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Jeb Bush Charms in "Tonight Show Appearance"; Escaped Animals Still on the Loose; Pope to Release Statement on Climate Change; Did St. Louis Cardinals Hack the Astros? Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 17, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:54] JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: You hear that, America? Jeb Bush just said he wants to whip you "Fifty Shades of Grey" style.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jimmy, I think I speak for all Americans when I say, "eeew".

FALLON: Jimmy just got Bush-whacked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO: It's just so funny. Ok -- I'm stopping. I'm not even going to laugh anymore.

Another reason for Bush to celebrate perhaps, a new Quinnipiac poll shows Mr. Bush closing in on Hillary Clinton in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Let's talk about this with CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson; and director at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, Larry Sabato. Welcome -- gentlemen.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Hi -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

So Ben, I have to say, Jeb Bush was charming on Jimmy Fallon. He sort of shed like that Mr. Bland thing he has and he became Mr. Personality. How much does this help?

FERGUSON: Yes. It helps tremendously, especially for a campaign that's needing a second shot in the arm to get him back up in the poll numbers after he's dropped. Part of that drop is because so many new people have officially announced. And when you officially announce, you go up in the polls.

But this is him becoming Jeb instead of Jeb Bush. We saw with his campaign, they want you to understand that he's not George Bush 41 or 43. He's his own guy and they want you to get to know him. And putting him on a late night show and having this humor. I mean you couldn't help but like the guy more after watching this and seeing that he could have some fun with Jimmy Fallon. I think it's a very smart political move and I think it's going to help him in the polls. COSTELLO: And sadly, Larry, I agree with ben. But this is the way

the world is now in the world of politics. You just go on the Jimmy Fallon show and you improve your chances.

SABATO: Carol, I have to disagree. I really don't think it makes much impact at all. There may be some mild short-term impact. Campaigns think everything matters. They think these appearances and comedy show guest slots and so on have some kind of impact.

Look, presidential elections are about big, big things. And frankly some of those big things will help the Republican nominee, whether it's Bush or somebody else, and other ones will hurt the Republican nominee. Same with Hillary Clinton, if she's the Democratic nominee.

The big things are what really, really matter. Only in the case of a near tie, you know, another 2000 where 537 votes in Florida made all the difference would an image, a candidate image created by appearances on TV shows really make a difference.

COSTELLO: Ok. That's a beautiful segue into my next topic because we have to talk about Donald Trump -- right. You both watched his news conference --

FERGUSON: No, we don't, really.

COSTELLO: I know, I wish I didn't. But I must for just a second. So bear with me now because he just says such outrageous things. Like he totally disrespected Mr. Bush and Mr. Rubio in his own particular Trump-style way. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb Bush, I call him a stiff. I think he's a stiff. I watch him. I think he's somebody that doesn't want to do what he's doing. I don't know, is he being forced to do it?

Marco Rubio. I think he's highly overrated. I think he's an overrated person. I look at him, they say he's a young Ronald Reagan. I said, I don't think he's a young Ronald Reagan. And besides that, I have far better hair than he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Larry, take it away.

SABATO: Look, this is why Republicans hope that somehow some way he doesn't get on that debate stage August the 6th. The ten top polling candidates will be there. Right now, Trump is at 4 percent and he's number nine. So it wouldn't take much for him to drop below that number ten. And that's what the Republican leadership hopes. If he is on the debate stage, I think frankly a candidate or candidates will gain by taking him on.

COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, Carly Fiorina was on "NEW DAY" this morning and she said not to underestimate Donald Trump. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Donald Trump, who shouldn't be underestimated by the way, but I think he's hitting on issues that Americans care about. Americans clearly believe the economy isn't growing quickly enough and not enough of them are employed in jobs they like. They're worried and afraid of what's going on in the world, not just ISIS but other issues as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Ben, do you agree, Mr. Trump talks about having $9 billion and he's a great businessman and --

FERGUSON: I think you don't underestimate how disruptive he can be to a campaign and to this entire presidential campaign. I talked to five different presidential campaigns in the last 24 hours. All of them seem to be incredibly united on doing everything they can to let people know about some of the negatives of Donald Trump to try to get him outside of that top ten.

I don't think I've ever seen this many campaigns united in one decision, and that is, we don't want Donald Trump on the stage. We don't want him to make a mockery of this process. We don't want to have to deal with him at all.

[10:35:04] And that's the biggest threat he is. He is a total distraction and an embarrassment to the presidential contest. He's a narcissist that is obsessed with disrupting and maybe just terrorizing some of these other candidates and try to make their lives hell.

I think that's his biggest threat because people hate Donald Trump. He's probably the most hated Republican candidate of my lifetime. And I think he loves having that badge around his neck and he's proud of it. And that's all he's going to try to do is make other people's lives miserable.

COSTELLO: Larry, can other Republican candidates push Donald Trump from the stage?

SABATO: Well, they could. You know, the polls that are going to be used to judge who gets on the debate stage are going to be taken essentially that first week -- first few days of August -- late July, early August. So I suppose the candidates could either air negatives against Donald Trump or air positives for themselves to try to reshape the top ten. That's always possible.

But you know, it is -- I think Ben is right. Donald Trump is a narcissist. But again to be fair, I have to say that narcissism is a very common illness among presidential candidates.

COSTELLO: I think you're right about that. Ben Ferguson, Larry Sabato, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

And by the way, Donald Trump will be a guest this week on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. That airs Sunday 9:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN.

Still to come in the Newsroom, like a scene out of the movie "Jumanji", escaped animals running loose across a city. We'll take you there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:00] COSTELLO: Police have shot and killed a tiger that killed a man after escaping from a zoo in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Severe flooding allowing that tiger and hundreds of other wild animals to escape. Now zoo officials say another tiger is missing.

Paula Newton is in London. She's following the story. Tell us more -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, as if things weren't bad enough on the streets of Tbilisi, it's really something out of a horror movie. We have police with rifles at the ready, looking for another tiger. The reason we have this white tiger attacked a 43- year-old man at his place of work. It was some warehouse-type building.

And as you know Carol, I mean these are predators. These tigers have been on the loose for several days now. Apparently the tiger just lunged at the man's neck. They tried to save him. He died on the way to hospital.

But what has been so confusing for people in Georgia -- and the floods have already killed 19. They have several more people missing. The confusion was that zoo officials had said, look, we've accounted for all the animals, there's no need to panic. Try and resume life as normal.

And instead, we now find out that this one tiger, of course, unfortunately attacked this man and he died, another was wounded. And now we still have police in Tbilisi and animal officials there going street by street hunting down this tiger, not knowing where this animal could be and if people are safe.

So really a huge state of confusion there. The prime minister of the country has apologized for all the confusion. It's not helping people there who really are living out this horror movie hour by hour still there in the city.

And again really unfortunate pictures of those animals just completely lost in this flooding. And just to see the pictures of those animals, a lot of them have been dead in the streets, they have died in the flooding. Really just adding to that whole sense of confusion in Georgia right now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Newton reporting -- thanks so much.

The 16-year-old boy who lost an arm in a shark attack says he's going to try to live the rest of his life as normally as he can. Hunter Treschel described the moment when the shark bit him at that North Carolina beach on Sunday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER TRESCHEL, SHARK ATTACK VICTIM: It just kind of hit my arm and that was the first. I saw it was biting up my left arm, kind off. And then it got that off eventually. I don't know if it swam away but I was able to move and I got out of the water with the help of my cousin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The shark also attacked a 13-year-old girl at that same beach. She, too, lost part of an arm and has serious tissue damage to her leg.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the head of the Catholic church with a new moral message. His letter to the faithful coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:48:05] COSTELLO: Pope Francis has a new message for the world. This time it's about the environment and the damage that's being done by climate change. You see the Pope there greeting crowds in Vatican city. The papal document -- his papal document rather, the encyclical won't be released until tomorrow. He'll make it official.

But let's talk about it right now. Let's bring in CNN Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher. What can we expect Delia?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Carol an encyclical is the highest teaching document that a Pope can issue. So by choosing to right an encyclical about the environment, I mean Pope Francis could have easily given a speech about it. But he has chosen to give it the top priority. It is clear that for him he wants the world to sit up and pay attention.

Let's take a closer look at what we might expect to see tomorrow -- Caro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: It's called "laudato si" or "praised be on the care of our common home". Pope Francis' encyclical on the moral aspects of climate change and protecting the environment.

Church leaders say that this is the first time the release of a papal encyclical has been so anticipated. A Brazilian climate change group even created an epic theatrical trailer for the Pope's words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us. It's time to take out the trash. Fighting for God's creation.

GALLAGHER: But what exactly is an encyclical? It's the most authoritative teaching document a pope can issue and signifies a high priority issue for the Pope. It's usually written for Catholic clergy and laypeople although Pope Francis has said that his encyclical is addressed to everyone -- religious or not. Encyclicals aren't infallible but they're not just the Pope's opinion either.

[10:50:02] And Catholics are called to take them seriously.

Pope Francis is not the first pope to express concern about the environment. Pope Paul VI back in 1971 talked about the exploitation and degradation of nature by man. John Paul II and Pope Benedict have also added their voices to the topic.

But Francis is the first pope ever to dedicate an entire encyclical to ecological concerns --

BUSH: I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or from my pope.

GALLAGHER: -- a move which has worried conservatives who fear it will be seen as an endorsement of a liberal agenda on climate change and population control and be bad news for big business and oil.

As the first pope from the developing world, Pope Francis' emphasis is on the connection between the destruction of the earth's resources and its impact on the poor. The timing of the document's release is also significant, coming the same year as the United Nations climate change conference in Paris this December. With the Pope's popularity, this encyclical will be a milestone that places the Roman Catholic Church at the forefront of one of the major scientific and moral issues of our times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: You know, Carol, before this encyclical, if someone had said to you environmental movement, you probably wouldn't have thought automatically of the Catholic Church. What the Pope has essentially done with this is change the direction of the discussion on what it means to go green.

COSTELLO: All Delia Gallagher, reporting live from Rome this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the Newsroom, forget stealing bases. Is one major league team in trouble for stealing something much, much more serious? Andy Scholes is following the story for us this morning. Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Good morning. The St. Louis Cardinals could be in some hot water. The FBI is investigating to see whether the Cardinals hacked into the Houston Astros' database. We'll give you the details when NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In baseball, runners steal bases, rival teams try to steal signs. You expect that, right? But welcome to the computer age and the accusation that the venerable St. Louis Cardinals hacked the computer system of the Houston Astros.

CNN's Andy Scholes is here to explain. Good morning. SCHOLES: Good morning, Carol. They're calling this hackgate. And

this could end up being a way bigger scandal than spygate or deflategate. The FBI is involved in this. And right now they're investigating the St. Louis Cardinals to determine whether or not they hacked into the Houston Astros' database to steal private information.

Now the Cardinals, they're one of the most respected and successful franchises in Major League Baseball. So you might be thinking, why would they be stealing information from the Houston Astros who have been in last place for the last four or five years?

Well, let me explain. Jeff Luhnow is the general manager of the Houston Astros. He used to work for the St. Louis Cardinals and Jeff Luhnow is known for using what people call extreme money ball. He's all about stats. He even has a physicist on his staff. He has a former NASA engineer. And basically him and his staff come up with all of these complicated algorithms and formulas to evaluate all of their players.

Now, when Luhnow left the St. Louis Cardinals, you know, there were some harsh feelings about him going to a rival team at the time when the Astros were still in the National League. And the "New York Times" is reporting that someone in the Cardinals' organization basically went through all of Luhnow's old passwords and then used those to infiltrate the Astros' database to look at all this information.

Now the big question Carol, is was this one rogue employee for the Cardinals or was this a concerted effort? Did more people know about this in the front office? If that's the case, they could be facing severe penalties, some we maybe have never seen in the likes of sports.

COSTELLO: So bizarre. Thanks, Andy, for the explanation. I know that was a tough one. We appreciate it.

Want to pick up some extra cash, Amazon might have just the answer for you if you're willing to drop off some of your packages for your neighbor.

Let's find out more from CNN Money correspondent, Cristina Alesci.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a really interesting concept. This is a company that has been experimenting with ways to deliver from drones to partnering with the postal service to deliver on Sundays. So it's not a surprise that they're trying to get ordinary people to deliver packages and act like messengers. It's organized through an app called On My Way.

And in an ideal scenario, what happens is they would negotiate a pick- up point with brick-and-mortar stores. They would -- the brick and mortar stores would act as a pick-up point and essentially if you were going to pick up a package, you might be willing to pick up one for your neighbor and you'd get a small fee -- right.

This is in an extremely ideal world because remember Amazon is a little bit of a controversial company if you're a brick-and-mortar store. They're looking for partnerships on the brick-and-mortar side but a lot of brick and mortar stores feel really threatened by Amazon. They've been undercutting them on price for years. They feel like Amazon wants to put them out of business. And now Amazon is going to these stores and saying, hey can you partner with us and help us deliver packages?

COSTELLO: Not only that, do you think there will be many neighbors who would agree to pick up -- I mean I'd like to think my neighbors would but I don't know.

ALESCI: You're right. And the question is, who's responsible if the package goes missing or if there's something broken -- right? Remember back in 2013, the Christmas season when Amazon didn't deliver on time for Christmas packages and it blamed FedEx and UPS for the problems? Who do you blame when something goes wrong here?

Amazon can't just turn around and, FedEx and UPS are the bad guys. They're going to have to take responsibility.

COSTELLO: It's your neighbor.

ALESCI: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Cristina Alesci, many thanks. I appreciate it.

ALESCI: Of course.

COSTELLO: Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

[11:00:02] "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.