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FBI Investigates Clinton Campaign Data Breach; Democrats Hit Campaign Trail Amid Data Hacks; Donald Trump Denies Ties To Russia; Hot Air Balloon Crashes In Texas, 16 On Board; Who Does a Third Party Vote Hurt More?; FAA Confirms at Least 16 On Board Hot Air Balloon Crash; First Transmitted Zika Cases in the U.S. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired July 30, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- maybe even linked to two previous intrusions that Democratic Party organization reported days ago when Wikileaks published more than 20,000 private e-mails detailing internal party strategies.

U.S. officials say there is strong evidence that breach came from Russian hackers. We're learning about the latest reported hack days after Donald Trump's controversial comments that seemingly encouraged Russians to do more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Trump later said he was being sarcastic with those comments. CNN's Diane Gallagher has been following this story. So Diane, what do we know about the kind of information that may have been compromised?

DIANE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Fred, this was sort of an analytics data base that was maintained by the DNC, but it was utilized by Democratic campaigns including, of course, the Clinton campaign.

While the material that was on this data base wasn't necessarily sensitive, it was about voters. So it was -- we are talking maybe the participation rates. We are talking your contact information.

Files that were kept on a voter data base. So the good news right now is the latest hack did not include information like your Social Security number or your credit card number.

And the Clinton campaign says that it didn't have anything to do with their internal server, which would include some e-mails and internal talks and stuff like that.

But still this is the latest hack that we're hearing about in a week. That's three at the Democratic organization. WHITFIELD: All right, Diane Gallagher, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

All right, meanwhile with the conventions behind us the 100-day mark to the election is now under way. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are on a bus tour as they look for a post-convention bounce. The Democratic ticket is crisscrossing Pennsylvania making several campaign stops today before heading to Ohio.

CNN senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is on that (inaudible) now on the phone to Brianna. What more is on the schedule for today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hey, Fred. We are finally rolling now from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Johnstown, Pennsylvania and that's where Hillary Clinton is going to be touring a place called Johnstown Wire Technology.

It's a manufacturing plant that makes wire products to go for items that are used in transportation and construction. She'll be heading to Pittsburgh after that and then she's going to head and finish her evening tonight in Youngstown, Ohio.

And when you're looking at some place like Johnstown, the county that they are in, this is an area that is generally gone Democratic, but actually four years ago, Barack Obama lost it to Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney won 58 percent.

There is this concern for voters in this area and in Ohio that Donald Trump has an appeal so Hillary Clinton is trying to make sure that Pennsylvania stays in her lane and she can cut into Donald Trump's margins when it comes to white working class voters if you're in lackluster Pennsylvania and Ohio.

WHITFIELD: Is there a level of confidence that the Clinton campaign is conveying particularly by having Tim Kaine?

KEILAR: I think the pick of Tim Kaine sort of speaks to this because I think he is someone who may communicate with people in Pennsylvania and Ohio in a way perhaps some of the other picks that Hillary Clinton maybe wouldn't quite have resonated as much.

But I think a lot of this for Hillary Clinton is a message is going to be trying to portray Donald Trump as someone who is not a champion of the middle class. Tim Kaine, one of the ways he might be playing into that or certainly from the Hillary Clinton supporters.

We saw for instance Sharrod Brown, who was a vice presidential pick and was not, a Ohio senator, one of the things he did at the convention was to run through all of Donald Trump's things that he makes, whether it's ties or what not and show that they're not made in the USA.

So I think that's a message that we're going to be hearing from Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as they move through this bus tour.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. On the bus on tour with Clinton and Kaine.

All right, let's bring in Jason Johnson, politics editor for theroot.com. So we've been reporting that one demographic that Clinton is struggling with is white males and the Trump campaign will remind people he's doing very well in that area. How does Tim Kaine offer and assist in that department for her.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: I mean, there's a white male on the ticket. It's essentially identity politics at this point. I think it's almost simplistic to say that Trump appeals to white males. He appeals to a certain kind of white male, men who tend to be Republicans, men who seemed to have had difficulties in the job market --

WHITFIELD: He likes to call himself that blue collar billionaire.

JOHNSON: Yes, he's that blue collar billionaire, but the thing is the stereotype that it's uneducated working class. No, I know lots of white guys who are college educated and beyond, there are billionaires who support Donald Trump.

[12:05:07]But Tim Kaine gives them someone else who they can identify with, someone else who can speak, who is a governor, who can talk about bringing jobs and that helps Hillary Clinton with perhaps white men, who are like I don't know if I want to vote for a woman, but she's got this guy with him.

WHITFIELD: As it pertains to his track record, Tim Kaine, I'm talking now, he's also, I guess, been credited with being kind of someone who appeals to an urban environment as a former mayor of Richmond, but yet the same time the district in which he represents as a U.S. senator.

He appeals to a cross section of people white and black, suburban, urban, it would seem that it is advantageous. It would seem the Clinton campaign they thought about that as a major selection for him.

JOHNSON: Well, it's not just that, but also is that Tim Kaine has a little something that maybe perhaps Sharrod Brown didn't have, which is he knows diversity in a wider scale. You know, Sharrod Brown, the Ohio senator, I mean, everybody loved him. He's great. He's exciting.

But Tim Kaine, it's also Northern Virginia where you have Asian- Americans and Arab-Americans and Latino-Americans, poor, rich, upper middle class and urban.

Tim Kaine is from the epitome of the purple state and his advice and his quoted as saying his candid advice to Hillary Clinton is something that her campaign desperately needs.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Virginia surprisingly, you know, became Obama country, a place that was very much red for a very long time. But it can't be presumed this go-around for Clinton. Why is the dynamic different for her?

JOHNSON: Well, the dynamic is different for her because she's Hillary Clinton and she's very unpopular with large swaths of people. There are people that don't like her for her husband's scandals. People who want change. People who have problems voting for a woman.

There's a slew things that she faces. There is also this and I think this is -- we saw this at the Democratic National Convention as opposed to say the RNC, she's not Obama.

Barack Obama can give a closing speech that has people in tears and Hillary Clinton is happy if she can get people out of their seats. So she's running up against also a very popular sitting president and it's hard for her to recreate that level of excitement.

WHITFIELD: Now this hacking issue, the cyber security, it would seem it would make her even more vulnerable because there's some mystery now shrouded on what could Wikileaks possibly have and why is that database that the Clinton campaign had access to the area that was breached.

JOHNSON: Yes, look, Fred, I have a very different take on this whole thing. I think this is a national security issue that both parties and I'm glad I believe Senator Paul Ryan said this is a national security issue. We don't want the Russians getting involved in our elections at all and I think --

WHITFIELD: Which is why it could really backfire for Donald Trump who is seizing on this opportunity. Why would you want to advocate this happening to any American citizen?

JOHNSON: Exactly, exactly. And I think that's how the Clinton campaign, they've been trying to spin it that way later on in the week. Look, the conventions are over. It doesn't matter if she said I don't like Bernie Sanders. This is a bigger issue are we going to let a foreign entity that Donald Trump is playing footsy with under the table affect how Americans want to vote.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Johnson, good to see you. Thank you so much.

All right, be sure to watch CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. as Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Kaine sits down with Jake Tapper.

Also coming up, Donald Trump's alleged connections to Russia. More on that, his son reportedly said the company has extensive business in that country. We'll investigate.

Plus the Republican candidate has a message for voters and Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Taking the gloves off. Just remember this, Trump is going to be no more Mr. Nice Guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know what, I've been saying -- I've been saying let's just beat her in November, but you know what -- you know what, I'm starting to agree with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Donald Trump, an about face at his rally last night saying he's starting to agree with calls to send Hillary Clinton to jail. This comes after the Republican candidate spent the better part of the week saying he didn't like the chant, even calling it a shame.

So the lock her up calls are of course in reference to Hillary Clinton's e-mail used during her time as secretary of state. Earlier this week, Donald Trump called out to Russia on live television asking for help in finding his opponent's missing e-mails.

That apparent call to openly hack a presidential candidate is now raising questions about his relationship with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The current controversy over Donald Trump's Russian connection comes from a dug up quote from 2008 made by his son, Don Junior.

The younger Trump reportedly told a real estate conference that family members made a half dozen trips to Russia and several buyers have been attracted to our projects there and Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.

According to Don Junior back in 2008 we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia, but what you can't see in Russia is a lot of Trump. An attempt to build a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through before it began and CNN can find no projects that were actually completed in Russia.

The only real ventures, an attempt to sell vodka to Russians which failed and in 2013, Trump made millions when he partnered with a Russian billionaire to host his Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

Trump appeared in a music video with his billionaire Russian partner's rock star son and boasting of the pageant's success Trump even tweeted, "Trump Tower Moscow is next."

He trademarked not one but eight different combinations of his brand and name in Russia and that was it.

DIMITRI K. SIMES, THE CENTER FOR THE NATIONAL INTEREST: He tried to negotiate major deals. He tried a meeting with Putin and it did not work out.

GRIFFIN: Dimitri Simes, the president of a Washington think tank that encourages stronger relations between the U.S. and Russia says when it comes to any relations especially in business between Trump and Russia they are very hard to find.

SIMES: I'm not aware of any major business endeavors from Trump's part in Russia.

GRIFFIN (on camera): The real story may be that Trump's business endeavors in Russia turned out to be failures.

SIMES: What I can say with certainty is that the Trump Organization is not a major presence in Russia. When you talk to Americans who invest in Russia, they never mention the Trump Organization as a serious player in Russia.

[12:15:02]GRIFFIN (voice-over): Trump has had better luck dealing with Russians living in the U.S. sort of. He partnered with the Bay Rock Group, a company ran by Soviet immigrants and according to a lawsuit filed, financed by Russian and Kazakhstan money.

Together they developed Trump properties in Fort Lauderdale and New York, and they planned on opening a Trump Tower in Moscow, but Trump said in a deposition that plan ended after media reports started to question Trump's net worth and the partners with Russian ties in the U.S. backed out.

Trump did make news with another Russian related deal. He sold his Florida mansion to a Russian billionaire for $95 million, Trump walking away with a tidy $54 million profit.

While Trump may have limited ties with Russia, the real connection may be the man who seems to be running his campaign. Paul Manafort has been a U.S. Republican presidential campaign advisor for decades.

But he raised international eyebrows when he became a political consultant to this presidential candidate, former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych (ph).

Manafort helped him get elected in 2010 back in the days Yanukovych (ph) was still friendly with the United States. And Manafort says he was trying to encourage Ukraine to become closer with Europe.

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I was involved in activities that directly impacted U.S. and European foreign policy.

GRIFFIN: Since then Yanukovych's government crumbled. He fled to Russia and urged Vladimir Putin to invade his own country which Putin did. In 2014, the U.S. sanctioned Yanukovych for threatening the peace, security, stability, and sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.

CNN reporting finds Manafort has Russian clients. He's advised Russians in the United States, but he has no ties to the kremlin. The question now is, is Paul Manafort now advising Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin may not be such a bad guy after all?

And that Russia had the right to invade the Ukraine and that if elected, President Trump should just leave Putin and the Ukraine alone? A question silly to some that became serious when Donald Trump was asked about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you became president, would you recognize the annexed peninsula of Crimea as Russian territory? And also if the U.S. would life sanctions (inaudible) --

TRUMP: We'll be looking at that, yes, we'll be looking.

GRIFFIN: A point reiterated when Trump's campaign reportedly changed the Republican Party platform to take a much more pro-Russian view of the Ukraine conflict.

MATTHEW ROJANSKY, DIRECTOR, KANNAN INSTITUTE: There's a lot of this that is very troubling around this specific issue especially when you consider how substance free most of the other issues areas in the campaign have been, but in the Ukraine, they're taking this very firm position and it's not clear why and that's troubling.

GRIFFIN: So is it really something? Is Donald Trump really somehow connected to Russian political interest, to Putin and Putin's view of the world because he has an advisor that advised a Ukrainian candidate six years ago or is this all just like Donald Trump's business endeavors in Russia. Lots and lots of talk, but in the end as they say in Russia, nonsense. Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And we're following some breaking news out of Texas. A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people has crashed. We'll have more on this when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:22:20]

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. This breaking news out of Texas. It concerns a hot air balloon crash. The FAA confirming at least 16 people were on board. This crash happened in Lockhart, Texas, just south of Austin.

The balloon apparently caught fire before crashing into a field according to sources, all of this happening before 8:00 a.m. local time there. FAA investigators are on their way to the wreckage site.

I want to bring in Mark Dombroff, a former FAA official and an aviation official with the Department of Justice. So Mark, as we try to find out more about how this happened and what the circumstances are, give us an idea of how the FAA would investigate something like this.

MARK DOMBROFF, AVIATION ATTORNEY (via telephone): Great. Thank you, Fredricka. This is going to be investigated because obviously it's quite significant with 16 reported on board and at least some reports are all dead. It's going to be investigated just like an aviation accident. The National Transportation Safety Board will take the lead in the investigation like they would in any other aviation accident. The FAA will be a party to the investigation. In addition there will likely be representatives from the operator of the balloon.

There may be well be a representative of the manufacturer of the balloon and over the course of the next several days they'll be looking at everything from pilot qualifications since the pilot of the balloon had to be certified by the FAA and have certain kinds of training and minimum requirements to operate the balloon, to the balloon itself, to the burner unit, to the pre-flight planning.

So virtually all of the same things, Fredricka, that the government and NTSB and the FAA would look at it in any aviation accident.

WHITFIELD: And again, all we know in terms of confirmation is that 16 were on board. It has not been confirmed the fate of those 16. You mentioned there will likely be a certified driver or pilot of that balloon.

And when we hear just initial reports that there been a fire and we know just above the basket is usually that flame that assists with the ascension and dissention of the balloon, what are among the circumstances that you would know in cases that you've investigated in which a fire would be the cause of a balloon's fate.

DOMBROFF: Sure. You're exactly correct that the way the balloon goes up and down is by increasing the size of the flame and the person -- the pilot in the basket, the gondola hanging below the balloon where the passengers are, is the one who controls it.

You can have situations and the NTSB will look at this where a balloon can collide with a powerful line or some other obstacle and the balloon envelope, the actual balloon itself, the material encounters the open flame and so you could have a situation like that.

You might have weather conditions because a balloon not having a motor is really at the mercy of the wind whether it's updrafts, down drafts. You could have severe weather conditions potentially that were unexpected, unforecast, and not anticipated, which might create a situation where the balloon envelope itself is pushed over to such a degree that it encounters the open flame. But certainly the NTSB is going to be looking at all those possibilities.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mark Dombroff, thank you so much for your expertise. Again, we're going to continue to follow the developments there involving this balloon, sixteen people on board just south of Austin and of course, when we get more information we'll bring it to you. Mark, again, thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Breaking news we are following out of Texas, a hot air balloon crash. The FAA confirming at least 16 people on board. This crash happened in Lockhart, Texas just south of Austin. The balloon apparently caught fire before crashing into a field, all of this happening just before 8 a.m. local time. FAA investigators are on their day to the wreckage site now.

All right, meantime, onto politics, 101 days away before Americans will head to the booths to cast their vote and while Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have garnered loyal following, some voters still refuse to support either of the major party candidates, which leaves them with two other options, Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, and Libertarian, Gary Johnson.

[12:30:00] In the latest CNN/ORC poll, Johnson is at 9 percent and Stein at 3 percent. So is there any chance that they could actually influence the outcome.

Capri Cafaro is the Democratic Senate minority leader from Ohio joining us. Good to see you. Boris Ephsteyn is a Republican strategist, good to see you as well. And Ron Hart is a Libertarian commentator right here with me on set here in Atlanta, good to see you.

All right, so Boris, you first, who does this third party vote hurt more?

BORIS EPHSTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It hurts Hillary Clinton more. All the poll showed that when you do factoring Johnson and Stein that she losses even more in the poll. She's already down between five and seven. When you factor in those two other candidates it hurts more because listen, she is not a movement. Hillary Clinton is sort of a default candidate for certain Democrats out there but she has no way of movement. Those Bernie Sanders' supporters, they bought into a movement. But Donald Trump supporters are all behind a movement of a strong leader, pragmatic leader, national security, foreign policy, strengthen the economy.

Hillary Clinton doesn't stand for anything by going in the street and ask somebody what's Hillary Clinton's standpoint, nobody knows. What she's slogan? Nobody knows. So, those folks who are disillusioned by her, those Democrats leftist are then going to the third party tickets which it's fine for them and the, you know, they're Americans and it's free choice.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So Ron, you've seized on the moment with a very colorful op-ed in this year's election. In one part, you write, "What sort of crazy primaries do the Republicans run, allowing an outsider with the most votes to win? This is why Bernie supporters, who value authenticity, won't willingly get into the get-away clown car Hillary is driving."

So, you're a Libertarian, why is a Gary Johnson the answer?

RON HART, LIBERTARIAN COMMENTATOR: I Think more freedom and more responsibility is important. That's what were country is founded on and Libertarians believe in that as a path between the two extremes, the left and the right. And Libertarians are socially moderate and they believe, you do what you want to do as long as you don't bother someone else (inaudible) Conservatives. So it appeals to a lot of people that really they don't know, the Libertarians will say, think about it and realized they are Libertarians.

WHITFIELD: So if there's real viability, why are the numbers so low and why, you know, why does it play a role in this year's politics the way it is?

HART: Yeah. This year maybe the best year for an outsider. It's been an odd year right so, everybody is afraid that Hillary's lying about what she'll do and everybody is afraid Trump stay on the truth what he'll do. So, it's a weird year, this year. Hillary really wants to be president, a historic president, the first two impeachment family maybe we're looking at maybe she impart in herself, I don't know. But, it's an interesting year for everything. Libertarians are just -- it's a great idea if you just listen to what we have to say.

You know, basically, the GOP does -- first, they get elected, they want a social, you know, they marry, anti-gay marriage things. They're like the small town mayor that gets elected want outlaw berry (ph) dancing. First time they want to do, make an office, they got to leave the social aspects alone and focus on the physical aspects.

WHITFIELD: So, Capri, you know, there's a lot of things. This is very, you know, serious. You've got Independents, you've Libertarians, you've got Green Party, you know, proponents who are saying, we're not really sure what to do here but there's some certainty that they don't want Trump and they don't want Clinton.

CAPRI CAFARO, (D), OHIO SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Right. Well, here's the thing. I mean, none of these groups of anti-Trump or anti-Clinton folks are unified behind one singular figure. So you've got fractured and I think because of the fact that they are fractured is actually we can make them less effective and having a significant impact on swinging the election one way or the other.

I think the other aspect here too we need to remember is, where do these folks come out. I mean, if people are voting in truce for Stein and, you know, New York or California, you know, it's really about where do these third party candidates have a true viability to take more than 10 percent of the vote away from either Hillary or Donald Trump in an electoral colored state that actually matters to the electoral path.

WHITFIELD: And so then, Ron, when you see those numbers, are we talking 3, 9 percent, you know, you're questioning or people are questioning the real viability of the impact, does it start to sound more like throwing away a vote and working so hard not to vote for the leading candidates? But then that vote doesn't make an impact in controlling who is in the White House with intention.

HART: In a swing state it might. Actually, it make a difference in New York state. But here's the scenario, I'll just think about this for a second, you need 270 electoral votes to be president. If Johnson wins some of the western states, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Libertarian, Washington states, Oregon, wins a few states, it then goes to the Congress. WHITFIELD: Is that realistic? Is there a feeling of winning a few states? Winning one state.

HART: A year ago, did you think Donald Trump would be the nominee. It's a weird year, it's a big (inaudible) year. People are tired of Washington and the way things are done. Hillary Clinton is as establishment as they get. Donald Trump scares a lot of people and so as result there maybe an opening for the first time in a while for Libertarian.

[12:35:09] WHITFIELD: All right, Boris?

EPHSTEYN: To Ron's point, I see that would makes sense if Donald Trump were not an outsider candidate which he is. Donald Trump's only been a politician for a year. He is the one that those folks who want an outsider are coalescing behind. So those third party candidates are not necessary anymore because Donald Trump is the one that's changing the way politics is run, that's going to change the rigged system. So if those other candidates are superfluous because there's no need for them. You already have somebody who's leading the major party, and Donald Trump, who's a complete game changer.

So, that's a reason why Johnson and Stein don't have a shot. They are not going to win any states. No polling shows them within 30 points of winning a state. So, it's a complete pipe dream.

WHITFIELD: And so Capri, I heard you're trying to pipe in.

CAFARO: Yeah. I mean, I think that it's really going -- it's really almost impossible for any of the third party candidates to actually claim a victory to a state. So, you know, in that regard, I don't think they're going to change the calculus here in the electoral map as I try to say earlier -- I mean, it's not going to be kicked to Congress unless you have a 269, 269 circumstance that we won't have a full United States' Supreme Court which could potentially happen.

But there are other ways that disenfranchise voters can participate not just by casting a vote for third party but by skipping the presidential vote or staying at home. And that I think is possible as well and that's very difficult to be able to predict in this very volatile ...

EPHSTEYN: ... you want voters to come out, you want voters to have their constitutional duty and to use that duty to speak about who is it's a binary choice in that. It's a binary choice between Clinton which is so establishment and Donald Trump which is bringing new fresh ideas and will in fact make America great again, not just a slogan but the reality of what he's going to do.

WHITFIELD: And so Ron, real quick, not voting at all does that become the other option?

HART: It's a choice. As Americans and Libertarians, you do what you want to do. It's a freedom you have. Not voting is kind of voting.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. HART: It's not voting.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, or not having a -- choosing not to vote means you don't have as much a right or I guess a stage in which to protest.

HART: Right. We Libertarians, you know, we're against protests. We want to be left alone. So we're against protests, we just think for a way to shove it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ron ...

EPHSTEYN: But staying on the sidelines is not an answer either. You know, staying on the sidelines is kicking the can down the road. You should have a choice in this election and you should speak for your choice.

WHITFIELD: All right, Boris, Ron, Capri, thanks to all of you. I appreciate it.

CAFARO: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: All right so much more straight ahead including this breaking news, we continue to track out of Texas. A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people and now reports there were no survivors. We'll have much more on this when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:42:56] All right. More on this "Breaking News" now, on this hot air balloon crash. The FAA confirming at least 16 people on board. This crash happened in Lockhart, Texas just south of Austin. The balloon apparently caught fire before crashing into a field. All of this happened just before 8 a.m. local time.

The FAA investigators are on their way to the wreckage site right now and we understand according to the Caldwell County, Texas Sheriff's office, that office reporting no survivors from this balloon crash. Again, the FAA on the way and we understand the NTSP would be leading the investigation.

So, on the phone with us right now, Mary Schiavo, she's a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation. So Mary, give us an idea how would the NTSB be leading this investigation? What would they be looking into trying to figure out the cause of this crash and, you know, the mechanics or the viability of this balloon, the fitness of the pilot, all of that.

MARY SCHIAVO, FOMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DOT: You're exactly right. They're going to be looking into all of that and, you know, sadly balloon fires are not unheard of. If you do have a balloon in disaster often is this kind of situation so they're certainly going to be looking at the burner cans and the nozzles and the records on this particular balloon, how often they were checked, what were the pilot's qualifications, you know, all those sorts of things. And, you know, sadly while it's a wonderful sport and, you know, people are, you know, I would say, most people are engaged in are very highly trained. It's also not highly regulated.

So, the FAA does not devote a lot of time and pension, the money to doing balloon inspections. Because, you know, one reason, there's not a lot of commercial activity and two, it's generally pretty safe. So, this is -- this kind of accident while it is rare for the balloon to catch fire, that's usually one of the ways that you do have a fatal. It's a fire on the balloon because of the burner mechanism going -- having a problem, burning too hot. Having any kind of a leaking gas situation. This is the scenario when a disaster happens.

[12:45:06] WHITFIELD: And then Mary, you know, we're getting two statements in right now. This is from the Texas, Governor Greg Abbott saying this "Cecilia and I extend our deepest condolences for all those who have been effected by today's heart breaking tragedy - tragedy rather. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families as well as the Lockhart community. The investigation into the cause of this tragic accident will continue and I ask all of Texas to join us and praying for those loss."

A statement also coming in from the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office saying that they received a 911 call about a possible vehicle accident North of Cistern Road and Jolly road there in that county. And the county sheriff's office and emergency responders responded to the scene. When the emergency responders and the sheriff's office arrived on the scene it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of the hot air balloon.

The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office noted by the Texas Department of Public safety had secured the scene. The scene had now been turned over to the Department of Public Safety and that portion of the road of course is also under investigation.

So, Mary when you hear that the sheriff's office is saying that the basket portion of the hot air balloon is what appears to have been on fire, give me an idea about all of the potential components of this investigation that you see.

SCHIAVO: Well, again, it's still, although it's the basket portion and not the balloon part you is still -- I think that they still would be very, very concerned and focused in on the actual burner for the heating of the air in the balloon because if you had any kind of a fuel leak or any kind of a sparking a problem where things could have caught, could've expand the basket now.

There are regulations about what you're supposed to do up there in the hot air balloon and obviously you're not supposed to have flammable materials. You shouldn't have any kind of a flame or anything that's up there that could catch fire in the basket portion. You know, you're activities in the basket are supposed to be limited to safe activities and there's no indication of course, I mean, I'm not suggesting they were doing anything in the basket there was across the basket on fire.

I think they still will be focusing on the burner mechanism and see if there was any kind of sparking or problems there with burner because that is the same when there's a fire in a hot air balloon and it's often that added the firing mechanism and the estimate that had problem. So I think they will be very, very pursued in that. And (inaudible), that you don't even want to think about that, you don't want those thoughts in your mind about what does that like, but I would still focus on the balloon.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mary Schiavo thank you so much.

So again, investigators are on the way to the scene there. Some are already on the ground where this basket -- balloon basket somehow caught fire. 16 people on board and according to the sheriff's office all presumed dead.

We'll have more on this incident just South of Austin Texas and at the Lockhart Texas right after this.

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[12:51:53] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to screening, residents and spray against mosquitoes. Florida is taking aggressive measures today to fight the spread of the Zika virus. Four cases now were found in an area near Downtown Miami. The first confirmed transmissions inside the U.S. and now health officials have been going door to door to screen residents for the disease.

Blood centers are using new screening measures as well. And in two counties donations have been stopped entirely. We have two expert -- we're going to talk to one expert right now to break all of this down for us here in the Atlanta studio, Dr. Sujatha Reddy is an obstetrician, gynecologist right here in Atlanta.

And so, you know, we are talking about the greatest alarm or concern is among, you know, people who want to start a family, you know, or continue the growth of their family. But now when you've got this disease in two Florida counties and the belief that it's from mosquito to human, that transition within the U.S., there was an inevitability, but it's very different now that it's actually happening.

DR. SUJATHA REDDY, OBSTETRICIAN GYNECOLOGIST, PREMIER CARE FOR WOMEN: You're exactly right. So, obviously the concern really is for pregnant woman. A woman that are planning to be pregnant because we know this virus leads to deadly birth defects. And we really knew it was going to come here, it was really close to the shores in Puerco Rico, we knew it was inevitable for it was here but now it is.

So really, it's time for especially pregnant woman to heed our warnings, wear long sleeves, use bug repellent, stand doors if you can and around your home try to get rid of standing water and that's one of the best way for pregnant women or women that are thinking about getting pregnant to protect themselves.

WHITFIELD: So those now the precautions but at the same time does it mean if you've four cases now that there will be more. You know, because it's too late I imagine or correct me if I'm wrong, too late to really stop the spread amongst mosquitoes that are carrying them if they've already infected four people.

REDDY: Yeah, I don't think we're going to stop the spread and you're right. We are going to see more cases. But I don't think it's going to be like in South America where it was, you know, its epidemic, thousands of cases.

In the U.S. we're lucky pretty much everyone has air conditioning, we have lived in screened windows and, you know, we don't live in the close quarters as some people do in the developing countries. I think we're going to see more cases but I don't think it's going to be as widespread. This mosquito loves the southeast type of climate so we're see more cases I think there.

You know, we're good at spraying for mosquitoes in the U.S., we have the resources to do that. We've also have ...

WHITFIELD: So that's going to be a big solution perhaps or a way in which to curtail the spread that if you don't heavily spray, you know, protecting yourself long sleeves, you know, wearing bug repellant just might not be enough.

REDDY: Wide spraying as far as the public officials doing and then as protecting ourselves is going to be crucial. But we've seen mosquito borne illnesses like west Nile in the U.S. we've had. And it hasn't been the same sort of epidemic we seen outside. This virus is very similar to something like dengue fever and chikungunya and that really hasn't run rampant in America.

So what I do think, we will see more cases. Probably in the southeast, it's going to be, I think I hope, like it has been in the developing world.

WHITFIELD: There were still the issue of person to person transmission. there were some of those cases. So does this kind of heighten that concern when you've got mosquito to human?

[12:55:12] REDDY: Absolutely because when we have the mosquito to human transmission and what we're saying there is a person with Zika who brought it from outside the country was bitten by a mosquito in America, and now that mosquito has gone to bite other people. That is what we're talking about. Now that we have that, there is a more chance that more people will have it there by sexual transmission. It's going to be more of a concern.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, all right Dr. Sujatha Reddy, good to see you. appreciate it.

REDDY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Okay, the next hour the CNN NEWSROOM right after a short break. We'll have more from our breaking news, a hot al balloon crash in Texas killing 16 people.

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WHITFIELD: Hello. Again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks so much for joining me.

This breaks news out of the Texas where a hot air balloon has crashed leaving no survivors according to the sheriff's office and we can now confirm at least 16 people were on board. This crash happened in the city of Lockhart just northeast of San Antonio. The hot air balloon is said to have burst into flames before crashing into a field. This happened just before 8:00 a.m. local time.

NDSP and SIA investigators are making their way to the scene right now and we hope to have cameras there in the vicinity as well to give you a better idea about what happened in the location in which this happened.

[13:00:06] Texas governor Greg Abbott has released the statement saying in part "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community.