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Donald Trump Gets Rave Reviews in Russia; American Professor, Australian Colleague Kidnapped in Afghanistan; Islamist-Led Rebel Coalition Says They've Broken The Siege At Aleppo; American Swimmers Take Golds, Break Records; A-Rod to Play Last Game for New York Yankees. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 08, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:45] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thanks so much for joining me. While Donald Trump tries to win over voters here in the United States, it is clear he's already winning over some in Russia. Here's CNN's Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is he really the Kremlin's candidate? Certainly Russian State Television is loaded with positive coverage of The Donald.

This T.V. news anchor explains that Trump's just an eccentric billionaire who wants to make America great and normalize relations with Russia. He's often painted here as a brave political maverick who shares Russian concerns over American foreign policy. And is willing to find common language with Russia's President Putin, who is praised.

VICTORIA ZHURAVLYOVA, POLITICAL ANALYST: Between Hillary and Trump, Trump is the only one who sounds friendly. So maybe we can hope that he will be more friendly, and more positive towards Russia.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And by the way, wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along with Russia? Wouldn't that be, wouldn't that be nice?

CHANCE (voice-over): Much of what Trump says about Russia has left U.S. allies aghast, but finds a welcoming audience in Moscow.

CHANCE: Donald Trump's own foreign policy pronouncements have won him plenty of friends here in Russia. His recent suggestion that he wouldn't necessarily defend NATO allies in the event of a Russian attack raised eyebrows, both in the U.S. and here. And his vow to look again at recognizing annexed Crimea as part of Russia must have put a smile on the faces of many Kremlin supporters.

CHANCE (voice-over): Of course not everyone in Russia thinks Trump is their best bet. Some political analysts say his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, would benefit the Kremlin even more. At least she's predictable, they say, in her tough, Russian stance. But it's the unpredictability of Trump that may have most endeared him to the Kremlin-controlled media.

KONSTANTIN VON EGGERT, POLITICAL ANALYST: He will either be more inclined to do a deal with the Kremlin. Or he will mess up life in the White House and on Capitol Hill so much by his erratic behavior, that the American political close (ph), the American system will be in permanent crisis. And that is what, actually, Russia wants.

TRUMP: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.

CHANCE (voice-over): He may not be the Kremlin's man, in other words, but he might prove a useful distraction from what the Kremlin does.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Well Carol, there's a new opinion poll that's just come out here in Russia. It says that 34 percent of people who expressed a preference would want Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States. Because they believe that the relationship between Moscow and Washington would improve under his presidency. Just 6 percent for Hillary Clinton. Asked why they preferred Trump, the majority of the respondents said, simply because he's more fun than Hillary.

COSTELLO: Matthew Chance reporting live from Moscow this morning. Thank you. So let's talk about this with CNN Senior Political Analyst, and Senior Editor for The Atlantic, Ron Brownstein. And CNN Military Analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Welcome to both of you.

OK so, Ron how much does this really matter? I mean ...

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, you know, look, I think right now the public -- I -- there is some polling -- the public's not inclined to think of Donald Trump as a stooge of Vladimir Putin. But I do think that this is an enormous role reversal. And one that is probably contributing to his deficit on who can handle foreign policy.

You can think back to four years ago, it was Democrats who were defending that reset button you saw in the taped piece, in Matthew's piece, and defending the idea of kind of resetting relations with Russia. And it was Mitt Romney who was arguing that Russia is really a strategic adversary and we needed to be taking a much tougher line on (ph) them.

What Donald Trump is saying now, is really kind of out -- he's gone kind of beyond even where President Obama started, I think, in 2009. And with his comments questioning NATO, in essence accepting the Russian annexation of the Crimea, almost opening the door on the Baltics, he's going way beyond what we have seen.

And I do think the moment of truth for this is going to be in a debate with Hillary Clinton. With already a significant deficit on who can handle foreign policy, can he defend those ideas in front of a very large, national audience? I think that's TBD. [10:36:25]

COSTELLO: Do you think he can do that, Rick?

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well I think he's going to have to. I think his comments on NATO are really going to be the problem. It's very, very hard to sell that to the American people.

NATO has been the bulwark of our defense against the Russians -- previous to that, the Soviets -- for decades. And for him to challenge that was almost a sacrosanct understanding among the militaries of all of the NATO countries.

So he's going to have to walk that back somehow. Because I don't think an American president could possibly get elected by saying, "I'm not going to live up to our NATO commitments." That is the bedrock of our policy in Western Europe.

COSTELLO: Well the former Acting CIA Director, he also criticized Mr. Trump over the weekend for his comments on Russians. This is Mike Morell, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MORELL, FORMER DEPUTY AND ACTING DIRECTOR, CIA: Look at it from Putin's perspective, right? He's a trained intelligence officer, worked for the KGB, very talented. Manipulated people much smarter than Donald Trump.

He played this perfectly, right? He saw that Donald Trump wanted to be complimented, he complimented him. That led Donald Trump to then compliment Vladimir Putin and to defend Vladimir Putin's actions in a number of places around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK so Ron, Trump lashed back ...

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

COSTELLO: ... via Twitter. He said, "Michael Morell, the lightweight, former Acting Director of the CIA, and a man who has made serious bad calls is a total Clinton flunkee." Is that a good defense?

BROWNSTEIN: Well look, I mean I -- first of all, you know that charge and the way he phrased it was even more pointed in his New York Times op-ed -- Mr. Morell. I -- that is about the toughest charge that I've heard against Donald Trump from anyone. And it is a serious question.

You know, look, I don't think it is enough, as Mr. Francona said, I don't think it's enough simply to try to discredit the messenger here. Donald Trump is talking about a significant, if not radical, shift in America's orientation toward Russia, and certainly toward NATO. And he is ultimately going to have to defend that. And it is, it is worth noting where he has faced the most sustained,

broadest defection among traditional Republicans -- and people who have worked in Republican administrations -- have been people from the national security side.

I mean you have Brent Scowcroft who the National Security Advisor for the first President Bush. You have Richard Armitage who was the Deputy Secretary of State for the second President Bush. Mark Salter who was the alter-ego for John McCain for decades. All of them have basically said they are voting for Hillary Clinton because they don't trust Donald Trump on national security.

So again, I think yeah, he can go out, he can lash out at the messenger. But he is going to have to defend these ideas. And the place where he's really going to have to defend them, I think, is going to be that first debate.

COSTELLO: OK so Colonel Francona, you've served on the battlefield. Is Michael Morell a Clinton flunkee? Did he made -- did he make a number of huge mistakes, putting Americans at risk overseas?

FRANCONA: I think he may have -- he may have overdramatized his remarks. I was on yesterday, we talked about this with Fredricka. And I think that, of course he's angling, I think he's aimed for a position in the new administration.

He's been allied with the Clintons for some time. And we have to remember, using words like calling a presidential candidate an unwitting asset of Vladimir Putin, I think, is a bit over the top. So I'll chock it up to election drama.

COSTELLO: All right, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, Ron Brownstein, thanks to both of you. Still to come in the Newsroom, an American and an Australian are kidnapped in Afghanistan. What happened? Next.

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[10:44:20]

COSTELLO: An American professor is kidnapped along with an Australian colleague in Afghanistan. They had just left their university when armed gunmen approached their car and smashed through a side window. Guardian Correspondent Sune Rasmussen joins us now live from Kabul, Afghanistan with more. Tell us more, Sune.

SUNE RASMUSSEN, GUARDIAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes what we know was that at 8:30, around 8:30 p.m. last night, Kabul time, these two academics from, working at the American, the American University in Kabul were kidnapped, as you say. By four or five armed gunmen dressed in what appears to have been military uniforms.

We heard from an Afghan security official who can't be named, that these uniforms are not the normal Army uniforms. But rather uniforms that can be bought pretty easily around the country. So not necessarily fake, the Army uniforms. We don't know yet the identity of these two victims. We don't know

who were behind the kidnapping, either.

COSTELLO: All right, Sune Rasmussen reporting live from Kabul, Afghanistan this morning. The Pakistani Taliban now claiming responsibility for a hospital bombing. At least 70 people have been killed, and another 112 people injured. The group targeted a hospital's emergency ward where lawyers and journalists had gathered. They were there because of the body of a well-known lawyer and activist had been brought to the hospital after he was shot and killed earlier that day. The group is vowing more attacks.

It could be a major turning point in the fight over Syria. The Islamist-led rebel coalition say they've broken the siege of Aleppo, smashing through government lines and taking over a military complex. The rebels used suicide bombers to surprise an exhausted Syrian army. Now outsiders worry the jihadist rebels could gain popularity with Syrian citizens pleased with their victory.

Still to come in the Newsroom, Team USA makes a major splash at the Olympics. Coy Wire live in Rio, next.

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[10:50:25]

COSTELLO: We are in day three of the Rio Olympic games and Team USA got off to an excellent start. Yesterday 19-year old superstar swimmer, Katie Ledecky broke her own world record, winning the gold in the 400-meter freestyle. And Michael Phelps? Well he won his 19th gold medal. He now has 23 Olympic gold medals in total. More than any other Olympian out there. Could it be another big day for our swimmers? I say yes. CNN's Coy Wire is in Rio following all of the action. Hi Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol. We have some big swimming finals on tap tonight, too. We have American Lily King going up against Russian drug cheat (ph) Yulia Efimova, that's in the 100- meter breaststroke finals. There's been a lot of trash talking ahead of this one. They've been wagging their fingers at each other like Dikembe Mutombo style. Glaring at each other, some fierce competitors. So that's definitely going to be one to watch.

But the ones that watched last night, you mentioned it, Katie Ledecky. She dropped the mic in front of the world. And you need to check that lady for propellers on her feet. She takes the gold in the 400-meter free and smashes her own record, world record, by almost 2 seconds. She's only 19-years old, she's humble. She gave up millions in endorsement dollars by not turning pro so she could go to Stanford in the Fall. She sacrifices, this girl doesn't even have her driver's license yet, she's so focused. A gold and a silver already, a potential for two more individual golds in these games. Go Katie, go.

Now in the men's swimming, you mentioned Michael Phelps. Dominating. His second leg of the 4 by 1, hundred-meter relay, the torpedo Team USA to a gold. He's turned in the fastest relay split (ph) he'd ever swim in his career. He's 31-years old, he's been through a lot of trying times since the last Summer games. But just last week, Carol, he said that the last two years have been the best of his life. He's focused, he's not drinking alcohol. And he's swimming for his fiancee and their 3-month old son, Boomer, who are both here, in Rio to cheer Michael on.

Now in yesterday's qualifying round during team competition, the USA women's gymnastics team, they showed no chill, and that they are for real. They won all but one of the competitions. Just hours before, listen to this, they had -- before -- hours before they had to appear for the events they were in the athlete village eating, joking, laughing so hard that their team coordinator had to tell them, "hey, this is the Olympics." Well they go out and show that they aren't joking around. They're just relaxed, they're confident. They'll go for gold tomorrow in the team competitions. And Dynamite's Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, they both qualify, Carol, for the all-around Olympic event.

And also the men's gymnastics team, Carol, they're going to be going for gold today in the team competition as well.

COSTELLO: So exciting, I can't wait for the gymnastics competition, that's my favorite. I did want to ask you about Rio as a whole. Because you know, all -- you know in the weeks previous to the Olympics, we've talked about all of these problems Rio was having. Have you seen any problems?

WIRE: Certainly I've seen, and have felt some of the issues they have been dealing with here. I certainly don't feel safe walking in certain parts of towns. And as long as you're paying attention, you're OK. I went to the opening ceremony the other night and I have to tell you that was a bit unnerving. Because as we were trying to get to the stadium, there were flash bangs going off, there were smoke grenades going off of sorts.

A lot of people in the communities that come down from the favelas where they have tough life. And they're seeing all of these millions and millions of dollars being spent right here in their own community to -- for games and celebrations. When they think that money can be used to go back into their communities for clean water, and security, and that sort of thing.

So it's a really interesting dichotomy to see, to feel. But in the end it is been secure. It has been a wonderful experience thus far, Carol. And I look forward to continuing to bring some of those experiences to you.

COSTELLO: OK and we sure do appreciate it. Coy Wire reporting live from Rio this morning. Still to come in the Newsroom, 90 minutes before kickoff. The first game of the NFL preseason is called off. And you will not believe the reason why.

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[10:58:50]

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 58 minutes past. The first game of the new NFL season turned out to be a bust. The Hall of Fame game between the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts was canceled 90 minutes before kickoff. Paint used on parts of the field became hard and slippery, creating dangerous conditions for the players. Fans will get a full refund.

He never said the word retirement, but Alex Rodriguez is saying goodbye. A-Rod will play his last game as a New York Yankee this Friday and then become a special advisor and instructor for the team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, DESIGNATED HITTER, NEW YORK YANKEES: I do want to be remembered as someone who is madly in love with the game of baseball. Someone who loves it at every level. Someone who loves to learn, teach it, watch it, play it, coach it. And also, I'm going to be hopefully remembered for someone who tripped and fell a lot. But someone who kept getting up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ticket prices for A-Rod's final game are surging online. The average resale prices online have skyrocketed nearly 400 percent. Before the announcement, tickets were going for about $75. Well now they're around $345.

Thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello.