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New Warning to Pregnant Women on Zika; Collin Powell Responds to Clinton on Private E-mail Server; Clinton Foundation To Limit Donations if Clinton Wins; Trump Visited Flood-Damaged Louisiana, Donates Truck-Load of Goods. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 19, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:34:02] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: News out of Florida. The CDC director now telling pregnant women, not only that, pregnant women and their sexual partners to consider postponing travel to all parts of the Miami-Dade County and specifically avoiding travel to Miami Beach, after five new cases of the Zika Virus have been traced to this 1.5 square mile of Miami Beach.
Governor Rick Scott made the announcement about the five new Zika Virus cases at a news conference earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SCOTT, (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR: -- health has learned through one of their investigations that five individuals have already been confirmed as cases of local transmissions of Zika are connected to the Miami Beach area. This brings the total number of local transmissions to 36.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Governor Scott also announced an expansion of the aerial spray zone for mosquitoes to include Miami Beach. Spray zone was first established in the fairly trendy Wynwood area just north of Miami.
Let's go to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Let being with this travel advisory, pregnant women and their sexual partners should postpone nonessential travel to all parts of Miami- Dade County, how unprecedented is that?
[14:35:22] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is unprecedented. When we first heard about this travel advisory around the Wynwood area a couple weeks ago, I think that was the first time we had actually seen a record of because of the health reason, U.S. city, an American city, people being told not to visit it. In this case pregnant women specifically, in that case Wynwood. Now you are hearing that sort of expand. Expanding directly from Wynwood, but it is essentially the southern part of Miami Beach. We could not find evidence of this happening before. BALDWIN: Wow. And then we just played the sound from the governor
from Rick Scott. He's been asking for these Zika prevention kits for a while from the federal government. Why are they not getting them?
GUPTA: It's a good question. There are a lot of questions about what sort of resources should be getting expended toward Zika. A lot of people have been asking for things like prevention kits. They've been asking for more money, as you know, to make sure that they can create a vaccine. A lot of that money has stalled. The fact of the matter is you do have the governor asking for Zika prevention kits and he is saying at least it is taking too long to get those. He is asking for more testing kits and he is saying it is taking too long to get those. I will say as well when it comes to the vaccine, there is a lot of works on this and it is really important. We used to talk about swine flu, h 5 n 1 some time ago. It was very worrisome at the time. Now we have vaccines against certain types of these flus. That's the position they want to put Zika in as well but it is hard without the funding.
BALDWIN: I remember you in Mexico years ago talking about all of this. But just again back to this travel advisory, just remind everyone. Because I know people think, OK, Zika, pregnant women. But it is also their sexual partners. They can't go because it is transmitted. Yes?
GUPTA: Yeah. This -- we're learning about Zika Virus more and more every day it seems. One of the things we learned a few months ago was that this virus could be sexually transmitted. So it wasn't just necessarily a woman who was pregnant. It wasn't -- and it was possibly someone who actually passed the virus on to the woman. If she became pregnant, even during that time, that would put her at higher risk of having a child with one of these birth defects known as microcephaly. We also know that the virus can live in a man's body for several months. So if a man gets infected, it could take several months before he could actually -- before they could get pregnant again. They have to practice safe sex during that time.
BALDWIN: Dr. Gupta, thank you. I understand you are coming back next hour with -- is it the CDC director?
GUPTA: Yep. Dr. Tom Frieden is going to join us. We'll ask him some questions.
BALDWIN: There we go. We'll listen in next hour.
Thank you so much, Sanjay. We'll see you then
Meantime, up next, did former Secretary of State Colin Powell give Hillary Clinton the idea for using her private e-mail server? That is what "The New York Times" is reporting, according to some excerpts from a book they got access to. Did that happen? Colin Powell is now responding. That's next.
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[14:42:58] BALDWIN: We have more details today about how Hillary Clinton came to use her private e-mail server. "The New York Times" this morning is reporting that she told the FBI that former Secretary of State Colin Powell was actually the one to suggest it to her. Colin Powell also reportedly told Clinton to use a private e-mail for non-classified items. "The New York Times" reports the details were laid out in notes taken by FBI investigators during their interview with former Secretary Clinton.
CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, has more -- Joe?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is important for a couple of reasons. It is a hint at the kind of information contained in that classified investigative report on Hillary Clinton that the FBI just handed over to Congress. And it is a little more detail about how Hillary Clinton came to use private e- mail when she was secretary of state. "The New York Times" reporting today that her predecessor, Colin Powell, suggested it in a dinner conversation. The "Times" says this information is contained in the FBI's investigative report.
In a statement from his assistant today, Powell said he has no recollection of the dinner conversation, but he did confirm that he wrote Mrs. Clinton an e-mail memo describing his own use of personal e-mail for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications with the State Department. But he also said he used a secure government computer to handle classified information.
Important to say, General Powell's situation was very different from the way Hillary Clinton handled it, starting with the fact that Powell did not use a private e-mail server. He just used a personal AOL account.
Now a story that tracked with at least part of this account appears in an upcoming book by the author and journalist, Joe Conoson (ph). He writes that Powell told Clinton to use personal e-mail at a dinner party hosted by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Brooke, back to you.
[14:45:00] BALDWIN: Joe Johns, thank you so much.
The Clinton Foundation also ready to make some changes if Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States. If she wins in November, they say they'll stop accepting money from foreign and corporate donors. What's more, President Bill Clinton says he will stop giving paid speeches. He hasn't actually given one since November of last year. Reince Priebus saying, quote, "This effort to shield Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation after more than a year of controversy is too little, too late. After all, if everything was above board while Hillary Clinton was at the State Department, as the Clintons have said, then why change a thing."
Joining me, back with us here, Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen.
Welcome back. Good to see you, sir.
REP. STEVE COHEN, (D), TENNESSEE: Thank you, Brooke. BALDWIN: Since we just mentioned the Clinton Foundation, let me get right to it. You heard Reince Priebus saying, if it was kosher when she was secretary of state, why wouldn't it be kosher now. There have been all these accusations of cronyism with the Clintons and donations they received. What's your reaction to the chairman?
COHEN: The president has to be beyond a suspicion. Like Caesar's wife, beyond any suspicion. I think President Clinton, to be, is making it clear that there will be no the any issues that come up, that the Clinton Foundation will not be accepting any foreign money. That's a good idea. Then President Clinton won't be paid for any speeches. But I think the Clinton Foundation has done so much good around the world in Haiti and Africa, helping people that otherwise weren't being helped. The Clinton Foundation did so much good for people that were otherwise being forgotten, helping people with AIDS, helping people to learn to farm, improving their ability to be self- sustaining. The whole time while the Clintons were doing that, Trump was back in his tower where he belongs. We need to put Trump back in the tower where he belongs and let him brand himself with a hot poker.
BALDWIN: OK. Obviously, you're supporting Hillary Clinton.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
COHEN: How did you get that idea?
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: How did I figure that out? Let me ask you, too. Just talking about this party hosted by Madeleine Albright a number of years ago in which, at the time, Secretary Colin Powell was giving the person soon to take his job, Hillary Clinton, one piece of advice. They are all going around this had dinner table. Imagine. Apparently, Colin Powell according to this journalist who is writing this book essentially says, use your own e-mail except for classified communications, saying that his use of personal e-mails has been transformative for the department. Listen, we've talked ad nauseam about the problems that this has brought for the Clinton campaign. Had that been you in her seat, would you have questioned him?
COHEN: I don't know if I would have questioned him. I think I would have listened to him and accepted his advice. Secretary of state is an important position. Colin Powell is a person we all respect. I think where Secretary Clinton got that information from him, maybe it was the party, maybe in a letter. Who knows? Right church, wrong pew. They've got the right message. She followed the advice. Whether she got it at a dinner party or by some correspondence, the fact is she did what Colin Powell suggested.
BALDWIN: Got her in a bit of trouble.
COHEN: It did. In retrospect, you go back, yeah. I wouldn't have swung at a curve ball and struck out either. BALDWIN: On Trump news today, Paul Manafort has resigned, third chief
of that campaign for some months. Kayleigh McEnany was in your seat a bit ago saying it makes total sense, three different people, three different phases of the campaign. Someone called her out and said that's the best spin I've ever heard. Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager, he sees this week and the moves like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I think it is fair to say the last three or four weeks of this campaign have not gone well. The campaign has missed opportunities to go after Hillary when she shouldn't have. What I want to see by him is the campaign back on message. This week for the campaign has been phenomenal, new leadership. Donald Trump has been on message. He's been very clear, articulate. He's done outreach. You heard a speech from him last night that was widely praised as a very different type of Donald Trump in a good way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Not only that, you have the optics of Mr. Trump in Louisiana today. We just saw an 18-wheeler full of items that he's donated. Can you give the man some credit?
COHEN: He politically did the right thing. There's a lot of items in there that are actually items, unlike some of the contributions he allegedly made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
BALDWIN: There are actually items. We had a correspondent at the truck.
COHEN: That's good. Because he claimed he gave St. Jude $20 million and it was in the tens of thousands. So if he did it, good politics.
BALDWIN: Where is Hillary Clinton? Apparently, she's talked on the phone to the governor of Louisiana. But folks can point out that's not enough.
COHEN: Well, I'm not sure where she is but I know when you have three campaign managers within the period of time they have, if you have a campaign in chaos, a leader that can't work with people and a guy who's totally on message and the message is Trump, Trump steaks, Trump liquors, Trump vodka, Trump put him back in the tower where he belongs.
[14:50:01] BALDWIN: Final question, Congressman. Last time we talked, it was after you had been down in Cuba, which was a historically significant trip for the United States. While you were down there, with the president, at the ball game, the terror attacks happened in Brussels. There were calls then and much criticism toward the president about leaving Cuba. Here we go again. He's out vacationing in Martha's Vineyard instead of traveling to Louisiana in the thick of the devastation and floods. Granted, Jeh Johnson and Craig Fugate have been down there. COHEN: The president has his priorities. The president has led us
through many crises. When he was in Charleston, South Carolina, he was brilliant. When he spoke in Philadelphia on race, he was brilliant. I know he cares about the people of Louisiana. I'm sure they will get the relief the need. I don't know if Governor Edwards asked for him. Governor Edwards --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Governor Edwards said wait a week.
COHEN: Then he's doing what he should do and Governor Edwards, I'm sure he will be there in a week.
President Obama has a big heart. He's been our mourner in chief, our kind of philosopher in chief and shall continue to be and do that. I'm sure the people in Louisiana will get, as they should, much relief from the federal government.
BALDWIN: Congressman Steve Cohen, thanks for swinging by.
COHEN: You're welcome. Good to be on CNN.
BALDWIN: Appreciate it. Good to see you.
We'll be right back.
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BALDWIN: Police in Yukon, Oklahoma, got an unusual, anonymous call asking them to show up to an autistic boy's birthday party. But the child's mom, she had no idea, so when they arrived, she was shocked and then she was grateful.
Martin Savidge has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began with an anonymous phone call to the police in Yukon, Oklahoma, saying something was wrong inside this home.
CAPT. MATT HOFER, YUKON, OKLAHOMA POLICE DEPARTMENT: So I drive by, sort of canvassing the area.
SAVIDGE: Things look OK, but just in case, Captain Matt Hofer approaches, alone.
(KNOCKING)
SAVIDGE: A young woman answers.
HOFER: And she has that look of, oh, my lord. The police are at my front door.
SAVIDGE: Terra Hubbard is already having a really bad day. Plans for her son's birthday party are falling apart, as parent after parent calls to say their child isn't coming.
TERRA HUBBARD, MOTHER OF BRAYDAN: I mean I'd get, oh, I can't oh, this has come up, oh, this and this and this and this.
[14:55:16] SAVIDGE: Tara believes it is because they feel uncomfortable around her 3-year-old son, Braydan, who has autism. And now the police are at Terra's door.
But Officer Hofer's words change everything.
HOFER: I heard there was a birthday party for Braydan today. And she says -- she starts to smile. She says, yes. And I asked her if we could participate.
HUBBARD: And I was just speechless. Speechless. Nothing would come out.
SAVIDGE: Yukon's finest had come to get this party started. And more kept arriving.
HOFER: We all went over there and we doubled the party.
SAVIDGE: They lined the street with their cars.
(on camera): What were the neighbors thinking?
HOFER: They were driving by really slow and staring at us.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Braydan's party went from zero to heroes.
HUBBARD: Just to see them interact like that is truly, truly amazing.
SAVIDGE: And for mom, the timing couldn't have been better.
HUBBARD: Yeah. It's been a really tough time. You know, you get backed into a wall, like what else do you do? What else do you do? And any autistic mother or special needs parent know that feeling.
SAVIDGE: Yukon's finest saved the party, and the day, while proving police officers cannot only answer the call, but occasionally also a prayer.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Yukon, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
