Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Joe Biden Bid; Candidates in Iowa; Ben Carson Comments About Activists; China Explosion. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Phil Mudd, Bob Baer, Colonel Rick Francona, thank you so much.

And that's it for me. For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next. For our viewers in North American, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with the race for the White House which got a tad more bizarre. A dark horse right now mounting this furious challenge to Hillary Clinton among Democrats in the battleground state of Iowa. And, you know what, he's not even running yet. Take a look at this new CNN/ORC poll here. And you see there, top right, Vice President Joe Biden, a man who has not even made it official, seemingly closing the gap on Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But the real question is, is he a serious contender in this race? We are now hearing that the two-time presidential hopeful has been holding some meetings while vacationing currently in South Carolina.

So let's go to Michelle Kosinski, our CNN White House correspondent.

I mean, I guess if you're the vice president, you're looking at these poll numbers, maybe you're thinking, possibly, possibly. What are we hearing from the vice president?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean you have to know he's been thinking about this for a long time and his son Beau, who just died in May, had urged him to take this chance and run with it. But then the timing was so terrible personally for him. So you know he's been thinking about it, but now we are getting word that he's been reaching out while he's been on vacation this week to a few close friends, advisers, politicos, trying to get a better lay of the land as to what this would really look like if he did make that decision to run now.

Of course, no one really knows and over the last several weeks people that we've talked to have said they don't know. I mean these are people close to him who said that, you know, he really has to make that decision. First of all, he needs to grieve for his son, he needs to spend time with family, focus on that, focus on his work as vice president, and then when he's ready to make that decision.

So it's interesting now to see the poll numbers. I mean 12 percent in Iowa for somebody who's not even running. There's a Gallup poll that shows that Democratic voters were pretty much split, 45 percent to 47 percent, as to whether he should run or not. And that's more than want Elizabeth Warren to run, even though she has repeatedly said, you know, that she isn't going to run. For Biden, it's been maybe the biggest mystery of this campaign and so now we're getting some indications that that mystery could be solved very soon.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, who knows when he may jump in. I know talking to so many people, they say he would be, obviously, the exception to throw his name in at this point in time or maybe even later. Michelle Kosinski, thank you so much for now, there on the vineyard.

The Iowa State Fair, you have deep-fried food on a stick. Got to love some deep-fried Twinkies, folks, a life-size cow made out of 600 pounds of butter, and presidential hopefuls. Today marks the start of the 11-day fair which has become really this rite of passage for anyone who would like to be president of the United States. And so that means that right now many of these candidates are making a beeline for the Hawkeye state and some might need it a bit more than others.

CNN now has new Republican numbers for the state of Iowa and, surprise, surprise, Trump is on top. Worth noting here that this state belonged to Scott Walker just weeks ago who now sits in third place with just 9 percent. The poll numbers also have Jeb Bush falling out of the top five here. Carly Fiorina continues her upward climb, moving into the top five. So joining me now, MJ Lee, our CNN politics reporter.

You know, and here we are, we're six months away from the caucuses there. How many people are decided at this point there and how about even Ben Carson there, number two?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Brooke, we are still a ways away from the Iowa caucuses and right until this moment, at least two- thirds of likely Republican voters in Iowa are undecided. That means that from now until six months from now, a lot could change. But for the time being, you're right, Donald Trump is the front-runner in the state of Iowa. A lot of people in the poll said that they view him as the candidate who is best capable of handling issues like the economy, illegal immigration, terrorism and this is not surprising, people view him as the candidate who is best prepared to, you know, change the way that things work in Washington.

This, of course, has been very central to Trump's candidacy. People are drawn to the fact that he's an outsider candidate, that he's not a career politician, the way that he loves to take on Washington. That has been one of the things that people have loved the most about him.

The question, of course, Brooke, is whether someone like Trump or someone like Ben Carson can hold on to these numbers in a state like Iowa where there are many, you know, conservatives and evangelical Christians, they have tended to like folks like social conservatives like, you know, Huckabee or Rick Santorum. So whether or not they can keep up these numbers and when voters especially find out a little bit more about their policy position, that's the thing to watch.

[14:05:15] BALDWIN: And we'll be talking later. I know so many of them are in Iowa. Donald Trump, for one, though, will not be doing the soap box. So no hay bales in a suit, at least we're hearing now.

MJ Lee, thank you so much.

LEE: Thanks.

BALDWIN: But here's what I find really fascinating, though, about what's happening there in Iowa. Guys, let's throw the poll up again because I want you to look at a face that we haven't been talking too too terribly much about lately. In the top middle of your screen, Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon, now sitting at number two among Iowa's likely caucus goers with 14 percent. He is the only African-American Republican presidential candidate. He's now likely just become the target of Black Lives Matter activists after saying that the protesters are creating strife, to quote him, and pointing fingers. This comes as another presidential hopeful is interrupted by some activists from that very same group. Jeb Bush meeting with advocates for the movement overnight before his campaign rally in Nevada that apparently didn't deter them and this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Joshua DuBois, former religious affairs director at the White House and co-founder of Values Partnerships.

Thank you for coming back.

JOSHUA DUBOIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: And Leah Wright Rigueur, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of "The Loneliness of the Black Republican."

So wonderful having both of you on, both of your voices.

And, Josh, if I may, just to you first. You know, when you hear Ben Carson and his saying "creating strife" with regard to this movement, how - how might those two little words alienate African-American voters?

DUBOIS: Well, Brooke, I find it a little ironic, I have to say, that the same man who compared the United States to Nazi Germany and said that Obamacare was the worst thing to happen to our country since slavery is now complaining about people creating strife. Listen, you don't have to agree with every statement or tactic of every activist in the very broad Black Lives Matter movement, but we have to agree that they are putting some critical issues on the table. Issues like police brutality and criminal justice reform and implicit bias. We wouldn't be talking about this if it wasn't for Black Lives Matter. And so I don't know if they're creating strife, but they certainly are creating conversation. And I think that's a good thing.

BALDWIN: But what is - what is he doing here, Leah? I mean I know you wrote a book on this and, you know, you are very knowledgeable about black Republicans. You say that is a microscopic population of voters. And perhaps Ben Carson isn't going for that vote as much as he is for whom?

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, AUTHOR, "THE LONELINESS OF THE BLACK REPUBLICAN": For white voters. I mean, it makes perfect sense, right? So here's an opportunity to say, hey, look, I care about racial issues. I care about such and such. But, you know what, I'm actually trying to appeal to white middle of the road voters to show that actually I do care.

BALDWIN: And, Josh, to you. There was a - what, you talk a lot - you cited this 2011 statistic that was often cited during violent protests in Ferguson, noting that homicide, you know, when you look at a lot of - and we've covered a lot of these, you know, officer-involved shootings of young African-American men. But you go back to this point about black on black violence. And what's the point you're trying to make here as we look at this conversation overall?

DUBOIS: Yes, well, actually, I think that they are two distinct conversations. We absolutely have to continue to address - every community has to address violence in their own communities.

BALDWIN: Sure.

DUBOIS: But what Black Lives Matter is doing is raising these deep issues of race in our country that we've really not paid attention to for a very long time. And I think it's funny, you know, we're fixating on Bernie Sanders getting his microphone snatched or something like that. I think it's far more -

BALDWIN: Yes, but his national secretary is a Black Lives, you know, activist.

DUBOIS: Yes, absolutely. And I'm far more concerned with, you know, a woman dying in a Texas jail cell under suspicious circumstances or nine African-Americans being killed in their church than I am about, you know, the civility of Black Lives Matter protests. I think they're putting some really important issues on the table and I want to hear Ben Carson put a response out. I want to hear his plan for dealing with deep issues of race in our country. I'm not hearing that from him.

BALDWIN: I don't know if we've really, though, heard that from a lot of these candidates. I mean off the top of my head I was reading a piece about Bernie Sanders and I think - I mean I know Hillary Clinton has mentioned racism and brutality in speeches but he really is the only one with this detailed, you know, racial injustice platform. That said, let me loop back to that. But, Leah, I mean, Larry Wilmore, just last night, I don't know if you

caught this, he actually commented a little bit on the Black Lives Matter message saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY WILMORE: I agree that black lives matter, but black manners matter as well. All right? If we're keeping at 100 - if we're keeping at 100. And also keep it at 100 based on the demographics. If Bernie Sanders rallies were a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, it would be "nilla, please."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:10:11] BALDWIN: What do you think of that, Leah?

RIGUEUR: So, here's the thing, respectability has gotten us so, you know, where? How far? And I think part of what Black Lives Matters is trying to is to move respectability off the table. We're saying we're not taking any more. That, in fact, we -

BALDWIN: What do you mean remove respectability off the table?

RIGUEUR: Meaning that respectability is not going to keep people from getting thrown in jail, from dying in jail cells, from getting shot, right? That people with college degrees, black men and women with college degrees, are still dying. So, you know what, this is designed to disrupt and to force the issue onto the table so that people like Ben Carson have to come up, not just with rhetoric, but with policy, actual policy ideas and programs that will be designed to actually get these things moving and to have us have a, you know, a real kind of substantive conversation and actual things that come out of these conversations.

BALDWIN: You know, I was really struck the other night. Yes, we covered how Black Lives Matter interrupted a Bernie Sanders event over the weekend. We were talking about Jeb Bush yesterday. And then it was a - I think it was just two nights ago, you know, there was a Hillary Clinton event, maximum capacity, so some of these activists could not actually - they had to go in the spillover room. And Hillary Clinton actually took 15 minutes of her own, you know, time to go meet with them face-to-face, which I think speaks volumes overall as far as how important this issue is in this election cycle.

Josh, final question to you, though, sort of on Leah's point. You know, when we talk about this question to the candidates, what is the answer? What is the platform that they need to explain to the voter?

DUBOIS: Well, you know, there are some very specific policy platforms. We need to hear their solution to issues of police violence. How are they going to address implicit bias on police forces? How are they going to address criminal justice reform? But then we've got to start talking about some deeper issues of bias in other parts of American live, whether it's in our work force system and how people are hired and fired or in other parts of our communities. We need them to think critically about how to finally address these issues of race that we've had for hundreds of years but never really talked about. And Black Lives Matters is putting that on that table.

BALDWIN: Joshua DuBois and Leah Wright Rigueur, thank you both so much. We have to keep having this conversation. I appreciate you both.

DUBOIS: That's right. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, the moment of impact caught on video. We have brand-new images from that massive explosion killing dozens of people, leaving ashes of destruction behind. We will take you there.

Also, a new twist in the mysterious death of this fraternity pledge. So this witness comes forward now with this shocking information. We have that.

And children working for drug cartels confess to CNN. One boy says he killed five people. But the disturbing revelations just begin there. We have video for you ahead. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:02] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

At least 50 dead, hundreds injured after a series of massive explosions erupted at a warehouse in a northern city in China. The force of this blast so strong here - look at this - it shook buildings. Some even thought it was an earthquake. The damage left behind was just massive. CNN's Will Ripley is there.

Will.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now we're about a mile from the epicenter of the explosion and even from this distance and even as night has fallen here, you can still see how much damage there is. This is someone's living room window that has been propelled down onto the street. Most of the windows of this building are shattered and the glass has been raining down on the pavement, especially when there's a big wind gust.

The shifting winds are also of concern for folks how are worried about the air quality. There are several air-monitoring stations up around the city right now because the plume of smoke that we've seen throughout burning uncontrolled throughout the past 24 hours or so, that smoke plume is pushing chemicals, dangerous and toxic chemicals into the air and city officials do acknowledge that the levels of contaminants are higher than normal and could potentially be dangerous if there's long-term exposure. They say if you just breath it for a short period of time, there's not as much of a risk. But, obviously, that's little comfort for - especially for parents with children. So you see a lot of people wearing these protective masks, face masks.

You can see the security officials over here trying to get us to move away from the building and so we'll just step over in this direction here. We should point out that the Chinese government is trying to control

the message of it here. We were interrupted during a live shot by some civilians earlier in the day, but there were also uniformed officers in the group as well. And social media posts about this tragedy have been deleted from some of China's major social media sites. This is not an image that Beijing wants to show the world. This is an economy that's driven by industry, but there have been concerns for many years about not only the working conditions and the safety of people working at these factories, but also the fact in this specific city there have been concerns raised that some of these factories with toxic chemicals are simply just too close to people's homes.

And so the fact that you can have an explosion, a series of explosions, and this much damage from a mile, more than a mile, from two kilometers away, it certainly is a troubling sign and something that the central government and the government here will have to address.

Will Ripley, CNN, Tianjin, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Will, thank you so much.

Coming up, quote, "we resolve this now or go to war." That's revealing new insight into Donald Trump's post-debate feud with Fox News' boss. Next, Brian Stelter with exclusive details on the clash of two egos and the apparent truce that hangs now in the balance.

Plus, Trump says he would build a wall along the southern border. You know that. But how would he stop this, almost 30 pounds of heroin flown over the border using drones.

[14:20:03] And ready to die at any moment. A stunning CNN investigation exposes the life of an American teenager who gets pulled into the world of Mexico's drug cartels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've moved weed. I've moved cocaine. I would teach illegals how to say U.S. citizen or I would hide them. You've got to be ready to die at any moment.

It is a fear of mine, but I've accepted it as an inevitability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Mexican drug traffickers are finding a new way to get drugs across the U.S. border, drones. This week, two men pleaded guilty. You know what they did? They admitted to smuggling 28 pounds of heroin on a drone that had crossed into California. Officials say this is the first cross-border drug seizure involving a drone, but apparently it's not a first attempt. I have a photo for you of a done that crashed in a Tijuana parking lot. That was back in January. It was packed with loads of methamphetamine. U.S. officials say the use of drones to smuggle drugs in from Mexico is now this emerging threat.

[14:25:13] And so now let me show you some CNN video that takes you inside the life of teenagers doing the work of these violent drug cartels. Names have been changed to protect these young men and their families because they may still be at a risk of cartel retaliation. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes they make you kill someone. Sometimes they make you beat up someone, stab someone.

I've moved weed. I've moved cocaine. (INAUDIBLE) I know I've directly, me myself, I've shot down like five people.

You could get recruited by - at any time, by anyone, and at any age.

ON SCREEN TEXT: (INAUDIBLE), 16, was born in Dallas. He is a U.S. citizen, but most of his family has been deported to Mexico because of drug-trafficking charges. He lives with his grandmother in Eagle Pass, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've moved weed. I've moved cocaine. I would teach illegals how to say U.S. citizen or I would hide them. You've got to be ready to die at any moment. It is a fear of mine but I've accepted it as an inevitability.

ON SCREEN TEXT: (INAUDIBLE) is currently in a detention center in Del Rio, Texas, accused of using his grandmother's house for human smuggling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to do it because I knew that they are bad people and they do bad things.

ON SCREEN TEXT: (INAUDIBLE), 17, was arrested for smuggling money for the cartels. He started smuggling and doing drugs at age 10.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Don't cry, mom. The good thing is, I'm going to be able to leave.

I grew up in Mexico and I want to the U.S. citizen, you know, (INAUDIBLE). Here in the United States are the cartels and the drugs kill people and the drugs kill families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you know a member from the drug cartels, they come to you and they tell you, you want to join? But if you (INAUDIBLE), sometimes they make you kill someone. Sometimes they make you just beat up someone, stab someone.

ON SCREEN TEXT: (INAUDIBLE), 15, has been working for the cartels since he was 12. He left one cartel, but another one is threatening his life if he won't work for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I've been hearing in Eagle Pass of, you know, class (ph) drugs, smuggled drugs, cocaine, marijuana, heroin. ON SCREEN TEXT: (INAUDIBLE) is currently in the Maverick County

Detention Center, charged with evading arrest. His mother visits him three times a week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now, after everything I've done, you know, a lot of problems I've caused, I just want out. I want out of all of this. But if they ever need me, I know that I have to go back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Thanks to our friends at CNN Digital for that pretty impressive reporting. If you want more, go to cnn.com.

Next, the war that almost was. CNN's Brian Stelter with exclusive insight inside Donald Trump's feud with Fox News after that Republican debate and how long a tentative truce might actually last.

Plus, we have the top 13 moments from the campaign trail. They are jaw-dropping, they're bizarre and, no, just a few of them are from Donald Trump. Do not miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)