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New Report Alleges Trump Has Damaging Information About Roger Ailes; Alabama Lawmakers Expected To Start Impeachment Proceedings Against Their Governor Over Sex Scandal. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 5, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


[00:00:16] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everybody; great to have you with us, wherever you are around the world. You're watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles; I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay; a big hour ahead. U.S. politics, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders campaigning into the night just a block away from each other.

VAUSE: Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich also trying to secure last minutes votes ahead of Tuesday's all-important Wisconsin Primary. We'll look at the Republican ground game and why Ted Cruz has an edge. Also, does Donald Trump have some dirt on Roger Ailes and FOX News?

SESAY: And later this hour, dozens of ISIS suspects on the run across Europe, some with direct links to the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

VAUSE: Also this hour, a game for the ages. We are court side with the winners as college basketball crowns a national champion. The game was a heart stopper.

SESAY: It certainly was. All right, all that to come, but we begin on the campaign trail where Donald Trump is not used to be being the underdog. He's rallying voters in Milwaukee, as Wisconsin prepares for its presidential primaries on Tuesday.

VAUSE: The latest (Inaudible) University Law School poll shows Ted Cruz with a 10-point lead but Trump says don't count him out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're winning by almost 300 delegates, so we're doing great. I think we close it out before the convention. I think we actually close it out before the convention.

[Cheering and Applause]

TRUMP: That's like a prize fighter. They go into unfriendly territory and the champ and he goes in and they say what do you think? You may have an unfriendly decision. He says no. When you knock them out there's no unfriendly decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: Well, on the democratic side of things, Bernie Sanders holds a slim 4-point lead over Hillary Clinton, in that same market poll. She campaigned Monday in New York which holds its primary on April 19th. Sanders is counting on momentum to deliver a win in Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have won six out of the last seven caucuses and primaries -

[Cheering and Applause]

SANDERS: -- and not only have we won them, we have won every one by landslide victories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, all right. So here's the thing, Wisconsin is not considered to be a must-win state for Donald Trump, but a loss there could shift momentum in Ted Cruz's favor. CNN's Sara Murray reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump spent his last few hours before the Wisconsin primary barnstorming the state. He held three campaign events here on Monday, and coming off of a rocky week for Trump it was back

to basics. He aimed his fire at his republican rivals, hitting Ted Cruz hard throughout the day and even hitting John Kasich saying it's time for Kasich to step aside and bow out of the race.

Now Trump got a little bit of added reinforcement on the campaign trail. His wife Melania Trump joined him in Milwaukee, and as Trump struggles in the eyes of women voters, she said anyone who hits her husband can expect to be hit back ten times harder. A promise that Trump would treat men and women equally.

Sara Murray, CNN, Milwaukee Wisconsin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay; I think it's been about a week since we've had a presidential debate so the good news is the Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they have agreed to another debate. it will be right here on CNN April 14th in Brooklyn, New York; that's five days ahead of the state's primary.

But right now the focus is on Wisconsin. That is coming down to the wire. Brianna Keilar reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Wisconsin Bernie Sanders is hoping that college students and also support from labor voters will help deliver him a win in the Wisconsin primary. He's been talking a very big game in the Badger State, emphasizing that he's won a string of several contests recently and that he has momentum.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign are also managing expectations about how she is going to do in Wisconsin. Her campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail to supporters asking for money and noting that Bernie Sanders has outraised her in the last three months, and also that the polls in Wisconsin are showing her down. She's concentrating a lot more on New York, her adopted home state, where there are a whopping 247 delegates at stake. She had a last minute swing through Wisconsin this weekend, but mostly she's been spending her time in New York, trying to make sure that remains in her column when voters go to the polls on April 19th.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Dave Jacobson joins us now to discuss the presidential candidates and Tuesday's Wisconsin primary. He is a democratic strategist and a campaign consultant with Shallman Communications.

VAUSE: And sitting next to him, John Thomas, Republican consultant and [00:05:01] Founder and President of Thomas Partner Strategies. Guys, thanks for being with us.

It was an unusual night tonight for Donald Trump in Wisconsin. He rolled out his wife. I think this is the first time she did a stump speech for her husband. This is some of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: It is wonderful to be here today with you and with my husband. I'm very proud of him. He's hard worker. He's kind. He has a great heart. He's tough. He's smart. He's a great communicator. He's a great negotiator. He's telling the truth. He's a great leader.

[Cheering]

TRUMP: He's fair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay, do you get extra points because your wife likes you? I mean, you know, at the end of the day, does rolling Melania out on the campaign trail, does that do anything to erase the huge negatives that Donald Trump has right now among women?

JOHN THOMAS, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, THOMAS PARTNER STRATEGIES: No, but it's all he's got going into the home stretch, so he's got to do something.

VAUSE: And Ms. Wyoming afterwards came out and spoke, as well tonight.

THOMAS: Right. Right. I mean, he's rolling out - you can see he understands now there's a gender issue here. He's trying to undo that, but sometimes you just -- you're in too deep, you know.

VAUSE: Right.

THOMAS: I think what Donald Trump is going to have to show, and I don't know -- it might be too late for Wisconsin, but he's going to have to show as we go into New York and California, and certainly if he's the nominee, he's going to have to show that he's in control and that he cares about women. He has yet to show us to this point.

SESAY: And, Dave, to that point, other than bringing out his wife, what exactly is the playbook here for Trump to win Wisconsin? It's hard to make out his strategy. Obviously Cruz is already leading him by ten points in that Marquette poll, but it seems till now it essentially has amounted to insulting the state's popular governor, Scott Walker. So what's the game here?

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST & CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT, SHALLMAN COMMUNICATIONS: I think he's pulling out all the stops. I think he understands that if Ted Cruz beats him there, it's going to, sort of, shift the narrative because you're not going to have a contest for a whole two weeks, up until the New York Primary on April 19th, and he doesn't want to have that narrative where Cruz sort of has the momentum and the enthusiasm and he doesn't want to deliver a blow to his campaign and a win to the anti-Trump movement. So this weekend he pulled out all the stops. He had Sarah Palin stumping for him. He even skipped having Bris with his grandson to come and barnstorm in the state. So I think he understands fundamentally he has to win this state. If he does, it's going to infuse his campaign with the momentum that he needs and it's going to strengthen the argument that he's electable and he's going to hit that 1237 number.

THOMAS: This is the first time we've really seen the anti-Trump movement coalesce behind one candidate -

SESAY: Yes, and they're strong in Wisconsin.

THOMAS: And they're quite strong, exactly. So, and you've got the popular governor going against him. If they can't stop Trump in Wisconsin, it's a hard narrative. Trump is probably going to take New York.

One thing, you know, we're looking at Wisconsin and if Trump understands that if he can stop Cruz here it's very hard going forward for Cruz.

VAUSE: Okay, you guys mentioned the delegate count, that magic 1237 delegates, which is what he needs to win the nomination on the first vote. This is possibly the most complicated electoral process in the world -

JACOBSON: Right.

VAUSE: -- and not many people understand how all of this works. Tom Foreman, though, has a look at how the delegates actually will vote, some of the states anyway, come the convention. Let's look at this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You may look at the delegate count back there as all these candidates try to get to that magic number to clinch the nomination; and think at the convention these delegates will go and represent the view of millions of Americans from all those primaries and caucuses; and they will, to a degree; but if nobody gets that magic number, then many of these delegates will become free agents. They can vote for whomever they wish, and then the people selected to do the job can make a big difference.

Let's look at Tennessee as one example. 58 delegates here. Based on the popular vote Donald Trump gets 33, Ted Cruz gets 16, Marco Rubio gets 9. Under the state rules, and every state has different rules, they must vote that way for the first two ballots at the national convention, but after that, they can change and the Trump campaign has already accused the state party of trying to push people into the delegation who will vote against him. If that happened, and worst case scenario, he could find that he lost a state that he already won.

What about Louisiana over here? This was basically a tie for that state's 46 delegates. Donald Trump got 18 of them. Ted Cruz got 18. Marco Rubio got five and five were uncommitted so we already don't know what these people are going to do. But after the first ballot, the entire Louisiana delegation becomes unbound meaning it could all become a big question mark as to

how this delegation is going to vote.

What about North Dakota over here? North Dakota only has 28 delegates but there never was a popular vote there. The state party simply met in its own convention and they decided who the delegates would be to go to the national [00:10:03] convention. It looked like Ted Cruz did pretty well getting his supporters in the delegation, but we don't know because none of these people has to say whom they're going to vote for before or even during the convention. So, again, a big question mark.

Bottom line, multiply this times all the different states. If you get into a contested convention and you go in vote after vote after vote it won't just be the Bayou State where a lot of people will be seeing some voodoo voting going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A lot of voodoo voting, I love that. The interesting thing about what is happening with this delegate count, is that Ted Cruz, who understands how the system works, is cleaning up here in states like Louisiana. He didn't win the state, Donald Trump did, but Ted Cruz is walking away with more delegates and this is getting me to the point here.

If we look at the amount of money that Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and everybody has been spending per vote, Trump has spent about $4 per vote. Ted Cruz is spending about $10. Trump has been very proud about the fact that he has run this lean mean, penny-pinching campaign, but has that been kind of -- has he nickeled and dimed himself too much? He hasn't invested in the ground game. He doesn't have the people in those states who understand how those rules work. Could his penny-pinching effectively cost him, you know, an uncontested convention?

THOMAS: You know, it's a good point. Donald Trump does what he knows how to do and that is to control and win the media cycle, and he's the best of anyone in the field to this point. I don't think Donald Trump understood or valued a ground game. Ted Cruz knew that his path, although narrow from the outset, if he ran a more targeted campaign, understood the process better, we saw it in Iowa, he came out strong. In these processes, where ground game matters, where strategy matters, Cruz runs a better operation. I don't think anyone on my side of the aisle would disagree with that.

JACOBSON: If I could jump in real quick? One of the criticisms after Iowa, for Donald Trump, was that he didn't have a ground game. Ted Cruz had this sort of robust infrastructure needed to organize folks, develop the electricity on the ground and turn people out for a caucus. I think that's translating well on the delegate front.

The other thing that's interesting, in terms of the republicans and the delegates, is the Marco Rubio delegates. I think there's something like 160. There's 8 Ben Carson delegates. All those delegates are similar to Democratic Super Delegates. At this point they're uncommitted. They could be the difference between Trump getting that 1237 number and not.

SESAY: Speaking of dollars spent, guys, I want to bring in John Kasich because he's saying he's a value for money candidate. I want you to listen to what he's saying.

VAUSE: That's because he doesn't have any votes.

SESAY: I want you to listen to what he's been saying about how money's been spent against him and talk about his chances; let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm not getting out. Why would I get out, particularly when Trump's worried that I'm going to get his votes, which I've always knew that I could do and we're not going anywhere. We're going to be fine.

You know, they've spent, I don't know, a million dollars, including smearing me. Ted -- Senator Ted, the smear artist, he -- you know, they're attacking me in Wisconsin. For a guy that's not doing very well, they sure are worried about me, spending a lot of money trying to knock me out, but they're not going to be successful in that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: As we talk about how money is being spent, you know -

THOMAS: John Kasich is like the Kirkland brand of candidates, when it comes to paper towels. It looks like it can get the job done but it's not going to get you all the way there. I mean, that's what we're seeing right now. John Kasich has run a lean campaign but he doesn't have a realistic shot.

VAUSE: Yes he does; he's going to win 108-percent of all the delegates. What's wrong with that math?

SESAY: Dave, your thoughts on Kasich? You know, he's betting it all on the convention.

JACOBSON: Well, yes, and look, I think there's a chance he could pick up some states. He's actually polling within the margin of error in states like Pennsylvania and other Rust Belt states. So I think there is an argument for him to continue sort of staying in the race. Potentially if there is a contested convention, he's the only establishment candidate that is still running, theoretically, right? So, he could - they could coalesce around him if there's a second or third round vote at the convention.

THOMAS: But the argument is if it gets that far it's not going to go to Kasich, it's going to go to a Paul Ryan or a Mitt Romney.

VAUSE: Very quickly, we've got to get to the Democrat side. Bernie Sanders, speaking of raising a lot of money, he gained what, $44 million last month?

THOMAS: Unbelievable.

VAUSE: Staying in the race, silly, and making that argument he is the best nominee to face Donald Trump for the democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: This is what momentum is in national poll after national poll, we beat Donald Trump by huge margins. Huge margins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[Laughter]

SESAY: It gets me every time; but listen, there he is putting out that message saying they've got momentum and they're beating Trump but Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robert "Robby" Mook, put out a note this evening basically saying he has to win like 60-percent of those basically -- those northern states.

THOMAS: Bernie Sanders may have momentum -

SESAY: Exactly.

THOMAS: -- Hillary Clinton has math.

SESAY: And that's what -

THOMAS: I'd take the math over the momentum at this point in the game. JACOBSON: Look, there's no doubt that the math works for Hillary. There's 700 delegates that she's got, in terms of the lead over Bernie Sanders, but does have the wind at his back. He's won six out of the seven contests. [00:15:01] He's pulling ahead of her in Wisconsin. I think it's a do or die state for him. If he does prevail, it's going to give him some momentum for Saturday's caucus in Wyoming and then potentially could jolt him forward and help cut into her lead in New York.

Moreover, I think if he wants to continue, sort of, the narrative of staying in the race and making an electability argument, he's got to win decisively. He can't just win by three or four points. He's got to come out double digits ahead of her in every state.

THOMAS: And the stronger he comes in, if he carries California and carries Wisconsin, going to the convention he has more political capital to extract whatever he wants, in terms of policy agenda.

JACOBSON: Exactly.

VAUSE: Okay; good to speak with you.

SESAY: Next hour, you'll be back. We'll keep this going.

JACOBSON: Absolutely.

THOMAS: Absolutely.

VAUSE: Thanks, Guy.

THOMAS: Thanks.

JACOBSON: Thanks.

VAUSE: Okay; a short break here. When we come back, a new report alleges Donald Trump has some big leverage in his feud with FOX News. We'll have more on what Trump could have on that news network and its boss, Roger Ailes.

SESAY: Plus, the Governor of Alabama is asking for forgiveness in his scandal over an alleged affair. Hear his apology next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BUSINESS HEADLINES)

VAUSE: During any normal election a republican running for U.S. President would not just need the backing of FOX News and its conservative viewers, but [00:20:01] said candidate would actually have to try to woo and court the network. Not Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, FOX is playing games, yeah. FOX is going to make a fortune. I told FOX you should give money to the "Wounded Warriors." I'm not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I think she's a third rate reporter. I think she, frankly, is not good at what she does and I think they could do a lot better than Megyn Kelly. So I'm going to be making a decision with FOX, but I probably won't bother doing the debate -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That was back in January when Trump pulled out of a FOX News debate, part of his on-again off-again feud with the network's star anchor, Megyn Kelly. The CEO of FOX News is this man, Roger Ailes, who has publicly defended Kelly against Donald Trump, but he's also trying to placate Trump on a number of occasions as well. Now a new report in "New York" Magazine alleges that Trump has super-duper, ultra-top secret information; information potentially hugely damaging about FOX News and Roger Ailes.

CNN's Senior Media and Politics Reporter Dylan Byers is with us now from the newsroom with more on a what this dirt could be, the super- duper alleged dirt, and how Donald Trump may have got said alleged dirt.

Let's start with the back story here, Dylan. Reportedly how is it that Trump is sitting on this trump card, if you like, about FOX News?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR MEDIA & POLITICS REPORTER: Right; so this goes back to 2014, of course before Donald Trump was planning on running for president, or at least before he told anyone he was planning on running for president.

What happened is that Roger Ailes was in a contentious severance negotiation with one of his former lieutenants, his head PR person at FOX News. That person was threatening to unleash all sorts of unsavory details about Roger Ailes during these negotiations and so Ailes called in Donald Trump to play mediator, if you will, between the two parties because Trump knew not only Ailes, but also the lawyer for the sort of aggrieved party. Trump came in. and as he confirmed in this report, he did indeed, play a lead role in those negotiations. How much he learned during those negotiations about Roger Ailes, that's what we still don't know.

VAUSE: Okay; so that gets to the second question: any indication of what his information could be?

BYERS: Well, yes and no. I mean, you have to imagine that if this came out during the process of the litigation, that maybe Trump learned whatever it was that his former lieutenant thought he had over Ailes. The problem

is, is that the reporting on this is somewhat thinly sourced. So on the one hand we know that Trump was in that room, privy to whatever information these men had. On the other hand, there's not a gate deal there to tell us exactly what Trump might know.

Indeed, if you look at all of the times that Roger Ailes has gone up against Trump, the times that he's defended Megyn Kelly, defended the Network, we have multiple statements being issued by FOX News, no doubt coming from Roger Ailes himself, suggesting that Donald Trump isn't fit to be President of the United States, that he would cower to America's enemies like Putin and the Ayatollah. So you know, you have to ask yourself, if -- if Trump were holding something over Roger Ailes and he wasn't going to use it then, you know, it -- you have to question how much dirt he really has.

VAUSE: I guess the argument for this story having some water, if you like, is that at least initially FOX did seem to hold back a little when Trump went after Megyn Kelly. Megyn Kelly herself even, reportedly, was disappointed by the defense by the lukewarm defense of her by the network, by Ailes. So, again, does that give it some weight or is that just all a bit too convenient in the timing?

BYERS: Well I think you bring up a very good point. However, I would also note that Roger Ailes is one of the few media executives who has actually issued as robust of a defense of his anchors and has taken on Donald Trump in the way that he has. Of course, Donald Trump has made no shortage of negative comments about various members of the media and, you know, for all the sort of feelings that we have about FOX News, you know, historically being a right wing news organization, being sympathetic to republicans and to conservative causes, it really is Roger Ailes more than anyone else who has gone up against Donald Trump, at least with those statements.

Now, it's also true at the same time that there are a lot of pro-Trump voices on FOX News. So I think some people who believe that maybe Trump has this dirt over Ailes believed that if he didn't, Roger Ailes and FOX News would be going even harder against Trump than they already have.

VAUSE: With that, I guess, the allegation that this report is making is that I guess, in a sense, Trump is essentially blackmailing the network and Ailes. has there been any comment at all from FOX about this?

BYERS: No, FOX News isn't weighing in on this at all. You know, I believe [00:25:02] from their view is they don't want to engage this. They don't want to further this story any further than it's going to run on its own legs. But you're right, it is a serious allegation. The suggestion here is that Donald Trump, the front-runner of the Republican Party, could manipulate one of the most influential and powerful figures in the American news media. It's a very serious accusation and, again, you have to go back to you know, how credible is it? You look at that article, a lot of great points brought up in that article about Donald Trump's campaign. That point specifically seems somewhat thinly sourced.

VAUSE: Dylan, as always, it's always great to speak with you. Thank you.

BYERS: Thank you.

SESAY: Now, an Alabama lawmaker is expected to announce Tuesday that he intends to file a resolution to start impeachment proceedings against the state's governor, Robert Bentley. Bentley's involved in a sex scandal involving his former top aide. Audio recordings recently surfaced, reportedly of him making sexual comments. He's admitted to making the comments several years ago and repeatedly asked for forgiveness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT BENTLEY, GOVERNOR, ALABAMA: It's mine. I own it. I did it. I point no fingers at anybody else. I make no excuses for that. I own my problem. It's not your problem. You have other problems. It's not your problem. It's my problem and I have to deal with that and so I have humbly opened myself up to the people of this state and I have asked them to forgive me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Bentley has denied having an affair with his aide who resigned last week.

VAUSE: A short break here on "CNN Newsroom." When we come back, the U.S. is looking at what it might take to bring ISIS down, and that could mean more Special Ops forces on the ground in Syria.

SESAY: Also, security services across Europe are on high alert, chasing down dozens of terror suspects on the run.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:30] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay; the headlines this hour: the first migrants to be deported from Greece under the EU's controversial new plan are now in Turkey. Greek officials say the migrants had not applied for asylum under the so called "One in One Out Deal," one vetted Syrian refugee will be resettled in Europe for every on returned to Turkey.

VAUSE: The U.S. Presidential Candidates are getting in some last minute campaigning ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin primary. The latest poll has Ted Cruz ten points ahead of Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, on the Democratic side, leads Hillary Clinton by four points in that same poll.

SESAY: U.S. Defense officials say the Obama Administration is considering sending more special operations forces into Syria to fight ISIS there, and in Iraq. Those sources tell CNN the idea is not set in stone. Discussions are expected at the White House this week.

Now European officials are looking for nearly two dozen European radical Islamists with links to ISIS, some with links to the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

VAUSE: And that has security services on high alert trying to stop ISIS from striking again, as CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reports how many are on the run is unclear and they could be anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The terror attacks in Brussels and Paris have European and U.S. security officials chasing dozens of ISIS operatives and terror suspects identified as part of a wider terror web, stretching from Europe to the Middle East, including at least eight suspects they believe are linked to the ISIS attacks in Paris and Brussels. About 18 additional jihadists, not directly linked to specific attacks, but tried in abstentia in European courts, also on the run, their whereabouts unknown.

The manhunt underscoring the reach of ISIS from its base in Syria to its fire and direct attacks in the West, with operatives trained in bombing and weapons tactics.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We need to do even more to prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. After the Paris attacks the United States deployed search teams to Europe to bolster these efforts, and we'll be deploying additional teams in the near future.

STARR: Those teams working on border and aviation security in Europe.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: ISIS is able to place people wherever and whenever they want to. They're able to, in essence, create cells when and where they need to create those cells. They are also operationally capable of hiding under the radar.

STARR: President Obama will begin reviewing options for increased efforts in both Syria and Iraq as the U.S. looks to accelerate its campaign against ISIS.

The U.S. recently bombing a suspected ISIS chemical weapons laboratory at Mosul University. Targeted air strikes increasingly going after top ISIS leadership. U.S. Special Operations looking for Fabien Clain, a senior operative involved in planning external attacks. He is believed to be in and around Raqqa.

One military option, additional U.S. Special Forces inside Syria to help local fighters take more ground back, including Raqqa.

PETER COOK, PRESS SECRETARY, PENTAGON: The big focus will be in Syria, particularly as we - as you look towards Raqqa, is doing what we can to enable those local forces, to make them even more effective and to be able to provide even more pressure on ISIL as those forces isolate Raqqa.

STARR: There is also a new U.S. military training program for moderate Syrian rebels. The last program failed in a spectacular fashion. This time, of course, they hope it works.

Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Intelligence and Security Analyst and former CIA operative, Bob Baer, joins us now from Newport Beach in California. So, Bob, given the thousands of homegrown jihadists in Belgium right now, is it surprising that at least eight others directly connected to last month's attack are still on the run?

BOB BAER, CNN ANALYST: Well, it's probably more than eight, John. I mean, a lot of these people are using alias documentation. They're renting apartments. They're part of the underground, criminal underground, so they know how to get away with this. I mean, a lot of these guys came out of prison, or criminals themselves and they know how to do this. They know how to hide and they can move from one area to another; one country to another [00:35:01] and you can't get all the documentation and the rest of it. So the police -- it's not easy to do.

VAUSE: Yes; and I guess, Bob, one of the big issues they have in Europe is it's just so easy to move from country to country. There doesn't seem to be any sort of real system in place to track these people, even once the government, as in the case of Belgium, once they've has been alerted that, you know, a wanted terrorist has entered into the country.

BAER: Well, especially John, these people are Europeans. It's their back - it's their home. They know how to get around. They know how to cross borders. There are border crossings all over Europe where there's not good checks. They can get away with this. You can walk into Switzerland from France and vice versa and then, again, going back to the alias documentation, the ability to make bombs very easily. We've seen that, and also purchase weapons in the black market. This is the Europeans. They are going to be at this for months, if not years, trying to track this cell down, the Paris cell.

VAUSE: We've got these reports out there that ISIS has been building this terror network across Europe for a number of years right now. The former spy chief in France says trying to unravel this network, he says, it will be like shaking a bag of fleas. What does he mean? How hard is this going to be?

BAER: The French have been at this for years. They go back to the Algerian threat in the '90s and this has gone through the Islamic state. You know, these -- these cells are imbedded in parts of Paris, Leon, Brussels all over Europe. A lot of them are North African origin. These people have been radicalized since the '60's and it's difficult to tell who has turned to the Islamic State and is prepared for violence. It's very, very difficult and especially because these services don't have human sources inside these groups.

VAUSE: Yeah; Bob, thank you. Bob Baer there with some insight into exactly what's happening in Europe, but, more importantly, I guess, what is not happening right now. Thanks, Bob.

BAER: Thanks.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. A massive document leak is putting some of the world's most powerful people on the defensive and sparking outrage around the globe. What's revealed many the "Panama Papers" just ahead.

VAUSE: Also, Villanova is celebrating its first NCAA Basketball title in over three decades after a thrilling finish in Houston.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:30] VAUSE: There's outrage in Reykjavik, Iceland as huge crowds of protesters demand their prime minister step down. He's one of a number of world leaders facing scrutiny from the so-called "Panama Papers."

SESAY: Millions of documents leaked out from a law firm based in Panama, which allegedly helped some of the world's most influential people set up shell companies and offshore accounts.

Well, those financial dealings are not illegal, per se, but they could point to some shady activities.

VAUSE: Yes, these papers accuse high-profile leaders of hiding billions of dollars but they insist they've done nothing wrong. Nina dos Santos explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their names read like a Who's Who of the world's elite: heads of state and officials of soccer's governing body, FIFA, netted in a massive leak of alleged shell companies in the tropical tax haven of Panama.

11.5 million files of 214,000 companies from the archives of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, were obtained by a German newspaper. 2.6 terabytes of information, the leak made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, is more than 1,500 times larger than WikiLeaks in 2010.

Among the documents? The names of 12 current or former leaders, as well as 128 other politicians as well. Associates of Vladimir Putin are said to have filed $2 billion through banks and offshore firms, allegations his aide describes as "fibs."

Argentina's new president, Mauricio Macri, who denies the suggestion that he owned an undeclared stake in a Bahamas-based firm. And Iceland's prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, under fire for failing to disclose ties to an offshore company which was run by his wife. When pressed on the matter, he stormed out of this interview with Swedish TV.

With so many allegations, some governments say that they will now investigate, with the U.K., France, Australia and Mexico looking at tax evasion.

JAKE BERNSTEIN, SENIOR REPORTER, INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS: I think it's hugely significant. I think it's going to have impact for months and possibly years to come, and hopefully it will -- it will cause governments, particularly in the United States and the U.K., to sort of reassess how they deal with these offshore secrecy zones.

DOS SANTOS: Also in the spotlight, FIFA dismissing allegations of links between a member of its independent Ethics Committee and three men already indicted on corruption charges by U.S. authorities.

Setting up an offshore firm is relatively easy and entirely legal. There are some legitimate reasons for doing, especially in the case of international businesses and families that operate across many different tax jurisdictions, but it's the secret nature of these shell companies that has raised concerns about tax evasion and other criminal activities.

Now in a statement, the law firm Mossack Fonseca, whose documents were posted, said "we have formed more than 240,000 companies, the vast majority for legitimate purposes. Of course" it goes on to say "there are some that end up being used for illegitimate activities, but that is not our responsibility."

With journalists still poring over mountains of data there may be more revelations to follow.

Nina dos Santos, CNN Money, London.

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SESAY: CNN's Senior Media Correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter joins us now. Brian, welcome.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES," vi satellite: Thank you.

SESAY: What do we know about how this Consortium of Journalists dug into this data dump to uncover the inner workings of Mossack Fonseca?

STELTER: Well this is really remarkable. We've never seen anything quite like this, in terms of the cooperation that is spanning so many different news outlets.

It all started, the leak was sprung, in early 2015, when this anonymous source reached out to a reporter for a newspaper based in Munich, Germany. Now, this reporter initially was communicating with the source via secure messaging apps. After a while, the data became so, you know, so massive there was so much here that the newspaper reached out to this International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which then was able to connect with dozens of other media partners.

So in total we're talking about more than a hundred news outlets here, several hundred journalists who spent months looking over the documents. In fact, journalists in 25 different languages all examining the information.

It is, from everything I can tell, and according to the consortium itself, the single biggest act of journalistic collaboration we've seen and it's only possible because of the internet. To think about 20 years ago, before the world wide web, this kind of collaboration would not be possible. I think [00:45:02] what we're seeing is the sort of WikiLeaks effect. Clay Shirky describing this as the ability to not let journalism be shut down because it's happening across so many borders via the internet.

SESAY: Yes, and speaking of the role of technology in all of this, you yourself just mentioned that the whistleblower connected with that journalist in Germany, using secure messaging, secure messaging app, something we've heard about in previous occasions, speaking specifically to the Edward Snowden situation -

STELTER: Right.

SESAY: -- who also used these kind of secure apps. I mean, technology is really aiding the dissemination of information and these whistleblowers connecting with journalists.

STELTER: You know, it may not be that there are more would be whistleblowers in the world than there were 50 years ago. The difference may be today that they have the capability to actually reach reporters and to reach organizations that are interested in their information. So, case in point here, we have no idea who this anonymous source is and there's no indication that this is a Snowden situation, where the source will eventually reveal his or herself.

Remember how when the Snowden leaks started, after a few days, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras went ahead and identified Snowden, with his consent, and then he became a household name. Well, in this case, the source said that he or she feared for his life and did not ever want to be identified; also wanted no monetary compensation, simply wanted to expose what was in these documents. He or she was able to do that by sending the documents via some sort of encrypted method, the details are a little bit sketchy.

But I find it very interesting that the source and the journalists were communicating through a series of secure messaging apps. So they were actually changing apps as they wanted along because they wanted to be as secure as possible. they would use one form of this and then another form and then another form.

SESAY: Yes, it's certainly fascinating; and you know, it's worth pointing out to our viewers, the leak is a journalist dream because not only does it reveal high profile names but it also provides remarkable insight into the offshore system which till now has been shrouded in secrecy.

STELTER: Yes, when it comes to a story like this, a story about a topic as complicated as this, there's nothing a reporter wants more than documents, primary source material, and that's what this leaker provided, by providing 2.6 terabytes of data, and then letting reporters figure out what to do with it. They provided the primary source material for what's going to be weeks and months of reporting.

It was made very clear today, in interviews here on CNN, that there are going to be more stories in the weeks and months to come based on these documents. So what we're really seeing are just the beginning, in terms of reporting about this topic, all instigated by this leaker.

You know, we think about "The Pentagon Papers" decades ago, where Edward Snowden, a number of years ago, time will tell if this will end up being even more consequential than those leaks.

SESAY: We'll all be watching very, very closely. Brian Stelter, always a pleasure. Thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

VAUSE: Yes, it's a big story; we'll take a short break here. When we come back, Villanova has won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. It was a stunner, we're live in Houston; the scene of a very wild finish, that's coming up.

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[00:52:05] SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Villanova is this year's college basketball champion. The Wildcats beat UNC in a thriller Monday night.

VAUSE: UNC nearly forced the game into overtime (inaudible) down to the stretch, but the Wildcats drained three of their own, right on the buzzer, the team would (inaudible), 77-74.

SESAY: Well, the Wildcats had made earlier exits from the tournaments the past few years, but they made this one count, claiming the programs first win, first title win since 1985.

VAUSE: That's about 31 years. CNN's Andy Scholes watched all of it live. He joins us now. So, Andy, I guess you take seconds on the clock; you take Kris Jenkins, a three pointer and you've got a finish for the ages.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: I tell you what guys, that was awesome. I've been to a lot of college basketball games, lots of sporting events, this one right up there with some of the greatest of all times. I mean, this finish was just unbelievable. If we take a look at the highlights, you'll see how it all went down.

You know, Michael Jordan, the greatest player to ever play the game, was in attendance cheering on his Tar Heels. Now, they were down three points with under ten seconds to go when senior Marcus Page hits just an unbelievable shot. It would have gone down as one of the best shots in tournament history. He hit it with four seconds left to tie the game, and then this is when Kris Jenkins became a hero.

They got the ball up the court and at the buzzer he knocked down one of the greatest shots in basketball history. Villanova won 77-74, first championship since 1985. I caught up with Kris Jenkins moments after his legendary shot.

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SCHOLES: Tell me about what was going through your head when that ball came out of your hands.

KRIS JENKINS, FORWARD, VILLANOVA: You know, every time I catch the shoot and I'm fortunate enough to get a shot off I think they're all going in. So when Ryan Arcidiacono found me on that shot, that shot was no different. I walked two steps and let it go.

SCHOLES: What are you thinking right now? Can you believe what just happened?

JENKINS: I just want to meet Charles Barkley. All those guys up there are people against us, so I just want to say hello.

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SCHOLES: All right; and as you can imagine, guys, the campus of Villanova in Philadelphia, went absolutely nuts when Jenkins hit that shot. These

are live pictures we're looking at right now, the party that's still going on on campus at Villanova. Obviously people partying in the streets,

burning whatever they can find and I imagine this party will go on throughout the night.

SESAY: And I think I heard you say they're burning everything they can find, I'm not entirely sure, but let's spare a thought for heartache that North Carolina is experiencing now. Roy Williams so close to his third title, now saying good-bye to a great senior class.

SCHOLES: Absolutely, and just the emotions of this game. I mean, North Carolina was down 10 in the second half. They gave it everything they could to fight back to end up tying that game on that Marcus Page three. I mean, that that 3 was unbelievable, the way he double-clutched it and made it - [00:55:01] all the North Carolina fans, which did outnumber the Villanova fans in the stadium, they went nuts and then to lose on a buzzer beater like that is just crushing.

Obviously many of the North Carolina players were very emotional when they were heading to the locker room. Roy Williams, obviously, not going to win that third national championship that would have put him on a very exclusive list. So just heartbreak for North Carolina, but in the other end, I mean, what a win for Villanova.

VAUSE: Andy, thank you. You get some great assignments sometimes.

SESAY: Yes, you sure do. I'm jealous, Andy.

VAUSE: It wasn't bad.

SESAY: I'm very jealous.

VAUSE: Thanks for staying up.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Okay; after almost 30 years of pining for his boss, Waylon Smithers has finally come out as gay on "The Simpsons."

SESAY: On Sunday night's episode of the popular cartoon sitcom, Smithers admitted his true feelings for Mr. Burns.

(Clip of "The Simpsons" Played)

SESAY: Well, in our next hour we'll talk to "Simpson" show writer Rob LaZebnik about his personal inspiration behind this episode; a very sweet episode.

VAUSE: Yes, it has a great backstory too, so please stay with us. Please hang around for the next hour.

SESAY: Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. After the break we'll have another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

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