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American Heroes in Paris Tell Their Stories; Army Deployed After Protests in Beirut; Wildfires Destroy 200 Homes; The Rise of GOP Outsiders; Hundreds Attend Jimmy Carter's Sunday School; Should the U.S. Give More Paid Leave to Parents. Aired 6-7:05p ET

Aired August 23, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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


[18:00:00] CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We have to do this on our own without the help of the Fed.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we have to. It's been so many years since we've done that. Cristina, thank you very much. She'll be live at the New York Stock Exchange all day tomorrow morning watching happens when that opening bell rings.

The next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.

(MUSIC)

HARLOW: Top of the hour, I'm Poppy Harlow. Six o'clock Eastern this Sunday evening, we begin with a story of three American heroes.

Three American friends on vacation in Europe certainly did not plan to become heroes, but that's exactly what happened. Today, they sat with the U.S. ambassador. Tomorrow, they will meet with the president of France, who wants to thank them in person for stopping what would have been a massacre on a train headed for Paris.

Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos today, they told reporters how they saw a man with a rifle and just jumped into action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIRMAN 1ST CLASS SPENCER STONE, U.S. AIR FORCE: It's kind of a long story, but I kind of just woke up from the middle of a deep sleep and my friend Anthony -- Alek was sitting next to me, Anthony was to my right side. I turned around and I saw he had what looked to be a AK- 47. And he -- looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working, he was trying to charge the weapon, and Alek just hit me on the shoulder, 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. Seemed he kept pulling more weapons left and right. Pulled out a handgun, Alek took that.

ANTHONY SADLER, HELPED TAKE DOWN TRAIN SHOOTER: The gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not gotten up. I look going forward, in times of like terror like that to please do something, don't just stand by and watch. SPECIALIST ALEK SKARLATOS, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: I feel our training

mostly kicked in after he was subdued, frankly, when it came to mental preparedness and things like that, and making sure there was not another shooter, but in the beginning, it was mostly just gut instinct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Gut instinct. The three men have already gotten a phone call from President Obama.

Also today, more deals are emerging about the gunman and his possible motivations.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, those three young men described by so many as heroes gave their account of what happened. They describe this attack on the train as being about 165, 170 pounds weight, about 5'10" tall, he was silent, they said, as he was trying to attack the people in the train, and when they sprung into action to take him down, he clearly struggled, they said, quite extensively. Spencer Stone was injured.

This is his account of what happened.

STONE: He turned around and I saw that he had what looked to be AK-47 and he 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, 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 seemed like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right, pulled out a handgun. Alek took that. Took out a box cutter, started jabbing at me with that. We let go, all three of us started punching him while he was 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 the pistol or rifle.

ROBERTSON: The attacker has been identified as a young Moroccan, Ayoub el Khazzani, he has a track record, if you will, all the way across Europe from Spain, to France, to Belgium, of associating with radical Islamists. The Belgians say that they are investigating radical Islamic groups he's been associated with. The French continue to question him here in Paris.

And also concerns about time that he spent outside of Europe in Turkey between May and July this year. They say counterterrorism officials in Europe tell us they believe he associated with a French ISIS cell inside Turkey. They don't know if he managed to get to Syria or not, but that French ISIS in Turkey, they believe, directed a young Algerian student in Paris in April this year to attempt to attack a church. That attack was thwarted, but the association that they believe Khazzani has with this same French ISIS cell in Turkey now causing great concern.

But, of course, the French wanting to find out right now, does he have associates, are there more threats, are there more attacks imminent? But for the three men, these young Americans described as heroes, they will be meeting very soon with the French President Francois Hollande, and the prime minister, and the foreign minister, and the interior minister, and the transport minister, a red carpet event, if you will, at the French palace Elysee early on Monday morning.

The French here really feeling that these men saved so many lives and deserve significant thanks and gratitude for that.

[18:05:07] Nic Robertson, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. With me now to discuss, Bob Baer, former CIA operative and CNN security and intelligence analyst.

Bob, let's look at some of what we know about this gunman. We know his DNA was already on file with Spanish authorities. We know that according to a senior European counterterrorism official he was linked to investigations already into radical Islamic networks.

What kind of surveillance would he be under given those two things?

BOB BAER, CNN SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Poppy, I think at this point, if they had no evidence he was going to commit a crime or violence, they would simply be watching his phone, his most recent address, watching his e-mail accounts, but these people have learned to stay off, you know, all sorts of networks like that. I mean, they go silent when they are ready to attack, so the French move people up the list as they think they are moving toward violence and somebody like him, you know, fell at the bottom or in the middle and there's simply not the resources in Europe to follow somebody like this cross borders or even in France.

HARLOW: But then what do the authorities do? Because it's not the first time something like this has happened.

BAER: Well, the problem is if somebody expresses sympathy to the rebels in Syria and Iraq doesn't mean you're going to turn to violence.

HARLOW: Right.

BAER: It's going to turn to terrorism. It's really, really hard to get in somebody's head. They have to make that commitment and when they do it, they are probably talking to an individual, these people are very compartmented, there's no organization that you can readily identify, and it's done from, you know, mouth-to-mouth, these plans like this.

HARLOW: It appears, according to a source telling CNN, he was sort of in touch with ISIS members, potentially being radicalized by them. What do you think the sort of one-off lone attacks, you've got Charlie

Hebdo, you have this with just one man, you've got, you know, a number of these, what happened in the museum in Tunisia. What does that tell us about the state of terror these days? BAER: Well, the terrorists have learned the strength of weak links.

You don't actually set up an organization in country, you just find adherents, you indoctrinate them in a place like turkey or Syria, send them back, tell them where to pick up a weapon and that's what makes it so difficult for the Europeans to track these people down, as for the United States.

I mean, the real problem in Europe now is this flood of contraband and people coming in. They can't keep track of. When I served in Europe, finding a Kalashnikov on the black market was nearly impossible.

But, you know, the fall of the wall, stuff coming in from Albania, Serbia, the rest of it, Europeans have a real problem on their hands and they can't get to the heart of this, especially if the Turks aren't doing their job. And, of course, the Syrians aren't helping, and there's no government to help there.

HARLOW: Yes. All right, Bob Baer, important analysis. Thank you.

Coming up next, chaos erupting on the streets of Beirut. You're looking at live pictures, just about 1:00 a.m. there in Beirut. The capital of Lebanon, angry protesters early this evening clashing with police, now the government rolling in to try to keep order.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: The Lebanese army has been deployed to keep order in central Beirut after a night of chaos that left 49 people injured. Thousands of protesters have been facing off with riot police, who unleashed tear gas and water cannons into the crowd. A trash crisis was the catalyst for this anger. Behind it all, though, is fury over government corruption and political paralysis.

CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live for us this evening in Beirut, Bob Baer, former CIA operative, also back with us for some analysis.

Nick to you first, the army has rolled in?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The army has rolled in in pretty substantial numbers. We've seen a column of their army rolling past here outside the prime minister's residence where all the protests began earlier today. And I think their presence seems to be in very substantial number. They're often here providing security, but never in this kind of presence. That will tamp down that sense of anarchy we've seen in the past seven hours or so.

But let me wind you back, Poppy, as to how we got here. Why the center of government, the center of the city, Beirut, turned into street battles in just the last few hours. It started really with an inability of the government to collect trash. It's a basic thing you expect the state to do. They couldn't for weeks. It piled up in the streets stinking, catching fire, causing people to realize how dysfunctional the government is here.

Fifty months they've been unable to do something as simple as decide who the president is supposed to be. Parliament elects him here.

So, people angry out on the streets in increasing numbers. And last night, while the police acted very tough against them, they fired a lot of live ammunition into the air and it caused great fear and 99 injuries, 23 of them needed to go to the hospital. That caused condemnation frankly from anybody, from the politicians who ran the police, to pretty much everybody in Beirut furious about the heavy handed response.

The numbers behind me, at 6:00 local time today, that's 11:00 where you are on the east coast, were about 5,000. Mostly peaceful, but a small minority began clashing with police, throwing rocks at them, throwing even a road sign, sitting fire to a motorcycle, the police responded with water cannons, pushing them back, and then eventually, it seems the police lost their temper and fired an enormous volley of tear gas, pushing protesters back into the side streets around me, running clashes, increasing tear gas, and now the question is, as we count the injured, over 40 as you mentioned, probably from the protesters' side and the police are saying 30 of their people injured, too.

What happens next? The politicians, dysfunctional, pretty silent, frankly, given the chaos engulfing the capital. The army, they are clinging, trying to have a last word on the streets by swamping the place with security.

The protesters, they are really not sure I think what comes next. It didn't go as planned, this kind of violence is definitely not what they wanted and it's not clear if they are going to call people out in the streets tomorrow. They don't frankly have a clear or strong leadership.

Beirut very worried because it doesn't like this kind of unrest. Clearly, Lebanese troubled, this is one of the only places in the whole region that's not been caught up by conflict recently. That stability may well be ending -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, terrifying thought, since it has been one of the most stable places in the region. Nick Paton Walsh live for us this evening in Beirut. Thank you.

Bob, to you. A, how concerning is it if we do see a toppling of government in Beirut and the lack of security that would come with it, and, B, this has been more than a decade in the making.

BAER: Exactly. It's been longer. Really the civil war was never completely over in the '90s. Major divisions, religious divisions, and the rest of them, there's also the question of Hezbollah.

[18:15:00] But on top of it, you have the army, which is fragile. It's multi-confessional. In 1975, it broke up. It's continued to be divided between the different sects and Christians and Muslims.

You also have on the border Syria, a lot of fighting comes across the border. So far, the Army's been able to contain it. The Sunni community is fairly passive in Lebanon, but will that last forever? Don't forget that demonstrations drove the Syrians out in 2005 after the assassination of Rafic Hariri.

HARLOW: Is what Lebanon needs a new government at this point? If they cannot meet what the protesters are saying, they cannot meet the basic needs of their people, is a new government need?

BAER: They've always needed a new government since '43, this government has been inherently unstable and what's causing the Lebanese so many problems is the Arab spring and the Islamic state. It's right on their border. I just don't see how they cannot be affected in a very major way by the fighting in Syria.

HARLOW: Yes. All right, Bob Baer, thank you very much, as always, for that analysis.

Also want to take you now back to the United States. Washington state in focus right now. Smoldering ashes are all that remain of hundreds of homes there burned by those wildfires. Stephanie Elam is there live -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:14] HARLOW: All right. We want to update you on the state of emergency this evening in Washington state. Civilian volunteers are now joining the fight against giant wildfires that have scorched nearly 400,000 acres. Already 200 homes have been destroyed, another 12,000 structures are at risk.

CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us from one of the hardest hit areas in Washington state.

Stephanie, what are you seeing?

ELAM: It's really unbelievable when you see it up close, Poppy. We are actually in Lake Chelan here in Washington state and the reason we're in the lake is because this is the only way we can show you what has happened here.

This is from the First Creek Fire, and I want to pan over here and show you just how these lakefront homes were devastated here. You can see there's still some smoldering behind this one building here and how the trees, the bark charred from how hot this fire was coming through here.

So, hot, in fact, that if you take a look, you can see the piers and the docks of some of these houses are burned out. But then at the same time you'll see some green grass that was spared. It's really very finicky and a very scary prospect because of that when you don't know how these fires are going to come through here. You see these docks are burned out. Further down here, you can see

the boats are burned out, as well. And overall, we know that there's 16 wildfires burning within Washington state right now. Some 520,000 acres that are still burning at this point in central and eastern Washington.

And like you said, those 12,000 homes and structures that are in the threat of wildfires. And so, what they are doing is they are coming to the lake here using it as a resource with a big helicopter, also with another helicopter with a bucket. They are dipping in, getting water, and taking it out to the fire line, and the reason why that's so important is because the air quality, believe it or not, is actually getting better here. And as that happens, more oxygen gets into those fires, those hot spots, and that means the fires can flare back up.

If the winds pick up, then those flames and embers can fly around. And if they do, the homes safe, that are fine, could be in danger again. So, it's a very precarious situation and that's why they are not messing around. That's why the National Guard is here and they are asking for volunteers, because for Washington state, this is a huge, huge resource drainer. So much so we just saw that California is sending firefighters.

HARLOW: Wow.

ELAM: They are on their way up to Washington state to help out, as well, Poppy.

HARLOW: What about the civilians that are volunteering? I mean, what are they doing? Because they don't have the training that the firefighters have.

ELAM: Right. So they are looking for people who may know how to use heavy equipment, maybe they can help dig a fire line. Maybe they can get out and get a shovel, whatever you can do, but they are looking for people that may have skills and techniques that will be easily related to the work they need to do here but not necessarily put them in complete harm's way, because that's not what they do.

But when you look at what this devastation does, and just to show you some more of it, you can see why it's important for them to get as much help as they can, because this is a pretty rural area when you get away from this beautiful lake, which is a summertime vacation area. You get away from here and it gets very rural, cell phone service gets spotty.

We drove up north of the lake to see what happens and you can see when you're out there just how far apart these homes are, how wooded they are, and how dangerous they can be.

And just look how close we get to homes that are completely fine after a home right next door burned down. So, it's just a very scary situation out here, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely, we hope they get some reprieve soon. Stephanie, thank you for that.

Also, for the first time we are hearing from three young American heroes after they took down a suspected terrorist on a French train. What happened, hear from them in their own words next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:04] HARLOW: All right. I want to show you when we woke up to in New York this morning. This is the cover of "The New York Post", and it says, "Brave airmen who tackled a terrorist, a true American hero." He, one of three American heroes being hailed after risking their own lives to take down a gunman on a high speed train in Europe. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos, they didn't t hesitate to tackle and subdue the gunman, even though he was armed with heavy ammunition. They are speaking out today for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIRMAN 1ST CLASS SPENCER STONE, U.S. AIR FORCE: It feels pretty crazy. I've never thought I would be here in this position, so it's unreal.

ANTHONY SADLER, HELPED TAKE DOWN TRAIN ATTACKER: Me, personally, I'm still waiting to wake up. This all just seems like a movie scene or something. It's, like he said, the word to describe this is pretty unreal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Stone was the first to make contact with the suspect and suffered the worst injuries among his friends, nearly losing his thumb. The other passengers were also -- two other passengers, rather -- were also injured.

Polo Sandoval is here with more about the heroes.

Hi, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Poppy. One of those heroes, Spencer Stone, is out of the hospital, back with his friends, and he's sharing his story publicly for the first time. Take a listen.

(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 on a French train.

STONE: I turned around and saw he had what looked to be a AK-47. And he -- 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, said, "Let's go". SANDOVAL: Those two words rallied three friends together, Stone, Alex

Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler sprang into action tackling the gun- wielding man.

SADLER: When he entered the car, we saw him caulking the ak-47.

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

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

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

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

SANDOVAL: Stone, Skarlatos, and Sadler shrug off the title of hero. They credit instinct and the bond they've shared since childhood.

STONE: I trust both my friends very much. If it wasn't for them, I would have been dead. We all had a critical role in whatever happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:30:01] SANDOVAL: And the praise is only expected to continue. These three heroes are expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande tomorrow. All of them saying that this was not heroism. They were simply acting on instinct -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Very good instinct. We're lucky to have them.

Polo, thank you for that.

Meanwhile, authorities have identified the suspected gunman as Ayoub el Khazzani. He's being questioned in France as we speak. Here's what we know about him so far. He's a Moroccan national, who was flagged by counterterrorism officials in Spain, France, and in Belgium. A senior European counterterrorism official tells CNN he has links to investigation already ongoing into radical Islamic networks.

The French Interior minister he was armed with an assault weapon with nine magazines of ammunition, an automatic pistol also with extra ammunition, and a box cutter.

Back here in the United States, to politics we go, comments from the wealthiest man in the presidential race that may surprise you. Why Donald Trump says hedge fund managers are, quote, "getting away with murder." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: In the race for the White House, we are seeing the rise of the Republican outsiders, including, of course, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina.

Let's talk about it with CNN commentators John Avlon and Margaret Hoover, with me. John is the editor-in-chief for "The Daily Beast," Margaret is a Republican strategist, also the host of "Get It Right with Margaret Hoover" on Sirius XM.

[18:35:06] Thank you for being here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glad to be here.

HARLOW: Let's begin with Dr. Carson, who pretty fascinating interview on "STATE OF THE UNION."

HOOVER: Yes.

HARLOW: On CNN this morning talking about sort of clarifying his most recent remarks about drones and using drones along the U.S.-Mexico border. What he told CNN this morning is that he would be in favor of using them to monitor some of these caves for surveillance and possibly more. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: OK, but I just want to make sure we button this down. So you're saying that in some instances you would advocate using drone strikes to take out cartels that are bringing migrants across the border? Is that what you're talking about? Wouldn't there be some instances where perhaps --

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen.

ACOSTA: -- innocent lives might get killed?

CARSON: Read my lips.

ACOSTA: Yes. Please. Let's do it, let's read.

CARTON: Listen very carefully to what I'm saying. I said there are caves, there are caves that they utilize. Those caves can be eliminated. There are a number of possibilities. That could be one of them. I'm not talking about killing people. No people with drones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Margaret, does it make sense?

HOOVER: Look, I think he's actually being very clear. You should not be laughing. There is actually -- Ben Carson, God bless him, just came back from the southwestern region in Arizona.

HARLOW: Right.

HOOVER: He was touring on helicopter and on foot, all of this essentially lawless area in the United States that is essentially governed not by the United States National Guard or by the police forces or INS or Customs and Border Patrol, but by cartels and lawlessness, and there are caves where these drug cartels are hanging out, and so he's not saying use drones to kill people. He was very clear about that.

HARLOW: But he's not ruling out drone strikes. And we've seen in the Middle East drone strikes sometimes have collateral damage.

HOOVER: I think he said --

JOHN AVLON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Yes, of course.

HOOVER: He said let's be very, very careful about this. Look, this is also the challenge with a candidate who's never been a candidate before. You screw up, you trip over your words, you're not as precise as you should be, and then suddenly people like us get all up in a tizzy, when really what he's saying is, we have a serious lawlessness problem on the southern border that we need to talk about. I don't think he is implying or even intended to say we should use drones that could cause collateral damage against innocents or even non-innocents.

AVLON: No, but that's the point. That's the problem is that he's trying to be very clear and say, I've never called for using drones on U.S. soil. Fine, clear. But then he's saying, but we should keep that open with regard to some tunnels that may exist for cartels. And cartels are a serious problem with the southern border. But you cannot have those two things guaranteed, written in stone. If you are open to using drones on caves and tunnels, you could very well kill human beings.

HARLOW: Right. Is it a slippery slope?

AVLON: Of course it is.

HARLOW: So --

AVLON: And it's just -- it reflects, as Margaret was saying, the fact he's never served in government and you know what, it's --

HARLOW: That's what the people like, that's what the people like. Something else they like, Donald Trump right now.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: Let's talk about Donald Trump. Fascinating interview on "Face the Nation" on CBS this morning. Wealthiest man in the race by far, using some populist appeal. All right. He goes after hedge fund managers. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The hedge fund guys didn't build this country. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky. And by the way, when the market collapses like it is now, the markets going down, they're losing a fortune. Half of them, look, they're energetic, they're very smart, but a lot of them it's like they're paper pushers. They make a fortune, they pay no tax, it's ridiculous, OK?

And some of them are friends of mine. Some of them I couldn't care less about. It's the wrong thing. The hedge fund guys are getting away with murder. They are making a tremendous amount of money, they have to pay taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. So, John, he's talking about carried interest.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: This has been a long debate for a long time, should carried interest be taxed at 39 percent like income would be for them, or at about half that, 20 percent, which is now.

AVLON: Correct.

HARLOW: It sounds a bit like Bernie Sanders.

AVLON: Well, or at least Hillary Clinton, who came out for closing carried interest. He does. I mean, look, he's obviously not an orthodox policy prescription Republican or conservative by any means, but what's interesting in this is you actually get a glimpse of -- at sort of a real estate businessman's frustration at the loophole that hedge fund managers have used to get really, really rich off of. It's the question of do you make something or do you make money.

And you know, for a guys who's, you know, like him or not, and I'm not the world's biggest Trump fan, that's not a secret, someone who builds buildings or has in the past, there's a frustration to see exploitation of the tax code lead to proliferation of cash and power.

HOOVER: To me this isn't more than anything, just an illustration of how Donald Trump is actually just providing an outlet for the angry of all persuasions within the sort of center right tent. I mean, there is -- this is so philosophically inconsistent in terms of the -- he's feeling the anti-immigration crowd or the nativist crowd, and then he's not sort of going for the -- you know, his tax policy is --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: He's getting some here, some here, some here.

AVLON: I would describe as a strategy.

HOOVER: A little bit except when cobbled together doesn't actually put a coalition together. I don't know if this is a winning coalition.

AVLON: Look, philosophically consistency left the train station a long time ago with Donald Trump. Let's not even (INAUDIBLE) looking for that.

[18:40:01] HARLOW: OK. Let's talk about who else really likes him, and that is evangelical voters. One of his -- sort of the appeals that he's had that I think has been overshadowed but is fascinating is the evangelical vote. On the "Daily Beast," you guys have a fascinating article by Betsy Woodruff right about it. Look at this, poll, too, our most recent CNN-ORC poll of Iowa evangelic shows him tied with Ben Carson, ahead of Ted Cruz, ahead of Mike Huckabee, with evangelicals. Huckabee is an ordained pastor.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: I want you to listen to this after Trump said this about his faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not sure I have. I just go and try and do a better job from there, I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't. Now when I take -- you know, when we go in church and when I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink and have my little cracker, I guess that's a form of asking for forgiveness. And I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What? It's like --

HOOVER: Amazing.

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: I mean, he has said that to the Iowa Family Leader Forum.

HARLOW: Yes.

HOOVER: Which is a group of evangelical Christians in Iowa. Look, again, it's early, it's August, we can harken back to August of many other years before, but what was interesting is that this is blowing the minds of pundits across the country. I mean, nobody expects that somebody like --

AVLON: It's deeper.

HOOVER: It is deeper than that. But it is still -- I mean, you didn't think he'd be around now either. Nobody thought he would still be relevant, and he is still relevant, he's changing the conversation, he's changing the debate, he is having an influence.

AVLON: But, I mean, I think, specifically the folks are evangelicals, right, he's doing almost twice as well as Mike Huckabee.

HARLOW: What did they like about him? AVLON: Who you can't get more evangelical than Mike Huckabee,.

Pastor, governor, hits all the basis, and when somebody who says, you know, he's never asked God for forgiveness, been married three times, he's nobody's idea of a social conservative, that's not just about pundits, that's actually a gut check for the Republican Party and the professional social conservative consultants who have been sold a bail of goods, and all of a sudden a guy comes in, who's basically reality TV star with a big TV presence and he's able to all of a sudden clean the table of people who have been using that constituency as their base for decades.

HARLOW: Yes.

AVLON: That's a gut check for the Republican Party. Not just --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: You knew about it.

HOOVER: The one -- well, here's one thing you have -- you have to dig deeper into these numbers also because if you look at the last -- across all ideological persuasions, Trump has the highest negatives. If you ask people in the Republican Party who are going to vote in the primaries and the caucuses, who will you not vote for? Trump has 33 percent to 32 percent in that.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: It is actually very important point. Margaret, John, thank you, as always. Spirited debate, love it on a Sunday night. Thank you.

Coming up, it was far from an ordinary Sunday in Plains, Georgia. Former president Jimmy Carter stepped in front of a packed church and talked Sunday school. The first since announcing his cancer diagnosis. We will take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:46:57] HARLOW: Former president Jimmy Carter is focusing on his faith as he undergoes treatment for stage four melanoma. For the 689th time, the 90-year-old taught Sunday school at his church in Georgia this morning just as he has done for the past 20 years. And our Nick Valencia reports, his appearance attracted an overflow crowd. Hi, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, a momentous day for those who came from far and wide to Plains, Georgia, to hear Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school, something that has become sort of a cornerstone here in this community, the 689th time that President Carter has done so, according to his grandson, but this is the first time that he's addressed the congregation here in Plains, Georgia, since he publicly announced that he had cancer.

The 90-year-old spoke for about an hour. There is spry, joking at times with the crowd, it was quite impressive to see just how healthy he looked for a man who has just recently diagnosed with cancer.

He asked the crowd where they were visiting from, a crowd here, congregation that on average usually about 40 people. Today that crowd swelled to well over 400 people. He also talked about despite his cancer diagnosis that he plans to stay committed to his very busy schedule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Found I had cancer, and so they removed part of my liver, and I think they got all the cancer from my liver, but then we had another MRI that 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 cancer.

And intend to keep on teaching here as long as I'm able. And I'm going to cut back a good bit. Just gives me a good excuse to finally do it. I work at the corner cinema, we've been working, rose and I have been, full-time, despite our advanced age and I think a lot of people are waiting for me to kind of step down to give them a new chance, so this will be a good opportunity for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: His message at the Sunday school was one about love. He called it the back bone of Christianity. He also talked about overcoming challenges and seeing opportunity to resolve conflicts.

Those that did show up here in Plains, Georgia, on the drive-in there was these signs posted everywhere, "Jimmy Carter for Cancer Survivor." And those that we spoke to, those that showed up here not just from this community, but also from far and wide, said that they wanted to show the former president their support during this very difficult time, though it seems that he was very well aware of just how loved he is -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Nick, thank you very much for that extraordinary, how he's been coping with this.

Let's talk more about it. Joining me on the phone, CNN political analyst and former White House adviser to four presidents, David Gergen.

David, he is 90 years old, stage four melanoma on his brain, and yet he is laughing, he is smiling, he is cracking jokes. What do you make of this?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's extraordinary, Poppy. And the country today has a great deal of affection and respect for Jimmy Carter, because he had, I think, the most consequential post presidential period of any of our presidents. He's had a longer period of time as post-president but he used it in such a way as to -- you know, to advance humankind, human rights all around the world, especially in Africa and for his tireless work the country's now become, you know, fond of him. And I think there's a lot of respect for the way he's going through this. He's showing us all -- he's showing a courage, I think, is inspiring.

[18:50:20] HARLOW: On the day, David, that he announced he had cancer earlier this week, he also reflected on his life and whether he has any regrets. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: I wish I had sent one more helicopters to get the hostages and we would rescued them, and I would have been re-elected. But that may have --

(LAUGHTER)

CARTER: And that may have interfered with the foundation of the Carter Center. And if I had to choose between four more years and the Carter Center, I think I would choose the Carter Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: How common is it to hear a former president make such an acknowledgment like that?

GERGEN: No. It's very, very unusual. I -- he has said in the past that the rescue effort for Americans who are being held hostage in Tehran that when that rescue effort was in the spring of his fourth year, first term, and it was botched, and he had to call it off, and he said for a long time that that's what cost him a second term. He lost out to Ronald Reagan, of course in 1980, when he ran for reelection.

I'm not sure. The botched rescue effort did play into a narrative at that time that he was ineffectual as president. That he was a very, very good man but he was having a hard time governing. But I'm not sure that was the full story. The economy was also in a tail spin there. The -- if you looked at the combined inflation rate and unemployment rate in the country and 1980, the year he ran for reelection, it went over 20. That's extraordinarily high. So it cost him.

But I think what has struck many and certainly struck me, Poppy, was that he will never be judged -- one of our great presidents, but he will be judged one of our great saints. And I think he is -- his post presidential years have fit that and allowed him to contribute in the way that's made him much happier. As he said, you know, if he had to choose between being re-elected for four years --

HARLOW: Right.

GERGEN: Creating the Carter Center, he would have chosen the Carter Center. What an extraordinary statement.

HARLOW: Yes. Absolutely. What an extraordinary statement. Nick Kristof wrote this fascinating piece recently saying that we all owe him an apology including the media that we sort of -- you know, didn't see all the value he has provided for this country. Interesting. And you see it reflected in how he's dealing with adversity right now. David Gergen, thank you.

Well, the U.S. is far from the first place, far from in first place when it comes to parental lead for employees. The founder of TOMS shoes joins me next to talk about what he's doing -- look at that. Best tease ever. He's going to join me next with his beautiful little kid to talk about why he took 12 weeks off work to set an example for his employees.

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[18:56:52] HARLOW: More and more companies in this country are changing their tune when it comes to family specifically parental leave from work. But the United States is still the only high income country that doesn't make paid leave mandatory for new parents. Technology companies seem to be the best when it comes to the treatment of new mothers. Netflix now offers 52 paid weeks in maternity leave. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple offer three to four months.

The situation for dads, though, not often that great. In fact only 20 percent of workers in the U.S. work somewhere that offers paid paternity leave to all or most of their employees. Only 20 percent. That doesn't sit well with the founder of TOMS shoes.

Blake Mycoskie took 12 weeks of paternity leave. He gives eight to all of his employees. And he wrote an op-ed about it in "Glamour" this spring, saying, "When I announced that I'd be taking leave, some of my CEO peers were mystified. Responses ranged from, you're going to get bored real quick, to how are you supposed to lead a company while changing diapers? I must admit they played on my psyche."

Blake joins me now along with the best guest ever, his 8-month-old son Summit.

Thank you for being here, Blake. I mean, let's just get right to it. Why did you do this? Was it you internally needed it or you wanted to set an example for the guys that worked for you.

BLAKE MYCOSKIE, FOUNDER AND CHIEF SHOE GIVER, TOMS SHOES: No, we actually, Poppy, you know, launched our paid paternity and maternity leave program about four years ago when some of our employees first started becoming moms and dads. So I did this long before I was married, much less becoming a dad. But when it was -- you know, when my wife did find out that we were pregnant, I made it very clear to the staff and to all my executive team that I would be taking, you know, 12 weeks off and I wanted to use that to set an example, to encourage all the dads at TOMS to take a full paternity leave.

HARLOW: Because a lot of times even when they're offered it they don't take it because they feel like they shouldn't. So make the business case for us.

MYCOSKIE: Yes, that happens a lot. I mean, I think the big business case is if a dad doesn't take it or if he's not offered it, those first eight weeks after having a baby, he is so tired at work, he is distracted, he is probably making bad decisions for the business because of the lack of sleep and he's also feeling guilty that he's not at home helping his wife ,you know, with their newborn child.

HARLOW: Right.

MYCOSKIE: And so, you know, we really think that the -- that by not taking it, you possibly are not being that productive and then when you do take it you come back, I think, more creative, definitely grateful to the company both from the dad and the mom. And so I think there's a lot of advantages to offering a paternity leave program.

HARLOW: So I was looking into some of these other countries. OK. Slovenia, Slovenia, small country, government mandated 90 days paid paternity leave.

[18:59:43] The U.S. does not mandate any. They just say, we'll hold on to your job for you but not get paid. CNN presidential candidate on the GOP side Carly Fiorina used to run HP, was asked about this. She said the private sector should do the right thing on their own. It should not be government mandated.

Does she have a point or should this come from the government?

MYCOSKIE: You know, I think she has a point on a lot of things that the government doesn't have to mandate. But I mean this particular situation, if you look at the fact that the United States is the only, you know, country that's not even offering maternity leave, much less paternity leave -- you know, I think there's only two or three others in the world .

And so much of the success and strength of our country comes from our families. And I think that if we're not investing in our families then it's really hard to have a strong country in business and in culture.

HARLOW: So the government should mandate it?

MYCOSKIE: In my opinion, yes.

HARLOW: So this really interesting Forbes article posed the question what does paternity leave look like for an Uber driver? And it really got me thinking, ok. Blake, it's one thing for you where all of your employees are salary-based but what about for the hourly workers? What about for people that only make money when they are driving in Uber or when they'r serving at a restaurant. How do those companies walk this line?

MYCOSKIE: You know, I think you make a very good point. I think if you're an hourly employee and you're only making money when you're working and there is no type of paid time off at your company, I think it's very, very difficult and that's an unfortunate thing but a reality for a lot of Americans today.

So I think where I would stand pretty firm is in any type of opportunity where someone is salaried employee and does have paid time off for, you know, health reasons or whatnot, paternity leave and maternity leave should be part of that paid time off program.

HARLOW: When are we going to see this sort of trickle out of your company in the tech sector into, say, Wall Street, big consulting firms and other major corporations? When is it going to change across the board?

MYCOSKIE: I think, you know, in the next I would say three to five years. I mean you're starting to see, just by the fact that we're having this conversation today and you're seeing it more and more, the interest in it, I think, you know, especially with trying to attract millennials -- I mean attracting and retaining them are crucial to the future of big businesses especially Wall Street and consulting firms. And so, you know, I think they're going to demand when they're looking -- when they're deciding between which jobs to take.

HARLOW: You heard Summit (ph) sort of cry out there. He is like I want every company to do this -- right? Right Summit?

MYCOSKIE: I think so.

HARLOW: Thank you -- thanks so much, Blake. See you later. Bye, guys.

MYCOSKIE: Bye. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: All right. Switching gears here -- this week on "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH": the pedophile next door. A man is accused of doing the unthinkable to his best friend's daughter.

Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katie got to the point where she didn't really want to go to her dad's house any more. And I wasn't sure if it was because she just wanted to stay home and do her own thing or, you know, if she was having problems.

And you know, I would still encourage her to go to her dad's, and you know, but then one night she called me and she goes mom you've got to come. You have got to come right now. You have to come and pick me up. I can't stay here anymore.

So I drove out there and picked her up. And I could tell she was just really upset.

I don't know why, but I just knew. I said has somebody hurt you? Has anybody done anything to you? She goes yes. I said who was it? She said it was Bruce. She said he's been touching me, he's making me touch him and I just can't go there anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Janet called me and told me about this, my immediate reaction was fury. I drove over there, banged on the front door. When he answered the front door, I just decked him. Kenny Joe stood there with me and we were both questioning him and he admitted what he had done. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kenny Joe knew that it was going on because she

said Bruce, I told you Katie was off limits, you were never to touch Katie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: "THE HUNT" tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

But first CNN's Chris Cuomo goes one-on-one with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for a "CNN SPECIAL REPORT: The Donald Trump Interview". That is next right here. Stay with us.

For news any time, go to CNN.com or go to our mobile app.

I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for being with me everyone. Have a great week.

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