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Obama Dives into GOP Race, Slams Candidates; Trump Rides High Ahead of First Debate; Theater Shooting Victims to be Laid to Rest; Coast Guard Searching for Missing Teens; Whitney Houston's Daughter Dies at 22; Boy Scouts to End Ban on Gay Leaders; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 27, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This was the first year three pitchers were voted in on the first ballot and the first time since 1955 that four players made it into the Hall of Fame in one year.

Makes me feel really old. Congratulations to all of them. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, lost at sea. The Coast Guard searching now for two teenagers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hours are getting long that the boy have been out there.

COSTELLO: Their boat capsized off the Florida coast. Their parents holding out hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are positive that our boys are still out there.

COSTELLO: As an NFL legend gets involved.

JOE NAMATH, HALL OF FAME QUARTERBACK: The love is there. We're all praying.

COSTELLO: Also, leader of the pack. A brand new CNN poll puts Trump on top again.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is more than me. This is a movement going on. People are tired of these incompetent politicians.

COSTELLO: And guess who he's targeting now.

And gay leaders openly welcome inside the Boy Scouts. Big changes expected today. Do they go far enough.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Right now we're awaiting on a Coast Guard news conference updating us on the search for those two missing teenagers. The 14-year-olds disappeared Friday after leaving on a fishing trip in Jupiter, Florida. Their capsized boat was found more than 100 miles away just north of Cape Canaveral. The search area now expanded. It's as big as the state of Indiana. We'll bring you that news conference as soon as it begins.

The presidential race takes center stage overseas. The commander-in- chief hitting back hard against Republican candidates vying for his job. Listen as President Obama reacts to recent attacks by Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee while addressing the press in Ethiopia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In fact, it's been interesting when you look at what's happening with Mr. Trump when he's made some of the remarks that, for example, challenge the heroism of Mr. McCain, somebody who endured torture and conducted himself with exemplary patriotism, the Republican Party is shocked, and yet that arises out of a culture where, you know, those kinds of outrageous attacks would become far too common place and yet circulated nonstop.

We're creating a culture that is not conducive to good policy or good politics. The American people deserve better. Certainly presidential debates deserve better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Despite controversial comments made by Donald Trump, the billionaire candidate is edging out his competitors with a little more than a week before that first presidential debate takes place.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones. She has more on these poll numbers.

Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. A lot of interesting facts and figures in these poll numbers. There you had -- there's a poll showing that Trump is leading the pack, but he isn't just leading, he has gained about six points since our most recent poll, the one at the end of June, while his second in place Bush rival, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, has actually lost a couple of points over the last month and this is interesting because you have Trump's Republican rivals for the nomination really blasting him for some of the things he's said, blasting him for his tone, calling it offensive, saying his rhetoric is inflammatory and divisive.

This poll I should mention comes after he made those comments about John McCain questioning his heroism even though he was a prisoner of war during Vietnam. And so those comments are fully baked into this poll conducted completely after, but, yes, Trump doing very, very well among a segment of the Republican base but that popularity among those Republicans is not translating into the broader electorate.

I believe we have his unfavorability numbers we can put up on the screen. 80 percent, excuse me, 80 percent of Democrats have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump, 53 percent of independents have an unfavorable view and 42 percent of Republicans. You average all that out, it comes to 59 percent of folks don't have a favorable view of Donald Trump. So that is going to cause problems for him in the long term -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live from Washington. Thanks so much.

With so many voters fed up with Washington, outsider status is obviously a plus and in Mr. Trump's mind his outsider status is now a movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They view me as an outsider, I guess, and now they're starting to view me not as an outsider because I'm leading in all the polls. Not just yours, but I mean, there's a movement going on. This is more than me. This is a movement going on.

[10:05:08] People are tired of these incompetent politicians in Washington that can't get anything done. They can't make deals. They can't do anything. I mean, all they care about is getting elected. They don't care about anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's bring in Larry Sabato. He's the director for the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia.

Welcome, Larry.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So when you hear Trump talk about why he's leading in the polls, you really can't argue with him, right?

SABATO: No, you can't argue with that part. Look, this is an eternal suspicion that Americans have of Washington. They always like to listen to anti-Washington candidates and, frankly, most of the candidates, even the ones who are serving in office there pretend they don't even know the layout of the streets in Washington. They pretend they've never visited the city, so there's nothing unusual about this except that Donald Trump himself as a personality, as a political figure and celebrity -- Carol, he's almost a black hole sucking in all the available media light so that there's almost none left for any other candidates unless they say outrageous things or do outrageous things which several recently have done.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. You had, what, Lindsey Graham put his cell phone in a blender. Rand Paul set the tax code on fire. Mike Huckabee compared President Obama to, you know, Nazis and the holocaust. So you're right. It's just getting more and more -- I don't even know how to characterize it.

SABATO: Well, we need to remember this is way in advance of even the first voting, February 1st, in Iowa and we're 470 days away from the actual election in November 2016. So it's fair to say that people are test-driving some of the candidates, and right now they're going with some of the flashier models, but they may learn that they just don't like the models or perhaps they're too expensive or they get tired of them. So things will change. That's the one thing we know for sure. Today's polls will not be next month's or six months from now.

COSTELLO: Isn't it possible that some voters are just venting? Because Donald Trump's unfavorability ratings are quite high among independents.

SABATO: That's part of it. Look, Trump benefits from the fact that there are 17 candidates on the Republican side. The person who wins the early primaries and caucuses may do so with 20 percent to 25 percent of the vote, maybe less than that. So it doesn't matter if you have a 60 percent unfavorability as long as you have got, as Trump does, 18 percent to 20 percent in the polling averages of Republicans nationwide. That may be enough to place or to win if this holds up for the long run.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Larry Sabato, thanks for your insight as usual. I appreciate it.

Funeral services begin in less than two hours for Mayci Breaux, one of the two Louisiana theater shooting victim. Services for Jillian Johnson, the other victim, will also take place later today. And presidential candidate and Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal, is warning Westboro Baptist Church members not to try picketing today's services.

Here's what he told CBS' "Face the Nation" over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They come here to Louisiana, they try to disrupt this funeral, we're going to lock them up. We're going to arrest them. They shouldn't try that in Louisiana. We won't abide by that here. Let these families grieve, let them celebrate their daughters', their children's, their spouses', their loved ones' lives in peace. They better not try that nonsense here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Despite the threat of arrest, the controversial church who claim mass shootings are God's punishment for disobedience is supposedly still vowing to hold these protests. This all comes as we learn new details about the killer, John Houser.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is live in Lafayette with more on that.

Good morning, Ryan.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you. And police have learned quite a bit about John Russell Houser's background and his potential for violence and how he planned the attack here at the Grand Theater. In fact they believe this attack was methodically planned. CBS obtained surveillance video of Houser at the nearby Motel 6 where he was staying in the moments before the attack.

Now police found a diary inside the hotel room where Houser was staying and listen to what State Police Colonel Michael Edmonton told me Houser had written in that diary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: Here is one thing that's perfectly clear. This man was certainly of sound mind because you know what, he wrote it down.

[10:10:03] He said he's coming to this movie theater at 7:15 on Thursday night. What we do believe is that he was in other theaters, whether it was Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge, maybe disguised himself from some of the things we've heard about. And then for whatever reason he's in this theater on that night at 7:27 and he stands up and he kills two innocent people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And Edmonson told me that they've -- the family of John Houser has talked about their concern about his potential for violence. They thought he might be capable of something like this but that he might target a governmental building. Not something like a movie theater.

And speaking of Houser, his body has yet to be claimed by the Lafayette Parish coroner -- from the Lafayette Parish Coroner's Office.

And as you already mentioned, Carol, Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson, their lives will be remembered today with funerals for both young women. There were nine other victims in this case. Six of them have been released from the hospital. There are still three recovering inside local hospitals. Two of them are listed in good conditions, one listed in fair condition, but all of their conditions are improving -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And that's the good news. Ryan Nobles, thank you so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it is a frantic search and a growing search area. Two teenaged fishermen missing. Their boat flipped over off the coast of Florida.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:35] COSTELLO: We're still awaiting that news conference from the Coast Guard as the search area expands for crews looking for two teenagers who disappeared after going on a fishing trip. Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos were last seen on Friday gassing up their boat near Jupiter, Florida. The 14-year-olds have not been seen since. Rescue crews did locate their capsized boat on Sunday, 67 miles offshore just north of Cape Canaveral.

Alina Machado is in Jupiter following the story.

Good morning.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The Coast Guard told me this morning that they've expanded their search, as you mentioned. They've now been searching near Jacksonville, Florida, which is north from where that capsized boat was found on Sunday. The boys, both 14, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, were last seen near here in Jupiter, Florida. Their families, as you can imagine, are desperate to find them and even though it's been several days since they've heard from them, they are trying to remain optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA COHEN, MISSING TEEN'S MOTHER: None of us are giving up hope, they're going to find those boys. So obviously it's a terrifying experience to be living through, second by second, but I have 100 percent faith that they will find our boys.

JOE NAMATH, MISSING TEEN'S NEIGHBOR: We're optimistic, we're praying. The Coast Guard is wonderful, the people that conducting the search, are optimistic. The history of the high seas shows survival rates over the years, there have been miracles out there, and we're planning on finding the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: And as you saw, NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath, a neighbor of the families, is also joining in, in the search. The family -- the families are offering $100,000 reward for the teens' rescue -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. And as I mentioned, the Coast Guard is expected to hold a news conference at any moment. When that happens we'll take you back to Florida live.

Alina Machado, many thanks to you.

Three years after her mother's death, Bobbi Kristina Brown has died. Brown died Sunday in hospice. A family rep saying, quote, "She's finally at peace in the arms of God."

Her chaotic short life was chronicled by her mother's spotlight. And Whitney Houston's sudden death in 2012. Then in late January, Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive, face down in a bathtub inside this town home she shared with her then boyfriend. A criminal investigation is ongoing.

Joining me now on the phone is Sam Moore. He's a long-time family friend and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sam, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

SAM MOORE, WHITNEY HOUSTON'S FRIEND: Thank you, Carol. Good morning to you also.

COSTELLO: Have you -- have you talked to the family at all?

MOORE: No, I haven't because I just got the message -- got the news last night. I'm here in Minnesota at the Starky Foundation Gala, and when the news came about, I was in the process of listening to Katy Perry, and my wife gave me the phone and I read it then, but, no, that's all I can tell you.

COSTELLO: It's just -- it's just so sad. I mean, we've been expecting it, but 22 years old, and the way she died.

MOORE: Carol, you know what, if I may say so, it's so sad because you know what? It's going to happen again.

COSTELLO: What do you mean?

MOORE: What I mean is this. These young ladies, they get -- they come from a humble beginning and when someone in their family passes, they are left alone. She and her mother were very, very, very close, from what I have been told, and her mother passes, and something happens to the point that, I'm alone and nobody, and this young man comes by, and I'm not accusing him of anything, I want to get an understanding of this. But this young man comes into her life.

He's already been in her mother's life. Comes into her life and then they -- he's wearing these wonderful suits, he's wearing nice haircuts and all that, and she -- they're faking that they are married. And the next day, this young lady at a young age, she falls in love with this young man. Probably got a record from here to yonder. She's found in the bathtub. Isn't that sort of suspicious, Carol?

[10:20:10] COSTELLO: Well, I know the police are looking into that, but they're being very tight-lipped with what they're finding.

MOORE: Yes. It's so sad. You know, in our lifetime, yours and mine, and everyone, it's so sad because when -- if the family was -- is interested and he wasn't the right one for her life, and I don't want to single him out, but he's the only one there now, and they say he's not good for you. We want you to watch out, Bobbi. And she said don't make me choose or whatever she says. That is sad because the more they push, the tighter she -- and the closer she became with him.

And that's not love. That is opportunist and using her for whatever means he can. Well, look what has happened now, and that's why I said a minute ago it's going to happen again and again and again until these young people understand, these young women, that so preciously understand this is not -- this is not cool.

COSTELLO: Yes. Sam Moore, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

And I just also want to tell our viewers that there will be an autopsy performed on Bobbi Kristina to figure out exactly why she died. Of course we're keeping tabs on that. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:26:00] COSTELLO: The Boy Scouts of America is expected to end its ban on gay adult scout leaders today. It's a policy that has divided the 105-year-old organization. The Scouts' executive committee approved ending the ban earlier this month. The entire board votes today.

The Boy Scouts did lift its ban on gay youth two years ago but not on scout leaders.

Jon Langbert joins us now from Dallas. He's a former scout leader who is gay.

Welcome, Jon, good morning.

JON LANGBERT, FORMER BOY SCOUT LEADER: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: This is not entirely good news in your mind. Why?

LANGBERT: Well, I think they've kind of not really thought this through. They're going to allow troops now to decide whether or not to allow gay leaders, so what does that do to folks like me if I want to participate with my son? Do I now have to start ringing up on the phone and calling around to different troops and saying, do you guys discriminate or am I a first-class citizen in your troop and I can join?

COSTELLO: I guess it was sort of a compromise because religious groups sponsor Boy Scout troops, right? And they don't want gay leaders, you know, if they sponsor these Boy Scout troops and then of course companies sponsor other Boy Scout troops and they're fine with it. Is that what you're talking about?

LANGBERT: Right. Well, if you're a religious troop, obviously you have your tenets, but they have schools that sponsor them and they have to follow the rules that public institutions do, but it creates a bit of a mess when you don't have one global policy for the scouts. For example, if you work for the scouts themselves, they're going to allow gays as employees, but when you have one branch of an organization doing one thing and another doing another, it creates a lot of stress for folks like me.

And it's I don't think sending the right message to the boys either. Imagine if they go to a jamboree now. Some of the boys have gay scout leaders and some of the boys' troops don't. Now the boys are going to be talking about this. Is this really what they want the next few years to be about, these sorts of conversations at the troop level?

COSTELLO: I think they might say this has been such a monumental shift, they just want to take it slowly to see how it goes. What's wrong with that?

LANGBERT: Well, they have already been at it for 15 years now. I think it's been a pretty long time already and the country has moved past this, certainly the youth of America has moved past this. You have a president like Obama in Africa standing up for gay rights as we speak this past week. I think it's time that the Boy Scouts get on board.

COSTELLO: So you were a scout leader and did they kick you out? Is that what happened, and if they did, would you go back?

LANGBERT: They did. I had been a leader for a couple of years doing the fundraising. They called me the popcorn kernel. I enjoyed it very much, doing it with my son. And they asked me, a couple of dads had a problem with a gay leader and they asked for me to be removed, which they did. And I stepped down and I was just speaking with Carter about this the other day, about whether he would like to go back, and I don't think he wants to put me in that position either.

He goes to a private school and didn't necessarily want me to have to start calling around finding a troop that he could participate in. It would be nice if the boys that might have a gay father could participate in the troop that's at their church or at their school and not have to necessarily go to a different one just because of the way their father was born.

COSTELLO: Jon Langbert, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

LANGBERT: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

President Obama returns to Washington tomorrow after a historic trip in Africa. He's in Ethiopia today where he met this morning with the nation's prime minister. They talked about improving trade, the war on terror, and civil rights in Ethiopia. Afterwards they appeared at a joint news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm proud to be first U.S. president to visit Ethiopia and tomorrow the first U.S. president to address the African Union. So my visit reflects the importance the United States places our relationship with Ethiopia and all the nations and peoples of Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)