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At Least Five Injured In American University Attack In Kabul; Rescuers In Central Italy Trying To Reach Survivors; Earthquake Leaves At Least 73 Dead And Towns In Ruins; Trump Speaks Live In Tampa; Election Day In 75 Days; Trump Softening on Immigration; Sanders Launches Group. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 24, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you so much for watching us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: And we start with breaking news right now from the American University in Kabul, Afghanistan. There has been an attack with at least one explosion. Gunfire reported on campus. We are now hearing that as many as five people were injured. Police and ambulances are on scene right now but it's unknown if an -- if any attacker or attackers have been found.

Meanwhile, the State Department is telling Americans there to be cautious and to avoid movement in the area for now.

Joining me with more on this breaking story is CNN Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir. She's with us from London. And our Brian Stelter, CNN's Senior Media Correspondent and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Nima, what are you hearing?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we finally have confirmation, Brianna, that although the situation is ongoing, security forces have finally managed to penetrate into the campus itself. This -- the attack, the standoff is still happening but police officers are now finally through the parameter of that campus and on the scene. They are undertaking the search for the attackers as we speak, Brianna.

And throughout the -- well, throughout the duration of this attack, we've just been seeing the most extraordinary tweets. We've been hearing the most extraordinary reports from those trapped inside the building. It sounded absolutely horrifying. They have been waiting now for over an hour for help to come to them and help has still not yet arrived.

It is unclear yet as to the identity of the assailants, but given the symbolism that this is, of course, the American University of Afghanistan, that's leading security sources down some pretty clear paths to those known terror groups that have anti-American sentiment -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, and it's been a target before, Nima.

ELBAGIR: It has. Just earlier this month, an American professor and his Australian colleague were picked up from right outside the campus. And security was supposed to have been reinforced. And it reopened quite quickly, just two or three days after that attack.

The issue is that this is such a prestigious organization and in order to keep that prestige, they have had to bring in faculty from around the world, from the U.S., from Europe, from Australia. But that also has raised its profile as a target. In addition to the fact that this was supposed to be one of the lasting legacies of America's involvement in Afghanistan -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Brian, so much of what we have learned here has to do with what we're hearing from social media. I know that you've been hearing from some journalists that are on the ground there.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I'm sure, in coming hours, we'll hear other accounts from Afghan locals who were on the campus, also from students.

But we've heard from one journalist who was able to post in the English language right away when he heard these explosions and shots. Massoud Hossaini is an Afghan photographer, actually a Pulitzer Prize winner. Back in 2012, he won one a -- one of the most prestigious prizes in journalism for his work there in and around Kabul.

He posted a harrowing tweet about two hours ago. He said, help, we are stuck inside the campus. We heard shooting followed by an explosion. And then, you see there at the end, Brianna, he says, this may be my last tweet. And he posted that to social media, to Twitter and to Facebook, really calling for help. But we now know "The Associated Press" confirming to me that he is OK. He was injured but he is OK.

According to the A.P., what happened is he heard an explosion. He went to the window. He looked out. He saw a man who he describes as being in normal clothes who then began shooting into the classroom. The gunfire shattered the glass. He slipped on the glass, cut his hand as a result.

He says the students then barricaded themselves into the classroom, pushing chairs and desks against the door. I'm reading it from "The Associated Press" story here. He says that he and about nine other students were able to escape through a northern gate of the campus and then they took shelter in residential home. So, he is now seeking medical attention for the cuts on his hand. His story, just the first of, unfortunately, many stories we'll hear, I think, from witnesses to this attack.

KEILAR: Yes. Such a scary and chaotic situation, we can tell from his description. Brian Stelter, -- STELTER: Yes.

KEILAR: -- Nima Elbagir, thank you to both of you.

Switching gears now to Europe where central Italy is trying to recover from a deadly 6.2 magnitude earthquake. This is -- shaking began as people slept. They awoke as walls came crashing down around them. And when it stopped, their towns were reduced to rubble, as you can see in these pictures that we're showing you.

This actually happened in a mountainous rural region. It's about a hundred miles northeast of the capitol of Rome. One of the hardest hit areas is Amatrice. And after surveying the damage, all the mayor could say was, quote, "this town is no more."

Here is what we know. Right now, local news is reporting at least 73 people have died. That is a number, we should tell you, that is expected to rise.

[13:05:05] At least 100 people have been injured, more than a thousand people have been displaced. Rescuers are desperately searching for survivors, at this point. Some of them are using their bare hands to dig through the rubble. And a dramatic moment when a rescuer tried to comfort a woman trapped inside of the rubble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): Are you able to breathe a bit? Only a bit. Only a bit. The important thing is to stay calm. Police officers are on their way now. We will try to remove this. We are waiting for them so that we don't hurt you, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And so calm as he is explaining to her, obviously trying to impart calm to her as she must be panicking.

I'm joined now by the Italian ambassador to the U.S., Armando Varricchio. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. We are so sorry it -- that it is under these circumstances and obviously our hearts are with your country as you go through this.

You heard the death toll there, that is incredibly high, when you're talking about a developed nation and yet it's expected to rise. What can you tell us about the situation?

ARMANDO VARRICCHIO, ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: You're right, Brianna, it is true. This always is a kind of event time is absolutely crucial. So, that's why first responders and search teams are there on the spot, try to assess the situation. DuPont (ph) is these three towns in central Italy are scattered in many (INAUDIBLE) and in small parts. So, it is not very easy to reach all the different areas, the different houses hit. But I think that we are doing what we can.

KEILAR: Were they at all prepared for something like this? VARRICCHIO: You know, it might sound as a paradox, being Italy is

such an old nation, an old country, but from a geographical point of view, Italy is a young land. So, this central part of Italy, the (INAUDIBLE) of regions quite often is hit and struck by quakes. Can you -- maybe you will remember, back in 2009, L'Aquila, this great city in central Italy, was hit by a major earthquake. So, it is important that -- so we always be ready to and prepare for such situations.

KEILAR: The death toll, right now, is at 73, the injured at 100. That is expected to rise. Is there a sense of how many people are missing? Have people on the ground been able to tabulate and see people who are not accounted for?

VARRICCHIO: You know, DuPont is that -- it is summer so holiday season. So many, many people were uniting, family were uniting there. So, we don't have a clear picture.

KEILAR: You mean people were visiting in the area?

VARRICCHIO: People were visiting. People were visiting -- were visiting their families, so there is a possibility that the numbers might increase. But it is too soon, I think, to prejudges that number.

KEILAR: Do you need -- does Italy need help from other countries?

VARRICCHIO: You know, since this morning, all our major partners and allies have been -- have been -- have come up and given their support. First and foremost, President Obama called this morning our (INAUDIBLE) President Mattarella. Secretary Kerry had a very warm phone call with (INAUDIBLE) Gentiloni (ph). Traditionally, because of the situation in Italy, we have a very affective suited (ph) protection team. So, we have people. We have expertise. But as always, help might be useful.

KEILAR: You've said that it's about timing. And these are places that are rural and may be difficult to get to. But are you confident that resources are being deployed from bigger cities? Are there any situations where you have, in these hamlets, where there just are not the resources to try to get the rubble off of these people who are trapped and still alive?

VARRICCHIO: When these kind of event happens, what is always striking is the generosity and solidarity. So, we have seen that people and teams are pouring into the -- into the local region from different part of Italy, providing their expertise, their teams, their equipments. So, for the time being, it is important to assess the situation. And before the night comes, having all the teams on the ground.

KEILAR: You mentioned that earthquake in 2009. Looking at this one, we can see in the pictures just these buildings that have collapsed. We talked about the mayor who said this town is no more. Entire walls just sheared off and buildings that have come down. There seems to have been a lack of certainly build preparation. Is that standard when you're talking about these older buildings and how rare is it for something this severe?

VARRICCHIO: You know, it is important that this kind of towns that might be struck by quakes be prepared. What we are talking about here, three local towns, very old. So, most of the buildings dates back several decades, if not hundreds of years. So, this important.

[13:10:04] But also, when it comes to rebuilding and reconstructing the city, it is important that local communities remain there because there is a sense of attachment, a sense of strong bones connecting local people, local public relation to their regions.

KEILAR: The pope is sending assistance. That's what we have heard. What can you tell us about that?

VARRICCHIO: That is important. The pope has come up very early in the morning with his blessings, with his words and I think that this will encourage local populations very much.

KEILAR: Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us. We're certainly keeping you and all Italians on our minds as you go through this.

VARRICCHIO: Thank you very much. Thank you to you and to all the American people because since this very morning, we have been receiving so many calls at the embassy and this, once again, proves how close our relations are.

KEILAR: Yes, we are all friends. Thank you so much.

VARRICCHIO: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, we are standing by for a Donald Trump rally set to get underway any minute now. And we have just learned that he is meeting with young African-Americans and Hispanics at Trump Tower tomorrow. I'll get Trump advisor and former presidential candidate, Ben Carson, to weigh in live next.

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[13:15:05] KEILAR: To politics now.

There are just under 76 days until the U.S. presidential election. Right now you are looking at live pictures from Tampa, Florida. This is where Donald Trump, a rally, is currently underway for him. Well, Trump's expected to keep the heat up on Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation and he may elaborate a little more on his immigration policy and whether it could be changing. We are going to bring that to you shortly. We'll be monitoring that event.

But joining us with some insight on what we can expect to hear from Donald Trump is one of his advisors, Dr. Ben Carson. Of course he is also a former 2016 Republican presidential candidate.

So, Dr. Carson, you've -- I want to talk about a number of things, including Donald Trump's outreach to African-American voters. You had told me a few days ago this was going to happen without details. I think now we understand the details of this. So I want to talk about that.

But first I want to talk to you about this possibility of Donald Trump softening his plan to deal with illegal immigration. Can you give us any details or information about how he plans to do that?

DR. BEN CARSON (R), FORMER 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. Well basically he wants to talk about trying something that we really haven't tried, with several administrations, both Democrat and Republican. And that is actually enforcing the laws that are on the books. Now most people think that just because of the things that have happened in recent years that immigration policy is in the purview of the president. Actually, if you look at the Constitution, you'll find that it really -- it falls under the purview of Congress. They're the ones who make the immigration laws. The president's job is to enforce them. So we need to get back to, you know, the way things were originally intended. But let's see what happens if we actually enforce the laws that are on the books. And if that is not adequate, then you move on to do more than that. That doesn't mean that he's not still going to put the wall up.

KEILAR: So which laws? Which laws do you enforce better?

CARSON: You enforce all of them. We have simply not been enforcing the laws. We have let people just do whatever they wanted to do and we ducked into a political expedience --

KEILAR: But I mean specifically as -- specifically, is there an area where he has said, look, I see that there is a gap here. This is something that is just being ignored. Is there specifically an area because I mean we're just trying to get to the bottom of what he may do.

CARSON: Specifics --

KEILAR: There are many -- there are many instances --

CARSON: Specifically?

KEILAR: Sorry, go on.

CARSON: Specifically we will enforce all of them. That's very specific. That's what we need do. And we have not been doing it. And, again, I'm not blaming one party or the other.

KEILAR: Can you give an example?

CARSON: Both parties -- both parties have not done it.

KEILAR: I guess I want to know because, you know, Donald Trump has actually said that he likes -- well, he's also said he would do it with more energy. But he has looked at President Obama and his deportation and he's commended him at times for that, or criticized him saying that he has lacked compassion in it. So I guess, where does he want to improve?

CARSON: Well, we need to be consistent. KEILAR: Where does he want to pull back? Because I'm just -- I'm not

hearing any --

CARSON: We want --

KEILAR: I'm not hearing any specifics from you. I don't have a better sense from you of what he's going to do versus what's being done now.

CARSON: We want to improve -- w want to improve -- we want to improve in consistency and treating everybody exactly the same way. You know, I don't think that it's useful to pull out all the laws and go chapter and verse, which ones are we going to enforce and which ones we're going to enforce.

KEILAR: OK, but what do you mean treating everyone the same way, because he seems to be indicating that what he would do is deal with kind of what he sees as the bad guys first and that then there might be a different -- obviously that would be a different priority. But you're saying treating everyone the same way.

CARSON: Well, when you talk about bad guys, you're talking about all the bad guys, all the criminals. Certain ones don't get an advantage because they happen to live in, you know, San Francisco, you know, versus Carmel, California. That's what I'm talking about.

KEILAR: OK. OK, and I hear you saying you think it's not helpful to pull out the specifics. I -- I guess I disagree with you on that, because I would like to understand this more. I think a lot of people would.

But -- so I want to move on and talk now about Donald Trump and how he's been reaching out to African-American voters. It's something that's been getting a lot of attention. Some people have questioned how genuine he is about this, Dr. Carson. So you can speak to that as well. Because you have some people --

CARSON: OK.

KEILAR: For instance, like Charles Blow, who's a CNN political commentator and a "New York Times" columnist, saying, look, he's actually doing this to appeal to white voters who want to see more inclusivity. Here's what Charles Blow said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is the most horrible kind of bigotry. And the fact that people keep asking the same question, particularly to black commentators like me, is he reaching out to black people? He is not reaching out to black people. There is nothing about this appeal that has any residence with anyone black that I can even find. I even looked at other -- the largest black websites that I could find

just to see if anybody was taking this seriously. Not a single person that I could find was taking it seriously. The only people taking it seriously is white people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:22] KEILAR: OK, Dr. Carson, I'm sure you have a reaction to that.

CARSON: Well, you know, I really don't have much of a reaction to it because, you know, that's what I would expect from certain people. But, you know, here's the real issue. The issue is that our cities, many in our inner cities, are suffering. And they've been suffering for several decades now. Donald Trump recognizes that in order to make America great, we have to make our inner cities great too. And we can't continue with the same kind of policies that have led to decreased income, higher drop-out rates, more incarceration, 90 -- and an African-American community, 73 percent of the babies being born out of wedlock. These are not things that lead to strengthening of the community. These are not things that empower people. And these are things that make people dependent. Those are the things we don't want. And he fully recognizes that he's probably not going to get the majority -- anywhere near the majority of the African-American vote because of tradition. However, after you enact the right kinds of policies and people see things that actually work, I think people are going to be more interested in who is providing things that work than they are in a party. And I think that's going to be an exciting time in America when that happens.

KEILAR: You are going to be instrumental, I think, in talking to him certainly about your experience personally. You started very humbly and have become a very, very accomplished neuro surgeon. I know you're going to be giving Donald Trump a bit of a tour. You've talked to him about this. What are his curiosities about trying to understand some of the challenges that are facing the African-American community as he is looking right now to talk more to them? He's going to be meeting tomorrow with African-American and Hispanic fellows with the RNC.

CARSON: Sure. Well, he gets very animated when we -- when we talk about this. From the very beginning, this is something that is very, very important to him that we do this and that we get -- that we create success for everybody in America, not just African-Americans, not any one specific demographic, but putting together the right kinds of topics. And that's why one of the things he wants to do is meet with African-Americans from different areas of the country and to hear from people what are the things you're concerned about and what are the things that you have seen that have worked. Give me some data. Give me some actual numbers. And let's make some policies based on that.

You know, one of the things that we know from sociological studies is that when you break homes apart, and you raise children in that situation, they don't do as well. So let's look at policies that tend to push families together rather than tear them apart, like many of the welfare policies that go on today.

BANFIELD: I -- and I have to ask you about this health issue of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It's so rare that I talk about this in a political context and I get to say, you are a doctor, so please let's discuss this. You actually said that both of them -- and this is your word -- you said they are both elderly. And you said that they should release this information. They should release new medical records. Why?

CARSON: Because as people age, a lot of things happen to them. As you get older, it becomes critical that you have, you know, at least an annual examination because a lot of things begin to happen. And this is a job that is -- that is very stressful. This is a 24/7 job. And you're going to have to have a lot of stamina and the ability to process a lot of information quickly. And we want to make sure that both candidate meet those qualifications.

KEILAR: Dr. Ben Carson, really appreciate you being on today. Thanks so much.

CARSON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Well, you are looking now at some live pictures that we're bringing to you. This is of a Donald Trump rally about to get underway in Tampa, Florida. We are going to bring that to you when he starts speaking.

[13:24:31] Plus, Bernie Sanders is trying to keep his political revolution going. More on the new venture that he's starting right after the break.

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KEILAR: More news from the presidential campaign. It is Hillary Clinton's turn to receive a classified intelligence briefing. It is scheduled for Saturday morning at the FBI offices in White Plains, New York. That is near Clinton's home in Chappaqua. And it's a briefing that had been scheduled for an earlier date but it was changed to accommodate Clinton's schedule. Donald Trump received his briefing at the FBI offices in lower Manhattan last week.

You know, we have not heard a whole lot from Bernie Sanders lately. That will change tonight. Sanders steps back on the political stage to launch a new group called Our Revolution. Taking off -- starting off kind of where he left off. The goal is to build on the progressive agenda that he promoted during his campaign. Jeff Weaver is Bernie Sanders' former campaign manager. He is the president of Our Revolution.

And explain this to us, what is this group, Jeff, and how is he going to take what he sort of started during the campaign and really move it in an effective way towards doing something? Because we're familiar with, for example, Obama for America --

[13:30:06] JEFF WEAVER, PRESIDENT, OUR REVOLUTION: Right. Right.

KEILAR: And this concept, again, that you take something that you kind of created in a campaign, you channel it into something else. We've never seen it really successfully take off.