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CNN NEWSROOM

Syrian Refugees Resettling in Canada; Laura June Voting for Hillary Because She's a Woman; Johnny Depp Stars as Trump in Satirical Biopic; Harrowing Moments Aboard Caribbean Cruise Ship. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 11, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: As the brutal war there escalates, families are running for their lives. They are considered refugees. They have nowhere to go. But Canada, Canada is actually taking in tens of thousands just this year alone.

CNN's Drew Griffin visited a center in Calgary where a lot of these families are right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's quite facade can barely contain the joy inside. This is Calgary's Margaret Chisholm Resettlement House and it's dinner time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Corn, baby?

GRIFFIN: Huge families, huge smiles, cries, laughter. And everywhere, children. They are all Syrians, refugees plucked from uncertain futures in Jordan and Lebanon selected under the Canadian Refugee Resettlement Program to be accepted as newly landed immigrants.

Anoush Newman (ph) helps run this center. "In three years," she says, "everyone you see will be able to become a Canadian."

(on camera): They really have nowhere else to go.

ANOUSH NEWMAN (ph), CALGARY'S MARGARET CHISHOLM RESETTLEMENT HOUSE: No, they can't, because the surrounding countries such as where they were, they don't give them citizenship. So they'll remain as refugees for the rest of their lives.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Zaid Andowi (ph) arrived just 10 days ago. He and his wife and children fled Aleppo, Syria.

NEWMAN (ph): They left because they were worried. Many times they came very close to death. So that's when they decided to leave before it gets worse. He took his family and left and now they're settled as refugees.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Do you miss Syria?

NEWMAN (ph): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) ZAID ANDOWI (ph), SYRIAN REFUGEE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

NEWMAN (ph): Of course, of course. From my heart. We're very, very happy and very, very relaxed.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): For the first time in years, he feels his family is safe. But there's a long way to go. They speak almost no English. They are

new to just about every Canadian custom. You shake hands with men and boys but not with the women.

AWAFOR BERSHANI (ph), DIRECTOR, CALGARY'S MARGARET CHISHOLM RESETTLEMENT HOUSE: And we do a lot of parenting skills.

GRIFFIN: Awafor Bershani (ph), the director here, says that, too, will change, and soon.

BERSHANI (ph): In three months, if you talk to these children, you won't even recognize them as a refugee. 10 days ago, they didn't even know they were coming to Canada. Now they're here obviously. So we realize they have a lot of fears and a lot of hopes.

GRIFFIN: Most arrive in families. There are only a few single Syrian men.

And just as in the U.S., the program has raised concerns about safety and terrorism.

(on camera): I've got to ask you, they don't look dangerous to me.

BERSHANI (ph): No, they are fantastic people. They've gone through hell.

GRIFFIN: While in the United States, there is still deliberation over how many or even if Syrian refugees should be brought into the country. By the end of February, Canada will have reached its goal of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees onto its soil, confident that its screening process can tell the bad guys from the good.

IAN HOLLOWAY, DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY LAW SCHOOL: Most Canadians are not that worried about the security issue for these -- for the people we have selected.

GRIFFIN: Ian Holloway, the dean of the University of Calgary Law School also works with the Canadian government reviewing security intelligence operations. He says the refugees Canada brings in are screened and, quite frankly, he sees them as no threat at all.

HOLLOWAY: We feel that we have been able to take reasonable measures to not guaranty -- you can never guaranty -- but to do everything we can to satisfy ourselves the people we have taken in are not likely to be bad guys.

GRIFFIN: To make sure Canada follows the progress of its newly arrived immigrants for two years all the children will go to school. Families will be helped to find work, housing, and their ultimate goal, a permanent home in their new country, Canada.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Calgary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:34:01] BALDWIN: Drew, thank you for that.

Coming up next, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright suggesting women who don't vote for Hillary Clinton have a special place in hell. Well, my next guest says she is voting for Hillary Clinton precisely because she's a woman.

Also ahead, Johnny Depp taking on the role of a lifetime. Forget Scissor-hands, forget Jack Sparrow. Depp here playing the role of Donald Trump. Wait until you hear the back story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, my next guest says she is voting for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. One writer making a bold statement after controversial comments in the wake of Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, they ignited the conversation just this week about which candidate better represents women.

My next guest writes this, quote, "I stuck with Hillary for the simple reason that she is a woman. I did it for my newly dead mother who would have loved to see the day when a woman become president. My mother, who was 21 years old when Roe v. Wade passed, and to whom the name Gloria Steinem was akin to Beyonce now."

She is Laura June. She is a staff writer for "New York" magazine's "The Cut," which focuses on women issues.

Laura, welcome. Thanks for rolling down to see. Appreciate it.

LAURA JUNE, REPORTER, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: You're welcome. Any time.

BALDWIN: I wanted it -- better to come from you, than me, if you don't mind, just reading a piece of the article.

JUNE: I said, "You see, I watch these debates and I recognize something in Hillary's eyes. There's something in her face sometimes, just a glimpse or whisper, her reaction. She's trained herself. She knows every blink will be scrutinized and she's had years of practice. In that reading, I carry the endless discussions of her appearance, her inability to laugh or remember a joke, her speaking too loudly, even a bathroom trip during the debate that made headlines. Watching the debate sitting there at night after my 2-year-old daughter went to sleep, I felt like I wanted to throw up, too. I felt like for the first time -- I felt for the first time an incredible overwhelming empathy for this woman standing on stage, a career politician, one of the most powerful women in the world. I wanted to fold her into my arms and say I know."

[14:40:32] BALDWIN: What do you know? JUNE: You know, I know that she's probably worked harder than every,

you know, white man that she's running against. I know that she's worked harder for pretty much every, you know, accomplishment in her life. Sometimes I -- you know, I don't think that Hillary Clinton is a person who really gets a lot of empathy. She doesn't really seem like the kind of person that you want to hug or hang out with. Certainly, I've never felt that for her. And in this last cycle of debates, I've sort of begun to feel a real empathy for her and for what we have in common as women, which is really what I think is the most important. That's the reason I'm voting for her.

BALDWIN: Because you're a woman, she's a woman. You know where I have to go from here.

JUNE: Yes.

BALDWIN: I'm going to quote you. You say, I get that a lot of people including many extremely intelligence women think this is a very dumb way to choose a candidate to support. Dumb.

JUNE: Yes.

BALDWIN: That is one way to put it.

JUNE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Tell me why it's not dumb.

JUNE: Well, the first thing is that people always default you. So wouldn't you vote for Carly Fiorina? No, I wouldn't. I would vet for Hillary Clinton because she believes, you know, largely the same things I believe. So I think, you know, if you equalize out two candidate, one's a man, one's a woman. I would choose the woman. I do think that that's not a stupid way to make a primary decision. You know, I wouldn't vote for Sarah Palin.

BALDWIN: You do also make an interesting point on Bernie Sanders, and how you say Bernie Sanders presence in this race has actually shaped Hillary Clinton, has made her better, has been better for her. Why?

JUNE: I think that's true of a lot of primary debates and I think that's part of the primary process. And what makes it so useful. He's much farther left. Hillary's much more of a career politician so she tends to be more middle, you know, the word Socialist isn't just thrown around Bernie, like it's a word he would use I think to describe himself.

BALDWIN: Absolutely.

JUNE: And so not a word that Hillary would want anywhere to be near.

BALDWIN: What would you say to all these young women? I've interviewed a bunch of them who believe -- I think one woman told me earlier this week, they believe that Hillary Clinton shoots for the moon, Bernie Sanders shoots for the stars. From this young woman, university of New Hampshire who wholeheartedly believes Bernie's it. JUNE: I think Hillary can win a general election. I don't know that

Bernie can. I love him too. But I do think she is a better --

BALDWIN: You're thinking big picture?

Laura June, come back.

JUNE: Any time.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

JUNE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Just in at CNN, we have now learned all four remaining occupiers in that wildlife refuge in Oregon have surrendered. It comes after weeks and weeks of a standoff between authorities and anti-federal government activists. Listen, this whole time, they've been armed, they refused to leave. Many of them arrested during a chase. Again, the standoff in Oregon is now over.

Next, a secret movie about the life of Mr. Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: I want you to survey every square inch of Trump Tower in brass.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Mr. Trump, if we add any more, we will be in uncharted territories of classiness. It could destroy the whole city.

DEPP: I thought you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This guy under all the latex -- and I don't know what else they put on him -- would you believe, Johnny Depp. The back story on this video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:14] BALDWIN: If you haven't seen this yet, chances are your friends are liking it, clicking on it, sharing on it. You will see this, the movie out about this Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, based on his autobiography "The Art of the Deal." It stars Oscar- nominated actor, Johnny Depp. And here is the Hollywood shocker, The Fonz, Henry Winkler, is in this as well, among others. The movie already has nearly two million views.

Here's a piece.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPP: Chapter two, the art of defeating totally bogus discrimination lawsuits, OK?

Mayor Koch, you got to be kidding me. I, Donald J. Trump, am being sued for discriminating against minorities?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's all part of my liberal agenda, Donald.

DEPP: I love minorities. They're exotic. They're sensual, especially the Asians.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's not the Asians.

DEPP: Is it the Jews? They're my absolute favorite. Come on, they go to Brisses (ph) just for fun some times.

Look at this. This says I had fun at Josh Lewinstein's bar mitzvah. And I truly did. It was sensational.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I think we're talking about the African-Americans you won't rent to, Donald. That is the problem.

DEPP: Look, Koch, New York should be a place for everyone, no matter their race, religion, creed, color. Can be priced out of their own neighborhood.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The music alone. The music alone.

I have CNN's senior media correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

When I saw this, and they told me it was Johnny Depp and I'm looking, and I'm looking. You've got to be kidding me.

(CROSSTALK)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Yes. It's amazing, the transformation. He did it in secret back in December. This was taped in early December. And then the producers asked everyone to keep it a secret until now. Really, really smart timing. That's why they have almost two million views already.

They're known for these really impressive parody videos with big actors. But this might be their best production yet. Certainly, Trump fans probably aren't going to love it, but anybody that's a critic of Trump, it really takes some of his own words and uses them against the Trump character.

[14:50:33] BALDWIN: This was a Ron Howard thing --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Yes, it started with the editor and chief of Funny or Die.

BALDWIN: Yeah, exactly. STELTER: Owen Burke, he had the idea, Adam McKay, a famous Hollywood director, he's one of the, you know, kind of leaders of Funny or Die. And then Adam McKay brought it to Johnny Depp and he was on board right away.

Depp hasn't commented on why he decided to get involved with the project. Maybe we can see why by watching it. The ability to transform yourself like that must be tempting for an actor and then to keep it a secret.

Some people have wondered is Trump beyond parody, can you not make fun of him effectively. I think what they've tried to do here, by using his own words, "The Art of the Deal," as the kind of the manuscript, they're trying to go at Trump directly that way. By making him into sort of a '80s feature, sort of a dopey TV movie, it's kind of creating a new form of Hollywood comedy.

But we know lots of people out in Hollywood tend to be liberal. They tend not to be Donald Trump supporters.

BALDWIN: They are, no way?

STELTER: I know. I'm not giving away any secrets here. When I watched the movie that came through loud and clear.

BALDWIN: Yeah. You just have to know that going into it I think.

STELTER: It was oddly wonderful, if you take out the politics of it and --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That hour in your office --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Not just Johnny Depp. Who was it, Andy Ricket, Henry Winkler, The Fonz, really impressive casting.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

All right. Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Check it out.

BALDWIN: Next, we are getting word that Donald Trump has dropped a negative ad, taking on Ted Cruz. Here what his campaign has actually used, replacing it. It's pretty interesting twist here.

Also ahead, harrowing moments on board this Royal Caribbean cruise ship, "Anthem of the Seas," after it sailed into this massive storm. My next guest was on board. We'll talk to her live, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:56:25] BALDWIN: Safe to say this is not the Caribbean cruise dreams are made of. After several harrowing days at sea, the Royal Caribbean's "Anthem of the Sea" is finally docked in New Jersey. Safe now after running into this fierce storm in the Atlantic earlier this week with 6,000 people on board.

These pictures obviously showing the weather whipping, the wind. Look at these chairs. Winds hitting 100 miles an hour. 30 foot waves slamming into the ship.

Cheryl Howell was one of those passengers. She joins me now. She walked off that ship just after 9:00 last night.

Nice to see you.

CHERYL HOWELL, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I'm glad you're OK.

HOWELL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: This was your first cruise. You were jazzed, ready to head to Nassau, do a little shopping.

HOWELL: Yes, yes.

BALDWIN: And then what?

HOWELL: All hell broke loose. The first day I got on the ship, since it was my first cruise, I wanted to get acclimated to the ship. I got into the room probably about 1:00. I said all I wanted was a single room, ocean view with a balcony. So then explored the ship. Went for a massage the first day. Then the second day, did a little shopping, and then went to the musical "We Will Rock You."

BALDWIN: "We Will Rock You" is the musical you were watching when said hell began breaking loose. You got rocked.

HOWELL: Yes, exactly, exactly.

BALDWIN: What did it feel like?

HOWELL: It was wild because, you know, they had made an announcement earlier that there would be like rough seas and we were expecting that but we were in the musical and they kept coming out saying we may have to end this. All a sudden, the production, all the things on stage started shifting, like, from the center, all the way to the right, and then they were, like, well, you need to leave, we're shutting down.

BALDWIN: Did you understand at that moment what was happening?

HOWELL: No, it wasn't processing. When we left -- because it didn't feel that rough but when we left out of there, you couldn't walk. It was like you were drunk, people holding on to each other, exactly. All I could hear was glass breaking, like glass shattering. It was all coming off the shelves because the music hall was there and then there were other places out in the open area that had glass tables and that's all you could hear.

BALDWIN: Where did you go?

HOWELL: First, I started heading up to my room and then I realized there were people who needed help. Like this woman was try to help her mother up and there was nobody to help us so, like, I stayed behind them just to make certain they got up to their floor. And then I said, all right, let me grab something to eat if we have to go to our room. So I went up to the 15th floor. The elevators opened and there were towels like everywhere in the hallway. I was like, oh, my god, water is coming on to the ship.

BALDWIN: Oh, goodness.

HOWELL: So then I got back down to my room. And I was lucky. Some people were stuck in an elevator. And when I got into my room, I said, if glass is breaking, let me start trying to secure things. I was saying that I was channeling my father, saying, like, what would he tell me to do, so.

BALDWIN: Why your dad? He was a Navy man?

HOWELL: He was a Navy man. He sailed. He lived on Long Island sound, obviously, with my mother. They were married for 62 years. He would take his ship, he had a 50-foot yacht and he would go out sailing all the time. So, you know, I was kind of used to hearing stories or being on the boat when it was rough, so.

BALDWIN: Talking about your dad makes your teary.

HOWELL: Yes. He died a couple of years ago.

BALDWIN: He passed away a couple of years ago, but you were thinking of him --

HOWELL: I was thinking of him.

BALDWIN: -- when you needed strength at the moment.

I've been there, Cheryl.

HOWELL: And my mom is always like, you do what you need to do. That's how I was brought up. You do what you need to do. That's what I did. That's what got me through the storm.

BALDWIN: I love that.

HOWELL: It was emotional.

BALDWIN: You taking a cruise again? Maybe? Maybe?

HOWELL: Maybe. I --