saying that of course, they do in fact, back those talks.

I want to now paraphrase what Sergei Lavrov said about that in general. While he said certainly he and the Russian government support those talks, he still says that the United States is not being helpful.

He says that in fact, the United States quite plainly is really following a mentality of military confrontation. They're acting as if it is inevitable, and that this could have catastrophic consequences.

[03:25:08] And that he wants the conditions for talks to begin and for the United States really to stop acting as if military confrontation is inevitable. They are proposing what China has said is a freeze for freeze. So, if North Korea freezes its nuclear development, its nuclear development, that the United States and South Korea will freeze their military maneuvers.

I want to point out something else, though. When we were talking about the Iran deal, Sergei Lavrov wanted to make a fine point of the fact that if the United States wants to pull out of an Iran deal and renege on an Iran deal, what hopes do they have getting some kind of a nuclear deal with North Korea? Because they continually will be looking over their shoulder to say, now we signed this deal but the United States could pull out at any moment.

Again, not much new being heard here in terms of temperament, Natalie. I have to caution that it is very important to keep an eye on Russia and where Sergei Lavrov is going with this foreign policy through 2018 in North Korea and Syria.

You know, Russia wants that North Korean -- that North Korean diplomacy to continue. They did not block new sanctions at the U.N. and that was highly significant. But they do want to play more of a role, a role that so far they've really been shut out of.

ALLEN: Interesting developments there. Paula following it for us. And thank you for filling in this issue about Syria following Arwa's report, there Paula. I appreciate that. We'll continue to monitor it.

Well, Russia says recent attacks on two of their bases in Syria raised the possibility of a new kind of terror attack.

VANIER: Brian Todd reports on the deadly potential of armed drones.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These drones displayed by the Russian defense ministry appear to have small bombs on them. The Russians claim swarms of this unmanned vehicle, 13 drones in all attacked two of their bases in Syria in recent days. They blame ISIS for the attacks.

Russian official saying no one was injured, and that their anti- aircraft units brought down the drones. Tonight, experts are concerned about the possibility of swarming drone attacks on American targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN HARRINGTON LEE, DRONE EXPERT, RAND CORPORATION: They are small and relatively hard to detect. The radar is not looking for something flying typically as low as a drone or that is as small as a drone. Also, when the drones are launched on a target in a swarming manner, this creates a redundancy. And also a saturation effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Russian official says they believe the drones were launched from at least 30 miles away from their targets, but they could travel as far as about 60 miles. How would swarms of bee operated?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEE: The idea of launching multiple drones at a single target isn't that difficult, especially if these drones have a GPS capability and there is a way therefore to preprogram a way point into the drone so that it lands, basically crashes at a certain point and becomes a kamikaze.

TODD: CNN has learned that U.S. security officials are scrambling to keep up with this lightest threat of swarms of drones. A large open venue like this where there are a lot of people often gathered at once. How vulnerable to swarming drones with bombs?

JAMES CARAFANO, FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: A bunch of people in a wide open space like this, of course they're vulnerable, right? And we already know that because we've seen attacks, New York City and other places. And mostly in vehicles, right? And so now what we've done is we've tried to protect ourselves on the ground pushing out things further out to protect the crowd, but this is something new. Coming at to get over, right?

TODD: High profile targets like the upcoming Super Bowl could potentially be threatened by swarms of drones. A key question tonight, how can security teams defend against them?

CARAFANO: One is you find the bad people to begin with and stop them before they do anything. The second is all of these are radio controlled. So you would interfere with the electronic signal that's command and controlling the aircraft. And the third thing you might do is to shoot them down. They are fragile and they are pretty light and you could probably take it down with a high-powered rifle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Are the steps being taken to protect Americans against swarming drone attacks? Pentagon and homeland security officials tell us they are, but they won't say specifically what's being done, saying a lot of that is classified.

One homeland security official did say that some of the measures are being used to protect big crowds at significant events.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

ALLEN: Well, that report was unsettling.

Coming up here, U.S. democrats hope to retake the House in the midterm elections. But the republicans promise a tough fight. We'll have that for you coming up.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Hi, everyone. Good to have you back with us. I'm Cyril Vanier at CNN H.Q.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Let's update you on our top stories this hour. VANIER: A floor has collapsed inside the building of the Jakarta

Stock Exchange. Police say 72 people were injured. It's unclear what caused the collapse. It happened midday near an entrance where tourists tend to gather. Officials says trade willing be resumed.

ALLEN: Pope Francis is traveling to Chile and Peru during a six-day South America tour. His visit to Chile is his first as the leader of the Catholic Church. The pope faces protest in both countries over the church's handling of child theft abuse cases.

VANIER: U.S. President Donald Trump says he is not a racist in response to allegations that he used a vulgar term to describe several African American countries. His comments come as the government faces a possible shutdown on Friday with democrats making demands on an immigration deal before they cooperate.

And President Trump is also facing criticism within his own party for his reportedly vulgar comments about Haiti and Africa.

ALLEN: The house republican Mia Love is Haitian-American, and she said on CNN's State of the Union that Mr. Trump's remark were racist in her opinion. Here is more of what she said to our Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Your parents are immigrants from Haiti. You're the first Haitian-American elected to the United States Congress. How did it feel to hear those comments from the president?

LOVE: Well, Jake, I can't defend the indefensible. You have to understand that there -- there are countries that do struggle out there, but they're people, they're people, are good people. And they're part of -- they're part of us. We're Americans.

You have to understand that my parents, they came from Haiti. They worked hard. They paid their taxes. When they pledge their allegiance to the American flag and became U.S. citizens, they meant every word of it. And they did everything they could to take on not just the benefits, but the responsibilities of what it meant to be an American citizen.

[03:35:02] And you have to understand, I'm a product of that. I am the American dream. That's who we are. Those are not just American values, but they're certainly Utah values and they're values that we all -- we all hold dear.

So, it was very -- it was really difficult to hear especially because my parents are such big supporters of the president. And I think that we have to do everything we can to make sure that we are coming from a place of compassion and we're speaking from a place of kindness. I mean, that is the -- that is the at least minimal standard here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Well, this shouldn't come as a surprise that the reported comments did not go over well in Africa. South Africa is among the latest countries to react. It says it's lodging a formal complaint with the U.S. embassy.

Let's talk about this with CNN's David McKenzie in Johannesburg. David, tell us about the reaction there.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cyril, across the continent people have been outraged by this comment. And what has been interesting is this outrage has lasted for several days. And you've had I think the governments following on from the queue of different citizens and different countries who on social media and elsewhere have really kind of condemned the President of the United States.

So in a way, the governments are playing catch-up to the people. Here in South Africa, the Department of International Relations and cooperation bringing in the head of the embassy for what is seen as a dressing down, asking that person or that head to really explain the comments of the President of the United States, that they say could be seen as racist.

And that's generally the consensus that I have seen across the continent. Now while that's not unprecedented to have this demos or this calling in the head of the industry, what is extremely unusual is to have it over an issues of direct links to the president.

You have the government of South Africa, Botswana and Namibian the president of Ghana explicitly criticizing the President of the United States. Something very unusual in the African context, particularly for countries that do a great deal of businesses with the U.S. and in some cases, receive a great deal of aid. Cyril?

VANIER: All right. David McKenzie, reporting live from Johannesburg. Thank you very much.

ALLEN: The political battle to control the U.S. Congress is heating up ahead of midterm elections in November. Democrats now have a major opportunity. Thirty-two House republicans will not seek reelection.

VANIER: And just last week, two republican representatives from California announced that they're calling it quits.

CNN's Miguel Marquez reports democrats in Orange County have high hopes of victory.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The protests like clockwork. Every week for a year now, at the offices of four Orange County republican members of Congress, protests in anger over the Trump administration already hitting their target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE WILLIAMS, DEMOCRATIC PROTESTER: This is the first time I've ever come out to protest. And I'm doing it because I'm so upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Democrats in this once deeply conservative county angry at President Trump going after members of Congress in the midterm elections less than ten months away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that the tide is changing. The demographics are changing. I think that things are a lot different. You know, people like me didn't live in Orange County 50 years ago. So, yes, I think we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Democrats must flip 24 seats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nationwide 23 republicans are in districts won by Hillary Clinton. Seven of those districts are in California, and four right here in Orange County.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Do they really have a shot at those four seats?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. But I love that they think they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Republicans here say all the protests on the left will only drive turnout on the right. But who will they vote for? Two Orange County republicans Darrell Issa and Ed Royce now join some 30 other GOP house members not seeking reelection.

Democrats here pressing their advantage. Two dozen groups on the left working in unison to flip all four Orange County seats from red to blue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Are you finding in Trump areas support?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's funny, because there are a lot of democrats in there. They just don't show up to the polls.

MARQUEZ: And what is the level of engagement now? Are you finding people who are?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are on fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Democrats say they need to turn out 15 percent more of their voters next November to offset the advantage of GOP incumbents. Republicans say good luck.

Democrats are so confident that they can win seats in Orange County that the D triple C that's running the campaign they've already hired permanent staff for the county, and they say by election day they expect to have at least a dozen staffers and several offices all focused solely on Orange County. Miguel Marquez, CNN in California.

VANIER: We're going to take a break. But when we come back, candidate Trump promised a big beautiful border wall. So has he kept his word?

[03:40:03] ALLEN: And will that be an issue in the midterm elections.

And we'll show you what was happening inside this airplane minutes after it skid off that runway and was nose down towards the sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: And this is video recorded inside that airplane that went off the runway in Turkey mere seconds after it skidded off the runway while trying to land passengers here stumbling off the aircraft.

Somebody had -- they always do, it seems, to get video. And that is what they were coming out of. That airplane right there nose-down towards the Black Sea. One hundred sixty eight people aboard. They all got off that airplane. No one was hurt.

VANIER: Yes, that video.

ALLEN: Yes.

VANIER: We've been -- we've been watching it for a few hours now but it's just stung. And it's pretty amazing to consider that no one got injured as you said. You can see how dangerously close it came to the sea. And I think it was you telling me earlier that the reason the plane actually stopped there and didn't slide to the sea. You have to story...

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: Yes. The wheels got stuck in the mud. Thank goodness for mud.

VANIER: All right. Everybody got very lucky on that one. And fingers crossed also that we can get some good news out of California. Because rescue workers there are still combing through the wreckage of the last week's mudslide, they're searching for survivors. Unfortunately, at this stage there is not a whole lot of hope left.

ALLEN: Twenty people are now confirmed dead and at least four are missing after those mudslides rip aid part dozens of homes. Officials warn the number of missing could change.

On Sunday, thousands gathered for an emotional candlelight vigil to honor those who were lost.

VANIER: The next storm to make its way across the U.S. could drop a lot of snow on a lot of people. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with the forecast. Pedram, it is when? Where? How much?

[03:44:58] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's happening right now. You know, the snow amount really not as impressive as the coverage area of the snow which is really what's more impressive. And I'll show you what's happening here. We're talking about wind

chills well below zero, well below 20 to 30 below zero in a few spots. In fact, go up into the Dakotas, schools delayed this morning because of the extreme cold.

Of course, the last thing you want to do when is you have wind chills of 30 to even 45 below which is what is being felt across the Dakotas to have kids waiting for the school bus. And of course, such wind chills really only minutes that cause permanent damage to your skin. And that's the concern moving forward into the overnight hours even tonight.

Look at these high temps struggling to get above zero for high temperature out of parts of North Dakota. Minneapolis gets around 4. Chicago at 26. But even down around North Florida, the 50s widespread.

And of course, we're talking about 60 million people across the Midwestern United States that are underneath winter weather advisories. The coverage of snow once again, you notice it is quite widespread. But generally, 2 to 4 inches. A few spots maybe as much as 6 inches of snow.

But down towards the south, you tuned in across portions of Houston, San Antonio, even Dallas not depicted well on this model. All of these areas could see ice accumulating into the overnight hours of Tuesday. Monday into Tuesday, I should say.

But the cold air really begins to seep farther south going in towards the middle of the week. So we're looking for a trend of warmer temp beyond that, but by the time you get to Wednesday afternoon, the temperatures bottom out places like Atlanta. High temps of only 30 degrees.

Mind you, only six times in the past two decades has Atlanta failed to make it to 30. It's going to get close to it on Wednesday afternoon. High temps there. And notice how quickly it climbs up into the middle 60s as we get in to the upcoming weekend. So, at least some better news in store across that region.

I want to show you what is happening though, quickly as far as what is going on right now across the Philippines. This is Mayon Mountain, really a very well-known tourist location near Legazpi City. We do have a threat here for an eruption.

In fact, a level 3 has been issued which is a concern here that a lava flow has been detected. Officials are saying a level 4, meaning hazardous eruption would be likely is potentially in the works in the next couple of days to a couple of weeks. So this is a story we're going to follow here for thousands of people that live close to this mountain there. Guys?

ALLEN: All right. We're watching that. How many more days left in winter, by the way, Pedram?

JAVAHERI: We're only three weeks in.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: We're not looking forward to those 30, 30 minus degrees here in Atlanta.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

ALLEN: Thanks, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thanks, guys.

VANIER: All right, next on CNN Newsroom, imagine a future where a driverless car delivers your food or even takes you to work. It turns out it may not be that far off. Stay with us. We'll tell you why.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Welcome back. The future of driverless cars is coming faster than you may realize.

ALLEN: CNN's Chris Moody gets in the car with no one behind the wheel for his new digital series Our Driverless Future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS.COM SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I spent the past year traveling the country, talking to entrepreneurs, engineers and test drivers who are building the cars of tomorrow. And when they imagine the future, driving the car isn't part of it.

I asked them all the same thing. What will the future look like? And what will it take to get there? What I found was really exciting. But also a bit shocking.

Self-driving mode. Because technically, we don't need a driver in the car.

So you and I are basically in way just passengers now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MOODY: We're test driving a car powered by autonomous vehicles startup drive A.I. on the streets f Northern California. This test car could be the prototype of an automobile that not only takes you out of the driver's seat, but creates a future where you might not need to own a car at all. At least that's what the people building them think.

SEBASTIAN THRUN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, UDACITY: Ownership would probably be abandoned. You'd mostly I have cars that we summon on our phone. They come empty to us and pick us up. And we get inside at our office or house, and it drives us straight to the restaurant and there is no time wasted in the parking. We will look back and say wow, people owned cars to get from this point to that point?

MOODY: Eliminating car ownership would drastically change the way we shape our cities. GABE KLEIN, CITY PLANNING EXPERT: We could literally close 30 or 40

percent of our streets to automobiles. You don't need cars on un- neighborhoods streets anymore. You just need them on the perimeter of your neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the parking facilities today get turned into residential space or parks or offices or restaurants. And we can kind of give back the city to the people that live in it and take it away from the automobiles. The quality of life and the opportunity to kind of reuse that space is going to be pretty magical.

MOODY: The rise of car sharing services has already made people accustomed to the idea of not owning a car. Today, human drivers pick up us when we use Uber or Lyft. But that's not going to last.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Autonomous ride sharing is absolutely coming. It is right around the corner and you'll see it in pockets at first and slowly and surely you'll start to see these vehicles all over the place.

There is an opportunity on a long enough timeline where we may have a fleet that is fully autonomous. As you start to see people adapt to transportation as a service, the hope here is that cars will -- car ownership will slowly decline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We're both sitting on this.

VANIER: That's pretty cool.

ALLEN: Yes. Bring it on at CNN's Chris Moody on digital. And we'll be hearing more about that.

Well, we have all been hearing about President Trump's border wall since his days as a presidential candidate.

VANIER: Now we're learning that it may be shrinking. CNN's Jeanne Moos explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far it's been a wall of words.

TRUMP: I will build a great, great wall.

We're going to have a very, very big and powerful wall.

An impenetrable physical tall, powerful, beautiful.

It's going to be a Trump wall.

Nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.

MOOS: But it's also a shrinking wall. The eight prototypes are as tall as expected. [03:55:04] But after promising at least thousand mile wall, the Trump

administration has proposed a new structure running about 316 miles with another 407 miles of replacement and secondary wall.

TRUMP: There could be some fencing.

MOOS: Fencing? Trump fence doesn't have the same ring.

TRUMP: They put my name on it. I want a gorgeous wall, you know? The Trump wall. Would that be a beautiful wall!

MOOS: Already comedians are mocking the prototypes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Venetian. See-through means that immigrants can see a better life but they can't touch it. Just look at the decorative fringe of the spoke razor spikes.

MOOS: Talk about looking sharp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One man even wore a Spandex war costume.

MOOS: At a possible $18 billion, the cost of the wall isn't shrinking.

TRUMP: Who is going to pay for the wall?

Mexico!

MOOS: Nope. Mexico says no way. And remember how every time a Mexican leader dissed the wall, it grew?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to pay for that (muted) wall.

TRUMP: The wall just got 10 feet higher. It's true.

MOOS: False. The prototypes are still 30 feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are the walls going to be made out of?

MOOS: Concrete, steel and hype? A YouTuber created this mash-up.

TRUMP: The wall just got 10n feet higher. I'm building a wall, OK, I'm building a wall, I'm building a wall.

We're going to have the wall.

MOOS: And even it won't keep out the proverbial fly on the wall.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: What can you say? And with that, it's time for us to say goodbye. Thank you for watching. I'm Cyril Vanier.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. For our viewers in the U.S., Early Start is next. For viewers around the world, stay with us for CNN Newsroom from London and Max Foster.

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