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Presidential candidates at the Iowa State Fair; Armed Suspects inside New Orleans Wal-Mart; China Explosions; Police Pistol Whipped with Own Gun; Clinton Pokes Fun At Email Scandal; Clinton, Sanders, Trump Attending Iowa State Fair Today; U.S.: Mustard Agent Used In Recent Attack; Megyn Kelly's Absence Creating Suspension Rumors.. Aired 11a-12a ET

Aired August 15, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: We're so glad to spend our Saturday mornings with you. Thank you so much for being with us.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: That's it for us today. Be sure to keep it right here. We're handing the reins over to Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I'll take them right here.

PAUL: There you go.

BLACKWELL: There you go.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. And it's been a very busy morning. Thanks so much guys.

PAUL: Thanks Fred.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you. Have a great day.

All right. It's the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM starts right now.

All right, this breaking news we're following out of New Orleans. We understand according to police now, a SWAT team has been deployed to a Wal-Mart in the northern part of the city. The store has been evacuated. New Orleans police tweeting that they believe this was a robbery and that the suspects are still inside.

You're looking at images that we've received. The latest images there. So far there have been no reports of injuries, but we do understand that everyone has been evacuated. No shots fired reportedly.

All right, right now we're joined on the phone by former assistant director of the FBI Tom Fuentes. So Tom, of course, details still sketchy here, all we know is that the store has been evacuated -- a Wal-Mart there. You see pictures of the SWAT team moving in. Give us an idea of how they are assessing any persistent threats at the same time trying to maintain safety particularly for all those who have been evacuated or anyone else who might be remaining in the store. TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, this

started at about 6:10 a.m. Local time. The Wal-Mart had opened at 6:00 a.m. And an employee at 6:10 reported there was someone carrying a gun that walked in. And then immediately told management.

Management evacuated all the employees and they called the police. So that's what's happening now is that the police have arrived. They don't believe that anybody else besides the employees came out of that building. And, you know, as soon as they have enough personnel assembled, they're beginning the search of the building and, you know, the sweep of the entire facility which is going to take a while.

But as far as they know, you know, the person is still inside. If there was a person in the first place. So, now that's all it is. They have to check the building.

WHITFIELD: And how do they go about systematically doing that? Is it a matter of using kind of the surveillance equipment in the store already in place? Or is there another technique that you expect they'd be using?

FUENTES: Well, if they have access to the equipment and it's not in a place that hasn't been secured yet, you know, that would be important to try to look at. So we don't know if they've been able to do that, you know, or are doing it right now. They may be.

But, again, at the time, you know, the surveillance equipment not going to be everywhere and mostly it's going to be in the retail section of that store, so if someone went in, realized that he had been seen and that everybody was evacuated and the person goes back into the storage area where they keep all of the material that's -- before it's stocked, that could be problematic and they may not have access to that.

So, a store that size with large boxes, the shipping docks, the shelving, all of that is going to be very difficult and long -- take a long time basically to search through all of that. But that's what they're doing right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Tom Fuentes, appreciate it. We'll check back with you and, of course, we'll update our viewers as we get any more information on that.

And now to another top story we're following. We're talking about politics. The Iowa State Fair. Republican and Democratic hopefuls are descending on the event over the next week, hoping to shore up support in this critical early stage. And this a very important state.

Jeb Bush among the headliners Friday, hitting the famous soapbox, a tradition where candidates get 20 minutes to speak directly to the crowds there sponsored by the "Des Moines Iowa Register" . But the front-runners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, will skip that rite of passage when they visit the fair today.

CNN covering all of this action for you. Sara Murray -- Hillary Clinton as far as we understand while she's made her appearances and made a joke about the e-mail controversy last night at the wingding event, Donald Trump is firing back. What is -- what has he been saying about what she said?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, well, let's start off with Hillary Clinton. She's about to arrive here in roughly an hour. Look, at her big event last night she did make light of this e-mail scandal. Let's take a look at what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way, you may have seen that I recently launched a Snapchat account. I love it. I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, that was not the only controversy that Hillary Clinton tried to shrug off last night. The other one she took more seriously.

[11:05:02] She was talking about Benghazi. This is an issue where Republicans have really hit her hard, and she said, look, I'm tired of people politicizing these attacks. She wants to move beyond it.

Let's take a look at what she had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Now, they'll try to tell you this is about Benghazi, but it's not. Benghazi was a tragedy. Four dedicated public servants lost their lives and we have to be focused on how to prevent future tragedies. And you know what, it's not about e-mails or servers either, it's about politics. I've just provided my server to the Justice Department.

But here's what I won't do. I won't get down in the mud with them. I won't play politics with national security or dishonor the memory of those who we lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, even as Hillary Clinton is trying to move beyond these issues, whether it be Benghazi or whether it be the e-mails, Republicans are not keen to let that happen and Donald Trump is becoming her latest critic. He thinks these controversies could end up being the death knell for her campaign. Take a look at what he said at his event in New Hampshire last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I think at some point she's perhaps not going to be able to run. She's going to have to end her campaign. That seems to be the thinking by so many.

General Petraeus, his life was destroyed with a tiny fraction of what she's done. So, it's very unfair to him if they're going to destroy him over doing, by comparison, nothing. I don't see how she can run. I think she's got much bigger problems than running for office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: So, Fred, this is the sparring that's happening before the candidates even arrive at the Iowa state fair. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be here today, so it will be interesting to see if there are any more fireworks between the two of them.

WHITFIELD: Sara Murray. Let's talk more about all things Iowa here with CNN political director, David Chalian.

So David -- let's talk about this whole, you know, soapbox moment at the state fair. Most candidates embracing it. Jeb Bush, in fact, using his 20-minute speech to address the crowds and kind of vow to fix what he says are the country's broken systems. But not Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump, they will not be taking to the soapboxes, but they're, you know, front and center in Iowa.

So, help us understand why this is. We know Clinton last night at the Democratic wingding she did have that Snapchat moment, and then later today Trump will be, you know, flying in on a helicopter, even giving free rides. So, they are out there and they're going to be very present, but they say no to the soapbox. Why?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right, well, that wing ding dinner that you mentioned last night was probably the most fiery, the most passionate I've seen Hillary Clinton on the trail.

Here's what's happening on the Democratic side right now. That e-mail controversy, that joke she made, that gave an opening to Republicans. You saw Donald Trump going after her. You will see the Gowdy committee and other Republicans will say, hey, this is no joking matter and put her back on defense there.

The Iowa Democrats in the room, they chuckled at the joke. I don't think that they felt as concerned about her making light of it in the room and talking to some of the folks there. But what she did do to try to sort of deal with the Sanders challenge that is happening with her on the left is to take it very hard to the Republicans.

She delivered a speech that was all about showing these Iowa Democrats that she can fight and destroy the opposition. Sanders' speech was all about these ideological aspirations that these Democrats want to hear about. To have this ideological candidate in Bernie Sanders and this very pragmatic I can get up there and win for you candidate in Hillary Clinton. That was the choice before Iowa Democrats last night.

WHITFIELD: And you kind of heard it in her, she tried to turn the tables and you heard that fight in her, right, when she says, you know, she will not get in the mud, she will not play politics especially as it pertains to Benghazi. Effective?

CHALIAN: You know, we'll see. She clearly has many more rounds of this to go. She is going to go testify up on the Hill before the Benghazi committee. That is going to be a day clearly where she is on defense. She got very good reviews the last time she went up on the Hill at the end of her tenure as secretary of state to testify about Benghazi.

But it's not like she can put this behind her, right. I mean this is a controversy that is -- especially the e-mail part of it, her private server, is of her own doing. And this is going to be with her as the e-mails come out month after month. As we learn and look to see if there's anything more about Benghazi. And when she goes up to the Hill to testify, none of this is what a presidential candidate wants to be doing.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So let's talk about Jeb Bush and how -- he really is being haunted by other Presidents Bush and it was on the soapbox that he was, in fact, heckled about the war in Iraq. And here is what happened and this is how he handled it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:10:02] JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And what I've heard from the advisers is, first of all, the Iraqis want our help. They want to know that we have skin in the game, that we're committed to this. We don't have to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to get out in 2011.

BUSH: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had to get out in 2011.

BUSH: We didn't have to get out in 2011.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your brother signed the deal.

BUSH: It could have been modified and that was the expectation. Everybody in Iraq and everybody in Washington knew that this deal could have been expanded. And now what we need to do -- now we need to do something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, David, you know, does he have to craft a lot of his campaign about the response to the ongoing questions about the past presidencies of his brother or even dad, questions about the Iraq war, questions about advisers with, you know, his father's campaign. How can this go ignored? Does he have to craft, you know, his campaign around those potential obstacles, hurdles?

CHALIAN: I think what he has to do is cast his campaign in a completely forward-looking way. So, you also heard yesterday him talking about his strategy for defeating ISIS going forward. That's much steadier ground for him to be on politically. As soon as you're looking back at sort of either the Obama administration's full withdrawal from Iraq or his brother signing the status of forces agreement or his brother's initial decision to initiate the war in Iraq. That's quicksand for Jeb Bush to be in. Of course, you know, there's a flip side to the Bush name. Walking

around the state fair with him yesterday, almost every voter here who came up to him one of the first things out of their mouth was "How's your dad? I love your dad." So there's a lot of goodwill among Iowa Republicans for the Bush family. The Bush name and the Iraq problem becomes a much bigger problem for him in a general election context than I think it does in the nomination season.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Chalian, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Good to see you. Have fun there in Iowa. What kind of snacks are you looking for today? Because it's all about the food there.

CHALIAN: Probably a fried Snickers, yes.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. I don't know, that kind of sounds good. I might want to indulge as well. All right. Thanks so much, David. Appreciate it.

Don't forget CNN hosts the next Republican primary debate on Wednesday September 16th. Plus, the first Democratic presidential debate will be live right here on CNN. That's Tuesday, October 13th. Don't miss either one.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:53] WHITFIELD: All right. Plumes of black smoke filled the skies over the port city of Tianjin, China today creating fears of new explosions. This follows huge blasts Wednesday that reportedly killed at least 105 people and injured more than 700. But video today showed cars which had caught fire in a parking lot near the blast zone were causing the thick clouds of smoke.

Chinese officials are also walking back early reports that an evacuation had been issued for a two-mile radius of the blast site.

Joining us right now from the scene where rescue efforts are still under way days later now, Will Ripley who also has his face covered to protect himself from any kind fumes because still mysterious is what is in the air -- right? So talk to us about what officials are or are not telling residents.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, they're telling people that -- earlier today people were told that there was the potential for exposure to a lethal chemical in the air, sodium cyanide detected at the blast site. So when those new fires reignited and smoke plumes were rising, there was a lot of concern here.

We're actually at an emergency evacuation center that at this time yesterday was full of hundreds of people. Now you can see, it's pretty much empty except for there's a guy off in the distance there wearing a plastic suit. A lot of people wearing their face masks and pretty much just volunteers and soldiers guarding this place left right now. The air quality has been going up and down as far as visible smog, but it's what's invisible that has people really concerned here. Because as we've been reporting there's a long list of toxic chemicals at the site of this blast and not all of them have been identified yet.

The investigation is showing that the initial firefighters who went to that chemical fire on Wednesday night, they didn't realize what they were dealing with when they started spraying water on the fire not knowing that water coming into contact with some of these chemicals could create an explosion and with all the other volatile chemicals sitting next to each other likely stored improperly.

That's the suspicion of investigators where you saw the huge end result -- damage that stretched out for more than a mile with cars melted and windows blown out. It left so many people, thousands of people left homeless. This evacuation center, the people that were here, they've been bused away to a different area.

40 people have been rescued since the explosion. But there are still, Fred, dozens missing. Their families are in anguish, the death toll just jumped up to 104 within the last few hours and that number, sadly, is expected to rise in the coming days, Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Will Ripley, thanks so much. Be safe -- appreciate it.

Still ahead, an officer in Alabama hesitates to use force. The decision backfires and it could have cost him his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:19] WHITFIELD: All right. Now to a disturbing attack in Birmingham, Alabama. A police officer pistol-whipped with his own gun as bystanders watched. The six-year veteran was left bloodied and unconscious while bystanders stood over him and actually took these pictures. A police union representative said the officer second- guessed himself and the hesitation gave his attacker an opening. Here now is CNN's Nick Valencia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: sucker punched and pistol-whipped with his own service weapon. A Birmingham, Alabama police detective says he chose not to use force against a man attacking him because he didn't want to be another headline.

The brutal beating occurred during a routine traffic stop. The detective a six-year veteran noticed a man driving on the interstate erratically so he pulls the car over.

The two end up here at this shopping center where the detective calls for backup. During this time according to police that the suspect gets out of his car and gets aggressive with the officer. Instead of following policy to try to get the man back into his vehicle, the detective says he hesitates. It's just enough time, police say, for 34-year-old Jenard Cunningham to sucker punch the officer knocking him unconscious. allegedly grabs the police officer's gun and uses it to pistol-whip him.

Adding insult to injury, witnesses do nothing to help. Instead, some post images of the attack on social media. Bragging about it. Quote, "Pistol-whipped his ass to sleep", one user wrote. Employing the #police; another mockingly offered the officer milk and cookies for his nap time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in god and I think that that is the reason why the detective is with us today.

VALENCIA: The head of Birmingham's police union says fearing media scrutiny, more local police officers are second-guessing their actions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walking on eggshells to make sure we do everything the way that it should be. Not that it should ever be in question, but we want to be treated with respect or kindness just as if anyone else would be.

VALENCIA: It's a sentiment the injured detective knows all too well. He was unwilling to go on camera on CNN or be named for safety reasons but in an interview with us he said a lot of officers are being too cautious because of what's going on in the media. I hesitated because I didn't want to be in the media like I am right now. It's hard times right now for us."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA: The head of the police union in Birmingham Alabama tells CNN that the suspect in this attack, 34-year-old Jenard Cunningham spontaneously told police that the reason he attacked the police officer was for retaliation and all the negative coverage that cops are getting across the country right now. Cunningham was apprehended shortly after the incident and has been charged with attempted murder and we've attempted to reach out to Cunningham and his family. They've declined comment -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. So we don't know much more about this alleged attacker?

VALENCIA: We don't. He has his -- he had his first court appearance. She's not actually two court appearance charged with attempted murder, has not been assigned an attorney just yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia -- thank you so much. We appreciate it.

We'll have much more of the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Live pictures right now at the Iowa state fair. You see lots of people gathering, because it's their belief, too, that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be soon arriving there and speaking to the crowds that have gathered and we understand that she might even first, you know, take a moment at the microphones answering questions to the media before she goes on and shakes hands and perhaps even sample some of the fried food out there.

So, all throughout Hillary's goal while she is there in Iowa, to stay on message, but it may be increasingly difficult as questions continue about whether she sent classified information over her private e-mail server, she has handed over that server to the Justice Department upon its request and despite the seriousness, she joked about the controversy last night during a campaign stop right there in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: By the way, you may have seen that I recently launched a Snapchat account. I love it. I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, well, Donald Trump took that as an opportunity hammering her last night in New Hampshire on the e-mail scandal. The Republican presidential candidate compared her to the former CIA director, David Petraeus who was convicted of a misdemeanor after sharing classified information with his former mistress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:30:09] TRUMP: And I think at some point, she's perhaps not going to be able to run. She's going to have to end her campaign. That seems to be the thinking by so many.

General Petraeus, his life was destroyed with a tiny fraction of what she's done. So, it's very unfair to him if they're going to destroy him over doing by comparison nothing. I don't see how she can run. I think she's got much bigger problems than running for office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk more about this. Let's bring in Cheri Jacobus, a Republican strategist and PR executive. Good to see you, and Nomiki Konst, a Democratic strategist who once worked for Hillary Clinton. Good to see you as well.

All right, Cheri, you first, Clinton tries to have a little fun about disappearing messages. Trump says it will bury her. It's the issue that seemingly will not go away despite the fact that she can be lighthearted about it in your view?

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don't think she should be lighthearted about it and I don't think she came off well. Look, Hillary Clinton as we now know is losing now. She's lost 10 points with women voters, educated women voters just this summer, in a very short period of time.

And it's because they question her trustworthiness, I think America is ready for a woman president, but even Democrat women are thinking, you know, maybe not this one. She did not come away well, by the way, joking around. It looks very released. You could tell that she knew it wasn't going to fly and blaming this on Republicans or trying to, I just -- that is inexplicable why she would even try that. She does not have her husband's political skills.

WHITFIELD: The audience seemed to laugh and maybe it shows that she is cool and unshakeable and that's why she took advantage of that moment, Nomiki?

NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I have to agree with Cheri on this one. Hillary Clinton has one job right now and that is to connect with voters and the majority of her speeches thus far in Iowa have been about the Republican Party, how she's going to beat the Republican Party. It's all strategy.

The same thing that Jeb Bush is doing, by the way, he is talking a lot about strategy and not a lot about channeling Bill Clinton, how do I connect with the voter, how do I make them feel better.

Despite all this and that Hillary is not going to the soapbox and neither is Donald Trump for different reasons. Despite the fact that Hillary is not answering questions with the press, she's limiting her speaking engagements she's still coming in at 50 percent in Iowa, which is very interesting.

It could turn because Iowa is a different place. Polls are not as reflective what will happen in the caucuses six months away. It's more about relationships in Iowa.

It's more getting up and giving your reasons why you will vote a certain way. Things could turn very quickly as the narrative shifts with Hillary and if she's not connecting with voters.

WHITFIELD: That whole soapbox moment for the candidates to take 20 minutes to just talk about whatever comes to mind sponsored by "The Des Moines Iowa Register." Donald Trump not taking the opportunity because of that, you know, op-ed that was written saying he was unfit for presidency. Hillary Clinton not taking that opportunity, why, Cheri?

JACOBUS: Because I think that Hillary Clinton does not want to be up there for 20 minutes where she might actually get some questions about these things that she's trying to make seem like is the Republicans' fault or laughing about it. She doesn't want to take the hard questions.

Again, I think that she does have trouble connecting with the voters. She does not have her husband's political skills. She knows that people are getting a little bit tired of her. Right now, I think the voters haven't really absorbed all this, what's happening.

We're waiting to see, will the -- is this a criminal -- will there be criminal charges. This is very much up in the air Hillary Clinton wants to play it as safely as possible. She's got another problem on her left, now, doesn't she? When you've got an opponent that is getting 27,000 people at his rallies -- WHITFIELD: Now you are talking about Bernie Sanders.

JACOBUS: She's got problems on a lot of fronts and right now I think she's kind of just wants to play it as safe as she possibly can. The 20 minutes on a soapbox in Iowa at a state fair, I don't know, a little risky.

WHITFIELD: So how much of a threat potentially is Bernie Sanders? Yes, he's got the 10,000, 20,000 people showing up for his events. The crowds seem to be growing.

But in terms of viability, do you see that he really can chip away from the support, if, say, for instance, Hillary Clinton does lose a lot of support and whether it's about e-mails or something else, will her supporters be going to Bernie Sanders?

KONST: I mean, we've all been talking about Joe Biden. I think that that would be the natural transition. I think it would be very difficult for many Hillary supporters, many who are part of the financial industry, to go in to supporting Bernie Sanders.

But if there's a place Bernie Sanders can do well other than New Hampshire which Hillary won last time if you recall, is a place about Iowa, which is all about populism. Those 27,000-person rallies which were in California, by the way, they really make a difference in a place like Iowa where it is peer to peer.

[11:35:02] Now the polls are a few days old. We'll have to see how this reflects over the state fair, how he's able to connect with voters because he also has that personal issue.

None of these candidates so far running on the Democratic side are really connecting with voters. Maybe Martin O'Malley, but let's see how he's doing in Iowa.

WHITFIELD: So Cheri, in your view, who stands to gain the most, you know, from this Iowa State Fair and even, you know, the county fair because Bernie Sanders is at the county fair just down the street from the state fair but, you know, appearances nonetheless there, who stands to gain the most?

JACOBUS: You know, I'm going to say that it's some of the candidates that we never expected to be top tier. I'm looking at somebody like a Carly Fiorina. We know that Dr. Carson is doing very well. I actually think this could be a little difficult for Donald Trump, the fact that he won't do the 20 minutes because he's decided he doesn't like, again --

WHITFIELD: Why difficult? Because it doesn't seem as though somebody with such an opulent life could relate, I mean, he's coming in on his chopper, but at the same time he's going to be offering free rides and that will appeal to people.

JACOBUS: Because he'll show up in a suit and tie and now is the part of the party, the program, where Donald Trump has to show that he can connect to the voters. At this point all he's doing is stating problems without stating solutions. He's tearing people down -- he's running this -- he's running the campaign --

WHITFIELD: More detail on policies next month, right?

JACOBUS: That may be a problem for him. Right now, he's running solely on anger. We also know that less than 40 percent of his online -- social media followers are actually eligible voters so there's some astroturfing going on.

I find it hard to believe that this is going to last. One thing that Iowa will do, we don't have the Ames, Iowa, straw poll anymore so that changes things a little bit what happens. But you will have other candidates that will have to fall by the wayside. Their supporters will coalesce around others --

WHITFIELD: We've got to go.

JACOBUS: -- and we won't hear about Trump much longer.

KONST: Trump is actually doing well in Iowa despite all that. They have the unofficial corn poll, I don't know if you know about this, where you drop corn kernels into a corn bucket.

WHITFIELD: I like that.

KONST: Guess what? He has two full buckets.

JACOBUS: Real clear politics has him dropping since last week in Iowa a little bit.

WHITFIELD: OK, all right, fun stuff, ladies, appreciate it. We'll talk about it again. Appreciate it. We'll see you later on in the hour.

All right, the United States says tests following recent attacks by ISIS show the use of chemical weaponry. We'll have the details on that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, U.S. officials say ISIS now has chemical weapons capability. Multiple U.S. intelligence and military officials tell CNN tests confirm the terrorist group has used a mustard agent in the field.

CNN chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, has been digging into this story and has this report.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the U.S. test results to confirm that ISIS used a mustard agent, a serious form of chemical weapons, in an attack in Syria two weeks ago. The U.S. is now investigating two further attacks just in the last few days against Kurdish forces in Northern Iraq.

A mustard agent not confirmed in those attacks, but possible use of chlorine either way the U.S. does believe that ISIS has mustard agents in its possessions. It has used them on the battlefield. It is a serious escalation in the war there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): When Kurdish soldiers arrived at this Northern Iraqi hospital this week with blistered skin and difficulty breathing, Kurdish commanders feared the worst, ISIS had attacked them with chemical weapons. One of two attacks this week now under investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These are traces of the weapons almost 45 rounds in 40 minutes.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. military will now test samples from the patients and weapons to determine if they included mustard gas, a horribly powerful chemical agent that the U.S. now believes ISIS has obtained. Multiple U.S. officials tell CNN the U.S. has already determined that ISIS fighters used a mustard agent during a separate attack weeks ago inside Syria.

REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF (D), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: This would be a new and worrying report, if it's accurate. I have no doubt that if ISIS could get their hands on this stuff, they would use it. No level of violence is too great for this group. They glorify in the terror that it creates.

SCIUTTO: U.S. officials say it is possible the more recent attacks used chlorine, a less serious, but still horrible chemical agent that ISIS has used before in battle or possibly precursor chemicals the building blocks of mustard gas.

Some commanders downplay the battlefield effect of the limited use of chemical weapons, but such weapons can spark a new level of fear for Kurdish forces already locked in a stalemate with ISIS.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RETIRED), FORMER AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Their MO is basically strike fear into the hearts of everybody, no matter what the tactic or technique is.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. has not yet determined where or how ISIS obtained a mustard agent. It is possible they overran stockpiles not destroyed under the 2014 agreement to rid Syria of chemical weapons.

It's also possible U.S. officials say that ISIS has developed a limited ability to manufacture them crudely on its own. Regardless, the introduction of chemical weapons into the war with ISIS presents the U.S. and its allies with a new and difficult challenge.

LEIGHTON: I think it's very important for us to send a signal not only to the Kurds and ISIS well that we are going to support the Kurds in any way that we conceivably can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Among the challenges for the U.S. now, the Kurds, whether they ask for additional help in the face of the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield, they've already been dissatisfied with some of the weapons they've been receiving from the U.S.

The speed with which they received those weapons, also presents a challenge if the president were to decide to put U.S. forces closer to the front lines in the battle against ISIS, of course, greater danger to them potentially as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jim Sciutto. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:44]

WHITFIELD: All right. In this business we watch what our fellow colleagues do all the time and we also notice when some things are awry. Megyn Kelly has not been on the air lately.

On Thursday, she announced that, quote, "I'll be taking the next week and a half spending some time with my husband and kids trying to relax," but this has some people asking questions about the timing.

Let's bring in CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter. All right, so what are you learning?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is all about Donald Trump. Seems like everything this summer is about Donald Trump, right? Well, last week, Megyn Kelly was very tough on Donald Trump asking pointed questions.

It's the kind of journalism that we usually applaud in this business. But as we know, a lot of trump supporters did not like it and neither did Donald Trump. You know, he went on the multiday sort of offensive complaining about Megyn Kelly, complaining about the treatment at the debate.

And it all led up to that Monday conversation between the head of Fox News and Donald Trump where they seemed to make nice. They seemed to have a truce going on. But I got to tell you, it heated up in the last day or so, again, because Donald Trump has this conspiracy theory about Megyn Kelly's vacation.

You mentioned how she said on the air she was going to go away for a week and a half, but Trump went on a rival network, News Max TV yesterday and said it's probably true that there's a connection between Kelly going on vacation and Trump's complaints.

[11:50:09] Basically what he was implying what a lot of supporters believe, which is that she's been sidelined to make Trump happy. It's something that's pretty farfetched, I got to tell you. Kelly is truly on vacation. I've checked. I know that for sure.

But it's this conspiracy out there and Fox News actually went on the record now pushing back against Trump. It suggests to me that the tensions between these two big important parts of the Republican Party, well, the tensions are definitely back and rising.

WHITFIELD: That's what I was wondering what is the Fox response on that, you know, supporting --

STELTER: Yes, Fox calls it bizarre.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and supporting that she is reconnecting with her family.

STELTER: Yes, you know, the number one network for Republicans, the number one network of the conservative movement versus the number one Republican candidate right now for president is a very unusual situation.

But Fox went on the record last night and saying that Kelly truly is on vacation, and wild to think otherwise. They called it bizarre to think otherwise.

At the end of their statement, they actually gave a little bit of advice to Donald Trump. It quoted the Governor Terry Brandsted who said yesterday, when you're a candidate, you have to basically answer the questions.

You can't just attack the person answering the questions. That does not work. The fact that Fox saw that and put that in a statement, it seems to me like they're giving free advice to Donald Trump once again advising him do not go attacking Fox News and Megyn Kelly.

It won't end well for you. You know, at the end of the day, I think I tend to agree with that. It's not a smart strategy to go attacking the media especially a media like Fox News that has so many Republican viewers watching.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. We will be right back.

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[11:55:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. "Straight Out of Compton" pulled in $22.8 million on its opening night. That's the fifth highest opening day for an August release fearing that the violence on screen might bleed off in the audience, in some ways certain movie theaters across the country are beefing up patrols.

Universal Pictures is in fact offering cost reimbursement for that extra security. The movie is based on a rap group, NWA, and depicts gang violence in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

Joining me right now is Tom Deluca. He is the president of Global Security Services Incorporated and National Cinema Incorporated. Good to see you. TOM DELUCA, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SECURITY SERVICES INC.: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: All right, so Tom when some theaters say they're beefing up security, what does that look like?

DELUCA: Well, generally it's based on volume. The exhibitors feel that they're going to add large crowd and it's their decision to add security or not add security.

WHITFIELD: But is that security visible or plain clothes. What do people encounter in general?

DELUCA: It's always visible. Our mantra is deterrence to high visibility so it's not plain clothes. It's highly visible throughout the movie theater.

WHITFIELD: And so traditionally, what have been the criteria so to speak that movie theaters use to say you know what, we need to have added security because you know what like xyz is coming out. What usually are they measuring? What helps promote that decision?

DELUCA: The number one reason is the high volume, potential blockbuster. Something scary or extra violent may induce extra security.

WHITFIELD: And so at the same time do movie theater owners and operators worry that they run the risk of turning off customers that see the security and say that maybe I don't need to be at this movie because I am at a risk?

DELUCA: Well, that's certainly is a reasonable concern. We don't do anything other than have high visibility. We don't check bags on the exhibitors wish. We don't have metal detectors based on the exhibitor's wish. So at the end of the day, I think the feedback that I always get, people do feel comfortable when they see security and we're in place in case something happens.

WHITFIELD: Is it your feeling or have you experienced that there's a larger request coming in recent months, or weeks or days particularly because of what happened in Colorado, Florida, and Louisiana.

DELUCA: You mean request to for my company, for our services?

WHITFIELD: Yes, to increase security and offer added help to movie theaters. Are they expressing the concern recently because of what happened in Colorado? What happened in Florida and as well as Louisiana?

DELUCA: Yes, as a result of the incidences the last two or three months, we have been fielding two or three phone calls a week from exhibitors who would like to hire us for their theaters.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tom Deluca, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

DELUCA: Thank you. WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories. University of Cincinnati Police are patrolling off campus again nearly a month after former U.C. Officer Ray Tensing shot and killed Sam Dubose during a traffic stop.

The university's president says the community wanted the patrols to resume because of safety concerns, but a lawyer for the family say they're worried that officers have not been properly re-trained. He was fired and charged with murder.

Wild fires in Central Washington State now have forced hundreds of people to evacuate homes, businesses, and two state parks. Lightning strikes sparked several small fires there on Friday morning. Some of them merged into one large wild fire. The fires have knocked out power to around 9,000 customers and so far no one has been injured and no homes have been burned.

North Korea switched to a new time zone today. One it's calling Pyongyang Time. The country set all clocks back one half hour to the time it used before it was colonized by Japan. It's now 12 and a half hours ahead of east coast time instead of 13. They made the chance to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula at the end of World War II.

We have so much more ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.

All right. Hello again and thanks for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Des Moines, Iowa is the center of the political universe today.