Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Lays Out 10-Point Immigration Plan Following Mexico Visit; Pena Nieto: I Told Trump We Won't Pay for Wall; Clinton, Democrats Criticize Trump's Mexico Visit; Jarablus, Syria, Now Free of ISIS; President Dilma Rousseff Impeached by Brazilian Senate; Loss of African Elephants to Ivory Poaching Increases; Flying from the U.S. to Cuba Amid Security Concerns. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 1, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:05] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour --

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump, gets aggressive again on the issue of immigration. He just laid out his 10-point plan to protect Americans from what he says is the immigrant threat. He started out Wednesday in Mexico meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto. Mr. Pena Nieto later talked about issues of border security as issues both countries much deal with. Later in Arizona, Trump revealed his hard-line plans. He said he would not allow amnesty for any undocumented immigrants and that he'll triple the amount of deportation officers. And then there's that wall, the wall he wants to build between the U.S. and Mexico. It has been his rallying cry for months, and he did not disappoint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will build a great wall along the southern border.

(CHEERING)

(CHANTING)

TRUMP: And Mexico will pay for the wall.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: 100 percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going the pay for the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, earlier, I spoke with California delegate for Donald Trump, Felix Viega; and Democratic strategist, Dave Jacobson.

I asked if Trump's immigration speech was what he expected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Frankly, I was flabbergasted. This is a guy who had been softening his tone and I think it was a real opportunity for him to make a major pivot in this race. Look, the cold, hard reality is Donald Trump is losing in over eight battleground states. And if he wants to make up any ground and appeal to sort of those moderate purple state voters, women voters, minority voters, the reality is easing going to have to soften the tone on the hate rhetoric, particularly when it comes to Latino issues, immigration issues. But he doubled down on that hateful rhetoric tonight. And I think he's looking at the broader election saying I'm losing in had states like Arizona where Hillary Clinton came out one point ahead in a poll just days ago. He's neck and neck in had Missouri, Utah, North Carolina. These are traditionally red states. And I think the reality is he's saying I have to consolidate those Republican red states before I soften my tone to those purple state voters.

SESAY: Some would say his statement about having zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants was part of that appeal to the base.

Felix, take a listen to what he said. Donald Trump tonight once again saying there will be zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There are at least two million, two million -- think of it -- criminal aliens now inside had of our country. Two million people, criminal aliens.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: We will begin moving them out, day one, as soon as I take office. Day one.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: All right. We will begin moving them out day one, as soon as I take office. Felix, how realistic is this?

FELIX VIEGA, CALIFORNIA DELEGATE FOR DONALD TRUMP: I think it's very realistic. I think it's something that people like myself are tired of hearing all of the promises that the Democrats have made throughout the years. Look at the results. And the communities, our jobs, our education, our safety, we're not safe any more. Donald Trump is facing all of the problems and he's facing them head on and he's not procrastinating. Immigration is a problem, but it's not the only problem. You talk about Latinos. Latinos want safety, they want jobs, education, security. And so I think you're seeing a change in the race and Donald Trump is surging and so I'm just very, very proud that he went over there.

By the way, where was Hillary Clinton when Nieto asked her to go over there? Where was she? She's nowhere to be found.

[02:05:21] Dave, it's a fair question.

JACOBSON: The reality is, she's a former secretary of state. She's met with heads of state --

(CROSSTALK)

VIEGA: Where has she been the last 270 days when she hasn't made herself --

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBSON: No, she's made herself available to reporters and she's had interviews. And she's talked to reporters on shows, "Morning Joe" just the other day.

VIEGA: "Morning Joe."

SESAY: Felix, this was a speech full of attack on Hillary Rodham Clinton and on Barack Obama. Donald Trump doubling down on the issue of saying they're soft on immigration. Take a listen to something else he had to say, one of those attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: President Obama and Hillary Clinton support sanctuary cities. They support tax and release on the border. They support visa overstays. They support the release of dangerous, dangerous, dangerous criminals from detention. And they support unconstitutional executive amnesty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Dave, in some ways, the speech and those moments reminded me of the Republican convention speeches, which once again painted the country as very dangerous. There's something Felix just said, there's a sense of being unsafe. But that messaging, such as what we heard in Arizona, does that win over new voters?

JACOBSON: Precisely, that's the question. Like, I think Donald Trump's challenge is how does he do better than Mitt Romney did with Latino voters? Mitt Romney locked up 27 percent of the Latino vote. Donald Trump is polling at about 20 percent. We're going to have an uptick in Latinos participating in 2016 over 2012. I think you're going to have about 30 percent of the electorate that is going to be nonwhite voters, that includes other white voters as well as minorities. But the challenge is for Donald Trump, how does he peel away some of those voters when Mitt Romney lost the election and locked up 27 percent. The other question, in some of these pivotal battleground states, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, have 15 percent or more Latino voters. These are key states that are must-wins for Donald Trump. If he doesn't find a way to sort of break through to those voters, peel away some of that Latino vote, there's no pathway for him to get through that 270 Electoral College threshold and ultimately win the race.

SESAY: Felix?

VIEGA: I'll tell you exactly how he's going to do it. He's going to do it by telling the truth. OK?

JACOBSON: It's not working today.

VIEGA: He's going to do it by telling the truth because Donald -- the truth, Trump. I can't wait to hear a State of the Union address that is truthful about our economy, about employment, about where we are, about --

JACOBSON: We've got about 5 percent unemployment. President Obama has an over 50 percent approval rating.

VIEGA: That is baloney.

JACOBSON: I think people think the economy is doing well, better at least than the picture Donald Trump has painted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: A spirited conversation.

Trump says he and President Pena Nieto did not talk about who would pay for his wall. But later, the president tweeted that he made it clear from the start that Mexico wasn't funding it.

Jim Acosta has more from Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may be his most Donald Trump move yet, flying to the capitol of a country he has slammed time and again. Trump met face-to-face with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to talk, what else? Immigration.

TRUMP: We recognize and respect the right of either country to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its boarders.

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translation): The Mexican population in the United States contributes to development in both Mexico and the U.S. They're honest people, working people, people of good will who respect family. Mexicans deserve everybody's respect.

ACOSTA: But after their meeting, Trump told reporters he and Pena Nieto never discuss whether Mexico will indeed pick up the check for the GOP nominee's signature proposal of a wall on the U.S. southern border.

TRUMP: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date. This was a very preliminary meeting. I think it was an excellent meeting.

ACOSTA: The jaw-dropping images of Trump's trip to Mexico featuring his first meeting with a head of state as the GOP nominee may well over-shadow his own speech on immigration.

ACOSTA: Big speech on immigration, we'll be talking about that. Arizona.

ACOSTA: And that appears to be just fine with the campaign, which quickly scrambled to arrange the visit just days after receiving the invitation against the advice of the U.S. embassy staff, which said the trip would be logistically difficult on such short notice.

MIKE PENCE, (R), INDIANA GOVERNOR & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He gets an invitation late last week from the president of Mexico and essentially drops what he's doing to sit down.

[02:10:00] ACOSTA: But this was no love fest. Trump's incendiary comments on Mexico and tweets on Mexicans have enraged this neighbor to the south.

TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.

ACOSTA: Even though Trump's son and other aides stress Trump is listening to advisers who want him to moderate his tone --

DONALD TRUMP JR, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: Correct. But, again, you have to start with baby steps.

ACOSTA: -- that shift isn't settling well south of the border. The former Mexican President Vicente Fox has blasted Trump's views.

VICENTE FOX, FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT: I'm not going to pay for that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) wall. He should pay for it. He's got the money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Jim Acosta reporting there.

Democrats are labeling Trump's trip a failure. The party's press secretary said, "Trump has vowed for months that he's going to get Mexico to pay for his ridiculous wall. But when he came face-to-face with the Mexican president, he got out-maneuvered, and then tried to cover it up on worldwide TV. Simply put, Donald got rolled"

Hillary Clinton made it clear she thinks nothing of Trump's negotiating skills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. You do it by putting in the slow hard work of building relationships. Getting countries working together was my job every day as your secretary of state. It's more than a photo-op. It takes consistency and reliability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, in an interview just a few hours ago, the Mexican president said some of Trump's positions are, quote, "a threat to Mexico." Enrique Peno Nieto says he invited Trump to build a better relationship with the Republican candidate.

Earlier, I spoke with Joshua Partlow, the Mexican city bureau chief for "The Washington Post." I asked him about the political fallout for the Mexican leader.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSHUA PARTLOW, MEXICO CITY BUREAU CHIEF, THE WASHINGTON POST: This is a day Mexicans will remember for a long time and they'll debate for a long time. You know, Donald Trump, before this, before today, was probably the most unpopular American, definitely, politician, out there here in Mexico and their president invited him for a personal visit. And then when they were publicly, you know, side by side, basically, gave him the benefit of the doubt and said he believes he's in favor of what's best for Mexico. So I think a lot of Mexicans will be debating that and I think it will be -- it could have -- it could cause political trouble for President Pena Nieto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The Mexican president has also invited Hillary Clinton. He says there is no date for that a meeting yet.

Time for a quick break. Once a gateway for would-be terrorists, now a Syrian town is experiencing new freedom. A look inside Jarablus, coming up.

Also ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems like there's a disturbing uptick on the poaching of the boarders of Botswana and Namibia. This bull was killed it seems a few days ago even.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: A new report on African elephants. Shining a light on the sad reality that we're losing the magnificent creatures at an alarming rate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:10] SESAY: Hello, everyone. The White House is disputing Russia's claim that one of its air strikes killed ISIS spokesman, Abu Mohammad al Adnani. A U.S. official calls Moscow's claim preposterous. Officials say a drone carried out the attack and the Pentagon is assessing the results of the strike. Al Adnani coordinated the movement of ISIS fighters, encouraged lone-wolf attacks on civilians, and actively recruited new ISIS members.

The Syrian town of Jarablus is now free of ISIS. Syrian rebels, with Turkey's backing, seized the town last week. Turkey's incursion into Syria has raised U.S. concerns about Turkey targeting Kurdish militias as well as ISIS. For now, there is calm.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has this look inside Jarablus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're headed inside yet another new chapter in Syria's endless war. Turkish officials want us to see Syrian rebel control of the Syrian border town of Jarablus that their military enabled.

They kicked ISIS out of here a week ago and we are the first Western TV they let in.

ISIS had enough time here to remodel the town in their image. Get into the minds of children, some of whom they tried to recruit as soldiers.

"My neighbor blew himself up in a car," says this boy.

Hamza says he's 13 and carries water for the rebels. He says some of his friends became suicide bombers for ISIS.

"They tortured and beat people, everything here. It was just down there," he says.

He shows us the square where is grew solemnly filmed their murders.

(on camera): Very strange game for these children to play with newcomers. They're showing us exactly where it was that ISIS would display the heads of those they decapitated in punishment. But, yet, again, another central square in yet another town cleansed of ISIS's dark world.

(voice-over): Yet there is another key building here, the recruitment center, where they found a torn up ledger of names near the basement of the jail.

(on camera): They're showing us further inside this building, which is the first point people who were crossed into Turkey to joins ISIS would have sought to register with the group.

(voice-over): No longer here, can ISIS welcome outsiders into their twisted worlds. But others problems have arisen as these men's fight isn't simply

against ISIS. It is also against America's allies against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds, which Turkey considers terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We don't want to fight all the Kurds, just the Syrian Kurdish PKK. Just those who want to break up Syria.

PATON WALSH: There is optimism here. Early signs of a new project Turkey has undertaken to flood this area with moderate sympathetic rebels who will tackle the Kurds but also create a safe zone free of ISIS.

Only the second half of that is what Washington has wanted.

(on camera): To some degree, this is what American policy has yearned for, for years, moderate Sunni Arab rebels here, having cleaned the town out of ISIS extremists, now controlling what with many have sought, a kind of buffer zone for Syrians fleeing the regime.

(voice-over): Smiles, calm, busy streets. We've seen them before in Syria's intractable war and watched them turn sour again.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Jarablus, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:20:38] SESAY: To Africa now. And the opposition leaders reportedly said at least two people have been killed as security forces stormed his party's headquarters. That word coming from both Reuters and the AFP. Earlier, protesters set fire to the parliament building when incumbent Ali Bongo was declared the winner of the presidential election. Police used water cannons and tear gas to keep protesters at bay. Mr. Bongo's family has ruled the country for nearly 50 years.

Competing demonstrations in Brazil after the Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Some are calling for the new president, Michel Temer, to be removed from office. Others celebrated Ms. Rousseff's downfall chanting, "Good-bye, Darling."

Shasta Darlington looks at what's next for Brazil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rupture is now complete. Dilma Rousseff released by the Senate, accused by the Senate of hiding the state of the economy. Brazil's first female president defiant to the last.

DILMA ROUSSEFF, IMPEACHED PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL: This is the second coup that I have confronted in my life. The first, the military coup supported by the arms of repression and torture when I was a young militant. The second, the parliamentary coup today, a judicial farce that removes me from the post I was elected to.

DARLINGTON: Bringing an end to 13 years of Workers Party governments that started like this, but in Rousseff's second term, looked more like this.

(APPLAUSE)

DARLINGTON: Sworn in, in a hasty ceremony, her former vice president, now political foe, Michel Temer, then rushing to catch a plane to China for a G20 meeting. Temer assumed the post on an interim basis in May, appointing the first all-male cabinet since the 1970s.

(on camera): Markets have rallied with investors hopeful that the more conservative Temer will use his allies here in Senate and in the congress to pass tough austerity measures. I'm talking about pension reform and easing labor laws.

(voice-over): Also expect privatizations and the sales of concessions for infrastructure projects as he tackles a two-year-old recession.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has to be quick because the window of opportunity with, the so-called honeymoon will be very, very short, if it's to exist at all.

SHASTA: But Temer may also be dogged by the massive corruption investigation known as "Car Wash," which has engulfed several politicians across the political spectrum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Car Wash" can come to him though. If that will happen, we'll have to start again an impeachment.

DARLINGTON: And expect plenty of political jockeying ahead of the 2018 elections. Rousseff's predecessor, mentor and two-time president de Silva still leads the polls, but federal police have now recommended he be charged in the corruption probe.

Temer, down in the polls, he's already barred from running after violating campaigning spending laws, but still posing with pictures, here with Brazilian athletes, trying to win over hearts and minds.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Venezuela's jailed opposition leader is calling for people to wear white as a peace symbol ahead of planned demonstrations. The opposition is set to march in Caracas on Thursday to push for a recall vote to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Inflation, food shortages and crime have plagued Venezuela for months. If a recall is approved this year, there will be new election to replace Maduro. If a recall is approved, next year, the current vice president would take over.

A hurricane warning in place for parts of Florida.

Let's bring in Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with more details.

Pedram, where is it? What's happening?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Isha, this particular storm in the Gulf of Mexico we'll touch on in a second. But take a look at this, five areas of disturbed weather. I want to show you what we have in store with this particular tropical storm because the latest indication is this storm will strengthen over the next couple of hours and make landfall around sometime midnight local time. See the area located in red? That is a hurricane warning. That's the first such warning in place since 2012 for hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and well to the north this storm system is prompting tropical storm watches once it crosses over into land. But we have a storm surge threat in place, as well as some of these areas. So we're talking several meter high storm surge across this region of the big Bend of Florida. We have not seen a tropical disturbance make landfall in a few years. As it moves ashore in the overnight hours, it's worth noting with Tallahassee, Jacksonville. So that's something that is worth note, this storm system as it rides up the eastern coastline of the United States going into early this weekend.

But I want to show you as far as rainfall is concerned, we know about 90 percent of all weather related fatalities in tropical activity come from rains and not necessarily from winds. This storm is all about winds across this region. Could easily say 150 to 200 millimeters of rainfall into southern Georgia and over the panhandle in the next couple of days.

Right now, we're watching Tropical Storm Madeline, Hurricane Lester. Madeline hitting a wall. This is why we don't get too much hurricanes making an impact on the Hawaiian Islands. A lot of wind shear, cooler waters. It's a tropical storm, but we have hurricane warnings in place. That is because Lester behind us here is a much more serious storm system. Here is Lester, a category three at this hour. By Saturday afternoon, notice the intensity of the model is now shifting a little further south. Yesterday, Isha, I said we were looking at these potentially north of the Hawaiian Islands. The models want to bring this as a category one. Potentially, Oahu. This will be Saturday into Sunday. We're watching this very carefully as the forecast is favoring a little more to the south, which would be more impact to land than the other way around. So we're going to watch this -- Isha?

[02:27:02] SESAY: A lot of people watching it very, very closely.

Pedram, thank you.

JAVAHERI: Yeah.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. A disturbing trend on the African savannah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: I don't think anybody in the world has seen the number of dead elephants that I've seen over the last two years. For me, this becomes a lot more personal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: What we're learning about the future of the species from the great elephant census.

Plus, welcome to Cuba. U.S. airlines set a course for the island nation, but beware, some restrictions still apply.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:50] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Donald Trump laid out his 10-point immigration plan on Wednesday. among other things, Trump said he won't allow amnesty for undocumented immigrants. He also promised, again, to build a wall along the border and make Mexico pay for it.

Trump's immigration rhetoric has been a key component of his presidential campaign. And as we do regularly, CNN's fact check team took a closer look at some of his arguments.

Here is our own Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump says, among all the people who have come to this country illegally, there are a great many dangerous criminals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are at least two million -- think of it -- criminal aliens now inside of our country. We will begin moving them out day one as soon as I take office, day one.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: That is a whopping number but analysts say to get to this number of criminals you have to count every possible infraction, including traffic tickets. Maybe it's more realistic to look at this one, 1.4 million people on the priority list for apprehensions for serious crimes, or 690,000, and that's believed to have been convicted of felonies or serious misdemeanors. Still, a big number but only about a third of what Trump has named here.

Nonetheless, he says he wants a special task force to go after these people, to start scooping them up. The problem is, it already exists. It was started last year. The Priority Enforcement Program began and it has been aggressively trying to track down the worst criminals out there. It's a tough job. Maybe he can make it more effective or add more officers, and maybe start on day one, as proposed. We don't know until he does it, so we will say that claim is true, but this is such a big problem, it is misleading to say he will produce any results in a short order.

Trump also went after Hillary Clinton over some of the things she said about immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare for illegal immigrants breaking the federal budget.

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Hillary Clinton does want to let people who are here in an undocumented status buy into Obamacare. She says that will keep them out of emergency rooms, that will spread out the risk pool, and makes fiscal sense. Social Security and Medicare, they might wind up in that under her plan to make them gradually transition into being full citizens of the country but no ad hoc program is planned this way under Clinton, at least, not that we know of. So the first part of this claim, yeah, that's true. The second part is false.

You can find out a lot more about all of this by going to our website, CNN.com/realitycheck.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Away from politics for a moment. A new elephant census is revealing a disturbing reality. Researchers found massive population declines in the last decade in 18 African countries. In the areas surveyed, the elephant population dropped 30 percent. That's a loss of 144,000 animals between 2007 and 2014. The survey says the number of African elephants could fall by half, to 175,000, in nine years if nothing changes. 96 African elephants are killed every day. That's one every 15 minutes.

For decades, the population of African elephants has been largely guesswork. Beginning in around 2007, a large upswing in illegal ivory poaching driven by demand in China has hammered the most common elephant species. Until now, nobody knew just how bad it was.

Our Dave McKenzie has this exclusive story from northern Botswana.

And a note, some of the pictures in this piece are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:35:31] DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Getting ready to fly in Botswana. Elephant Ecologist Mike Chase has spent years counting savannah elephants from the sky.

MIKE CHASE, ELEPHANT ECOLOGIST: Never before have we ever -- standardized survey for African elephants on a continental scale.

All right. Start counting. Nice speed. Nice height. Well done.

MCKENZIE: Hundreds of air crew counted elephants in 18 countries across the continent over two years.

CHASE: Elephants, seven. Seven elephants. Right?

MCKENZIE: For three hours a day, they flew 10 minutes transits at a time, flying the distance to the moon and then some. Their result, more shocking than anyone imagined.

CHASE: Flying over areas where elephants historically occurred but are no longer present in these habitats.

MCKENZIE: Killed for their ivory, in seven short years, up to 2014, elephant numbers dropped by a staggering amount, almost one-third.

Across Africa, their numbers are crashing. If nothing changes, the elephant population will half in less than a decade. In some areas, they will go extinct.

CHASE: It's incredibly disheartening. I know historically these ecosystems supported many thousands of elephants compared to the few hundred or tens of elephants. Some landscapes, we saw more dead elephants than live elephants.

MCKENZIE: Botswana is one of the last strongholds for elephants. But now the poaching wars have started.

(on camera): It seems like there's a disturbing uptick on the poaching of the boarders of Botswana and Namibia. This bull was killed, it seems, just a few days ago, even.

CHASE: Three days.

MCKENZIE: Three days max. And you can smell it all the way from here.

CHASE: Wow. He was spectacular. Look how big he was.

MCKENZIE: Awful.

CHASE: In fact, not even three days.

And there you have the evidence with his face hacked away like that that he met his end with people chopping away at his tusks.

MCKENZIE: And this is the front line.

CHASE: This is as far as they come. They will no longer move across the eastern Namibia into Angola and Zambia, fearful of the consequences of poaching.

MCKENZIE: This elephant was in Botswana and, still, it's not safe. CHASE: The cozy pretense that Botswana is the stronghold for

elephants appears to have been completely blown out of the water with people moving well within Botswana's boarders to poach elephants.

MCKENZIE: You've grown up in this country. You are from Botswana. What is it like to see these magnificent beasts killed like this?

CHASE: I don't think anybody in the world has seen the number of dead elephants that I've seen over the last two years with the Great Elephant Census. For me, this becomes a lot more personal. It's at hole. I've often been asked whether I'm optimistic or pessimistic about the future of elephants. On days like today, I feel like we are failing elephants. I thought Botswana had long eluded the ivory wars but all evidence to the contrary.

UNIDENTIFIED BOTSWANA ARMY OFFICIAL: We will continue to checkpoint two.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): To fight the war, Botswana has mobilized the army with more than 700 troops guarding its northern border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE: Spending days in the bush armed with a shoot-to-kill policy for poachers. They're up against a sophisticated enemy.

(on camera): So they're looking for any sign of poachers. If they come across them, they're often highly organized groups with of about 12 people. Two of them could be shooters often. And those shooters are frequently firing special forces.

CHASE: Slowly, slowly.

MCKENZIE: Mike Chase's research proves that if we can't protect elephants, they will learn to protect themselves.

(on camera): You can hear him snoring. Is it a he or a she?

CHASE: He. He's in his prime, about 30 to 35 years of age. And it's these young bulls that have the propensity to move dramatic distances and transform conversation corridors.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But their satellite tracking shows that the elephants use incredible levels of intelligence to avoid poaching hot spots in neighboring countries, retreating to the relative safety within Botswana.

[02:40:09] CHASE: We're using this technology to safeguard and protect elephants, to find them quickly and respond.

MCKENZIE (on camera): It's quite incredible being this close to this animal.

CHASE: It is. It certainly is.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): We called this bull Promise. For the promise that Mike has made and perhaps we all should to save this magnificent species.

(on camera): But why should people care?

CHASE: Why? Have you ever been within the presence of an African elephant, a six-ton monolithic structure, walking across the African savannahs? These are emblematic creatures of the African continent. They are symbols of Africa, symbols of freedom. They are our living dinosaurs, the romance of a bygone era. And if we can't conserve the African elephant, I'm fearful to think about the rest of Africa's wildlife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: That was David McKenzie there with that great reporting.

If you want to learn how to help to protect African elephants, CNN has found organizations to help. For more information, log on to CNN.com/impact.

Next stop, Cuba on NEWSROOM L.A., as U.S. commercial flights resume for the first time in 50 years. We see why so many Americans are anxious to visit the island nation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:02] SESAY: For the first time in more than half a century, a U.S. commercial flight has landed in Cuba. JetBlue flight 387 took off Wednesday from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Santa Clara, Cuba. Soon, eight other airlines will be operating up to 110 daily flights between the two countries.

Rene Marsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: (INAUDIBLE)

(CHEERING)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It was a flight unlike any other.

(CHEERING)

MARSH: Celebrations and raw emotion on board. Passenger Lousette Gonzalez (ph) had not visited her family in Cuba for 16 years.

(on camera): Why was it important to be on this first flight?

LOUSETTE GONZALEZ (ph), PASSENGER: It's emotional to me because I've been battling cancer for about a year and a half now and I'm getting treatments monthly, but I'm healthy enough to go on this special flight.

MARSH (voice-over): After one hour, the flight touched down in Santa Clara. Several people lined up along the tarmac to welcome the first U.S. commercial flight to land in the country in more than 50 years.

Cuban-American pilot, Francisco Barreras (ph), was at the controls.

FRANCISCO BARRERAS (ph), UNIDENTIFIED JETBLUE PILOT: My dad was on one of those last flights. I don't know which it was. But it was August in '61. '61 is when the flights ended. That's close to the end of the year. So he had to have been on one of the last flights and me doing the first flight in, it's a full circle.

MARSH: But back in the U.S., there are concerns about Cuban airport security.

REP. JOHN KATCO, (R), NEW YORK: And assure the continuing safety and securing of our nation's aviation system.

MARSH: Republican Congressman John Katco says the country is not equipped to prevent terrorists from targeting U.S.-bound planes.

KATCO: TSA has anywhere come close to doing a thorough security inspection of the airports in Cuba.

MARSH: TSA has inspected security procedures for eight of the 10 Cuban airports approved for direct flights to the U.S. but airport screening will be up to the workers hired by the Cuban government.

(on camera): We are here at Santa Clara Airport in Cuba and we just went through security. You can see the metal detectors behind me. And they have wands to physically wand down passengers if they need to. They have conveyor belts where they screen individual luggage as well.

(voice-over): On this day, the focus for those on board JetBlue flight 387 was history.

UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: Just a huge milestone to now make commercial service available to the American public.

MARSH (on camera): On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation announced more flights between the U.S. and Cuba. Several airlines received final approval for direct flights from various U.S. cities to Havana, the most sought-after destination on the island.

But it is important to remember, you cannot simply travel to Cuba for tourism. You have to fall into one of 12 categories, things like visiting family or for educational purposes.

Reporting from Santa Clara, Cuba, Rene Marsh, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: They call it the world's largest food fight, and that's no joke. The 71st Annual Tomatillo Festival happened Wednesday in Spain. Yes, it's all about people throwing tomatillo at each other, and it's incredibly. Popular, as you can see there. 20,000 people jammed the streets to be part of the fun. I actually think it looks quite fun. I do. You can't expect Donald Trump to meet the Mexican president without a

big reaction from the Twitterverse. How the controversial visit was received online. Stay with us for details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:52:38] SESAY: Donald Trump has said some pretty harsh things about Mexico and Mexican immigrants since he declared his presidential candidacy last year. But he sounded like an entirely different person Wednesday after his visit with Mexico's president. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are united by our support for democracy.

They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they're beating us economically.

Mexicans are just beyond reproach.

They are not our friend, believe me.

And they are amazing people, amazing people.

They're sending people that have lots of problems.

And I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican-American.

They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime.

Spectacular, spectacular hard-working people.

They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people.

I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Trump's comments in Mexico were serious and somber, but that didn't stop Twitter from having some fun at the Donald's expense.

Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump and the president of Mexico were diplomatic.

TRUMP: I call you a friend.

MOOS: But this hash tag wasn't, #TrumpsMexicotripsayings. Saying like, "Please don't let him back in our country until he gives us his taxes."

Or this one from Director Rob Reiner, "Clearly we're not sending our best to Mexico. We're sending liars. We're sending narcissists. We're sending sociopaths."

A send-up of the Donald's own words.

TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.

MOOS: There are gifts of an immigrant cleaning woman canning Trump and the Donald brick laying.

"Now they're going to want to build a wall to keep me out."

It was the favored topic.

TRUMP: Powerful wall.

MOOS: "No, I said I would build a mall," read one tweet.

"Please pick a color for your side of the wall. By the way, you're paying for the paint, also."

TRUMP: Who's going to pay for the wall?

(SHOUTING)

MOOS: That's not what Mexico's former President Vicente Fox says.

VICENTE FOX, FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT: I'm not going to pay for that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) wall.

[02:55:05] MOOS: "Tell Mr. FOX his "F" bomb missed its target," tweeted a Trump supporter.

"Think I can't get Mexico to fund the wall? I got the media to fund my campaign."

The hash tag attracted random images, like a sign advertising, "Mexican food so good, Donald Trump wants to build a wall around it."

Cartoonist Ed Hall drew two Mexican wall builders gazing at Trump's plane saying, "We're going to need to make this wall extra tall."

Mexico's president met with Trump for about an hour.

(on camera): Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.

(voice-over): Actually, there was once a fly on the Donald as he talked about the wall. TRUMP: We're going to have the wall -- we're going to have the wall.

MOOS: Even a wall wouldn't stop this fly from crossing the Donald's hairline.

Jeanie Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Oh, Jeanne Moos, the one and only.

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

The news continues with Rosemary Church, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:00:09] TRUMP: Zero tolerance for criminal aliens. Zero. Zero.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)