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Russia Launches Syria Airstrikes from Iran; Trump Makes Direct Appeal to African-American Voters; Olympic Highlights; Crime Casts Shadow on Rio Olympics; El Chapo's 29-Year-Old Son Kidnapped in Puerto Vallarta; Religion's Role in the U.S. Presidential Race. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired August 17, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:10] SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour: Russian partners with Iran for its Syrian campaign. How it's complicating wars in the region and relations with the United States.

Donald Trump speaks directly to African-Americans asking for their vote and accusing Hillary Clinton of using them for her political gain.

And as the Rio games roll on, so too do the murders. CNN takes a haunting ride with the city's homicide squad.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Sara Sidner in for Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

For the first time in decades Iran is allowing a world power to launch air strikes from one of its air bases. That world power, Russia, heavily bombarded targets in Syria Tuesday. The U.S. State Department calls Russia's use of the Iranian air field unfortunate quote, "but unsurprising", and warns it may violate a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Here's CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Russia says its long-range bombers like these carried out air strikes in Syria against ISIS after taking off for the first time from a base in northwest Iran. Russian aircraft according to the U.S. struck in Aleppo, Idlib, and Deir Ezzor. The Russians notified the U.S. they were flying into Syria. Moscow insisted it is going after ISIS. The U.S. disagrees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have not struck targets in Aleppo in a very long time. We have not struck targets in Idlib in a very long time if we have at all. We don't see concentrations of ISIS in those areas.

STARR: Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart to raise concern about using Iran's air base.

MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESMAN: It complicates what is already a tense, complicated situation.

STARR: Publicly, Russia wants the U.S. to agree to joint operations especially near Aleppo, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped. The Russian defense minister says Moscow is in very active negotiations with the U.S.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's his messaging on what he wants to happen. To gain an upper hand as Russia always attempts to do when they're in these kinds of negotiations.

STARR: Tonight the State Department said the U.S. is continuing to pursue an agreement. But the U.S. military has been skeptical of any deal with the Russians because of the continued bombing of civilians and anti-Assad rebel groups rather than ISIS targets. The U.S. believes Moscow is still aiming at bolstering the Syrian leader, Bashar al Assad.

HERTLING: We're nowhere close to reaching a final agreement while they continue to bomb civilian facilities, especially hospitals, which they have done within the last couple of weeks.

STARR: If the Russians hoped to unnerve the U.S. by using an Iranian air base to show more cooperation with Tehran, U.S. officials say it did not work.

CNN has learned U.S. intelligence assets including aircraft like these AWACS were able to track the Russian military as it landed in Iran and throughout its bombing attacks inside Syria.

The advantage for the Russians in flying out of Iran is it puts them much closer to those targets in Syria. It saves fuel and means they can load up more weapons on these shorter bombing missions into Syria. And it may be an indication that Moscow is far from ready to change its Syria strategy.

Barbara Starr -- CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And joining me now to discuss this, CNN military analyst Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, who is in Fort Orford, Oregon. Thank you so much -- Colonel Francona, for coming in to talk to us about this.

I want to start with this first. This appears to be the first time foreign military has used and operated from Iran since World War II. There was certainly historical significance. What's the military significance?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, of course, as Barbara said, this allows them to operate on a much shorter leash from their targets. This is very similar to what we're doing in Turkey. We're using a Turkish air base, a NATO air base in southern Turkey. It allows us to get to the targets in northern Syria much, much faster. You can, as she said, take off with less fuel and more bombs.

So the Russians are taking a page from our playbook there. What this tells me, though, is that the Iranians are very concerned with the situation on the ground in Aleppo. They've suffered greatly at the hands of the rebels.

[00:05:02] The Syrian army, their Iranian allies, their Russian support from the air, as well as their Iraqi Shia militias are actually being handled quite severely by this group of rebels.

The Iranians are willing to let the Russians operate from that air base so they can bring more power to bear in Aleppo. And the Russians have done just that. As General Hertling said, they are going after civilian areas, particularly hospitals, and they're doing it with gravity bombs, not precision guided weapons. They're causing untold civilian casualties.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you this, though. We've heard from Donald Trump. He's talked about cooperating with Russia. We know that the Obama administration is in talks or at least Russia says that the Obama administration is in talks to cooperate with Russia when it comes to Syria. How might this hurt any plan, whether it's Donald Trump as president or Hillary Clinton as president or right now President Obama's administration?

FRANCONA: Well, we're going to have to cooperate with the Russians eventually. Whatever political solution comes about in Syria the Russians are going to be a part of it, we're going to be a part of it, the Syrians are going to be a part of it. So we're going to cooperate at some point. But right now military cooperation with the Russians is just not in the offing. As long as they're continuing to bomb these civilian areas relentlessly and as the spokesman said, bombing areas in Idlib and in the Aleppo area, there are no ISIS targets there.

So when the Russians say they're bombing ISIS targets, they're being very disingenuous. They're bombing the people we're supporting. So right now you've got two sides in Syria. One we're supporting that the Russians are bombing and one that -- the rebels -- it's a tough situation. I don't see cooperation anytime soon.

SIDNER: I did want to ask you about that, Lieutenant Colonel, because one of the things that people are talking about is if the United States and Russia publicly work together there will be a thought from people on the ground that they're supporting both countries -- al Assad and his government, and supporting him staying in power. That's one of the biggest deterrents for the U.S. to get involved with Russia in this.

FRANCONA: Yes. This is a real problem. If you look at what's going on in Iraq -- that makes sense. You've got everybody allied against ISIS. Everybody's on the same sheet of music there. But when you go to Syria, you've got this three or four-way battle going on, on the ground at all times. You've got the rebels that we're supporting. Of course, they're being fired on by the Russians and Iranians. The primary goal of the Russians and the Iranians is to support the Assad regime. One of the things we're doing is supporting the rebels that want to overthrow the Assad regime. So how are we going to cooperate militarily? It just doesn't make sense right now.

Something is going to have to change on the ground. And I think that Secretary Kerry is trying to broker that. But I don't see a breakthrough anytime soon.

SIDNER: All right. This is a very complex situation. Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thank you so much for bringing your insight to us again tonight. We appreciate it.

All right. Now to American politics. Donald Trump is making his most direct appeal to African-American voters. He visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- a city reeling from riots and protests after police shot and killed an armed African-American man there. Trump chose that state to unveil his agenda on law and order in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different and much better future.

It's time for our society to address some honest and very, very difficult truths. The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community. Democratic crime policies, education policies, and economic policies have produced only more crime, more broken homes and more poverty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So revealing his plan and also slamming the Democrats. He also revealed this statement on Facebook. He said, "This is my pledge to the American people. As your president I will be your greatest champion. I will fight to ensure that every American is treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people."

Joining us now to discuss all this are Douglas Herman, political strategist with the Strategy Group; and Makan Delrahim, he was the chief counsel for the senate judiciary committee. Thank you for both gentlemen for coming in to discuss this.

This was a big and important speech. People were looking forward to hearing what he had to say about law and order, especially where he picked to do this speech. I first want to ask you about where he picked. Was this the right place to do this speech right now?

[00:09:56] DOUGLAS HERMAN, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Well, you're going to have to look at the fact that he went 50 miles west of Milwaukee and he said that he was there to talk to the African-American community and to build a bridge to them. Yet, he didn't show up in Milwaukee and he didn't say or do anything that would show that that was a real point that he wanted to make. And so I think the location started off by showing how disingenuous he was in the first place.

SIDNER: I want you to respond to what our guest here said and also to what Mr. Trump has said because this is the first time I can remember that he spent a significant amount of time talking to black Americans.

MAKAN DELRAHIM, FORMER COUNSEL, U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Look, this was an important speech. This was I think part of the plan to expand the Republican tent and reach out to the African -- he's been criticized for not speaking to the African-American community. And now tonight it's interesting the Democratic campaign committees, the Priorities USA, the super PACs supporting Secretary Clinton and others are saying, well, he wasn't in the right location giving this speech.

This speech was televised to millions if not tens of millions of people across the nation and internationally on CNN, on Fox and others. And you know, the importance was the speech and the contents of that speech and what he is saying to the African-American community and touching on important policies that are -- that I think is going to resonate well within the communities.

SIDNER: All right. I want to stop you gentlemen right now. We're going to listen to something else that Mr. Trump said. He mentioned the demonstrations, although he was not in Milwaukee when he gave the speech, but that is the place where the unrest bubbled up. Here's what he said about the demonstrators. He sort of spoke to them a bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm running to listen to your voice, to hear the cries for help from so many people in our nation. The quiet voices in our society, not the loudest demonstrators, need to have their demands heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Douglas, I want to start with you. He said the quiet voices, not the loudest demonstrators. The question I suppose for both of you is don't the demonstrators have a point they're making? They're not just doing this for their own health. They want someone to pay attention to what is going on.

HERMAN: They absolutely have a point here. And he's talking to the silent majority, not to the quietest voices. And what he's trying to do here is to divide on race. He talked about it tonight. He's pitting Latinos against African-Americans. He's pitting classes of people against others.

This is not an inclusive speech. You can't go and deliver a speech and talk at people and claim to be for them when that's all you're doing is talking at them. And there's been no substantive outreach, no policies, no seeing where the rubber hits the road and where he walks the walk on this stuff.

There hasn't been anything from Donald Trump that says this is anything more than a political speech to reach out to a community that he has maligned repeatedly throughout the course of this election, who he now feels it's incumbent upon to go and collect votes from even though he hasn't paid them any heed through the course of the campaign to date.

SIDNER: I want to mention this just on the heels of that. He's refused an invitation from the NAACP. He's refused an invitation from the League of Black Voters. He's refused an invitation from the National Black Journalists Association. And a lot of people saw that as is this too little too late. What's your take on this?

DELRAHIM: Well, first, let me just say what he was talking to was the folks who are silent, the single parent sitting at home, the young teenage African-American student trying to study at home and trying to better himself but not feeling safe to walk out onto the streets. The ones who want to help improve rather than those, some of whom are in the more paid political class that have been professionally-trained to go out and demonstrate. And not to say that the Black Lives Matter movement does not have a point, they absolutely do. And there's an important discussion that we're having about that.

1But what he's saying is we're not just talking about the folks who have the voice and are demonstrating but a lot of those, the majority that do not do that. You know, I think as far as the invitations and speeches, perhaps some of those will come. The importance is he's speaking to the community.

But you know, Secretary Clinton has refused the endorsement and acceptance of the Fraternal Order of Police. This is the largest police union in the nation which, you know, I think anybody running for office would want their endorsement, but has taken a calculated position to reject that group, that organization, who represent people of all colors, police servicemen around the country.

I think Mr. Trump would be probably wise to accept the speech to go speak to the NAACP and do that. And I don't know that the fact he hasn't done so, so far is a criticism of his policies. I think tonight's speech is incredibly moving and significant moment.

[00:15:05] SIDNER: I do want to mention this. He did very much attack Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in particular for policies, which some black folks do look at and say well, we are treated as sort of people who you come to when you want votes but not all the time paid attention to once you're in office. Is that a fair criticism, do you think?

HERMAN: I don't think it's a fair criticism. If you look at what the Democratic Party has done and the Clinton campaign and Hillary herself in the context of this campaign, she's made a real commitment in both actions and in words to showing the African-American community that she has a record of accomplishments, that she believes in their issues, she's registering people to vote. She was in Philadelphia today helping people register to vote.

You don't see Donald Trump out registering people to vote at an African-American community. In fact, last week Donald Trump was talking about African-Americans rigging and throwing the election in Pennsylvania and costing him the presidency by virtue of that, which is a misstatement across the board on every front. There's no truth to any part of that including the fact that he's going to win the presidency because he hasn't done anything in these areas.

And when you have just a combative attitude and a hostile attitude and nothing but bad things to say about communities, you can't turn around and say I gave a speech and therefore I'm for them and they should vote for me because that's not the way he's conducted himself for the things that he's said during the course of this campaign.

SIDNER: Douglas Herman and Makan Delrahim -- thank you both for coming on and giving some very distinctly different perspectives on the speech. And I think a lot of America feels that same way. Some people really saw it the way you saw it. Some people really saw it the way you saw it. We appreciate your opinions in coming on the show today.

DELRAHIM: Thank you.

HERMAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: And just ahead, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles is leaving Rio with four gold medals and a bronze. Details on the routine that led to her latest gold. Plus other really awesome highlights from the Olympics.

Plus a look at how crime has been casting a shadow over this year's games.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day to you. Pedram Javaheri with you on Weather Watch right now.

Look at the scenes out of parts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We know that historic flood waters finally beginning to recede across this region and some of the damage that is really coming to the surface puts everything in perspective as far as how widespread this event was over the past several days.

In fact, if you average out the entire state of Louisiana's rainfall amount it gives you just shy of 200 millimeters statewide for the average. You look at the square kilometers of the state of Louisiana it's about 135,000 square kilometers of land. The numbers give you over 26 trillion liters of water. This could fill Maracana Stadium in Rio 22,000 times over. That's how much water has come down in parts of Louisiana in recent days. Still seeing the flood watches, still seeing the flood warnings in place across this region.

[00:20:04] And you run the numbers on this, about a 2,000-kilometer stretch of land where you have showers and thunderstorms associated with a very slow-moving disturbance and (AUDIO GAP) across that region. That's what we're following across the eastern half of the U.S. Notice the thunderstorms spreading up toward Chicago, even as far

south as Dallas. Miami gets into about a 31 degree day there with temps staying rather warm. But look what happens here -- couple of shots of autumn at least for some of the northern portions of the U.S. and southern Canada for getting a little change in the seasons for at least a couple of days. Temperatures expected to cool off across that region. Take care.

SIDNER: A landmark day for America's Simone Biles at the Olympics as she becomes Rio's most decorated gymnast. The 19-year-old proved her dominance Tuesday with a near-perfect floor routine that won her a fourth gold medal. The last time a woman won four gymnastic golds in a single Olympic games was 32 years ago.

World Sports correspondent Patrick Snell joins us now live from Atlanta. It seems that she had more than one thing to smile about. And I'm not just talking about medals. You know what I'm talking about, right, Patrick?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: I think I do, yes. Ok. She missed out on the five golds. But wow -- four. What an achievement. But yes, it's the way she chose to celebrate her success.

It seems she's a little bit star struck it seems by a certain U.S. actor by the name of Zac Efron, the Hollywood-based actor who basically -- she basically took to social media to tweet the fact she got to meet him quite incredibly. We're going to show you a little bit of video as well that was posted of this actually happening.

And talk about the fact that the 19-year-old -- yes, even a 19-year- old called Simone Biles who's got huge worldwide acclaim. There's the little kiss there from Zac Efron, the 28-year-old U.S. actor. That clearly made her day. She tweeted all about it and she let all her friends and family know about that special moment. Quite incredible for her.

SIDNER: It's very cool. It's kind of adorable. This young girl that has so many medals and that smile seems bigger than the medal she got. I don't know. It's a tossup.

I do want to ask you about --

(CROSSTALK)

SNELL: You know, four gold medals or a kiss from Zac, whatever.

SIDNER: They're all good. I do want to ask you about a significant happening with the Russians. As I understand it, they only had one athlete able to compete in track and field.

SNELL: Just the one, yes, Darya Klishina, the long jumper. Significant for her because just to remind our viewers worldwide the 67 track and field from Russia banned, this in connection with the allegations of widespread state-sponsored doping back in their homeland. She's the sole competitor. But a real late twist, really. She was banned on the eve of competition by the IAAF, that's the governing body for world athletics, but then she appealed to the world court of arbitration for sport. They said you're ok to compete and she did. And the good news for her is that she qualified and she's through to Wednesday's final of the long jump as well. That's a terrific breakthrough for her.

She's 25 years of age. I spoke to her on CNN. She insisted that she's been following the doping procedures, she's clean. She's U.S.- based. So on that basis she's been allowed to compete. And she'll be delighted at least that she's through to the final of the long jump there.

SIDNER: Well, I've got to ask you one last thing. Going to the Olympics is great. But when you lose it's still hard. What happened to Brazil?

SNELL: Up against Swedish momentum, I have to say. Real heartbreak for the host nation there. But you know, the Swedes have got good pedigree in this tournament. They're not winning too many friends. Some might argue they beat the U.S.A. on penalties and Hope Solo, the U.S.A. goalkeeper, basically coming out and calling them a bunch of cowards, which I think a lot of people thought was rather unfair and uncalled for.

But you know, they won that one on penalties and they won this one on penalties as well -- 4-3 on the penalty shootout. You know what? They got the job done. They're through. They'll play Germany next. Back to you.

SIDNER: Penalties are part of the game. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was fun, Patrick.

Now to a much, much more serious subject. While the athletes focus on the respective sporting events, law enforcement in Rio is struggling to protect its people and even some of the Olympics athletes.

CNN's Nick Paton-Walsh got rare access to the homicide unit in one of the city's most crime-ridden areas to underscore the struggles facing residents and police in Rio. We must warn you that some of the content contained in this story contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[00:25:00] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While the podiums fill, cheers echo around the Olympic stadiums, the homicide squad doesn't get the night off. Here in Rio's violent Machada Fluminense (ph) they hardly ever do.

There are nearly 60,000 murders in brazil each year. We're on our way to just one of them. We're being called out to the body of what seems to be a motorcyclist. The towel put there before the police arrived. But locals have little sympathy.

People here obviously don't want to talk, but they are saying they didn't know this man but at the same time appear to have known that the motorcycle he was driving was stolen and that was taken back off him -- confused picture on a street here that doesn't really want to tell all that it knows.

Watch as over the course of the hour we spend here police struggle to learn one fact -- the dead man's name. First, his helmet is here, but no motorcycle. Maybe his shoes were taken too. That sometimes happens. The bullet casings, however, some near his body and one near his head from the execution shot to the temple, don't tell the whole story.

The examiner is drawn to an object in his underwear. He never had a chance to draw it. She counts his wounds slowly. He was shot 26 times by three different guns. Violence that is frenetic, carnal, with the currency of a dirty dark race the underside of Brazil is in. He died at 10:30 p.m., roundabout when the women's 100-meter final was being run.

Sometimes the noise is celebratory fireworks. Sometimes it's not. His ID and phone missing; so dark as it is, his own gun with its prints and ballistics may offer the best chance to identify him. Police, locals -- nobody will talk on camera. This may have been a local thief caught and punished by drug militia here. Someone must surely be wondering where this man is as Saturday turns into Sunday.

The truck that has space for four gets its first passenger. Police call this civil war, murder that doesn't stop with the games, and the games did not stop for it.

Nick Paton Walsh -- CNN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: A very different scene happening outside and inside of that Olympic stadium.

The son of drug kingpin El Chapo has been kidnapped in Mexico. We'll have the latest on the investigation into that and what it might all mean after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:25] SIDNER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Sara Sidner.

The headlines for you at this hour.

The U.S. says Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch air strikes in Syria is unfortunate, but not surprising. The Russian defense ministry says its warplanes bombed several major arms depots that were supplying ISIS militants. This is the first time Iran has allowed a world power to use one of its air fields since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Gunmen have kidnapped the son of infamous drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Mexican authorities say 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman was one of six men abducted from this restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. Seven men stormed the building early Monday. The area is home to a rival drug cartel. After escaping several times, El Chapo is now being held in a Mexican prison. He is fighting extradition to the United States.

And joining me now is Dudley Althaus.

He's a reporter for the "Wall Street Journal" and has been covering violence and gangs in Mexico for decades.

Thank you so much for joining us today and talking about this interesting case that's happened.

I do want to ask you first, what was this kidnapping all about and was it indeed rival gangs or rival cartels that carried this out?

DUDLEY ALTHAUS, WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER: Well, that's a very good question. We don't know exactly what it's all about. The assailants came in about 1:00 in the morning into a bar, restaurant, an upscale bar and restaurant in Puerto Vallarta where these guys had been reportedly partying for most of the afternoon and into the night.

And we're able to take six of them away without any gunfire, without any kind of commotion. I mean, these sort of guys usually travel with bodyguards, and the bodyguards didn't react.

So there's a lot of questions I have about exactly what did happen. The prosecutor says the cartel is at least the new generation, which is an up-and-coming gang in western Mexico, a very violent gang which has caused a lot of trouble in the past couple of years, but there's a lot of questions about that.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about this instance where they also came out, the government, and said it turns out that El Chapo's son was one of those people who was kidnapped.

What does that tell us? Does that tell us anything about whether or not we're going to see some reverberations from this? In other words, sort of tit for tat gang warfare.

ALTHAUS: That is definitely the fear.

Gang warfare has killed more than 100,000 people in Mexico in the past 12 years. And Chapo Guzman, who's the father of the man who was kidnapped, has been a central part of that violence for the past 12 years.

That's definitely the underlying fear. The question is exactly who kidnapped him and why?

If they were going to go to war with the Guzman family and the Sinaloa cartel, which Chapo Guzman is a major leader of, why kidnap this guy? Why not come in shooting?

That said, if there is a gang war, it's likely to be very bloody. Both sides in this gang, both sides of this incident are pretty bloody actors. So I mean, that's definitely the fear.

SIDNER: This alleged kidnapping happened in Puerto Vallarta, a place that many tourists know and adore. What might this kind of story do, just the story itself, never mind the possible fallout, do to tourism?

Is it already hurting tourism, these kinds of stories, or are people going to ignore it and go anyway?

[00:35:05] ALTHAUS: Well, officials in Jalisco state when the kidnapping was first came to light yesterday, Monday, really rushed to assure everyone that tourists and residents of Puerto Vallarta are safe. And I think indeed they are.

I mean, this was a very targeted event. They knew exactly who they were looking for. They went in. There was no shooting. And this restaurant is an upscale restaurant right along the hotel row. Very close to hotels where a lot of foreign tourists and a lot of Mexican tourists stay.

It happened at 1:00 in the morning. I'm sure most people didn't know what happened. That said, the areas in Western Mexico near these places have been violent. But Puerto Vallarta hasn't had any violence, not in a long time.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, Dudley Althaus there.

You've been covering this for a very long time, giving us some insight into the alleged kidnapping incident that the state says actually netted Mr. Guzman's -- El Chapo, as everyone knows him, son. And everyone wondering what the fallout of this might be. We appreciate you coming on.

ALTHAUS: Thank you.

SIDNER: And ahead, Americans are known for voting their faith.

How religion is impacting the race for the white house this time around. That's ahead on CNN NEWSROOM L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM L.A.

We're going to turn to the race for the White House again. Now specifically the world religion is playing in this campaign.

The U.S. constitution is drawing separation of church and state. But the reality is religion cannot be ignored in American elections.

Take a listen to what the candidates have been saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: At this moment, I would like to thank the evangelical and religious community. HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You seek to meet with that the book of Micah tells us are the Lord's requirements for each of us, to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

TRUMP: This is a major theme right here. But 2 Corinthians, right? 2 Corinthians 3:17. That's the whole ball game.

CLINTON: If you're going to read and listen to Romans 12, you've got to be nicer to the press.

(LAUGHTER)

So to my friends in the press, I will certainly take that to heart.

TRUMP: Once I get in, I will do my thing that I do very well. And I figure it's probably maybe the only way I'm going to get to heaven. So I'd better do a good job.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right.

CNN religion commentator Father Edward Beck is here to talk about the role of religion in politics. He's also, by the way, a Roman Catholic priest, if you didn't already know that.

[00:40:04] All right. We just saw the candidates. They are -- some of them are speaking from the pulpit. People are praying with them.

So there's this idea of church and state being separate. But what about the pulpit in politics?

Why can't, for example, you endorse a candidate?

FATHER EDWARD BECK, HOST, "THE SUNDAY MASS": Well, people don't realize, Sara, that it's only since 1954 there was a senator. His name was Johnson. Lyndon B. Johnson. And he proposed what's called the Johnson Amendment to the tax code that if you are a not-profit organization, a 501C-3 that you cannot support a political candidate or you cannot have political affiliation.

He felt there needed to be that separation. So that passed and it's been the law since.

So as a preacher and a pulpit, I can talk about political issues, which of course I have to. They are gospel issues. But I cannot endorse a candidate or a political party and retain the tax-exempt status.

SIDNER: So you look tax exemption if you go ahead and say I like this candidate, vote for this person?

BECK: Well, there's a possibility it could be at risk. SIDNER: OK.

BECK: There have been some lawsuits that have been taken with it, but it hasn't really worked. But you can technically, yes.

SIDNER: That's what the law is intended for, to stop you from doing that.

I do want to ask you this when it comes to issues, because there are a lot of people who are single issue voters who will look and say abortion, anti-abortion important to me. Gay marriage important to me. And some people have looked at the Republican party and they say, OK, they're pro life and they feel like the Republican Party is anti- LGBTQ.

So the church has talked about some of these issues and seems to take sides on these issues as well.

How come that isn't sort of thought of as politically backing someone or a party?

BECK: The church's role is to speak about issues of justice, humanity and those are some issues. Abortion, homosexuality. All those hot- button kind of more right conservative issues.

But what about immigration? What about advocacy of the poor? I mean, these are issues as well.

Cardinal Bernardin, long dead now in Chicago, talked about the seamless garment approach. And he said you have to consider all of the issues. We could not be a one-issue church, which meant that issues of justice and peace have to be considered in all of their variety.

SIDNER: Let's look at this. And you've written about this. About a "Pew" survey that showed 64 percent of clergy spoke about political or social issues, as you mentioned, and 14 percent of pastors spoke about specific political candidates.

How is that allowed?

If you say an opinion about something that someone said, isn't that thereby either endorsing or saying this guy doesn't really know what he's talking about type of thing?

BECK: Well, it is a very, very fine line. Specifically you should not be talking about candidates from the pulpit.

Interestingly, in the African-American community, this has been more common. Because the African-American churches have been really places where issues of justice, anti-administration, they've been very political issues.

SIDNER: Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor. That's where he got a lot of his support at first.

BECK: And they have been given some leeway. But really you should not, if you are a tax-exempt organization, be doing it.

Interestingly, though, and I find it interesting, it's the Republicans right now who are trying to repeal this amendment. So at the recent convention the Republican convention as part of a plank of their platform, they said that they will try to repeal this Johnson amendment so that preachers, presiders can speak and endorse political candidates.

Donald Trump said that if he is elected, he will work to repeal this Johnson Amendment.

So they think it's a freedom of speech issue. Where others would say it's a clear separation of church and state, it needs to be remaining.

What about if you were to have people endorsing political candidates and then start to funnel money to religious organizations?

SIDNER: Right. And that's what everybody is really worried about.

BECK: Or tax-exempt organizations. I mean, it's a problem.

SIDNER: It's a really interesting interview. And I encourage people to go and read your article.

Thank you so much, Father Beck, for coming on and discussing this issue with us.

BECK: Thank you.

SIDNER: Appreciate it.

I'm Sara Sidner.

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