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Bana Al Abed; Academy Awards; Kim Jong-Un; South Korea; Donald Trump; Robert Mueller; Sam Nunberg; Russia Investigation; Obstruction of Justice; Terrorism in Aleppo; Italy Elections; Kim Jong-un Wants To 'Write New History' On South Korea Reunification; Listeria In Meat Product Kills 180 In South Africa; Health Organization; Dreamers In Line As DACA Moves Through Courts; Autocrats On The Rise Around The Globe. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 6, 2018 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN, HOST: This is CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles, ahead this hour.

ISHA SESAY, CNN, HOST: From Aleppo to Hollywood, Bana Al Abed joins us to talk Academy Awards and her global mission, helping every child suffering in war.

VAUSE: A former Trump aide makes multiple appearances on cable news, declaring his decision not to comply with the grand jury subpoena in the Russia investigation and challenging Robert Mueller to arrest him.

SESAY: Plus, meeting Kim Jong-Un with South Korean officials goes straight to the top during the trip to Pyongyang.

VAUSE: Hello. Very good to have you with us, I am John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. Newsroom LA starts right now.

VAUSE: Despite a five hour pause, a humanitarian ceasefire, the shelling continues to in Easter Ghouta in the outskirts of Damascus. Even so, a U.N. aid convoy managed to roll in.

SESAY: Well, workers had five hours to off load aides and thousands of people trapped there. The U.N. says they won't allow delivering certain medical supplies, which are desperately needed. Sam Kylie has all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLIE: Easter Ghouta under attack, some 400,000 people live here, they've been bombarded for 2 weeks by Syria's government and his Russian allies. This is the Russian and Syrian version of the ceasefire demanded by the U.N Security Council. Syria's governments agreed to allow a first convoy of humanitarian aid in more than a month, but removed badly needed medical supplies like trauma kits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are hoping to enter without shelling sounds because there must be respect to the ceasefire, especially this is a humanitarian convoy heading with a big number of civilians to help civilians. KILEY: The needs are intense. This is now an every day seen in

Easter Ghouta, frantic rescues no match for a ruthless military campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The humanitarian crisis that the west talks about every once in a while but all devils are alive. It's a very silly life, as silly as the western officials that talk about it.

KILEY: Assad's forces have claimed to have taken part of Easter Ghouta and provoked fears of reprisal killings against civilians. Mahmoud has been sheltering in a basement for 13 days. But there is dwindling hope for survival or of any help from outside.

That's why activists wrap the bodies of these children in U.N. sacks. Sam Kiley, CNN Beirut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The power of one and the child's face of war now recognized at the Academy Awards. Bana Al Abed, an eight-year-old Syrian girl first captured the world's attention with heartbreaking tweets about the bombing of the native Aleppo.

Sunday night, she took center stage during their performance of the Oscar-nominated song, Stand Up For Something. That message of activism is stamped in Bana and her family's DNA. After escaping the war to Turkey, Bana continued to tweet, asking world leaders to help the children of Syria. She also wrote a book.

Their world, a Syrian girl's story of war and a plea for peace and was featured in the documentary film Cries From Syria. Well, Bana joins me now here in Los Angeles and, Bana, welcome.

BANA AL ABED, AUTHOR: Hi.

SESAY: So you had a really big Sunday night. You were at the Academy Awards. What was it like to walk the red carpet with all those people there?

[02:05:00] AL ABED: I was really excited. It was my first time to go there. And I met a lot of people for Stand Up For Something.

SESAY: Yeah.

AL ABED: And they rose up their voice for all the children.

SESAY: And you're a brave little girl because you've been using your voice for the children for a long time. And you have been asking the world to pay attention to the fact those children in your country, Syria is suffering. What's your message to the children who are still in Syria now, who are suffering, children in places like Easter Ghouta?

What do want to say to them?

AL ABED: Are you happy when you are seeing children suffering? Children are always suffering everywhere. Child is a child who needs to go to school and to play in peace. Children deserve life.

SESAY: Yeah. You are absolutely right. What was it like for you when you were in Aleppo? Do you remember?

AL ABED: It was really hard. A lot of people and children were dying. Some of children miss their parents. I hope we will stop it and all live in peace.

SESAY: Do you remember what the scariest thing was that you've experienced when you were in Aleppo?

AL ABED: When my friend Jasmine died, she was my best friend. When she died, I looked at her and cried and I told God at night, please I don't want any of my family die. And also, I cried when my house bombed because there were toys. And I was there when I was a baby. I hope we can all go back there and build our house there again.

SESAY: So you'd like to go back?

AL ABED: Yes.

SESAY: What do you miss about home? What do you miss from home?

AL ABED: I miss my friends. I miss my country. It is like my house, and also I like to play outside in my garden. I hope we can go back.

SESAY: I hope so too. Are you able to keep in touch with your friends?

AL ABED: No. I hope they are OK because I didn't keep in touch with them or call them. I don't know what happened to them. I hope one day I can go back to see them.

SESAY: Are you worried about them?

AL ABED: Yes.

SESAY: You are such a brave, brave, brave girl, Bana, using your voice and speaking out for the children. Do you ever get nervous now that everybody wants to talk to you and everyone wants you to speak for the children? Do you ever get nervous?

AL ABED: No, because I want to talk about the children and help them.

SESAY: Yeah?

AL ABED: Yeah.

SESAY: So when people read your book, there are not many young girls who have their own book. So you are very, very special. What do you want people to remember from your book when they read it? What's your message? What do you want them to take away from the book?

AL ABED: I want my book about my life and also (inaudible) so a lot of people can know my story and about the children who are suffering everyday. SESAY: So you want them to know what it's like.

[02:10:00] AL ABED: Yes and how it is hard to live in war. And how it is difficult because there is no water or food, and always bombing, bombing, bombing. You can't sleep. Sometimes, your house is bombed. And sometimes, people hurt. There is no medicine, the bombs, bombs the hospitals.

SESAY: It's terrifying.

AL ABED: Yeah.

SESAY: And it's really scary. It must've been really, really scary feeling your family. So now you are out. You're living in Turkey and you're going to come to America for the Academy Awards. If you could say one thing to the international leaders, and you've been saying a lot of things, right. You said a lot of them.

But if you could say one thing for all the leaders who are maybe watching this conversation that we're having, what would you say to them?

AL ABED: You are just watching. Children are dying. We should all stand together, and I hope we can help children around the world so children can live in peace, and we should be strong to help them so we can live in peace and all of us be happy.

SESAY: I hope so too. You're a very special girl, and I hope everybody listens to what you have to say.

AL ABED: Thanks.

SESAY: Thank you.

AL ABED: Welcome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Former Trump aide subpoenaed in the Russia investigation had played it by the book. They show up. They take questions, and sell it to reporters publicly and then there is there is their number. Donald Trump's former campaign aide spent hours doing newspapers and appearing on cable news, Monday in a bizarre, stunning series of interviews.

SESAY: Nunberg says he won't comply with the grand jury's subpoena in the Russia investigation. And he released special counsel Robert Mueller has something on President Trump. Nunberg has already spoken with investigators but says testifying before the grand jury would be ridiculous. He is also told CNN Trump knew about the 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between Don Jr. and the Kremlin lawyer, offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK) [02:15:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That you have kindly chosen to provide yours to United States. On this Trump Tower meeting, because I do want to ask you the same because it is important for people to understand, you left the campaign August 2015.

NUNBERG: Yeah, and I have no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. So the meeting was actually in June 2016. So you're saying he knew in advance. You're saying that based on your knowledge of the individuals and how they interact with each other, but not based on actually having been there.

NUNBERG: Correct. Yeah, correct. It is my opinion. And by the way, once again I don't think there is anything wrong with. I don't think there is anything wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think there no way that meeting happens without Donald Trump himself knowing about it.

NUNBERG: You don't know -- travesty of that whole thing was what was reported by the New York Times initially that they handled it so badly. The communications of it as a result, probably in my opinion, and they just consistently got caught in lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK. It was quite the day. Jessica Levinson is a Professor of Law and Governance at Loyola Law School, Wendy Greuel, a Former Democrat Los Angeles City Councilwoman, and John Phillips, Talk Radio Host, Political Columnist and Trump Supporter. Wow, it was a day. Ok, let's get this out there from the very beginning, John.

There are a number of reasons why Sam Nunberg should not be taken seriously. I am sure you know them all.

JOHN PHILLIPS, TALK RADIO HOST: That's right. It's not very often where I would look at a politician when they say, you know I think it's time for me to go to rehab where I think it's legitimate. In this particular case, if Sam Nunberg were to come out tomorrow and say I am leaving and going to rehab.

I would think that this is actually a case where it's probably appropriate. He contradicted himself any number of times. He said he handed the President and he said he considers himself to be a Trump supporter. He said that it is preposterous to think that any type of Russian collusion happened.

Then he said I think the Russians probably have something on Trump. He said I am not going to turn over my emails and then he said well, maybe I was for my password because I don't have 80 hours to spend, going and producing everything that they want. And then he told Katy Tur that he's going to comply with everything that Mueller wants.

He just wants to make them work it. I don't know what we can take, what we can extrapolate from what he had to say today. What's real and what's not, that he looks like a very troubled person. VAUSE: And very quickly, he was fired from the campaign. I think

there is history there of making statements that are true.

PHILLIPS: Yeah, I mean this guy's had a million and one problems. This is obviously one of the reasons why you can't have someone like this working out on a major Presidential campaign. He also has a lot of axes to grind, including Corey Lewandowski, who he attacked repeatedly today. So it's very personal in many ways.

VAUSE: OK. Wendy, it may be personal. He may not have a lot of credibility, but yet he still does have access and close ties with Roger Stone. Roger Stone, we know has close ties to Donald Trump. So when Nunberg comes out and says that Donald Trump knew about that meeting in June 2016 with Donald Jr. and Kremlin-linked lawyer, how much credibility do you think it has?

WENDY GREUEL, FORMER LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILWOMAN: Well, look. I think we all watched a bit disbelief and horror today in his interviews. And the fact that he didn't have time to go to his emails and yet he had time to be on TV all day today, but look there's got to be a kernel of truth and some of the things that he saying

There are enough of crumbs that bring you to the same, I think position that Donald Trump looks like probably knew something about that meeting occurring before or after that. You know he sounded like a spurned lover today. Let's not forget that he was fired.

Then he was hired again, and I think that that's important part, and if this guy was part of the communications team of Trump, he did not do a very good job, clearly.

VAUSE: Former White House Strategist, Steve Bannon (inaudible), the chance that Don Jr. did not walk these people up to his father's office on the 26th floor is 0. You know the Russians at that meeting in June 2016, does that in some way cooperate.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE AT LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Sure, in some way it does because they're saying the same thing. But I have to say I was just kind of sadly and ironically tickled by your line of questioning with John because replaced the word Sam Nunberg with President Donald Trump. He was inconsistent.

He contradicted himself. He was erratic. He changed what he was saying from one interview to another. So he should not be running a major Presidential campaign, and I would say, and the President should not be President of the United States.

PHILLIPS: Well, here is the difference. Trump's not blowing a point too.

VAUSE: OK. Well, Nunberg would tell anyone who would listen that he didn't think there was any collision, but he also said that Donald Trump is not out of the woods yet. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Specifically, I know that you have said that you do think that they have something on Donald Trump.

NUNBERG: Yeah. I don't know what it is.

[02:20:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you're confident in it now.

NUNBERG: I cannot explain unless you were in there. You're not going to like that answer. I cannot explain it, but they have something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know by admitting that you know he believes that Trump may have done something wrong. Did he just hand Robert Mueller a search warrant?

GREUEL: Look, I mean in the dictionary under witness that has credibility problems, there's the picture of Sam Nunberg because he's saying is almost nonsensical. I think I just have a feeling. Let me tell you he did something wrong. Robert Mueller doesn't need Sam Nunberg to say you know what, I think that there was a problem there.

And so Robert Mueller is going to continue doing exactly what he's doing, which is methodically going person by person, document by document, and when necessary asking people for subpoenas. One thing I think we need to make clear is that the subpoena has the force of law, so well Sam Nunberg may decide that he's simply too busy, or "ridiculous."

There are consequences that go along with that. Like for instance, either a civil penalty, meaning money, or actually being incarcerated.

VAUSE: You can find a grand jury a subpoena, when it becomes a search warrant that is a lot harder.

GREUEL: Well, so I would say the grounds on which you can avoid a grand jury subpoena are actually quite narrow, and taking the Fifth is different. You comply with the subpoena, but then you go in and say I am not going to answer. But the search warrant... but, again, I mean we have a real credibility with Sam Nunberg.

I am not sure that you know the affidavit is being signed right now.

VAUSE: OK. There is credibility. But if you look at the subpoena, which is very straight up and down. This is what's causing so much outrage. It's two pages and it's seeking documents related to President and 9 other people, including emails, correspondence, invoices, telephone blogs, calendars, and records of any kind relating to 10 people all involved in the Trump campaign at some point, including down there, John Phillips at number 3 on the list, Donald Trump himself.

So there is a school for -- this indicates that Robert Mueller is not just interested in the campaign aides, but now he's taking a close look at the President himself and what he knew and when he knew it.

PHILLIPS: Yeah, we can speculate as to what exactly we think Mueller is looking for based on what he sent to Nunberg. But we don't know for sure. Nunberg himself is saying he thought that the Russians had something on Trump based on reading the room when the investigators were there.

So that may be true, it may not be true, who knows.

VAUSE: So Wendy, how much stock you know are Democrats into the revelations from today?

GREUEL: I think a lot. You heard Congressman Shift call today for Nunberg to the Committee and be able to testify. I think that Mueller would not be subpoenaing him if he didn't believe that there was something there and information that he could share. So I don't think we heard the last of it, and I think that Democrats are going to continue to say that we need to know more about this, and we want to hear right from the horse's mouth.

VAUSE: And Jessica, how does this flow into the whole obstruction of justice issue here as far as Mueller's investigation is concerned?

LEVINSON: Well, we don't know yet what Sam Nunberg has to say, other than that he doesn't like subpoenas and he really likes the media and doesn't really like his lawyer. So in terms of the obstruction of justice case, I mean, I know I sound like a broken record, but it's a hard crime to prove. It's more than just I really don't want this investigation to continue, which we already know.

President Trump was very upset that Attorney General Jeff Sessions bowed out of the -- recused himself from the investigation.

VAUSE: If Mueller is looking at what the President knew, and we also know he's looking at his frame of mind when he pressured Sessions to resign, when he fired Comey, that all seems to come together in some way.

GREUEL: I think that's exactly right. So when you're trying to find obstruction of justice. What you need when we talk the slightest corrupt intent. And I think all the pieces of evidence that you're talking about go directly to the issue of what was he thinking, what was his level of awareness, and what was his intent.

VAUSE: OK. This is a very strange day, multiple interviews Monday. It started with that story that broke in the Washington Post. He then went on various cable news channels and came back to various cable news channels. He was on New York One. He was on CNN. This list is not exhaustive, all complete.

At some point in the White House is concerned, that he may have been drunk or even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We talked earlier about what, people in White House were saying about you. You know whether you were drinking or drugs or whatever they had happened today. Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath.

[02:25:00] NUNBERG: Well, I have not any drink.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You haven't had a drink? Because it is the talk out there, again, I know it's awkward. Let me just get you the questions.

(CROSSTALK)

NUNBERG: My answer is no. I have not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything else?

NUNBERG: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

NUNBERG: No, besides my meds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

NUNBERG: Anti-depressants, is that OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Wendy, this just seemed to be very, very sad, very public meltdown.

GREUEL: I think that's what a lot of people saw when they were seeing him kind of spiraled from the beginning of his interviews to the end of the day, and clearly, he has had some challenges in his life. And I think a lot of people have compassion about that.

On the other hand, I go back to my point earlier, which some of the things they're saying has to be a kernel of truth there. He was with in the Trump world, the Trump circle. And I think we will see that as it goes forward, that many of the things he may said were in fact truthful, maybe just in an awkward and odd way in which he put it out there today.

VAUSE: Yeah. Very awkward, very odd, I guess we'll see where this goes. Wendy, thank you, John, and Jessica, we appreciate you all being with United States. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

SESAY: All right, turning our attention now to Italy and that nation faces political uncertainty after party list and right wing party scored a major victory in funding parliamentary elections. An entire establishment Five Star Movement is now the largest party in parliament, and the anti-immigrant party known as the league formerly known the Northern League.

It more than quadrupled its share of the vote compared with the last election in 2013, but no party or coalition won enough votes to form government, which means yes, you know what it means, immediately faces a hung parliament and potentially months of negotiations and uncertainty. But to discuss all of this now, CNN's European Affairs Commentator,

Dominic Thomas, Dominic, so pleased to have you with us, so given that Matteo Renzi, former Prime Minister of Italy wasn't all that bad. He was fairly competent. His government did bring some improvement to the economy.

They certainly did try and tackle the migrant crisis. As they say, he wasn't all that bad. Why did the people of Italy decide to oust the Democratic Party and go in this direction for a bunch fairly inexperienced political leaders.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN'S EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: It's remarkable, and with the -- have witnessed over the last year, a very similar pattern where mainstream political parties are unable to capture the interest of the electorate. And also the center left or left-leaning parties and we certainly was that in the French election and in the Dutch elections are also incapable of capturing the interest of all the voters who seem more interested in movements like that -- courses very different to the star movement itself.

Now the Northern League that is now going by the names just the League, trying to feel like your border of concessions. The overall approaches and has recently expanded its base.

This is a political party founded in the early 90s. Of course, is not nutritive in politics to see these right-wing fascist organizations emerge. But they have in experience of being in government that is going back to the 90s and in the year 2000s. What they were able to do, as we saw in so many other elections, is managed to shift the conversation around the question of nationalism.

It's really fun and also to scapegoat really old question around migration, immigration in order to deflect from the economic issues and so on and so forth. So even though under things were moving along in the right direction. The remains along with Greece, Italy has not really recuperated from the great financial crisis.

And it is still struggling, and those social circumstances may it's about come from what is now predictable.

SESAY: Both of them are claiming the mandate to FISA form a government, the league and the Five Star Movements. Who is in the driving seat? Who has a better chance of forming a coalition?

THOMAS: Well, the driving seat right now is the President.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: Absolutely. He can go to anybody. So the magic number in this newly reformed electoral system is to try and reach 40 percent. So they're all underneath that, right, because the Five Star Movement runs independently, has not entertained coalition talks and so on and so forth. But it's going to be interesting to see whether they can move from being that 20-something parties as low 30s and actually start to speak to other parties to see where they can go. [02:30:00] So they claim that the they won the most single votes,

that they should have the right to try and speak to people to create a government. But then the center-right coalition that ironically included Berlusconi and Berlusconi expected to come out ahead but did not. He only scored in the low teens, and it is Salvini, the leader of the lead that's a far radical right political party anti- immigration, euroskeptic, that is in the driver seat and it cause extraordinarily reason and understatement throughout the campaign has won the (INAUDIBLE) that are claiming that together they have more votes than the fights are movement and it is through then that the discussion should go. So there's no victory as yet. They're just leaders in a race.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ok. We're almost out of time. So we really got about 20 seconds of this. But is this Brussels' worst nightmare?

THOMAS: Well, Brussels cannot ignore the fact that over 50 percent of people voted for euroskeptic parties. Having said that, the Italian's are overwhelmingly in favor of the European Union.

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: In general, that is it a rejection of the Merkel vision of the more integration Eurozone and those parties managed to get attention on those questions.

SESAY: Fascinating. Dominic Thomas, always a pleasure. Thank you.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: With an initial break, when we came back, they came, they smell, they ate together but really -- what really came from Kim Jong-un's meeting with a South Korean delegation with details in a moment.

SESAY: And it hasn't happened in more than four decades. The message that U.S. aircraft carrier is sending off the Vietnamese coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. Donald Trump says he wants to go to Jerusalem in May for the ribbon cutting at the relocated U.S. Embassy. He welcome the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House Monday upholding their relationship better than ever. Neither of them condescending on the scandal surrounding their administration.

VAUSE: Humanitarian aid finally reached Eastern Ghouta in Syria after two weeks of airstrikes in an artillery shelling by government forces. 40 trucks rolled in and many were stripped to their medical supplies and then had to leave early because shelling resumes. Very unprecedented calls to humanitarian crisis a lie.

SESAY: Kim Jong-un has meet with the South Korean delegation for the first time since becoming leader of North Korea. Among those visited thing Pyongyang, South Korea's National Security Director and National Intelligence Chief in both country have the visit leads to future talks.

VAUSE: The more it's going to allow life to Beijing, CNN's Will Ripley is standing by. So a will -- the wills of diplomacy turning ever slowly in Pyongyang but at the same time, it seems the North Korean regime impossible plutonium production for their nuclear weapons program.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that should be surprising to no one, John, or at least anybody who actually listens to what the North Korean said because when Kim Jong-un gave his New Year's address on January 1st, he said he was going to mass produce nuclear weapons and also work to improve inter-Korean relations and he's doing both of those of things.

[02:35:18] 38 North has detected increased activity at the Nyongbyon Nuclear Reactor. This is where they make the plutonium that they would use to put in a nuclear bomb and we know the North Korea is continuing to develop its nuclear program. We know that Kim Jong-un has missiles that he could launch right now if he wanted to. But strategically, he's taking this diplomatic path at least for now.

VAUSE: And the South Korean's are taking a similar path here. We hear for the president saying there will be a continuing military build up to count on the North Koreans at the same time as this diplomacy appears to continue.

RIPLEY: Yes. Just today South Korean President Moon Jae-in was speaking at the Korea Military Academy and he talked about the fact that they need to talk with North Korea about denuclearization at the same time develop their own countermeasures. We know that those countermeasures include things like long-range radar, new and more powerful ballistic missiles, and then of course there's also the THAAD missile defense system which South Korea brought in along with the United States much to this agreement of the government here in Beijing who feel that it actually could potentially pose a threat to their own missile systems here in China.

VAUSE: You know, it's interesting looking at some of the photographs coming out of North Korean and you've seen Kim Jong-un really sort of reveling in this moment as being sort of diplomatic statesman, will he continue to smile when the U.S. and the South Koreans resume military drills and the next couple of weeks?

RIPLEY: Well, that was part of the reason why the special envoy went to North Korea. According to my diplomatic sources this was part of the plan to try to continue to move -- develop on the momentum from the Olympics and remind the North Koreans that, yes, the military drills aren't going to happen as planned but, yes, there's a possibility of diplomacy on the horizon and there was a letter from Moon Jae-in delivered to Kim Jong-un. We don't know exactly what the contents of the letter were. They're still talking about a possible presidential summit. But look, this is a -- this is a big moment for Kim Jong-un. I mean

this is -- this is a leader of a country. He's never left North Korean since he's been the supreme leader. He met with Dennis Rodman and the former top leader of Chinese Communist Party at a military parade in 2015. But other than that, he said, very limited interaction with other world leaders and certainly nobody from South Korea, so that fact that he invited this high ranking delegation, the spy chief, the top security adviser from Seoul.

He brought into the headquarters of the Worker's Party of Korea which is a building that no South Koreans ever been allowed to enter before. It's in a restricted area of Pyongyang. It's actually guarded preventing people from even going in there. I mean this is certainly significant. They had a four-hour dinner or more than four hours and they talked about a lot of things. But the nuclear issue, the biggest issue that separates North Korea from the South and the United States, they couldn't be further apart on the issue and at this point, North Korea is certainly digging in their heels saying, they're not giving up their nukes because all of the propaganda in Pyongyang is built up around nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un's legitimacy as a leader is built up around nuclear weapons. It's hard to see how he -- so easily walk away from that.

VAUSE: Yes. I can't say how much -- how much (INAUDIBLE) resources have gone into building up those missiles and of course the nuclear program also. Very quickly right here. Where comes next category after the two days of diplomacy in Pyongyang? This reporting from North Korea's state media hearing the intention of President Moon Jae- in for a summit from the special envoy of the South side. Kim Jong-un exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement. Ok. So there's now this possibility of a leader summit but it's kind of up in the edge too. So South state media for us, what does it mean?

RIPLEY: Right. We don't know when the summit will happen. We don't what the satisfactory agreement entails. We could get a briefing in the coming hours from the Blue House in Seoul that will provide a little more insight as to what was discussed, what was agreed to. President Moon Jae-in accept Kim Jong-un's invitation on principle but also made it clear, there are a lot of things that need to be sorted out and the U.S. needs to be involved here which is why the members of the South Korean delegation are going to be flying to Washington and sharing not only kind of the nuts and bolts of what they talked about but also their impressions of Kim Jong-un.

This is the first time that, you know, people from South Korea have been able to sit face to face with this man that's normally only seen in a very carefully controlled kind of airbrush carefully edited way in North Korean propaganda. Now, they can get a sensitive personality. What's his temperament like? And that's valuable information that they're going to use in the diplomatic process moving forward.

VAUSE: Yes. It is notable on a number of levels. I guess the question is, what does it achieve and that we just have to wait for it? Will, good to see you. Enjoy the blue sky day there in Beijing. Very rare. SESAY: Well, the U.S. aircraft carriers are now anchored two nautical

miles off Vietnam's port city of Da Nang. That was a key battleground during the war. A four-day visit of the USS Carl Vinson and build as a chance enhance the relationship between both countries.

[02:40:08] But many see it as a message to Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Matt Rivers reports now from aboard the carrier.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier has made an official visit to Vietnam in more than 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War actually. Other Navy ships have visited since 2003 but this is different. This is an aircraft carrier and it's emblematic of a changing relationship between both countries. Trade for example has exploded between both sides and of course both sides have been cooperating on security as well. It was just in 2016 that President Obama lifted an arm sales embargo on lethal weapons to Vietnam and it was a major sign that the bilateral relationship had progress to friendlier terms and that does appear to be continuing under President Trump. The president visited here last year. The Secretary of Defense Mattis was just here in January. And the ambassador to Vietnam says he hopes to keep that momentum going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL KRITENBRINK, AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM: I think you're seeing the fruits of decades worth of effort to build bilateral trust to overcome the legacies of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: Not too far from where we are right now, the Chinese military has been building and militarily developing artificial islands for years in water that they claim is their territory that several other countries including Vietnam claim some of that same territory as theirs and the U.S. doesn't recognize the Chinese claims either. Vietnam more than most countries in this region has shown a willingness to stand up to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea and in the government here, the United States likely sees an ally in this part of the world in regards to this particular topic.

That is part of the reason why this aircraft carrier is docked here right now. This is a projection of U.S. military might able to go to all corners of the globe. And analyst tells CNN that this is absolutely a message to China. That message being the U.S. military is here to stay in this region and that they are willing to team up even with old foes to combat what it sees as a growing threat from Beijing. Matt Rivers, CNN aboard the USS Carl Vinson off the Vietnamese coast.

VAUSE: Well, as you can see several nations all claim some portion of the South China Sea but China, that's a red line on this map is claiming just about all of it. All right. Well, still to come, a protest is in Washington demand action on DACA on the day the program was supposed to win, what happens next for the Dreamers? VAUSE: Also ahead, South Africa is dealing with a deadly spread of

listeria that works the world has ever seen. Just ahead and we'll tell you how officials praise the source of the outbreak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello everyone. We now know the source of the world's worst listeria outbreak. South Africa has traced it to processed meat product.

[02:45:01] Authorities say the listeria has killed 180 people since January and a hundreds of other confirmed cases. The World Health Organization said this is the largest outbreak ever recorded globally. South Africa's Minister of Health is telling people to avoid all process meat products that are sold as ready to eat. Well, CNN's David McKenzie joins me now from Johannesburg. David, what's the latest?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is -- Isha that they are scrambling to clamp down on this very severe listeriosis outbreak. Now, this seems to be -- according to health ministry, all coming from at least one processing plant, a few hours from where I'm sitting in Johannesburg that is a processing plant of a ready to eat.

Now, the company in question, Tiger Brands, has said that they will recall all those products, and in fact, other products with a similar kind of processed meat. Listeriosis has killed more than 100 people that since December here. And it's had a very disturbing death rate, 27 percent of people who have left confirmed cases of this bacterial disease have in fact died. It's a rarely -- most the elderly, young children and pregnant mothers that are most affected. The CEO of Tiger Brands shocked many when he refused to apologize, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE MACDOUGALL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TIGER BRANDS: As a consumer conscious organization, we are being extra vigilant and cautious, where consumer safety remains a highest priority. And the -- for immediate action was taken. There is no direct link with the deaths to our products that were aware of at this point, nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, Isha, it appears that the CEO -- they are trying to avoid litigation at this point as the investigation is go on. But this arising anger in this country and shelves throughout of a country and grocery stores are empty of this kind of product, and a general kind of fear because this are such popular products in South Africa. Isha?

SESAY: Yes, indeed. And how about viewers understand, David, why listeriosis is so worrying. And so, so difficult to get a hold of, to get a handle of, rather.

MCKENZIE: Well, it's certainly one of the most severe foodborne diseases, it's a bacterial disease. Now, listeria, the bacteria is around all over nature but when it gets to this kind of specific sub- type that is dangerous to human beings. The issue is that the speaking to doctors just this morning is that the symptoms are very common, and that's the symptoms-based treatment.

Now if someone who is acceptable, gets the listeriosis, and it takes -- gets into the bloodstream and the nervous system, Isha, the way to treat it is through intravenous -- intravenously directed antibiotics. And it can't be quite quickly solved but can lead to sort of three weeks in the hospital, at least.

So, because of that, and because of the like time in terms of contracting the bacterial disease, and actually getting the symptoms can be anywhere from three to 70 days. And is quite difficult from a public health standpoint to stop this. But good news is, though, it cannot be communicable between humans. It's only if you eat the infected product. But already, Botswana, Zimbabwe, other countries in the region banning South African products, this will have both an economic effect and, of course, a very worrying public health effect. Isha?

SESAY: Yes, it's very, very worrying, 180 people have already lost their lives. David McKenzie, joining us there from Johannesburg, appreciate it, thank you.

VAUSE: It's now in six months since Donald Trump move to end DACA, the program which protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation. He tells Congress to come up with the solution for the so-called Dreamers by March 5th, and that was Monday but so far, nothing. So, DACA will stand for now while legal challenges move through the court. And the Dreamers, they remain in the boat. Sara Sidner has all story.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This are the faces of Dreamers. Amritpal is one of 2,550 DACA recipients born in India. Christina is one of 7,060 recipients born in South Korea. And Oscar is one of 544,150 recipients born in Mexico. Monday was supposed to be doomsday for the program that allows them and nearly 700,000 others to be in the United States legally. President Trump's set March 5th as the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a love for these people and hopefully, now, Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.

SIDNER: But they didn't.

He says, he has a heart, but then he ended the program. What does that tell you?

CHRISTINA, DACA RECIPIENT: He has a heart that beats, but that doesn't mean anything. Everyone heart can beat, but then, he relate to us?

AMRITPAL, DACA RECIPIENT: It almost feels like, like we're just a game. You know, like this is one big chess game for them.

[02:50:06]SIDNER: According to a lawsuit filed in New York against the Department of Homeland Security, the March 5th memo would have met 1,400 DACA recipients would lose their legal status every working day. But the Supreme Court stayed out of the dispute which allowed a federal court ruling that the memo cannot be enforced to stand while the case goes through the courts. It means DACA recipients are left in limbo. Amritpal has been the family translator, a second mother to her sister and an income earner, all while attending college and dealing with pain.

AMRITPAL: Like, people think just because we're here we have all these benefits and we're, you know, leeching off the government. But it's like, we don't have medical. Like, half of my mouth is like rotting.

SIDNER: As a DACA recipient, she is not eligible for government medical insurance programs or federal financial aid for school.

AMRITPAL: I'm emotional because some days it feels like our sacrifices aren't enough and our trauma isn't enough.

SIDNER: Oscar was his high school class president but then his father got deported. Since then, he's had to work up to four jobs at a time to help his mother feed a family of six.

OSCAR, DACA RECIPIENT: I worked in the swath, mini taco stand. I worked in a food restaurant, just about anything just to make sure my family has food on the table.

SIDNER: Now he manages work and college.

SIDNER: When do you sleep?

OSCAR: Hardly ever.

SIDNER: Christine got into the college of her dreams. Her father tried to pay for it but that dream eventually died with no financial aid.

CHRISTINE: He wanted me to be there, and every time I see him write the amounts on the check, just to seeing that just -- I just couldn't anymore.

SIDNER: At 25, she now works at the Korean resource center hoping to make a better life for other immigrants like her. She says politicians have failed them.

CHRISTINE: It's quite tiring, exhausting to know that people are playing with your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Now, thanks for Sara Sidner, for that. Well, CNN is partnering with young people around the world, was student-led day of action against modern-day slavery on March 14th. And in advance of My Freedom Day, were asked new students, what freedom means to them? Here's what (INAUDIBLE), activist, so, Ukraine had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, freedom is when every person have a family to come back to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Families have a way to share with us what freedom means to them on social media. Join them and share your story using the #MyFreedomDay.

VAUSE: Well, he is already called chairman to everything. And with the communist span, he set to scrap presidential term limit. Xi Jinping could soon be China's ruler for life. But, he does the first autocrat to immerse so much power. When we come back, we'll have the lessons from between.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Well, Donald Trump, has the history of praising dictators, strong man and autocratic leaders around the world. Just recently, he complimented China's Xi Jinping, who was potentially free of term limit, thus, considerably, making him president for life.

VAUSE: Yes, (INAUDIBLE), president for life. But the road to autocracy can be a hard road to heave. CNN's Nic Robertson has our report.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Xi Jinping, isn't the first to come to power and hold on. Putin's done it, Turkish Erdogan's just done it. Autocrats all of them, and Trump jokes, he is right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: -- was able to that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:55:07] ROBERTSON: Democracy is still alive in the U.S. The world superpower is not transitioning to a dictatorship. But is China, he, with his term limit, lifted, gets power for life over the world's second-largest economy, an emerging superpower that's demanding territorial expansion.

Like she, Putin had trouble with term limits. This continuing grasp on Russia, less wealthy, less powerful than China, came by controlling the media and gaining the electoral system. Erdogan's path was messier, he cracked down o critical media, used a compliant parliament to consolidate power in his own hands as president. Whatever the path to total power, the outcome for autocrats can be costly. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, for decades of bloody dictator, died at the end of a hangman's rope. Libya's Gaddafi came to power in '67, Summer of Love. Parted Hard, ruled like a (INAUDIBLE), died on the run, dragged from a stone (INAUDIBLE), shot with his own gun.

The least of living autocrat stretches on, Kagame in Rwanda, Duterte in the Philippines, Kim Jong-un in North Korea, each with their own reputation for control and repression. At the other end of the scale, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, an old school autocrat, recently walked away from his bloody past without paying his butcher's bill. She has a lot of autocratic presidents to pick from. The one part, he won't be deviating from. He's leading China to global dominance. Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

VAUSE: Is about the only dictator I can pick here, she got through her tie was Fidel Castro. That's what the only one. It's not -- you know, job where you get to go by golf in a lot of years.

SESAY: Yes. And you've been watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I am Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause, follow us on Twitter, @CNNNEWSROOMLA. Highlights and clips of the show will be found there. The news continues with Rosemary Church, after a short break. You're watching CNN -- you are I'm --

SESAY: Connect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Desperately needed aid, finally --