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Trump on His Troubles; Most Wanted Brussels Bomber Arrested; North Korea Plans Unprecedented Missile Launch. Al Qaeda Resurging in Afghanistan; Australian TV Crew in Lebanese Jail, Charged with Kidnapping; Equal Pay Day; Led Zeppelin Headed to California Court; Photographer Has Close Call with Airplane. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 13, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:00]

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ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Donald Trump tells CNN the system is stacked against him in his bid to become the Republican nominee for president.

SESAY: Plus how Mohamed Abrini, the surviving suspect in the Brussels airport attack hid in plain sight.

VAUSE: And later, Led Zeppelin is facing a copyright lawsuit accusing the band of stealing the opening riff of "Stairway to Heaven" from another group.

SESAY: Hello and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Another of NEWSROOM LA starts now.

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VAUSE: Donald Trump appeared with his family in a town hall hosted by CNN.

SESAY: The Republican front-runner was all smiles as his wife and four of his children sang his praises and showed their support. But he didn't hold back, blasting the Republican leadership, who he insists is anything but supportive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that it's stacked against me and by the establishment. I fully understand it. We have people out there and they weren't heard and then in fact, today when it was announced the numbers were announced. They put out something on Twitter saying, well we stopped up. Essentially we stopped Trump. That was put up by the party in Colorado.

The point is it was stacked against us. Now we've won our share --

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You could've had a better organization on the ground.

TRUMP: I don't know if it would have mattered because of the was totally set in stone and that's the way it was. And you saw Republicans that wanted to go and wanted to be Trump delegates and they burning their card on the Internet. There were some people --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: -- a lot of time and a lot of organization going out, reaching out to people who wanted to be delegates, to run in the process. It was a whole electoral process to get done.

TRUMP: Anderson, we had delegates there. We had a lot of delegates and they were not heard because the Republican Party out there was 100 percent, probably controlled by the RNC, which maybe doesn't like this happening because I'm a self-funder. I'm putting up my own money.

Then don't like when I put up my own money because it means they don't have any control over me, because I'm working for the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John Phillips is a conservative talk radio host for KABC, also a Donald Trump supporter and Matthew Littman is a Democratic strategist and a Hillary Clinton supporter.

SESAY: Welcome, gentlemen.

VAUSE: Just off the top, the town hall, first to John and then Matt, a softer, gentler, kindlier side of Donald Trump there with the family?

Did it do anything for his campaign?

Does it knock off some of those negatives?

JOHN PHILLIPS, CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO HOST: Well, when you're the front-runner what you have to do is not make any mistakes and right now he's pulling north of 60 percent --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: -- in the state of New York, which is the next state to vote and he brought his beautiful family out there. They had a lovely time and now Ted Cruz can scare the children tomorrow.

(LAUGHTER)

MATT LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You better than Ben Carson.

You know, I think Trump did fine tonight but complaining about the RNC and his lack of organization and I think he's shown some bad management skills which goes against what his brand is supposed to be. And that's obviously can be a problem for him because he may not win on the first ballot and he may not be organized, well organized enough to get on the second ballot.

So that was a big topic tonight.

SESAY: I think if your brand is all about winning and when you lose, you whine in this manner, which is how it's been described, it just seems to me, they seem to be at odds, the lack of grace in the way Donald Trump is handling all of this and how it's, you know, how Ted Cruz is warming to this theme of him being a whiner.

PHILLIPS: Right, well, in states where voters have actually voted, Donald Trump has cleaned Ted Cruz's clock. In states where the establishment, the insiders vote in a convention like state of Colorado then Ted Cruz --

(CROSSTALK)

LITTMAN: What about Wisconsin?

(ph) -- the establishment is behind him.

LITTMAN: What about Wisconsin?

PHILLIPS: Colorado's the most recent one. Donald Trump is still one more primary state to caucus states than Ted Cruz has. It's not even close --

LITTMAN: But those aren't insiders voting in Wisconsin.

PHILLIPS: No, but that's one state. Donald Trump has won, what, 22 different states and Ted Cruz has won like 10. So when voters vote Donald Trump wins; when insiders and the establishment control the process, Ted Cruz does much better.

LITTMAN: It's a lack of organization. I don't know why apologizing for -- saying this for Trump. He (INAUDIBLE) organize. He thought on a cult of personality he can get all the way through and he wasn't well organized enough -- Cruz, who I obviously don't like as a candidate, is running a brilliant campaign.

VAUSE: Another campaign is to get to this contested convention, to divide Trump 1,237 and the big Republican hope was that the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, would be the white knight. He'd ride in, he'd save the day.

Well, the white knight says forget about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: So let me speak directly to the delegates on this. If no candidate has a majority in the first ballot, I believe that you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary.

Count me out. I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee for our party to be the president, you should actually run for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So clearly, Matt --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- yesterday, I believe him.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is an ambitious politician. He was the guy who --

[01:05:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- said that he didn't want to be Speaker of the House.

Remember that?

It was supposed to Kevin McCarthy from Bakersfield and then all of a sudden Paul Ryan ends up as Speaker of the House. This guy is super ambitious. I don't believe him for a second. I think if there is an opening for him to take that nomination, he will absolutely do it.

VAUSE: Is there still a third option here (INAUDIBLE) Trump or Cruz is there, what, I don't know, Mitt Romney, Bob Dole?

How far back do you want to go to dig someone up to put out there?

PHILLIPS: Well, for some of these guys, you might need a Ouija board but I think the list goes as far as your arm. If there's more than one ballot, you could have a convention that goes 50 ballots. Who knows, it could be someone that wasn't running for president. It could be someone who has never held elected office.

There's now talk of -- "The Daily Beast" ran a story saying that I guess there is a general who there are strategists trying to draft to run in case there's a contested convention.

So this thing could get really, really messy.

LITTMAN: I think that's, of course, the wish for these guys, CNN, right --

VAUSE: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

LITTMAN: But I think it has to be Cruz or Trump. They've gone through this entire process. The idea of bringing in somebody like Mitt Romney -- the party doesn't want Mitt Romney.

(CROSSTALK)

LITTMAN: It really does have to be Cruz or Trump. In this case Cruz is out organizing Trump.

SESAY: Let's switch to the Democratic side of things. It's not all love and cuddles on that side. The barbs are coming thick and fast. Take a listen to some of the back-and-forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in New York come from out of state. And the state that has the highest per capita number of those guns that end up committing crimes in New York come from Vermont.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT.: When she was secretary of state, in fact, she actively push fracking technologies in countries all over the world.

And she still has refused to come down firmly in favor of a national ban on fracking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Matt, it's getting nastier by the day.

What do you make of the line of attack that the two are taking now, especially let's start with the Hillary Clinton line about the Vermont and the guns and the highest per capita. Some are saying disingenuous.

LITTMAN: Yes, I mean should Hillary be attacking -- Sanders has some weaknesses on the gun issue, there is no question about it. He is not as strong as Hillary is on that issue.

I have to say though, I'm a little disappointed with some of the Sanders attacks on Hillary. I think they are unfair. Also considering at this point I don't see any way that Sanders could win the Democratic primary on the votes. Hillary has more votes than Sanders, obviously. More votes than Trump. She's way ahead in the polls and the general election.

I don't know why Sanders is attacking her and some of the ways he is attacking her. I just don't get it.

PHILLIPS: I think the play for Sanders at this point is to start obviously winning more states as New York -- there's New Jersey, California, states with a lot of people on delegates and he's got to beat her with delegates awarded based on votes in primaries and caucuses.

If she then goes to the convention using those super delegates to put her over the top to beat him, that's where he can make his case to the super delegates and say, look, if I don't take this nomination, you guys are screwing over the Democratic primary voters. VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) that because the Clinton campaign accusing the

Sanders folks of actually trying to rig the system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, I think when you talk about rigging the system, that's what Senator Sanders is trying to do now. Hillary Clinton has won in the popular vote by a wide margin. She's got more than 2 million votes over Senator Sanders in all the contests when you add them all up.

She's won more states, she's won more pledge delegates. So now that's forcing Senator Sanders to go out and talk about the idea that he wants to try to flip super delegates --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And get him to overturn the will of the people as expressed through who's won the most contests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Matt, you're shaking your head.

LITTMAN: Look, I love Hillary --

(LAUGHTER)

LITTMAN: -- Sanders isn't trying to overturn the will of the people. Sanders doesn't have as many votes as Hillary without the super delegates. Hillary is right now up by 12-13 points in New York. She's probably going to do fine in Pennsylvania. She's going to do fine in California.

There is almost no scenario in which Sanders can get to where Hillary is without the super delegates. So that dream scenario over the Democratic convention where they fight, at that point, really I don't see that happening.

SESAY: You worry that he might not have a path to getting the nomination. But do you worry that he is going to start to hurt -- ?

LITTMAN: Yes, I do worry about that. I think some of these attacks are ridiculous and I think he knows that they are ridiculous, which is why it bothers me. I'm a little disappointed in Sanders -- I can name a bunch of them that I think are off-base. I just don't get it because, at this point, Hillary is a strong favorite to be the nominee.

Why knock her down to this extent?

I don't get it.

PHILLIPS: Sanders is the underdog. He has to win the road games. New York is a road game. He has to win there. Pennsylvania's a road game. He has to win there. VAUSE: OK, (INAUDIBLE) a lot of attention in the last 24 hours (INAUDIBLE) President Obama kind of doing yet another --

[01:10:00]

VAUSE: -- wink and a nod, a lot of people saying this is kind of like a stealth endorsement of Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want young girls and boys to come here, 10, 20, 100 years from now to know that women fought for equality. It was not just given to them. I wanted them to come here and be astonished that there was ever a time when women could not vote.

I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women earned less than men for doing the same work.

I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women were vastly outnumbered in the board room or in Congress, that there was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the Oval Office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LITTMAN: So let me just say that the idea that these are stealthy endorsements, they're not -- there's no stealth.

(CROSSTALK)

LITTMAN: Biden made a similar comment. There's no stealth. They want Hillary to be president.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: -- Sanders campaign, you'd be annoyed if you heard this, right?

LITTMAN: I'd definitely be annoyed if I were the Bernie Sanders campaign.

But again, yes, I'd be annoyed. (INAUDIBLE) question specifically, yes, that would be annoying to me (INAUDIBLE).

SESAY: So how do you play it, in terms of the White House, you carry along on the stealthy path or will point do you...

LITTMAN: Hillary is winning.

SESAY: So you don't have to --

LITTMAN: You don't have to. She's going to be -- it seemed pretty apparent at this point that she's going to be the party nominee. She is well ahead in New York she's doing just fine. She has a couple million votes more than Sanders, couple million votes more than Trump. She's doing fine. She's going to be the nominee and then obviously at that point the

party comes together.

VAUSE: Last word, John.

PHILLIPS: I don't know why they just don't come out and say it.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: -- Obama clearly prefer Hillary to Bernie Sanders, even though they have a sordid history going back to 2008. But they -- she's going to be the establishment's choice. So just come out and say it.

LITTMAN: She's also going to be the choice of the people.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Thank you, thank you.

All right, well, as Donald Trump keep up his complaint that the Republican delegate system is rigged, and as therefore brings us an interesting twist, if there's a contested convention, this summer in Cleveland.

VAUSE: He tells us this maybe perfectly acceptable to wine and dine the delegates who might ultimately pick the party's nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If the Republicans get to a contested convention and if nobody wins on the first two ballots, virtually every delegate out here on the floor would become unbound, meaning he or she can vote as they please.

And some believe that could create a yard sale for delegates. What do we mean?

Well any given delegate showing up here would know what the rules are. The rules say that they cannot accept any gifts from corporations or from foreign nationals or from federal contractors.

So they're all no-nos. But the rules also say they can accept gifts from political PACs and from individuals. So if a political PAC says you know what, we are supporting one candidate. We'd like to give you first-class travel here and a limousine ride to a lavish hotel, where we'll put you up and we'll give you fancy meals while you're here, not trying to buy your vote. Just trying to show you how much Candidate So-and-So appreciates you. That might be one form that this could take.

What if you have an individual donor who supports one of the candidates and says, and I'd like to throw in a gift bag. It's going includes some nice snacks, maybe a designer watch. Perhaps you can have new headphones or maybe a new tablet computer. maybe tickets to a ball game or some show you'd like to see.

Again, under the national rules, all of that would be OK. There may be local rules in the state that keep them from doing it -- and, again, it's not direct buying or selling of a vote, because actually what people really want is access to the candidates, a chance to visit some.

But even that might go better if you said, come on, we'll discuss the issues over a round of golf. It's an exclusive club. Or maybe all the delegates should go away with this candidate to the Bahamas for the weekend to discuss all the issues and the politics around this.

The bottom line is, the party says it doesn't really want to see this happen. The campaigns are all suggesting they don't want to see it happen. But the rules say it's OK. So some say there could be supporters out there who may yet want to push a free set of Kasich steak knives or maybe a Cruz cruise or maybe even a Trump helicopter tour to win over those last delegate votes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And if you missed the CNN town hall with Donald Trump and his family, you can catch the replay here on CNN, 11:00 am in London.

SESAY: Ted Cruz will be joined by his wife, Heidi, Wednesday at his CNN town hall at 9:00 pm in New York.

VAUSE: And then on Thursday, not today, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off in the Democratic presidential debate, live from New York, 9:00 pm Eastern time in the U.S., only here on CNN.

SESAY: That's right. Away from U.S. politics for a moment now. Authorities in Panama have raided the global headquarters of the law firm at the center of that Panama Papers investigation. They say prosecutors are looking for documents. Mossad Fonseca might have to see if a crime was committed.

VAUSE: The firm is accused of creating shell companies and offshore accounts for some of the world's elites --

[01:15:00]

VAUSE: -- so they could dodge taxes. The company says it's cooperating with investigators and nothing illegal was done.

SESAY: In Belgian, police arrested and charged two more men in connection with the March 22nd bombings in Brussels but their most wanted man is now in custody.

VAUSE: Authorities identified Mohamed Abrini as the so-called man in the hat in the airport attack. He was arrested Friday after apparently hiding in plain sight. CNN has obtained exclusive footage from inside his hideout and spoke to one of his neighbors. Kellie Morgan has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the building where Mohamed Abrini spent his last night of freedom. The next day, as he walked along this busy little street, just 20 meters away, police pounced on him.

Later that night they raided the apartment he'd just slept in. The front door was also dusted for fingerprints. The woman who lives here arrested but later released without charge.

We were invited into the building by the man who filmed the raid, her neighbor, Joseph. We go to a park away from his home where he feels more comfortable talking to us.

And he explains how he saw Abrini in his neighborhood, though he didn't recognize him.

JOSEPH, NEIGHBOR (through translator): He shaved his beard, cut his hair real short. Now that I have seen his picture all over the media, it's like a flashback. I saw him last week, a few days before his arrest, but I didn't recognize him. It was very brief. I saw him when I was going back home. I wish I had recognized him.

MORGAN (voice-over): As for the woman Abrini stayed with, she told CNN's French affiliate she didn't know he was a wanted man but wouldn't speak to us to confirm her story.

MORGAN: The woman told Joseph that she met Abrini at a local cafe here near the fresh food market and they got talking. She'd just bought a new TV and he acted the Good Samaritan and offered to help her carry it home.

JOSEPH (through translator): I think Abrini was trying to hide himself. He found a naive women. He tried to be friendly to her and tried to pretend he didn't have a place to go.

MORGAN (voice-over): It illustrates how one of the most wanted fugitives in Europe evaded authorities by hiding in plain sight, moving around in regular neighborhoods, living amidst unassuming residents.

JOSEPH (through translator): I live alone but all the other apartments are couples. We are all in shock. The situation is so complicated. We are all collateral damage.

MORGAN (voice-over): Joseph wants people to know his neighborhood is not a hotbed for alleged terrorists.

JOSEPH (through translator): Since Friday, my life has become a nightmare. My girlfriend doesn't want to see me anymore because she says I live in a neighborhood where there could potentially be terrorists.

"You live with terrorists," she said.

It's unfair.

MORGAN (voice-over): Yet another way Abrini has left trauma in his wake -- Kellie Morgan, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: U.S. sources say North Korea may be preparing for an unprecedented missile test. We'll tell you why officials are especially worried if Pyongyang proceeds with that launch. Details in a moment.

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VAUSE: U.S. officials say North Korea could be planning an unprecedented military move. U.S. spy satellites have detected signs that Pyongyang may be preparing to launch its first mobile ballistic missile which could potentially strike parts of the United States.

SESAY: U.S. officials caution they don't know if the missiles would work or how far they could reach. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us live from Seoul, South Korea, with the latest.

Paula, when it comes North Korea, timing is everything. Is there any clear line of thinking to explain why North Korea might do something like this at this point in time?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isha, we did hear from Kim Jong-un himself back in last month, in fact, saying that he wanted to test as much as he could, whether it was nuclear, whether it was missiles. He gave the order for further tests.

And what you have coming up, which is very important to him, is next month the Workers' Party Congress, which they haven't held for more than three decades, a very significant time and he would like to have an awful lot of things to boast about, an awful lot of things to show, look, how successful I am.

And when you look at what he's done this year, he has done a nuclear test. He's carried out that satellite launch. He had said that he had managed to miniaturize a nuclear weapon in North Korean terms, whether or not it's accurate.

Certainly he has a lot to take with him. Now we know from these U.S. officials there are really three options they're looking at -- well, four; obviously there's the option that North Korea won't do anything.

But the three options are a Musudan missile, which is the mobile missile which could hit Guam according to these U.S. officials. There's then the Kn-08, which could hit further afield, Pacific Northwest of the United States.

And then a Kn-14, not much is known about this, one they believe, experts, that it was shown at a military parade last year.

SESAY: And, Paula, a number of North Koreans have defected in recent days. And we're now getting reaction from the North.

HANCOCKS: That's right. Back in last Friday, this is the reaction to, there were 13 restaurant workers from a North Korean restaurant in China. It was announced by the South that they had reached South Korea. They had defected and we've now heard from the North Korean Red Cross, which has criticized South Korea in the past, say that they believe South Korea kidnapped them and they are blaming the South for this, South Korea denying that, of course.

But it is interesting to see the uptick in the number of defectors leaving recently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice-over): The most senior ministry official ever known to have defected from North Korea, not a headline Kim Jong-un wants to read. This defector, a senior colonel in the reconnaissance general bureau, in charge of espionage against the South might well have a lot to say. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given his duties, not really to do any kind of clandestine operations, even if this is the case, he must know a lot of dangerous stuff.

[01:25:00]

HANCOCKS: A South Korean source tells us that a North Korean diplomat also defected but couldn't give us any details on who or when. Some experts say that they have been expecting an increase in members of the elite escaping the North for a couple of years now, ever since Kim Jong-un executed his own uncle for treason at the end of 2013.

A mass defection last week seemed more of a surprise; 13 workers at a North Korean restaurant presumed to be in China arrived in South Korea Thursday. North Korea's Red Cross, which has criticized the South in the past, has called it an active unprecedented group kidnapping by South Korea and an atrocious scheme and plot against our state around the world.

Kim Pran Jin (ph) used to handle the overseas banking operations of the late leader, Kim Jong-il before defecting in 2003. He says keeping a group escape like this secret from Pyongyang is a miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) in the past and even the people who decide to defect, they cannot tell it to their family members because it's so serious, you know, the punishment is serious.

So it's a life and death problem.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): The number of defections have fallen since Kim Jong-un took power: stricter border controls, harsher punishments for families left behind, both played a part. But the number of North Koreans arriving in the South so far this year has jumped 17 percent, according to officials.

Experts say watch those numbers over coming months to see if recent U.N. sanctions are having an effect. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: And it could take a few months before we know if those sanctions are working -- Isha.

SESAY: We shall be watching very closely. Paula Hancocks, joining us there Seoul, South Korea, thanks as always.

We have a quick break. And fresh warnings that Al Qaeda is thriving again in Afghanistan. Hear from U.S. and Afghan officials about why the terror group may be picking up steam.

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[01:30:00]

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for staying with us, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay with the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: There is an alarming resurgence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, according to the country's defense ministry.

SESAY: He says the group's renewed partnership with the Taliban is also of great concern. The defense minister sat down with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh to talk about how the terror group may be reenergized.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember why the United States came to Afghanistan?

Well, Al Qaeda are back and thriving, a big threat, finding safe haven here, according to Afghanistan's defense chief. Even U.S. officials here admit there's a lot they don't know and there could be hundreds of Al Qaeda core members here.

ACTING AFGHAN DEFENSE MINISTER: They are really very active. They are working in quiet and deal organizing themselves and preparing themselves for more bigger things.

They are working behind other networks again, giving them the support, giving them the experience they had in different places.

They are not talking too much. They are not making too many press statements.

(CROSSTALK) MINISTER: Yes. It is a big threat.

WALSH (voice-over): A big threat, they say, because the Taliban, who was said to have regretted harboring bin Laden, have again decided to get close to Al Qaeda.

MINISTER: The big cover is Taliban because they are enabling the Al Qaeda and the ISIL and the --

WALSH: The phrase "renewed partnership" is what John Campbell (ph) used, the former U.S. commander here.

MINISTER: And because as you know, they need the fighters. They need the support and the experience and they need recruitment from other places.

This is why that they impressed them.

WALSH (voice-over): Alarms were raised by a 30-square mile camp found and obliterated by Afghan and U.S. forces in a remote part of Kandahar late last year, revealing Al Qaeda's true strength to Afghan and U.S. officials.

MAJ. GEN. JEFF BUCHANAN, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: Very sophisticated ties back into Al Qaeda and a subset, which is called

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

To find them in Afghanistan also caused us quite a bit of concern.

If you go back to last year, there were a lot of intel estimates that said that, within Afghanistan, Al Qaeda probably has 50-100 operators or 50-100 actual Al Qaeda members in Afghanistan. Well, at this one camp, we found more than 150.

So I think that --

(CROSSTALK)

WALSH: -- gap in your knowledge as to --

BUCHANAN: I think there is. I think that, you know, there's not thousands of them but clearly in remote parts of Afghanistan there are Al Qaeda leaders that we're concerned about and what they are capable of doing.

WALSH: And they are plotting still attacks against the West?

BUCHANAN: Absolutely.

WALSH: That's their core concern?

BUCHANAN: That is their core concern. They have made those announcements and they've never backed off of it. WALSH: Well, clearly attacks the West, one matter of concern about Al Qaeda's resurgence here. But there is another spinoff and that has potentially an enormous impact on what is the key tenet of U.S. and Afghan policy here with the Taliban and that's to find some sort of diplomatic or negotiated settlement with them.

Now they're clear; the U.S. and Afghanistan, that that can't happen until the Taliban renounce, quote, "international terrorism," but it seems quite the opposite is happening with this renewed partnership they have with Al Qaeda.

They have, in fact, made the new deputy of the new Taliban leader is a man called Siraj Haqqani, who U.S. considered to be the leading facilitator of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

It does seem the Taliban and Al Qaeda are getting closer together rather than further apart although some officials insist they're a moderate Taliban who still want to see some kind of peaceful settlement.

But as the Taliban expand in the territory they control here, there are fears that buys more space for Al Qaeda to potentially plot attacks outside of Afghanistan and again find themselves safe havens here, 15 years after the U.S. intervened to try and catch bin Laden -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:35:00]

SESAY: Right now an Australian TV crew is sitting in a Lebanese jail. State-run media in Lebanon say a prosecutor has pressed charges against the journalists from 9 Network's, "60 Minutes."

VAUSE: The reporter, the camera man, the sound tech, producer, they're following the story of Sally Faulkner (ph). She's an Australian mother from Brisbane who flew to Beirut to recover her two young children from her ex-husband.

This fully shows the moment the two children were seized from the streets. The Middle East government calls it a kidnapping and the prosecutor accuses the two -- the TV crew, rather, of interfering and participating in the abduction.

SESAY: Authorities later took custody of the children and returned them to their father. In all, nine people were arrested in this case, including the TV crew.

VAUSE: Now the public response on Australian website (INAUDIBLE) of the news crew or of the mother and earlier I asked Peter Ford (ph) about that. He's an Australian media reporter who broke the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER FORD, AUSTRALIAN MEDIA REPORTER: This was one of those knife- edge things that could have gone either way. Had it all gone to plan, had they got the vision of mom and the kids hugging and coming back to Australia, you know, the "60 Minutes" crew would have been applauded and there probably would have been awards for the story.

But because it got botched, because people are now realizing the dangers associated with a story like this, question marks about the agency that was employed to execute this, yes, people don't have a lot of sympathy.

At the same time, I don't think anybody seriously wants to see anybody spend many years in a prison in Beirut. I think that would be a pretty horrendous scenario, but it's true there isn't a lot of sympathy for the people involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Before there speaking a short time ago from Melbourne.

SESAY: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, how women are often out-earned by men in the workplace. Stay with us for the details.

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VAUSE: Welcome back.

We're four months into the new year and for many women in the United States, earnings are now just catching to what a man earned last year.

SESAY: That's right. On average, women work an extra four months to meet the annual salary of men doing the same job.

[01:40:00]

SESAY: In the U.S. women are typically paid 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. It's worse for minorities. Hispanic women are paid 55 percent of what white men get. Over a lifetime, the pay gap can cost women more than $430,000.

VAUSE: So at the current rate, women's pay won't catch up to men's salaries until 2059. The United States ranks 23rd for pay disparity among 34 developed countries.

The online job cycle glass door shows industries where the wage gap is the widest. Female psychologists earn 73 cents on the dollar compared to male counterparts and for dentists, it's 72 cents.

SESAY: And the same goes for women in so-called C-suite jobs, such as chief executives and chief operating officers as well as chefs and computer programmers.

Let's bring in (INAUDIBLE) Lisa Bloom. She's currently represented women in equal pay cases. Lisa, thank you for joining us there from Woodland Hills, California, let me just start by asking you the basic question, why has there been so little movement made on this issue, despite all the data that we have?

LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY: Well, I can tell you from the point of view of the civil rights lawyer who litigates these cases, they're very, very difficult because the employer is always going to come up with some reason why the man is paid more.

Maybe he has a little bit more education. Maybe he has a slightly different job. Maybe it's a different job title. Maybe he has more years on the job.

What California, my state has done, is create a groundbreaking new law, saying none of that is significant. If the job is substantially similar, men and women have to be paid the same. The jobs don't have to be identical, just substantially similar.

And I think that's a law that we should see nationwide.

SESAY: And you're representing a woman in what may be the first case under that groundbreaking equal pay law.

What's the employer's defense in this case?

BLOOM: The employer's defense is that the man negotiated for himself a higher salary and the woman did not. And I think that's very interesting, because I think it's very common that men do tend -- we know from all the data -- men do tend to ask for a raise; they negotiate a salary when they're offered a job at their annual reviews they negotiate for more money.

Listen, I know as a small business owner, I run a law firm with many employees and staff. And I see it in my own civil rights law firm, that men do tend to negotiate money.

But I don't think that's a defense under the new law. I think employers have an affirmative obligation to look at two jobs. And if they are substantially similar to pay the man and the woman the same amount, even if he asks for and negotiates a higher salary.

SESAY: So you think legislation is the only way to close the gender pay gap?

BLOOM: I do. And I think it's incumbent upon employers because we employers, we're the ones who know how much everybody makes, right. Most people don't know how much their coworkers make. That something that's kept a secret.

And by the way, in all 50 states, people are allowed to ask each other, how much do you make.

Isha, if you ask John how much he makes, nothing CNN can do about that. You have the right to do it. And I don't want you to have to wait until 2059 to make the same amount as men who are doing the same job. I don't think any of us want our daughters to have to wait.

So the only way is to protect employees who ask questions about compensation. Some employers have gone further and just revealed the compensation -- government employers, for example, have done that - the more transparency, the better for women.

SESAY: Yes, I think transparency is key. But I also want to make the point that this isn't just closing the pay gap, Lisa. It's also about women being given leadership opportunities, it's about recognizing all that women bring to the table.

BLOOM: Absolutely, what we see is that in U.S., girls and women do better in high school and college, in graduate school and law schools. We graduate in greater numbers and with better grades. So we're just killing at the beginning levels in education and early stages of career.

But we still have that glass ceiling at the top and a lot of women feel that they can't advance beyond a certain level. That's a big issue in the pay gap and that's sort of the next issue.

We never had, for example, a female president or even a female vice president. There are very few women still as CEOs. And so that the final stage for equality, to see women at the top in every organization.

SESAY: Yes, couldn't agree more. Lisa Bloom, always a pleasure to have on the show. Thank you so much.

BLOOM: Thanks, Isha. Have a great day.

SESAY: Thanks, you, too.

VAUSE: Katie Couric earned $15 million when she was the anchor of the "CBS Evening News," more than anybody else ever, period, done.

SESAY: We just don't think it should be an anomaly --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: -- I think that's the point.

VAUSE: I didn't see anchors on that list.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: -- break. Stay ahead --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: -- they actually rip it off from someone?

That (INAUDIBLE) we'll consider. Back in a minute.

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[01:45:00]

SESAY: Hello, everyone.

The rock band Led Zeppelin is heading to court on May 10th over one of its most famous songs, "Stairway to Heaven."

VAUSE: The question a jury will consider, did Robert Plant and Jimmy Page steal parts of that song from a less famous band?

Paul Vercammen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Isha, the lawyers for the surviving members of Led Zeppelin say this suit relies too much on hyperbole and hearsay and gossip.

But the lawyer for Randy California, he's the guitarist, the singer- songwriter for the group Spirit, he says just listen. The songs are just too much the same.

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VERCAMMEN: The lawyer for the estate of Randy California will not reveal how much money he is seeking, just that he wants Randy California to get credit. But in the music business, if you get credit for songwriting, that can be extremely lucrative.

Now this case is going to go deep into the weeds of song structure. In fact, the judge has said that, yes, these songs do share what's called a descending four-chord chromatic progression but he said there are way too many other similarities and that's why they're going to go forward with the trial in May -- John, Isha.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For more on this criminal defense attorney Darren Kavinoky joins us here now.

So I guess, Darren, this now comes down to the argument where does inspiration stop and where does ripping off begin?

It's going to a jury. This is complicated. I just want to play this for you. This is a breakdown of the difference between these two songs, which was on the internet by a musician called TJR.

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TJR, MUSICIAN: Here's where they're different. They both have the same minor chord with a descending baseline that goes...

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TJR: -- but whereas Taurus goes, stays on E minor... [01:50:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

TJR: "Stairway to Heaven" goes...

(MUSIC PLAYING)

TJR: -- on the E minor and then goes to D with an F sharp in the bass and then goes to F major 7th, goes from G to A minor, like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That guy goes on forever, but my point in all of this is that this is complicated, difficult stuff to understand. This is going before just your every day run of the mill jury.

Shouldn't something like this go to a panel of music experts?

DARREN KAVINOKY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there is a movement to have professional jurors decide cases and this is an argument that's gone on for a long time, that generally speaking when you put 12 people in a jury box you never know what you're going to get.

Frankly, that's a compelling reason why cases will settle because settlement allows both sides to know exactly what they're going to get. Here, all bets are off.

VAUSE: You think they'll be trying to settle?

If you were advising would you say settle before it gets to a jury?

KAVINOKY: Well it certainly would be a reasonable conversation to have. I mean, cases do settle any time prior to trial, during trial and even after trial; but once you put the case in the hands of a jury, you really don't know what kind of result you can get.

SESAY: I think it's worth bringing out that Led Zeppelin has been sued before --

KAVINOKY: Yes.

SESAY: -- on two other occasions for, let's say, making use of other people's --

KAVINOKY: Yes, for perhaps being more than inspiring.

SESAY: Talk to me about whether that will play into this in any way.

KAVINOKY: Well it's a very interesting legal issue. So here, whether or not they've done prior "bad acts" may not necessarily be relevant to their conduct in this particular case.

So you can expect that if this trial is indeed going forward, there will be violent argument between both sides about whether the judge would let that in or whether it's what they say is more prejudicial than probative.

SESAY: But often in these cases, isn't it the case that you have to prove not just the similarity, but that the musical -- the material was heard in advance?

KAVINOKY: Right.

SESAY: And that brings in the question of access.

KAVINOKY: Right; that's exactly right. You've got to show that there was an opportunity and you have to show intent. And so here, this idea about substantial similarity is ultimately what the jurors are going to have to decide.

VAUSE: Darren Kavinoky, always good to have you in the studio --

KAVINOKY: Good to be here.

VAUSE: -- all these legal issues. Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you, Darren.

VAUSE: OK, here we go, some video you have to see to believe, a plane nearly clipped the head of a tourist who was taking a photograph. It all happened on the French Caribbean island of St. Barts.

SESAY: Lucky for him he had great reflexes and ducked. And you see there, out of the way.

But can you imagine?

VAUSE: We didn't have to imagine because we got to talk to the photographer himself, Mickey Jade (ph). He joins us now on the line from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Mickey (ph), thank you for being with us. Tell us what were you thinking as that plane came closer and closer and closer?

MICKEY JADE (PH), PHOTOGRAPHER: To be honest, it was hard to judge, given I was just looking through the viewfinder the entire time. And it's really hard to really tell the distance or the height between the ground and the plane itself.

So you know, I was just snapping away and instinctively just ducked and with no thought at all, just after ducking, turned around and continued to shoot -- shooting.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) the airport there has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous in the world. I think (INAUDIBLE) signs up, warning people to be careful.

Were you, by any chance, in a restricted area?

JADE (PH): No, not at all. It was a public road and I'd see people either stopping with their vehicles there all the time or just standing there all the time. And it's been the third I've been there on the island. So I'd witness it very, very often.

In fact, I've stopped on the side of the road plenty of times, not at this particular location but other times like on the side at a different angle.

Man, this particular time, I just wanted a closer view and thought, you know, I wouldn't be risking my life or anything. It didn't really seem like a high sort of risk event. And --

VAUSE: It's amazing how these things turn out. So you'd been there before but this is the first time you decided to take some photographs?

JADE (PH): Exactly. I just recently picked up a DSLR this past December and just started shooting then as a lobby and I just wanted to get a closer view and a closer picture to hone my hobby skills. And I guess I was just in the wrong time at the wrong place at that time.

But guess fortunate to --

(CROSSTALK)

[01:55:00]

VAUSE: It is pretty amazing when you look at the video your reflexes are lightning fast and lucky for you they were. But at the moment you actually seem pretty calm. You smiled, you're all pretty much together.

But having looked back at all this now, having a few days to think about it, are you a little bit shaken by it all?

Do you realize just how close you really came?

JADE (PH): No, I mean, I could watch it on video and I could see how close it was. But you know, it just all happened so quickly. And I just came out of without a scratch but just a black mark on my trigger finger. And so it's really hard to just take it all in.

Like they say your life flashes before your eye. But that didn't happen at all. It was just -- hard to explain (INAUDIBLE) just feels like any normal day and I'm just living my normal life right now.

VAUSE: Fair enough. I hope you went out and bought a lottery ticket issue because you are lucky.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Thanks for being with us -- sorry? Go on.

JADE (PH): -- my wife is forcing me to get life insurance this coming weekend. So where can I get life insurance?

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: She is a smart woman.

JADE (PH): Yes.

VAUSE: Mickey (ph), thanks for being with us.

SESAY: He's remarkable calm about it all.

VAUSE: He's incredibly calm.

SESAY: Interesting. All right. We're going to leave it there. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett after a short break.