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Gunman in Toronto Shooting Rampage Identified; Pakistani Cricket Legend Hopes to Become Next PM; U.S. State Lawmaker Pranked by Comedian. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 24, 2018 - 00:00   ET

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


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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Color us unimpressed, Iran responds to Donald Trump's all caps threat warning the U.S. president to be cautious.

New images show North Korea taking down a key satellite launch facility appearing to make good on some of the Singapore summit promises. We'll have a live report about that.

Plus, an icy threat looms large over a village in Greenland. Eleven million tons of concern too close to the coast and cracking as I speak.

These stories are all ahead this hour. we are live from CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. Great to have you with us.

Our top story, Iran firing back in the Twitter war with Donald Trump. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted late Monday, "Color us unimpressed." The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago, be cautious.

The U.S. president took aim at Tehran on Sunday after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that war with his country would be the mother of all wars. President Trump went all caps with his response to that tweeting that if Mr. Rouhani ever threatens the U.S. again, he will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.

The White House press secretary said, basically, Iran started it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has been, I think, pretty strong since day one in his language towards Iran. He was responding to comments made from them and he's going to continue to focus on the safety and security of American people. It's the ultimate goal and the focus of the president is making sure that we keep nuclear weapons out of their hands and that we focus on the protection of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Critics say the sudden focus on Iran is an attempt to distract from the president's performance at the summit with Russian Vladimir Putin last week. Vice President Mike Pence did his part praising Mr. Trump during a speech on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While the Iranian people have been standing up in the streets, standing up to their dictators in Tehran, this president put Iran on notice. He canceled the Iran nuclear deal and as he made clear last night, we will no longer tolerate Iran sowing violence or terror across the world and we will not tolerate threats against the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Let's talk about these developments. Joining me now from Los Angeles, political analyst and visiting professor at UCLA, Bill Schneider. Bill, so glad to have you with us.

BILL SCHNEIDER, POLITICAL ANALYST: Pleasure.

ALLEN: First, let's talk about the bellicose language, the warmongering, if you will. It is unfortunate. What about the White House or the president's tweets as Sarah Sanders made in the briefing that Iran started this one?

SCHNEIDER: Well, yes, Iran did say many things hostile to the United States, especially very recently. I think what we're seeing here is something like an effort to replicate what happened with North Korea.

Donald Trump was already threatening and menacing in his language about North Korea. Threatening them with massive destruction such as the world has never seen and then the next thing we know there is a summit in Singapore. Exactly what was achieved is still up to debate.

It is not clear exactly what North Korea is doing to denuclearize, but at least they did get to the negotiating table. So, a lot of people are wondering, is this really a tactic to get to the same place, face- to-face negotiations with the leaders of Iran.

ALLEN: Right. Iran is certainly a very different country than North Korea, but it seemed to work for this president regarding Kim Jong-un. I want to ask you, why is this administration loathed to engage Iran, Bill?

President Trump had hoped that Iran reached out after he killed the Iran nuclear deal to make a deal with him, but they're not playing. Is he showing his frustration with that, with what we've seen here in these tweets?

SCHNEIDER: I think he is showing frustration. He regards Iran as totally uncooperative and less -- probably less likely to be cooperative than North Korea because Iran is a religious government. And it has been an anti-American from the very start because the very establishment of this regime in Iran was based on hostility to the United States because they overthrew a government that was supported by the United States back in the 1970s, the government of the shah of Iran.

So, the hostility with Iran is longer and is deeper. I'm not sure that Trump expects to ever have real face to face negotiations with leaders of Iran, who have religious motivations. They would be very difficult to deal with.

[00:05:03] ALLEN: I was going to ask you. Certainly, Iran has its own goals in the region, taking advantage of the Syrian vacuum. How should the U.S. approach Iran that might ratchet down the tension and the threats?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Iran has become a major force in the Middle East. That was in some measure because of the U.S. war with Iraq. By destabilizing Iraq and making it a far weaker country, Iran was enhanced in its power and its influence, particularly over the Shiite regions. Iran has a lot of enemies in the Middle East, most notably Saudi Arabia, and the United States is a big backer of Saudi Arabia.

So, my feeling is any confrontation between the United States and Iran, which showed up first as a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran with Sunnis who dominates Saudi Arabia and the Shiites in Iran. That's a religious confrontation that the United States really doesn't take any part in.

ALLEN: Let's talk about another issue that has popped up in the past 24 hours involving the president. Mr. Trump is considering an unprecedented move to silence and punish some of his most outspoken critics.

White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders says the president may revoke security clearances for six former national security officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Two of the people Sanders listed, James Comey and Andrew McCabe be no longer have security clearances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: The president is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearance because they've politicized and, in some cases, monetized their public service and security clearances making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia against the president is extremely inappropriate and the fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges provides appropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: James Clapper says revoking security clearances over criticism would be very petty on the part of the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE (via telephone): It's pretty obvious, Wolf, what the reason is, you know, why we were singled out for this contemplated action, is because of, you know, criticism that we have expressed about and reservations we expressed about the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Let's discuss this with Bill Schneider back in Los Angeles. Does the U.S. president have the power to strip security clearances? And is this something that past presidents have done, or is this unusual?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. He apparently has the power. I'm not a lawyer on this. Everything I have read from lawyers say that he does have the power as commander in chief to do this. No other president has done it before. This looks like punishing his critics because of political differences. What did his critics say?

For one thing, they raised alarms about Russian influence in the 2016 election. Sarah sanders said there is no evidence for this criticism. Yes, there is. The intelligence community has come up with what they are calling conclusive evidence of Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign.

And also, they have questioned personally President Trump's fitness for office. Well, is what the president proposes to do punishing political criticism and dissent? That would be very unusual.

ALLEN: Right. It doesn't seem like a valid reason to take such action does it?

SCHNEIDER: No, it does not. It sounds like he's trying to carry on a political fight with his critics and his opponents in order to intimidate others. It is consistent with a theory that has gone around for a long time in the far right of America of what they call the deep state.

The idea that there are people in the government, many forces in the government that want to stop and put roadblocks in front of what the president is trying to do because of political differences. This is a theory that's very common on the right.

They call it the deep state. That comes out of Egypt and Turkey. No one has ever said that about the United States, that the government, the intelligence community is trying to hamstring the president's initiatives.

ALLEN: Bill, what do top former U.S. officials keep their security clearance for? What are the implications for the country if that clearance is revoked?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the theory is that they keep their clearance so that they can consult with current intelligence officials about things that happened on their watch, about past policy decisions, about the evidence that they saw when they were in office. That's the theory of it.

And there are some people who would probably legitimately say there is no reason for them to keep their clearances. The two FBI officials, James Comey and Andrew McCabe no longer have security clearances. So, there can be a legitimate debate over whether former intelligence officials should be able to retain their security clearances at all.

[00:10:04] ALLEN: So, yes, but they have done so in the past to advise the current administration with their breadth of knowledge over certain situations.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

ALLEN: So, let's get back to the President Trump and his reasons. Again, and again, he seems to snap over Russia. Like he can't take any heat about his mysterious kinship that he seems to crave with Vladimir Putin. Is that what you think is happening here and these threats to take away these security clearances?

SCHNEIDER: He's certainly sensitive to the idea that Russia intervened to help him in. Did he favor Trump's election? And he said yes. Putin has harbored a long-term animosity against the Clintons. Clearly, he favored Trump.

Mr. Trump is very sensitive to the allegation that Putin got him elected or helped get him elected because it throws a shadow of illegitimacy over the fact he won in 2016, which he won without carrying the popular vote, you must remember. So, he doesn't want any doubts or any shadow over his legitimacy as president, and that's what the Russia allegations amount to.

ALLEN: We appreciate your insights. Thanks for joining us. Bill Schneider in Los Angeles. Thanks, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

ALLEN: We are getting reports of what could be a crucial development in the ongoing nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. A monitoring group says these satellite images here show Pyongyang has started to dismantle some parts of a key missile test site in the country's northwest.

A nuclear expert with the group, 38 North, believes this is an important first step towards fulfilling a commitment made by North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un during his summit with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore.

Our Alexandra Field is following these new developments from Seoul, South Korea. Alexandra, it does look like a positive step.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly these are moves at least that the U.S. won't be able to ignore at this point, Natalie. We are talking about a site described as being critical to the development of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles. And if you look at those satellite images, what they appear to show is activity in the last few days to take apart facilities that were involved with the testing of launch vehicles and also the development and testing of engines.

If you ask the analysts what they make of this, they will say this is not a critical step forward when it comes to the process of denuclearization. Instead it's very much with North Korea's public position that they have developed their nuclear weapons and successfully built their nuclear program, which would render some of these test facilities less necessary.

But from the diplomatic perspective, this is of course a development that can't be ignored, and that is important because as the analysts point out, it does seem to make good on a commitment made in Singapore from Kim Jong-un to President Trump.

It was at that time that Kim appears to have promised that he would move to destroy a missile engine test site. So, this could represent action on that front and that would be an important show of good faith at this time, Natalie.

Because, of course, we have been talking in recent days about the fact that talks on denuclearization with North Korea don't seem to have yielded any tangible progress in terms of concrete steps or actions that both sides can agree to at this point.

We have also been talking over the last few days about sources inside the White House describing President Trump's frustration with the slow pace of these negotiations. The president in the last day has pushed back on Twitter saying he's happy about the fact that North Korea has not been conducting any nuclear tests in recent months or launching rockets.

But certainly, you can't ignore the fact there has not been this concrete evidence of moving forward when it comes to these all important critical talks with North Korea. So, these satellite images, they may amount to a show good faith at a time where that kind of signal is very much needed and necessary in Washington.

As for the reaction right here in South Korea, well, the equivalent of the White House, the Blue House, it says that this is a good time. It's better than nothing. I guess, that's something.

ALLEN: No one said that this was going to be an easy process, did they? I mean, Singapore was definitely a very, very big step. We'll take what we are seeing. Alexandra Field for us, thanks so much.

Well, they risk their lives to save others, but now an estimated 300 members of the White Helmet volunteer rescue group are trapped in Syria and in fear for their own lives. More than 400 others rescue workers and their families were able to get to Jordan with Israel's assistance. But those left behind say roads were too dangerous to reach the evacuation point. We get more on all of this from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 400 Syrians members of the White Helmet and their families were successfully evacuated over the weekend in this unprecedented international effort.

[00:15:00] We are being told by other White Helmet volunteers, who remain trapped in Southwestern Syria that 300 people were unable to make it this weekend. They say they were unable to reach the evacuation point because of the security situation, because of military operations in the area and that the regime set up check points around there.

The regime has at this point recaptured almost all of that part of the country after they launched that offensive there last month. So, these trapped members of the white helmets are appealing to the international community to countries that were part of this operation this weekend to save them.

They say it is a matter of life and death, but they are told -- they were told on Monday by their organization, by the White Helmets that there will be no other evacuation and that they should take up the regime on its offer.

This is an offer that the Syrian government once it recaptures areas it has been making to people there who do not want to remain under government control, that they can move to the North.

That is the last remaining province under opposition control, but these volunteers say there is no safety in that. They fear what might happen to them if they are caught on the road to Idlib. They say they are living in a constant state of fear right now because for years the Syrian regime has accused them of being terrorists. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And of course, the Syrian regime does that for anyone associated with the rebel uprising. Joining us now to talk more about is the military correspondent for the "Times of Israel." Thank you so much for joining us.

We just heard the report there. But if you can elaborate please and help us understand the duress and danger that these volunteers were under with the Assad government breach of the cease fire in Southwest Syria that prompted this move to get them out.

JUDAH ARI GROSS, MILITARY CORRESPONDENT, "TIMES OF ISRAEL": The White Helmets are some of the most reviled characters by the Assad regime and its allies. There is nonstop even now they are seen as this great evil by Syria. They're portrayed as terrorists, as traders.

I saw one scurrying away into the hands of Israel like mice. The Assad regime is certainly gunning for them and a large reason people think is because they are some of the biggest witnesses to the alleged war crimes of the Assad regime. ALLEN: Certainly, they are right there when all of this happens, and we can see their work there in that file that we're showing. Tell us how Israel got involved in their evacuation. What do you know about how it was carried out?

GROSS: So, Israel generally speaking Israel has a policy not allowing any refugees into Israel whatsoever. At the same time, Israel providing humanitarian aid and allowing people to get medical assistance inside Israel since about 2013.

So, Israel was brought this at first reluctantly by the United States and Canada and some other European countries and they were asked to act as this go-between to help get these people out.

After some direct intervention from President Trump, from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Israel agreed to do so. Late Saturday night, this operation sort of started seriously. People were bussed to the border and from what I understand around midnight they actually crossed -- they actually reached the border, crossed into Israel, got on to a number of busses.

They were provided with medical treatment and some other assistance and then they were taken down to Jordan. From the numbers according to Jordan is 422 people, about a quarter of the men and women of the White Helmets and the rest their families. As was mentioned, a few hundred still inside Syria with real questions about what's going to come to them.

ALLEN: Right, because there are still some there. So, it shows good faith of Israel. First, it was like we don't bring refugees in. No way are they coming in, but Israel came around and cooperated.

GROSS: Yes. I mean, Israel has very done sort of what it can, but Israel is very wary of being seen as being directly involved in the fighting in Syria.

[00:20:08] Which is part of the reason why Israel is trying to -- you know, has these policies of humanitarian aid only and only allowing medical assistance and sort of taking that step back. But for this, the Israeli military made it clear that this was an exceptional case.

ALLEN: Right, right. And people have been saved as a result and these people have worked so hard and put their life on the lines. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Judah Ari Gross, correspondent for the "Times of Israel." Thank you.

GROSS: All right. Thank you.

ALLEN: All right. Next here, Japan's killer heat wave is pushing the mercury to record highs as people try to cope with the scorching temperatures. We'll head to the weather center to see when an end might be in sight.

Then there is a different threat in the arctic and it looms over a peaceful fishing village in Greenland. That right there in a distance is what is looming. We'll tell you about the threat. We'll take you there when we come back.

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ALLEN: Deadly fires are taking a toll near Athens, Greece. More than 20 people have been killed, more than 100 injured as wildfires continue to rage Monday. There are three main fronts that along with intense winds has complicated things for firefighters. The government has urged those in harm's way to protect lives before property. Spain and Cyprus have offered help and Greece is calling on E.U. members for assistance.

In Japan, Fire and Disaster Management Agency there says 65 people have died, more than 22,000 have been hospitalized during the past two weeks in a record setting heat wave. Japanese officials are urging people to find cool spaces and spin drink plenty of water after the mercury topped a record 41.1 degrees Celsius on Monday.

Tokyo's governor says it is like living in a sauna. In Yokohama, south of Tokyo, people took to the streets for what's known as the water ceremony, sprinkling cold water on hot sidewalks to try to cool them down.

Our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, has been following this story of this devastating heat and the question is, is it going to lighten up any time soon?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Natalie, there is some hope. Finally, some hope over the next several days we will see temps cooler than what we've seen over the past 30 days. So, at least, maybe a brief break in the forecast.

I want to show you how things have culminated in the last 24 hours. The hottest temperature ever observed in Japan's history, well over 100 plus years of weather data happened in the past 24 hours.

It's 41.1 degrees Northwest of Tokyo in the city of Komagaya. We had temps that's equivalent to 106 Fahrenheit. They have never had a temperature that hot.

[00:25:06] And of course, this is on top of a multi-week heat wave here that will break down the barriers of people that maybe are not acclimated to such extreme heat. It is not 5, 7, 10 degrees above average. It is 12 plus degrees in some cases, above the average for this time of year.

Which frankly the middle of July to the latter portion of July is the hottest time of the year across much of the Northern tier of their planet in the northern hemisphere. Of course, you take a look, here's what it feels like outside in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon, we expect the heat indices of 41 degrees when you factor in the humidity and the heat, 37, notice a little bit cooler, but still incredibly hot there come Wednesday afternoon.

We drop the temps below 30 degrees for the first time since the 26th of June. That all happened on the 26th of July. So, literally 30 consecutive days where temps were 30 degrees or warmer across Tokyo and in some cases, of course, close to 40 degrees.

Now I want to talk about something else. A big story developing across portions of Greece. We've had major wild fires. In fact, now the deadliest fire season since 2007. Winds in recent days as high as 80 kilometers per hour. Dry thunderstorms certainly not helping.

The Greek officials sent drones aboard even amid all the strong wind there to be able to help the firefighters on the ground level there, some 600 firefighters trying to battle these fires west of Athens and east of Athens.

ALLEN: Absolutely, a lot to follow. Thank you, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

ALLEN: Now we turn to a place the Peace of Greenland, a very different threat looms there, though, a mountain of ice. The challenges of living in the arctic take on a whole new meaning for people along the country's west coast. CNN's Phil Black went to investigate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Very few people get to see this, the beautiful hazardous water of Greenland's west coast, a place where icebergs are often vastly larger than any ship trying to avoid them.

FRANK EDLEFSON, COMMANDING OFFICER, DANISH NAVY: A lot of big icebergs in this area as you can see.

BLACK (on camera): When we say big, they're enormous.

EDLEFSON: They are enormous, yes.

BLACK (voice-over): We have traveled with the Danish Navy to see this one giant mountain of ice. You can see the iceberg's mass above and below the water as it sits next to the isolated village.

(on camera): Just moments ago, this is where a large part of the iceberg carved off into the sea. At first impression it looks big and intimidating, solid and unmoving, wedge tied on the sea floor.

But all over the surface you can see cracks and crevices, weak points that have the potential to split. And if they do, suddenly you can see the dramatic break up of this iceberg would be a hugely violent event.

(voice-over): We go ashore in the twilight gloom that is a summer's night here. From almost every angle the iceberg looms over this community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful.

BLACK (on camera): Beautiful?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BLACK: Why is it beautiful?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have many like this in summers, but it seems bigger than the others.

BLACK (voice-over): Bigger and most dangerously it's closer. If the iceberg breaks or rolls, it would send tsunami like waves towards these people. In a new day's arctic sunshine, the iceberg is a brilliant white.

From the shoreline, you can hear and see the ice changing and approaching its end. Hans Matias Christenson has lived here for 52 years. Like almost every man here he fishes, hunts seals and whales and polar bears in winter, and he knows icebergs.

He tells me his father told him grounded icebergs are the most dangerous because they eventually break. He's seen them destroy boats and he knows there will be huge waves from this one. The people here felt some relief when the iceberg moved a little beyond their harbor and they hope higher sea levels from the next full moon will allow it to lift off the bottom and float away.

If it doesn't, it will eventually become unstable like this, another massive iceberg we could see. We sped up the video to show the incredible power as it rolls in the water. Scientists say the glaciers in this specific region of Greenland have long been known producing big icebergs.

There is no known link to climate change. The people know how to endure the challenges of living in the arctic. One key rule hard learned by generations, they must keep their distance from the unpredictable frozen giants, they share these waters with. Phil Black, CNN, Innaarsuit, Greenland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Incredible story there. It's certainly beautiful but certainly a menace, as well. Well, fears in Pakistan that voters will not be safe when they head to the polls on Wednesday.

This as a cricket legend may be on the brink of victory in Pakistan's second ever civilian transfer of power. We'll have a live report here as CNN NEWSROOM pushes on.

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ALLEN: Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen with our top story this hour. Iran firing the latest shot in a twitter war with Donald Trump, advising the U.S. President to be cautious. Mr. Trump warned Iran over the weekend, if it ever threatened the U.S. again, it would suffer consequences like few throughout history.

A monetary group says these satellite images show North Korea has started to dismantle a key missile test site in the country's northwest. A nuclear expert with the group, 38 North, believes this is a significant confidence building measure of Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearization.

More than 20 people have been killed in fires that continue to rage, Monday, outside Athens, Greece. Firefighters have had a hard time taming them as they are battling on three fronts and have been hampered by intense winds. Spain and Cyprus have offered assistance and Greece is asking E.U. members for help, as well.

Authorities have identified the gunman in the Toronto shooting rampage. They say he is Faisal Hussain. A 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old were killed and more than one dozen people wounded when he opened fire in the city's Greek town neighborhood, Sunday night. The assailant also died. His family said he has been struggling with psychosis and depression.

There are more fears, Pakistan's milestone election on Wednesday, could be a violent one. It is just the second time in the country's history that a civilian government will transfer power to another. But so far, the campaign has been marred by violence.

Militant groups have attacked political rallies including a suicide bombing that killed at least 150 people. Election observers are also concerned about Pakistan's powerful military and whether it can be trusted to stay impartial in the democratic process.

There has been speculation the army is backing cricket legend, Imran Khan, in the race for prime minister. He is running against two families who have dominated Pakistani politics for decades.

[00:35:14] But Khan denies there's been any meddling. Let's discuss this high stakes election with CNN's Sophia Saifi. She joins us now from Islamabad. Good to see you, Sophia. And much on the line here with this election and so much hope that it will be a peaceful process.

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Natalie. There is a lot of -- you know, there had been a lot of hope in the past year. It has been a peaceful state of affairs comparatively compared to Pakistan's previous election cycles.

You know, we had been expecting a more peaceful election cycle this year, but unfortunately, just last week, we saw that massive suicide bombing. The Taliban and various other militant groups have come out and said that they will be targeting some center right parties.

And we have seen just yesterday that, you know, two candidates in two different parts of the country were attacked by a grenade attack and an attempted suicide attack, which left one candidate dead as well. Now, in that environment, we also have, you know, this sense of political turmoil.

You had, Nawaz Sharif, who was the previous prime minister just last year, had to step down because of being disqualified. He then had a massive corruption case against him and he was then convicted and he had to come back and be arrested along with his daughters.

So, he's currently in Rawalpindi, a former prime minister, in Adiala jail and his brother, is leading his powerful party in the province of Punjab. Now, Punjab is the largest province of the country. It's the most populated province.

And that is where the selection is really going to be fought. That's where Shehbaz Sharif is from, that's where Imran Khan, you know, this star politician star cricket legend, is also going to be, you know, contesting neck and neck with our former prime minister's brother.

Now, keeping that in mind, you also have Benazir Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto, who is going to be contesting from the south in Larkana, which is his ancestral homeland.

And so you've got these two major dynasties such as the Sharifs and the Bhuttos, as well as this, you know, almost demi-god like person like Imran Khan, who's had many chances of becoming prime minister but hasn't ever reached that final, you know, zenith, of actually getting that seat.

So, you know, we've got campaigning officially ended last night. The candidates cannot be speaking to anyone, cannot speak to anyone anymore. There are no more ads. And there's rain expected tomorrow. So there's a lot of uncertainty as to who will be getting that top seat after polls close tomorrow. Natalie?

ALLEN: We certainly hope it's peaceful for the people of Pakistan. And Sophia, we will be talking with you again about it. Thanks so much for joining us.

Well, coming up, President Trump apparently knows how to capitalize on a threat, but others, mainly folks on twitter, capitalized on the humor in it and you'll see how that works in a moment.

Also, a lawmaker in the U.S. gets caught with his pants down, the latest victim of comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40: 20] ALLEN: A politician, in the U.S., has been caught with his pants down, literally, after being punked by provocateur, Sacha Baron Cohen. A state lawmaker, Georgia representative, Jason Spencer, yelled racial slurs and at one point, dropped his drawers, apparently believing Cohen was an Israeli anti-terror expert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SACHA BARON COHEN, ACTOR: In America there is one forbidden word. It is the N-word. Now, I am going to be the terrorist. You have three seconds to attack the tension. Go.

REP. JASON SPENCER (R), GEORGIA: Bleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: I'm glad we beeped that. Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal, responded on twitter saying, the actions and language used by Jason Spencer are appalling and offensive. There is no excuse for this type of behavior, ever, and I am saddened and disgusted by it.

Other lawmakers are calling for Spencer's resignation. Spencer told a newspaper, the show exploited his state of mind for profit and notoriety.

Well, President Donald Trump discovers the power of all caps, in the latest tweet, and others discover how fun it is to make fun of his latest style. Here's our Jeanne Moos with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You've got to give the President a tip of the cap. He certainly capitalized on using all caps to get attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shouting in all caps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All caps Iran tweet.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ACTRESS: Just, did the whole thing in caps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All caps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shouldn't have done it in all caps because that means you are yelling at the person, right?

MOOS: Right, yelling at Iran's president. Let's have a recap of what he said in all caps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never, ever threaten the United States again --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: or you will suffer consequences --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: the likes of which few throughout history --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: have ever suffered before.

MOOS: Turns out, the President's all caps rant, is contagious. Imitators addressed their tirades to the cap. Never ever threaten the house plant again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before to their co-worker.

Never ever microwave fish in the break room again or you will suffer consequences.

Never ever stay at home on an election day again or you will suffer the consequences. We will end up with a childish president.

Tweeted someone else, so when will you tell Russia to stay out of our elections in all caps?

Suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. Doesn't that ring a bell?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will be met with fire and fury, the likes of which this world has never seen before.

MOOS: He threatened North Korea, then shook and made up.

TRUMP: So, I think the rhetoric, I hated to do it. Sometimes, I felt foolish doing it. But we had no choice.

MOOS: Will President Trump someday admit he felt foolish tweeting Iran, in all caps? Doubtful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you'd woken up to this all caps tweet threatening war with Iran, you'd think he'd probably belongs in a padded cell.

MOOS: Forget the cell. Where President Trump is locked, is the caps lock. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: OK. I got to admit, this copy is in all caps. I'll be back in 15 minutes with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Until then, please enjoy, "WORLD SPORT." See you soon.

[00:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)