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Day One of the Rio Olympics; Watching for Zika Spread; Trump Attacks Clinton's Mental Health; Hurting Trump's Brand; Glimmer of Hope in Syria; Eye on U.S. Swimmer Katie Ledecky. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired August 07, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:11] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Gold, gold and more gold. Day one of the Rio Olympics is completely got all the highlights for you.

"A short circuit in her brain," those are some of the harsh words coming from Donald Trump about his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

And the glimmer of hope in Syria as forces in Aleppo are one step closer to taking back that city.

From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

It is 5:00 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast, welcome. The Rio Olympics in day one without a hitch. The United States took home the first gold medal of the games on Saturday. The American teenager, Ginny Thrasher took the top spot in the 10 meter air rifle.

Russia, the team trying to move beyond its doping scandal, won its first gold in judo. And Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu shattered the world record for the women's 400 meter individual medley, winning the gold.

Let's take a look now at the medal standings after the first day of competition in Rio, Australia and Hungary are tied for first with the number of gold medals, each with two. The United States, South Korea, Japan and Argentina won one gold. But Japan and the U.S. lead in total medals won. Both countries took home five medals.

For the very latest in Rio let's bring in our Senior International Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, live there. Nick, it is good to have you. So day one is on the books? Who are the big winners?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. A very windy sunrise you're seeing here behind me, George. Yes, Katinka Hosszu the Hungarian 400 individual medleyist there frankly crushing the world record as she very much set out to do.

She's known as the "Iron Lady" because of her punishing racing schedule, but she shaved a full two seconds off the world record time there. The previously held by China's Ye Shiwen at 4:28.43, she cut it down to 4:26:36, a pretty staggering result there.

They won two gold medals Hungary received in just the opening day. They're leading the medals table now with Australia, the U.S. behind with one, but four silver medals racked up so far.

Sadly, though, a lot of the talk around yesterday was the horrific spectacle of the French gymnast, Samir Ait Said who appeared to have broken both his left tibia and fibula when he did two back flips off the vault during a gymnastic display here.

A crack so loud it could be heard in the venue, very awful injury there. He hopes to be back. He says to reclaim the gold in Tokyo, but a very busy first day there. The medals certainly starting to be won now, George.

HOOWELL: Nick, what a great, great day to watch all of these winners comes together. But you've also been following the security situation there. What can you tell us about security measures surrounding these games?

WALSH: Well, in short this morning, George, right along the cycle race, the wind has blown over a lot of the barriers here. So officials have a pretty stern job when they wake up first thing this morning just to get everything back in place again.

But yesterday, we had a very brief scare. Just behind me here over my right shoulder, it appears that somebody left a woman's handbag on top of a gray shipping container inside one of the secure areas here.

Now, that caused -- we understand a local to ring the police. They immediately sent the bomb squad in, who did a controlled explosion on that bag, subsequently leading to a little degree of panic back here, but frankly, no real actual threat.

We're not quite sure how the bag ended up where it was, but still signs here of a very swift reaction from the police. They are on edge. There are deep concerns, of course, like with every sporting event this kind of international profile of some potential terror attack, but we have seen nothing but an intense police presence around here.

Less so, when you move away from these high profile bubbles like Copacabana beach behind me, but hope this will sustain through the remaining two weeks or so now and we'll see a peaceful game, George.

HOWELL: Our Senior International Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, live for us in Rio this hour. Nick, thank you so much for the report.

Olympic gymnastics is a sport that is dominated by youth. Many medalists are teenagers. But in Rio, a gymnast's decades older is competing in her seventh Olympics. And with that, she is already making history. Here's her story.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's 41 years old and competed in every Olympic Games since 1992.

[05:05:05] Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina qualified for Rio in gymnastics at the age of 40.

OKSANA CHUSOVITINA, OLYMPIC GYMNAST: I don't know how it's possible myself, I just simply love this sport to do it. Yes, they call me "Grandma," but in competition we're all equals, whether you're 17 or 40. That's why I don't think about age.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2012 when she competed in London, the medal winners were all under 18 years old. Chusovitina won gold in Barcelona in '92, before most of her competitors were even born. And she won silver on vault in 2008, at the age of 33. She's competed under four different flags. But in Rio she's with team Uzbekistan, her home.

CHUSOVITINA: I really want to end my sporting career competing for my home country. Where I grew up, where I started training and where I was born.

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HOWELL: There's next athlete you're about to hear from is no stranger to the Olympics. She's a two-time world champion in judo. Now, she will be able to represent her native Kosovo, which is expected to compete as a recognized nation for the first time and she's determined to make her country proud.

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MAJLINDA KELMENDI, 2016 OLYMPICS ATHLETE: When I (inaudible) my opponents in my eyes just look pretty small, and I feel like there's no way that I can lose. I just have to win. I must win.

My name is Majlinda Kelmendi. I am a Judoka and I'm from Kosovo.

I am ranked to the number one of the world. I am two-time world champion. I will represent Kosovo for the first time in the Olympic Games.

During my career, I have many problems because at the beginning we couldn't represent Kosovo, until 2009 it was like this. So now when we got recognized from International Olympic Committee, it was the best thing that happened, because now the athletes can dream to be in the Olympics and represent Kosovo. And I have dreamed of this for a long time, and finally it's coming.

It's such an honor. It's such a pleasure for me. I can maybe for one day or two days make people from Kosovo laugh and maybe for one or two days forget that we have so many problems here.

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HOWELL: All right, so here are some events to watch out for on Sunday in the men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay. We could see Michael Phelps take to the pool as he looks to add to his tally of 18 Olympic gold medals.

The women's cycling also promises to be an intriguing battle between 2012 silver medalist Lizzie Armitstead and the Netherlands duo that will be competing. And in handball, Qatar has assembled a world select team to go up against Croatia.

Here in the U.S., some southern states are watching Florida very closely as it deals with the Zika virus. Our Dan Simon has details for us.

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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Florida health crews work to rid the state of Zika-infected mosquitoes, other parts of the nation are nervously bracing for the virus to spread. It's the height of mosquito season. And cities like New Orleans, with hot, muggy conditions, are particularly vulnerable.

MITCH LANDREIU, NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Our mentality should not be a matter of if we will face a locally transmitted case, but rather when, because it is likely that we're going to have one.

SIMON: With similar climates, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas have all crafted plans to combat Zika. But the threat goes even farther. This map from the National Center for Atmospheric Research shows all the states at risk with yellow being low risk, orange moderate, and red being a high risk. Still health officials say they don't expect widespread outbreaks.

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: But we cannot be complacent because we do expect to see more Zika cases.

SIMON: With Florida the only state thus far to have local transmission of the virus, it may offer something of a template to the rest of the country on stopping its spread.

[05:10:02] It's begun using airplanes to spray insecticide. The chemical spread across 10 mile area. The early results seem promising with a high kill rate in the traps used to gauge effectiveness.

It's been mopping up water to deprive mosquitoes from laying their eggs, while health officials have fanned the community administering more than 2,400 tests to residents to see how widespread the virus maybe.

(Inaudible) Florida has also waged a fierce public relations campaign. Police officers handing out Zika information pamphlets to tourists and encouraging the use of bug repellent. Bug spray has become so prevalent that stores have actually run out of it. Also in short supply, money, which scientists hoped would fund research into a Zika vaccine.

The White House and Congress have been engaged in a fierce partisan battle over a $1.9 billion Zika funding bill.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Congress and president have not been able to come together and pass a bill to provide more funding. We're continuing to ask the federal government to help with mosquito control, help reimburse at the state level. But I can tell you at the state level we're going to spend the money that we need to do the right things.

SIMON: Now, those aerial sprayings that have been taking place are going to be happening over the next four weeks. There has been some concern about those chemicals in the air, but state health officials say they are EPA approved and that they are safe for both humans and pets.

Dan Simon, CNN, Miami.

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HOWELL: Dan, thank you.

Donald Trump is responding to attacks on his mental state. Why Trump is now saying, quote, that Hillary Clinton took a short circuit in the brain.

Plus, Libertarian Party Nominee Gary Johnson gets a detailing not of approval. Who's backing the third party candidate? Just ahead.

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HOWELL: We are getting some new news in from South Africa. Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was hospitalized for injuries that he received in prison. Pistorius is serving six years for his girlfriend's murder.

An official says he was treated for minor wrist injuries and returned to his Pretoria prison cell on Saturday. He added that Pistorius denied speculation of a suicide attempt. We'll continue to follow the story.

Well, you could call it a twisted narrative, but Donald Trump is now suggesting that Hillary Clinton is not mentally fit to be president.

[05:15:06] The Republican presidential candidate is using a term that Clinton used to defend how she handled classified e-mails while secretary of state.

On Friday, Clinton said that she "short circuited" when implying that the FBI Director James Comey said Clinton had been truthful in explaining her handling of the e-mails to the public. That claim was false. Comey had said that her questions to the FBI questions were truthful.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was in front of some friendly reporters, they asked her a very easy question and she short circuited. She used the term short circuited.

She took a literally short circuit in the brain and she's got problems. I mean, if we had real people, this would be a real problem for her. But I think that the people of this country don't want somebody that's going to short circuit up here.

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HOWELL: And, again, Trump seizing on the point that Comey said that her answers to those FBI questions were truthful.

WikiLeaks is walking back a claim that it is trying to get its hands on Donald Trump's tax returns. Trump has yet to release them, despite many calls for him to do so. The comments came from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the end of an interview with Bill Maher on HBO. Listen.

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BILL MAHER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Why don't you hack into Donald Trump's tax returns?

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: Well, we're working on it.

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HOWELL: Saturday morning, WikiLeaks sent out a tweet saying, "WikiLeaks isn't working on hacking Trump's tax returns. Claim is a joke from comedian - from comedy show. We are working on encourages whistle-blowers."

And Trump has repeatedly said that his business credentials guarantee that he can boost the American economy. However, many of the controversies surrounding Donald Trump might not just hurt his political dreams, but perhaps the many businesses that bear his name.

CNNMoney Correspondent Cristina Alesci has more for us on that.

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CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Trump branded businesses maybe taking a hit here, that's according to data from Foursquare. Now, the tech company says there's been a clear decline in foot traffic to Trump branded golf courses, hotels, casino, and it has a pretty good sample size. It's based on the activity of 50 million monthly active users.

The data show a dramatic falloff in March, down 17 percent in that month, and in April, from the same period a year earlier, just as another point of comparison, traffic to those sites was steady year over year before Trump announced his bid for president. So, what is happening?

Now, some of these businesses are located in blue states. New York, Trump Tower for example, Chicago's Trump International Hotel and Tower, those two properties saw some of the steepest declines. And Foursquare also points out that women are playing a role. It reports a double digit decrease in visits from women this year, perhaps a sign that this idea of Trump being anti-women is resonating. Now, it's important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean that profits are hurting at any of these properties. We don't know if these people would have been spending a tremendous amount of money at these properties. And remember that Trump makes money from licensing his name.

So, for the properties that he doesn't own outright, which there are many, it's unclear if he gets paid less on licensing deals just because foot traffic is down.

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HOWELL: Cristina Alesci reporting in New York for us. Thank you.

And now Donald Trump, the Taj Mahal that he once owned in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the current owner says that that casino will close at the end of the summer due to an ongoing employee strike.

Here in the U.S. State of Georgia, a new poll from the Atlanta Journal Constitution says that Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump now by four percentage points. That is significant because Georgia has mainly voted Republican for decades. Clinton is also polling ahead in three other key states, in New Hampshire, in Pennsylvania, and Michigan. And she is leading Donald Trump in a recent national poll.

Libertarian Party Candidate Gary Johnson is trying to capitalize on the historically unpopular major party nominees. And on Saturday he got his first congressional endorsement. Republican Representative Scott Rigell of Virginia says that he will be voting for Johnson over Trump.

It's the most high profile backer that Johnson has earned since his campaign started to pick up steam among dissatisfied voters. Johnson says he's even reached out to 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney for support. Romney was a vocal leader in the Never Trump Movement.

Earlier, I spoke with Scott Lucas. He's a professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham in England.

[05:20:04] I brought up how Donald Trump is losing the support of more Republican leaders, after a rough week of controversies.

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SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAN: What Trump has done is not only failed to secure that support, he's actually antagonizing the establishment. By for example refusing to endorse people like Paul Ryan in their own races for re- election and by making these very, very provocative statements where you cross lines when you attack the parents of a slain American soldier, for example.

So the issues would appear immediately not a week, two weeks, a month down the line as whether Trump and his team are going to repair fences with the Republican establishment and more broadly I think with that broad spectrum of the American people, who quite frankly want to see a more constructive approach to politics rather than calling, let say Hillary Clinton unhinged rather than yelling at mothers in their babies in rallies. It just doesn't goes well for Trump trying to project leadership.

Trump succeeded in the Republican primaries not because he had a majority of Republican voters, let alone all American voters. He succeeded by playing to a strong minority, his base as you call it that supported him. And you can do that when you face multiple candidates.

Now there were 17 Republicans running for the nomination. When you go one-on-one against Hillary Clinton you can't just rely on that solid minority. You've got to expand and reach out to voters who are still undecided, who are still finding out about you and its those mistakes -- well if you want to call them gaffes, I would just call it bad political jabs by Trump, that's where the failure is coming in. He's not going to win undecided votes I think by November if he continues on the path. He's got to come off script.

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HOWELL: That was Scott Lucas there for us.

Fair to say it has been a very busy and outspoken week for the U.S. President Barack Obama. He is finally on vacation with his family. They arrived in Martha's Vineyard on Saturday, for their yearly summer vacation there. And before he left, Mr. Obama had some harsh words for Donald Trump.

Here's our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski with more.

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MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president is now out of here, at least for two more weeks. I mean, he's officially on vacation. We may not hear from him again while he's there, but he seemed to relish the opportunities he had in this past week at press conferences that were designed to be focused on other things to hit Donald Trump, and hard (ph), and it felt like the gloves are now off.

The political storm growing ever fiercer, President Obama gets away from it all. Sort of, for what he hopes will be a quiet two weeks on Martha's Vineyard, but not before leaving behind some surprising zingers of his own aimed directly at Donald Trump.

OBAMA: Yes. I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. He keeps on proving it. He's woefully unprepared to do this job.

KOSINSKI: And he kept on going at a press conference alongside the Singaporean Prime Minister extending the sentiment to Republicans.

OBAMA: If you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? What does this say about your party that this is your standard bearer? There has to come a point at which you say, somebody who makes those kinds of statements, it doesn't have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world.

KOSINSKI: This is a long way from early in the race when President Obama rarely uttered Donald Trump's name would make veiled references or speak broadly about all the Republican candidates, remember them?

Now though, since his endorsement of Hillary Clinton and the conventions, President Obama seems freer, willing and eager to speak his mind.

OBAMA: Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?

KOSINSKI: This was during a press conference at the Pentagon after a meeting on ISIS.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What is your assessment today as you stand here about whether Donald Trump can be trusted with America's nuclear weapons?

OBAMA: I've made this point already, multiple times. Just listen to what Mr. Trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad.

KOSINSKI: Referring back to his sharpest barbs, only days earlier.

OBAMA: There has to come a point at which you say, enough.

KOSINSKI: You know, at one point in there, it almost seemed like the President was saying, "Well, I've said enough now, I've made my point, can we move on to other things?"

[05:25:06] So, what can we expect from him on the campaign trail? You know he hits to get into a back and forth over Donald Trump. He doesn't want to respond to every single tweet.

But what we were seeing is that when things become highly controversial or divisive like those Trump comments about the parents of the fallen Muslim soldier, White House sources say he's absolutely going to be willing to weigh in, in this way, even then some, especially a political events although the settings that we saw this past week were not.

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HOWELL: That was Michelle Kosinski reporting for us from the White House.

ISIS appears to be losing its grip on a strategic city in Northern Syria. What could be a major blow to that terror group's base of operations, next?

Plus, police in Southern Belgium are investigating an attack against two of their officers. Why authorities think it could be terror related, still ahead.

We are live in the United States and around the world this hour. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOWELL: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom. It is always good to have you with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.

The first day of the Olympic Games in Rio, 12 gold medals were awarded. Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu shattered the world record for the women's 400 meter individual medley giving that country its second gold of the day. 14 gold medals are up for grabs on Sunday.

We're expecting exit polls from the key referendum in Thailand. People there voted on whether to approve a new constitution that would further empower the military there.

[05:30:04] This is the first time Thais went to the polls since the army coup in 2014.

Libertarian U.S. Presidential Nominee Gary Johnson got his first congressional endorsement on Saturday. Republican Representative Gary Rigell of Virginia said that he'd be voting for Johnson over his own party's nominee, Donald Trump. Johnson is looking to recruit disgruntled Republicans to his base.

In Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that rebel forces have punctured the government siege in the city of Aleppo.

An alliance of Islamist factions have been trying to reopen supply lines after that regime cut off those lines last week. The U.N. has warned of a humanitarian crisis for the 250,000 civilians that remain in Aleppo. There is still no viable exit route from that city.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Syrian rights group says that almost all of the strategic city of Manbij is now under control of U.S. backed militias. Kurdish and Arab alliance forces are sweeping the city to clear any remaining groups of ISIS out.

Manbij lies between the Turkish border and Raqqah, the self-declared capital of ISIS operations, losing Manbij leaves Raqqah largely isolated. A major step toward ousting the terror group overall. But the Syrian rights group is making it very clear that both in Aleppo and Manbij the fight is not over yet.

Our CNN Producer Jon Jensen is following the story for us live in Abu Dhabi. John, it's good to have you. First the situation in Aleppo, this is undoubtedly a very important point for these rebel forces.

JON JENSEN, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah, it is, George. And we should say it's not entirely clear right now how wide the corridor of the rebels were able to punch through in the government siege on Aleppo or whether, George, that corridor still exists. What we do know is that rebel forces, a mixture of Islamists, and moderate fighters, punched through this government siege on Aleppo yesterday. That is according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

By all accounts this was a very fierce battle. It took some six days. There was heavy shelling coming from both sides. And this is a counterattack by the rebels that they would hope would allow for the resupply of East Aleppo.

Now, this is an area with some 250,000 residents who, over the past week or so, have said in media reports that the government siege has cut off all food and medical supplies to the city.

Now, the residents there celebrating this apparent victory took to the streets and cheered for the rebels who apparently broke through, though at this hour, George, we know that there's still heavy fighting taking place in the southwest corner of Aleppo. And it is important to note that Syrian state media has denied that this siege has been broken. They claim to have repelled this rebel advance. George?

HOWELL: Jon, let's also talk about the situation with Manbij, which is near Raqqah. How important would that be as we're hearing that these U.S. militias, backed militias that they're gaining ground?

JENSEN: Yeah, it's a very significant battle, also in the Aleppo province, taking place at the same time. A Syrian Democratic forces which is a U.S. backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias are apparently, as you say, sweeping through the city of Manbij. They have not taken complete control. We understand that they've only taken 90 percent of this very strategic city, and there are still clashes happening at this hour.

Why is this city so important? Well, it's a city ISIS has held for the past two years. It's just 25 miles or so from the Turkish border. And it really is the hub of what we call the Manbij pocket. This is a strip of land along the southern Turkish border that is about 60 miles long, about 100 kilometers long, that Europeans and Americans say has been used as a sort of two-way supply route for ISIS getting both men and materiel into and out of Syria.

So, taking Manbij would be an important first step, George, but it would not mean that ISIS has lost complete control of that border just yet.

HOWELL: We'll continue to follow it. Jon Jensen, live for us in Abu Dhabi. Jon, thank you.

Belgian police say that a man with a machete wounded two police officers Saturday in the city of Charleroi. A third officer shot and killed that attacker. Police say the assailant was heard shouting, Allahu Akbar, which in Arabic means God is greatest. The city is to the south of Brussels, you'll remember that's where suicide bombers killed dozens of people back in March of this year.

[05:35:05] The U.S. coast guard said that it has returned the 97 Cuban migrants to their country since July 30th. Attempts to reach the United States by sea from Cuba have more than doubled since this time last year. Seven separate groups were caught and then repatriated, just in the last week. The coast guard says any of those incidents could have easily ended in tragedy.

What appears to be a first of its kind competition, hundreds of people in Hong Kong raced against the clock to track down hard-to-find Pokemon. Plus, sky diving jump turns deadly for two men after a parachute fails to open. Details next.

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HOWELL: Welcome back. Saturday was an exciting day in Hong Kong for the fans of the popular game Pokemon Go. Hundreds of people got out their phones and hit the streets for Pokemon game competition in which they had to catch 12 Pokemon in certain districts. A father and son took that contest very seriously. Listen.

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NELSON LAUNG, PLAYED POKEMON WITH HIS SON (through translator): If it wasn't for this event today, after his violin lessons we would have gone home, hidden indoors, enjoyed the air conditioning and played with our phones separately. Today, even though it is really hot and we are sweating a lot, we're having a lot of fun. I think this event is great.

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HOWELL: They don't mind the heat going after those Pokemon. The winner took home almost $400, which he said he would spend on his education. We are expecting exit poll results from a key referendum in Thailand. People there had voted on whether to approve a new constitution drafted by the military.

[05:40:03] It is the first time Thais have gone to the polls since the army coup of 2014. The junta says the new constitution would prevent corruption, but critics say the document would give even more power to the military. The prime minister there, promising a general election next year regardless of the referendum results.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is ramping up his war on drugs. He was named -- he name more than 150 government officials who he says are involved in illegal drug trafficking. The list includes Congressmen, police officials, and members of the judiciary.

Since Duterte took power in June, at least 524 people suspected of drug crimes have been killed. His administration is accused of carrying out extra judicial murders, but Duterte insists many of the suspects died in shoot-outs with police.

Now on to China, heavy rains from typhoon Nida have damaged homes and many roads there. I want to show you this footage of flooding. You see that in Hunan province. State media reports at least 18 homes were destroyed there. The storm made landfall in China earlier this week. It is the fourth typhoon to hit that country this year. It also battered the Philippines with heavy rain when it struck there last Saturday. At least six people were killed after heavy rains triggered landslides in parts of Veracruz, Mexico. And Derek Van Dam is here to tell us more about that.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is new to CNN, so we're getting in some of this information from the Veracruz area. This is all the leftovers of hurricane Earl that made landfall in Brazil about 48 hours ago. And there's the images coming in to CNN of the actual landslide.

You can see just how mountainous this terrain actually is. So, you can imagine that an intense amount of rainfall in a short period of time, rushing in to these creeks and valleys below, eventually lead to landslides and mudslides just like this. So you get the extremely moisture laden soil eventually grab the winds and the slope fails and when see those landslides take place.

Very interesting series of events with hurricane Earl or the leftovers or the remnants of that storm, it originated in the Caribbean Sea, made landfall in Belize, dumped a considerable amount of rain across that country into Guatemala and extreme southwestern sections or southeastern sections of Mexico. Then the center of the storm system actually tapped into moisture from the Bay of Campeche in the southern sections of the Gulf of Mexico region, and made another landfall over Eastern Mexico near the Veracruz state.

Now that same exact storm system, the remnants of Earl, moving off the southwestern portions of Mexico, into the Pacific Ocean, and it is expected to regain some strength, and potentially be renamed another storm, because it's over another open ocean, unbelievable. I've actually never seen that before.

Look at the rainfall totals going forward. We have the potential of another 200 to 250 millimeters of rainfall, this time over the western sections of Mexico, so Puerto Vallarta into the Cabo San Lucas region. We're going to monitor this area very closely for the potential of heavy rain leading to localized flooding.

If the storm gets renamed, it will be Javier, by the way. And just to keep you up-to-date we have the potential for tropical development across the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida panhandle. More concerning, though, is the amount of rain that's expected out of the system. Get this up to 18 inches of rainfall, 500 millimeters or more possible over the next five days.

I'll leave you with this video coming out of Shanghai. This is an underground subway terminal. Can you imagine, George, minding your own business about the train and the ceiling falls from above you? Well this is all thanks to the humidity of this coastal city getting into some of the ceiling tiles and falling away like that. Very scary.

HOWELL: I think they had the right idea, just start running. VAN DAM: Start running.

HOWELL: Get away as soon as possible. I would have done the same. Derek, thank you.

VAN DAM: Thanks, George.

HOWELL: U.S. swimming sensation Katie Ledecky could be one of the breakout stars of the Rio Olympics. She won gold at the age of 15 back at the 2012 games in London. And as you would imagine, expectations are high for the swimmer in Brazil.

CNN's Coy Wire takes a look at why Ledecky is one of the athletes to watch in Rio.

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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: What is fear?

KATIE LEDECKY, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I don't know. Never heard of it.

[05:45:01] With swimming it's never something that I had to be fearful of.

WIRE: Before Katie Ledecky was ever smashing the status quo in world records, swimming was just something she started at the age of 6 to spend time with her older brother, Michael.

LEDECKY: My brother is always been there for me. I couldn't be prouder of him. The person he is, the role model that he has always been for me. I've always looked up to him. We've always had a great relationship. You know, we love each other.

WIRE: How much of your parents, your family sacrificed for you to chase your dreams?

LEDECKY: I don't think they view it as a sacrifice, which really means a lot to me. I think they enjoy it as much as I do. I always say that I'm almost happy that I haven't gotten my license yet because that time in the car that I have with them driving to and from practice, that's valuable time that I have talking to my parents.

WIRE: Growing up in the Washington, D.C. area, Ledecky met a lot of celebrities and developed an affinity for politics. Despite the 19- year-old's busy training schedule, she's closely following the U.S. presidential election.

LEDECKY: This was my -- the first year that I get to vote so I know that I have to pay special attention, and no matter what, I'll be going in and voting in November. So, I better be paying attention.

WIRE: Is it true that after a long day of training, studying for school, reading, that you'll just kick back and watch CNN?

LEDECKY: It is. I am like addicted to CNN, like, it's almost bad. Yeah, I got to catch up on my news, my breaking news.

WIRE: Over time, the distances and stakes have grown for Ledecky. She'll enter Rio with high expectations to bring home multiple gold medals. But, she doesn't feel any added pressure when she dives into the pool.

LEDECKY: It's something I started just for recreation, playing around in the water with my mom, growing up. In some ways that's what it still is in my mind, just seeing how fast I can get up and down the pool a couple times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Coy Wire, thank you. And Katie Ledecky if you're watching CNN right now, we're just as excited for you. We wish you the very best out there.

Another U.S. Olympian is making history before she even competes. Meet the fencer who is setting a first for American athletes all because of what she wears.

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IBTIHAJ MUHAMMAD, U.S. FENCING TEAM: My name is Ibtihaj Muhammad. This summer I'll become the first Muslim woman to represent team USA while wearing the hijab.

When I heard that there had never been a Muslim woman on the U.S. team to wear the hijab that is when I made this conscious decision to go for 2016. I knew that I had (inaudible) to qualify for the Olympic team and I wanted to hopefully be that change that other minorities could see that, you know, with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.

Fencing is one of the most expensive Olympic sports. It can cost you more than $20,000 a year to participate in fencing at the elite level. But when you look at the outfit for example, a mask can cost you $500. Jacket can cost you $250. The pants can cost you $250. Sneakers can cost you $200. The blades, depending on what weapon you fence can cost you, you know, $300, $400.

I wouldn't be in fencing were it not for even the club that I fence for. I train at the Peter Westbrook Foundation here in New York City. And before (inaudible), before visa that was really my driving kind of way that I paid for the sport and I was involved at this level.

They subsidize a lot of my costs and they have kept me going. But, one of the awesome things about being a, you know a team visa athlete and having a great sponsor like visa they are definitely helping to financially fund my journey to Rio. They have a crowd funding campaign that we launched to help, you know, kind of subsidize our family costs to get myself and my four siblings and my parents to Rio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, ready, set.

MUHAMMAD: And what so cool about the sport is that it, you know, it's just uniquely accommodating few of my -- the tenants that I seen (ph). I'm covered, but I'm also, you know, pursuing my desire to be involved in sport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: We have some sad news to report out of the United States. Two sky divers in Northern California were killed after they jumped from 13,000 feet in the air. The men, both in their 20s have not been identified. Authorities say it appears their parachute failed to open.

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LT. RANDY JOHNSON, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY'S SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We have reports that parachutist may have hit the ground without a chute deployment. We had units respond out to the area, and located two decedents that had impacted the ground without a deployment of the chute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The Federal Aviation Administration here in the U.S. is investigating that incident.

[05:50:02] This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead tragedy prevented a father of the bride from attending his daughter's wedding. But, his heart was there. We'll explain coming up.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

A bride in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania had a very special guest on her wedding day. Though her father couldn't be there, his heart was.

Amy Wadas from CNN affiliate KDKA explains.

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JENI STEPIEN, BRIDE: It has been the best day of my life.

AMY WADAS, KDKA CORRESPONDENT: Jeni Stepien is officially a married woman. And she says this day wouldn't have been possible without this man, Arthur Thomas.

ARTHUR THOMAS, HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: You can never imagine what that would be like, unless you actually do it, because there's so many emotions involved in what you're doing.

WADAS: Arthur, fondly known as Tom, traveled from New Jersey to walk Jeni down the aisle at St. Anselm Church in Swissvale, since her father couldn't be there.

STEPIEN: Thank you so much for coming.

THOMAS: Are you kidding, me? STEPIEN: Yes.

[05:55:05] WADAS: Jeni met Tom for the first time on the eve of her wedding, when she felt her father's heart beat for the first time in 10 years. Jeni's father Michael Stepien was murdered in Swissvale back in 2006. Tom received Michael's heart after his death.

THOMAS: I was on death's door when he was murdered, and I needed a heart or I was going to be dying within the next few days.

WADAS: So Jeni asked Tom if he would do the honors in a letter.

STEPIEN: So I was just so thankful that my dad could be here with us today in spirit, and in a piece of his physical being, as well, that was really, really special for us.

PAUL MAENNER, BRIDEGROOM: I was just overtaken by emotions when I finally saw her walking down the most beautiful woman in the world that I've ever seen before.

THOMAS: What greater honor could a person have than walking the daughter of the man who's given his heart to him? I can't imagine a greater honor.

WADAS: Amy Wadas, KDKA-TV News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Just a great story there.

An Uber driver is getting a full ride to Rio thanks to one of his passengers. On August 18th, Ellis Hill's son is competing in the shot put event for the U.S. Olympic track and field team when the passenger heard that he couldn't afford to see his son compete in Rio, well, she set up a, "GoFundMe" campaign.

And over the course of a week, strangers donated a total of $8,200, $700 more than the original goal. And Ellis will head to Rio on August 15th, just in time to catch his son compete. We wish him the best, as well.

Thank you so much for being with us. I'm George Howell. For viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next. And for other viewers around the world "BEST OF QUEST" starts in a moment.

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