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Trump Gives Law and Order Speech in Wisconsin; FBI Sends Clinton E-mail Server Report to Congress; Russia Launches Syria Airstrikes from Iran; American Gymnast Simone Biles Wins Her Fourth Gold Medal; Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 17, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:25] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, Donald Trump claims Democrats have failed African- Americans. But will that be enough to convince black voters to support him instead?

Plus, Russian warplanes launch air strikes from inside Iran. It's the first time a major power has been allowed to do that since the 1979 Revolution.

And U.S. Olympian Simone Biles wins her fourth gold medal along with a kiss from a Hollywood star.

Hello, and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Donald Trump makes his most direct appeal to African-Americans with a promise to restore law and order to America. The Republican presidential nominee also repeatedly attacked his Democratic rival saying she takes their votes for granted.

Trump made the speech in Wisconsin just days after a fatal police shooting set off violent unrest in Milwaukee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Law and order must be restored. The problem in our poorest communities is not that there are too many police. The problem is that there are not enough police. Just like Hillary Clinton is against the miners, she is against the police. Believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, joining us now, Douglas Herman, a political strategist with the Strategy Group, and Makan Delrahim. He was the chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gentlemen, welcome. So good to have you with us.

So, Makan, let me start with you. Here we had Donald Trump giving a law and order speech and practically the whole speech seemed to be about or to African-Americans, which has some people on Twitter baffled, others somewhat offended. How did you read the speech?

MAKAN DELRAHIM, FORMER CHIEF COUNSEL, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, I read the speech, it's an incredibly moving speech and a hopeful speech. He's reaching out to the African-American community. He's been encouraged to do so by a number of folks. And I think it was a heartfelt speech. He was touching on the issues that are important in those communities including education, feeling safe in their homes and in their neighborhood.

And he was saying -- one of the important things he said is, in talking to those folks, the silent voices, not the more active, loud voices who are protesting and some of whom are, you know, part of the Democratic Party, who are professional protesters, but talking to those single moms who are working perhaps two jobs to raise three children at home. Talking about the young teenager who may not have a job or is working hard and not feeling safe walking out into the neighborhood.

And I think that's -- you know, he's reaching out to that. And I think it's a great first step. And instead of, you know, him being applauded for the speech and reaching out, some people are criticizing him.

SESAY: Doug, how did you take it?

DOUGLAS HERMAN, POLITICAL STRATEGIST, THE STRATEGY GROUP: Well, this is a speech that he's 70-some weeks into a campaign for and this is the first time he's spoken to African-Americans directly. He's not laid out a single policy or program through the course of this campaign. He didn't even go to Milwaukee tonight. He was 50 miles west. So this is not something you can just solve by making a speech at people. You need to have a real commitment and show real leadership on this.

Hillary Clinton has done things over the course of this campaign and throughout her career that have demonstrated her commitment to issues the African-American community cares about and in fact the rest of the Democratic Party has been working on for years. And so for Donald Trump to come in and make a political play to court African-American votes is the height of hypocrisy in one of the most hypocritical campaigns in the history of our country.

SESAY: And Makan, what about that point? That he made this speech to African-Americans in a place -- in a room that was overwhelmingly white in a community that was overwhelmingly white. He could have gone to a black community, an African-American community, to deliver this speech. But he made this choice. Why?

DELRAHIM: Well, look, who goes to political meetings in these types of arenas for these speeches and how many African-Americans were watching from home? This is a speech that was broadcast on CNN, on FOX, to tens of millions of people listening to it.

[01:05:02] So I think the important thing is looking on the positive side of the speech and the content rather than the location of the speech. I don't think that's as important, as where it was and who -- the content of the speech.

SESAY: OK.

DELRAHIM: That I think is a critical point that shouldn't be taken away.

SESAY: Donald Trump also referenced Hillary Clinton's immigration policies. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No community in this country has been hurt worse by Hillary Clinton's immigration and all of her policies than the African- American community. And she considers them a guaranteed vote.

Now she is proposing to print instant work permits for millions of illegal immigrants to come in and take everybody's job including low- income African-Americans. Not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: This moment here is one that we know is going to be talked about and past the hours ahead. You know, Donald Trump has been accused of being divisive, a charge he's pushed back against, in this campaign. But isn't that what he's doing here in this moment, trying to pit African-Americans against immigrants using the line effectively they're coming to take your jobs, Makan?

DELRAHIM: Well, look, of course Priorities USA, the super PAC supporting Secretary Clinton, and the DNC and other operatives are criticizing every word he'll say. Not so much. Now he's stating some statements of facts about immigration policy that he has been consistently speaking about and about Secretary Clinton's policy with respect to immigration. It's -- you know, he accurately reflected what this policy would be as far as work permits. Secretary Clinton said he wants -- she wants to go further than President Obama did on some of the issues on immigration.

That's I think a separate issue. He wants to -- he's focusing in on specifically jobs and the African-American community, who is not better off over the last eight years since President Obama has been elected, or the last 24 years that Secretary Clinton has been on the national public scene in very important positions, whether as a senator, secretary of state, or the first lady. Where, you know, has the African-American community improved? And I think he's speaking to those folks who are sitting at home this election and feeling some of whom have been taken for granted.

SESAY: Douglas?

HERMAN: You know, it's very clear this is just one very prime example of Donald Trump pitting one class of people against another. And he's trying to build support amongst African-Americans unbelievably. I have no idea why he's going there. He can't even unite his Republican Party base, and he's trying to get a stalwart bloc of the Democratic Party to vote for him. But he hasn't done anything. It's a very hypocritical move. Hillary Clinton today was in

Philadelphia, registering African-American voters. I doubt you'll see Donald Trump doing something like that. I doubt you'll see Donald Trump registering Latino voters or any other immigrant community that exists in America today. And you can't just give a speech and say that you're with the people because you read a teleprompter correctly and you didn't go off message and you were able to stay in line with what your advisers are asking you to do. That is not a policy or a program that is fitting of a presidential campaign in today's day and age.

SESAY: Makan, I want you to respond to that. And also in context to the fact that we have some poll numbers. Let's put them up for our viewers. The fact that according to a recent NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll Donald Trump's support among African-Americans is rock bottom. He has just 1 percent support among this voting bloc.

You know, again, to come back to something that Douglas said, he's making an outreach three months before the election to this group.

DELRAHIM: Well, look, he's expanding his message. He is working. And I think, again, he should be applauded for giving an important speech. He spoke about law enforcement. He spoke about crime. He spoke about education and a number of issues. But he's speaking finally to them.

I don't expect Doug to be supportive or saying anything nice about the Trump campaign. But I think it's just false to state that they're not out there registering Hispanics or African-Americans within the community. I mean, the Democratic Party is scared. They're scared of what Donald Trump said tonight because it is a statement of fact. The African-American community has been taken for granted. Their vote has been taken for granted --

SESAY: Is that a statement of fact?

DELRAHIM: For years.

HERMAN: It is absolutely a false fact, and it's demonstrably true that it can be proven that there have been programs and policies put in place throughout the course of the Clinton years and the Obama presidency that have been directly and have been benefiting the African-American community and all communities. And it's not -- it's not just good enough to come and give a speech and say, I'm with you.

SESAY: OK. We could talk about Trump all night but I do want to also talk about Hillary Clinton because she too has her problems.

[01:10:02] This e-mail controversy is not going anywhere anytime soon. And the FBI has handed over notes to Congress from their interviews with her and witnesses. How worried are you as a Democrat at this development?

HERMAN: This is something that we saw hashed out repeatedly in the Benghazi hearings last fall. Secretary Clinton took hour upon hour of pounding and questioning after months of investigation and subpoenas and documents that have been passed back and forth. If there was anything in there, anything that she had done wrong, we would certainly have known about it by now.

The Republicans would have grandstanded it to death during their hearings. We would have heard all about it during the primary season. And they wouldn't have dropped it as an issue in the general election. It's just not anything that's going to impact this election. She's been cleared. These security clearances on these e-mails came after the fact in terms of their classifications.

She has cleared the bar in terms of any kind of criminal wrongdoing on this, and I don't see anything there except political grandstanding.

SESAY: Now, Makan, I know you have a completely different view.

DELRAHIM: Well, look, first as an American, aside from just being a Republican, I'm concerned about it, about the e-mails and the security breaches and what kind of information was passed along to our enemies, frenemies, other countries who may have had access to her server. And Doug may be right that she has -- not facing any criminal charges for this, but that doesn't mean that she has been truthful all along.

And one of the most important things is that when the FBI came, when the congressional investigations happened, she had her server, had her attorneys first look at them, scrub them clean, and then turn over the information she wanted to turn over and then not only just stored those just in case a judge wanted them, that they destroyed all those e-mails and all that evidence.

If this was done in corporate America or anybody else charged, you or I or Doug ever being charged for something or investigated, we would be going to jail for obstruction of justice.

SESAY: I am sure this is an issue that will continue to be re- litigated. But for now we must leave it there. I want to thank you both for joining us. You were both fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your insights. Much appreciated.

DELRAHIM: Thanks for having us.

HERMAN: Thank you.

SESAY: All right. All right. Well, away from U.S. politics for a moment and the U.S. is calling Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch air strikes in Syria unfortunate. Russia says its warplanes bombed ISIS and other militant targets Tuesday. It's the first time Iran has allowed a world power to operate from its soil in decades.

Here's CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 ez-Zor. The Russians notified the U.S. they were flying into Syria. Moscow insisted it is going after ISIS. The U.S. disagrees.

CHRISTOPHER GARVER, ANTI-ISIS COALITION SPOKESMAN: 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. Now 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It complicates what is already a tense complicated situation.

STARR: Publicly, Russia wants the U.S. to agree to join operations, especially near Aleppo where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped. The Russian Defense minister says Moscow is in a 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 in 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 our 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 hope 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 this AWACS were able to track the Russian military as it landed in Iran and throughout its bombing attacks inside Syria.

(On camera): 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 serious strategy.

[01:15:14] Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: All right. Well, let's discuss this now with CNN military analyst retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Colonel Francona, always good to have you with us. So Russia using

Iranian bases to launch air strikes against Syrian militants. How does this impact the long-running Syrian conflict?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it gives the Russians -- they're doubling down. It gives them a much better capability. They're flying shorter sorties, as Barbara said, with many more weapons. It allows them to put more bombs on target. And they need to do this because if you look at the situation in Aleppo, they've really been stymied by the rebels. The rebels have done a great job in pushing back the Syrian army, supported by the Iranians, supported by Iraqi Shia militias, and supported by heavy, heavy Russian air power. So the Russians need to do this. They need some better way to do this.

I'd like to contrast what's going on, you know, with the Russian use of an Iranian air base with the American use of a Turkish air base. They're doing the same thing we're doing. They're taking the same playbook. You know, our use of a Turkish air base allows us that same capability. You know, the Russians are not stupid. They're doing what they can. This makes perfect sense, what they're doing.

SESAY: All right. But does this development alter the likelihood of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry being able to secure an agreement with Russia, a military agreement to fight ISIS there in Syria?

FRANCONA: Yes, I think it does. And I know the secretary is working very diligently with his counterpart to try and come up with something to solve this humanitarian disaster that is Aleppo. But as long as the Russians continue to bomb almost indiscriminately in these civilian areas, and as General Hertling said, they are going after hospitals almost deliberately for the last two weeks, I don't see how we can sit down with the Russians and come up with an agreement until they agree to stop doing this.

And moving these heavy bombers into an Iranian air base and flying these sorties over those target areas today is not a demonstration that they really are serious about coming to some sort of agreement.

SESAY: Yes, the question is now, Colonel Francona, with this Russian and Iranian partnership where is this all heading?

FRANCONA: Well, that's a really good question. You know, the Russians have been frozen out of the Middle East for decades. We've been very successful at marginalizing that whole area. And what we've seen over the past few years, especially the past year with Mr. Putin deploying forces to Syria, he's now re-established a relationship with the Syrians. He's got at least one Syrian air base. He's got a Syrian port facility. And now we see him operating out of another country in the Middle East.

And, you know, as we know, Mr. Putin would like to re-establish Russia's presence in the region. He wants to be a key power broker. And he's been very successful in Syria. When the political situation is resolved in Syria, the Russians are going to have a vote, just like we do. SESAY: Colonel Francona, we always appreciate you joining us. Thank

you for the insight and analysis. Thanks so much.

FRANCONA: Good to be with you.

SESAY: Well, next here on NEWSROOM L.A., a fast-moving wildfire threatening thousands of homes and forcing tens of thousands to flee here in southern California, and it's getting bigger by the hour.

Plus a landmark day for Simone Biles. The U.S. gymnast won her fourth gold medal along with a kiss from a movie star. We'll tell you who.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT_

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:35] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Well, America's Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast of the Rio Olympics. 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.

We're joined now by CNN's "WORLD SPORTS'" Christina Macfarlane in Rio.

Christina, Simone Biles is well and truly an Olympic legend and what a way to clinch her fourth gold medal.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Isha. You know, she's really stolen the hearts of the people here in Brazil and of course around the world on TV. So it's great to see her come away with that fourth gold medal. Even though, you know, she didn't manage to come away with five, which would have been a record- breaking achievement.

I think after the disappointment of the beam yesterday she really nailed this floor routine. Her high score of 15.966 was something to behold. And we even saw the signature Biles move which is of course the double layout with a second half turn. It's something no other athlete can do, even the men. It's the one where she reaches twice her body height. And as you say, she becomes only the fifth woman now to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

But I tell you, Isha, you know, even though she didn't clinch five golds it wasn't all disaster for her tonight because there was another dream that came true for her in the form of Zac Efron. I don't know if you saw this, but the superstar --

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: I did.

MACFARLANE: -- actually came down here and he surprised her. I absolutely love it. Take a look at this. Look how tough she is --

SESAY: She's beaming.

MACFARLANE: She's made no secret of the fact -- no secret of the fact that she is a lifelong fan. She even has a cardboard cutout of him in her bedroom at home. And now, you know, a dream come true for her as well. It's fantastic.

SESAY: Truly fantastic. I wonder if his cardboard cutout has his abs outlined. Anyway, that's an aside. Let's talk about Russia's only --

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: Let's talk about Russia's only track and field athlete, shall we? They've been in action. Darya Klishina, how did she do?

MACFARLANE: Yes, Darya Klishina, you're remember, she's the only one of 68 Russian track and field athletes to compete here in Rio. And it almost didn't happen. I just want to remind you about this because a couple of days ago the IAAF, the athletics governing body, banned her from competing here after they found new evidence that implicated her in doping. She then appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and had that overturned just on Monday night.

[01:25:04] So today we saw her in action for the first time in the long jump. Now she did qualify for the final after finishing eighth. But I have to say she was a long way off her best. She actually her jump was some 41 centimeters below her personal best. And she did take to Facebook earlier today to say that she has been finding this week incredibly grueling, especially with no other Russian athletes in her team. And she said that she felt a great pressure to perform.

SESAY: Yes. I saw one headline that described her as the loneliest athlete there in Rio.

Christina Macfarlane joining us there from Rio. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. Speak to you again next hour.

MACFARLANE: Thank you.

SESAY: And next on NEWSROOM L.A., they save cats, dogs, and people. We ride along with emergency workers responding to Louisiana's unprecedented flood.

Plus, tens of thousands of people are fleeing a raging wildfire here in Southern California. Stay with us for details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

The U.S. says Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch airstrikes is unfortunate but not surprising. Russia says its warplanes bombed ISIS and other militant targets in Syria. This is the first time Iran has allowed a world power to use one of its air fields since the 1979 Revolution. And a Mexican official says son of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El

Chapo" Guzman has been kidnapped. Seven armed gunmen abducted Jesus Alfredo Guzman along with at least five of the men from a restaurant in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta.

[01:30:00] American gymnast Simone Biles executed a practically flawless floor routine at the Rio Olympics Tuesday winning her fourth gold medal. The last time a woman won four gymnastic gold in a single Olympics was 32 years ago. Biles is (inaudible) the most decorated gymnasts with four golds with a bronze.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well a fast growing wildfire has forced some 82,000 people to flee their homes here in Southern California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: In less than ten hours the blaze has scorched 15,000 acres. That's more than 6,000 hectares in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles. It is zero percent contained. More than 32,000 homes are threatened and hundreds of firefighters are battling the flames.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us with more now on the conditions. Pedram, how's it looking?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Isha, you know some improvement at least later in the week. The next two to three days very challenging weather ahead of us here for southern California in general when it comes to the fire activity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVAHERI: And just look at the western United States. The activity as far as the fire coverage, the thermal signature, in fact you can slice the United States in half, almost every single fire event going on on the western end, there's one across central Texas. Zero on the eastern half of the United States. So again, it shows you the significance of the widespread fires that are occurring across the western U.S.

And some of the images coming out of areas of southern California really take your breath away when you think about what's happening to the properties here. The fires coming through where the temperatures of course outside before the fire began melting the thermometer here, was sitting about 110 Fahrenheit or 45 degrees Celsius. The air conditions outside as arid as it comes some seven large fires across southern California right now. And a lot of this with very little humidity to work with. We're talking about 5% to 10% at their highest point sometimes during the day.

And of course there is the blue cut fire. We know it's some 60 square kilometers. That's how much 6,000 hectares is, about 60 square kilometers of land consumed. That's equivalent to 1 1/2 times the size of the city of Manila. That's how large of an area in 24 hours has been consumed here. Of course, Isha just telling you zero percent containment. And if you look for any sort of moisture, any sort of disturbance, areas in tan indicate dry air, areas that are darker in nature indicate moisture. Notice almost all of the state of California in the dry zone here and we have an area of low pressure that's formed across the desert and an area of high pressure to the east of it.

What you've got to keep in mind low pressure, high pressure not the best of friends. You put them in close proximity, winds will want to howl. That's precisely what we think will happen over the next two to three days here. At times could get up to 40, maybe 50 kilometers per hour across parts of southern California. And that is in the afternoon hours. We'll see those winds die down just a little bit into the evening hours. But the question is again the temperature trend. And Isha, it does look like some cooling at least from Friday into Saturday but still a couple of hot days ahead of us here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Yes, some really rough days. Pedram, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

SESAY: Well, the catastrophic flooding in Louisiana has now killed at least 11 people. Louisiana's governor is appealing for volunteers to clean mud out of homes.

CNN's Rosa Flores shows us the devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In some parts of Ascension Parish roads look like rivers. We are in one of the hardest-hit areas today. We're going out with first responders to check out a community that flooded overnight. As we venture in, we see people evacuating in boats. Homes are under water. And the tops of cars peek out of the flood zone. The first responders we are with are checking for the welfare of the owners.

The first house they check, there is no answer.

That woman lost power. Her cell phone died. So they were knocking on her door trying to figure out if she was okay. First responders document their findings and move on to the next house on their list.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She can be put on the secondary list so we can come back.

FLORES: Ascension Parish is one of 20 parishes on the list of areas under disaster declaration. People here say the water rose so quickly many had to rush out of their homes, leaving everything behind. What's the toughest part of all of this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing your family suffer.

FLORES: Some are going back into their communities on boats to salvage their belongings and also checking in on neighbors they haven't heard from yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then we're going to head over on to our house and see what we can salvage and help anybody else in need.

FLORES: More than 20,000 people have been rescued from their homes. Many are staying with family or friends or in shelters like Jessica May. She and her six children were rescued by boat.

JESSICA MAY, RESIDENT: I was like how we're going to get out of this. I didn't want to get trapped. They said the more it kept raining the higher the water was going to get. So the first thing that came to my mind is like I've got to get out of there. That's something I don't want to get caught in.

FLORES: This family decided not to evacuate -instead staying inside their mobile home.

In this case first responders' offer them water and provisions. That's all they can do for now.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Ascension Parish.

[01:35:17]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Now to further discuss the current relief efforts under way in Louisiana I'm joined by Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He commanded the military response to hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

General Honore, thank you so much for joining us. As you know all too well Louisiana's facing an unprecedented event. The government has said they're in an emergency search and rescue mode in a number of parishes. I just want to run through some stats for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: 40,000 homes have been affected in some way by the flooding. 20,000 people have been rescued along with 1,000 pets. And 12 parishes have been declared as disaster areas. You were actually there in Baton Rouge, which has been affected by these rising waters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Describe for our viewers what it's like to be there right now, how you've been affected personally.

LT GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: Well, I think, one of the things Isha, the estimate of number of homes, I think if you triple that you might get close to the actual number.

SESAY: Wow.

HONORE: And I think by the time tomorrow comes and the people compare notes -- in one parish alone, Livingston parish, of 105,000 homes 90% of them are under water. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HONORE: So the problem of course in getting accurate numbers is the dynamic situation that's caused by the flood and a lot of area the communications, AT&T, one of the major providers, their systems have been down. So the accuracy in reporting and people being able to report that is somewhat behind. So I think the numbers will grow substantially in the next 24 hours as that communications system come on line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HONORE: We still have flooding happen as we speak tonight and the search and rescue will start again tomorrow morning to try and go in and get people who went to bed tonight with their homes dry, will wake up tomorrow morning in standing water.

SESAY: Yeah. This is nothing short of a calamity. General Honore, what's your assessment of how the local government response has been so far? How are they doing?

HONORE: They're doing magnificent. The search and rescue was pretty organic with state assets. As you know, the way the flood works, you can have one part of a parish that is totally inundated and you can come in from different directions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HONORE: And that's the way this flood has basically worked. It started off in the northern - in the mid parishes and now it's into the lower parish of lower part of east Baton Rouge and going down into St. John parish. So the flooding started in the north and now it's culminating as the rivers come together and they get closer into the Amite River and into other rivers that flow to the south such as (Manar). So that is the problem we are facing with now it's like coming into a funnel and as you get into the bottom of that funnel that water is rising and causing back flow in the communities that did not flood because of the rain. The flooding that we're seeing now is a result of the flow of the water, not as a result of rain dropping on those communities as that water funnel is working through to the south.

SESAY: It's a difficult time for Louisiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: You guys are all in our thoughts and prayers. General Honore, thank you so much for making time to speak to us. Stay safe, and we wish you the best.

HONORE: And thanks to America and the world, who are starting to send relief and supporting a national organization, international organization like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, which is going to be very important in the coming days to help people get back in their homes. Thank you very much.

SESAY: Yes, it certainly is. We'll check back in with you in a couple of days. Thank you, General Honore.

HONORE: Thanks, Isha.

SESAY: Terrible, terrible time in Louisiana. Next on "Newsroom L.A.," why Donald Trump is now attacking Hillary Clinton's health and what political watchers have to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:42:42]

SESAY: It looks like Donald Trump has a new line of attack against rival Hillary Clinton. He is targeting her health. Some political watchers think he's playing into a conspiracy theory that's being pushed in part by a Fox News host. Jessica Schneider reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, as said by Bernie Sanders, stability and temperament and the moral character to lead our nation.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump taking on not just Hillary Clinton's character but also now raising questions about her health.

TRUMP: Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face.

SCHNEIDER: Trump made the comments about Clinton's stamina on the heels of reports from the conservative site Drudge Report proclaiming claiming sick talk, weekends for rest. The videos are now swirling online. Clinton tripping after climbing the stairs of her plane in 2011, seemingly needing help at a February campaign event in South Carolina. And stumbling while stepping of the podium at a rally with Joe Biden this week. The conspiracy-style speculation about Clinton's health propelled in part by Fox News host Sean Hannity.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: Some of the weird pauses she has, the coughing fits she has. There are moments when I'm literally watching her and I'm thinking, okay, the facial expressions are odd. They seem off. It's a violent, violent repetitive jerking of the head here. Now, you can see it's uncontrollable. Watch the reporter like pull back as she -- the reporter got scared. And she keeps doing it. What is that?

SCHNEIDER: But the Associated Press reporter says Clinton's head movements weren't uncontrollable or violent and that she was simply reacting to the barrage of questions thrown at her. Clinton responded with an exaggerated motion, shake her head vigorously for a few seconds.

The health hoopla dates back to 2014, when Republican strategist Karl Rove was quoted in a New York gossip column saying Hillary Clinton may have brain damage.

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS ANALYST: She had a serious episode, a serious health episode. This was a serious deal.

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SCHNEIDER: Clinton sustained a concussion in 2012 when she was Secretary of State. In the medical report released by her campaign in 2015 Clinton's doctor said her concussion symptoms including the double vision resolved within two months. Trump, who has been criticized for his fast food habit and lack of exercise, released this letter in December with his doctor declaring "if elected Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." Clinton took to her personal campaign podcast last week to stress she is fit to be commander in chief.

HILLARY TRUMP, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I, knock on wood, am pretty lucky because I have a lot of stamina and endurance, which is necessary in the kind of campaign that I'm engaged in.

SCHNEIDER: With the two presidential nominees among the oldest in history, Clinton 68 and Trump 70, health questions could keep swirling.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, New York.

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SESAY: Joining me now to discuss the speculation surrounding Hillary Clinton's health is CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, always good to have you with us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thanks.

SESAY: You've openly criticized Sean Hannity for the role he's played in driving this notion that Hillary Clinton is lying about her health. It turns out that the Fox News host is none too pleased. Here's what he had to say about you Tuesday morning. Take a listen.

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SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I literally watched the show on CNN over the weekend and you've got this little pip squeak named Brian Stelter and he allowed this arrogant professor from the Kennedy School of Journalism to talk about Trump being a demagogue and demagogues like Trump become dictators. That's the type of coverage that CNN offers in this presidential race as they literally kiss Hillary Clinton's [ bleep ] and Obama's [ bleep ] every day.

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SESAY: Strong stuff early in the morning, Brian.

STELTER: I actually, I only - I only kiss my wife. That's the only person I kiss. But you know I'm glad Hannity was watching. I talked in depth on Sunday's program of why I think he's reckless when he speculates about Clinton's health. He decided instead to target some professor he didn't like on my program. But clearly, he's feeling the pressure not just from me but from many other people who are saying that what he's been doing has been irresponsible. He's doing a disservice to his audience by peddling these kind of conspiracy theories about Clinton's health.

The facts are Hillary Clinton, of course she's one of the oldest people to ever run for President. So is Donald Trump. Both of them are very old by any kind of historic standards in terms of people running for president. But that's of course because health is getting better and better and better. People are living longer and longer and longer.

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STELTER: And both these candidates are in very fit health according to their respective doctors.

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SESAY: Yes, But what we're also seeing, Brian is how conspiracy theories have come to be a major part of this election campaign.

STELTER: Exactly. I think that's really why this story matters. I think in other countries, not in the United States but in other countries this is relatively normal in politics. These sorts of discredited, outlandish rumors fuel presidential campaigns. That's not what we're used to in the United States. You think back to 2008 or 2012, there were some fringe ideas out there about President Obama's citizenship and things like that but they weren't talked about on television for the most part. They weren't given credence by a presidential candidate like Donald Trump.

What's different now is that Trump has a tendency to believe or at least say he believes these conspiracy theories. Whether it's thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey on 9/11 -didn't happen. Or whether it's these ideas that maybe Hillary Clinton isn't up to the task of being President. The reality is we all saw her testify for what was it, like 11 hours talking about Benghazi a number of months ago. It was carried live on T.V.

The Clinton campaign likes to point to that as the ultimate example of her stamina. But she's been running for president for over a year. If she actually had a secret illness, something that was disqualifying her from the presidency, it would be pretty apparent by now that that was the case.

SESAY: Yes. And once a lie catches fire in the conservative ecosystem, is there anything that can dispel it?

STELTER: Well, that's where I think people like Sean Hannity have a responsibility. It's a point I tried to make recently maybe it's her (inaudible) at this point that conservative leaders, republican leaders have to be the ones to stand up and say no.

For example, Trump has talked about the election in November possibly being rigged. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: There's no evidence for that. There's lots of contrary evidence to prove that's not true. But he's said it several times. And it's up to Republican leaders like Paul Ryan, maybe Mitt Romney, other leaders of the party to stand up and say no, there's no evidence for that. Because those are the people the Republican voters will be most likely to trust.

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STELTER: The same goes for conservative hosts like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Those are the people who can do the best job of refuting these theories. But honestly I don't see a lot of evidence that they're doing that. For the most part they seem to be lending credence to what Trump is saying. But ultimately in November that could cause a rude awakening for some of these voters, some of these supporters.

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STELTER: You know, conspiracy theories, fringe ideas, they're not limited to the right. We see this on the left as well. We saw this during the Democratic primary to some degree. But right now it is especially apparent and troubling among some of Trump's supporters. They're even suggesting some of the polls are rigged against him when in reality every single reliable poll is showing Clinton ahead of Trump.

SESAY: It's very troubling indeed. Brian Stelter joining us there from New York. Brian, always appreciate it. Thank you.

STELTER: Thank you, thanks.

SESAY: Next on "Newsroom L.A." Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's tumultuous marriage is now officially over.

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JAVAHERI, Good day to you. Pedram Javaheri with you on weather watch right now. Look at the scenes out of parts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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JAVAHERI: We know 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 when 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 kilometerage 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.

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 a front that's lined up across that region. So 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.

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SESAY: A fast-moving wildfire here in Southern California has now grown to 18,000 acres. That's more than 7,000 hectares. 34,000 homes are now threatened in San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles. Some 82,000 people have been forced to flee. That story we'll continue to keep an eye on for you.

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SESAY: Now, Gawker Media has a buyer.

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SESAY: Univision is buying the news and gossip site for $135 million. Gawker filed for bankruptcy last month after it lost a $140 million lawsuit filed by former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. He'd sued over Gawker's publication of a private sex tape.

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SESAY: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's turbulent break-up is a done deal.

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SESAY: The two settled their divorce after heard withdrew her petition to extend a restraining order against Depp. She accused him of domestic violence two days after filing for divorce. Depp denied the accusations. The couple was married for 15 months.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: And the famous playboy mansion has officially been sold.

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SESAY: The final sale price for the L.A. home was a whopping $100 million. The mansion sits on five acres of land and includes 29 rooms, a tennis court, and swimming pool. And the home also comes with its very own tenant. Yes, playboy founder Hugh Hefner as part of the sale. The 90-year-old mogul will be allowed to remain in the mansion for the rest of his life.

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SESAY: You are watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. I'll be back with another hour of news right after this.