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CNN NEWSROOM
Trump Announces Tariffs, Stock Market Plunges; Culture of Fear at the White House; Putin Boasts of "Invincible" Nuclear Capability; Police Arrive at Home of Israeli PM Netanyahu; California Boasts Tough Gun Laws and Restrictions; Schoolgirls' Abduction Forces Nigerian Leader To Take Action; Hamilton Sets Fastest Five In Pre-Season Testing; Tim Howard Talks MLS Video Review World Cup. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 2, 2018 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, fears of a global trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump says he will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Flexing his missiles, Vladimir Putin claims his new weapons are invincible and sends a blunt message to the U.S. with an animation showing his nukes raining down on Florida.
And while Washington stalls on gun reform, California is doing what California does, moving ahead and seizing illegal weapons.
Hello and welcome to viewers all around the world. You are just in time for the third hour of NEWSROOM L.A. I'm John Vause, good to have you with us.
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VAUSE: President Trump's to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports is causing anger at home and outrage abroad. In a hastily arranged meeting Mr. Trump set a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum could start as early as next week. We're still waiting for the details. They could come next week.
The Dow plunged more than 400 points on fears all of this might just start a trade war. Sources say the announcement caught some White House staff off guard. But press secretary Sarah Sanders claims this was planned all along and no one was taken by surprise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is something, again, that the president has been talking about for a long time. It's not a surprise. And we're going to continue doing what we can to protect American workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Live now to CNN Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong.
Andrew, you've been keeping an eye on the markets. They've been in negative territory. Clearly there's a lot of fears beyond just these tariffs on steel and aluminum and what it could mean for world trade.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Yes, just how big this could get, John, as you say, we don't know the details yet, whether some countries will be exempt, whether some steel products will be in for lower taxes or tariffs in the 25 percent.
And it's important to note that Sarah Sanders is right in that Donald Trump is a protectionist at heart. And his move has been called blatantly protectionist. He will probably wear that as a badge of honor.
Asia followed Wall Street down as you'd expect, the Nikkei taking the biggest hits around about 2.2 percent down at the close. But it's interesting; the fear here is -- and the anger here is united about what Donald Trump potentially could spark and that, of course, is a trade war.
Let me read a couple of the reactions from friend and foe alike. It's not just a trade war against rivals. It's a trade war involving allies of the U.S. as well. Let me give you a taste of some. This is from Canadian foreign minister. Canada is the biggest exporter of steel to the U.S.
This is from Chrystia Freeland. "It absolutely unacceptable. We will take responsive measures to defend our trade interests and our workers." That's from Canada.
This is from the E.C., the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. He's the president. "The E.U. will act firmly to defend our interests."
And I've also got a quote here from China, John. Now this is speaking before the actual Trump announcement. But it was in the wind that it may happen.
And the Chinese were saying, "It's unreasonable and excessive and we will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of China."
They are saying the same thing. We will take action against this measure if Donald Trump pushes it through. And action most likely is going to be, you know, mirror tariffs, which ends up in tit-for-tat and escalates and escalates and you get a full-blown trade war and the global economy suffers. In fact, everyone suffers.
VAUSE: Andrew, thank you. Andrew Stevens with that update, live in Hong Kong. Appreciate it.
VAUSE: Let's bring in Democratic strategist Robin Swanson, CNN political commentator and Republican consultant John Thomas and global business executive Ryan Patel. OK, Ryan, I'm no financial expert. But you are. And it's often debatable whether or not a president can have a direct impact on the stock market either positively or negatively.
But on Wednesday the Dow fell about 500 points as this announcement was being made. Shares in Ford closed down 3 percent by the end. GM was down 4 percent. U.S. Steel almost 6 percent. There is no doubt about it. What Donald Trump did on Wednesday is directly responsible for what we saw on Wall Street.
RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: I couldn't agree with you more. And I think typically, I would agree that it's not really rational. But today, because it has a longstanding implication on what he did today, that's what you saw.
It was, this is going to cause the -- not just from an international trade but companies, you think about Boeing and those companies that are the biggest exporters, they took a huge hit today. And automobile --
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PATEL: -- companies as well. So for me it's seeing what are the new countries coming in. And this is not a -- to get into a little more detail, it's not just about China. This is about Canada. This is about --
VAUSE: And it's not just about steel or aluminum. This is about the potential for what this could cause.
PATEL: Yes. And, for me, when I see the market take a hit like that, you kind of have to take a step back and go, is this 25 percent on -- let's pick steel for example. That is a huge hike. And, again, it's not unheard of.
The Obama administration actually did make a steel -- they did an import, like kind of taxation on certain countries in China. But this is taken a new level. And when you have a retaliation behind that, it's going to hit, affect the consumers as well.
VAUSE: I remember George W. Bush tried something like this back in 2002. They tried it for a couple of years. Ended up costing about 100,000 jobs was the final result.
John, here is the view from "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board.
"Donald Trump made the biggest policy blunder of his presidency Thursday by announcing that next week he will impose tariffs on 25 percent of imported steel, 10 percent on aluminum.
"This tax increase will punish American workers, invite retaliation that will harm U.S. experts, divide his political coalition at home, anger allies abroad and undermine his tax and regulatory reforms."
The biggest policy blunder is a big call, considering what this administration has gone through in the last 12 months. But right now it seems difficult to find anybody who actually supports this move by the president, apart from Bernie Sanders.
JOHN THOMAS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it's very populist. And it's something the president ran on. The spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was right when she said this is nothing new. This is something he said he was going to do it and now he is finally doing it.
Now the free trader in me isn't happy about it. But look, it's something he said he was going to do. It's part of his pledge to bring back jobs or keep jobs here. And he is following through on it. Time will tell. It's a big risk. If he ends up killing a bunch of jobs in the process, his political career will be killed as well.
VAUSE: Robin, this has been a highly contentious issue inside the White House. Many of the president's senior advisers very much opposed this move. But the president went ahead with it anyway on Thursday, he made this announcement, it was hastily arranged. And this -- it seems to be that, amidst all the turmoil which is currently underway within the White House, the president decided to do this, in some ways, simply because he could to prove that he is still calling the shots.
ROBIN SWANSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I think that's right, at least on this issue. I think, you know, he subscribes to the chaos theory. But I think this is just chaos. And I think what must be scary if you're inside the White House is that the president is doing these things without much thought to messaging, bringing everybody on board.
And he is, you know, unintentionally causing a trade war. So I think having messaging that goes with the policies that he is laying out, off the cuff, as a staff member, that must be very frustrating for them.
I mean, if you are looking at companies like Toyota responding and saying it's going to drive up the cost of cars, you're seeing beer saying that beer is going to cost more, talk to Middle America about beer costing more.
VAUSE: Especially those Trump Democrats. For those voters, for everyone that's a big issue.
THOMAS: I think for Trump this is consistent with what he is saying, putting America first, stop Americans from being taken advantage of, trying to bring jobs back. And we'll see if that actually happens in practical reality.
VAUSE: Ryan, I just want to bring Ryan in because the president uses his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which deals with imports and national security. Now the U.S. gets most of its steel from Canada. So with that in mind, listen to Canada's minister for international trade.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we need to remind ourselves is that the United States has in fact a trade surplus with (INAUDIBLE) steel about 2 billion. That Canada buy more U.S. steel than any country in the world. And any suggestion that Canadian steel would pose a threat to national security is completely obviously misplaced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ryan, "misplaced" seems a very polite way of saying this because this excuse seems so flimsy that the experts and analysts are saying that opens the door for everybody else to retaliate and impose their own tariffs.
PATEL: Yes. You think about Canada has about 18 percent, Brazil has got 16 percent. That's north of 25 percent together of importing of steel specifically. And I would also disagree with -- is it going to create new jobs, it's already a low demand in the steel industry already right now. A lot of it is automation that's going on in that industry.
So it's not necessarily going to bring in more jobs. And this tariff piece, like in Canada, I'm surprised -- typically you would see the Canadian government wait a little bit to take a direct message back to the Trump administration.
They didn't waste any time saying we are going to retaliate. And I think Japan came out to say something similar, that 25 percent across all is not something that's really, really smart.
VAUSE: Australians and New Zealanders have also said -- made comments on this --
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VAUSE: -- all negatives.
PATEL: And why this is -- why this becomes an issue right now, because they've done stuff with solar, with washing machines; they've imported taxes on that. Those are smaller players. Now you're talking about steel and aluminum where it does affect not just those companies, it affects all -- importing and exporting and the multinational companies right now, they will get hit hard tariffs in other countries when they're doing this.
VAUSE: OK. We have to move on very quickly because this has been part of the ongoing turmoil inside the White House. CNN is now reporting another Trump is under investigation. This time it's the first daughter, Ivanka, and her international business dealings.
The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according a former U.S. official. The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as they tries to obtain full security clearance in her role as adviser to the president.
A spokesman for Ivanka Trump says there's no issues for her security clearance. But, Robin, this comes a day after "The New York Times" reported that
her husband's company, Jared Kushner's company, basically received half a billion dollars in loans from CEOs who he met at the White House, (INAUDIBLE) the same day that the Housing Secretary Ben Carson had to return that $31,000 dining room table.
This does sort of beg the question, what's happening with all that swamp draining?
SWANSON: That's exactly right, what about the swamp right there at home in the White House?
I do think it's concerning for folks that, you know, it starts with him hiring his daughter and the nepotism. But I think he has set the bar so low for ethical standards and set the bar so low for having a moral compass, you know, when I worked on Capitol Hill, we had a limit of $50 of gifts that we could accept.
And half a billion dollars...
VAUSE: That's a little bit more.
SWANSON: -- just a little bit. So the fact that his family believes that they are above the rules, it comes from the top. Donald Trump didn't play by the rules. So why would his daughter have to play by the rules? Why would Jared Kushner have to play by the rules?
And it's very disturbing. And I don't know that that's what middle America voted for when they were putting Donald Trump in office.
VAUSE: And we are waiting for the eventual departure of Jared Kushner from the White House.
And, John, we now have word that the national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, could also be the next one to go because he has had disagreements with the president.
THOMAS: That's no surprise. McMaster, I've I been waiting for him to leave. There have been public disagreements over a variety of issues. Look, there is certainly to say it's a smooth operation inside the White House I think is probably an overstatement.
VAUSE: Or delusional.
THOMAS: What I think we can take away here is I think it's healthy that they're starting to cull the herd.
VAUSE: But this is not a normal operating White House.
THOMAS: No, it's not in that sense. But what's good about it is, even if Ivanka did nothing wrong, the appearance of an impropriety is just as bad.
VAUSE: But what about the instability and the uncertainty and the chaos and the absolute lack of morale which is there at the moment?
This cannot be good for the country when the White House is continually operating in such turmoil.
SWANSON: That's right. I think there is nothing stable, there is nothing healthy about having four or five different communications directors. There is nothing stable and nothing healthy about going through a couple of different chiefs of staff. People are fleeing the Titanic. The Titanic is sinking. The iceberg is ahead and they have to get --
THOMAS: -- record unemployment and things like that bring the instability --
SWANSON: -- record turnover in staff, that's not how you grow a company, it's now how you grow a country. That's not how you actually build a stable country. That's how you get this very -- just disassociated policies from what he is trying to accomplish. It's not -- this isn't how you function as a government.
VAUSE: I mean, John, the length of stay for a communications director on average is 87 days.
THOMAS: Yes.
VAUSE: Again --
THOMAS: Well, that -- the average has probably reduced by the Mooch, who stayed for 48 hours or whatever it was.
VAUSE: -- real estate for two days and Mooch stayed for 10.
THOMAS: Well, the Hope Hicks position, though, was always supposed to be temporary. As soon as Mooch left I think they felt like they needed somebody who was a recognizable figure. She was never intended -- she was never intended to be there permanently. She is not a formally trained communications specialist.
SWANSON: Nobody is formally trained on any of this.
VAUSE: -- days is temporary in the real world, maybe not the White House but in the real world.
Ryan and John and Robin, thank you so much.
SWANSON: Thank you.
THOMAS: Thanks.
VAUSE: Well, Russia's president is telling the world his new generation of nuclear weapon are invincible and will make NATO's defenses completely useless. Vladimir Putin was delivering an annual address before parliament on Thursday just a few weeks before Russia's presidential election.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): No other country in the world has this kind of arsenal. There were absolutely no secrets about it. We said it absolutely publicly to all our colleagues. Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential --
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PUTIN (through translator): -- in the world. But nobody listened to us. Listen now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Matthew Chance joins us now live from Moscow.
Matthew, Vladimir Putin did talk about domestic issues. He talked about health care, improving infrastructure. That almost seemed like a side note to all of these new weapons. And then at the end of this two-hour long address came this. Take a look.
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VAUSE (voice-over): The president was standing as the national anthem played out. There is this giant Russia flag and the video screen behind him and the message here, Matthew, seems that for this vote later on this month, vote for Putin and that's a vote for national security.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, I mean, look, the president's slogan going into this election, which, remember, is taking place in 16 days from now, is a strong president, strong country.
And that's exactly the message that obviously he was trying to put across during this speech to the joint houses of the Russian parliament. He hasn't been doing a lot of election campaigning, if any election campaigning, in fact. He has been leaving that to the other sort of fringe candidates that don't stand a chance of getting any more than a couple of percentage points in the popular vote.
Putin is a slam dunk certainty to win this reelection on March the 18th. But he still wants to put across this image domestically that he is a strong president, that he thinks about the Russian military and is strongly behind it and that he has the interests of Russian national security on his mind constantly, much the same, in fact, as the kind of image that President Trump over there in the U.S. likes to put across to his electorate as well.
VAUSE: On the issue of this new generation of nuclear weapons, even if they haven't developed the new nuclear weapons as they claim. they do have some impressive animations like the one with the warheads raining down on Florida. And that left the U.S. State Department less than happy. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw it. And we don't think it's responsible. We don't think that kind of imagery seen, the portrayal in a cheesy video of that kind of attack being conducted on the United States as being a responsible action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Not exactly the most subtle message coming from the Kremlin.
But was that reaction from the State Department spokesperson the kind of reaction that they were hoping for?
CHANCE: I think perhaps because, you know, we talked about how this was messaging the domestic audience here in Russia and Putin being a strong leader. But there were other things going on as well. And of course Vladimir Putin wanted to send a message to his old adversaries in the West and in the United States.
And this was a not so subtle way of doing it. He even went so far as to criticize the latest U.S. nuclear doctrine in the United States, which, basically he says lowers the threshold, lowers the bar for a nuclear strike by U.S. forces.
And he said, look, if Russia is struck or any of its allies is struck by even a small scale nuclear attack, we will respond immediately. So there were some subtle and not so subtle threats coming from Vladimir Putin as well.
VAUSE: Yes, most of them seemed not so subtle. Matthew, though, good to see you. We appreciate you getting up early. Thank you.
Still to come here, amid that heated gun debate, California is taking away weapons from felons and those with mental health issues. We'll tell you how that is working -- next.
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VAUSE: We have breaking news this hour. Police are at the residence of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of their ongoing corruption investigation. This would be the eighth time he has been questioned about these various cases.
He is considered a suspect in two of them but has repeatedly insisted that he is innocent of all allegations.
Oren Liebermann joins us now live from Jerusalem with more on this.
Oren, so this is expected to be about case 3,000 as well as case 4,000 that we are looking at here.
So exactly what are the details there?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, this also indicates that the investigation itself has moved into a new phase. The first seven times Netanyahu was questioned, it was about the first two cases, 1,000 and 2,000, in which he has already been named a suspect. In 3,000 and 4,000 he hasn't been named a suspect. We'll see if that
changes by the end of the day. 3,000 and 4,000 are both much bigger cases than the first two. 3,000 is what's known as the submarines affair here, the multimillion dollar purchase of German submarines by Israel.
Police say that there was corruption involved in that purchase, already detained for questioning in the past here have been Netanyahu's lawyer and one of his closest confidants. 4,000 is the about the relationship between the ministry of communications and Israeli telecom firm Bisek (ph), owned by one of Netanyahu's friends at a time when Netanyahu was the communications minister.
Many near him have been arrested and detained in this case. Netanyahu however has been not. Again, John, crucially we'll see what police say in a statement that we expect after the questioning. If Netanyahu is questioned under caution, if they use that wording, it means he is a suspect in another investigation.
VAUSE: We also have a situation also that his wife is expected to be questioned, too?
LIEBERMANN: And that's right. That's from Israel's Channel 10. They saw an official vehicle pulling into what's known as Lahav 433, the national crimes investigations unit. It's expected that, as Netanyahu is questioned at the official prime minister residence in Jerusalem, she is questioned at the national crime investigations unit at the same time, perhaps indicating investigators don't want them coordinating their responses and they want to present them with similar evidence differently or at different locations to see how they respond.
Crucially here, again, we are looking for a statement from police afterwards to see what came out of these investigations. And that will be when we have a sense of how much more pressure has just been put on Netanyahu at a very interesting time.
Not only is it an Israeli holiday today but, next week, he is off to Washington to meet with President Trump.
VAUSE: Interesting. And that is an Israeli legal term "under caution," which we'll be looking for once the police are finished.
Oren, thanks so much. Appreciate you being with us. Look forward to the next update.
On Wednesday, during that freewheeling meeting at the White House, the U.S. president sounded more progressive than many Democrats on gun control. But just a few hours ago came this tweet from a top lobbyist with the NRA.
He proudly declared that he'd met with Donald Trump and the vice president, Mike Pence. And, no, they don't want gun control, at least according to this lobbyist.
Here in California, though, there has been no back-and-forth, no hesitation when it comes to taking action on guns. Stephanie Elam reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 6,000 rounds of ammunition, three semiautomatic weapons, a shotgun and a pistol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the assault weapons was fixed with a bump stock.
ELAM (voice-over): Bump stocks, like what the Las Vegas mass shooter used to mimic automatic firing, were banned in California in 1990. Altogether, it's an arsenal 57-year-old Timothy Pope is not allowed to have.
TIMOTHY POPE, CONVICTED FELON: I forgot they were even here really.
ELAM (voice-over): He was previously convicted of possessing a destructive device, a felony.
ELAM: Do you remember being notified and told that you can't have guns anymore?
POPE: Yes, in the court.
ELAM: How do you feel right now?
POPE: Stupid.
ELAM (voice-over): This bust coming at the end of the daily mission for these California Department of Justice agents, who door-knocked targeted homes in search of weapons in the wrong hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only in California do we have a law that permits us to --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- seize these weapons.
ELAM (voice-over): It's the only system of its kind in the nation. The Armed Prohibited Person System or APPS flags those who previously registered firearms but were later deemed unfit to own a gun after a felony conviction, violent misdemeanor, domestic violence restraining order or found to be mentally unstable.
Using the APPS data, agents visit Pope, who now likely faces a new set of felony charges, including the possession of so-called "ghost guns," homemade weapons free of serial numbers officials use to track guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you imagine if these guns got in the wrong hands through a burglary?
ELAM (voice-over): California's Department of Justice has recovered 18,000 firearms since the program began. More than 10,000 people are on the list statewide. As the county is again embroiled in the gun control debate, some point out that APPS would not have cost caught the mass shooters in San Bernardino and Isla Vista, California.
ELAM: There are people out there who say with all the shootings that we've seen across the country, that none of this, that the APPS program wouldn't have stopped that.
What do you say to that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say that it's impossible for us to measure the success of this operation because nobody knows whether or not one of the guns that we seized would have been the next mass shooting.
ELAM (voice-over): Another concern for Second Amendment advocates, how well the database is kept up to date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the people that are prohibited are appropriately notified and given ample opportunity to get rid of the firearms and ammunition so that they're not in further violation of the law.
ELAM (voice-over): But after a night like this, these officers believe APPS is a good place to start and that other states should follow California's lead -- Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.
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VAUSE: Coming up here on NEWSROOM L.A., footprints in the sand and empty dorm rooms, stark reminders that more than 100 Nigerian schoolgirls are missing yet again. We'll take to you the scene of their abduction.
And following a trail of blood out of Myanmar, a Rohingya refugee tells what happened in his home village in Rakhine State.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.
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VAUSE: Nigeria's president has called it a national disaster. He ordered troops to the area to help with the search. David McKenzie joins us now live from Kano in Nigeria. So David, the president there has promised families of these kidnapped girls, they will be rescued. Ten days on, where is that promise end?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, John, it's an empty promise because there's no sign that the government is any closer to finding these 110 girls who were taken in this horrific attack in Northeast Nigeria where I'm standing. Now, the government says, John, that they have officials -- senior officials in the region to direct the search. They have flown more than 20 hours of air sorties trying to search these very remote areas in the northeast, but so far no sign of these girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These young girls in Dapchi escaped abduction but they've already lost so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've looked for her at the school but I couldn't find her says Yeganah Mostafa. I've tried her number but I couldn't get through. There sisters have been taken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My sister was sick in bed says Arabukah. I took her medicine but then the gunshots started. They took her right from her bed she says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: The Nigerian military fell back from this town saying it was safe. Just weeks later, gunman stormed Dapchi Science and Technical College in three cars and a flatbed truck. They wanted to load up as many girls as they could. When the militant stormed the school, they came in and said to the young girls come here, you'll be safe because they were wearing Nigerian military uniforms.
They made the girls sit like this. But some of the girls told us they noticed they were wearing flip-flops on their feet, not boots like normal military, so they ran. The men attacked at prayer time. Many girls were in the mosque. Their bare footprints still in the sand. In the terror, girls escaped over fences, into bushes, others hid in classrooms.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will not go back to their school again.
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MCKENZIE: ISIS linked Boko Haram militants took 110 say parents. The youngest just 11-years-old.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My demand though is to see my -- is to see our children back. That's our demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: The fathers of missing daughters are asking how never again could now happen. After almost 300 Chibok school girls were taken four years ago, they're helpless to a government that says it has scrambled jets and choppers to look, but so far has achieved nothing. Boko Haram forces girls into becoming sex slaves, straps bombs on their bodies, and sends them into markets. The girls are too terrified to go back to school. We are just afraid
that if we return there, they will come back and attack again says Sarah. But mostly she's afraid for her abducted sister. I worry that I've lost her for good she says. And they were really crucial hours on the day that this attack happened.
That the -- really was confusion as to whether the attack had taken girls, whether they had been abducted at all. And those hours in fact even days are really leading people to question whether the Nigerian Government did enough because it might be too late at this point, and Boko Haram is known to take its abducted girls and women into very remote areas that are hard for the government to access. And that area is even in fact close to the Nigerian border. So the girls are completely missing, no signs of life at this stage despite the promises of President Buhari and others. John.
VAUSE: David, thank you. Obviously there's -- it's a difficult part of the world to get to. There are some technical problems we had with your shot, but we're glad you are with us and we appreciate the report. Thanks so much. Well, the Rohingya refugee crisis is raising tensions on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border after a show of force by Myanmar's military near the refugee camps. Bangladesh summoned Myanmar's ambassador on Thursday and asked for a pullback of the security forces and their heavy weapons.
Refugee says Myanmar soldiers are trying to intimidate them into leaving, sometimes using loudspeakers telling them to move on. Many refugees have been left with nothing except their stories. Their stories are pretty awful. CNN found a survivor of one Myanmar's first alleged military operations against Rohingya in Rakhine State when dozens of men and boys were killed. Anna Coren has this story and a warning here the report contains images some viewers may find disturbing.
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rohingya villagers film with their phone as they follow a trail of blood in Maungdaw, Rakhine State. Human Rights Watch has alleged that dozens were shot and stabbed to death in this town by Myanmar's military in August 2017.
[02:35:07] Allegations which the Myanmar Government has denied saying it targeted Rohingya insurgents not civilians after a deadly attack on a security post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw my own brother along with 10 other people shot and killed in front of my eyes.
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COREN: This cellphone video was released by the Arakan Project, a rights group that advocates on behalf of the Rohingya. The video has not been independently verified by CNN as journalists have little or no access to the region. In the video, the rights group says residents returned to the bloodstained streets of their town desperate to find families and gather evidence of what happened. One gruesome discovery the body of a young man. In footage, they were told was taken shortly after the August attack, Muhammad Hassan shows his wounds. Four months later, CNN finds the teenager living in a refugee camp near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. He says he was shot by the Army but managed to escape by playing dead.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I woke up, I saw a soldier pointing a gun on me and he said you are not dead yet and he shot me again in the chest. After 10 minutes, he went away to the other soldiers and I crawled and fled away to my home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: In November 2017, security forces announced the construction of a new military outpost in Maungdaw Village.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS LEWA, DIRECTOR OF THE ARAKAN PROJECT: A bulldozer came to the village to open an exit route and clear an area for this camp. But as you know in other region of Northern Rakhine and particularly in Maungdaw where villagers were burned, there has been a vast destruction and demolition.
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COREN: Myanmar Government agencies have denied that the bulldozing of empty homes is intended to cover-up evidence of wrongdoing. They say towns and fields have been cleared for the construction of housing for Rohingya refugees being repatriated.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no desire to get rid of the so-called evidence as such.
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COREN: Muhammad also says he remains in touch with former neighbors in Maungdaw via cellphone. With little to know aid arriving in the town, they tell him they also want to leave for Bangladesh. After fire, death, and demolition in the village where Muhammad grew up, he may no longer have a house in his homeland. Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
VAUSE: CNN is partnering with young people around the world for the student lead day of action against modern day slavery on March 14th. In advance of my freedom day, U.S. actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Ashley Judd what freedom means to her.
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ASHLEY JUDD, UNITED NATIONS GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: Hi, I'm Ashley Judd and I believe that all human beings have inherent dignity and deserve to be freed. And freedom means freedom from harm, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally. I am a sex and labor slavery abolitionist, and I believe that all folks everywhere are entitled to their bodily integrity and their sexual autonomy. And that's why I'm an abolitionist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What does freedom mean to you? Share your story using #MyFreedomDay. (INAUDIBLE) one of the most talked about horror films of the year and writer/director Jordan Peele says it was a way to confront his own fears, the power of scary stories just ahead.
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[02:40:38] VAUSE: Not long now before Hollywood starts popping the champagne on its biggest night of the year this Sunday when the Academy Awards are handed out. And now, CNN's creator series profiles a tough nominee writer and director Jordan Peele. His horror film Get Out is up for four Oscars. Peele is up for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and he tells us how he turned fear into success.
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JORDAN PEELE, AMERICAN ACTOR AND DIRECTOR: I was very afraid of the dark when I was a kid. When I was younger, horror movies scared me to a pretty ridiculous point. I had a wild imagination and I remember one day I told, you know, I had a campfire. My school did a school trip and at a campfire I told a bunch of my fellow students a scary story and it worked, and I remember in that moment I felt like, wow, what was my fear has kind of become my power, and wielding that artistry felt good. The time that I wrote Get Out in was -- it was during the Obama Administration. That's the time I called the post- racial lie America.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have chosen unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
PEELE: We weren't talking about race in a substantive way. I felt. I think that that's the same -- that's the same period that the emboldening of racism.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there's blame on both sides.
PEELE: And Trumpism that you see in this time -- when something goes unsaid, when there's a missing piece of the conversation, I think when it finally is said, it can explode.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So how long has this been going on, this thing?
PEELE: I -- it really looks to a type of film that I call the social thriller.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What have you done to it? What have you done to its eyes?
PEELE: Rosemary's baby, The Stepford Wives, Night of the Living Dead are in there for me. These are movies where humanity and society is the monster. I felt like in writing get out where has this movie been? Why haven't I -- why I haven't seen this story before? It seems like it should have been done. I mean 50 years ago, we have Night of the Living Dead which was about race and that should have opened up the conversation for more films in that sort of social thriller genre.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not bad. Hey, Nelson.
PEELE: There is a need for stories that allow an audience to commune, to come together in a theater, not just the -- in the home but a theater to experience something together, and for stories that promote that empathy and deal with these sort of untold truths but also provide an escape and a fun time. That's what I'm committed to doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Please join Isha and me for a special coverage of the Academy Awards. We'll have all the winners, the losers, the inevitable scandal, and controversies, and of course all the latest fashions and what they're wearing, and I guess what they're not. Hollywood's biggest night that's right after the Oscar telecast assuming it finishes on time but we will be on time. 1:00 P.M. Monday in Hong Kong, 5:00 A.M. in London right here on CNN. It will be fun, so we hope you can be with us for that. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. World Sport is next. You're watching CNN.
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[02:45:53] KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello, welcome along to WORLD SPORT. I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center. Where we kind of begin with the action from the Premier League on Thursday. Where runaway title contenders Manchester City face Arsenal, wave the second time in a week.
On Sunday, City ran out 3-0 winners to lift the EFL Cup trophy at when they to the Emirates we go where the northerners were first out of the blocks. Leroy Sane, finding Bernardo Silva for the first and then the visitors doubled the lead within the first half hour and David Silva on the back of the net.
Now, in the second half, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had the chance start the comeback for Arsenal but missed the penalty, 3-0 it ends. Different day, same result, Arsenal really struggling at the moment to catch a break at all.
Confirmation then of that result, City's first league double over Arsenal in 42 years. Would you believe and implications in the EPL table as well? Man City maintain a massive lead atop the table some 16 points above city rivals United Arsenal are falling further behind a European sport and 8 points behind Chelsea who are in fifth.
In the last few hours, shadows are being cast over the Brazilian superstar Neymar's chances of playing in the World Cup in Russia. This summer, a Brazilian team doctor says the world most expensive player will need up to three months to recover from surgery. That means he would miss the rest of the season. And wouldn't return to action until approximately two weeks before the World Cup begins in Russia.
Neymar has flown back to his home country for the operation on his foot which he injured when playing to Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday. He's already been ruled out of PSG's blockbuster Champion's League second leg match against Real Madrid on Tuesday, but now, his entire season is in doubt. Neymar's club says, it was a joint decision by them and the Brazil National Team to opt the surgery and that will happen this week.
Former Barcelona Real Madrid Luis Figo faces similar dilemma ahead of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. He suffered an ankle injury at exactly the same time of year. However, he rushed back into action to play in that year's Champion's League Final. He then struggled to play well as Portugal failed to get out of the group at the World Cup. And speaking to CNN's Alex Thomas on the red carpet at this week's glorious awards. Figo, says Neymar needs to be careful.
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LUIS FIGO, FORMER MIDFIELDER, REAL MADRID: (INAUDIBLE) mine was -- it was a mistake because you always want to play, you always want to be in the next game, and they're cooperated. It was an important game too because it was the final of the cup for me. And I imagine that for him now is the Champions League Game. So --
ALEX THOMAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you were the star -- you were the star of the team and he is too.
FIGO: I don't know, or I think, the most important is try to recuperate well, 100 percent because if not, it can put in risk the rest of the season.
THOMAS: do you see he will feel pressure to go, won't he?
THOMAS: Well, I think it's not pressure but you always want to play. So, that is your own pressure. The rest, I think you have to think with a -- with a health.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: Meanwhile, over in Spain and Barcelona came away with a surprise result. Way to Las Palmas in La Liga, there was no surprises for he has put ahead on the night. Lionel Messi with a spectacular free kick. The Las Palmas, they were given a lifeline and they were able to equalize from the spot. All thanks to former West Ham striker Jonathan Calleri, 1-1 it ends on the night in Gran Canaria, much too far for surprise. Barcelona have opened up a 5-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of the table that now extends Barca's club record unbeaten league run to 33 games.
Coming up here on WORLD SPORT, we'll be catching up with former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard who currently plays for the Colorado Rapids ahead of the new MLS season. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:52:03] RILEY: Welcome back, after claiming his fourth Formula 1 world title last year, Lewis Hamilton has sent message to the rest of the field by supporting the fastest time during the first week of preseason testing in Barcelona.
Well, the Mercedes driver has a full half a second faster than anyone else. And .9 of a second quicker than his rival Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari. Of course, it's way too early to draw any conclusions from the times. But after his dominant performance in the second half of last season, seeing Hamilton placing times like this will make other teams take notice.
To rugby now, and South Africa have confirmed, Rassie Erasmus will take over as head coach, following Allister Coetzee's dismissal last month. Having won just 11 out of 25 tests in his two seasons in charge. Erasmus and 36 counts for the spring box as a player. And will now combine his role as director of rugby with the head coach position.
His new contract is until the World Cup in France in 2023.we may will be approaching the business end of the domestic football leagues in Europe. But here in the United States, this weekend marks the first weekend of the new major league soccer seasons. 22 of the 23 teams are in action all weekend long, including the brand new team Los Angeles F.C., who are away to MLS giants, Seattle Sounders.
Well, the one team who will be sitting out the first weekend of the season is the Colorado Rapids, the most high-profile player. U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard, a former Manchester United and Everton fame has been telling CNN's Paul Vercammen how the MLS has evolved since his return from the EPL and the continuing controversy over VAR, and how he thinks his Colorado team compare this campaign in an ever increasingly competitive league.
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TIM HOWARD, GOALKEEPER, COLORADO RAPIDS: We've had a complete roster overhaul, we've made a manager and new coaching staff, so, we're excited for the prospect. We think we know there some challenges in terms of getting guys integrated into the team, and the manager's game plan. But, we think we're going to have enough time to do it with the right people.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Given your experience, you can be considered a de facto manager on the field.
HOWARD: Well, you know, I spoke to our manager Anthony Hudson, and I told him just that like, whatever your message is -- you know, I want to make sure that I get it loud and clear because I have the ability to relay that to guys on the field. You know he's on the sideline, I'm behind the team, and so, hopefully, we can kind of box guys in. We've got -- we brought in some pretty strong characters and some leaders. So, I think that won't be an issue.
VERCAMMEN: How does the league feel to you right now?
HOWARD: Really strong, really healthy. You're right, when I left man, we were trying to build this thing and trying to -- you know, get teams to get their own stadiums and get people to recognize what this was. And while I was away we had David Beckham, come to the league which I think made everybody take notice, fans and players and clubs. And that was a big stepping stone for our league. And then, of course, here we followed and to some really big names.
And as I come back and I see this league, incredibly talented American players, players from abroad that are breaking all types of financial records in terms of transfer fees, teams with their own mega stadiums, it's fun to watch but it's fun to be a part of again.
[02:55:24] VERCAMMEN: On a completely given topic, all those -- you know, videos assisted replay.
HOWARD: Yes.
VERCAMMEN: And you got the contrast with both leagues.
HOWARD: Yes.
VERCAMMEN: Do you trove it? You like it? Where do you think, we need to go with this?
HOWARD: I like it. I like VAR, I think it's improving all the time and it's helping the referees. It gets the call right at the end of the day.
VERCAMMEN: It any that where you said to yourself, we really got this -- you know, call? In Colorado, they were against.
HOWARD: I remember two specifically last year where -- you know, they were clear as day. And the referee went back and got the call right. One was against us and one for us. And I think like I said, everyone was going to be annoyed when the call goals against them, but ultimately, you're going to have a call that goes for you and you going to want them to get that right.
VERCAMMEN: Could be a big change in the world stage too.
HOWARD: Yes, I have a feeling it will be implemented in a World Cup setting, when and how, I'm not sure. But again, I don't think it takes away from the game very much at all. I mean there's going to be critics and skeptics. But I -- it's been -- as far as I'm concerned, it's been a good system, and it's in the first year, and all the kinks are going to (INAUDIBLE) like it worked out.
VERCAMMEN: But we talked about the United States not being there. You're going to watch this summer?
HOWARD: Of course, I'll watch.
VERCAMMEN: All right, who do you like? HOWARD: You know, it's a fun one for me because I can kind to root for anyone. You know, I'd like to see -- I'd like to see Belgium play really well. I got some friends there and a former coach of mine Roberto Martinez. Coaches and so -- you know, they -- in terms of raw talent, and youth and experience, that they've got. They've got a great mix, so, I'll be interested to see how they put that together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: Always great to hear from Tim there, we wish him well. That is it from us. I'm Kate Riley, stay with CNN.
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