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Second Blast Rocks Bangkok Tuesday; Crews Attempt to Clean Hazardous Material; Donald Trump Surges in New Polls; Can Donald Trump Win Iowa?; Trump Deploys Staff Volunteers in Iowa; Is It Time for Jeb Bush to Worry? Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 18, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:01] CUOMO: Not on the shirt. The shirt is clean. I got to wear it again tomorrow.

PEREIRA: Saving those lives. My goodness.

CUOMO: Time for the "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

PEREIRA: It's such a good one.

CUOMO: Get in on the group hug, Carol. You need it.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I wish I could. I'm too far away. That was awesome, though.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: So keep stretching, Carol. You're going to get it when we go.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, hunting the man in yellow. Police in Bangkok say he is the suspect in the deadly bombing of a popular shrine.

Also, Donald domination.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm leading by double digits.

COSTELLO: New CNN polls out this morning show he's making big gains. Republicans picking the billionaire on every issue. Is it time for establishment Republicans to worry?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I'm so worried. No. It's a long haul.

COSTELLO: Plus, making history for fighting like a girl. Two women will graduate from Army Ranger school. The grueling training they passed and what's next for them.

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 in Bangkok, Thailand, where police now have a suspect in that deadly attack at a popular shrine. They're looking for this man. He's wearing a yellow shirt and those glasses. He's seen on surveillance video dropping a backpack at the Erawan Shrine shortly before Monday's explosion. And less than 24 hours after that first bombing, a second blast rocked Bangkok today. This time at a river peer. No one hurt in this incident.

CNN's Andrew Stevens is following the latest for us. He's in Thailand.

Hi, Andrew.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes. That's right. Two significant developments less than a day after this explosion ripped through such a busy part of Bangkok, killing 22 people, injuring more than 100. The man in the yellow shirt, is this the breakthrough that the authorities are hoping for? Meanwhile, the prime minister saying that that attack was the most deadly ever on Thai soil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS (voice-over): Just in this morning, another bomb goes off in Bangkok. This surveillance video shows water shooting into the air. The bomb exploding on the Taksin Pier only a few miles away from Monday night's bomb that ripped through central Bangkok.

Thai officials are on the hunt for this man believed to be connected to that bombing at the shine. The suspect seen here in this surveillance video putting a backpack underneath a bench and then walking away.

Newly released cell phone video captures the chaotic scene during evening rush hour on Monday. Unsuspecting tourists and locals walk along a popular footbridge before the sudden explosion below.

SANJEEV VYAS, BANGKOK BLAST EYEWITNESS: I get up on the skywalk and that's when I heard this huge explosion. I could actually feel it and hear it. And I see like bodies everywhere and the cars on fire.

STEVENS: People waiting in traffic captured the bomb going off right in front of them. Smoke and embers filled the air. Surveillance video capturing the unprecedented large and deadly blast lighting up the night sky.

OLIVER HOLMES, CORRESPONDENT FOR THE GUARDIAN: I saw about five different ambulances screaming away from the scene. I saw there were hundreds of medics, police, fire brigade.

STEVENS: The bomb claiming more than 20 lives and injuring over 100. Local police believe this was a, quote, "deliberate act of terror," quote. Targeting a Hindu shrine, a major tourist attraction in Thailand, also near a large shopping mall.

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They attacked a touristic site. It tells me that this group wants to hit at the economy. A lot of damage especially if there's a follow-on.

STEVENS: Thai officials telling the state-run news agency they did receive a warning of possible attacks, but no specifics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: And, Carol, a touching scene down at that bomb site today. The traffic is now running again through that main thoroughfare. They've still blocked off the shrine. But more and more Bangkok locals are going down there. I saw people with armfuls of red roses and handing out single red roses to their fellow Bangkok (INAUDIBLE) here, who are showing their mark of respect and also showing their public grief and sorrow over this devastating attack. It really was quite a touching scene down there.

COSTELLO: All right. Andrew Stevens reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

A wave of arrests in China after a series of blasts left hundreds dead as thousands take part in traditional memorials on the 7th day since that disaster. State-media reports that 10 senior executives at the company that owns the exploded warehouse have been detained, including the president and vice president.

Homeowners are also calling on the government to buy back their homes, saying chemicals in the air make it unsafe to live there.

[09:05:01] CNN's Will Ripley is live in northern China with more for you.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The environmental consequences here in Tianjin are staggering. And this can help you put it into perspective. These are apartments where thousands of people are supposed to be moving in, in less than two months but within sight of them you find things like this. This is a barrel of chemicals, an unknown chemical propelled from the explosion late Wednesday, a chemical that has a reaction to the rainwater, causing white steam to come up.

And we've seen this stuff lying all over here along with other chemicals. In fact we saw hazardous materials crews out trying to clean up as much as they can. But it just underscores residents' concerns about the environmental impact. The Chinese government took us along today and showed us one of their environmental quality monitoring stations where they're testing the air, and the soil and the water.

But for residents who have homes near the blast zone, they say those assurances that all levels are testing normally is just not good enough for them. They have very serious concerns about the long-term health consequences for them and especially for those who have children. Meanwhile the Chinese government is promising to crack down on whoever is responsible for this given the magnitude of destruction.

Look at that. A good portion of Tianjin's bus fleet has been wiped out. And now we're learning that 10 top executives with Rui Hai International, this is the shipping and logistics company that owned the warehouse at the center of this explosion. They were bringing in chemicals, storing them and then distributing them throughout China.

And now there are accusations that these chemicals were being stored in perhaps illegal quantities and that not all information was being revealed to the proper authorities. Possible charges could include abuse of power and criminal negligence.

This as today marks the seventh day since the explosion and in Chinese tradition, it is a time for the families of the 114 at least confirmed dead and the dozens more who are missing to stop and pay condolences to those who have been lost.

Will Ripley, CNN, Tianjin, China.

COSTELLO: Also new this morning, search teams have now recovered at least one so-called black box from the wreckage of the crashed Trigana Air flight. After battling fog and rough terrain they reached the crash site in a remote mountainside in Indonesia earlier today. They say none of the 54 people on board survived. The plane lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday about a half hour into its short flight. No distress call was ever made.

Here in the United States that huge IRS hack we first told you about in May is actually far worse than the agency reported. The IRS revealing that almost three times as many taxpayers were hit. Some 300,000 accounts, not the 100,000 it originally reported. Taxpayers whose information was compromised will be notified by mail and given access to free credit protection and identity protection plans.

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has officially stolen the spotlight, surging ahead, as his Republican competitors sink. Take a look at this new CNN/ORC poll. Trump now tightening his grip around the top line, garnering support from 24 percent of registered Republicans. That's almost double the support for Jeb Bush.

And when it comes to how Trump would do in the Oval Office, the real estate giant wins big among Republicans on issues like the economy, immigration and fighting ISIS.

Let's talk about this with CNN political reporter Sara Murray. She's in Washington this morning.

Tell us more.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Let's start by taking a look at those top line numbers like you said. Donald Trump running away with the show. He's now getting support from nearly one in four Republican voters. And it's a big jump from a month earlier. Now if you take a look at those folks who are a little bit lower in the polls, we have Jeb Bush in second, not a close second. But a little bit better than he was doing in that FOX News poll we saw yesterday.

And rounding out the top three, another anti-establishment candidate out of Washington, Ben Carson. He's at 9 percent support, a five- point jump from July. And then you see Rubio and Walker. The other person who's notable to mention in terms of the top line numbers is Carly Fiorina. She had a four-point boost from a month earlier.

Now let's take another look at those issues numbers. As you could see they're pretty incredible for Donald Trump to see how much -- how many gains he's made since July. You see there, 45 percent of voters say he's best to handle the economy, 44 percent say that about illegal immigration. And that's how they felt before he put out his immigration plan. So we'll see if that moves the number, though. 19 percent say he's the best on social issues, 32 percent on ISIS.

You know what's incredible is while he has now put out this immigration plan, for the most part he hasn't really given a lot of specifics on a lot of these issues and voters still seem to trust him. Now as always there is one big caveat. And for Donald Trump the caveat comes in terms of Republicans' best chances for 2016. When they asked how Trump would impact their chances, 58 percent of Republican voters said they would do better without Trump in 2016, 38 percent said they'd do better with Trump. So as you can see there are still some skeptical voters out there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. Sara Murray reporting live from Washington. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, as Donald Trump soars, Jeb Bush slides big time. New CNN polls underscore the question, is it time for this one-time heir apparent to start worrying?

[09:10:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Donald Trump digs in and plants deep roots in Iowa. His presidential campaign has mobilized a full-time staff and an army of volunteers in this critical bellwether state. And now even skeptics are wondering, could the Donald actually win in Iowa and beyond?

CNN's Randi Kaye has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is doubling down on Iowa and the gamble seems to be paying off. He spent about an hour on the ground at the Iowa State Fair over the weekend, enough time to shake a few hands and grab a pork chop on a stick.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

KAYE: Only adding to the belief that Trump is serious about winning Iowa. (On camera): Can Donald Trump win Iowa?

CRAIG ROBINSON, FOUNDER, THE IOWA REPUBLICAN: Yes, I think he can.

KAYE (voice-over): Craig Robinson is founder of The Iowa Republican blog.

ROBINSON: It's been kind of a whirlwind.

[09:15:00] I mean, very Donald Trump-esque where he kind of just takes the whole state by storm whenever he descends onto Iowa.

KAYE: The Trump campaign machine in the Hawkeye State is in overdrive. His team just opened the first Iowa campaign headquarters in West Des Moines. And the Trump bus is on the move across the state. The campaign advertises the buses schedule, invites Iowans in for freebies, then aides get their information, adding to the rapidly growing list of supporters and volunteers.

(on camera): What is it about Trump that Iowans are attracted to?

KRISTI ROSSI, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think it's a new view. It's broken, it needs to be fixed.

KAYE (voice-over): The latest CNN/ORC poll shows Trump leading the Republican pack with 22 percent support in Iowa. No wonder he's digging in. He now has 10 full-time staffers here. GOP hopeful Scott Walker has just half of that.

(on camera): Even though the Iowa caucus isn't until February and the election is more than a year away, Trump's campaign says it has too many volunteers to count. They're pouring in so fast the campaign can hardly keep track of them all -- a good problem to have in a key state.

(voice-over): It helps that Trump isn't a stranger here. He was in Iowa the day he announced he was running for president.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a fan. I love John Wayne.

KAYE: He's been back to visit the John Wayne birthplace museum, attend a rally in Oskaloosa and the Family Leaders Summit in Ames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're actually bringing people in the process where they'll go to beer festivals, or wherever there's people gathered. They'll park there Trump supporter bus and people will come out and kind of self-identify as people who are interested. I think that's smart.

KAYE: And Trump is doing his part to make sure Iowans feel the love. Fresh off his trip to the state fair, a posting on his Facebook page read, "Just got back from the Iowa state fair. Record crowds, phenomenal people. Thank you, Iowa. I will never let you down."

Randi Kaye, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's surge may come at the -- become -- Trump's surge, rather, may come at the expense of Jeb bush. After all, he was the expected front runner, the family name, national prominence and a massive war chest. He also points out he has the luxury of time.

Listen to Mr. Bush dismiss the poll that shows Trump pulling away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh I'm so worried. No. It's a long haul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But should Bush be worried? A new CNN/ORC poll shows Trump has a massive lead over Bush. Thirty-six percent more Republican voters trust Trump on the economy, and a similar number trusts him more on dealing with illegal immigration. Trump even leads on fighting ISIS and on social issues. Let's talk about that.

With me now CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston. And in Charlottesville, Larry Sabato, he's the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Welcome to both of you.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Thank you.

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

So, Mr. Bush was supposed to be the man to beat, but I bet he never thought Donald Trump would be his nemesis. Larry, should Jeb Bush be worried?

SABATO: Well, he should be worried but not just about Donald Trump. You know, there are two things operating here, one is the Trump surge and the other is the recognition, somewhat belatedly by some people, of the burdens and baggage that Jeb Bush is carrying because of his last name and because of other things.

So, there are two things operating here. Isolate Trump for a minute. Carol, I said a million times over many, many, many presidential cycles that poles this early are sand castles right at the edge of the seashore. And inevitably there will be big waves that will sweep them away. We're months away from the start of the voting and we're a year and two and a half months ahead of the election.

COSTELLO: But there are signs that Jeb Bush's camp and supporters of Jeb Bush are worried. Look, Jeb Bush has raised more than $100 million. There's a PAC out there. It's put $10 million into ads for Jeb Bush. I'd like you to watch one right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Mr. Trump's language is divisive.

I want to win. We're not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day -- dividing the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Maeve, will that do it for Jeb Bush?

RESTON: Well, I think we're going to see a lot more of those ads coming up. The thing to remember here, to Larry's point, is that a lot of voters out there don't know much about Jeb Bush or frankly any of these other candidates.

I was at the Iowa state fair over the weekend with Bush. A lot of people actually came up to him and talked about how much they loved his family, his father, his brother.

[09:20:03] But then sometimes he would meet them and walk on and they'd say I'm still deciding between Trump or Bush or Rubio, you know, a cast of five different candidates. And I think that's the thing that we really have to watch here, is how is Bush going to seal the deal?

Beyond the money, he is very well versed on policy. People like that about him. He's the adult in the room as people like to say. And they think that over time that will wear well with voters once the kind of pop and flash of the Trump candidacy loses its novelty. So, that's what we really need to watch.

And to Larry's point, there are other candidates who are kind of getting into Jeb's space as well. You look at someone like John Kasich, for example, who's been rising in the polls, another big state governor who's got a long proven track record, who's very charming on the stump and is connecting easily with voters. And so, I think that's what Jeb Bush's hurdles going to be in the coming weeks and I think a lot of this, to Larry's point, will be changing over the next couple of debates as we see how Trump performs in the long run.

COSTELLO: Yes. But, you know, Jeb Bush's performance in that first debate, Larry, it was flat. He doesn't have really any flash to him at all. Don't you need that to win the presidency?

SABATO: Well, I think you need more energy that he showed, that's for sure. That was an unimpressive performance in my view. It was acceptable. It got him through the debate, but that was about it.

You know, the point being made here is very important, especially for Iowa and New Hampshire. There's that old prototypical Iowa voter who's asked, have you made up your mind yet and she answers, no, I've only met the candidates three times apiece.

They're still shopping. And they expect to see a lot of the candidates, they're going to change their mind from day to day and especially in Iowa and particularly New Hampshire, you can have massive changes in the last 48 hours. They're famous for this.

RESTON: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.

Maeve, just a last thought for you. Because maybe what voters really want Donald Trump to do is test the other candidates. And that's the way they like him at the moment.

RESTON: Yes. Well, think that's an excellent point.

SABATO: I think that's a very good point.

RESTON: You do see that a lot. You hear that from voters as well, saying I want to see more from Governor Bush. I'm not seeing enough passion yet.

One of the voters said to me he really needs to get his ball rolling. Like I could support him but I want him to project the kind of strength that Donald Trump is right now. And, you know, to the extend that Trump can push candidates like Bush to do more of that and really test their candidacies this early, that's probably a good thing for them.

COSTELLO: All right. Maeve Reston, Larry Sabato, we'll leave it there. Thanks to both of you for being with me today. I appreciate it.

Checking some other top stories for you at 22 minutes past.

Newly released video shows just what happened during a closed door meeting between Hillary Clinton and Black Lives Matter protesters. The conversation is frank and at times tense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not much that we can do to stop the violence against us.

(CROSSTALK)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, if that is -- I understand. I understand what you're saying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Respectfully.

CLINTON: Respectfully, if that is your position, then I will talk only to white people about how we are going to deal with very real problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interesting, right? Clinton followed that up by saying, while the group can't change hearts, they can work on changing laws. For the first time in nine years, the military will fight brutal wildfires ravaging the west. Hundreds of active duty military will monitors quieter parts of the fire in Washington state and California. This to free up experienced crews so they can better attack larger blazes.

So far this year, nearly 100 fires have torched more than 1 million acres across seven states, destroying hundreds of homes.

Chad Myers is in Atlanta following this for us.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

When we declared and had declared that category five fire emergency, that means all 80 percent or more of all the professional firefighters and all the of the tankers and all of the aircraft are being used right now, we knew it was a matter of time that some additional resources would have to be brought in to at least watch the mop-up of some of these fires.

Here's a satellite from August 15th over the weekend. You can see the smoke out here, parts of Washington, or also into California. I'm going to move it ahead, one more, a couple days here. When the clouds clear, they move away.

We can still see the smoke. It's all over the place, and especially into parts of Washington and Oregon. That's where the air quality alert is even for today. The air isn't that healthy to breathe out there there's so much smoke in the air. And Portland today gets to 99 degrees.

More clouds, more smoke and more wind.

[09:25:00] And wind is truly, truly is the battling here of the fire, because once you get a fire that begins to move and begins to grow in one spot, if you can get a wind gust that blows 10 miles per hour, you can take that ash, you can take that ember and you can send it two miles downstream and start another fire. And that's what this mop-up is all about, to stop those ashes, stop those embers from going any farther than they are right now, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chad Myers, many thanks. I appreciate it.

MYERS: You bet.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: history in the making. What two female soldiers did that more than 280 of their male peers could not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: An historic moment and the U.S. army and American history. For the first time ever, not one, but two female soldiers will graduate from the Army's Ranger School. That's an intensive training program, the combat course so grueling only one-third of those who start it actually finish.