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Trump, Sanders Turn White House Race Upside Down; Black Lives Matter Disrupts Democratic Candidates; Police Video of Ferguson Shooting Released; Clinton Turning Over E-mails and Thumb Drive; Mississippi Couple Try to Join ISIS; Allegations of Abuse in New York Prison; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 12, 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: OK. So we're await that really expensive car to drive up and Tom Brady to exit.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: We'll keep you posted.

Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

Sanders surging. Even Trump is feeling the Bern.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I felt badly for him. But it showed that he's weak.

COSTELLO: And you've got mail. Now the Justice Department is getting Hillary Clinton's mail finally. She's turning over her private server and thumb drive.

Plus, honeymoon with ISIS? A Mississippi couple's sinister plan after tying the knot.

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.

We begin with the race for the White House. A campaign that's been upended by two candidates boast would not have imagined just one year ago. I'm talking about Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, the Vermont socialist, wowing progressives and drawing massive crowds in the process. And this morning, news that Sanders has dethroned Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire after trailing her by double digits back in March. Look at that.

For Republicans, Donald Trump shows no signs of slowing down despite controversy over the party's debate. The Donald also leading the pack in a New Hampshire poll as he gains steam in Iowa. In Michigan last night, Trump expressed confidence about his chances to win the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think we're going to do very well with a lot of votes. We're going to do very well with the Hispanic vote. We're going to do great with the women vote. If you look at -- in Nevada, they did the poll and I'm leading in the Hispanic vote because I create jobs and I'm going to go and -- I will be creating tremendous numbers of jobs. So I think we're going to do great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We'll see. CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson joins me now to parse the numbers.

What does this all mean in the end?

NIA-MALIKA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's so, so early. I know. You know, we want to look at these polls but we're so far out, not only from Election Day, but obviously the start next year of actual voting when people, they have go into the voting booth and decide who they want to pull the lever for.

I do think these are good numbers for Trump. Just sort of -- you know, just sort of superficially. But if you look kind of deep into them, there are kind of signs of trouble, people, for instance, who saw the debate didn't really like what they saw from Trump. 55 percent essentially said, you know, it made them less likely to vote for him. So that's a little bit of trouble.

I think for Sanders, you know, what does this mean? Does this mean that he is going to mount a really credible challenge to Hillary Clinton in the way that we saw that duel in 2008 between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? I think it's early yet for this. It's likely that part of the reason he's doing well in New Hampshire is because he's from the neighboring state. He's still got a problem in terms of growing --

COSTELLO: Oh, but --

HENDERSON: -- his appeal.

COSTELLO: Oh but, Nia, out west.

HENDERSON: Yes. What? What? What?

COSTELLO: He attracted --

HENDERSON: True. COSTELLO: He had several campaign events. He attracted more than

100,000 people. That's more than Donald Trump.

HENDERSON: No. You're right. He is drawing these massive crowds and this is part of their strategy, right? To draw these big crowds and to say, hey, look at what he's able to do and look at the energy he has there, certainly versus Hillary Clinton who hasn't been able to draw those big crowds. And in some ways, that's part of her strategy to not go in that sort of shock-and-awe, big sort of way that Bernie Sanders is able to draw.

But I do think you've got to look at other states like South Carolina. How is he doing in those states? He's set to visit South Carolina later this month, August 22nd. He'll be going to Charleston. So that's really the test. Could he grow his appeal beyond the kind of people who are drawn to those rallies? And those are mainly, you know, they're younger, they're, you know, those are overwhelmingly white crowds.

On the Obama coalition, you've got to see how well he does with Latinos and certainly African-Americans. But I will say this. I do think it's likely that Hillary Clinton loses a couple of states to Bernie Sanders. It would be weird and in some ways ahistorical and if she looks to sweep the whole map. So he could win New Hampshire, he could win Iowa. You know, he'll probably win Vermont so we'll see.

COSTELLO: I just love that you called it weird.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Nia-Malika Henderson, thank you so much.

HENDERSON: All right. Thanks.

COSTELLO: OK. Black Lives Matter matters. The activist group is now targeting Hillary Clinton's campaign after successfully interrupting Bernie Sanders' event. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Seattle, for being one of the most progressive cities in the United States of America.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So these two young ladies. They're going to rest the mike from Bernie Sanders and say what they want to, to that vast crowd. These are two members of Black Lives Matter. This scenario did not escape Donald Trump's attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:15] TRUMP: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you ever give up my microphone to a

protester like Bernie Sanders?

TRUMP: I would never give up my microphone. I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness. The way he was taken away by two young women. The microphone. They just took the whole place over. I felt badly for him, but it showed that he's weak.

You know what? He's getting the biggest crowds and I'm getting the biggest crowds. We're the two getting the crowds. But believe me that's not going to happen to Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now to talk about this and more is Daunasia Yancey. She's the founder and lead organizer of Black Lives Matter in Boston. She's also one of the five members who met with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday after the group was not allowed into a campaign forum in New Hampshire.

Daunasia, thank you so much for being with me. First of all, how would you respond to Donald Trump's comments?

DAUNASIA YANCEY, FOUNDER AND LEAD ORGANIZER, BLACK LIVES MATTER BOSTON: Well, we are protesting and calling for an end to violence against black people and being met with actual threats of violence against black people, which I find to be terrible.

He is not a troll on Twitter. He's actually one of the most powerful men in this country who's vying for the most powerful position in this country. And so his public and proud threats and demeanor actually to me make him an unviable candidate for the presidency.

COSTELLO: And you're talking about Donald Trump here, right?

YANCEY: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: Will you target some of his campaign events?

YANCEY: So the Black Lives Matter network is made up of 25 chapters. So the Bernie Sanders event, that was an action that was executed by the Seattle chapter. The action that we had yesterday was executed by the Boston and Worcester chapters. So I can guarantee that there will be more call-outs across the country by folks in the network.

COSTELLO: OK. So we'll see how strong Donald Trump really is, in other words, right?

YANCEY: I guess so.

COSTELLO: All right. OK. So let's talk about the Hillary Clinton campaign event. You guys tried to get in. Could not because Secret Service stopped you. Tell me how that evolved.

YANCEY: So as we arrived, we were told that the event had hit capacity and so we were in conversation -- we're, you know, trying to figure out how we would get inside. I was actually recognized by Dan Merica of CNN, and he had tweeted that he -- you know, that Black Lives Matter folks were outside and could not get in. We were then invited in to an overflow room where we were able to watch Hillary Clinton's talk on Livestream. And then we were met with her campaign staff who actually offered us the opportunity to have a couple of minutes with her.

COSTELLO: OK. So pause right there. So then Hillary Clinton invited you guys in after the event was over. And that's -- those were the pictures that we were showing on the screen there. So you sat down, you talked with Hillary Clinton.

YANCEY: Yes.

COSTELLO: What did she tell you?

YANCEY: So the questions that we asked were very specific in terms of her and her family's very unique position in terms of the war on drugs. The event was a community forum on substance abuse. And we were hoping to ask our questions in that public forum and to hold her accountable to answer them. We were glad that we were able to ask her those questions and she was able to respond.

I won't -- I don't want to misquote her. There is video that will be out. But her response did acknowledge some of the failed policies that she has been a part of that in her long career has advocated for that have actually hurt specifically black and brown communities. What we were looking for was more of a personal statement about her feelings on the issue. And where she has moved on it.

COSTELLO: When the Black Lives Matter Seattle group infiltrated the stage at the Bernie Sanders event, Bernie Sanders' campaign actually came through and hired someone from the movement, is that right?

YANCEY: I'm not actually sure specifically what her role is in the movement. But, absolutely, I think that he also added racial justice as a part of his platform as a direct result of that action. So I think that that's also important when we talk about protests that it does bear results, that direct action wins. And he almost immediately after that protest did add racial justice to his platform and then at his event, I believe, yesterday did have an African-American woman talk about racial justice and his positions on it.

COSTELLO: Is that what you're hoping Hillary Clinton will do, too?

[10:10:04] YANCEY: Absolutely. These actions are a result of power mapping and the result of us as movement folks recognizing the people who give lip service to the movement and who claim to be on our side and it's really about holding them accountable to that and holding them to actually take action on it.

COSTELLO: Daunasia Yancey, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

YANCEY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Let's talk about Ferguson, Missouri, now. New video shows a teenager apparently armed and firing at police just before he was shot and wounded by officers. St. Louis County Police released some surveillance video that seems to refute claims by the teenager's family that he was unarmed when he was critically wounded by officers. A witness also confirms that the teenager was shooting at police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was shooting back at them. He had a gun during the protest. And the police shot back at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Ryan Young has more from Ferguson this morning.

Good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It's all calm here. In fact, last night it seemed like police outnumbered protesters. Now when we talked to some of the protesters, I can honestly tell you they were upset about the violence on Sunday because they believe that group was separated from theirs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice-over): Dramatic surveillance video released by police shows people scattering after gunshots rang out in Ferguson late Sunday. Look closely. You can see what police say is 18-year-old Tyrone Harris grabbing a gun out of his waistband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please get him some help.

YOUNG: Moments before being shot by police, the teenager, critically wounded, police say he drew his weapon first shooting a remarkable amount of rounds. From this angle you can see Harris running across the parking lot.

The individual identified by police as Harris crosses behind a dark colored SUV. And you can see what appear to be muzzle flashes coming from that area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was shooting back at them. He had a gun during the protest. And the police shot back at him.

YOUNG: The hood and windshield of unmarked police vehicles peppered with bullets.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: We've got to wait until the ballistics get back from the bullets that did hit the police car, we find out that's the same gun and, you know, we got pretty much an open-close case.

YOUNG: Police releasing the video to refute claims the teen was not armed. Officials believe this Facebook photo is of the 18-year-old holding two guns in the air.

AREVA MARTIN, LEGAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think that video is just positive proof that Harris shot at those cops. And you know given the tension, given the distrust in that community, I think the community is going to want more evidence before they conclude that Harris, in fact, did shoot at the cops.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: And looking back at it, protesters say look at all the days they've had protest without violence and then you have the situation here where there was a gun involved.

And Carol, we actually learned from people in the community that they believe there was something else going on here. In fact, the story that's being told is that the two men met to exchange or sell a television that had been stolen. And then when that sale didn't go right, guns were pulled and shots were fired that led to this exchange of bullets and now all the questions about exactly what happened.

COSTELLO: All right. Ryan Young reporting from Ferguson this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, after months of saying no, she finally says yes. New details about Hillary Clinton's e-mail controversy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:18:00] COSTELLO: New details this morning about the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton's use of private e-mail while she was secretary of state. Clinton will now surrender her private e-mail server as well as a thumb drive to the Justice Department. All this as the inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community reveals that among the 40 e-mails reviewed, at least two contained top secret information.

So how will all of this impact Clinton's presidential campaign?

Let's ask CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott. Actually the better question is, how will this impact the country?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, that's right, Carol. You know, if you remember, Secretary Clinton had refused requests by Congress investigating the Benghazi attacks to hand over her server. Take a listen to Secretary Clinton in March.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have no doubt that we've done exactly what we should have done. I think that we have more than met the request from the State Department. The server contains personal communications from my husband and me. And I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and the server will remain private.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LABOTT: But now Secretary Clinton doing an about-face saying she will hand over the server to the Justice Department. That thumb drive that her attorney, David Kendall, had of her work-related e-mails, we understand, has been turned over.

That request, Carol, was from Congress, from the Select Committee on Benghazi. But now Secretary Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill in a statement saying, Secretary Clinton, quote, "pledged to cooperate with the government's security inquiry and if there are more questions, we'll continue to address them."

So certainly the Clinton camp didn't want to give any fuel to these various congressional panels investigating her e-mail use but wants to be seen as being very cooperative with any government concerns that secure material was outside of government hands -- Carol.

[10:20:04] COSTELLO: I think some people might say she should have done that from get-go but she did not. So what are Republicans saying today?

LABOTT: Well, they're saying it's a little too little, a little too late. In a statement House Speaker John Boehner said, "It's about time. Secretary Clinton's previous statements that she possessed no classified information were patently untrue. Her mishandling of classified information must be fully investigated."

And this comes on the heels of the inspector general of the intelligence community saying out of a limited sampling of e-mails they've gone through, they had found four e-mails that had classified information on them. It wasn't originally identified as such. But they're saying it should have been classified. Now not just classified, but top secret, the higher level of classification.

And so a lot of concerns that these e-mails -- that sensitive information was being used. State Department saying that those e- mails have never been released to the public. They are working with the intelligence community to make sure no classified information gets out and they're saying that this will not happen again, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 21 minutes past. New debris found in the Maldives will be sent to Malaysia to determine if it's from missing Flight MH-370. Malaysian officials will not say if crews had already done an initial assessment of those items. Search efforts have intensified since part of an airplane wing was found on the French island of Reunion last month.

A suspected U.S. drone strike in Yemen has killed five people believed to be members of al Qaeda. Officials say a missile struck an al Qaeda vehicle in the southeastern part of the country where the group has a stronghold.

So much for romance. New details about a Mississippi couple with radical ambitions. Authorities say these former Mississippi State students wanted to travel to Syria and join up with ISIS. All under the guise of a honeymoon as their cover. The feds foiling their plan before the couple could get on an airplane. According to court documents, Jaelyn Young, seen in this high school graduation video, told an undercover FBI agent, quote, "We would love to help with giving medical aid."

Let's get more now from justice correspondent Pamela Brown.

Good morning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. This is a pretty disturbing ISIS material support case here, Carol. This is a young newlywed couple from Mississippi allegedly using their honeymoon as a cover-up to go to Syria and join ISIS before being arrested at the airport Saturday. They were allegedly flying from Mississippi to the Netherlands and then on to Turkey, the FBI says.

Now 22-year-old Muhammad Dakhlalla and 20-year-old Jaelyn Young, who we saw in those pictures, first caught the attention of the FBI back in May after allegedly making statements in support of ISIS on social media. And from there, they began corresponding with undercover FBI agents.

Now this was a seemingly normal couple. Young is a daughter of a police officer. She was studying chemistry at Mississippi State University. And she recently converted to Islam, law enforcement official say. Her husband right here graduated last spring from Mississippi State with a psychology degree and is the son of a local imam.

And according to this complaint we've been looking at, in one online conversation, Young boasted about how the two could help ISIS, saying, "I am skilled in math and chemistry and worked at an analytical lab here at my college campus. My partner is very good with computer science and media. We learn very fast and would love to help." And in July she also allegedly said she supported the shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee that killed four Marines.

Carol, the two face up to 20 years in prison if they are convicted of material support to terrorism.

COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown reporting live from Washington, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, disturbing new allegations from the New York prison where those two killers escaped this summer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:07] COSTELLO: New and shocking allegations of abuse from that New York prison where those two convicted killers escaped this summer. More than 60 inmates have filed complaints claiming guards at the Clinton Correctional Facility beat, choked and threatened them. All of this happening during the search for Richard Matt and David Sweat.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is here with more. Good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Some very strong allegations against these corrections officers at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Inmates there telling "The New York Times" that these officers unleashed their frustrations regarding the escape of Richard Matt and David Sweat. They told "The New York Times" they were physically abused, some placed in solitary confinement for weeks.

May say they were stripped of their privileges with their cells being ransacked. Some of their property damaged and destroyed. Some of them also claimed they were transferred to other facilities without due process. And the most incendiary claim that they were beaten during these interrogations to try to get more information about the escape of Richard Matt and David Sweat.

One inmate telling "The New York Times" his account of what happened writing, quote, "An officer jumps and grabs me by my throat, lifts me out of my chair, slams my head into a pipe along the wall. Then he starts punching me in the face. One officer pointed to a plastic bag hanging on some pipes and said, you know what waterboarding is."

That's from Patrick Alexander, he's an inmate who was kept in a cell not far from Richard Matt and David Sweat on the honor block.

Meantime, the New York Department of Corrections says they will fully investigate these allegations and pursue anyone who is proved to have done something wrong to the fullest extent of the law.

COSTELLO: All right. Boris Sanchez, reporting, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

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

Donald Trump continues to surge, leading now in Iowa and in New Hampshire, and loving every single moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:30:04] TRUMP: So now let's say it's President Trump, ladies and gentlemen, president of the United States. Donald J. Trump.