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Remembering Comedian And Philanthropist Jerry Lewis; Trump To Address Nation Tonight On Afghanistan Strategy; Millions Flock To Witness Total Solar Eclipse. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 21, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:56]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The suspected driver behind that deadly van attack in Barcelona is still on the run. Spanish police say search teams have been launched in nearby Catalonia, and along the French border.

The Moroccan man is the last of the 12 suspects still at large. His picture is on your screen. Thirteen people were killed. More than 100 others injured Thursday when the vehicle slammed into a crowd on a bustling street in Barcelona.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Tributes are pouring in for the king of comedy, Jerry Lewis. The 91-year-old funny man and philanthropist entertained audiences for nearly six decades. He died of an undisclosed illness over the weekend.

CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a look back at his life and legacy.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was born Joseph Levich in 1926, but he became known to the world as Jerry Lewis, the zainy but loveable fool in films such as "The Bellboy" and "The Nutty Professor." Lewis hit it big at age 20 when he teamed up with another young entertainer, Dean Martin.

JERRY LEWIS, ACOTR AND COMEDIAN: Dean was the macho and I was the monkey and I knew we had lightning in a barrel.

ELAM: Martin and Lewis became one of the most popular comedy teams in history. Thousands of sold out performances, 16 hit movies and dozens of radio and tv appearances.

On his own Lewis signed a seven-year $10 million contract with Paramount in 1959. At that time, it was the largest contract ever between a studio and performer. Lewis went on to act in or direct shows in movies for several decades. He later offered this advice to fellow entertainers --

LEWIS: Be a hit. Score. Get the audience laughing and happy. That's the secret of success in this business. ELAM: He didn't just make audiences laugh. Lewis used his name to make a difference taking up the fight against muscular dystrophy. For more than four decades his annual Labor Day telethons helped raise more than a billion dollars for research and treatment and almost always ended with his signature song "You'll Never Walk Alone."

[06:35:14] Lewis struggled with his own health problems over the years, including prostate cancer, type 1 diabetes, pulmonary fibrosis, and heart disease.

LEWIS: It's been a long, long grueling ride. I've ingested more than 24,000 pills.

ELAM: But through it all he kept his sense of humor.

LEWIS: You better laugh at it because there's the alternative is not funny.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: That signature laugh. Imagine, he started at 20 years of age with Dean Martin.

CAMEROTA: I mean, there was a lot I didn't know about him just there learning that he got the biggest entertainment contract and that he had all of those health problems and yet he lived to 91. What a life?

CUOMO: What a life and how many lives he affected, which will really be his legacy. He kept them laughing but so many lives having worked with that telethon, boy, he changed lives. To his friends and family, our thoughts and prayers.

So, the country's longest running war, is it going to drag on even longer? President Trump set to announce his plan for Afghanistan. Remember his signature pledge during the campaign to get out of these conflicts abroad. So, we have the options he's considering and the decision he's likely to make next.

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[06:40:37]

CAMEROTA: President Trump will announce his strategy on Afghanistan this evening addressing the nation in his first formal presidential address since February. What's the plan for the longest war in American history?

Let's bring in CNN military analyst and former Army commanding general in Europe and Seventh Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. General, great to have you here with us.

You know, the longest war in U.S. history, that's so notable. Let's face it, unless you have a family member serving there, Afghanistan is not at the top of mind for most people. So why now, what do you expect from the president tonight? LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think we are at an inflection point in Afghanistan, Alisyn, and I know that's been said before. When you talk to a lot of Marines and soldiers who have served there, they will use a phrase that it's not a 16-year war, it's one-year war reiterated 16 times.

There hasn't been a long-term strategy for Afghanistan since the beginning other than to eliminate al Qaeda and after that it divulged into nation building and support for the Afghan government.

I think what we're going to see tonight hopefully is a strategy that looks at South Asia, that's what's been predicted and you will probably see an increase in troops I would guess between 4,000 and 6,000.

But there's also going to be an emphasis on countries around Afghanistan as part of that South Asia strategy and we're talking about Pakistan and the federal administered tribal areas, perhaps even Iran and all the stands to the north of Pakistan.

So, it's going to be hopefully more of a holistic strategy, at least that's what I'm looking for, along with a couple other keywords that I hope the president uses.

CAMEROTA: Such as?

HERTLING: Well, I think one of the things that the media is going to focus on is the troop numbers and that's the worst thing to focus on, truthfully. I think what we really have to take a look at is what is the proposed path to victory? What kind of assumptions are part of this plan?

In other words, is President Ghani of Afghanistan going to continue to bring his people together? Are we going to be able to influence the federal administered tribal areas in pack stand where a lot of al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists hide out?

What are going to be the advancement of the Afghan Security Forces and the development of their counterterrorism forces with what we provide in terms of support? What kind of forces are NATO going to provide?

When you think about all those things that should be part of a strategy, you also have to take a look at what are the risk and what are the priorities? What is this new administration trying to get done?

Those are the things I'm going to be looking for. If President Trump starts just talking about troop numbers and blaming the past administration for a mess like we've heard him do so many times before, that tells me that he's really not taking ownership of this and that's something that we need the president and the current administration to do.

CAMEROTA: President Trump, I mean, I think he has been all over the map on Afghanistan, understandably, so many people have, it's very hard to figure out what a winning strategy or what winning looks like there.

Before he was president he tweeted a lot about it and he did have criticism obviously for President Obama and others, he said, "Let's get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train, we waste billions there, nonsense, rebuild the USA." This is from 2013.

"I agree with President Obama," he said, "we should have a speedy withdrawal. We keep wasting our money. Rebuild the U.S." Next, "We should leave Afghanistan immediately, no more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard and quick, rebuild the U.S. first."

It goes on. So back then it was simple to him, obviously before he was president, of get out, get out fast.

HERTLING: Very simple. It's very simple when you don't have a stake in it, but when you're talking about the potential for allowing all the things that the forces have worked for, not only the U.S., but also NATO and Afghanistan in terms of trying to reestablish a base within their country, a base for security.

So, you don't see the areas being used by terrorist forces, and there is that possibility now, even though al Qaeda has been tamped down, there is the potential for an increase in ISIS and ISIS-k in Afghanistan.

[06:45:02] CAMEROTA: Does that mean we have to stay in Afghanistan forever? I mean, if a void -- if leaving leaves a vacuum, then how can you ever win?

HERTLING: Well, when you take a look at past wars, Alisyn, you know, Korea, Europe, some other places, there have been stay behind troops left and I think one of the things we will hear President Trump say tonight also is we don't want to repeat the mistakes of Iraq by pulling out completely because it does allow other groups to come in. So that's the conundrum that any president faces.

CAMEROTA: General Hertling, thank you very much for your expertise and your service. Really appreciate it -- Chris.

CUOMO: Another factor for tonight will be whether or not Trump's loss of moral standing after Charlottesville will affect how the address is received.

Let's take a break. We are hours away from the eclipse of the century. We are going to show you if you are in the path of totality and how you can experience this once in a lifetime event safely.

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[06:50:08]

CAMEROTA: There's excitement across America ahead of today's solar eclipse, millions of Americans traveling far and wide to be in position to witness the moon blot out the sun. CNN's Miguel Marquez is one of them. He is live in Salem, Oregon, where it is dark no thanks to the eclipse right now. What's everybody doing there, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is very dark, but they are lining up here in the zone of totality where we will have total solar eclipse. Twelve states will see this thing, about 70 miles wide that shadow will be and from Oregon all the way through South Carolina.

I want to show you here at the state capital in Oregon people already lining up, a couple in from London here, these people came in from Beaverton just down the way here, look at these two, they are not going to get any sleep tonight whatsoever, they will be crashed out during this eclipse.

They're waiting here because they are expected to get solar glasses, about 1,000 of them will be given out here at the state capital. The reason these are so important, these are regular sunglasses, I'm going to show you, check this out, you can see right through those, right?

These are the solar sunglasses, you need to watch the eclipse with. With these you cannot see a flashlight shining through them, you can only see literally the sun and we are such nerds here we each have binoculars with the solar filters on. We are ready to go -- Alisyn, Chris.

CAMEROTA: Very cool. That is a good demonstration of what the solar sunglasses were because I thought they were just like cheap plastic versions of sunglasses.

MARQUEZ: No, they're serious.

CAMEROTA: They are.

CUOMO: Our boss just said the same thing, that the looking at the sun thing is not a joke. Don't do it. You'll hurt your eyes.

Let's bring in CNN contributor, PBS News Hour science correspondent, Miles O'Brien. Double down on the message of warning before we get into the path of totality.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Chris, Alisyn, if you can't get ahold of some of these glasses, there are a few other options. One them is number 14 welders glass, you can find that, that works well, too.

You can create a pinhole camera if you want, but whatever you do, do not look at the sun until it reaches the point of totality. If you happen to live under that 70-mile band when the moon passes in front of the sun completely take the glasses off because you won't see anything.

You won't appreciate it, but then again, when the moon passes away after a couple minutes put them back on, you could hurt yourself. CAMEROTA: You know, Miles, I was someone who was burned, had my eyes burned once by the HMI light, the light that we use in tv news to make the appearance of the sun. So, I have a lot of wariness about this.

It was mortal pain having your eyes burned like that. So I am keeping my children inside which is no fun, you know, I mean, obviously, we should just get our hands on some of those glasses but inside, if you are in the zone of totality, is it going to appear like it's midnight there?

O'BRIEN: This is a pretty good simulation of what we're going to get in a few hours actually, it's going to get very dark very quickly for a few minutes in the middle of the day.

We will be looking around at some of the interesting things that happen, for example, the shadows that pass through the leaves will have a crescent as it approaches totality.

When it gets completely dark, you know, birds that are -- fly by day and roost at night will stop flying. You might hear crickets begin chirping as if it were nighttime. All kinds of strange activities occur.

CUOMO: So, what is in it for you, Miles? What do you love about this? We have the funny not 3D glasses and the historical impact and the parents like Alisyn who are being crazy overprotective. What is in it for you?

O'BRIEN: It's a combination -- it's kind of primal, right? I think the ancients looked up and saw these things, there were a lot of superstition involved, the Babylonians believed it foreshadowed the death of a king.

And so, when they learned how to predict eclipses, the king would step down, a subject would take the throne during the eclipse, and then after the eclipse the kind in order to get back in the thrown would have the subject killed.

So, there's all kinds of very interesting superstition that goes along with this, and more recently, there is a lot of good science which will be done during this eclipse.

CAMEROTA: That's not how we treat correspondents. You will be permanently on this. You don't have to worry about it being fatal. We should note that Miles is in Idaho for PBS News Hour and the documentary "Nova, Eclipse Over America," which will air tonight. What are you saving for that documentary that you can tell us?

[06:55:06] O'BRIEN: Well, we're going to be capturing some stuff today. We will be capturing the oohs and aahs of the moment as it were. We will be getting fresh pictures of the sun's corona, which is not only beautiful to see but scientifically of great interest.

And the more we understand it, the better we can protect our power grids and our satellites, which can be affected by these solar storms. So, there is a scientific armada ready. There will be some amateur astronomers, astrophysicists, and folks like us taking it all in and we invite you to do that.

CUOMO: When is the next one?

O'BRIEN: Seven years from now. We are very lucky. That's very unusual. There will be another American continental eclipse seven years from now.

CUOMO: Good to know.

O'BRIEN: So that's unusual. We've waited 100 years from this and now we will get one in seven years.

CAMEROTA: That's great. I will get my kids the glasses by then.

CUOMO: Yes, right. I already learned something, corona, I thought he was more of an IPA guy, Miles O'Brien.

CAMEROTA: My corona. Thank you, Miles. Thanks so much for all of this.

CUOMO: All right. So, we've been covering what happened with yet another Navy ship in the southeast waters -- Southeast Asian waters. There is an intense manhunt under way for ten missing sailors after a destroyer collided with an oil tanker. We have the latest from the Pentagon next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Navy is searching for ten sailors missing after the "U.S. John McCain" collided with a merchant ship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not looking good. The longer the time goes the less the chances are.