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Trump Speaks to the Press on Recession, Trade Wars, Middle East, Gun Laws and NAFTA; Three Potential Mass Shootings Prevented by Authorities; Wedding in Kabul Attacked by Suicide Bomber; Elie Honig Answers Legal Question in "Cross-Exam"; Vaping Linked to Severe Lung Disease; Ken Cuccinelli Wants to Re-write Immigration History. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 18, 2019 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- President Xi. I think if he met with the protesters, within a very short period of time, they would work something out that's good everybody. I really believe that. He's a very talented man. I mean, aside from everything, he's a very talented man.

He's very smart, very talented, and I know him well, probably as well as anybody. And I believe if he sat down with them, now, you know, he's not -- that's not his deal, sit sitting down with people. You know, he doesn't do that, but I think maybe the world changes.

I really believe if President Xi sat down with representatives of the protesters, and they do have good representatives, pretty good representatives, pretty strong representatives. I've been watching and seeing them.

If he sat down, I think he'd work something out and I think it would be good for everybody. But it does put pressure on the trade deal. If they do something negative, it puts pressure.

Now, that deal I can sign by myself. It's structured so I don't have to go to Congress, but I respect Congress. I respect the views of Congress. And I respect, most importantly, the views of the people of our country. And I think it would be much harder for me to sign a deal if he did something violent in Hong Kong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support cutting $4 million in foreign aid?

TRUMP: Are you talking about the rescission? Yes, I support many of those things. We'll negotiate it up, but you know, I've cut back a lot on countries. You know, we give billions of dollars to countries that don't even like us and I've been cutting that a lot.

We give billions and billions of dollars to countries that don't like us, don't like us even a little bit, and I've been cutting that. And we just put a package of about $4 billion additional dollars in. And in some cases, you know, in some cases I can see it both ways. In some cases, these are countries that we should not be giving to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you see then cutting aid to them is helping the United States though? Does it make us safer? Does it make us --

TRUMP: I don't think so. No, I don't think so. And if I thought it would, I'd probably do it. But, you know, I cut back $1.3 billion a year to Pakistan. And when I cut it back, I have a better relationship with -- as you know, the president came in and we have a great relationship.

Prime minister came in. We have a great relationship with Pakistan now. He -- we had a really good meeting. So what happened, I cut back $1.3 billion. We have a better relationship now. I also cut it back on the Palestinians because they speak very badly about our country. So I cut it back on the Palestinians.

We were paying $500 million a year. Now we're paying nothing. But I think we're going to get further because I could see opening that up again. I think we're going to do much better the way I'm doing it. You know, we're trying to negotiate a peace deal. Everybody said that's the deal that's totally impossible.

They talk about a deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis as the toughest deal you could possibly do no matter what deal you're talking about. And I stop payment on $500 million a year, but I think they're going to make a deal. And I think one of the reasons they'd want to make a deal is because of that, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to wait until after the Israeli elections to put out your Middle East peace plan?

TRUMP: I probably will wait, but we may put out pieces of it. We have some very talented people, as you know, our great ambassador and others. We have some very talented people, but that's probably the toughest deal of all. Peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians because they've been decades of hate.

And it's tough to make a deal when there's that much hate. But I think I've helped it very much by saying, look, until there's a deal, we're not going to pay you anymore. And other people should have done that long before me. So these are things when you talk about rescission, that's not part of rescission, by the way. But we have a lot of things like that in the rescission. Phil?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, you're heading back to Washington after a week off. Do you have any thoughts on the cabinet? Is the cabinet solid and going to stay in place?

TRUMP: I think we have a great cabinet. Yes, there will always be people change because, you know, after -- we're going to be three years how. It's a long time. They're under a lot of pressure, but I think we have a great cabinet. I really do. I think our cabinet is terrific.

Some of them will leave for a period of time. They may come back. I mean, the relationship I have is very good with the cabinet and with others. But, you know, it's almost three years now if you can believe it, right. And at a certain point in time, people do tend to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you still considering withdrawing from NAFTA if Nancy Pelosi doesn't bring up the USMCA on the House floor?

TRUMP: Well, I haven't said whether or not I would, but I would say NAFTA is one of the worst deals ever made in the history of trade deals. If you look at NAFTA and you take a look at what it's done to our country, thousands of factories closed, millions of jobs.

[17:05:05] It's been a one-way street. And the USMCA is a great deal. The unions love it, the farmers love it. Everybody wants it. But it's up to Nancy Pelosi. If she wants to put it for a vote, she's going to get overwhelming bipartisan support. And I view that as a bipartisan deal.

I would imagine she'd put it up. There's an easy thing to do. It would be totally bipartisan, which is good for the Democrats and the Republicans. And everybody wants it. I mean, the unions like it. The unions hated NAFTA, but they love the USMCA.

The farmers, above all, love it especially the American farmers. Our farmers love it more than the other two sides. They love it. So, a lot of good things going, but we have to see. They have to put it up for a vote. You know, it's political season if you haven't noticed. So they have to put it up for a vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You talk about people coming back into the administration. Could Nikki Haley come back in (inaudible)?

TRUMP: Yes, at some point, maybe, if she wanted to. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been talking to her about that?

TRUMP: I really haven't. I've been talking to a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible)

TRUMP: No, I'm very happy with Mike Pence. I think Mike Pence has been an outstanding V.P. I think that he has been incredible in terms of the love that a lot of people, especially if you look at the evangelicals and so many others. They really have a great respect for our vice president and so do I.

And so do -- I think most people. No, I wouldn't be thinking about that. A lot of people -- a lot of people, you know, amazingly, they bring different names up and they brought a lot of different names up --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are they?

TRUMP: -- and that's by the way, at some point I'll let you know -- but that's by the way, standard. You know, that's standard. Everybody thought that President Obama was going to change Biden. They all thought that in, you know, second term he was going to change. Everybody thought it. And he didn't do that. But, no, I'm very happy with Mike Pence. Thank you all. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you be a little clearer on your gun position? I don't -- TRUMP: Which one?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your position on background checks and guns.

TRUMP: So, Congress is looking at it very strongly, bipartisan. I put in certain parameters which you somewhat know about. I'm also very, very concerned with the Second Amendment more so than most presidents would be.

People don't realize we have very strong background checks right now. You go into buy a gun you have to sign up. There are a lot of background checks that have been approved over the years. So, I'll have to see what it is. But Congress is meeting, bipartisan. A lot of people want to see something happen. But just remember this, big mental problem and we do have a lot of background checks right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're not willing to support universal background checks right now?

TRUMP: I'm not saying anything. I'm saying Congress is going to be reporting back to me with ideas. And they'll come in from Democrats and Republicans and I'll look at it very strongly. But just remember, we already have a lot of background checks, okay? Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to Wayne LaPierre again, sir?

TRUMP: Say it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to Wayne LaPierre this week agian?

TRUMP: I have. Well, I spoke to him a week ago. And look, I've had a great relationship with the NRA. And I will always have a great relationship. I've been very good for the NRA. If you just look, I mean, we have now two Supreme Court justices, great ones, and who would have thought that was going to happen and, you know, long prior to three years.

So we have two, and equally importantly, we will have within another 90 days, 179 federal judges. And I say thank you very much, President Obama because he was unable to get them filled. I don't know what happened to him, but he was unable. So President Obama did not do his job, and I inherited 138 empty positions.

And honestly, from his standpoint, and the standpoint of where he's coming from, that shouldn't have happened. And we did do one other thing. I saw last night where some people were talking about criminal justice reform, very liberal Democrats. I'm the one that got it done.

And I saw that and I said, you know, isn't it a shame. You do something, and I've had very conservative people wanting it and very liberal people wanting it. But if you take a look at -- if you take a look at that reform package without Donald Trump, it doesn't happen.

And you know what? I don't need the credit. I get enough credit. But they never even mentioned my name. And these were people that were begging me to do it, calling me, begging me like you've never seen. And now that criminal justice reform is done, beautiful package, wonderful, they don't even mention my name. So stupid. So stupid. Thank you. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:09:58] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: There you have it, the president returning from a 10-day vacation to warnings of an impending recession amid his multiple ongoing trade wars. And there you see him going up the stairs after taking more than 30 minutes to talk with reporters, answering questions on everything from the economy to Afghanistan, to guns and more.

Here's what we can tell you about what he was doing in his time away. As he spent that time in New Jersey, "The New York Times" says, "President Trump spent much of that time privately worrying about the economy and how it could hurt his chances of being re-elected."

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live near the president's golf club where he spent the last 10 days. Kristen, some economists say we could have real problems on the horizon when it comes to the economy. The president just talked to the press there before boarding Air Force One. What more did he say about these warnings?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, it was clear that that was what he wanted to talk about. As you said, he was there for about 30 minutes talking about everything from Afghanistan to gun control, but the initial out of the bat statement he made was about the economy, clearly weighing on him.

We're hearing all of these analysts, as you said, saying that there is a potential for a downward turn of the economy. And here's what President Trump had to say. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't see a recession. I mean, the world is in a recession right now. And although that's too big a statement, but if you look at China, China is doing very, very poorly. They've had -- I just saw a report, they've had the worst year they've had in 27 years because of what I've done.

And they want to come to the negotiating table. You know, they are having companies loose, I mean, they are leaving. The companies are leaving and they are laying off millions of people because they don't want to pay 25 percent. And that's why they want to come to the table. I don't think there's another reason other than President Xi, I'm sure, likes me very much.

But they are losing millions and millions of jobs in China. And we're not paying for the tariffs. China is paying for the tariffs for the 100th time. And I understand tariffs very well. Other countries, it may be that if I do things with other countries, but in the case of China, China is eating the tariffs. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, President Trump also said that they were in meetings with China, that they were going well. Very interesting here to watch him talk about it because it was almost exactly what you heard from Peter Navarro and Larry Kudlow who were put out there on this topic earlier today, that we are not seeing a recession.

Essentially denying all of the things we're hearing from these economists and from our farmers on the ground saying that the tariffs are not impacting people, that America is not bearing the burden of these trade wars, which, in fact, we don't know to be true. We've seen a report come out from these independent researchers who say that actually 95 percent of that price change is going to fall on U.S. importers where only 5 percent is going to fall on China.

But, Ana, it is not surprising that this is something that would really concern President Trump. The economy is a central issue in a campaign. 2020 is coming up, especially here when we have President Trump who has made it the central focus of his campaign. It's always big when there's a presidential incumbent, but he has relied on it there.

And, Ana, I just want to mention one other thing there. We know President Trump can be a polarizing figure, and I have talked to voters across the country, many of whom tell me that while they might not like President Trump, they like what he's doing with the economy. So, that's potential lost votes if the economy does, in fact, tank, Ana.

CABRERA: And the polls, of course, back that up. It's the one issue in which the president is not under water when comes when it comes to approval of the job he's doing. Kristen Holmes, thank you for that reporting.

Let me bring in Harry Enton who is with me as well as Elaina Plott, she is a correspondent with "The Atlantic." Thank you both for being here. Guys, when we talk about the economy -- Harry, I'll turn to you first -- what does it mean for the president's re-election chances if the economy tanks?

HARRY ENTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: I mean, look, I've looked at this. You mentioned it. The economy is the one issue -- the one issue he's consistently above water on. His overall approval rating can't get above 45 percent of voters. I would say if the economy went in a downward direction it would probably tank his re- election campaign.

We know. I basically crunch the numbers comparing job growth to re- election margins. And what essentially we see right now is, given the job growth, the president would probably be a slight actually favorite for re-election.

But if, let's say, job growth got slashed in half, then he would join the ranks of say Jimmy Carter in 1980 or George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992 and he would be a heavy underdog for re-election. CABREA: The president also weighed in on Fox News before heading back

to the White House. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not happy with Fox. I'm certainly happy -- I think Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs and I think Tucker Carlson and Laura and Jesse Watters and Jeanine. We have a lot of great people. Even Greg Gutfeld. He wasn't good to me two years ago. Now he's sees all I've done.

[17:14:58] He said would you rather have a great president or a nice guy? I don't know. I think I'm a nice guy, but nobody has done in 2 1/2 years what I've done. And I say that a lot and very few people can challenge it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABREA: Elena, I don't know if you caught that, but the president just referred to Fox News as we.

ELAINA PLOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE ATLANTIC: Yes, Ana, this is something I think that he has had with regard to a freudian slip quite often over the last 2 1/2, 3 years. But, you know, it's always been interesting to me, as somebody who has covered this White House, is currently covering his re-election campaign that he would choose to harp on Fox News in this way.

I was just at the last campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. And the reality is, is that voters and those who support this president the most, if he says that Fox News is not the place to get news from, they will change the channel. I mean, they see Fox not so much as the prism through which they understand this president.

They see the president's words themselves as the way through which they understand him. And going back to you, you and Harry's conversation, I think this is why the economy he feels particularly vulnerable on. When it comes to issues like immigration for instance, I was speaking to voters who said to me, well, he said he built the wall so it's there.

We know of course that's not true. Less than 50 miles of Trump's border wall have been constructed. But because he tells them that, they believe that is in fact the case. The economy though could be something different where it's something that they actually are feeling at a granular level on the ground.

So, if it gets to a point where Trump is telling them the economy is fine, that they are not feeling that intimately, such as a farmer, for instance, that could really hamper his re-election chances.

CABREA: Harry, the president seems specifically upset about Fox News polls that show him losing in head-to-head matchups, at least at this point in the election cycle -- up against these four Democrats.

ENTON: Losing to all of them.

CABRERA: Right. But, I mean, you are a resident polling expert. Do you see anything fishy about these Fox polls?

ENTON: No. And I know the people who do those polls. And they are genuine professionals. Their polls are consistently quite accurate. Those polls reflect what we see in other polling numbers that the president is under water. That he is trailing the potential Democratic candidates.

And that shouldn't be such a surprise given that he's underwater. That's what we would expect. Incumbent elections are usually reflections of the incumbent and given that the president is under water, it's not surprising he's losing to all those different Democrats.

CABREA: Elaina, you talked about having spoken with a number of Trump voters at their rallies, in particular, at his rallies. And you talk about how they're impacted by some of his current policies and maybe not in as great of a ways they had hoped back when he was in his 2016 promise-making stage. Do you believe his voters, his base core supporters, are as excited as they were last go around?

PLOTT: I think what was so fascinating to so many observers about the 2016 election among many things was how viscerally Trump was able to connect with so many different people. And as I wrote in my last dispatch from Manchester, I do think this kind of boils down to an element of human nature, which is that the chase is more exciting than the catch.

You see that in any element in human life but particularly when I go to rallies, I see that, you know, whether it's a rallygoer or Trump himself, he gets so much more excited. They get so much more excited just by kind of reminiscing about when Make America Great Again was the slogan.

Keep America Great, you know, for some reason, especially President Trump, these last several rallies, he's kind of cheer tested the crowd on this slogan. He always says, do I want to get rid of Make America Great Again, the greatest slogan of all time, or do we want to have it at Keep America Great.

There's just an element there that, you know, it's not as fun when you feel that you're no longer the underdog and you're trying to protect what's yours against a so-called villain who Trump doesn't even know who to identify as yet.

CABREA: I want to turn to the Democrats because we've seen the Democrats on the campaign trail this weekend, particularly courting the black voter, Harry, and I know the latest polls also show Joe Biden really with a wide lead there among support of the black vote. But your analysis shows when you break it into generational portions, there's something he should be concerned about.

ENTON: Yes, among younger African-American voters, his support isn't nearly as strong. In fact, I modeled it out and basically what my model suggested was that African-American voters under the age of 30, his support among them are probably actually less than 30 percent. He may not actually be leading. He may be actually in a tie with Bernie Sanders with those younger

African-American voters. And that's something that I think we see across the spectrum, right, is that those older voters, no matter what their race is, they are much more firmly in Joe Biden's camp than those younger voters, and that's true within the African-American community.

CABREA: How concerning should that be though?

ENTON: I mean, look, he's ahead in the polls right now so it shouldn't be too concerning. But, obviously, if let's say that, say, tie among those younger voters in the African-American community becomes a lead for another candidate, that would be far more concerning.

[17:20:3] And it's going to be interesting how this develops, right. We know that Joe Biden has a large lead in part because he was the vice president to the first African-American president. But let's see what happens as some of these candidates become better known, whether or not Biden is able to hold on to that advantage.

CABREA: Harry Enton, Elaina Plott, great to have both of you with us. Thank you so much.

PLOTT: Thank you, Ana.

CABREA: Developing now, CNN is learning police may have foiled as many as three possible mass shootings in the past five days. How one suspect's girlfriend tipped off authorities. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." Don't any anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABREA: Chilling information that law enforcement officials may have thwarted as many as three possible mass shootings in just the last five days. In Daytona Beach, Florida, cameras caught the arrest of a man who reportedly is fascinated with mass shootings.

According to investigators, the man detailed plans to "shoot as many people as he could in a large crowd." His ex-girlfriend apparently tipped off police. They say she is a hero.

In Connecticut, the FBI arrested a 22-year-old man who they say made racist and anti-transgender threats oline. When agents raided his home, they say they found a virtual arsenal, including rifles, a handgun, ammunition and titanium body armor.

And in Ohio, the FBI seized a stockpile of weapons from this man who they say threatened to attack a Jewish community center. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following all of this for us.

[17:25:01] And Polo, some of the details is -- they are just chilling. I mean, the Florida man texted he wanted to break a world record for longest confirmed kill ever? And that Ohio man's arsenal included a bayonet? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Disturbing post especially in light

of what we saw take place in El Paso and then of course, in Dayton, Ohio. Now, let's start with Ohio first, and the man is in custody there. His name is James Reardon. Police say he made an Instagram post of a video which shows a man shooting a rifle.

That may not certainly be legal. However, what caught the attention of authorities was that the Jewish community center of Youngstown was actually tagged in the caption. Not only that, but the caption also implies that the gunman in the video would be the shooter behind a potential attack at that center.

Police have charged him -- charging him with telecommunication harassment. They've also recovered at the suspect's family's home -- they recovered rifles, a gas mask, a bayonet. They're all going over that right now, investigators are, to try to see if that was purchased legally.

The FBI has interviewed him but at this point they have not pressed any federal charges of their own. I also want to take you now to Florida which is that second case that we've been following where Daytona Beach investigators there have another individual in custody.

The video here showing the arrest of a 25-year-old man believed to have threatened to commit a mass shooting. Tristan Wicks of Daytona Beach was detained by police there. He's suspected of sending text messages to threaten to open fire on large crowds.

I want to read you one of those text messages which reads, "A school is a weak target. I'd be more likely to open fire on a large crowd of people from over three miles away. I'd want to break a world record for longest confirmed kill ever."

One of those messages was actually initially flagged by one of those closest to the suspect as Volusia County sheriff told our colleague, Fredricka Whitfield in the last hour. I'll let you listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MICHAEL J. CHITWOOD, SHERIFF, VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA (via telephone): The girlfriend is a real hero here. She went to a local municipality, showed the text messages and actually four municipalities got involved. He is the profile of a shooter. He's 24 years old. He lost his job. He lost his girlfriend. He's depressed. He had a rifle and 400 rounds of ammunition. There's a lot of carnage could have been caused when he fulfilled what I truly believe in my heart that he was -- he is an active shooter. That's exactly what he was. He fits the profile exactly.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: One more point on this particular case here in Florida, according to the sheriff's office, Wicks told detectives that he does not own any firearms but he is fascinated with mass shootings. And then finally, I want to take you to Connecticut now, where another man was arrested there on a separate case. This happened on Thursday. He also allegedly showed interest in carrying out a mass shooting.

Police identifying this man as 22-year-old Brandon Wagshaw. He was arrested on weapons charges in Norwalk, Connecticut, Ana. Police saying that they received a tip that he was initially buying all sorts of rifle parts and then he was going to build a rifle.

But again, it was initially his posts on Facebook indicating that he wanted to carry out a mass shooting that initially flagged him. We should mention that he remains in custody. But again, we should mention, we have seen similar kinds of arrests happen in the past.

But I don't have to go that far and remind viewers of what took place in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio and of course in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a reminder as to why law enforcement take these kind of posts seriously and now resulting in criminal charges for some of these men.

CABREA: See something, say something. That old saying does makes a difference.

SANDOVAL: It worked.

CABREA: Thank you, Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Thanks, Ana.

CABREA: It's the last place you might think terrorists would attack but an ISIS suicide bomber targeted a wedding killing dozens. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:30:00] (COMMERCAIL BREAK)

CABREA: Bring the troops home. That's what the Trump administration is working on doing in Afghanistan as it maneuvers toward a peace deal with the Taliban. Critics say that move to pull all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting would be deadly. Not just for Afghanistan but for the United States. Still President Trump says the U.S. is ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have it very much under control as far as what we're doing. But the rest is, you know, a lot of bad things happen in Kabul. A lot of bad things are happening in Afghanistan and some very positive things. But we would -- look, we're there for one reason. We don't want that to be a laboratory, OK.

It can't be a laboratory for terror. And we've stopped that. And we have a very, very good view. I mean, some things are going to be announced over the next couple of weeks as to what happened, who has been taken out. A lot of people have been taken out that were very bad, both ISIS and Al Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABREA: Now, this comes just as ISIS claims responsibility for yet another devastating suicide attack in Afghanistan. A Pakistani fighter reportedly detonated an explosive vest in the middle of a wedding party in Kabul killing at least 63 people. CNN's Becky Anderson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): A pile of victims' shoes. Blood coating chairs. All in a shattered banquet hall. In Afghanistan's unending maelstrom of violence, this is how weddings can end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I've lost hope. I lost my brother, my friends who came to join my wedding party.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The day after his wedding party, the groom recounts what happened when a suicide bomber snuck in and detonated a massive bomb that had been strapped to his body, shaking the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was in the wedding party when a blast occurred. It was very powerful and the situation was terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were sitting in our home when the strong sound of the blast came up. We came to the site of the blast, and I saw that many women and children were screaming and crying. Many martyrs and injured people were transferred by the ambulances and it was a really terrible situation.

ANDERSON (voice-over): It's not unfamiliar. In Afghanistan, death is a familiar business. Murdered by terrorism at night, the next morning, families already burying their dead. As the wounded, badly hurt, struggled to cling to life in dilapidated hospitals, while Afghans suffer through the bloodshed, the politics of finger-pointing goes on.

[17:34:58] The Taliban condemning the attack, deny any involvement. But, Afghanistan's president insists the group must share in the blame saying, "They provide a platform for terrorists." And later, as it often does, ISIS claiming responsibility, but offering no evidence.

This latest episode of violence, horrific, but unsurprising as it is, comes as peace talks seem on the cusp of coming together. America could be about to agree to pulling out its forces. The deal is supposedly meant to be finalized in the coming days. Yet, it is unclear what that will mean for ordinary people.

The country is driven (ph) by religious and political factions, flooded with weapons, not to mention battle-hardened fighters all after nearly 20 years of American involvement. So the only thing that seems certain, looking ahead is that these will be far from the last innocent deaths in Afghanistan. Becky Anderson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: The medical examiner confirmed multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in his jail cell. But his lawyers aren't satisfied. How they're taking action when we return. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It has been more than a week now since the death of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein and still there are lingering questions.

[17:40:03] On Friday, the New York medical examiner determined Epstein took his own life by hanging himself in his jail cell. Still his attorneys are planning their own investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing underage girls and running a sex trafficking ring. And that brings us to our weekly segment, "Cross-Exam" with CNN's legal analyst Elie Honi. He's a former federal and state prosecutor and he's here to answer your questions about legal news.

Elie, we're getting a lot more viewer questions about where the criminal investigation goes from here. Now that Epstein is dead, one viewer asks, are criminal charges likely against his associates and what kind of charges would he face?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Ana, I think additional criminal charges here are exceptionally likely. I think it's a virtual certainty we will see other people charged here. The indicators piled up this week.

First of all, we saw very aggressive statements from the Attorney General William Barr and from the Southern District of New York within days of Epstein's death saying this is an ongoing investigation. This is a conspiracy case, which signals there are other people involved.

I know from my time at the Justice Department there's no way the leaders of the department would come out that strong unless they had good reason to think there was more to come. We also saw the FBI executing a search warrant on Epstein's private island which tells me they're still gathering evidence. They're gathering that evidence for a reason.

Now, what kind of charges could we see? Could be sex trafficking of minors, federal charge. That's the same charge that was already made against Epstein. Anyone who helped him run that operation can and I believe will be charged with the same.

Now, federal criminal law also makes it a crime to either transport a minor across a state or international line or for an individual to travel across a state or international line for the purpose of an illicit sex act with a minor.

So, anybody who did either of those things could be on the hook federally too. There also could be state charges. They obviously vary in terms of what the age of majority or minority is. Usually 16, 17 or 18, but almost all of Epstein's victims were below that age.

There is also some variation in statute of limitations. How long victims have to come forward? How long prosecutors have to charge those cases? We're seeing a trend where states are expanding statute of limitations sometimes getting rid of them altogether. We will see variations there.

But the bottom line is any person who helped Epstein run this operation or any person who had illicit sexual contact with minors could very well be on the hook and needs to be very afraid.

CABRERA: Let's move on to gun laws because we saw rallies all around the country this weekend demanding changes when it comes to gun restrictions. President Trump has signaled he might support more background checks, red flag laws, but one viewer wants to know, didn't he reverse an Obama-era executive order limiting gun sales to people with mental illness?

HONIG: Yes. So, the Obama administration did put in a regulation that said0 anyone who is receiving social security benefits for mental illness or disability goes in the national background check. Trump revoked that within his first month in office.

Now, he's shown some evolution. He signaled some willingness to adopt some gun laws, although we just saw him potentially backtrack a few minutes ago. There is a groundswell of public support like you noted, Ana, and we've seen polling.

There was a poll this week of Trump voters that showed 90 percent of them favor background checks, 75 percent support red flag laws and 46 percent support assault weapons ban. So there's a real political ground swell here that will ultimately be a question of political will.

CABRERA: And now a follow-up question to the ICE raids that we saw happen in Mississippi just last week -- one viewer asked, could the business owners be prosecuted as well?

HONIG: Yes, federal law does make it a crime to employ or hire unlawful aliens. It's a fairly minor crime, six-month maximum penalty. I think it's telling that for all the hype that DOJ put around this roundup, none of the business owners were charged.

I have a couple problems with the way they did this investigation. First of all, it's a year-long investigation. They used over 600 agents. I don't think that's the best use of limited federal resources. Going after people whose only crime is their immigration status, no indication these people were dangerous or had prior criminal records.

And then you see the U.S. attorney sort of boasting about this is the largest ever round-up. This is a record-breaking round-up. That to me smacks of political showboating. Prosecutors should not be in the business of record-breaking. Leave that to baseball. Maybe someone will hit 74 homers this year or something.

But prosecutors need to be in the business of doing justice and protecting the community. And I do not think that round-up in Mississippi promoted either of those goals. CABRERA: And what are your top questions for this week?

HONIG: So, the first one, what else are we going to learn about Jeffrey Epstein's death? As you said, the autopsy came back. It was ruled a suicide. We will see additional fact and details this week. That will be very interesting.

Second of all, Congress has now subpoenaed Corey Lewandowski. Will the White House yet again try to claim executive privilege? This would be a real stretch because Cory Lewandowski never even worked for the executive branch.

CABRERA: Right.

HONIG: I wouldn't put it past the White House, though they've been very aggressive on that front. And finally, will the public demand for new gun legislation. You mentioned the rallies this week. Congress is coming back from recess early in September to have hearings. Will all of that result in legislative action?

There's a real ground swell but ultimately you have the NRA entrenched on the other side. Ultimately, it will be a question of political will. If there is enough political will, there are readily available laws that can really make a difference here.

[17:45:03] CABRERA: Elie Honig, thank you sir.

HONIG: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Good to see you. Make sure you read Elie's column on cnn.com/opinion. You can submit your own questions for him to answer on our show. Thanks.

OK. It's exploded in popularity especially among teens, but there's a new link between vaping and severe breathing problems. The concerns trend -- the concerning trends doctors are seeing in almost one-third of the country. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

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CABRERA: Vaping products and e-cigarettes are becoming more common and so are the health risks. A new CNN health survey finds more than 120 case of lung disease in 15 states may be linked to vaping. Wisconsin has the highest number of cases potentially linked to vaping with 15 confirmed cases and 15 more under investigation. Illinois has 10 confirmed cases and another 12 under investigation.

Health officials in multiple states say it's unclear if there is a connection between all of these cases or whether vaping definitely caused all these illnesses. Joining us now is Dr. Emily Chapman. She is the chief medical officer at Children's Minnesota, which reported four cases.

[17:50:02] Dr. Chapman, I'm glad you're here. Describe for us what you're seeing. EMILY CHAPMAN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AT CHILDREN'S MINNESOTA: Well,

we've seen a cluster of cases. All of ours were in teenagers ages 16 to 18 who presented with what initially looked to be a routine viral infection or potentially a bacterial pneumonia.

But instead of getting better with appropriate treatment, they actually continued to decline and many of them to lung failure, needing intensive care unit support or ventilator support.

CABRERA: Oh, my gosh. How do you know the cases are linked to vaping specifically?

CHAPMAN: What we were able to do was rule out the other causes of this type of aggressive decline in lung function. And only after doing that were we able to put together that these cases had a similarity to those seen in Wisconsin and Illinois. And we began to broaden the questioning of our teens and put the pieces together.

CABRERA: Now, in Minnesota there, you've only diagnosed four cases of lung disease linked to vaping at last check. What exactly is it that's causing the lung damage in these cases?

CHAPMAN: Well, I wish we knew. We do have four cases now, although there are certainly others in our state and in our health system under investigation as possible cases of this.

What we don't know yet is whether this is related to the habit of vaping itself, whether it has something to do with the substance that is in the vape cartridge or whether it has to do with some kind of off-brand or home concoction that kids are putting into these.

CABRERA: Wow. So, it's still kind of a mystery. Is vaping any less toxic or less dangerous than smoking cigarettes?

CHAPMAN: Well, it's interesting. Cigarettes were not known to cause lung damage for decades after we had first started using them. The association with lung cancer came up long after the public had been using cigarettes for a long time.

We're seeing the same concern with vaping. What was initially thought to be a safer way of using tobacco, nicotine or other substances is now beginning to be known to be associated with some acute effects and potentially long-term effects. We just haven't had enough time with these products for us to be able to say to anyone that this is safe.

CABRERA: And based on what you're seeing, is there a difference in terms of the impact of nicotine versus marijuana-based products and vaping?

CHAPMAN: In this particular sort of outbreak of aggressive lung decline, it's not clear yet what the substance is. Our patients reported exposure to a number of different substances.

We're working with our Minnesota Department of Health who is partnering with Centers for Disease Control to try and understand what the common denominator might be here. And we just don't have that information yet. Investigations, interviews are still ongoing.

CABRERA: Any final message you want to pass along to parents or teenagers? You mentioned the patients you're seeing are young.

CHAPMAN: They are. I don't think it is limited necessarily to the teenagers. We certainly would expect to also see it as we have in other states in young adults. But with vaping being common in middle schoolers and certainly in high schoolers reported as one out of five, I think the message is we have no idea what this is doing.

We don't know what the short-term effects are or long-term effects on lung function. And is that really something that you want to get yourself into?

CABRERA: Right. Is it worth the risk? Dr. Emily Chapman --

CHAPMAN: Absolutely.

CABRERA: -- really appreciate your expertise and insights. Thanks for being here.

CHAPMAN: Absolutely. My pleasure.

CABRERA: We'll be right back.

[17:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A symbol of American freedom, Lady Liberty and her famous welcoming words need a rewrite, that's according to a top Trump administration official this week. CNN's Jake Tapper sees it as a big moment in the "State of the Cartoonian.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): The Statue of Liberty was in the news this week, specifically the Emma Lazarus poem chiseled next to her, which Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli rewrote.

KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DIRECTOR, CITIZANSHIP AND IMMIGRATION OFFICES (voice-over): Give me your tired and you poor who can stand on their own two feet.

TAPPER (voice-over): Perhaps while they're editing history to fit the Trump administration's values, Lady Liberty might also benefit from a Trump-style makeover.

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY (voice-over): I want to show them that I don't care.

TAPPER (voice-over): Although the First lady is assuredly not menacing enough for the administration's approach to immigration.

TRUMP (voice-over): If they come into the United States illegally, they're getting out.

TAPPER (voice-over): The president would probably want her to be holding something other than a welcoming torch, perhaps a more menacing flame thrower.

TRUMP (voice-over): I can do much better than that.

TAPPER (voice-over): And while we're at it, what is she doing in New York City harbor? She should be at the border.

[17:59:55] TRUMP (voice-over): When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military and police, I say, consider it a rifle.

TAPPER (voice-over): Then when she needs to rest, she can lie down and the president will finally get his border wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

END