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Strong Force National Mall Crowds To Seek Cover; Holiday Security Heightened Amid Terror Threat; Trump Defends Comments About Immigrants; Food, Medicine Run Short As Greece Economy Faces Collapse; Why Megan Smith Left Google For Washington?; Americans Asked to be Vigilant During Holiday; Pope Francis Begins Visit to Latin American Tomorrow. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired July 04, 2015 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:31] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Five o'clock Eastern on this Fourth of July holiday.
I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. And we begin with news just coming in to us here at CNN from our nation's capital. The National Mall, huge crowds gather to celebrate the Fourth of July festivities including those on the west front of the U.S. capitol building being directed to immediately seek cover. This is all because strong storms are moving through the area right now. Six hundred thousand people are expected on the mall for tonight's fireworks.
Our Sunlen Serfaty is there in Washington. This really escalated really very quickly. How bad the weather has gotten. What are they doing?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly did escalate quickly. And the parks police responded as really indication on how bad these storms potentially could get. Right now, they are telling people to seek shelter. All those folks that are out on the National Mall getting ready later tonight to enjoy the fireworks. As you said, the west front of the capitol building has been evacuated and the U.S. parks police have activated something called operation safe haven. That's when they open up the doors to all these closed museums and even federal buildings like the IRS that line the National Mall so people can have a safe place to seek comfort and ride out this storm.
We also know the White House has changed some of their plans for tonight's Fourth of July festivities. The President was to speak in a little over an hour on the south lawn of the White House. That picnic, a barbecue with military members and their families, that has been canceled due to all this weather concern. We know that the President will likely speak later tonight at a second event with the singer Bruno Mars, who is to perform. You know, as of now, we know from the National Park service the fireworks will still go on. It is expected that these storms will blow through. Of course, that's little comfort Poppy to all these people who are scrambling for shelter right now.
HARLOW: Yes, absolutely right. Sunlen, please keep us posted. I hope it does pass very quickly. Amid all of this already heightened security presence in Washington
and in cities across America, for this Fourth of July holiday, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security telling people to be very vigilant. I do want to note, no specific threat has been identified for this holiday. That's what law enforcement says. But the Police Departments across the nation are increasing security. Embassies and consulates around the globe briefing their security teams.
Let's talk about all of it with Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director. Tom, thank you for being here. You say what is different now is that there is quote, "no need for permission, control or coordination by terrorists." What do you mean in terms of how the threat has changed?
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the threat's changed Poppy because before, especially under Osama bin Laden, he micromanaged the attacks so it required a lot of communication. He hand-picked the 9/11 hijackers for example, oversaw their training, oversaw the financing of them. It required a lot of communication back and forth between al Qaeda central and the terrorists that were out going to flight training and the bank financing that went into keeping them in flight schools and their travel. So there was a lot of communication for the authorities to hear the so-called chatter.
But now there's not that back and forth. ISIS command or their media center puts out the word okay, go kill. It's Ramadan, go kill and you will get extra points in heaven if you do it during Ramadan which started about a week and a half ago and goes until July 17th. So, it's not really related to our Fourth of July holiday. But they put the word out to everybody, go do it. And that's it. There's no need to well --
HARLOW: Yes.
FUENTES: -- should we go today, should we go tomorrow or what. They just go when they're ready to go.
HARLOW: I want your reaction to what former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell said this week on CBS. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MORELL, CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I don't want to tell Americans what to do or what not to do. But I wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here a week from today talking about an attack over the weekend in the United States. That's how serious this is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Tom, that shocked a lot of us saying I wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here talking about an attack over the weekend. Do you think that that's overblown at all?
FUENTES: I do. Frankly, I do. Because I think that we can say that every day of the week from now and possibly for the rest of our lives because I don't see how we are going to turn off this internet machine that ISIS has on. I don't know how we're going to turn off the brains that absorb it and get spun up and get recruited and radicalized to go do it. And it's almost like they're zombies not on a particular timeline. If you look at the attack in Boston a month ago, the FBI was wiretapping a guy Usaama Rahim and he was going to go with his partner to New York and cut off Pamela Geller's head at some time in the future. A week or two later he ordered knives online. The FBI learned that.
[17:05:12] Five a.m., the day that he dies, 5:00 a.m. he calls his partner said, I can't wait, I'm going out today, the boys in blue are out there, I'm going to go out today and, you know, and get one. And the FBI had intercepted something that morning. There was no logic as to why in his mind he had to launch that attack right that minute. And they had to keep him from getting on a bus. So, that's why they scrambled and intercepted him at a street corner. He pulled his knife and they ended up shooting him dead. The New York plot that was just uncovered a week or two ago, same thing. They were trying to figure out how to make pressure cooker bombs and do an attack then. It wasn't related to Fourth of July. It's just part of the everyday ISIS drumbeat, go kill. And I don't know when that's going to stop, how we're going to stop it --
HARLOW: Yes.
FUENTES: -- how we're going to stop people from listening to it.
HARLOW: It is very troubling situation but I have been seeing a lot of New Yorkers in Brooklyn and Manhattan getting ready to go out to these big festivities, Tom, and live their lives because that's what they have to do. But at a heightened state of awareness, right?
FUENTES: Right. Exactly. Be aware but go ahead.
HARLOW: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Tom, thanks so much. Appreciate it as always. Have a really nice Fourth.
FUENTES: All right. You too.
HARLOW: Let's turn to politics now. And a question that is certainly making the rounds. Have Donald Trump's comments calling Latin- American immigrants, some of them killers and rapists, does that hurt his party? And if so, how significantly? 2012 republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told CNN today, yes, those comments have hurt the party.
Current GOP candidate George Pataki calling on other presidential hopefuls to publicly denounce what Trump is saying. Trump is not backing down. He told FOX News this morning that too many GOP leaders are weak on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I know Pataki well and, you know, he's a sad figure. He's got zero in the polls and he was a terrible governor of New York. Terrible. If he would have run again, I mean, he would have failed -- he wouldn't have gotten anything. So he was a failed governor. And you know, as far as Rubio, he's very weak on immigration and I've been saying that for a long time about him. He's weak on immigration. I respect Ted Cruz for the view that he's got. I mean, he was really out there and strong on it and I shouldn't say this because I assume he's an opponent but the fact is he was very brave in coming out, and you know, when I look at somebody like Perry, who was the governor there for a long period of time, well, he could have done something a little bit, maybe a lot more in terms of protecting people because again, the crime is rampant.
And this isn't a Mexico thing. This is, you know, I have great relations with Mexico and I love the Mexican people and the spirit of the Mexican people. These are people just pouring across the border and you know it involves more than just border. It involves trade, everything we do in this country is just off. Our trade deals are terrible. Our border protection is terrible. Our security is terrible. You look at what ISIS is doing to us, they are laughing at us. You know, do we have victories anymore in our country? And the answer is really no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: CNN senior digital political correspondent Chris Moody with me now. You spent the day with Trump recently. And look, this is not someone who ever holds back from saying what's on his mind. But at what point do you think that this becomes a severe headache for his party?
CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's already a pretty bad headache, maybe not a migraine. But look, earlier this week, Poppy, I talked to a number of Republicans and conservatives whose main goal is to outreach to Latinos. The National Republican Party has spent millions of dollars doing outreach to minorities and also outside conservative groups are fanning out across the country putting field staff in southwestern states and in Florida and Texas, trying to convince Latinos that they should join the GOP or embrace conservative values. When they see someone like Donald Trump who has the big R next to his name come out and say things like this, in this tone and this manner, that really sets back those efforts.
HARLOW: And who is polling so well.
MOODY: Yes. He's polling in second in not just Iowa and New Hampshire but nationwide. Now, I would attribute part of that to his just name I.D., he's got the shows, people know Donald Trump and at this point in an election, you say what name you've heard of.
HARLOW: Sure. Sure.
MOODY: Rudy Giuliani was doing very well in 2007. We all know how that worked out. But I spent the day with a number of his supporters just last week in New Hampshire, asked what's the appeal, why do you like Donald Trump. And he says, you know, he says the thing that's on his mind and the thing that I believe as well and no one else is saying those things. People love Donald Trump for the exact same reason other people do not love Donald Trump. HARLOW: At what point do they want actual solutions, because you
heard in that bit of the interview him saying basically this country doesn't do anything right and I'm going to change that. He did say he would build a huge wall between the U.S. and Mexico and that he would make the Mexican government pay for it. But other than that, we haven't heard a lot of solutions to what he would change.
MOODY: I don't know if Donald Trump is going to change his strategy until he stops getting media attention for it. And also, the debates are coming up in just about a month. And he's going to obviously try to make it to that point. That's really a real benchmark. And what's very interesting is he's going to be knocking off a number of other candidates that don't make the cut --
HARLOW: Right.
MOODY: -- because they don't poll as well. Now, I asked him about that, too, what about that. And he is like, well, I'm far more accomplished than they are and they don't deserve to be on the stage, I do. I mean, that's going to come true.
[17:10:28] HARLOW: CNN is going to have two debates where we are going to have sort of those in the top of the poll and also, also others. So, a lot of voices will be heard. I want to talk about with the business side of this. He also spoke in this interview with FOX News about NASCAR being the latest business that he's affiliated with to cut ties because of his comments. They canceled the post-season banquet in Miami. He said, frankly, he was a bit surprised to hear that because he thought he had so many fans within the NASCAR. Let's roll that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know, I knew it was going to be bad because I was told this. All my life I have been told this. You are successful, you don't run for office. And I understood -- I didn't know it was going to be quite this severe but I really knew it was going to be bad. I'm very surprised at NASCAR because I have so many fans in NASCAR and I love, you know, I love the NASCAR people. And I'm a little surprised at NASCAR, to be honest with you. But you know, I have properties in the best locations. The property you're talking about in the case of NASCAR is Trump National Doral which is probably one of the top resorts in the world, and if they don't go, somebody else goes. So, you know, it's not a big deal. But I will say that I was quite surprised by NASCAR because these are people that want to stop illegal immigration, they don't want to see crime. So, you know, I heard the statement earlier this morning, they've done a poll on this. And frankly, you know, I think they made a mistake but that's okay. I promise you we will get somebody else to replace them in the ballroom that night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: The business side of this, I mean, he's admitting, I've lost millions and millions as a result. Is that a strategy here to say look, me leading our country, fixing our country is the most important thing to me?
MOODY: Well, this is literally the billion dollar question. At what point is Donald Trump going to look at this and say, I've lost too much money, this is not worth it at all. And I think a lot of people saw him running as just an opportunity for him to build his brand, get on TV and promote Trump. But I don't think as he mentioned in the sound bite, he didn't anticipate it would be this bad and really, it's interesting because it's not because of the policy positions necessarily. It's the way he's talking about them and name calling of ethnic groups and that is what is really bringing people to leave business ties with him.
And I think this is just going to keep happening, especially as there's more social pressure. There's never been a time when citizens have been able to contact companies and make their voices heard just like on social media, have a voice they didn't have before. And businesses listen to this. And if they think that they are going to be implicated or tied to comments like that --
HARLOW: Yes.
MOODY: -- they are going to cut and run. And that's what they're doing.
HARLOW: Right. Chris Moody, thank you so much.
MOODY: Thank you.
HARLOW: Always. I appreciate it.
Up next, we turn to Greece. Tough, tough choices for a divided nation on the brink financially.
CNN Issa Suarez live for us in Athens. Isa.
ISSA SUAREZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Greeks prepare for the referendum that will shape and define their country for generations to come. I'm Issa Suarez in Athens. I'll have the latest for you after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:16:43] HARLOW: Well, a source directly involved in Iran nuclear negotiations tells CNN there has been some progress made on the issue of sanctions relief. The source saying that the tentative agreement would allow both sides to declare sanctions lifted. That would help Iran in terms of saving face with its people but it would actually lift them over time, we're told, as Iran meets various obligations. However, this source adding there is a lot of work to do including getting approval from the foreign ministers of all of the countries involved in these talks.
Turning to Greece. The economy on the brink and banks, banks being shut there. It is quite a scene in Athens. Even supplies of food and medicine are starting to run low. Take a look at this picture. It is a 77-year-old retiree in Greece turned away from four separate banks trying to withdraw money. Breaking down in tears. Starting at midnight tonight, voters will hit the polls to decide how Greece should vote. Should they vote yes or no to a bailout program that would mean very painful cuts to their pensions, it would mean drastic austerity measures. Is it the right move? Do they need the bailout money?
CNN's Issa Suarez live in Athens, Greece. And Issa, this is the question. This is about the future of Greece politically, the future of Greece economically, whether it's going to accept those hard cuts in order to get the money and keep it within the Eurozone.
SUAREZ: Oh, absolutely, Poppy. And that is really what is at stake here. Greek, 75 percent of Greeks say they want to stay in the Eurozone, they want to be part of the euro single currency but many of them don't want austerity. That is clear. So what is going to happen in the next 24 hours to 48 hours, Poppy. Because of course, you have the new camp, you have Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calling on the Greeks to vote no, saying these austerities are just too harsh, if you vote no, perhaps that will strengthen my positioning, really my negotiating tactic come Monday.
Then you have those in the yes camp that say if you vote no towards Alexis Tsipras, perhaps he won't even have a deal because perhaps Europe won't even want to deal with him because it's clear the way Europe is seeing this, Poppy, is this is Euro versus drachma. But Alexis Tsipras doesn't see it that way. For many people here though Poppy, their concern will be on Tuesday morning. Will they be able to get access to their money? Exactly the same as that photo you just showed of that pensioner on the ground, that is the concern and the scenes that many people fearing that will happen here in Greece -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Talk to me Issa about what the regular people on the street there in Athens are saying to you about how dire the situation is for them, because we know what the politicians are saying and the hard line, the IMF has taken. And Angela Merkel have taken, you know, just stopping the bailout money when they didn't make that IMF repayment this week but what about the real people impact?
SUAREZ: I have heard so many stories, Poppy and it's just heartbreaking. I spoke to one lady this week who tried -- pensioner who tried to take money out of an ATM, she tried five times to take 60 euros out. She couldn't do it. And when I said, how are you going to vote. She said, well, I'm not registered here, I'm registered in an island. If I can't even get money I won't be able to travel to vote. I spoke to a pensioner who has been working as a carpenter restoring antique furniture for 40 plus years. He sold his wedding ring because he didn't have money. He said he couldn't take 60 euros out. And the reality is that 50 percent of people here depend on pensions as their only source of income.
HARLOW: Right.
SUAREZ: And many of these pensioners have seen their wages cut so that's the reality. HARLOW: Issa Suarez live for us in Athens. Issa, thank you. And
again, that major vote happening on Sunday. We'll have live coverage for you from Athens, of course, on that. Issa, thank you.
Coming up next, from Google glass to Washington, D.C., to the government. My conversation with a high tech Phenom using Silicon Valley ingenuity to tackle one of the biggest issues in this country. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:24:33] HARLOW: A few years ago I met Megan Smith when she was running Google X, that's the group behind the driverless car and Google glass. So how did she end up leaving that big, big job in Silicon Valley and moving 3,000 miles away to Washington, D.C. for a pay cut and an arguably harder job? I went to Washington to the White House to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEGAN SMITH, U.S. CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: We're in the east garden of the White House.
HARLOW (voice-over): She's a Googler in every sense of the word. Wicked smart and willing to take big risks.
SMITH: What can we do to cross-share these extraordinary solutions?
HARLOW: Megan Smith is one of tech's biggest names. So, why does she work here instead of here?
(on camera): What does it feel like to be introduced as the chief technology officer of the entire United States?
SMITH: It's an honor. It's an amazing thing.
HARLOW (voice-over): Smith is as unassuming as they come. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt describes her as having an energy and an enthusiasm that is addictive. Is this job harder than your job at Google?
SMITH: It's the volume of work and the opportunities are huge.
HARLOW: Last year, the White House reached out while she was in Africa and she traded in her office at Google for this.
SMITH: Hello, people. So --
HARLOW: A modest cramped and frankly antiquated office 3,000 miles from Silicon Valley.
(on camera): You left Google. Big job at google. Google-X working on the driverless car, all these fascinating things, to come work for the federal government. Why did you do it?
SMITH: It's an honor to be here and this is a whole other staff. It's part of service. You know, technical people like most people are driven by mission.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an outstanding rocket team right here.
HARLOW (voice-over): And frankly, she's worried about where the United States stands.
(on camera): We're behind.
SMITH: We're behind.
HARLOW: You see no reason why kids shouldn't learn to code at the same time as they're learning to read.
SMITH: Sure. And it's happening all over the world. There is actually a cool organization that started called the D-5 which is the most digital governments the UK led. So, UK, Israel, South Korea, Estonia and New Zealand. One of the criterias that you have to be on track to be teaching coding to all children in our country. And those countries already are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just look at all the people here all squashed in.
HARLOW: Just going to say no corner offices here.
D.J. PATIL, CHIEF DATA SCIENTIST: Every day you get to walk in and think about how you're going to change the world.
HARLOW (voice-over): Right now her team is analyzing data from police body cameras and immigration data to advise the President on policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the backlog board, things that need to go here --
HARLOW: Smith leads what you could call a coding army.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's like consistently raising the bar for what we can do as an office which is kind of amazing.
HARLOW: A pretty small team for the enormous job in front of them.
SMITH: I think we're entering, you know, where human creativity and collaboration is essential. And finding those people who have extraordinary ideas and helping them scale that and leveraging the federal government almost as a platform on which the town of America can rise.
HARLOW (on camera): Is the Healthcare.gov and rollout debacle an example, perfect example of why technology folks have to be at the table from the forefront?
SMITH: Yes. The policy, the legislation work, the strategy, the partnerships, all of it was there and this silly website was causing us to not finish. HARLOW (voice-over): In fact, President Obama told fast company the
disastrous rollout of Healthcare.gov was a, quote, "catalyst for his hiring of some of the best from Silicon Valley.
SMITH: Thanks. It's so awesome to be here.
HARLOW: They've created a reserve corps program of sorts where tech's elite come to government to work for a stint.
SMITH: An interior just hosted the coolest hack-a-thon.
HARLOW: They won't make millions and certainly not billions but it is bigger than that, she says.
SMITH: Silicon Valley goes away, it's the startups and big companies and they grow and people spin out, shouldn't part of the third choice be this government choice? Our country will only be what we make it. So, if we don't show up, it won't be what we want it to be.
HARLOW: She brought over D.J. Patil from LinkedIn --
PATIL: Hey, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
HARLOW: -- to be the first chief data scientist here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for having us.
Alexander MacGillivray, Twitter's former general counsel is now her deputy CTO.
HARLOW (on camera): Did you come here with one goal in mind?
[17:29:01] SMITH: I think the greatest thing that I can do is more talent that is capable and uses those methods to really get more talented people more surface area. We have a lot of problems to solve and get that passion unlocked from everybody so that the kids in Baltimore all the way to Space-X, we are executing as an American people on the things that we love and care about and the way we always have and really can be and can include everyone in.
HARLOW: It sounds to me like poverty and income inequality is something that tugs at your heart a lot.
SMITH: I just think it's an extraordinary waste of talent. And we have such low expectations for how to solve and for some of our young people. Like one group of young people gets to go to the Science fair and work on all these internships and do this stuff and one group of young people is not expected to do that. We need to change that point of view.
[17:30:00] We are the country that has a rover on Mars, you know. And we also have one in four American children in poverty.
HARLOW (voice-over): She takes issue with people saying science and math are too hard.
SMITH: You wouldn't come out of high school and say, oh, yes, that reading, I didn't really get that. But people say that about Math and it's really bad role modeling.
HARLOW: She's a woman on a mission for other women, past and present.
SMITH: Katherine Johnson, who calculated the trajectories for Alan Shepherd, John Glenn and the Apollo mission is an African-American woman in her 90s, and she was not in the movie. So we lost that history.
HARLOW (on camera): There are not enough women or African-Americans in tech. It's just a boundary you want to help break down?
SMITH: Of course. Of course. It's very, very important issue for me. I definitely have led my own workshops in making sure that girls of color are getting the exposure at least to computer sciences because if you can't see it you really can't aspire to be it.
Yeah. Definitely I would take this place over Google, although I loved Google and Silicon Valley. I will go back at some point.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW (voice-over): She may never have expected to walk these halls when she began her career out of MIT.
SMITH: Kindness is as important as knowledge.
HARLOW: But she is quickly becoming inspired by them.
(on camera): Do you have political aspirations?
SMITH: Probably not. It's not really my style. But I love this work.
HARLOW: Probably not.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: I'm not good at running for things.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Thanks to Megan Smith for that.
Stormy weather in Washington threatens July 4th festivities. Some events postponed or canceled, all while the nation is on high alert over security concerns. Much more live from Washington, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:34:45] HARLOW: Americans being asked to be vigilant this Fourth of July following a warning from security officials of potential, potential security concerns. It is important to note no specific threat has been identified by law enforcement.
Let's talk about all of it with Kimberly Dozier, CNN global affairs analyst.
Thank you for being here.
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to be here.
HARLOW: You talk about this new checklist for families heading out to events and it's -- I can imagine for parents, it's hard to talk to your kids about sort of the state of security in this country right now, but what are your recommendations?
DOZIER: Well, first of all, I would say look, the chances of there being some sort of an attack on a large venue are very, very slim. There have been dozens of these types of warnings before and it hasn't resulted in anything. But authorities are saying that there are these people out there who are aspirational, they are following ISIS on Twitter and some of them have carried out small scale attacks that haven't done much damage but there is the possibility. So with that in mind, it's a chance to review some of the things that you can do in any crowded setting, whether it's Fourth of July fireworks or going to a concert. They're just good to have in mind. Things like OK, how about setting up a rendezvous point if something does happen and you get -- you lose track of each other, or the simple procedure of texting rather than calling if there is some sort of untoward event at something you've gone to.
HARLOW: You've said and you have a very unique perspective on this for some of our viewers who don't know, you as a journalist overseas survived an attack from an al Qaeda car bomb and you say that I would rather see Americans defy this terror mongering, educate themselves and be prepared.
DOZIER: Absolutely. Look, I have lived in places like Israel during a major suicide bombing campaign from 2001 to 2003. More than 100 bombs went off across that country. People changed a little bit of what they were doing but they didn't change their daily life. They just started becoming more aware of their surroundings. When you talk about the attacks that the FBI is warning of, they are mostly done by amateurs so forewarned means you can make them all that less effective if they do happen. I actually asked DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, what would you advise families going out to a major event beyond "See something, Say something." They pointed me to the FEMA website at ready.gov. There's a make a plan form that you can fill out with emergency contacts, numbers for your kids, so it's a non- scary way to let them know if anything happens here's what we're going to do.
HARLOW: That's great voice. I wonder your perspective on this. We at CNN, media across the spectrum, have been talking about this heightened alert, increasing potential risk for a week now. Do you see that alone as a propaganda win, victory for ISIS?
DOZIER: I have to say it is. There's a tough balance to be struck between what comes off as fearmongering and actually doing the public service of letting Americans know they could be a target. But it comes back to in the law of averages, and the number of attacks there have already been and their effectiveness, you are more likely to be hit by lightning on the National Mall right now because of those storms or you know, injured by some bad fireworks than struck by militant violence. Still, we have to be aware.
HARLOW: Absolutely.
Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much. Have a great fourth.
DOZIER: Thanks.
HARLOW: An update on the weather evacuation, as we mentioned earlier in the program, in the nation's capital. I want to tell you, live pictures of Washington, D.C. Things are clearing up. That weather evacuation has been lifted for the capital and for the National Mall.
A homecoming of sorts for Pope Francis. Up next, his historic trip to Latin America, which kicks off tomorrow. We will speak to an expert on the Vatican about his mission to keep parishioners from leaving the fold, how significant this trip is.
Also, tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern, an encore performance, fascinating CNN film, "Glen Campbell, I'll Be Me." It follows the music legend's final tour after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. 9:00 right here on CNN.
Well, every 67 seconds in the United States, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Most are over 65 but about 5 percent are younger than that. Still, in the prime of their lives, with jobs, families, with a lot of responsibilities.
Our CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the toughest decisions any younger person with dementia has to make is when to stop driving. That's because the body can still remember how to do it but the parts of the brain that control memory and fast decision making are declining. So what do you do?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
SANDY HALPERIN, FORMER DENTIST DIAGNOSED WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: I held her and she clutched on to me, don't let go of me, daddy, just don't let go. I just lost my train of thought there, but.
[17:40:11] GUPTA (voice-over): Five years ago, at age 60, Sandy Halperin, former dentist, father of two and grandfather of three, was diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease.
HALPERIN: I can distract myself. That's what scares me. I just think of another thought or do something else, something just comes up and then everything's gone. The thought is gone. It's gone as if it never even existed.
GUPTA (on camera): Even as doctors, we rarely get such an intimate look into what's happening in the mind of someone who is suffering through this, who is suffering through dementia. So I wanted to meet Sandy myself, talk to him, try to better understand what was happening.
HALPERIN: Good to see you.
GUPTA (on camera): How are you?
HALPERIN: What a treat.
GUPTA (voice-over): We had only been together a few minutes before I got a glimpse of Sandy's struggles with his memory.
HALPERIN: That was a -- you know, I forget what I'm saying in the middle of what I'm saying. Now -- I'm sorry. I just lose my train of thought.
GUPTA: One of the first and hardest decisions Sandy and his wife, Gail, had to face is whether it's safe for him to get behind the wheel. They decided to limit Sandy's driving to short distances from their home and re-evaluate his skills frequently.
HALPERIN: It's not physical. Obviously, you can do that fine. It's not even so much memory as it is attentiveness. It's that I'm distracted. When I took my driving test, I went for a three-hour driving test.
GAIL HALPERIN, WIFE OF SANDY: In Jacksonville.
HALPERIN: Jacksonville. The first two parts of the test, from what I understand, I basically failed.
GUPTA (on camera): Is that right?
HALPERIN: Yeah. I didn't do well. I know I didn't.
GAIL HALPERIN: OK. Keep going forward. When you get to the next stop sign, we're going to go left again.
GUPTA (voice-over): Even though Sandy couldn't remember, he had in fact passed the driving evaluation and shared the happy news with Gail at the time.
GAIL HALPERIN: Did you pass?
HALPERIN: Yes!
HALPERIN: Like I can't remember right now, this is an important test that I can't remember, I can't give you. Many years ago, I would be able to tell you all the details of the test.
GUPTA (on camera): What happened.
Are you nervous at all, Gail?
GAIL HALPERIN: No. I like it when he drives. He's a very good driver. He knows what he's doing. The problem is when that changes.
HALPERIN: I'm broken. I'm not missing a limb but I've got a defect. But it doesn't mean that I can't live my life with that defect to its fullest.
GUPTA (voice-over): Like Sandy and Gail, every family must constantly (AUDIO PROBLEM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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[17:46:50] HARLOW: Pope Francis arrives in Latin America tomorrow afternoon. This is his first trip there since becoming the pope two years ago and it will be a whirlwind visit. It will take him to three countries, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. In all, he is giving more than 20 speeches on topics ranging from poverty to the environment.
Let's talk about it. Live from Rome, CNN senior Vatican analyst, John Allen.
John, I think it's interesting, you call this and you note this is a homecoming of sorts for the pope. But he's not going to his native Argentina. What does that tell us?
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, first of all, I think it tells us that Pope Francis does not want to be seen as playing favorites. That is, preferring his home country over others. Part of it, too, bear in mind, is that Argentina is in election season. They've got presidential elections coming up in October. I think he doesn't want to get caught up in the politics of all that.
But fundamentally, I think what it says, Pope Francis is very much a pope of the periphery. That's the word he always uses. Meaning, he wants to reach out to people and places that are at the margins. I think he deliberately wanted to go to three nations in Latin America that are not among the regional super powers. The regional super powers are Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico. Instead, he's going to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. I think what he's trying to say is that his heart is as much with those who are at the bottom of the heap as it is with those at the top.
HARLOW: I think absolutely. He's going to give these speeches in a pretty aggressive agenda. He's going to focus on poverty, the environment, reforming economic structures. What should we expect for him to say on those fronts? Because we have noted his language has been very direct on sort of the dire situation for many people.
ALLEN: Well, bear in mind, Latin America is conventionally regarded as one of the places in the world with a gap between rich and poor that is most dramatic. I would certainly expect throughout this fling, which will last a week, he will spend two and a half days in each of these three countries, that's going to be an important theme. This is a pope who also recently released an encyclical letter, the most authoritative form of pal teaching about the environment. I would expect his language on climate change, on deforestation in general and the need to protect nature will be very strong. I think it's very important that he will deliver this message in Latin America because let's remember, this is a pope with an ambitious social agenda all across the world. But if he can't move the needle on that agenda in his own backyard, where he has the highest approval ratings and the most support at the grassroots, then I think it's an open question where else can he get it done. I think for Francis, it is very important that he deliver this message and that there be a response to it.
HARLOW: I mean, it is also very important for him to be able to galvanize people on this, right? Because the Catholic Church has seen significant losses in terms of followers in Latin America.
[17:50:00] ALLEN: That's right. A generation ago, Latin America was an overwhelmingly almost moderately Catholic population. And there's been phenomenal growth in Christianity, evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity. They did a study to find Catholics were losing 8,000 people a day. Seven days a week, 365 days a year. And while I don't think Pope Francis is overly concerned with market share, I do think he pleads that if Catholicism is going to change the world along the lines he wants it to promote greater solidarity with the greater certain for nature, greater certain for immigrants and so on, it needs human capital and sociological base to get that done. So that means hold on to the people the church has and try to open the doors and welcome back some of those who have walked away. That's clearly one of the corner stones of this trip.
HARLOW: John Allen, live for us in Rome. We'll be watching this live as it kicks off tomorrow.
John, thank you.
ALLEN: You bet.
HARLOW: Coming up, shark attacks. At least 11 in the Carolinas alone this year. Why is this happening? Why is this happening and are people still getting in the water? Wow. An extraordinary picture right there. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You take back a lot of things from war that you didn't think you were going to bring back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just angry with everyone and didn't want anything to do with everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can be kind of hard. You just get kind of anxious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You stop feeling, basically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All three of my combat deployments were intense. There was no time to cope.
I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail because it had been a dream of mine growing up. I saw it as a personal challenge. But about two- thirds of the way I realized I was processing all these experiences that I had put away and knew that there were other combat veterans that need to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Warrior Hike provides veterans with all the equipment and supplies they need to complete the long distance hike. It is just like a deployment but instead of going to fight a war, your mission is to be a civilian again.
Just being in the woods out here, it has nothing to do but think.
There's an internal quiet. And some of the problems that you're dealing with are hammered away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just being around other military is worth more than words can say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many years have you been out now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 15 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are veterans also receive trail counsel along the way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see how much they care. It helps.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We help veterans prepare for the next chapter of their life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We learn to take it as it comes and move on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking for that sense of calm. Every step I take I think I'm going in that direction.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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[17:52:06] HARLOW: I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for being with us. Have a wonderful Fourth of July. I'll see you back here tomorrow.
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