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CNN NEWSROOM

Cruz and Kasich Join Forces to Stop Trump; U.S. to Deploy More Special Forces to Syria; Response to North Korea's Missile Launch; On the Front Lines in the Fight for Nigeria's Kidnapped Schoolgirls; Solar Plane Cross Pacific, Lands in California; HBO's "Game of Thrones" Returns for Season Six; Beyonce Gets Personal in "Lemonade". Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:12] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, a late breaking surprise in the push to stop Donald Trump. His rivals say they'll work together to stop his nomination, which they say would be a disaster for the Republican Party.

SESAY: Plus, the U.S. is stepping up its fight against ISIS, but the questions remains, will more troops do anything to slow the terror group?

VAUSE: And later some stunning images as the solo plane trying to fly around the world arrived here in California.

SESAY: Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sasey.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause, another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.

SESAY: We begin with a shocking move in the Republican race for the White House. Ted Cruz and John Kasich are joining forces against party frontrunner Donald Trump. Candidates announced a deal to divide their efforts in upcoming contests hoping to prevent Trump from getting the delegates he needs to win the nomination.

VAUSE: Cruz will focus on Indiana. Kasich will devote his efforts to Oregon and New Mexico. Donald Trump, quick off the bat on Twitter had this reaction. "Wow, just announces that lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination, desperation!"

SESAY: Exclamation mark. Well, fore more, let's go to Republican Consultant fan of the show, John Thomas, he joins us now on the phone, John, good to have you with us.

I mean, let's just start with the most obvious question, is this going to work?

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Well, in theory, it sounds like a better plan than what they have going. I guess, desperate times do call for desperate measures. But, look, what we saw after New York was that Trump had a big night in New York and he's going to likely have a good night on Tuesday.

And the idea is, that this inevitability narrative is really starting to take hold and the fact is that Kasich, the Cruz campaign and Kasich campaigns are admitting, the Kasich has spoiler in Indiana. So, this is all they can do.

I'm not sure it's going to work, but what they've been doing isn't working so far. What I would say though for Trump is that this moves tonight, whether it actually strategically sounds for Kasich and Cruz reaffirms Trump's narrative that the establishment is trying to rig the system to deny him the nomination. And that's a good thing for Trump and his supporters.

SESAY: And not only that, but this actually deepens the risk in the party.

THOMAS: Absolutely. And the other thing we saw tonight, a lot of people say why was it made public, this collusion, this strategic alignment? It was made public because that's the only way the campaigns can legally send a signal to the supporting super PACs without illegally coordinating to let them know, stop spending against Kasich in Indiana, for instance, and realign your money. It's like the only thing they can do.

SESAY: What's Trump's response? What are your expectations from the frontrunner in the hours ahead after this news? We've already seen the tweet, but what are you expecting next?

THOMAS: I think what he's going to say is, he's going to feed into this inevitability narrative and he's going to say, "Look, those are my opponents agree that I am the nominee. I'm unbeatable. And the only way they think they can stop me is by rigging the system yet again".

First, they try to steal the super delegates, you know, in other states and now they're doing this. And then, I think that's we're going to see tomorrow and then of course Tuesday. Trump's likely to have a good night. And then if he runs the table the following week, I've got to say, looking harder and harder to stop him.

SESAY: John, while I have you on the line, I want to read a tiny bit of a statement put out by Donald Trump and get your response to it. It is quite a lengthy statement, let me read some of it. He does say right off the top, "It is sad that two grown politicians have to collude against one person who is only been a politician for ten months in order to try and stop that person from getting the Republican nomination."

He goes on to say, "Collusion is often illegal in many other industries, and yet, these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive. They are mathematically dead, and this act only shows as purpose donors and special interests how truly weak they and their campaigns are".

It goes on but I just want to get your reaction just to some of that statement, John.

THOMAS: Very savvy reaction by Donald Trump, feed them into his narrative. Remember, this is on the Republican side certainly. This is an election about who is the outsider? Who is not part of the establishment? And every word that he used in that statement, you just read, collusion, rigged, it all -- that he's not a politician.

[01:05:06] It all feeds to the idea that Trump is the only outsider, and that Trump's inevitable. Let's not forget that momentum in these contests are everything, and if the media buys in to Trump's inevitability narrative, it's very difficult to stop.

SESAY: These are very interesting hours lie ahead. John Thomas joining us there on the line. John, always appreciate it. Thanks so much.

THOMAS: Thanks, Isha.

VAUSE: Right at the end of the statement, though, he goes on to say he's now more determined than ever for the good of the Republican Party and the country to prevail. So certainly not taking a backwards step there, Mr. Trump.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is getting a reluctant endorsement of sorts from the billionaire Charles Koch. Along with his brother Dave that he's donated hundred of millions of dollars to conservative groups and Republican candidates.

Mr. Charles Kock said about Secretary Clinton in an interview with ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: So is it possible, another Clinton can be better than another Republicans the next time around?

CHARLES KOCH, CEO KOCH Industries: It's possible.

KARL: You couldn't see yourself supporting Hillary Clinton, could you?

KOCK: Well, her -- we would have to believe her actions would be quite different than her rhetoric. Let me put it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Hillary Clinton fired back on social media with this tweet saying, not interested in endorsement from people who deny climate science and try to make it harder for people to vote.

VAUSE: And of course, this is a story we will continue to follow because that all over the main news in the news 24-hour cycle. And in some, in the meantime, we'll move on and the U.S. now planning to spend 250 more special operation forces to Syria, an expanding bid to reclaim territory from ISIS. SESAY: Now, President Barack Obama is expected to make the announcement in the coming hours in Germany. Official say, the new troops will join 50 others advising and assisting local fighters.

VAUSE: Joining us for more on this CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst, former CIA Operative Bob Bayer, also with us, our Military Analyst retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Thank you both for joining us again this hour.

And, Rick, let's get some details of exactly what of these 250 special ops forces will be doing once they get into Syria because there's already 50 special ops on the ground there, what they call drop off and assist.

LT. COLONEL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), FORMER MILITARY ANALYST IN SYRIA: Yeah, we're raising it here. We're going to move from just 50 up to about 300. That's complete company of U.S. Special Forces. Now, that brings a lot of capability. Doesn't sound like a lot of numbers, but what they're going to do is push these guys down from the battalion level with the 5,000 Kurdish and Syrian fighters that are there. They're going to bring a huge capability with them, you know, logistics, intelligence, money.

But ideally, they're going to be controlled of U.S. air power. U.S. air power, U.S.-led coalition has been very effective. It's going to be the more effective with them there. So, that's good thing.

But, you know, the situation in Syria is so fluid. We've seen the Syrian Army pull back from their attacks against ISIS and turn again against the rebels up there in the Aleppo home areas. So, I'm not sure this is really going to shake things up, but it will give the U.S. a much better capability.

VAUSE: And, Bob, as you said there's already been 50 Special Forces on the ground. The Pentagon saying, they've had some success already. They've been more successful in turning ISIS back then they thought they would be. So, exactly, what sort of force multiplier with the special ops be? And, you know, do you see this as a significant factor in trying to defeat ISIS?

BOB BAYER, CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst: Well as Rick said, you're going to have four in air servers which been able to bring in air attacks on the Islamic states, which is very important.

Last couple of weeks, the military admitted that civilians have died and with American forces on the ground, you can call these attacks in much more accurately. I think that indicates the Islamic state has had a lot of setbacks in the last six months. Ramadi, there's tax around Fallujah and the rest of it.

But at the end of the day, of course, 300 troops aren't going to change the war in Syria. You've just got too many Russians involved. You've got the Iranian regular forces there. And you've got his, above all, is controlling the security in that country. And you have Bashar al-Assad who's essentially the mayor of Damascus but you have all of these foreign powers including Turkey in there. You know, this will give us the both at the negotiating table but not much one.

VAUSE: And it goes like should they against deployment they had the negotiations. But, Rick, I'm just curious. If you see this as sort of the, you know, the forerunner to getting ready for some kind of assault on Raqqa, in Syria, maybe Mosul in Iraq.

FRANCONA: Yeah, that's the goal. And I think what we're doing is setting up like splitting the enclaves. Of course, the power bases for ISIS are well known. You've got Raqqa in Syria, you've got Mosul in Iraq, both of those have to be retaken.

[01:10:05] And it's two separate operations. Ideally, you would have one large operation that does this. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. So in Iraq, we're going to go after Mosul. In Syria, we're going to go after Raqqa. In Syria as Bob was said, this was a big hodgepodge of everybody's got some skin in the game and none of its coordinated. So it's going to be much, much more difficult there.

You can see what the United States is trying to do by supporting these forces out in northeastern Syria. They're trying to cut the two enclaves apart, break those supply lines. And they're being pretty effective in that. And I think that's where they're going to put their emphasis over the next few months.

VAUSE: Bob, if they are successful in, you know, taking the territory back from ISIS in Syria. Doesn't ISIS just expend some place else like Libya or further to North Africa?

BAYER: Exactly. They're moving into Libya. They're even moving into Saudi Arabia as we've seen in the last couple of weeks. There been attacks on the police there.

At the end of the day, we have to look at this as the war between the Shia Muslims and the Orthodox Muslims, Sunni. And so we have to also - any military victories we have, look, bring some sort of political settlement which protects the Sunnis, otherwise you're going to see a backlash in all parts of Arab world. And you know, they'll appear in Mali one day and Somalia the next. It's essentially the same moves with this (inaudible) Muslims.

You know, taking Raqqa is important. And -- but it's not going to change, you know, change the war in any significant way.

VAUSE: Yeah. It also seems to be sort of containment or holding patterns if you'd like or since you're trying to contain, you know, them to certain place that you'd like with the territory in Syria, as well as Iraq.

We could go on but we're out of time. Bob, thank you very much, Bob Bayer former CIA Operative. And, Colonel Francona, thank you both for being with us.

SESAY: Now, Mr. Obama's European trip will likely be his last as president. VAUSE: The perception of him has changed over the years. Here's Atika Shubert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was a fresh faced senator running for president in 2008.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you so much.

SHUBERT: But for the tens of thousands that packed the streets of Berlin to see Barack Obama, he was much more than a candidate, he was a new American hope.

Two terms later, the crowds are less adoring, more protesting in Germany, suspicions of the E.U-U.S. free trade agreement, he is determined to push through by the end of this year. Not to mention, anger over the NSA scandal that revealed Obama administration spying on their mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In Britain, Obama's blunt opposition to Brexit, a possibility of Britain leaving in the E.U. was seen by some as internal meddling. And now, the president has weighed in on the refugee crisis that has divided Europe, praising Merkel's controversial policies, their relationship, it seems, only strengthening over the years.

OBAMA: She is on the right side of history on this. And for her to take on some very tough politics, in order to express not just a humanitarian concern, but also a practical concern that in this globalized world, it is very difficult for us to simply build walls.

She is giving voice, I think, to the kinds of principles that bring people together rather than divide them. And I'm very proud of her for that. And I'm proud of the German people for that.

SHUBERT: Previously, Europe took a back seat as the Obama administration made its pivot to Asia. But on this trip, likely his last through Europe, Obama has weighed it in to sensitive European debates. An even tacked on a last minute meeting with the heads of Britain, Germany, France and Italy, making up for lost time, perhaps, or simply reinforcing ties with old allies, as part of his long goodbye.

Atika Shubert CNN, Ericsson, Germany.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Barack Obama is the latest leader to weigh in on North Korea's recent submarine missile launch. The U.S. president called the test provocation and added that he is paying close attention to North Korea's military progress.

SESAY: And Mr. Obama was asked about remarks by the North Korean Foreign Minister, that as long as the U.S. continued joint military drills with South Korea, Pyongyang will continue its nuclear activity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We don't take seriously a promise to simply halt until the next time they decide to do a test, these kinds of activities. But that's not something that happens based on a press release in the wake of a series of provocative behaviors, so they're going to have to do better than that.

[01:15:05] SESAY: Well, helping us analyze all of this is our own Paula Hancocks who joins us now from Seoul. Paula, good to have you with us.

Paula, what more can you tell us about this submarine missile launch and how it alters the view of the threat North Korea poses to South Korea and the United States?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I should have said, this is going to be condemnation here in South Korea. The government on Sunday said that they warned in that past that if Pyongyang carried out and continued with his so-called provocations and it goes back to the United Nations Security Council and try to strengthen those sanctions.

Now, we know that U.N. Security Council did condemn the actions and certainly there are concerns around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: From a joke to something serious, that's how one U.S. official describes North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine. Pyongyang calls it an eye-opening success. Kim Jong-un clearly delighted with the results.

CHARLES ARMSTRONG, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: All of this indicates that North Korea is ramping up its game to be much more credible force in any kind of confrontation and to be able to hit far away targets with nuclear weapons.

HANCOCKS: South Korea's military is on high alert. The Joint Chiefs of Staff saying the missile flew around 30 kilometers, less than 20 miles to be considered a success they say, it needs to fly 300 kilometers, or more than 180 miles. It fell far short, but officials are not calling it a failure.

U.S. President Barack Obama traveling in Germany rejected repeated North Korean offers to halt the nuclear program if the U.S. and South Korea halt joint military drills. Mr. Obama called Pyongyang's behavior provocative.

OBAMA: Although more often than not they fail in many of these tests, they gain knowledge each time they engage in these tests. And we take it very seriously.

HANCOCKS: United Nations Security Council has condemned this weekend's test firing, saying it violates numerous resolutions. North Korea's nuclear and missile testing this year has been relentless, ignoring global condemnation and sanctions. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now, one of the reasons that experts assume Kim Jong-un has had this relentless testing this year is because of these Workers' Party Congress which is going to be held early may. It hasn't been held since 1980. It is expected to be a chance for Kim Jong-un to tout his experiences, his what he think successes with these different tests and to try and solidify his power. Isha?

SESAY: Paula Hancocks joining us with that perspective and, Paula, always appreciate it. Thank you so much.

VAUSE: A short break on CNN, when we comeback, Nigeria is targeting Boko Haram in a forest, the terror group calls home where many of the missing Chibok school girls are believed to be held and exclusive report from the front line is coming up.

SESAY: Plus, actor George Clooney joined Armenians in taking aim at those who say there was no Armenian genocide, we'll show you what he said, when we comeback.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS HEADLINES)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: In two years since being they're abducted from their school in Chibok by Boko Haram.

SESAY: Our CNN Correspondent Nima Elbagir was the first reporter to show the world proof of life, this video with some of the girls who were kidnapped. Now she's on patrol with Nigerian Forces deep in the heart of the battlefield against Boko Haram. Here's her exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Monday market in Maiduguri.

Two men showing absolute panic, both suspected terrorists quickly they say subdued. Normality returned, but it gives you a sense of the tension here, as Boko Haram have lost their territorial footprint or much of it. They're growing increasingly reliant on unleashing waves of suicide bombers into the hearts of Maiduguri and beyond.

In a city on edge, no one is above suspicion. Maiduguri is at the heart of the Nigerian Army's campaign to retake Boko Haram territory. On their operation (inaudible), "Peace by any means". Spread out across the country's vast northeast.

The road to the Sambisa Forest, or what's been cleared so far, relentless heat bears down on our heavily armored convoy.

(OFF-MIC) Soft sand, ideal hiding holes for IEDS, the scout in the lead car directing our convoy on and off the track.

Two years ago, when we visited Chibok after the mass abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, parents describe how they followed the trail of their daughters to the front gates to the entry point of the Sambisa Forest and were unable to move any further.

This is the Sambisa. The Nigerian government has been able to stop clawing back territory here from Boko Haram, but the Sambisa fortress, the territory right in the center. That is still where they're moving towards.

And this is where some of the Chibok girls are believed to still be held. Let's say you're out on a patrol, like this, what are do your scouts looking for? Are they looking for tracks? Are they looking for -- do they specifically know that this area will have had heat signals or using thermal imaging? What techniques are you using to get you closer?

(OFF-MIC)

[01:24:55] BRIGADIER GENERAL BA RAJI, NIGERIAN ARMY: ... we try to set out for footprints. And sometimes the children, their footprints on the ground.

ELBAGIR: As F1Q (ph) a surveillance plane flies overhead, one of the eyes in the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, here and then ...

ELBAGIR: Back in Maiduguri, the operation fears a commander, Major General Leo Irabor tells us he's proud of his men. So they are in need of more international support.

Why do you think it's taking so long to find the girls?

MAJOR GENERAL LEO IRABOR, NIGERIA ARMY: Well, the Chibok girls remain at some point in our history. We're saying that from intelligence available to us that the remaining areas that where we're, you know, working to, moving to. Once we see if we have risk ...

(Off-Mic)

ELBAGIR: Irabor is tasked with both following the girls two-year-old trail and waging war against Boko Haram's brutal insurgency in the face of heightening frustration.

IRABOR: It's a huge challenge and the mandate is enormous. But currently, we feel very far in achieving that mandates.

ELBAGIR: But the threat remains?

IRABOR: The threat remains, of course, just like in our area.

ELBAGIR: The commander allowed us to join his men moving east towards the Boko Haram front lines to see for ourselves. Boko Haram do indeed appear to have been pushed back, but their presence lingers, everywhere you look, scenes of devastation.

All the way through our journey across country, we've seen village after abandoned village, devastated, destroyed. What Boko Haram couldn't loot, they attempted to burn to the ground and people are still too afraid to come back to their homes.

But the hope is that the longer the Nigerian Military maintain their hold on the territory up here, the more people's confidence will grow. The more willing they'll be to turn and reclaim their lives, and their homes.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Northeast Nigeria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Now Hollywood Star George Clooney attended the memorial service mocking the mass killing of Armenians during World War I.

VAUSE: Clearly, was in Armenia to present a million dollar humanitarian prize, later read the memorial outside of the capital. He's been a strong advocate of having the killings internationally recognized as genocide which the U.S. and the number of others courtiers have not done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Armenia says up to 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman Turkey during the war. Turkey denies there was a genocide.

Well, Solar Impulse Plane crosses another major milestone right here in California.

VAUSE: We will hear from the man piloting this ground breaking aircraft in just a moment.

Also ahead, HBO's "Game of Thrones" is finally here, what the cast is saying about the new season, just ahead. Jon Snow still dead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:55] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live in Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

Let's check the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: The Solar Impulse plane has reached a major milestone, landing right in California after two and a half-day flight across the Pacific from Hawaii. The experimental plane just uses energy from the sun. And the journey

started back in March of last year. There were some weather delays and some repairs had grounded the plane along the way. But the designers say they want to prove the technology is reliable.

SESAY: Joining us now is Bertrand Piccard, who was at the controls when Solar Impulse Two touched down.

Bertrand, welcome and congratulations.

Your journey to California was the ninth leg of the around-the-world trip. And I understand it was the riskiest yet. Explain why.

BERTRAND PICCARD, PILOT, EXPERIMENTAL SOLAR PLANE: I think the most two risky legs were the two in the Pacific, the one my colleague did last year to Hawaii, and this one to san Francisco, because we're flying in that experimental airplane, and if there is any problem, there is nowhere to land. We have to bail out. Over land, it's easy to find an airport and put the plane down. But we have a great team. The engineers have done a fantastic job. The plane behaved perfectly well. I was really flying with no fuel at all, just on solar power for three days and two nights. This is really a success for the technologies.

SESAY: Yeah, I mean you guys were grounded in Hawaii for many months because of issues before finally being able to make it to the United States. Talk to me about how you and your flying partner are feeling after overcoming such challenges.

PICCARD: There is one sentence I repeat to the team every two or three weeks, if it was easy, somebody else would have done it already. You know, we are pioneers, we are explorers, which means we'll have to find new ways of doing this. This is exploration. It's not just to raise the flag of success. It's to achieve the impossible. When people tell you, you cannot do it, find ways to do it. Of course, it's difficult. The impossible it takes longer and more effort, but, at end, it was worth it. I was flying over the Pacific. I was thinking to myself, the 16 years that I've been working on this project were really worth it.

[01:35:24] SESAY: I hear what you're saying. For you, personally, it's a combination of a dream. You've raised millions to get this off the ground. You've flown countless hours and overcome numerous challenges. Talk to me about the mass benefit here. What you see as a mass benefit, the value of the enterprise.

PICCARD: Yes, there are direct values. It's what our partners have developed as new clean, modern technologies that are now available for the world. You know, you have extreme solar cells from California. You have engines, electrical engines that are 97 percent efficient. They are 3 percent of loss compared to normal combustion engines, which lose 73 percent of the energy they consume. You have very thin and very efficient insulation forms, ADD lands, new types of batteries, all this is available to make a better world.

SESAY: Bertrand, when do you take off again? Where do you go from here?

PICCARD: From here, I will share the single-seater cockpit with my colleague to New York, several flights. Then I fill fly the Atlantic from New York to Paris, to commemorate Charles Lindbergh's flight, but this time, without fuel. Then across Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and back to Abu Dhabi. Hopefully, next July. It sounds easy when I tell it like this but it's a lot of work. I hope the weather will be good and cooperative and everything will work on the experimental airplane.

SESAY: That is our hope for you as well. Be safe out there.

Thank you so much for joining us. And congratulations again, Bertrand. Thank you.

PICCARD: Thank you.

VAUSE: I don't mean to be critical, but it's taking an awfully long time for this flight, like a year now. I know --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: You are being critical.

VAUSE: Seriously?

SESAY: It's an amazing feat that they've undertaken.

VAUSE: Looking forward to it reaching the finishing line with it.

When we come back, the show runners for the "Game of Thrones say season six of the HBO smash hit is the best one yet. When we come back, we'll talk plot twists, gore, nudity and death.

SESAY: No spoilers here.

Plus, Beyonce debuts a visual album packing love, jealousy and empowerment all into one hour and fans are going wild trying to uncover the hidden meaning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:41:07] VAUSE: Fans of the HBO series "Game of Thrones" have waited nearly a year for the new season. This is the sixth season. It premiered Sunday night on the U.S., taking the hard-core fans, maybe some newbies, into unchartered territory.

VAUSE: I'm a hard-core fan. Season six is based on a novel by fantasy author George R.R. Martin that is still being written. But one plot point still holds, winter is coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Real war is between the living and the dead. And make no mistake, the dead are coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Sandro Monetti is joining us now to talk about this next season of "Game of Thrones." He's the managing editor of the "L.A. Business Journal."

Oh, my god.

(LAUGHTER)

We're not giving you anything away here.

SESAY: No spoilers.

VAUSE: But we can say John Snow is still dead.

SESAY: Can we?

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: John Vause is alive. John Snow is dead.

My question is, the fans want the writers to bring him back, to resurrect this guy. Once you're dead, you're dead on the show. Can they resurrect him and not ruin the story?

SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL: Yes, they can. Anything is possible. This is a world of fantasy. You know what, it's nights like this that remind us why we love television.

SESAY: Tell me about tonight. How good was it?

MONETTI: It was of epic. It was extraordinary. It was everything you would have hoped for. It was a real suspenseful start to the season because this is the first time "Game of Thrones" breaks from the books. You reference George R.R. Martin there. He can't give up with the pace of television.

(CROSSTALK)

MONETTI: No longer can nerds like me say, oh, that wasn't in the book. But we don't know which way it's going to go. That adds an extra level of suspense. Also, an extra level of danger because, of course, we followed George R.R. Martin's path so far. If you step away, how good will it be? It was wonderful. Everything you hoped it could be.

VAUSE: Don't writers take delight in going against public opinion, which argues against John Snow coming back?

(LAUGHTER)

MONETTI: That is an excellent point. You should never write things for the fans. You should always tell the story, what makes sense for it the characters. You know, we get attached to certain characters in television. We feel for them. When they die, it's almost like a death in our own family because this is what we take into our homes for years and we feel passionately about. It really came back on the big level of suspense. Will he be resurrected, and whether that is answered in the first episode I'm not going to say because such is the fragmented nature of television that people would be there in six months or they'll be around HBO watching it this evening, or they'll be parascooping it.

SESAY: Talk me about the success of this franchise. Bearing in mind, when it launched in 2011, it attracted 2.2 million viewers. And last year, it almost quadrupled its viewers. What is your sense on why it's done so well? It's fantasy at the end of the day. Typically speaking, you wouldn't think someone like me would want to watch this -- I was going to say young women.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: Stay with me. Stay with me.

My point is --

(CROSSTALK)

MONETTI: I thought you saw the sex and violence in it that you responded to.

VAUSE: Yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: Well, there's that. My point being, so many people have been drawn to it. Help me understand why.

MONETTI: First of all, the jump from two million to eight million is all about word of mouth, which is what everyone is seeking in television. Friends tell friends this is great, you should check it out. People say, oh, I'm not really not into this. It was pitched as "The Sopranos" of middle earth. That's the idea. You think, I'd like to watch that. So that's how I discovered it at the end of the first season. Because somebody said I've got to try this. When you start watching it, you realize it's great.

There's something in there for everyone and it's based on English history. It's based on the War of the Roses, and that story has fascinated since 1450, and it continues to exist in 2016.

[01:45:10] VAUSE: Stay with us, Sandro. CNN caught up with the stars of "Game of Thrones" at the premier here in Los Angeles. And we're careful not to give anything away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We kill John Snow and taking the responsibility for that has as meant. Things are quite different up on the wall without him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How was it working with Kate Herrington this evening?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's typical, because you talk to him, he's just a corpse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: But he was the man to lead us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the biggest deaths of the whole season. He's dead I'm afraid.

I think this is the first time when you see her like being a part of the conversation.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's finally having an opportunity to put everything she's learned into place.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I can't see.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: That's your problem, not me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tell you, it's incredible, you've gotten out of characters, that's not the way it goes in life.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: All his greatest enemies are dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's not particularly happy right now. It's feeling like she should (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jamie returns to King's Landing. A lot has changed while he was gone.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I think about how beautiful his little face.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Don't think about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He promised his sister he was going to bring their daughter back, and he kind of did that, but she's dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the things that happened and some of the things you see back in time are like, oh, wow, this is big. It's big.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More blood, more dragons, you seeing them on the common.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's massive. I think this is will be the biggest one. It's got so much happened, so many new characters come in and exploring new worlds and character that you might not expect to meet each other do, which is very exciting. So yeah, there's so much going on. It really gets the ground running and it starts at 100 miles per hour.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Wow, I can hardly collect my thoughts. One thing I can say, good thing they had their names at the bottom because you can't recognize them when they're not in full hair and makeup and costume.

MONETTI: You really can't. I wish there would be a picture in a picture so viewers at home could see you reacting to that footage. You were totally geeking out over it.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: I know.

SESAY: I'm naughty. I'm going --

(CROSSTALK)

MONETTI: Yeah.

VAUSE: I have to do my research obviously.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Come with me Halloween. I'll be policing with some dragons.

VAUSE: Oh, my god.

Sandro, nice to see you.

MONETTI: I'll be the dragon.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Thank you, Sandro.

All right, then. You'll be OK.

OK. Time for a quick break. Beyonce seems to be addressing infidelity rumors head on in her latest album. We'll have a closer look at some of the raw lyrics scattered throughout "Lemonade" and it's attention-grabbing debut in an hour-long movie. Stay with us. This is great stuff.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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(SINGING) (END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:52:17] SESAY: He was such an electrifying performer.

"Saturday Night Live" played homage to Prince, airing a special episode Saturday night, celebrating the music legends life and performances on the show.

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(SINGING)

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VAUSE: In New York, Bruce Springsteen opened his show with "Purple Rain" with purple lights shining throughout the performance.

Prince's remains were cremated on Saturday. Family and friends held a private memorial. The cause of death, though, still unknown at this point.

SESAY: All right. Turning now, attention to queen bee. Beyonce is taking her fans on a roller coaster of emotions, getting raw and personal with her latest album, "Lemonade."

VAUSE: The album has been released exclusively on her husband's music J.Z. streaming music service.

Brian Stelter has more now the buzz "Lemonade" is creating among her fans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Beyonce commands attention like few other artists on the planet, and this album shows exactly why that is. Its title is "Lemonade," which makes me think of something sweet and sugary, but this is a dark album of deeply personal lyrics, sometimes raw. It's Beyonce talking about love, marriage, feminism and racial identity. Her fans are buzzing about this. They have it in a moment her movie was released on HBO on Saturday night, and then the accompanying album was streamed online.

One of the biggest talking points is about the hints of infidelity. You take a close look at the lyrics, it's clear what she's talk about. She's addressing the long-standing rumors about her marriage to Jay-Z, the rumors that, at times, he has perhaps been with other women. And what's so interesting here is that she's addressing it publicly, taking it head on, knowing this has been gossiped about for a long time. At one point, in the video, you see her walking down the street, swinging a bat, but by the end of the hour, you see her with her family and J.Z. and their daughter, Blue Ivy, appearing happy together. So it had a lot of fans buzzing.

In fact, we've seen some responses online. One of the women that's come up over the years, Rachel Roy, a fashion designer. She's been linked to J.Z. in the past. Just rumors. This is what Rachel Roy wrote on Twitter today. She said, "I respect love, marriage, family, and strength. What shouldn't be tolerated by anyone is bullying of any kind." That's seems to be a response from her to Beyonce to these new songs. We'll see if Beyonce gets into a back and forth or not.

[01:55:08] For now, it's interesting to see how Beyonce is going ahead and releasing this new album. Back during the Super Bowl, she launched one song "Formation" has sort of a preview of her future album. Then she released an hour-long movie for HBO on Saturday and then put the entire album online on the artist-owned streaming service called Tidal. Tidal is bankrolled by Jay-Z and other artists. Prince, who died a few days ago, was also a supporter of Tidal. He put many of his albums on the server. In order to access her songs for now, in order to listen to her new album, you have to sign up for Tidal. This is a big week for the service, which is promoting a free trial for people that want to check it out. Now in the weeks and months to come, she'll likely make it available in other ways as well. But for now, it's interesting to see how Beyonce is controlling her image, controlling her message and controlling her distribution.

She has a lot to say on this new album, which is why so many fans are buzzing about it.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Thanks to Brian there. I'm going to have to watch it now.

VAUSE: OK, have a fun night.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Thank you.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

We'll see you back here tomorrow.

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