Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tropical Storm Hermine Wreaks Havoc in U.S.; Philippines on Lockdown after Deadly Explosion; FBI Releases New Report on Clinton Interview; Uzbekistani President Islam Karimov Dead at 78; Third Election Looms in Spain as PM Loses Votes; Trump Tries To Court African-American Voters; Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 over Battery Fires. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired September 03, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:23] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tropical storm Hermine is not done causing trouble on the US. East Coast. We will have the latest from the weather center for you. All of the Philippines is on lockdown right down after a deadly blast, the president calls an act of terrorism. We will talk with the reporter there.

And Hillary Clinton's handling of her e-mails is grabbing attention yet again, what we now know about her interview with the FBI. It is all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for joining us. We're live in Atlanta. I'M Natalie Allen.

Tropical storm Hermine continues to march up the southeastern U.S. with damaging winds, heavy rain and flood waters in its wake. On Friday it ripped into Florida's big bend region as a category one storm. The first hurricane to come ashore into state since Wilma struck 11 years ago.

Hermine is expected to reach the Atlantic Coast in the coming hours, where it regain strength once it mixes with warm water. A flash flood watch is also in effect right now for parts of the Carolinas. Let's get the latest on the storm's track and its punch from Derek Van Dam for us. Hi, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Natalie, the storm couldn't be timed with the worst weekend in the United States. We've got Labor Day weekend, a very popular end of summer holiday in the United States. Winds at the moment sustained 50 miles an hour. The center of circulation with Hermine just north of the Wilmington, North Carolina region and that puts the bulk of the heaviest winds just off shore. But there are other threats that we have to contend with going forward. And I'm going to do my best to try and explain them to you.

What you're looking at here is what is called the cone of uncertainty. And it is just that. Because it is an incredibly complex storm system as it evolves over the next 48, 72 and 96 hours out. In fact, these are the different computer models that meteorologists referred to when forecasting the track of hurricanes and you can see how complex it gets as we head out into the next three to five days when it moves into the open ocean waters of the Atlantic. There is a blocking high to the north and that is going to prevent the storm from moving very quickly and it will stall out potentially re-intensifying and that could cause some serious trouble for the New England coastline.

More in that in just a second. Let's talk about the immediate threats. Storm surge. That is a concern. As it sits off the coast of Cape Hatteras at the moment, one to three foot coastal storm surge for that region. But as we head into Saturday, most specifically Sunday and Monday. Look at this, Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac, the Delaware Bay, two to four foot above normal high tide in that region.

That is why the National Hurricane Center has issued storm surge watches for that area. But again the more immediate future, Virginia Beach and the Norfolk region. That particular area has a storm surge warning which by the way is a new warning for the National Hurricane Center this particular season.

Here's the latest radar. We've got a very strong band of thunderstorms moving through the Cape Hatteras area. This is a very popular tourist destination for residents across this area. Potentially some tornadoes in that region, heavy rains certainly a threat as well. And you can see the flash flood watches that are in place across that area.

Let's talk about this storm as it moves into the open waters of the Atlantic. Water temperatures right now in the the 80s, mid 20s in terms of Celsius. That will give it the fuel necessary to intensify so people continue to start comparing this to what was Hurricane Sandy back in October of 2012.

The difference here though is that it's a much more compact storm going forward. Here's the look at the latest warnings. You could see tropical storm warnings. And watch as it extend into New York City. Natalie, something we're going to watch very closely.

ALLEN: Yes, that region, right, where everyone would love to be going this holiday weekend.

VAN DAM: yes, absolutely.

ALLEN: Well, all right. Derek, thanks.

VAN DAM: All right.

ALLEN: In other news now, Uzbekistan's first and up until now only president is dead. Islam Karimov led Uzbekistan for 27 years, 25 of them as president. State-run media announces 78-year-old died Friday. One of his daughters posted on social media last weekend that he was hospitalized for a stroke. Mr. Karimov became leader of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989. He continued to rule after the end of the Soviet Union despite a two-year term limit. Human Rights Watch calls his country's human rights record atrocious.

Spain's acting prime minister has failed again in his hopes of forming a government. The Spanish parliament remained stalemated, rejecting his second bid in three days to start a new minority government. If no bid is approved by the end of October, the presidents of the parliament will have to call new elections. It should be Spain's third elections in one year.

Turkey has used tear gas and water cannon on protesters near the Syrian boarder of Kobani. A Turkish Governor tells CNN it was an attempt to disperse dozen of protesters on Friday. Kobani is a largely Kurdish area. An official from the city said several people were injured and the situation remained tense.

According to a leader in Turkey's Pro-Kurdish HDP Party, demonstrators have protested Turkey's construction of a border wall this late August.

Thousands of refugees and other migrants are still trying to make that dangerous journey across the Mediterranean. One of those who made it is a young woman who's now a new mother. She gave birth prematurely to twins while aboard a flimsy-packed vessel off Libya's coast. Ben Wedeman has her story.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight days old and little Hiyap responds to his mother's touch. Born at sea with his brother Evenezer, the twins are doing well. Their mother, 26-year-old Merhawit Tesfamariam delivered a month premature on board a rickety boat off the Libyan coast. She and the twins were flown by helicopter to Palermo's Cervello Hospital.

After a long and treacherous journey from her native Eritrea across the Sahara Desert to Libya, fortune smiled down upon her when all seemed lost.

She was very lucky says Dr. Antonio Perino. It was a premature delivery of twins in a crowded boat in the Mediterranean. Any complication could have been grave, with the risk of death for both the mother and the twins.

Merhawit explained that she and her husband left Eritrea to Sudan to escape open-ended mandatory military service. She had served three years. But short of money, her husband stayed in Sudan and she paid human traffickers thousands of dollars to take her to Libya. There she stayed for five months in Tripoli, sleeping on the dirty floor in a warehouse, pregnant. She never saw a doctor the whole time she was there.

Traffickers loaded her and thousands of others on dozens of boats along the Libyan coast last week. On the second day at sea, she went into labor. Other women on the boat helped in the delivery.

What followed, she recounts, was hours of anguish and pain. Without food or water, she was terrified the babies wouldn't survive.

But now the ordeal is over. She and the twins are safe and sound. She hopes to eventually be reunited with her husband to settle in Britain or possibly the United States where she has relatives. Her life still fraught with so much uncertainty. Despite at all, she can savor moments of joy. Ben Wedeman, CNN Palermo.

ALLEN: A miracle at sea for sure there. The FBI is releasing its report on the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. Up ahead, hear what she said behind closed doors and Donald Trump's respond.

Also ahead, why new comment from a Donald Trump supporter generating a backlash on social media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

And welcome back. The U.S. says it will ask Beijing again about an American whom Chinese authorities say probably died in China 12 year ago. A new media report is repeating claims that David Sneddon was abducted while hiking in China. The report says and taken to North Korea to work as an English tutor for leader Kim Joon Un. That's according to Yahoo News Japan sighting a South Korean official. The U.S. State Department says they have no evidence to confirm their report. Earlier, his brother sent David a message on CNN that his family hasn't forgotten him.

JASON SNEDDON, DAVID'S BROTHER: I think that's what we worry about most. Does he has -- there's no communication for him like we believe in. And we just haven't forgotten and we're not going to stop until we at least know what happened. And we want you to come home.

ALLEN: The Sneddon family says sources have told them before that David is in North Korea. CNN reached out to the North Korean Embassy in Beijing but our calls were not answered.

Another chapter has opened in Hillary Clinton's e-mail saga. On Friday, the FBI released its notes from its interview with her. The U.S. Democratic presidential candidate is underfire for using a private e-mail server while Secretary of State. In the interview, Clinton reportedly told investigators 39 times she either didn't remember or didn't recall specific training on classified information.

The FBI and Clinton supporters say the notes don't provide a criminal smoking gun. Her critics say these are just more examples of Clinton being untruthful. Here's more now from CNN's Joe Johns. Wow.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORESPONDENT: The FBI's formerly classified report on its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server reveals there was a lot. She said she could not remember when being questioned by a agents. The report indicates 39 different times Mrs. Clinton said there were things she did not recall or remember according to the FBI's notes on her interview. The documents providing insight into why the FBI did not recommend charging Clinton.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information.

There is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly-classified information.

JOHNS: In her more than three-hour interview with the FBI, Clinton could not recall any briefing or training by state related to the handling of classified information. Clinton said she relied on her age to use their judgment when e-mailing her and could not recall anyone raising concerns about information sent to her private account. She also said she did not know that a C marking on a document meant,

it was classified. And even asked interviewing agents for clarification.

Some of the classified e-mails that caused the most trouble for Clinton discussed the CIA'S covert drone program which should never be discussed on any unclassified e-mail systems. The report says Clinton stated deliberation over a future drone strike did not give her cause for concern regarding classification.

But one of the things Mrs. Clinton seemed conclusive about was her motivation. She told the FBI she used her personal e-mail server for convenience and not to evade Freedom of Information laws.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch followed the FBI's recommend and passed on prosecuting Clinton, who eventually admitted using a private e-mail server was a mistake.

HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would certainly not do that again. That is something that at the time I, as even Director Comey said, seemed like a convenience but it was the wrong choice.

JOHNS: Donald Trump wasted no time seizing on the release saying, "Hillary Clinton's answers to the FBI about her private e-mail server defy belief. I was absolutely shocked to see that her answers to the FBI stood in direct contradiction to what she told the American people."

ALLEN: Joe Johns reporting there. Well, Trump is trying to court African-American voters. His latest outreach includes a trip to a black church in Detroit, Michigan. But the visit is already steeped in controversy. Here's Sara Murray.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Donald Trump is taking his tightly scripted approach to winning over minority voters to a round table in Philadelphia today. The GOP nominee is already facing criticism for his next campaign stop, an African-American church in Detroit. That's after the "New York Times" unearthed transcript of the pre-written reply that Trump's campaign hoped he deliver to pre- supplied questions in a Q and A with the pastor.

Now the pastor says he's tweaking his questions. And he expects Trump's visit will be a it more expansive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted to meet and talk to some people while he was here. That's what his visit is all about to make sure that he, while he's in town, talking to people because he's been criticized that he's been preaching to African-Americans from a backdrop of white people.

MURRAY: As for Trump, his pitch is staying the same, arguing minority voters have nothing left to lose.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have tremendous numbers of African-Americans that have really had a hard time. They live terribly. And I say, what do you have to lose? I say to them, what do you have to lose? Give it to me, I'm going to fix it.

MURRAY: But after the backlash from his hard-line immigration speech this week, a speech that cost him the support of some of his own advisers. Trump said his plan was misunderstood. Now he's saying his approach to dealing with millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. isn't set.

TRUMP: I want to see -- before we do anything further, I want to see how it shapes up when we have strong act, you know, I use the word, impenetrable boarders.

MURRAY: All of this, even as he admitted to "The Wall Street Journal" that his meeting with the Mexican President inspired him to toughen his immigration speech. Trump saying he added this line.

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

MURRAY: After the Mexican President revealed via Twitter that he told Trump he wouldn't pay for border walls. With the campaign entering its final spring, Trump is taking care of other task, receiving his second class of intelligence briefing in New York today and hiring a new deputy campaign manager. David Bossy, the president of conservative advocacy group, Citizens United.

ALLEN: Sara Murray reporting there. The president of the Philippines is calling a deadly explosion in his hometown an act of terrorism. He has placed the entire nation on lockdown. At least 14 people were killed and 71 wounded. The blast tore through a crowded night market in Davao City, Friday.

President Rodrigo Duterte was visiting the city at the time but wasn't hurt. The Presidential Spokesman says components of a suspected improvised explosive device were found at the scene. No group has claimed responsibility but the president said the explosion could be a reprisal by extremist. Ina Andolong is the senior correspondent with CNN Philippines, she joins us now from the city where this happened. What more are you learning, Ina?

INA ANDOLONG, CNN PHILIPPINES CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, Davao City is home to President Duterte. He served as mayor of this city for more than 20 years and he was quick to respond to the site. He arrived at the site of the blast which is right behind me just few hours after the explosion happened last night.

Right now, the death toll or the number of people killed from the explosion stands at 14, at least 67 others were injured. Police are still investigating the cause of the explosion. A doctor at a hospital here in Davao tells CNN Philippines some of those injured were or being treated for shrapnel wounds.

Now let me show you what's happening behind me. Investigators completed their post blast investigation earlier today. Right now, they're basically hosing off the pavement, getting the blood -- some of the blood stains from the victims last night out or hosing them off from the pavement. The president explained that -- or the President Duterte declared a State of Lawless Violence earlier today and he explained that this is not Martial Law. He explained the State of Lawless Violence means that the military and the police will increase their visibility and also intensify checkpoints all over the country.

Now this move aims to curb what he believes is lawlessness happening in the country not just with the explosion last night but he also says it is because of the killings unfairly attributed to the police.

As far as President Duterte is concerned, the explosion last night is an act of terrorism. No claim yet of responsibility but the president says this could be a retaliation to the ongoing military offensives against the Abu Sayyaf in the Province of Sulu or it also could be related to his war on illegal drugs. Natalie.

ALLEN: And Ina, there are no suspects at this point?

ANDOLONG: Yes. Well, authorities here, Natalie, are being very careful as to identifying suspects. They are looking at authority -- local officials here, however, have confirmed that they have gotten intelligence reports of threats here in Davao City.

However, they are also looking at a number of possible causes for the explosion. They're looking at a possible LPG tank that exploded. They're also looking at the possibility of some vendors from the night market apparently angry over the shutting down of the night market a while back. They say they could also be behind the explosion.

Of course, they're also not ruling out the possibility that terror groups are behind this especially the President himself said that they are well aware that threats have been issued by terror groups like the Abu Sayyaf previously and that this really is not an isolated case as far as he's concerned. Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes. As you say more than a dozen killed and dozens more wounded. We will wait and see what turns out as far as what was behind this. Thank you so much, Ina Andolong from our CNN Philippine's Bureau.

Samsung is recalling millions of phones worldwide. The company said some of their Galaxy Note 7 have caught fire while charging. CNN MONEY'S Business and technology correspondent Samuel Burke reports on what the company will now do for customers.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: The Galaxy Note 7 is actually Samsung's new flagship phone. They say they sold 2.5 million of them in just the past two weeks. The phone just released in August. What they say is going to happen now, over the next two weeks, they're going to work on a fix and then that recall will actually take place.

But they say people have purchased this phone and their concern in the meantime, they can go to a Samsung Service Center and replace them for a different model. There is never a good time for this to happen but it could not come at a worse time for Samsung. They are the world's largest smartphone maker with 25 percent of

market share but they really struggled with Chinese competitors over the past couple of years. And these phones have been really well reviewed. Some people calling them the best smartphones on the market. So they had clean their stock really go up. Actually 25 percent this year with a lot of the success and now that is of course in question.

Plus, Samsung is here at IFA, one of the largest tech shows in the world where they've announced new products and the attention has shifted from those to this problem that they have with the Note 7 though they're still displaying the new line of phones here.

Also, Apple next week is expected to launch the iPhone 7. So Samsung wanted to get all of the good PR that they could ahead of this and now they're getting all this bad publicity. Samuel Burke, CNN Berlin.

ALLEN: Well, in the skies over London pigs on the wing can only mean one thing. Just ahead, the next big production from British music legend, Pink Floyd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

The British band Pink Floyd made their name with pioneering musical techniques and its extravagant visual performances. Now its members are reuniting for an exhibition of their life's work. The retrospective opens next May at London's Victoria and Albert museum. CNN London correspondent Max Foster reports.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A 40-foot floating pig flying high above London's Victoria and Albert museum. A sight that's become the trademark of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd. Ever since they tethered one to London's Battersea Power Station back in the 1970s. Back then, the pig broke free, grounding all planes at Heathrow Airport.

Today, it stayed in place thankfully, drawing attention to a band's latest project, a retrospective exhibition covering their half a century of work.

NICK MASON, ENGLISH MUSICIAN: What would be nice would be to able to show or explain how we created some of the sounds or how we assembled some of the music or whatever.

FOSTER: Drummer Nick Mason thinks Pink Floyd's pioneering use of visual effects made them unique for their time.

MASON: That was the sort of beginning of something that we realized gave us a sort of niche, really. At the time when we weren't particularly brilliant band, we're just a band. But that added element. It meant something and it was a launch pad for the rest of it.

FOSTER: The show will include the iconic prism artwork that made the album 'Dark Side of the Moon' so recognizable. One of Pink Floyd's most famous pieces of imagery was 'The Wall' referenced in their famous song about rebellion and protest.

It's the theme Mason recognized his only two well in today's world.

MASON: It's relevant at every level, whether it's some crazed man in America trying to divide the country or whether it's personal between two people. So that's the great thing with music. It can be all things to all people.

FOSTER: The exhibition which opens to the public next summer will mark the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's first album 'The Piper and The Gates of Dawn'. Max Foster, CNN London.

ALLEN: The pig is back. Thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen. Our top stories are right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)