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Three American Heroes Prevented Terror Attack; Protests Growing in Lebanon over Garbage; All Eyes on the Stock Market; Wildfires Rage Across Washington State; Faraway Visitors to Hear Jimmy Carter; Jeb Bush Among Most Critical of Donald Trump. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 23, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And surprise! Twins. Just hours after giving birth to a cub, a giant panda at the national zoo delivered an unexpected second last night. It comes just days after the zoo announced her possible pregnancy. Both cubs appear to be healthy. One of them was placed in an incubator and it will be alternated with the other cub so both get time to bond with mama.

All right. The next hour of the NEWSROOM begins right now.

Hello again, everyone, and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with breaking news out of Beirut. Protests over garbage piling up at a minimum have now turned violent. You are looking at live images right now and you see an awful lot of people gathered there. There's a lot of smoke in the air because there's been a lot on fire. Police are also using water cannons and tear gas on the crowds there. Demonstrators in the thousands calling the piles of refuse an example of government dysfunction.

Our Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Beirut.

So Nick, have things calmed down? I know you said earlier that the piles of trash, that's really just the beginning of the problem that people are upset about.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, how things clam down, hard to tell more broadly. The police have taken the move now to head toward the remnants of the protesters who are behind me further down that road here and they fired a lot of tear gas at them. At one point charging towards them actually.

I can see, I think it is police, now making another rush chasing protesters away from a side street too. They're very much on the advance using tear gas to assist that. How do we get here? Well, Lebanon has been a mess politically for decades many argue. But in the last month or so the dysfunction began to be visible on the streets. You could actually smell the rot at the heart of government because the government won't be able to organize trash collection. It piled up and began to stink. I can stand on my balcony and smell trash wafting in from the streets down below. People set fire to it. A protest movement began on twitter with #youstink. They rallied

people out. The police reacted very harsh to some of their protests. And about last night one larger protest (INAUDIBLE) shot into the air. They scare people away. (INAUDIBLE), they must be bigger numbers. Great fury. In fact, the government itself saying why on earth did they use live rounds in that kind of way to scare people away and forbidding the police to do it in the future?

Today and we don't know who started what and that will be the back and forth in the days ahead, these protesters gathered in large numbers and then a small group of them began clashes with the police. The police used water cannons, the protesters threw rocks and water bottles back. I even saw a road sign being used to projectile at one point. And then the police seems snapped and unleashed a lot of tear gas.

All over this area below, behind me pushing people out, frankly, clearing them away, making a very difficult time for the people down the crowd, staying up extraordinary hard when it gets it into your lungs and in your eyes. They're now chasing it seems groups of protesters down the side streets.

The question is where does it end? What's the concession the government makes to send people home. Is there a whole of (INAUDIBLE) involving clash with the police who don't want to go home anyway? Where do we stand? Many in Lebanon watching the live coverage of this on many channels play out, deeply concerned about where this goes next, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK. And as we look at these images and you see the water cannons in some cases, some of the images earlier, looked like the water cannons were making the fire spread a little bit, making it more dangerous as oppose to. In this picture we're looking at now, water cannons being used on the people, not necessarily on the fire.

WALSH: Well, water cannons are designed as a nonlethal weapon to push protesters back and that's what they have been used here by the police, to push protesters back when they got too close in their mind towards the fence. And there was an issue who judge who started war here.

That fire you're talking about seems to have been a police motorcycle perhaps dragged out by the protesters. As I'm talking, you can hear a few more bangs behind me. That seems to be the police again. They have led a charge down one side street here moving toward a key landmark in Beirut called Martyr's Square where the important blue mosque sits. They're moving towards that. That's them firing tear gas to clear their advance.

But that police motorcycle was set fire as a symbol of defiance from the protesters. The fuel I think seemed to leak and they may cause them to a bigger configuration (ph), but it's now ebbing to some degree and we're seeing the police very much more in control of this central area. This is the heart of government, the parliament and prime minister's residence are here. They seem to be more in control now and they are pushing people down away the side streets, but the tear gas still everywhere -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for that reporting. Appreciate that out of Beirut.

All right. We're also hearing for the first time today from all three Americans who helped prevent what could have been a massacre on a European train. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos shouting "let's go" before tackling and subduing a man armed with guns and a box cutter. You're seeing the exclusive images right here after the fact, after he was already put on the ground, the gunman, that is.

And then today at the U.S. embassy in Paris, the three being hailed as heroes as they sat right alongside the U.S. ambassador to France. And the three talked about their courageous takedown, saying they just acted on instinct.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:33] SKARLATOS: It wasn't really a conscious decision. We just kind of acted. There wasn't much thinking going on, at least on my end. I don't know about them. Spencer?

STONE: No, not at all.

SKARLATOS: He was about -- I don't know. He was skinny, probably 160, 170.

SADLER: About 5'10".

STONE: Well, I trust both my friends very much. And if it wasn't for them, I would have been dead. And so, we all had a critical role in whatever happened. And everyone else that helped, the conductors, the guy at the bathroom, so everyone played their own part. No one specifically is to praise, I feel like, so --

SADLER: I know for me personally, I don't know what I would have done if I was by myself. I don't know. I saw Spencer get up, I saw Alek get up, and those are my close friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So those three amigos really in it all the way together. Well, they're going to be very busy over the next few days. Tomorrow, they will meet French president Francois Hollande at the palace along with a variety of French dignitaries. Anthony Sadler is expected to return to the U.S. soon but Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone will head to Germany for medical treatment and evaluation at U.S. military instillation.

All right. We're covering all aspects of this story for you. Polo Sandoval is following the heroes' story from New York, CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd is in Memphis and also in New York Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI special agent.

All right, good to see all of you gentlemen. So Polo, let me begin with you because this is a remarkable story.

And to hear it in their own words just is even better. So here they are traveling in Europe together, these friends that go way back to, you know, middle school and instincts really did kick in. What more did we learn about the decisions they made and how they made them?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what's so remarkable here too, Fred, is the sheer level of humility from these three individuals. They are three heroes, as you mentioned, have known each other since they were children and now that bond that they have between each other is likely going to grow stronger after what they experienced on that train in Paris on Friday. And now we're learning more about air force fuel medic Spencer Stone. He is out of the hospital, as we just saw, back with his friends and sharing his story publicly for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STONE: It feels very unreal. It feels like a dream.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Bearing the visible reminders of a bloody confrontation, U.S. airman Spencer Stone relives the moment he led a charge against a gunman onboard a French train.

STONE: I turned around and saw that he had what looked to be an ak- 47. It looked like it was jammed or wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon. And Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said "let's go."

SANDOVAL: Those two words rallied three friends together. Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler sprang into action tackling the gun- wielding man.

SADLER: When we entered the car we saw him cocking the ak-47. So at that time, he would be to do something that die.

STONE: Alek came up and grab the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold.

SKARLATOS: I didn't really have much of a state of awareness. It wasn't really a conscious decision, we just kind of acted.

SANDOVAL: The attack was eventually tied down by Sadler and a British passenger but not before nearly severing Stone's thumb with a box cutter. Battered and bloody, Stone rushed to help not himself, but another injured passenger.

STONE: I just went over and saw that he was squirting blood out of the left or right side of his neck. I just stuck two of my fingers in the hole. Found what I thought to be the artery, pushed down and the bleeding stop. And so, I said thank God and held off that until the paramedics got there.

SANDOVAL: Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler shrugged off the title of hero. They credit instinct and the bond they have shared since childhood. STONE: I trust both my friends very much. And if it wasn't for them,

I would have been dead. And so we all had a critical role in what happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Yes, critical indeed. And now, we are learning that those three heroes almost didn't end up at the right place at the right time. You see we heard during that press conference that they initially had first class tickets when they boarded that train in Amsterdam. They couldn't find their seats so simply grabbed whatever seat they could in a coach car, Fred. It wasn't until the Wi-Fi began to malfunction that they decided to claim their first class fare. They went to that first class car which is where this all played out. Call it luck, call it fate, whatever it was, Fred, it saved countless lives.

[15:10:05] WHITFIELD: Yes. And no matter what we're all just so in awe of the action that they took, the instincts that they had and really that friendship that bond that real brotherhood between them.

Thanks so much. Polo Sandoval, appreciate that.

All right, Alek Skarlatos, one of the three went to Europe to vacation with his friends, and unknowingly what would happen and how they would eventually return home as heroes. Well, yesterday his proud father spoke with me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: How much did you know about these three friends, and it goes way back, right, to middle school?

EMMANUEL SKARLATOS, ALEK SKARLATOS' FATHER: It goes way back to their childhood. And in fact was neighbor where Alek grew up. And Alek came to live with me when he was about 13.

WHITFIELD: OK. So that is so sweet that they have been friends forever, really like brothers it sounds like.

E. SKARLATOS: Absolutely. It is really astonishing that all three of them were together. Alek comes back from Afghanistan unscathed and then they go on a vacation in Europe on a train. That's when the real action happens for them.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

E. SKARLATOS: It's crazy. It really is crazy.

WHITFIELD: It really is, and that their instincts would just kick in. I mean, clearly, you know, as military, you know, men, they have the training, they have the instincts, but you know, it's another thing to be sleeping, as you mentioned, you know, on the train and that Alek would, you know, awaken them as soon as he hears or sees something is awry and that they all jump into action. Of course they are being heroes. E. SKARLATOS: I asked him what made him react like that. He said

instinct and he went into survival mode because he knew not only would passengers be shot but they were passengers too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more about this from the military point of view from my next guest here, former Navy SEAL and former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam and CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd joining us from Memphis.

All right. So this is really remarkable what we're learning about how these young men worked together and how they responded when they heard something strange, when they saw things that went awry.

So Jonathan, you know, talk to me about, you know, that kind of training that you think might be at the root of how these men were able to jump into action, even though they were, you know, resting. We heard them talk about at the embassy today, we heard the dad just say they were resting, but then as soon as they noticed something was wrong, they jumped into action.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Fred, there's a thing that we say in law enforcement and the military, action always beats reaction. What you have to look at is the differences between those two things. A reaction is typically something that is molded by a response to a situation. And you kind of let the situation dictate how you're going to act. Action is built on -- I tried to break it down where people can look at it in three different things. And these individuals said all of this.

An understanding of the environment in which they are in. They all said that they sat down in this first class car but they were very aware of the situation, especially when this individual walked in. Once they decided they had to act, they committed mentally to the action. Once they commit mentally to that action, they have to commit to ending that action and carrying it all the way through. If you act and then you stop, the chances are that your counter attack is not going to be successful. And these are things that anyone can do. Walk into a situation or into an environment, understand that environment. If you have to act, make a mental commitment to it and then follow that commitment all the way through to the end.

WHITFIELD: So, Phil, I wonder maybe there are certain aspects that maybe anyone is capable of doing, but they really did make some very key choices. We heard Alek describe that, you know, once Spencer, you know, tackled, got on top of the gunman, Alek then got the pistol, pushed it away and Spencer was able to use that, you know, rifle as a weapon to sort of knock him out and detain him. But that to me speaks of military training.

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I think it would be a lot to expect people in the everyday public to do this. I mean, you're talking about first the initial action to run to danger. Second, the ability to disarm this fellow. I do think and my biggest concern in watching what is a terrific story is that this will be become emblematic of what we see in this new phase of terrorism. Look, ten years ago the federal government could look at secret cells trained by Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and planning in secret in New York City or on the west coast. Now we have the ISIS model of saying we're not going to train secret cells. The federal government in France or the U.S. or the U.K. is not going to see them, it's going to be somebody that walks on a train. So I worry that the cases in the future will confront people who don't have this training, who don't have the training to immediately react or to act run to danger. I'm worried this is the wave of the future.

WHITFIELD: And then what likely or can you -- either one of you kind of paint a picture of what Alek and Spencer will encounter. They are likely to because they are, you know, U.S. military personnel. They will be heading to Germany presumably to a U.S. military installation for further questioning as well as further physical examination.

Jonathan, what will they encounter or help, you know? Help us all understand what will be some of the questions that will be asked?

[15:15:19] GILLIAM: I'm sure they're going to get a typical debriefing of the entire situation. They're also going to get a force protection briefing. Because Fred, as Phil would tell you, they're now public figures. And not just public figures, but they're also members of the United States military. So they in themselves could likely become targets possibly if they're spotted by somebody who's wanting to kill out one of these simple attacks. So they're going to get a force protection briefing to remind them to always be aware but they are also going to get a debrief where they try to military intelligence tries to learn as much from this as possible.

WHITFIELD: And then of course the suspect, what we're learning now, Ayoub El-Khazzani, this young person who, you know was wearing this, you know, rifle, who had a pistol, who had a box cutter and now according to various reports French police did have him on a so-called s list, which meant that he had engaged in suspicious activity that involved his travel, possible travel to Turkey, possible interest in traveling to Syria.

So, Phil, it sounds like authorities are saying at this point all they had was suspicion but they had no reason to actually detain or arrest him. What do they do with the kind of information that they have collected on him and now as a result of this act as a suspected terrorist, how will this shape or change the way they treat or watch other people of suspicion?

MUDD: I'm not sure it can change the way we watch people that much because of the volume problem they're facing in Europe. We have a lesser problem here in the United States. But even if you're talking about 500 targets to follow, that is 500 individuals who might have gone to Syria via Turkey.

In my world of intelligence and security, that is an insurmountable group of people to follow, you just can't do it. I would say the interesting story in the past day is we're focused on what happened in that train car. The world I lived in, that game is just getting under way. I want to see cell phones, laptops. I want to see where he lived, I want to talk to his neighbors. As you are suggesting, there are the follow-on questions the next few days and security professionals are spending the week in working on that say, are there lessons about what route he used to travel to Turkey. Are there names on his cell phone that suggest there's a broader network? We have a lot of questions still to answer here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam, Phil Mudd, thanks to both of you gentlemen. Really appreciate it.

MUDD: Thank you.

GILLIAM: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, all eyes are on the stock market looking ahead to tomorrow's opening bell after Friday's massive sell- off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:13] WHITFIELD: All right, Monday likely to be an interesting day on Wall Street as the markets look to rebound, but as investors brace for possibly more wrinkles after Friday's sell-off, that doesn't mean that you should start selling off any of your investments in your 401(k)s.

So CNN's Cristina Alesci joins us now from New York.

So Cristina, help comfort people. Apparently there are five things that investors need to know or people need to do so that they don't panic.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's number one is not to panic. And what you do from here really depends on your investment gold goals. And if you're talking about retirement specifically, you have to realize that for most people who are in the stock market, they're looking at long-term performance. That's 10, 20 years out. If you're looking at retirement much sooner than that, then you probably shouldn't be invested in the stock market because that's considered a relatively risky place to invest. So you really have to just take a step back and analyze, really focus on your individual circumstance.

Now, some people in the market, some of my sources are obviously telling me, hey, this could be a good time to buy, right? These dips could be an opportunity to get stuff on the cheap because, a, the U.S. probably won't go into recession any time soon. And from a historical standpoint maybe stocks aren't really that expensive, so you can get some bargains. But I would caution anyone -- I would caution against doing anything based on one day's performance. You're going to have to see how this really plays out over the next couple of months really to make a decision. And no one really knows what's going to happen from here. And anybody who says that they do is just dead wrong. You could have another 10 percent drop, stocks could come up a little bit and then drop more, so it really just depends.

WHITFIELD: So this all goes back to the don't panic just on what we learned on Friday. Don't think that things are going to completely change, complete role reversal come Monday but give it time. We talk about interest rates, all of that that might change, that's not until later on in September, right?

ALESCI: Well, most investors until this, you know, technical correction, which was this 10 percent drop that we saw on Friday, most investors were looking to the fed to raise rates in September. Remember, raising rates kind of takes that stimulus out of the economy that we had been seeing for the last couple of years, so investors are kind of watching that. But keep in mind that it's not so much when the fed starts to raise rates, it's how much they will raise them by over the next, you know, couple of years really. Because they're going to go probably pretty slow. Any acceleration of raising rates, that's going to cause concern for investors because, like I said, that zero interest rate that we have has been functioning as a stimulus to the U.S. economy.

WHITFIELD: All right, got it. Cristina, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

All right, an unprecedented effort is under way to fight wildfires in the west. For the first time ever, civilians are joining in that fight. We'll tell you what they will be doing, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:15] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone, thanks for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Wildfires continue to rage across the state of Washington. The governor there calling the situation unprecedented. For the first time ever, the department of natural resources is calling on civilians to join the fight against the fires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT WALKER, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: We want to make sure that anybody we send out there on the fire lines has at least the basic training to get out there and do the job and do the job safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Our Stephanie Elam is in Washington State on Lake Chelan.

You're in a boat, you're assessing a lot of the damage, these very difficult to get to lakeside homes. The damage is extensive.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's demolishing in some places, Fredricka. And this was really the only way. We were up on the road yesterday and we tried to get down here but the roads are blocked off here. So this is also still part of an evacuation area. But you can see where the fire raced down this hillside. This was the first creek fire. And how it just took out these homes here. Several lakeside homes on this beautiful lake here in central Washington State. Burning through -- it's crazy, though, because you look at how it took out these homes here and you pan just to the right and you can see those homes there are completely untouched.

But one thing you can probably also tell is the air quality here and that's an issue as far as visibility and attacking this fire from the sky. You may hear in the distance there's a sound of a helicopter. He's been coming in here and pulling water from the lake to go fight the fire. In fact he's coming back in this way right now overhead.

And this is good. The visibility is expected to clear up, which in general is a good thing because that means they can also fight this fire from the skies. But that also means that the air quality lifting and clearing means that these fires may actually burn brighter and stronger. And if the winds change directions, many of these homes that have already see the fire go through their area could also be vulnerable once again. And so, that is why they have so many people fighting these fires. And in total there are 16 fires burning in Washington State. It is just a devastating situation for so many people here, Fred.

[15:30:24] WHITFIELD: And so, while you've got the aircraft just flying overhead, it is going to be, you know, using their buckets to get some of that water there in the lake, talk to me about how people are either being trained or how they are being entrusted to join firefighters to try to, you know, fight these blazes safely.

ELAM: Yes, it's a multi-tier process that they are doing here. Because I can tell you about 700 folks with the Washington National Guard have been brought into this area to help fight the fires. I think we are going to -- we might be able to show you a pickup of water here so I'll keep my eye on that. But they're doing that and they are having another 200 there to relieve them as well. And then what they're asking people who have any sort of training related to these, something that may help fight a fire -- I'm going to go ahead and show you this shot. Go ahead and show.

So what that is a helicopter that can actually scoop up water straight from the lake and then take it and deploy it to the fire line. It is really fantastic to see. It never gets old every single time you watch it. But you see that long hose of coming down from this helicopter. He's going to drop that right into the lake her. He is going to sit there for a few seconds, pull up thousands of gallons of water and then take it and go fight the fire line. And he is doing that now for about an hour or so. We've been watching him do it. So, as you can see there, they are pulling up the water.

These are all the ways they can fight the fire. So when it lifts some of the smoke here, they have more visibility they can fight from the sky. So this is actually a really huge way to help out, have those water resources drop so that the firefighters that are out there have some help coming in to aid them because it is hot out here. And if the winds pick back up, it could be a very dangerous situation. But that is really a lot of what's going on there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That is a pretty magnificent view because traditionally, in many cases you'd see choppers that have buckets and then they dip and then they take it and move on. But then in this case to have this kind of hose which presumably as you were describing can take in so much more water and now go directly to the location where it's going to drop that water.

How far from where you are as we watch it now in the horizon, about how far is the nearest blaze where that chopper might be going?

ELAM: There are multiple ones. There's multiple fires. In fact there's a fire complex and they're calling it a complex because it's multiple fires that have come together. And we've driven up there. It's north of here. It took about an hour to get there. Obviously for a helicopter that's not as hard to get to. So there's different fires burning around that they are fighting and trying to get the resources in, especially as the temperatures are expected to rise throughout this week coming up. That's part of what they can do. And the lake obviously is a great resource for that and it's a natural break and natural divider to keep embers from blowing to another side or blowing to another area.

But again, it all depends on the weather and the winds. And if the winds change, many of these homes that were spared this time could be a danger again because there's still evacuation orders going north up this lake.

WHITFIELD: Right. That was my next question. With those homes that seem to be untouched by fire, there is still a natural threat for those homes?

ELAM: Right. We're towards the southern end of Lake Chelan. And if you keep going up, we drove up along sort of the path of this river. And if you take a look out, the air quality gets bad but you can see there are homes throughout this area. And so, because of that, this is part of the concern is that there's hot spots through here. Part of the reason why the air quality disappears and gets worse down there is because there's still little hot spots out there that are burning. And with that happening, if the winds change, these homes down at the front could be in trouble. And so that, we were actually watching people get their luggage and pull out of their homes further north along the lake because the fires are so close up on the ridge.

WHITFIELD: All right, great job, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. And great view of how difficult that task is right there at Lake Chelan in Washington. Thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, we'll hear from the brother of one of the three Americans who stopped a terror attack on a European train.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:41] WHITFIELD: All right. The suspect behind the thwarted train terror attack has been identified as Ayoub El-Khazzani, a Moroccan national. Authorities say he is linked to radical Islamists. And officials say there are strong indications that he traveled from Europe to Turkey between May and July to possibly join ISIS in Syria. But even as we learn more about the suspect, the story is really about the three American heroes who helped take him down. Earlier we heard from them recount the ordeal from the U.S. embassy in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: I just woke up from the middle of a deep sleep and my friend, Anthony -- I mean Alek was sitting next to me. Anthony was across to my right side. And I turned around and I saw he had what looked to be an ak-47. He looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon. Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said "let's go." And ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground. Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold. It seems like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right. Pulled out a handgun. Alek took that. Took out a box cutter and started jabbing at me with that. We let go. All three of us started punching him while he's in the middle of us and I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with a pistol or rifle, I can't really remember. But that's pretty much what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. And those three Americans will be honored tomorrow at the French president's Elisi (ph) palace. And then we understand that one of them will be making their way back to the U.S. and the other two, because of their military connections, they will be going on to Germany for further medical follow-up at U.S. installations there.

All right. Coming up, in spite of his brain cancer diagnosis, former president Jimmy Carter is back doing what he loves, teaching Sunday school. We'll have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:43:21] WHITFIELD: All right. People came from as far away as Africa to hear former president Jimmy Carter do what he loves today, to teach Sunday school at his church in Plains, Georgia. The country witnessed a frank, open and unafraid man talk about his brain cancer diagnosis on Thursday and then today he talked about his treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was found that I had cancer so they removed part of my liver and they think they got all the cancer from my liver. But then we had another MRI and it showed up that I have four places in my brain. And so this Thursday they treated that with radiation and I'm taking some additional medicine to stimulate my autoimmune system to fight against the cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Our Nick Valencia is outside of the Baptist church in Plains, Georgia. He is joining us on the phone right now. So what was that service like this morning, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Hey there, Fredricka. You can tell just how incredibly important it was for the people visiting outside of plains. For those who live here, well, they have become kind of accustomed to seeing President Carter deliver the Sunday school message.

According to his grandson, this is the 689th time that President Carter has taught Sunday school. But this is the first time that he's done so since publicly announcing that he was diagnosed with cancer. He started the service at ease. If you ask some people here, he seems very spry and even for being 90 years old, some would say he looks better than your average 90-year-old.

He asked where some people where they were from. And the crowd, some people said they come from as far as Ghana, others said that they were from Guatemala.

I spoke to one woman who drive eight hours from North Carolina with her family. She said for a very special reason.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:45:02] WANDA NEWMAN, ATTENDED SERVICE: When we had our son last year, we picked the name carter in honor of President Jimmy Carter.

VALENCIA: Your son is named after president carter.

NEWMAN: That's correct. And we wanted since then when he turned one year, we had decided that we will come here so he can meet him. And last week was his birthday, so we came because it was his birthday.

[15:00:00] VALENCIA: It was too much for him. He's so tired. He had such a good experience he's passed out here?

NEWMAN: He's passed out. He had been in the line since early in the morning. It was eight hours on the road yesterday and we're going to be eight hours today, so he's really tired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: This church usually gets about 40 parishioners on average per week. Today the number was closer to 400 inside that church. Another 300 filled a nearby auditorium. Now, they could not hear the Sunday school message so President Carter did something pretty unusual. He went over there to the auditorium and delivered a second Sunday school message to those folks that were waiting over there. His message, Fredricka, was one of love, of challenges and overcoming obstacles, getting resolution through conflict.

And he also briefly addressed his cancer diagnosis saying that he had had his first radiation treatment and that he was getting additional medicine intravenously to try to boost his autoimmune defenses. He said despite all of this that he's committed to his very busy and hectic schedule, although I doubt anyone would blame him if he took a break. But he says he has no plans on it. He hoped to take a trip to Nepal with the habitat for humanity. And also continue teaching at Emery University and keep teaching here on Sundays as long as it's in the bounds of his physical and mental capabilities, he says, Fred. WHITFIELD: What an incredible service and what an incredible treat

for all the people who turned out, you know, for those events.

So then, Nick, were there tickets involved? Was it a matter of people just lining up and waiting? You said usually it's a service of 40 people. But instead, you had 400 in the sanctuary and another 200, you know, down the street. How did they accommodate them? How did they get in?

VALENCIA: You know, we were here last night because Ross Lynn Carter had her 88th birthday party here. And people were talking about it already. We ran into, as we were setting up for our live shots today- yesterday, we ran into somebody who was here at 8:00 p.m. last night trying to convince the church that he could stay outside in order to be the first in line. They took mercy on him, sent him back to his hotel and he eventually was let in very early this morning.

But some others weren't as fortunate. There were many turned away when we showed up at 6:00 a.m. There was already a line of 60, 80 people. By 7:00 a.m., it swelled to 150 and by 8:00 a.m., there was well over 300 people in line queued, waiting to get inside.

The secret service was, of course, obviously here because Jimmy Carter is a former president. He's flanked by secret service officers. So that sweep happened. People waited a few hours to get in. The Sunday school service eventually started at about 10:00 a.m. and people stayed through noon. And afterwards a very special thing that we actually got to be a part of. Everyone was able to take a picture with Rosalyn Carter and Jimmy Carter, a special sort of cherry on top of the cake for everyone that showed up to see him and hear him speak, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So nice, a very special day for everyone there and special day for the Carters as well.

All right, thanks so much, Nick Valencia. Appreciate it.

VALENCIA: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, Donald Trump sounding off again about illegal immigration. We'll tell you what he said this morning and his thoughts on rival Jeb Bush.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:40] WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump is sounding off again on U.S. immigration problem and continuing his war of words with Jeb Bush. In an interview this morning on ABC's "this week" with George Stephanopoulos," Trump didn't necessarily agree with the estimates that it would cost up to $600 billion to round up and deport all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants, but he did say it would cost millions and he still held his ground, saying a wall is the answer. Trump also denied a report in "New York" magazine that he told a friend that if he went down as a candidate, Jeb Bush would go down with him. But he then said Bush doesn't have what it takes to be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't mind Jeb Bush. I think he's a nice person. I just don't think he has the energy. You need energy for this job. You can't be soft. And we need -- we're a country that's in trouble. We need a person with a lot of smarts, a lot of cunning and a lot of energy. And Jeb doesn't have that. I think he's a very nice person. If he became president, good luck. It's another Bush, it's going to be the same old story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Of all the Republican presidential candidates, Jeb Bush has been one of the most critical of Donald Trump, especially on his immigration plans. Here's what Bush told reporters following a campaign town hall in New Hampshire earlier in the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you just huge just, you know, choose just kind of a tidal wave of accusations or bombastic talk, there's a lot of people that share the immigrant experience. And when they hear this, what they hear is you don't think I'm part of this. You don't think I'm part of this country. I know that for a fact because I have hundreds of people that tell that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So with me now from Washington is CNN's Athena Jones.

So, it looks like Trump is setting the agenda on immigration or at least driving the conversation. And it's compelling a lot of the other candidates to either respond to what he has to say or clarify what they believe on issues that Donald Trump is instigating.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's true. He has been driving the conversation. He says something, all of the other candidates are forced to respond and it goes around and around in a circle. And Fred, I mean, you remember at his campaign launch at the beginning of the summer back in June, that is when he used those offensive rhetoric about immigrants crossing the border from Mexico. And so, it brought this immigration to be up early.

I mean, presumably it would have come up at some point because it is an issue of concern to a lot of voters, but he made it happen now. And so, you have the other candidates was spotted. There you heard Jeb Bush talking about the need to tone down the rhetoric, to be more inclusive. He said at that town hall you win when you talk about other people's aspirations, not about how rich you are or how great you are, clear references to Donald Trump.

He also said you win when you campaign like this, he said, with open arms rather than pointing fingers at people. But like I said, he's setting the agenda. Jeb Bush is heading tomorrow down to the Texas- Mexico border to McAllen, Texas. He'll be meeting with local officials. But it was just last month that Donald Trump made his own trip down to that same border to Laredo, Texas. So once again he's out front and candidates like Bush are following.

WHITFIELD: In the meantime both men have received criticism about the use of the term "anchor babies," referring to undocumented immigrants who have babies in the U.S. who end up having citizenship. What more is being said or where is that debate going?

JONES: Well, this is really interesting I think because this is a rare point of agreement between Bush and Trump. Here you have Bush who said, listen, I'm the adult in the room. I'm going to be the inclusive one. I'm not going to say offensive, bombastic things. And yet both of these men use the term "anchor baby" which a lot of people find offensive, not just Latinos, not just people on the left, but people on the right and the left. And both of them use essentially the same defense when reporters asked them about using that term. They said, hey, you know, give me another term. What other term should I use? They settled on the term anchor baby.

Now, for the record, some of the suggestions we've heard from folks like Hillary Clinton, the term should be babies or children or American citizens. So that was a really interesting point this weekend. One more point to make about that is that the Hispanic leadership network, which was the center right group that Jeb Bush was a co-chair of and advisor for, it's since disbanded, but back in 2013 that group put out a memo saying people shouldn't use the term "anchor baby" because it's offensive. Bush's campaign told me he wasn't aware of that memo at the time and he didn't sign it the way Trump suggested that he did.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones in Walker, thank you so much.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. So much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.