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Hunting Guide Faces Poaching Charges; 21 Active Fires Burning Across California; Netflix Announces One Year Paid Leave; Disney and Apple Stocks Take Hit; Brady's Testimony Revealed; Rice Talks Comeback; Rio Struggles to Overcome Crime and Pollution. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired August 05, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: They don't relate to us. And we're going to lose the -- the female vote again and that cannot happen.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK. The female vote. I mean --

SETMAYER: Yes.

COSTELLO: The women's vote is sort of interesting, right?

SETMAYER: Yes.

COSTELLO: So let's go back to the other legacy candidate for just a second, Peter, Hillary Clinton, because you mentioned that Bernie Sanders is catching up to her. And that's according to a new WMRU poll, and that's out of New Hampshire. They're separated by six points, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Who would have ever thought that?

PETER BEINART, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Well, there's clearly an appetite in the Democratic Party for a candidate who is blunter than Hillary Clinton. The same thing you're seeing with Donald Trump. People appreciating authenticity of a candidate who speaks in very bold terms. And also for this very strong anti- corporate message of Bernie Sanders. But I think his support in New Hampshire over estimates how strong a threat he is over all.

Remember New Hampshire is a neighboring state to Vermont where he's from. It's also an overwhelmingly white state. Now what you see is that Bernie Sanders is doing well amongst white liberals. Where Hillary Clinton is trailing him is amongst African Americans and Latinos. And so as you move beyond Iowa and New Hampshire to Nevada where there are a lot of Latino voters to South Carolina where there are a lot of African-American voters in the Democratic primary, that's where I think Bernie Sanders is going to have trouble.

COSTELLO: All right, Peter Beinart, Tara Setmayer, thanks to you both. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, hot and dry conditions continue to fuel the fires in northern California. We'll take you there next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:46] COSTELLO: For the first time we're hearing from the man who helped Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer hunt and kill Cecil the lion. Palmer's hunting guide, Theo Bronkhorst, appeared in court in Zimbabwe earlier today. His trial on poaching charges has now been postponed until next month. In the meantime someone broke into Palmer's vacation home in Florida and vandalized it, spraying "lion killer" on the garage.

CNN International correspondent David McKenzie talked to the hunter in Zimbabwe.

What did he say, David?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's interesting. It was a brief encounter in the court with this hunter. In fact, he's going to have his trial postponed until later next month.

Now Theo Bronkhorst said he feels that the attention and the trial and the charges which he faces which is poaching, which could be quite serious charges, are unfair. Let's have a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: What do you feel about the charges laid against you and the landowner?

THEO BRONKHORST, HUNTING GUIDE: I think it's frivolous and wrong.

MCKENZIE: And you think you'll come through this?

BRONKHORST: I've got a good legal team and I hope so.

MCKENZIE: What is your feeling about the issue of hunting in Zimbabwe?

BRONKHORST: It's an integral part of our country and it's got to continue. And if we do not use wildlife sustainably there will be no wildlife.

MCKENZIE: And do you feel you had all the right permits and everything was above law?

BRONKHORST: I believe so.

MCKENZIE: And so what do you think about the way you've been prosecuted like this?

BRONKHORST: Crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: The way he said it's crazy and certainly there are some Zimbabweans who may agree with him. It's interesting that the Zimbabwean Parks Authority which has banned hunting on the edges of the parks now, a senior member of that authority told us in fact they want this to all die down so that legal hunting can resume to get money for conservation. But conservationists say this was all done -- all this focus is good because it really puts a spotlight on the issue of trophy hunting and some do want it bad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So what do you make of the trial being postponed?

MCKENZIE: I think it's just time for the defense team to get their act together to prepare for this case. You know, it's also interesting what we're learning is this isn't really about the fact that they lured this lion over the park and killed it, because in fact that is pretty common practice it seems here in Zimbabwe. It's about the fact whether they had the right paperwork or not. So it's a serious charge but it's all really a technicality in a way.

And so the huge focus has been quite amazing to see on this one lion and the intense anger at Dr. Walter Palmer. Here in Zimbabwe, it's a little bit more complex with very mixed feelings about hunting in general. Some saying they need this money to help impoverished communities. And others saying well, there must be other ways than killing the big cats and iconic animals to prosecute wildlife -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. David McKenzie, reporting live for us this morning, thanks so much. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:18] COSTELLO: Thousands of Californians forces to flee due to wildfires. And today hot and dry conditions will once again be fuelling the flames. The images are stunning. Can you imagine being in your car and seeing this? Across the state crews are battling 21 active fires. But the most destructive by far is the Rocky Fire, charring some 67,000 acres and destroying two dozen homes.

And that's where we find Paul Vercammen this morning in Colusa County. He has more for you.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And it is a good morning for firefighters right now because we do have a situation here where you've got the humidity is up just a little bit. And then you also have much lower temperatures. As you pointed out, the big fear here is that the temperature will rise dramatically in the afternoon and you could have some light winds.

If you look behind me, this area deliberately burned out. They're going to go into the back country again today and start dousing hot spots. There are not any raging walls of flame right now on this fire. And we still have evacuations, although a rumor is swirling that some of these evacuees may be allowed to go back home.

On an interesting note, we went to one of the official shelters at a high school. We only saw a handful of evacuees. Well, a lot of them were clustered up in another place which is called the Moose Lodge where it often had karaoke and bingo and these people, many of them with a very independent spirit, were more than happy to have their own makeshift shelter there. Hopefully some of them will be able to start going home today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope so.

Paul Vercammen, reporting live this morning from California. We appreciate it.

Now let's head to Atlanta to check in with Chad Myers because unfortunately the weather conditions have been perfect in fueling these fires.

Tell us more, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's hot and it's dry, but the winds haven't been terrible. So this really hasn't been an extreme condition for these fires. It's just a big fire. And it's a very dry state.

When you have 46 percent of the state exceptionally dry, a 100 percent in severe drought of some type, you don't have anything that's actually damp. And then you get a wind even if it's 8 or 9 miles per hour, all of a sudden you're blowing a spark to the next tree.

Now, when you get winds of over 20, that's when you worry about you can get a spark the next mile. That's when these things really grow very quickly. We are not going to see that today. Our maximum wind gust is going to be about nine miles per hour.

Today is a great firefighting kind of day because the wind blows from the same direction all day so the firefighters know what to expect, know where and which direction that fire is going. If you start to switch those winds around or get them swirling, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem.

There's Clearlake tonight all the way down to about 65. Clearlake is the closest reporting station, that's why we have it here at 92 degrees for the afternoon high.

So yes, still going to be hot, still going to be dryish, but we're not going to talk about a tinderbox with the flames that sometimes we see when wildfires are really going crazy.

COSTELLO: All right. Chad Myers reporting for us this morning. Thanks so much.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, how does one year of paid maternity leave sound? Sounds like a dream, right? You can celebrate your new baby and not go broke? It's not a dream. We'll tell you about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:49] COSTELLO: Most people only get a few weeks off from work after bringing home a new baby. But how does having an entire year off with pay sound? Sounds great, right? That's exactly what Netflix is offering.

Christine Romans joins us now. This is terrific.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's such a game- changer here, especially for tech companies who have already been more generous than, I would say, the rest of the country. In the United States, we have terrible laws and rules for protecting people when they have a baby to keep their job or to have paid time off. Netflix giving you a year -- moms or dads -- a full year paid. So you can have a baby, go back to work after two months, work for a while and then take another two months off, maybe. You have all this flexibility there. And the reason they're doing it for moms and dads is because they need to keep their top workers, they need to keep them happy.

Think about it. When you're off having babies, where are you in your career arc? You are firing on all cylinders. They want your experience, they want your management ability, they want your contacts, your network. They don't want you to leave.

I just showed you that screen. One of the interesting things that Google told us, Google now has 18 weeks of paid leave for their workers. So 18 weeks. These are from - 18 weeks. They raised that from 12 weeks, Carol. And what's interesting, they said it cut the number of women who weren't coming back after having a baby, cut it in half.

COSTELLO: Really?

ROMANS: So it's a great retention policy. Facebook has 16 weeks, Apple, if you're a father or a partner of a woman who has a baby and you work at Apple, you get paid time off there as well.

The United States is the only major industrialized nation that doesn't have real rules on this. The president this year said that people who work for the government have to have some paid time off. There's the Family Medical Leave Act, FMLA, that offers you 12 weeks unpaid to take care of a baby, which doesn't really help you. And if you work for a really tiny company, there's not even a protection there.

Tech is leading the way. And what I think they're finding -- and some other big companies are doing this as well -- they need to keep their best workers. And it turns out that the age when people are having babies, turns out that's the age when they're really, really valuable in the workforce.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, there's another school of thought, though, that if you leave your job for a year, you won't come back in the same position because you'll have lost your seniority, someone will have taken your place. What about that school of thought?

ROMANS: That's why I think that the flexibility that Netflix is offering is so interesting. Because you can work half-time if you need to. You can keep your hand and you can work on the big project but scale back on maybe some of the other things that you were doing. There's a way to look at it, too. It doesn't have to be an off-ramp

when you have a child. You're still driving down the highway, you're just changing your priorities a little bit. Having a baby is - and adopting a baby -- is a life-changing deal. To expect somebody to come back after six weeks and be 100 percent exactly the person they were before they left is unrealistic, because you're actually better. Sometimes parents are - you know, you're managing things different, you have different priorities -- it just changes you kind of as a worker and I think that companies are realizing they got to keep that talent.

COSTELLO: And workers have to be happy because a happy worker is a productive worker.

ROMANS: And they say. They don't have -

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Disney because it's tanking in the markets. Why?

ROMANS: There's been a lot going on at Disney. It's down 9 percent right now. It's interesting because Disney revenue - just had an earnings report - its revenue is up 5 percent, $13 billion. But Wall Street analysts had been expecting a little bit more. "Avengers" did really well, the studios did really well for -- because of "Avengers: Age of Ultron," that did very, very well for Disney.

But overall, Wall Street -- and it matters what Wall Street was expecting -- they were expecting a little bit more. That stock getting hammered, it's down 9 percent. This is a widely held stock. So you probably have this somewhere in your portfolio.

Also Apple, that's another one to really watch, too. It's down 15 percent from its recent peak in April. A lot of people thought Apple could never go down. Now it's really in a correction. If you bought Apple shares, Carol, within the last year, you're now under water. So a lot of people are watching what's happening to Apple. Apple has a China problem and it's also got a problem with saturation. A lot of people already have smartphones. Apple has been a very good performer, but if you bought it recently, you're hurting on that one.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans, thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

From the sidelines to the headlines, Tom Brady and Ray Rice are no strangers to controversy and this morning, we're hearing from both.

[09:55:05] Tom Brady's testimony revealed, the star quarterback under oath talking Deflategate. This as the former Baltimore Raven sets his sights on a career comeback.

Andy Scholes has it all. He's in Atlanta this morning. Good morning. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Let's start with Ray Rice. He says he's a changed man, that he's been rehabilitated and he hopes that an NFL team will give him a second chance. Rice does acknowledge that public opinion matters and that some people are just never going to be able to forgive him.

Now Rice was cut last season after video surfaced of him striking his then-fiancee in a casino elevator. And when speaking with ESPN, Rice called that moment the worst decision of his life but he did say at least it's helped shed light on the issue of domestic violence. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY RICE, FORMER NFL PLAYER: To the survivors of domestic violence, I understand how real it is and I don't want to ever take that for granted because it's a real issue in our society. My video put the light out there. If you have never seen what domestic violence looks like and you look at my video, I can understand why some people will never forgive me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now Rice has moved from Maryland back to Connecticut where he played college ball. He's been working with youth football players in the state. His former college coach at Rutgers, Greg Schiano, he's been making calls on Rice's behalf to try to get him into an NFL training camp. But he hasn't had any takers yet even though, Carol, you know, some teams out there like the Cowboys and the Texans, they do need a runningback right now. And with training camps already underway, time seems to be running out for Ray Rice to get on the football field anytime soon.

As for Tom Brady and Deflategate, federal judge Richard Besrman, he ordered that the 457-page transcript from Brady's appeal hearing be submitted unsealed. We all got to see it. I didn't read all of it, Carol, but I did read a lot of it. Here's some takeaway that I took from it.

Brady denied under oath to Roger Goodell that he tampered with footballs before the AFC Title Game. Brady also said he's never instructed any Patriots employee to ever tamper with any footballs and also during the hearing, Ted Wells, who did the whole investigative report on Deflategate, said he never warned Brady that he would be punished for not turning over his cell phone. That cell phone has become such a big deal. But you know what, Carol, it's not going to be a big deal win this case if it does, in fact, get all the way to federal court. The only issue is going to be whether or not Goodell had the right to suspend Brady under the collective bargaining agreement. The judge, though, has urged the two sides to come to a settlement before they even get to court. Brady and Goodell are scheduled to meet a week from today in New York to try to hash things out.

COSTELLO: That should be interesting. Andy Scholes, thanks so much. I appreciate it. All right. On to one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The 2016 summer Olympics and Rio de Janeiro, that city is far from ready to host the games. One of the biggest obstacles is the capital's reputation for violent crime, even at the hands of police.

A new report from Amnesty International blames Brazil's security forces for thousands of deaths over the past decade. Rio officials quickly criticize the report, it's reckless and unfair, and say crime has gone down. That aside, Rio has terrible water pollution that must be addressed before next summer. Some places where sailing and rowing events will be held are literal cesspools.

CNN's Shasta Darlington has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Diving in headfirst, Olympic hopefuls plash into the waters off Rio's Copacabana beach for a triathlon qualifier. Too bad last week this same beach was declared unfit for swimming by the city government.

Olympic sailors and rowers facing much worse. A recurring event, dead fish on the surface of Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, the site of next year's rowing and canoeing events.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DARLINGTON: You're rowing and you start to feel sick, nauseous, so you have to stop training and go rest, he says. The dead fish block the oars and get in the way.

Then there's the garbage bobbing in Guanabara Bay, host of the Olympic sailing events, also in the lagoons that back up against the Olympic village and park.

(on camera): The worst by far isn't what you find floating on the surface, it's what's underneath. This right here behind me is raw sewage pouring into Guanabara Bay every day and it stinks.

(voice-over): In fact, a new investigation commissioned by "The Associated Press" found Olympic water venues so contaminated with human feces, athletes risk becoming violently ill.

Biologist Mario Moscatelli (ph) says his data agrees.

(MARIO MOSCATELLI SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DARLINGTON: If I fell into this water right now, he says, I could contract anything from a conjunctivitis to an intestinal disorder or even Hepatitis A.

Only 49 percent of Rio's homes are connected to sewage lines and the city and state governments have admitted they won't meet clean-up targets. But officials insist newer water samples show no health risk for athletes.