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CNN NEWSROOM

Donald Trump Lashes Out At Media Over Veterans Donations; Philippines President-Elect on Slain Jouranlists; ISIS Putting Up Fight in Fallujah; Brazil's Polluted Bay Raises Concerns Before Olympics; State Dept Issues Travel Alert for Europe; Crisis in Venezuela; "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" Set to Open in July. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 1, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


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

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Beat the press. Donald Trump lashes out at reporters for asking questions about the money he raised for U.S. veterans.

VAUSE: The fight for Fallujah: ISIS launches a counter-offensive against Iraqi forces, as the U.N. warns the terror group is using hundreds of families as human shields.

SESAY: No food, no toilet paper, no medicine. Why one journalist says living in Venezuela is worse than Syria.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. We'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us; I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay; "NEWSROOM L.A." starts right now.

VAUSE: Donald Trump has taken his dislike for the media to a whole new level, insulting individual reporters, calling one of them sleazy, during a news conference at Trump Tower which was both combative and contentious.

SESAY: Trump had called the news conference to highlight the millions he's raised for veterans. This comes as one of Trump's most controversial business ventures is under increasing scrutiny. Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was supposed to be a day for Donald Trump to salute the nation's veterans and highlight the $5.6 million he's raised for their causes.

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is my check for a million dollars.

ACOSTA: Trump ticked off the more than 40 groups he claims are receiving donations, some in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, from the Fisher House Foundation to the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. But clearly furious after months of questions about exactly where the money is going, Trump engaged in some verbal combat of his own, against a target he has attacked before --

TRUMP: You know my opinion to the media, it's very low.

ACOSTA: -- the news media.

TRUMP: Instead of being thank you very much, Mr. Trump, or Trump did a good job, everyone said who got it, who got it, who got it, and you make me look very bad.

ACOSTA: So Trump took aim at the reporters asking the questions.

You keep calling us the dishonest press. It seems as though you are resistant to scrutiny, the kind of scrutiny that comes with running for President of the United States?

TRUMP: I like scrutiny, but, you know what? When I raise money --

ACOSTA: You raise money for veterans -

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. I have watched you on television. You're a real beauty. What I don't want is when I raise millions of dollars, have people say, like this sleazy guy right over here, from ABC. He's a sleaze in my book.

ACOSTA: Trump went on to say he never wanted credit for helping veterans causes.

TRUMP: I didn't want credit for it. Now, actually, though what I got was worse than credit, because they were questioning me.

ACOSTA: But it was Trump who launched his fundraising drive as a major media event, rivaling a GOP debate in Iowa he was skipping.

TRUMP: We actually raised close to six, to be totally honest; and I have to say, a lot more to come.

ACOSTA: The presumptive GOP nominee also fired off on the questions being raced by Trump University, the real estate school he founded that's being sued by former students who say it's nothing more than a fraud. Newly released documents in the case reveal some of the programs aggressive sales techniques, including a playbook that focused on how to market more expensive courses to students. Trump has questioned the motives of the judge handling the case, noting his ethnicity.

TRUMP: So what happens is, the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great. I think that's fine.

ACOSTA: When asked why he highlighted the judge's heritage, Trump didn't answer the question.

Why mention the judge is Mexican?

TRUMP: Because I'm a man of principal, and most of the people that took those courses have letters saying they thought it was great; essentially.

ACOSTA: As Trump told reporters today, his combative style isn't about to change, even at White House press conferences.

TRUMP: It is going to be like this, David. If the press writes false stories, like they did with this --

ACOSTA: Trump also wrote off the odds of a third-party challenge in the upcoming general election, describing Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson as a fringe candidate.

Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: What a day, what a day. Well, joining us here in L.A., Ron Brownstein, Senior Political Analyst and Senior Editor of "The Atlantic".

VAUSE: Also, Dylan Byers, CNN's Senior Reporter for Media and Politics. Dylan, let's start with you. The type of questions that Donald Trump was being asked at this new conference, about the money that he raised for charity, for U.S. veterans, was there anything there which was particularly difficult, that was unfair, that was leading, that was anything out of ordinary that a Republican nominee for president would be receiving at this point in the campaign?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR MEDIA AND POLITICS REPORTER: No, not at all. This was basic. This was 101. This is the level of scrutiny that you are supposed to get if you are running for the highest office in the land. That's not -- there are so many Trump supporters who would like to believe [00:05:01] the American media is just biased, that it has a liberal bias, that it has an anti-Donald Trump bias, a pro- establishment bias, and that therefore, any question to Donald Trump they see that as a question not being asked of Hillary Clinton.

Even Donald Trump is out there saying, I've done a great thing here. I raised $5.6 million for veterans. why aren't you guys saying great job? That's not the role of a free press. That's not the role of a (inaudible). They are supposed to be asking holding candidates to account. They are supposed to be asking why he didn't release this information sooner, and that's what they did.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND SENIOR EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": And as "The Washington Post" did -

SESAY: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: -- in the story that precipitated that.

SESAY: And he knows that. I mean, Ron, so let me ask you this: he goes on and he calls the media dishonest. He calls them disgusting and then he holds a 45-minute press conference.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Right.

SESAY: So the question is, how much of this scolding was strategy and just him trying to dominate the news cycle?

BROWNSTEIN: I'm sure a big piece of it was. Look, I had a conversation, interesting conversation during the primaries with Alex Castellanos, who is a longtime Republican consultant, and he was puzzling himself over why Donald Trump was able to hold so much support among conservatives despite all his deviations from conservative orthodoxy and he said, you know, what he finally concluded was Trump was so popular because he went after our enemies, hammer and tongue. He attacked the sources, the elements of the society and the powers in society that Republican-based voters have wanted to hear attacked.

Today, Rush Limbaugh described this as the press conference Republican voters have been waiting for forever.

BYERS: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: So, in a sense, Trump has operated under the theory, the enemy of my enemy makes me their friend.

BYERS: To that point, I don't believe that every Donald Trump supporter out there doesn't recognize the inconsistencies in what Donald Trump is saying.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: Yes.

BYERS: I don't - you know, the Jonathan Chait's thesis that there's just a lot of dumb people in the Republican Party. I think they understand that what he is doing is not quite above-board, but I think that they are so angry at the media, they feel so cut out -

VAUSE: Right.

BYERS: -- from the liberal elite coastal establishment and they view the media as such a cancer on what -- on American society, in their view, that they are so happy to see someone -

BROWNSTEIN: And one of many, right?

SESAY: Yes, absolutely.

BROWNSTEIN: The core appeal, I think, of Trump in the primaries has been to voters who feel both economically, culturally and demographically marginalized and that he is advancing their cause and saying things in public that no one has been willing to say, and that is what I think has allowed him to hold such a visceral connection with them, despite a succession of controversies that we keep saying would have feld any other candidate.

SESAY: How do you flip that for the general election? Completely different constituencies.

BYERS: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, that's the problem. It continues, but it continues with those voters, but the very intensity of Trump that allows him to kind of create that strong a bond is alienating to many other voters; and the problem he's got is this coalition, what I call the coalition of restoration who believes that America has drifted away from what it historically has been, has not been a majority of the electorate, and this kind of attack today, again, reassuring but narrowing.

VAUSE: Hillary Clinton obviously seeing this as an issue. She went after Donald Trump earlier on CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, via telephone: He has bragged for months about raising $6 million for veterans and donating a million dollars himself but it took a reporter to shame him into actually making his contribution and getting the money to veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Hillary Clinton there. Also the campaign released this ad on Twitter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He is not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 5 1/2 years -

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This is one small part of what was reportedly meant to be this multi-pronged attack by the Clinton campaign directed at Donald Trump to disrupt this very big news conference. Dylan, did it work?

BYERS: I think it worked to a degree. I almost think that - look, Donald Trump, by making this about the media and by making it about Donald Trump versus the media, he owned the news cycle today more than Hillary Clinton could have ever hoped to. But, look --

BROWNSTEIN: That is every day.

BYER: That is every day, but by -- you go back to what Ron is talking about, in terms of the difference between the general election audience and primary audience. In a way this is sort of a layup for the Hillary Clinton campaign. One of her spokespeople tweeting today, very much in the vein of that ad, imagine this being the president of the United States. Look at this press conference and imagine that's the President of the United States. I just don't think there are enough people in a general election who are going to vote for that kind of president.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I think, you know, Democrats in the Clinton campaign see two fundamental weaknesses in Trump: one is this question of being divisive [00:10:01] and trying to revert to an earlier cultural vision of what America is and who is a legitimate American. The other is temperament. As president, is this someone you want, fundamentally, with nuclear weapons and the IRS and the FBI, when he is attacking, by name, and mentioning the ethnicity of a judge sitting over a case involving Trump University and delivering these kinds of attacks today?

Again, the things that Trump -- this kind of performance today and I think Alex Castellanos is right, endears him to a lot of Republican voters who have been waiting to hear someone say something like this, whether a majority of Americans will look at that and say that is a plausible president, or that is the temperament I want in a president, that's a different question. That's probably the biggest single hurdle.

BYERS: Which to me leads to one more question, which to me is what is - is what he's doing here strategic? Does he believe that there actually are enough Americans who will come around to his anger? Or is that the press got so under his skin -

VAUSE: Yes.

SESAY: Yes.

BYERS: -- that he doesn't know how to pivot to a general election strategy?

BROWNSTEIN: We will find out.

VAUSE: We will.

BROWNSTEIN: Six more months.

SESAY: Indeed.

VAUSE: It's only going to get better. Ron and Dylan, thanks for coming in.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll talk next hour. We've got a lot more ground to make up next hour, --

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: -- so stick around.

SESAY: All right, thank you guys. Now, while Donald Trump is lashing out at reporters, the president-elect of the Philippines doesn't seem to mind if they are killed in his country.

VAUSE: At a news conference on Tuesday Rodrigo Duterte said journalists killed in the Philippines are often corrupt and "just because you are a journalist you are not exempt from assassination." Duterte was asked how to protect press freedom after a crime reporter was killed in Manila last week. A journalist union called Duterte's comments "appalling."

Go to Syria right now, where deadly air strikes have hit the rebel- held city of Idlib, but it's not clear who is responsible.

SESAY: And in Iraq military official says ISIS is putting up a big fight as security forces try to retake Fallujah from the terror group. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Syria's youngest caught in the line of fire in Idlib. Rescue crews work desperately. A small body pulled from the wreckage.

At least 23 people were killed in air strikes, one hitting near a hospital. The Russians deny they conducted the strikes. Across Syria and Iraq, civilians caught in the middle as ISIS tries to defend its turf.

In Fallujah, the last major ISIS stronghold in Anbar Province, West of Baghdad, Iraqi forces are pushing from the South and East. Iranian backed militias from the North. The U.N. says there are heavy civilian casualties as ISIS callously uses them for protection.

WILLIAM SPINDLER, SPOKESMAN, UNHCR: There are also reports of several hundred families being used as human shields by ISIL in the center of Fallujah.

STARR: Iraqi and militia forces not yet in the city center, there are thousands of booby-traps and mines laid by ISIS.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: If they are being used a human shields, as the U.N. report indicates, that means that they have absolutely no way out, and they are going to be pawns in the struggle between ISIS and the Iraqi Government, as well as the Shi'a militias; and it is going to be one of the worst scenes that we can possibly imagine.

STARR: It's significant the Iraqis are staying to fight in Fallujah, not running away as the battle intensifies.

COL. STEVE WARREN, SPOKESPERSON, ANTI-ISIS COALITION: We think the state of play is much improved from a year ago. A year ago, here in Iraq, the barbarians were at the gate. Baghdad was actually threatened and, in theory, was in direct danger of being invaded by these animals that we call ISIL. Now we have driven them back.

STARR: But from the top U.S. commander, continuing caution.

GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I am being very pragmatic in this. I think we will continue to work through more obstacles. We'll continue to see some setbacks, but I think we will also see some continued progress.

STARR: There is another complication. Iranian backed Shi'a militias are also in the fight to retake Fallujah, a Sunni town, a lot of concern that sectarian violence could break out.

Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well here with us Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Senior Fellow at the Council On Foreign Relations.

VAUSE: And Senior Military Analyst, Retired Major General James "Spider" Marks is with us, from Phoenix, Arizona. General Marks, first to you; with the stakes now so high for both the Iraqi government as well as the ISIS forces here, would you say that neither side is willing to lose this battle and they will do whatever they have to do to win, and that includes leveling the city?

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (Retired), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the second part of your question, John, is the qualifier. I don't know that I would -- I would hope the Iraqi forces would not do anything they have to do, which would connote violations of laws of land warfare, but, look, we have seen some incredible egregious activities on the ground in Iraq.

Yes, ISIS is dug into Fallujah. This is a key piece of terrain and they have [00:15:01] decided this is where they want to fight. Iraqi forces really are a combination of Iraqi security forces, popular mobilization, really an Iraqi force made up of Shi'a forces. You also have Sunni tribesmen and also you have Shi'a militia that are already, in many cases, right on the outskirts of the city. So this has the real potential of getting much more contentious and clearly a much more horrible engagement going forward we would have to anticipate.

VAUSE: And, General, we're hearing from the U.N. that hundreds of families are being used as human shields inside Fallujah. Tactically, as a commander, if you are confronted by that, how do you deal with it? What do you do?

MARKS: Well, frankly, the rules of engagement would tell you, you have got to back off. You are not going to fight your way through a human shield to get to your enemies. You are going to use collateral damage estimates in order to apply force as appropriately and precisely as you can. There are things you can do. Bear in mind, you are not completely -- your hands are not completely tied in this instance, but it really restricts your options.

So what you are talking about is if you can't engage directly, you are now going to have to encircle Fallujah and it becomes a siege, a stalemate of some sort, which prolongs the amount of time, which really drains persistence, which really drains the international support and might, in fact, fracture the Iraqi forces going forward, if it takes too much time.

SESAY: General Marks, stand by for us. If I could bring in Gayle at this point. As you look at the situation, how concerned are you by the sectarian overtones of this battle, the fact that you have these Shi'a militias, you know, involved in an operation to take predominately Sunni Fallujah?

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, this has always been the concern, you know, Spider Marks talking about it, the fear of it becoming more contentious. I think that is exactly what, in Washington, has always been the fear, that this would be a sectarian conflict that only gets more aggravated. I think you see right now the limitations of the U.S. policy, both to stay out of Iraq and to keep from going back in.

This is a president who has elected to end wars, in theory. Yet, where do we find the conversation right now? Back to Fallujah, back to the discussion about sectarian violence. I think it's very concerning.

SESAY: (Inaudible) you know, let's say, as expectation is, that Fallujah is taken. What comes next? What comes next for the space that has long been resistant to authority over Shi'a dominated government in Baghdad. What does the road ahead look like, even if Fallujah is taken?

LEMMON: The and then what question has always been the central conversation. Remember, we started this whole conversation in Syria; right? The whole discussion, when you talk about people who wanted to go in earlier in Syria, intervene, was that ISIS was simply a symptom, it was never the cancer. Now you see U.S. forces back, you know, in an advise and assist role, but certainly, U.S. air power very much involved. The question is, has the governance problem in Baghdad been solved? When you talk to most people who are watching that daily, the answer is no.

VAUSE: Just back to the General Marks, according to some reports there's what, 10,000 Shi'ite militia circling Falluja. There's also the Iraqi army there in fairly big numbers as well. You have U.S.-led coalition air strikes, which are also hitting Fallujah. All to take account of no more than 1,000 ISIS fighters inside? Explain why this battle is so difficult, because it looks, just on the surface, that ISIS is incredibly outnumbered.

MARKS: Well, they are outnumbered; but what they have -- clearly ISIS fighters right now have had the benefit of time, where they have been able to dig in and in many cases they have been able to persuade some of the citizens and the residents in Fallujah that ISIS is a better solution than Shi'a militia. That's a big problem. So these kinds of inter-nicing connections, just get aggravated over time and become stronger and stronger. That's a big concern.

There really is a dilemma right now in terms of what some residents inside Fallujah, which way they are going to go, whether with ISIS, which seems absolutely abhorrent. It's a decision that we can't really fathom but it's one that's real on the ground when it's the devil you know versus the devil you don't know. Those are the decisions being made right now. SESAY: ISIS has upended communities. It's upended the region. We have seen refugees fleeing from the region, their mixed along with migrants seeking a better life. In many cases trying to cross the Mediterranean, from Libya, to get into Europe. We want to put up an image which is really just totally heart wrenching. An image now, showing a baby being cradled by a volunteer working for Sea Watch Search and Rescue Operation, search and rescue [00:20:01] organization. A dead baby that really has -- like that image you saw of Allen Kurdy many months ago on the beaches of Turkey, really drives home the plight of ordinary people there in the region, as they try to flee the carnage.

LEMMON: The carnage has been growing as the political stalemate has continued. The central question of what happens to Bashar al-Assad, what happens to the future of Syria has led to this thing where we're seeing all this carnage amid a cessation of hostilities. Let's not forget, the cessation of hostilities in Syria is still in effect. People are struggling to live daily lives.

I met Syrian refugees at the end of last year and then the start of this year who were saying, listen, we're just trying to send our kids to school and know they will come home. That's really where the human stakes of this are lost because the numbers are so great and the carnage has gone on for so long.

SESAY: So long.

VAUSE: Gayle, thank you; and General Spider Marks --

SESAY: General Marks, thank you.

VAUSE: -- thanks for being with us.

MARKS: Certainly.

VAUSE: A short break. When we come back, Brazil's interim government in turmoil. Up next, we'll tell you what led to the latest resignation. Also, Paralympic Sailor says the debris-filled bay in Rio is one of the biggest threats to the Summer Olympics.

SESAY: Plus, the Organization of American States calls for an emergency meeting on Venezuela. The strong response from the country's president coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (WEATHER HEADLINES)

[00:25:14] SESAY: Hello, everyone. The Summer Olympics in Rio are just over two months away and Brazil is facing yet another crisis. Anti-Corruption Minister Fabiano Silveira is stepping down from the interim government. A secret recording suggests he tried to derail a corruption investigation involving the national oil company, Petrobras.

VAUSE: It has been less than three weeks since Michel Temer replaced president Dilma Rousseff. She's suspended, waiting for an impeachment trial.

Meantime, a German gold medalist says Rio de Janeiro needs to clean up its polluted bay before the Games in August.

SESAY: He's worried about the filthy water that left one of his fellow Paralympic sailors needing weeks of medical care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIKO KROEGER, OLYMPIC SAILOR, GERMANY: Rio is a very large city, and most of the city, I think, they have no system where they collect trash and so all the favelas, they throw out of the window what they have and the wind and the rain washes all stuff down to the water. So it's there in bay.

There was an arm found floating around. So there are lots of animals and other things in this bay. So all you can imagine.

Eric Heil is one of my teammates of Sailing Team Germany and he is a 49'er Sailor, Olympic Sailor. He got some of these bacteria in between his skin and his wet suit. It looked like something has drilled in his leg. It was a hole in his leg. It was really deep. It was nearly that you can stick your finger inside.

It's strange because it's a nice sailing area but every time you get some water in your face, it feels like there's some alien enemy entering your face. So I keep my nose and my lips closed. That's just -- I have a big fear I get too much of this water inside. That's really strange. I mean, water is not our enemy normally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay, we will take a short break. When we come back, Venezuela is running out of everyday essentials, including food and medicine. When we come back, we'll talk to a "L.A. Times" reporter who went there to witness a country in freefall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:10] SESAY: You're watching "CNN NEWSROOM" live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause; headlines this hour: an Iraqi military official says ISIS has used suicide attacks and snipers to repel Iraqi forces trying to enter Fallujah. The military is trying to retake the city from the terror group. The U.N. estimates about 50,000 civilians are at risk as the fighting intensifies.

SESAY: U.S. State Department is warning travelers of the risks of potential terrorists attacks across Europe. It mentions major tourist events, such as the upcoming Euro 2016 Futbol Tournament in France and warns Americans could be targeted. The travel alert expires August 31st.

VAUSE: India's regular heat wave killed more than 370 people. The country recently saw its highest temperature ever, 51 degrees Celsius; almost 124 degrees Fahrenheit. Indians hope the upcoming monsoon season can bring some relief. Rainfall is expected to be above average.

SESAY: Now, the Organization of American States is calling for an urgent meeting on the crisis in Venezuela. They groups leaders are asking whether the nation broke democratic rules under the OAS Charter, that could lead to Venezuela's suspension from the group.

VAUSE: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro struck back saying the OAS leader could "shove that democratic charter wherever it fits." Venezuela is suffering from a daunting economic and humanitarian crisis, including food and medical shortages, and one of the highest inflation rates in the world.

SESAY: Joining us now from Mexico City is "L.A. Times" reporter Patrick McDonald. Patrick, welcome to the program. You have been to some pretty difficult places with your job. So with that in mind, how bad is the situation in Venezuela right now?

PATRICK MCDONALD, REPORTER, "L.A. TIMES": Well, it's interesting. I spent most of the last five years covering the war in Syria and Iraq. Those are very difficult conflicts but in general, there's food. In Damascus there's food. Even in Aleppo and Baghdad one can find food. What's really striking, in Venezuela, are these massive lines for basic foods stuff, things like pasta, rice and other item such as toilet paper, that have to be imported.

With the oil crisis, people have to leave their houses, sometimes 2:00, 3:00 in the morning and come down from the hillside and wait on these massive lines that sometimes five, six, seven hours and often when they get to their destination, there's nothing left. So it's really very troubling to watch, particularly in a country that once had a very thriving middle class. As you know, has some of the largest oil reserves in the world.

SESAY: Yes; I read the piece you wrote for the "L.A. Times" and I want to put a little up on screen, where you reference the lines. You said that "Venezuela's financial crisis has transformed the sprawling capital into lines, where multitudes face the regular indignity of queuing up for basics, from pasta to toilet paper, rice to bank notes."

Patrick, how long can this go on for? Some are wondering whether the country is on the verge of civil unrest.

MCDONALD: It seems to be a situation where clearly the lines are getting worse. People say there's fewer things they can buy. The lines are longer. They have to que up more often. They used to be able to buy stuff for a couple of weeks; now they have to come down pretty much every week. But, at least in my time there, I didn't see that. I didn't see the likelihood of a mass mobilization against the government.

The opposition is putting all its, at the moment, all its efforts into an effort to recall President Maduro, but it seems like a long shot effort, in truth. It's not clear it's going to go through. His term still has three more years to go. I find it to be perilous to predict what will happen. it's clearly a country sliding into greater and greater social, political instability; but whether the status quo can be maintained for much longer, perhaps it can.

[00:35:02] SESAY: Let me ask you this though, are there any signs that Nicolas Maduro is prepared to make the necessary tough economic decisions, such as cutting back on social spending, to stabilize the Venezuelan economy?

MCDONALD: Cutting back on social spending at this time, I mean, some people recommended that, but, I mean, it's extremely delicate situation right now, where you have people waiting five, six hours in line to get their pasta and rice. So I'm not sure even conservative economists would recommend that kind of thing.

SESAY: Yes; and final question to you. The Organization of American States has called an emergency meeting for the next couple of weeks, to take a look at the state of democratic order there in Venezuela. What would that mean if Venezuela was to be suspended from this regional body? What would it mean for Venezuela, and for the region?

MCDONALD: Well, I mean, I'm not sure what the practical affect would be, but there's been a very contentious relationship between the government and the Organization of American States now for a while and it's -- it's hard to see where Venezuela being suspended would help the situation and, but President Maduro has been very outspoken against some comments by the head of the Organization of American States.

So one would hope from a strictly humanitarian standpoint that the Organization of American States and all outside governments, including the United States government, kind of, would help to work in a mediating phase to kind of bring the opposition and the government together to work on some kind of plan and some kind of reconciliation that could stop this situation from sliding further toward chaos because it's really quite critical right now.

SESAY: Phillip McDonnell joining us there from Mexico City. We so appreciate it. Thank you so much for the insight and perspective.

MCDONALD: My pleasure; thank you.

VAUSE: Okay, a short break. When we come back, Harry Potter fans are getting a look at the boy wizard all grown up. It's for the new play which opened in London in July. We'll have new details about Hogwarts famous graduate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Harry Potter is taking the magic from the big screen to the London stage, and here is a first look at the cast in costume, in the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," notice the older Harry, his son Elvis and his wife Jeanne Potter.

SESAY: I'm not sure about that softer voice though, "Cursed Child".

VAUSE: "Cursed Child".

SESAY: The play finds the Hogwarts Graduate overworked in his job at the Ministry of Magic. Meanwhile, his son struggles with the weight of his family's legacy.

VAUSE: Premieres of the play start next Tuesday. The premier will be in July. Now the Managing Editor of the "L.A. Business Journal" @@ joins us with more. They all look gloomy and depressed. They all look miserable.

SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, "L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL": They won't when they see their bank accounts.

VAUSE: Seriously. I mean, we don't know a lot about this play, but the word [00:40:02] cursed in it, it won't be the feel-good play of the year. J.K. Rowling was actually asked about this on Twitter. Someone said, "Will the 'Cursed Child' make me cry?" She tweeted back, "If it she doesn't we'll be checking your vital signs." She doesn't mind killing them off, does she?

MONETTI: She doesn't, and great to have Potter-mania back.

SESAY: I'm so excited.

MONETTI: I'm so excited; and J.K. Rowling, what a genius.

SESAY: Yes.

MONETTI: I mean, she saved reading. She reintroduced kids to books, selling 450 million copies. Now she's going to do the impossible; she's going to get young people back to the theater. How can it miss? And, yes, a gloomy story. Well that's what theater is, it's all drama; you know? "Hamlet" is not exactly a bundle of laughs, but that's played long enough.

SESAY: You make a good point. You make a good point. I mean, obviously, the Potter fans are scouring for every clue, looking at the casting here. The issue of casting for Hermione has kind of ruffled a few feathers because J.K. Rowling went in a completely different direction. Hermione is black.

MONETTI: Yes, and you can imagine the racists predictably flipped out about that one, but, yes, this is fantastic. It's imaginative; and if we can have female ghostbusters, why can't we have a black Hermione?

SESAY: So I want to read what she said in response to the haters, I think we can call them that. Cannon, "Brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione."

MONETTI: That's right, and the actress who's got the part, Swaziland born. Sort of backed her up making the same case. She never said Hermione was white skinned, anywhere; so why not? I think it's more disgraceful that so many white actors played "Othello" for so many years.

[Laughter]

SESAY: Nicely said.

VAUSE: Okay; this is a big moment for Harry Potter fans. You say they all saved the stage, but it's a change for J.K. Rowling to take it to the stage. I mean, if you want to be purely commercial about this, if you wanted to expose it to the biggest number of people, why not make it a huge blockbuster movie and rake in some more of those pot-o-bucks?

MONETTI: Well, first of all, she's J.K., she can do what she wants. Second, it's more interesting for her. this is a new thing to try. She says that when we see the stage show, we will understand why it could only work as a play. But, trust me, there is definitely going to be movie versions of this -

VAUSE: Yes.

SESAY: Yes.

MONETTI: -- because Harry Potter is a cash cow that you can milk for years. The franchise has already made $6 billion, internationally.

SESAY: Wow.

MONETTI: It spawned the Wizarding World theme parks around the world, as well. We have a Harry Potter movie, "Fantastic Beasts," coming out later this year. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

VAUSE: Like the magic wand.

SESAY: It is. I am intrigued about the format for this. It's two plays that they say they would recommend you see the matinee and then you see the evening play. Very interesting marketing.

MONETTI: It's all about the money.

SESAY: It's all about the money; my innocence is shattered.

MONETTI: I've been around business long enough to know. Let's remember the "Deathly Hallows" was divided into two movies. The final "Twilight" as well. You can keep getting the audience to come. Now this, it's a two-part play.

SESAY: Yes.

MONETTI: So you can see it over successive nights or you can see the matinee and then see the evening performance. You've got to buy two tickets. Genius.

VAUSE: Very quickly: the last time we saw older Harry and Jeanne Weasley was at the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2." Now, one 12-year-old critic was very adamant -

SESAY: You mean your child? VAUSE: Yes, Katie. She saw these photos this morning of the new Harry Potter and she went, that's not Daniel Radcliffe. That doesn't even look like Daniel Radcliffe. So I guess the question is, how can anyone, apart from Daniel Radcliffe, be Harry Potter? How can anyone own this?

MONETTI: Well, it's not Daniel Radcliffe. It's Jamie Parker, who got his break on the London stage as part of the cast of The History Boys at the National Theater. Yes, of course, he can own this role. James Bond, Dr. Who, there is precedent for iconic characters being played by different actors.

VAUSE: My 12-year-old would disagree.

SESAY: They're going to have (inaudible, laughter) the lovely Katie.

VAUSE: Santo, good to see you.

SESAY: Santo, thank you; thank you.

VAUSE: Thanks for coming in.

SESAY: And thank you for watching "CNN NEWSROOM" live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next; you are watching CNN.

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