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New Hampshire Officials Hold Briefing on Tent Collapse; GOP Hopefuls Take Stage in New Hampshire Forum; Donald Trump Leads New Hampshire Voters on Policy; School Cop Handcuffs Kid with ADHD; Ex-Cop Darren Wilson Profiled in Magazine Interview; State of Emergency in California; Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired August 04, 2015 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The CNN SPECIAL REPORT "A Miner Miracle: Five Years After the Chilean Rescue" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Two people are dead and dozens more injured after a circus tent collapses in New Hampshire. Earlier this morning the governor announced the two victims were a father and daughter. About 100 people were inside that tent when a severe thunderstorm struck. Officials are still investigating whether the tent setup contributed to the tragedy.
A news conference is expected at any moment now, so stay right here and when it begins, you see it there, we'll bring it to you live. Well, actually, let's go to it -- let's go to it live now.
BILL DEGNAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE MARSHAL: You guys all set? Good morning. My name is Bill Degnan, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal. We're here conducting the investigation of the collapse of the circus tent which occurred late yesterday afternoon. The incident occurred at approximately 5:46 p.m. yesterday afternoon when a severe storm came through with 60-mile-per-hour winds according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service also advised that they had put out a severe thunderstorm warning for this region at approximately 5:23 p.m. The incident occurred in the Walker Brothers International Circus tent and they're located out of Sarasota, Florida. This was the 5:30 p.m. show that was ongoing at the time of the incident.
There was approximately 100 people in the tent at the time of the collapse, and we have reports that there were approximately 32 people that have been treated at four regional hospitals in the area. That information is still trickling in as we confirm with the hospitals how many people were treated as they sort through some of the people who were transported by ambulance and some that walked into the hospitals.
Unfortunately, there was a father and daughter that perished in this incident and their names are being withheld at this time pending the notification of next of kin. There are autopsies being performed as we speak to determine the cause of death.
The investigation will involve the documentation of the scene, which includes mapping out the scene as to exactly where things are located after the collapse and examining the actual setup of the tent to determine how it was set up and all the cables, where they were connected, and things of that nature. We'll also be conducting a building code and fire code assessment to ensure that everything was done according with nationally recognized building and fire codes.
The fire chief, Randy Flynn, and police chief, Bill Colburn, commended all of the first responders and the people who were in attendance at this circus last night as most everybody played a role in helping get some of the people that were trapped in the tent out.
It's certainly something that is very disastrous, not only to the local community and the families that are involved, but when you look at it from the standpoint of a child and the child's father that lost their life, this family that is being disrupted forever.
I don't have any other information in regards to the scene to be able to offer you at this time. Once we get going on our investigation, I'll have a better idea of what time this afternoon we'll have an update for you. So within the next half hour I'll get that word out through Mike Todd, the PIO for the Department of Safety, so you'll have that and know when we'll be able to offer something else out.
I can take a few questions.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, with the storm warning, why was the show going on?
DEGNAN: That's an excellent question? It's really the responsibility of the show to monitor the conditions, and we don't know why they were going on at that time and what they knew.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are these tents rated for certain weather conditions?
DEGNAN: And that's what the investigation will look at. It would look at the manufacturer's specifications for the tent which will include the wind loading.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Well, ultimately you're saying it's the operator's decision whether or not to cancel the show because of weather? There's not some state or -- it's not a state or a county oversight?
[10:05:03] DEGNAN: There was no state or local officials involved with this setup.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, they had 17 minutes prior to the warning and the actual incident. Is that -- I mean, that's not an alarming amount of time. Is that warranting any possible charges or things along those lines? DEGNAN: The investigation is a fact-finding mission, and at this time
there's no --
COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away. That was Bill Degnan, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal, talking about that terrible tent collapse in New Hampshire. A father and daughter were killed. We'll have much more on this in the hours to come on CNN.
Let's talk politics now. Just two days left until the first Republican debate. Some of the candidates still don't know if they will make it on stage, at least on the primetime stage, and while the final roster won't be announced until 5:00 p.m. Eastern today, a new CNN poll of polls might provide some clues. Of course, Donald Trump, the clear front runner, leading his closest rivals Jeb Bush and Scott Walker by double digits. Rounding out the possible top 10, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich.
But before the big face-off, a kinder gentler contest in New Hampshire where most of the field took part in a forum last night. Sort of a preview for all of us.
CNN political reporter Sara Murray joins us now to talk about that preview.
Donald Trump was absent. The candidates really didn't mention him but they mentioned Hillary Clinton a lot, among them Lindsey Graham. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm fluent in Clinton speak. You want me to translate, Jack? When he says, Bill says, I didn't have sex with that woman, he did. When she says, I'll tell you about building the pipeline when I get to be president, it means she won't. And when she tells us, trust me, you've got all the e-mails that you need, we haven't even scratched the surface. So I understand this crowd and I can beat them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So even though Lindsey Graham likely won't make the primetime stage, is this a preview of what we can expect on Thursday, who can -- the candidates talking about who can best beat Hillary Clinton, not who has the best policies?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think the candidates are going to try to do two things on Thursday. One is, yes, they want to land their jabs against Hillary Clinton. They want to sort of needle her a little bit, but the other thing they want to do is they want to talk about what they stand for. They want to introduce themselves to the American public.
You have to remember, a lot of these people who are not named Donald Trump are not as well known to a lot of American households so people might no one or two facts about the other candidates on stage but they might not be very familiar with their record. And so I think a lot of the candidates want to get that out there. I know that that's what John Kasich wants to do, that's what Scott Walker wants to do. I think we're going to hear a lot of that from Jeb Bush as well.
COSTELLO: What did you think of the candidates' performances at that forum, specifically Jeb Bush?
MURRAY: Well, I don't think that there were many who had very standout performances. You saw there, Lindsey Graham's comment, that's kind of what does at these cattle calls. He shows up, he gets in his sharp jab and he moves on.
But I think Jeb, for instance, I think people were expecting him to be a lot better than he was. Look, this sort of question and answer forum is usually an area where he does better. He's not great at giving prepared remarks, delivering big speeches but he is usually good at this, the Q&A, the back and forth. And so I think people were a little disappointed by his performance there.
The reality is Thursday is going to be a totally different scenario. You are going to have the candidates pitted against one another. They're going to be able to bounce off each other and sort of land jabs against each other. We did not see that in New Hampshire. So this gives us a little bit of a preview but I do think it will be a different feel when we see the actual debate on Thursday.
COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray, many thanks to you. I appreciate it.
You know Donald Trump is surging in the polls, but it's not just on name recognition anymore. According to a WMUR poll of New Hampshire primary voters, Republicans give Trump the highest marks on the economy, terrorism, immigration, and health care. That even though Trump has not actually laid out any comprehensive plan on any of those things.
With me now to talk about that and more, Ron Christie, he's a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, and Noelle Nikpour, a Republican strategist and columnist for the "Sun Sentinel."
Welcome to both of you.
RON CHRISTIE, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Ron, what do you make of that, that New Hampshire voters give Donald Trump high marks on things like the economy and immigration and he hasn't really laid out any of these policies, at least comprehensively?
CHRISTIE: I think, Carol, it's a dissatisfaction with the status quo. I think a lot of people in New Hampshire are looking at what's going on in Washington, they're saying they can't balance the budget, they can't actually provide for TSA to make sure that we're safe in the airports. They can't do anything in Washington. And I think Trump comes across as the anti-establishment, the guy who's going to shake up the system, the guy who's not part of the problem and he has fresh ideas to be the solution.
COSTELLO: So it doesn't really matter what he does?
CHRISTIE: No. Now look, I don't want to --
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: It doesn't matter what he does this early. I mean, we're still talking the first week of August.
COSTELLO: You mean his poll showings.
CHRISTIE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Right.
CHRISTIE: It's way too early. Do I want him as a Republican to be the nominee? No. I think he has no experience. I think America has a lot of just serious significant challenges. He's not the guy but it shows the dissatisfaction out there that people have with the status quo.
COSTELLO: OK. So, Nicolle, those Republican candidates are going head-to-head, you know, with Donald Trump. Do you think they'll have to attack him, Noelle?
[10:10:07] NOELLE NIKPOUR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, if I were advising anyone, I would tell them to stay on message and not to mess with the Donald. I would really leave him alone because I think that right now even though it is early -- look, I worked for Rudy Giuliani and we were ahead in the polls forever until, you know, we went down, but I would really have them stay on message and not attack Donald Trump because right now everybody, let's face it, is going to watch this to see what Donald Trump does in the debate on Thursday.
COSTELLO: She's -- and, Noelle, you're absolutely right because, Ron, even my eyes will be trained on Donald Trump.
CHRISTIE: Yes.
COSTELLO: I will want to hear him attack his fellow opponents, and I want -- I will want the opponents to attack him back. That's what I'm watching for.
CHRISTIE: Of course. You're waiting for the train wreck, right?
COSTELLO: Right.
CHRISTIE: How is he going to insult, you know --
COSTELLO: I'm just being honest here.
CHRISTIE: And I'm being honest right back with you. I think people are waiting to see how is he going to interact with Governor Kasich, what's he going to say to Jeb Bush, you know, how is he going to really fight it out with these folks? But I think when people recognize there's little substance behind what he's saying, that he hasn't articulated these are my policy positions because XYZ, here is how I intend to fight al Qaeda, here's what I plan to do to fight ISIS, I think they're going to say this guy is nothing more than an entertainer and it's going to make the other folks on the stage look a lot more presidential.
COSTELLO: So, Noelle, you think the -- Donald Trump's opponents will just let him dig his own hole?
NIKPOUR: I think if they're smart they will, but, you know, we don't know what he's been doing. We don't know if anyone has really been prepping him too much. You know, he's already set the bar really low by saying that he's never done a debate. He doesn't know how he's going to do, so he has told the American public, hey, you know what, set the bar really low for me.
So we don't know what he's been prepping for or what his real policies are so it will give us a chance to see is Donald trump a simp? Is he not? We don't know.
COSTELLO: And do you think that will actually come out in that very first debate, Ron?
(LAUGHTER)
CHRISTIE: Anything is possible, Carol. I just think as long as we're not talking about Donald Trump, I think the Republican field looks a lot better. It's dominated the coverage for so long. What we need to dominate the coverage and talk about is serious issues and I think that's what American voters are looking for, not this side show.
COSTELLO: Really, seriously, because I'm beginning to doubt that, Ron.
CHRISTIE: Hey, I'm -- I can only try to be hopeful.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Ron Christie, Noelle Nikpour, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it as always.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, it's hard to watch, right? Maybe even harder to understand. Why did a sheriff's deputy handcuff an 8-year-old?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:16:54] COSTELLO: In northern Kentucky just across the river from Cincinnati, outrage has turned from a simmer to a boil largely because of this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: An 8-year-old boy crying out saying he's in pain. He had acted up and a school resource officer handcuffed his arms behind his back. The very same officer did the same thing to a 9-year-old girl. Both children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and now their parents are suing.
CNN's Martin Savidge is here with a closer look.
Good morning.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The lawsuit, we should point out, is not against the school district here but against the Kenton Sheriff's Department, that's Kenton County in Kentucky there. And as you pointed out, the school resource officer, the same officer in all three instances, only one of those instances was caught on videotape. That's the one pertaining to the 8-year-old little boy. And as you say, he was acting out and he does have, according to the lawsuit attention deficit disorder. He also suffers from PTSD and it's felt by many that this was just the wrong approach.
Look at the video for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't get to swing at me like that. You can do what we've asked you to or you can suffer the consequences.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That hurts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now sit down in the chair like I asked you to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Now under the Kentucky Board of Education regulations, it is proper to restrain a child if they're a danger to other children or perhaps to themselves. But the advocates here are saying that was not the case, it doesn't appear that this child was really a danger. Certainly when you've got a large sheriff's deputy and a very small child here. So that's part of the reason for the outrage.
The lawsuit is seeking for a change of practices here and they're also seeking damages, but, again, we're talking about not just this one child but another child, a 9-year-old girl, as well. And in all cases this lawsuit maintains that the sheriff's deputy acted improperly -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Do we know what these kids were doing in the classroom to warrant the -- you know, the sheriff's deputy coming to take them away? Do we know what was happening? SAVIDGE: Well, right. Apparently they were disturbing in the
classroom. And then that is something that is admitted by the families and by the child themselves, that apparently a vice principal stepped in, that a teacher tried to resolve all this and were unable to do so and that they brought in the school resource officers.
It should be pointed out in a statement that came from the school district, they say, look, you know, these school resource officers are there to, of course, protect students and to protect staff. They are not there to mete out punishment. That is not their role and they say this was not the case that was happening in this particular instance.
COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Checking some other top stories for you at 19 minutes past the hour.
New York City health officials are tracking down the source of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that's killed seven people. So far a hospital, a hotel and three other buildings have been tested positive for the deadly bacteria. At least 81 cases have been confirmed. More than 60 people have been hospitalized. The New York mayor's office says all of those who died were elderly and had other medical problems.
The governor of Puerto Rico says the island's economy is in, quote, "a death spiral." The problem became worse yesterday when Puerto Rico defaulted on a $58 million debt payment.
[10:20:09] Adding to Puerto Rico's woes, the island is suffering from a severe water shortage with many residents going days without tap water.
If you're a woman who feels like she's freezing in the office, there's a reason. A study in nature climate change found that the average office thermostat is set with a man in mind. A 40-year-old, 154-pound man to be precise. The study's authors say women have a different thermal comfort zone than men and are more sensitive to cold or hot temperatures, and I can certainly attest to that.
Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, Israel's prime minister turns to his allies in the United States in a last-ditch effort to kill that controversial Iran nuclear deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:25:04] COSTELLO: Next Sunday, August 9th, marks the one-year anniversary of the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. The man who pulled the trigger, former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson has pretty much dropped from sight since then. Now the "New Yorker" magazine has published an in- depth profile of Wilson and what his life is like now.
CNN's Boris Sanchez has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Darren Wilson speaking out almost a year after shooting and killing unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. A new photo of the former Ferguson police officer accompanying an over 20-page in depth interview by "The New Yorker" magazine. The reporter who spent several days with him in March says the now 29-year-old lives in an undisclosed new home. Very few know where.
DARREN WILSON, FORMER FERGUSON POLICE OFFICER: We just want to have a normal life.
SANCHEZ: Far from Wilson's wish proclaimed for he and his wife in an interview with ABC News nine months ago, Wilson now says he'll only go to places where there are like-minded individuals and it's not a mixing pot.
And about the death that sparked national outrage? Wilson says he doesn't think of Michael Brown as a person because, quote, "it doesn't matter at this point." When asked if he thought Brown was truly a bad guy, Wilson said, "I only knew him for those 45 seconds in which he was trying to kill me, so I don't know."
Brown's family says they're not surprised.
ANTHONY GRAY, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: There's so many inconsistencies and hypocrisy throughout the article itself. It just perpetuates the view of Darren Wilson as being self-serving.
SANCHEZ: Wilson admittedly has not read the Justice Department's report on the systemic racism in Ferguson. The former cop says he's not going to keep living in the past. Wilson says if you live in a high-crime area with a lot of poverty, there's going to be a large police presence. He claims it's not a race issue.
Wilson goes on to say that in Ferguson there is a lack of initiative to get a job. The youth are running in the streets, he says, not worried about working in the morning. The 29-year-old claims that culture is everywhere in the inner cities.
JEFF ROORDA, ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: Darren Wilson is no racist. I know him well. I think the article misrepresents who he is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Boris Sanchez reporting.
In other news this morning, California in flames fueled by drought and helped along by lightning. 21 fires are forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. The Rocky Fire, the largest active blaze, has already torched 65,000 acres. It's just 12 percent contained and could grow now that it's jumped to containment line.
CNN's Paul Vercammen is live in Colusa County with more for you.
Good morning, Paul. PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol.
Actually firefighters now sounding a very optimistic note and why is that? The weather. They don't expect the high to creep much above 83 today. That's good news. The humidity is actually up, and we don't have any of those unpredictable winds, at least not yet. That's been a big problem with this fire because the winds have literally whipped one way and then in the other direction and that sent firefighters scurrying, but something they did late yesterday, they controlled their own destiny.
They went ahead and they set a massive backfire along this mountain. This is the eastern edge of the fire. Using a mix of drip torch fuel that's diesel and gasoline, so they burned this entire swath out, and what the firefighters are telling me is they expect that containment number to jump. They just haven't had their briefing yet, and it's only after the briefing, of course, that they go ahead and update those numbers. But they say the news is better here.
Of course, 3100 firefighters still on the scene here keeping a close watch on this fire. The largest of all the fires in northern California, this being the Rocky Fire -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And it's frightening, Paul, because, although that's better news, right, the drought continues there.
VERCAMMEN: Oh, it's going to be a long and hot fire season, yes, absolutely. The drought exacerbating everything, and yesterday a lot of things at play. We had extremely low humidity. We had those winds and we had the temperatures up, and then that terrain, if you can see back there, that is steep. That is extremely difficult to reckon with, and that's why the water drops were so critical and using aerial assault as well, the C-130 tankers which are converted military planes. They credit them with doing a great job in the very, very difficult to access areas of this fire in northern California.
COSTELLO: All right. Paul Vercammen reporting live from northern California this morning. Thank you.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
This morning at the White House President Obama welcomes the world's top diplomat, Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, visits as Mr. Obama prepares a major speech on the U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran. The secretary-general has applauded the agreement but President Obama is trying to sell it to skeptical Americans. And --
(END)
