a provocative move. satellite imagery appears to show activity at a facility where north korea is known to assemble intercontinental ballistic missiles. a new claim by the u.s. president. mr. trump says michael cohen asked him directly for a pardon. so why did the president wait until now to reveal that? my husband is the longest-held hostage in american history. >> the wife of bob levinson who

was taken hostage in iran 12 years ago talks to cnn about why she feels the u.s. government has forgotten about him. we are live from the cnn center here in atlanta. i'm cyril vanier. great to have you with us. so u.s. president donald trump says he's a little disappointed in new evidence that suggests north korea is preparing for a new launch of some type. that evidence comes from experts who examined satellite images of two sites within north korea. this new activity could be military in nature or to send a satellite into space, or possibly just to send a message to the u.s. after last month's disastrous summit in vietnam. will ripley is in beijing taking a closer look at all of this. will, run us through the satellite pictures. what do they tell us? >> reporter: well, they paint a pretty troubling picture, cyril, in terms of tensions on the korean peninsula.

possibly escalating in the very near future. i've spoken with two analysts who are looking at these images from a facility outside pyongyang, which is known to have assembled both intercontinental ballistic missiles and spay rockets that would be used for satellite launches and what these expects are telling me is based on what they're seeing at this facility, there has been assembly taking place of either an icbm or a rocket. they don't have any way of knowing the difference because these things are obviously very carefully guarded. these analysts say they think whatever has assembled has been put possibly on a train and may be in the process of being taken right now to some launch site somewhere in north korea. now, if you put that information together with what we've seen in recent days, a flurry of activity at the satellite launch facility, where north korea has launched satellites into orbit and also tested missile engines there, the most likely scenario

i'm being told is that north korea has put together some sort of a space rocket. might be taking it to to sohei and could be preparing to launch it at any time. there are a lot of places we need to watch closely based on the satellite imagery we'll be seeing in coming days. there is a roof that's been put up to cover whatever arrives there. obviously if you see a lot of vehicles and movement, that will be an indication that something has arrived and could be possibly taken and put on a launchpad because, again, north korea has also resembled the roof to try to conceal the launchpad as well. if this is going to be a launch and it's going to happen at sohei, we should have several days' notice from the time something is sitting on a launchpad to the time that north korea would conduct a launch. they differentiate very much from launching a space rocket which they say is a peaceful, scientific endeavor and launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, which would be considered a highly provocative act. however, for the united states and the international community, even launching a space rocket is

provocative because it uses icbm technology that is banned by u.n. security council resolutions, cyril, so no matter how you slice it, if north korea decides to go through with a launch of any kind, it has the potential to be a highly provocative act that could escalate the situation in this part of the world very quickly. >> and will, there's another story that is developing that you're monitoring from your part of the world, and that is the trade talks between the united states and china, where things may have hit a roadblock. >> reporter: that's absolutely right because what chinese officials watched very closely and are now very concerned about is president trump's unconventional approach to diplomacy. when he abruptly ended the summit in hanoi, walked out of the room, leaving kim jong-un and his team bewildered, which is the word of one source that i spoke with, and, frankly, humiliated without a deal after having sent their leader, after having sent both leaders a very long distance to meet at the table, it now has chinese

officials wondering whether xi jinping is going to have the same thing happen to him if he were to accept president trump's invitation to travel to mar-a-lago to try to finalize a trade deal at the end of this month. so what we are hearing from sources on the chinese side they are at this stage not planning for xi jinping to travel to mar-a-lago until they make more progress on the trade deal, until they feel that it is absolutely certain that a deal has been finalized and will be signed at mar-a-lago. because it would be a diplomatic catastrophe for xi jinping to travel 8,000 miles to the u.s. only to have president trump walk out on him like he did walk out on kim jong-un. >> all right. will ripley reporting live from beijing. thank you very much. and president trump is at his resort in florida for the weekend, but he left washington reeling from another week of unprecedented turmoil. his former campaign manager paul manafort was sentenced to just shy of four years in prison for financial crimes, and his former longtime personal attorney went to capitol hill to spill the

beans about his old boss. here is cnn's jim acosta. >> reporter: after shying away from the subject for days, president trump took aim 59 his former personal attorney michael cohen, accusing his one-time fixer of lying to congress. >> it's a stone cold lie. he's lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie, and he knew all about pardons. his lawyers said that they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons. >> reporter: the president is referring to this comment cohen made last week under oath when he testified that he had not sought a pardon from mr. trump, even though his own attorneys had done just that. >> and i have never asked for nor would i accept a pardon from president trump. >> reporter: the president went one step further, alleging cohen had sought a pardon personally, tweeting bad lawyer and frauds ter michael cohen said he had never asked for a pardon. his lawyers totally contradicted him. he lied. additionally, he personally

asked me for a pardon. i said no. cohen tweeting back, just another set of lies by the president. let me remind you today is international women's day, you may want to apologize for your own lies and dirty deeds to women like karen mcdougal and stephanie clifford. but the president's attack on cohen could backfire, pulling mr. trump into a perjury investigation into his former personal attorney's remarks. >> we'd love to hear from the president about it. it does seem like one of these whimsical last-minute presidential inventions. >> reporter: contrast mr. trump's war of words with cohen with the sympathy expressed for his former campaign chairman paul manafort who is headed to prison but may receive a pardon of his own as he stayed loyal to the president. >> i feel very badly for paul manafort. i think it's been a very, very tough time for him, but if you notice both his lawyer, a highly respected man and i a very highly respected judge, the judge said there was no collusion with russia. this has nothing to do with

collusion. there was no collusion. it's a collusion hoax. it's a collusion witch hoax. >> reporter: just before the president viewed storm damage in alabama, the white house announced its communications director bill shine is resigning. sources tell cnn mr. trump had soured on shine, questioning his judgement on a number of issues. still, the president released a statement saying, "we will miss shine in the white house but look forward to working together on the 2020 presidential campaign where he will be totally involved." shine, a former fox news executive, is the sixth person to take on the communications job, raising questions about the president's commitment to hire the best people. >> we're going to get the best people in the world. >> we're going to use our smartest and our best. we're not using political hacks anymore. >> reporter: the president may need a new communications director to help spin the latest unemployment numbers, showing the economy only added 20,000 jobs last month. still, the president said there is nothing to worry about. >> the economy is very, very strong. if you look at the stock market over the last few months, it's been great.

>> reporter: the president is looking to put democrats on the defensive, accusing them of going soft on congresswoman ilhan omar, after the house passed a measure condemning hate speech, a move sparked by the freshman democrat's anti-semitic comments. >> the democrats have become an anti-israel party. they've become an anti-joush party. >> reporter: but the president overlooked his own record. >> you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. >> and as for the departure of the communications director over here, a source close to the white house said there were growing concerns about the administration's cozy relationship with fox news, where bill shine was recently a top executive. shine was partly responsible for the dramatic reduction in press briefings with reporters. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein joins us from los angeles. ron, let's start with michael cohen. donald trump says michael cohen asked him directly for a pardon.

if it's true, why would the president wait until now to bring this up? why wouldn't he put that out there sooner to try to undermine michael cohen's credibility? >> right. it's a terrific question, and there are other questions that the president, i think, perhaps inadvertently has opened here, which is that if he is willing to talk about alleged conversations with michael cohen about pardons, what would be -- what would prevent him from discussing other conversations with other former officials, people in his orbit about pardons. why could he not be asked about michael flynn or paul manafort. the other thing here, cyril, michael cohen made his statements under oath. the president is talking on the lawn or on twitter, and the question of whether in some forum he would be willing to testify under oath to these allegations, you know, is one that we don't know the answer to yet. >> is it a problem, by the way -- >> i'm guessing it would be.

>> let's assume it's true for a second. would that be a problem in terms of legal exposure for the president if he did talk directly with michael cohen about potential pardons? >> well, the president's pardon power is pretty unlimited. you know, the question becomes whether it would then be seen as part of a corrupt intent. and i'm not a lawyer, but as i understand it, the issue would be whether this would be part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice rather than -- he has the authority to pardon anybody on the federal level, at least. and as you know, that's one of the reasons why these concurrent state investigations of many of the same players is so important, but i think the question would be whether the pardon power was being dangled in a way that was to effectuate or advance some kind of conspiracy to obstruct justice. >> tell me about paul manafort now because donald trump quite counterintuitively is now telling the jailing and the sentencing of his former campaign chairman as a sort of

moral victory for himself. >> right. i mean, he is using -- i mean, this case was about bank fraud and tax fraud and evading federal taxes, it was not about the core issue of whether paul manafort was in any way cooperating with the russians during the 2016 campaign. the judge acknowledged that, and the president took that and twisted that into meaning there is no collusion. i mean, there is a big uproar in the united states about this sentence, you know, sentencing guidelines of the approximately 20 years transmuted into a sentence of 47 months. we've seen many public defenders today talking about clients who stole, for example, $100 worth of quarters from, you know, a retail establishment and we're given longer sentences, and the question of whether this reflects disparate justice based on your skin color and your level of affluence and so forth.

the judge describing paul manafort as someone who has lived -- kind of an extraordinary statement given the various scrapes he's been in and the kind of clients he's represented. so there is a debate about this entirely separate from the question of what the president is saying, but i think what he is saying is a very clear signal, he will speak positively of those who, you know, hold to the code of silence and will unload with both barrels on those he sees as threatening him or betraying him. >> in fairness, this does give him a pretty powerful argument. his critics have been saying for a long time, well, your former campaign chairman is going to jail. there is a lot of smoke there, mr. president. >> yeah. >> and his answer, rightfully so, okay, but it's got nothing to do with me. it's about tax fraud. bank fraud. hiding foreign bank accounts. nothing to do with me, my campaign, let alone collusion. >> right. this specific manafort case does not. manafort's going to be sentenced next week in a separate case in d.c. where he could get another

ten years. but information developed through this case and inadvertently released, you know, has raised pretty explosive questions about mr. manafort sharing internal campaign polling data with his contact in the ukraine, who in turn has contacts with russian intelligence. we don't know, obviously, the full dimensions of what the special counsel does know, and unless and until that report is available, we're not really going to have a clear way to resolve the issue of what exactly paul manafort did or did not do during the 2016 campaign. >> yeah, i'm glad you said that. we need to keep reminding our viewers until we see a report, brided provided we see it from the final mueller report. we won't know where this story ends or where this story really has been going for the last two years one way or another. ron brownstein, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. the trump administration has suffered a major blow in a legal battle over migrant families

separated at the u.s. border. the judge has ruled that thousands more migrants can be included in a class action lawsuit to reunite families. the ruling comes after a watchdog report found that thousands more children had been separated than was previously acknowledged. and jussie smollett is facing new charges. a grand jury indicted the actor on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct. police say smollett gave a false report about being the victim of a racist and anti-gay crime. in january, he claimed he had been attacked by men who put a noose around his neck. but police believe smollett paid two brothers, you see them here in this surveillance video, $3,500 to stage that attack. venezuela's worst blackout enters its second day. power is returning to some areas but thousands are still in the dark. how people there are coping. we'll talk about that next. plus, britain's prime minister is fighting again to

get her brexit deal passed, but now a new poll shows constituents in northern ireland are not happy with how the process is going. stay with us. mbers get free fitness and wellness programs to transform your mind and body. download the audible app and start listening today. ♪

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so in just a few hours, we expect nationwide protests in venezuela. president nicolas maduro and his opponent, self-declared president juan guaido, have called on supporters to rally. the country is still recovering from its work blackout that hit most of the nation. venezuela's communications minister says an american cyber attack caused that power outage, but the opposition says it was actually from years of me neglect. as cnn's paula newton reports, venezuelans are having trouble getting the basics. >> reporter: venezuelans woke up to an incredibly frustrating day after an entire night of no power. this is one of the most profound shortages that venezuela has ever experienced. i want to show you here the gas lines. most gas stations are closed here in caracas. this is one of the few that is opened and the line up, as you can see, has already started. the other thing they are lining up for is water.

without electricity, even people who had water in their homes now do not because the pumps are not bringing water into their homes, and we met with one woman who was actually getting water, she had no idea where it was coming from, but she was quite desperate to get it. >> translator: i don't know where this water is from but our pumps don't work without electricity. i guess it must come from a dam or something. >> reporter: president is to blame? >> translator: well, i blame the government in general because the president is maduro, but there are all of those who follow him. >> of course there are other challenges as well. the metro, the subway remains closed in the city. schools and businesses are also closed, but the issue, the main concern is, of course, for hospitals. and many of the hospitals that i've been to in this country, they were already having a problem with backup power generators that weren't working, backup power that didn't work. that continues to be a concern right throughout the country,

with many nurses and doctors now voicing their concerns that as those emergencies build up, that they will not be able to handle it, especially the longer this blackout continues. paula newton, cnn, caracas. with just 20 days until the uk's due to leave the european union, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how or even if brexit will actually happen. britain's prime minister made that point clear on friday, saying if her deal is rejected in the next meaningful vote, all the worst-case scenarios are possible. >> next week members of parliament in westminster face a crucial choice. whether to back the brexit deal or to reject it. back it and the uk will leave the european union. reject it and no one knows what will happen. we may not leave the eu for many months. we may leave without the protections that the deal provides. we may never leave at all.

>> and a new poll shows just how disillusioned northern ireland is with the whole brexit mess. nick robinson reports. >> reporter: the people of northern ireland are deeply disappointed with the way brexit going. banner headlines in "the irish times" revealing startling poll number. the border rethe republic to the south is one of the big issues, 2/3 of the 536 people asked face-to-face said the uk should stay in the eu single market to ensure no hard border, which is not what prime minister theresa may plans. this poll also an effective repudiation of may's northern irish allies, the dup, who prop up her slender majority and have voted against her brexit plan. 2/3 of those asked say they have done a bad job representing

northern ireland. a sentiment we found among unionist voters. >> to me, in fact, one of the biggest potential threats to the union is the dup and their stance. >> really? >> there is a big sway of the middle ground in northern ireland who, quite frankly, have no one to vote for. >> reporter: indeed, among northern island's more moderate prounionist politicians there is a concern the gup hardline stance is doing more harm than good. >> it doesn't mean that a united ireland is inevitable, but it does mean that brexit could be the biggest own goal in 100 years. >> we have huge historic links with the rest of the united kingdom. and those go back hundreds of years and we're not going to give that up. >> reporter: so now the dup can breathe easy. the poll shows less than 1/3 of voters in the north want union with the south.

even as polling south of the border of 1,200 people shows a significant majority in favor of irish unity. but all that's in the distant future. right now the brexit end game is front and center. on friday, the irish prime minister saying the uk has to compromise. just as theresa may said the eu is the one that needs to bend. nic robertson, cnn, dublin, ireland. >> seemingly forgotten. robert levinson has been held in iran for 12 years and his wife says he deserves more from the u.s. government. plus, cnn goes to by b couny to hear from the base that is stale loyal to embattled prime minister benjamin netanyahu. we've got that and more after the break.

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a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm cyril vanier. your headlines this hour. two experts tell cnn that it appears north korea is preparing for some kind of launch. that's their assessment after studying satellite photos of a rocket assembly factory. at this point it's not clear whether the launch would be military in nature or a satellite launched into orbit. the u.s. president is lashing out at his former attorney. mr. trump says michael cohen lied to congress about never asking for a pardon. by contrast, mr. trump says he feels very badly for his former campaign manager paul manafort. manafort was sentenced to almost four years in prison for financial crimes. the newborn baby of the so-called isis bride has died,

according to the kurdish red crescent. she left the uk four years ago to join isis and she now says she wants to return, but the british government has revoked her citizenship. she has challenged that decision. christine levinson, she has waited and waited and waited for answers. 12 years ago her husband robert levinson, a u.s. citizen, vanished in iran. now, she believes that he's still alive, but so far three u.s. administrations have failed to find him. erin burnett reports. >> my husband served this country tirelessly for decades. he deserves better from us and from our government. >> reporter: the wife of former fbi agent bob levinson testifying before congress. nearly 12 years to the day from when her husband went missing without a trace in iran. >> my husband is the longest-held hostage in american history. >> reporter: levinson was working as a contractor for the cia when he disappeared.

according to reuters, he was investigating corruption among iranian officials. for the family, it has been agony. for more than a decade, the levinson family has had no direct contact with bob levinson. his wife christine telling me the unknown is unbearable. >> it's extremely difficult. i watch other couples and i wonder why i can't be having a nice evening with my husband. i also watch our grandchildren, a couple of them are 2 and 1 1/2, and they're doing such cute things, and i know that bob loves children, and he is missing all of it. >> reporter: the only proof of life they've ever gotten, this video, which they made public in 2011. >> i have been treated well. i need the help of the united states government. please help me. please help me get home. 33 years of service to the united states deserves something.

please help me. >> the family also received these photographs that show levinson shackled, wearing an orange jumpsuit, holding signs in broken english that read, "why you cannot help me. fourth year. you can't or you don't want." christine levinson tells me there is no doubt her husband is still alive and still in iran. even though the prior administration said he left the country. >> we have reason to believe that he no longer is in iran. and that's, you know, that's why we continue to press for information about his whereabouts. >> that has not deterred the levinson family and both republicans and democrats are calling for bob levinson's release. >> in the case of bob levinson, it remains unresolved. the iranians, i believe, know where he is and they are not cooperating and it's an outrage. >> it is unacceptable that the iranian government is not fully cooperating in locating and returning mr. levinson. >> bob levinson turns 71 this

weekend. the effort to find him and bring him home has consumed the entire levinson family. one of levinson's daughters telling me last year -- >> every moment of every day i'm thinking about him in one way or another. how i might get him home. >> and christine levinson is still holding on to hope that she will one day be reunited with her husband of more than 40 years. >> bob, don't give up. we are waiting for you to come home. you have to meet all your wonderful grandchildren and all your new in-laws. please, take care of yourself and make sure that you can come home to us. >> at least five americans are currently being held in iran. the united nations believes the iranian government is targeting people with dual nationalities, specifically those that they believe are tied to western academic, economic and cultural institutions. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is no fan of iran, but right now he's got his

own demons to deal with. criminal charges appear to be looming, and some right-wing commentators in the u.s. are calling on him to step aside for the good of his country. but he wants to win the april 9th israeli election. and as melissa bell reports, his base says he can do it. ♪ >> reporter: his late arrival did nothing to dampen his supporters' enthusiasm. with a month to go until the election, benjamin netanyahu may have slipped to second place in the polls nationally, but this is likud country. won 40% of the vote here in this southern town. a week after the attorney general recommended indicting netanyahu in three separate corruption investigations, most of the people we spoke to think he'll win his fifth term regardless. [ speaking foreign language ]

>> i think it's his charisma and the way he speaks all over the world. >> who would you vote for? >> i like bibi. >> reporter: our guide is a local radio journalist. >> a lot of people which are not living in the central of israel, mainly tel aviv and jerusalem, have found a place and someone who would speak their angry and misery. inside the local likud headquarters, the pile of signs was waist-high we're told, depleted by activists who came unprompted this year to get involved. they read encouraging his vote, not just in spite of his troubles but because of them. a message not only aimed at voters but also the media whom netanyahu claims of leading a left-wing conspiracy against him. >> you covered the indictment. you covered the whole police investigations and they said,

okay, in spite of that. >> so what the signs say is pay attention to what he's being accused of and get out and vote because he's under attack. >> we mentioned it earlier, people do give the benefit of the doubt. >> reporter: shimon, who is the town's deputy mayor and the likud party chairman, agrees that -- >> i went to tell you something. he's the moses of our time. this is the moses of israel. the more they torture him, the stronger he'll become. that's written in the bible. the more they torture him, the stronger he'll become. >> reporter: and yet even here netanyahu spoke in an auditorium that was only half full. to those that did turn up, however, their leader left them as impressed as ever and convinced that his natural ability to connect with this faithful would see him through once again. melissa bell, cnn, israel. they're young, brash and

just may wind up running the u.s. we're talking about the new crop of millennial presidential candidates. a look at whether their youth and attitude are enough to win over voters when we come back. plus, meghan markle speaking out for women everywhere. why the duchess of sussex is on a mission. stay with us. for comfort food at a comfortable price,

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>> now, many of those candidates are young. they believe that that is precisely what the country needs, a new attitude. jeff zeleny runs down the millennial candidates. >> reporter: people sometimes, especially here in iowa are a little too polite to ask the question of why a 37-year-old mayor thinks he has any business being in a discussion about the highest office in the land. >> reporter: that's precisely the question facing pete buttigieg, the youngest candidate in the presidential race. he's the mayor of south bend, indiana, now turning heads as the audaciously eyes the white house. >> how can you make the argument that you're ready to be president? >> so i know you don't expect to hear this from the youngest person in the conversation, but my simplest answer is experience. i know there is a more conventional path that involves marinading in washington for ten or 20 or 40 years, but i actually think we want washington to begin looking more like our best-run cities and towns, not the other way around. >> reporter: he's touting his

youth as a virtue in his biography filled with a list of firsts. >> the fact that i'm a veteran, i'm young, i'm in a same-sex marriage. these are important parts of who i am, but that profile just gives you a look. the real question is, what do they see and hear? >> reporter: democrats are giving him a look, but his challenge is to be seen as a serious candidate on a crowded stage. he's at the forefront of a new generation of leaders who have little appetite to wait their turn. not old enough to seek the presidency, like congresswoman ocasio-cortez, 29, is also flouncing the party. buttigieg is not the only millennial in the race. >> i don't know about you guys. when tells me to be quiet, i speak up louder. >> reporter: hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard is also 37 and an iraq veteran who is building her candidacy around foreign policy. >> that is the change that i seek to bring to this country of bringing these uniquely american ideals of putting service before self. that come from my heart as a

soldier. >> aloha. >> reporter: she is still explaining a 2017 meeting with syria's president bashar al assad. >> i'm deeply sorry. >> reporter: and has apologized for what she now calls wrong and hurtful statements where she worked for an anti-gay group. two young congressmen also exploring a white house bid. 38-year-old eric swalwell of california and 40-year-old seth moulton of massachusetts. highlighting a divide with joe biden and bernie sanders nearly four decades older. it's become a ready-made punch line, at least for the younger candidates. >> i understand the audacity of running for president at my age, especially because sometimes downstairs i'll still get carded when i order a beer. >> they are part of this new wave of leaders in the democratic party. a few republicans as well, who have military service under their belt. they talk a lot about that on the road. now, buttigieg served in afghanistan. he says his message, though, is not focused on national security as much as it is generational change. he said his face is his message.

he also says the issue of age has been settled by the constitution. of course you must be 35 years old to run for president. the constitution, of course, says that, but voters will have the final say. jeff zeleny, cnn, washington. friday's own servance of international women's day has come and gone but the fight for gender equality rages on. millions of women united for the event protesting domestic violence as well as pay discrimination. in istanbul, turkey, thousands of women marched in defines of a ban. police scuffled with demonstrators and fired tear gas to disburse them. in spain, gender equality is an important issue ahead of next month's elections. their country's new far-right party wants to scrap a law school on domestic violence against women. and in brazil, thousands of women marched in sao paulo to demonstrate against the president and his policies. the duchess of sussex meghan markle is speaking out on the

subject of female empowerment for international women's day. as our royal correspondent max foster reports, the event gives us insight as to how she copes with positive and negative publicity as a woman and a royal. >> reporter: we've now learned that she doesn't read the papers, she doesn't engage on twitter. she's there to focus on her public role and the causes she's out to support. >> again, it's our responsibility. we make a choice in what we click on. we make a kmois choice in what d and engage in. that is our personal decision not to feed into negativity. >> reporter: this comes as cnn reveals the extent of racist trolling on social media targeting the duchess. >> i don't read anything. much safer that way. but equally, that's just my own personal preference because i think positive or negative, it can all sort feelilize noise. >> reporter: meghan was appearing on a star studded

panel to mark international women's day. including former australian prime minister julia gillard. she neatly tied in women's equality with the impening birth of her baby. >> i have been joking, i have seen this documentary and one of the things they said i feel the kicking of feminism. i love that. >> reporter: the duchess dismissed the idea that feminism was just a fad. >> the idea that there is a headline saying feminism is a trendy word, that's not helpful either, right? >> reporter: so the duchess appearing on good form on what's expected to be one of her last appearances before she goes off on maternity leave. the baby due in april. everyone very excited. this next chapter in the sussexs royal story. max foster, cnn, london. just a week after deadly

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it may be nearly half a century since a human being first walked on the moon, but there is so much about that epic space mission that most of us have never seen until now. the documentary "apollo 11" just opened in u.s. movie theaters, and the film's director and producer told us how they gave new life to the decades-old moon landing. >> that's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: it was a moment seen by millions, man's first steps on the moon. the "apollo 11" mission remains one of humanity's greatest achievements, and yet there is much we never heard, never saw and never knew until now. >> countdown for "apollo 11," now 5:52 and counting. >> reporter: 50 years after the historic launch, a new documentary tells the mission's story with new accuracy.

pieced together with archival films and recordings unearthed by the filmmakers. >> we started the project, we kind of cast a big net to kind of get all the available film footage. what really was the amazing part was several months in when this discovery of the collection of 65 milammeters. it was all large format and, you know, needless to say our jaws were on the ground when we saw the first images off the film scanner. >> reporter: among the discovery were thousands of hours of footage that only existed on old reels, much of it uncataloged, lacking labels or transcriptions. >> nasa 50 years ago had shot this, developed it, sent it out to the different centers and ultimately it ended up at the national archives in college park outside of d.c., and sitting in cold storage all these years. >> reporter: working with the team, the filmmakers sifted through, restored and digit tiesed troves of material. >> once we, you know, spent the

time researching all of that and then actually made an entire timeline that was nine days long of the mission, so there really is a nine-day version of this film, we quickly realized that we had, you know, something special and that we could do it all with archival materials and not rely on current talking heads or other, you know, kind of movie trickery to tell the story. >> i think that the all-archival approach really adds to the immediacy of everything, and, you know, that was really what we set out to do was just, you know, make you feel as if you were actually there. >> reporter: without narration, recreation or commentary, the film uses only original footage to condense the nine-day mission into 90 minutes. it begins with launch preparations and ends with the astronauts' return to earth. layering new perspectives of all those involved in the undertaking. >> i'd like to know what you feel as far as the responsibilities of representing mankind on this trip.

>> that's relatively difficult to answer. it's a job that we collectively said that was possible and we could do, and, of course, the nation itself is backing us. severe weather is headed for the southern united states. even as some states are still digging through the rubble from last week's storms. look at these pictures. this is in alabama where at least 23 people died when tornadoes ripped through the state. the coming storms aren't expected to be as severe but tornadoes are still a possibility. derrick van dam is looking at this. derrick? >> we're going to focus our attention on the chances of severe weather today, a little north and west of lee count who where the deadly tornado struck last week. what was interesting and fascinating about that tornado is it actually spawned 400 kilometers. it actually spent that entire distance on the ground causing its havoc and unfortunately its fatalities as well. just want to recap what happened

last weekend on sunday. that's the cold front that moved through alabama right near the border of georgia. 37 tornadoes were spawn add cross four states. now focus your attention just to the north and west. we're talking about northern mississippi, western tennessee and extreme northwestern sections of alabama. that's where we have our highest probability of severe weather today. and isolated tornadoes are possible throughout the course of march, we typically see about 78 tornadoes across the u.s. texas seeing the highest average numbers, but you can see the deep south there with totals typically around five tornadoes for the entire month of march per state. now, the storm system is still gathering some strength. not much sunshine to help it, of course, fuel the flames, per se, but that will change once we get into the daylight hours and we start to see the severe storms kind of bubble up across the deep south. here they are. you can see on our high-rez

forecast imagery. chances of severe shift to the south and east and diminish as it does so, which is good news as it reaches those areas so badly hit last weekend. now, on the north side of the system, enough cold air to create a full winter storm. minnesota's going to get hammered tonight and into the next 24 hours with up to a foot of snow. we have 15 million americans under winter storm warnings. there is the snow evolving over the next 24 hours. quite a potent storm system for wisconsin and minnesota into the u.p. of michigan. check this out, weekend forecasts up to a foot of snow in minneapolis, their average is only 10 inches for the entire month, so more than the entirely monthly average in one day. >> ouch. >> that's right. >> derrick van dam, thank you so much. derrick with the latest forecast. you'll have more of him and more of that in the coming hours. thank you very much, derrick. >> thank you, cyril. >> thank you very much for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm cyril vanier. the news continues with george howell and natalie allen next.

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new fears north korea may be preparing for a rocket launch after indicationing of activity. a war of words. michael cohen says he did not ask for a pardon, now president trump says he did. also this hour, symbolism and rhetoric caught on tape among high school students. details on the disturbing trend that shouldn't be ignored. >> welcome to viewers from around the world, i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george