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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Questions Surrounding US Transfer of Funds to Iran; Both Parties Losing Support Following Campaign Problems; Some Military Members Have Contracted Zika Virus Overseas. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 03, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


[12:30:01] ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: -- it's financial transactions with dollars. And so what the U.S. had to do was to access the money in the central banks of Switzerland and the Netherlands and so that's why they used Swiss Francs and also euros.

Now, why did it have to be in cash? Well, at the time there were also international sanctions on Iran. And so Iran didn't have any access to international financial systems.

So, it wasn't even like a third country could have wired Iran the money because the international banks weren't doing any business with Iran at the time.

Now, you know, one of the things that the U.S. has been trying to do is, as, you know, it restores ties with Iran as a result of this nuclear deal, to try and help Iran access international banks, but still no transactions in U.S. dollars, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Elise Labott, thank you.

Up next, Hillary Clinton just won some big-name Republicans who have switched over to her side. This while the Democratic Party is losing some big-name leaders as well because of those leaked DNC e-mails.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:27] CABRERA: Welcome back to Legal View. I'm Ana Cabrera.

Now, in the race for the White House, we're seeing more high profile Republicans jumping ship. The latest, Hewlett Packard executive Meg Whitman, she ran for governor of California as a Republican, she's been a big GOP donor, but this election she says she's voting for Hillary Clinton.

Whitman's announcement comes the same week that the first sitting Republican member of Congress Richard Hanna also expressed support for Hillary Clinton along former members of both Bush administration and a former Chris Christie aide.

Now, it's not all good news for Clinton and Democrats. More fallout from that massive e-mail dump. The DNC's CEO Amy Dacey is the latest high ranking official to step down. Also getting the boots, the communications director, Luis Miranda and the chief financial officer, Brad Marshall. So let me read you just part of an e-mail that seemed to suggest that the DNC was working against Bernie Sanders. Remember, this is really the root of the controversy here. Marshall wrote, "Can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist."

Let's talk about this with CNN's Jeff Zeleny who's been following the Clinton campaign and back with us, CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis.

Jeff, Clinton just got this big endorsement amidst Mr. Trump's rough 96 hours or so, yet, we haven't heard from Clinton at all. She's staying silent. Why?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Ana, in some respects she's working the telephone. She's trying to, you know, convince some of those disaffected and really furious Republicans to join her campaign.

And Meg Whitman announcing that she is going to vote for Hillary Clinton and write a check, a significant check to her campaign effort is a very big deal.

Meg Whitman is very close to Mitt Romney, of course, in the last Republican presidential nominee. So Hillary Clinton and the campaign are either sitting back watching this spectacle with astonishment of what is happening in the Trump campaign. There's not any gloating that I can detect at least publicly. But they're trying to capitalize on this and making this an opportunity.

But by having Meg Whitman on board with them -- yes, she's a liberal Republican in from California but there are a lot of those across the country and battleground states as well, moderate to liberal Republicans. And she is urging people to distance themselves from Donald Trump.

So I think that is a -- in terms of endorsements, they're often overstated. This is one that's different and it's one that may matter.

CABRERA: Errol, in all fairness we've been talking so much about the turmoil inside GOP, you know, headquarters in general. But we are seeing some issues with the DNC now. How big of an impact is this shake-up at the DNC going to make in the general election?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a different kind of a problem because it doesn't so much involve officials as it involves some of the internal operations of the DNC. It only becomes a problem if it gets to be dysfunctional and there's no sign of that happening.

I mean, Donna Brazile has been through this before. She's been through any number of different staff shake-ups not just at the DNC which she did ran at one point in the past but in the Gore campaign in 2000.

She knows exactly what she's doing. As long as the morale is not broken. As long as the folks out in the field understand that they're part of something that's alive and moving forward and has a good chance of success, that problem won't become any more serious than it is right now. I mean, notice how quietly this is happening. You don't see anybody making what they would call a noisy exit.

Even Debbie Wasserman Schultz, no bitterness, no recriminations, no accusations, no press. As long as that stays the case, the DNC's problems I think will be entirely internal largely unseen and won't affect operations in the field if I know Donna Brazile, and I do. She's not going to let this get out of hand.

CABRERA: Well, what we thought that have an affected fundraising. Apparently, the Hillary Clinton campaign reaches $90 million in July. They were very excited to report that just yesterday. Well we just got the fundraising numbers from Donald Trump's campaign saying they raked an $80 million in July. And yet, there was so much to be said that they're just getting their ground game going seems like they're starting to keep up with the Clinton campaign.

LOUIS: Well, that's right. And this in part I think Jeff is exactly right, you're not going to see a lot of gloating. I don't think they believe themselves, the Democrats, to have an overly strong hand. They've got a lot of opportunities. I think they believe they have an opponent that they can beat but they're not taking anything for granted nor should they because ...

CABRERA: Should they be worried? Isn't that whole ...

LOUIS: They should stick to their knitting. They should stay focused and they should not expect to have what they've had for the last few weeks which is kind of an open field where they've been running ads without any answer. They're going to start to get answered. Not by so much by the Super Pacs which can be a little mushy and a little bit off-target. But by the campaign itself, those are going to be pretty serious blows. They're going to be aimed right at Hilary Clinton. And they should be expecting that and presumably they are.

[12:40:22] CABRERA: All right, Errol Louis and Jeff Zeleny, thanks to you both.

Up next, dozens of U.S. military members are now under attack from the Zika virus. What we are learning about those infected service members and what the Pentagon is doing now. Stay with us.

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[12:46:10] CABRERA: Breaking news right now from the Pentagon where we've now learned dozens of American service members stationed or deployed overseas have contracted the Zika virus. And that's not all, a few of their civilian family members have also contracted the virus.

Joining me from the Pentagon, CNN's Barbara Starr. Also with us CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Barbara, update us please. Where did these troops contract the virus? How far has this reached? BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is pretty surprising news from the Pentagon this morning. What we are learning is the actual rate of confirmed Zika cases amongst the U.S. military has nearly doubled in the last month. Where it stands right now, 33 military members confirmed to have contracted Zika at some point since the Pentagon began tracking this earlier this year. So that's 33 members.

But, here's the interesting thing. A month ago at the end of June, it was 18 military members, it is now up to 33. So, we do see evidence that this is still spreading, still being contracted by military members. We are told that all of them got it overseas, and of course this is one of the concerns because military personnel deploy regularly. They go to locations, countries outside of the United States, and it does appear at this point that what the Pentagon believes is they all got it overseas.

And in addition, there are six other people who have gotten the Zika from military personnel in their families. So, this is a situation where it appears that at least for now it's still spreading amongst the military of the countries, of course, are routinely Central America, South America, that part of the world. And the military is increasingly active in those areas so a lot of concern about it, and the precautions are the same for everybody. Insect repellent, cover up clothing, being careful, staying away from standing water. But right now the numbers are still going up, Ana.

CABREARA: And Sanjay, when you hear that it's doubled in terms of the numbers of just military members and their families affected, in just the past month, that rate, how concerning is that?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, in some of these countries that's not surprising because you still have obviously the Zika virus circulating via mosquitoes. You know, that's what it means to be locally circulating. And so right now where I'm here in Rio it's not as much of an issue because the weather is cooler. But some of the countries that Barbara is talking about where it's still warmer, that the virus is still spreading.

And Barbara will correct me if I'm wrong. I think out of all the people she mentioned I think one was a pregnant woman as well, and that's an important salient point if true because, you know, again, as you know, Ana, for 80 percent of people, they can get the infection, have little or no symptoms. So, it's not that big of health threat. But obviously for pregnant women there is this concern about the association with the birth defects known as microcephaly.

CABRERA: Right. And we've seen just a devastating effects of microcephaly. Sanjay, what about a vaccine? Is there any progress there?

GUPTA: Well, there is progress. And as you might imagine, there's a lot of people who are very interested in making that happen, folks at Walter Reed where Barbara is reporting, folks within the private sector, the NIH. They're trying different things. They're trying things that -- some things that they really haven't had success with before but hoping it might work this time, actually taking the genes, the sort of genetic components of the virus and creating a vaccine in a very rapid way using those components.

So injecting those into people's bodies and seeing if their bodies start to react by creating the antibodies. The antibodies are the things that help fight the virus should a person ever be exposed.

This is just starting, Ana, and these things take time. You got to show that it's safe. You got to show that it's effective.

[12:50:10] And, you know, 18 months at least, two years before you can really have convincing evidence of that. You need to have that data before you can move forward with the vaccine.

CABRERA: Well, it's good to hear that it's much cooler there in Brazil now like you said, dropping the risk of the mosquitoes being out during the Olympics, which are now just 48 hours away from the opening ceremonies.

Sanjay Gupta, Barbara Starr thanks for the update on the Zika Virus. And now we know the military is dealing with it just as the rest of the population are as well. Thank you again.

Coming up, by now you're used to Donald Trump stirring things up with his controversial comments but this time his kids are kind of in the middle of the fray here talking about sexual harassment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:05] CABRERA: Donald Trump's children now find themselves in the middle of their father's latest controversy involving comments on sexual harassment. And it all began when Trump spoke about the alleged harassment of female employees by a former Fox News Head Roger Ailes. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining I know how much he's helped them and even recently. And when they write books that are fairly recently released and they say wonderful things about him and now all of a sudden they're saying these horrible things about him, it's very sad because he's a very good person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, shortly after that, Trump was asked by "USA today" what would happen if his daughter Ivanka were a victim of harassment and here's what he said, "I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case."

Now, criticism started rolling in after those comments. Trump's son Eric attempted to defend his father's remarks but ended up fanning the flames in some way. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: Ivanka is a strong, you know, powerful woman. She wouldn't allow herself to be, you know, objected, you know, to it and by the way, you should certainly take it up with human resources and I think, you know, she definitely would as a strong person. At the same time, I don't think she would allow herself to be subjected to that. And I think that's a point he was making and I think he did so well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: She wouldn't allow herself to be subjected to sexual harassment. So Ivanka decided it's time for her to weigh in. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: I think it's -- a sexual harassment is inexcusable in any setting. I think harassment in general regardless sexual or otherwise is totally inexcusable and if it transpires, it needs to be reported and it needs to be dealt with on a company level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining us now CNN Senior Media Correspondent and Host of Reliable Sources Brian Stelter.

OK Brian, a lot of mixed messages we just played there from the Trump family. Is there any more that hasn't come out?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: There has been.

CABRERA: Has Ivanka, win it?

STELTER: Yes, this is going on sort of four days based on Trump's initial comment about his friend Roger Ailes and about the allegations of sexual harassment against Ailes of course, he resigned from the head of Fox News channel couple weeks ago amid all these allegations that he harassed former employees.

Let me show you what Donald Trump said to "The Washington Post" seems to me like trying to clean up the controversy. He yesterday, "I think it's got to be up to the individual. It also depends on what's available. There may be a better alternative. Then there may not. If there's not a better alternative, then you stay. But it could be there's a better alternative where you're taking care of better."

So, Donald trump trying to sound practical, pragmatic there. Talking about what choices women would face in a work place if they were being sexually harassed.

CABRERA: And to his credit, I mean, if you're a woman at a place where you are being sexually harassed, he was maybe saying, "Well, if you're a woman in that situation would you want to stay," that is the situation you want to put yourself in and I think that's what he was trying to say ...

STELTER: Yeah, but he was trying talking through those options.

CABRERA: ... in the comment when he was clearing it off saying you would have a choice to make?

STELTER: Yeah, that's how it came across. But, you know, Megyn Kelly has weighed on this and that's notable because Kelly is one of the women who was reportedly harassed by Roger Ailes many years ago.

Of course, now she's one of the biggest stars on Fox News. She's been silent about that alleged harassment. But yesterday she commented on the Trump controversy with a single word on Twitter. She wrote "Sigh" and she as reacting to Eric Trump's remarks that you just played, some of that audio referring to the controversy.

The one word "Sigh" that spoke volumes and we've heard from a Gretchen Carlson, who's the woman that started all of this by suing Roger Ailes about a month ago, she was grateful to Megyn Kelly for that tweet.

CABRERA: And that tweet coming from Megyn Kelly, does that have extra weight?

STELTER: It always does given that Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly is feud for many months ago.

You know, I think this controversy, this story. It's a vivid illustration of why Donald Trump is so polarizing.

He and Roger Ailes have been friends for decade, so it makes perfect sense that he was loyal to Roger Ailes, that he said in that with the press interview all he say is she's going ABC, he said that supported his friends that he was standing by his friend Roger Ailes. That he's a good guy.

At the same time, Ailes' initial reaction to this entire controversy about sexual harassment weeks ago was to defend his friend Ailes was to stand up for his friend to believe what his friend was saying to react right away.

And I believe the first quote he ever said about Ailes was, I think these allegations are unfounded based on what I've read. Unfounded based on what I've read. Now, that's the Donald Trump we've seen and watched for a year. He weighs in right away and he's ...

CABRERA: He's not political correct.

STELTER: Yes. And endlessly loyal to his friends and allies, but in this case what's happened since? Roger Ailes stepped down, he resigned effective immediately. He seemed to be out now in disgrace. He hasn't been able to contact his former employees. And we continue to hear new accounts from women who say they were harassed.

So that's what started this whole controversy and Donald Trump weighing in seems of only exacerbated it.

CABRERA: Well, and it could impact him with female voters as I suppose with theory, one reason, we're a looking at these comments since he is the presidential nominee now for the Republican Party.

[13:00:03] Thank you so much Brian Stelter for your insight.

STELTER: Thanks.

CABRERA: And we appreciate you being here on Legal View. I'll see you again tomorrow.

Wolf, starts now.