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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Looking at Clinton Email Documents; New Zika Virus Warning; Louisiana Flooding Aftermath; Fifty Four Killed In Bombing At Turkish Wedding; Report: Pills Found Mislabeled As Weaker Opioid; Speedo Drops Lochte Sponsorship After Rio Robbery Story. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired August 22, 2016 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Doug Band trying to get a meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain and Hillary Clinton. Can we put the graphic up, so people can see it?

It says this, from Doug Band to Huma Abedin: "Cp" -- crown prince -- "of Bahrain in tomorrow, Friday. Asking to see her. Good friend of ours" -- Doug Bank asking for an appointment between the crown prince of Bahrain and Hillary Clinton.

Huma Abedin responds. She essentially says -- do we have that? "I got this now." Yes. No, that's the wrong one. We don't have the response. But she set up the meeting. She set up the meeting.

But, wait, John.

BERMAN: She set up the meeting. Before you say, but wait, she set up the meeting. Huma Abedin sets up the meeting between Hillary Clinton and the crown prince of Bahrain. Is that not providing services for the Clinton Foundation?

CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Had you been able to put the actual response up, you would have seen that it said something to the effect of -- I'm paraphrasing -- have already received request through proper channels. And then you see -- so...

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I'm glad you brought that up.

Through proper channels, Hillary Clinton didn't want to have the meeting. She said the meeting shouldn't be scheduled.

QUINN: No.

BERMAN: No, she did. She said the meeting, don't schedule it right now. I'm not sure I want to be there for it at the time.

When Doug Band talked to Huma Abedin, then Huma Abedin made it happen.

QUINN: That's not the chronology of it, A.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Actually, that is the chronology.

QUINN: And, B, when she said she didn't want to be there, she said she wasn't sure whether she's going to be in D.C. or back in New York and basically not taking appointments.

Let's be clear here. Bahrain has been for decades an important ally to the United States. They're one of our most important major allies who is not a member of NATO. The Fifth Naval Fleet, which is the fleet that protects the Middle East and is America's presence for the Middle East -- wait, wait, you got to go on and on about...

(CROSSTALK)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We don't care about the fleet.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: I actually think the people in the Middle East and the people in Israel and the people in the world care about the fleet. That is based out of Bahrain.

And so what we see here is e-mails between two people and meeting that should happen between the secretary of state and the crown prince of Bahrain happening, and Doug Band happening to lob in an e-mail.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Does it leave the appearance, Margaret Hoover, since you were waiting patiently, does it leave the appearance that someone from the Clinton Foundation is asking for a meeting, and the meeting happens?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: That is the appearance. And politics is perception.

And this is something that reasonable people have a very hard time understanding why the Clintons chose. If there is nothing wrong, if there is no pay to play, you take them at their word, why do they skate so perilously close the line and maybe cross it in terms of the perception? Politics is perception and the perception is terrible.

BERMAN: Because there doesn't literally have to be provable pay to play. You have an appearance problem.

And appearances, Corey, is what the Clinton team and the Obama team back in 2008, 2009 during the transition said they wanted to avoid.

LEWANDOWSKI: You what this is?

This once again is special privileges for special people; $16 million went to the Clinton Foundation from this group. And if you or I e- mailed Huma Abedin asking for a meeting with the secretary of state tomorrow, first, they said, what she said was we will see how she feels, if she is going to ill or not. (CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: But the difference is, if I gave $16 million to the Clinton Foundation,I would have the access.

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: What is your candidate going to do when he's in the presidency? Because he's got to put...

(CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: You know what he won't do, is take money from special interests.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: This is the crown prince of Bahrain. It is not a random person who requested a meeting through channels with the secretary of state. It is the crown prince of a country that is an ally where we have a naval base. That's an appropriate...

LEWANDOWSKI: And request a meeting through the proper channels, as it was denied.

QUINN: And got it. And got it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And appearance or not, there is nothing wrong was done here.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: We don't know ultimately how they got the meeting. What we know is that ultimately they did get the meeting after Huma Abedin was contacted. That's what we know. More? Well, there are more e-mails we will get a chance to look at.

Margaret, Corey, Christine, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

Health officials already warning tourists not to go to parts of Miami because of the Zika virus. Now there are new concerns it could spread to another region in the U.S. and the threat could last for years, not months.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:22]

BERMAN: All right, welcome back.

In our health lead, a new stern Zika warning. The mosquito-borne virus could soon go beyond Florida and spread to other parts of the U.S. Texas and Louisiana could be next. Heavy rain and flooding from last week has left behind pools of standing water in both of those states. Mosquitoes, they can breed in as little as a teaspoon of water.

Could all the standing water make the Gulf states an ideal breeding ground for the Zika-carrying mosquitoes?

Let's bring in CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes Health, he was the one who expressed concern that rain and flooding particularly in Louisiana could bring in increased risk of Zika. How big is the worry here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, I know it seems counterintuitive, especially when you see the shots of all that standing water, but the mosquito experts that we talked to said they are not particularly concerned about this water, because the same rains that caused that flooding also wash away the mosquitoes and the larvae of the mosquitoes that cause Zika, that carry Zika.

So they are actually not concerned. But they are concerned on a larger global level about Zika spreading within the Southeastern United States, or actually anywhere, but especially in Southeastern United States. They are really concerned that there are going to be more families like the Mendozas, who I'm about to introduce you to. Their baby was born in Miami with Zika-related complications.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Mikaela (ph) looks like any other seven-week-old baby, but she is not, because her mother, Maria Mendoza, had Zika when she was three months pregnant. She caught the disease in Venezuela and gave birth here in Miami.

This scan of Mikaela's eye shows scarring on her retina caused by the infection. MRIs also found calcifications in her brain, deposits of calcium that shouldn't be there.

[16:40:13]

MARIA MENDOZA, MOTHER (through translator): I cried a lot. One always thinks the worst is going to happen because you don't know what part of the brain was damaged. Doctors wouldn't say a lot because they were doing a bunch of tests. It was horrible. It still is. The fear is there.

COHEN: Dr. Marcelo Laufer, an infectious disease specialist at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami is taking care of Mikaela.

DR. MARCELO LAUFER, NICKLAUS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: She has several calcifications, which are pieces of calcifying tissue in the brain. That means that that part of the brain at some point was infected.

COHEN (on camera): What do these calcifications mean for Mikaela's future?

LAUFER: I don't know. Mikaela is only two months old.

COHEN (voice-over): He said doctors will have to be vigilant.

(on camera): With Mikaela, you will be watching for hearing problems, vision problems and cognitive development problems.

LAUFER: Correct. Correct.

COHEN: And how long will you be watching her for those?

LAUFER: Oh, probably five or six years. For a long time.

COHEN (voice-over): Every day, Mikaela's mother does physical therapy with her to make sure she develops good muscle tone. She said the doctors are optimistic that with therapy and constant monitoring, Mikaela will be fine. But she and her husband won't be sure for years.

MENDOZA (through translator): The future is uncertain. We keep a very positive mind, a lot of faith in God and the Virgin.

COHEN: Mendoza said she feels for the women who are pregnant now in Miami and trying to avoid Zika.

MENDOZA (through translator): I would say to them to not leave their homes, because it is a situation that is impossible to cope with. It is an anguish that will keep you awake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Doctors say they aren't sure what these calcifications will mean for Mikaela because Zika is so new. She is one of the first babies born in the United States with Zika-related complications.

They say there are other viruses can cause problems when a woman gets them when she's pregnant, and those other viruses can attack brain tissue. But those other viruses are not Zika and they might not behave the same -- John.

BERMAN: You can see why there is concern. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

While health officials worry Zika could spread to the Gulf states, this time tomorrow, President Obama will get his first look at one of the states, Louisiana, and the flood damage on the ground there. Today, heartbreaking images of loss across the Baton Rouge region, furniture, clothing, family photos tossed out on street curbs, all ruined by the floodwaters that stood waist-high in some homes.

To date, more than 100,000 Louisianians have applied for federal assistance. Some have already received portions of the $20 million disbursed to pay for temporary housing and repairs, but so many others still waiting.

CNN's Polo Sandoval live in Gonzales, Louisiana.

Polo, is the help coming fast enough for these families?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you talk to people here, John, they will you it can't come fast enough.

But they're also very familiar with the fact that every time you are applying for federal assistance, it does take some time. So what we're seeing now are homeowners, as you mentioned, going into their homes and actually removing not only furniture that has been damaged and ruined, but also some of the material that makes up the interior of the homes. They don't want to risk it.

They want to make sure that mold is out of the picture. What they are doing is, they're taking it upon themselves to go inside, gut their homes, and then, of course, eventually get some of that federal assistance that is badly needed, John. There is concern that that $50, $55 million may not be enough for many of these communities.

BERMAN: And quickly, Polo, you have seen incredible acts of kindness on the ground there, correct?

SANDOVAL: Yes. Yes.

The silver lining in all this, John, I should tell you that a few moments ago, I met a couple from Louisiana, John and Keri Bloom (ph), on this very spot. This morning, they woke up. They turned to their old family recipe to make some good jambalaya and hot dogs. They threw it all in the back of their truck, drove here from New Orleans and then began to hand out food.

The Blooms actually survived Katrina, so this is their way of giving back to neighbors that helped them over 10 years ago. And, John, let me tell you this. After being here for several days, a smile and a little bit of jambalaya goes a very long way.

BERMAN: It sure does, people stepping up there, so wonderful to see.

SANDOVAL: Yes.

BERMAN: Polo Sandoval, thanks so much.

All right, from one disaster to another. Raging wildfires continue to scorch the West, warm, windy weather, dry conditions fueling the flames. More than 26 large fires have burned nearly half-a-million acres.

There are fresh blazes now in the area of Spokane in Washington. These fast-moving fires have already destroyed several buildings and houses, forcing hundreds to leave their homes behind.

Fire crews there, they might have an uphill battle. The National Weather Service warns it will be more gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity in the coming days.

A couple's wedding day destroyed by an ISIS bombing that killed at least 22 children, but even more terrifying, reports that the bomber may have been a child.

[16:30:00] Then: He had a prescription for hydrocodone, but a new report claims that pills were found in Prince's home that actually contained a drug that is 100 times more powerful than morphine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Our World Lead, the death toll in Saturday's horrific suicide bombing at a wedding in Southern Turkey now stands at 54, 22 of those slaughtered children.

And perhaps a sickening twist, the attacker, according to Turkey's president, is believed to be the ages of 12 and 14. Though should say Turkey's prime minister is raising doubts about that.

CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Barbara, walk us through right now exactly how this attack went down.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, even before we get to that, John, there is some new information which is the Turkish government appears now to be showing positions of potential ISIS enclaves across the border into Northern Syria.

Not clear if it is tied to this attack, but clearly the government in Istanbul feels ISIS is responsible for this terrible attack on Saturday against a Kurdish wedding party in the city Gaziantep quite close to the border with Syria.

[16:50:03]The bomber, who was the attacker? That is the big question. Originally the Turkish government thought the attacker, perhaps 12 to 14 years old, now that is being rethought. No clear word on that yet.

Fifty four people dead but more than 20 of them young children under the age of 14. Apparently, the bomber striking when women and children were at the portion of the wedding party where they would be most out in the street, most visible. So clearly very much a target there.

This is a situation where the Turkish government is trying to respond and they believe that ISIS is it responsible. But and it does have all of the hallmarks of previous ISIS attacks but no clear definite claim of responsibility by ISIS just yet -- John.

BERMAN: The pictures are just awful. Barbara, I know you spoke with Steven Townsend, the new commander of U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria about the fight against ISIS. What did he tell you?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, General Townsend taking command over the weekend. It was quite interesting. He has as you would expect laid out a very ambitious agenda. He will be in command the next year and he says within that year what he wants to do is defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

And what he says he means by that is to get them out of their two major cities, Raqqa in Syria, Mosul in Iraq, their two major strong holds. He wants to get them defeated and out of those population centers. That's going to be some very heavy lifting.

Iraqi forces and also local Syrian fighters will really have to be able to step up and make that happen with U.S. support. But General Townsend says he thinks that could be an achievable goal -- John.

BERMAN: The battle for Mosul will be a serious endeavor. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

BERMAN: It's been four months since the death of Prince, but there are new questions now about the fatal overdose that killed him. A new report claims pills labelled hydrocodone actually contained a different far more powerful drug.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:56:18]

BERMAN: All right, welcome back to THE LEAD. Today's Pop Lead, new evidence coming to light in the death of Prince. According to the Minneapolis "Star Tribune," pills found in the singer's Paisley Park estate apparently were not hydrocodone as they were marked.

Instead the pills contained fentanyl, which is a much more powerful opioid. The same type of opioid responsible for Prince's death.

I want to bring in CNN's Sara Sidner now. Sara, Prince did not have a known prescription for fentanyl. So is the implication here that he got the pills illegally?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a really good question and some investigators are continuing to look into. One of two things happened here, Berman, basically either there was a manufacturing mistake and they mislabeled the pills or what is much more likely is that these were illegally manufactured pills and therefore they were illegally obtained as well.

He may not even have known what exactly it was that he was taking because if you get these off the street and they are all over America being sold coming in often times the DEA says from China into Mexico and along the drug cartel routes that bring in lots of other drugs, fentanyl is coming in in record numbers.

What they say is the dosages are so off that in some cases you can take one of these pills and it can literally one pill could kill you.

I want to let you meet a mother who has gone through this with her own son. This happened to several people who died from taking a pill labelled Norco, another drug, but actually contained fentanyl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATASHA BUTLER, SON OVERDOSED ON FENTANYL: He called and said his heart hurts.

SIDNER: So after taking how many pills?

BUTLER: It was stated, the young man who was there with him, that he had one and the young man had three. SIDNER: So just one.

BUTLER: Just one. Just one. Just one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Natasha Butler still going through it. Missing her son so much. But these were drugs that were sold on the street and indeed they contained fentanyl. Nine other people died in the Sacramento area and investigators are still looking at where exactly those pills came from.

A lot of people looking at whether or not the pills that may have killed Prince, we don't know if he took these pills and that's how fentanyl got in his system, but if they did investigators certainly have another lead to work on.

BERMAN: Explain to me that last point. It is interesting. We now know they found fentanyl in the house. We know there is fentanyl in his system and had to get there somehow.

SIDNER: Right. The question is, how. They still haven't said and haven't revealed this to the public whether or not it was the pills he took that got it into his system or whether he took it some other way.

Often times this is a really strong drug and normally given in a patch or lollipop, which makes it harder to overdose. It is a drug normally given for end of life or for extreme pain when you have cancer. So not a drug that you would take for aches and pains, just in everyday life -- John.

BERMAN: All right, interesting. Didn't know that. Sara Sidner, thanks so much.

Our Sports Lead now. We saw Ryan Lochte swim. Now we are seeing him sink, at least in terms of his value as an endorser. The swimmer has lost all of his major sponsorship deals today. Four in total.

This morning, Speedo announced it is ending its sponsorship of the 12- time Olympic medalist amid what Lochte himself told called an over- exaggerated story of robbery in Rio. The company said, quote, "We cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for."

Speedo also will donate $50,000 from Lochte's fee to a charity benefiting children in Brazil. This afternoon, three other companies follow suit, Ralph Lauren, mattress supplier, Air Weave, and a hair removal company, all said they will end their partnerships with Lochte.

That's it for us. Now Brianna Keilar in "THE SITUATION ROOM."