Controversy Takes Center Stage at Grammy Awards; Few Female Winners at Grammy Awards; Fitness Trackers Reveal Remote U.S. Military Bases; The Battle of the Beach Chairs; More than 100 Killed in Afghanistan Over Nine Days; Kremlin: U.S. Attempting To Meddle With Our Election; CNN Goes To Front Line With Yemeni Troops; E.U. Lays Out Terms For Transition Talks.
JONES: Welcome back. You are watching HALA GORANI TONIGTH. For three years we have been reporting on the conflicts between the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and the Houthi rebels. A conflict that has created what the U.N. has called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. But what you are about to see is purely rare. CNN's Nic Robertson was given unusual access to the war and gives us an up-close look at Yemeni troops on the front lines. Here's Nic's report.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Yemeni government soldiers are taking us to their front line. It's a bone crunching slog up mountains just outside the capital, Sanaa. (on camera): This part of the mountain is so steep, we've had to get out of the truck and walk up for over 2,000 meters, more than 6,000 feet up in the mountains. (voice-over): The fight to get here is grinding and unforgiving as the terrain because camps feet wide, clinging to the rock face. (on camera): The Yemeni military is putting a big show for us here. A lot of soldiers out in force for (inaudible) rockets at the side of the road. This soldier has a message for Houthi he tells me, he is going to come and kill them, (inaudible) said. (voice-over): He has good reason to be cheerful. In recent months, the Yemeni Army has been gaining ground, 85 percent of the country's territory now with the elected government. Only 15 percent with Houthi rebels. Along the way, we passed a large Houthi military base destroyed during Saudi-led coalition airstrikes. The Houthis are still close. Soldiers hurry to show us the discovery they have made. (on camera): Even though the whole base was destroyed by airstrikes, this is -- we are hiding out in a tunnel here, it goes 25 yards into the mountain. Soldiers are going to show us in. (voice-over): They lead us deeper inside passed bedding and tables. (on camera): It's rigged up for lighting as well. There's a battery here and inverters so that they could run their equipment and it is going deeper and deeper into the mountain. It's huge. (voice-over): Inside here, the Houthis sent out the coalition airstrikes and it's what makes the Houthis a tough target today. (on camera): It's incredibly complex there are breakouts all the way along for different sleeping areas, kitchen area, most sleeping areas up here. It's a very, very sophisticated cave system built here. (voice-over): After several hours, we finally emerge at the top, looking down towards the capital. (on camera): We are keeping low here because we have been told the Houthis might (inaudible) from the valley below. We've been told we are about 10 miles, 16 kilometers from the capital center. Maybe double that to the center of the city. We are being close doesn't made the battle any easier. (voice-over): It's wind sweat and desolate but vital to push the Houthis from the capital and retake control of the country. (on camera): So, I can see a small town down here. Are there Houthi in this town? (voice-over): The commander in charge up here tells me he plans to hold this high ground, but he does not want to send troops into the capital because he wants to avoid civilian casualties. Both he and the coalition that back him are accused by the U.N. and others of not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties. In the safety of his command post, a cave cut into the mountainside, he explains more. With a little more equipment, we could take the capital in a week, he says, but that is a decision for our political leaders. We were taken and pillaged by the Houthis. Until that decision comes, these soldiers will be toughing it out on the mountaintop toiling up and down these tortuous tracks. Nic Robertson, CNN, just outside Sanaa, Yemen.</s>JONES: Nic, thank you for that report. Now the European Union is ruffling the feathers of Brexiters with a hardline on transition talks. European chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, says London can't be confused to what it wants. Brussels says the U.K. must allow for the free movement of people that must abide by European law including changes to that law. The European Court of Justice will apply in the U.K. and Europe wants the transition to end on December 31st, 2020. Now that is several months earlier than the British Prime Minister Theresa May wants. Let's go straight to Bianca Nobilo live in Brussels for us. It seems then that the E.U. is saying to the U.K., abide by our rules, but you won't be a beneficiary of any law deals.</s>BIANCA NOBILO, CNN REPORTER: That's precisely what the E.U. was saying for the period of transition whether that somewhere between 21 and 27 months the E.U. is saying to the United Kingdom that you have to accept all of the E.U. rules and regulations, but you could have no decision-making power. Now also according to the E.U. need to accept the oversight of the European Court of Justice. These are all things that as you mentioned are really going to aggravate Brexiters in Britain who want to see the U.K. regain full sovereignty as soon as possible. They've criticize what the E.U. is wanting here saying it would make Britain essentially a vassal state having to take all of these rules but having no input in designing them.</s>JONES: Bianca, viewers here in the U.K. would have seen this extraordinary interview between President Trump of the United States and (inaudible), which aired last night here in the U.K. In it, President Trump said first of all that he would do -- would have done Brexit differently, whatever that might have been. But he also talks about the pecking order, who is at the front of the queue or the back of the queue when it comes to making deals in a post-Brexit world. What kind of impact would that have had on those doing negotiating in Brussels?</s>NOBILO: The impact of that interview has certainly rippled across the channel because today we heard from the chief spokesperson for the European Commission who had something to say about Trump too namely that Trump would have taken this tough stance on the Brexit negotiations than Theresa May have. But also, the fact that Trump said that deals between the U.S. and the E.U., which amounts to about $1 trillion a year was very, very unfair. He had a few critical words for the way that the E.U. approaches that negotiations. The E.U. responded that if the U.S. implied any form of restrictive trade measure in the future they would respond swiftly and appropriately. It was quite an unusually stilly response from the European Commission. It might not sound like a couch in those terms, but it was so it's certainly something to watch and Trump has said that the U.K. will very much be at the front of the queue for striking trade deals in the years to come.</s>JONES: So, some good news there and potentially for Theresa May if indeed she is still prime minister when it comes to striking any deals with the United States. But in the meantime, she is facing something of a revolt back home starting with her own cabinet?</s>NOBILO: This has been the case really since the election started not to go her away in June 2017. So, the issue in the cabinet is split very markedly between those who want to see a little divergence as possible like the Chancellor Philip Hammond between the European Union and Britain because they think that the best way to preserve jobs and the economy. And of course, you have Brexiters and they are getting to be increasingly well organized (inaudible) who thinks that the prime minister might be softening her stance and diluting Brexit. That's their number one fear. They've been prepared over the last few months to (inaudible) a little bit of watering down. Keeping their eye on that end goal of leaving the European Union, but now it looks like the U.K. to be a vassal state as they are calling it in the period of transition, they're becoming a little bit grumpier. We are hearing more and more in the papers about the fact that they are not willing to support the prime minister if she is going to do that. So, the support of the Brexiters of Theresa May is really conditional. If they see Brexit not going the way that they wanted to then there really will be even more question marks over the prime minister's authority -- Hannah.</s>JONES: Testing times to come indeed. Bianca Nobilo live for us in Brussels. Bianca, thank you. Now still to come, tonight, should politics and music mix? The Grammy Awards take on a distinctly political tone and not everyone is amused. We'll explain all next. Plus, the Larry Nassar case shocks the world. Now, U.S. lawmakers are set to take action. The details on that coming up.</s>JONES: Welcome back. The Grammy Awards are a sleek, big budget celebration of the music industry's major names and this year many celebrities use the event to showcase serious political issues, from immigration to sexual harassments. As Brian Stelter now reports some high-profile viewers thought that struck the wrong chord.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He had a long- time fear of being poisoned, one reason why he like to eat at McDonalds --</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton making a surprise appearance in the Grammy Awards skit featuring celebrities doing dramatic readings on the tell-all book "Fire and Fury."</s>SNOOP DOGG: Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He started to get angry and hurt. The stars were determined to embarrass him. I wasn't definitely there.</s>CARDI B: Trump was not happy his 6:30 dinner with Steve Bannon then more to his liking, he was in bed by that time with a cheeseburger. Why am I even reading this</s>STELTER: The skit prompting backlash from Mr. Trump's allies. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeting that the skit ruined the award show. And the president's son going after Clinton, calling the opportunity to read and asked her from the book a great consolation prize for losing the presidency. Trump's denigrating comments toward immigrants from African nations which he reportedly called shitholes coming up repeatedly.</s>LOGIC: Bring us your tired, your poor, and any immigrant who seeks refuge.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blessed are the</s>STELTER: Prior to U2's performance, Cuban-Mexican immigrant singer, Camila Cabello paying tribute to Dreamers.</s>CAMILA CABELLO, AMERICAN-CUBAN IMMIGRANT SINGER: Tonight in this room full of music's Dreamers, we remember that this country was built by Dreamers, for Dreamers, chasing the American dream.</s>STELTER: A number of artists also honoring the #MeToo movement wearing white roses in solidarity.</s>JANELLE MONAE, AMERICAN RECORDING ARTIST: We come in peace, but we mean business. And to those who would dare try to silent us, we offer you two words, Time's Up.</s>STELTER: Singer Kesha who has been tied up in a legal battle with her producer over alleged sexual abuse with the moment of the night given an emotional performance of her hit song "Praying."</s>KESHA, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: I hope you find a peace falling on your knees, praying.</s>HANNAH VAUGHAN JONES, CNN ANCHOR: Brian Stelter with that report. But let's get more now from the CNN's entertainment reporter, Chloe Melas. Chloe is in New York for us now. What's the feeling here then Chloe? Is this the idea that artists just simply oversetting the mark in talking politics and all their fans want them to do is perform?</s>CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: I think that there's only -- it's very small amount of people that feel like politics shouldn't have a role at the Grammy Awards., At the end of the day, musicians are -- their goal is to either sing about things that have happened in their personal lives or to talk about things that have happening in all of our lives and politics and the MeToo movement, especially here in the student states has played such an emphasis, especially over the past few months. Things are getting so heated on both friends. So for them to address these things at the Grammy Awards shows that they're doing their job. Had they not addressed any of this, you would have seen backlash on that, that they hadn't gone hard enough on Donald Trump or that they hadn't addressed the MeToo movement. They did both of those things and I think that they did what they needed to do and they did it well. There are some scenic though out there who was saying that this is just a fad that people -- celebrities and artists are just on the back of it, simply because -- when truth comes down to it, there were very few if any women who actually took home a golden gramophone last night at the Grammys.</s>MELAS: OK. Well, those are two separate issues. So, yes, there was not - - there weren't many females that wanted the Grammy Awards. It all comes down to representation having more female nominees. The recording academy president today, Neil Portnow came under fire for an interview where he did, where he said that it all comes down to women having to step up to the plate and to do more. But we already have a lot of really strong female voices in Hollywood, in the music industry. But at the end of the day, this is all very important for this to be happening right now at this point in time and for all of it to have happened last night at the Grammy Awards, it was so incredibly powerful, especially like Brian Stelter said in his package, Kesha's performance was -- gave me goose bumps.</s>JONES: Another time when we get with seeing artists, entertainers stepping into the political field is potentially today, that during a People's State of the Union, this is ahead of President Trump's official State of the Union Address held tomorrow evening. Is this just another example though of music fans in particular who are going to be looking out for their idol saying, can you just perform and stay out of this? I need a break. I need a break from politics.</s>MELAS: If people don't want to watch it, then they don't have to tune in. I think it's really interesting, it's counter programming. You're going to have Common who's going to be performing one of his hit songs. You're going to have Whoppi Goldberg. A lot of really big stars who have been very open. Lee Daniels. People who have been very vocal about being not on Donald Trump's team. Something I wanted to say earlier though is that Hollywood really has been affecting change. It's not just about wearing black at the Golden Globes or having white roses at the Grammy Awards. They have started this Time's Up initiative. And they've already started a legal defense fund that has millions of dollars in the banks for people to be able to use that for those who can't afford to fight their own legal battles. So change is coming. As you saw with Kevin Spacey, Sony cutting him out of their movie, "All the Money in the World." Netflix dropping him. Companies aren't standing for this type of behavior anymore. So the more that powerful people speak up, I think the change will happen even faster.</s>JONES: Chloe, great to get your perspective. Appreciate. Thank you.</s>MELAS: Thank you.</s>JONES: OK. To the American capitol now where the House is set to vote on a bill in the coming hours. One of them is to protect Olympic athletes from abuse. The votes most accelerate most accelerated after last week's sentencing of a disgraced USA gymnastics Dr. Larry Nassar. The bill would create an organization within the US Olympic committee that would handle abuse reports and involve law enforcement when indeed necessary. Let's cross over to Capitol Hill now then. CNN Sunlen Serfaty is there for us. Sunlen, assuming that this legislation is indeed passed, what would be the immediate impact of it, not just for a U.S. Olympic athletes but for others, potentially as well.</s>SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this new bill would apply not only to Olympic athletes, but all other minor amateur sports organizations on that you have young athletes coming to contacts with adults. And as you said, this is a bill that likely will go through this week, but it should be noted that this is an effort that's been worked on for quite some time up here on Capitol Hill last year. It was passed in the House and it went over to the Senate. They made some small changes to it, sends it back to the House. That procedure aside, most likely will go through and this will become law. As you said, it really ups the mandatory training for adults that come into contact with those young athletes requiring -- increase requirements for reporting abuse too. This is a major thing, because as we saw in the case of Larry Nassar, there were many cases where things were flagged, red flags were put up and people were informed, but there was really no direct sort of incident reports that are made available. So certainly this is something that Congress is in the middle of the spotlight being on this case, saying look, we've got to do better, we've got to pass this legislation, so it would up to increase the training and the requirement for information, so.</s>JONES: The spotlight very much on that case of Larry Nassar, but also Congress has failed to have their spotlight on it in recent weeks and recent months as well about sexual harassment allegations. Is Congress getting its own House in order while it also tries to pass legislation for other organizations?</s>SERFATY: They are trying to put simply. This is something that we've been reporting on for months. Really in the wake of the MeToo scandal just how big of a problem it is up here on Capitol Hill, the fact that you have many young aides working up here. The fact that you have an antiquated system which makes the process of coming forth and reporting sexual harassments, sexual abuse, it makes it difficult at best and really turns a lot of people away from reporting it at worst. So this is something that Capitol Hill has been working on for months. There is bipartisan legislation over at the House that likely will get a vote at the end of the month. And what it does is really overhaul the system of reporting up here on Capitol Hill and mandates training for members and their offices. This is something that was not mandated before. So clearly Capitol Hill and members of Congress saying, look, this is a problem that not only affects athletes, not only affects corporations, but it affects Capitol Hill as well.</s>JONES: And lawmakers would know that the awaiting President Trump's first State of the Union Address expected tomorrow night, of course. Might we see some kind of a statement from lawmakers, perhaps in support of the MeToo movement or Time's Up?</s>SERFATY: Yes. You definitely will. I think that we'll hear that visually and verbally as well. Certainly many members have been very outspoken. Not only calling some like Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Gillibrand calling for President Trump to resign over the allegations made against him. But you will see visually many members wearing all black in the audience, that's of course in solidarity with the MeToo movement and we know that some members just put simply are not going to go tomorrow night. They don't want to attend the address in there making that their protest.</s>JONES: OK. Sunlen Serfaty live for us there in Washington. Thank you. Now, more than 130 people killed in just the past nine days. Afghanistan is dealing with a new wave of devastating attacks. The latest targeting a military base in Kabul, the capital today. Nick Paton Walsh has all the details.</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hannah, it has been a devastating week. Nine days really those living in the Afghan capital of Kabul and what's supposed to be a ring of steel and to which many people have fled the violence embroiling so much of Afghanistan. And today's attack against the military academy is just another instance of the insurgence that made it performs trying to show they can project power more or less wherever they feel they can. That's the military academy the day weekend before Saturday. The Taliban attacks part of diplomatic area, a checkpoint there near a hospital and an ambulance used as a suicide car bomb, horrifying tactic, claimed over 100 lives. Then we see earlier, a few days, a charity for children attacking these of the country and then the weekend before the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul attacked by the Taliban as well. This is about making sure that the Afghan government supports its supporters begin to doubt whether their security forces can in fact keep them safe, particular given the attack against the hotel was specifically warned about by the Americans a matter of days earlier. There's not a worrying trends here too and there are two forces of work here. The first is, the Taliban who are quite clearly trying to compete it seems for this of the extremist low grounds being the most brutal, the most savage against ISIS who obviously the rest of the new part of the insurgency who lost of territory in Iraq and Syria, but seen some sort of traction take form perhaps amongst younger fighters seeking a new kind of branding inside of Afghanistan. These two groups it does appear are trying to sort of out to do each other so to speak. None of that competition is remotely any comfort for ordinary Afghans who have seen now 16 years of war slowly erode their ability to have daily lives as one might normally expect inside their country. And now, we are into perhaps a new face in which President Donald Trump has made it clear that personally he pledged that he will win Afghanistan is sending hundreds of American troops closer to the front lines now to train Afghan security personnel. On top of that too, there are some signs the military certainly is trying to reduce the transparency of how this war is full of one key indicator about how well they were doing the number of Afghan soldiers or police or being killed or injured, well, that's been classified now for a number of months. Although many concerns that is we're getting to more of this fighting season that had. Let's hope that information would be available, but still all of this absolutely no solace for those over 100 families grieving from the losses of this past devastating nine days, Hannah.</s>JONES: Nick Paton Walsh reporting there for us. OK. Still to come on the program tonight, how a fitness app have turned into a security headaches of the U.S. military. We'll explain all, next.