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Hurricane Hermine Leaves Disaster in Its Wake; High-Profile Hispanics Dumping Trump; Polls Show Presidential Race Tightening; Another Player Joins Kaepernick's Anthem Protests as Fans Boo. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 02, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:20] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

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SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Hurricane Hermine has made landfall on Florida's gulf coast, leaving disaster in its wake. This storm is dumping heavy rain from Tampa up into the state's panhandle. Dangerous flooding is expected throughout the region. More than 25 million people are in Hermine's path. The hurricane is bringing reported storm surge as high as nine feet or three meters in some coastal areas. Power is out in many places including Tallahassee where 70,000 people are in the dark. And NASA released an image of the storm in space. Hurricane Hermine is the first hurricane to hit Florida since Wilma in 2005.

The governor calls the storm life threatening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Once this happens, we're going to see a lot of standing water. Don't drive into it. We're going to see a lot of trees down and we have a lot of winds. Don't touch a power line. They're going to knock down a lot of power lines. Our utilities will be heart at work getting our power back on, but if you see a power line down, call your utility, call your emergency management team. We have 6,000 members of the National Guard really to be mobilized. The official wildlife commission, have special ops team and search-and-rescue teams. I hope we don't need to use one of them. If everybody evacuates that should, if everybody prepares that should, we will not have to use our search-and-rescue team. When we do, we put their lives at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Governor Rick Scott there.

CNN Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joining us now from Florida.

Jennifer, it looks fairly calm where you are. Tell us about the conditions and what Hermine is doing in the state.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, where we are, we're on the West side of where the storm came ashore. So the rain has pretty much rapped up for us as this storm continues to push to the north and the east. We are still getting some of those gusty winds and that will continue through the overnight hours. The biggest concern has been the storage surge right along the Florida coast. Those areas are very vulnerable on the lagoons and bays and intercoastal waterways. And when you have these storms pulling in, in the direction that it did through the north and east, you have those winds flowing counterclockwise and it shoves all of that water up into those bays and those lagoons, that's why we were talking about storm serge anywhere from 5 to 9 feet or two to three meters. This storm made landfall with 120 kilometer per hour winds. So we are going to continue to see those power outages like we've been seeing as this storm continues to push to the north and the east. Of course, a lot of trees in this had area. That is why those power outages will be very common. They'll be working hard to restore that. As this storm continues to push to the north and east, it's not going to be over. This will have far reaching impacts up and down the east coast, the Carolinas, even D.C., Philly, Jersey, even getting in on the rain and the wind as we go into a holiday weekend. A lot of people coming in from out of town for the weekend, trying to get to the coast. But it is going to be a wet and messy coast for much of the weekend. Of course, this is far from over. The Toronto threat had will remain in place for Florida and Georgia as we go through the overnight hours. And the very, very heavy rainfall, especially on the eastern side of that storm has not let up. So we are still getting very heavy rains, flooding rains across the eastern side of this storm continuing in had Florida up into Georgia through the overnight hours.

[02:05:10] SESAY: Jennifer, before we let you go, are you hearing any reports of major structural damage?

GRAY: Where we have been, we haven't seen much. However, we have seen like ten roofs start to rip off. I know there have been some street signs blown over where we are. However, we weren't in the hardest hit area, so I can imagine some areas especially along the east side of this had storm and really close to the center will definitely suffer some structural damage. We'll do a little more digging on that.

SESAY: Jennifer, I appreciate all the reporting. Stay safe out there.

Let's go to Meteorologist Derek Van Dam now who is tracking the storm from our International Weather Center.

How is Hermine looking now and where is it at and where is it going?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Isha, Hurricane Hermine officially made landfall moments ago. It made landfall just east of St. Marks, Florida. 245 is near the Jefferson County region along that big bend there. It was a weak category one hurricane, but the pressure was at 982 millibars. So it was actually dropping that pressure which is a sign of intensification. And, boy, am I glad this storm as moved inland. Here is the latest radar. That watch box, you can see the tornado watch box indicated in that shading of red. Here is the eye wall. Again, now making landfall. And what's important about this, the fact that it is no longer over water. It has removed its moisture source. It has removed the ability to strengthen further, at least in the short-term. So that is good news for residents of Florida and into Georgia. This storm should start to see a general weakening trend. That doesn't mean the threat is over, but we'll highlight some of the concerns here for the foreseeable feature. Flooding rains, storm surge, record levels, we'll show you that in a moment, as well. 80-mile-per-hour winds, gusts potentially 100 miles per hour right near the have of that storm. Here are the current winds gusts taking place. Perry, at 50. You can see Apalachicola, I expect the monitor was knocked out. This is what's to come for the entire east coast. This is Labor Day weekend, a holiday weekend in the United States. This is not the weekend to soak up that sunshine. We have hurricane warnings through the southern panhandle. Even stretching further to the north and east, that is Maryland into New Jersey and Delaware, we have tropical storm watches, for Sunday into Monday. We want to watch out for this system as it is anticipated to exit into the Atlantic Ocean. Another moisture source potentially fueling this storm. I don't want to concern anyone just yet for this, but we will monitor this closely. What will it do? Stay tuned. That's all we can say because that will be the big factor heading into the Labor Day holiday on Monday -- Isha?

SESAY: Something for us to watch very, very closely. Always appreciate it.

Derek, thank you for staying on top of this for us.

VAN DAM: Absolutely.

SESAY: When you hear the music, you know what that means. It's time to talk politics. Some high-profile Latino supporters are dumping Donald Trump after his hard-line immigration speech. They say the U.S. presidential candidate misled them.

Phil Mattingly explains from the Spain trail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, Donald Trump facing high- profile Hispanic defections from his campaign team after his fiery campaign speech.

Texas Pastor Ramero Peina (ph), a member of Trump's National Hispanic Advisor Council, in an e-mail to Trump's staff obtained by "Politico," saying it was, quote, "difficult to imagine how I am continue to associate with the Trump campaign. The National Hispanic Advisory Council seems to be simply for optics and I do not have time or the energy for a scam."

Alphonso Aguilar, who for months defended Trump in the media, also pulling his support --

ALPHONSO AGUILAR, PULLS SUPPORT FROM TRUMP: I was totally disappointed and slightly misled because he gave the impress until yesterday morning that he was going to deal with the undocumented in a compassionate way.

MATTINGLY: Trump's 70-minute address in Arizona was cheered by his most ardent supporters. A pivot, this most certainly was not. But Republicans are weighing whether this hard-line stance will hurt his campaign.

Trump himself, in a radio interview, said he's actually softening.

[02:10:21] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): We'll go it in a very human way and we're going to do it with people in the country. Obviously, I want to get the gang members out, the drug peddlers out.

MATTINGLY: Trump referring to his decision not to immediately deport all 11 million-plus undocumented immigrants should he win the White House.

But Trump's tough stance in Arizona was repeated Thursday in Ohio, a state Trump desperately needs to win.

TRUMP: Don't worry. We're going to build that wall. That wall will go up.

(CHEERING)

MATTINGLY: A departure from the candidate that stood next to the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto just 24 hours earlier.

TRUMP: The bond between our two countries is deep and sincere.

MATTINGLY: A different tone, a different message, and a showing that advisers say proved he can straddle the lines of diplomacy and policy.

Trump, in Mexico, said the issue of whether Mexico would pay for the border wall wasn't discussed.

TRUMP: We didn't discuss payment for the wall. That will be for a later date.

MATTINGLY: After Trump's departure, Pena said his made his decision clear to the GOP nominee.

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I can say with all clarity and in public, and candidate Trump knows, that I am emphatic to affirm that Mexico wouldn't pay by any means for the wall.

MATTINGLY: But Trump, in Arizona, made equally clear, there was no shift in his stance.

TRUMP: Mexico will pay for the wall. (CHEERING)

TRUMP: 100 percent.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall.

MATTINGLY: All an issue Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, seized on Thursday.

SEN. TIM KAINE, (D), VIRGINIA & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That was a choke and I think it shows that diplomacy is not for amateurs. Donald Trump is an amateur.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Wilmington, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Meanwhile, a new CNN poll of polls shows the race between Trump and Clinton is tightening. Clinton has a five-point lead over Trump. That is only half the lead she enjoyed right after the Democratic National Convention.

Let's dig deeper into all of this. CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, is here with more on the race.

You are the man to talk about.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, yeah.

SESAY: Let's talk about that. A five-point lead in this poll of polls. What do these numbers say to you?

BROWNSTEIN: A couple things. First, Hillary Clinton has had a bad couple weeks. You know, the questions about the Clinton foundation, reinforcing the endless questions that arise capitally about her e- mail. She's facing very high percentage of Americans who says she's not honest and trustworthy. But what is very revealing ask probably the most revealing about this poll is Donald Trump's number. He's still at 37. There has been, I believe, one credible national poll of a four-way race, including the two, you know, third-party candidates that has had Donald Trump even at 40 since august 1st. So the movement in the race seems to be Hillary Clinton goes up or down. Some of her loose undecided or the third parties, but Donald Trump is having a very hard time getting passed around 40 percent of the vote. And it adds up because what we said before, about 60 percent of Americans say they don't believe he is equal fight, and he is having trouble getting past which is why many people were expecting a different immigration speech than we got this week.

SESAY: Give us some historical context. Has Hillary Clinton's bump post-conviction passed faster than you expected?

BROWNSTEIN: No. What she did at the convention was more cement the impressions of Trump and many questions voters have on whether he is a plausible president. She didn't do much to change attitudes towards her. Kind of the North Star of this race is this 60 percent that say they do not believe he is qualified. Roughly, that number says the question whether he has the temperament or whether he's racially biased. That is the barrier between where he is and where he needs to be.

SESAY: And we talk about the immigration speech and what he said in Arizona, this has been a campaign that has seen the electorate as engaged. Isn't it all baked in? How much room is there to grow?

[02:15:00] BROWNSTEIN: No, there's a lot baked in at this point. There is a lot of disability in this race. Attitudes towards these candidates has been very constant. Trump is stronger among evangelical whites. That is pretty baked in. I think in many ways, it is a battle of who has the ability to turn out their vote. There is some movement. These college educated white men who had been leaning towards Clinton in larger numbers earlier and moving back towards Trump as he reminds him that he's a Republican. But these three core groups that are the center of the modern coalition, Trump is facing overwhelming negatives with them and it's very difficult right now to see how he moves them away.

SESAY: After the speech in Arizona, are we to presume the outreach to the Hispanic community is over?

BROWNSTEIN: This is very much like the convention speech. Donald Trump has two main problems in this election. He's facing potentially the largest deficits ever for Republicans among minority voters. So at the convention, there's a lot of talk, well, in his speech he can reach out. He doubled down on his core pointy. And one thing that was very important about the Arizona speech is that it made it clear that Donald Trump's objection is not just to illegal immigration but also to legal immigration. He talked about holding the foreign-born share of the population within, quote, "historical norms." Sometime in the next several years, it's going to reach the all-time high. If Donald Trump is going to hold that -- reverse that to historical levels, averages over time, he's talking about significant, significant reductions in legal immigration, which would mostly hit the Asian American community. So he could have problems there comparable to what he's seeing among Hispanics.

SESAY: And ultimately keeping that base as what it is and not expanding it in any way.

BROWNSTEIN: He was dancing with the one who brung him, as we say in the U.S. He's betting those culturally alienated whites much more than he is on reaching out.

(LAUGHING)

SESAY: SESAY: Dancing with the ones that brung him.

All right. The "Daily Mail" is retracting a story about Donald Trump's wife after she sued for liable on Thursday. Melania Trump's lawsuit says the British tabloid and the U.S. blog posted defamatory statements. Her lawyer says the lies included suggestions she was supposedly an escort in the 1990s before she met her husband. She said Melania Trump's reputation was damaged to the tune of $150 million. He also says the lawsuit will proceed despite the "Daily Mail's" retraction.

The Pakistani Taliban is blaming responsibility for an attack on a Christian community. The terror group says similar attacks won't stop until Islamic law is imposed across the country. The Pakistani military says the four attackers were killed. In a separate suicide attack, police say a suicide bomber has killed the 10 people at a district building in Pakistan.

Time for a quick break. Boarding up and moving out. Hurricane Hermine is battling Florida with strong winds and heavy rains. We'll check on the storm's path, just ahead.

Plus, NFL player Colin Kaepernick continued his protest during the national anthem on Thursday. How fans in San Diego reacted. We'll have the details when we come back.

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[02:22:48] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Hurricane Hermine is barreling across the U.S. with at least 25 million people in its path. The storm made landfall along Florida's gulf coast within the past hour. It is drenching that state with some very heavy rains. Florida's governor calling it a life-threatening storm. Flooding is a major concern. Hermine's strong winds are bringing down power lines along the way. In the state capitol Tallahassee more than 70,000 customers are without electricity.

Thousands of Venezuelans flooded the streets on Thursday trying to get the president kicked out of office. Protesters blame the collapsing economy on his government and are demanding a recall vote. National Guard officers fired tear gas at some of those protesters while the opposition protested, a pro government rally was happening nearby. The president was there and pressed his supporters to be ready in case of a coup.

Back to the U.S., American football player Colin Kaepernick has again refused to stand during the U.S. national anthem. He knelt on one knee, instead, as you see there, at a pre-season game against the San Diego Chargers. And another man dressed in black knelt beside him. That man has been identified in local media as Safety Eric Reed (ph). Kaepernick was booed by some crowd members when he took the field. He says the act is a protest against racism.

Our Paul Vercammen is in San Diego for more on the game and fan reaction to Kaepernick's protest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colin Kaepernick continued his protest here in San Diego. And when he lopped on to the field with his helmet off, he was booed.

(BOOING)

VERCAMMEN: And he was booed for the rest of the game. When the anthem started, he was standing and he dropped down to one knee.

Then when the anthem ended, there was a cheer by the San Diego fans, but then they resumed their booing of Kaepernick.

He got the ball first for the 49ers and he was booed every snap ever since.

After the game, the fans gave Kaepernick mixed reviews.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free country. He can do what he wants. I don't think it's very respectful. I think it's somewhat ignorant. But it's his right to do with what he wants.

[02:25:11] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he respects the country. The military fights hard for this country so he has the right. I do understand where he's coming from, but I just don't respect it.

VERCAMMEN: It was military night inside the stadium. There was a lot of pomp and a lot of circumstance. The fans were enjoying the game. But there was a cluster of them that seemed to enjoy more than anything booing Colin Kaepernick.

Reporting from San Diego, I'm Paul Vercammen.

Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Our thanks to Paul there.

And at another NFL game, Seattle Seahawks player Jeremy Lane sat during the nationality anthem. It's not clear yet if it was an act of protest. Not clear at all.

Now, fire and explosion destroyed a SpaceX rock on Thursday. The rocket was meant to carry a satellite into orbit for Facebook to boost Internet access. Mark Zuckerberg says he's deeply disappointed, but will use other technology to connect people. No one was hurt in the explosion which is being investigated. Scary stuff.

Health officials have found the first mosquitoes carrying the Zika Virus in the continental U.S. They were identified in the Miami Beach area in Florida. That's where several people have been infected. Medical experts already have measures in place to on control and trap mosquitoes in the area. The Centers for Disease Control is urging pregnant women to avoid travel there.

More than 300 honeybees have been killed in the state of South Carolina by mistake. It happened when authorities air sprayed for mosquitoes carrying Zika. Authorities say they used what they were supposed to spray, but some beekeepers say they were not notified of the spraying.

Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., Brock Turner is about to leave jail early after serving just half of a six-month sentence. We'll tell you why and what's next for the former Stanford student.

Plus, a top U.S. university addresses its history of slavery. What Georgetown is doing for the descendents of some slaves. The details are coming up.

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[02:30:38] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Let's update you on the breaking news. Hurricane Hermine has made landfall on Florida's gulf coast bringing heavy rain and flooding. More than 25 million people are in the storm's path across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. One storm had maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles or 130 kilometers an hour when it came ashore. Hermine is the first Florida to make landfall in Florida since Wilma struck 11 years ago. At least 70,000 customers are without power in the state's capitol of Tallahassee.

Brett Beacham is undersheriff in Levy County, Florida. He joins us on the line.

Thank you so much for joining us for your county and for the state as a whole. What are conditions like where you are inspect what have you been seeing and hearing?

BRETT BEACHAM, UNDERSHERIFF, LEVY COUNTY, FLORIDA (voice-over): Our coastal town are suffering from a significant storm surge at this time. We have a lot of power outages and a lot of trees down blocking roads and a lot of people without power.

SESAY: Storm surge, power outages, what are you hearing in terms of damage to structures?

BEACHAM: We have had a couple of structure fires at this time, although it's almost impossible to tell in the darkness right now.

SESAY: Yeah. And with that, did people listen to the warnings ahead of time, to the advice ahead of time? Have you been receiving any emergency calls? Is everyone OK to the best of your knowledge?

BEACHAM: Yes, for the most part. We have had a couple of injuries, but for the most part, they seem to have tolled the advice of the emergency operations center here.

SESAY: So it's dark where you are. There's the power outage, a storm surge. When it's first light, what will but your priority?

BEACHAM: Of course, trying to locate anyone injured and rescue as necessary.

SESAY: All right. Brett, we do appreciate you joining us. We are pleased that you are safe and that things can get back to normal pretty quickly where you are. Thanks so much for your time.

BEACHAM: Thank you. Have a goo night.

SESAY: You, too.

We'll continue to follow the situation in Florida for you.

But we want to turn to another big story. A former U.S. college student convicted of rape is set to be released from jail in just a few hours. Brock Turner has served three months of his six-month sentence. A jury convicted the 21-year-old in March of raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Outrage began when the victim read her powerful statement in court. Outrage spread after the judge gave Turner his sentence. It was widely seen as too lenient.

Let's go to our Dan Simon who joins us now from San Jose, California.

Dan, answer the question most people have. Why is he getting out after just three months?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, because here in California, inmates typically serve about half of their sentences as long as they show good behavior. And that's what happened in the case of Brock Turner, Isha. He could have gotten some ten years behind bars in state prison. But when it's all said and done, when he walks out of the jail sometime this morning, he will have only served about three months. This goes back to January of 2015 when Turner was accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. He was caught by a pair of graduate students on their bicycles. When he went to trial, he tried to say it was consensual. But the jury didn't buy it. This rose to national prominence after the victim's powerful impact statement. It was a gut wrenching emotional letter and it added fuel to the fire. It gave critics more ammunition in terms of how they viewed the sentence. Obviously, they say this is a light sentence. And there will be a big rally here in San Jose with people coming out, trying to gain momentum to have the judge removed from office -- Isha?

SESAY: Appreciate it, Dan. Thank you.

Let's go now to legal affairs commentator and civil rights attorney, Areva Martin, who joins us now in the studio.

Three months of time served, because of overcrowding. I think a lot of people scratching their heads saying they just don't get it. What about the question, why don't we move him somewhere else that can accommodate him?

[02:35:31] AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY & LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Quite frankly, given the six months that he was sentenced to, he's really served his time.

SESAY: OK.

MARTIN: You have to look at this case. The outrage didn't just start with this three month early release. It started with him, Brock Turner himself, not accepting responsibility, not being remorseful about the crime that he committed. The judge making statements that he was concerned about how the sentencing and the conviction would impact Brock Turner's life. So a lot of the advocates have been outraged because of the way the judge has handled this, really suggesting that there should be more emphasis placed on the perpetrator than on the significant negative impact this has had on the victim. And that's what has victims' rights advocates so upset, Isha.

SESAY: And to be clear, his release is more to do with time served, not because of the conditions in San Jose that lead to people this the past who have been released early because of the conditions in jails.

MARTIN: What we're hearing about this case, a couple things. One, there is over-crowdedness in the California jail system. But what we're hearing about with respect to Brock Turner is that his good behavior qualifies him to only serve half of the six months that he was sentenced to.

SESAY: What does the future look like for Brock Turner? Because he's not going back to Stanford.

MARTIN: No. His college career as he knew it, over. His college athletic career over as he knew it. He's going back to Ohio. That's what we're hearing. He's going to get on a plane, go home to Ohio. Where he will have to register as a sex offender and he'll have to participate in anger management and sex offenders classes. So for the rest of his life, he will be listed on a sex offender registry, he will be on probate for a time. So it's not as if he's walking out of jail and he will suffer no long-term consequences. And given the notoriety of this case, it's doubtful that he will be able to maintain a college career or even get a job. As you mentioned, that powerful statement, and she's created a conversation around the rape culture on college campuses and how privileged athletes are treated and the sense that they are not given the same kind of punishment as others who commit similar crimes.

SESAY: And we have seen some changes arise from this.

MARTIN: Yes. The state of California had a law, a loophole in its rape law which treated rape of unconscious women differently, essentially saying that if you rape someone who is unconscious, you don't get the same amount of time. Since the Brock Turner trial, there has been a bill passed, making its way through the California state legislature to close that loophole, to make sure that anyone convicted of rape, whether it's an unconscious or conscious woman suffers the consequences and has mandatory prison time. That's a really important point in this case. And I know advocates are happy about that, even though they still want this judge to be recalled.

SESAY: We shall see what happens. Big protests expected.

Areva, we thank you.

MARTIN: Thanks, Isha. SESAY: One major U.S. university is trying to right a wrong and atone

for its tie to slavery. The president of Georgetown University says the school will offer descendants of nearly 300 slaves preferential treatment in the admissions process. In 1838, the school sold nearly 300 slaves it owned to pay down its debt.

A woman whose great grandfather was one of those people said she could hardly believe the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED DESCENDENT OF A SLAVE: I was overcome. I was driving at the time and I felt like my car was going, but I had stopped. It just took over my whole being. It was a door that opened that I never expected would have opened in my life. It's just a great beginning. What they're doing, as a university, as a prominent university that was saved by the horrific idea of human as cattle. And they're stepping up and admitting that that was wrong and that they are researching it to see how it all played out and to continue to look all the way to its descendants so that that impact can be seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:39:57] SESAY: Georgetown is also planning a massive reconciliation where it will publicly apologize.

Quick break now. A man who marched with Martin Luther King Jr during the U.S. civil rights movement says he is dismayed by Donald Trump. Next, John Lewis talks to us about why he thinks Trump is bad news.

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SESAY: Hello, everyone. Donald Trump's immigration proposals have put America's fast-growing Latino population front and center in the 2016 presidential election.

Our own Christiane Amanpour spoke with John Lewis, a U.S. congressman, and one of the leader's of the country's civil rights movement. He says Trump is putting the U.S. on a dangerous path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Congressman, I'm sure you've been paying close attention to the trip Donald Trump took to Mexico, his harsh comments to his immigration peach in had Arizona where he was talking about deporting people, about building a wall the tell me from your perspective on immigration, on civil rights, on freedom, what do you make of those comments?

REP. JOHN LEWIS, (D), GEORGIA: Well, I'm dismayed and shocked. I cannot believe that we have a major political if figure, someone running for president of the United States to be saying something like this. When the pope came and spoke to a giant session of the Congress, a few months ago, he said we all are immigrants. We all come from some other place. It doesn't make sense for someone to be talking about building a wall. We should be building bridges. As Martin Luther King said years ago, "We should learn to live as brothers and sisters or we will lane parish as fools." We have over 11 million people here. There are people living in fear. Little children are afraid to go to school. They think something is going to happen to them or their parents we should embrace the people that are here and set them on a path to citizenship.

[02:45:22] AMANPOUR: Congressman, children afraid, 11 million people living in fear, not knowing what happened to them, do those words resonate with the civil rights movement you helped to lead?

LEWIS: I can identify. And I think the great majority who came through the civil rights movement and people of color in this country understand what this is all about. It's fear. It's fear of the unknown. We should embrace the future and not be afraid. And I said to my colleagues in the Congress and others, when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to speak up, speak out, and do something about it.

AMANPOUR: You do bring me now to a perfect moment to bring up this amazing trilogy, your memoir of your civil rights and of that particular march where you were on the march to Selma. Why did you decide, Congressman, to go for a comic book to tell your story?

LEWIS: Well, Andrew, all my staff, my digital director and adviser, came to me and said, Congressman, you should b write a comic book. He heard me tell the stories of the civil rights movement. And I finally said, yes, I will do it if you do it with me. And it reminded me that many years ago when I was about 17 and a half, almost 18, I read a comic book called "Martin Luther King Jr and the Montgomery Story." And that book inspired me. It became my road map, became my blueprint. And I read about Dr. King, and I read about Rosa Parks. I got involved in the movement.

AMANPOUR: Andrew, it might have taken some guts to take the last of the six great civil rights leaders and say, come on, tell this important story as a graphic novel.

ANDREW AYLIN (ph), ADVISER TO JOHN LEWIS: I asked him, when I was 24 years old, so I was probably young enough not to have any better. We spent eight years working on it. I think the most intimidating part of it is that when you touch this story, touch the legacy of these people, particularly the young people, you have a sacred responsibility to tell the whole story, to make it real, as the Congressman says, to make it plain. In America, young people graduate from high school knowing only nine words about the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and "I Have a Dream," and then we ask ourselves why are the politics the way they are. If you don't understand what happened during the movement, you can't understand the politics of today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Interesting. And hear what John Lewis has to say about the next generation of civil rights leaders.

Watch the full interview at CNN.com/amanpour.

Time for a quick break. When U.S. President Barack Obama visited a tiny island where only about 50 people live, we'll discuss how it's a big step to solidify Obama's environmental legacy.

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[02:52:19] SESAY: I want to show you some live pictures. Happening right now, that is Air Force One you see there on your screen. The president's plane, president of the United States, Barack Obama, his plane just landing in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has been away from the island, making a trip to a small, small island in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii. It's called Midway Atoll. It was an area that he went to a couple of hours ago to really voice a message about environmental concerns. So here he is back in Honolulu. You are seeing the live pictures there of Air Force One.

Let's bring you now Stephanie Elam who is in Hawaii for us covering the president's trip. She is joining us now to tell us a little bit more about that excursion, I think we can call it, to Midway Atoll.

Stephanie, first of all, you look like you're freezing. Let's start there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am. And it's only because there's had air-conditioning in the room over here and it's blowing on me and I'm freezing and it's ridiculous. I understand it's ridiculous to be freezing in Hawaii. But otherwise it feels lovely and delicious. But there is a hurricane swirling about so the winds are kicking up. Hurricane Lester, we're keeping our eye on him, as well. So we have a couple of things going on here in Hawaii -- Isha?

SESAY: I see.

ELAM: But right now, President Obama is touching back down here in Oahu and he is back on the island after his trip out to the atoll, which he really was part of his signature agenda about climate change. He's been talking about it since he's made his trip here out to the Pacific, talking about it and highlighting it. You may remember last week that had he took this Marine National Monument and expanded it. It was created during George W. Bush's presidency some 10 years ago. But he expanded it by more than 442,000 square miles, protecting this Marine life preserve area so that it could be researched for future generations and also to protect the animals that live there. There are some 7,000 species that are there. From what we understand, he later, after taking a tour of the atoll went snorkeling so he could see some of these species.

While there, he talked about why he cares and why we all should care about the health of our planet. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I look forward to knowing that 20 years from now, 40 years from now, 100 years from now, this is a place where people can still come to and see what a place like this looks like when it's not overcrowded or destroyed by human populations.

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[02:55:10] ELAM: And while the president was there, he saw some of those giant green turtles on turtle beach there on midway atoll. And he remarked that he remembers seeing them as a kid when he was in Hawaii, but now you don't see them here and that's the kind of change he's saying we need on keep our eyes on as far as the population of species on our planet -- Isha?

SESAY: And, you know, it's coming to the end of his time in the White House and, you know, you turn your focus to legacy. This trip is very much in keeping with that, but this time environmental legacy.

ELAM: Very much so and he said so on in trip, that part of what he has been doing, his administration has been doing is looking to preserve lands across our nation where he could and that more so than any other president he has done that. This is something he very much cares about. He's not saying if there is global warming. He's saying it definitely is global warming and we need to do things to change. And people here in the Pacific countries feel that because of the water levels -- Isha?

SESAY: Stephanie, we appreciate it.

President Obama just deplaning from Air Force One, showing those pictures to our viewers.

But we have to wrap it up here. Stephanie, we thank you.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The news continues with Natalie Allen.

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