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At This Hour

Trump Increases GOP Lead, Favorability UP; Man in Bangkok Surveillance Video Wanted; Student on Trial for Rape of Freshman Girl. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 18, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: "The Face of Evil" airs tonight at 9:00 eastern on CNN.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump says he loves women, and apparently Republican women now love him back. The surprising new poll results as the billionaire pulls away from the pack.

First, a pipe bomb, now a grenade hitting a major tourist hub. Who is behind the attacks? A manhunt under way for the person in this video.

And then, is one of America's most elite prep schools hiding a sick game, a sex competition that includes score boards, virginity, and rape? The new allegations of a dark secret.

Hello. I'm John Berman. Kate Bolduan is off today.

I'm in Washington today where the question this morning is whether Donald Trump should be getting ready to move to Washington for about four years or so. Maybe they can put an addition on the White House to make him more comfortable. A brand new CNN/ORC poll shows Donald Trump not just ahead in the polls but now ahead by 11 points, a margin that is growing. His support over the last month has jumped more than any other candidate despite a debate performance that was controversial to say the least. But that doesn't even begin to tell the big story in our new poll. He is blowing away the competition on almost every issue, issues that these other guys have spent careers working on.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, has all the inside stories on the inside numbers -- Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, Donald Trump now we can say has gone from summer fling to maybe fall front-runner. He is entering this next phase of this campaign locked in first place, at least for now. So these numbers provide a glimpse into what is happening at this moment of this Republican presidential campaign. Donald Trump is supported by a quarter of all Republican voters, and the rest of the field as we just saw is really so far behind him. A couple of the things I was struck by in the polls, let's go through the numbers here sort of one by one. I was struck by the fact that Donald Trump across the board has a stronger command on who voters think can handle some issues. Let's take a look at this, the economy. 45 percent of voters say that Donald Trump is the best person to handle the economy. Illegal immigration, 44 percent. Handling ISIS and foreign policy, 32 percent. Even social issues like abortion, 19 percent.

Now that is perhaps his Achilles' heel in this Republican field, but moving on interestingly as you said in the open, the gender split. 60 percent of Republican women in our national poll say that they have a favorable opinion of Donald Trump. About the same as men, 57 percent. That's within the margin of error but that's six in 10 women. Now, moving forward here, this is a fascinating number. 58 percent of Republicans say their chances are better without Donald Trump. 40 percent say with. You ask, why is that? Well, that's because there are so many other Republicans in the field. That number makes up all the 60 percent. So this is why Republican leaders, party leaders, are worried about sort of his long-term viability. Finally, let's take a look at this. On this education divide here we have this in front of us, non-college graduates, that's where he gets his biggest support from. 28 percent of non-college graduates say they support him. College graduates are much less likely to support him, John.

So these are the outlines of Donald Trump's support here. He's getting strong support from women, non-college graduates, and we see he has command of the issues. The question is when will some of the other Republicans in the field start taking him on. Is it going to work or not? I believe that, you know, looking at those top 10 in the field, we saw that Chris Christie has dropped out of the top 10, but for Jeb Bush, he's at 13 percent. That's a good number for him at this point.

BERMAN: Yeah. 13 percent, although slipping compared to Donald Trump who is clearly --

ZELENY: Slipping a bit.

BERMAN: -- winning across the board.

Jeff Zeleny, great to have you here with us.

I want to talk more about the Trump trajectory.

I want to bring in Doug Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee.

Doug, let me go over some of these numbers for you. Donald Trump is leading on immigration despite the fact he has a plan that violates the 14th amendment. He's leading on the economy although he has no solid plan at all. He's leading on the battle against ISIS despite the fact he says he gets his advice from people on TV talk shows. What's going on here?

DOUG HEYE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think this is a classic case of where dump continues to get more attention than he gets scrutiny. Look at Chuck Todd's interview on "Meet the Press." He doesn't really care a whole lot about NATO. He gets advice from TV. He didn't know the name of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kind of important if you're going to be president. That came out of a hard-hitting, really hitting on specifics interview, what do we talk about more with Donald Trump this weekend? We talked about helicopter rides. And everybody loves helicopter rides, but ultimately helicopter rides, are not really important to the presidency. But he gets more attention than he gets scrutiny. And as long as that continues, Donald Trump is having the conversation that he wants to have and he will do well.

[11:05:32] BERMAN: But, Doug, I don't want to disagree with you, one, because I like you --

HEYE: But you're going to.

BERMAN: -- and, two, you're a guest on the show. But that doesn't explain -- helicopter rides don't explain why he's winning on immigration, why he's leading on the economy, why on is, you know, he says he gets his advice from military leaders on TV.

HEYE: I think that some of those problems really haven't sunk in. We haven't heard a whole lot about the 14th amendment until just the past 24 or 48 hours. With military advisers, same thing. What have we heard over the past days and weeks and now months? We've heard the conversation that Donald Trump wants to have. So if he says something bombastic and controversial, it gets covered all day long, and that's where if you're somebody like a Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, you're struggling to get your message out.

BERMAN: Let's talk about something that has sunk in now, the debate. He had all those issues dealing with women in the debate, Megyn Kelly, and then after the fact. Look, 60 percent of Republican women have a favorable opinion of Donald Trump. Surely those issues have sunk in, Doug, and he seems to be doing fine.

HEYE: Well, and I thought he had problems not only with Megyn Kelly's questions but also some other questions from Bret Baier and Chris Wallace. And then we went back to the name calling and the lack of specifics which Trump has thrived on. As long as that continues he's going to do well because he's having the conversation he wants to have with the voters, which is a nonspecific one.

BERMAN: I think I know the answer to this question, but 58 percent of Republicans say the party is better off or would be better off without Trump in the race right now. 58 percent say they'd be better off without Donald Trump. What do you say, Doug? Are you among the 58 percent?

HEYE: If he wants to run, he's obviously doing well in the polls right now. That's all fine. I think as we dive down into more specifics, as voters pay more attention to issues, I think Trump will really start to wither away but that comes with tough questioning not about Lindsey Graham's cell phone number or name calling of John McCain and all those things that have dominated so much of our time but to continue to dive down into the specifics where we see he has trouble. Those things need to seep in and they haven't done so yet.

BERMAN: We will wait and see. Every week that goes by is a week where people do pay some attention.

Doug Heye, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

HEYE: Thank you.

BERMAN: Donald Trump is a good segue to a tropical depression in the Atlantic right now.

I want to bring in Chad Myers because he has new information.

Chad, it has been a pretty quiet hurricane season so far but now there's a storm you have your eye on.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All the way back to august of 1992 a very slow season until Andrew decided to pop up. Yes, it has been a slow season. We've only had three named storms. This will likely be the fourth. It will likely be Danny. Here it is out in the middle of the Atlantic and this is still days and days away. Please don't start to panic about this, but keep watching it because the forecast center here, hurricane center, says this will be a category 2 hurricane before it finally gets to the Windward Islands and it may be stronger than that. This is how far we are away from anything. We are way out here in the Atlantic. The United States way over here. So this storm is still thousands of mild away from any significant landfall, but at least for now all of the models taking it and moving it right straight toward the West, not turning it on up toward the northeast or away from land or into the Atlantic Ocean, which we call a gutter ball, as it goes between Bermuda and the United States. So far, not happening with this storm, but it's building, it's getting stronger and it will likely be the biggest storm of the year so far.

BERMAN: Biggest of the year so far, Chad, which is why you will keep your eye on it.

Thank you so much.

Breaking today, a new explosion rocks a tourist hub. This time, a grenade, and now police are hunting down the man in this video. The distinctive yellow shirt. What does it mean?

Plus, a tradition of sexual scoring at one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country. The allegations, which include a sex competition, and now in the spotlight during a rape trial.

And most who start do not make it out. For the first time in history, two women just completed one of the most grueling boot camps in the country. Hear what they had to do to pass Ranger training.

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[11:13:17] BERMAN: This morning a new blast has rocked Bangkok. A small explosive thrown from a bridge. No one was injured but the attack comes less than 24 hours after this.

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BERMAN: A terrifying deadly explosion targeting a shrine in central Bangkok killing at least 22, injuring more than 100. It happened in an area known as the Times Square of Thailand. And now police are looking for this man. Take a good look. He was caught on surveillance video carrying a backpack near the shrine shortly before the explosion and then he appears again without the backpack.

Joining us from London, Sajjan Gohel, terrorism expert and international security director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation; and CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson.

Nic, I want to start with you.

A second explosion today. The suspect in the yellow T-shirt, what's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Police say they've got about 10 days' worth of CCTV footage to go through. This was from the original blast yesterday. There's a potential now for the police perhaps to hone their investigation a little more, but it's going to expand at the same time because that second blast, although it injured no one today, CCTV cameras in the area may help the police. The police say it was a deliberate act of terrorism. They say at the moment they don't have enough information to go on to know if the person in the yellow T-shirt was a Thai national or a foreigner. The concern is for the Thai authorities that two blasts two days in a row, no one caught, that this person or persons are still on the loose. But at the moment the man in the yellow shirt with the dark rimmed glasses with the backpack then seen without that heavy backpack, that is the main person that they're looking for at the moment. But again that second blast today may help provide some more clues -- John?

[11:15:20] BERMAN: Sajjan, I want to ask you, we have this one suspect right now, this one person in the picture. Do you think that indicates to you that this guy was working alone or do you think there's something broader going on here?

SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Well, it's an important question you ask. If we look at the nature of the attack, it was aimed to kill both local Thais and foreigners alike. The type of target was where there's a mass concentration of people, as you mentioned. The intersection is effectively Bangkok's version of Times Square. It's very popular. The intention was to kill and maim as well as to hit at a symbolic target because the attack took place near a temple where a lot of people visit. So the nature of the attack would suggest it's transnational in terms of the motivation, the ideology, but this individual could be operating on his own, it could be a lone wolf inspired by groups from abroad like is. It's unlikely it's one of the local militant groups in southern Thailand because they've never planned something on this scale. What worries me is the scope is very large and potentially they haven't finished. They may want to carry out further follow-up attacks.

BERMAN: Do you think the Thai security service is up to the task of catching this person and do you suspect right now that the U.S. or European authorities might be involved?

GOHEL: Well, Thailand has been very effective in dismantling terrorist infrastructures in the country in the past. They worked with the United States very closely. The 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia, which killed over 200 people, the mastermind of that attack was actually found in Bangkok over 10 years ago, and that was a direct result of cooperation with the United States, and so certainly in terms of forensic evidence, DNA, and CCTV footage, the Thais will no doubt be sharing that with the U.S. And also picking up potential electronic chatter that may have come across in the last week or so which could have been ignored. There is already criticism of the authorities in Thailand. This could be an intelligence failure that perhaps more could have been done to stop it.

BERMAN: Two attacks in two days and no one in custody. A huge sense of urgency to catch somebody before another explosion happens.

Nic Robertson, Sajjan Gohel, thank you so much for being with us.

A dark secret. One of the country's most prestigious prep schools, allegations surface of a tradition involving sex, rape and a scoreboard. We have the details next.

Plus, a tense meeting caught on video. We're just getting our first look at this between Hillary Clinton and members of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hear how she responded to claims she's not doing enough.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:21:30] BERMAN: An elite New Hampshire prep school rocked by allegations of rape and a secret sexual culture. 19-year-old St. Paul school senior, Owen Labrie, is on trial, charged with raping a fellow 15-year-old student. I think he was 18 at the time. The alleged incident may have been part of a sexual competition at the school known as Senior Salute, senior boys competing to sleep with as many younger students as possible, keeping a tally on a wall. The Associated Press reports Labrie told police he was, quote, "trying to be number one." A spokesperson for St. Paul says the allegations continue reflect the people who represent their student body, alumni, faculty and staff. A very troubling story.

CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us with the latest -- Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it's a very eye-opening allegation, especially considering this is such a prestigious prep school. The school distancing itself from these accusations.

Several students are set to testify about the alleged tradition, that so-called Senior Salute, potentially shining a negative light on an otherwise highly respected school.

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SANCHEZ (voice-over): Six Congressmen, 13 U.S. ambassadors, and our current secretary of state, John Kerry, have all called this prestigious prep school home, but today the steep traditions of St. Paul school in Concord, New Hampshire, are getting a closer look as allegations of rape put the school under a spotlight.

19-year-old Owen Labrie has been charged with the sexual assault of a 15-year-old student on campus last year, just two days before his graduation. Citing a police interview with Labrie, the Associated Press reports the alleged rape may have been part of a tradition called the Senior Salute.

The "Concord Monitor's" Jeremy Blackman says Labrie was not in the contest alone.

JEREMY BLACKMAN, STAFF REPORTER, CONCORD MONITOR: This case raised an issue that a number of students are taking part in an annual tradition of competing with one another to have sexual encounters was underclassman.

SANCHEZ: According to the A.P., senior boys kept a running tally of sexual encounters with marker on a laundry room wall, and later, the teen told detectives he was trying to be number one.

BLACKMAN: Owen Labrie claims there were a couple of different kinds of Senior Salutes, some that were not sexual at all, some that were just going for a walk with a student or kissing someone.

SANCHEZ: Court documents obtained by Blackman show Labrie's encounter went well beyond kissing.

BLACKMAN: According to his account, she was acting very aggressively towards him and that he, in fact, had a condom in his pocket that she pulled out according to his account and that he put it on but divine intervention and that it went no further than that.

SANCHEZ: According to the "Monitor," however, a medical examination shows the female student had a, quote, "laceration that would be consistent with penetration having occurred," end quote.

Labrie has pled not guilty to all charges.

A spokesperson for St. Paul's tells CNN, quote, "Current allegations about our culture are not emblematic of our school or our values, our rules or the people who represent our student body, alumni, faculty, and staff," end quote. L

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SANCHEZ: According to the A.P., Labrie was set to attend Harvard. The school says he's no longer enrolled there. The trial is under way in New Hampshire. It's expected to last at least a week.

[11:25:07] BERMAN: The trial happening right now.

Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

A tense encounter. Newly released video shows just what happened during a closed-door meeting between Hillary Clinton and Black Lives Matter protesters. We'll show it to you coming up.

Plus, supermodel, Heidi Klum, fires back at Donald Trump after Trump says she's no longer a 10. We have her epic response, her brand new video. That's next.

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BERMAN: Just in, Donald Trump, you might say, is competing in a project president. It's a good thing it's not project runway. Trump told "The New York Times" that, quote, "Heidi Klum, sadly, she's no longer a 10." Well, Klum just responded with a video on Twitter. Look.

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BERMAN: Heidi Klum now closing in the polls against Donald Trump right now. She also said that beauty is in the eye of the beheld.

Other election news, if you read all the predictions, it was supposed to be about Bush versus Clinton, part two or three, but then something awkward happened and, this time, that "awkward" might not be Donald Trump. Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton have spawned awkward moments beyond Donald Trump. Secretary Clinton, with her shifting response to the e-mail controversy and now a new tense video with supporters of the Black Lives Matters, and Jeb Bush, you might say, being Jeb Bush.