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Tropical Storm Bill Could Bring More Flooding to Texas; Donald Trump Announces Run for Presidency; Major League Baseball Rivalry Taken to Whole New Level; Aired 3:30-4pm ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00] LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Let me first of all agree with Paul completely on this one. This was a huge hit. And you know, this guy was known as, some of them lies in shadow. He has with them since the late '90s in Afghanistan and he was ready to really take on the reins of the organization. And I think that from - the difference between an aerial strike like occur against (INAUDIBLE) with an f-16 or an f-15 rather and a drone strike, it just depends on what targeting pod is available, what kind of intelligence is being fed and how you can get ingress and egress for the aircraft or the drone on the UAV that is going in there.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Is one more accurate than the other or no?

HERTLING: No. They are both firing the same types of missiles. One is firing - fire, the other one is firing a 500-pound bomb. Both of them are precision-guided. They will hit what they aim at. But when you're talking about the deserts of Libya versus perhaps the city and the more urbanized areas of Yemen, you want to put a drone in as opposed to an aircraft that could potentially be shot down. And that was I think part of the indicators that caused the targeting package on this one.

BALDWIN: OK. Paul, we know someone has already swooped in. Can you tell me who the successor is here?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes. They've appointed Kasim al-Rami (ph) to be his successor. Kasim al-Rami (ph) is a Yemeni in his late 30s. He is a veteran Al-Qaeda operative. He was in bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s. He was a very formidable figure. He worked very close with Nasser al-Wuhayshi. The leadership of the group really was a double act between the two of them over the last decade or so.

He's somebody that Saudi counterterrorism officials viewed as even more dangerous than Nasser al-Wuhayshi because they view him as the brain behind the AQAP operation. Somebody at the heart of these plots the groups so just being putting together in the last several years against American aviation, against the west. And there's real concern now that can launch some type of an attack against the United States to revenge the loss of their beloved leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi. And of course, Ibrahim al-Asiri, the master bomb maker of the group is still at large and arguably has more resources than ever before to put together some kind of plot - Brooke. BALDWIN: General, just quickly, final question. You know, as we were

describing that he was the shadow of OBL. He was a fighter of spider who was very hands on. We talked a lot about the evolution and the sort of modern terror. How would Wuhayshi compare to say a current member of ISIS?

HERTLING: Well, you got to remember, this was a guy who had been with bin Laden for a very long period of time. He joined in Afghanistan. He was with him all the time. He learned from the master. He looked at the ideology and philosophy of Al-Qaeda as an organization and what they wanted to do to the enemy both abroad and for the closer broad. New, almost a transition, and Paul might comment on this. You've almost transitioned into a new generation of leaders from the ones that were fighting in Afghanistan, not only against the Americans but even earlier against the Russians when they were there. You're talking about younger guys who know they have a sterner competition with other terrorist organizations. They are struggling to keep Al- Qaeda together right now after they've taken several strikes like this. So it is a different group with different challenges although they have certainly adapted through the ages.

BALDWIN: OK. General Mark Hertling, thank you so much and Paul Cruickshank, my thanks you as well.

We are getting some breaking news here. Speaking of, another American arrested charged with conspiring ISIS. This 20-year-old man accused of trying to detonate an explosive device in New York City. We are told they were busted running toward a law enforcement surveillance van. More arrests are expected shortly. Updates as we get those in the CNN here.

Coming up next, warning to an effect of tropical storm Bill makes landfall in Texas, flooding a major, major concern. We will take you there. We have a live report coming up.

Also ahead, Donald Trump for president? Donald Trump unfiltered and apparently today unscripted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESSMAN: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico paying for that wall. Mark my words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:50] BALDWIN: Well, the timing couldn't be worse in Texas as the high surf and torrential rainfall as tropical storm Bill are drenching the state here. The storm made landfall just a short while ago and is moving at a snail's pace northward. Tropical storm warnings and flash flood watches are up for much of the Texas coast and also inland. The state, keep in mind, has barely recovered from last month's record setting rainfall. Remember, that was around memorial day.

And I have this picture for you from way up in space as astronaut Scott Kelly, who was in the midst of spending that one year up on the ISS, he snapped this photo from the international space station there that is swirling way down on earth.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in it in Seabrook, Texas. I can still hear that rain falling. Tell me how deep that water is.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is interesting, it was about a couple of feet and this starting to recede-- excuse me, a foot and a half. It's starting to recede now. We're starting before, it is just a half a foot now. So we are starting to notice that things are getting a little better. But as you get closer to the houses, unfortunately, here you can see that the water is causing some problems for the folks who are in the low-lying area. And we do want to make that clear, this is not all of this area. And certainly not all of the Houston area in Harris county. These are low-lying areas.

This particular place, see Brooke, where we're standing to our right is the Galveston bay and to our left is an Estuary. That's why you are seeing so much trouble here. But folks here are kind of used to this. And they know that when there's going to be a lot of rain, that they have to try and get most of their stuff that could get flooded up and out in their garages and they have done that.

A couple here just have been watching and waiting and they have been, you know, walking through the water and going to pick up things and letting the dog go out. And so, they are just taking it in stride. But there is a lot of concern, of course, about flooding. And so, that's the big thing right now, worried about flooding as these bands of rain come through - Brooke.

[15:40:49] BALDWIN: Sara Sidner wading in the water with us. Thank you so much, Sara and crew for that. We'll keep our eye on Texas.

When we come back, businessman reality-turned star turned presidential candidate Donald Trump announces that he's running for the White House. We'll talk to our chief national correspondent Jake Tapper about that.

Also, off the field, foul play, why the FBI is now launching an investigation into one major league baseball team. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:46:10] TRUMP: -- to answer the question on Iraq. And I'm the one that made all of the right predictions. It is about Iraq, how the hell can you vote this guys? We have losers. We have people that don't have it. Our president doesn't have a clue. He is a bad negotiator.

I would repeal and replace the big lie Obamacare. I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me. Rebuilt the country's infrastructure. Nobody can do that like me. I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump, nobody. I don't need anybody's money. I'm using my own money. I'm not using

the lobbyists, I'm not using donors. I don't care. I'm really rich. I'm not doing that to brag because, you know what, I don't have to brag. I don't have to. I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The real estate mogul and "Celebrity Apprentice" creator man has made his announcement today from, of course, Trump tower. Well a fun-fare and zinger after zinger after zinger.

Let me bring in our chief Washington correspondent, host of "THE LEAD" and "STATE OF THE UNION" Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That was quite a mashed up, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That was quite a mashed up. I'm pretty impressed. So let's talk about the video thing. It's been the zingers. And how seriously do Republicans really need to take him?

TAPPER: Well, there are a lot of detractors within the Republican party of Donald Trump. But, to be quite frank, he's a billionaire with strong views, a healthy ego and already he's polling fourth in New Hampshire, tied with Marco Rubio. So I certainly think he's a force to be reckoned with.

Now, there might be people out there who don't take him seriously as a candidate, but there are a lot of people, including Chris Christie, who would love to have that money and that standing in the polls and we certainly give people like Chris Christie attention.

BALDWIN: He is ahead of Chris Christie in those - a lot of those polls. And Mr. Moderator because we know you're moderating our CNN Republican debate in the fall, I mean, talk about big personalities on stage here, you know, you have Donald Trump standing up there. What are the big questions he needs to answer for you?

TAPPER: I think where he needs to be focusing his attention right now is a candidate that is likely on policy. I think people know -- he doesn't have to work on name identification. He doesn't have to work on raising money. He needs to provide himself, sell himself to voters, present himself to voters as a credible presidential candidate. I think people already know who he is and they are entertained by him. He can get their attention. Now, they needs to take him seriously. And so, he needs to come to the table and hit the campaign trail telling people what he wants to do to this country, not just say I want to be a jobs president but explain how he intends to go about doing that.

BALDWIN: But, you know, he steals the spotlight, whether you want to admit to it or not. You mentioned the polls, again, I take you back to this, imagining this debate stage. We're just talking yesterday with the Jeb Bush rollout and he said to Dana Bash when they were in Estonia, he describes himself as an introvert. And I'm wondering, you have, you know, Donald Trump standing next to Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, you know, Rand Paul and wouldn't he, to a degree, detract from them?

TAPPER: Well, he would certainly take attention away on the stage, how that ends up presenting itself is another question. Certainly Mitt Romney was not necessarily the most charismatic candidate on the stage, but perhaps some of the more charismatic individuals on the stage, like Herman Cain, might have made Mitt Romney look more serious in comparison, helped him his statesmen-like qualities. I'm not necessarily saying that is just going to play out here, but not having the biggest personality on stage doesn't necessarily translate to the most credible candidate.

[15:50:12] BALDWIN: OK. I know you'll be talking to Donald Trump, we'll watch for that Sunday morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." Jake Tapper, thank you very much. We will see you at the top of the hour on "the LEAD."

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Meanwhile, next here on CNN, a Major League Baseball rivalry taken to a whole new level. The FBI now getting involved, the story and the reporter who broke it wide open joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:10] BALDWIN: Statistics gathering report, this is a huge information. MLB says it is fully cooperating quote "once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps will and make decisions promptly.

So joining me more to talk about this, Michael Schmidt of "The New York Times." You broke this story wide open on this investigation.

Michael, great to have you on.

MICHAEL SCHMIDT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: We'll play a sound from the commissioner where he takes a shot that you will hear just a second. I promise you that. But let me just begin with what information, what did the Cardinals allegedly get from this hack?

SCHMIDT: The Cardinals got access to the Houston Astros most closely guarded secrets about player personnel. Statistics, scouting reports, injury information and trade possibilities. They basically got the inner, the most closely held things that the team had.

BALDWIN: The commissioner Rob Manfred just took some questions at a presser, and he's really deferring to the feds on this. And he did a take a shot at you. I know you haven't heard this so we will listen to this for the first time. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB MANFRED, MLB COMMISSIONER: This is different than, you know, when we might investigate, for example, a drug case when we were running the investigation. You know, I have access to all the facts real time in the situation like that. That's just not the case here. And because I don't know exactly what the facts are, and I don't think the person who wrote the Times story knows exactly what the facts are, that it really doesn't make sense for me to speculate on how serious a problem I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Since I have that person who wrote "The New York Times" story, who I imagine you're going to tell me you absolutely have your facts right, how would you respond to that?

SCHMIDT: That's not that bad from Rob Manfred. He can be a lot be harsher than that. Look, we don't have every fact about the investigation. All we really know is basically what we reported that last year, the FBI began looking into this. They got a referral from Major League Baseball and from the team. And at the time Major League Baseball never thought it would be another team, they thought it was maybe a group like anonymous or some other type of hackers. And that started this investigation, when the FBI dug in, all roads, led back to the St. Louis Cardinals' front office. And that's where it is. Look, no one's been charged in this case. We don't know what's going to happen, and yes, there is a lot we don't know.

BALDWIN: What about, you know, you say in your piece, perhaps this could be an act of revenge, that the Astros general manager, a former executive for the Cardinals took his, you know, money ball like tactics to the Astros, tell me more about this theory?

SCHMIDT: Apparently he had a difficult relationship with some members of the Cardinals front office. So when he went to the Astros, he built a similar system for them. A similar computer system like the Cardinals did. So there's some thought among investigators for the FBI that the folks on the Cardinals were upset, and they though that he had copied them and taken this stuff. And what happened was, is they had access to his password and the passwords of others that had followed him to Houston on their databases. So they went in, found those passwords, then went to the Astros network, and used the Astros network to get in and to access this information.

BALDWIN: Final question as I was reading through all of this. You know, listen, we talk about hacking. Hacking is a story globally, but when I talk about hacking here on my show on CNN, it's never, you know, involves the world of sports. And then, you know, when you talk about what's hacked, strive you clear profiles, (INAUDIBLE), that give this special sauce of any good team, right? And every team outside of baseball has these stats, needs these stats to make the trades, et cetera. So, I'm just wondering in the final 60 seconds I have you, could this be happening elsewhere?

SCHMIDT: Sure, it could be happening elsewhere, it's true, we most often associate hacking with the Russians or the Chinese getting into the White House, getting Obama's emails, you know, taking proprietary stuff from the government. This is different. But it just sort of shows what the length of these front office executives are willing to go to get an advantage. There's a level playing field in many ways in baseball. And these guys will do anything they can to get the upper hand. And it looks like that's what happened here.

BALDWIN: Twenty seconds, what would a potential punishment look like?

SCHMIDT: Well, that's the question. If they're indicted, obviously baseball will let that process play out before doing anything. But does Manfred have to come back and punish the cardinals? Does he have to take draft picks away from him? Does he have to make sure that these people in the front office get fired? It is probably the biggest challenge that he has faced since taking office.

BALDWIN: Michael Schmidt, congrats with the scoop from "the New York Times" on the Cardinals. Thank you so much. We will stay on it with you.

Meantime, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me today. I will see you tomorrow. But stay right here. "The LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.