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Tropical Strom Patricia Hits Parts of Texas; Democratic Presidential Candidates to Attend Event in Iowa; Russian Foreign Minister Announces Russian Forces will Help Free Syrian Army; Tracy Morgan Recovery from Car Accident Profiled; University of Louisville Basketball Program Involved in Scandal over Prostitution and Player Recruits. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 24, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:02] SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She is a 25-year-old woman who is now in jail in Stillwater. They also said this, they have this crash reconstruction team on the scene to figure out what happened. But you can see, Fred, from the pictures that it's clear that this vehicle ran into a parade crowd. This is the Oklahoma State University's homecoming parade. This was supposed to be a joyous event. The president of the university explaining just moments ago at this press conference what today is supposed to be about and what it turned into. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS HARGIS, PRESIDENT, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY: The Oklahoma State Homecoming Parade is probably one of the most wholesome, happy events in the country. And to have it fouled like this and these vehicles is a terrible tragedy. We reach out and embrace the victims and their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: The university saying that it has decided to go ahead with this game anyway today. They said that they went back and forth on whether or not they should play today, but ultimately decided they should play and also honor the victims.

Important to note, this investigation could take several days before we know exactly what happened. The crash reconstruction team expected to be on the scene for a while. And police are asking for witnesses. They're asking people to come forward not just with their stories of what they saw, but also anyone that has video of what might have happened. Police emphasizing it's important to their investigation to be able to see exactly how this happened, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So Sara, you mentioned the driver, a 25-year-old, and it's believed that this may have been drunk driving. Was there another passenger in the vehicle?

GANIM: You know, police did not mention anything about another passenger. But that's something that will be a part of the investigation, Fred. And, you know, as you said, 25-year-old driver who is now in jail is, you know, under investigation. Police obviously as part of the investigation will be questioning her, talking about those details. I think that's something that we'll learn in the days to come, if there was anyone else that was a witness that may have been that close.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Sara Ganim, terrible, tragic situation.

All right, now, in Galveston County, Texas, issuing voluntary evacuations is underway right now because of flooding. This is 23 million Americans who are now under the threat of a major flooding event triggered by remnants of hurricane Patricia which is now a tropical depression. This is video from Navarro County, Texas, near Dallas. This area has been hit with more than 20 inches of rain so far. Floodwaters washed out train tracks and derailed this 64-car freight train loaded with cement.

CNN meteorologist Tom Seder has been tracking this storm all morning long from the CNN Weather Center. And CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us near Dallas where that freight train was swept off the tracks. So Ed, let me go to you first. It sounds like it's still windy, still raining. What are the conditions overall is there? And how are emergency crews able to get to that freight train?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, it's unrelenting rain. It doesn't stop. It's pouring down rain, it's been a steady downpour throughout the morning and that hasn't stopped. Although, we are this close you can see the train there in the distance, and 64 cars that were toppled over by the rushing flood waters.

We are seeing the waters here recede, and we know some crews have been going up and walking up to the train there. The vehicles outfitted to drive along the same tracks to assess the situation there. But so far, no real work being done to begin the process of getting the train back up and out of this area, clearly waiting for these flood waters to recede, which is going to take some time. It has dropped considerably, but the onslaught of water that this area has received, Fredericka, has been simply staggering.

Nearly 20 inches of rain in the last day and a half is falling here in the area which has caused the shutting down of interstate 45 for many hours in the overnight. Just a little while ago water is passing over the highway, making it impractical and dangerous for the heavy traffic that usually navigates that stretch of highway. This is the highway that connects Dallas to Houston. So you can imagine on a weekend it'll be heavily traveled. So we'll continue to monitor that.

And now, as you know, and we've been reporting, the remnants of hurricane Patricia as it's pushing toward the northeast into Mexico and in through Texas, all of that mixing together through the storm system that has already been sitting over the state of Texas and more rain expected the rest of this weekend. Fredericka?

[14:05:07] WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

Straight ahead, Hillary Clinton is getting big celebrity support today. Katy Perry will be performing at her rally before the Jefferson Jackson dinner fundraiser. More on that in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Donald Trump, he had a lot to say earlier today in Jacksonville, Florida. He spoke for more than an hour. And he didn't at all hesitate to take some jabs at his fellow candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bush is failing. He's a very nice person. Highly low on energy. He really is. He's low. He's low. He's low on energy. But he's a nice person. By the way, Carson is super low. I don't understand the whole deal. I don't know what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Trump's criticism of Carson and Bush come right after two key polls in Iowa show Mr. Trump in second place for the first time since June. Ben Carson has seized the lead with 28 percent of Republican voters. Trump, again, downplaying the results of two Iowa polls that show him slipping to second place behind Mr. Carson.

[14:10:05] Donald Trump is just one of the guests on CNN's "State of the Union." Tomorrow Jake Tapper also has Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio. Watch tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern time.

Meantime in Iowa tonight, Katy Perry is kicking off a big night for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Clinton is holding a rally before the Jefferson Jackson Dinner where she will be joined by Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley for the first time since Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee dropped out of the race. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is covering tonight's dinner in Des Moines. So Jeff, tell us about this Clinton, the rally to kind of get things started.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredericka. Well, as you said, it is going to be led by Katy Perry. And we saw her just a couple of minutes ago. She was doing a sound check here, actually singing a couple of her favorite songs, firing up this crowd.

But what Hillary Clinton is trying to do here is really cap off a, what's been the strongest 10-day stretch of her campaign, really beginning with that CNN debate in Las Vegas, going forward into this week when Joe Biden said he would not run against her. And of course, that long Benghazi testimony on Thursday. She has never felt more confident. She is coming into this, you know, essential Democratic event here feeling pretty strong.

So what she's going to do tonight is try to rally her supporters with a little bit of star power from Katy Perry. But that's not all. She's also going to have her husband, the former president Bill Clinton, at her side as well. He does not campaign very often. This is the beginning of him stepping out more on the campaign trail. But they were actually preparing for the possibility of Joe Biden being here. So that's why they added all of this star power here, just to make sure they could compete with this.

But now that he's not in the race, she's going to fire up these Democrats here, trying to win over undecided Democrats, because we're just 100 days away from the contest that kicks off the whole 2016 campaign here in Iowa, the Iowa caucuses.

WHITFIELD: But Jeff, it's what she says, right, which will really matter in terms of how you outshine the other candidates there at this dinner, because traditionally that's the way it's been? Who can really appeal to an audience because of what they say and how they say it? So is there a lot of pressure on her to kind of maintain this momentum, especially after this week?

ZELENY: Well, Fredricka, I think the pressure on her is behind her for this moment, anyway. This is more the continuation of a victory lap. Of course, Bernie Sanders, he's the one who is trying to convince Democrats that if they're still looking for an alternative, he is the leading alternative. He is the one that I think has more to prove here tonight at this dinner.

But I can just remember covering this eight years ago in 2007, and others in years past. But that was the key moment where a young senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, who a lot of people didn't know about. He broke out that night. And he delivered a speech that was much better than hers was then. It was the beginning of him overtaking her in Iowa and going on that way here. So she definitely wants to show that she's presidential. She definitely wants to show Democrats that she is fighting for progressive values. She'll be moving a little bit more toward the left as she's been doing all year here. But I think the challenge actually is more on her rivals to see if they can compete with her and catch up to her, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much in Des Moines. We'll check back with you.

All right, ahead, an unusual development today on Russia's role in Syria's civil war. Details on the unlikely group Russia says it's now willing to support. A live report from Moscow, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:17:57] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: On "30 Rock," Tracy Morgan made us laugh by playing an over the top version of himself. The role earned him an Emmy nomination and scores of fans. Morgan first rose to fame in the 90s on "Saturday Night Live."

TRACY MORGAN, COMEDIAN: That bird is a liar.

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: The laughter masking personal pain -- a troubled upbringing, his father's death to AIDS, his best friend's murder, a life threatening battle with diabetes.

MORGAN: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

GUPTA: But on June 7th, 2014, everything changed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tracy Morgan was involved in a very serious auto accident.

GUPTA: The crash left him in a coma for weeks. Morgan's recovery meant he had to miss "SNL's" 40th anniversary special.

TINA FEY, COMEDIAN: I wish my friend Tracy Morgan was here tonight.

GUPTA: A few months later, he was ready to talk to the "Today" show.

MORGAN: I love comedy. And I wonder how I'm going to be funny again.

GUPTA: In the first images of Morgan after the accident, a familiar, upbeat smile. His doctor even telling "The Daily Beast" he was, quote, "nothing short of a miracle," and in returning to "SNL" nothing short of an emotional homecoming.

MORGAN: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Hello, again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks for sticking around.

Russia announced today what could be a significant shift in its approach to crisis in Syria. Russia now says they may join the U.S. in supporting the Free Syrian Army. That is the main Syrian opposition group fighting forces of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, (via translator): We're ready to provide aerial support to the patriotic opposition, including the so-called Free Syrian Army. But it's important to us to get in touch with people who are authorized to represent these armed groups that are standing against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Nic Robertson is in Moscow. So Nic, Assad just meeting with the Russian president Putin in Moscow this week. Why would Russia say it's going to support a group fighting Assad, essentially be on the same side as the U.S.? This is getting very confusing.

[14:20:11] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's complicated. I think when you listen to what the last part of what Sergey Lavrov had to say there, it's important that we get in touch with these people, therein lies the rub, because what he went on to say is that Washington isn't sharing with us information about where the terrorists are or where and how and who to speak to within the Free Syrian Army. There's an element here almost, almost that Russia is essentially calling out the U.S. to put forward its allies. Who are the Free Syrian Army? Where are their spokesmen? Where are they based?

So, you know, on the one hand, Sergey Lavrov is saying, yes, we'll back them. We'll back this opposition with airstrikes. But the previous language from both him and the president here who has been more along the lines of who are, what are, and who speaks for the Free Syrian Army. So I think we need to take it in that context. Though Lavrov did go on to say that Russia is backing neither Assad nor the opposition. But the preponderance of air strikes, as people in the United States and Europe believe, most of Russia strikes are not against ISIS here that have been targeting groups like the Free Syrian Army. So language sounds good. Look at the detail.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson. Thank you so much.

All right, one of the nation's top basketball programs could be tarnished by a sex scandal. Coaches accused of paying for prostitutes to recruit players. Now a former coach is out of a job.

And one of the escorts from the so-called stripper parties is dropping a bombshell on what she says he and other coaches covered up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:33] WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories. A $6,000 reward is now being offered for tips in a deadly school shooting that police say started over a game of dice. It happened Thursday at Tennessee State University in Nashville. This new surveillance video captures the moment one of the gunmen opened fire killing someone. Authorities say they are looking for two men. Two more students were hurt by should be OK.

And the FBI has agreed to investigate the shooting death of a Florida church musician. He was stranded on an interstate exit ramp. A plain clothes officer from the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department killed Corey Jones last weekend. A source close to the investigation tells CNN the officer may not have clearly identified himself, and Jones may have pulled his gun out of confusion.

And the U.S. Navy resumes its search for the voyage data recorder of the doomed cargo ship El Faro. Debris from the ship already has been washing ashore, and crews arrived at the search zone in the Bahamas last night. The Jacksonville, Florida, based ship and its 33 crew members vanished near that area on October 1st after running into hurricane Joaquin.

And stunning accusations of strippers and prostitution being used to recruit players for one of the top basketball programs in the nation and it has cost the man at the center of the scandal his job. Former Louisville coach Andre McGee has resigned from his job as the assistant coach at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He had been on administrative leave. CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes has more on the scandal tarnishing the university.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: University of Louisville is one of the most successful college basketball programs in the country. They won a national championship in 2013. But now the program has a dark cloud hanging over it.

In a new book titled "Breaking Cardinal Rules, Basketball and the Escort Queen" Katina Powell gives the sordid details of more than 20 different recruiting parties that took place at the athletic dorm between 2010 and 2014. On ESPN's "Outside the Lines," Powell said former Louisville graduate assistant coach Andre McGee would pay her to bring strippers to the parties, and in some cases the dancers, including Powell's own daughters, would have sex with the recruits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATRINA POWELL, AUTHOR, "BREAKING CARDINAL RULES": He would start the music, and usually the girls would come out one by one. And they would dance for the recruit. He'd ask me, is there any girls that want to, you know, want to make extra money, pretty much side deal with the players? And I was like, I'll ask. So I asked the girls, anybody want to make extra money. And their eyes lit up like, well, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Powell said she would even have sex with the recruits' parents and guardians in order to get the players to sign with the school. On "Outside the Lines" Powell said it's hard to believe that Pitino didn't know what was going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Four years, a boatload of recruits, a boatload of dances, loud music, alcohol, security, cameras, basketball players who came in at will. You've got players that are so loyal to Pitino, who wouldn't go back and be like, hey, you know, we've got dancers and sex and all that going on. My thing is, how could he not know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: At Louisville's tip-off luncheon, Coach Pitino said he knew nothing about the allegations, but he would get to the bottom of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PITINO, LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL COACH: If there was any wrongdoing, it's a big if, and people have to pay for their crimes, and that's an if -- I hope those ifs are not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Pitino has since said he has no plans to step down. In a public letter to fans, he said, quote, "I will not resign and let you down. Someday I will walk away in celebration of many memorable years, but that time is not now."

While the allegations at Louisville are shocking, former blue chip recruit Jalen Rose who ended up signing with Michigan said this type of activity is not uncommon on recruiting trips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALEN ROSE FORMER COLLEGE AND NBA PLAYER: What you see at a bachelor or bachelorette party is what happens on a recruiting visit. And as a 17-year-old kid, first off, if I'm not getting laid, I'm not coming. I'm not signing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, that was Andy Scholes reporting.

All right, thanks so much for spending the afternoon with us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "Vital Signs" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.