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Hillary Clinton Diagnosed with Pneumonia; Remembering the Fallen Heroes on 9/11 15-Year Anniversary; Lost and Found, Flag Hoisted at Ground Zero Returns to Site; Man Versus Horse: The World's Strangest Marathon; California Trip Uncertain as Hillary Clinton Recovers From Pneumonia. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 11, 2016 - 18:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The campaign, I should note, is not saying that. They're simply saying that she overheated and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

"Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies.

[18:00:02] On Friday, during that follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia." This is all from her doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack. "She was then put on antibiotics and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated."

The doctor goes on to say, "I have just examined her. She is now rehydrated and recovering nicely."

That is the totality of the statement that we received from her doctor after she examined Clinton at her home in Chappaqua, New York.

We have full team coverage of all of this. After Clinton left that ceremony, she went to her daughter Chelsea Clinton's apartment in New York and then went home with where she was, as we know, examined by her doctor.

Let me bring in our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us. M.J. Lee is also outside the apartment of Chelsea Clinton where Hillary Clinton went, and Jeff Zeleny, CNN's Jeff Zeleny is on the phone with us from Washington with additional reporting.

Sanjay, let me just get your reaction to the news that not only Secretary Clinton has pneumonia, but this diagnosis came on Friday and we did not learn about it, the public didn't learn about until just now.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, that was a bit surprising, especially given there was a statement made after she had this episode where she had difficulty getting into the van. No mention of the pneumonia at that time, rather just saying she felt overheated, attributing the symptoms to that.

Also, you know, the diagnosis of pneumonia typically involves, besides doctors' visits, typically involves blood work, it may involve a chest x-rays, things like that. These are typically things that are done inside a clinic or a hospital or something like that.

And, you know, it's a diagnosis that can be treated. She's on antibiotics, which means a bacterial pneumonia. But it's a serious diagnosis. The doctor recommended rest, recommended, you know, obviously staying well-hydrated because there is a real concern about dehydration. You've got the fever. The bacterial infection itself can cause the dehydration.

So, it makes sense to fit this stuff together, but it still feels like there is a beat missing here. We got information late and it still seems incomplete.

HARLOW: M.J. Lee, to you. You were with Secretary Clinton on Friday. You were at the press conference that she held. You know she had a very, very busy schedule on Friday. Are you hearing anything else from the campaign at this time? I mean, the last statement I believe we received from the campaign was hours ago from Nick Merrill who said she overheated. Now, the doctor saying the pneumonia diagnosis.

Anything else official from the camp?

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: No word yet from the campaign after this doctor's note was released. We do not know if Clinton will continue with her California trip tomorrow. She was set to fly out to San Francisco and then go to L.A. She had multiple fundraisers and events planned for this week, a big West Coast swing.

And I think the other question that the campaign potentially needs to address and certainly will be asked about a lot is why the campaign didn't disclose on Friday, which is when the doctor says Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia, why the campaign didn't make this public on that day. I think today, learning that she was overheated, dehydrated, that sort of seems to explain why she seemed to stumble. Some law enforcement officials said she appeared to even faint as she was getting into the van.

But I think the question about why the pneumonia diagnosis came on Friday, but she didn't actually disclose that information to the public until today, I think that's a question that the campaign will have to answer or will certainly be asked.

HARLOW: And, Jeff Zeleny, to you, because you have been talking to a senior adviser to the Clinton camp that says her California trip scheduled for tomorrow, she's supposed to be on the West Coast through Wednesday is now up in the air. They are making a, quote, "serious evaluation" of her schedule going forward.

But you noted, Jeff, that we know less, you said to me just a few moments ago, about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in terms of their health. We have a number of other presidential candidates known about them in the past. How so?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Poppy, it's really striking, Hillary Clinton 68 years old, Donald Trump a year older than that. Hillary just turned 69 in a month's time. They're the oldest candidates and whoever is sworn into office will, in fact, be the oldest president, in the range of Ronald Reagan but slightly older, I believe, if my math is correct.

And we know less about their health records than recent presidential nominees. Not in time. Of course, there have been presidents who have kept their health officials secretive over the years as we know from history, FDR and others. But in recent presidential campaigns, from John McCain to George W. Bush to Barack Obama to Mitt Romney to George H.W. Bush and others, Dukakis and others, they have released full medical records. In this case, that isn't the case.

Hillary Clinton has been more forthcoming than Donald Trump.

[18:05:02] Donald Trump, as we often talked about, has released a letter from his doctor that was viewed with suspicion by many in medical circles worker who said he would be the most, you know, the healthiest president of all time, but Hillary Clinton has only released a statement from her doctor, has not released medical records. We do know that she, of course, was treated for that blood clot at the end of her term as secretary of state in her term, 2013, and we have not received medical records that have allowed professionals like Dr. Sanjay Gupta and others to look through them.

Even John McCain back in 2008, he did not release them but he allowed reporters like Dr. Gupta and others to come into a room in Arizona to inspect the records for a period of hours. That has not happened in this case.

So, again, American voters know less about the health and vitality of either nominee at this point, and they're the oldest nominees of any other point in our history. It is something to take note of on both sides here, that we simply have been given less information. In an era when transparency is called upon, we have very little of that here, and not knowing that she was diagnosed Friday with pneumonia. Only finding that out now I think certainly was gong to raise some questions, but will have to be answered in the coming days.

HARLOW: Sanjay, back to you. I mean, you said to me last hour, look, that it's a good idea for both candidates to release their medical records, to just to be fully transparent with the public. But you also noted something important, and that is that both these candidates have been examined by their personal doctors, not an independent board of physicians.

GUPTA: Well, look, you know, it's a point that's come up in the past as well, not just with these two candidates. Mr. Brinkley brought this point up as well. The fact there is a friendship still within these personal doctors and these candidates. Clearly, with Dr. Trump' doctor's letter, talking about him being the healthiest president ever, it was just in glowing terms. It wasn't an objective letter.

I think, you know, the public deserves objective letters on both sides, as to the sort of editorial thing that might come from someone who has a sort of friendship sort of connection. So the idea of someone having a board of doctors or allowing medical records to be seen even by a group of reporters, I think, is important. Of course, you know, I think doctors and journalists are similar in this way, Poppy, you always want to get more information, certainly. I think with regard this with more situations happening right now,

having a diagnosis on a Friday and just hearing about it on Sunday after an episode, the sort of feel is that you may not have heard about this, had it not been sort of forced upon. We never heard about the diagnosis and pneumonia.

And I think that sort of information is important to know. It's a treatable diagnosis, eminently treatable. She's being treated for it. But it's also a serious diagnosis That's the sort of thing a lot of people would want to know.

HARLOW: Absolutely, Sanjay -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. Stay with me. A lot more ahead on this.

Also, M.J. Lee reporting for us here in New York. And Jeff Zeleny working his sources on this as well.

Stay with us, we have a lot more ahead.

Also, we're going to talk about look, this is political. We are 58 days away from the election, so how could an issue with Clinton's health -- we now know she's been diagnosed with pneumonia -- how could that affect her in terms of the optics of all of this.

Let's talk about it with Josh King. Josh King is with me. He's the founder of the Polioptics and the author of "Off Script: An Advance Man's Guide to White House Stagecraft, Campaign Spectacle and Political Suicide."

Josh, when you look at this, this comes in an important context, and the context is that Donald Trump and a number of his surrogates and supporters have been question Hillary Clinton's health for a long time and she said she's off the campaign trail, napping, where is she, where is the energy, they point to a coughing episode, if you will. Look, the facts are the facts. What we know is she overheated and we know from her doctor she has pneumonia.

But if she doesn't get on that plane tomorrow to California, what are the optics for her and her campaign?

JOSH KING, FOUNDER, POLIOPTICS: Well, Poppy, a presidential campaign in the last 18 months is the most grueling marathon imaginable. And, Americans, this is what you've got with two candidates 70 and 68 years old.

HARLOW: Right.

KING: We haven't seen this since 1981 when President Reagan took office. President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, these are people in their late 40s, early 50 years old, much more vigorous and ready to go for this 18-month marathon.

These candidates are going to have health issues as they go through the final 58 days of the campaign and for the next four years. This is what we have when we have 70-year-old people who are in the office of the presidency. So, for Secretary Clinton now to take a few days off, if that's what she has to do, it's not beneficial to her.

[18:10:07] But you can imagine that by the end of the week, she'll back at maintaining the same vigorous schedule she's had for the last 15 or so months. We'll see if she gets on that plane or not.

But, you know, if you look back at President Carter stumbling outside of Camp David, President Reagan barely getting over the threshold of George Washington University Hospital after she was shot in the lung, President Bush vomiting in the lap of Prime Minister Miyazawa in Japan, President Clinton stumbling on the steps of Greg Norman's house and having a late-night run to the hospital. These things happen to candidates.

And, you know, does it take a new campaign 90 minutes to get to figure out what they're going to say, what they're going to share with media? You know, that's what they -- they need to figure out this rhythm and get this faster to people who are following the campaign this closely.

HARLOW: At the same time, what do you make of the silence? I mean, we haven't heard anything from Donald Trump who's been -- you know, his surrogates are certainly been outspoken on Hillary Clinton's health, and he's talked about her being off the campaign trail. He says she hasn't been.

What do you make of the notable silence?

KING: Well, I mean, you know, as Dr. Gupta said, a 68-year-old person standing in the middle of a ceremony in Lower Manhattan in a full pant suit can overheat. You can have a touch of pneumonia and not feel well, and then you can move on the next day and continue with your schedule.

I think we can be quick to judge the severity of this and basically come Monday, Tuesday, we can be back with our normal schedule.

HARLOW: Yes, I was out this morning. It was very hot, very humid and very uncomfortable. Look, we've learned a lot in the last hour. Thank you so much for joining us, Josh King, with the optics of it all. We appreciate it.

We have much more of this breaking news ahead.

Also, marking the anniversary 15 years later once this country was attacked on 9/11. Much more on that as well. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:20] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HARLOW: All right. We're back with our breaking news.

Hillary Clinton, we just learned in the last hour, diagnosed with pneumonia by her doctor, her doctor releasing that statement after Hillary Clinton left a 9/11 commemoration ceremony early this hour after her campaign said that she overheated. Let's talk about some of the political consequences here. With me now, Clinton supporter, A. Scott Bolden, former chairman of

the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party. And Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord, former Reagan White House political director.

Guys, thank you for being here with me.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello, Poppy.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: You're welcome. Let's stick with the facts. What we know she overheated and what we know from her doctor, she was dehydrated, she has pneumonia. That is all we know and we know they are evaluating her planned trip to California tomorrow.

Just for you as a Clinton adviser, Scott, you're taking this 58 days out from the election.

BOLDEN: Well, I think she needs her strength. I think she needs to recover from the pneumonia, and I got to tell you, having advised several campaigns, having been a candidate myself, it is hard to pull a candidate off the trail. This is for the biggest political prize in the world right here and so, most candidates don't want to shut down, but ultimately have to because your health is first.

I don't think it is going to have a negative impact because it's a very treatable circumstance for her.

HARLOW: Right.

BOLDEN: If she gets her rest for three to five days, she can be back up bigger and brighter and stronger.

Now, many of us who are type A personalities, all of us know this, get the antibiotics and we try to power through, if you will. The problem is rest and the antibiotics usually treat what is the cold flu or even pneumonia for that matter. And so, we've got to see what the campaign decides.

But she's a type A, she's a very hard driver, and this is a very important race and a very tight race.

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord, look, the context this comes in is a context in which some Trump supporters and surrogates have been hammering at this. They have been questioning Hillary Clinton's health. A lot of those questions have been completely unfounded in any medical, you know, facts about her, but now there is this video and she does have a pneumonia, and the campaign knew about it on Friday and the public wasn't told about it until today.

Notable silence from Donald Trump today on this.

How do you think you're candidate can best handle this?

LORD: I think being quiet, this is 9/11.

HARLOW: Right.

LORD: This is a pretty somber day by coincidence and I think that is very smart thing. I mean, there was a tragedy for the nation, and let's respect that.

Number two, I have no idea about her health. I mean, I'm listening along with you to all of this and I'm astonished.

But politically speaking, two things. Number one, transparency is all in these situations. And in my opinion, the Clinton team has just stumbled big time on this. I mean, we're sitting here having really no idea still what happened and I think that's a big issue.

Number two, just as a political fact of life, interestingly, Poppy, in August of 1960, in a close race between JFK and Richard Nixon, Richard Nixon hit his knee on a car door while he was campaigning. He wound up as on the 30th of August spending two weeks in a hospital, in Bethesda Naval Hospital for a knee infection. It altered his appearance. He didn't do well.

On September 26 was the first Kennedy/Nixon debate, and that didn't go well for Richard Nixon.

By coincidence, September 26 is the beginning, is the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And I can only say that when you got a candidate off the trail for as long as Nixon was, or at anytime when you're at this point in a race, that's crucial. The timing is really crucial here, because obviously Donald Trump is going to keep going along here. And if she has to stop, that's a problem.

BOLDEN: Poppy --

BOLDEN: To both of you very quickly, I like to know from you, Scott, first, and you, Jeffrey, you know, Jeff Zeleny just reported that we know less about these two candidates, who are by the way the oldest candidates for the presidency together than we do health-wise, than we have in many past elections.

He noted we knew more about John McCain's health. He didn't release his health records, but he allowed independent, you know, physicians, reporters to look at them and then report to the public.

Scott, should Hillary Clinton her health records?

And, Jeffrey, should Trump do the same?

BOLDEN: Well, she certainly has released a detailed medical letter. And continues --

HARLOW: But it's from a year ago. It's from a year ago.

BOLDEN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Should she put her medical records out there?

BOLDEN: Well, I think being transparent is super important, and if that's what Donald Trump will do.

[18:20:00] And if that's what the Hillary Clinton campaign wants to do, then they should do it. I think it's a fair issue, though. But I'm not sure that pneumonia or cold or flu would even be in her medical records, nor does it tie into a long-term medical condition that they're having putting on the internet.

But I think more transparency would serve both of them. But, you know, we're in a competitive race. So, we'll see.

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord, to you, do you want to see Donald Trump, 70 years old, to release --

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: I think Donald Trump -- if I'm not mistaken, Poppy, I think he said that he'd be happy to do it. I just --

HARLOW: When did he say that? I think, you know, he's been talking about, well, if she releases hers, I'll release mine.

LORD: Well, there you go. There you go. I mean --

BOLDEN: Yes, but is that credible?

HARLOW: But why should it be that -- I mean, should it be that either way, Jeffrey, really? I mean, should the American people deserve transparency?

LORD: Well, Poppy, you know, in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. The American people are seeing Donald Trump out there in that trail every day for long hours. And we're getting this video today from Hillary Clinton and it's not the first. That's the real problem here.

HARLOW: Jeffrey, just to the key question, though. You're a big Trump supporter. Would you like -- do you think it would be good for the American public to see his health record?

LORD: Sure. I mean, that's his decision. You know, what can I tell you?

BOLDEN: Poppy, we'd like to have a more detailed medical letter. We can start with that, quite frankly, because his medical letter tells us nothing about his health. So, he can start with that.

HARLOW: We do have a little bit more information about Hillary Clinton's health. That is true. The letter from her doctor longer and more detailed.

Guys, stay with me. There's a lot more to talk about outside of this. We're going to talk about some really tight polls both nationally and in some key swing states in this race, what it means 58 days out, the real fight in those swing states. We look at those numbers and ask, what happened to the big lead Hillary Clinton had after the convention? All of that straight ahead. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:42] HARLOW: Well, the presidential race is getting extremely tight. The very latest polls show Donald Trump gaining on Hillary Clinton in several crucial swing states.

An NBC/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll shows Trump up by two percentage points in Arizona, and Georgia, up one point in Nevada.

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Trump up four points in Ohio. The race in Florida, dead heat. They're tied there. It shows Clinton up by four points in North Carolina and five points in Pennsylvania.

Let's bring back, my guests, Clinton supporter, A. Scott Bolden, former chairman of the Washington D.C. Democratic Party, and Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord, former Reagan White House political director.

Thank you, guys, for being here very much.

Scott, look, after the DNC, your candidate, Hillary Clinton, after the convention had a very strong lead. Not only did she have a 10-point lead nationally, she had like a nine-point lead in Pennsylvania, leading in Florida, leading in North Carolina, ahead in Georgia. Now, it seems the tables have really, really turned. What do you attribute it to?

BOLDEN: Well, I think every post-election bounce, some say post- convention bounce, tights are tightening up. I think both sides know this is going to tighten up and we can only rely on these polls for a certain amount of time. They're only as good as you take them on a week-by-week basis. The real test, though, is that the debates are coming up, which will be really crucial and people are paying attention to these races after September.

And secondly, many -- the Electoral College. She -- my client -- my client -- Hillary Clinton has five to six ways to get to 270, and Donald Trump has only one or two ways to get to 270, and that's where the real fight is going to be for both sides. That's all that really matters.

HARLOW: I mean, what do you make of that? I mean, look, the electoral map is more challenging for Donald Trump right now. When you look at paths to 270, there is the blue wall, if you will, the 18 states Democrats have won the last six elections.

So, Jeffrey Lord, to you -- these polls are encourage to go your candidate but it's not a big lead that he has.

LORD: No, but I do think that you're going to change. To be perfectly candid, Poppy, things are happening at such a rapid clip out there that the polls take a while to catch up. Just within the last 24 hours, we've had this whole "basket of deplorables" comment from Hillary Clinton that I think is going to affect polls eventually, not to mention what we've been talking about listening to this afternoon with her health situation. So, I'll take these polls as they are. Right now they seem pretty

reasonable to me. I expected that we would begin to see this once we got past the convention bounces. That's where we are, and boy, buckle in.

BOLDEN: Hey, Poppy, one other thing, if I may.

HARLOW: Yes?

BOLDEN: One other thing, if you look at those states that you put up, one of the significant things to look at for your viewers is that a lot of those states are red states that Hillary Clinton is competing with because suburban educated white voters are uncomfortable with Trump and his list, his deplorables, if you will.

HARLOW: We're talking about Georgia, we're talking --

BOLDEN: Arizona.

HARLOW: -- about Arizona.

But, Scott, I want your take on this, because President Obama in the latest polling has 58 percent approval rating. That's high. His number, his approval matters a lot for Hillary Clinton. Not only that, our latest CNN poll on Friday showed that Americans think the economy is the best it's been in nine years. Those are two things that arguably should be helping Clinton more than they seemingly are, Scott.

BOLDEN: When President Clinton and President Obama begin campaigning strong, I know we've got 58 days to go, and we're going to see, I hope that difference to be made in this campaigning.

But that being said, each candidate stands on his own. We know we have baked-in to the numbers honesty and trustworthy issues, what Hillary Clinton has got to continue to do is hammer away at the difference between her and Donald Trump and the support he has of bigotry and white nationalists, to separate him from that other group who believe they've been left behind in the economy, who are uncomfortable with that element of Trump's campaign. And that group who feels like they're left behind are the ones you send the message to about the economy and to give Hillary Clinton a chance, because they're a great target and they're uncomfortable enough not to vote for Donald Trump because of that element.

[18:30:00] HARLOW: Larry? I'm sorry. I'm very --

LORD: Yes. It's Jeffrey.

HARLOW: I'm very sorry, Jeffrey. I'm very sorry, Jeffrey.

LORD: That's OK.

HARLOW: Jeffrey.

LORD: One of those days. HARLOW: Awkward silence.

LORD: Exactly. I thought he left.

BOLDEN: He thought you were talking to somebody else.

LORD: Poppy, look. Number one --

HARLOW: Jeffrey, go ahead, your response to what Scott said?

LORD: Yes. Number one, Donald Trump is doing very well in these battleground Democratic states. And he's doing well here in Pennsylvania and he's doing well in Florida and Ohio and some of these states that the Democrats think that they're going to be able to take and walk off with. This is going to be a very hard fight down the road here.

And I must say, in terms of that comment there, that basket of deplorables, I mean, what she's saying in essence is that Donald Trump supporters are racists and bigots, et cetera. I'm just --

BOLDEN: Not all of them, though. Not all of them.

LORD: I would just say, well, she's had to retract. The point is, you know, Poppy, this has been going around. This was one of the things that fueled Ronald Reagan's success and fueled, going back further, Richard Nixon's success in 1968 and '72. Because you had a sign from a party, a Democratic party, that has a problem with systemic racism, it sort of overlaid with a thick veneer of elitism.

I don't doubt that Hillary Clinton believed exactly what she said when she said this. I mean, I think that is standard Democratic dogma and has been for two or three decades since the end of the Vietnam War, since the Vietnam War era. So I think it was a Freudian slip.

HARLOW: Let --

LORD: It's out there and I think she'll pay a price for it.

HARLOW: Let me ask you something. Let me ask you something. I'm going to ask the Control Room to pull this up if we have it. David Duke, the grand wizard of the KKK, tweeted something today. And he tweeted basically what looks like a movie poster, and it says "The Deplorables" across it.

And the questions becomes, Jeffrey Lord, as a Trump supporter, that is not good for Donald Trump, to have any support from --

LORD: Donald Trump --

HARLOW: -- you know, a grand wizard from KKK --

LORD: Donald Trump didn't ask David Duke --

HARLOW: Right. But here's what I'm saying, how does he --

LORD: Donald Trump didn't ask --

HARLOW: I hear you, I hear you. How does he separate himself from --

LORD: Back in 1994 or '96, whatever it was --

HARLOW: OK. He failed to do it immediately, though, when he was asked by Jake Tapper about him --

LORD: I'm very sorry he's done it but he did it --

HARLOW: All right. So here --

LORD: Well, Poppy --

HARLOW: Here it is. How does he separate himself from things like this when you have David Duke tweeting that?

LORD: Sure. Very easy, Poppy. We're the party of Lincoln. The Democrats were the party of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan would not exist had it not been created to be the military arm of the Democratic party as historians in the Columbia University and the University of North Carolina and others have cited. This is the problem. Those were progressives under those woods. They ran the 1934 Democratic Convention --

HARLOW: OK. I'm talking about --

LORD: -- lauded Woodrow Wilson --

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord --

LORD: Yes, yes.

HARLOW: -- I'm talking about today and I'm talking about clearly getting support from the KKK --

LORD: Well, in --

BOLDEN: Exactly.

HARLOW: -- grand wizard, David Duke.

LORD: Poppy --

HARLOW: How does Donald Trump effectively separate himself from that? Does it concern you to see that?

LORD: Poppy, David Duke was a big supporter of Occupy Wall Street and so was president Obama, so was Nancy Pelosi, so, I believe, was Hillary Clinton. I don't -- I haven't heard their need to apologize for it, for sharing those views with him. I mean, he's the head of the Klan or was the head of the Klan. He's a racist, an anti-Semite. This is the party of Lincoln. This is Donald Trump. Sorry, we're not going there and never have.

HARLOW: And, Scott, let me ask this you. Let me follow up on this. So if so much of, you know, what Trump says or how he campaigns or things are, quote unquote, shocking to many people or, you know, to the Clinton campaign, considered so wrong and how could he say that, how do you think he's managed to get this race so incredibly tight once again?

BOLDEN: That is the question of the century. I must tell you, it is an incredible, political year. I think both candidates have their challenges, and I also think that this electorate is just really angry. And the Republican Party is Trump's party. And Trump has attacked Mexicans. He has attacked Muslims. He's attacked a Mexican judge. He's attacked the President on the birther issue. He has attacked the Five Star, the Khan family.

And yet, still, this electorate, a portion of them -- because Trump can't get out of the 40s, if you will -- is largely undecided at this point because of who these candidates are. And that large undecided is going to be very uncomfortable going to Donald Trump given his record in connection to this campaign and --

HARLOW: One interesting --

BOLDEN: -- and with minorities and women that he needs to win. Battleground states or red states, he needs them to win. And he's not going to get them.

HARLOW: One interesting thing in these polls, though, is that we did see in some of the states, Gary Johnson had, you know, pretty significant numbers in the double digits. We'll see if that changes after the Aleppo --

LORD: Poppy, this is a people election because that explains a lot.

HARLOW: -- issue this week.

BOLDEN: Sure.

HARLOW: And we'll see where those votes go if he does lose them. Guys, thank you very much. Scott Bolden, Jeffrey Lord, we appreciate it.

BOLDEN: Thanks, Poppy.

[18:05:00] HARLOW: Today, obviously a very somber day for this country, 15 years since this nation was attacked on September 11th. Horrible memories. Horrible, horrible memories. One man remembers all too well the loss of more than 300 of his firefighters who died that day being absolute heroes. The former Commissioner of the New York Fire Department will be with me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Imagine for a moment being the chief of New York's Fire Department on September 11th, 15 years ago today. It is impossible to imagine the full magnitude of it unless you lived through that hell and lost hundreds of your colleagues. In all, in the attacks of September 11th, more than 340 of Thomas Von Essen's firefighters were killed. They're absolute heroes. He is the former Commissioner of the FDNY and he joins me now.

Thank you so much for joining us, today of all days.

THOMAS VON ESSEN, FORMER COMMISSIONER, NYC FIRE DEPARTMENT: Thank you.

HARLOW: It's staggering for me to think that it was 15 years ago. I had just moved to New York days before, and, you know, it feels like yesterday. For you waking up this morning, what was in your mind?

VON ESSSEN: It's been a little rougher this year than some of the past years. I guess the 15-year anniversary brought a lot more attention to it, and, you know, you -- the more the media gets involved, the more you feel it, the more of the pain comes up, you know. So it's -- when I heard the 15 years mentioned every time at the ceremony today, it just kind of like rings your bells a little bit because it's hard to believe that it's been so long, and it seems so short sometimes.

[18:10:09] HARLOW: You were there this morning. What was it like?

VON ESSEN: It was tough. You know, you look around and you see the families. And people get up there and you'll hear a name, you hear Bill Feehan, you hear Terry, you know, name after name after name for me. I was in the Department over 30 years, so I knew so many people. I was close to so many people that it just makes it harder. Not as hard as the families who lost their loved ones, but I would put myself on that next tier, you know.

HARLOW: Well, you lost people you love. You lost your colleagues. You've said, to be very candid, that you have much less faith now.

VON ESSEN: Yes, I do, I think. You know, I hear people say a prayer, that this is going to happen and they're going to do well on a test or that they're sorry for this and that, and I don't buy it anymore. I don't think if there was any real involvement by a greater being that he would -- you know, these things would happen, so I think that we're kind of on our own, and we have to do the best we can, try to do what's right and take care of ourselves.

HARLOW: And take care of each other just like your firefighters did and you did that day. You have said that September 11th completely changed your definition of what a hero is.

VON ESSEN: Oh, yes. When you think of people like these guys running into a building after the second plane, especially, hit and after the chiefs who knew early on that this was going to be an extremely difficult operation because there was no way they could put the fire out, so they were ordering these guys out of the building almost immediately after they got in there.

But so many of them stayed, listen -- heard maydays on floors above, which means you should evacuate, but stayed to help brother firefighters who were helping innocent unknown civilians to them, trying to make a -- trying to keep those folks alive because they really needed help. That's what a hero is, not somebody who hits a home run or catches a pass at a football game. These are professional people that get paid a lot of money and they go out and have fun.

My guys or our guys, the firefighters, police officers, military people that work so hard and takes such risks to keep us out of harm's way, these are the only people, in my opinion, that deserve the label hero.

HARLOW: Let's talk about one person in particular. I mean, you know, honoring all of those lives, nearly 3,000 lives lost that day, and all of the loved ones that they left behind, the loved ones to raise children that will never know their mother or father. Tell me about Tara Stackpole and why she means so much to you.

VON ESSEN: Oh, wow. Tara, you know, the worst part about Timmy Stackpole, her husband, was he had been burned, severely burned, acting as a hero at a fire on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn several years before that, went through enormous amounts of surgery and pain, had special boots made. He's the guy that so many of our people take advantage of disability pensions. He could have had it with no questions asked.

He came back, he was promoted, came back to service in July, went back to his fire house. I drove with him had otherwise first day. Phenomenal guy, a great family. And then we lost him on September 11th. He wasn't even working. He was at the medical office and ran over there and got suited up, took a couple of people with him and made sure that they had their proper equipment and we lost him that day. And she just carried on. She has a son that's on the Fire Department, now another son is in Annapolis, grandchildren.

HARLOW: Wow.

VON ESSEN: So she's just a great lady from a great family.

HARLOW: And as you said, one of her sons following in his father's footsteps, joining the Fire Department after him.

VON ESSEN: Like so many of the firefighters that died that day, so many. I could rattle off ten names of --

HARLOW: Yes.

VON ESSEN: -- of firefighters whose kids are now at FDNY.

HARLOW: Commissioner Von Essen, thank you so much for what you did that day and for being with us today as we all remember.

VON ESSEN: Thank you so much.

[18:14:47] HARLOW: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Fifteen years later, after this country was attacked on 9/11, this moment of New York City's finest, those firefighters raising an American flag at Ground Zero, still captures the feelings of America's resilience after the terror attacks that day. Today was the first 9/11 anniversary with that flag at its rightful

home. It disappeared shortly after the attacks, but it turned up years later and has made its way back to its site here in New York. Our Deborah Feyerick reports on this flags incredible journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On 9/11, in the burning ashes of the World Trade Center, three firefighters raised an American flag. It was 5:00 p.m. on a day that changed history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This picture became how we said patriotism post 9/11.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The iconic image embodied America's resilience. Featured in the 2013 CNN film "THE FLAG," it was unfurled at Yankee Stadium and traveled on board the U.S. aircraft carrier that launched the first airstrikes against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen so many grown men and women cry just by touching a piece of fabric. And, of course, it wasn't just a piece of fabric, was it?

[18:15:05] FEYERICK (voice-over): Except it wasn't the right flag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somewhere between 9/11 and the Yankee Stadium ceremony, the flag went missing.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The flag taken by three firefighters from the yacht in the marina near Ground Zero disappeared hours after the photo was taken. Its fate remained a mystery until now.

About 2,900 miles cross country in Everett, Washington, a stranger identifying himself as a former marine named Brian, turned over the flag to local firefighters.

MARK ST. CLAIR, DEPUTY CHIEF, EVERETT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Brian was purporting the flag to be the missing flag.

FEYERICK (voice-over): And so began a two-year process to confirm the flag was authentic and get it back home to the original owner.

There was a level of secrecy as to what you potentially had. Why?

ST. CLAIR: I was concerned that there was the potential that a lone terrorist, if they believe there was an American icon in a city of 110,000 people, they may want to either try to steal it or destroy it.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Lead detectives Jim Massingale and Mike Atwood created a sketch of Brian, hoping to ask him more questions. All they knew was that he was allegedly given the flag on Veterans Day on 2007 by a man who had received it from a 9/11 firefighter's widow.

Did you ever generate any satisfying leads?

JIM MASSINGALE, DETECTIVE, EVERETT WASHINGTON POLICE: No, we did not. FEYERICK (voice-over): The break came with forensic scientist William

Schneck who painstakingly analyzed photos, fibers and thousands of particles comparing them to original Ground Zero dusts.

WILLIAM SCHNECK, FORENSIC SCIENTIST, WASHINGTON STATE PATROL CRIME LABORATORY: The key things would be the composition of the building materials themselves, the concrete, the glass fibers, mineral wall, gypsum, all those were critical.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Critical and ultimately conclusive. As detectives prepared it for the journey home, they asked a retired NYPD officer to make the final fold.

MIKE ATWOOD, DETECTIVE, EVERETT WASHINGTON POLICE: He actually grabbed onto that flag, held it up to his face and smelled it and turned and looked at me and said that's the smell that I remember from that day.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The flag, back where it began, 15 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Pretty amazing. Deborah Feyerick reporting. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:26:37] HARLOW: Welcome back. A man who once battled a serious eating disorder decided to take on the challenge of a lifetime racing against horses and their riders.

Tom Fairbrother took part in a very unusual and grueling completion in Wales. His remarkable story is in this edition of "FIT NATION."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man versus horse. A huge completion in a tiny welsh town. Over 600 runners battle 22 miles of steep and slippery terrain trying to make it to the finish before 60 horses and their riders.

TOM FAIRBROTHER, MARKETING EXECUTIVE, PARKRUN: I would like to win. To tell your friends that you beat a horse is very cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But to get here, Tom Fairbrother faced a far more serious challenge, a battle with bulimia.

FAIRBROTHER: People just assume it's like these young girls who suffer. I think I wanted to show that a guy in his 20s who was quite athletic was equally at risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he started a campaign to raise money and awareness by running 10 marathons in less than a year. He has one to go, man versus horse.

FAIRBROTHER: The first horse that came past, I've never seen or heard anything like it. You could feel the ground and kind of hear it coming. It just seemed like a fitting way to end something that's been like a great journey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finishing third runner today, Tom Fairbrother.

FAIRBROTHER: I'm really proud. Doing this is hopefully showing people that you can recover and be stronger than you were before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. Stay with me. Much more in our breaking news straight ahead. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:28] HARLOW: We begin this hour with an update on Hillary Clinton's health. Her doctor says Clinton has pneumonia and her upcoming trip to California is now in the air. That, coming to us from a senior campaign adviser. Clinton, this morning, leaving a 9/11 remembrance ceremony in New York early this morning.

Her doctor writing in a statement, quote, Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during a follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her. She's now rehydrated and recovering nicely.

After leaving that 9/11 ceremony this morning, she went to her daughter Chelsea's apartment in New York. Her team said she played with her grandchildren there, and you see her emerging from that apartment earlier today. She then headed up to her home in Chappaqua outside of New York City.

Let me begin this hour with our Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, what we know at this hour, not a lot of details. We know from her team she overheated this morning, and we know from her doctor now saying that she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

Interestingly, though, they didn't tell the public or the press about this pneumonia diagnosis. We've just found out about it now. What do you make of all it?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's, I think, exactly as you said.