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Trump Prepares for Attacks; Asylum Seekers in Limbo on Serbian/Hungarian Border; Light Rain in California Forecast to Help Firefighters; North Korea's Nuclear Threats; Russia Moving in Syria; Fiorina Taking on Trump; Ben Carson Surging in Polls; GOP Candidates Look at Reagan for Inspiration; Man Killed by IRA 40 Years Ago Laid to Rest; Mexico Still Demanding Answer on Tourist Deaths. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 16, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:06] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, stuck at the border, thousands of asylum seekers in limbo as European leaders can't agree on what to do.
We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. A second hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins now.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: Donald Trump says he plans to make the military so strong no other country would ever dare mess with the United States. The Republican presidential front runner touched on his vision for national security onboard the battleship USS Iowa. He says if he is president he will come up with a plan to take care of veterans and, in his words, it will be very special.
Trump says it's a shame that the U.S. treat illegal immigrants better than veterans, and he repeated his pledge to build that wall on the border with Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The drugs come in, the money goes out daily. And I saw it because I was on the border. I was there. And we saw it, and everybody sees it every day. And we have the kind of people that can do something about it. But we have no leadership, none. None whatsoever.
CROWD: Racists go home! Racists go home! Racists go home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Hundreds of people gathered in the parking lot near Trump's appearance to protest his immigration policies. They were chanting "Racists, go home."
A new poll shows Republican Ben Carson closing in on Donald Trump and the front runner is getting ready for a new round of attacks in Wednesday night's debate. John Berman has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: The polls come out, and we're really killing it. We are killing it.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight a new poll from CBS News and "The New York Times" shows Ben Carson closer than ever with Jeb Bush drifting further and further back. Carson was polling at 6 percent just one month ago while Bush has dropped 7 points since August. So far though, nothing and no one has managed to push Trump from his perch.
What's Donald Trump say about the decision? When the going gets going, the tough go negative. For the first time, an outside group, the Conservative Club for Growth opened its wallet --
AD NARRATOR: Trump, the worst kind of politician.
BERMAN: -- announcing they will spend more than $1 million on two ads in Iowa bashing Trump for what they call his liberal economic ideas.
AD NARRATOR: He has a record and it's very liberal. He's really just playing us for chumps.
BERMAN: Not to be out anti-Trumped, Governor Bobby Jindal, polling at less than 1 percent, released a new video too attacking how Trump shapes his foreign policy views.
TRUMP: In all fairness, what do I know?
BERMAN: Trump knows the attacks are coming, but doesn't sound too concerned.
TRUMP: So, the debate. I hear they're all going after me. Whatever. Whatever.
BERMAN: And despite recent dust ups with Carson and Fiorina, not to mention Bush, Walker, Paul, and Pataki, Trump says he is willing to play Mr. Nice Guy. Well nice guy-ish.
TRUMP: I like Carly and I like Ben. I mean, many of these people are terrific people. But nobody's going to be able to do the job that I'm going to do. Nobody.
BERMAN: Jeb Bush supporters beg to differ. A super PAC backing Bush is finally unleashing its vast war chest, spending $24 million on ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to highlight his achievements as governor of Florida.
AD NARRATOR: Proven conservative, real results. Jeb.
BERMAN: Hoping something, if not spending, will make people listen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to John Berman for that report and please remember to tune in to watch the CNN debates. It all begins 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States; that's 11:00 p.m. in London, worth staying up, or 6:00 a.m. Thursday in Hong Kong. You will see it only here on CNN.
Meantime, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is marking Hispanic Heritage Month with a swipe at Donald Trump. Mr. Biden says Trump's anti- immigration stance is a sick message which has been tried on America before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, I don't want anybody to be down right now about what's going on in the Republican Party. I mean it sincerely now. This is not -- no, I'm being deadly earnest about this. I want you to remember -- notwithstanding the fact there's one guy absolutely denigrating an entire group of people, appealing to the side of human nature, working on this notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn't occurred in a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:02] VAUSE: Vice President Biden says Americans are more drawn to the positive messages of Pope Francis who will visit the United States next week.
To Utah now and search efforts will resume Wednesday for four people who are still missing after flash flooding. Floodwaters and debris came roaring down a canyon, sweeping up cars in their path. 16 people are confirmed dead; many of the victims are women and children. Their cars were stuck at a flooded creek when they were hit by a wall of water surging down that canyon. Several people who were out hiking also died.
In Northern California, light rain forecast for Wednesday may help firefighters battling a number of wildfires in that drought-stricken state. The so-called Valley fire has destroyed hundreds of homes and killed an elderly woman. Thousands of buildings are still under threat. At this moment, the fire is at least 15 percent contained.
Our Stephanie Elam is in Middletown which was nearly obliterated by the fast moving flames.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Evacuation orders are still in place for thousands of residents and let me show you why. If you take a look right here, you have got telephone cables just dangling. And if you look up, you will see that the entire contraption is just hanging off of the power cords that are just suspended, some of them lingering inside of the trees.
And it makes you wonder what happened to the telephone pole? Well, take a look at this. Days after the fire has raged through here, this pole is still on fire and so are those cables. And that's the thing about wildfire. Just because the fire went through here a couple of days ago doesn't mean that the situation and the drama is done. As you get deeper inside the fire line, you will find that there are
still hot spots that are smoldering and blowing off smoke in sort of an eerie light. As you can see, this part of the forest has been burned out by the fire that raged through here. But what's most important here is how close this area is to this house. Take a look at this. Clearly somebody was working to save this house because this hose is right here. And they did do it. This house is just fine.
But this isn't the only danger that this house was facing. The wires that are connected to this house are connected to this telephone pole. When we came through here before, it was on fire. We were afraid it was going to fall over the road. Clearly that happened: firefighters cutting it so they could get up here.
Because I just want to show you how dangerous the situation was right up this hill. And for all of the efforts to save that house at the bottom of the hill, this house was a complete loss. Take a look at it. For this family that lived here there are just a few things that are recognizable. I can see the washer, the dryer, maybe an air- conditioning unit. But for the most part this house is gone. And that's like many of the houses on this mountain where we are now.
And then look further over there. That flame over there is gas. It is still going and that's part of the reason why this is just too precarious of an area for them to allow residents back in.
This tree behind me with the orange tape? That is what you call a snag. That is a tree in essence is dead because a wildfire gutted it, so crews will come through here and cut these trees down, like this tree here, simply because if they were to fall down on their own, it could take months and they could crush a house, they could crush a road.
But look at how hot this fire got. It even gutted out this tree here and that's the reason why, when they mark these trees killer tree, crews want to bring them down now and not let them fall on their own time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to Stephanie Elam for that report.
Let's go to Pedram Javaheri, our meteorologist who has more on this. Of course the forecast is so important. We've heard there has been light rain and we're looking for more, right?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: More rain in the forecast, too. Yes, you have the light rain, definitely a little bit of a help.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
JAVAHERI: Of course excess rainfall also an issue across portions of Coloraod on into the state of Utah, on into Colorado City and northern Arizona, where the town of the Hildale getting a rainfall which is estimated to be somewhere on the order of one in every 200 year event. [01:10:02] Of course the severity of it is impressive as they come when you take a look at the damage left in place of the fatalities that are occurring because of people trapped in their vehicles.
Something worth noting here. When you take a cubic yard of water, essentially a moving box filled with water, that weighs about 1,700 pounds. You have a couple of those, you're talking about weighing more than an average vehicle. That's why when you put it across some cars trying to pass on roadways, it becomes a very, very dangerous scenario.
Quick glance to another image I want to share with you, this one coming out of Mammoth Ski Resort, over the past 24 hours, some snow showers coming down over the region, and of course what has been one of the driest years on record. In fact, going back in the past 40 or so years , we know, the data indicates that 2015, the snow pack about 5 percent of what is considered normal.
But I want to show you something. Because we know -- a published study here on Monday revealed pretty fascinating study as well. Because we talked about the lack of snowfall, but they did, the scientists here, they analyzed tree rings and also just looking through the core of these trees and finding out the rings and the way they're separated, they observed that this is the driest season potentially in the last 500 years. The tree rings, when they're bunched up, you're talking about a dry season as the trees are taking on a bit of stress. If it's rainy, the trees are getting sufficient water, getting sufficient snow melt, that allows the rings to be spaced apart.
Right now, John, we're looking at these tree rings, very compact. And the last time this happened was about the year 1500, so impressive to see the severity of this now going back potentially hundreds of years since it was last this dry in California.
VAUSE: OK, Pedram, thank you for that. Interesting report there about the trees. They never lie.
OK, we turn now to the latest in the migrant crisis in Europe. And these are live pictures I think we have of the Serbia/Hungary border right now. It's just after 7:00 in the morning. You see so many people there camped out in tents just waiting for some kind of permission to get across that border and then make their way across Europe and into Germany, which is the ultimate destination for so many people, because that is where they want to go because they have the easiest immigration policies.
Now Serbia's Interior Minister visited with some of the migrants on Tuesday night. Another Serbian official says his country never got word from Hungary that it was sealing the border to stop the migrants from crossing illegally. So now hundreds of migrants, as you can see there, have been waiting and they are hoping eventually they will be able to continue the journey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEBOJSA STEFANOVIC, SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER: I am going to try as much as I can to persuade my Hungarian colleagues to allow them to continue their journey. In the meantime, we are going to provide some food, medicines, water, to try to react as we did in the last several months as humanely as possible. That's the best that we can do.
We didn't create the crisis and our job is to make, of course, Serbia as safe as possible; it's also to care about the people and show that we are humane enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Migrants can still get into Hungary legally through two assigned checkpoints. The country says it has accepted 70 asylum applications, rejected 40. Those who haven't made it in Hungary say they're not going anywhere until they can continue on through Europe.
Ben Wedeman has that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Open the door," they chant on the Serbian/Hungarian border. But their words fall on deaf ears. The door stays shut. It slammed shut late Monday when Hungary closed off the main official and unofficial crossings and imposed harsh penalties for anyone trying to get over.
Baffled by the sudden change, this Syrian from Aleppo had a message for the prime minister of Hungary.
"We want to pass through Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden," he says. "No one wants to stay in your country."
Vows this Iraqi from Kadbullah (ph), "We'll wait here for six years if we have to. We have nothing left to lose."
But Hungary says it must control its borders. Hundreds are now camped out in fields by the fence, hoping Hungary will soften its stance. More are on the way. 50-year-old Amin and his family have traveled for two months from Afghanistan. Sleeping in the rough has become routine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No toilet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are washing ourselves, nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. Just out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WEDEMAN: (INAUDIBLE) border police have temporarily stopped their progress. But despite their exhaustion, their determination to move ahead is undiminished. Aid officials seem flabbergasted by the scale of this crisis. MELITA SUNJIC, UNHCR: I never thought I would see something like that
in Europe. If Europe has a common European asylum system, and you look at this mess here, then where is it?
[01:15:04] WEDEMAN: Not here. The children may be too young to understand while the parents, their fate yet again in the hands of the powerful, can only hope for a solution.
(on camera): At the moment, Hungary seems unwilling to open its gates, but for some people who come from as far away as Afghanistan, turning around and going home is not an option.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, on the Serbian/Hungarian border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: If those refugees do in fact reach Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel says there will be centers there where they can go and then they'll be resettled across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (via translator): The army is willing to offer more personnel in order to cope with all the logistic challenges in the new hubs that are yet to be created. All in all, there was a clear common ground that said that we want to offer protection to those people who need our protection and that we will do all we can in our power to achieve this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Angela Merkel and Austria's chancellor have called for an emergency E.U. meeting next week to try and address this crisis.
A short break here. When we come back, North Korea again making threats and they're saying they are ready to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. and pretty much anybody else. We're live in Seoul with the details.
Also ahead, new satellite images suggest that Russia is setting up a military base in Syria and the Americans are worried. Those details a little later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your "CNN World Sport" headlines.
Match day one in the European Champions League has proved to be rather disappointing for both Manchester teams. After a one season absence, United's return to the tournament was a sour one after losing 2-1 to the PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands despite being one-nil up.
And terrible injury news for the Red Devils, too, with United confirming that left back Luke Shaw suffered a double fracture of the right leg and will undergo surgery. Manchester City also losing 2-1 after being one-nil up as last season's Champion's League runners up Juventus celebrated their first win in England in almost two decades.
Has not been bad a last few days, though, for Cristiano Ronaldo. First the world premier (ph) scored 5 in La Liga against Espanyol this past weekend. And after that, you can now add three more, two of them against Shakhtar. (INAUDIBLE) Ukraine with penalties, the third taking him to 80 goals now in the Champions League. And that once again, for now at least, makes him the record-scorer in tournament history. Real won the game, by the way, 4-nil.
Ahead of their Champions League game against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Wednesday, there's been mounting tensions if Chelsea would the somewhat prissy (ph) behavior. The club's Portuguese head coach, Jose Mourniho, the special one, taking great issue with one British report's assertion that wherever he's managing, Mourniho historically underachieved in his third season.
[01:20:06] You're bang up to date. Thanks for joining us. I'm Patrick Snell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: North Korea is once again making nuclear threats, saying its main reactor is operating normally. It's building up its nuclear arsenal. The country warns the U.S. and others if they pursue what they call a reckless hostile policy, then North Korea will respond with nuclear weapons. The White House has responded with a warning of its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: North Korea should refrain from the irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional tensions, and should focus instead on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments. The position of the United States, and this is a position shared by other countries around the world, including significant players in the region, that we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live now from Seoul, South Korea, Kathy Novak's standing by live this hour. So Kathy, the North Koreans have put out this blunt statement saying that they have nuclear ability, their nuclear program has steadily improved over the last few years. Is there anyway to quantify that? Do we know exactly what they are talking about here?
KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were referring to improvements to their main nuclear complex at Yongbyong, quoting in the state news agency KCNA, an unnamed director of the Atomic Energy Institute. And he was saying that scientists and workers in North Korea are constantly working to steadily improve, as you say, the quantity and quality of their weapons.
And what he was stressing in this article was that North Korea's position is that it's nuclear program is in self-defense. It's a deterrent for what it sees as hostility in the United States, and warning that if the U.S. continues what it says is a hostile policy, that North Korea stands ready to respond with nuclear weapons.
Of course, the United States, South Koreans, and others see North Korea's rhetoric as provocative in itself, not at all in self-defense. And the question then is what does North Korea really have the ability to do? It has been saying for two years now that it was planning to restart operations at this complex, and in this article what seems to be confirming is that it says that operations are back to normal. But we can't really say exactly though what that means, what kind of capacity North Korea really does have. But analysts do say that there has been evidence through satellite imagery that North Korea has been following through on its promise at least to expand this facility, John.
VAUSE: And Kathy, all of this comes after, you know, we had the North apologizing for the mine explosion on the border with the South, which seriously injured two South Korean troops. We had the family reunions, which are back on the agenda. I guess in some ways were these threats almost expected as a way to bolster this regime, to keep this sort of sick fantasy alive that the threat of war is never far away?
NOVAK: They were to a certain extent, John. We have a major anniversary coming up just in a few weeks. On October 10, North Korea will be marking the founding, the 70th anniversary of the founding of its Workers Party. There has been speculation that Kim Jong Un is planning some kind of provocative action, perhaps a missile launch, perhaps another nuclear test.
And what one analyst, Jasper Kim, was explaining to me is that the way he sees it is that North Korea really is just trying to get the attention of the international community, and especially the United States, to keep up this level of provocation so that it can force some kind of reaction and get what it wants in return in the form of economic aid, John.
VAUSE: OK, Kathy, thank you. Kathy Novak live for us there in Seoul, South Korea.
We go to Israel now where there are threats of new penalties after a straight third day of violence at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque compound. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinians who were throwing rocks on Tuesday. Israeli forces say they were trying to secure the plaza while Palestinians were trying to disrupt visits on the Jewish new year.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an emergency meeting late Tuesday and promised tougher punishment for those who were throwing the rocks as well as fire bombs. We should note the compound is holy to both Muslims and Jews. Australia says its air force carried out its first successful air
strike eastern Syria this week. The defense minister says an ISIS armored vehicle was destroyed. Australia is already participating in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, and agreed to expand air strikes into Syria after a request from Washington.
[01:25:08] Newly released satellite images suggests a Russian military build up is underway in western Syria. The Pentagon as accused Russia of attempting to construct a forward operating base around the city of Latakia. That's a crucial bastion of support for the al-Assad regime. We get the details now from Matthew Chance, reporting in from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the day, Russian denials of involvement in this brutal conflict appear to be eroding. (INAUDIBLE) says if it weren't for Moscow the Syrian government, this carnage were worsen and the humanitarian crisis intensify.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (via translator): We have been providing and will be providing all necessary military technical assistance and we call on other countries to join us. If Russia hadn't been supporting Syria, the situation there would be worse than in Libya and we would see more refugees.
CHANCE: But it's the level of that military support which continues to raise concerns. The Kremlin is rejecting allegations that it's already engaged in combat operations alongside the Syrian military. But U.S. officials say Russia appears to be dramatically increasing its military footprint in Syria, bypassing NATO air space restrictions to fly in weapons and supplies.
And recent satellite images of the government-held Latakia Air Base in Syria appear to confirm its being expanded, the Pentagon saying the movement by Russia into Latakia suggests that it intends to establish some sort of forward air operating base there.
But U.S. officials admit the real intentions of the Kremlin are as yet unclear -- to build an anti-ISIS coalition, to support its Syrian ally, or simply to send a message to the West that Russia is back.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, many thought Carly Fiorina won the first happy hour Republican debate and now she gets a chance at the big kids' table on Wednesday night. Details when we come back.
Also ahead, a look at a funeral which symbolizes Northern Ireland's troubled past and its uncertain future.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:49] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for staying with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live, all around the world. I'm John Vause. And the headlines this hour.
In the coming hours, Serbia's interior minister says he will try to persuade Hungarian authorities to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants across the border. Hungary sealed its border with Serbia on Tuesday. Since then, 70 asylum applications have been accepted, 40 rejected. Nearly 300 have been arrested for crossing illegally.
In Utah, search efforts will resume within hours for four people still missing in the flash floods. Floodwaters and debris came roaring down a canyon, sweeping away cars in their path. 16 people, most of them mothers with their children, were killed.
Israelis police clashed with Palestinians at a mosque compound. Israel fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians throwing rocks. Israel's prime minister held an emergency meeting on Thursday, promising tough new laws if this continues. The compound is a holy site for Muslims and Jews.
Have we mentioned it lately? We're less than 24 hours away from the CNN Republican presidential debate. And one candidate is the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina.
We get details from Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not about your title. It's not about your ego.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carly Fiorina will be the only female candidate on stage, is now take on the front-runner, Donald Trump.
This latest hit from a Fiorina super PAC answering Trump's personal attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIORINA: Look at this face. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman. I am proud of every year and every wrinkle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The comeback following this insult Trump seemed to make about Fiorina's appearance, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that? The face of our next president?" Trump later tried to clean it up.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I'm talking about her persona. Many of those comments are made as an entertainer.
MALVEAUX: Fiorina's strategy so far? Turn Trump's own words against him.
FIORINA: Donald Trump is an entertainer. And so he says things that are entertaining. I think these are serious times. That calls for real leadership.
MALVEAUX: The big debate is a potential make-or-break moment for Fiorina who has registered just single digits in the polls. Fiorina and Trump, the outside business leaders, are trading insults.
TRUMP (voice-over): The fact is that Carly Fiorina has had a terrible past. She was fired viciously from Hewlett-Packard.
MALVEAUX: Fighting over their business records.
TRUMP: She was a disastrous CEO.
FIORINA: The face of leadership of our party, the party of women's suffrage.
MALVEAUX: And over leadership skills.
TRUMP: I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
FIORINA: Leadership is not about the size of your office, the size of your airplane, the size of your helicopter.
MALVEAUX: Fiorina was widely declared the winner of the first GOP debate among the second-tier candidates.
FIORINA: I would just ask what are the principles by which he will govern.
MALVEAUX: But her most recent numbers have been disappointing. According to a CNN poll, she's getting just 3 percent of support from Republicans nationwide, meanwhile Trump is leading with 33 percent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to our Suzanne Malveaux for that report.
And a new poll shows Republican Ben Carson closing fast on Donald Trump. The CBS News/"New York Times" survey shows Trump at 27 percent, followed by Carson, 23 percent. That's a jump of 17 points from the last poll, which was taken just before the first Republican debate in August.
A short time ago, I spoke with CNN political commentator, Ben Ferguson, about the surgeon's surge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Explain to me, not the why, but the how. How did Carson actually jump 17 points? Like everybody else not called Trump, he hasn't gotten a lot of coverage. I haven't seen a lot of advertising. He speaks really quietly. How did his campaign do?
[01:35:] BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He may be the most brilliant candidate I've actually watched. And it's because he's talking policy and actual ideas. He's talking initiatives and what he would do differently with specifics and not generalities. I think there was a big hunger within the GOP for someone to talk about actual policy ideas and plans that they can understand, that you can sit there and discuss and analyze. Whereas many of the other candidates out there, they went after Donald Trump and tried to jut Trump him. They got into fight's wars with him. That didn't work. But Ben Carson didn't overreach. He didn't try to be a candidate he's not. And I think people really liked that. And told the people said he was dull and boring. When Donald Trump says you're more boring than Jeb Bush and you could fall asleep listening to this guy, I think it actually made people listen more to what he was saying and they wanted to know if he was really, in fact, that boring. If you listen to him, he's a really smart guy.
VAUSE: What about the second debate. Could this be the time when some of those candidates who aren't getting air time or oxygen, will they start dropping out for no other reason other than money? There isn't enough money to keep 16 candidates in the game. If they don't do well it's hard to convince the donors to keep coughing up.
FERGUSON: If you're in the 2, 3, 4 percentage polls nationally right now, this debate is really your political life on stage and you better come out and perform really well.
VAUSE: We've got two debates, the kiddie warm-up table, whatever you want to call it --
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Is it really all over for them? Try who are they debating? They can't take on Donald Trump, the front-runner. They're not debating Democrats. They're not debating each other. Who really cares? None of them really have a chance of getting the nomination. What's the point of the second tier debate?
FERGUSON: Look at Carly Fiorina.
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: She became the first winner out of the first one. And everyone thought she was a write-off at that point.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Do you think there will be another breakout candidate from this debate or has the moment gone?
FERGUSON: No, I think there absolutely can be. And here's the one interesting thing about Donald Trump, the X factor in this race. There are going to be so many people that watch this debate tomorrow night that never would have even thought about watching, 14 months before the Election Day. Think about this. 14 months out, but I know people that can care less about flicks that are literally scheduling Wednesday night like it's a Monday Night Football game for their hometown they love because they want to see what's going to happen. So if you do well and people are talking about you, the same way they were with Carly Fiorina, it can at put you into a new level.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: That was Ben Ferguson there.
And it will be a big night on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. And many candidates are looking to the Teflon president for a little inspiration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For me, Ronald Reagan is something special. He helped me shape my view of the world.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I intend to follow Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: the 11th commandment --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 11th commandment --
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The 11th commandment prevailing, and that is thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We're not going to be so politically correct anymore.
CRUZ: We now know when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment, he's willing to say things he knows are false.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's becoming a jackass.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, Senator, when you're sitting in a subcommittee just blowing hot air about this.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R-LA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think he's read the Bible because he's not in it. This is a complete narcissist. It's been a fun show. The idea of Donald Trump is great. The reality is awful.
TRUMP: I think he's highly overrated. And I have much better hair than he is.
WALKER: I don't think some of the language that Mr. Trump is employing is worthy of the office.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see how in the long haul you can insult your way into the nomination, certainly not the presidency.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Some of the highlights. And there are a lot more memorable highlights from presidential debate history, from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan. There was Rick Perry's "oops" moment. There was the "you betcha" from Sarah Palin as well. Find it all on our website, CNN.com/politics.
A short break. When we come back, new images of the attack of a tourist convoy in Egypt, but the questions are still there. How did this happen? More when we come back.
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[01:42:45] VAUSE: Britain and Ireland are expected to kick up talks between northern Ireland's Catholic Nationalists and Protestants Unionist Parties today. The goal is to try and save the power-sharing government. This comes amid concerns the Irish Republican Army still exists. In the meantime, a man killed and secretly buried by the IRA more than 40 years ago has finally been laid to rest.
Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BELL TOLLS)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Without fanfare, a reminder of Northern Ireland's past is laid to rest. Seamus Wright, killed in 1972, his body not found until this summer. The 25-year-old, one of 16 so-called disappeared, executed by the IRA, secretly buried.
Anne Morgan's brother, Roddy, is another of the disappeared. His body is still missing. Her greatest participate is - seeing her own children inherit her suffering.
ANNE MORGAN, BROTHER KILLED BY IRA: It actually comes into their live because it's unresolved. I think for me that's one of the worst sides of this now.
ROBERTSON The conflict here has been over for almost two decades, yet on days like this one, the past comes back to torment the present. Northern Ireland didn't ever have a peace and reconciliation the way that South Africa did where the parties came together in a sometimes painful, sometimes cathartic confession of crimes committed during the war.
Here instead, the past resurrects itself and comes back to haunt the future.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should be ashamed of yourself.
ROBERTSON: Today, the ills of the past are as alive for some as the moment they were made fresh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the victims right there and their family.
ROBERTSON: This trio owe of women, unrelated to the disappeared, accost politicians, demanding help, hoping for closure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And leave us in peace to grieve our loved ones.
ROBERTSON: Tourists, who have come to see how far forward Northern Ireland has advanced, watch from feet away.
All of this, as politicians dispute the past amongst themselves and battle over the future of the power-sharing assembly, once a beacon of hope for a better future.
[01:45:] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys can't agree to what happened. The legacy of the past is a key issue.
ROBERTSON: The past, the present, the future, all colliding.
MORGAN: I've seen the politicians haven't grasped the people on the ground need good leadership. I think if there's good leadership, we would be able to move forward.
ROBERTSON: Yesterday's wounds need healing, not just for Anne Morgan and Seamus Wright's family, but for all of the people of this province. Otherwise, peace will be as elusive as it's ever been.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We now know eight Mexican tourists were killed while a trip in Egypt. It was a case of mistaken identity. Egypt's president has said security forces mistook the group for terrorists. He's called Mexico's president to offer condolences.
But as Ian Lee reports, Mexico is still demanding answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's left of a tour group from Mexico after being hit by an Egyptian air strike. Leaked footage shows burnt out SUV's along with several bodies. Eight Mexican nationals and four Egyptians were killed in the attack. A witness to the aftermath describes two missiles hit four vehicles. A jet also shot at them with a machine gun.
The Egyptian government claims the army mistook the tourists for terrorists during the operation, but ultimately blames the tour operator for not having permits and entering a restricted zone. That, despite a policeman accompanying them during the attack.
CNN obtained a copy of their alleged permits.
(on camera): The tourists were having a picnic off the road when the attack occurred. The Egyptian army has come under criticism for not verifying their target before firing. (voice-over): In addition to those killed, nine others were injured
and taken to a Cairo hospital. They are in stable condition.
The attack took place in Egypt's western desert. It attracts tourists but also smugglers and militants entering from lawless Libya.
(MUSIC)
LEE: Mexico's government expressed outrage, demanding answers.
ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MEXICAN PRESIDENT: (through translation): There hasn't been a precedent in years of an event like this against our citizens. Mexico has demanded from the Egyptian government an exhaustive, thorough and prompt investigation, which establish responsibility.
LEE: Mexico's foreign minister is visiting Cairo along with the victim's families, trying to understand how this tragedy could happen.
Ian Lee, CNN in, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Zimbabwe's president had a speech at the opening of parliament. The problem is it was the wrong one. It was the same one he gave on August 25. The president's secretary reportedly blamed the mix-up on the secretarial office. It's always their fault. The opposition pounced on the mistake, questioning on whether the 91-year- old Mr. Mugabe is still of sound mind.
When we come back, who called whom? Did Russia's president call Elton John? He says no, Elton says yes. What's going on? Details next.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[01:50:] JAVAHERI: Just a few days left here to the official start of autumn across parts of North America.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Russia's president and Elton John don't agree on much. Now they don't agree on whether they talked on the phone. On Tuesday, Elton John said Vladimir Putin called him to ask about LGBT rights in Russia. A Russian spokesman said that call just didn't happen. But the spokesman did add Mr. Putin's would be open to discuss human rights legislation. Russia has enacted legislation that's been called anti-gay. CNN has reached out to Sir Elton John. We're waiting to hear back.
After years of only being able to like people's posts on Facebook, there may now be a new option. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they're working on a dislike button, something a lot of people have long asked for. He said making something so simple is surprisingly complicated but they'll be ready to test the whole thing fairly soon.
Let's go back to U.S. politics now and a trademark look for Republican presidential front runner, Donald Trump, his signature baseball cap with that slogan "Make America great again."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is the hottest thing out there. This hat, you can't get them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, you can get them. You don't have to catch him at a rally. You can actually order them online.
And Jeanne Moos did exactly that. She takes a look at the Trump hat and the imitations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hats off to Donald Trump.
TRUMP: Who wants it? Come on.
MOOS: He didn't just metaphorically toss his hat into the ring, it's become a thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a great hat.
MOOS (on camera): Is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the hat is smoking, you know what I'm saying?
MOOS: Smoking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's doing its do.
MOOS (voice-over): It's been smoking ever since Trump wore it down to the Texas border with Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You saw his hat, "Make America great again."
MOOS: Trump took the slogan from Ronald Reagan and then trademarked it. Since then it's been knock off and Photoshopped, for instance, to read, "I really like Mexico."
(on camera): Our official Trump hat cost us $25 plus $5 shipping. But at least it came with a free Trump bumper sticker.
(voice-over): "Made in America," with a little braid that one buyer described as --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very regal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's like an old-fashioned yacht owner.
MOOS: At one fundraiser, it was turned into a cake.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, LATE NIGHT: It was a rich dessert that kept insisting it was much, much richer than you could possibly imagine.
(LAUGHTER)
Eat my hat.
[01:55:15] MOOS: They even came in camouflage. A red one was seen in the locker of Trump's golf buddy, quarterback, Tom Brady.
TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK (voice-over): Now that he's running for president, he sent me a hat.
TRUMP: They're saying it's the hottest thing in fashion, if you can believe this.
MOOS: They, being "The New York Times," said that Trump's hat has become an ironic summer accessory.
Matt Michele (ph) was only being half ironic. He's a Trump fan.
MATT MICHELE (ph), TRUMP FAN: When I saw him wearing the hat, I thought it was so goofy and fun, I bought a bunch for my friends.
MOOS: Whether he's wearing red, white or camo, this is a candidate so rich he doesn't have to pass the hat --
TRUMP: Who wants it?
MOOS: -- though he sure likes to throw them. But beware, this hat may give you official Trump hat hair.
(CHEERING)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
TRUMP: Good.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. CNN NEWSROOM continues after a short break with Errol Barnett. Please stay with us.
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