[George Howell, Cnn Anchor:] Calling it quits: a Las Vegas casino mogul accused of sexual misconduct is stepping down from the Republican National Committee.
[Natalie Allen, Cnn Anchor:] Explosives, hidden inside an ambulance. We look at the horrific massacre in Kabul.
[Howell:] And one young man's determination to make history. Rowing solo across the Atlantic for a good cause. Wow.
[Allen:] And, he's just 19 years old. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are live in Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen.
[Howell:] And I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters, NEWSROOM starts right now. It's 4:00 am on the U.S. East Coast. He's a casino mogul in Las Vegas, Nevada, a political ally of the U.S. president but now Steve Wynn is out as the main fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. Faced with multiple sexual misconduct allegations, Wynn resigned as finance chair. Dozens of his employees told "The Wall Street Journal" about a pattern of misconduct going back decades.
[Allen:] Wynn denies all of the allegations. He is a business rival turned friend to Donald Trump. And it was the president who first tapped him for his post at the Republican National Committee. Boris Sanchez has more for us from the White House.
[Boris Sanchez, Cnn White House Correspondent:] On background, a White House official tells CNN that President Trump supported the resignation of Steve Wynn from the Republican National Committee. There was some question as to how the White House would approach this situation, considering some inconsistencies in the past when responding to sexual assault allegations. You'll recall, in just the past two months, the White House simultaneously demanded the resignation of former Senator Al Franken while backing Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, two men that were both accused of sexual misconduct. President Trump is actually supposed to see Steve Wynn last weekend at a fundraiser in Mar-a-lago. The president couldn't attend the fundraiser because of the government shutdown. But Wynn took the stage and gave a speech in which he defended the president and his agenda. Here's some more of what Steve Wynn said Saturday night at Mar-a-lago.
[Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts:] And then all of a sudden, once again in American history, an unlikely person became president, perhaps the most unlikely of all since Abe Lincoln. Donald John Trump became 45th President of the United States, to the chagrin, to the hysterical chagrin, of the other side. He was their worst nightmare.
[Sanchez:] Though in 2016, President Trump called Steve Wynn "a great friend," the two men have historically had some rocky moments. They were competing hotel and casino tycoons who've known each other for 34 years. Ultimately, with President Trump handpicking Wynn to be the finance chairman for the RNC and now, on Saturday, again, a White House official telling CNN that the president backs his resignation, in part, to limit any kind of political damage that could hit the RNC or the White House Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.
[Allen:] Joining me now to talk more on this, Peter Matthews. He is a professor of political science at Cypress College. Peter, thanks for joining us.
[Peter Matthews, Cypress College:] Good to be here, thank you.
[Allen:] Let's begin with yet another sexual harassment scandal this country is hearing about. It involves accusations against Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn. He has stepped down as finance manager of the Republican National Committee, a position handpicked by President Trump for him. What are the ramifications of what could be another sex scandal, this the first CEO of a public company accused?
[Matthews:] The ramifications are huge, because, you know, here's a powerful man, once again, taking advantage of women that worked for him or his company. And he was the head of the fundraising. I think personally donated $100,000 to candidates. And some of those candidates are having to give the money back. So it throws a lot of disarray in the picture, not to mention the fact that the women themselves were widely suffering and it's more an example of powerful men taking advantage of many women who worked with or for them. So it's not good at all for the Republican National Committee or for the women especially and for Steve Wynn either or for Trump himself.
[Allen:] Of course he categorically denies all of the accusations. There is an investigation going on with his company into what allegedly happened. So you see this, in some way, impacting the Republican National Committee?
[Matthews:] Absolutely. Also the election's coming up, this November 2018, and that's those elections are very important because it's a chance that the Democrats have to capture the House and Senate back. And this is going to be a negative force on the Republican candidates, because, again, it's their party. It's their head of their RNC and they've taken money from him and he raised money for them. So there's some taint there. I'm not saying it's 100 percent effect on them but it's not going to help them in any way. It could have an impact on some races, especially close races.
[Allen:] The president, though, is set to deliver his State of the Union speech this week. Let's talk about that. The economy is good. The tax cuts well received by many in corporate America. Some corporations handing down pay raises now to employees. He's got some good stuff that he'll likely tout. What else, though, does this president have to brag about or what achievement can he rally behind in this very important speech?
[Matthews:] Well, he's going to brag about the tax cuts, of course, but also he's going to brag about having repealed ObamaCare as an individual mandate and a few other things, like the Supreme Court justice appointment that he got for Neil Gorsuch. But he's also going to ask for infrastructure spending and to have immigration reform in a very conservative, right-wing manner, which is going to be very troubling for a lot of people. And infrastructure spending, he's asking for $1 trillion; whereas the American Society of Civil Engineers said it will take at least $3 trillion to bring the American infrastructure back up to par. Our roads, our bridges, our sewer systems, our airports are all in disarray in many cases and decrepit so we have to see whether Trump's recommendation is even enough. He's going to be asking for those kinds of things for sure. And immigration, again, going back to immigration, it's going to be a problem because he's asking to stop family unification, as he calls it, chain immigration, which means keeping families together as opposed to just having high-tech people come into America, which he wants. It's going to be a complete radical change and departure from our recent immigration policy of having people unite with their families and have a strong base here of society built in America through immigration.
[Allen:] Of course, he gives his speech under the cloud of the Russia investigation. That goes on amid reports that he tried to fire Mr. Mueller back this summer. As that hangs over his head, a lot rides then on this speech. We saw him stick to the speech at Davos and get a good response. Do you expect he'll do the same, coming up here?
[Matthews:] That is very difficult to predict because you know Mr. Trump. If he sticks to teleprompter he's generally OK as far as the form goes. But he doesn't just stick to the teleprompter. He likes to go off script. And in Davos he was on script for sure. But this time you've got 48 million people watching, Natalie. That is a huge audience and what happens once the speech is over? Even if he sticks to the script, will he stick to script after the speech is over, the next week or two, when the focus should be on the items in the speech as opposed to some 240-word character tweet? He could tweet something that will throw people completely off from what he said in the State of the Union address. So that's something we have to watch and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.
[Allen:] We thank you for joining us, Peter Matthews. Thanks, Peter.
[Matthews:] My pleasure, thank you.
[Allen:] And that State of the Union address will happen Tuesday. You can see it right here on CNN, coverage begins at 8:00 pm Tuesday in New York. That's 9:00 am Wednesday morning in Hong Kong.
[Howell:] In Afghanistan, the government has declared Sunday a national day of mourning after a vicious bombing that took place in Kabul. The attack happened a little more than 24 hours ago. Authorities say that a driver was able to get through a checkpoint and detonate explosives packed into an ambulance. At least 95 people were killed and almost 200 others wounded.
[Allen:] A spokesman for the Taliban claims the group is responsible. U.S. President Donald Trump calls the bombing "despicable." He also said it has renewed the resolve of the U.S. and its Afghan partners.
[Howell:] Let's get the very latest on this attack from journalist Bilal Sarwary, joining this hour from the Afghan capital. Thank you so much for your time today, Bilal. First, let's talk about the nature of how this happened, an ambulance with explosives packed in it gets past a checkpoint in order to carry out such a destructive attack. What more do we know about the security situation, how this vehicle was able to get past an inspection?
[Bilal Sarwary, Journalist:] Well, Afghan counterterrorism officials are saying that's exactly what they want to find out. But what is clear, the attacker was in an ambulance, he had said he had a patient when he was stopped at the second checkpoint. That's when he detonated his explosives. A day after that attack, today, Kabul is a city with a broken heart and with a broken soul. I was able to go out in the city. I really didn't see the same hustle and bustle, the traffic jams, the life, although Kabul is quite chaotic as a city. So obviously, Afghanistan continues to lose not only with lives but also there are economic losses. And people are actually quite scared to come out and just do their daily day-to-day business. At this stage, sources within the health ministry are saying that a number of those people wounded
[Sarwary:] some of them are in critical conditions. We know some of the victims have lost their body parts, like arms and legs and some family members are even still trying to find out what happened to their loved ones. And there's a lot of criticism that why the Afghan government still does not have a hotline, given the fact that these attacks are happening now, unfortunately, on a more regular basis. I spoke to the family of 29-year-old Jafar, a young man who had finished school and he wanted to take admission in university. So he's among those killed. Obviously, there are a lot of heartbreaks. And Afghanistan just continues to really have these heartbreaks which are becoming, unfortunately, the new normal and this is a city of at least 7 million people. So people are actually really asking for some sense of responsibility and security from the government.
[Howell:] Bilal, this attack happening on Chicken Street, near an area that's known for shopping, people coming together, government buildings there. But let's put this into context, because, just a week ago, Bilal, we saw another attack at the Intercontinental Hotel there. Is there a sense among people that the Taliban is picking up the pace here? And what are people saying about that?
[Sarwary:] Well, we've definitely seen a very clear shift in strategy, both on the part of Taliban and the Islamic State in terms of moving the fighting from the provinces and rural areas into the cities. We have to remember, the American military, other international forces, Afghan special forces, are really going after mid- and high- level Taliban as well as Islamic State leadership. So they've lost their commanders and fighters. And I think they want to strike inside cities to create a climate of fear but to also really send a message that we can actually hit you in some of the most secure locations. Where the attack took place, this used to be the old interior ministry and it's not very far from the Swedish embassy, from the European Union, from the Indonesian embassy and from the country's high peace council. I think what the people of Afghanistan are demanding is that officials responsible for the security of Kabul be held responsible, that this culture of impunity must end. And remember, this is almost becoming like a disease, these security and intelligence breaches, which really also respects international diplomats and aid workers from doing their work effectively because now they are forced to work from behind glass walls. And this attack also comes after the big truck bomb that Afghanistan's capital had in 2017. So we already see the impact of that truck bomb attack, whether it's investors not wanting to invest or international aid organizations that really cannot operate in a safe environment.
[Howell:] Well, you touched on this but I want to push further. I mean, in the sense that we've seen the Taliban carry out many attacks, we've seen them reclaim some security that had been previously lost. The U.S. president singled out neighboring Pakistan for not doing enough to crack down on the group and its reach into Afghanistan. The question that I pose to you, is there a sense among people there, among officials there, that enough is being done on either side of the border, quite frankly, to make an impact on this group?
[Sarwary:] Well, we have seen this tit-for-tat for almost last 17 years, you know. What the Americans and Afghan officials really want Pakistan is to go after Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network, the Pakistan-based militant network. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the deputy head of operations for the Taliban. So there's clearly that expectation that Pakistan needs to really move against those militant groups and leadership. And there are also accusations that there's institutional support for groups like the Haqqani Network. But let's also not forget, the Afghan government is struggling after a disputed election in 2014. And what we have seen is a lot of criticism directed at the government, saying, you know, why are the police chiefs not able to do their job? Why are you not bringing, President Hamid, the right people into these jobs? So you know, Afghanistan has its own issues, no doubt. But I think what you, you know, constantly hear in public these days, even the U.S. president made it very clear, that Pakistan really needs to move against the leadership of the Taliban as well as the Haqqani Network. And Sirajuddin Haqqani's group have really carried out some of the most deadliest attacks here in Kabul and elsewhere, especially against American forces. But you also have the issue of corruption and political instability. You have Afghan leaders, you know, fighting in public, most of the times like children, and they hardly come across as leaders of a country that's at war. So I think you hear a lot of, you know, grievances and there's a lot of frustration on the part of ordinary people. But most importantly, you know, as someone told me yesterday, everywhere else, you know, death is by chance. These days in Kabul, you know, you have to really be lucky to be alive. And I think that sentiment, you know, is very well rooted among the citizens of Kabul, who are quite worried about the state of security.
[Howell:] People concerned, wanting more to be done about this. Journalist Bilal Sarwary, thank you so much for your time and the reporting today and we'll stay in touch with you.
[Allen:] It is shaping up to be a tense day in Russia. Thousands expected to protest the coming election, despite the government telling them to stay home. We'll take you live to Moscow for the very latest in just a moment.
[Howell:] Plus a reckoning in the U.S. State of Michigan. Investigators there dig into the university that employed and enabled sexual abuser Larry Nassar for nearly two decades. Stay with us.