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Clinton: I Do Not Recall; Friction Between Trump And The RNC; Large Earthquake Felt in at least 7 States; Soon: Trump To Visit Black Church In Detroit; FBI Releases Clinton E-mail Investigation Report; Hermine Expected To Return To Hurricane Force; Chicago 2015 Homicide Numbers Revised; Samsung Recalling Galaxy Note 7 After Batteries Explode; Georgetown to Give Admissions Edge to Slave Descendants. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 03, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:23] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton's private e-mail scandal back in the headlines as the FBI reveals her dealings with investigators.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR T: Donald Trump taking his outreach message for minorities to a black church in Detroit. Meanwhile, there's tension between the RNC and his campaign that's bubbling behind the scenes.

PAUL: And Tropical Storm Hermine lashing the Carolinas and heading north washing out labor day weekend plans for millions of people.

I want to wish you good morning, I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. 9 o'clock here on the East Coast, 6:00 at West. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A breaking news, just in the CNN. A large earthquake rattling at least seven states now, we know within the last hour.

PAUL: Preliminary information showing that this was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. We want to go straight to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Information is coming in so fast, I feel like it was five minutes ago, we had a report of three states. Now it's a report of seven that felt this. What are you learning?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, see, that's going to be very important. Because the reason the states are spreading is because the earthquake was so shallow. When it tends to be shallow, it can spread a little bit farther of a distance say than a deeper earthquake could. So let's give you the stat.

The magnitude was a 5.6; this ties with 2011, November of 2011 for the strongest earthquake in Oklahoma recorded history. But the depth was only 6.6 kilometers. For non-metric brains, that's about four miles deep which for earthquake terms is very shallow. That's why it's been to spread so far as it has for people to actually feel this particular earthquake. Now it's about an hour and a half north of Oklahoma City and about an hour west of Tulsa for some frame of reference. Because it did happen in a relatively rural area.

The good news is, it's relatively small in terms of what we would consider for fatalities. We're talking about 76 percent chance or higher that there was one fatality or less. This does not appear to be strong enough to really have a significant amount of fatalities with it.

Damage-wise, it's a different story. We're talking maybe about 67 percent chance of about $1 million worth of damage out of this. So again, we're not talking huge damage but there still is likely to be some damage with this particular earthquake as it happened this morning.

Now, here we're looking at the population that felt this. Because we talked about the fact that it has been felt in numerous states. So about 3.7 million people have felt some form of light shaking and about 200,000 people have felt some moderate shaking with this particular earthquake. So that's very important to know.

And again, Christi Paul, the thing to note with this, there will be some aftershocks with this particular earthquake as well. And we could be experiencing a couple that maybe above a 4.0 or higher.

So definitely something to think about for a lot of the folks in that area.

PAUL: All righty. Allison Chinchar, we appreciate it so much, thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, coming up in just a few hours, Donald Trump will be at a black church in Detroit attending service. And then after we're doing that, a taped Q and A with the church's pastor. This is part of the effort to increase his black support since this recent poll shows that he has really only two percent among African- American voters.

PAUL: Yes. And on the democratic side, Hillary Clinton is using the term "I do not recall." In fact, used that term at least 39 times in her interview with the FBI regarding her used of a private e-mail server. Donald Trump, of course, quick to pounce on this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you look at what they've done with respect to these FBI notes where she didn't know what the letter C was, you know, that's a lie. Unless she's not an intelligent person, that's a total lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN's Ryan Nobles is following the story for us. Good morning, Ryan. What else was in the recent document released?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, good morning to you. And it is pretty clear that Clinton's recollection or lack thereof was an important part of the investigation. At one point, investigators wrote, Clinton did not recall receiving any e-mails. She thought should not be on an unclassified system. She relied on State officials to use their judgment when e-mailing her and could not recall anyone raising questions with her regarding the sensitivity of the information she received at her e-mail address.

And, you know, there are examples of sensitive, specific materials that ended up on the server that investigators pressed Clinton on, in particular, the American drone program.

At one point, the FBI said, "Clinton stated she did not remember the e-mail specifically. Clinton stated deliberation over a future drone strike did not give her cause for concern concerning classification. Clinton understood this type of conversation as part of the routine deliberation process."

Now remember though, the drone program is a covert program. So you are only supposed to discuss it if it's on a highly secured system. And sources have told CNN that Clinton and others are using coded language to discuss CIA plans to carry out a drone strike.

Now while Clinton has said she did not send classified information through the server, the FBI did find 81 e-mail chains on it that contained classified information and part of why federal officials did consider criminal charges.

But then let's do back up much of what Director James Comey said in his bombshell press conference back in July where he revealed that while Clinton was "extremely careless," her actions were not enough to rise to the level of a crime.

Now the release of this information, something Republicans have been calling for since Comey announced that he was not recommending charges against Clinton and her opponent Donald Trump is already reacting. He put out a statement Friday where he said that "Doesn't understand how she was able to get away from prosecution." But for its part, the Clinton campaign said that "We are pleased the FBI has released this material as it have requested and send that materials, make it clear why the Justice Department decided not to move forward with the case."

Of course, Christi and Victor, a lot of people are talking about the fact that this information was released Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend.

PAUL: All right. Ryan Nobles, appreciate it, thank you sir.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk now. Let's bring in Saba Ahmed, founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition and Robert Zimmerman, Democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton fund-raiser and supporter. Good to have both of you with us this morning.

I want to just say first, we are following the breaking news of the major earthquake out of Oklahoma so I may have to cut this short. But let's get to Clinton and Trump, starting with you, Robert.

Clinton told the FBI she quote, "Could not recall any briefing or training by the State Department related to the retention of federal records or handling classified information." She couldn't recall any training? I mean, does that seem like it could be a problem for her?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look. Let's put this in a proper perspective. First and foremost, there were 39 times in a three and a half hour deposition in front of the FBI where she said she didn't recall. There were hundreds if not thousands of questions she was being asked. And so not remembering 39 situations going back to 2009 is not as extreme as the Republicans want to make it out to be.

But the point here simply is that as Jeffrey Toobin pointed out, these e-mails and as your previous reporter pointed out, these e-mails just support Director Comey's decision not to take any legal action.

BLACKWELL: But I want to bring you back to the question here. She couldn't recall any briefing or training by the State related to the retention of the federal records or handling of classified information. The argument from Republicans and I know you will shoot this down is that she is not -- Donald Trump's campaign says not qualified, not prepared to handle this. She said she can't even remember the training.

ZIMMERMAN: Well, look. Let's remember, Victor, there is a record number of Republicans who serve in the foreign policy's administration, foreign policy agenda of the Reagan and Bush administration that have endorsed Hillary Clinton. Plus, about 21 to four-star generals have retired who've endorsed Hillary Clinton. I think that demonstrates her leadership, that demonstrates her stature and ability to keep America safe. So I think it's very important not to look at these issues in an isolated situation. And, of course, Donald Trump is going to exploit it.

BLACKWELL: All right. I hear you. I hear you, Robert. Let me go to Saba. Saba, for people like Robert who say, listen, there's nothing here. There had been no charges. These questions have been asked and answered. You say what?

SABA AHMED, REPUBLICAN MUSLIM COALITION: Well, I think Hillary Clinton was extremely reckless in using classified information such freely on her e-mail servers. The reason she wasn't prosecuted was because she's supported by the Obama administration. That has nothing to do with what she did. If any other person in the government did that, they would be severely penalized for it.

And I mean just saying that it just goes to show her credibility in handling classified information in the future if she was to be given -- I mean, is she going to have private e-mail servers once she gets into the White House and be talking about drone programs on her servers and just making our national security procedures a joke. I think it's really sad to see that such a senior official was not trained. I mean, I'm very surprised. The first day in office --

BLACKWELL: We've got to jump in here.

AHMED: Sure.

BLACKWELL: I'm sorry, Saba. We've got to -- we've got to get in here. We've got more breaking news on the earthquake. Robert, Saba, thank you both. And we're going to go to that now. We're going to break and bring it out of that.

AHMED: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Control room, we go in now, we're going to bring it back after the break? All right, quick break and we will have that breaking news out of Oklahoma.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Breaking news this morning, a large earthquake rattling at least seven states this is morning. A preliminary information showing us this hour, it was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. I want to get to Robert Sanders. This, we understand, epicenter was in Oklahoma. And Robert, you are with the United States Geological Survey as a geophysicist. So help us understand, how expansive this is? Is it because it's -- it hit as I understand at a very shallow level that that's why it's being felt so far away?

ROBERT SANDERS, USGS GEOPHYSICIST: Yes. Earthquakes in the Central U.S. and Eastern U.S., the ground is softer. So the seismic waves have a much farther travel distance than an earthquake in California or in Nevada, which is why we're seeing felt reports coming in from as far away as Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Austin, Texas.

PAUL: Okay. So we did talk to a gentleman who was in Dallas, who lives on the 26th floor. He said he felt his bed moving back and forth. He could see the tower next to him and the glass shaking, live downtown in a high-rise. What kind of damage or effects might we be learning in the next few hours with the kind of earthquake?

SANDERS: Damage and effects with this magnitude earthquake, we can compare this to, in 2011, there was the 5.6 earthquake in Prague, Oklahoma. And there was 14 homes destroyed in the local city, in the local town of Prague from that event.

As for a widespread damage, we don't expect to see much damage coming in from places out of large distance from the epicenter. But there have been or a few reports of some damage to buildings in Pawnee, Oklahoma, which is eight-point miles away from the epicenter of this quake.

PAUL: Would you suspect there will be some aftershocks?

SANDERS: Yes. With any event of this magnitude, aftershocks are expected over the next couple of days to a week.

PAUL: Wow. OK. Robert Sanders, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

SANDERS: You're welcome.

PAUL: Again, 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma with a very shallow depth about four miles deep which is shallow. Epicenter just about an hour west of Tulsa. We understand. We will keep you posted as we continue to hear more.

Meanwhile, we want to talk about Tropical Storm Hermine because it's lashing the Carolinas now. It is heading north at a sprint, I heard one meteorologist say this morning, threatening to wash out Labor Day plans obviously for so many people. CNN Sherisse Pham is live. She's on the coast of North Carolina right now. There's is a flash-flood watch in effect there. Sherisse, I know that you've been there for couple hours. It looks to me that things are calming down for you where you are based on what we've seen with you this morning. What are you feeling?

SHERISSE PHAM, CNN REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. Things are calming down a little bit here. But I want to turn you over here, take a look at the ocean behind us. We have some massive storm surge still.

We were talking to a resident who lived here since the late '70s. And you see where the waves are breaking. The second break from shore, that is usually where the beach extends to. So, you know, we still got some dangerous conditions here. And as you can see, this is wiping out some Labor Day plans but you still got some visitors, tourists and beach goers determined to get on this beach here.

Now officials are saying please stay out of the water because you've got dangerous surf conditions and rip tides. Tropical Storm Hermine really passed through here in the middle of the night at the hardest level and it left more than 44,000 people without power according to officials now.

So for those people who are watching at Atlantic City and Virginia Beach, this might be a little bit of a taste of what is coming your way. Guys?

PAUL: All right. Sherisse Pham, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: The Chicago's plague of homicides even worse than police thought. What's stopping police and the community from fixing this problem? We will have that conversation next.

And later, a prestigious university with historical ties to the slavery now planning to give admissions priority to the descendants of nearly 300 slaves. Is it enough? We will talk about that.

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BLACKWELL: The Chicago's deadly recent passed is actually much more grim than first thought. Police are now revising last year's total homicides to 481 up from the originally reported 473. That means that eight more people were killed last year than thought. Still, even with the revised number, the number of people killed this year is on track to surpass last year. This year, 474 people have been killed and it's only September.

Police say they're having a hard time fighting the violence and bringing justice because witnesses will not talk. Now in a phone interview with the "Chicago Tribune" Superintendent Eddie Johnson talked about the frustrations of trying to keep guns and criminals off the street.

And this is what he said. These men and women are working their tails off out here. And I will tell you this, it's frustrating for them to arrest a guy on Friday for an illegal gun and then next Thursday, they see this guy right back out on the street with another illegal gun.

Joining me now is Fr. Michael Pfleger, an outspoken crusader against street violence more than 35 years there in the community. First, I want to get your reaction. Thank you for being with us, by the way.

To what you feel and what you think when I give you those numbers that already the Chicago is at 474 for 2016?

MICHAEL PFLEGER, CRUSADER: Well, it's outrageous and unacceptable. And we understand that communities are living -- children are afraid going back to school because they're afraid of being shot. I had a child in my school asking me to pray for her that she would not get shot going to school this year.

There's a fear, there's a hopelessness, there's a despair in the community and people don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. We've been told this week that we had the most deadliest month in last August than in 20 years. We have more murders here than in New York City and Los Angeles together. And we're lacking a strategy or a plan to say how we going to turn this around? And so people are kind of overwhelmed by it.

BLACKWELL: So Fr. Pfleger, I know that it would be too much to ask you to give me the solution but is there a single element here, a single variable you see that could push the ball in one way or the other?

PFLEGER: I really don't think there's one element. I think it's so comprehensive and I think that's what we have to have the courage to do.

You know, when you walk to the 9 or 10 communities where there's the most violence taking place, you see the same threat. You see double- digit unemployment. You see poor funded and underfunded and under- performing schools. You see most coming back from prison with nothing but a box cutter, $20. You see abandoned buildings and communities have been look -- now to look like third world countries. You see a proliferation of guns, no options or opportunities, no economic development.

So poverty reigning. And you see this in a community day in and day out. And unless we're willing to have the courage to do all of that and change the playing field, we're not going to see the end to this. Some people want to have National Guard to come in. The National Guard comes in and does nothing but suppression. We need federal funds to come in because there's a state of emergency in Chicago just like we have floods or fires and earthquakes. We have a flood and fire or earthquake of violence and blood on our streets.

BLACKWELL: So I believe you heard what I just read there from that interview with the Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaking with the "Chicago Tribune" about witnesses who will not talk. And you said that there's a lack of trust between police and the young people. What are the steps?

Go ahead, if you're interrupting to clear something up.

PFLEGER: No, I'm sorry. Just saying I agree. And I mean, obviously, cooperation and communication between law enforcement and the community is absolutely necessary to solve crimes. But you don't speak or share information, number one, if you don't have the trust built up; that I can trust that person to talk to. But number two, if there's not a respect for each other.

We just had another two big incidents in Chicago in the last week where people went to report information at a police station one. In other word, at a house and the police talked to them with disrespect, cursed them out, told the one person to get out of the police station.

If there's not a respect element and there's not a trust element, understand that, you know, people are not going to talk. And so, until that builds that relationship back up, I've never in my life in Chicago, and I'm raised in Chicago, seeing the division between law enforcement, the police and the community worse than it is right now.

BLACKWELL: Well, we know that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said that he will give a major address to talk about the violence there in the city. We will stand by for that. Fr. Michael Pfleger, thank you for speaking with us and more importantly, thank you for the work that you do. Christi?

PAUL: Donald Trump trying to woe the African-American community with a stop that's stirring up some controversy before it even starts this morning. CNN's Jeremy Diamond following that story in Detroit. Good morning, Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning. After three weeks of making his pitch to black voters before largely white audiences, Donald Trump is coming here in Detroit to the heart of the African-American community. We will have more on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

PAUL: Take a look at your screen here. You see this beautiful building. We're told this is a 100-year-old building, historic, in Pawnee, Oklahoma. And the bricks you see there are what fell off during a large earthquake that's rattled at least seven States this morning. Now preliminary information showing this was a 5.6 magnitude

earthquake centered in Oklahoma. Let's talk to Brad Sewell; he is the mayor of Pawneeh, Oklahoma, near the epicenter of this morning's earthquake.

Mayor, first of all, thank you for talking to us. How is everybody there, first and foremost?

BRAD SEWELL, PAWNEE CITY MAYOR: Well, we're really fortunate. Everybody seems to be doing well. I've been in our dispatch office, our 911 dispatch office, injuries reported injuries.

[09:30:10] I think it shook everybody up. I mean, it was just about time that a lot of us were waking up. And those who were not already awake certainly were awakened by the earthquake.

PAUL: Help us understand what it felt like. I understand this happened about 7:00 a.m. your time?

SEWELL: Yes. Yes, well, it was -- it was a sustained quaking. It lasted a long time. It was something that, you know, you had your presence of mind to be able to check on children and do different things like that.

It was not like -- we have been having a lot of earthquakes here over the last couple of years. Most of those have been just single tremors. You feel it and it's gone. This continued. And it was very, very alarming for those of us who weren't used to this sort of thing.

PAUL: We had a gentleman from Dallas on a little while ago who said he lives on the 26th floor of a building there in downtown Dallas, and that he felt his bed moving back and forth and could see a tower next to him and the glass shaking. Did you have any reports of any similar experiences where you are?

SEWELL: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, there was a lot of that kind of thing. I know in my own house, we had things that were on shelves and on counters that fell onto the ground. It was -- I've heard reports that there are other places and things that have fallen off the shelves. So, yes, there was a lot of things that were not, light things that weren't tied down that kind of were moved around by the quake. I haven't --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

SEWELL: Well, it's -- we haven't seen any obvious structural damage to buildings downtown except for one building. There's a historic bank building that's on the corner in our downtown square. And it's a historic building and some of the limestone has fallen and is on the sidewalk. That's the worst of the apparent damage to downtown. We're waiting on a building inspector to come to inspect the buildings before we let anybody near the area. We have it roped off. As you can imagine, an early 1900s storefront area, that is what it is

like. And there are some different businesses in that area. And before we let anybody in there, we have to make sure it is safe.

PAUL: Yes, so smart. Real quickly, have you felt any aftershocks?

SEWELL: We have not.

PAUL: OK. Well, Brad Sewell, the mayor in Pawnee -- we thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us and we are grateful everybody is okay. No injuries being reported. Thank you again, sir.

Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, happening now, in his continued effort to reach out the black voters, Donald Trump is meeting with the council of Baptist pastors in Detroit. He will later attend a worship service at an African-American church there. Now, the campaign says he will address the congregation but the church has not confirmed that detail.

Trump will also sit down for a taped interview with the pastor there, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, for the Impact Television network.

Joining me now from Detroit is CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, I've read reports of protests this morning ahead of Trump's arrival. Have we heard or seen any of those protestors? And have we heard from the group of pastors yet?

DIAMOND: Yes. Well, we do have some protestors who started gathering already outside of the church. They are about to do a press conference to address it. We have several high-ranking African- American officials from the area, including the head of the city council and the head of the sheriff around Detroit.

But Donald Trump is finally taking his message of outreach to African- American voters into the heart of the black community. You know, for the last three weeks he included his outreach to African-American voters in his stump speech and centered speeches around that. But he's done so before predominantly white audiences, and he's taken a lot of criticism for that, especially from some people who say that Donald Trump's outreach to African-Americans is really more about reaching white suburban voters who want to be comfortable with knowing that he's not a racist and that he's not running a campaign that's based on any kind of racial divisiveness.

So, with Donald Trump expected to perhaps address this congregation today, we'll have to wait and see what he says and the language he uses because that is also a point of contention here. Donald Trump has said repeatedly that African-Americans have no job, that they have no good schools, obviously, using some hyperbole there to make his case. But some African-American leaders have not said that is the reality of most African-American lives.

[09:35:02] You know, not -- most African-Americans are not necessarily living in dire poverty, which is kind of the situation Donald Trump seems to describe.

So, today, he's going into the African-American community here in Detroit. He's going to speak with people and learn a little bit. And we'll have to see what he comes out saying today. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. Jeremy Diamond for us right there in front of Great Faith Ministries in Detroit. Jeremy, thank you so much.

One of the pastors who helped to facile it the Republican nominee's visit to the church in Detroit is Mark Burns. He gave an impassioned speech, a pretty controversial benediction earlier this year. But he's probably best known for this tweet, it's showing a cartoon depicting Hillary Clinton in black face here. He has since apologized for this and taken it down.

Well, there are a number of questions now about claim that is he made about his experience, his past and his bio on his church website, that he was in the Army Reserves, in a fraternity, graduated from college.

So, when I sat down with limb to speak on camera on the record to ask about those claims, things got a bit uncomfortable. Did you attend North Korean university?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Did you attend North Greenville University?

PASTOR MARK BURNS, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I did attend North Greenville University.

BLACKWELL: Did you graduate from North Greenville University?

BURNS: No, I didn't complete a degree at North Greenville University.

BLACKWELL: OK, again, the bio that's on your website claims that you earned a bachelor of science degree. Did you make that claim?

BURNS: I actually just a moment ago, as we were -- opened up -- first of all, I said we were off the record.

BLACKWELL: I didn't agree to that.

BURNS: Yes, but I did. I did.

BLACKWELL: We're still rolling, I'm still asking you questions on the record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, coming up next hour, the entire interview that ended when Pastor Burns stood up, walked out and actually drove off from his church leaving us in the building. And you're going to hear his new statement about his bio which he now admits he overstated.

PAUL: Well, Donald Trump is weak and lacks stamina to be president? The Clinton campaign says Donald Trump is promoting racism and wrecking America's image abroad.

No matter how much they clash on the campaign trail, behind the scenes guess what? They are both working on their transition into the White House and are sharing some of the same physical spaces in a D.C. office building. How is that going? Arrangement leave both campaigns eligible to be hacked?

Max Stier is with us, the president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service. They're working with the Trump campaign on this transition. And CNN political senior reporter Stephen Collinson. Both with us.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here.

Stephen, I'd like to start with you, because we are told that this is the first time that two campaigns have had to share building space as they plan their transition. How is this different from the usual protocol and why?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Christi, I'm sure it's leaving a few awkward moments between the two campaigns when senior members of the campaign meet each other in the corridors while candidates thrashing it out on the campaign trail.

But I think this is actually a very interesting development. In the past, transitions have been fairly chaotic affairs. That is not the case anymore. We hear a lot of hyperpartisanship in government, how government doesn't work. This is one instance where government is working. It helped by organizations like Max's.

It think it goes back to the Bush administration. George W. Bush after September 11th decided in a time of national peril, we couldn't have these chaotic transfers of power anymore. He worked very closely with the Obama administration.

You talked to members of the incoming Obama administration, senior officials in 2009, that were grateful and surprised about the extent of help they got. So, I think this is a new trend in our politics. It's a way of one administration handing over to the other and it's a huge task after all, standing up a massive federal government is not something that can be done in a few days. And I think what we are seeing between the two campaigns is evidence of that.

PAUL: Max, so we understand this, as I said, you're working with the Trump campaign on the transition, have you been working in the building? What has the experience been for you?

MAX STIER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE PARTNERSIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE: So I think you heard it exactly right. The experience has been terrific. We are not talking about two candidates that are racing each other, they are racing the clocks of that whoever wins is actually ready to run our government. It's the most complicated, most difficult takeover and most important takeover of any organization, not just on the planet but in history.

And so, it is encouraging that both teams are actively engaged in being ready or getting ready so whoever wins, we have a government that is up and running on day one and can deal both with potential crises as well as ultimately have to fulfill the promises they are making on the campaign trails.

PAUL: Max, there's a report out there in politico reporting that the hallway bathrooms have locks on them now. Some meetings are being held off site, because again, this is something that has nod happened in the past. What other adjustments or modifications have all of you made?

[09:40:03] STIER: So, again, I work as a nonpartisan organization that's supporting effective government and supporting the transition efforts of both teams. I do think that what is unusual here is that you don't actually have competition between each other. On the campaign trail, obviously, there's a lot of, you know, combat, et cetera.

PAUL: Sure.

STIER: But for transition planning, they are really sprinting a marathon to get ready. They have 4,000 political appointees that the next president is going to have to make. It's a $4 trillion organization, hundreds of different operating units. So I don't think it's a challenge to have both of them in the same space. They are not competing against each other, they are competing against the clock to get ready whoever wins, we have a president up and running on day one.

PAUL: All righty. Stephen, this is delicate work, though, we understand happening behind closed doors. They are getting people ready for administration roles, they're solidifying plans as to how to run the government. I would think this is either one of the safest places in the $ nation's capital or one of the most vulnerable to hackers. Which is it? And what information might be most vulnerable?

COLLINSON: Sure. We have seen in this campaign there's been hacking of the DNC's server. In the 2008 campaign, both McCain and Obama campaigns were hacked. And one of these officials were looking over potential resumes, they are looking over potential background information of people that could be put up to Senate confirmed for cabinet jobs.

So, this is clearly very sensitive information. Both campaigns have been warned by authorities for the possibility of hacking. But I think it's almost a reality of our lives now in Washington. Almost every government department, journalists have been hacked, sometimes perhaps from entities in Russia or China. So, it is something all campaigns will have to be careful of.

And as I said, it's very, very sensitive information. You're having private information, financial information about officials, foreign governments that would love to get ahold of the information, not just for espionage, but to have an idea who is running U.S. and foreign economic policy in the years to come. So it is clearly something the two transition efforts are going to be careful about.

PAUL: All righty. Max Stier and Stephen Collinson, we appreciate both of you being here. Thank you for being here. STIER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, heads-up if you bought Samsung's hot new phone, apparently, it gets far too hot.

Rachel Crane is following this story for us -- Rachel.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRSPONDENT: Victor, cell phones melting, catching on fire. Samsung, the world's biggest selling smartphone maker, recalling 2.5 million phones. More on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:15] BLACKWELL: Hey, do you have the new Galaxy Note 7? If you do, pay attention.

It was revealed just a month ago, and already, Samsung is recalling millions of those new phones after reports are that the batteries can catch fire while charging, sometimes exploding. Embarrassing setback comes just a week before its rival apple unveils its new phone.

Our Rachel Crane is joining us with more. So an exploding phone, right? Anything you have to hold up to your face or anything that you leave on your night stand when you go to bed. This is serious. And it's going to cost them a lot.

CRANE: Yes, it certainly is going to cost them a lot. Samsung is not revealing exactly how much it will cost the company. But they are issuing this recall.

Samsung put out a statement yesterday saying, "We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market, but this is to ensure Samsung delivers the highest quality products to its customers. We are working closely with our partners to ensure the replacement experience is as convenient and efficient as possible. They now say next week in the U.S. viewers can go into Samsung to exchange the Galaxy Note 7 for another model. They also issue a refund as well as a $25 credit.

Certainly, we hope the users backed up their information to the cloud. As you see, the phones are just exploding, melting, catching on fire. There have been 35 cases out of the 2.5 million models they have sold that have had the battery malfunction.

Now, the recalls are only happening in ten countries. The U.S. being one of them. In China, the phones are not being recalled because there was a different battery maker.

Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll watch that. Rachel Crane, thanks so much.

PAUL: A prestigious university with past ties to slavery now plans to give prior admission to 300 descendants of slaves.

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[09:51:57] BLACKWELL: Georgetown University plans to atone for past sins and what arguably could be called a tight of reparations for the university's dark history. The school now plans to give priority admissions to the descendants of nearly 300 slaves.

Georgetown exists in part today because the Jesuit priests who ran back in 1838 sold 272 slaves to keep the doors open. Well, now, nearly two centuries later, the school has come up with a way to try to atone.

Joining me now is Georgetown University professor, Dr. Marcia Chatelain. She was part of the working group that came up with this plan for Georgetown and the ties to slavery.

Dr. Chatelain, good morning to you.

MARCIA CHATELAIN, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start here, because there are many institutions I think most people know across the country that have -- that profited and benefited from slavery and the sale of those slaves and work of those slaves. Georgetown made this move. Why and why now?

CHATELAIN: Well, I think it's important to note that although for many of us this is common knowledge, I think there's a sector of this population that wants to believe that slavery never happened. So, I think the reason we are entering this conversation now is that we understand that we are really especially prepared to enter a national dialogue about slavery, but also, I think this is part of a larger national landscape of questions about race and equity and justice. And so, I think this is one of the many things we do as a university.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, I want you to listen to one of the descendants of those slaves and then we'll talk about that on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAXINE CRUMP, DESCENDANT OF SLAVE SOLD TO SAVE GEORGETOWN IN 1838: I don't know that we can say, oh, this is enough. 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 chattel, and they're stepping up and admitting that was wrong, and that they are researching it to see how it all played out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, you hear that there, and the question that is, what in addition to this priority status is part of this plan?

CHATELAIN: In addition to the legacy status, we have recommended the intensive study about this history, making history more accessible to a larger public, understanding our role as a university in repairing some of the pervasive legacies of racism, including continued segregation, educational inequality, gentrification and health disparities. So, this is absolutely a beginning. And it's an invitation for the

public to come closer, not only to Georgetown's history, but to the nation's desire and need to reconcile its dark and shameful past.

BLACKWELL: So, Ta-Nehisi Coates who is a journalist with "The Atlantic", wrote a fabulous book of "Between the World and Me", if you haven't read it, pick it up. But he tweeted this about this news and let's put it up on the screen. "Folks may not like the word reparations, but it's what Georgetown did. Scope is debatable, but it's reparations."

[09:55:01] I used the word at the top of this in the intro. Would you call what Georgetown is doing reparations?

CHATELAIN: I think it's a reparation's framework. I think that reparation is an issue that has been discussed for over a century. And so, I think what Georgetown is doing is trying to imagine a restoration process and a reconciliation process. And I think reparations is appropriate, but I want us to understand that reparations is a mechanism in which we can address a number of issues.

BLACKWELL: OK. All right. Dr. Marcia Chatelain, thank you so much for being with us this morning and we will, of course, continue this conversation as this plan continues to grow. Thanks so much.

CHATELAIN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Christi?

PAUL: All righty. As tropical storm builds strength off the east coast could become a hurricane again. A powerful earthquake strikes right in the center of the country, people in at least seven states have been feeling it this morning. We'll have details coming up.

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JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: They were extremely careless in their handling of highly classified sensitive information.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): The documents provide insight FBI did not recommend charging Clinton even after investigators found classified information on her private server.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I would certainly not do that again. It was the wrong choice.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think we're the only hope. Hillary Clinton has no clue and doesn't care.

PAUL: Donald Trump in Detroit this morning at an African-American church trying to make inroads with minority voters.