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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Economic Speech; Iran Executes Scientist; Professors Abducted in Kabul; Day 3 of Olympics; Water Park Death. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 8, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: How is Mr. Trump specifically going to stop those companies from doing business in Mexico? Is he going to penalize them in some way?

PETER NAVARRO, BUSINESS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE : Sure. (INAUDIBLE) --

COSTELLO: They're private businesses. What is he going to do specifically?

NAVARRO: Let's -- let's run off the check list. I mean one of the problems is the high corporate tax rate. So you lower the corporate tax. A second problem, which is a little bit stubble but it's important, after NAFTA got passed, Mexico put in a vat tax. Why is that important? Is because in Mexico with a vat tax you can rebate that on the exports you sell into America, but we can't rebate our corporate income tax when we sell cars into Mexico. So we run a $52 billion deficit alone in vehicles in that cross trade. And, you know, we're the auto state in Michigan. It's the motor city and Mexico is killing us when it comes --

COSTELLO: OK, so what's he going to do about that?

NAVARRO: Lower the corporate tax rate and go to the World Trade Organization and make sure we have equal treatment between vat taxes and corporate income taxes. So those are the kinds of things -- that's why you need a smart business person in the White House who understands the game. Whereas, I mean, Hillary put all that stuff in place. She put it in place with the NAFTA. She put it in place with the South Korean Free Trade Agreement. That's another agreement that's been killing Detroit. The South Korean car maker is killing Detroit.

COSTELLO: Well, Bill Clinton was president when NAFTA was instituted, but -- and she was first lady and I would assume she supported it back then, right?

NAVARRO: Pardon me? She lobbied for it as first lady. That's a matter of record. And when she was senator, she repeatedly support NAFTA, even after it became quite evident.

COSTELLO: She did. She did.

NAVARRO: Look, Bill Clinton promised 2,000 new jobs a day. He signed NAFTA in 1993. What do we have? We have over 700,000 jobs that we've lost, plus our -- plus our trade deficit in Mexico has gone from zero to 60, $60 billion over that time period. So these are the kinds of things, Carol, these are the kind of policy discussions we need to be talking about on shows like this. I'm glad we're doing that today. And it all fits together. I mean we -- we are at an energy powerhouse in the world. Hillary Clinton wants to kill the coal industry. What's wrong with that picture? It hurts Ohio. It hurts this country.

COSTELLO: All right.

NAVARRO: So these are the kinds of things Donald Trump's going to be talking about today.

COSTELLO: All right, and we will be listening. I'm sure we will carry Mr. Trump's address to the Detroit Economic Club live.

Peter Navarro, thanks so much for being with me this morning.

NAVARRO: Great to talk to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

NAVARRO: Appreciate it.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Iran executes -- they execute a nuclear scientists. Why Iranian officials say his ties to the United States are to blame, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:49] COSTELLO: Iran's government confirms it has executed a nuclear scientist accused of spying for the United States. Iranian officials say Shahram Amiri gave vital information to the enemy, calling America the great Satan, according to the state news agency. Back in 2010, Amiri was welcomed home a hero in Teheran. This after he claimed the CIA abducted him during a vacation. At that time, U.S. officials said he defected voluntarily.

CNN's Elise Labott joins us now with more on this.

Good morning.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, Carol, it's a tragic end to really what was really a fascinating spy drama at the time. When Mr. Amiri arrived back in Iran, he disappeared shortly thereafter and there was a lot of back and forth about whether he was a defector or not.

Now, you heard U.S. officials say that he provided useful information. He claims he was abducted by the CIA. But, you know, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the time said he was free to come and free to go. And the recent e-mails that have been released, Secretary Clinton's private server e-mails, talk about Mr. Amiri and the fact that he was actually here on his own will. And it's kind of reignited this whole debate about the U.S. policy towards Iran. Take -- and also the e-mails. Take a listen to Senator Tom Cotton, who was speaking about Mr. Amiri and Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: I'm not going to comment on what he may or may not have done for the United States government. But in the e- mails that were on Hillary Clinton's private server, there were conversations among her senior advisors about this gentleman. That goes to show just how reckless and careless her decision was to put that kind of highly classified information on a private server. I think her judgment is not -- it is not suited to keep this country safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: So, obviously, questioning Hillary Clinton's judgment on the e-mail and the information. But what he doesn't say is that, at the time, the U.S. was being pretty successful in terms of getting more knowledge about Iran's nuclear program. This scientist did provide a lot of information. And you saw that secret talks with Iran followed after that. So, clearly, a lot for Republicans to talk about right now.

COSTELLO: But what is -- what is Cotton intimating here about Hillary Clinton's e-mails and what was contained in the e-mails about this Iran nuclear scientists?

LABOTT: Well, it was in very coded language. They were talking about "our friend," and "he's free to go." But, you know, you can't make a correlation between what happened to Mr. Amiri and, you know, the execution and what was in the e-mails. But clearly, you know, Republicans are trying to (INAUDIBLE) that way.

COSTELLO: Because Iranian officials would have to read those e-mails in order to --

LABOTT: Well, they're out for public view, so I think that's maybe perhaps what he's intimating.

COSTELLO: Ah, OK.

LABOTT: And, obviously, this just reignites everything about the U.S. judgement towards Iran and the Iran deal. You saw that plane full of cash that went to the Iranians on the heels of that nuclear deal and the prisoner exchange last week. So it's a lot of fodder, but it's clearly a very tragic end to what was a fascinating spy drama at the time.

COSTELLO: Elise Labott, thanks so much.

[09:39:49] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an American and an Australian lecturer leave their university in Kabul, Afghanistan. Two gunmen approach their car. What happened next is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: An American professor has been kidnapped, along with an Australian colleague, in Afghanistan. The two were abducted at gunpoint from their car. They had just left their university. Guardian correspondent Sune Rasmussen joins us now live from Kabul to tell us more.

Hi, Sune.

SUNE RASMUSSEN, GUARDIAN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

COSTELLO: Tell us what happened.

RASMUSSEN: Yes. So what we -- yes, what we know happened last night around 8:30 p.m. in Kabul was a gunman -- four or five gunmen approached a car carrying these two lectures, an Australian and an American, about a mile from the American university, Kabul, where they both work. A source in the Afghan security tells us that these people were wearing uniforms, but not the uniforms normally associated with the Afghan army, but rather a type of uniforms that's fairly easy to purchase in Afghanistan.

[09:45:01] So we don't know who the kidnappers are. We suspect they might not be Taliban. This type of kidnappings often carried out by criminal gangs and we haven't heard from the Taliban yet. So something tells us this is in line with other similar kidnappings in the past, probably a criminal gang. But we don't know anything yet.

COSTELLO: So a criminal gang, not terrorists?

RASMUSSEN: Yes, that's right. Normally the Taliban, if they conduct a kidnapping, often they don't do it in Kabul and often you'll hear from them -- you'll hear from them pretty soon after. We've had a spade of kidnappings over the past year and a half here in Kabul and most of them, if not all, have been carried out by criminal gangs motivated by money.

Now, the fear is, is that if these people have been -- have been kidnapped by criminal gangs and the governments, the American and Australian governments don't pay ransom, as they're known not to do, then maybe they will be sold out to other groups who might be Islamic extremists, other places in the country. But, like I said, we don't have any confirmation, neither on the identities of the victims, or on who is behind the kidnappings.

COSTELLO: All right, Sune Rasmussen reporting live from Kabul, Afghanistan. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, team USA starting the Olympic games with a bang, winning the gold and smashing records, and today could be another big day for the U.S. swim team. Live to Rio, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:01] COSTELLO: It is day three of the Rio Olympic games and team USA is off to a great start. Nineteen-year-old superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky broke her own world record, winning the gold in the 400 meter freestyle. And Michael Phelps landed his 19th gold medal. He has 23 medals in total. More than any other Olympian. CNN's Coy Wire in Rio following the action. He joins us live.

Hi, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Carol. Good to hear from you.

A day of highs and lows in the second day of games, and it all ended in the pool with team USA grabbing two gold medals and a performance by Katie Ledecky that was so hot she almost turned that thing into a boiling pot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE (voice-over): Team sensation Katie Ledecky shattering her own world record in the 400 meter freestyle. Ledecky pulling away from the competition by nearly five seconds, blazing to gold. Michael Phelps making a splash in his return to Olympic competition, leading the men's 4 x 100 relay. Phelps building up a big lead on the second leg, rocketing his team to the finish. It's the 19th gold medal for Phelps, 23rd overall. The most decorated athlete in Olympic history.

The women's U.S. gymnastics team dominating the competition with jaw- dropping performances, posting the highest scores in all but one event. Simone Biles making a flawless Olympic debut, advancing with Aly Raisman to competing for best all around.

But on the tennis court, an end of an era. Reigning champions Venus and Serena Williams suffering a shocking defeat, beaten in the first round of women's doubles. A first ever for the sisters at the Olympics. Also ousted in the first round, the world's number one player, Novak Djokovic losing to Juan Martin Del Porto of Argentina.

Another Olympic dream dashed, this time in the women's road race. Annemiek van Vleuten of The Netherlands taking a terrifying plunge over her handlebars in the downhill stretch. She's in intensive care with a severe concussion and three minor spinal fractures, but is expected to recover.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Good to hear that she'll be OK.

Carol, day three action, what do we have to look forward to. Dream team, team USA, going against Venezuela. There are 14 gold medals up for grabs today. And one of my favorite storylines of the games this year, American fencer Ibtihaj Mohammed. She's going to become the first American woman to wear a hijab in the Olympics, the head scarf worn by some Muslim women to show modesty. Carol, she says she is out to prove wrong the misconceptions of Muslim women.

COSTELLO: All right, Coy Wire, thanks so much. Coy Wire live in Rio this morning.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:58:08] COSTELLO: The world's tallest water slide turns deadly over the weekend. The victim, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab. He's the son of a state lawmaker in Kansas. Brian Abel from affiliate KSHB has the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN ABEL, KSHB REPORTER (voice-over): Kansas City, Kansas, tragedy on Schlitterbahn's Verruckt.

WINTER PROSAPIO, SCHLITTERBAHN CORPORATE DIR. OF COMMUNICATIONS: We are saddened to share that a young boy died.

ABEL: That young boy is Kansas City lawmaker Scott Schwab's son Caleb. Witnesses describe the boy going down the steep 168 foot drop of the world's tallest water slide Sunday afternoon, then going airborne over the next hill, colliding with the safety nets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extremely horrible. I have two 12-year-olds with me today and still very emotional.

ABEL: Schlitterbahn closed the park and blocked access to the slide. Park guest Jessica Lindquist (pH) says families were scrambling to find out what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just saw everyone's faces as they waited. And, you know, to see if it was their loved ones that were affected.

ABEL: A spokesperson says it is the first death on a slide.

PROSAPIO: We honestly don't know what's happened. That's why an investigation, a full investigation is necessary. We have to understand what's happened.

ABEL: Several guests told 41 Action News the straps on the slide's rafts were not working properly today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today there were ropes and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it.

ABEL: The water park now working to discover how this Sunday at the park took a tragic turn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean they let you sign up without having an age barrier. So you think you kids are safe and they're not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right, our thanks to Brian Abel from affiliate KSHB for that report.

[09:59:50] Celeb's father, Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab has since released a statement about his son. Quote, "since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came into contact with. As we try and mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his savior Jesus and they are forever together now. We will see him another day. Your continued prayers are welcome and appreciated."