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Obama Praises Clinton at DNC; Bloomberg Hammers Trump at DNC; Trump Loyalty Questioned After Asking Russia to Hack Clinton E-mails; Nun Describes Priest's Final Moments; Report: Turkey Closed Media, Publishing Outlets; Scramble to Clear Russian Athletes Headed for Rio; Security Concerns in Rio Ahead of Olympics; Bill O'Reilly Criticized for Michelle Obama Speech Comments; Ice Bucket Challenge Paying Off. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 28, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:08] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause. Another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Day three of the Democratic convention, the biggest names so far, and Democrats are rallying around their party's nominee. Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance on stage, this time following a speech from the man she wants to succeed. U.S. President Barack Obama says Secretary Clinton has dedicated her life to helping the American people. Her experience by his side as secretary of state is invaluable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody, more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Bill Clinton loving that line there by Barack Obama.

Let's go to Phil Mattingly, live at the convention center in Philadelphia.

So, Phil, Barack Obama talked for 44 minutes. He spent a lot of time talking up the country, trying to make a real contrast with Donald Trump and the Republican convention last week. He was praising Hillary Clinton and he also addressed why some have a negative view of Secretary Clinton. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: She knows that sometimes during those 40 years, she's made mistakes, just like I have, just like we all do.

(CHEERING)

OBAMA: That's what happens when we try. That's what happens when you're the kind of citizen Teddy Roosevelt once described, not the timid souls who criticize from the sidelines but someone who is actually in the arena.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: If you're Hillary Clinton and you are listening to President Obama, you probably could not have asked for a better speech.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, that's exactly right. I've been e-mailing back and forth with a few of Hillary Clinton's senior advisers. They're thrilled with the result.

And you had to look at what the president was doing tonight through a couple of different lenses, what exactly his strategy was. They were certainly trying to give a nod to his legacy. There was a lot of talk about what he's done over the last eight years. You played the sound of him trying to defend Hillary Clinton's biggest weaknesses, trying to bolster her case, which has been week across the country as we look at general election polls. But there was him taking a big-picture view of the country, the country he sees, the country he's been in charge of over the course of the last several years and trying to separate that vision from the Republican candidate.

On some level, John, the interesting element was Barack Obama, who so often has clashed with Republicans over the course of the last eight years, wasn't attacking Republicans at all. In fact, he was laying out some of the Republican ideals, saying Donald Trump is not conservative, Donald Trump is not a Republican. He was trying to separate Donald Trump not just from general election voters, not just from Hillary Clinton, but from the Republican Party.

On the whole, John, it was a very comprehensive speech and it is was absolutely one that Hillary Clinton and her top advisers were hoping he would make.

VAUSE: Yeah. He really tried to separate Donald Trump from the Republican Party. There was a real theme throughout the speech. And at times, he went after Donald Trump. He seemed like he was enjoying himself. He seemed as if he was ridiculing the Republican nominee, like at this point during the speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The Donald is not really a plans guy.

(LAUGHTER) He's not really a facts guy, either.

(LAUGHTER)

He calls himself a business guy, which is true. But I have to say I know plenty of businessmen and women who have achieved remarkable success without leaving a trail of lawsuits and unpaid workers and people feeling like they got cheated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: At times, when Obama was going after Trump, it almost sounded like that White House Correspondents Dinner. Did you pick up on that?

MATTINGLY: No, I think that's an accurate or a solid way to look at this. You talk to White House advisers who talk to the president on a regular basis, and there is still kind of a disbelief about the fact that the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump. And you saw the jab, a little bit of sarcasm there, but also a very real concern about the policy that Trump brings to the table, a very real concern most notably on foreign policy, which we heard a number of speakers talk about with today as the Democrats set their line up. The president went from kind of -- you can almost say joking about this, certainly back in 2012, 2013, so now being somewhat nervous with about what the candidacy of Donald Trump actually means for the country. And I think you saw him lay out the strongest case he think so thinks he can make about why Trump shouldn't be the nominee.

But no question about it, he is going to jab at a regular basis. I talk to advisors at the White House who say expect Barack Obama on the campaign trail through the entirety of October, and that's the message you're going to hear on a regular basis, try and jab him a little bit because they know Donald Trump is going to respond and that's a fight they're willing to have -- John?

[02:05:53] VAUSE: It seemed like the campaign really went into full mode for the president tonight.

The other surprising big headline of tonight came from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman himself. He hammered Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Trump says he wants to run the nation like he's running his business? God help us.

(CHEERING)

BLOOMBERG: I'm a New Yorker. And I know a con with when I see one.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, they really set out the convention tonight for the speakers to focus on certain areas. And Bloomberg certainly did what he had to do.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. That's exactly right. That's the best way to look at it. Mike Bloomberg was talking to Independents. Tim Kaine was talking to kind of happy Midwesterners, low-key Midwesterners. Joe Biden talking to blue collar workers and Barack Obama really talking to dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, but people would look at the country as having a great future. There is a very strategic rundown of how the speakers went today and none probably made a more forceful case than Michael Bloomberg. His decision to endorse was late in the game. We just found out about it this past weekend. He wasn't initially scheduled to speak. And the speech that he laid out was kind of a point by point or at least Bloomberg advisers laid out to be a point by point, quote, "evisceration" of Donald Trump. And when you have a billionaire talking about business success as one of his primary attributes on the campaign trail and then you have a much richer billionaire trying to take those apart piece by piece, Democrats feel that that was a very effective case to be made today -- John?

VAUSE: He was very, very effective, unlike Tim Kaine who, as the V.P., he's meant to be the attack dog part of the team. He accepted the nomination tonight as the Democrats' V.P. nominee. But he went after Trump, kind of fell a little flat, especially when he tried the imitation thing. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE, (D), VIRGINIA & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be great. Believe me.

(LAUGHTER)

KAINE: We're going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, believe me. We're going to destroy ISIS so fast, believe me. There's nothing suspicious in my tax returns, believe me.

Here is the question, do you really believe him?

(SHOUTING)

KAINE: I mean --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, it may not be inspiring politically, but maybe you'll be inspired to car pool with Tim Kaine. He seems like just a nice guy.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, look, imitations may be not the best with idea when you're giving big, wide-ranging speeches at a convention. But, no, this is not his form. If you talk to his advisers, you talk to Clinton advisers, they recognize Tim Kaine is not the speech guy, he's not the orator, and he's not President Obama when it comes to these kinds of moments of standing out. But he is steady. And he's someone the campaign believes will appeal to those Midwestern, nice-type voters, will appeal to blue collar voters, and obviously will appeal to Hispanic voters, as well. He sprinkled Spanish into his remarks. He's fluent in the language. He worked in Honduras for a period of time, as well. His moment tonight was not necessarily the big-picture rousing Democratic speech. And while vice presidential candidates are always expected to be the attack dogs, and he will play that role in the campaign, I know the Clinton campaign is going to let the president or the current vice president, Joe Biden, play that role more. Tim Kaine's role is a little bit more understated, to continue to boost Hillary Clinton, to give people the idea that the trust issues they might have with her or concerns about her past and her work, he's there to help mitigate that.

So, yeah, the imitation, maybe not the best Donald Trump imitation we've ever heard, John, but he serves a specific purpose on this ticket. And I think the campaign believes that going forward.

VAUSE: And you mentioned Joe Biden, the current vice president. He certainly had the crowd enraptured throughout his entire speech. This was some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:10:02] JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class. Give me a break. That's a bunch of malarkey.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: When Biden says "malarkey," we all know what he means because he said it in the past. But, you know, boy, he really, you know, there must have been some people in that audience wondering why he wasn't the nominee tonight.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. There was a little bit of that. What Joe Biden has brought to the Democratic Party over the course of the last couple of decades is something people don't forget. And what Joe Biden was willing to do as Barack Obama's vice president, he was always the loyal soldier, always the good lieutenant, and people recognize that.

But no question about it, you want to talk about Mike Bloomberg's speech being a, quote/unquote, "evisceration" of Donald Trump, Joe Biden's speech didn't pull any punches either. He made an interesting point. He said he gets called Middle Class Joe when he's in Washington, and that's kind of a pejorative term. But that's a very important role to play in this campaign. Where Biden is from, Scranton, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump was giving a packed-house speech today. Those are voters the Clinton campaign has serious problems with. Those are voters Joe Biden is known to reach quite easily, quite well. You'll see him deployed regularly. And the remarks you heard today, rousing remarks that lit up the audience here are the type of remarks you're going to see from him over the next couple of months, something the Clinton campaign desperately needs -- John?

VAUSE: We'll, there's no shortage of big names on the Democratic side. We'll see if it makes the difference.

Phil, thanks for being with us. Thanks for staying late.

MATTINGLY: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Donald Trump has called for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's e-mails. He made the statement at a news conference in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Since -- I will tell you this. Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you would be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Just a few hours ago at the Democratic convention, former U.S. defense secretary and CIA director, Leon Panetta, told delegates Trump's comments seem to suggest he's not loyal to the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY & FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: As someone who was responsible for protecting our nation from cyber attacks, it is unconceivable to me that any presidential candidate would be that irresponsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dylan Byers is our senior reporter for media and politics. He joins us now from the convention hall in Philadelphia.

Dylan, to be clear, they're the e-mails Hillary Clinton deleted when she was secretary of state because they were considered personal. So I guess, at the very least, he's inviting a foreign country in to violate the privacy of an American citizen?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENOR REPORTER, MEDIA & POLITICS: Yeah, that's absolutely right. And what it is, is unprecedented. It's truly a historic moment. And you think about all of the things that Donald Trump has said over the course of the last year, both through the primary and now through the general election, he has been accused time and time again of going beyond the pale. You didn't think he could take it any further and yet he has. Some people would say this is borderline treason. It's really an incredible thing. And it's a sign of sort of how much this campaign has been dragged down into the gutter. You have the candidate for a major political party in this country inviting another country to hack into the United States and to hack into his rival candidates' e-mail. It's a historic moment.

VAUSE: Some say, listen, Donald Trump, he was just joking. This is just another way to turn the focus back on to Hillary Clinton, all those missing e-mails. It's like, I guess, in some ways the guy who jokes about having a bomb in his bag at airport security.

BYERS: Right. That's the thing. Whether it's a joke or not is probably irrelevant because the ramifications of it are huge. And you have to think that if you are a hacker in Russia or anywhere in the world, you're certainly thinking hard of taking him up on that offer. Look, Donald Trump has done so many -- so many times he's said things where he's given himself just enough wiggle room to say, I didn't mean it, I wasn't serious, you're misinterpreting me. He's been doing that since the day he announced his candidacy. Yet once again, it doesn't matter. And you have to just, for a moment, imagine if any other politician or political candidate said something akin to what he had said. Imagine if it was Joe Biden. Imagine if it was Hillary Clinton. Imagine if it was any of the Republican candidates who would have been standing on the stage with Trump during the primary season. You could consider their candidacy effectively dead. Of course, not so with Trump. He somehow seems to keep upending all our expectations about the political norms.

VAUSE: And in this ways, not just upending all the political norms and all the expectations, but this seem to be a deliberate tactic, not just when up against Hillary Clinton, but up against the other 16 Republican challengers. He has done this time and time again to steal the news cycle and now we're all talking about this. We're all talking about this. No one is talking about what happened at the DNC.

[02:15:22] BYERS: Well, that's absolutely right. On nearly a daily basis, if the story was not about him, he made it about him, and he made it about him by saying something incendiary, something controversial. What that means is he has to go further and further beyond the pale than he already has in order to command news attention. The Republicans had their convention last week. Despite Trump's claims that it gave him an unprecedented bump, it was something of a disaster of a convention for the Republicans at least up until the final night. And now he's looking for a way to interrupt what should be four days of uninterrupted coverage for the Democrats. Like you said, he's proved very effective at doing that.

VAUSE: If this is just another division by Donald Trump, could the Clinton campaign, could they afford to ignore this?

BYERS: That's an interesting political calculations because it's such a big story and such a historic moment that they could not afford to ignore it. I'll also say they probably saw an opening -- what's going on behind me right now at this convention, so much footage of Trump's own words, his own statements, to try and make the case that he doesn't have the experience and the temperament to be the president of the United States. They saw in this press conference today perhaps the best evidence yet that he doesn't have the experience and the temperament to be the president of the United States. So I think they've thought that they could use this to their advantage and we'll have to wait and look at the polls two or three weeks down the line to see how that played out.

VAUSE: Yeah, we'll see if he remains Teflon Don.

Dylan, always good to speak with you. Thanks so much.

BYERS: Thank you.

VAUSE: And next here on NEWSROOM L.A., ISIS claims responsibility for a suicide truck bombing that left dozens dead in Syria.

Also ahead, Pope Francis warns the world is at war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:21:15] VAUSE: Welcome back. ISIS is claiming responsibility for a suicide truck bombing which killed 48 people in northern Syria. The militants targeted a Kurdish complex at the Turkish border saying it was in response to U.S.-led air strikes. Kurdish officials still don't know how ISIS was able to reach that stronghold.

Pope Francis says the world is at war, but stressed, it's not a religious war. His comments came after a Catholic priest was murdered in France by radical Islamists. The pope says the conflict is about money, natural resources and control over people. And he insists all religions want peace.

ISIS has posted video of the two men who murdered that Catholic priest, apparently pledging their allegiance to the terror group. Before they were killed by police, the two held a small group hostage inside the church and one of them was a nun, who has told her story to CNN's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sister Danielle knows how it feels to watch as a life is brutally taken.

SISTER DANIELLE, CATHOLIC NUN (through translation): He was at the foot of the altar. They forced him to kneel and then not move.

BLACK: She witnessed Father Jacques Hamel's final moments as he was attacked by two men with knives.

SISTER DANIELLE (through translation): He tried to fight. He tried. But while he was 86 years old, Father Jacques, he felt what was happening, he felt what was coming.

BLACK: Father Hamel was murdered moments later, his throat cut. He died in the church he had served for decades.

In this small community, he was a beloved figure, a constant presence who touched the lives of many.

Beatrice Lucowy (ph) and her family knew Father Hamel in times of pain and happiness.

BEATRICE LUCOWY (ph), FRENCH RESIDENT (through translation): My little girls, my granddaughters, he baptized the last two and gave them first communion. When I was in the car accident, he came to see me in the hospital. He listened to me when I needed it. This was a painful act, an act of hatred. Who would do such a thing? Who would do this?

BLACK: In front of the church where the attackers were eventually shot and killed by police, people left thousands of messages. Some stopped and prayed.

There is grief here, but also fear about what this means for the future of France.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It is affecting many French people and they are very shocked. What can we do? Well, what we are already doing is not enough. We have to find other solutions to avoid future young people doing this kind of things. It's barbaric what they've done.

BLACK: This attack proved terrorism is no longer just a frightening reality for those in big cities and a house of worship is no sanctuary from the violent actions of those determined to tear apart the French Republic.

Phil Black, CNN, Northern France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The Turkish government is widening its crackdown after a failed coup almost two weeks ago. State-run media report nearly 1700 soldiers have been fired. Turkey is also shutting down dozens of TV channels, radio stations as well as newspapers.

Ian Lee is live for us in Istanbul.

Ian, Erdogan, he's cracked down on schools, universities, police, military, now the media. The question is, how far will this go? How far is the president prepared to go?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, this is massive purge we're seeing take place here in Turkey. Thousands of people have been removed from their jobs. And this purge is likely to continue, to go as far as the government sees it needs to go. Erdogan and the government say that this is just taking away those elements within the government that were behind the coup or those elements in society that are part of the Fathullah Gulen movement. This is a cleric who is currently in exile in the U.S. Gulen and Erdogan used to be allies but had a falling out in 2013. Now they are declared a terrorist organization. They say this purge is part of that cleansing process.

[02:25:25] But we talked to people -- I talked to one journalist in particular who was removed from his job because he got a letter saying he was investigating him as belonging to the Gulen movement. He got his job back after he was cleared, but it's uncertain how many people in this purge who have been removed from their jobs belong to this. And this has concerned human rights groups as well as the international community.

There are also accusations that people who were directly part of this coup, soldiers, are being abused in prison. Allegations that they're being starved, that they're put in stress positions, they're not allowed to sleep, even some so far as some soldiers being raped. The Turkish government has denied these accusations. But there is a lot of concern as this crackdown continues -- John?

VAUSE: Ian, thank you. Ian Lee, with the latest there on the continued fallout of that failed military coup in Turkey.

A short break here. When we come back, new here on NEWSROOM L.A., more than 100 Russian athletes on their way to Rio but just how many will get to compete at the Olympic Games?

More in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:29:53] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause, with the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Doesn't of Russian athletes are on their way to Brazil but many don't know if they'll be allowed to compete. The team left Moscow just a few hours ago. More than 100 Russian athletes are banned from the Olympics after an investigation found widespread evidence of doping.

We're joined now by Clare Sebastian, live from the airport in Moscow.

Clare, given the cloud of controversy over the Russian team or the entire team, this was a fairly subdued sendoff.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, there was a celebratory mood here today at the airport. The flight took off about an hour and a half ago. But despite that mood of celebration, it's still unclear just exactly who will be competing. Some have been cleared, but the full list has yet on to be published. And so the question remains, is Russia doing enough to fight against doping, to crackdown on it, to show the world that it is ready to do the right thing. We know the Russian Olympics Committee have set up a special commission to investigate this. Work, apparently, has already started.

But I asked the head of the Russian Olympic Commission today, Alexander Zhukov, he was here and was talking to the athletes, and I asked him to explain exactly why they efforts should be seen as effective. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Why should we believe that Russia is willing to change and fix the problem with doping?

ALEXANDER ZHUKOV, DIRECTOR, RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMISSION: I have no idea why you should believe. Because of (INAUDIBLE).

SEBASTIAN: Are you worried that situation that -- (CROSSTALK)

ZHUKOV: I think now that the Russian team is the cleanest team in the world. And this team is just going today to Rio.

SEBASTIAN: Are you worried that the uncertainty has --

ZHUKOV: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So there you have it, John. The cleanest team heads to Rio today, fighting talk there from the head of the Russian Olympic Committee.

I spoke to some of the athletes today, as well. Just a week ago, Russia didn't know if any of its athletes would get that chance. But they feel the weight of that extra pressure to win now since so many of their colleagues aren't going to be able to go -- John?

VAUSE: Clare, thank you very much. Clare Sebastian there with the latest.

And, of course, security at the Rio Games is always an issue.

For more on that, Bobby Chacon joins me now. He's a former FBI special agent and spends part of his time living in Rio.

It's a great city, but it's also a very violent city. If you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can be in a bet of a tricky situation. If you are going there, what's your biggest concern, your being mugged or being hit by a terror attack?

ROBERT CHACON, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I would say the street-level crime is going to be the most prevalent risk you'll take in Rio. And probably the one you can take most precautions against. It's much hard to anticipate where a Paris-style attack might take place, for instance. But if you're going and you're worried about the street- level violence, then you practice some operational awareness, you know where to go, where not to go. And in Rio, while we are some dangerous areas, and I've lived there for two years now, those areas are pretty obvious, and it's pretty telling where to go and where not to go. During the Olympics, it'll be easier because it will be --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: The neighborhoods change quickly. You know when you --

CHACON: Very quickly. They mark it.

VAUSE: One thing, though, is that we have the situation with the police. The police haven't been paid for a great period of time. So clearly, you know, they had their own concerns. I was telling people, don't count, it's too dangerous. If you don't have the support of the local police -- I know they've brought in the military and other law enforcement as well. But if you don't have on-the-ground support from the local police, is that a big concern?

CHACON: It was a big concern until several weeks ago when the mayor of Rio declared a state of public calamity. And that basically asked the federal government for several millions in aid and they released these monies so the police, the fire, the first responders got their back pay. They're paid up now. What will happen post Olympics is any --

VAUSE: Another story there.

CHACON: But I think through the Olympics, they have a satisfied police force right now.

[02:35:16] VAUSE: One of the criticisms, one of the concerns about Brazil and I guess Rio as a whole is that it doesn't have this post- 9/11 mentality when it comes to security. I guess in particular at the airport and there has been some issues with the security arrangements at the airport, not necessarily of the Brazilians making it, but of the International Olympic Committee.

CHACON: And I think it's because South America has been, in a sense, far removed from all of the terrorism. When I was working counterterrorism at the Athens Olympic, for example, I live in Greece for about a year prior to the games, and we had the Madrid bombings in March, and we had the Olympics in August in Greece. If was very close in time. The Greeks woke up, if you will, in March when that happened. I don't think Rio has had the same type of, you know, event, thankfully. And they're too far removed I think from what is happening in Europe to give them that wake-up call. But I think the military and police are so used to dealing with violent level drug issues, if a Paris-style attack happened where you had coordinated gunmen moving through the streets, I think the operational and tactical events of the Brazilian units are capable of handling that.

VAUSE: And, you see what's already happened in Brazile, in Rio, they had the World Cup two years ago, the fact that conferences are there, and apart from the logistics and other things working out organizationally, at least security-wise, they've gone off without a hitch.

CHACON: They did, they did. In 2009, they started their pacification program. And I think they've had a very large experience in dealing with street-level crimes and shoot-outs in the streets and things like that. So I think if there was going to be a coordinated attack like happened in Paris, I think the police would be able to put it down fairly quickly.

VAUSE: OK. Bobby, thanks for coming in.

CHACON: Thank you.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

Enjoy the games in Rio. CHACON: Thanks.

VAUSE: OK. And this just in. Australian officials have confirmed to CNN that the pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 had plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean on his home flight simulator. That's the general area where officials believe the Boeing 777 disappeared more than two years ago on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. This confirms what "New York" magazine had reported a few days ago. Officials stress the news does not reveal what actually happened to the plan, which still has not been found, despite an extensive and very expensive search. We'll bring more details on that as we get them.

A short break. When we come back here on NEWSROOM L.A., FOX News host, Bill O'Reilly, under attack because of some criticism he made of Michelle Obama's convention speech.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:30] VAUSE: If controversy is good for tv ratings, then FOX News host, Bill O'Reilly, should be in for a good night. The conservative commentator has sparked outrage at his comment regarding the speech delivered by Michelle Obama on the first night of the Democratic convention, in particular, this memorable and emotional line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

(CHEERING)

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: At the end of his show on Tuesday, O'Reilly decided to fact check the first lady, saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX HOST, THE O'REILLY FACTOR: Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labors. So Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, for more, CNN presidential historian, Tim Naftali, joins us from New York. Tim, I guess what has happened here is that Michelle Obama has used

some powerful imagery here on that speech on Monday, the White House, a symbol of the United States. Historians will tell you, much like the country, it was built in no small part by slaves. And the criticism of O'Reilly is that, what, he's simply trying to undercut her point?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I wrote a piece for CNN.com today about it. And my point was this. That the first lady was making a big point about the promise and self-confidence of a country where the folks that built -- the slaves that built these great buildings in the early republic, their descendants are now living there as the first family. And what a great country it is where that transformation, while it took a couple centuries, that that happened.

By -- in the beginning, O'Reilly says that the first lady was correct in stating that slaves had built the White House. He quibbled on what percentage of the workforce was slave or not. But than he went on to say that the slaves were well fed and well housed. And that undercut, at least the argument I made, was that it undercut the whole point, which is that these people were suffering. They were giving up their labor without their own freedom. And why O'Reilly felt he had to say something -- but, which, by the way, is historically inaccurate. There's no evidence that they were well fed and well housed. Why he had to say that -- and I said it was disturbing. The argument I made was at this time in our history, this is a fragile moment of American history, this is not an issue of political correctness. It's an issue of wisdom. When there's so many talk about racial divide, when people are making arguments trying to defend the weakening of civil liberties, the weakening of institutions, and even violence on the basis of ethnic origin or religion or race, at a time like this, doesn't that soft peddle the reality of slavery? That was the point.

VAUSE: Sure. But the line that they were well fed with decent lodging, that fits into a narrative, which has been peddled out for many, many years in this country.

[02:45:12] NAFTALI: Well, look, since the 1960s, since the Democratic leadership changed, switched, and embraced civil rights. Since that point in American history, there has been a revisionism in certain parts of the country about the nature of slavery and about the nature of the Civil War. The fact that the Civil War wasn't about slavery, that it was about states rights, it's weakening over time. Bill O'Reilly is not helping the change in American understanding of the nature of how this country came about and the struggle it went through 100 years after its birth. This is not an argument about the country being based on slavery. This is an argument about coming to grips with uncomfortable facts and being self-confident as a society to do that. That's what this is all about.

But sadly, Mr. O'Reilly took this badly, became very defensive on his program this evening and, indeed, said that those who were criticizing him wanted him dead. He said that on air. Now, this is a man who has written books called "Killing Kennedy" and "Killing Lincoln" and "Killing Reagan," and I suppose it's a little bit on the brain for him.

But my point was he has a magnificent platform and that we need on the left and the right in the United States at this moment wisdom, calm, and civic literacy. But he was too defensive today to embrace that. He didn't correct his historical error. Indeed, he then brought together a couple of other commentators on the FOX network to make the argument that this is an anti-FOX attack and the point was to undermine their network. I'm afraid they totally misunderstood the point I was trying to make in my piece for CNN.

VAUSE: It would not be the first time that our friends over at FOX maybe some misunderstood some points which are being made, unfortunately.

But, Tim, thank you very much. Good to speak with you. Thank you.

NAFTALI: Thank you.

VAUSE: And we'll take a short break. When we come back, some slam the Ice Bucket Challenge when it happened as a waste of water two years ago, but now researchers say it's starting to pay off.

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[02:51:34] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am ready for the ice now.

(SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man! That's cold! Whew!

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VAUSE: Yes, it was the crazy days of 2014 when celebrities, businessmen, millionaires, billionaires, ordinary people all decided to tip freezing water over their heads. It was for a good cause, to raise money for ALS research. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. And that Ice Bucket Challenge, well maybe it's finally paying off. The ALAS association says the money raised has helped lead to the discovery of genes which could play a role in new treatments.

Lucy Bruijn joins me from London. She is the chief scientist with the ALS Association.

Lucy, thanks for being with us.

Let's talk specifically about the discovery of the NEK-1 gene, a significant discovery, not quite breakthrough. Can you explain what it actually means? DR. LUCY BRUIJN, CHIEF SCIENTIST, ALS ASSOCIATION: It's so exciting

to be able to talk more about it. Essentially, there is a gene that is associated with 3 percent of ALS and that's significant because the few genes we have are in the range of 2 percent to 10 percent. So it's one of the most common associations we have just discovered. And what is each more exciting was that this really was driven by the money that came from the ice bucket funding and driven by people living with the disease. The ice bucket wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for two people living with this devastating disease and project mine which drove this discovery. So it's really truly a story of 80 different scientists coming together, 11 different countries involved. So it is a huge collaboration. Difficult to find these genetic associations, and so really quite exciting. What it means is that we have a new tool to try and understand the biology of this and to try and develop drugs to help treat the disease. And effect, we are already starting to build a model system that can tease out how the gene NEK-1 is involved in ALS.

VAUSE: So we're talking about essentially if millions of people had not tipped ice buckets over themselves, we wouldn't be at this point right now. But that Ice Bucket Challenge did a lot of other things. It raised money and awareness not just of ALS as a disease but within, what, biotech companies as well as some pharmaceutical companies?

BRUIJN: It's been tremendous. I think there's an energy around ALS worldwide. For people living with the disease there is a reality that people know what ALS is. Even if they don't quite understand the complexity and the devastation of ALS, people can recognize the name ALS. Companies have been very engaged. We have several large pharmaceutical companies who are developing therapies. One is already in clinical trials. The energy and the momentum is tremendous.

And I would remind that we certainly got a significant amount of money through the Ice Bucket Challenge. $115 million came to the ALS Association. But we also know it takes $1 billion to $2 billion to generate a new treatment for any disease, not specifically with ALS alone. What we've been able to do is leverage this money. One company announced major collaborations, a $10 million donor match, which we developed into a program. The energy and the opportunity around it has been tremendous. So we argue that every drop in the bucket that was created at that time is going to mobilize much more than just the $115 million and it is going to be amazing to see the outcomes. And this is just one of many new big stories that are going to rise in the very near future.

[02:55:47] VAUSE: Absolutely.

Lucy, thank you for being with us. We wish you all the best.

And for all those critics that called it selectivism and a waste of water, ha.

Thanks so much, Lucy.

BRUIJN: Thank you so much. It's tremendous to be able to share it.

VAUSE: Thank you.

And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

CNN's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues after the break.

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