Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Protests Break Out at Donald Trump Rally in San Diego; Pilot Crashes Vintage Plane in Hudson River; Rains Flood Parts of Texas; Vladimir Putin Criticizes Missile Defense System in Romania; New E. Coli Bacteria Resistant to All Known Antibiotics; Baylor University Criticized for Mishandling of Sexual Assault Case; Cleveland Prepares for Republican National Convention; Libertarian Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates Give Joint Interview. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 28, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:00:15] CROWD: USA! USA! USA!

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It could be I'll have to debate because, you know what, if you're in first place you don't want to really debate a guy that was in second place.

BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I heard he was going to debate me. Then I heard he was not going to debate me. Well, Mr. Trump, what are you afraid of?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would a President Johnson use cannabis products in the White House?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says said she was sexually assaulted by a Baylor student last March, and after she tried reporting the attack, it went nowhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we prevent this particular bacteria, which is resistant to antibiotics from spreading, and where are the new antibiotics going to come from?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. So grateful for your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. CNN's Newsroom starts right now.

PAUL: We want to talk about a pilot who was killed when his vintage fighter plane crashed into the Hudson River. Officials can identify him now. His is William Gordon, and these are pictures of him that we have just coming into CNN. He is a veteran pilot from Key West, Florida. He was flying a restored World War II era plane P-47. It first took off in 1941, look at this thing. Witnesses say after Gordon crashed, he just could not make it out of that cockpit in time to save himself. CNN correspondent Rachel Crane joining us live from New York. Rachel, what else are you learning this hour about this?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, behind me here is the scene of last night's search and rescue operation. That's a single-seater World War II plane crashed into the Hudson at around 7:30 last night. The NYPD, the FDNY and other agencies responded to the incident.

Now, this is a heavy populated area of the Hudson. There are restaurants. There's running paths on either side here. Witnesses saw this crash happen. They described the scene as incredibly traumatic. In fact, there was an individual on a sailboat here that jumped into the water to help rescue that pilot after the incident had happened. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful at that. The witnesses described the scene. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was liked strapped into the seatbelt and trying to get out. You could see him really trying to get out. There was no hope for him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could actually see the pilot struggling. And he was there for about 30 seconds to one minute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very upsetting because you know you watched somebody die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Now the museum that owned the plane put out a statement earlier today. They said that "The FAA will determine the reason for the inflight failure, but we know this much. Bill was a nationally respected pilot and we were lucky to have called one of our own." Christi.

PAUL: All right, Rachel Crane, I just keep thinking about the families and hearing about these stories about how he was struggling. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: This morning trouble is brewing in the Atlantic. Right now parts of the southeast are under tropical storm warning. The National Weather Service expecting a tropical depression to intensify and close in on the east coast. Let's get straight to Allison Chinchar. She is in the severe weather center. Allison this is the wrong weekend. There's no good weekend, but so many people are going to be on the roads.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I was going to say, you don't want any weekend, but yes, a big travel weekend like this, this could not have been worse timing. Here is a look at what we know. We do have the shock of the storm warning out, this blue line here stretching the entire coastline of South Carolina.

But let's get a closer look at what we're dealing with on this particular storm. So here's a look at our staff that we have right now. Winds about 35 miles per hour. That's four miles per hour off from getting the tropical storm distinction, which we do expect for it to increase and intensify.

But let's take a look at the area of concern. We've got the low pressure. That would be your tropical depression. But as it gets closer to the South Carolina coast, we have a couple of things to keep an eye out for. Number one, high tide is going to be around 1:30 in the morning overnight tonight, which is about when they expect this to us make landfall. So the two of them combined are going to lead to flooding and also the potential for some storm surge.

But when you take a look at how it comes in, think about the tunnel effect you get with wind. A similar scenario takes place because you have so many bays and harbors along the coast, this also will play into rip currents, which will be a huge threat going into the afternoon hours, tonight and into tomorrow. And again, with so many tourists there who don't always necessarily know the rules of play with rip currents, that could end up turning deadly with this storm.

Here's a look at the next 48 hours as that system kind of rolled back in. We are still anticipating a pretty decent amount of rain with this system. Some areas could pick up two to four inches. But again, when you match that with the high tide and low-lying geography of this area, flooding is going to end up being a big concern.

BLACKWELL: Allison, thank you so much. We'll check back in a moment.

[10:05:05] And there was chaos here angry crowds outside a Donald Trump rally in San Diego. Officers pushed the protesters. Several were pepper sprayed. At least 35 were arrested. There had been similar episodes in several states outside of rallies for the presumptive Republican nominee.

Let's bring in CNN correspondent Scott McLean. Scott, we have seen these protests outside of Donald Trump rallies before. In some cases they've become violent. Tell us what happened here last night.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor. At one point Trump protestors and Trump supporters were throwing bottles and eggs at each other. And that's when police moved in to break things up.

Trump's plan to build a wall on the Mexican border, which of course is not far from San Diego, is one of Donald Trump's policy proposals that really helped draw in some of these crowd, from anti-Trump protestors with Mexican flags, while Trump supporters at one point chanted "build that wall." So that was outside.

Inside the event Donald Trump continued to slam Hillary Clinton over her use of a private e-mail server and also predicted he could win California in the general election despite the fact the state has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988. Trump says it's all part of his strategy to focus on about 15 states in the general election, some swing states and some Democratic strongholds.

What's not part of Trump's strategy is debating Bernie Sanders. That idea as you know generated a lot of discussion. And both Trump and Sanders seemed to be on board. But yesterday Trump backed out, saying in a statement, "Now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher." Sanders is still pushing Trump to change his mind. The spotlight of a debate could really help him because this week Hillary Clinton has largely ignored him to focus on attacking Trump. But Sanders is still fighting hard to win the California primary which is now just 10 days away. The latest poll shows Sanders and Clinton in a dead heat. And so today Sanders is actually celebrating his wedding anniversary, Victor, by campaigning at three events in California.

BLACKWELL: Scott McLean, we'll get into all of those topics in a moment with our panel. Scott, thanks very much.

PAUL: This just in to CNN, a stern warning from Russia about deploying a U.S. defense missile with Europe. President Vladimir Putin's sharp words underscore how frosty relations with the west are these days. NATO insists the system that went operational this month in Romania is only defensive, but Putin's response leaves little doubt he views any strategic missiles in Europe as a direct threat, and revived some of the harshest rhetoric of the cold war. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (via translator): If yesterday in those areas of Romania people simply did not know what it means to be in the crosshairs, then today we'll be forced to carry out certain measures to ensure our security. I repeat that these are retaliatory measures, retaliatory. We will not take any first steps. It will be the first case with Poland. We will wait until Poland takes certain action. We won't take any action, no action. We won't take any action until we see rockets in areas that neighbor us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona joining us now. Colonel, thank you for being here. President Putin has warned the west repeatedly about deploying a missile shield in Europe. How seriously do you believe Washington should be taking his latest statements?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you have to take everything Putin says seriously. He has a track record of acting on his threats. Just look at the eastern Ukraine, look what he did in the Crimea, look what he did in and Syria, a very effective military operation. So you have to listen to what he says.

But now we're talking a different thing. When you're talking about invading Ukraine or going to Syria for a military operation, much, much different than taking on NATO. If he does anything in Romania or Poland or the Czech Republic as he's threatening to do, then he triggers Article 5 of the NATO charter, which means an attack on any state is an attack on all states. I don't think he wants to get into an armed confrontation with NATO but he certainly wants to up the ante on what's going on there. And I think of course Washington is going to have to look at this because he's a very mercurial personality and we're not quite sure how he's going to react to this.

PAUL: He did say that he would be forced to carry out certain measures to ensure our security. He didn't elaborate what those measures would be, but what do you suspect he would possibly do?

FRANCONA: There are certain things he can do militarily. He can move forces around. He has an enclave up in Kaliningrad. He could move missiles up there that directly threaten NATO. He could move forces to his borders. He has long-range rockets. He certainly has the capability to put everybody in the crosshairs. But whether he is actually going to fire rockets, I think that is way, way down the road. I think cooler heads will prevail.

[10:00:01] But he wants to make his point. Although his point really is kind of hard to believe, these rockets really are not a threat to Russia. Russia has a strategic military force that is far beyond the capabilities of this system. This is to protect NATO. This is a NATO operation, not a U.S. operation.

PAUL: Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thank you so much for breaking it down for us. Appreciate it, sir.

BLACKWELL: An alleged sex assault victim talked to CNN about why she felt pushed aside by Baylor University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEFANIE MUNDHENK, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: How I fail about Baylor is like they failed me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Baylor University has demoted its president and intends to fire its football coach. This comes after a report that says the school did not respond properly to allegations of sexual assault.

PAUL: An alleged victim of one of those assaults said the school failed its students and didn't live up to its own values. CNN's Ed Lavandera talked to her.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi and Victor, the chairman of Baylor's board of regents said the details of the internal investigation were shocking and outrageous. But despite that, Ken Starr wasn't fully fired.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUNDHENK: How I feel about Baylor, it's like they failed me.

LAVANDERA: Stefanie Mundhenk says that while Baylor University's internal report vindicates her and many more young women, she says it's now clear the prominent Baptist university shunned them after they reported being sexually assaulted.

MUNDHENK: The institutional crap, like this is out of our hands. We can't do anything about it. Case is closed. You know what I mean? Like, if you really believe someone was raped, wouldn't you do something? Right, like especially like with the high Christian standards they purport to have.

LAVANDERA: Mundhenk says she was sexually assaulted by a Baylor student last March, and after she tried reporting the attack, it went nowhere.

[10:15:00] MUNDHENK: If you really, truly believe someone was raped, wouldn't you do something urgently about it? Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you respond with urgency? And that's the thing, we don't see urgency. We see, we'll coordinate this next week. We hope to meet with this witness in a week or two. And I don't think they understand the weight that it has on us as survivors.

LAVANDERA: Baylor's board of regents says it was horrified by a fundamental failure by the institution to protect female students. The sexual assault which involves several football players occurred in recent years as the Baylor football program emerged from decades of mediocrity to become a national contender. A massive new stadium was built on campus. But critics say the sexual assault investigations were covered up to protect the school's image.

IRWIN ZALKIN, VICTIM'S LAWYER: Baylor knew, had prior knowledge of a huge problem with sexual assault on their campus, especially through the athletic program. And they just did nothing they did absolutely really nothing to protect these female students.

LAVANDERA: Head football coach Art Briles will be fired and Ken Starr, who investigated the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal, was removed as president but kept as chancellor and a law school professor. Neither has responded in CNN's request for comment. In a telephone conference call with reporters, Baylor officials refuse to say why Ken Starr wasn't fired outright.

RICHARD WILLIS, BAYLOR BOARD OF REGENTS: We don't talk about individual people. It's just inappropriate to do that. Again, we just have higher expectations for people in leadership.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Baylor University says it released the key findings of its internal investigation to be open with the university community. However, that report does not specify just how many sexual assault victims there were or how many cases it investigated. We've asked but haven't got an answer. Christi and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Ed Lavandera reporting for us. Thanks so much.

CHETRY: So Donald Trump says he believes he can win California in November. This is a traditionally Democratic state, has been since 1988. How plausible is it he can pull that off?

Also, for the first time in the U.S., doctors are faced with a so- called superbug. Even the strongest antibiotics cannot kill this. So what can be done? What are our options to fight this bacteria?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:21:08] BLACKWELL: Donald Trump has a new general election strategy, and just like his campaign, it's unconventional. He wants to try to paint traditionally blue states red, including California. It's not seen a Republican win since the 1980s. Listen to what he said in Fresno last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No other Republican, let's say Ted Cruz won or let's say any one of them won, they wouldn't even come here for dinner, because they are told that as a Republican you have zero chance, OK? I really believe we're going to win it. I think we have a real chance to win it.

And you know what, I view it strategically also, because if we don't win it, they are going to spend one hell of a fortune in fighting me off, that I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that part of what he just said. Let's bring Katrina Pierson, national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, and Angela Rye, CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Good to have both of you this morning. Katrina, I want to start with you. How much of this is a real belief and strategy to win California, or is Donald Trump just trying to drain the coffers of the Democratic nominee?

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: No, I think Mr. Trump does believe he can win California. I think we've seen from the beginning of this campaign that Mr. Trump has been underestimated from the beginning. There are a lot of independents and a lot of Democrats that do support Mr. Trump, and we've seen now that he's been able to break records even on the Republican side.

BLACKWELL: So, Angela, we know that there are some states along the rust belt that the Democrats will have to fight for that are typically Democratic states. If we go out to the west coast, are Democrats concerned that Donald Trump can take California?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think to Katrina's point, he had been underestimated, and it's unfortunate on the Democratic side and really for the other really Republican candidates who he beat that he has been underestimated. The reality of this is we have to fight a 50-state battle. Howard Dean when he was chair of the DNC made it very clear that we need to play in all 50 states. What playing in 50 states looks like is up to each presidential candidate to decide.

What I will say to you is, if Donald Trump continues down the same vein that he's been going down in terms of his rhetoric, which sparked all types of protests yesterday in California where he says he wants to play, and if he ever introduces a substantive policy agenda that matches the violent rhetoric that he's continued to spew and the vitriol and bigotry behind it, I don't think we have anything to worry about at all. I think Californians just like the rest of Americans are much smarter than that and won't buy into that type of hateful rhetoric.

BLACKWELL: Katrina, let me come to you with what happened yesterday in San Diego. We have pictures up now. And we have had Democrats and Republicans all morning long who have gone back and forth for on whom the onus is for what we saw here. Does Donald Trump have a responsibility to come out and denounce what we saw here? We saw a tweet here saying thanks to the police department for controlling the thugs. I think we have it. We can put it up where he says "Fantastic job on handling thugs who tried to disrupt our very peaceful and well- attended rally. Greatly appreciated." Does that help?

PIERSON: It absolutely helps for a couple of reasons. Most people in this country don't believe that it's bigoted and racist to enforce current United States laws on immigration. But more importantly with regard to California and the protesters, Mr. Trump has already come out several times and condemned the violence at these rallies, but we've also figured out it's not Trump people. These are paid agitator in many cases that are escalating. We are seeing people debase public property, violence against police officers.

[10:00:00] RYE: Who pays them, Katrina?

PIERSON: You can go to Craigslist, Moveon.org. Bill Ayers was out at the Chicago rally talking about it.

RYE: Katrina, that's ridiculous.

BLACKWELL: Hold on for a second, Angela.

PIERSON: George Soros funded some of these. It's all on the Internet. Ads have been placed by these organizations. They've been tweeting about it.

BLACKWELL: You're saying that there are ads on Craigslist to hire protestors.

PIERSON: Yes, and Moveon.org. And they have tweeted about it from the beginning, taking credit for having these protestors out there.

BLACKWELL: Angela, to ahead and respond to that.

RYE: Sure. A couple things, one is, it's ridiculous. Moveon.org, I don't have any basis for this, so let me be careful. I'm actually someone who comes on air and is careful to be sure I have fact-based arguments and not propaganda.

PIERSON: As am I.

RYE: No, you're not, Katrina. That's why you got called out by Wolf the other day because you're really not. But here's what I will say.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Let her finish.

PIERSON: No, I'm not going to sit there and let her go on. BLACKWELL: Katrina, I asked Angela to stop for to you speak. And now

I'm asking you to stop for Angela to speak. Angela, go ahead.

RYE: So what I was going to say is of course there are people who are based and rooted in progressive organizations that are encouraging people to get out and be heard and to fight against this type of conduct. There's a young man who was outside protesting yesterday that wore a shirt that says "I just look like an illegal immigrant."

At the rally where they're protesting, Donald Trump, of course he was in town for two reasons. He wants to win California, but he also wants to win that civil suit where he defrauded hundreds of people for attending Trump University. He calls the federal judge in the case a hater and then he says he's a Mexican. How curious is that that this guy who has all kinds of vitriol towards Mexican people has now called this man out as a Mexican.

I watched a Trump supporter agitate these protesters. I've heard people who attended the rally yesterday say Trump supporters literarily were going around the block to agitate people. I watch a man in a Kobe Bryant jersey flip someone off and then shortly thereafter get arrested. Let's be honest, if people are getting paid, I don't know who they're getting paid by. I'm sure hundreds of these people if you talk to them they will tell you they're out there speaking up for their rights. They're tired of being oppressed and they're tired of the victim blaming coming out of this campaign. Those are the facts whether you like them or now. They are the facts.

BLACKWELL: Angela, what about those people who came to protest? We know the police came there and tried to allow the people at the event to leave safely and peacefully but were agitated by some of the protesters who were there. So this is on both sides. And let me say, we don't know the political affiliation or the alliances of the nearly three dozen people who were arrested. We don't know if they were all Democrats or all Republicans.

RYE: Or mixed. It was both. And I think that here's the reality of this. You see a scene at one point where there's a man and he's been at several events saying free hugs. His sign is free hugs. There's a white guy in front of him that is throwing punches at the other side. So you can assume, again I won't do that, but it's very clear that tensions are high on both sides. And at some point someone who wants to president should act presidential and stop being immature and be accountable for this hate speech.

BLACKWELL: Katrina, I want to give you an opportunity to respond.

PIERSON: Thank you. If you have to be escorted out of a political rally, that tells you everything you need to know about the protesters. And they don't need to be agitated. These individuals were not agitated. And, yes, they were paid. And those signs do have "La Raza" on there. They wore Bernie Sanders t-shirts. And you don't have to accept that. The video is out there and has been playing since this whole thing started. And yes, it is Moveon.org and other progressive organizations and some funded by the government, particularly those in California. This is out there. It's been covered in the media. It has been fact based and it is proven. You can reject it all you want.

BLACKWELL: Katrina, you have evidence that the protesters were paid by the government?

PIERSON: These organizations, yes, these organizations have been paid to go out there and protest these rallies. And CNN should really do a special on that and really open the eyes of the viewers.

BLACKWELL: If you've got the evidence, e-mail it to me.

PIERSON: I will do that right now.

BLACKWELL: All right, Katrina Peterson, Angela Rye, we have to wrap it there. We went longer than we should have. But I thank you both for being with us. I'll look for that e-mail, Katrina.

PIERSON: You got it, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right.

RYE: You're going to be waiting a long time.

PAUL: All right, talking about those tense scenes like we were just seeing in San Diego, those are scenes keeping officials awake at night in Cleveland. We're talking to the president of the Cleveland city council about how that city is hoping to prevent violence at this summer's Republican convention.

Also the United States as a, quote, "rouge nation" under Donald Trump as one person said, and the prospect of pot use in the White House, we're talking about it all with two leading libertarian candidates for president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:33:08] PAUL: Thanks for keeping us company on this Saturday. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's good to be with you. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: Wherever Donald Trump goes there are protestors that seem to follow. Look at the city of San Diego. Victor was just having this conversation as well. But protestors scuffling there with police. Officers armed with batons, with pepper spray. In just a few weeks Cleveland is hosting the Republican National Convention and there are a lot of questions about what that city is able to do to prepare for scenes very similar to this.

Let's bring in Kevin Kelley, president of the Cleveland City Council. Mr. Kelley, thank you for being with us.

KEVIN KELLEY, PRESIDENT, CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure. Let me ask you first and foremost what precautions are you taking and how confidence are you in the preparations Cleveland is making for this convention?

KELLEY: I'm very confident, Christi. The city has been preparing for this for well over a year. We are working with the Secret Service. Our police intelligence community is very good. This is something that -- this isn't a rally that has sprung up, this isn't a candidates' even. This is major league event that we've been preparing for for years -- excuse me, not years, but a year, and we are very well prepare for this.

PAUL: In watching some of what's happened over the last several months and some of the protesters and violence that we've seen, surely when you took on this event did not possibly see this coming. I'm wondering if you've had to shift strategies at all and how financially it's impacting the city in this regard.

KELLEY: Maybe slightly. The thing to remember about a political convention is that there are always protests. That a part of the event you prepare for. So even if the nominee weren't Donald Trump and weren't an inflammatory nominee, we were planning on protests and planning on unrest anyhow.

[10:35:05] So this certainly ratchets it up a little bit, so we adjust our plan. But we never thought that we'd go through July without protest or without people trying to make political statements. That's part of political conventions.

PAUL: And it's their right to do so, obviously. So have you delegated certain areas of town outside the convention center where protesters will be and supporters will be?

KELLEY: Yes. And we rolled that out just this week, and significantly the protest areas and where the protest and parade routes go, they're going to be closer to the arena than they were in Tampa and many other convention cities. We believe that we have set up a route and a zone that is both constitutional. It allows people to express themselves. It's also going to ensure the safety of the delegates of the guests of the police officers, of other law enforcement officers. So it has been released and I'm confident that we're going to meet all of those goals.

PAUL: There are conversations being had in this political arena about possible death threats to people. I'm wondering if anybody in the city of Cleveland has gotten any sort of threat or any violence being planned. And how are you watching that? Are you watching social media?

KELLEY: I have no specific knowledge of that. But I know that the intelligence unit of the Cleveland division of police is very aware of all of the social media conversations, everything that goes on. They are very good. This community has dealt with situations of unrest somewhat recently. In the fall we had some very unfortunate police- citizen events that really tested this community and really tested how we're going to respond to unrest and to protesters and those that were legitimately angry and hurt. And I think we really did well and we showed an example to the nation of how this city would respond to events of unrest. PAUL: Good to know. Mr. Kevin Kelley, we appreciate you being here.

Thank you.

KELLEY: Thank you for having me. You have a great rest of the day and Memorial Day weekend.

PAUL: You, too, thanks.

BLACKWELL: Libertarians gathering in Orlando are trying to decide on the party's presidential and vice presidential nominees. Top of the list right now are former governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld. I say down with them yesterday. It's their first every joint interview. I asked about Weld's relationship with Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What's your opinion of him?

BILL WELD, LIBERTARIAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, there's the Donald Trump you meet socially, and he's a warm person, not an ungenerous person. Some of the stuff that he's running on I think is absolutely chaotic. I'm going to do this to Mexico. OK, that's a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is the supreme law of the land. It's a treaty. We signed it.

I'm going to do this to China, no questions asked. OK, that's a violation of the World Trade Organization rules, exposing us, the United States, to sanctions there. So we would be the rogue nation. I don't think we want to be the rogue nation. Let's let North Korea be the rogue nation, not us.

BLACKWELL: Right before you announced your 2016 candidacy for president, you were CEO of a company called Cannabis Sativa, the maker of cannabis products. You've been very open about your use of cannabis products. I wonder, would a President Johnson use cannabis products in the White House?

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I wouldn't. And I've been on record saying that. I haven't had a drink in 29 years. And no, I think I really have a proven record of discipline beyond most people. And, no, I don't think you want to have the president of the United States impaired, or potentially being impaired in any way whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: A small part of my interview. You can watch the full interview with Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, former governors, at our website CNN.com. And CNN is at the libertarian convention in Orlando all weekend. We have live coverage beginning in just a few hours on CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: Live pictures we want to bring you right now of flooding in Texas. This is coming to CNN as we speak here. But take a look at how high some of that water is. Remember, the state received more than 16 inches of rain yesterday. And a big part of the problem right now are students who have been trapped at a school and they had to stay there overnight. We understand they're hoping to reunite with their families soon.

BLACKWELL: And you see the communities here are completely inundated with waters. This is recorded video here. People carried their belongings out of those flooded cars. Back to the school that Christi was talking about. School Superintendent Walter Jackson said he hopes the remaining student would be soon reunited with their families. But another look here at those flooded roads here in Texas. Live pictures.

[10:40:01] This is an apartment complex where those cars are stranded there. And unfortunately there is more rain on the way for the southeast. We'll be talking about that throughout the latter part of the morning and afternoon.

PAUL: At least there's sunshine now so they can at least get a brief reprieve.

It is a superbug that can't be fought with normal antibiotics. And doctors are warning this could be a sign of more dangerous bacteria to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: For the first time in the U.S., doctors say they found a superbug or at least a strain of E. coli that is nearly resistant to all antibiotics, including the one that doctors use when most others fail.

PAUL: Now scientists say the superbug could be a warning of a sign of what's to come. Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with what we know at this point.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All we know at this point is that this women is 49 years old, that she's from Pennsylvania, that she was seen in a clinic, she wasn't in a hospital, she was seen in a clinic, and she was found to have an E. coli bacteria that does not get killed by any existing antibiotic.

She hasn't traveled from overseas recently, so this does not appear to have come from another country. And now the focus for researchers is going to be, what do we do about this? How do we prevent this particular bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics from spreading?

[10:45:03] And where are the new antibiotics going to come from? Where are they going to come from, and when are they going to come? Again, I think medical officials for some time have been anticipating a day like this, and there have been various strategies in the works. But as things stand now, there is a bacteria out there that doesn't respond, and we have just got to make sure it doesn't spread and that we have more tools in the tool box as soon as possible. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Sanjay, thanks so much.

Turning to politics, whether you're on the Trump train or you're with her or you're feeling the Bern, this political season seems to be tearing personal friends apart. Why one author says this campaign has gotten downright hostile.

PAUL: So listen, if you know someone going above and beyond to make the world a better place, nominate him or her as a CNN Hero. And we want to know about them. This year marks the 10th anniversary of recognizing the extraordinary people among us. CNN's Anderson Cooper explains how can you acknowledge that special person's work and sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight we're recognizing some incredible acts of passion and kindness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please join me --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please join me in honoring --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honoring CNN Hero --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CNN Hero --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN Hero --

COOPER: This year marks the 10th anniversary of CNN Heroes, celebrating everyday people changing the world. How do we find these extraordinary people? You can nominate someone right now at CNNheroes.com. Maybe they're caring for children, helping our veterans, or protecting environment. Whatever their cause, nominating a CNN Hero is easier than ever. Just go to CNNheroes.com on your laptop, your tablet, or your smart phone. Click "Nominate," fill in the form, and tell us about your hero extraordinary. And be selective. Those honored at CNN Heroes are truly dedicating their lives to serving others. When you're finished click submit. You'll see this message that confirms we received it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is great, yes.

COOPER: Being recognized as a CNN Hero can help the person you admire continue their life-changing work. But it all starts with you. So nominate someone deserving today.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: This year's top ten nominees, and vote for your favorite to become CNN hero of the year. You can vote once a day at CNNHeroes.com, and thanks for doing so.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Taking you back to Texas now with live pictures here showing you just these flooded communities doing something that people often told not to do, drive through that water. This is like a golf cart here. But as the shot widens, and we don't have control of this camera from KTRK's chopper, you can see that, as they widen out here, this is a community that's full of water, 16 inches of rain on Friday. Dozens of people had to be rescued. They were trapped in some of those flooded cars, flooded homes. In one community there were children that had to spend the night at school because the water made the road impassable. But the superintendent there said he hopes the remaining students who are still at the school will be reunited with their families pretty soon. Again, a look at just the dire situation there in Texas courtesy of KTRK.

PAUL: Of course it's Memorial Day weekend. Election season is in full swing, as we know, which means your barbecue is not going to be the only thing getting fired up most likely.

BLACKWELL: Your friends and relatives, they're finding attacks over political preferences are getting personal on both sides, in both parties and in the middle. "Slate" writer Michelle Goldberg wrote this, "The Democratic primary, while incredibly high minded compared with the Republican one, is creating lasting interpersonal enmity."

PAUL: So let's talk to Michelle Goldberg. She's a columnist for "Slate. " Michelle thank you for taking time for us here. You write about one particular incident where you realized the discourse had just gone past the tipping point. What was that?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG, COLUMNIST, "SLATE": I had seen it building for a while. I had seen supporters of Hillary Clinton being derided as shills and sellouts and kind of as old ladies who just want to see themselves reflected in the White House, where Bernie people are considered impractical dreamers who are just don't realize they're just the voice of rich, young white people.

But what crystalized it for me, what made me decide to write this piece is when an old colleague of my husband. My husband works in progressive politics, and an old colleague of his popped up on his Facebook thread and started insulting him and finally just calling him a sellout. And I realize that these are two people who are never going to have collegial relationships again. And I looked around and started talking to other people in the progressive world and found out these sort of fissures were going on all over.

PAUL: We go through this every four years. Why do you think this year it feels so different and it's having such an impact on relationships like that?

GOLDBERG: I think with the Democratic primary, partly it's because there's so much at stake and there's such an ideological gulf between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, between somebody who wants to make the system more representative and more fair and somebody who wants to overthrow it all together.

There was a lot of tensions and really even hatreds in 2008, but there wasn't -- ultimately it was kind of about representation, would we have the first woman presidential candidate or the first African- American? Ideologically they were relatively close. That's really different this year. And so what we're finding is that among progressives, people who are used to thinking of themselves as having the same values and the same goals are finding out that actually they don't. There's a huge difference in between what different people prioritize, how they view reality and the nature of political possibility.

And then also social media is much more ubiquitous than it was in 2008. And so people are used to agreeing with each other online are suddenly finding people that they know kind of -- they're finding that they hold all of these very, you know, kind of smearing or contemptuous opinions about people like you, and it's very jarring.

[10:55:13] PAUL: We only have 30 seconds, but I'm looking at it, and I think often these people who now have this rift between them, when we get through the election, they look back and go I miss that person. I wish I wouldn't have severed that friendship. Give me your first fervent piece of advice this weekend for getting through if we're going to see people who may not agree with us politically.

GOLDBERG: I think the most important thing is to not question the other person's motives, not to assume that because they're not supporting the same candidate that you are that it's because they don't share the same values or they don't really care about a more just society, because they don't care about equality or because they don't care about sexism. And so it's kind of not to assume that because somebody disagrees with you that they are somehow immoral.

PAUL: Very well said. Michelle Goldberg, thank you for taking the time.

GOLDBERG: Thank you so much.

PAUL: Sure.

And we hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend here and make some good memories.

BLACKWELL: There's much more ahead in the next hours of CNN Newsroom. Suzanne Malveaux is coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)