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CNN NEWSROOM

U.S. Terror Response; FBI & Hillary Clinton; Olympic Games in Rio; Macy's 4th of July Celebration. Aired 9:30-10:00a ET

Aired July 4, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:31:12] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

ISIS now claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing in Baghdad. At least 200 people are dead. It's just the latest in a string of recent terrorist attacks overseas. In response, official here in the U.S. are taking no chances, adding hundreds of police officers to city streets all over the country. CNN's Deborah Feyerick live along New York's East River.

Hi, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Carol.

And this is where the fireworks are going to take place later tonight. And security in this entire area is very tight. There are police officers checking out vans. There are signs along First Avenue on the way here warning that there will be no bags allowed. There's going to be checkpoints all along to make sure that anybody who's coming to this location has in fact at least potentially been screened.

Now, we can tell you that there's no credible intelligence in terms of a specific threat, but what police are really guarding against is that unknown threat. That lone wolf who may want to do something and make a statement on this July 4th.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): After a series of deadly attacks overseas, U.S. counterterror officials heightening security measures at so-called soft targets across the country, including the July 4th fireworks displays tonight.

CHIEF CATHY LANIER, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have a pretty tight security plan for the Fourth of July.

FEYERICK: In the nation's capital, much of the dramatic increase in security will be hidden.

CHIEF ROBERT MACLEAN, U.S. PARK POLICE: We do have technology that folks will not see.

FEYERICK: The biggest fireworks show in America, along New York City's East River, with an estimated 3 million spectators, has the police in the big apple on high alert.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: You will see a very significantly enhanced police presence in the city.

FEYERICK: Out on the water, officials patrolling the harbors around Manhattan and conducting security dives along the Macy's fireworks barges.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: We are very, very vigilant. We'll have exceptional NYPD presence to keep everyone safe.

FEYERICK: The New York City mayor deploying 500 plus highly trained, highly armed officers, ready to prevent terror. The first Fourth of July the critical response team will be out in full force.

DE BLASIO: It sends a powerful message to anyone who might try and disrupt, that we are ready to prevent that.

FEYERICK: Tensions already high.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like a cannon.

FEYERICK: After a small explosion in Central Park Sunday left a tourist's foot mangled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His foot's all but detached. His friends claim he was just walking on the rocks and stepped on something.

FEYERICK: That something believed to be an experiment with fireworks or a homemade explosive, set off after a young tourist actually stepped on it, according to the NYPD.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe this could have been put here as some sort of experiment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has investigated. They do not believe that this is terror related. They do believe that it was somebody, an amateur hobbyist, as they call it, who was experimenting with different chemicals. Those chemicals turned out to be very, very dangerous, certainly pertaining to this man whose foot was so badly damaged. But they don't think that it's - that it's terror related.

As for that person who you heard speak about that sort of unseen security, they were talking radiation detectors, surveillance cameras. We're talking about a lot of officer who are going to be in plain clothes, people who are going to be here who are going to be watching, again, looking for any anomalies. But with so many people expected to come here tonight, Carol, it's going to be really height and you're going to have to be prepared to wait.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, have patience tonight, and that's a good thing. Deborah Feyerick reporting live for us this morning.

Checking some other top stories for you at 34 minutes past.

Officials say human remains have been recovered from the crash site of EgyptAir Flight 804. They are not yet sure how many victims they found. Investigators are still working to find out what caused the crash. Early analysis of the repaired flight data recorder shows signs of heat and smoke. The flight crashed into the Mediterranean in May. All 66 aboard were killed.

[09:35:15] A man in Reno tries to drive through a crowded chicken wing festival and is shot and killed by a police officer. It happened Sunday afternoon. The sheriff's office says the driver was trying to get away after an earlier traffic stop. He crashed into a festival vendor and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. No one at the festival was hurt.

Nigel Farage has stepped down as leader of the U.K. independence party. Farage campaigned for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union for years. Britain voted to leave the E.U. in a referendum last month. In a statement, Farage said he had accomplished his political ambition and it was time to move on.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, on the heels of a three and a half hour grilling by the FBI, we're assessing the impact the investigation could have on the Clinton campaign, next.

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COSTELLO: President Obama will campaign for the first time with Hillary Clinton tomorrow. They will appear side by side at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. But that appearance is likely to be overshadowed by Clinton's FBI integration. Clinton sitting down with FBI investigators and answering questions about her private e-mail server over the weekend. As you know, Clinton e-mailed from home during her tenure as secretary of state. The FBI is investigating whether she mishandled classified information. CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is following this story for us this morning.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Hillary Clinton spent three and a half hours in that interview with the FBI over the weekend. The message from her campaign is that she was happy to get it over with and hopes she's on the road to putting the issue behind her. Our reporting from the CNN justice unit before the interview suggested there's no evidence to warrant charges in the case so long as no evidence of wrongdoing turned up in the interview. The expectation has been that something conclusive on this case from the Justice Department is likely to be released before the Democratic Convention.

[09:40:28] Meanwhile, a bit more buzz about the optics and times of that meeting last week between Hillary Clinton's husband, the former president, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who runs the department that will have the final say in the investigation. It was an impromptu conversation on the tarmac at an airport in Phoenix. It apparently lasted about 30 minutes. An aide to Bill Clinton described the meeting as unplanned, entirely social in nature. The attorney general has said she wouldn't do it again, and Bill Clinton's aide essentially agreed with that, because of the view others could take of the meeting, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Joe Johns reporting live from Washington. Thanks so much.

So let's bring in Hillary Clinton supporter and super delegate and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona, and Princeton University professor and historian Julian Zelizer.

Welcome to both of you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN & PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Julian, the FBI has to prove Clinton knowingly sent or received classified information from home. Is that difficult to prove?

ZELIZER: It is difficult. And, you know, this is about FOIA (ph), which is a law about disclosure, and so it's hard to really understand the intentions of Hillary Clinton on this. And there's been an extensive investigation. Right now the evidence doesn't point to any great wrongdoing, other than a mistake at worst.

COSTELLO: But, Maria, does it even matter if Hillary Clinton is indicted or not? The majority of voters already mistrust her. Haven't when already made up their minds?

CARDONA: Well, first of all, I don't think that there's any evidence that that actually will happen. But to your point, I agree, a lot of this issue in voters' minds is, as I say, baked into the cake. So if you are somebody who is a Hillary Clinton supporter, that you have decided you're going to vote for her, none of this is going to change your mind. If you are somebody on the conservative side who wakes up every single day trying to figure out how to bring her down, this is going to be something else that you're going to continue to use in your arsenal. So I don't think that in voters' minds this is going to be a deciding factor. They're going to look at other things like - such as, what is she going to do as president, what is she going to do for me and my family, what is she going to do for my economy and to keep us safe? And when it comes to that contrast, I think that is a contrast that Hillary Clinton will win in November.

COSTELLO: OK, so going back to the trust issue for just a second, Julian. Bill Clinton meets with the attorney general at the Phoenix airport. Even he admits it was a mistake. It was a dumb thing to do. Is it time that his role, I don't know if limited is the right word, but should President Obama take over most of the campaigning now? ZELIZER: Well, I think Hillary Clinton should take over most of the

campaigning. I think, you know, perception matters in American politics, and this is something that often does hurt the Clintons. And regardless of the details in the e-mail case, the ongoing story has hurt trust in her candidacy, and I do think that meeting in the tarmac, even if it was harmless, still creates this perception that feeds right into what Donald Trump wants to say. So I do think he is someone who is very valuable, Bill Clinton, but also someone who has to be contained and remember how important perception is.

COSTELLO: Perception sometimes is reality, Maria. Shouldn't Bill Clinton go on camera and say something about this? He has never sat down one-on-one with a reporter that I can remember in - I mean, I can't remember anything recently he's done one-on-one with a reporter. Why is that?

CARDONA: Well, because this campaign is not about Bill Clinton. This campaign is about Hillary Clinton and what she is going to do for this country.

COSTELLO: Oh, but Mr. Trump is making it - in making it about Bill Clinton, too.

CARDONA: Of course he - he - of course he's going to -

COSTELLO: It is about Bill Clinton, too.

CARDONA: Of course he's going to try, but that doesn't mean that Hillary Clinton should play into that. This is not about Bill Clinton. And I think if he sits down to talk to a reporter, we will continue to try to make it about Bill Clinton. And that's not what this is about. This is about what Hillary Clinton will do for this country.

And I actually think it was a great thing that she sat down with the FBI. This is something that she has been offering to do for almost a year now, since last August. And the fact that they finally took her up on her voluntary offer to do this, I think indicates that this is coming to a close. Once that happens, she is going to be completely free then to focus 150 percent on the fact that Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit, completely unqualified and wholly unprepared to become our commander in chief.

[09:45:01] COSTELLO: OK, so going back to Bill Clinton for just a second, Julian, shouldn't he go on camera and say something about this? Because this election, in part, is about Bill Clinton, whether Hillary Clinton likes it or not.

ZELIZER: Yes, I mean, we're not going to be able to escape Bill Clinton's role in this. Some of this is a debate about the 1990s. The Clinton name brings value at different parts of the campaign that Hillary Clinton talks about. So certainly in this particular story, it might be helpful if he puts an end to this and explains what happened so that it doesn't continue. But again, the focus still needs to be Hillary Clinton. She is the candidate.

CARDONA: Right. ZELIZER: She is the promise for the Democratic Party. And she needs to be in front of the cameras, not anyone else.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Maria Cardona, Julian Zelizer, thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM -

CARDONA: Thanks, Carol. Happy 4th.

COSTELLO: You too, Maria. Thank you.

Just over a month until the Olympics in Rio, oh, and the bad news just keeps on coming. What the city's mayor is worried about now.

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COSTELLO: The Rio Olympics are a month away, and the problems surrounding the games just keep on coming. Rio's acting governor already says the Olympics could be a big failure. Now Rio's major is slamming the state government and the police chief, accusing both of them of, quote, failing to do their job.

CNN's Shasta Darlington is in Rio this morning with more.

Hi, Shasta.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

That's right, we're in the middle of a very serious crime wave right here. We've talked to a Spanish sailing team that was robbed at gunpoint at 10:00 a.m. on the way to their practice. An armed gang broke into a hospital to free a drug lord. Things are pretty serious here.

So when I sat down with the mayor, I asked him, how in the world can you guarantee that things will be safe for the games?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR EDUARDO PAES, RIO DE JANEIRO: Fortunately, this is not going to happen on the games. It's going to be the national force here, the army, the navy, everyone's going to be here. So, as you know, this is not a city responsibility in Brazil. It's a

state (INAUDIBLE) responsibility. I think they do a terrible job on security. They do a terrible job before the games and after the games. Fortunately, they are not going to be the ones responsible for security during the games.

[09:50:26] DARLINGTON: I think you raise a valid point. There's also the question of residents. Police aren't getting paid. Crime is rising. Do you worry that your citizens, that your - especially the most vulnerable could be abandoned during the Olympic games when everybody's taking care of the tourists? PAES: I'm not worried about them being abandoned on the games time.

I'm worried about them being abandoned everyday on the everyday life. So this is the most serious issue in Rio and the state (INAUDIBLE) is doing a horrible - a terrible job there. It has completely been failing and its work of police of taking care of security and the states.

DARLINGTON: One of the big problems has been Zika. Athletes have been cancelling. Do you think you might be underestimating the impact, the fear over the Zika virus is going to have on the games?

PAES: I don't think so. Actually, what's happening, exactly (ph) on the contrary. I mean people are overestimating what could happen. I mean at this time in Rio, if you're American, please don't go to Florida. You've got more cases of Zika in Florida than what we have now in Rio. I'm not saying there's not a problem. It is a problem that we have to face. But as we always said, especially during this time of the year, it's wintertime in Brazil, in Rio, so the weather gets better, so the spread of the mosquito, it gets better. So we don't have much cases of Zika now.

DARLINGTON: I live here in Brazil. I live in Rio. I'm rooting for these Olympics to work, but it just seems like every time something can go wrong, it does. And even more. How are you going to even get people excited about these games?

PAES: These are the kind of problems that you face in the U.S. I mean there was a kid in a lake in Disneyland in Disneyworld and then the crocodile comes and (INAUDIBLE), eats the kid, you know. I mean there's a crazy guy that - American guy that goes into a gay disco and shoots, I don't know, 40 people. I mean problems happens everywhere. Obviously when you become Olympic city, these problems, you know, they rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: So, as you can see, Carol, the government is really fending off a lot of criticism. They have one month to prove their critics wrong, but at this point it is looking very tough to pull this off with flying colors, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Shasta Darlington reporting live from Rio this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, rowdy fans and boozy tailgaters in trouble. It sounds like a country music song, but it was real life as a Kenny Chesney concert in Pittsburgh.

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[09:55:57] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 55 minutes past.

An incredible story of survival. This was the terrifying scene after a plane crashed into Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. Witnesses say they heard the plane's engine cut out moments before impact. Miraculously, all three passengers on board that plane survived.

Piles of trash and plenty of alcohol-related problems at a Pittsburgh concert by country singer Kenny Chesney. Tailgaters lined up early on Saturday for the boozy shindig outside of Heinz Field. "The Pittsburg Post-Gazette" says 25 people had to be hospitalized for overindulging. Seven people were arrested. Another 36 were cited for underage drinking. That's an improvement from the 73 arrests made at a Chesney concert back in 2013.

An out of this world journey five years in the making. Today, NASA's solar powered Juno spacecraft is expected to arrive at Jupiter. This spinning robotic probe, which is as wide as a basketball court, will pierce the planet's cloud cover and enter Jupiter's orbit. Scientists hope to figure out how Jupiter formed and evolved. Scientists think it was the first planet to form and that it holds clues to how the solar system evolved.

Weighing in and counting down to a Fourth of July tradition. In just a couple of hours, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern, Joey Chestnut will seek his ninth win at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at New York's Coney Island, but he'll have to upset Matt Stonie, the defending champ, known as Megatoad, inhaled 62 hot dogs last year. Oh, that makes me sick to think about.

After the hot dogs comes another tradition enjoyed by millions, fireworks. This year's Macy's Independence Day Show will be the largest in more than a decade. Maggie Lake takes us behind the scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Macy's fireworks show is an Independence Day tradition. And it's the biggest in the country, more than 50,000 shells are set to burst over New York City on July 4th. No small feat for the team behind the pyrotechnics.

LAKE (on camera): What are all these people actually doing? It looks like cake mix from here, but it's certainly not.

AMY KULE, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, MACY'S FIREWORKS SHOW: What they're doing is individually one by one by hand loading each one of the shells into the mortar. We've got 56,000 that are going to come to life and each one of these shells are put into the mortar and then individually wired to the computer program that will send off the fireworks.

LAKE: That is not easy to get together. How much planning and sort of manpower went into this?

KULE: It's a huge effort. We start planning the day after the Fourth of July and we start looking at the following year. It's a 25-minute show. It's really stunning, but we're here today building towards the Fourth of July.

LAKE: Do you have any superstitions day of?

KULE: I always wear a new pair of shoes. LAKE: Really?

KULE: Yes.

LAKE: Why is that?

KULE: I don't know. Ever Fourth of July I usually have a - I definitely have a new pair of shoes. I take them out of the box that morning and it's really not really a smart thing to do to wear new shoe on a day that you're going to be on your feet for 24, 48 hours -

LAKE: Exactly.

KULE: But, yes, that - that is it.

LAKE: There you go.

Could you have sort of forecast that you were going to end up in charge of the largest fireworks that we have, something that's such a tradition? I mean you're the maven.

KULE: If I were dreaming about it, absolutely, because it is the dream job. There's no doubt about it. And, for me, the most majestic part of the day is when that first shell goes up in the sky. But I do take a moment to turn around and look at the audience and just watch them gazing up in the sky. And a lot of time it's emotional and people are tearful and everybody is hugging each other and celebratory. And that's really what it should be. It's the coming together of everybody watching, watching the show and celebrating our holiday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That was Maggie Lake reporting. The Macy's Fireworks Show started back in 1958 and it's the largest ongoing Independence Day display in the entire United States.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Independence Day greeted with a heavy dose of security, hundreds of extra officers out in force.

[10:00:03] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have technology that folks will not see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This after terrorist launch a string of attacks overseas.