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CNN NEWSROOM

Pakistan Taliban Target Christians in Lahore Bombing; Belgian Police Carry Out Raids; Anti-Immigrant Protests in Brussels; Friends Talk About Abdeslam Brothers; Significance of Syria Army's Recapture of Palmyra; Bernie Sanders on Winning Streak; Trump Threatens to Sue over Delegates; Interplay Between Traditional, Online Media in Presidential Election; The Key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 28, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[02:00:50] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and, of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, at CNN Center.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes, in the Belgian capitol. Thanks for being with us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

CHURCH: We will, of course, bring you all the latest from Brussels in just a moment.

But first, Christians deliberately targeted on their holiest day, and a promise from militants that more violence will come. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 69 people. The exPLOsion happened at a crowded park in Lahore where families were celebrating Easter Sunday. Many of the victims were women and children. More than 400 people are wounded.

Ravi Agrawal is following the developments and joins us with the latest.

Ravi, people across Lahore still trying to come to terms with this tragic, deadly attack. What more are we learning about what happened and the group claiming responsibility for this?

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Rosemary. This was an attack that took place on Sunday evening, Easter Sunday. There were a number of Christians in the park where this attack took place. As you said, a lot of women and children as well. That's because it was a playground. The actual bomb, the suicide bombing, took place right beside some children's swings, we're hearing from eyewitnesses who were there, so real devastation in Lahore.

Lahore, just so you know, is the capitol of the state of Punjab. And the state of Punjab is where 60 percent of Pakistan's population resides. This is a part of Pakistan that experiences these kinds of terror attacks less frequently than other parts of Pakistan in the northwest. So this is an unusual, to some extent, attack. And really a message from the splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban that has claimed responsibility. It is a message from them to the Pakistani government saying that "We can attack you anywhere. We can attack you in the heart of the Punjab, in the city of Lahore," which is the city that Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif is from. And his younger brother is the chief minister of the state of Punjab. So really this is an attack that has jolted the government. It is an attack that has jolted the city of Lahore. It was a large exPLOsion that was heard for kilometers away -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: That is the exact concern here, isn't it? How does the Pakistan government plan to respond to this attack, and what are they doing to try to protect people from the threat of more attacks? Is that even possible?

AGRAWAL: What we've heard from eyewitnesses on Sunday was that there was very little security at the park where this exPLOsion took place. So clearly it would have been quite easy for a suicide bomber to walk in and detonate. So there was less security on Sunday. The prime minister has said that he is looking into what can be done. No specific measures have been named so far. He held an emergency meeting with his top ministers on Sunday evening, as did the Army general, General Sharif. No relation to the prime minister. He also said they will look into going after this particular group.

But I should add that Pakistan's war against this form of terror has been continuing for many years, and this is just one of a spate of attacks in recent months, in recent years. This particular one by this particular group is especially brutal. And this group has made somewhat of a name for itself by not flinching from going after minority groups, from going after children, from going after women. So particularly brutal.

And today, at least, Monday morning, still in the city of Lahore, people are waking up to the news. They are still scouring hospitals and searching for loved ones. You've seen the pictures on your screen, real scenes of devastation in Pakistan today.

[02:05:01] CHURCH: The details are horrifying.

Ravi Agrawal, joining us live from New Delhi. Many thanks to you.

Belgian police have been active in and around the capitol. They carried out 13 raids Sunday and questioned a number of individuals, four of whom are still in custody. But as of now, it's not clear if they've led to any meaningful new leads.

Our Michael Holmes is following all the latest developments. He joins us now live from Brussels.

Michael, what's the scene there this morning after these weekend protests?

HOLMES: Yes. Rosemary, it's just after 8:00 a.m., of course, here in Brussels. It is a very cold and blustery day. It's a public holiday. Of course, the scene behind me is all quiet at the moment. We will, if other days have been an indication, see people come by this memorial to honor the dead and the wounded from these terror attacks.

As you say, after the protest yesterday by this group of nationalists who came in and really disrupted and disrespected the scene behind me, this memorial, we're hoping that there's no repeat of that. But as we saw yesterday, police did step in and sort that out pretty quickly. But it was a very disturbing scene. It really is quite windy here today, so that might keep the crowds down.

Meanwhile, Brussels remains tense, it has to be said, in the aftermath of the terror attacks that have left 28 people dead on Tuesday. Police carrying out raids in and around the city. All Sunday, as you said, there were a total of 13 operations, resulted in nine more people being detained, though only four of them remain in custody. That's been a real pattern that we've seen. They'll pick up several people and then they'll release a few of them afterwards. They always keep someone. There's been quite a few people in detention and several, as we heard yesterday, have been charged with various offenses, including in one case terrorist murder.

Now, outside the country, the rest of Europe also actively engaged in counter-terror measures of their own. Dutch police, we can tell you, arrested a man in Rotterdam. That was at the request of French authorities. That man suspected of plotting an impending attack on France. He's expected to be extradited there in the coming days. Now, that's just a day after Italian police arrested an Algerian national with ties to the last attack on France, November's assault on Paris. More and more suspect, as I said, coming to light on a daily basis and that raises some very real concerns about the scope of a possible terror network throughout Europe.

Here in Brussels, the fear is palpable. There is a lot of anxiety with a lot of people still on the loose, and it's manifesting itself in some ugly ways. Just behind me at the place where mourners gathering Sunday to remember those lost, only to find themselves in one-half of a city divided. Hundreds of belligerent protesters storming the memorial, shouting anti-immigrant slogans.

Our Phil Black was in the middle of it all, saw it all firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the place has looked like since the day of the Brussels attacks, large, quiet crowds honoring the victims, sometimes applauding respectfully. That changes Sunday. Hundreds of men dressed in black with their faces covered invaded the square.

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: "We're in our home," they cried. They surrounded the memorial site, unrolling flags and banners, screaming together.

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: These were right-wing nationalists --

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: -- loud, aggressive, intimidating, many drinking alcohol.

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: Some others in the square challenged their behavior.

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: There were scuffles. Police struggled to keep them apart.

We were broadcasting live when someone started letting off fireworks.

(EXPLOSIONS)

BLACK: Riot police moved forward, surrounding the crowd and slowly driving it out of the square. Another rival group began chanting, too, denouncing the men in black as hateful racists, and cheering for the police as they advanced. The police used water cannon once they were clear of the square. It was all over in about an hour. The memorial was quiet again. But some people here were left even more upset because of what they'd just seen.

Daniel Holiday (ph) says his 19-year-old daughter lost two legs in the suicide blast at Maelbeek metro station.

DANIEL HOLIDAY (ph), DAUGHTER INJURED IN ATTACKS: When you see this, you know what I mean? It's not normal. My daughter lost her legs.

BLACK: The atmosphere of quiet sorrow was shattered only briefly, enough to expose a powerful divide --

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: -- in how people here are responding to terror.

(SHOUTING)

BLACK: Phil Black, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:10:18] HOLMES: In many ways, perhaps, we might have seen this kind of backlash coming after similar responses following the atrocities in Paris. Those attacks offer a great deal of context for what's happening in Brussels now. The name Abdeslam, now notorious, forever tied to the bloodshed last November.

CNN got an exclusive interview with two of the brothers' former friends. They told our Nina dos Santos that the terrorists, now decried, of course, worldwide, barely resemble the men they once knew.

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(CROSSTALK)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was life before ISIS. Salah Abdeslam and his brother, Brahim, partying at a high-end nightclub in Brussels. It's February the 8th, 2015.

Just eight months later, Brahim would blow himself up at a Paris cafe. Salah becomes Europe's most-wanted man.

Two of their friends shot the video in the club. They talked to CNN on the condition we hide their identities.

(on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Salah took care of himself. He was very neat, someone who was funny, who you could have a laugh with. A bit of a ladies 'man. It wasn't unusual for him to have a drink or two, but he didn't go out and get drunk. Brahim was a lot more intelligent. He was also better behaved.

DOS SANTOS: Speaking under assumed names, they say they first began hanging out with the brothers in 2011 when they took on the lease to this bar, which is now shut following a police raid. They say they came here to drink, to play cards, to smoke marijuana, and also to watch the brothers' favorite football team, Real Madrid, play on the TV.

(on camera): Things could get boisterous.

(SHOUTING)

DOS SANTOS: Here, Brahim cheers on some drunken antics.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I used to go there after work to have a drink, have a laugh with friends, play cards, anything that involves betting with money really. Basically you felt at home, among family.

DOS SANTOS: Also among that family, these two, seen in these photos. They were detained after driving Salah back from Paris following the attacks and remain in custody. The friends say they were duped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I was with Brahim, and at around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m., he received a phone call from Salah asking him to come and pick him up in France because his car had broken down.

DOS SANTOS: Not long after this party, they stopped drinking and became more religious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We prayed more at the mosque, mainly Fridays. Otherwise, it was praying at home.

DOS SANTOS (on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(voice-over): Praying and plotting. No one, even their closest friends, knows why the Abdeslam brothers changed so much, so quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Brahim got on with everyone. He did have any problems with black or white, from whatever race or religion.

DOS SANTOS: He didn't until this.

(EXPLOSION)

(SHOUTING)

DOS SANTOS: Nina dos Santos, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We'll go back to Michael Holmes at the half-hour mark for more from Brussels.

But let's move on now. Russian President Vladimir Putin is congratulating Syrian President Bashar al Assad on recapturing the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS. Mr. Putin says Russian air support was key to the Syrian army's success, and he says Moscow will continue supporting Damascus in fighting terrorists.

Earlier, CNN spoke to CNN military analyst, retired Colonel Rick Francona, about the significance of the Syrian army's victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This is a big win for the Syrian regime. It also shows the effectiveness of the Russian air power that they poured in over the last few months. Without that air power, they would not have been able to do this. It's a real morale booster for the Syrian army, and it's another notch down the peg for ISIS. They've suffered some defeats over the last few months, but this is probably the biggest on the battlefield. This pushes them up against the Euphrates River in Syria. It also opens up the road to Darasore (ph) in Eastern Syria. It's a small enclave where the Syrian regime has a besieged garrison there. They need to get out there and do that. So, yeah, this is a good sign for the Syrians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:15:48] CHURCH: President Assad says Syria will rebuild Palmyra. Much of the city was destroyed by ISIS after its capture.

Bernie Sanders is on a winning streak in the Democratic race for the White House. Ahead, what he still needs to do to complete a path to his party's nomination.

Plus, you don't need to be on Twitter to know what these five presidential hopefuls are saying about each other online. We will examine the crossover between social media and mainstream news.

Back in a moment.

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CHURCH: Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders, is on a tear. He told supporters he has the momentum to ultimately win his party's presidential nomination. On Saturday, he won caucuses across three states. In Alaska with 16 delegates at stake, he swept up 82 percent of the votes. In Hawaii, with 25 delegates, Sanders grabbed 69 percent of the votes. And in Washington State, with 101 delegates at stake, he grabbed 73 percent.

But when it comes to the national delegate count, Hillary Clinton is still far ahead of Bernie Sanders.

CNN's Chris Frates explains Sanders will have to pull off several more landslide primary victories to catch her.

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[02:20:07] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bernie Sanders swept Hillary Clinton by wide margins yesterday, beating the Democratic front-runner in Washington, Hawaii and Alaska. And they were must-win states for Sanders. They really give him enough momentum and delegates to keep him in the hunt. But remember, all those delegates are awarded proportionally. So despite losing, Clinton, she was still able to put points on the board.

To figure out where things stand now, let's go to the numbers. Going into yesterday's contest, Sanders trailed Clinton by about 300 pledged delegates. Even with his sweeping wins yesterday, Sanders still lags Clinton by about 240 delegates. So only about 60 delegates gained there for Bernie Sanders. Now, there are still some unaccounted for delegates that will likely go into Sanders' column, but he's not going to make any huge jumps from those wings yesterday.

Going forward, Sanders needs to continue to put up these big wins. He has to win 75 percent of the delegates left to clinch the nomination. And 75 percent is a really high bar. Clinton, for her part, she needs to win just 35 percent of the delegates remaining to become the nominee.

Meanwhile, the GOP race, that's been largely quiet this weekend with candidates taking a break from campaigning for Easter. But the feud between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz has gotten increasingly personal with the candidates' wives being dragged into the fight, and Ted Cruz blaming Donald Trump for planning a supermarket tabloid story about him. It was a charge that Trump denied.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Now more on the ever-growing feud between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. The latest row involves delegates from the state of Louisiana. Trump beat Cruz there in the March 5th primary by almost 4 percent. But the Cruz campaign is using its organizational might to sway 10 more delegates towards its camp. And Trump is threatening to sue.

In an interview with ABC, he said the Republican system is broken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (voice-over): The system is a broken system. The Republican tabulation system is a broken system. It's not fair. I have so many millions of votes where I've brought people into this party by the millions. You understand that. They voted by the millions more. It's one of the biggest stories in all of politics. And what do I have? I have a guy going around trying to steal people's delegates. This is supposed to be America, a free America. This is supposed to be a system of votes where you go out, you have elections, free elections, not elections where I won. I won Louisiana, and now I hear he's trying to steal delegates. You know, welcome to the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN is hosting a Republican town hall this week featuring presidential candidates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich. And you can watch it Wednesday at 1:00 a.m. in London, 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, right here on CNN.

And before we leave politics, one last announcement from the Trump camp. The Republican front-runner's daughter, Ivanka, gave birth to a boy on Sunday, and here he is, Theodore James Kushner. Yes, Theodore, which, by the way, can be shortened to Ted, as in Ted Cruz. This is Trump's eighth grandchild.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, is set to give birth this summer.

Well, it may be a little late for it, but there is some snow coming to some western U.S. states.

Karen, the latest forecast, it's supposed to be spring.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So it would appear. At least on the calendar, that's what it says. We've got a powerful storm system that's going to take a while to move out of the great basin of the United States. We're going to see that wind whip around all the way from Montana down across the central Sierra Nevada. So the San Juan, the Wasatch, even into the cascades, this is where we're looking at snowfall. Maybe as much as a meter in some places. Lots of moisture being fed in from the south but also from the north. We get a little bit of a break in the Pacific Northwest, but not for very long before the next round of snowfall moves in. But there you see right along Nevada and Utah, we could see a couple of feet. But those higher peaks, plenty of snowfall. Ski operators say we might stay open a little bit longer than we typically do. There you can see across the great basin, this is where the substantial snowfall will be. What a season it has been.

And then across United Kingdom and through the English Channel, the Normandy and the Brittany coast, we've seen powerful wind gusts over the last 24 hours. Rain has really materialized, especially across these regions, but also into Paris, extending into the lowlands, and even some coastal sections of the south. A little bit of wind and rain to report there. Some very powerful wind gusts, especially along this Brittany and Normandy coasts. In some areas, nearly 130 kilometers per hour. Now, this is typically a windy area, but this was fairly exceptional to what we commonly see. There you can see by Tuesday, the winds slack off just a little bit more, but it looks like just a mild break in the weather. These systems are coming in off of the north Atlantic and really feeding in quite a bit of moisture. Temperatures have been just about average for this time of year. Typically, in the low to mid teens, and we'll see that trend continue. Now, some areas a little bit further to the south will see temperatures cool down a bit. There you can see that long southern fetch of moisture just kind of feeding into Portugal and Spain as well.

We look at the forecast and, as I've mentioned, temperatures just about on par to where we would expect them to be. Here's a look at London. It is going to be fairly windy there, so watch out. We do have some advisories for some gale-force winds in some cases. Temperatures in the low teens, but as we head towards next weekend, we could see those temperatures bump up a few degrees. So enjoy that -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: Thanks so much, Karen. We'll talk again soon.

Still to come, what does model, Kylie Jenner, have that the five U.S. presidential candidates would dearly love? Here's a clue. We're not talking about her wardrobe.

Before that, we will rejoin Michael Holmes live for the latest developments in Brussels. Do stay with us for that and more.

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[02:29:57] CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and, of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

I want to update you on the main stories we are following this hour.

(HEADLINES)

CHURCH: Police raids in and around Brussels led to authorities questioning nine people. Four of them remain in custody. The police have not announced what relation they may have to the attacks on Tuesday. The raids came a day after authorities charged a man they are calling Faycal C. with terrorist murder.

Now, in addition to those widespread raids, police had to use water cannon to corral angry protesters at a memorial site.

Our Michael Holmes is following all the latest developments from Brussels and joins us again live. Michael, those protests were very disturbing for a lot of people

mourning those victims from the Brussels attacks. But talk to us about that and, of course, these raids and what they may lead to.

HOLMES: Yeah, indeed. They were very unseemly, Rosie. The mood in Brussels, you could describe it as uneasy as the dust settles on Tuesday's horrific attacks. But it's certainly not alone in that. The rest of Europe struggling with a terror problem that seems to grow bigger every day.

As you said, multiple raids, arrests in five different European countries since Friday. More overnight. We can also tell you Dutch police arresting a man in Rotterdam at the request of French authorities. That man in France was suspected of plotting an impending attack there in France. Now, the man arrested in the Netherlands is expected to be extradited to France in the coming days. Just a day earlier, Italian police arresting an Algerian national on suspicion that he, too, was part of the attack on Brussels as well as Paris last November. Also the mysterious Faycal C., that man who Belgian police are now charging with terrorist murder, among other things. They all seem to be part of a complex framework of terror. Now, with so much at play here, it's hard to even wrap your head around how far this could conceivably stretch and how many people are involved.

I want to bring in Ryan Heath now, senior E.U. correspondent for "Politico." He joins me now to talk more about all of this.

Let's get the nationalist protest out of the way that we saw here, that unseemly protest.

How much of a presence are they in Belgium, and how organized, or are we just talking about a bunch of skin head soccer hooligans here?

RYAN HEATH, SENIOR E.U. CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: They're somewhat organized, but it's not at the level of being a political party. These aren't neo Nazi's you read about on the daily newspapers or see on the nightly news. So people are aware of their existence, but I think what was more disturbing wasn't what violence they did create but how they actually came to be in the protest in the first place. One mayor of a town about 15 minutes from Brussels knew that they were gathering in his town and was happy to have them on a train out of the town. Then you had them arriving at a station about a kilometer from the protest site, and the police all but escorted them down to the protest site. So, at one level, that's freedom of expression. At other level, how did people with flares and missiles get into what was supposed to be a peace vigil. I was standing about 200 yards away when they arrived. I couldn't get into the place. The police put the place into lockdown.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: But they didn't before.

HEATH: The capacity was there. Why it wasn't in the presence of mind there to check them, bag checks, person checks, before they came in the first place?

HOLMES: It does speak, however, to the rise of the right, if you like, not just here but in Europe in general.

HEATH: That's right where you've seen a populist backlash growing for a number of years now, not just in relation to security issues but people who feel left out of mainstream debate. They feel that globalization has left them behind, and they feel that policy making and political elites aren't listening to them. It's not dissimilar to the way that Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and others have been able to tap into anger in the United States. Now this is just a new channel where those groups of people are finding a way to have a voice.

HOLMES: Let's talk about the arrests. You had in Amsterdam the man picked up in the Netherlands. That's related to a man picked up in France who was plotting in what they're calling an impending attack, not related here to Brussels. What this generally speaks to is a very broad web, right, throughout Europe --

[02:35:15] HEATH: Yes.

HOLMES: -- that is related to attacks everywhere.

HEATH: It shows you that a national database isn't going to cut it when you're trying to track people down. It doesn't matter how good your national police and security services are if you're the weak link in a much wider chain of 28 or even more countries in Europe, then you're not going to solve the problem, so all of those countries are simply going to have to work together. They're going to have to adopt best practices whether it's from the U.S. or somewhere else. Otherwise, they're not going to track these people down. But at least they're finding more now. That's the glimmer of hope this morning.

HOLMES: You have a European Union. You have theoretically a commonality across the continent that does not seem to exist between intelligence services, who are still very protective of their own sources, their own information, and in Belgium, in particular, what we saw was a real breakdown of not talking between -- well, talking between countries as well, but talking within the security services within the country. Do you see now, talking to your friends, your contacts, a growing anger at that structural failure?

HEATH: I would say there is unrest. So many Belgians gathered for the traditional Easter Sunday lunch yesterday. A lot of them do it every Sunday anyway. Family is quite important as a gathering point, returning home in Belgian life. I think there is unrest, I would say. They're not willing to condemn their government yet. But more and more, you look at the Belgian papers this morning, it's "We need answers. We want to know what really happened, and we can't stop until we get those answers." That's a long way from the previous position, which was close ranks, let's get through this, and let's stay united. Now there are a lot more questions as each new revelation comes out.

HOLMES: Do you think the government here -- and you report politics all the time. Do you think the government here was just caught off guard by this, despite what we know is a large number of foreign fighters who come from Belgium? Despite the knowledge about the problems with radicalization within parts of Belgium, do you think the government was caught off guard by this and almost didn't realize what the failures were?

HEATH: That is true if you dial back to January 2015. But I think they knew people were leaving for Syria three or four years ago, and at first, they were happy that was happening. They thought they were exporting their radicals and that it wouldn't come back to slap them in the face. Then when they busted a big attempted plot in Verviers in the eastern edge of Belgium in 2015, they knew Molenbeek was the problem. They knew they had to turn things around. Things ramped up slowly between then and November, the Paris attacks. That was the really big wake-up call. A lot more money has been put in since then. But at the end of the day, you have a culture of unaccountability in Belgium because no one is ever really responsible because the power is so fragmented, the decision-making is devolved. Very few people have their heads on the line when something major goes wrong. And until that happens, you're not going to see the sort of speedy turnaround that would have saved Brussels from this attack on last Tuesday.

HOLMES: Good analysis as always.

Ryan, thanks so much.

Ryan Heath, who's been with us from "Politico" throughout our coverage here in Brussels.

You know, it's interesting, Rosemary, that when you saw from Nina's story earlier, Nina dos Santos' story, so many of these suspects were not raised in a fundamentalist household. They were out drinking, smoking, womanizing, and then were radicalizes. That is part of what the challenge is for Belgium and other European countries as well is to head off that radicalization, that message that is getting to people and turning them into terrorists.

Now, we're going to have much more to discuss live from Brussels in the next hour.

For now, back to you, Rosie, in Atlanta, with the rest of the news.

CHURCH: Many thanks to you, Michael. We'll talk again next hour.

Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, what's in a tweet? We will evaluate the impact of social media on the U.S. presidential campaign and examine what works and what doesn't.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:42:28] CHURCH: The U.S. presidential race has generated no shortage of headlines in the mainstream media. But more than ever before, the stories we talk about in the break room originate online. And here's an example from "Politico" on Tuesday of last week. And here's another from "The Washington Post" earlier in the month.

But here's some other news that emerged on Twitter in recent days that you might not have heard. Kylie Jenner, daughter of Kris and Caitlyn, and younger sister of Kim Kardashian, announced to the world that she had amassed 15 million followers. Now, that's only about a third of what Kim boasts. But look at this. It's only one million short of the followers all five presidential candidates have combined, which advances the question, is social media alone impacting what we think of our politicians, or are traditional media simply turning what's said online into mainstream news?

Joining me now to talk more about the interplay between traditional and social media in the U.S. presidential election is CNN senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

Brian, great to talk with you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: You, too. Thanks.

CHURCH: We have seen social media play a positive reel role in the past in giving people a voice in other parts of the world such as the Arab Spring and Iran, but what we're seeing play out right now between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is a more negative use of social media with this Twitter war particularly that's raising eyebrows. But is it social media that's reaching that big audience, or is it actually traditional media that is perpetuating this and fueling it?

STELTER: The interplay here is fascinating. I think about social media as often times being the springboard to get certain messages or certain stories on to traditional mainstream media outlets. In other words, don't count out television and newspapers yet. These traditional news rooms are still in many ways delivering the messages that might start on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and SnapChat, and every other social network, including some I don't know about yet. We've seen these candidates use these to great lengths. You're right, in many cases it's traditional media that's fueling. We've seen this with the recent back and forth between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Trump has been using twist, for example, to keep this salacious and un-sourced tabloid story about Cruz alive. By using social media, I think Trump is trying to give it more fuel through traditional outlets.

[02:45:12] CHURCH: Of course, when you look at the math here, it is interesting that Kylie Jenner, for example, is celebrating reaching, what, 15 million followers, while the five presidential candidates combined have about 16 million followers on Twitter.

STELTER: There's limits to that kind of celebrity, aren't there. Even Donald Trump with his megaphone of Twitter still needs traditional television. Keep in mind what they don't share online. Candidates don't share information about their fundraisers. They don't share information about their histories. And they certainly don't fact-check themselves using social media. They're really, of course, really important roles to play for these traditional outlets even as we figure out the relationship between the mediums. CHURCH: Where have the candidates, the presidential candidates, got

it wrong, and where have they got it right in terms of using social media and reaching presumably they want to get the younger audience out there?

STELTER: Certainly, there are very wise uses of this. They amplify messages that are coming through at speeches and rallies. When Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or Ted Cruz post a video from one of their rallies, they're able to reach a much bigger audience than they were able to reach in person. We've come a very long way since the last time there was this kind of a competitive presidential election. In 2008, when both parties were nominating candidates, Twitter was brand-new. Facebook was still mostly for young people and for college students. So we're seeing these tools used in a much more professional way now to organize voters, to encourage sign-ups for newsletters, and of course to get messages onto traditional outlets. But I would say it's still in the second or third inning, as far along as it seems, as many followers as there are, to your point, the true selects on social media actually have much bigger audiences. Not just the Kardashians, although they are some of them. These candidates still need the normal megaphones that Barack Obama, and before him, George W. Bush used to get to the White House.

CHURCH: It seems it's just another tool, doesn't it, because --

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STELTER: It is an important tool.

CHURCH: It is. And interestingly, Donald Trump seems to be ready to dump Twitter as a tool once he becomes president.

STELTER: Yeah.

CHURCH: Just listen to what he had to say to the ABC about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (voice-over): And frankly, it's a great way of communicating as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not going to be doing it very much as president. I will say, you know, I will act in the best interests of our country. I will act to protect our country, whether that's counterpunching or not. Our country is going to be protected, not like it is now, where we have nobody at the helm, where we have nobody protecting the interests of our country, where we're being ripped off by every single nation in the world and we can't even beat ISIS at war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, Brian, what's your takeaway from that?

STELTER: I thought that was so interesting that he started to say he'll move a little bit away from the Twitter app if he's elected president. I've already noticed, if you look at Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, they're a kinder, gentler version of his campaign. On Twitter, he uses Twitter for more of the below-the-belt messages, the snarkier messages, the insults towards media figures. He's already started to figure out how to use different mediums in the best way possible. Maybe he uses Twitter for the nastier stuff because that's where journalists tend to congregate. He knows people covering his campaign will see it there, whereas with Facebook and Instagram, which have a friendlier tone, he's actually adapted to those.

If there's one thing we know, he's very masterful at using different media to get his message now. We know many folks around the world sort of horrified to see the different messages that have come through from him, certainly the way he uses social media is different from the way Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have on the other side of the fence. So we are still many months from the conventions, aren't we?

CHURCH: We certainly are.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Just a little reminder.

CHURCH: Brian, many thanks.

STELTER: Thanks.

CHURCH: All right. Let's take a very short break here. Still to come, in Jerusalem, one of Christianity's most sacred sites has an unlikely custodian. The centuries-old contract helping to keep the peace is just ahead.

We're back in a moment.

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SINGING)

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[02:53:15] CHURCH: Pope Francis celebrated Easter mass for tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square Sunday amid tight security. The event celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis denounced blind and brutal violence by terrorists, and he urged countries to take in migrants and refugees.

Well, many Christians believe the origin of Easter can be found in Jerusalem. The city is home to a church believed to house Jesus' tomb. Now, this church is sacred to many Christian denominations, so a neutral party has held the key to that church for centuries.

CNN's Oren Lieberman has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Holy Week dawns in Jerusalem. The tension of the old city has melted away.

Abdu Judah (ph) makes his way through the narrow alleys to his job. He carries with him the obligation of centuries.

ABDU JUDAH (ph), KEEPER OF THE KEY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE: Good morning. Good morning.

LIEBERMANN: His ancestors have held this job. Now it is his turn. He's entrusted with the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the site where the Bible says Jesus Christ was crucified. It is one of the holiest sites in Christianity. And its key belongs to a Muslim family, a neutral guardian for a site sacred to so many Christian denominations.

Judah (ph) shows us the family cupboard. Inside is a Koran and a Bible. He considers the church a second home.

The contracts for the Guardian of the Key date back hundreds of years. He shows us the oldest contract in his home. It was written in 1517.

"This is the family heritage," he says. "It's all we own as a family. This is not only an honor for our family. This is an honor for all Muslims in the world."

He has pictures of his great-grandfather who cared for the key at the turn of the last century. In this family, that's recent history.

[02:55:16] (on camera): This is the key to one of the holiest places in Christianity, and every morning, this key opens the door for 500 yards.

JUDAH (ph): For more than 850 years.

(voice-over): He tells me, "What we pass to the next generation is not only the key, but also the way you respect other religions."

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LIEBERMANN: At 4:00 in the morning, on Holy Thursday, the Armenian Orthodox offer their prayers. Next will be the Franciscans, and the Greek Orthodox and others. Judah protects the church key for all of them.

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LIEBERMANN: It's a model of coexistence dating back centuries that can serve as a lesson of interfaith harmony even to this day.

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LIEBERMANN: Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

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CHURCH: And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

I'm with you for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM, along with Michael Holmes, in Brussels, after this very quick break. Do stay with us.

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