Trump Speaks About Economy After Visiting Plant; U.S. Government Shutdown Looms As Bill Support Erodes; Tillerson Outlines U.S. Goals In Syria.
I. TRUMP: --- was very specific about what he wanted to accomplish. It was so core to him to support hard-working middle income families, and the child tax credit is key to doing that. So it's going to be a big win for everyone in this room and everyone across this country. And we are very, very excited about that. Doubling the standard deduction, the child tax credit, all of these elements that make this a very family-friendly plan but also enable great American businesses like this one to thrive and be competitive in a global landscape. So we're very proud of it. And America is just starting to realize just how great our tax cut plan is. So more of that to come. But thank you for having me here. Thanks.</s>D. TRUMP: Thank you, baby. Thank you very much, Ivanka. She worked hard. She's a hard worker. All of our kids are hard workers, right? They work. And we love to see it. And they're doing a terrific job for our country. I've come to the great city of Pittsburgh to stand with people. And those people are incredible workers. And to show the world that America is back and that we are coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we're making our own product again, and we're opening up our factories again. I mean, you take a look at what's going on where Toyota is coming in. And the other day you just saw Chrysler announce they're moving from Mexico back to Michigan, you don't hear that too often, with a big, big monster factory, going to spend a lot of money. At the center of America's resurgence are the massive tax cuts that I just signed into law. And it is also reform but I usually just say tax cuts because that is what people -- they don't want to hear about the reform. Believe me, the reform is very important. We don't have to go into it. But the tax cuts are the most significant tax cut, most significant reform in American history, with tremendous tax relief for working families, for small businesses, for big businesses that produce jobs, for just about everybody, tremendous numbers. And you're already seeing what is happening. You're seeing what is going on. The signs of America's comeback can be seen at companies like this one, which just had its most successful year in its 35-year history. Congratulations. Good job.</s>D. TRUMP: That means more growth and ultimately it means more jobs. So congratulations. We have created nearly 2.2 million jobs since the election.</s>TRUMP: Lowest ever.</s>D. TRUMP: Is Ken (ph) doing a good job?</s>D. TRUMP: Come here. Thank you, man. He said just the right thing. You never know. You want to say -- say something to your workers. Say something to your co- workers.</s>D. TRUMP: Good job.</s>D. TRUMP: Thank you, Ken (ph). He did good. He didn't know about that. He didn't know at all about that, right, Ken? (ph) Good job. Now because we substantially reduced tax rates on American companies, economists estimate that annual household income will rise by an average of $4,000. Think of that. More than 2 million American workers have already received a tax cut bonus from their employers, pay raises, more money for retirement. Checks as high as $2,000 or more all because of our tax cuts. And it hasn't even been a month since I signed the bill. It has turned out to be much bigger than we all thought. Even the people that did it, right, Gary? And right, all of the congressman that voted for it and fought so hard? Nobody had any idea. One thing we didn't project in a positive way, nobody thought that the companies were going to step up and pay all of these great bonuses to people. AT&T started it. But they came up and they paid all of these bonuses. A Florida software company, Spellex, just announced $1,000 tax cut bonuses for its workforces. Apple just announced they are giving their employees tax cut bonuses worth $2,500 each. And because of our business tax reforms, Apple has just announced that they are bringing $350 billion and putting it into investment into our country, 350 billion.</s>D. TRUMP: And I think some of you remember I said I will not consider our economic situation complete until we get Apple to start building some of those massive plants of the United States. They're going to build plants. They're going to build a big campus. They're really going to town. So we want to thank Apple -- $350 billion.</s>END HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The president of the United States, Donald Trump, visiting a factory outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He talked, of course, about that fateful night in November 2016 when he carried the state of Pennsylvania. He is there to promote and to tout the benefits of his economic plan, of the tax cut legislation. We also saw his daughter, Ivanka Trump, there make a very brief appearance. It is also political, though. There's a special election taking place in March there. Of course, the Republicans would like to make sure that there are no, as far as they're concerned, nasty surprises like the ones that took place in Alabama where the Republican candidate, Roy Moore, lost the election to the Democrat Doug Jones. Our White House reporter, Stephen Collinson joins me now from Washington with more. What is Donald Trump trying to achieve here, clearly a very sympathetic crowd near Pittsburgh today?</s>STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Hala. What Donald Trump was doing was playing his best political card. Although he's the most unpopular president in terms of polling that we've ever seen at this stage with his administration, the only area where his polling is above water right now is the economy. That's one reason why he's stressing the jobs that are coming back to the United States, the strength of the stock market, new investments, because that's his best bet to try and forestall what many people is Democratic wave in November's elections that could cost the Republican Party the House and the Senate. He's also under a lot of pressure to try and sell the tax bill that got passed last December. It's still very unpopular. A lot of people believe that the most of the benefits of that tax bill are going to the rich. You saw Donald Trump there pulling people up on stage and saying you're going to get $2,000.</s>GORANI: Does that all fact check? He's giving some pretty precise numbers, $4,000 additional per household on average. Have those numbers checked out?</s>COLLINSON: Those numbers check out on theory, but everyone's circumstances of course are different. What is not under dispute is that in terms of dollars the vast amount of money is going to the most wealthy Americans. That's one of the reasons the tax bill is very unpopular. What the Republicans are hoping is that in February, March, when people start to see a difference in their paycheck, the tax bill will get more and more popular. There's some sign in polling that it is starting to be a little more unpopular. But still a majority of Americans are against that bill that passed in December. So, the Republicans have a lot of work to do.</s>GORANI: The optics were interesting too. It felt like a campaign speech with his base. This was him in his element. He clearly was enjoying it.</s>COLLINSON: Definitely. You know, you heard him decrying the nastiness of Washington. He's getting out of town in a moment of real political drama, 32 1/2 hours' time the government will shut down unless Republicans and Democrats can come up with some kind of short-term funding agreement. I think the president was smart to get outside Washington, be among people that like him, tout some achievements because if the government shuts down, it's going to be shut down on the first anniversary of his inauguration. That's not a very good political look for the president.</s>GORANI: Right, especially since the Republicans control both houses of Congress. It would be very difficult to pin it entirely on the opposition in this case. Stephen Collinson, thanks very much. Mr. Trump may be focused on the economy this hour. It makes sense. But we want to look at U.S. foreign policy now. They say that to carry out war, you need three things, money, money and money. Which just so happens to be something the U.S. government does not necessarily have a lot of to spend on that type of effort and the importance of that is not lost on Trump.</s>PRESIDENT TRUMP: If the country shuts down, which could very well be, the budget should be handled a lot differently than it's been handled over the last long period of time, many years. But if for any reason it shuts down, the worst thing is what happens to our military.</s>GORANI: That was President Trump a few hours ago after meeting senior military leaders and there are few places where military strategy is of such urgent and important as in Syria. We've been giving a look at America's end game there. Now very interestingly, we've been hearing from the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who says that the U.S. is aiming to crush terrorist groups and curb Iran's influence. It also wants Bashar al-Assad out. It also wants the safe return of refugees and the elimination of chemical weapons. This is coming so many, many years after the beginning of this civil war, that it is really worth exploring what the U.S. really wants to do in Syria. Keeping some sort of military presence? It seems like that idea was out the window years ago. Where are we going with all of this? Let's speak with Nick Paton Walsh about what we know regarding America's involvement in Syria. Nick, you join us from London. You spent a lot of time, obviously, reporting from Syria. What are we looking at here? Some sort of, I guess, semi-permanent presence for the U.S. military inside Syria?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at Secretary Tillerson's list -- there are five key points there that you outlined. Those things are incredibly hard to satisfy immediately and possible in the longer term. That is an extraordinarily big ask, as is stamping down on al Qaeda, ISIS and chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction, gone as well. You've given the question here, well, is this entirely the U.S. government's policy? Does he speak cohesively for the Pentagon as well? But also, what do they mean by continued engagement? It does appear that much of the focus is about keeping the handful of very potent U.S. forces that have been training Syrian Kurds in Northern Syria. That's the major gambit the U.S. has to play here. They recently announced expanded training for a border force. That was rolled back in the last 24 hours or so. The broader issue is, is this going to go on for years? Is it specifically about circumventing Iran's influence between Iraq and Lebanon? Many say Iranian backed militia have a lot of freedom to move around as well. Are we also going to see a broader concern about putting the U.S. into a fight they've spent years under the Obama administration to kind of keep out of.</s>GORANI: Exactly. Briefly, this is the U.S. years after Russia and Iran have established huge influence in that country. Now all of a sudden seemingly doing a 180 on their policy and providing long lists of very difficult things to achieve with tens of thousands of troops on the ground, let alone a few thousand. This is actually quite remarkable to say this at this stage.</s>WALSH: It is to some degree. I can see kind of the enduring logic here. The Obama administration didn't want to get messed up in backing one particular side in the Syrian civil war. That has been brutal and bloody. It's no consolation to the Syrian-Sunni rebels who have endured that battering frankly by the Syrian regime. They're stepping in because they see a vacuum. They're concerned about ISIS coming back. They're concerned about Iran and Russia taking sway in that particular area. They don't want to let the Syrian Kurds do the fight against ISIS down necessarily. So, I think possibly you might argue with a small handful of forces they can insert into Northern Syria and continue to keep there, they potentially buy a lot of strategic influence and they certainly want to be sure their allies in the region like the Israelis don't see this become a playing ground for Iranian and Russian influence and that the U.S. keeps some sort of mark. It may seem like an enormous reversal. But given the tail end of the Syrian war and the defeat of ISIS, it does make some kind of sense -- Hala.</s>GORANI: Nick Paton Walsh in London, thanks very much for that analysis. Still to come tonight, new details about the torture and abuse 13 children suffered inside this California home of horrors, police say at the hands of their own parents. We are live next.</s>HALA GORANI, CNN HOST, HALA GORANI TONIGHT: We're learning more about that horrifying story of neglect and abuse. A California couple will appear in court today, charged with the torture of their own children. The district attorney in this case spoke to the media a short time ago and detailed some of the abuse against the 13 kid among them, being tied up with ropes, eating just once a day and only allowed to shower once a year. Stephanie Elam was at that news conference and joins us now from Riverside, California. It's actually getting more shocking by the day, this story, Stephanie.</s>STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Completely, Hala. Even when you cover a lot of really sad, difficult stories, there is still some things that's just shocking, and this is one of those stories. To hear it, according to the District Attorney's Office, they are saying that if the kids washed their hands about their wrist, they were accused of playing in the water and then they were punished. And punishment could mean beatings, it could be strangulation, and it could also mean that you would tied up. And that tied up in ropes. And so, one of the kids was able to get free and even at one point hogtying the child. And when the children was able to get free, then they resorted to padlocks and chains. They're saying this abuse was pervasive and it got worse when the family moved to California from Texas in 2010. But really, the only reason that this came to light at this point is because of the 17-year-old daughter who had the moxie, who had the courage to run for help. And she actually - if she hadn't done this, we might not have known about this. In fact, take to listen to what Mike Hestrin, the district attorney's office - the district attorney for Riverside County, what he said he did. Take a listen.</s>MIKE HESTRIN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: The 17- year-old victim that escaped had been working on a plan with her siblings to escape this abuse for more than two years. She escaped through a window and took one of her siblings with her. That sibling eventually turned back - became frightened and turned back and went back into the house.</s>ELAM: So, just think about that. She still took that cell phone that was no longer in service, called 911, showed pictures to the police officer, so that they would believe her. When the police officers got to the house, when they knocked, the defendant in that time were able to release two of the children from chains, the 11- year-old and the 14-year-old. But they did not have time, by the time the police actually just went ahead and entered to free the 22-year-old who was still in chains. And just to give you an idea how poorly they were doing, they are saying that the 12-year-old weighs that of an average 7-year-old and that the 29- year-old female weighs just 82 pounds. They're also saying that the children have some cognitive impairments and also nerve damage from extreme prolonged abuse from what they were dealing with. And also, the other thing that is going to be key here, Hala, is the fact that they've recovered journals, the one thing that kids were able to do, hundreds of journals that the kids were writing in. And so, they've recovered these and, I think, that is going to be key in this case as well. When you take a look at the children, the fact that they were not being fed as much as they needed, clearly, the parents, though, would eat and would often get things like pies and leave them on the counter for the kids to look at, but wouldn't let them eat them. Just to give you an idea, there's so much that we learn today, but that just gives you an idea of how poorly these children, how much neglect these children were living with over this period of time, Hala.</s>GORANI: Honestly, you can hardly wrap your brain around people so sick and so disgusting, they exist in the world unfortunately. And in this case, thanks goodness for that young courageous girl who managed to escape. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much for joining us. Now to Cairo and a CNN exclusive interview with a man who some consider the highest religious authority for Sunni Muslims. My colleague Ben Wedeman talked with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar who is speaking out about President Trump's decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, calling it rash and uncalculated. That topic and others as well discussed. Ben Wedeman joins me now live from Cairo with more on this extraordinary interview. Ben, what more did you hear - what more did the imam tell you?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ahmed El- Tayyeb, who is the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, he had organized a two-day conference on Jerusalem that was organized in the aftermath of the decision last month by the Trump administration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Now, interestingly, about this conference, it was attended not only by the Grand Imam, but also by Pope Tawadros II of the Egyptian Coptic Church as well as Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. All three of these men were scheduled originally to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence when he came to the region. And all three of them declared that they would refuse to meet him as a result of the American decision on Jerusalem. And when we spoke to the Grand Imam today, he warned that the decision by the United States on Jerusalem could have dire consequences.</s>SHEIKH AHMED EL-TAYYEB, GRAND IMAM OF AL-AZHAR (through translator): People now have begun to realize the danger of this decision and realize that decision like this nurture terrorism, created and propelled forward to act and express itself the message that we will all reject. Unfortunately, this decision will nurture terrorism. And when terrorism rises again, the East and West will drown in seas of blood. There are other causes that encourage terrorism, stemming from the tyranny of international policies towards people in general. The West could have benefited from the East and the East from the West. This is what we are looking forward to from advanced Western societies, for the relationship to be one of love and human exchange. This relationship would cost a fraction of what it costs to create these barriers of hatred and we at Al-Azhar have tried to demolish the barriers that breed the culture of hatred and violence between the East and the West.</s>WEDEMAN: On Saturday, the United States Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Cairo. And on his original schedule, he was supposed to meet with your Excellency, but you declined to meet with him. Why?</s>EL-TAYYEB: We welcome the visit, but we're surprised by the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It gives credence to the claim that Jerusalem is Jewish and justifies the jewification (ph) of Jerusalem. This is contrary to international law. We think of Jerusalem as an occupied city and not a Jewish city. It is 100 percent Arab under Israeli occupation. I believe there isn't any religion that would approve of this decision. Religions came to free mankind of tyranny, of capital and power. I believe that I would be contradictory in front of people if I hosted one of the architects of this decision by the American administration. This decision falsifies history. I always receive important guests on the basis that we share more on human common ground.</s>WEDEMAN: Now, Vice President Pence is scheduled to arrive here in Cairo on Saturday, but he has nothing on his schedule except a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Then he flies to Oman where he has nothing on his schedule, but a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II. Then, of course, he goes on to Israel where he has two very busy days. This sort of imbalance in his attention on the region certainly has been noted here. Hala?</s>GORANI: Thanks, Ben Wedeman, live in Cairo with that interview, that exclusive interview. More now on our top story now. Condemnation from Syria after America outlined its goals for the country's future. They include the defeat of ISIS and Al Qaeda, then seeing the reduction of Iran's influence. Syria says the mere presence of America's military there is an act of aggression. Of course, the government has no issue with other militaries' presence in their country such as Russia or Iran. Let's get more on the significance of this move and speak to two people who know both sides of this story well. Professor and author Fawaz Gerges is in London. CNN military analyst Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling currently is in Orlando, Florida. Fawaz, first of all, this is coming a bit late in the game from America, isn't it, outlining priorities and goals and potentially floating the idea that there could be some sort of semi-permanent military presence by American inside Syria?</s>FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR: I think it's very late. And I think, also, it's a very tall order. If you ask me, what are the challenges about this particular announcement, I think there is a huge gap between the wish list announced by the secretary of state and the means and the tools that the US has at its disposal. I mean, think about it, Hala, the United States wishes to deliver an enduring defeat for Al Qaeda and ISIS. The US wishes to basically contain Iranian influence. The US wishes to foresee or oversee a political process that basically gets Assad out of power. And how? The US has 2,000 soldiers in northeastern Syria, working with the Kurds, sandwiched between the Syrian and the Iranian and the Hezbollah forces and hostile Turkey. When Secretary of State Tillerson, a few weeks ago, said that Assad must leave today, not tomorrow, Assad retorted by saying the secretary of state was hallucinating. Hallucination or not, it seems to me that without really investing more strategic assets in Syria, I think the rhetoric itself will not do.</s>GORANI: Right. And Mark Hertling, that was going to be precisely my next question. I mean, when the US invested hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of troops in a country like Iraq, they ended up leaving with Iran essentially dominating the political landscape there. How do they expect in Syria, with a couple of thousand of troops and certainly a history of disengagement toward that country to achieve anything on that Tillerson wish list?</s>MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's going to be difficult, Hala.</s>GORANI: I mean, it's impossible. It's not difficult, it's impossible.</s>HERTLING: Yes, I would say so. It seems like Secretary Tillerson's strategy that he outlined at Stanford with the five points don't seem to have the requirements of the strategy, meaning the resources associated with it and the ends to do it. What he's basically doing is outlining a strategy that should've been outlined probably about two years ago with some significant resources behind it. The defeat of ISIS and Al Qaeda is still a critically important goal of the United States. ISIS is bruised and battered and with a military definition, I would say, from a conventional standpoint, they are defeated in their capitals of Raqqa, but they are not destroyed and they could quickly arise again. But some of the other goals that Secretary Tillerson outlined, as Fawaz said, are going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet, especially the UN-brokered restoration with Assad's departure, the curb on Iran which is already prevalent throughout Syria and the safe return of refugees which are currently in Idlib and the Syrian government continues to bomb them even though they place many of those refugees there with support by the Russians. As you said and as Fawaz said, there are a whole lot of other countries involved in this. there is going to be contention with the Turks, with Iran and with Syria.</s>GORANI: And, Fawaz, I've got to ask you, just looking at the picture as it stands now in Syria, the Iran-Russia-government axis is in charge now. I mean, they've basically - and they're continuing to pound Idlib as Mark Hertling is saying, they've, for all intents and purposes, won.</s>GERGES: Well, for your own viewers, Hala, let's look at the operational map. Syria, Iran and its allies control most of the lands, most of the urban centers. And you're going to see, unfortunately, Idlib - most of Idlib is going to fall in the next few months and including</s>GORANI: OK. But as we said, that late in the game with perhaps not the resources required. Either way, thanks to both of you. I hope to have you on again to talk about this in more detail very soon. Mark Hertling and Fawaz Gerges. Still to come tonight, the daughter of a Hollywood giant says MeToo. She's been saying for a while now. And says, this time, she hopes people will listen. We'll be right back.