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Obama Gives Final White House News Conference; Trump's Tweets Can Tank Companies; Teen Abducted as Baby Reunites with Birth Parents; Judge Rejects Arrest Warrant for Samsung's Heir; "Lost in London" to Show Live as It's Filmed. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 19, 2017 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:10] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour --

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: As he prepares to leave the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama tells an anxious and divided nation "We'll all be ok."

VAUSE: Speaking out, a teenaged girl taken at birth, she says she forgives her kidnapper because she's the only mother she's ever known.

SIDNER: And live from London it's Woody Harrelson and what he says is a never been done before really bad idea for a movie.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody -- great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

SIDNER: And I'm Sara Sidner. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: It is a changing of the guard in Washington. U.S. President Barack Obama's last full day in office is Thursday and Donald Trump was also in the capital before pre-inaugural celebrations before Friday's swearing in.

SIDNER: At his last presidential news conference Mr. Obama made several remarks pointed directly at his successor.

Michelle Kosinski has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama opened his final press conference as president by thanking the press corps telling them they make the White House work better.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're not supposed to be sycophants. You're supposed to be skeptics. You're supposed to ask me tough questions. America needs you and our democracy needs you.

KOSINSKI: And he defended his decision to commute the sentence of Private Chelsea Manning, convicted of stealing and leaking sensitive military documents to WikiLeaks.

OBAMA: Let's be clear, Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent.

KOSINSKI: The President promised that if fundamental democratic principles are undermined in the days ahead he will not remain silent.

OBAMA: There is a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake.

KOSINSKI: And the President offered up advice he gave to President- Elect Trump cautioning him on who he surrounds himself with.

OBAMA: This is something I have told him. That this is a job of such magnitude, that you can't do it by yourself. You are enormously reliant on a team.

KOSINSKI: As the first black president, President Obama said he expects he won't be the last to lead the nation.

OBAMA: I think we're going to see people of merit rise up from every race, faith, corner of this country because that's America's strength. When we have everybody getting a chance and everybody's on the field, we end up being better.

KOSINSKI: And finished this last gathering by expressing his optimism for the future of the country.

OBAMA: At my core I think we're going to be ok. We just have to fight for it. WE have to work for it and not take it for granted. And I know that you will help us do that.

KOSINSKI: This is a president leaving after eight years, very popular but his candidate didn't win the election. He ran his historic campaign on hope and change but he ends with a message, "I think we're going to be ok. We just have to fight for it."

I mean that is not a very optimistic attempt at an optimistic final message. It's clear, though, he also didn't want to be critical even though he has been in the past. He wanted to frame his points as sort of warnings or advice.

And he also wouldn't weigh in at all on all the Democrats in Congress who are now boycotting the inauguration. There are dozens of them. And his administration has said that they don't think that they are harming a smooth transition or contributing to division in America but this was President Obama's chance to weigh in on that but he chose not to comment at all.

Michelle Kosinski, CNN -- the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Michael Hiltzik is a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist with the "Los Angeles Times" and he joins us now. Michael -- thank you for being with us.

Listening to Obama's press conference did you find that last part "we'll all be ok" particularly reassuring? And also like "The only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world."

MICHAEL HILTZIK, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": I think President Obama was playing the role that a president should be playing which is the assurer, the re-assurer in chief. I think really what he accomplished if he wanted to make us all miss him before he's gone he couldn't have done a better job.

He was thoughtful. He was gracious. He was pointed. And I think he left his audience with a sense that -- that there is going to be some loss. There's going to be some real difference between his approach and his successor's approach.

[00:05:06] SIDNER: I want to ask you about the President and being asked very pointedly about the Democratic Congress people who are not going to be attending which is now 50, I think. He didn't weigh in at all. He didn't make any statement, kind of stayed away from that because he knows that it's political fire bomb in some ways.

Is this a good idea for these congressmen to do this in a country that is already clearly divided?

HILTZIK: I think it's a symbol. What it signifies is that the incoming president has not actually done the outreach that one would expect a President-Elect to do. This was a very divisive presidential campaign, electoral campaign.

What you would expect after a campaign like this is that the victor, the President-Elect would reach out and would actually start the task of uniting the country as he promised to do.

I don't think he's done that. He certainly hasn't projected the sense that he sees the presidency as a full-time job with -- and everything else is now off the table. So I think he's -- he's left a lot of questions.

Certainly the fight that he picked with John Lewis, highly respected, courageous gentleman who I've met with a history of standing up for civil rights, I don't think that really bodes well. And I don't think that left a good sense for many Democrats.

There were only a couple of Democratic Congress members who had said they were going to boycott before he started this fight with John Lewis and then it mushroomed.

VAUSE: In that news conference, Obama talked about the importance of the people Trump will surround himself. One of those is Tom Price. He's tapped to head Health and Human Services, essentially the repeal of Obamacare, Department. He was savaged by Democrats at the confirmation hearing. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Can you assure this committee that you will not cut one dollar from either Medicare or Medicaid should you be confirmed to this position?

TOM PRICE (R), HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY NOMINEE: Senator, I believe that the metric ought to be the care that the patients are receiving.

WARREN: I take that as a no?

PRICE: It's the wrong metric. We ought to be putting forth the resources --

WARREN: I'm not asking you whether or not you think you have a better metrics. I'm asking you a question about dollars. Yes or no?

PRICE: What we ought to do is put forward the resources in order to take care of the patients.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: -- questions. And frankly the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid today are not going to be very reassured by your notion that you have some metric other than the dollars that they need to provide these services.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He was also hit over ethical issues. He bought got shares then voted on legislation which would benefit that company. But, you know, he got bloodied today but does any of this stick? Does any of this matter?

HILTZIK: Well, I think certainly it's going to affect the way he is perceived when he takes office, assuming he is approved and I think that's a good assumption.

A couple of things about this one is it's clear once again that you do not want to get Senator Elizabeth Warren mad.

VAUSE: Yes.

HILTZIK: Number two, I think all of these confirmation hearings this week have sort of turned into a quest for a nominee who knows the job he or she is entering, who has spent time thinking about it and who is sensitive to the responsibilities.

Tom Price, I mean, one of the problems Senator Warren pointed out that he doesn't seem to be sensitive to the way his policies or an HHS secretary's policies will affect people on the ground. But he also seems remarkably insensitive to the appearance of conflicts of interest and the fact of conflicts of interest. I think that's a real problem.

What it means is that Congressman Price, Secretary Price and his colleagues in the cabinet are going to be much -- very closely scrutinized as they go on and this is setting the stage for that sort of scrutiny going forward.

SIDNER: What do you make of the fact that many of the people who he has nominated for cabinet positions actually disagree with some of his large policies that he has kind of kept talking about like banning Muslims for a certain amount of time.

One of his nominees says no, that is wrong. And torture, no, no, no -- we don't do that water boarding sort -- that's wrong. What do you make of these nominees and having them have completely different ideas than Donald Trump?

HILTZIK: Well, I think what makes a lot of people uneasy about this is that these are all signs that Donald Trump didn't spend much time vetting or thinking about these candidates. The qualifications that he used to select them are a mystery to anybody who looks at any of these hearings.

VAUSE: Ok. Michael -- good to speak with you. Thank you for coming in. Appreciate it.

HILTZIK: My pleasure.

VAUSE: Now when the President-Elect tweets, the world is watching. South Korean media reports Seoul has hired someone just to monitor his Twitter feed because those tweets can have a huge impact on whomever or whatever is the target.

[00:10:04] On December 12th Trump lashes out at Lockheed Martin over the cost of the F-35 fighter jet program. Shares of the aerospace company dropped more than 4 percent. At the end of the day, more than 2 percent lower. Lockheed Martin's market value initially dropped $4 billion right after that tweet. That works out to be more than $28 million per character.

Just a few weeks ago it was Toyota and threats of a border tax if the car maker went ahead with plans to open a plant in Mexico. Toyota stock fell 3 percent. The company issued a statement reminding the President-Elect Toyota has been part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 60 years. "Production volume or employment in the U.S. will not decrease as a result of our new plant in Mexico announced April, 2015."

Like so much of the incoming administration this too is uncharted territory. And for many companies being caught up in a Donald Trump Twitter war it's now looked at as a potential crisis like a huge product recall or massive corporate fraud.

Eric Rose is a partner at EKAPR. He joins us now. He's a specialist in crisis management.

So, Eric -- potentially how much damage could a company find itself in if it is in the wrong end of one of Donald Trump's tweets?

ERIC ROSE, EKA PUBLIC RELATIONS: A company could be in a significant amount of trouble if they don't have a plan in place to react to what the President-Elect is about to say. Arguably he has the two most powerful thumbs in the world now. And whether you like him or you don't like him or you agree with his tweets or you don't agree with his tweets, companies need to have a plan in place to be able to react quickly.

There's a saying in crisis management that happens whether it's with a Twitter war or with an airline disaster -- speed matters. And companies need to be prepared immediately to react to the President. It doesn't mean getting into a fight with the President. It could be putting out the facts as Toyota did or as Boeing did relative to the new Air Force Ones.

VAUSE: Is it just the positive -- is it the negative tweets, rather? Because the positive tweets can also cause damage and I'm of the closing manufacturer LL Bean.

ROSE: Absolutely. And because you don't know who is going the read the tweet, how they're going to react. And so whether because Donald Trump thought that he was going to be doing something positive for LL Bean. He put out a tweet that then reminded people who were unaware of the support of LL Bean to Donald Trump. It turned off some people.

Obviously he will have to be a little more versed in the laws coming forward because as president he would not be allowed legally to even make the tweet that he did relative to encouraging people to buy a certain product.

But put that aside. The real question is how do companies react? What do they have to do? He has a knack for doing something very, very smart whether we like it or not. And that is he puts out his tweets very early in the morning and then he helps dictate the news cycle for the day.

It's a very smart strategy and what happens is whether it's CNN or any other major media outlet you are following what he says and he's going to be the President of the United States soon. And the stories of the day go based upon what he tweets out. He's found an effective way to go around the media.

VAUSE: So we have to be careful in what we decide and obviously we should (inaudible) what the President says and tweets but we have to obviously provide context and realize when something is a distraction and when something is false. That is the challenge for us.

But right now it seems Trump is combining the speed of the Internet and social media and soon the power of the White House. There has been nothing like this before.

ROSE: There's nothing like it. And matter of fact, sometimes we have seen in recent days, he gets things wrong. When he was trying to defend his daughter relative to a CNN story he put out the wrong hashtag and talked about the wrong Ivanka. So what the President- Elect and soon-to-be President does on Twitter has significant ramifications not only for big companies but for individuals as well.

And the question really is, how do you respond? And I think that if you're potentially in the cross hairs, so for example, if you are a company that has something to do with immigration, with national defense, or going to be closing out a factory, you should be anticipating that the President-Elect or soon-to-be President might be talking about you and what are you going to say immediately after the President says something?

VAUSE: Good days for crisis PR, huh? Eric -- thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

ROSE: Thank you for your time.

VAUSE: Ok. And CNN has unique access to Barack Obama's final days in power. Tune in for "THE END: INSIDE THE LAST DAYS OF THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE". It airs Thursday 5:00 p.m. in Hong Kong; 9:00 a.m. if you're watching in London.

SIDNER: And just ahead. At 18 she is finally getting to meet her biological family. She was abducted hours after her birth. Just ahead, what she has to say about the woman who took her.

[00:14:51] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: The woman accused of abducting a baby from a Florida hospital 18 years ago is now awaiting trial.

VAUSE: Gloria Williams appeared in court on Wednesday charged with kidnapping and interfering with custody.

SIDNER: But the girl she raised is defending the only mother she has known even as she faces possible life in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS MANIGO, ABDUCTED AS A BABY: If you call me Alexis, call me Alexis. If you call me Kamiyah, I'm still going to answer.

I still feel the same about her. There's nothing different. There's nothing different. I'm processing it like I said. But I'm a big girl. It's just like I'm at my front door right now. But I'm a big girl. I can process it all.

But like I said my feelings toward my mother will never changed. I probably cried more than I have in the past, definitely. But there's nothing we can stop. I'm just going to take it and keep going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She's a strong girl and now Kamiyah Mobley finds herself torn between the woman she has known as her mother for 18 years and the mother she never had a chance to know.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: July, 1998 Kamiyah Mobley was just a few hours old when a woman dressed as a nurse walked out of this Florida hospital with her and vanished without a trace. It left her mother devastated and longing for a daughter's return.

[00:20:04] SHANARA MOBLEY, BIRTH MOTHER: I mean I would be the happiest thing in the world (inaudible) right now is to hold my baby and to know that she's not going nowhere.

SIDNER: For 18 years the kidnapped girl, renamed Alexis, lived in a small South Carolina town where she called this woman "mom". But now the woman who raised her, Gloria Williams is behind bars charged with kidnapping and interference with custody. She could spend the rest of her life in prison if convicted.

MANIGO: Your whole life you've been known as Alexis, Lexi, you know. And then now it's like people are referring to you as someone else, nationally.

SIDNER: The secret was exposed when Alexis began looking for a job and found problems with her applications.

SHERIFF MIKE WILLIAMS, JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF'S OFFICE: She had fraudulent identification. Her social security card and her birth certificate were both, you know, fraudulent and that began to raise questions.

SIDNER: And when Alexis' DNA matched Kamiyah's, investigators got their break and her birth parents finally got to hug their girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did the meeting go with her?

CRAIG AIKEN, FATHER: First meeting was beautiful. It was wonderful. There is no better -- I'm trying to process it. 18 years. It's going to be hard to make that up.

SIDNER: But Alexis says she will never turn her back on the woman that raised her.

MANIGO: I love her to death. Keep your head up and I love you. Hang in there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Attorney Sara Azari and psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Mann join us now with more on this. Thank you both for being with us.

Sara -- first to you, in Florida like many other states, under the law there, the victim's opinion is usually considered by the prosecution. So what happens in a case like this where you have the daughter, Alexis saying don't be too hard on my mom, she's the only mom I've ever known; and you are the biological parents could not know this but they could understandably push for the maximum penalty that they could get. How do prosecutors (inaudible) that out?

SARA AZARI, ATTORNEY: I think it's important to identify who the real victim is in this case. The real victims are the biological parents not this girl. I mean this girl is now the victim of the circumstances because she is torn between a mother who really she considers to be her mother even though she is not her biological mother, she's her abductor; versus the family that's just so overwhelmingly joyous and excited that she doesn't feel the same as they do.

But they are the real victims. They are the ones that have been deprived of parenthood, of years of graduations and birthday parties and all sorts of things. And I think that they will have a say in this and she could face up to 30 years in prison if she's convicted of this.

SIDNER: I have a question for you -- Jenn, because you know, you talked about the fact that the real -- from the legal perspective the real victims are the parents who didn't get a chance. This girl didn't really know until now. But now she has this emotional sort of baggage hanging over her where she's got a mother who had her and a mother who raised her. How does she get through this?

DR. JENN MANN, PSYCHOLOGIST: This is so massive this young woman can't even fully comprehend it. I think that she is probably still pretty much in shock. And that like Sara was saying, the parents are the original victims, that they've had 18 years of longing and wishing for their daughter and hoping she was alive and longing to be with her.

For their daughter this is sudden and this is a loss. Suddenly the woman who she has known as her mother has been lost to her. I mean it's incomprehensible and also what you have to look at is that bonding takes place in those first three years.

SIDNER: Right.

MANN: This is a child who knew nothing other than this woman as her mother. And then one day she wakes up in her 18th year of life and finds out, this is not who she thought she was -- that her mother is a criminal; her mother committed a criminal, heinous act to get her.

VAUSE: Ok. To Sara's point, the parents -- the biological parents are the victims. If they push for the maximum penalty what impact would that have as they try to reestablish a relationship with their biological daughter?

MANN: That's a great question. I think it will make the relationship more complicated.

VAUSE: Yes.

MANN: Because this daughter feels loyalty to the woman who raised her even though she abducted her and her mind can't even fully comprehend that abduction. Right now all she is seeing is the 18 years of love and devotion that this woman has given her and she can't really think beyond that.

And look, typically, this is very different than Stockholm syndrome where someone is kidnapped and abused. This is someone who was kidnapped and loved. So it makes it so much more complicated because something so terrible was done to her but she experienced 18 positive years with this person which is really going to have some tremendous lasting effects.

VAUSE: (inaudible) to Sara -- so if this goes to a jury trial, they may do a plea deal, but they may go to a jury. Could it end in jury nullification? Because, you know, she raised her. She was in a loving environment. No harm was essentially done to her in those 18 years. She said it was amazing, the best years of her life kind of thing, she loved every minute being with her kidnapper, essentially.

[00:25:00] So jury nullification. Yes, she is guilty but we're just saying that she won't be convicted.

AZARI: No, kidnapping in most states, including Florida, is a first degree felony. It's a very serious crime. And the fact that she was given a good life and she wasn't abused and she was taken care of probably much better than if she was with her biological parents is not really a defense. It doesn't absolve the liability of the crime, the guilt.

And I think that in Florida the defenses that can be put up for this is the consent of the parents, lack of intent and insanity. And I think as a criminal defense lawyer I would really look into the lack of intent. I find it very suspect that this woman -- I don't know what the relationship is with the biological parents. I think there's more about them that we need to know. It doesn't add up to me somebody would just pinpoint this particular hospital room, go in and pick up this child eight hours after she was born and nobody catches her as she walks out.

So I think that, you know, the defense attorneys for Gloria need to really focus on who these people are. Who are her biological parents? Is there a relationship? What were the circumstances? Were there percipient witnesses in the hallways of this hospital? Were there cameras?

Unfortunately when a case gets old, 18 years now, memories fade, witnesses die. People are gone -- you can't locate them and evidence is gone. This hospital was sued and there was a settlement by the biological parents in the year 2000. So I would I think that they'd probably have destroyed the video footage that may have existed at the time.

So unfortunately there's going to be some challenges to the evidentiary part of this as well.

SIDNER: If there is no doubt that this is the woman who was the abductor and didn't just end up with the child from someone else, is there any way that the judge is going to let in some of the evidence from the daughter, from the biological family? Obviously they are the victims, right?

AZARI: Of course.

SIDNER: So will the daughter's testimony be let in? Or will they after the jury --

AZARI: The daughter meaning the 18-year-old? SIDNER: The 18-year-old yes.

AZARI: Yes. But you know, what can this daughter testify to when she was eight hours old -- right?

SIDNER: Right.

AZARI: I don't know if she was perceiving anything, let alone to be recalling it, right. But definitely the biological parents, the mother I'm assuming is going to take the stand and say yes, this was the woman who came into my room. This was the woman who took the child. But again we need other, you know, witnesses who are not related to the case who can come in and say what they saw because she may not be the abductor.

VAUSE: Very quickly -- sorry Dr. Jenn -- we're running out of time. But right now Alexis is very forgiving towards her kidnapper, the woman who raised her. Will those feelings change over time?

MANN: I think that as she matures, as she hopefully has some therapy and some support that, you know, our first instincts tends to be the first instincts of children who have abusers is to protect the parent. Her abuser is her parent and she was a very loving abuser.

My understanding is that this woman cased the joint for 14 hours --

VAUSE: Yes.

MANN: She talked to other people. She asked about this baby. She sat in that room for five hours pretending to be a nurse and then walked off with this baby. And the grandmother instinctually called the police because she had a gut instinct that something didn't add up.

VAUSE: Sara and Dr. Jenn -- thanks for coming in.

AZARI: Thank you.

MANN: Our pleasure.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

A short break here.

When we come back, the heir to Samsung's business empire avoids arrest in the corruption scandal engulfing the South Korean president. We'll explain why.

SIDNER: Plus an avalanche had trapped more than a dozen people inside a hotel in Italy. We'll tell you about rescue efforts, coming up in just a bit.

[00:28:37] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:32:05] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I'm John Vause. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Sara Sidner. Barack Obama held his last news conference as U.S. president on Wednesday. He defended his controversial decision to commute army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning's prison sentence for leaking national security documents. Mr. Obama also expressed concerns over Donald Trump's readiness for office, but said he believes in the U.S. and its people.

VAUSE: Gambian's president is refusing to step down. Yahya Jammeh claims there were voting irregularities in December's election. And a spokesman for Senegal's army says troops are massing at the border to intervene if Mr. Jammeh does not leave office. Adama Barrow is expected to be sworn in as president of Gambia on Thursday.

SIDNER: North Korea has likely built two intercontinental ballistic missiles and put them on mobile launchers to test fire in the near future. Yonhap News agency also reporting that Pyongyang is apparently sending a strategic message to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. South Korea's joint chief-of-staff could not confirm the report.

Satellite imagery also shows increased activity in North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility. The monitoring group 38 North says the images indicate Pyongyang may be preparing to restart operations at its plutonium reduction reactor.

VAUSE: A South Korean judge has rejected an arrest warrant for Samsung's vice chairman and heir Lee J. Young. Well, the case is at the center of the corruption scandal involving President Lee Jae-yong. Prosecutors accuse Lee of paying millions during government reports for a controversial business merger.

SIDNER: Alexandra Field is joining us now from Seoul with more on that story.

Alexandra, the courts have let him walk free for the legal battle. Is the battle over now?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he did spent the night in detention and then he was set free after a judge released a decision saying that despite the request from the prosecutor's office, he wouldn't issue this arrest warrant and he said that was because it was too difficult to recognize the reason, necessity and significance of arrest at this stage. That does not mean that prosecutors can't in the future pursue another arrest warrant.

In fact, they have come out and said that they will continue this investigation. It is to them a vital investigation because it is, again, related as you point out to this political scandal that has rocked the country going all the way to the top. Lawmakers voted just last month to impeach the president. Her case is now in a constitutional court where it could be decided, whether or not -- or where it will be decided whether or not she should be released from office.

But you are seeing on the screen there Jay Y. Lee walking into court yesterday. That's where a judge had to hear parts of this case. His attorneys, of course, arguing that he should be released. The prosecutor's office, of course, arguing that he should be detain before the judge spent some time overnight making that decision to release him.

We know that Jay Y. Lee left the detention center early this morning and he went to Samsung's offices where local media are reporting that he met with the country's top leadership.

[00:35:00] Jay Y. Lee has denied the allegations against him. Prosecutors have said that he facilitated the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in order to grease the wheels with the government for a corporate merger that help to consolidate his power at Samsung where he is the heir apparent while his father, the chairman, remains incapacitated. The company, Samsung, has also come out publicly defending him and denying any wrongdoing. Right now, they are saying that they appreciate the judge's decision not to detain him but, again, prosecutors being clear that this investigation is by no means over.

Sara?

SIDNER: They understand that his father had convicted a couple of times of corruption, but pardon by president. And South Koreans are really watching this closely. For many weekends, there have been rallies.

What are South Koreans saying? What have you heard from the public about this particular case and what's its impact politically?

FIELD: Yes, look, the wider scandal here has certainly gripped the public's attention. And, you know, it was the people on the streets that really called attention to what was going on at the top when they first heard the allegations against President Park.

You know, it was a couple of months ago where we saw tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets and, you know, sort of rallying and railing against corruption -- political corruption.

People who are, you know, smelling a rat here feel the same way about the Samsung chief. They want to see justice. They do not want to see corruption or allegations of corruption in these large conglomerates, which are so vital to South Korea's economy.

So there is some disappointment that's being expressed from the people that we talked to on the street and on Twitter saying, you know, the same rules don't apply to the country's elite, the business leaders. There are others, of course, who say they don't want to see any harm coming to Samsung. They hope that Samsung isn't involved in anything improper because this company is such a large and vital part of the economy here.

SIDNER: Sure, it's a huge economic juggernaut. Thank you so much, Alexandria Field from Seoul for us.

A rescue operation is underway now in Central Italy after an avalanche trapped people inside a hotel. VAUSE: Media are reporting that 20 people are staying there and three are believed to be missing. The area was hit by a series of earthquakes on Wednesday triggering the avalanche.

SIDNER: Not far from the hotel, Italian official say an elderly man was killed when a building collapsed due to the earthquakes and heavy snow there.

VAUSE: The earthquake has also forced Rome's metro system and some schools to evacuate.

SIDNER: Just ahead, actor Woody Harrelson's one of a kind feature film that will attempt to play before live audiences in movie theaters while it's being filmed.

VAUSE: Also, coming up, Donald Trump soon-to-be resident in Washington. Also, one of those expensive addresses in the world. What would 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue look like if it was listed for sale?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This is a refreshing way to pump up your film. Actor Woody Harrelson says his upcoming film "Lost in London" is the worst idea he's ever had, but that won't stop the ambitious project from going forward early Friday morning.

VAUSE: But it's fine because he's had a few bad ideas in his time. But what makes "Lost in London" so tricky, it will also attempt to be showing, live, in a select number of movie theaters. It's also filmed in a single take.

Here's Neil Curry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODY HARRELSON, ACTOR: I'm Woody Harrelson.

WILLIE NELSON, ACTOR: Hello, I'm Willie Nelson.

OWEN WILSON, ACTOR: And I'm Owen Wilson. And we're here in London and we're getting ready to shoot a movie live with one camera, right, Woody?

HARRELSON: Correct. Yes, sir.

WILSON: This is your brain child.

NEIL CURRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "Lost in London" was inspired by a night 15 years ago, which began with Woody Harrelson leaving a night club, developed into a car chase and ended with him in a police cell accused of damaging a London taxi cab.

HARRELSON: I wouldn't say it haunts me, but I don't look at it and laugh. You know, it was a dreadful, dreadful night.

CURRY (on-camera): Is it cathartic in a way addressing this story?

HARRELSON: Yes, it is cathartic. It feels like I needed to get this story out. It was developed out of this desire I've always had, because I really love theater and I really love film and I always wanted to marry the two.

It's the most dangerous idea I've ever had only because I have followed through on it. I've had dangerous ideas I didn't follow through on.

We got 30 actors, we got 14 locations, we got four cars, you know, so getting in and out of vehicles and you know, it's -- it just seems it's monumental. This undertaking was monumental. We got 24 sound people on this. This may be the most complicated sound thing ever, you know, attempted.

NELSON: Hi, I'm Willie Nelson.

HARRELSON: And I'm Woodrow.

WILSON: Don't leave me. That leaves me all to myself. I have the toughest role of all.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRELSON: My best buddy in the story and in life is Owen Wilson. And also one of my best buddies, Willie Nelson is doing it. Both of those really make me happy.

CURRY: Shooting takes place between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. on Friday in London, which means cinema audiences in the U.S. get a chance to witness movie history on Thursday night.

HARRELSON: It's being distributed to fathom events. They are the ones putting it over 500 cinemas and the life after this, you know, having good conversations with iTunes.

On the other hand, if you want to watch a car crash, this could be your best opportunity.

NELSON: Absolutely.

HARRELSON: But it could be great.

WILSON: So show up for Woody.

NELSON: And wear your seat belt.

WILSON: Done.

HARRELSON: Thank you.

CURRY: Neil Curry, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: On Friday, the president-elect will be moving from the glittering gold of Trump Tower in New York to the most stately surroundings of the White House. And for a billionaire developer, it's prime real estate.

SIDNER: Now if the White House were for sale, which it's not, by the way, the real estate site Zillow estimates it would go on the market just shy of $400 million. Only a handful of luxury estates around the world can boast a real estate value that high.

VAUSE: The historic U.S. presidential complex covers 55,000 square feet, has 16 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, it comes with a equipped kitchen which can whip up state dinners for up to 140 guests with a down payment -- rather, your estimate refinance payment will be $1.5 million each month.

SIDNER: But you can stay there relatively for free if you become president.

VAUSE: Apparently, I hear it's off the market right now for another four years.

SIDNER: Thank you so much for watching. CNN NEWSROOM, live, from Los Angeles. I'm Sara Sidner.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" with Kate Riley is up next. And then we'll be back, her and me, for another hour of news from all around the world.

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