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Trump Comments Seen as Threat; Competition Heats up at Olympics; Russia and Turkey Move to Restore Relations; Concerns over $400 Million Payment to Iran; Regulating Amusement Parks; Decoding Trumpspeak: "Many People are Saying". Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 10, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:20] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Donald Trump says his latest controversial comments are a call for political action. Critics call them a threat of violence against Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: Russia and Turkey try to turn a page. What the end of their feud could mean for the West.

SESAY: And record-breaking Olympian Michael Phelps gets emotional while adding two more gold medals to his collection.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody, thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The U.S. Republican presidential nominee insists he's not trying to incite violence against his Democratic rival.

VAUSE: But many heard it that way when Donald Trump went after Hillary Clinton and gun control at a campaign stop. He insists he was talking about the political power of gun owners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is a political movement. This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment. You know, Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home.

This is a tremendous political movement. There can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, this all began when Trump strayed off script at a rally on Tuesday.

VAUSE: Sara Murray has what he said and also some of the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump setting off controversy with another offhand comment. One some believe amounts to a violent threat against his political opponent.

TRUMP: Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know.

MURRAY: Trump's suggestion that Second Amendment voters have the power to stop Clinton instantly raising questions about what the candidate meant, whether he was simply looking to coalesce gun supporters behind him or if he meant something more nefarious.

The Clinton campaign quickly seizing on Trump's comment as a sign the GOP nominee is inciting violence, saying in a statement, "This is simple, what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."

The Trump campaign swiped back, billing the issue as a media-driven controversy and insisting Trump was simply trying to rally gun voters. In a statement the Trump camp says, "It's called the power of unification. Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year they will be voting in record numbers and it won't be for Hillary Clinton. It will be for Donald Trump."

But Trump's latest off-the-cuff comment on a week when he was striving to stay on message is exactly the sort of flare-up giving members of his own party pause. The latest defector, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who penned an op-ed saying she will not vote for Trump. The GOP senator even telling Jamie Gangel that Trump poses a risk to the nation.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: Donald Trump in my judgment would make a perilous world even more dangerous.

MURRAY: Her announcement coming soon after a group of 50 GOP national security officials said they can't back Trump either, arguing he would put at risk our country's national security. Trump quickly dismissed the snub.

TRUMP: These are 50 people that have been running our country forever and they said we can't support Donald Trump. The reason they can't? You know why? Because I'm not going to hire these people. I don't want these people.

MURRAY: But as he struggles to keep his party in line and lags in the polls, Trump says the key to victory is more of the same.

TRUMP: I've always had a good temperament and it's gotten me here. We beat a lot of people in the primaries and I certainly don't think it's appropriate to start changing all of a sudden when you've been winning.

MURRAY: As well as finding openings to hammer his Democratic opponent. Today mocking Clinton for saying she short-circuited her handling of the e-mail issue.

TRUMP: Could you imagine if I said that I short-circuited? They would be calling for my execution. Electric chair. They'd bring back the electric chair. It's one thing to make bad decisions. It's another thing to be wacky and make bad decisions.

MURRAY (on camera): Now with Donald Trump's second event of the day in North Carolina, he made no mention of the earlier controversy, instead just saying the Second Amendment is under siege. But in a few interviews he made it clear that he was talking about the political power of Second Amendment voters, brushed aside the notion that he was talking about violence toward Hillary Clinton whatsoever.

[01:05:07] Sara Murray, CNN, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now in Los Angeles, Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for the "Atlantic."

Ron, there's been a lot of outrage about this statement coming from Donald Trump. Democrat Senator Chris Murphy put this out on Twitter. "Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat. Seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy and crisis."

Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, she went out on Twitter saying this, "As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated I find Trump's comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous."

Trump campaign said everyone knew he was talking about nothing more than political action. But this is a familiar pattern that we're getting from Donald Trump.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It is. It is.

VAUSE: Outrage, headline, denial.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I -- you know, I didn't hear it quite as inflammatory as some other people did but as with so many things that Donald Trump has said over the last 14 months it was heavily weighted with innuendo and it's hard to know exactly what he meant. And because he has said so many inflammatory things before, particularly around the issue of violence at his rallies, I think it is understandable that people are not giving him the benefit of the doubt here.

You know, separate from the issue of whether he was encouraging violence, the politics of this is fascinating, too, because the biggest obstacle right now, the biggest barrier between Donald Trump and the White House is that he's underperforming significantly other Republican nominees among white-collar, white voters, mostly suburbanites, who tend to be at least moderate on gun control and particularly among the women supportive of gun control. The kind of language that he was using today was someone who was

looking at doubling down on a non-urban, blue-collar, rural strategy to kind of get to the White House in an increasingly metropolitan nation.

SESAY: We need to take a listen, Ron, to what the former CIA chief general Michael Hayden had to say about these Trump comments. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: When I heard that for the first time, that was more than a speed bump. All right? That's actually a very arresting comment. If someone else had said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Many feel he crossed the line here. A line in American politics.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: And that we're also seeing the language used in this campaign that we haven't seen before.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Again, I did not hear it as a call for violence but I understand why people did. And whether or not it was, it really dovetails -- and Michael Hayden was a former head of the CIA, was part of a group of 50, 50 former Republican national security officials from the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations who issued an extraordinary almost unprecedented letter yesterday saying that Donald Trump was not qualified to be president.

And one of the reasons why they said he was not qualified was because he was erratic and they viewed him as reckless, and that is a huge barrier for him, particularly with these white-collar white voters who are resisting him. 60 percent say he's not qualified to be president. And again, when he uses this kind of inflammatory language, whatever he really meant, it reinforces, underscores those doubts.

VAUSE: Let's take a look at the front page or tomorrow's front page of the "New York Daily News." The paper has, you know, a big photo of Donald Trump and "This is Not a Joke Anymore," calling on Trump to end his presidential campaign.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: And this is a day that Trump probably should have stayed out of the news cycle because the Clinton campaign was having a very difficult time dealing with the father of the Orlando gunman who turned up standing behind her at a rally in Florida. It took them a couple of hours to get their act together to finally disavow his support. They still haven't explained why he was standing behind Clinton. But the problem now, the Clinton story, it's the B part of the day.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

VAUSE: It's way down in the rundown. It's not getting anything like the coverage.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, Clinton would be very happy right now if people were asking is she on vacation?

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNSTEIN: Because look -- and it goes to the larger point here. You know, only once since World War II have we elected the same party to three consecutive terms in the White House. It's hard.

VAUSE: Reagan to Bush, yes.

BROWNSTEIN: Reagan to Bush in '88. It's hard to win three in a row. And ordinarily you would say this would be a referendum on whether you want to continue in the Obama direction. Plus you have Hillary Clinton as kind of a quasi-incumbent because she's been around for so long. But all the evidence is that voters, this is fundamentally at this point a referendum on whether or not you want Donald Trump as president.

And that's why it's so hard for him to really make ground by putting more dents into her. He has to deal with the fact that 60 percent of the country consistently in polls say they don't believe he's qualified, only a small minority thinks he has the temperament, the knowledge, the experience to succeed as president, and 68 percent roughly say that he is racially biased against minorities and unfair to women.

If he can't change those perceptions, I don't think there is a -- there is a blow that you can land against Hillary Clinton that can get you over the top.

SESAY: Well, Ron, these gaffes continue to be a problem for Republicans who have endorsed Trump. Like Speaker Ryan.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: He was asked about this controversy a few hours ago. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I've been a little busy today. I've heard about this Second Amendment quote. It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that. I didn't actually hear the comments. I only heard about those comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:10:04] SESAY: He looks visibly uncomfortable. BROWNSTEIN: How miserable is poor Paul Ryan? I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: But how much damage --

VAUSE: The only one more miserable than Paul Ryan is the one who tells him what Donald Trump says.

SESAY: Yes, indeed.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Exactly.

SESAY: How much damage could it do to the likes of Paul Ryan, this constant swirl?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, look, I think -- you know, if Donald Trump does badly -- you know, does as badly as polls today have him or anything like him I think there are a lot of Republicans who are going to have to answer questions about why they didn't kind of more forcefully object when they had the chance and the -- you know, and the joke.

The history of the last four decades, split ticket voting has been steadily declining in America. It's been harder, whether or not you embrace the candidate or run away, you are linked to the candidate. And we see that for example in a state like Pennsylvania where Pat Toomey, the incumbent Republican senator, has fallen behind because Hillary Clinton has opened a big lead in the state.

It's going to be -- Donald Trump's an unusual case. Republicans say he is such a distinct brand, maybe people will be more willing to separate the Senate and the House candidates from the presidential candidate in the past. Maybe. But they are running against a four- decade current that has been flowing in the other direction in the U.S.

VAUSE: You mentioned the polls in Pennsylvania. Let's take a look at some of the latest numbers. The NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll. Clinton leads Trump in Pennsylvania by 11 points. There's another poll out by Quinnipiac and the numbers are pretty similar as well.

Let's go to Ohio, we have the NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll, Clinton up by five points. And again similar results coming from Quinnipiac. Both are swing states. Which one of these results is more significant?

BROWNSTEIN: Pennsylvania is more important. But Donald Trump almost certainly can't be president without winning both Pennsylvania and Ohio. These are part of the rustbelt set of swing states where he should do better. They are older, they're whiter, they're more blue collar. He is struggling even more in many of the sunbelt swing states including Virginia and Colorado that are younger and more diverse.

If Hillary Clinton holds Pennsylvania, add to it, New Mexico, Colorado, and Virginia, the likelihood is that any other single state would make her president.

SESAY: So looking at these numbers, what -- can you divine the Clinton campaign strategy going forward?

BROWNSTEIN: They have a lot of opportunities. I mean, they have a lot of -- you've got to think about the U.S. swing states. We've had 11 that we've been fighting over really since 2004, and they're in two buckets. There's a rustbelt group, there's New Hampshire, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and there's a sunbelt group which is basically Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and the southeast and Nevada and Colorado in the southwest.

She is competitive across that entire terrain at the moment. If Donald Trump has a path to the White House it is primarily in the first group, in the kind of rustbelt, kind of metal bending states where there are a lot of voters who feel left behind both culturally and economically and they've been less shaped by diversity. That's where his path is. But even in those states he is struggling among those white-collar white voters.

Mitt Romney won college educated whites by double digits in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the Quinnipiac poll today Hillary Clinton was leading among college-educated whites in Pennsylvania and Ohio by double digits. And that is the biggest change from previous elections. She's going to do possibly even better than Obama did among minority voters, but that's marginal.

The biggest change from previous elections is that Donald Trump is significantly underperforming with white collar whites who tend to see him as unqualified, as racially divisive, don't support ideas like the Muslim ban and mass deportation.

VAUSE: If we played presidential trivial pursuit would we be a team?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Absolutely.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Ron, always appreciate it.

VAUSE: Thank you so much.

SESAY: Great stuff. Thank you.

Two more golds for the most decorated Olympian of all time.

VAUSE: That would be U.S. swimming superstar Michael Phelps. He led his team to victory in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay, taking home his 21st, yes, number 21, gold medal. Phelps also won gold in the men's 200-meter butterfly. That was the important one.

SESAY: And Christina MacFarlane joins us now live from Rio.

Christina, thank you for still being with us. Another great, great moment in the Phelps career. And these medals came with a lot emotion for him. CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's

absolutely right, Isha. 2:00 a.m. in the morning here, but I'll tell you, we're still buzzing from what we've seen in the pool tonight.

This was redemption for Michael Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly. It has been a long path for him to get back to this point. Not just because he beat Chad Le Clos but of course because back at London 2012 he retired from swimming. He said he'd had enough, he didn't enjoy it anymore. He then sort of fell away from the pool. And unfortunately, in 2004 he was arrested twice for drunk driving. He was in a really bad place.

But since then he's turned himself around. He has a new baby boy. He's got the love of his life. And now he's back in the pool and he seems to be loving it. And one thing he said when he came to Rio is he just wanted to enjoy the experience. And that is what we saw when he took two more gold medals last night. He now becomes the oldest individual gold medalist in Olympic swimming history.

[01:15:04] Incidentally, Chad Le Clos came in fourth in that race. But then 15 minutes later Phelps was back at it again, back out in the men's 4x100 meter race, where the U.S. men were just superb. Phelps had a slight scary moment where he managed to snap his swim cap just before getting in the pool. He managed to grab one off his teammate, however, but by the time he was in the pool the race was pretty much done.

The men in the U.S. team were so far ahead that all that was left was for Phelps to swim to glory. And that he did. 21 gold medals now. What a night.

VAUSE: A great Olympic Games so far for Michael Phelps. Not a great Olympics so far for Serena Williams. This may be the biggest upset so far at the Olympics. Losing big-time, 37 unforced errors against Ukraine -- I'm going to try to say this -- Elina Svitolina? Is that right? Did I get that right?

SESAY: I'll give you points.

VAUSE: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Very good, John. Yes. Very good.

VAUSE: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

MACFARLANE: That's right. Not the Serena Williams we all know, it has to be said. You said 37 unforced errors. Well, get this. She had five double faults in one game. That is unheard of from the world's number one.

Now it's interesting. When you watch that match, she did seem to be clutching her shoulder and mouthing up to her coach that there may have been something wrong there, maybe that had something to do with it. She put out, as you said, I'm going to attempt it now, Elina Svitolina -- I didn't even get it. She is the world number 20. She's not the sort of player that we see causing big upsets against, you know, the biggest names in women's tennis.

So Serena Williams now out of the competition. She was looking to become the first Olympian to defend her Olympic tennis title. That may now still be on the cards for Andy Murray. He's the only one left in this competition with the gold medal. And it comes hot on the heels, of course, of Novak Djokovic getting dumped out of the competition in both the doubles and the singles yesterday.

So who knows what's going on? But not a good week for the world number ones in either discipline. Remember, they're going to go ahead to play the U.S. Open later this month. Let's hope they get their form back.

SESAY: Speaking of things going wrong, Christina, what is going on with the Olympic diving pool? It appears to have turned green.

MACFARLANE: That's actually right. Now people here are calling it pool-gate. That is because on Monday the synchronized swimming pool was blue. On Tuesday it had turned green. Have a look at the pictures here, and you'll see not just a light green but a deep green. In fact, it was so green that the contestants were saying they couldn't see their teammates under the water.

Now the organizers did test the levels of the water and they found that they were safe. They said the water was clean. But they couldn't explain it. We were expecting the Olympics to be -- have a green element, a green movement to it, but this I think is not what anyone expected.

The Chinese women, however, did pick up the gold medal. It didn't seem to bother them at all. But yes, we'll have to see whether it changes color again as the days go on here.

VAUSE: My money is that it's an algal bloom.

SESAY: Is that where your money going?

VAUSE: Just saying.

SESAY: All right.

VAUSE: Thanks, Christina.

SESAY: Thank you, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Our biologist.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: That's right.

SESAY: Exactly.

VAUSE: See you next hour. SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Let's take a quick look at the medal count. After four days of competition the U.S. is on top with nine gold medals. China close behind with eight golds. Hungary and Australia both not far behind as well with (INAUDIBLE) -- with four golds.

SESAY: And rounding out the top six are Russia and Italy with three golds each. The U.S. also leads in total number of medals. Get this. 26.

VAUSE: Wow. And still early.

SESAY: Still early.

VAUSE: Let's take a short break. When we come back, the refugee Olympic team is the darling of the summer games, but it is a very different story for refugees everywhere else around the world.

SESAY: And nine months after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet, the two countries are trying to move past the bad blood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:52] VAUSE: Russia and Turkey are trying to restore ties after they soured when Turkey shot down a Russian jet last November.

SESAY: The reconciliation could have major implications for the fight against ISIS and beyond.

Matthew Chance reports from St. Petersburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is the Turkish president turning to Russia and away from the West?

This highly symbolic meeting in St. Petersburg has raised concerns. As will the warm words of this key NATO ally to his Kremlin counterpart. He called Putin his dear friend several times.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (Through Translator): My dear friend, Mr. President, and I have displayed a joint position showing that we have the will to show the rest of the world that we will be acting together as friendly countries. The Turkey-Russian relationship will continue to improve and we believe our relationship is much stronger than it used to be.

CHANCE: That relationship plunged dramatically when Turkish interceptor shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border last November. Russia's infuriated president could barely contain his anger. He called it a stab in the back, imposing sanctions on Turkish trade and travel links. But now after expressions of regret from Erdogan, Putin's mood appears to have improved. His talk is of fully restoring Russian-Turkish ties.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): I hope we will manage to achieve pre-crisis levels of tourism, and I think that's just a matter of time. We also discussed Russia's embargo on Turkish goods and construction work. We will work on this and we will resolve it soon.

CHANCE: After eight months of trade sanctions and bitterness, it's a diplomatic backflip almost worthy of the Olympics themselves.

(On camera): This meeting here in St. Petersburg is meant to cement the rekindling of a Russia-Turkey relationship so badly damaged over Syria. Economic necessity on both sides is almost certainly the driving force. But it's the timing of the visit, the first by President Erdogan, after a failed military coup last month that's given the meeting extra significance.

[01:25:05] (Voice-over): Amid a Turkish crackdown on opponents, more than 18,000 have been detained, relations between Turkey and the West are strained, and the Kremlin senses an opportunity. Putin was quick to remind his Turkish counterpart of his early backing.

PUTIN (Through Translator): I know that I was one of the first who called on the phone and expressed my support in overcoming the internal political crisis after the coup d'etat. I'd like to say again it's our principal position that we will always categorically be against any unconstitutional deeds.

CHANCE: Amid Turkish anger and Western criticism, Putin's hand of friendship may count for a lot.

Matthew Chance, CNN, St. Petersburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We're joined now by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, she is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield."

Gayle, what will be the ramifications to Syria of these warming relations between Turkey and Russia?

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, AUTHOR, "ASHLEY'S WAR": This is the real central question from the Syria front. Does what's happening on the battlefield lead to the negotiating table and is the conversation that's going on now possibly a lead-in to an end to -- or at least a limitation of some of the carnage we've seen in recent days inside Syria, which is as bad as anybody? When I talked to aid workers today. Has seen it in years.

SESAY: This warming of ties between Russia and Turkey. How much is this really about them looking for leverage in their individual talks with the West, their engagement with countries like the United States? TZEMACH LEMMON: Well, I think it's the urgency of the wallet, right?

The importance of that trade relationship, driving really a desire to make the most of the moment. Right? You have a moment where both nations feel pretty isolated and they can see mutual advantage in having a conversation and by the way in also upsetting NATO. Right?

SESAY: Yes.

TZEMACH LEMMON: And that is I think a moment where everybody wants to take the most leverage from that room that you just showed.

VAUSE: You mentioned the situation in Aleppo right now. The city -- or the eastern part of the city where the rebels are is essentially under siege by regime forces, backed by Russian air power. What can we -- is there anything to be read into the timing of the meeting that is under way in St. Petersburg with what is happening in Aleppo right now?

TZEMACH LEMMON: Well, you know, I think in some ways they're separate but related. And what a lot of people who want to see a diplomatic solution to this come sooner rather than later hope is that some of these warming ties can lead to the diplomatic table, can lead to a conversation, that could lead to the end of some of what are really shocking conditions. Right? You have families that are now going days without clean water.

I talked to a doctor today who told me about parents who are having their children sleep in bathrooms in Aleppo City because of the bombing and what is happening outside is so bad the only place they feel they can keep their kids safe is in the bathroom. You know, no one knows what to do to keep their children safe. And so there's some hope that could some of this lead to a better moment at the negotiating table.

SESAY: Gayle, as we talk about the situation in Syria and we talk about the millions who've been displaced and who have become refugees outside the country, you know, we also are looking at this moment in Rio in the Olympic Games where we've seen this refugee delegation, the first of its kind.

I want to read to you some of what Roger Cohen wrote in the "New York Times" about the vast gulf between the team refugee and refugees. And let's put this up and share it with our viewers. He says, "The world is moved by team refugees at the Olympics in Rio. They are greeted with a standing ovation at the opening ceremony. Yet it is unmoved by refugees. They die at sea. They die seals in the back of a truck. They die anonymous deaths. They represent danger and threaten disruption."

Incredibly poignant. I want to get your thoughts on that. I mean, does he have a point? Will anything change from seeing refugees in a different light there in Rio?

TZEMACH LEMMON: There's team refugee and there's reality of refugees. And the fact is that a lot of these swimmers that people are applauding are people who were forced to flee their country in a dinghy because nobody wanted to help these people flee to safety when things were falling from the sky, when they had their streets be hit by war. So I mean, I think that there is a real sense of kind of disposable emotion that is easy in hashtag kind of activism to cheer and yet when it comes to the reality of welcoming people who have no place to go, we have done a much less successful job as an international community.

VAUSE: Thank you, Gayle. It's really worth thinking about, the disconnect between --

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: You know, the handful of refugees in Rio right now and the applause, the love and the admiration, and what's happening for the millions of others. Thanks for coming in.

SESAY: Yes. Thank you.

TZEMACH LEMMON: Glad to join you.

VAUSE: Well, still to come here on NEWSROOM L.A. we will hear from an American held during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 and what he thinks about the U.S. $400 million cash payment to Tehran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:23] VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. Michael Phelps won his 20th and 21st Olympic gold medals in Rio on Tuesday. The American swimmer beat South Africa's Chad Le Clos in the men's 200- meter butterfly. Phelps also led team USA to gold in the men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay.

VAUSE: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is looking to mend fences with Moscow. He met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday in St. Petersburg. Relations soured in November when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet over Syria.

SESAY: A new controversy for Donald Trump as he attacks Hillary Clinton's position on gun control and suggests second amendment gun rights supporters could stop her. Critics immediately accused him of making a veiled threat of violence. Trump's campaign says he was talking about political influence.

VAUSE: Republican lawmakers continue to press the Obama administration over that $400 million paid to Iran. The President says the cash payment which was in foreign currencies packed in crates and flown to Tehran was part of a legal settlement for a failed arms deal decades ago.

Critics say because the payment arrived the same day, five Americans were released from Iranian jails. It appears to be some sort of secret ransom deal. Three Republican senators are demanding answers from Secretary of State John Kerry, writing in part, "We question the timing concurrent with the release of five American hostages as well as the method and lack of disclosure of the payment. We are concerned that this payment along with the swap for seven Iranian prisoners detained in the U.S. has and will continue to encourage further hostage taking of Americans by Iran."

[01:35:14] Barry Rosen knows a few things about being taken hostage in Iran. He was one of 52 Americans held for 444 days in 1979, and Barry joins us now from New York. Barry, you have a very unique perspective here. What are your thoughts on this $400 million payment to Iran?

BARRY ROSEN, SURVIVOR OF 1979 IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS: Well, it looks like a quid pro quo or possibly what one would call ransom. The timing was bad if that was so. But in any other matter, it looks like ransom and it smells like ransom to me.

VAUSE: So, can you make a connection here between this cash payment in January and your experience almost four decades ago?

ROSE: Well, to some degree there is some, you know, parallel. You know, until the United States made a deal with Iran to let us go, that is, Iranians would let us go only if there was a financial payment made to Iran. And that deal was made in January of 1981. And that's why we were free. There's no other

reason. Iranians needed the money. They pressed the United States for the money that they were owed. And they received it, and then we were released. It was a quid pro quo again.

VAUSE: So what you're saying here is that there is a pattern of behavior here by Iran which hasn't really changed.

ROSE: Well, there is a pattern. There's no doubt about it. Now Iran is doing this more and more now. They're taking Americans hostage. They're also taking Canadians, French, and British thinking that they may be able to secure another ransom agreement between United States, Canada, France, England, whatever they possibly can do.

And those governments are thinking about possibly paying some sort of funding to free the hostages. Dual citizens, dual nationals, dual American nationals should not be going to Iran for any reason. Any business reason, any personal reason right now. It's too, too dangerous.

VAUSE: I'm just wondering, could this simply be a case of suspicious timing, Iran was going to get the money back anyway because of that legal settlement? So the question is why release the hostages for money which was

already coming your way?

ROSE: Well, you know, that's a question the Iranians will answer and both the United States will answer. But I think the pressure was on the United States. Iran wanted to make sure, and the revolutionary guards wanted to make

sure that they would get the cash in hand, cold cash, not anything else but cash. Euros, Swiss Francs, anything they possibly could.

They wanted it immediately. They wanted to see a secure transaction. And the transaction was secure once the cash was in hand.

VAUSE: If you do accept the Obama administration explanation for all this, at the very least, this is a problem with transparency and openness and explaining how these things are carried out?

ROSE: Well, at least it's a problem of transparency. But at most it's more than a problem of transparency. It is a quid pro quo. It is ransom.

VAUSE: OK. We'll leave it there. And Barry Rosen, thank you very much for coming in. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts.

ROSE: You're welcome.

SESAY: Some news just in to us here at CNN. Brazil suspended President Dilma Rousseff will face trial for impeachable offenses.

VAUSE: Brazil's senate voted in favor of impeachment trial proceedings. She was suspended earlier this year on charges of breaking budget laws. The trial will likely take place towards the end of the month after the closing ceremonies at Rio's Olympics.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now. A new concerns about safety at U.S. amusement parks after a boy is killed and a girl critically injured in separate incidents. That's next on NEWSROOM L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. A Ferris wheel accident and a death on the world's highest water slide are raising new concerns about regulations at amusement parks in the U.S.

VAUSE: As CNN's Rene Marsh reports, no single federal agency has total oversight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got three kids that have fell from the Ferris wheel. Three kids.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Monday, three girls fell about 45 feet from an amusement park ride in Tennessee. One of them severely injured.

GREGORY LYNTHACUM, EYEWITNESS: One fell, bounced off. The other one fell immediately behind, bouncing off and then hitting the concrete.

MARSH: And just one day earlier, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died from a neck injury after riding this 168-foot-tall water slide in Kansas City, Kansas. A foot taller than Niagara falls. It's dubbed the world's largest water slide.

DEBORAH HERSMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL: What we do know about water parks is there is very little federal oversight or regulations. They're not required to report their injuries. And that much of this is handled at the state and local level. MARSH: There are more than 400 amusement parks in the United States, attracting more than 330 million visitors per year. No federal agency is responsible for oversight. It's up to the states to regulate. And some are more strict than others. But the trade group that represents amusement parks tells CNN, "Serious incidents are extremely rare."

The most recent data from 2014 shows of the millions of visitors to amusement parks in the U.S. there were more than 1,100 reported injuries. But that number does not account for water parks or traveling parks like the Ferris wheel incident in Tennessee. That data is harder to come by.

It also doesn't account for close calls like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you.

MARSH: A Texas father forced to hold his 6-year-old son mid-ride after the safety restraint came loose. And fatal incidents like the woman who fell out of a roller coaster car and plummeted to her death at six flags over Texas in 2013.

CARMEN BROWN, WITNESS: She goes up like this. And then when it drops to come down, that's when it released, and she just tumbled.

MARSH: All raise questions about why there isn't one standard to ensure the millions of riders are safe.

HERSMAN: They're expecting to have a safe ride. We need to make sure that all of the work on the design, maintenance, and oversight and inspection is done so that there is a safe ride for everyone.

MARSH: Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:45:00] VAUSE: Criminal Defense Attorney Brian Claypool joins us now to talk more about this. So Brian, the assumption most people make when they go on one of these rides is that, oh terrifying, it's scary, but I'm always going to be safe. But this assumption it's been inspected and it's up to a certain standard, but that just isn't the case here in the United States. You can't make that assumption.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, ATTORNEY AND CNN COMMENTATOR: It isn't the case and children, beware. Instead of amusement parks, we have in the United States, it's like amusement pandemonium.

VAUSE: Yeah.

CLAYPOOL: Because there is very little regulation going on in these amusement parks. In fact, I think the ride in Kansas had only been inspected one time during the year. Now, do you think that's enough? I mean, these rides that are inherently dangerous I think need to be inspected daily basis or at least on a weekly basis.

SESAY: OK, so you just mentioned these rides are inherently dangerous. So there is a risk. Knowing that, what is the level of personal liability here as you get involved in something like that?

CLAYPOOL: Well, the difference between what's called legally assumption of risk, that means like for example if you go to a baseball game and a foul ball is hit into the crowd and hits you in the head, you've assumed the risk of getting hurt at the game. But that's different than getting on a ride that has a defects or a ride, for example, like the Ferris wheel in Tennessee that hits another car and then flips upside down. You're not assuming the risks of that. That's something you don't contemplate happening. So at the end of the day there has to be inspections to reduce human error. For example, the little boy in Kansas, was he even tall enough to be on that ride? Did he weigh enough? Was the seat belt properly strapped? Did the seat belt malfunction? Those are issues that don't apply to assumption of risk.

VAUSE: OK, because there is no oversight, no one really has any idea how many people are hurt each year at amusement parks, which then if you take it, you know, if you extrapolate that out we don't know how dangerous the amusement parks are.

CLAYPOOL: Yeah, well here's the problem I think in getting accurate statistics of accidents that occur at amusement parks and by the way, in the last five years 40 percent of injuries have occurred on water rides.

SESAY: Just mainly.

CLAYPOOL: Yet only 11 percent of rides at amusement parks are water rides.

VAUSE: That's right, I think.

CLAYPOOL: Here's the problem as I see it on a legal end. Anytime somebody's hurt at an amusement park, these amusement parks want to zip the lips of the victim. So they negotiate out of court settlements and as part of the settlement they have a confidentiality provision which stops the victim from talking about the injury. So we don't have accurate statistic. And on top of that, these amusement parks aren't required to report their own injury, they're own accident.

SESAY: Oh that's awful though. Aren't they legally required to offer up that information?

CLAYPOOL: It's crazy. They're supposed to report accidents that occur. There's nobody monitoring the accidents occurring. That's like asking, for example, a restaurant to pick up the phone and call the department of safety and say hey, "I have an unsanitary condition in my restaurant." Do you think the restaurant's really going to call?

SESAY: Yeah.

VAUSE: Yeah. So parents and moms and dads coming for a vacation to the United States or if you're living here right now, just ...

SESAY: Be very, very careful.

VAUSE: ... be very, very careful. Brian, good to see you.

SESAY: Brian, thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you.

SESAY: I appreciate that.

CLAYPOOL: You both, thanks for having me.

VAUSE: Still ahead on NEWSROOM LA, Donald Trump's source for his many political theories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Some people have been saying that. A lot of people are saying that. Half the people in this room are saying that. Some people -- I don't know.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is weather watch on CNN. I'm Pedram Javaheri with you watching the Southeastern U.S. yet again as really the predominant area for any sort of uniform weather pattern and a lot of thunderstorms have been present. And you take a look, the moisture content really sticks out here like a sore of thumb when you take a look at how much moisture is locked into that region.

[01:50:02] There are some storms around the northeastern corner of the U.S., but it is around the Gulf Coast that the most high flood risk remains in place. In fact, up and down the panhandle working your way out to this New Orleans in the State of Louisiana, there are heavy rainfall expected. And the models indicating the heaviest rain now could be displaced a little farther back towards the west. And that could be again north of 250 to 300 millimeters by the time this is all said and done later this week.

The temps into the upper 30s, you factor in the humidity about 41, 42 degrees across parts of Dallas. You know, Denver, Colorado also a little steamy there at 34. Winnipeg, it's not a thunderstorm possible, there temps should be into the up your 20s and low 30s there. And here's what's left of Javier, now losing a lot of its tropical characteristics. The Sierra Madre mountains across this region of Western Mexico will see a lot of thunderstorms begin to flourish into the afternoon hours. Some flooding concerns on those higher elevation communities, but temps should be kept a little cooler there into the mid 20s around Mexico City, Chihuahua around 31 degrees. Working your way to the south, notice places like La Paz, some morning snow showers could mix in as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: The nightmare isn't quite over for Delta Airlines passengers. Following a global computer system crash, Delta says it's canceled 775 more flights Tuesday on top of the 1000 cancellations on Monday.

VAUSE: The airline is slowly getting passengers rebooked as it works to normalize operations. Aviation experts say this breakdown will likely cost Delta tens of millions of dollars.

SESAY: Oh dear.

VAUSE: Donald Trump's unconventional run for the White House is known for his unscripted speeches which stir up a lot of controversy and dominate the news cycle.

SESAY: But one phrase comes up a lot. And as Dana Bash reports, many people are talking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It has long been a staple of Trump speak.

TRUMP: Some people have been saying that. A lot of people are saying that. Half of the people in this room are saying that. Some people I don't know.

BASH: Then this tweet, "Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist to helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton's hacked e-mails."

TRUMP: Let's go.

BASH: That harsh allegation using only "many people are saying" as his proof has turned the catch phrase into an instant internet sensation. "Uh, many people are saying hashtag." went viral becoming a forum to mock Trump. Hillary Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill tweeting "many people are saying that a unicorn is housed in a cage atop Trump tower." the band spoon, "many people are saying our next album will heal the sick and end all war. It's just what many people are saying.

But beneath the sarcasm is a serious question. Why does Donald Trump send conspiracy theories into the ether with only a version of "many people are saying" to back it up?

TRUMP: Is he a natural born citizen? Some people I don't know.

BASH: Sometimes it's about knocking an opponent off message, like during the primaries when Trump questioned Canadian-born Ted Cruz's eligibility to be president.

TRUMP: You know, a lot of people think you have to be born here. You have to be born on this land.

BASH: Cruz, who was then gaining on Trump in Iowa, denounced the Trump's allegation.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: The legal issue is straightforward. The son of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. BASH: Other times it appears Trump uses it to change the subject when he's getting bad press. Trump's Monday afternoon tweet connecting Clinton to an executed Iranian scientist came little more than an hour after the "New York Times" first reported about a letter signed by 50 GOP National Security Experts warning Trump would be a dangerous commander-in-chief.

TRUMP: A lot of people are very skeptical as to what happened and how he died.

BASH: When Trump started focusing on Clinton after he locked up the GOP nomination, he used his "some people say" phrase to road-test conspiracy theories from the 1990s like questioning whether Clinton aide and friend Vince Foster really committed suicide. Trump telling the Washington Post, "There are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don't do that because I don't think it's fair."

[01:55:06] Beyond why Trump does this, the question is do these people exist? And if so who are they? One source familiar with how Trump operates tells CNN sometimes those people are some of Trump's 10.8 million twitter followers, many of whom constantly send him ideas and suggestions. Remember this Trump M.O. (ph) worked for him in the GOP primaries even before he ran in 2011, seizing on the Obama Birther movement.

TRUMP: A lot of these birthers are just really quality people that just want the truth.

BASH: Still, scroll through trump's twitter feed and you realize he's relied on the phrase for years. Even to promote his businesses "many people have commented that my fragrance success is the best scent and lasts the longest. Try it and let me know what you think." Dana Bash, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I was always told that it's lazy journalism when you write. "Some people believe, some people are saying."

SESAY: Well, his defense to that would be he's not a journalist.

VAUSE: That's true. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Nice to be back, by the way.

SESAY: It's always good to be back with you. And I'm Isha Sesay. We'll be back with another hour of news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.