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North Korea Getting South Korea's Trust; Steve Bannon Claims Executive Privilege; HHS Secretary Grilled Over Trump's Racist Language; U.S. to Cut Funding for Palestine. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 17, 2018 - 03:00   ET

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


(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: ... details with their neighbors about taking part in the Olympics. But South Korea's allies are warning that Pyongyang may be up to its old tricks.

The U.S. is withholding $65 million in aid from Palestinians. We are live at a refugee camp in the West Bank to see how it could impact families there.

And drama on Capitol Hill. A hearing on boarder security turns into a heated inquisition about the president's vulgar language.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I am Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.

North Korea could face tougher sanctions if it doesn't halt its nuclear program. Foreign ministers from 20 countries met in Canada and agreed to consider unilateral sanctions that would go beyond the U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Meantime, the two Koreas met again at the DMZ where Seoul agreed to return the bodies of four North Korean nationals found off the South Korean coast.

Ivan Watson joins us now from Seoul. So, Ivan, we will get to the progress made at this third round of talks for North Korea's Winter Olympics ambition in just a moment. But let's start with this news that Seoul will return four bodies to the North Koreans. What have you learned about that, and what does South Korea expect in return?

IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, I think what this does is illustrates that talks, face to face talks that are ostensibly about the logistics of North Korea's delegation attending the upcoming Winter Olympics here in South Korea have become a venue or a platform for sorting out other challenges for these two neighbors like the repatriation of the bodies of four North Koreans who were found on a capsized wooden fishing vessel discovered off the eastern coast of South Korean on January 7th.

And according to the South Korean Unification Ministry those bodies will be transferred across the demilitarized zone through the Panmunjom complex where the talks are underway right now in the morning on Thursday. That is not an isolated incident by the way, this capsized boat. This

is part of a much broader bigger pnomenomenon, where Japan, for example, has found close to a 100 similar boats washing up on its shores believed to be from North Korea over the course of the last year alone accompanied by dozens of bodies.

And Japan announced that just this week they found yet another one this boat washing up on its shore with the bodies seven North Koreans inside, all highlighting the fact that something must be terribly wrong in North Korea's fishing industry.

CHURCH: All right. So let's go back now to what triggered these initial talks to the request from North Korea to take two athletes and a massive entourage to cheer them on at South Korea's Winter Olympics. Will South Korea agree to all their requests, and if they do, what is in it for South Korea given the denuclearization appears to be off the table right now.

WATSON: Well, on paper, the South Koreans have agreed to not only, the participation of North Koreans athletes at the upcoming games but his sizable entourage. So on Monday, they agreed to allow a North Korean orchestra with some 140 members to come and stage performances not only here in Seoul but at another town as well.

And what we have heard today is the North Koreans proposed sending cheerleader to the tune of around 230 people to attend the games as well. We don't quite yet know what the response is from the South Koreans when it comes to the athletes themselves to the best of our knowledge.

As of now, only two North Korean athletes, figure skaters are believed to have qualified for the Olympics, though they've missed the application deadline by months. It is believed that that might be sorted out at an upcoming meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland on Saturday.

So, what are the South Koreans getting out of this? Well, with the presence of a substantial amount of North Koreans attending it is believed that there would be far less risk that North Korea could seek to disrupt the games with something like a missile launch or a nuclear weapons test and they conducted both of those over the course of the last year.

So, this, some analysts say is a relatively small price to pay to prevent one of these provocations or something worse occurring along the demilitarized zone which isn't that far geographically from where the winter games will be held. Rosemary?

[03:05:06] CHURCH: Indeed. CNN's Ivan Watson, we thank you for bringing that live report from Seoul in South Korea where it is just after 5 p.m.

Well, Donald Trump's former chief strategist is refusing to answer certain questions from the House intelligence committee about the Russia investigation. Steve Bannon is now facing two subpoenas. One from the committee and another from Justice Department's special counsel, Robert Mueller.

Bannon spent 10 hours before the House panel on Tuesday. His attorney says Bannon will answer questions from the special counsel because executive privilege would not apply. But the top democrat on the House committee is crying foul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SCHIFF, (D) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: This was effectively a gag order by the White House preventing this witness from answering almost any question concerning his time in the transition or the administration, and many questions even after he left the administration.

And the breadth of this became very apparent because he not only refused to answer questions that took place within the White house but also any conversations he had with people outside the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And the U.S. government could shut down on Friday without a new funding bill. Republicans control the House and Senate but can't seem to come up with a package they all can agree on.

Meanwhile, democrats are insisting on an immigration deal in exchange for their support.

CNN's Jim Acosta has more.

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: President Trump tried again to clean up his comments on immigrants coming from what he referred to as shithole countries. Visibly annoyed, the president snapped at the press when we ask about his remark that he like to see more people entering the U.S. from places like Norway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Did you say that you wanted more people coming from Norway, is that true, Mr. President?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want them to come in from everywhere, everywhere.

ACOSTA: Just Caucasians or white countries, sir, or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world whether people of color?

TRUMP: Out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: In another side, the White House has grown weary of the questions two aides of the president stood right in front of the press and shouted at another event with the president of Kazakhstan. The president is insisting he is no racist and that he did nothing

wrong. Tweeting that Senator Dick Durbin who heard Mr. Trump referred to African countries as shitholes at a White House meeting totally misrepresented what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: This has turned into an s- show and we need to get back to being a great country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But Durbin's republican colleague Lindsey Graham who was also at the meeting is all but confirming the president made the remark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: I won't talk about the meeting, other than I know what I heard and I know what I said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Graham appeared to be speaking through the media directly to the president urging him to behave more likely did in a separate immigration meeting in front of the cameras last week when he appeared open to a bipartisan deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Because this should be a bipartisan bill. This should be a bill of love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Graham blamed the president's apparent new hard line stance on White House advisers including his chief of staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: I will say I don't I think the president was well-serve by staff. I think the president that we saw Tuesday is that that Donald Trump exists. And somehow by 12 o'clock on Thursday, something happened. And I don't think he was well-served by his staff but he is responsible for the way he conducts himself and so did I. I can't blame that on the staff but I do believe the staff was...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would that be General Kelly?

GRAHAM: ... pretty much missed the mark here. I think General Kelly's is a fine man but he is also part of the staff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The latest White House melodrama is unfolding just days before a possible government shutdown. Democrats want a spending deal that would protect young undocumented DREAMers from deportation. The White House is demanding that no strings be attach to the spending bill.

In exchange for protecting the DREAMers, Mr. Trump is insisting that Congress give him billions of dollars to build the wall on the border. Tweeting, "We must have security at out very dangerous southern border and we must have a great wall to help protect us." The president's racially charged comments have poisoned talks with democrats even as the White House offered up a new reason why Mr. Trump is no bigot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I think that is an outrageous claim and frankly, I think if the critics of the president were who he said he was, why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The White House also responds the questions about the president's fitness for office, presenting the results from Mr. Trump's recent physical exam which include in assessment of his neurological health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNY JACKSON, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PHYSICIAN: His overall health is excellent. Are there a few things he could do to make himself a little healthy with diet and exercise, absolutely. He's tracking that, I'm tracking that, and we're working on that. But overall, he has very, very good health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As for the president's recent physical exam, Dr. Ronny Jackson told reporters the president asked specifically for a test for his cognitive ability. The doctors said the president passed that test but he also emphasized to reporters that is not the same as a psychological exam.

[03:10:04] Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: Joining me now to talk more about this is Josh Rogin, he is a CNN political analyst and a columnist for the Washington Post. Good to have you with us.

JOSH ROGIN, POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: Good to be with you.

CHURCH: So, what's going on here, someone has to be lying about what President Trump did or didn't say at the Oval Office meeting. Why?

ROGIN: Well, it is simple. The White House is denying the comments. And a range of different senators are giving different accounts of the meeting and that's enough for the president to have plausible deniability. At the same time, the fact that these republican senators who were in the meeting except for Lindsey Graham have changed their stories and seem to be parsing words rather than actually denying the gist of the president's comments.

It has caused a firestorm on Capitol Hill because it's called into question their credibility and hurt their relationships with their democratic colleagues.

So what began as a simple statement that caused anger because it was seen as racist is now evolved into a greater crisis amongst the senators over whether or not they can have private conversations and rely those private conversations in public in an honest way.

CHURCH: Yes. And let's turn to that showdown you referred to there on Capitol Hill Tuesday where lawmakers grilled Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over what she heard at the meeting in the Oval Office. She said she didn't hear Mr. Trump specifically used the s-word in reference to African countries.

Let's just listen to her exchange with democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK DURBIN, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: You said on Fox News that the president used strong language. What was that strong language?

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Let's see. Strong language there was a -- apologies. I don't remember specific word. What I was struck at frankly, as I'm sure you were as well, was just the general profanity that was used in the room by almost everyone.

DURBIN: Did you hear me used profanity?

NIELSEN: No, sir, neither did I.

DURBIN: Did you hear Senator Graham used profanity?

NIELSEN: I did hear tough language from Senator Graham. Yes, sir.

DURBIN: What do you recall that the strong language he used repeated exactly what the president had said prior to that?

NIELSEN: I remember specific cuss words being used by a variety of members.

DURBIN: I'm not going to ask you to say those words here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, Secretary Nielson wasn't willing to confirm that the president referred to African countries with that vulgar term despite Senator Lindsey Graham indicating that was probably the case. What did you make of that exchange at the hearing and her effort to avoid the question? Democratic Senator Cory Booker called her silence and amnesia complicit. ROGIN: Yes, it's actually shocking to watch so many U.S. senators

essentially call a sitting cabinet member a liar. And that's what happened here. They didn't believe that she couldn't remember what the president said. And her lawyerly explanations did little to ally their skepticism.

And what you have here is, you know, again, Kirstjen Nielsen, a relatively unknown official knew in her job really destroyed her credibility with all of the democratic senators on that panel by really refusing to answer the question. Now she is the former aide to Chief of Staff John Kelly.

He is one of the hard liners on immigration that Graham and others are referring to. You can understand why she is defending the president and his stance. At the same time, the way it played out in today's hearings was very ugly.

CHURCH: Yes. And it's interesting, there's a few other people are refusing to answer question. That was a case to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. He refused to answer questions put to him at the House intelligence committee Tuesday about his time at the White House or the transition after the 2016 presidential election.

We also learned that Bannon will appear before the Mueller inquiry into Russian links to the -- to the Trump campaign. So, will Bannon refuse to answer those questions as well? Can he do that?

ROGIN: He can certainly try. What we have heard is that he is exerting executive privilege which is not actually legally viable. But he's in a strange situation where the Trump White House has abandoned him and attacked him and actually attacked his livelihood, yet still asking him to protect them. And he seems to be going along with that. We don't know why.

Now it's much easier to stonewall a congressional committee than it is to stonewall an FBI Justice Department investigation. But Bannon is going to try, and eventually, you can rest assure that Mueller is going to get the answers he wants one way or the other.

CHURCH: So we are coming up to a year of the Trump presidency and certainly it ended well, didn't it in 2017 with the tax cuts, hasn't started particularly well of course, with the release of Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury." That has brought a whole new set of problems to the Trump administration.

[03:15:03] And now of course this problem one of Mr. Trump's own making in fact, it doesn't seem to be going away. How would you assess the current state of the Trump presidency?

ROGIN: Yes. On the legislative side, the first year is always going to be the easiest. They do the two things they could do without democrats, health care and taxes. They lost health care, they won taxes. The second year was always going to be more difficult because they need democrat's major legislation. That's the challenge.

As for the current state of the Trump presidency, it's continuing chaos. There is broad dysfunction, in-fighting, a general lack of predictability and a lack of confidence in the president to make decisions. That's how it started, that's how it's continuing and that's how what we can see for the foreseeable future.

CHURCH: Josh Rogin, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

ROGIN: Any time.

CHURCH: And stay tune to CNN Newsroom, we will more from that explosive congressional hearing with the homeland security secretary. That's coming up in about 15 minutes from now.

Plus, the U.S. is holding back funding for Palestinian refugees and the U.N. says it could destabilize the region even more.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An elderly former guard of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp sought mercy to avoid prison time in Germany. And now we are learning his plea has just been denied by German prosecutors.

CNN's Atika Shubert is following this, and she joins us now from Berlin. So, Atika, we don't know why he ask for this mercy plea, but do we know why it was rejected and what other information have we got.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The prosecutor hasn't given any other explanation as to why it was rejected or even why the clemency was put in the first place.

I should point out, however, that this has been part of an ongoing legal battle by his Oskar Groening and his family. He was actually convicted as an accessory to murder in 2015 and since then he on various grounds for health reasons and so forth to delay his -- to delay his prison sentence. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Now all of those appeals were rejected and now what appears that his, this request for clemency has also been denied. So it's not clear at this point when he will go to prison or if he can still appeal, for example, to the federal prosecutor. But it is part of that ongoing battle.

Remember, he is 96 and this is one of the challenges for Germany's judicial system is how to prosecute those who were involved in crimes from Auschwitz and others in the Nazi era especially they are, you know, quite elderly at this point.

CHURCH: All right. Our Atika Shubert bringing us up to date on breaking news from Berlin, where the Auschwitz Nazi death camp guard his plea for mercy has been rejected. And we'll continue to follow that story.

[03:20:04] And many thanks to you, Atika.

And this just in to CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the U.S. will move its embassy to Jerusalem by the end of the year. The Trump administration chose last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. That decision drew criticism and spark protest across the region. Expert fear the move could hurt the chances of a peace with the Palestinians.

Well, the United Nations is warning Palestinian refugees could soon lose vital public services including education and health care. The U.S. is holding back more than half of the funding. It planned to give U.N. agency which supports those refugees. It's a cut of $65 million in aid. The Trump administration wants other countries to contribute more.

The U.N. secretary general says the cut in funding could further destabilize the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS: UNRWA is providing vital services to the Palestinian refugee population most in the occupied territories, and in Jordan in Syria, and in Lebanon. If UNRWA will not be in the position to provide the vital services and the emergency fund support that UNRWA has been providing this will create a very, very serious problem, and we will do everything we can to avoid the situation to occur.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And critics say the funding cut is politically motivated meant to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table with Israel. A claim the White House denies.

Our Ian Lee has more now from the West Bank.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Aida refugee camp in the West Bank, home to 5,000 people. History and symbolism are important here. When war erupted in 1948, Palestinians in their hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled off their lands moving to the West Bank and Gaza and neighboring countries.

Return to their old family home now in Israel was blocked. The United Nation Relief and Works Agency or UNWRA was created to look after these refugees. International rights lawyer Muhammad Abu Saor (Ph) says ns -- people would struggle if it was taken away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of the people would lose their own job. Many of the refugees they will cut they will lose like the opportunity to get more services. It will speak about sanitation, it will about the health care, it will about the education.

LEE: UNWRA says it educates more than half a million children. Over three million people receive health care and almost 300,000 received other relief services like food aid and work. The agency relies on over a billion dollars to maintain services of which the United States roughly donates 30 percent. President Trump put UNWRA on notice earlier this month, tweeting,

"With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace why should we make any of these massive future payments to them." Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees and says a new agency should pick up reasonability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The perpetuation of a dream of bringing the descendants of refugees back to Jaffa (Ph) is what stands as a confidence. UNWRA is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Mohammed Abu Sarour (Ph) sees Trump funding tactics as one simple thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is blackmail and this is like threatening at the same for us we don't want like (Inaudible) like money, we want like our dignity and our right.

LEE: The fate of Palestinian refugees once more front and center in the conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And our Ian Lee joins us now live from that refugee camp in the West Bank. Ian, if this is a funding tactic on the part of the Trump administration to get Palestinians back to the negotiating table and they deny that, will it work or will it do the opposite?

LEE: Well, when you speak with Palestinian leaders, Rosemary, they make it clear that they will not be blackmailed. We heard from the Palestinian representative to the United States, Husam Zomlot, he basically said that they wouldn't allow this pressure to come to bear on them that they wouldn't bend to the will of the U.S.

We've heard this from as well from the PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi. She also said that this could lead to instability in the region.

And you just have to look at what UNWRA does. It has over five million Palestinian refugees that it deals with has over half a million students that it educates, a lot of reliance on services.

[03:24:58] And we did hear from UNWRA, they are taking a more proactive response to this saying they are going to go to international donors to request more money, they are going to have a fund raising campaign, and also to raise awareness.

So, they also told the students that to go to their schools, that the doors will still be open. Classes will remain. Also people who rely on UNWRA for health care, that they still will be able to get that.

But there's about 30,000 employees they say that they are going to try to keep them and give them their salaries. But they're saying it's going to be tough, especially when this money that they rely on doesn't come in. And we have also heard from Israeli officials who have welcomed this action by the United States, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Ian Lee bringing us that live report from the refugee camp there on the West bank. It is nearly 10.30 in the morning. I appreciate that.

Well, Serbia's president is calling a brazen political assassination Tuesday an act of terror and is vowing to find those responsible.

As our Michael Holmes reports, the killing threatens efforts to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: A prominent Serb politician gunned down outside office in the Mitrovica, a town in northern Kosovo sharply divided along ethnic lines.

Oliver Ivanovic was due to attend E.U. mediated talks aimed at normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Now those talks are on hold.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia 10 years ago, following a bloody conflict between Serb forces and Kosovo Albanian rebels. But Serbia still does not recognize Kosovo as an independent country. Serbia's president describes Ivanovic's killing as an act of terror and demanded immediate action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEKSANDAR VUCIC, PRESIDENT OF SERBIA (through translator): A letter has already been sent to the E.U.-Lex and to the U.N. MIK (Ph) with our demands, not request, but demands, that the state authorities of the Republic of Serbia participate in the investigation on the territory of Kosovo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Authorities have not yet identified the suspect in the case, but the politician had many enemies. He was a key voice in favor of co-existence of ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo making him unpopular with many Serbs. He was also facing a retrial for allege war crimes against the Albanians during the Kosovo war, making him unpopular with many ethnic Albanians. His lawyer claims he was a peacemaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEBOJSA VLAJIC, LAWYER FOR VICTIM OLIVER IVANOVIC (through translator): We know who Oliver Ivanovic was. He was the best among us. He was a peacemaker who defended this town in which we live. There was nobody better in this town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia is a major test for Kosovo's rule of law.

Michael Holmes, CNN.

CHURCH: Coming up here on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIELSEN: I did not hear that word used. No, sir. Apologies. I don't remember specific word. I don't -- I don't specifically remember a category -- a categorization of countries in Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it possible that he said the word at the meeting and you didn't hear it?

NIELSEN: Anything is possible, yes, ma'am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The homeland security chief gets a grilling over U.S. President Trump's comments.

Plus, the former doctor for USA Gymnastic waits to learn his sentence for sexual misconduct. But first, he has to face many of his accusers in court.

We're back with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:58] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Welcome back, everyone to "CNN newsroom." Time to update you on all of the top stories we have been following. German prosecutors say a plea for mercy for former guard of the Auschwitz camp has been rejected. The now 96- year-old Oscar Groening had sought to avoid prison time. He was given a four-year prison sentence in 2015 after being found guilty of being an accessory to the murder of 300 thousand Jews at Auschwitz.

Foreign ministers from 20 countries are agreeing to consider more sanctions on North Korea. The U.S. Secretary of State says it is time to talk to Pyeongchang but the north has to indicate it is willing. Meantime a third round of talks between the north and south brought in agreement to return the bodies of four North Korean nationals found of the South Korean coastline.

The U.S. is withholding more than half of its schedule $125 million payment for the U.N. agency which supports Palestinian refugees. The Trump administration wants the aid group to make unspecified reforms. Critics say the cut is meant to pressure Palestinians into negotiating a peace deal with Israel. The White House denies that.

Donald Trump former chief strategist is facing tough questions in the Russia investigation. Steve Bannon met for 10 hours with the House Committee Tuesday, refusing to answer certain questions. The committee issued a subpoena. Special counselor Robert Mueller also wants Bannon to testify before a grand jury. A senate hearing that was supposed to be about DACA the program to

protect the young undocumented immigrants turned into an interrogation for the homeland security secretary. The subject words the president allegedly used to describe African countries. CNN's Jessica Schneider explains what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen under oath and under fire.

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT: Did the president of United States used that four letter word in combination with any other words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the strong language?

SCHNEIDER: Answering each version of the question virtually the same way.

PATRICK LEAHY, DEMOCRAT SENATOR FROM VERMONT: You were in the room under oath, did President Trump use this word or a substantially similar word to describe certain countries?

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I did not hear that word used, no, sir. My apologies, I don't remember specific word.

SCHNEIDER: Secretary Nielsen set the scene inside President Trump's oval office meeting with lawmakers.

NIELSEN: The President used tough language in general as did other Congressman in the room.

SCHNEIDER: She also tried to explain the president's reported preferences for immigrants from what majority countries like Norway.

NIELSEN: What he was specifically referring to as the Prime Minister telling him that the people in Norway work very hard. So what he was referencing is from a merit based perspective, we would like to have those with skills can seemingly contribute to the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norway is a predominantly white country, isn't it?

NIELSEN: I actually do not know that, but I imagine that is the case.

SCHNEIDER: After repeated questioning, Secretary Nielsen grew exasperated.

NIELSEN: Sir, respectfully, I have answered this. I have been patient with this line of questioning. I am here to tell you about the threats our country faces and the needs that are needed by the department of homeland security. I have nothing further to say about a meeting that happen over a week ago.

SCHNEIDER: Democratic Senator Cory Booker said she was seething and would not let go of the questioning. Criticizing Nielsen for not remembering the president's exact words.

SEN CORY BOOKER, NEW JERSEY: You are under oath. You and others on that room, suddenly cannot remember and if you can even say in your testimony the Norwegians were preference by him because they are so hardworking -- excuse me, let me finish.

NIELSEN: Happy to.

BOOKER: The commander in chief in an oval office meeting referring to people from African countries and Haitians with a most vile and vulgar language.

[03:35:06] Both language festers with ignorance and bigotry is alive with power. It is a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and amnesia is complicity.

SCHNEIDER: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham meanwhile attempting to turn the table back to the substance of the DACA debate and urging the President to close a deal that protects DREAMERS.

SEN LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: This is turning into a show and we need to get back in being a great country for Democrats and Republican that work together. To do something that we should have done years ago. To the 700,000 young people. Some young, some older, we are not going to leave you behind. I don't know how this movie ends, but you are going to be taken care of. Mr. President, I am going to end today where I ended Tuesday, close this deal.

SCHNEIDER: All eyes are now on congress to come up with a deal on DACA. The battle is also playing out in the courts. The Justice Department just announced that it will appeal the recent nine circuit ruling. The ruling that blocks the President's efforts to end DACA. And mandating the administration resume receiving DACA renewal applications. The Department of Justice took the unusual step of appealing both to the ninth circuit and directly to the Supreme Court at the same time that is in an effort to get a final word from both of these courts as quickly as possible. Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: And while lawmakers and lawyers fight over what comes next. People are getting caught in the middle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: This is the Garcia family giving their father and husband Jorge a painful farewell. He was brought to the U.S. illegally by his family when he was just 10 years old. Garcia received an extension to stay in the country from the Obama administration and now he is too old to qualify for DACA. The administration ordered him to return to Mexico. On Monday he was deported to a country he has not live in for 30 years. He says he's children are struggling with the separation.

JORGE GARCIA, DEPORTED TO MEXICO: it so hard to explain something to a kid which most of the time they don't understand and it was hard. Even though you could talk to them it is not, you know what I am saying. Basically to be there with them being the actual body be with them, talk to them physically, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, more than 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants living in the U.S. have until next September to find new legal status or go back to El Salvador. It raise the concerns that a potential mass deportation could increase the countries sky high crime rate. CNN Patrick Oppmann reports.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ex-gang members seek forgiveness and a future at this San Salvador church. They are all foot soldiers of the barrio 18 gang, a heavily armed and sophisticated criminal organization that helps fuel the countries annual quadruple digit body counts. Member of the Barrio 18 gang and their rivals MS-13 have themselves with tattoos to show their life-long allegiance. Ex-member Will doesn't want us to use his last name grew up in Los Angeles. He tells us that the Trumps administration plan to revoke temporary protected status from Salvadorans will only add to the bloodshed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was chaos. To bringing over 200,000 people here after so many years, that is going to create more poverty, more violence and more crime.

OPPMANN: For decades El Salvador racked with some of the world most highest murder rates. Much of the violence had been driven by young Salvadorans. Grew up and joined gangs in the U.S. and deported back here. Already in January, there had been about ten homicide per day police say. El Salvador government is taken (inaudible) or iron fist approach telling police to shoot it out with gangs, who are often heavily armed than they are. While on patrol. Inspector Juan Carlos Valiente never let's go of his Israeli made assault rifle.

They are well armed and violent. But we are more than capable to combat these groups in the streets. People stop by police are search for gang related tattoos. Human rights groups say police have executed suspected gang members simply for having the wrong ink, or sneakers.

[03:40:03] The police here defend their use of force, and say this groups are terrorist. Back in the church reformed gang members are saying El Salvador needs to give them economic opportunities. The church has a bakery for former gang members to work at. While we were there, police show up to search the church they go away when they see our cameras. Ex-gang member say they can never leave their old life behind. No one wants to hire them and people are still afraid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do not believe in second chances. They believe once you are a gang member, you are damned.

OPPMANN: These men say they have renounced El Salvador's bloody gangs, but they are still waiting for their shot of redemption. Patrick Oppmann CNN San Salvador.

(END VIDEO) CHURCH: Well the couple accused of holding their 13 children captive

will stand before a Judge on a court hearing on Thursday. David and Louise Turpin are charged with torture and child endangerment. California authorities say the sibling condition indicates they were subjected to abuse for a long period of time. They are all getting medical treatment. A neighbor described an odd encounter she had with three of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christmas of 2015, my son and I we put out this is our first Christmas in the home. So we put out decorations. It is nighttime. So we walked across the street and we saw the three. The boy, the girl and the other girl and we thought, again 14, 11, and 12. And we happily said hey, this looks really good, they had a nativity set. They froze. They immediately shut down. I look at it like they were children trying to do that mechanism where they are trying to deter a threat where they are like I am invisible you can't see me. My son and I initially caught that social Q and we immediately, we live across the street. We are not wanting to harm you or mess with you. We just want to talk about your Christmas decorations. They didn't utter one word and stayed in the same place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Six of the Turpin children are all under age 18, but police say they all look like youngsters.

Former U.S. gymnastic team Doctor Larry Nassar is waiting to learn his sentence in his sexual misconduct trial. But first he is having to face his victims almost 100 of them. Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual misconduct. He has been accused of sexually abusing as many as 125 victims, including several members of the 2012 and 2016 gold medal winning U.S. gymnastic teams. 98 of Nasser's abusers are expected to make statements over the next few days. Some of them face Nassar in court on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was approximately 6-years old when Larry Nassar began sexually abused me. And between the years between 12 and 18, He wedged himself between myself and my family and used leverage as my parent's trusted friend to pry us apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had sexually abuse her and had her audacity to do that while I was sitting right there in the room. She was doing horrible in school. In 2009, she took her own life. Because she couldn't deal with the pain anymore. And it will be ten years in March that I lost my baby. She was 23-years old. She would have been 33 now. And every day I miss her. Every day. And it all started with him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You broke and stuttered a lot of girls. You manipulated us to trust you, because you are a doctor and doctors do no wrong only heal. You are not a healer. You perform acts of depravity just as was described. You were also the one that may face what you have done for the rest of your life. I am no longer broken by you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He betrayed my trust took advantage of my youth and sexually abused me hundreds of time. Today I am more guarded than I was, a year ago, but I am also wiser.

(END VIDEO)

(EMERGENCY TEST BROADCAST)

[03:47:38] CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. The U.S. stock market keeps tantalizing investors. The DOW flowed with yet another milestone on Tuesday rising above 26,000. U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming credit for the DOW remarkable rise. The administration is intent in rolling back Wall Street regulations. Richard Quest looks at how that is playing out.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

RICHARD QUEST, EDITOR AT LARGE: Donald Trump was never a major player on Wall Street that is until he became president. Now, he is over seeing an historic rally in financial stocks and cutting regulations wherever he can. One of the biggest moment of the first year was overhauling the consumer financial protection bureau. The President called a disaster and he picked an enemy of it of regulation Mick Mulvaney to run the very organization. He criticized the first thing the man did was block all new rules.

MICK MULVANEY, BUDGET DIRECTOR: Effective today. We have put something similar in place to what we did across the entire executive branch. We did 90-day hiring freeze. We put a 30-day hiring freeze here at CFPB. We put a 30-day immediate freeze on any new rules regulations and guidance. Stops for at least 30 days while I get a chance to see exactly what is going on and keep the tires here at the bureau.

QUEST: Those like Senator Elizabeth Warren who helped create the CFPB saying the right regulations can help stop the financial crisis. Anyway it is not like the banks are having problems giving out loans at any event, but the cuts well, they still keep coming. Relaxing things liked fiduciary rule. Making it easier for bank to sell products including risky ones at that. For now, Wall Street remains happy. This banking index is up more than 20 percent since the inauguration. And if everything we hear follows through, it is going to continue. Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: And the DOW's meteoric rise is coinciding with the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration. It is just days away. Ohio was one of the state that push him to victory, fuel in part by Democrats who cross party lines. So would they do it again, CNN Martin Savidge went to Ohio to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

[03:50:16] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anywhere you look in Youngstown is a reminder of what's been lost. Factories, jobs, the city's population is down about two-thirds from the 1950s. The economy wasn't just disappearing here, so was a way of life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I realized the core foundation of our country is slipping away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it got to a point where I did not like the direction my country was going.

SAVIDGE: The answer for many was Donald Trump. In 2016, according to the Mahoning board of elections, approximately 7,000 registered Democrats switched parties to become Republicans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he was going to make America first, and go bring jobs back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump said you're in lousy deals. We'll fix that and bring jobs back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said he wanted to bring jobs to the American people and that is something I can certainly get behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a pastor, a machine shop worker and a union worker. Democrats were raised in Democrat families who crossed over to vote Trump. We're one year, one year in.

SAVIDGE: How is he doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phenomenal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than I ever would have dream.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is doing wonderful. He is staying on task.

SAVIDGE: We start with the hot button topic of the moment. How big an issue to all of you is immigration?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge?

SAVIDGE: Really? In Youngstown, Ohio?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. And as far as I am concerned they're stealing jobs of rightful citizens.

SAVIDGE: It is ultimate on something else Trump says is important. Rules and respect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like when people come here illegally that is very disrespectful. You don't disrespect our laws and you shouldn't be able to come here freewheeling like that.

SAVIDGE: A year later, they all want the wall. As for the President's speech, Gina says she used to cringe. Not anymore.

So you don't cringe because you've grown numb to it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. I started to realize why he uses twitter the way he does. I love the guy. I love what he is doing.

SAVIDGE: Just this woman said he is not a racist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a nice person, and if he was a racist like everybody says he is, he could have walked past me and not even said a word.

SAVIDGE: What about the lies? Let me ask you this, do you think he is a liar?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Do I think he is fallen short of some of his goals? We all do.

SAVIDGE: Economically they say thing aren't getting better. The stock market and home values are up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Industries are booming everywhere I've seen.

SAVIDGE: Look around you, I don't see a boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this area, no. But there are small businesses that are starting to pick up.

SAVIDGE: Gary says the tax reform will fuel the recovery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My community will benefit from this tax cut.

SAVIDGE: Do you think the media gives the President a fair shake?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

SAVIDGE: One year later, these voters couldn't be happier. They see achievement. Most of all, they see a President like them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is like tenacious sometimes and says things off the cuff like we do, like real Americans do. We're not perfect. I'm tired of suave, I'm tired of the teleprompter. I am. I want my country back.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Youngstown, Ohio.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: Well the results are in from Donald Trump physical and laughter is the best medicine for the late night comedian. The prognosis still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:55:35] CHURCH: Welcome back everyone, the White House physician says Donald Trump is in excellent health. And that made the late night comedians feel good. And the comedians could not resist offering some diagnosis of their own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It turns out according to the official White House doctor, Trump is completely sane. Which makes me more worried cause that means he is doing all of this (BEEP) on purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The doctor said the examination went exceptionally well which means he was able to get start eating fried chicken (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the President being 6'3", 239. According to body mass index by the federal health and human services department Trump is overweight and just one pound shy of obesity. One pound. Short of being obese. That is awfully convenient.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, Doc, I don't want to be obese but I feel this was out of cash is about one pound, take that off my hands and weigh me again, ok.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No heart problems, no dementia, no dentures. But did you test for racism.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump's doctor predicting that the president will have and live a long life. As a result the doctor is treating Melania Trump for depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And twitter is having some fun too, just check out #girthmovement.

Senator Orrin Hatch is laughing an embarrassing moment during a traditional committee hearing. Reached up to take off a pair of glasses he wasn't even wearing. The 3 second clip has millions of views on social media. A staff later explains the senator simply forgot his glasses. The 84-year-old is retiring from the senate at the end of the year. Thanks so much for your company this hour. I am Rosemary Church. The news continues with Max Foster in London. Have yourself a great day.

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