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Massive Marches across the U.S. and Worldwide; Trump Attacks Media; Europe's Far Right Spurred on by Trump Win. Aired 1-1:30a ET

Aired January 22, 2017 - 01:00   ET

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


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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): On the first day of Donald Trump's presidency, tens of thousands of people marched throughout the U.S. and around the world against the new president and in support of women's rights.

And how big were the crowds at the Trump inauguration?

The new president attacks the media for allegedly underestimating attendance.

Making nice with the CIA: Trump says he supports the intelligence community "1,000 percent" after some tense moments over the last few weeks over the Russia hacking scandal.

Hi, I'm Cyril Vanier. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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VANIER: Donald Trump likes to brag about the size of the crowds that gather to support him. But during his first full day as U.S. president, huge crowds turned out to protest against him.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in U.S. cities, large and small, including Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, here in Atlanta. And protesters rallied in favor of women's rights and also against Trump's rhetoric.

The biggest march was in Washington, where protesters and celebrities took their message right to the White House's back yard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANELLE MONAE, SINGER: Women will be hidden no more. We will not remain hidden figures. We have names. We are complete human beings. And they cannot police us. So get off our areolas.

(LAUGHTER)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTOR: President Trump, I did not vote for you.

(APPLAUSE) JOHANSSON: That said, I respect that you are our president-elect and

I want to be able to support you. But first I ask that you support me. Support my sister. Support my mother. Support my best friend and all of our girlfriends. Support the men and women here today that are anxiously awaiting to see how your next moves may drastically affect their lives.

ASHLEY JUDD, ACTOR: So we are not here to be debunked. We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty. I'm nasty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Outside the U.S., thousands of people also joined in rallies in major cities around the world. CNN's Nina dos Santos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not be silent.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Across the globe they flooded the streets. Young and old, women and men, from Berlin to Barcelona, Sydney to Mexico City, protesting the politics of America's new president and urging him not to turn harsh rhetoric into reality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a sad day yesterday. I was at Barack Obama's inauguration eight years ago and yesterday was just a completely different feel. And I don't want that for my daughters. I want a much brighter, more loving future for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are afraid of the bigoted rhetoric that is happening within America transferring to Australia and becoming normalized and legitimized. And we don't want that to happen.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Between the signs and speeches, slogans of solidarity and a sea of pink knitted hats.

In Britain, even the pets had a message and women's rights were top of the agenda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People think of it as a zero-sum game, that if you take more equality, it diminishes somebody else's. A lot of men, as a lot of women, understand that the opposite is true, that gender equality is better for everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to stand up for equality and against bigotry and hatred. I'm here to show that we can be angry but also funny.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): This may have been a women's march but it was also about so much more. Here in London, people took to the streets, despite freezing temperatures and stayed on them for hours to make their views heard.

Their message to the new U.S. president, we may not have been your electorate but your decisions will affect the whole world. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here. Amnesty International is here amongst

all of these thousands of other people because we're concerned that rights that have been fought for and rights that we have been used to are under attack now.

So it is hearing President Trump talk about immigrants, Muslims, the way that he talks about women, it is our concerns and our worries about that.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Worries that are being echoed the world over as Donald Trump takes his place in the White House -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump made his first official stop as president at CIA headquarters in Virginia on Saturday.

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VANIER: He spoke about his support for the intelligence community. But he also spent much of his speech attacking the media. Jim Sciutto has the details.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I want to thank everybody. Very, very special people. And it is true. This is my first stop officially.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Day one as president and Donald Trump visiting the CIA to face the same intelligence community he has repeatedly accused of politicizing intelligence and leaking damaging information about him.

TRUMP: There is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: There's nobody (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But Trump spent more than half his speech, nine out of 15 minutes to be exact, talking about issues other than the intelligence community. Standing in front of a wall honoring 117 fallen CIA officers, he took swipes at the news media and, defying the facts, blaming his feud with the intelligence community on the media.

TRUMP: As you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you're the number one stop is exactly the opposite. Exactly. And they understand that, too.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The fact is, the president has repeatedly criticized the intelligence community, in public comments and in tweets, regarding its assessment that Russia hacked the U.S. election to help him win.

"The intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange. Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to leak into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?"

The president also used the moment to accuse the press of intentionally misstating crowd sizes at his inaugural.

TRUMP: It looked, honestly, looked like a million and a half people. Whatever it was, it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. And I turn on and, by mistake, I get this network and it showed an empty field. And it said we drew 250,000 people.

Now that's not bad. But it's a lie. We had 250,000 people, literally around -- you know, in the little bowl that we constructed. That was 250,000 people.

The rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument, was packed. So we caught them and we caught them in a beauty. And I think they're going to pay a big price.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): His assault on the press was met with some applause inside the CIA.

TRUMP: They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth.

(APPLAUSE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Trump telling the crowd that he knew the military and intelligence community had mostly voted for him.

TRUMP: And probably almost everybody in this room voted for me. But I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Mr. Trump ended on a positive tone for the gathered audience.

TRUMP: Now I just wanted to really say that I love you, I respect you. There's nobody I respect more. You're going to do a fantastic job. And we're going to start winning again and you're going to be leading the charge.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VANIER: The relationship between the Trump team and the media was already fraught during the campaign and it looks like things are not about to change now that Mr. Trump is president.

The new White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, attacked the press for, as he put it, "underestimating" the size of the crowds at Mr. Trump's inauguration. Take a look at these aerial photos so you can make your own judgment.

On the right, you see Mr. Trump's inauguration on Friday, just minutes after he was sworn in. Large sections of the National Mall are mostly vacant, showing white protective ground cover.

Compare that with Barack Obama's inauguration eight years earlier on the left. Even though there's no white ground cover visible for contrast, the mall in that same area was clearly full of people for the 2009 event.

But despite the discrepancy, Spicer declared that the crowd in 2017 was bigger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.

Even "The New York Times" printed a photograph, showing the -- that a misrepresentation of the crowd in the original tweet in their paper, which showed the full extent of the support, depth and crowd and intensity that existed.

These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong. The president is committed to unifying our country and that was the focus of his inaugural address.

This kind of dishonesty in the media, the challenging, the bringing about our nation together, is making it more difficult. There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable.

And I'm here to tell you that it goes two ways. We're going to hold the press --

[01:10:00]

SPICER: -- accountable as well. The American people deserve and as -- deserve better. And as long as he serves as the messenger for this incredible movement, he will take his message directly to the American people, where his focus will always be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Now Spicer tried to back up his claim by citing ridership numbers on Washington's subway system.

CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta found that Spicer's figures were misleading.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We know that the Metro ridership numbers cited by Sean Spicer were not accurate. I believe we have a graphic prepared for this.

Put this up on screen.

According to Washington Metro Service here in the nation's capital, 570,000 riders took Metro on the Inauguration Day yesterday for Donald Trump.

Back in 2013, it was 782,000 and then 1.1 million back in 2009. That is the full day ridership number from Metro.

So Sean came in and he gave -- Spicer came in and he gave numbers that were not complete. And part of the issue that this raises -- granted, this is the first day out for Sean Spicer, giving a briefing in the White House.

But when you're White House press secretary, it really pays dividends in the long run for him, his boss, the administration to have their facts straight.

And to pick this fight with the news media and go after everybody and accuse journalists of falsely representing what actually took place yesterday and then not coming armed with any decent facts to back that up, it just strikes me as just being woefully unprepared.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: CNN's Jim Acosta at the White House.

CNN contributor and "The New York Post" columnist Salena Zito joins us now from Washington.

Salena, day one of Donald Trump's presidency is going to remembered for Mr. Trump going after the media on a day when you're trying to set a tone.

Why doesn't he just let it go?

SALENA ZITO, "THE NEW YORK POST": We've been asking that since he won the nomination. And the relationship changed between him and the press.

And I don't know that it's going to change. It worked for him in the campaign. It worked for him in the transition period, although he did lose popularity in the most recent polls.

But at this moment, he's decided to stick with what has worked for him. And I don't see him changing anytime soon unless there's a really dramatic drop in the polls.

VANIER: Yesterday we discussed the protests that had taken place in Washington and other cities in the U.S. against Donald Trump. That was on Inauguration Day. You told me that was not unprecedented. You referred to George W. Bush.

Now that you've seen the crowds in Washington on Saturday and around the U.S. and, indeed, many cities worldwide, I want to ask you again, is that -- is there a special kind of concern here in this country and around the world against Donald Trump that there hasn't been, that there wasn't against other presidents?

ZITO: Well, you know, I mean, it was a month after President Obama took office that the Tea Party erupted. And there were massive protests across the country. They were popping up in towns everywhere. They were here in Washington. But mostly they were in places like Texas and parts of Pennsylvania and the South and, you know, all across the country.

And so it is our tradition that, when we believe that we need to hold power -- truth to power that we do so. And I think we saw it exhibited today and we saw it exhibited with President Obama. I mean, the Tea Party was just a spur in the boot of President Obama for his first two years in office.

And it showed to be incredibly effective because it was a very narrow protest. It was about fiscal responsibility. And two years later, 2010, (INAUDIBLE) lost the House, lost a majority in the House and lost the majority of the state legislative bodies across the country. So you can effect change that way if you are focused.

VANIER: That's very interesting, Salena.

Are you telling us that the level of pushback that was seen by those protests on Saturday in the U.S. against Donald Trump, you're actually equating that with the level of pushback you saw against Barack Obama eight years ago?

ZITO: Yes. I mean, it began in a small -- not a small way but it began in not in a large way as we saw today out on the mall. But it was real; it grew, it snowballed. I can remember in August of 2009 -- it -- or, no -- yes, 2009, there was a massive one in San Antonio, Texas. Then there --

[01:15:00]

ZITO: -- was one about six months later on the mall again. I think it was hosted by former CNN employee Glenn Beck. That thing, they had over 1 million people there. So this is not unprecedented. I think it's important to remember.

But it's where this goes from here. There's a lot of different groups here today with a lot of different issues. There was women's issues. There were anti-gun issues. There was ISIS issues. There were immigration issues.

If they want to make change, if they are unhappy with who they voted with -- who became the president, I think the next step for this sort of rebellion is to then get involved. And we'll see if that's something that they're willing to do.

VANIER: Salena Zito, thank you very much. Always appreciate your insights. Thanks.

ZITO: Thank you.

VANIER: Coming up after the break, Donald Trump's presidency is already impacting European far right groups. What they're saying about the new U.S. commander in chief ahead.

Plus: a crisis averted in Gambia as the country's long-time leader comes to terms with his unexpected election defeat.

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VANIER: A major earthquake has struck not far off the coast of Papua New Guinea. That's in the South Pacific. We're joined by meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

Derek, what can you tell us?

What's the latest?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Cyril, this is what we know. The U.S. Geological Survey has just re-established the number from what was a magnitude 8.0 to a magnitude 7.9.

We're splitting hairs there. This is still a very powerful, powerful earthquake that occurred at a depth of about 153 kilometers below the Earth's surface. You just talked about how this occurred just off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It was very close to land but technically just offshore.

That is why a tsunami threat does exist for Papua New Guinea and the surrounding Solomon Islands. But latest from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center indicates that the West Coast of the United States and North America does not have a threat of a tsunami wave. So that's some new information to pass along.

This occurred locally within Papua New Guinea at about half past 2:00 in the afternoon. This is the location of the epicenter. This is a Google Earth image of the surrounding area, the Solomon Islands to the south and east, Papua New Guinea to the west. We have Australia just outside of our map system here.

Just to give you an indication of how many people felt the shaking from this particular earthquake, we've put together this graphic for you. We had a relatively large population of people feeling at least very strong to severe shaking.

We're talking about 150,000 people-plus that felt very strong, severe shaking, roughly about 60,000 people in and around this particular island. Again, this is still part of Papua New Guinea, technically, if you just go to the south and east. We're talking about the Solomon Islands --

[01:20:00]

VAN DAM: -- within this particular region. Overall the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking. Some resilient structures do exist but, for the most part, they're very vulnerable. So we will look for images and video coming out of this remote part of the world.

But what we do know is this: the U.S. Geological Survey can base and compare to previous earthquakes within a similar magnitude and within a similar depth and put out a projected highest probability of fatalities. I know this is a grim way to look at it but this is helpful information for the recovery efforts.

And what they found with this particular earthquake, comparing this to past similar earthquakes, our highest probability lies between a 10- 100 fatality ratio. So we're currently at a yellow pager data from the U.S. Geological Survey. That is important information for, again, the search and rescue crews.

So we'll be keeping you informed as we get the latest information on the latest earthquake -- Cyril, back to you.

VANIER: All right Derek, thank you very much. We're going to hope for the best. And, of course, you'll keep bringing us those updates. Thanks a lot.

Now Gambia's former president has finally left the country after agreeing to step down peacefully. Yahya Jammeh flew out to the capital airport Saturday night, arriving later in Guinea. His departure came after negotiations with other West African leaders.

Troops from neighboring Senegal had been poised to remove Jammeh to enforce the results of last month's presidential election. The long- time leader had refused to relinquish power until then after his surprise defeat by this man, Adama Barrow. During his first speech as president, Barrow hailed the, quote, "victory of the Gambian nation."

Coming up after the break on CNN, a sugar-coated controversy from President Donald Trump's Inauguration Day. How it all got straightened out -- after the break.

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VANIER: Far right groups in Europe hope the populist wave that carried Donald Trump to the White House can echo across the Atlantic. At a conference of nationalist politicians in Germany on Saturday, they condemned the E.U. and praised Mr. Trump's victory as a sign of things to come. CNN's Atika Shubert has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside, thousands of protesters in Coblenz, Germany, shouted, "Neo- Nazis out."

But inside, swelling music welcomed Europe's nationalist leaders, hoping to emulate President Donald Trump's victory, each trying to ride the Trump's trans-Atlantic coattails: in France for Marine Le Pen; in the Netherlands for Geert Wilders and, in Germany, for Frauke Petry, each contesting elections this year.

A far-right meeting billed as a conference under the banner of "a Europe of nations and freedom," their political bloc in the E.U. parliament. 2017, they claimed, would be, quote, "the year of the patriots and the end of the European Union."

Le Pen led the charge.

MARINE LE PEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FRONT: (Speaking French).

SHUBERT (voice-over): "I love Germany because it's German. I love France because it's French," she said to applause.

"I do not love this chimera, this legendary monster, a German body with a Greek heart; three heads, one French, one Spanish and Italian."

She called for an end to the, quote, "anti-democratic oligarchy of the E.U." and to close Europe borders to halt immigration, decrying Germany's decision to take in nearly 1 million refugees last year as a, quote, "catastrophe," the same words recently used by Trump.

But it was the notoriously anti-Islam Wilders who spelled it out.

Quote, "Blond Europeans," he said, were in danger of becoming minorities in their own countries.

GEERT WILDERS, FOUNDER, PARTY FOR FREEDOM: (Speaking foreign language)

SHUBERT (voice-over): "Here's the bitter truth," he said.

"Our political leaders have lost the --

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SHUBERT (voice-over): "-- capacity to see and understand the truth. They no longer value our freedom. Our politicians are supporting Islamization."

The enthusiastic crowd was largely from the ranks of Petry's alternative for Germany party.

They chanted, "Merkel must go," cheering Petry on for an election against German chancellor Angela Merkel.

FRAUKE PETRY, CHAIRPERSON, ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY: (Speaking German).

SHUBERT (voice-over): "We have to be courageous to rethink Europe and Europe's freedom," she said, "for our future, for our children.

"If not now, then when?"

SHUBERT: Now every single party leader here, when they spoke, used the word "patriot" or "patriotism." And that language that President Trump used in his inauguration speech seems to be being used here to usher in a new era of unabashed nationalism in Europe.

SHUBERT (voice-over): The words, the music, the attacks on the press -- some broadcasters were even excluded. And every speech included a glowing congratulations to President Trump.

But just as in the U.S., large counterprotests are also being mobilized. 2017 may or may not be the year of the patriots. But it will certainly be a tumultuous year for Europe -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Coblenz, Germany.

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VANIER: Also worthy of note, President Trump will play host to his first visiting foreign leader in just a few days. Press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed on Saturday that British prime minister Theresa May will visit Washington late this week, although the exact date is still unclear.

Spicer first said she would come to the White House on Thursday and then Friday was also brought up as a possibility.

Finally, a controversy that arose over President Donald Trump's inaugural cake has turned out to be half-baked. When Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence cut the massive patriotic cake Friday night, it had at least one person raising an eyebrow and that was baker Duff Goldman.

Goldman tweeted that the gigantic confection looked a lot like a cake that he made for President Obama's inauguration four years earlier. The Buttercream Bakeshop in Washington then tweeted that, yes, it had been commissioned to recreate Goldman's cake and the proceeds were donated to a human rights charity, to which Goldman tweeted this -- that they had done a fantastic job of replicating his cake and he sent out a virtual group hug, y'all.

There you go. Cake controversy averted.

Thanks for watching. I'm Cyril Vanier. "Eco Solutions" is up next. But first, I'll be back with a look at the headlines. You're watching CNN. Do stay with us.

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