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New Day Saturday
Trump Endorses Paul Ryan And John McCain; Trump Releases Hillary Clinton Web Video; Clinton Tries To Clarify Email Comments; Summer Games Kick Off Today; Protests Over Cops Shooting Chicago Teen; The Fight Against Zika; Driving While Distracted. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 06, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:07] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And do we have a full plate of news for you this morning.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I support and endorse our Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I may have short circuited, and for that, I, you know, will try to clarify.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Newly released dash and body camera video show the dramatic moments leading up to deadly police shooting in Chicago. The officer who fired the fatal shot was wearing a body camera, but it was not recording. Investigators are trying to figure out why.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning from Copacabana Beach. Got to go to the opening ceremony last night, still pinching myself that I was there. Only got three hours of sleep, but I woke up still doing the samba. We're going to talk about it and show you some of the highlights, coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: We want to wish you a good Saturday morning and thank you so much for keeping us company here.
BLACKWELL: Good to be with you. I woke up doing the samba, too.
PAUL: You did?
BLACKWELL: Not just Coy. I woke up doing it too. Thanks so much for being --
PAUL: You'll be doing it by the end of the show.
BLACKWELL: All right, let's turn to politics now. Donald Trump changing his tune, now endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan. While he was at it, he endorsed Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, as well. PAUL: This comes after a week of Trump going off-message. He wouldn't endorse Ryan and McCain initially, feuding with the family of U.S. soldier, Humayun Khan who died in Iraq.
I want to bring in CNN's Scott McLean right now. Scott, talk to us more about what Donald Trump said overnight.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christi, Donald Trump has had a pretty tough week. He's struggling in the polls and to move past controversy, and as you mentioned, he's been fighting with his own party lately. So clearly he wanted to end the week on a note of party unity.
Just a few days ago, Trump declined to endorse speaker Paul Ryan, Senator John McCain from Arizona, or Senator Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire, and that ruffled plenty of party feathers.
So last night, you'll notice Donald Trump appeared on stage in Green Bay without any big-name Wisconsin Republicans with him, like, say, Governor Scott Walker. So to try to smooth things over, Trump gave a tightly scripted endorsement of Ryan, McCain, and Ayotte. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In our shared mission to make America great again, I support and endorse our Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. And while I'm at, I hold in the highest esteem, Senator John McCain, for his service to our country, in uniform, and in public office, and I fully support and endorse his re-election. I also fully support and endorse Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: Now, Donald Trump has -- or those three big-name republicans, I should say, have all publicly disagreed with Donald Trump, most recently over his feud with that gold star family, who spoke at the Democratic convention.
But despite differences, Ryan and McCain had both given Trump their endorsements. Now, Ayotte has says she supports the party's nominee, but hasn't gone so far to say that she endorsed Donald Trump.
But he will be in New Hampshire, her home state, for a rally later tonight. Both he and Ayotte are losing in the polls in their respective races. A lot of people are wondering, Christi, whether tonight Donald Trump can stick to the script, stay on message, and focus on Hillary Clinton.
PAUL: All right, we'll see. Scott McLean, we appreciate it. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, and Boris Epshteyn, a Republican strategist and Trump surrogate. Good morning to both of you.
So Boris, let me start with you. What changed between Donald Trump expressing his reluctance to endorse Ryan and McCain and is coming out last night? Nothing, from what I see changed except from the outcry from the party.
BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, Victor, it's all about party unity. Donald Trump knows what's best, not just for politicians, but for the party and for the country as a whole. That's --
BLACKWELL: He didn't know that last week?
EPSHTEYN: Victor, let me finish now.
BLACKWELL: OK.
EPSHTEYN: That's what's best for the country as a whole. He take a look at the situation and decided that it is important to endorse Paul Ryan, Senator McCain, and Senator Ayotte and that's what he did. And again, he knows what's best for the country and that's when the decision was made.
BLACKWELL: OK, you've now finished. He didn't know that last week?
EPSHTEYN: He was evaluating the options. Again, this is within the Republican Party. This is GOP versus GOP. The people in those primaries had also endorsed Donald Trump. They were also very supportive of Donald Trump and he was evaluating what to do and that is the decision that was made.
[08:05:10]This is not what we should be talking about right now, Victor. We should talking about Hillary Clinton quote/unquote "short circuiting" and lying to the American people throughout her whole career, and again lying, now lying about lying about her e-mails. That should be the issue. That's what the American people care about.
BLACKWELL: We will certainly talk about the "short circuit" comment in a moment.
EPSHTEYN: I can't wait.
BLACKWELL: But this would not be a point of conversation if Donald Trump had not held out his endorsement several days ago. Let me come to you, Maria Cardona. Now that he has tried to unify the party, had good fundraising numbers in July, it seems that there are more leaders of the GOP coming into the Trump camp. Are you concerned as a Democrat about what you saw last night?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me just say this, as Democrats, we should wake up every single day concerned and pretending that Hillary Clinton is ten points behind with her back against the wall because that is how we will win.
We cannot take anything for granted the way Donald Trump's 16 competitors during the Republican primary did. We are certainly not going to make that mistake.
Having said that, of course, Boris wants to talk about Hillary because he knows that his candidate is on a downward spiral. He's had a horrible two weeks. The Trump train is flying off the wheels.
Every single day, two or three things come out of his mouth that continue to concern the Republican Party. So of course he had to come out after the intervention that the GOP had --
EPSHTEYN: There was no intervention.
CARDONA: -- to talk about quote/unquote "party unity." And if you look at how he made that announcement, he clearly went there kicking and screaming, trying to read from the notes, very stilted.
But, like Boris said, this is what they want to portray, because not only does every single day bring something new in terms of a Trump debacle, it also brings new Republicans coming out and denouncing Trump about how dangerous --
EPSHTEYN: May I respond?
CARDONA: -- let me finish. About how dangerous he is to national security and you have more and more of these high-level Republicans coming out and endorsing Hillary Clinton.
EPSHTEYN: No, you don't -- works with a Clinton-related firm.
BLACKWELL: We've got two blocks together. Go ahead, Boris.
EPSHTEYN: If you're referring to Mike Morell, he works for a firm that's related to the Clintons. So he's completely biased and he was appointed by Obama.
BLACKWELL: You brought up Morell -- hold on. Let me read what Morell said --
EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton was only up by three points --
BLACKWELL: Boris, hold on, let me read what Morell said.
EPSHTEYN: Sure. I just described it.
BLACKWELL: But let people at home understand what he said. This is what he said, former CIA Director Michael Morell endorsed Hillary Clinton on his op-ed for two reasons.
First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander-in-chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty as a president, keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security."
This is also someone who has served under as many Democratic presidents as he has Republican presidents. And you say, Boris, this endorsement means nothing. Why?
EPSHTEYN: It's completely discredited. One, Morell works for a firm related to the Clintons. That's one. Two, he was appointed by Obama to be head of the CIA, acting head of the CIA. This is somebody who is completely biased against Donald Trump.
Hillary Clinton, quote/unquote, "short circuited" on national security throughout her whole career. She short circuited when she lied to the American people about her e-mails. She's short circuiting about letting the American people know what's in the 33,000 e-mails that she hasn't released.
We all know it's not about yoga. So Hillary Clinton is the one who's already tried to prove to the American people that she can be trusted on national security. She's proven that she cannot. She's put American lives in danger --
Let me finish. She's proven to the American people that she puts Americans in danger, just like she did in Benghazi and like she did with her e-mails. She cannot be trusted. She's a liar, and that's why she will not win on November 8th. Donald Trump wins.
BLACKWELL: Maria, go ahead and we'll take a quick break.
CARDONA: This is why Republicans want to talk about the Hillary Clinton e-mails --
EPSHTEYN: Of course, she's awful.
BLACKWELL: Hold on, let her finish.
CARDONA: Even though she has been exonerated, they have nothing else to talk about. They can't compete with her on the battlefield of ideas, especially when it comes to foreign policy --
EPSHTEYN: I would love to talk to you about that --
BLACKWELL: Boris, hold on.
CARDONA: Let me finish, Boris! When it comes to national security, foreign policy, and so importantly the temperament to be president of the United States and commander-in-chief. We have seen that the American people do not want somebody like Donald Trump who can be baited with a tweet, with his hands who are so Twitter-happy, on the nuclear codes.
EPSHTEYN: Well, that's a Clinton talking point. I would love to talk to you about trade --
BLACKWELL: Hold on, hold on. We're going to take a quick break.
CARDONA: Just one more point.
BLACKWELL: OK, let Maria finish her point. Go ahead.
CARDONA: This is why you have so many Republicans, not just Mike Morell, you have more than 100 national security, high-level Republican officials who have come out to endorse Hillary Clinton. It speaks volumes.
[08:10:04]BLACKWELL: All right, we'll take a quick break and turn to that short circuit comment that Hillary Clinton made yesterday. We'll have that right after the break. Stay with us.
PAUL: Yes, Boris and Maria are coming back in just a moment.
Also ahead, the games are beginning now. We'll give you a look at the opening ceremony and a look ahead at what to watch today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Hillary Clinton's campaign schedule is clear today, but yesterday, she spoke about her e-mails with a room full of journalists, and tried again to clarify her statements, made during the recent Fox News interview during which she said that Director James Comey, director of the FBI, testified that her statements to the FBI and to the American public were truthful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I have said, during the interview, and in many other occasions over the past months, that what I told the FBI, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what I have said publicly. So I may have short circuited, at, I, you know, will try to clarify. Because I think, you know, Chris Wallace and I were probably talking past each other. Because, of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI and I appreciated that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right, let's bring back Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist, and Boris Epshteyn, Republican strategist and Trump surrogate.
Maria, let me start with you. Secretary Clinton said during that interview that Director Comey said that what she said in public was truthful. In fact, she told the American public that she used one device. However, he said that she used more than one device.
She said she never sent or received any information that was marked classified at the time that she sent or received it. The director said that there were three at least e-mails that were marked with a "c," indicating they were classified at the time she sent or received it.
[08:15:01]Why can't she or why isn't she acknowledging that there is a discrepancy between what Director Comey said during that testimony last month, and what she told the American public? She still is not doing that.
CARDONA: Well, I think what she's trying to do is clarify two very important things. Number one, is that Comey did say that there's absolutely no evidence that she was untruthful to the FBI, number one.
Number two, on those classified e-mails, the three classified e-mails that he says were in the more than 30,000 e-mails that she turned over, three of them had partial markings on them.
When you see what he said in the actual congressional testimony, he actually admits that those partial markings were ones that even an expert on classification would be easy to overlook.
And so it would be reasonable to think that even Secretary Clinton would not have known that those were classified. But that is getting into the weeds. And so I agree that this is not an answer that is helpful for her because people who did not see that testimony are not going to see those words.
But that is what she was trying to classify -- or that's what she was trying to clarify. But, again, this is done. It's over. This is something that, you know, the American people have moved on. This has been baked into the cake of the people who support her don't care.
The people who don't support her are not going to support her either way. We have seen this in the polls. She is ahead by ten points nationally. She is ahead in all of the battleground states. So of course this is something that the republicans will continue to come back on because they have nothing else.
BLACKWELL: Boris, done, over, Maria says. You say what?
EPSHTEYN: Absolutely not. First of all, in the Reuters poll, Clinton and Trump are tied within the margin of error, three points. That's one. Two, of course, this is not done and over with. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
As secretary of state, she broke laws, rules, and regulations. She put Americans at risk and now she's lying about what Director Comey said. Of course, he said she was untruthful. It was right there in the testimony.
You can play it back, Victor. He specifically told Congress that she lied and he told congress that she lied under oath when she was in front of Congress. This is somebody --
CARDONA: He did not say that, Boris. Come on, that's even beneath you.
EPSHTEYN: let me finish. She's lying about lying. Of course, folks like Maria want to tongue twist and confuse the American people into believing Hillary Clinton. That will not happen this time.
CARDONA: There's no tongue twisting.
EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton, who's been lying her whole career, the American people will see right through it. But if you want to talk about trade, let's talk about NAFTA. Talk about the 700,000 jobs that it's cost America. Talk about the TPP, which Hillary Clinton is lying about supporting. We know she supports it. Let's talk about all those issues.
BLACKWELL: Before we get to the trade topic, I want to go to specifically what you said, that Director Comey said that she lied under oath. He did, in fact, say, during the testimony in July, that there was no evidence that the secretary did not tell the truth to the FBI.
CARDONA: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's set that as fact.
EPSHTEYN: Victor, you mischaracterize what I'm saying. I'm talking about her testimony in front of Congress. When asked by Representative Chaffetz, Director Comey said, I do not know whether she did or did not lie to Congress.
CARDONA: That's not saying that she lied, is it, now, Boris?
BLACKWELL: It's not the same thing as saying that she lied under oath.
EPSHTEYN: Well, she only used one device and you just said --
CARDONA: Now you're the one who's tongue twisting.
BLACKWELL: Hold on, both of you. Let me play this video that just came out overnight from the Trump campaign, and Maria, I want your response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Extremely careless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: E-mail system was breached by hostile actors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gross negligence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton put our national security at risk and she's still lying.
CLINTON: Director Comey said that my answers were truthful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even "The Washington Post" says Hillary Clinton lied comparing her to Pinocchio.
CLINTON: I may have short-circuited and for that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Careless, reckless, crooked --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So your reaction or your summation here is that it's done and over with because the people who support her will support her anyway. The people who won't, won't support her regardless of this. But does this not play into a larger narrative that creates trouble with independents, for those two-thirds of metropolis, according to the latest polls from CNN, who still find her untrustworthy and dishonest?
CARDONA: So, here's the issue with that. Donald Trump is not trustworthy either. So what is actually happening, Victor, and why I say that this is baked into the Clinton cake because this is a narrative that Republicans have been pushing about Hillary Clinton for more than 30 years --
EPSHTEYN: Because it's true.
CARDONA: -- so this is something that the American people have heard about her, the people who support her understand that her life's work, more than 30 years in public service, has been about fighting for families and for children, versus Donald Trump, who cannot be trusted with the nuclear codes.
He asked one of his advisers three times, why can't we use nuclear weapons? My goodness, this should scare the bejesus out of all of us and that's why you're seeing her above in the polls --
BLACKWELL: We've --
EPSHTEYN: -- the American people know --
BLACKWELL: We've got 20 seconds for you, Boris, 20 seconds.
EPSHTEYN: The American people know that Hillary Clinton has lied throughout her career. Look at all the scandals, from Arkansas to the White House --
CARDONA: That's what Republicans want to see!
EPSHTEYN: She is a complete -- Hillary Clinton is a failure.
[08:20:09]CARDONA: So why is she ahead?
EPSHTEYN: And that's why we'll be ahead within a week.
BLACKWELL: All right, thank you both, Maria, Boris, we had 11 minutes together and still not enough. Thanks so much.
CARDONA: Thank you, Victor.
PAUL: Isn't that the truth? All right, thank you.
So the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, they are starting! Today, we are here and with no other than Coy Wire. He's in Rio and he was there for the opening ceremony.
WIRE: It was a wonderful opening ceremony. Still have goose bumps. There were so many special moments that showed the power of sport. We're going to tell a couple of the stories from the games that left a big impression, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: So you are waking up to the first official day of the 2016 Olympics, 12 gold medals up for grabs. So who should you keep an eye on? Well, three-time Tour de France winner, Chris Froome, is going for gold in cycling, Kevin Durant and the American team taken on China in basketball, and then you got American swimmer, Chase Kalisz, who came back from a coma to compete in the pool. We have more on that in just a minute. But guess who got the golden ticket to go there. One Mr. Coy wire. He is -- let me put it this way, look at the background of where I am. Now look at the background of where he is. Who got the better deal? I'm just saying. How is it, Coy?
WIRE: Christi, beautiful sugarloaf mountain behind me. The iconic scene here, Copacabana Beach, one of the most recognizable beaches on the planet. It is not a tough gig. I've got to tell you.
[08:25:10]But what an Olympic opening ceremony. To me, it talked about the power of sport. Despite controversy, disciplines, hate -- excuse me, differences, hate, when people choose to come together and choose to celebrate one another, it can be powerful.
Yes, the team from Iran come out and their flag bearer was a woman. This is a country where women are barred from attending male-dominated sports in that country. And there she was on a team dominated by men representing her nation. That's the power and spirit of the Olympics. The power of sport.
So what else stood out in that opening ceremony? Of course, Team USA led by Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time. He has 22 medals already, still counting. This is his fifth and final Olympic games. More athletes in this games, the USA had in these games than any other nation.
Now, a big secret of the night going into this, who was going to light the Olympic caldron? A lot of people thought it was going to be soccer legend, Pele. It was not. It was Vanderlei De Lima.
This is a guy who was running in the 2004 Olympics. He was in the lead and the fan sprints out of nowhere and tackles him, he ends up getting bronze. Can you imagine?
Here he was last night at the opening ceremony, finally getting some Olympic glory, joining legends like Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky, the American on ice U.S. Olympic team, getting that moment on a world stage.
You want someone to cheer for, talk about getting knocked down and coming back stronger, U.S. swimmer, Chase Kalisz, 8 years old, diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, goes to the hospital and slips into a coma.
And here we are 14 years later, he is a U.S. medal contender representing the U.S. in the 400m. Here he is reflecting on all those years he spent in the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHASE KALISZ, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: I remember laying in the hospital bed and had a ventilator and a feeding tube and all I could do was blink. And if any other part of my body got moved, it was an excruciating amount of pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WIRE: Letting your struggles strengthen you, that fighting spirit. Got to love it, got to love Chase. Good luck to him tonight. What else? Who else? The men's basketball team getting kicked off. The dream team facing China. We'll see that.
We'll see women's soccer versus France in their final-stage match in the group stage against France. That should be a good one. And we'll have swimming, they'll be holding the 400 individual medley for women as well.
Check out Maya Darado, she is in her first and last Olympics. She has a job lined up in Atlanta. One last go in the pool. She'll be someone to check out and root in these opening days of the games.
PAUL: All right, I love your takeaway, Coy, about Kalisz, and making sure that let your struggles be your strength. No doubt about it. Let your mess become your message. Coy Wire, we appreciate it. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: A violation of protocol. Chicago police now blasting its own officers for this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The video shows the moments right before an armed teen was killed in a hail of bullets, but there is one moment here that we don't see on the video. We'll talk about that.
Plus, Florida's fight against Zika. How they are trying to prevent a wider spread of the virus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:32:10] PAUL: Welcome to Saturday at 08:32, I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.
Donald Trump, putting an end to a four-day standoff, it didn't last very long. Now backing House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain in their re-election bids, after earlier saying that he was a bit reluctant to endorse them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In our shared mission to make America great again, I support and endorse Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan, good, he's good, he's a good man. He's a good man and he's a good guy.
I hold in the highest esteem Senator John McCain, for his service to our country and I fully support and endorse his re-election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is trying to explain her answer during this interview you're seeing here, to a question about the FBI's investigation into her private e-mail server, after fact checkers deemed it false.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So, I may have short circuit it and for that I, you know, will try to clarify, because I think, you know, Chris Wallace and I were probably talking past each other. Because, of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI and I appreciated that.
Now, I have acknowledged, repeatedly that using two e-mail accounts was a mistake. And I take responsibility for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Those comments were made at a gathering of black and Hispanic journalists.
PAUL: Shocking and disturbing. Those are the words used by an independent police review panel in Chicago who are blasting new video that shows the moment leading up to the deadly shooting of an unarmed teenager. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Goodness, as you hear all of that gunfire, a high-speed chase there, followed by those guns. Police feverishly trying to take down a teen that they believe stole a car. There's one moment in all of this that is missing. A key piece of video that apparently was not actually recorded, according to police there. It details -- and that detail is fueling outrage across the country. Protesters organized a so-called die-in which you're looking at here, this was in Chicago. They're point was accusing the department of a cover-up.
Miguel Marquez is covering this story for us this morning. Miguel, what are you learning now?
[08:35:01] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there Christi. Look, the police in Chicago are on high alert as well as police across the country because of this shooting. I want to play for you just a bit more of that video that you just played. That was the initial shooting, about 15 rounds fired at that Jaguar, that they believe was a stolen car. And there was one shot later, I want to play that for you now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your hands behind your back! (Inaudible) shoot at us!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: All right. That's actually the wrong video. That is actually after the initial shooting. There were 15 rounds fired. And then 18-year-old Paul O'Neal hit a police car. That officer, who he hit, fired a single shot into the back of Mr. O'Neal. This is the arrest a few minutes later.
In this video, which runs about ten minutes in total, you can hear police officers saying, he fired, too. He shot at me. Police have now said Mr. O'Neal had no gun on him. His lawyer says that the police in Chicago acted as judge, jury, and executioner. The police in Chicago tried to hold a press conference to discuss this, and here's how that went.
Apparently we don't have that tape. But the police superintendent in Chicago walked out on to the stage to try to address the media. Protesters actually took to the stage, forcing him to back down. Chicago police have now issued a nationwide alert based on this video, saying that the footage will show an unarmed African-American male who's been engaged with police with only his vehicle and was shot in the back at some point during the encounter. The subject wounds were fatal. Chicago P.D. anticipates civil unrest.
Eddie Johnson, the police superintendent of Chicago, says that the officer who fired that shot did not follow the directives of the department. This incident happened on July 28th. The video was released yesterday. Very, very quick by Chicago standards. You'll remember the 2014 video of Laquan McDonald, that video took over a year to come out, and when it did, it angered people beyond the pale. And I think Chicago police are bracing for a similar reaction here, Christi.
PAUL: We have no doubt about that. Miguel Marquez, thank you so much, we appreciate it.
MARQUEZ: You got it.
BLACKWELL: All right. Let's take you to Florida and this fight against the Zika virus. Authorities there are hitting this from the air, from the ground. Correspondent Dan Simon is following the latest there for us. Dan?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey, Victor. We are in the heart of the Zika danger zone. We'll tell you what Florida is doing to combat the virus and how other states can learn from what they're doing. That is coming up after the break.
PAUL: Also, the devastating impact that the Zika virus can have. Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on the disease detectives, and how they're hoping to help babies affected by Zika.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:41:55] BLACKWELL: Florida is waging war against mosquitoes to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. Of course, it's a war of a different kind, officials now spraying a 10-square-mile area north of Miami after recording the first locally-transmitted cases of the virus there.
Correspondent Dan Simon joins us now live from Miami with the latest. So, Dan, give us an idea and an update here on Florida's fight here against Zika. They are pretty aggressive here. And the implications for Georgia, for Mississippi, throughout the surrounding states.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, hey, Victor. We are in a Miami section called Wynwood. This is sort of ground zero for the virus in Miami. This is sort of a collection of galleries and restaurants, bars, and you've got some houses and some apartments sprinkled in there, too. There have been 16 local transmissions of the virus, with nearly all of them coming from this one neighborhood.
Now, when it comes to other states, they can probably learn something in terms of what Florida is doing to combat the virus. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: As Florida health crews work to rid the state of Zika-infected mosquitos, other parts of the nation are nervously bracing for the virus to spread. It's the height of mosquito season, and cities like New Orleans with hot, muggy conditions are particularly vulnerable.
MITCH LANDRIEU, (D), MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: Our mentality should not be a matter of if we will face a locally transmitted case, but rather, when. Because it is likely that we're going to have one.
SIMON: With similar climates, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas have all crafted plans to combat Zika. But the threat goes even farther. This map from the National Center for Atmospheric Research shows all the states at risk, with yellow being low risk, orange moderate, and red being a high risk. Still, health officials say they don't expect widespread outbreaks.
BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES: But we cannot be complacent, because we do expect to see more Zika cases.
SIMON: With Florida, the only state thus far to have local transmission of the virus, it may offer something of a template to the rest of the country on stopping its spread. It's begun using airplanes to spray insecticide, the chemicals spread across a 10-mile area. The early results seem promising, with a high kill rate in the traps used to gauge effectiveness. It's been mopping up water to deprive mosquitos from laying their eggs, while health officials have fanned the community, administering more than 2,400 tests to residents to see how widespread the virus may be.
Other go with Florida has also waged a fierce public relations campaign. Police officers handing out Zika information pamphlets to tourists and encouraging the use of bug repellant. Bug spray has become so pre prevalent that stores have actually run out of it. Also in short supply, money, which scientists hoped would fund research into a Zika vaccine. The White House and Congress had been engaged in a fierce partisan battle over a $1.9 billion Zika funding bill.
RICK SCOTT, (R), GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: Congress and the President have not been able to come together and pass a bill to provide more funding. We're continuing to ask the federal government to help with mosquito control, help reimburse at the state level. But I can tell you at the state level, we're going to spend the money that we need to do the right things. (END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:45:11] SIMON: Now, in terms of those aerial sprays, they're going to take place over the next four weeks. Health officials stressed that they are EPA-approved and they are safe for both pets and humans. Now, it is a bit early where I am in this tourist district, but I have to tell you that the foot traffic has been steady. Of course, officials are concerned about the economic impact, but we've been here over the past few days and there seem to be quite a few people still coming here. Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right. Dan Simon, thanks so much.
PAUL: Now, look, Brazil is ground zero in the Zika epidemic. And teams of doctors have been tracking its origins and trying to understand the devastating impact that it can have. They hope what they're learning now about this virus and the birth defects that it can cause are going to help babies around the world.
CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has more on the Zika disease detectives.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Victor, you know, when Zika came to Brazil, it came to this part of the world, first of all, they had no idea what it was, initially. They had no idea what kind of disease it would cause. And they had no idea that it would ultimately be associated with these birth defects. We now know all of that information thanks to the disease detectives that have been working on this for a year now on the ground.
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When trying to solve a medical mystery, it helps to start at the beginning. And that is why Ana Laura (ph), this adorable little girl with the eye glasses and the too small head may be so important. At 10 months old, she is the first, the first known child to be born with microcephaly here in Salvador, Brazil, near the epicenter of the Zika epidemic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things ...
GUPTA: Everyday, her head circumference is measured. It's a frightening new ritual for thousands of parents all over Brazil. Their hope, that their child's head will suddenly start to grow. But why Ana Laura? Why Brazil? And why has it northeastern coast of this country been hit so terribly hard?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the perfect setup for an epidemic to occur.
GUPTA: For the past two years, neurologist Dr. Jamary Oliveira Filho has walked the favelas, the slums of El Salvador, searching for clues.
GUPTA: In many ways, this has been the epicenter. Why is it so bad in northeast Brazil?
DR. JAMARY OLIVEIRA FILHO, NEUROLOGIST: I think that the social economic conditions are worst in this part of the country. And they're more closely compact than demographically. So they have less access to care and sanitary conditions are worst in this part of the country.
GUPTA: And the nutrition is poor as well which he believes could be a factor in microcephaly. For the mosquito that can breathe in even a bottle cap's worth of water, a favela is a Zika paradise. The disease spreads quickly here, with terrible consequences. And as bad as the conditions are around here, take a look down there. When it rains, all the water goes down into the valley. And of course, that means more mosquitos.
Any of you guys have Zika?
Everyone knows about Zika here. No surprise that as hard as we looked, we saw lots and lots of kids, but not a single pregnant woman. This boy tells me that his aunt is pregnant, but she stays inside all day, using repellant.
Did you pray?
This woman was lucky. Her baby is fine.
FILHO: So she prayed to God so the mosquitos wouldn't bite her and not affect the children.
GUPTA: Many of the unlucky children never make it to the clinics, set up to help those with microcephaly. Their parents ashamed to be out in public with them. Never receiving the type of therapy these children are getting to stimulate their growth.
So it's like the suck reflexes there.
This is Julia (ph). Notice her eyes. In addition to the problems with her gaze, she also has significant sensitivity to the light and clearly diminished vision.
Look at that smile.
A clue as to where the infection is most likely to strike.
FILHO: You see the brain is severely distorted.
GUPTA: Peering deep inside her brain, Dr. Jamary looks for clues, as well. The hope, that what they learn here will help similar babies being born throughout the Americas.
FLIHO: I think with stimulation, that these children are getting from the group, we see actually better outcomes than we expect from looking at the scans.
GUPTA: That's a good grip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Well, Christi and Victor, there have been some other lessons learned here, as well. We know that if a woman's younger during her pregnancy, she's likely to have more of an impact from the virus. If the virus actually attacks earlier in the pregnancy, it's likely to have more of an impact.
And nutrition. Poor nutrition seems to lead to a greater impact. Again, these are lessons that have been learned here in Brazil that can be applied in perhaps many countries around the world. Christi, Victor, back to you.
[08:50:10] BLACKWELL: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much.
Up next, distracted driving. This is a growing and deadly problem that we don't talk about often enough. And we have to ask, is enough being done to combat the problem.
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PAUL: So let's talk about how we use our cell phones. There's a psychiatrist who's arguing that they have power over us, our phones. That it's an addiction most of us are not aware of that we have at or behind the wheel.
Our CNN Digital Correspondent Kelly Wallace has been looking into this. Hey, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christi. It all comes down to how our brains instinctively respond to those pings on our phone. It's almost like when someone taps you on the shoulder at a cocktail party, you can't help but turn around. The same is often the case when we hear those alerts on our phone and that is exactly what happened to an Iowa woman who glanced at a text and is now living with what she calls the biggest regret of her life.
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LAURA MAURER: It's not like I just got in my car as I -- I'm going to drive distracted and hit somebody today. That's not what I was out to do.
WALLACE: Looking at that text would cause her to crash into a tractor here, in rural Iowa, taking the life of a 75-year-old man.
[08:55:07] DAVID GREENFIELD, FOUNDER, CENTER FOR INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION: The reason why she answered that ping is because she felt compulsed or felt a compulsion in order to answer it.
WALLACE: Dr. David Greenfield is the founder for the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction. He says most of us would probably have done the same thing and looked at that text.
GREENFIELD: I think that conservatively, 60 to 70 percent of people are probably doing it with some frequency. What does that mean? That means that it's just Russian roulette. That some of those people are going to have accidents. Some of those people are going to be killed. And some of those people are going to kill or hurt somebody else. So, is that a huge problem? I think it is. Do I think it's a public health issue? Yes, I do.
WALLACE: Our smart phones are affecting our brains without us even knowing it. When we hear the ping of an incoming text, social media update, or e-mail, our brains get a hit of dopamine, a chemical that leads to an increase in arousal, energizing the reward circuitry in our brains.
GREENFIELD: The dopamine reward centers are the same centers that have to do with pleasure from eating. Pleasure from sex and procreation. Pleasure from drugs and alcohol. This reward circuitry is old as time. And if we didn't have it, we probably wouldn't exist as a species.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: A hit of dopamine in our brain also does something else, Christi. It shuts down access to the part of the brain that controls reasoning and judgment. And so, in that moment, we're not operating with as much judgment, and then we make some dangerous decisions.
PAUL: All right, Kelly Wallace, looking forward to it. Thank you so much. Your "DRIVING WHILE DISTRACTED" airs this afternoon at 2:30 Eastern only on CNN.
[08:56:49] BLACKWELL: More news after this break. Stay with us.
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