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ISIS Communications Intercepts; FBI Divers Search a Lake Near San Bernardino; Bowe Bergdahl Speaks. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired December 11, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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


[00:00:13] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, terror alert in Geneva. Armed guards deployed to U.N. headquarter as the hunt for the Paris attackers stretches to Switzerland.

Silent no more. U.S. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is speaking out for the first time. Explaining why he left his base in Afghanistan, describing the horrors of being a Taliban prisoner for five years.

And North Korea's leader says he has a thermal nuclear bomb. Well, U.S. intelligence says that's unlikely but there's no doubting the desire to build one.

Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

We begin in Geneva, Switzerland where the terror alert has been raised to high as police search for suspects related to the Paris attacks. We're also learning that U.S. intelligence provided Swiss authorities with information about four people plotting attacks against Switzerland and cities in the U.S. and Canada. It's believed the four are connected to ISIS.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is following these developments. She also has new information on how the U.S. is developing counterterrorism hubs to fight ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Geneva, Switzerland, on high alert as police search for terror suspects possibly involved with ISIS. In a new security message, the U.S. embassy in Switzerland warning U.S. citizens in Geneva to be cautious. The United Nations compound under tight security, Swiss border controls beefed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): This process can mean the total closure of the border if necessary.

STARR: Security officials are looking for five suspects, one that may be part of a network that recruited an ISIS attacker at the Bataclan Theater in Paris. It's just the latest evidence of what Defense Secretary Ash Carter is now calling the metastasizing ISIS tumor.

There is growing alarm over Libya. Political chaos there has given ISIS free reign to establish networks and training camps. The U.S. recently killed Abu Nabil, ISIS' top operative in Libya. Carter says it's not enough.

ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're going to have to do more in Libya. ISIL is becoming a magnet for groups that previously existed in some cases that are now rebranding themselves as ISIL.

STARR: The Pentagon now developing so-called counterterrorism hubs to fight the growing reach of ISIS.

CARTER: That's the reality linking together American counterterrorism and military nerves in the region and around the world so that they can focus on this network wherever it is.

STARR: The U.S. would use existing bases in Afghanistan and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. Other hubs would be set up in the Middle East and Southern Europe. U.S. special operations and conventional forces could also operate for more remote locations in Irbil, Iraq, northern Syria and in northern and western Africa.

It's already happening. Special operations forces just finished scouting locations in Northern Syria. They can use to help anti-ISIS fighters. Many say it's a growing trend to use small, lethal special operations teams to attack ISIS on the ground in the very places where it's located.

MAJ. GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You begin to breathe and live that environment, you get more familiar with it, intelligence flows, you're now more capable.

STARR (on camera): And in another sign that special operations may be getting a new emphasis, several Pentagon officials tell CNN that General Joe Votel, currently the head of special operations command, is the leading contender to be nominated by President Obama possibly to take over commanding all U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: FBI divers have been searching a lake in San Bernardino, California, close to where Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik carried out their massacre last week. Agents say they're following up on a lead and are looking for evidence. Possibly a missing computer hard drive but won't specify at this point what they hope to find.

As authorities attempt to piece together the events surrounding the San Bernardino attacks, the FBI Is now linking Syed Rizwan Farook to a convicted terrorist who once radicalized others.

CNN's Kyung Lah has that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The San Bernardino terror web is now expanding beyond Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. According to two U.S. law enforcement officials, Farook is now being linked to one of four men arrested in a terror ring in 2012.

[00:05:10] Three years ago, the FBI descended on this house located just miles away from San Bernardino. Among the four men arrested and eventually convicted, Sahil Kabir, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan. The FBI called Kabir the recruiter. Court documents putting one defendant referring to Kabir as a Mujahideen walking around the streets of LA.

The FBI complaint says the four men shared extremists' postings, including violent video messages from Anwar al-Awlaki, the now dead leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Federal agents arrested three of the suspects just days before they were set to fly to Afghanistan and target U.S. military bases. Investigators tells CNN Kabir who's now serving 25 years in prison and Farook were in the same social circle.

But authorities did not know of Farook until the San Bernardino shooting last week. 2012 is also the year Enrique Marquez told investigators he and Farook were planning a terror plot. They called it off, Marquez told investigators spooked by the arrests, but was this a terror network or just a group of men connected by friendship and a twisted desire for violence?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We're working very hard to understand exactly their association and the source of their inspiration. We're also working very hard to understand whether there was anybody else involved with assisting them, with supporting them, with equipping them.

LAH: As far as these married killers, the FBI says, Farook and Malik chatted of Jihad online before meeting in person, radicalized before their marriage and before she would enter the United States last year.

(On camera): And in a late development, FBI dive teams arrive at this lake. There was a report that the two killers were spotted here at this park on the day of the massacre. Dive teams spending several hours searching here, expected to resume the search at daybreak.

Kyung Lah, CNN, San Bernardino, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Ever since U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was freed by the Taliban last year, he's been at the center of controversy. But amidst the thousands of opinions and theories about why he left the post, we've never heard from Bergdahl himself. Until now. Bergdahl was telling his side of the story and he's telling it to world's most popular podcast.

CNN's Jake Tapper has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD" (voice-over): Shortly after Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl left his post in Afghanistan in 2009, he says the gravity of what he had done shocked him.

BOWE BERGDAHL, FORMER U.S. ARMY SERGEANT: Twenty minutes out, I'm going good grief, I'm in over my head. Suddenly, you know, it really starts to sink that I really did something bad. Well, not bad, but I did -- I really did something serious.

TAPPER: For the first time since the Obama administration controversially and possibly illegally traded the Taliban, five of their prisoners, in exchange for Bergdahl, a dramatic release captured on tape by Taliban forces, the controversial figure explained why he left with filmmaker Mark Boal and the podcast Serial.

Bergdahl admits he left on his own volition with a plan to return. It would create a crisis, he says, to draw attention to problems with his leadership.

BERGDAHL: I was fully confident that when somebody actually took a look at the situation and when people started investigating the situation that people would understand that I was right. You know, what was going on was a danger to the lives of the men in that company.

TAPPER: Bergdahl also says he wanted to show he was a super soldier like Jason Bourne.

BERGDAHL: All those guys out there who go to the movies and watch those movies, they all want to be that, but I wanted to prove that I was that.

TAPPER: It was a decision he would relive during his next five years in Taliban captivity. Bergdahl, a 23-year-old private first class at the time, wrapped his head in a scarf and walked away. Bergdahl's former platoon mates scoff at his story pointing out that the platoon was supposed to return to a larger base later that day where Bergdahl could have voiced any concerns. Bergdahl says as a private first class he would not have been taken seriously. But his platoon mates believe he put his fellow troops in danger with six of them killed in various missions afterward.

FORMER SGT. EVAN BUETOW, U.S. ARMY: I don't really know if there's anyone who can prove that soldiers died on a directed mission to find Bergdahl. However, every mission especially in the following two or more months, those were directed missions. Everything after that, there were still missions that were in search of Bergdahl.

TAPPER: Bergdahl tells Serial, after he left his post, he looked for someone planting IEDs whom he could track. But instead he got lost and in the morning he was spotted by a group of insurgents.

BERGDAHL: They pulled up and that was it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But they said you fought like crazy.

BERGDAHL: No, I didn't. I'm not stupid enough to try and fight off -- all I had was a knife. I'm not stupid enough to try to knife off a bunch of guys with AK-47s.

[00:10:10] TAPPER: And then for five years, the horror of a tiny, blackened room.

BERGDAHL: Just on the other side of that wooden door that you could probably easily rip off the hinges is the entire world out there. Everything is behind that door. I hate doors now.

TAPPER: Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Bergdahl still faces a court-martial which could land him in prison for life.

Joining me now is our military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks. He spent more than 30 years in the United States Army.

General, thanks for being with us.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely, John. Thank you.

VAUSE: Can you share your thoughts right now on Bergdahl has -- thank you. Can you share your thoughts on what Bergdahl has been saying that this was all part of some kind of noble plan, he wanted to be bring attention to poor military leadership?

MARKS: This is clearly in his mind and it's a justification of his actions after the fact. He knows he's confronted with a court- martial. That's going to happen. He's going to be sentenced, that's going to happen. I have no clue what that looks like. But clearly what you have is a troubled young man who is a soldier, and there is no isolation when you're in combat with your buddies and with your unit. But it sounds like this man was, in his own mind, incredibly isolated, therefore he walks away from his post.

All of this could have been avoided if he had done his duty, which is stay with your buddies, stay with your unit. Do your job. And if you do have an issue, you've got to push that thing aggressively up through your chain of command. You're not going to solve your problems by trying to be a Jason Bourne and find IEDs on your own in Afghanistan. Totally a (INAUDIBLE) first mistake on his part.

VAUSE: Because obviously the big problem with this narrative, which we're now hearing from Bergdahl, he said he did this because he was worried about the lives of his fellow soldiers being endangered by this poor military leadership, but yet by his actions it's quite possible that a number of soldiers were killed.

MARKS: Absolutely. He exacerbated a situation if in fact he thought that the unit he was a part of had troubles and there were issues. Bear in mind, first of all, he's looking through the filter of a 19 or a 20-year-old man who's brand new to the army, brand new to the military. And he's going to do an assessment of what leadership looks like within his organization. It's a bit presumptuous on his part, but what he really did is he put his fellow soldiers at risk. He failed to do his duty. That's what he's confronted with right now.

VAUSE: The producers of this podcast, they've got about 25 hours of interviews with Bergdahl. They say the more information which gets out there, the better. That's in their words.

Do you agree with that? Do you think this is good for Bergdahl to have sort of free rein here if you like?

MARKS: Well, what sounded very interesting to me, John, is that Bergdahl, Sergeant Bergdahl is still in the United States Army, and I find it odd that he would be granted permission to have this media interview. I mean, everybody who wears a uniform has to go through the chain of command and has to get permission before you engage with media. He certainly is now engaged very deeply with media, with some desired outcome, that he's looking for, I would think he would think that this might ameliorate his condition and soften this prospective jury it's going to have.

Frankly, it's going to do the exact opposite. This is not in his best interest at all. That's why I find it quite odd that, number one, he had a chance to do it and number two he thinks that this is going to be a positive outcome.

VAUSE: OK, General, thank you for being with us. It's interesting the impact that this could in fact have on the court-martial process. As you say, it could have quite the opposite of what Bergdahl may be hoping for.

MARKS: Absolutely.

VAUSE: Thank you, sir.

MARKS: Thank you.

VAUSE: To the U.S. presidential race now. While Republican leaders continue to push back against Donald Trump and his comments about Muslims, it seems voters may be on his side, at least some of them. A poll released Thursday shows 42 percent of Republicans support his proposals to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. But most Americans are against it.

Randi Kaye spoke to some New Hampshire voters who say they're still Team Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Members of the New England Police Benevolent Association showing support for Donald Trump in New Hampshire despite the growing list of his inflammatory remarks.

(On camera): Does any of that concern you? JERRY FLYNN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEPBA: I think what concerns me is

what my members -- we have a president of the United States who has no respect for law enforcement officers. That's the problem right now.

KAYE (voice-over): Retired Police Officer Jerry Flynn once met with Trump in his office in New York City.

FLYNN: Found him to be very charming, to be honest with you. And --

KAYE (on camera): Charming is not a word that you hear a lot when you're talking about Donald Trump. What do you make of his style?

FLYNN: I think that he is what he is. He's a very successful businessman. He's somebody who obviously can poke the bear and he's done that pretty well.

[00:15:03] KAYE (voice-over): So well, in fact, that there's a growing panic among some in his party he could win the nomination. But because of his inflammatory remarks about Latinos, women and now Muslim, many say he wouldn't stand a chance in a general election.

(On camera): You're not at all concerned about him being the nominee?

JOHNNY ARNOLD, SON OF POLICE OFFICER: No. I want him to be the nominee. I want him to be president of the United States.

KAYE (voice-over): Johnny Arnold also thinks Trump could take Democrat Hillary Clinton in a match up.

ARNOLD: When it comes to immigration, when it comes to the debt, when it comes to defending our country, I feel like he has -- he's stronger than she is.

KAYE: Despite what some Republicans are saying, no one here told us tonight they thought Trump was hurting his party.

TOM DALY, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NEPBA: He's trying to make America great again and I think he's doing it his way on his own the way he would work in business.

KAYE (on camera): And you think that's playing well in the party, not driving people away from the party?

DALY: I think it's playing well with the public. And the party will -- I guess that will be determined at the convention.

KAYE (voice-over): And about that "New York Times"-CBS poll showing that among all registered voters, 40 percent say a Trump presidency scares them.

(On camera): Does a Donald Trump presidency scare you?

ARNOLD: Not at all. And I'll tell you why. It's because I've noticed that when it comes to a lot of presidents, they don't know how to say no. And that might just be a real basic answer to tell you, but I feel like he has so much fire in him. Like if we were to be attacked, for example, he knows how to say no.

KAYE (voice-over): Meanwhile, with so many critics inside the GOP, Trump is floating the idea of running as a third party candidate, an independent. And according to a "USA Today" poll, 68 percent of his supporters say they'd go with him.

(On camera): Would you consider crossing party lines to vote for Donald Trump?

FLYNN: I'll leave you with this. Ronald Reagan said it best. I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.

KAYE: All right.

FLYNN: Thank you.

KAYE: I'll take that as a yes.

The main theme I heard tonight was trust. These folks here really trust Donald Trump. They believe that he has their back. You heard from him over and over that he loves the police, that if he is ever elected president, that if a police officer is shot and killed in the line of duty that whoever did that would get the death penalty. He would make sure of that.

This group really believes that Donald Trump is misunderstood, that he really does love America and care for America which is probably why they endorsed him tonight. They believe that because he's a businessman he also understands them and understands labor unions as well.

Not everyone here, though, was thrilled about seeing Donald Trump. There were protesters both inside and outside. One man screaming very loudly inside the hotel where Donald Trump was speaking. Be brave, Dump Trump.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: One last note here, while doing press for the new "Star Wars" movie, Harrison Ford had a reality check for Donald Trump. The Republican frontrunner said he loved the way Ford stood up for America while playing President James Marshal in the film "Air Force One."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR, "STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS": It's a movie.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And he liked the way --

FORD: Donald, it was a movie. It's not like this in real life. But how would you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., we'll have more from Harrison Ford. Isha Sesay sits down with the star to try to get a few more secrets from Han Solo.

Also ahead, the first group of Syrian refugees resettling in Canada, touching down in Toronto. And the new prime minister says their arrival is an example for the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:22:29] VAUSE: The first plane carrying some 160 refugees from Lebanon to Canada is arriving now. The new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is at the airport in Toronto to welcome the privately sponsored group. Canada plans to take in 25,000 refugees by the end of February with just a fraction of the millions fleeing conflicts in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. Mr. Trudeau spoke just a short time ago, ahead of the refugees' arrival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: This is a wonderful night where we get to show not just a plane load of new Canadians, what Canada's all about. We get to show the world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing extraordinarily difficult situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mr. Trudeau says more refugees will land in Montreal on Saturday.

Nine more Syrian refugees will make the U.S. city of Houston their home. A judge on Thursday cleared the way for their arrival. State officials were trying to block the refugees from coming because of security concerns. Nearly 240 Syrian refugees and asylum seekers have settled in Texas this year.

Well, Japan is closely tracking the severe air pollution which hit Beijing. The Chinese capital's first ever red alert for smog has now been lifted, but a simulation by the National Institute for Environmental Studies suggest the smog may drift to northern Japan. Scientists say it is unlikely it will significantly impact the health of the Japanese people.

Let's go now to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam. He has more on this.

So, Derek, they've got the smog concerns, but right now maybe the rain is a bigger concern.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[00:25:59] VAN DAM: Look at this shot. I'm wondering, John, would you ever brave waves like this? Because that takes an incredible amount of talent and a lot of nerve as well. I've been out in waves, but nothing like that. VAUSE: Holy cow. Me neither. Too scary for me.

VAN DAM: Surf's up. Enjoy.

VAUSE: Thanks, Derek. Appreciate it.

Still ahead here on NEWSROOM L.A., truth or a cry for attention. North Korea's Kim Jong-Un says his country has a hydrogen bomb.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: There are new concerns about North Korea's nuclear program. According to State run media, the country has a hydrogen bomb, potentially hundreds of times more powerful than an atomic bomb. CNN's Brian Todd tells us if true, this would be a huge leap in North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this would be a huge and frightening leap if the North Korean's claims are accurate. Kim Jung Un said North Korea is "ready to detonate a self-reliant hydrogen bomb." What could that do? The Hiroshima explosion in 1945 produced the equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT. The first hydrogen bomb test in the 1950's was 700 times more powerful, and they've only gotten more powerful since that.

Now on North Korea's claim, U.S. Intelligence officials are not commenting, South Korean Intelligence and the experts we spoke to are very skeptical. Analysts say Kim's Regime simply does not have the capability to produce a standard hydrogen bomb. What they're likely trying to do, they say, is take the materials used to make hydrogen bombs, materials like tritium, traterium (ps) and compress them, place them onto their existing nuclear bombs. Now that would increase the yield of those nuclear bombs, that's the pure explosive power of those bombs.

But what's important to note here, our experts say Kim's Regime is working toward producing an H-Bomb; they have the desire and the will to do it. They are moving toward it, but they do have some technical hurdles to overcome, and it will likely take more than five years we're told. Now, as far as what they're doing to overcome it, the Institute For Science and International Security recently published satellite photos of the Yongbyon facility, that's where North Korea produces the materials for nuclear weapons.

I spoke to with former U.N. Weapons Inspector, David Albright, from that group. He says the photos show that at Yongbyon they have constructed buildings which could separate tritium. They could refine that material. Now, that could be an important step toward eventually constructing a hydrogen bomb, and that is what is so concerning right now. John?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, the North Korean's may not yet have a hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermo nuclear bomb. There is little doubt they have the desire to build one. Ambassador Joe DeTrani is President of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence. He joins us now from Washington. Ambassador, thank you for being with us. Can it be completely ruled out at this point that the North Koreans do not have a nuclear bomb? I mean, five years ago state media claimed that scientists had created nuclear fusion reaction, which is crucial for an H-bomb.

JOE DETRANI, AMBASSADOR, INTELLIGENCE & NATIONAL SECURITY ALLIANCE: I think your point that they are pursuing a capability to have a hydrogen bomb, i think that's fair. I think many who have watched North Korea over the years would say yes, they are pursuing that capability. I think many -- and I'm one of them -- would say they do not have a hydrogen bomb at this time.

VAUSE: So could they have what some have said is basically super- sized nuclear weapons, essentially enhancing what they already have?

DETRANI: Well, you know, their nuclear arsenal is growing each year. They have the plutonium-based weapons, uranium-based nuclear weapons, those numbers are increasing each year and they are talking about miniaturization. Some say they have miniaturized their weapons and certainly they have the missile delivery systems. So they are working very diligently on their nuclear and missile capabilities. Hydrogen bombs, a thermo nuclear bomb, indeed, I think many would say, and, again, i am one of them, would say that they are pursuing a hydrogen bomb. We have not seen any indication, however, that they do have, at this moment, a hydrogen bomb.

VAUSE: Which then comes to the question, why would Kim Jong Un go out there and say this; and the reasons why the North Koreans do what they do are never particularly obvious, are they?

DETRANI: You know, i think Kim Jong Un occasionally looks for [00:35:00] some attention, and i think in this case here, he's telling the international community, we, North Korea, we have a hydrogen bomb. I think that does engender great interest; that's a significant leap. I mean, hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs they have, that we know they have. So this correctly generates lots of focus and lots of attention. I think he's doing it because he wants to get everyone's attention, but I think also he's telling us something. He's telling us he's pursuing this capability and, in the past, when we've doubted that they had nuclear weapons, when we doubted they had uranium-based nuclear weapons, they indeed acquired those capabilities. So I would assume that he's telling us very clearly, if i don't have it now, I'm going to have it.

VAUSE: My experience has been that the North Koreans have kept their word; when they say they're going to carry out a nuclear test, they carry out a nuclear test. DETRANI: I agree.

VAUSE: When they say they're going to launch a missile, they do. So then what is to be gained by the North Koreans, at this point, by telegraphing that they intend to build this hydrogen bomb? Is it all for negotiating purposes with the U.S. and the West?

DETRANI: You know, i think that's a very good point. They're telling the U.S., they're telling the international community, we're here; you need to deal with us. Ignoring us is not the way you want to go.

VAUSE: Ambassador, good to speak with you. Thank you for coming in; appreciate it.

DETRANI: Thank you.

VAUSE: China's government says it will allow unregistered citizens to apply for a crucial household document known as a "Hukou". Without a Hukou, the Chinese not entitled to basic social services like education, health care, housing, marriage licenses. (INAUDIBLE) State run news agency says China has about 13 million unregistered people; that number includes the homeless, orphans and second children born under the country's one child policy. That policy is due to end next year, and according to Xinhua the government has issued a statement saying registration is a basic legal right.

Still to come here, has Harrison Ford gone to the Dark Side? Up next, the "Star Wars" threatens Isha Sesay's life, kind of. Newsroom L.A. will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:34] VAUSE: In case you've been living under a rock, the much anticipated "Star Wars" movie "The Force Awakens" hits theaters next week. The world premiere will be here, in Los Angeles, on Monday. This is such a huge event for fans all around the world star wars.com will have a live stream of the red carpet. Now, Harrison Ford picks up his blaster and returns to that galaxy far, far away, as everyone's favorite smuggler, scoundrel and hero, but he's being very tightlipped on giving away any details about the movie; even Isha Sesay couldn't get him to spill any of those secrets from Hans Solo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Playing of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" trailer)

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you say in the trailer "Chewy, we're home." What's it like to be back?

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR, "STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS": It's good to be home. It's good to be home.

SESAY: You've done so much since the original film. So much time has passed that i wonder whether come being back, coming back to this character, whether it's almost like muscle memory? FORD: It is, you know, part of it is that muscle memory, but you put on the clothes of the character; you remember the gait of the character; the swagger of the character; it's all, it comes back. It comes back.

SESAY: How has Hans changed? i know there's not a lot you can tell me. You may have to kill me first, but imagine that wasn't the case.

FORD: I'd have to kill you after i told you, and then I'd want to kill myself.

[Laughter]

FORD: He's certainly 30 years older. There's no attempt to soften that blow. The story involves some of the changes in his, in his understanding of the world.

SESAY: Are you ready for the latest round of fandom?

FORD: You know, I'm delighted; I hope the film is as successful as, you know, as it can be. I'm ready for whatever comes.

SESAY: And no regrets with coming back, because I know in the past you've seemed a little, eh?

FORD: No, i just thought, at a certain point, when we were making the third film that we could make an interesting, -- we had an interesting opportunity with the character, who had always been cynical and a bit outside the story, for him to sacrifice himself for the greater good, for the, for the benefit of the good side of, the light side as opposed to the dark side, that he might lend some gravitas to the proceedings if he were to sacrifice himself.

SESAY: Well, I'm very pleased they never killed you off.

FORD: Very grateful, thank you.

SESAY: Harrison Ford, thank you.

FORD: Thank you.

SESAY: Best of luck with the film.

FORD: I appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A very excited Harrison Ford there, speaking to Isha Sesay. Well, the Hollywood award season kicked off on Thursday with nominations for this year's Golden Globes Awards. There are a number of films are, in fact, leading the pack: "Carol", a story of romance between two women in 1950's New York leads all movies with five nominations, including both of its star actresses, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. "The Big Short", a comedy about the global financial crisis was close behind, with four nods, including best picture, comedy section. Its two lead actors, Christian Bale and Steve Carell were also both nominated. And, the frontier adventure, "The Reverent" also received four nominations, including one for its star, Leonardo DiCaprio and the bear. And "Steve Jobs" the biopic about he late Apple cofounder was also nominated four times.

Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom", live from Los Angeles; I'm John Vause. Stay with us; "World Sport" is up next and I'll be back in 15 minutes with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

[00:44:27] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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