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CNN NEWSROOM

Bangkok Bomb Blast; Donald Trump to Appear for Jury Duty; Donald Trump Leads in First Post-Debate Poll; Indonesian Searchers Spot Possible Debris of Plane Crash; Joe Biden Weighing in Presidential Run?; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And you know a couple of years ago I interviewed Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer about whether they would accept a gay player on their teams and both said they'd be perfectly fine with it so that's great. Right?

SCHOLES: It seems that locker rooms now these days, Carol, are very accepting of this.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Andy Scholes reporting live. Thanks so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this hour with breaking news out of Bangkok, Thailand. Watch your screen. Here it is. That's a blast ripping through central Bangkok. This is a very popular tourist area. At least five people are dead. Many more are injured. Bomb crews are now scouring the area saying there may still be a bomb that has not yet detonated.

With me now on the phone is Steve Herman, he's the Southeast Asia bureau chief for the Voice of America.

And, Steve, this is very much Bangkok's Times Square, right?

STEVE HERMAN, VOICE OF AMERICA SOUTHEAST ASIA BUREAU CHIEF: That would be a fairly apt description except in the heart of this Times Square is a religious shrine, a Hindu shrine actually, in this very Buddhist country. But nonetheless it is very popular with locals making offerings daily, and thousands and thousands of tourists. And it would obviously have been very crowded when this blast occurred, and there's no doubt from what I saw on the scene that this was an explosion and an official on the scene said it was a bomb blast, and now officials are more widely confirming at least one bomb blast at the Erawan Shrine.

We saw six bodies covered with sheets inside of the shrine, one outside of the shrine. Also an iron gate had bulged outward indicating that the blast had occurred within the shrine, and then right in front of where that bulge was in the gate, there were three motorcycles in the road on the ground turned over, two of them charred. Now that I think was from the original blast, the blast spreading out.

We have heard reports that there were other bombs, some reports of other bombs being defused. We have not had anyone on the scene tell us that. We do know they were very concerned about additional explosions because after we arrived, there -- when we arrived there was no perimeter set up. And then they pushed us back, starting putting up the tape and it's been moved back seven or eight times while we were there and now no one is allowed to get within about 70 meters of the shrine, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Stay safe, Steven Herman from the Voice of America joining us live. Thank you so much.

Back here in the states, the Donald Trump spectacle, same media circus, different stage. Today he steps off the campaign trail and into jury duty. Yes, the Donald is summoned to be on a New York City jury and he says he's eager to serve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be doing jury duty on Monday morning in New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In a criminal or a district court?

TRUMP: I don't know. It's one of the courts.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you looking forward to it?

TRUMP: Yes. I'm looking forward to it. I think it's fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Jury duty is fun, isn't it? Never mind Trump has been summoned five times before and he hasn't shown up but he did this time, Alexandra Field.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He did, and he showed up in Donald Trump style. I think he was the only potential juror this morning who rolled up to the Supreme Court house in Lower Manhattan in a black stretch limousine. That limousine is now parked outside of the court. It's the only real sign of special dispensation, you could call it, for the presidential candidate. Otherwise court officers and officials tell us there will be no special treatment for Donald Trump.

In fact, Carol, we know that he was summoned to serve jury duty five times. He missed all five of those summonses. His attorney tried to explain it on "NEW DAY" this morning saying that in fact Donald Trump had never received the summonses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, SPECIAL COUNSEL TO DONALD TRUMP: It's unfortunate. That whole scenario is just whacky. They claimed that they had sent it to him on several different occasions --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: He's a jury skipper.

COHEN: Not true.

CUOMO: Shirking his civic duty.

COHEN: You've got to serve it to the right property. They --

CUOMO: Is that what it was?

COHEN: Yes, they sent it to some property on the Central Park South. I believe he owns the building, but he doesn't reside there and nobody knows what happened to the document.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Nevertheless, because of those five appearances that Donald Trump failed to show up for, there is a $250 fine which will be waived because he did turn up here today, Carol. He's one of about 700 jurors who were called to appear for jury duty today. If he isn't assigned to a case today he could be called back here tomorrow. At that point if he isn't assigned to a case it's likely he will be released having completed his civic duties.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll be anxiously awaiting to see whether he serves.

Alexandra Field, thanks so much. Reporting live this morning.

Donald Trump may be stepping off the campaign trail, but his fellow Republicans are still languishing in his shadow.

[10:05:04] In the first national poll since the GOP debate, Trump holds onto his commanding lead. Significantly the top three candidates all have something in common. All of them are winning support with a shared message -- railing against the political establishment. But will that kind of support last now that Trump has unveiled details about his immigration plan?

CNN political reporter Sara Murray joins us from Washington with a closer look at that and more.

Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, when you take a look at this six-page immigration plan, it's really a combination of some traditional Republican ideas of how to deal with immigration and a lot of things that are designed to appeal to far- right conservatives. Chief among them would be Trump's plan to end birth right citizenship. That's something that's enshrined in the Constitution and said that if you are born in the U.S., you get to be an American citizen. He is looking to undo that.

Also in the plan, make Mexico pay for the border wall, we've heard this before. He sorts of lays out the penalties of how he wants to make them do it. He wants to deport all of the undocumented, although his plan is really specific in saying he wants to deport criminal aliens. Also wanting to defund sanctuary cities.

Now Donald Trump isn't just looking to curb illegal immigration, he's also trying to cut back on legal immigration. A lot of this is sort of coming from Senator Jeff Sessions who worked with him to craft a plan. You can see there he wants to restrict visas for high skilled workers. He wants to suspend issuing new green cards. Now that's a big deal because while the plan makes it seem like it's temporary, it does not say for how long you'd want to suspend that, and that's the main pipeline for legal immigration. He also wants to change admission standards for refugees.

Now when you dig into this plan, there are a lot of things here that would be very difficult to accomplish, chief among them of course is birth right citizenship thing. Republicans in Congress have tried to do it before and they have gotten nowhere, but the other thing to point out is this could be a very expensive plan. When you're talking about building a border along -- or building a wall along the southern border with Mexico, when you're talking about e-verify for all workers, when you're talking about more Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents, and when you're talking about rounding up and deporting all of the undocumented immigrants in the U.S., this is not a small price tag and that is definitely going to make it difficult if it were ever to come to Congress, Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: All right, Sara Murray, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Brace yourself for record heat again. I'm talking to you, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Soaring temperatures are also fueling wildfires out west and don't look for a break anytime soon. According to NASA global temperatures from January to May were the warmest five months ever.

Chad Myers is here to tell us more.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. And very dry out west. Hot and dry, those are the ingredients you need for a fire season. So far this year more than 10,000 square miles of land have burned. Now that's last year and this year together, but the season there from 2015, from early to now, 10,000 square miles. That's the size of New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS (voice-over): Out of control flames spreading, already burning over one million acres across eight states. A growing wildfire crisis fueled by erratic winds, lightning and soaring temperatures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not out of the woods yet.

MYERS: Over 100 large wildfires are burning uncontained.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just awful. This is the worst in all my life.

MYERS: Officials invoking the nation's highest fire alert level.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really upsetting. You don't want to see anybody lose their homes.

MYERS: Resources are stretched thin as thousands of firefighters are working overtime, some battling conditions exacerbated by California's historic drought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every resource that you can think of is on short demand in this country right now.

MYERS: Over 1,000 residents warned to flee the infernos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty unimaginable. There's no preparing for this.

MYERS: Some barely escaping the flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole ridge was on fire, this -- that whole hillside there. This whole hillside was on fire last night. I was literally outrunning flames at 60 miles an hour.

MYERS: Hundreds of homes and structures from California to Washington left smoldering, reduced to ashes.

REGGIE COLLINS, CHELAN, WASHINGTON, RESIDENT: It was pretty scary. I've never seen a storm -- a firestorm like this travel this fast.

MYERS: In Washington, about 9,000 homes were without power as wildfires outside Chelan burned down utility poles.

JAMES CARUSO, WASHINGTON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Everything that can be done now is being done out there, and our first priority is protecting people and homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: Carol, look at this. The temperatures here across the southwest today, Vegas it's going to get to 111. On Phoenix on Friday it was 117. Today a cool 111. Farther up to the northwest where things are just as hot, we are going to be in the 80s and 90s all across the Pacific northwest.

One other thing that just happened, I want to just draw your attention to it, earthquake hit San Francisco or at least near the East Bay area. It was a 4.2 shaking here for about a minute.

[10:10:08] So if you are awake and don't know why, someone was shaking your bed. Yes, that was the earth shaking underneath the bay area this morning about 18, 20 minutes ago.

COSTELLO: So 4.2, is that just like an ah in San Franciscans' minds?

MYERS: Well, sure, it will stop mass transit in some spots of course. If you get that shaking they automatically stop but that's a hey, get out of bed, it's time, it's Monday, get going.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I'd prefer a different kind of alarm myself.

MYERS: Yes. You get it.

COSTELLO: Yes. Chad Myers, thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, bad weather hampering efforts to reach a crashed Indonesian plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Crews have spotted small pieces of debris in a remote area of Indonesia believed to be from a crashed plane. The bad weather forced them to call off their search efforts until tomorrow.

[10:15:02] The Trigana Air flight lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday. Villages report seeing the plane hit a mountain. 54 people were on board including five children.

CNN's Kathy Novak is following the story from Seoul. She joins me live.

Hi, Kathy.

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, the search effort has been called off for tonight. It's dark and the weather is just too bad. Ground crews had been hiking through this very rugged terrain. It is mountainous, very steep, and thick, heavy jungle, and now they are spending the night on the mountain because fog rolled in and it got dark and they just cannot do anything else until the morning and only if the weather clears up.

What that means for the families of the 54 people on board is they are spending a second night now without any answers. We're being told this is still a search and rescue mission, but the head of the operations is telling CNN there is very little chance that anyone would have survived this kind of crash, but they are going to try to get out into that area again in the morning if the weather allows them.

All of this is raising questions once again about the safety record of Indonesian airlines. In the past year or even less, we saw this would be the third crash. In December the AirAsia flight that was carrying 162 people on board crashed killing everyone and then more recently in June 130 or more people died when a military plane crashed, and now we're being told very little hope for the 54 people, including five children, on board this flight -- Carol. COSTELLO: Kathy Novak, reporting live for us this morning. Thank

you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 16 minutes past. In San Diego five people are dead after two small planes collided in midair as both aircrafts were approaching an airport. The crash described by firefighters as very violent then sparked several brush fires. One firefighter was taken to the hospital for a heat related injury. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

An army skydiver who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan has died after being injured in an air show. Sergeant 1st Class Corey Hood was performing at the Chicago Air and Water Show when he struck another diver in midair. He then hit a building and fell 30 stories. Witnesses say they thought the accident was part of the show until they realized what happened. The other skydiver involved was treated for a broken leg.

The U.S. says its pulling its patriot missile defense system out of Turkey. The two countries released a joint statement saying the units were in need of critical upgrades and could be back in Turkey within a week if needed. The missiles had been set up along the Syrian-Turkish border. The U.S. emphasized it will continue to work with Turkey in the fight against ISIS.

Will he or won't he? That is the big question when it comes to Vice President Joe Biden and whether Biden plans to jump into the presidential race. For days now it's believed Biden has been mulling over a decision which sources say could come by the end of the summer. In the meantime, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton met with the president over the weekend on Martha's Vineyard where the commander- in-chief is vacationing.

So let's get right to CNN's Jim Acosta.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. While President Obama is enjoying his vacation here on Martha's Vineyard, Vice President Joe Biden was spending some of his time off last week determining whether he should make a run for the White House. Sources close to the vice president say he's not really near a decision right now, which is expected to come at the end of the summer, perhaps as late as October.

But Biden spent his vacation in South Carolina, an early primary state, as you know, Carol, and home to one of his biggest loyalists, the former chairman of that state's Democratic Party but his advisers are gaming out the challenge the vice president would face should he choose to take on Hillary Clinton. She has the organization and much of the party behind her. And if you take a look at the latest polls, Biden would have to play some major catch-up against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who is gaining on Clinton in the polls.

Here is what Sanders had to say about the possibility of a Biden candidacy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have known Joe for many, many years and everybody who knows Joe likes him and respects him. The decision as to whether or not he runs is his. If he does run, I promise him an issue-oriented campaign. We'll debate the major issues facing the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, as for Hillary Clinton, she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, were here on Martha's Vineyard over the weekend. As you say, Carol, White House official tells us the former secretary of state did chat briefly with President Obama on Saturday night. That was after Mr. Obama and Bill Clinton were hitting the golf course together on Saturday, and that may be the biggest challenge to Biden, Carol.

It is this optic, this image of the Obamas and the Clintons, both camps have really healed those wounds that existed way back in 2008 and in many ways Hillary Clinton is sort of carrying the mantel of the Obama legacy heading into this next presidential election. At least that's the view of many people not only inside the White House but inside the Democratic Party as well.

[10:20:02] I'm told Hillary Clinton is already seen by top Democratic strategists inside and outside the White House that she is someone who will be seen as protecting and expanding on President Obama's legacy. But we should point out, lately White House officials have been talking up the vice president, saying that President Obama believes tapping Biden as his VP was the best political decision that he ever made.

And so it does sort of set up this, you know, really interesting dilemma for President Obama, if this ever come to pass. Having to choose between Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. You know, that was his team of rivals. Nobody ever thought they would actually run against each other for president -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Jim Acosta reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two months after the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal, many couples are still finding it difficult to get married.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:01] COSTELLO: Most states have been abiding by the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. But there are still a few holdouts particularly in Alabama and Kentucky where gay couples are still being denied marriage licenses.

CNN's Ryan Nobles joins me now with details on this.

Good morning. RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And I -- the

biggest showdown right now is in Kentucky, and that's in (INAUDIBLE) County, Kentucky, where the clerk there, Kim Davis, is currently denying marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight. And as a result the ACLU is suing on behalf of four couples, two of them straight, two of them gay, to get her to start issuing those licenses.

Now a judge ordered an immediate preliminary injunction for her to do so while the case is pending, but her lawyers immediately pushed back and asked for a stay in this case.

Now the case is still pending. I talked to the clerk's office this morning in this case, and they told me that they're not issuing marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight.

Now, in Alabama, this is another front in this battle, and in Alabama there are actually 11 counties in that state that are also not issuing licenses to anyone gay or straight, and there's also a state senator who has proposed a law that would essentially take the state out of the marriage license business. Instead, couples would enter into a private contract that they would then file with the state.

So, Carol, it's basically an effort to take the public officials out of this game completely, but the ACLU points out that in Alabama there are no pending cases. There's no one who has made a complaint, that they haven't been able to obtain a license but they're concern about how this --

COSTELLO: So nobody is getting married in Alabama or Kentucky?

NOBLES: Well, in these 11 counties and it's only one county in Kentucky. And the ACLU points out that in the vast majority of the country right now there's actually been a pretty orderly experience here where everyone for the most part has been able to get these licenses without much of a problem, and they're actually surprised that it went as well as it did given all of the passion behind the same-sex marriage issue.

COSTELLO: So what are the states of Kentucky and Alabama doing about these clerks?

NOBLES: Well, in Kentucky in particular the governor himself actually gave a direct order to this clerk, that she needed to respond and issue these licenses, but essentially this is going to be adjudicated in the courts and that's one of the things that the ACLU is concerned about because even though it is in these small pockets of resistance, if it gets down a certain judicial track and a conservative judge for instance says that, yes, this clerk has the ability to kind of shower her religious beliefs over her entire office that could have broader implications across the country.

COSTELLO: Ryan Nobles, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me today. Ohio Governor John Kasich a getting a big boost of support from a

fellow Republican. Moments ago the Alabama governor, Robert Bentley, endorsed John Kasich. The pair appeared together at the state's Sports Hall of Fame.

Kasich has been on a roll following the first GOP debate. Just last week he picked up a key New Hampshire endorsement but this one is particularly important because it comes from a southern state and it certainly is just one example of John Kasich's broader appeal.

Today's presidential frontrunner, however, Donald Trump, is taking a break from the campaign trail to report for jury duty. Last hour Trump arrived outside the New York state Supreme Court building. This as the real estate mogul continues to edge out his Republican challengers. A new FOX News poll shows Trump in the lead with 25 percent among Republican voters. Second place the anti-establishment candidates Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.

Jeb Bush, he's not even in double digits but try to wrap your head around this. Trump leads the pack, yes, but more than 50 percent of Republican voters say Trump isn't even qualified for the Oval Office. Say what? That's what I said.

With me now to talk about this, CNN politics senior reporter Steven Collinson and CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson.

Welcome to both of you.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Hi.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there.

COSTELLO: So, Nia, what do you make of that?

HENDERSON: Well, I think these folks are thinking about not necessarily electability right now. They are thinking about who is saying what they want to hear and who is sort of the portrait of strong leadership, and that is certainly something that Donald Trump has tried to convey over these last many weeks that he's been riding high in the polls.

He's very much set the agenda, set the tone for the conversation, and I think it's going to be up to these other candidates to figure out if they're going to sort of chase behind Donald Trump, if they're going to try to punch him in the nose in the way that Rand Paul has or what they're going to try to do because he is taking up so much of the oxygen.

But yet and still, there are all of those other people, you say 52 percent thinks he's not qualified to be president. Well, that means, you know, 48 percent or so do think he's qualified to be president. So you know it is almost split.

COSTELLO: OK. So glass half full, Nia. I like that. Some other strange -- some other strange results of this poll, most voters, most Republican voters think Trump did the worst in the debate. 21 percent say they don't even like Trump. Is this the weirdest candidate ever, Stephen?