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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Coverage of local humanitarian efforts in the wake of 2016 Lousiana Flood. Florida governor announces new emergency measures to deal with Zika. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 19, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:02] ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, where we are at is the Church International and you can see that these pallets of water are pretty much there's rows of them because the people that you see coming into this particular part of the church, they're actually here to get water, to get supplies, cleaning supplies, baby food, canned food, because these are people impacted by the floods.

Now, Church International has also been cooking warm meals for the people that are impacted by this flood. And here is where they're cooking them, you can see that they are cooking right now. Jambalaya and, you know, Southern Louisiana style and the pastor tells me that they have served 9,000 meals just yesterday alone. And he is actually joining me right now.

And Pastor, you and I were just talking about the impact of this flood. Your church blessed to be on high ground and to be able to help some of the people that are impacted.

MARK STERMER, SENIOR PASTOR, CHURCH INTERNATIONAL SENIOR PASTOR: Yeah, I mean until you -- or at ground zero and see the devastation. And these are not homes, a lot of people think well, you know, they always flood and need to get out. These homes are never flooded. So this was something that people including myself, my home is flooded we're not ready for. And all of our belongings, everything was -- we had to run out of our house because the water came up so fast.

And so, to be here to serve the people is what it's all about. And the real story that I think is in this community is not the flood but it's the people joining together to help one another. To live in other people's homes. I have four families I'm living with now. In the Sheriff's department, in the fire department, in the parish government. And we've all joined together and we are one with so much division that's in our country today.

You know, the silver lining that is in this flood is that there's no racism here. You know, what, the flood didn't care what color you were. This is about love, this is above humanity helping one another and I think that's what God would have us all do.

FLORES: Now Pastor, I'm going to ask you. Donald Trump is in town, he's going to be arriving here pretty soon. Are you a Trump supporter?

STERMER: Yes, I am behind Trump. I sure am. FLORES: Your take on his in Southern Louisiana?

STERMER: Well, I think anyone that's going to be running for the highest office, when there is a disaster, they need to come and put their feet on the ground and see what's going on. Because that's a mark of a great leader.

FLORES: Now, President Obama has been getting a lot of criticisms because he's been playing golf, he's on vacation and he has not visited this area yet. Your thoughts about the president visiting?

FLORES: Well, I always -- we always want to honor the office of the President of the United States. And I honor that office and I would encourage President Obama to come here. Maybe he doesn't know and by what you're doing, getting the word out, letting people know the devastation here, maybe this very interview would cause President Obama to come put his feet on the ground and to see what's happening to the people that God has put under him.

FLORES: What would you like for President Obama to see? What would you tell him?

STERMER: Well, I think, you're seeing the people, the need, the devastation, where he can just encourage them and say hey, guys, let's all join together. All the divisiveness that has been happening in our country hey, let's just -- let's erase that, let's start over, let's forgive and let's work together to build not just this community but our country to what it needs to be, to be a light to the whole world. That's why God founded this country is so that this country can be a light to the whole world on how things should operate.

FLORES: Pastor, thank you so much. I don't want to take to more of your time because I know you're really busy helping all of the people here in Southern Louisiana. Thank you so much for doing that as well.

STERMER: No, thank you. Thank you all.

FLORES: And so Ashleigh, like you heard the pastor say, they're expecting Donald Trump here to arrive shortly. We will of course bring you those pictures when we have them available.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Rosa, thank you. It should be noted as well just on the heels of the pastor's words calling on President Obama to be there that the governor, the Democratic governor of Louisiana has actually said he prefer that the president wait to come till at least 10 to 14 days he said so that the diversion of manpower is not affected in this emergency time, whether that has an impact on Hillary Clinton and her campaign and whether she visits, that remains to be seen. But it's only fair to suggest that there is perhaps another reason why the president isn't there and certainly the governor of that great state has articulated that, the Democratic governor of that state.

If you want to reach out and help those who are so devastated by the flooding you're seeing on your screen. You can do that easily, just go to cnn.com/impact. All the information you need is right there to help your fellow Americans.

Coming up next. Speaking of your fellow Americans, this is odd, you had heard of Zika but you have not heard of it this way. There is a Zika alert now in Florida. Florida, just moments ago, the governor announcing new emergency measures to deal with what is becoming a growing threat there. You're going to want to find out about that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:39:15] BANFIELD: Florida Governor Rick Scott has just given an update over the concerns involving the Zika virus in that state. Health officials announcing brand new cases in the area of South Florida. Governor Scott spoke just moments ago about the issue. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA GOVERNOR: We have a news Miami Beach that is less than 1.5 square miles. We are reducing the area of Wynwood because of our education and mosquito bait maneuvers. We are requesting additional support from the CDC. We are going to -- we've already begun increased spraying. We'll do everything we can to help pregnant women all across our state. We have a safe state and we're going to keep it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live with me now to talk about this.

[12:40:02] We were wondering Sanjay, if the governor was going to expand the travel warning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

BANFIELD: It's just sort of remarkable back on August 3rd when the CDC ...

GUPTA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... issued a travel warning for right here in the United States, a small area called Wynwood. The governor actually said it's reduced that area.

But I think a lot of people who are listening to this are concerned about everybody not just pregnant women but the effect of Zika on everybody. What do we know about the effects on other people as well?

GUPTA: Well, you know, this is one of those viruses I will tell you Ashleigh that had it not been for this association with birth defects. We probably wouldn't be paying that close attention to it. And that's because, you know, 80 percent of people who get the infection are not going to have any symptom or very mild symptoms at that. It's really this association with birth defects. But I appreciate what you're saying certainly that this is obviously -- there's a larger concern here but I think they've really tried to zero in on pregnant women because of the association with birth defects and also zero in on very, very specified areas around Miami. It's really interesting to hear the detail Ashleigh between 8th and 28th street, 1.5 miles square are. That's where they're now focusing their attention. It's -- if they're trying to be precise I think it's hard to be precise because we're talking about mosquitos that can fly around but they're trying to be as precise as they can.

BANFIELD: And mosquitos had fly around and people ...

GUPTA: Yeah, right.

BANFIELD: ... that move around. I mean, they move around a lot more freely outside Florida too. And that was sort of a concern, wasn't it Sanjay that as the summer months progress and the warm weather spread north, every else could be affected too. So, is Florida just the beginning?

GUPTA: So here's what I was saying is that the type of mosquito that's spread this is a mosquito to be located in these types of climates. So South Florida is going to more approximate the tropical climate where this mosquito typically lives. So you need three things for this virus to start spreading locally. Meaning, spreading in a particular area via mosquitos.

One is that you need the presence of the virus. Two is that you need the actual mosquitos that spread the virus. And finally you need people who actually get bit by mosquito and then transmit it to somebody else. I don't think that's likely to happen across the country. It hasn't happened with other similar mosquito-born viruses like dengue. We may see it cripple a little further north but I don't think it's going to be something that spreads quickly or widely.

BANFIELD: And we've seen it spread, you know, south of the United States so rapidly, it -- do we have implementations that are far better safe, better strength, better resources because it seems like Congress has been pretty deadlocked when it comes to resources?

GUPTA: Well, there's no question that resources are needed and ultimately there's a big push to get a vaccine. You know, we now vaccinate against various flu viruses that we are really worried about several years ago. We now have vaccines for them so we don't worry about them as much and the same thing is necessary here.

But what I would tell you it's fascinating, I just came back from Rio as you know, Ashleigh, I was down there and in Salvador, Brazil as well. Simple things like climate-controlled public buildings, simple things like having screens on the windows and yes, spraying and things like that, makes a huge difference.

I think it's part of the reason we don't have similar outbreaks in the United States that you do see in some of these other countries despite the fact that the virus is here. That is a prevention kit that you're seeing on the screen there. That is also being distributed to try and, you know, everything from just sprays but also things like bed nets to try and protect your own home. So, those things make a difference and I think that's good news.

BANFIELD: Good news but still it's frightening because I feel as though we still don't know everything about this and there's so much more to learn. Am I wrong?

GUPTA: No, I think you're right. This is a brand new virus to this hemisphere of the world. It's, you know, it was been around since 1947 but really just mainly in this little rain forest in Central Africa. So we are learning more about this and even learning about the impact on the brain beyond microcephaly for these young babies.

But, you know, what we do know so far is that the vast majority of people who have been infected with these and you have, you know, years with the data now. They may not even know they had it. They mover move on, it doesn't seem to affect their lives long term. But again, with these pregnant women in particular, that is a big concern.

BANFIELD: Dr. Gupta, thank you, always good to see you. Thanks.

GUPTA: Anytime, thank you.

BANFIELD: Coming up next, big change is promised at the Clinton Foundation. If Hillary Clinton wins in November and Bill Clinton is promising at this point, he's going to stop making paid speeches. But will that be enough to silence the critics? A lot of news coming from the Clinton campaign trail, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:48:26] BANFIELD: While we wait to hear from Hillary Clinton's campaign on the news that Paul Manafort has resigned as Trump campaign chairman. Hillary Clinton herself is making her own changes specifically when it comes to the Clinton Foundation. If she wins, the foundation says it will not accept foreign or corporate donations. And also, the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York which is a big events next week is going to be the final meeting no matter what happens. And Bill Clinton will not give any paid speeches between now and Election Day and should his wife win, for the entirety of her presidency as well.

Back with me now, CNN's Political Commentator Errol Louis and CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott. So Errol, the critics said right away, great move, but if it's such a great move and if you recognize the need for the move how could you have not recognized the need for the move before?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. As a senior member of the Cabinet in the Obama Administration, how is it all that much different from being, you know, a couple of blocks away at the White House? A perfectly valid question once you'll have to answer on the campaign trail.

There's another little wrinkle by the way that I think they're going to have to also address which is somehow the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas is connected with this whole complex of organization. I believe there was some CGI and/or foundation projects that were also kind of connected to the presidential library which is sort of a quasi public institution in a lot of ways. So, they should really try to got that I as long as they're trying to sort of cover their tracks on the rest of the stuff.

And, you know, and hopefully this will -- from their point of view politically put it to rest but more importantly lay in front of the voters and as you suggest, you know, it really kind of raises a couple of questions.

[12:50:08] Was this all okay for the last eight years anyhow? And the voters will have that going into the voting booth.

BANFIELD: I want to switch gears if I can to the FBI notes that were handed over to Congress. What sort of interesting is this information that's coming out of that that conversations that Secretary Clinton had with the FBI about her e-mail and where she originally got the idea for her having a private e-mail. And as it turns out she said it was Colin Powell who gave her the suggestion at a dinner party with other secretaries of state, each of them was asked to go around the table and give Secretary Clinton advice and Secretary Clinton told the FBI, not publicly, she didn't say this publicly, she said it to the FBI that it was Colin Powell at the dinner party who had said use the -- use a private e-mail.

So Colin Powell has put out a statement about this and I want to read it for you. It's from his principal assistant, Peggy Cifrino. I hope I'd pronounced her name right. "General Powell has no recollection of the dinner conversation. He did write former Secretary Clinton an e- mail memo describing his use of personal AOL e-mail account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department. At the time there was no equivalent system within the Department. He used a state computer on his desk to manage classified information. The General no longer has the e-mail he sent to former Secretary Clinton. It may exist in State or FBI files."

It's interesting, but does it add anything to the conversation about Secretary Clinton's e-mails??

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I mean, even if that is true, it's a relevant certainly to the FBI director and very much so to the Republican law makers who are criticizing her. Colin Powell told me to do it and it's just not an efficient response. I feel like the FBI director would say, well then you tell Colin Powell that's extremely careless as well.

To those who are really concerned about her usage of e-mails like she has to figure out a way that will communicate more clearly that she has apologized, she regrets it and that she'll move forward. Some say she has already done that.

BANFIELD: I should be really clear, don't know that the characterization -- we don't know that she said to the FBI Colin Powell told me to do it. It could have been anecdotal. They could have ... SCOTT: Sure.

BANFIELD: They could have been mentioned aside and where did you get that idea any way? And not strangely, now she might have said that that at the dinner party. I don't think it's fair for us to characterize whether she blames Colin Powell whether she just anecdotally raised that issue. So with that ...

SCOTT: But this is also why she and her campaign have wanted if this were to be released for everything to be released instead of leaks and bits of this conversation from the FBI, from Republican lawmakers because this allowed critics to say Hillary Clinton said that Colin Powell said this when that it's not what she clearly said, that's not what records may say she clearly said. And there's just lots of questions about the conversation.

LOUIS: You know, it's also important to keep in mind, this is an entirely different era. You know, his AOL e-mail account ...

BANFIELD: Right.

LOUIS: ... was considered advanced technology for the State Department. You know, when we were talking what? 2002, 2003? You know, it's a whole different time period and for people to imagine that the way we use e-mail now where, you know, it's on your phone and it's constant and it floats through the clouds is very different from what was going on back then.

BANFIELD: And it's important to beam yourself back to those days without question.

SCOTT: Sure.

BANFIELD: There is this reaction to the Donald Trump moment last night where he expressed regret for some of the words he's chosen as he's maneuver to the campaign. And the Clinton campaign has already seized on it. It's like lightning fast, their reaction to it. Ryan found that the campaign tweeted out in case you thought for a split second that Donald Trump was genuine about feeling regret, he is back to demonizing immigrants again in his new ad today. What ad is that, you ask? Here it is. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Hillary Clinton's America, the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in, illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay collecting social security benefits, skipping the line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, were we expecting anything different? I mean, that the fact that we got ads at all from Donald Trump is sort of new and unique because that's not the way he's, you know, waged his campaign so far. But were we expecting anything different here Eugene do you think? SCOTT: I think because it seems that Donald Trump is having a bit of a like really compassionate moment. He's regretting words that have caused pain. He's visiting victims in Louisiana. People were thinking that maybe that some of these ads could reflect on what he wants to do for people in this country who are having some of the biggest challenges especially in those demographics that he's struggling with the most. This doesn't look like this, this is a bit of -- this doesn't look like that. It's a bit of a continuation of what we have seen from him and I'm not sure that that, that this ad is going to move people who already aren't supporting Trump further to him.

BANFIELD: Errol, what do you think you're going to see as the rest of the campaign rolls out.

LOUIS: Well, I would we're going to see -- and I'd say this in Donald Trump's defense.

[12:55:03] One reason you don't want to go down the road of apology and regret is that, there'll be -- every single day they'll be somebody saying, I didn't hear the apology or regret say it again. What do you regret and why?

Did you know that you would have regret at the time that you said it. And it goes on and it goes on and it goes on. And --so, now Trump is going to have to deal with that or revert to his earlier sort of mode of operation which is to say no explanation, no regrets ever in part because it starts to sort of open up a line of attack which I'm sure the Clinton campaign is more than happy to exploit every single day.

BANFIELD: What's super fascinating is that there's -- they're on a big rollout in Virginia, and the polls in Virginia show that Donald Trump is in need of a -- I mean, a huge rollout of some kind because Hillary Clinton is way ahead.

Guys, thank you Eroll Louis, Eugene Scott, appreciate it. Nice to have you. Have a great weekend.

LOUIS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Coming up more on Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigning. We're talking to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. And also Ben Carson. Brianna Keilar has got those interviews. She's sitting in for Wolf and she's going to be up right after this quick break. Have a lovely weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)