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At This Hour

Baltimore Asks for Federal Help to Rein in Unprecedented Violence; Wildfires Force Thousands to Evacuate in California; Donald Trump Declines Voters First Q&A Forum; MH370 Search Expands as U.S. Investigators Head to France; Obama Authorizing U.S. to Strike Assad Regime. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 03, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00] EDWARD NORRIS, FORMER BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: If they don't feel that and they feel unsupported, they're not going to be as aggressive. They all have families and have homes to protect. They don't want to be subject to unnecessary lawsuits and arrests and things like that. A lot of them feel they are being unfairly criticized in this city for policing a very, very dangerous American city. These are some of the most dangerous zip codes in the world. People forget that. These people risk their lives every day. And if they don't feel supported, no, they're not getting out of the car and they are making a choice.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's definitely the trust factor between the community and the police department, the police department and the community. That seems to absolutely be broken at this point.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Edward Norris, thanks so much.

NORRIS: Absolutely. It needs to be repaired. Anytime.

BERMAN: Coming up for us, families leaving everything behind as flames spread across California. The governor calls the state there a tinderbox. We'll take you live to the wildfire zone.

BOLDUAN: Just into CNN, a brand new poll showing Donald Trump is now leading his nearest rival by a 2:1 margin. He is pulling away. And he's also refusing to show up at tonight's Republican forum. We're going to talk to the moderator.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Happening now, wildfires forcing thousands of people from their homes in California. 21 fires raging throughout the state. The conditions so dry the governor calling it all a tinderbox.

BOLDUAN: It sure looks like it. More than 9,000 firefighters are there battling the flames. The governor issued a state of emergency over the weekend calling up the National Guard to help. Just look at these images.

Stephanie Elam is live just north of Sacramento.

You have been following it all. What are you seeing right now, Stephanie?

[11:35:06] STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kate and John. We are out here in the evacuation zone for the Rocky Fire. There are some 2700 firefighters out here battling this fire. And I want to show you a couple things. Right here, this area where I'm standing, you can see it's all burned through. This is a case of fighting fire with fire. What they're doing is back-burning here. They're burning this area out yesterday, and then the reason being is because on the other side of that ridge out there, that is where the fire is burning and it is coming this way. So they're hoping that by burning this out, there will be no more fuel for this fire, which is now 60,000 acres burned. And now I can tell you is 12 percent contained, which is good news. That means they're getting some handle on this fire and this back-burning is part 69 way they' they're doing it.

There are issues this with fire because the wind starts picking up, the humidity is low. There's been lightning strikes, and all this dry brush is just so easy to light up, and for those embers to spread. So that's what they're dealing with. On top of the fact that by the time the day really gets going, it's about 100 degrees out here. This is what the firefighters are dealing with.

And over 12,000 people are dealing with being evacuated out of this area for safety while they're trying to battle this fire. It's a different kind of fire because it spread so quickly overnight Saturday night going for some 20,000 acres to up to about 40,000, 47,000 acres overnight. That normally doesn't happen because of humidity levels, and that's what makes this fire dangerous and different than other fires that we normally see here in California -- Kate and John?

BOLDUAN: Folks sure just cannot get a break.

Stephanie, thank you very, very much. Stephanie Elam on it for us.

Coming up for us tonight, nearly every Republican presidential candidate will be in New Hampshire, but some big names are glaringly absent. Who is it? Coming up, a preview of the first forum before this week's big first debate. Lots of forums, lots of firsts. We'll be talking to the man who will be asking the big questions.

BERMAN: And a decision months in the making for the U.S. military. Now the president, in fact, now authorizing the possibility of airstrikes against the forces of Bashar al Assad. A key new chapter in the tragic morass that is Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:05] BOLDUAN: New Hampshire becomes the center of the political universe tonight. 14 Republican candidates for president will face-off at the voters' first forum. It's not a debate. That's later this week. But tonight's event is more of a question-and-answer session, and everyone was invited.

BERMAN: And everyone accepted, except three people won't be there. The front-runner, Donald Trump, declined. Mike Huckabee didn't respond. And Jim Gilmore, he missed the deadline.

(LAUGHTER)

Let's talk to the man who will moderate the two-hour event, Jack Heath. He's the host of "New Hampshire Today" on A.M. 610, WGIR, something of a New Hampshire player.

Mr. Heath, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

JACK HEATH, RADIO HOST, NEW HAMPSHIRE TODAY, A.M. 610, WGIR: Talking about my golf game, John? No, John and Kate, great to be with you.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I want to talk about someone who will not be there, Donald Trump. He wrote a letter to the publisher of the "Manchester Union Leader" explaining why he wouldn't be there. He said, "Knowing you as I do, I feel it is unlikely I will be getting the endorsement from you and the "Union Leader." I made a great fortune based on instinct and that, unfortunately, is my view. Therefore, and for other reasons, including the fact that I feel there are too many people on stage to have a proper forum, I will not be attending."

So he's not going to be there in body. But do you think the spirit of Donald Trump will be hanging over this forum tonight?

HEATH: I don not, John. I really don't think Donald Trump will be a big part of the forum. I would be surprised if many bring him up at all. I intend to kind of have a Trump-less forum talking about issues voters here in Iowa and South Carolina think are important and they want to hear answers to their questions.

BOLDUAN: Why Trump-less? He is the front-runner nationally and, Absolutely, I think we can say at this point going to be on the debate stage on Thursday. Why Trump-less at the voters first forum do you think, do you hope?

HEATH: Well, number one, number one, Kate, he's not going to be here, so I don't know why fill up the room with a lot of that oxygen if Mr. Trump is not going to be here. Actually, I think the real reason he might not have come wasn't just his instinct on the endorsement. I think it was of the editorial on the week where he was having a flap with Senator John McCain over Senator McCain's service as a veteran and a POW, but I really think we have so many questions, thousands of questions that have come in from voters here and in the other early states on important issues, important issues ranging from how would you deal with is, employment, how are we going to grow the American economy more than 2 percent. Real important questions, immigration reform. So I think just bringing up Donald Trump plays into the whole tabloid nature of the polling. The real reason why we're having this forum in New Hampshire is the organizers, the New Hampshire union leader and others felt we shouldn't allow national pollsters and national networks -- no disrespect, CNN. You're not on that list right there with FOX.

BERMAN: None taken. HEATH: Well, you are, but you're not part of the debate Thursday

night. It has allowed them to draw a line in the stand of where the top tier and second tier. So Donald Trump could have been here. He's not going to be here, so I think talking about him doesn't do the voters a real service here.

BERMAN: It will be great to hear about the issues tonight, Jack. And we do appreciate that.

New Hampshire always important, the first-in-the-nation primary. This year, I feel like there are more candidates than usual who seem to be staking it all on New Hampshire. You have Chris Christie to an extent, George Pataki, John Kasich. Donald Trump, New Hampshire is a crucial state to him as well. How do you think that will play into tonight as well? Will there be people on stage who really need to outperform others?

[11:44:49] HEATH: Yes, you mentioned a few. I think a lot of these candidates have been traveling to New Hampshire and Donald Trump has, too. I think there will be a number of these candidates that may not have the national base in place yet that will dry and either differentiate themselves, they might give me an answer to a question about jobs and then they might say I want to go back to something governor Bush said, a way to differentiate themselves on some issues. So I think a few of them, I don't want to say who I think it is, will try and have a moment tonight where they shine a little more, differentiate themselves because they need every chance they can get if they're not going to be perceived nationally as a so-called top- tier candidate.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely the case. And the way this is set up -- and as we said, it's not a debate. They're all going to be -- it's going to be a question-and-answer session, each of them getting five minutes with you. You will take the questions to them. I did think it was interesting that because of the Senate vote that is scheduled for today, where Republicans in the Senate are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood -- at least three is what I saw, Cruz, Paul, and Rubio, they're not going to be there in person. They're going to be answering your questions remotely. What do you think the impact of that is going to be?

HEATH: Kate, because it's not a debate, I think it's going to be fine. We're doing an interview like such this will be tonight, and I think with technology, and C-Span does it all the time, because it's a forum and an interview, I don't think it will have a real impact. If it was a debate, I think you might have had a little bit of, they're not in the room, they can't see the others but I think it will work fine. Kate, I'm hoping you send me an e-mail during the day that will tell me how to be a good traffic cop and make sure they stick to time.

BOLDUAN: Just yell louder. When they run over time, just go stop.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Wave your arms like this, no more! HEATH: I have the New Hampshire House speaker on my show this

morning, my radio show, and he said he was going to bring down the state gavel that I could put on the desk next to me. Just raise it as a way to remind them that we need to stick to time.

We're going to have two rounds of questions so I'm hoping we get a little more time and depending how quickly we can get through all the questions for each candidate.

BERMAN: Jack, millions of people will be watching you tonight. This really is the first chance to hear most of the candidates all at once.

We wish you the best of luck and we thank you for doing this.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, thanks for coming in.

HEATH: John and Kate, thanks. And I hope to see you up here in New Hampshire soon. I'm sure you'll both be up here. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, twisted metal, broken pieces, what could be considered junk on a beach being given a second look now. Could more parts from Malaysia Airlines flight 370 be washed up on those shores or floating in the waters around Reunion Island?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:10] BOLDUAN: AT THIS HOUR, U.S. investigators are heading to France to help try to figure out if a section of a wing from a Boeing 777 is from MH370. A French lab is expected to begin analyzing that piece in the coming days.

BERMAN: Searchers have expanded the hunt for plane debris to waters off Mauritius, an island nation about 110 miles from where the section of wing was found, other islands as well.

Senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann, joins us live from Paris where closed-door meetings are being held on this investigation -- Jim?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Kate. This is basically a meeting to organize things. Basically, we have a lot of authorities involved here. There was a judicial representative from Malaysia, a representation from the Malaysian Civil Aviation Authority, everybody assembled around the same time table to get on the same page. Basically, in the past, particularly in the case of Malaysian authorities, accusations they haven't been transparent enough, and I think they wanted to get everybody moving in the same direction so that it didn't appear to be in any kind of conflict making statement statements. After their meeting they basically broke up and didn't say anything to the press. They're on their way down to Toulouse in the south of France where that bit of wing, the flaperon, as it's called, is being analyzed and they're going to look at that for themselves -- John and Kate?

BERMAN: Jim Bittermann for us in France. So much going on there over the next few days. Thanks so much, Jim. A couple minutes to the hour right now.

New U.S. airstrikes that could target the Syrian regime. This is a dramatic turn in the war in Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:29] BERMAN: New this morning, what could be a crucial development in the on-going war in Syria. The president has authorized U.S. warplanes to defend American-backed ground forces in Syria no matter who attacks them, Islamic militants or even the forces of Bashar al Assad. This is the first time the U.S. forces could face direct confrontation with the Assad regime.

The U.S. conducted airstrikes just last week when members of a U.S.- trained rebel force were attacked. The military believes the attack was carried out by an al Qaeda-affiliated group.

BOLDUAN: That attack was a big setback for the U.S. program, which has already faced major criticism as they acknowledged they've only been able to train about 60 rebels so far.

CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, is joining us right now for more on this.

So, General, they're going to be getting air cover. But doesn't that raise the chance that the U.S. is going -- U.S. forces are going to come in contact or come up against Bashar al Assad's forces? Exactly what the United States and the president did not want.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it certainly might raise that spectrum, Kate, but what I tell you -- I mean, what the force that we're trying to put in place there is attempting to do is a couple of things. First of all, they've got to be defended against the Syrian regime. They've got to be defended against al Nusra and the al Qaeda elements there. But they're also being defended against the ISIS forces there and also have the capability of attacking there. That's the critical issue. So it's a multi-front approach. But we're in the early stages of this program, if you will, and the key element is sustaining and advancing the combat power, which is being put together there, so we can get more intelligence on the ground, and so we can attempt to target ISIS forces more in the Syria area.

BERMAN: Do you think this force is a threat to Bashar al Assad? This group of about 60 people right now. It's not more than a few dozen right now, specifically trained by the United States to battle ISIS, not battle Assad. Do you think the Assad regime will target them?

HERTLING: No. Not right now, John, they're just too small. But they could potentially be a much greater force and they could provide another threat to the Assad regime. And that's what's important.

I keep going back to the point we're at the very early stages of putting elements on the ground in Syria and that, in combination with the Turkish approach to this fight, which has changed recently within the last week, could have some significant a -- could provide significant problems for the Assad regime as well as ISIS. So whereas, we're not going specifically against the regime, I think he is going to see the problem in this area, another front that he has to face, and it puts more problems on his plate.

BOLDUAN: This was a big part of the strategy of taking on ISIS in Syria, the training these rebels. When the administration acknowledged that they had only trained 60 rebels, they faced a lot of criticism that it was going to be a success or was it already seen as a failure? Do you think this air cover will help turn that around, help them gain momentum?

HERTLING: That's the key point. Kate, you've hit it on the head. Yes, it is a small force. Yes it's almost laughable when you say, hey, we've trained 60 people and put them on the ground. But when you talk about 60 people on the ground gathering intelligence, perhaps contributing to targeting, and the fact that you now have airplanes in Incirlik, which is less than 150 miles away.