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Wild Weather This Weekend; Two Police Officers Remembered in Mississippi; Raul Castro Visits the Vatican; Michelle Obama's Candid and Personal Remarks on Race; Spring Blizzard Warning In South Dakota; Former Homeland Secretary Questions U.S. Safety; Campaign 2016: A Race For Millionaires? Aired 2-3p ET
Aired May 10, 2015 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:14:00] FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Tune in tomorrow night at 9:00 P.M. eastern for our special "BLINDSIDED: HOW ISIS SHOOK THE WORLD". Thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. I will see you next week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. Right now, a very pronounced funnel cloud and tornado in progress. A wild weather weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't seen anything like this in a long time.
ANNOUNCER: Damaging winds, floods, even blizzards in the plains and Ana hammering parts of the east coast. Plus two officers shot and killed in the line of duty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go out every day to make sure we're safe.
ANNOUNCER: A simple traffic stop turns onto a deadly encounter and rips the community apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 years ago was the last time this happened in Hattiesburg.
ANNOUNCER: And historic meeting. Raul Castro and Pope Francis have a private conversation at the Vatican.
RAUL CASTRO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Obviously, this comes at a time of dramatically improving relations.
ANNOUNCER: What did they discuss? NEWSROOM starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and happy mother's day. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Fredricka Whitfield. Thank you so much for being here.
We'll begin with a tragedy in Mississippi in a community ripped apart. Two police officers one a rookie, the other officer of the year are gunned down and killed during a traffic stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Now, three suspects are currently in custody after a massive manhunt overnight. They will face a judge tomorrow.
CNN's Rosa Flores has following the story and is joining us now in New York. Rosa?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, good afternoon. You know, we hear it from law enforcement officials all the time. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. And that's exactly what we have here. Hattiesburg officials telling CNN that they visited the families of these two police officers and promised them those suspects would be hunted down and brought to justice.
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FLORES: A traffic stop ended in a hail of gun fire Saturday night leaving two Hattiesburg, Mississippi, police officers dead and three suspects in custody. Police say, Curtis Banks and his Brother Marvin Banks fled the crime scene. Allegedly stealing a police cruiser and using it as a getaway car. Both were arrested hours later after a brief manhunt. Mayor Johnny Dupuis says the third suspect Joni Callaway was driving the car at the time of the traffic stop and was arrested shortly after the shooting.
JOHNNY DUPREE, HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI MAYOR: This is a horrific time for people around the nation, when you have police officers sworn to serve and protect and this ruthless kind of action happens.
FLORES: Callaway and Marvin Banks are charged with two counts of capital murder each. Curtis Banks faces two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder, according to officials.
DUPREE: If you commit a crime and that is we take care of you, we want to ensure all the people of Hattiesburg and surrounding areas they are still safe in Hattiesburg.
FLORES: Authorities are tight lift about the timeline of the night and the suspected motive only saying Officer Dean initiated the traffic stop, called for backup and then Officer Tate responded to the call.
As for the families of the two slain officers, there is little comfort to be found. Ronald Tate, the father of Officer Tate, expressed his grief on Facebook, posting several times throughout the night saying, "Well, Lord, I had been praying it was all just a mistake. My baby. I just need some kind of mercy right now." And later, "My heart has been ripped out my chest and torn into a million pieces. I'm in a dizzy haze since 10:11 P.M. last night. I just want to be able to move again. Right now, I can't."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: In a press conference, DuPree pledged to seek justice for both families. I talked to Tate's father over the phone. He just tells me that he is devastated. The only thing that's helping him at the moment, he says, is that he knew that his son was living his dream as a police officer. Ana.
CABRERA: All right. Such a sad story. Rosa Flores, thanks for staying on top of it.
35 million people in the U.S. Are facing the threat of severe storms today. You might be one of them. Texas and Oklahoma are expected to be hit the hardest with possible tornados and large hail. In fact, several tornados already slammed the plains yesterday killing at least one person west of Dallas. And a blizzard warning if you can believe it, is in effect for South Dakota right now. Snow piled as high as 17 inches in some parts of the state. That looks cold, doesn't it? In Colorado, the Rockies had to postpone another baseball game. They posted this video of a snowy stadium ahead of the baseball game today.
Our Alina Machado, had a closer look at this weekend's wild weather.
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[00:14:05] ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, at least three tornados swept through parts of Texas this weekend in what's been a wild weather event throughout the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now a very pronounced funnel cloud and tornado in progress.
MACHADO: More than 40 tornados in Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Flash flooding and hail in the same region a blizzard in Wyoming and a tropical storm making landfall. It's been a wild and deadly weather weekend across the U.S. this twister west of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area killed at least one person and left another critically injured. Several buildings in Cisco, Texas, totaled. The tornado ripped off roofs, smashed brick walls and snapped trees in half.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lived in cisco over 10 years now and I haven't seen anything like this in a long time. All this water, telephone poles, trees ripped out of the ground. It's definitely very powerful, very destructive.
MACHADO: Storm dumped rain and fist sized hail in parts of Oklahoma. Eye reporter Mike Windham shot this video out of his back door on Friday. All that water and even more rain left neighborhoods in Oklahoma city flooded on Saturday. And there is a slight risk of more severe weather in the area today.
Meanwhile, cold air behind the weekend weather system is producing snow. This is not what these high school soccer players bargained for in Wyoming. Their match had to be canceled when a blizzard rolled through the city.
And the first tropical storm of the year is coming ashore along the Carolina coast as tropical storm Ana makes landfall, there is a threat of coastal flooding, gusty winds and possibly an isolated tornado. But to close this tale of bizarre weather, another strange sight. A funnel cloud and a rainbow. This video captured the unlikely alliance near East, Colorado. Here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we've seen rain, some ominous clouds. For the most part, we've been largely spared from the severe weather. Ana?
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CABRERA: Thanks, Alina Machado reporting from Dallas. Thanks to you. And still ahead, the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Raul Castro as Castro thanked the pope today for helping to father the relationship between U.S. and Cuba. What else they talked about when we come back.
[00:14:10] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Let's turn now to the pre historic meeting between the president of Cuba and Pope at the Vatican today. Only the third meeting ever between the head of a Catholic church and Cuban leader. Raul Castro asked for this meeting to thank the pontiff in person to helping broker a better relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.
Joining me to discuss, Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the national security archive and the author of the book "Back Channel to Cuba, the Hidden Negotiations Between Washington and Havana." Peter, thanks for joining us. What struck you as significant about this visit?
PETER KORNBLUH, SENIOR ANALYST NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE: It's an important visit. It seems to be a preliminary visit between Raul Castro and the Pope in anticipation of the pope's visit to Cuba on his way to the United States of America. The two of them have a lot to talk about. Because the pope was a special, very secret interlocutor in this arrangement to bring the United States and Cuba together. He actually oversaw secret negotiating session at the Vatican last October and really was instrumental in getting the Obama administration and Raul Castro past the kind of history of suspicion and into an accord to normalize diplomatic relations.
CABRERA: It seemed, from what I read of this visit, that the Cuban leader was quite taken with the pontiff. Reports coming out of this meeting saying that Castro commented that he reads all of the speeches that Pope Francis makes. Even says he may return to the Catholic church after all this. Do you think it's the pope's heritage, his South American roots that are giving him this strong pull with Castro or do you think it's more?
KORNBLUH: I definitely think that it is in keeping with the fact the pope is from Argentina. Not only is he from Argentina, he has a sensibility about the issue of Cuba that is very different than the eastern European popes and U.S. perspective. He is somebody who studied the issue of Cuba, written in the past about U.S./Cuban relationships. Philosophically is focused on building bridges between countries that don't have positive relations.
In some ways, Pope Francis is in his element here in bringing a Latin American country, basically the last country to not have normal relations with the United states, into the fold of Inter-American relations. It's a completely understandable why the pope who speaks beautiful Spanish can get along so well with Raul Castro.
CABRERA: And yet really, Cuba hasn't been all that friendly when it comes to the Catholic church. I mean it eventually shunned the Catholic church way back when in the late 1950s. I know it kind of started to accept some of the Catholic church or the Christian faith in general back in the 1990s when I know then President Fidel Castro made Christmas a holiday, but really, I mean, this is not a Catholic country. So what gives?
KORNBLUH: Well, the church has become a key player over the last 20 years in Cuban civil society, in Cuban religious society, and now in the economic transformation of Cuba, the Cuban church. And Raul Castro has established pretty good relations with the cardinal of Cuba, Jaime Ortega. Cardinal Ortega has a very good relationship with this pope. He's been back and forth to Rome a number of times.
And I think there's a different relationship between the Castro regime and the religious communities, not just the Catholic community but the Jewish community and other religious communities in Cuba. And so really the kind of the issue of the revolution and the whole issue of the church and the revolution back in the 60s and '70s and '80s that is past history now. And the future is going to be somewhat different.
[00:14:15] And I think this kind of whole experience with the Pope's involvement, Pope Francis' involvement in bringing the United States and Cuba together now making a trip to Cuba and certainly from there carrying whatever kind of message he is going to carry to the Obama administration, I think this is indicative of a much more positive and smooth normal relation between the Cuban revolution and the Catholic church on the island.
CABRERA: Well, this meeting and what was discussed, perhaps another sign of progress in the communist nation. Peter Kornbluh, thank you for joining us.
KORNBLUH: Thank you for having me.
CABRERA: Candid words from Michelle Obama on the emotional toll being the first black lady.
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MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Then there was the first time I was on a magazine cover. It was a cartoon drawing of me with a huge Afro and a machine gun. Now, yes, it was satire, but if I'm honest, it knocked me back a bit.
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CABRERA: More from the first black first lady and her commencement address to the 7]graduating class at Tuskegee University, when we come back.
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[00:14:20] CABRERA: Checking top stories, German Councilor Angela Merkel meeting in Moscow today with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a cease-fire in Eastern Ukraine. Now, Merkel says conditions in that cease-fire agreed to in February still aren't being met. Complicating the humanitarian aid and prisoner exchange efforts. Earlier Merkel paid tribute to the Russians World War II Russian victims, the Tomb of Unknown Soldier.
Police in Switzerland say a mass shooting last night near Zurich may have been sparked by a family dispute. Investigators found five people dead after residents heard gun shots. Official say that shooter as among those killed.
First lady Michelle Obama getting attention after a bold statement. She told a group of graduates that she's been held to a different standard because of her race. During a commencement speech at Tuskegee University, she talks about the trials she faced as the first African-American first lady. And the hurtful comments she endured during her husband's 2008 campaign.
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OBAMA: But I also imagine that you might think about all that history, all those heroes who came before you, you might also feel a little pressure, you know? Pressure to live up to the legacy of those who came before you. Pressure to meet the expectations of others. And believe me, I understand that kind of pressure. I've experienced a little bit of it myself.
You see, graduates, I didn't start out as the fully firmed formed first lady who stands before you today. No, no. I had my share of bumps along the way. Back when my husband first started campaigning for president, folks had all sorts of questions of me. What kind of first lady would I be? What kinds of issues would I take on? Would I be more like Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan? And the truth is, those same questions would have been posed to any candidate's spouse. That's just the way the process works.
But as potentially the first African-American first lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations, conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud? Or too angry or too emasculating or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman? Then there was the first time I was on a magazine cover. It was a cartoon drawing of me with a huge Afro and a machine gun.
Now, yes, it was satire, but if I'm really being honest, it knocked me back a bit. It made me wonder just how are people seeing me? Or you might remember the on stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that referred to as a terrorist fist jab. And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One said I exhibited a little bit of uppityism. Another noted that I was one of my husband's cronies of color. Cable news charmingly referred to me as Obama's baby mama. And of course, Barack has endured his fair share of insults and slights, even today there are still folks questioning his citizenship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: The first lady also told the graduates that they will face hardships in the years ahead, but to not give up hope. In the coming weeks she will give two more commencement speeches. One in Oberlin College in Ohio and at a high school in Chicago.
It is the middle of spring but there is a blizzard warning in effect right now in South Dakota. And a much different extreme weather threat facing millions of other Americans. That's next.
[00:14:25] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Hello again. Great to have you with us on this Mother's Day weekend. I'm Ana Cabrera. And 35 million people are in the path of extreme weather today, including the possibility of heavy rain, large hail and more strong winds. Right now, seven states are under a tornado watch. Residents in these plains states are also bracing for more possible tornados that could fire up in the next few hours.
The region already trying to recover from damaging twisters, including this one caught on camera in Southeast Colorado. Dozens of tornados were also reported in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Parts of the lone star state could be hit yet again. Some are still cleaning up from three confirmed twisters there yesterday. One of them striking the town of Cisco, about 100 miles West of Ft. Worth, leaving one person dead, another critically injured. And ripping down power lines. Demolishing houses. You see roof tops torn right off.
Forecasters are putting Northeast Texas dead center in the tornado threat area today. And CNN's Jennifer Gray joins us from Cisco, Texas. What is expected in the coming hours?
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana we are a couple miles away from where several homes suffered a total loss. Just down the hill here, this is about as far as we can go because we have downed trees and downed power lines covering the road. So we are not able to get access. But I can tell you just judging by the field we are standing in front of, you can see trees basically snipped right in half. Of course, this is part of the area where the tornado ripped through. It is estimated to be about 3/4 mile wide and did a path of destruction about seven miles. It hit the hardest right here south of Cisco and lifted, tornado came back down once again a couple miles away just to the south.
We've seen people out in the field looking for things. Maybe things that were taken from their own homes. A couple of people have been back and forth and said those houses just beyond that bend are a total loss. Of course, we have had severe weather for the past several days in a row here in the south, the southern plains. We have been talking about severe weather since Monday, pretty much every single day. We've seen tornadoes. We've seen heavy downpours. We've seen flooding. We've also had large hail and gusty winds.
More than 40 tornado reports yesterday alone. We could see another round of severe weather later this afternoon. Dallas already getting the rain, as well as little rock. The target zone for the worst of the weather is basically an area just to the south of Dallas between Dallas and Waco, not far from where we are now.
That's the area we are going to be watching over the next couple of hours for redevelopment with these storms. We are expecting severe weather today and again tomorrow.
After that things should calm down a little bit. Of course, here south of Cisco, they are trying to clean up. Yet, we are expecting more storms. Add insult to injury, folks could see more rain today and more severe weather in areas like this that were hit yesterday.
CABRERA: You can really see those trees torn apart behind you there. What have you learned about the person who died yesterday in the tornado?
GRAY: They don't really know any information about the person. We don't know if it's male or female. The person that we spoke to, the public information's officer for this area said that they believe the person was inside their home at the time of the tornado, but we aren't certain.
Of course, sirens didn't go off because this is a rural area south of Cisco. In fact Cisco has sirens, but they didn't go off because the storm was south. Folks in this area don't have sirens. They have to rely on knowledge, their local meteorologist to get into their safe spot.
So unfortunately, we did have one person die, three people injured, one of those critical.
CABRERA: All right, wishing the best for those folks today. Thank you so much. CNN's Jennifer Gray is reporting in Cisco, Texas.
Let's head now to South Dakota where a blizzard warning is in effect. Yes, it's the middle of spring. Take a look at this video from our reporter at our affiliate KOTA. More heavy snow is expected in this state on top of the 17 inches already blanketing parts of the state.
Dennis Todey is joining me via Skype from Brooking, South Dakota. He is a state climatologist at South Dakota State University. Dennis, first, what are conditions like where you are right now?
DENNIS TODEY, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST: Where we are, we are on the eastern part of the state. We are more on the warm side. We actually have a little bit of that severe weather around us. There were some tornado warnings already that happened and damage occur in occurring in eastern South Dakota.
In the western part of the state where we have the big snowfall amounts, accumulating 6 inches to 10 inches and up to 15, 16 inches in some places in the black hills.
CABRERA: It seems wild, but is this snowy weather pretty rare for South Dakota this time of year?
TODEY: It is uncommon, but not unprecedented. We did some looking on Friday with the event coming up. We found three similar events in the last 50 years. Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of that event.
South Dakota only has five tornados recorded on the same day much like we see right now. Just seven years ago, the first couple of days of May seven years ago, we had over 20 inches of snowfall in May. It's not unprecedented, but we don't expect it on a regular basis.
CABRERA: Like you said only three times in 50 years around this time of year. I know the cattle business is really big in South Dakota. Is this cold weather posing any risk to the livestock at this point?
TODEY: We are still waiting to see what happens with that. We were trying to push out things quickly on Friday to remind people to watch out for young livestock. It's most problematic for young calves.
Fortunately, a lot of them were born a month or two ago so they have a little time underneath them. We are hoping this will not be too bad or too much damage for them.
Just a little over a year and a half ago, the fall of 2013, we had a major blizzard out here. That was quite different because that occurred in the fall before cattle were moved to winter pens. Cattle were not ready for the winter.
On the back side of winter, this is a time when cattle can survive much better. We are hoping this will not be too much. Also fortunately, most of the bigger parts of the snowfall have been up in the black hills where there are not as many cattle.
Most of the snowfall would have been down the plains area where the cattle are on the 6 inch to 10 inch side. So we are waiting to hear what the reports are for cattle losses.
CABRERA: Do keep us posted on that. We've been talking about tornados, Tropical Storm Ana, blizzard conditions all this one weekend across the U.S. Given your expertise of the climatology, what do you make of what we are seeing? Is this normal to some degree or random to some degree?
TODEY: Well, the situation with the tropical system, this is a bit early for tropical systems to occur. You know, obviously in South Dakota, we don't worry about tropical systems too much. The concept of having snowfall and severe weather around at the same time is really not that uncommon for us up here.
Those same systems where you have cold air coming down, warm air ahead of a low pressure area we expect to see those during the spring and latter part of winter depending how it lines up. So you do get some severe weather, some severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornados ahead of the system in the warm sector, and back behind it if it's cold enough.
[14:35:10] In this case it's not terribly cold. It's below freezing, but cold enough to produce the snowfall. So we expect to see those sometimes. Just was reviewing situation happened several years ago where we had some places in the state right now we have severe weather in the eastern part and blizzards in the western part.
We've had occasions where we've had simultaneous tornado watches and blizzard warnings for the same county in some types because when you have this strong temperature contrast you can go from severe weather to cold right behind it and get the snow following it. Again, not unprecedented by any stretch, but not something you see every day. CABRERA: Definitely not. Dennis Todey, thank you so much for bringing your expertise to our show. We appreciate it.
TODEY: Thanks for having me.
CABRERA: Coming up, we are hearing some startling comments about the terror threat here in the United States. Just how safe are we now compared to 9/11? The emerging security dangers next.
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CABRERA: There are renewed concerns today over how safe the U.S. is from home grown terrorism. We are hearing some startling comments about the terror threat in this country with one security expert saying just this weekend that the threat now is bigger than it was following 9/11.
[14:40:09] CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House with more -- Sunlen.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, there is focus and renewed concern over how ISIS is expanding their use of social media to reach out and recruit people inside the U.S. And today the first secretary of Department Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, he said it's because of this online campaign by ISIS that he believes the threat is greater than in the days after 9/11. Here is what he had to say on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE (R), FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Their appeal to the lone wolves, and we've seen them acting in Belgium, France, Canada and the United States, the threat factors and the nature of the threats are far more complicated and far more serious today than on September 12th, 2001.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: The Pentagon on Thursday night put all military bases across the country on a heightened state of alert, increasing the threat level at 3,200 bases across the country. The concern is ISIS is reaching out, recruiting people inside the U.S. to potentially target uniformed, military and law enforcement.
The FBI director warned there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of ISIS followers inside the U.S. and the FBI has been increasing monitoring of these suspected followers who may be influenced by these recruiters and have hundreds of investigations ongoing.
Now the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called this a new era in the country. He said because of this, this use of the internet by ISIS, there could be little or no advance warning of so-called lone wolf terrorists attacking here in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We are very definitely in a new environment because of ISIL's effective use of social media, the internet, which has the ability to reach into the homeland and possibly inspire others. So our government and our state and local law enforcement are having to do a number of things to address that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And on Friday, the secretary as well as the FBI director held a conference call with state and local officials urging them to beef up their efforts against ISIS. Ana, the homeland security secretary said Americans should not feel discouraged going out in public, attending sporting events, doing things that they normally would, but he tells people to be vigilant in the face of this potential new threat -- Ana
CABRERA: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty at the White House, thank you. Let's dig deeper on this now. Joining us by Skype from Florida is CNN global affairs analyst and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel James Reese.
Now Colonel, it was President George W. Bush's former secretary of homeland security, who made that comment comparing the security threat today to the day following 9/11. Do you agree with him that the danger could be greater now?
LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Happy mother's day to everyone out there. First, I don't think that the threat is greater. I think what we are trying to do here is post 9/11 changed the world for the U.S. and what we go through are these valleys and peaks of awareness for everyone.
Granted, we saw this attack in Texas last week, so that piques our interest. That's a chance for everyone to put their awareness backup. The problem is you can't keep your awareness, what I call the red zone, all the time because if you try to keep it up at that level, you literally don't have awareness.
It's an up-and-down process we go. So I don't think it's as great as people make it, but it's our government trying to keep people up and bring them down to a smaller level at times.
CABRERA: Of course, back in 2001, we didn't have social media or use it the way we do today. Is part of the problem that technology has changed how terrorists operate?
REESE: Yes, absolutely. Social media today, technology, we, I believe, are behind the power curve where we are with these folks. Yesterday I gave a commencement speech at my university. To watch these young kids use social media, how fast they use it, how they can look through things and move is incredible.
I think one of the problems we have right now is we are failing in our great intelligence collection we have and fusing that with strategic aspect, putting them together. It might be time for us to get our younger generation involved with this piece and really counter ISIS and just transnational terrorism alone and put this strategic communication aspect out there and counter these aspects.
CABRERA: I just want to make sure I understand one thing you just said. You believe that we are failing in our intelligence-collecting abilities right now?
REESE: No. I believe we have a fantastic intelligence collection capability, but there is so much out there we stove pipe a lot of these aspects because social media becomes another aspect of both a reactive intelligence collection.
And we can make it a proactive attack apparatus, propaganda, and we have a tough time with the term propaganda where the threat does not.
[14:45:13] This is something we have to work through both nationally and at the administration level to figure out how we are going to do these types of things.
CABRERA: It's not a simple solution certainly. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, we really appreciate your time today. Thank you.
REESE: Thanks, Ana.
CABRERA: Most presidential candidates would like you to think they're everyday people, right? Just ahead what really sets the 2016 contenders apart from the rest of us.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Fashion shoots, marketing campaigns, advertisements, throughout the years tennis stars have built their image not just on the court but on camera and for today's players, it's no different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just square your body so you're strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need that sort of ability to work together because there's a lot of pressure. We have Andy, Roger, Rafael, all in one go. It gets intense. These guys are not fashion models. They are basically athletes who don't want to do photo shoots. They are training and in the zone.
[14:50:12] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one -- camera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These generations are the ones that get it. Probably because of social media and the way pictures get out there. They get it and realize they've got to do so much of this stuff.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CABRERA: Dangerous weather overseas right now, Supertyphoon Noul slamming the north eastern Philippines earlier today. It roared in as the equivalent of a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane with winds up to 160 miles per hour. Here is what it was like as the eyewall of the storm made landfall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRICIAH TERADA, CNN PHILIPPINES CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): We are experiencing strong winds and heavy rains. It is blowing away light material. There are still many people getting wet outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Now residents there are bracing for flash flooding and landslides. Meteorologist Tom Sater has been tracking this super typhoon all weekend long especially for CNN International. What's the latest?
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is it's almost 3:00 in the morning. This made landfall at 5:00 p.m. and we have absolutely no word of what it's left in its wake. That's a big concern in the middle of the night in the darkness now.
The typhoons, same thing as a hurricane, super typhoon top of the strength category. This is equivalent to a Category 5. Here is China, Southeast Asia. We'll get in closer. It was just 1-1/2 years ago, Super Typhoon Hyan moved into Tacloban, south of Manila and took 7,000 lives.
Again, we were concerned about rapid intensification. This went from typhoon status to super typhoon status. Wind gusts were over 200 miles per hour when it made landfall in the north eastern part of Luzon, it's northern Philippines.
The good news is it's a sparsely populated area. Here is the track, the history, heavy rainfall moving in here. We are easily going to see 1-1/2 to 2 feet of rain. The typography in Luzon is extreme.
You don't have to go far maybe like 10 miles off the coast line to get up to mountains 3,500 feet. So our concern was to the north. Now Manila is like New Orleans where it's in a bowl, it's below sea level. That's the worst area to have impact.
It was minor for them. Word is power is out for the entire Cagayan province, which is a huge province. We know a couple thousand were evacuated from the area. There are some towns like Iligan up to the north that are about 30,000 people.
Our fear is landslides. With power out, when the sunrises, we'll get a better idea. It's going to stay away from Taiwan, for those men and women in Okinawa, they can handle this. Japan will probably have the next problem in about two days.
CABRERA: And you'll be watching. Thank you so much, Tom Sater. We appreciate the update on that. Still to come, Prince, the pop icon steps into the arena tonight with a special concert in Baltimore. We'll tell you what he hopes to accomplish through music.
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[14:57:02]
CABRERA: Pop icon, Prince, is giving a concert tonight in Baltimore to help the city come back together after weeks of protests over the death of Freddie Gray.
Organizers of what they are calling "The Rally For Peace" concert are urging people to wear gray to honor the 25-year-old who died last month in police custody. Yesterday, Prince released his much- anticipated tribute song "Baltimore."
The concert, which begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern will be live streamed for free. Orioles are headed back to Baltimore. When the riots broke out the team was forced to play this fanless game in Camden Yards.
This obviously wasn't that particular game. The beloved baseball team is returning home to face off with the Toronto Blue Jays tomorrow. Some fans are promoting this game as reopening day. They are encouraging locals to come out in droves to pack the yard.
As presidential candidates try to appeal to everyday Americans, most are far it from themselves. Democrat and Republican, many of these contenders are millionaires, but how much are they worth and what does this mean on an election? Tom Foreman has more.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sounded like the chorus from the hit song when former President Bill Clinton was asked if he is going to keep taking six-figure checks for making speeches and told NBC, sure.
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I've got to pay our bills.
FOREMAN: In the field of announced candidates for 2016, his wife, Hillary, is one of the richest. She has an estimated net worth of more than $15 million even as she positions herself as a champion of the working class.
HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The deck is still stacked in favor of those already at the top.
FOREMAN: On the Republican side, the only other woman, Carly Fiorina is estimated to have more than four times as much. The former CEO of Hewlett Packard is believed to be worth $80 million. Ben Carson may be a world renowned neurosurgeon and author, but he is quick to say he did not grow up in luxury.
DR. BEN CARSON, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Typical tenement large multi-family dwelling, boarded up windows and doors, murders. FOREMAN: And the just-announced Mike Huckabee plays down his wealth, too.
MIKE HUCKABEE, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I grew up blue collar, not blue blood.
FOREMAN: The other Republicans, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have far less with Marco Rubio bringing up the rear racking up less than $500 million to his name, but the poorest candidate is the independent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have an endless amount of time.
FOREMAN: Bernie Sanders with just over $330,000 and a lot of concern about big money in politics.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let's not kid ourselves.
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CABRERA: Our thanks to CNN's Tom Foreman for that report. Now the bottom line --
[15:00:01] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIL CANDIDATE: We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let's not kid ourselves.
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CABRERA: Our thanks to CNN's Tom Foreman for that report.
Now the bottom line here is most Americans' income will never even come close to what those eight candidates has in their banks and in various assets. In fact the average person would have to be on the job for about 322 years saving every penny.
We have much more just ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.
