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CNN NEWSROOM

Debris of Plane Found on Reunion Island Transported to France; Report: Jericho, Brother of Cecil the Lion, Shot Dead in Zimbabwe; Two Close Calls in the Air; Hillary Clinton on the ISIS Debate; Trump Leading GOP Rivals; Remains of Over 30 WWII Marines Finally Returned Home This Week. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 1, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


RANDI KAYE, CNN Anchor: Thanks so much for watching today. I'm Randi Kaye. We have much more ahead in the NEWSROOM with Poppy Harlow and it all starts right now.

[15:00:20] POPPY HARLOW, CNN Anchor: Hi, everyone. It is 3:00 Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you from New York.

And we begin with a possible breakthrough in the search for flight MH370. If we are going to learn any answers from that airplane part that washed up on an island in the Indian Ocean, those answers will come from a laboratory in France. That is where the piece of debris is right now. A police escort for barnacle covered wing part that investigators are all but certain comes from a Boeing 777. That is what they are carrying.

Here's what we know at this hour. Among those analyzing the part, experts from Boeing and also from the NTSB, they are all headed to France right now. Many believe that the piece is the first real solid evidence from that flight that vanished nearly 17 months ago. Experts believe the piece we're looking at is called a flaperon, and people cleaning the beach found it on the French controlled island of Reunion.

On the opposite side of the Indian Ocean from where MH370 was last known to be seen.

CNN's Saima Mohsin is right near Toulouse, France. That is where they are going to be analyzing, expecting, and part taking apart this plane part.

What do we know at this hour in terms of when we can expect to hear some of the test results? Because I've been hearing they weren't even really going to dig in, if you will, until Wednesday.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Poppy. It may take quite some time until all of the officials that are flying in to France to take a look at this piece get together to look at it. One of the reasons is -- I'm going to step aside and let you see this facility where I am. It's closed. It's the weekend here in France. Everyone's gone away. It's also the summer holidays. So we're not expecting any scientists or forensic teams to arrive until Monday morning at the earliest when they'll start taking a look at this piece.

Now, it arrived with a police escort. Sped down from Paris to here at (INAUDIBLE) here at the DGA, that's the ministry of defense laboratory. It takes a look at the air France investigation as well.

Now, the scientists, when they get together, are going to take a look in detail at this flaperon and deduce whether it came off in the air or did it pull away from the main body when it struck the water, when the plane potentially struck the water in the Indian Ocean. These are the kind of things they can glean. By looking at the edges of that flaperon from where it tore away from the plane.

But, the prosecutor, the French prosecutor, the Malaysian prosecutor, the United States NTSB, they're not going to get here until a few days time and that's where they're planning to meet -- Poppy.

HARLOW: And Saima, what are we hearing from the families? Because it is very good that they're using an abundance of caution here and that they're not just coming out and saying anything definitive. But for the families, for many of them, this is the most sort of tangible piece of that plane potentially, and what has happened to their loved ones. What are they saying at this hour?

MOHSIN: I'm glad you mentioned them, Poppy. Because first and foremost, it is the families that are holding on to everything that anybody is saying about this flaperon, probably watching it come down here. And they have said, they released statement saying we don't want 99 percent certainty, we don't want maybes and we think. We want 100 percent confirmation that this is from MH370.

And there's a lot of talk, Poppy, about closure. And I was there in Kuala Lumpur last year when the plane went missing. I've talked to so many of these family members. And really not sure that this will bring a lot of them closure because many of them say they won't rest until they find the plane in its entirety in the sea or they find the loved ones' bodies. And they are still going to hold on, many of them, to some kind of hope. But at least this is a small piece of the puzzle that can bring potentially some big answers -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Saima Mohsin, thank you very much. Appreciate the reporting.

And while we wait for those answers, as you heard, it could be a while until we get definitive answers from that laboratory in France. A report has come out about the mysterious flight that the U.S. government never intended to be released to the public. It is what some U.S. officials believe happened onboard that airplane last March and caused it to disappear. It is worth knowing this report was prepared months ago, long before this physical piece of potential evidence ever washed ashore.

Juliette Kayyem is with me. She is a former homeland security expert and also Les Abend is a commercial pilot who flies 777. He joins us from London, where he does actually flew a 777 from New York overnight. Thank you both for being with me.

Juliette, let me begin with you. When you look at this report, this intelligence report says that what they believe is the most likely cause is that it was intentional. They don't know. But this was written months and months ago. It just came to light. Our reporter bringing it to light. They believe it was a deliberate decision in the cockpit. Do you believe that investigators cleared the captain, the co-pilot, the crew, perhaps too quickly?

[15:05:30] JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Yes. But let me just be clear about the U.S. report. It says that the movements were purposeful, but it does not say that they were done with ill intent.

HARLOW: It doesn't talk about motive.

KAYYEM: Exactly. So someone trying to save an airplane might make specific moves to try to save it that are purposeful, but that are not bad. But from the beginning, you know, and this is sort of case study in crisis management, the fact that Malaysia and Malaysia airways came out so quickly saying no, everything's fine here, right. It was very unfair to the family. But also limits where the investigation initially looked. And it appears, at least from this report, that the United States did not buy it. And that they at least from the get-go wanted to look at what was happening in the cockpit as a possible explanation, whether it came from someone trying to save the airplane or trying to bring it down.

HARLOW: To you, Les, you just wrote a long column about this. And you said you're not convinced yet that this piece is indeed a flaperon. Why is that?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's not that I'm not convinced. I'm just skeptical. Most airline pilots certainly have that attitude. That's what we get paid to do.

You know, at this point, it's very compelling. I mean, Boeing - my initial reaction, Poppy, an answer to that particular question was that things look too bulky to be part of a 777. And the size reference when I normally see in airplanes is a pristine airline. So it -- that particular piece, the flaperon that we're referencing looked a little bit too big for that. But you know, at this point, Boeing is giving some pretty positive answers that this is what it seems to be. But as far as the flaperon is concerned, you know, it definitely is looking that direction.

HARLOW: When you look at it, a lot of what you see are those barnacles, right. And we are going to talk with some other experts about that, marine biology expert about the barnacles. But from the way that it is severed, Les, what can we tell about potential impact or inflight removal may have happened here?

ABEND: Yes, I mean, everything is speculative at this point in time until the investigative team in Toulouse gets to that point and takes a look at it. But if we're talking, the parts that you're referring to with reference to the jagged edges, that's the trailing edge of this particular flaperon. So it may say that when it impacted the water that it impacted the water in some sort of down position, whether that was a gentle descent and glide into the water, it's really hard to say. I think these next few days will be pertinent in determining that.

HARLOW: Juliette, as you pointed out, it is so important U.S. intelligence did not ascribe a motive at all in this report. Why do you think that is?

KAYYEM: Because we don't know. I mean, and I think, you know, you talk about closure, and there just are some cases in which what happened may never be known. Hopefully some of this evidence that we're finding in the ocean, if it is the airplane, will give us some hints. But there's no way that our intelligence officials or any of the other countries investigating it could have known that something bad happened absent, you know, more evidence.

HARLOW: If it was intentional, when you think about the tragedy of the German wings plane, that it was brought down intentionally. It was only a matter of a week or two before it was clearly pointing to who did it and why they did it. Seventeen months later for this plane, U.S. intelligence is saying most likely theory it was brought down deliberately, but no reason why?

KAYYEM: No. Because let's just put this in perspective. Airplanes do not go missing. I mean, I know we talk a lot about airplane crashes and terrorism and they do not go missing. Airplane accidents are still relatively rare.

So anyone looking at this case would have to believe that something horrible happened in the absence of evidence of a catastrophic failure by the airplane itself, which generally is a pilot or a co-pilot saying, you know, may day or the equivalent of it. We don't have any of that.

So if I were an investigator, I would always start from the belief, at least given the evidence here, that something sort of bad or nefarious happened. And then you, maybe then, you know, in the investigation, it leads elsewhere.

HARLOW: Maybe walk back from there.

KAYYEM: Right. Because this is a tragedy of this for all reasons, but it's also how bizarre and unique this still is.

HARLOW: And those answers are owed to the families, first and foremost, from the Malaysian government and from the airline.

Juliette Kayyem, Les Abend, thank you both very much.

Also want to get to this, developing right now. Sources telling us at CNN the brother of Cecil the lion has now been shot dead by a hunter inside of Zimbabwe. The animal was protecting Cecil's cubs after, of course, Cecil was killed and shot by that dentist from Minnesota, Dr. Walter Palmer earlier this month, who is currently in hiding. And there are a lot of questions about whether he will indeed be extradited to Zimbabwe potentially face trial there.

The illegal killing of Cecil has sparked worldwide outrage and now, as I just said, his brother Jericho is dead. Dave Salmoni's Animal Planet's large predator expert joins me on the phone.

It is stunning news, because people kept focusing on the fact that after Cecil was killed, Jericho was stepping in and taking care of these cubs. What does Jericho reportedly now being killed do to the pride?

[15:10:42] DAVE SALMONI, LARGE PREDATOR EXPERT, ANIMAL PLANET (on the phone): Well, I think if it had some chance of those cubs getting to adulthood, that chance is probably gone. You know, there's very few chances or times when a pride can literally go on the run enough that they never come across a male in time for these males -- or for these cubs to get big enough where they be able to stay out of the jaws of an incoming male. So I would say that the death of Jericho will seal the fate for these cubs for sure.

HARLOW: Explain to people why that is. Because it has to do with, you know, with progeny, right? With other males wanting the female mother to give them more baby cubs.

SALMONI: Yes. So it's a term we call (INAUDIBLE). And what happens is a new male coming into a pride would want to get rid of any cub that might be nursing still. Because as soon as the female stops nursing, she then starts coming into heat. That new male wants the females to come into heat as soon as possible so that he can then impregnate them and start his own progeny.

HARLOW: What does the death of Cecil do as, you know, such an important figure, not only for a study as Oxford's been studying Cecil since 2008, but what does the death of Cecil do just in terms of genetically to the future of that pride now being gone?

SALMONI: The death of Cecil has a lot of impact. And as you say, one animal dying, but it's also trophy hunting in general takes out the biggest and the strongest and the most beautiful. So basically what that means is by all of these cubs dying and by Cecil dying, it's weakened the gene pool.

Systematically, these hunters are pulling out the biggest and the strongest, which means the weaker lions would not normally get to have offspring are now having offspring. So we've actually noticed over the last 30 years, the average size of male lions is decreasing, specifically because of trophy hunting.

You know, but on top of that, the other thing that happens is, you know, a lion like Cecil, because he was good natured and calm and was fine with the ecotourism vehicles, so he was sort of what we would call an ambassador. If you wanted to go to this national park and see these beautiful animals, you'd always want to go see the big male lion because they're the king of the jungle. And then you go home and tell all your friends how beautiful this place and these animals were and those people would then come and spend their money, therefore this ecotourism model continues to support the wildlife and the people around. To see an animal like Cecil get killed, that whole system falls apart.

HARLOW: Yes. And I had an opportunity to last year be around these amazing, amazing creatures, right, in South Africa. And there's just nothing like them. And to think that they are taken like this in trophy hunting and in this illegal situation, it seems liken, two illegal kills, it is tragic.

Dave Salmoni, thank you very much for your expertise.

SALMONI: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Of course.

Coming up next, imagine this. You are a commercial pilot and you're flying a plane right around New York City and you see something like this, a drone 100 feet away. This is what happened right in the skies above New York City last night. How big of a danger are these drones to planes? We're going to talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:06] HARLOW: The pilot of two commercial flights were startled late yesterday, that's when a drone appeared far too close for comfort while they were on final approach landing in New York City. Both of the planes did land safely, but the pilots reported the drones were about 100 feet from them.

Les Abend is with me again. He is a commercial 777 pilot. Also with me again, former assistant homeland security secretary Juliette Kayyem.

Les, let me begin with you. I mean, you were flying out of New York last night to London. Has something like this ever happened to you?

ABEND: You know, with these particular kinds of drones, no. Not at all. And I probably -- my departure was probably around 11:45 p.m. last night from JFK. I've flown both of these approaches. You know, one is over the Floyd Bennett field which is an all-time airline field. The coast guard still uses it. I mean, that's right on the approach path. I mean, that's irresponsible stuff.

The other one was 31-right (ph) which was owns the opposite direction from the airport. You know, that's something I've been over on numerous occasions. There's a lot of residential areas over there. (INAUDIBLE) would be a very typical approach path.

Irresponsible. You know, kids perhaps. You know, it is hard to just listen. We all know what the potential damage can be with an aircraft the size of -- especially the one that I fly, a 777. But, you know, mass times velocity, generally the airplane's going to win in most parts of it. If it goes into the engine, it's going to be similar or worse to, say, a Canadian goose.

HARLOW: Well, that's exactly what I was going to say. If you think about what has happened before when you've had, you know, a bird strike in an engine, it can bring planes down. Juliette, is this a case where, you know, we've got once again sort of

regulation behind technology?

KAYYEM: Absolutely. So you have both regulation, in other words, certification, licensing, who's buying it, why are they buying it? And then a very unregulated punitive state. In other words, people have to start getting punished, whether it's massive fines or whatever else, so that those who want to use it, we know who they are, and then if they do something like this, which is just a no joke situation. I mean, there's nothing funny or cute or even a mistake, that they get penalized. And that, you know, that is money or if it gets very egregious, actually a criminal case. I think we're at that time now that the technology and the market are way ahead of protecting commercial airplanes.

HARLOW: And I think you're assuming it's not nefarious. And let's hope it's not nefarious. However, how seriously should these things be taken given that, you know, if this was someone with ill intentions, they could be testing the waters here, right Juliette?

KAYYEM: Yes. I think that's right. And I think that's why this sort of state of affairs regarding who's trying to get this equipment and what purpose they're using it for has to be better regulated. I'm not saying prohibited. But just like you can't get a sort scooter and go on a highway. In the same way, we need to start having rules like that for drones.

Most people who have drones do it for fun recreational purposes or possibly surveillance purposes. But there are, you know, look, terrorist or anyone else are going to use whatever technology the market makes available to them.

[15:20:23] HARLOW: Yes. It's just the last thing any pilot needs, right Les? It's the last thing you want to see, especially after these reports of lasers being shown at a number of airplanes.

ABEND: True, but let me point - true and absolutely. And that's the obvious. But let me respond to Juliette's suggestion about punitive fines, and so on and so forth punishment jail terms.

You know, absolutely, but at the same token, I think what we need to do is start a process of registering these things. Because we've had radio controlled airplanes for many years, many, many years. And very responsible people. They know the rules. And this is just an affront to their very, very professional hobby.

But that being said, I think unfortunately they're going to have to suffer the consequences from the standpoint of now we have got these quad copters that are capable up going where we have to report so of last night at jail case. So, if we register these things, you know, perhaps at least we have some traceability and some accountability that will, you know, prevent people from doing this.

HARLOW: All right, Juliette, Les, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Alright, we are following some breaking news out of Minneapolis.

Specifically at the Minneapolis airport, right in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul airport there. What I can tell you is that a portion of the ticketing area has been evacuated at the Minneapolis- St. Paul airport. This after a bag left near the united ticketing counter there tested positive for explosives.

All right, I want to read you this. This is according to a tweet from the airport officials. Quote "the bomb squad is on the scene. We will bring you more information once we get it." Just to recap for you anyone watching around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The major airport there, which is definitely an international hub. A lot of international flights going in and out of Minneapolis-St. Paul as well. A ticketing area right around the united counter has been evacuated. That is in the main terminal, there, the Lindbergh terminal of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It's been evacuated after a bag that tested positive for explosives was found. Of course, trying to get someone from the airport on the phone. We will bring you more as soon as we have it.

Also this, straight ahead. When we come back, Hillary Clinton drawing the line when it comes to ISIS and social media. She wants ISIS and its sympathizers off social media for good. That is a huge challenge and it is a huge headache that the FBI has been talking about quite a lot. We will talk about it with our terror expert, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:35] HARLOW: Hillary Clinton jumping into a major debate in the fight against ISIS. The terrorist organization has been using, as you know, social media to spread its message and recruit new fighters. During a campaign stop this week, the Democratic presidential candidate said quote "we have got to shut down their internet presence, which is posing the principal threat to us." It is something that one mother from Illinois has been pleading for after her 19-year-old son was charged with trying to support and conspire with ISIS earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZARINE KHAN, 19-YEAR-OLD SON CHARGED WITH TRYING TO JOIN ISIS: I definitely do agree that, you know, without the internet, without the social media, this would never have happened and my son would not be in the situation he is in today. Leave him alone, please. That's my only message. To stop recruiting these children. They're too young. They don't know what's going on. They're small. They don't understand what they're getting into.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen is with me. Also with me, CNN global affairs analyst and contributing writer with "the Daily Beast" Kimberly Dozier.

Thank you both for being here. Peter, let me talk to you first about these numbers. A recent

Brookings Institute study found that ISIS supporters this year used at least 46,000 twitter accounts. Actually, that was in 2014, 46,000 twitter accounts. When you listen to what Hillary Clinton is saying, it is echoing what the head of the FBI, James Comey, has said. But at the same time, there are those who will say if you try to block them from twitter, et cetera, then you don't have the ability to follow them and potentially foil plots. Where do you fall on it?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, there's another option, of course, if you block them on twitter, I mean, there's a whole other series of apps that ISIS and its supporters are using that are not publicly available and are very difficult for any law enforcement to penetrate. So I mean, this has sort of gone beyond the issue of twitter. I mean, there's kick and what's app and a whole variety of anonymize platforms.

But you know, you can't shut down the Internet. As a general principle, I think it's the right thing to do. All these companies have terms of use and ISIS and its supporters are clearly not abiding by those terms of use. So these things can be taken down. But the idea that we're going to be able to take it all down, I mean, that's just impossible.

HARLOW: You know, I reported extensively on it in Minnesota where the Somali community is being largely targeted by al -Shabaab through social media, Kimberly, and I heard from mothers pleading, you know, to make this stop. Whose responsibility is it? I mean, the companies, right? Peter just brought up Twitter, the company, Facebook the company, the government? This takes a lot of manpower when you're talking about that volume of messaging.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And Clinton is not the only person who's been calling for twitter to take some of these accounts down. Lisa Monaco, the White House counterterrorism advisor also called for this last weekend. She said there are up to 50,000 accounts that might be associated with ISIS. But the problem is, where does freedom of expression end and terrorism begin?

HARLOW: Right.

DOZIER: So the question has been addressed somewhat on Capitol Hill in some legislation that's being considered that would tighten the requirement on what you're allowed to say. Akin to putting new limits on twitter, like you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. You can't praise ISIS online. But that's a long way to go. And that might just stop what's happening within the United States. But how about all the other international accounts? So this a really tough problem.

[15:30:06] HARLOW: Peter, while you are here, I do want to ask you about another development in the last 24 hours or so. Family members of Osama bin Laden killed in a deadly small plane crash in England. You're seeing footage of it there. Just your reaction to this and whether these family members were of any sort of significance when you look at bin Laden as a terrorist. BERGEN: I mean, I think first of all we don't know who they are.

Secondarily, you know, this is a huge family. Bin laden has 52 siblings. He has probably 700 first cousins. And so, and almost all of them are law-abiding citizens. And long ago rejected bin Laden. In 1994, the family officially cut him off, stopped sending him money. His Saudi citizenship was revoked. So yes, they share a family men, but it doesn't really mean anything as it relates to terrorism.

HARLOW: And Kimberly, the new leader of the Taliban purportedly sending this audio message. I want to read you a quote of what he allegedly said. Quote "when we hear about different processes, including the peace process, they are all the propaganda campaigns by the enemy. We will continue our jihad and we will fight until we bring in Islamic rule in the country." Should we be looking at the Taliban as a refreshed threat to the west now?

DOZIER: I think you should be looking at this leader as someone who was under siege and realizing he's got to unify a group of people who were still fighting inside Afghanistan. They've just lost their spiritual leader, and found out lying to them for two years. He needs to unify them behind him quickly if he is going to present a strong political front to the international negotiators that the Taliban had been sitting down with, and also maintain the fighting inside Afghanistan right now. ISIS has been luring disillusioned Taliban factions away, so that is something that this guy is facing, and this is a rallying cry.

HARLOW: Clearly. Peter Bergen, Kimberly Dozier, thank you, as always.

All right, I do want to update you on the story we just told you about a few moments ago in Minneapolis-St. Paul at the international airport there. Just getting word that they have given the all clear after an earlier bomb scare. A bag that was left near the united ticket counter did test positive for explosives. The airport now tweeting, though, quote "the scene has been cleared and all areas reopened, airport back to normal operations." That is a very good news for the folks there in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The lines at the ticketing counter are long. Obviously there's been a backup. But everything is safe and clear.

Coming up next, we are going to talk about the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the lion. Will he be extradited? That is, if they can find him. No one has heard directly from Dr. Palmer. What will he say, what will his defense be about his hunt? Zimbabwe officials say that he committed a crime. The international outcry has made it to the White House. Will we hear from the president?

Joining us next, Tom Fuentes, former FBI assistant director. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:23] HARLOW: All right. An update for you on the plane debris found this week that could be from the missing Malaysia airlines flight MH370. Earlier today, that wing part arrived in a laboratory near Toulouse, France. It is the part that washed up on a beach on the island of Reunion in the Western Indian Ocean on Wednesday.

A preliminary report on whether it is from MH370 could come out as early as next week. Boeing investigators have looked at photos of the debris. They believe it is indeed from some Boeing 777, although they cannot confirm if it is from MH370 or not.

Next hour, what can experts learn from the barnacles that you have seen on the -- from the barnacles seen on that plane debris. We're going to talk about it with experts as they discuss what it means potentially about the drift pattern there.

And also, back to our developing story. Some conflicting reports tonight on whether Jericho, the brother of Cecil the lion, was gunned down by a hunter operating illegally in the same park there in Zimbabwe where Cecil was killed. Jericho was said to be protecting Cecil's lions. We told you earlier about multiple reports that Jericho was killed. Now we are seeing conflicting reports on whether that is the case or not.

Cecil was also suspected of being killed illegally and now the international outcry has reached the White House. A petition requesting that the man responsible, a Minnesota dentist name Dr. Walter Palmer, to be extradited, may receive a response from the Obama administration. It now has over 175,000 signatures.

So will the extradition happen? Will Palmer face charge in the United States or in Zimbabwe?

Let's talk about it with former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes.

Thank you for being here, Tom. There is the law in terms of extradition and there are the politics and the relationship between the two countries. The United States and Zimbabwe have had an extradition treaty since 2000. Do you think that Palmer will be extradited?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Actually, I don't, but he could be. I mean, as you mentioned, there is the treaty agreement. But I've been involved in hundreds of these extradition requests when I ran international operations for the FBI and they essentially, you know, when you get past the fine print in the legal aspect, they essentially say we agree to extradite somebody unless we don't want to. And that's how it works. And the don't want to part can be national security. It can be your regime has a history of human rights violations. Our citizen won't get a fair trial in your country. And I think that's what would come into play here.

The regime in Zimbabwe has been cited for human rights violations and probably the U.S. will not send an American citizen there to go through their justice system with that record.

HARLOW: That's exactly what I was going to ask, is that how much the politics internally in Zimbabwe affect whether the U.S. would trust that system to give Dr. Palmer a fair trial.

FUENTES: Exactly right. Exactly right. HARLOW: What about --. Yes, go ahead.

FUENTES: I will just say, but in are other remedies for Zimbabwe in this situation to get to Palmer. And the easiest way is Zimbabwe is one of 190 countries that belong to Interpol. And I was on the executive committee of Interpol. Their office in the capital, (INAUDIBLE), which is part of the Zimbabwe police force, can make a request to Interpol headquarters that a red notice be issued on Palmer, which says any of 190 countries, if he crosses your border or your police come across him and run a check on him, take him into custody and we'll extradite from your country to our country.

So Palmer, who wants to be a big game hunter all over the world, will have a lot of trouble if he goes into another country and they have a red notice to stop and arrest him. He could then be sent from that country, not from the U.S. if we don't want to, but from another country directly to Zimbabwe to stand trial for the charges that they're going to be bringing against him.

[15:40:24] HARLOW: And now you have a group of senators here in the United States proposing legislation to block people from bringing in those big trophies for those big game hunts that are legal, depending on what animals you hunt and where you do it. But now pushing legislation to ban people from bringing it those trophies from those big hunt.

FUENTES: Right. It's a big organized crime business all over the world. Billions of dollars.

HARLOW: Thank you, Tom. Appreciate it.

FUENTES: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, Donald Trump. Is his rise in the polls fueled by the media? We'll talk about that with Brian Stelter next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just two months left until the fit nation six pack takes on the nautical Malibu triathlon. They've been training hard, swimming, biking, and running. But six-pack member Robert Lara says time has been his biggest hurdle.

ROBERT LARA, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT: Consistency in training. It's rough, you know. You work a full-time gig, plus all the other stuff that comes along and somewhere in there you have to cram in an hour of workout every other day. It's rough.

GUPTA: Despite that, he's managed to get the workouts in. Learned to cook healthier foods.

LARA: So the weeks I do put the work in to cook, my life is a lot better, it has a lot more structure.

GUPTA: And inspire people along the way. LARA: I've never been someone I thought that would inspire people to

go work out. I think that's a by-product of what I've been trying to do.

GUPTA: The change he's most proud of, his type 2 diabetes seems to be improving.

LARA: The numbers are totally different now than they were when I started like the blood sugar is low, everything's different. And so that's a good thing.

GUPTA: And Lara says for him, it's been more about the journey than the end result.

LARA: Most people who are athletes and try to be competitive, they know that they can't climb Mr. Mountain without climbing a bunch of hills first. I think that's where we're at.

GUPTA: And at least until September --

LARA: Do what April tells you to do and really do it and that's it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[15:44:51] HARLOW: Donald Trump leading his Republican rivals for the White House. But why is he in the lead is up to debate? Clearly there is a reaction. A lot of people like to hear from someone who is not a politician. Look at the poll numbers here. He's on top at 20 percent in the latest nationwide Quinnipiac University poll, followed by Scott Walker and then Jeb Bush. Other people are pointing to us, the media, saying we put Donald Trump on TV a lot and he talks a lot.

Let's talk about it with no one better than Brian Selter, CNN's senior media correspondent and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

BRIAN STELTER CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That is true. We do put him on TV a lot and he does talk a lot, doesn't it?

HARLOW: He does. But as you and I were talking about last weekend, maybe some of the other candidates could take a card from him and grant more interviews.

STELTER: Yes, could learn something from him. He is very available to the press. Even when he's traveling overseas, as he has been recently at one of these golf courses, he's giving interviews it seems like all the time. You noticed how when he does do interviews, he likes to do it in his buildings.

HARLOW: In the lobby where it's kind of loud, actually.

STELTER: Yes. We've seen this with Anderson Cooper, with others. He does it in the lobby of one of his towers and has fans all around. Maybe it's sort of him going to a comfortable place. But it is true. He is a very available candidate. That I think has something to do with the poll numbers. It's remarkable to see how consistent he has been rising. It also has been for the past month or so. You see a candidate now clearly in first place.

HARLOW: Let's talk about Thursday's debate, August 6th. I mean, clearly, he's going to make the cut here.

STELTER: He'll actually be in the center of the stage.

HARLOW: He will be in the center. But look, what also could happen here is the more times that some of his opponents criticize him or call him on things, then he actually by the rules of this debate gets more time to respond.

STELTER: To respond, yes.

HARLOW: So what's the best strategy if you're running against Donald Trump in a debate?

STELTER: Right, whether to engage with him or not. You know, there's this kind of new conventional wisdom I'm hearing in the last few days, Poppy. It says maybe Trump's going to be a bit mellow. Maybe he's not going to be as intense or provocative and unpredictable as we know him to be in interviews. Maybe he's going to sit back a little bit and just enjoy being in first place in the polls. And I talked to Ben Carson about this for "RELIABLE SOURCES." Here's what his prediction was about what Trump will do.

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BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My guess, knowing the people who are going to be asking the questions, is that they will maintain control. And I actually think that Donald Trump is not going to be nearly as wild as people think he is. You know, he's a reasonable guy. He's not going to try to outtalk everybody else. That's my prediction. I don't think he'll try to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: I've been hearing that from others as well. Hearing that on cable news over the weekend here, Poppy. The idea that maybe Trump will lay back. But we'll see on Thursday.

HARLOW: It's interesting, he said "I'm not a good debater."

STELTER: Yes, he's been lowering expectations.

HARLOW: Important thing, he was not happy with how he felt the Republican national committee was treating him, right, the party was treating him. Threatened to run as a third party candidate. Seems to have walked back from that a little bit because that is really the Republicans' worst nightmare. What about the RNC's call for no more name calling?

STELTER: Yes. That came about a week ago. And actually, they think about last week, it might have sort of worked. We have heard less from Trump and less from his rivals in the last few days. If you look at Trump's twitter feed is not quite as unleashed as it was last week. He's not going after people like Walker and Perry the way he was. So maybe a little bit that call has been heeded.

HARLOW: You know what? One thing we know for sure, a lot of folks are going to be watching Thursday night.

STELTER: And all of the other debates. I mean, we're going to see debates for like six months and all of them more interesting when Trump's there.

HARLOW: It is great for our business. The more people watch, you know, the debate--

STELTER: That's a good point.

HARLOW: You'll be talking about it on "RELIABLE SOURCES" tomorrow morning.

Brian Stelter, thank you very much as always.

STELTER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up, decades after the end of World War II, the remains of 36 marines welcomed home with the honor they deserve.

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[15:52:20] HARLOW: Well, it was an historic homecoming. The remains of more than 30 World War II marines recovered from a remote pacific island were finally returned home this week.

Here's CNN's Jake Tapper.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 36 American servicemen finally arrived home this week. No longer missing in action. Among them, a Medal of Honor recipient, first lieutenant Alex Bonnyman Jr., whose family has waited nearly 72 years for his return.

Bonnyman perished on this remote pacific atoll in 1943. He was fighting valiantly to take this strategically significant land from the Japanese. Records show he crawled, exposed, ahead of the front line, to advance his team's position under heavy fire. He killed at least three enemy soldiers before being killed himself.

After three bloody days there on Tarwa (ph), Americans gained controlled of isle, but they lost more than 1,100 men, dozens unaccounted for ever since. Many marines were buried battle side in a trench called cemetery 27, that was eventually lost track of.

A multi-million dollar project by the nonprofit history flight helped to find it. And they announced the discovery of the service members last month. Lieutenant Bonnyman among them. His grandson, Clay Bonnyman Evans was there to witness this all firsthand. He had this filmed, and though it gets a little graphic, he wanted us to see the powerful image.

CLAY BONNYMAN EVANS, HELPED GRANDFATHER'S REMAINS: This is a big deal for me. I grew up with that medal on the wall and the citation and -- you know, he's always been my hero.

TAPPER: A tarnished momento, hand carved with Bonnyman's initial, B, was found next to lieutenant Bonnyman's remains.

EVANS: This is the cigarette lighter that was in his pocket.

TAPPER: Evans has been to Tarwa (ph) there three times in search for his grandfather working closely with marines and history plights to finally bring him home.

EVANS: And I could just see how dedicated they were. They were kind of the little organization that could.

TAPPER: History flights have been sending archaeologists and surveyors to these beaches for a decade. The department of defense is now helping to identify those from cemetery 27 and notify families that their loved have been found and are finally coming home.

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HARLOW: Our thanks to all the men and women who have served this country.

Coming up next, at the top of the hour, why were drones spotted so close to commercial airplanes landing in New York last night? And also some potential answers in one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time, MH-370.

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[15:55:12] ROCHELLE RIPLEY, CNN HERO: My grandmother was full blood Lakota. My grandma was my world. She asked me if I would promise to go home and help our people when I grew up.

The Lakota reservations are very isolated. The spirit of the people to life but they struggle with the conditions tremendously. We have extremely high rates of suicide, addictions, food, often is in very short supplies, unemployment, health issues are another huge challenge.

I formed a group to keep a promise to my Lakota grandmother to go home and help our people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first I was traumatized, because I was blind. All my electricity and stuff were no good (INAUDIBLE).

RIPLEY: We're doing as much as we can to make our house safe for her, even more --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't see it, but I feel it.

RIPLEY: We've been teaching how to eat healthy on a very limited budget. We have a medical team. We work collaboratively with the tribe wherever we go.

So, we're going to continue, obviously, with toys and the new clothing.

We get in everything from beds to food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's a blessing to our reservation. We call her (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) means you're helping people.

RIPLEY: We're all children of this earth and work together, so that everyone has a chance as having a decent life.

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