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Trump Makes Election Fraud Allegations; Trump Spokeswoman: Obama, Clinton Created Vacuum for ISIS in Afghanistan; ISIS Loses Grip on Key Syrian City; Biden Heads to Turkey Following Coup; Candidates Fight for Votes in Pennsylvania; Trump: If I Lose Pennsylvania, They Cheated; Deadly Floods in Louisiana, More Rain Expected; Judge Overturns Brendan Dassey Conviction; RNC Reaching Out to African- American Voters. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired August 13, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:05] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining me. I' m Fredricka Whitefield.

87 days until the election, and in the middle of a fierce showdown for swing states, Donald Trump is making bombshell election fraud allegations, telling a crowd in Pennsylvania that the only way he could lose the state come November is if Hillary Clinton cheats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: And we have to call up law enforcement and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching, because if we get cheated out of this election, if we get cheated out of a win in Pennsylvania, which is such a vital state -- especially when I know what's happening here, folks. I know. She can't beat what's happening here. The only way they can beat, it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if, in certain sections of the state, they cheat. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to talk more about this, investigations correspondent, Chris Frates.

Chris, was there any evidence that Donald Trump presented on this?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, Donald Trump didn't provide any evidence of cheating in Pennsylvania but that's not unusual when he makes these allegations. He's done it time and time again. But he's expressed concerns that Pennsylvania and some other states without strong voter I.D. laws could be targets of election fraud come November. And he has a page on his website where people can sign up to become election monitors.

But Trump's latest allegation comes as Trump is badly lagging Clinton in the polls there. That's a state, Pennsylvania, that's going to be critical if Trump is going to win the White House. Let's look at the polls. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows Clinton

beating Trump by 10 points. If you look at other key swing states, the picture isn't much better for Donald Trump. A recent NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll shows Clinton leading Trump in four key battleground states. In Florida, she's up five. North Carolina up nine. Virginia, Clinton is up by 13. And Colorado that Rocky Mountain State, she's on a rocky mountain high, leading by 14 points -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK. In the meantime, Trump is campaigning in Connecticut, historically blue state. Why?

FRATES: They're insisting that they believe Connecticut is in play. And like Pennsylvania, which of course we were just talking about, Trump was there yesterday, Connecticut hasn't voted to put a Republican in the White House since 1988. It's been more than 25 years there. But unlike the Keystone State where Trump is hoping he has a chance by appealing to White working class voters with, Connecticut is a solid blue state. With the Trump campaign lagging in the key battleground states, people are raising their eyebrows about why is he in Connecticut today. Well, they think have a shot there -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: Chris Frates, thanks so much.

The Trump campaign struggled to stay on message this week with his foreign policy plan. And earlier today, Trump spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, told CNN that President Obama was to blame for the war in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATRINA PIERSON, SPOKESWOMAN, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: And Barack Obama went into Afghanistan creating another problem. It was Hillary Clinton and her incidents in Libya, which was also a reckless decision, to create that vacuum. They armed the rebels and they're funding them now.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: You're saying Barack Obama took the country into Afghanistan post-2009 is that what you're saying?

PIERSON: What I'm saying is the policies of --

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: You said we weren't in Afghanistan --

(CROSSTALK)

PIERSON: --Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- that was Obama's war, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: OK, Katrina, we --

(CROSSTALK)

PIERSON: Mr. Trump is saying --

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: We've got to take --

PIERSON: -- the policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, ignoring intelligence, created the hot bed for global terrorists to travel the world under the name of ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. entered the war in Afghanistan in 2001, following September 11th, and that was under President George W. Bush.

So joining me more to talk about this, Democratic strategist, Jennice Fuentes; and CNN political commentator, Scottie Nell Hughes, a Donald Trump supporter.

All right, so, Scottie, first you.

Reaction to, you know, a fellow Donald Trump supporter, Katrina Pierson's comments on CNN this morning, there's been a lot of talk about messages from the Trump camp. And now there's messaging -- or the discrepancies of the messages from Trump supporters.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, definitely. And it's all about -- this is what happens during a campaign season.

WHITFIELD: What do you mean?

HUGHES: Well that's what a campaign does, both sides. And when you're talking about the Middle East and all of the policies that have happened, it's extremely confusing. To be honest with you, I'm one that believes the Bush administration does have as much to be accountable for as the Obama administration right now when it comes to the events both in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: I guess the issue is facts. There's a lot of criticism of Donald Trump not getting his facts strait. And when he's got his surrogates and or supporters who are trying to represent him on policies and criticisms of the Obama administration and not getting the facts right, that's a big problem, isn't it?

[13:05:20] HUGHES: Well, just like I wouldn't come on CNN and talk anything negatively about my own family, I'm not going to come on and talk anything negative about Donald Trump's campaign or more importantly a spokesman and a friend.

But I will say this is message that right now we need to be addressing. It is both, Obama, Hillary, and President Bush and the administration that he had that's caused the issues that we're dealing with right now in the Middle East, whether you're talking about the creation of ISIS --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But it was Donald Trump who recently said it was President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who were the founders of ISIS

HUGHES: Well, the modern day, and what we're dealing with right now. Yu cannot say that the void that they created by their policy, by going on and initiating the pullout that we did, the irresponsible pullout that we did of Iraq that allowed the terrorists to unite the former people that were part of the corrupt Saddam Hussein government and to use our own United States equipment to work against us as ISIS, that is right. That falls underneath program and Hillary Clinton. That does not --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Isn't this a problem within the Trump campaign and that of his supporters, in that the dialogue keeps changing. It was Donald Trump who said he was not talk about the vacuum, he was talking about founders. He emphatically said he thought they were the founders. You're describing it as the vacuum, the opportunity created. Does this underscore a big problem of messaging as it pertains to Trump's campaign? He says one thing, his supporters are trying to clean up or explain things behind him. Might that explain why there's a dip, significant dip in some of the polling in battleground straits in particular because Donald Trump's message is one thing, his supporters is that of another in.

HUGHES: It falls underneath the same umbrella but it's the main goal to distract what we should be talking about, which is this week's big stories, which came out of the Hillary Clinton camp, what came out of her e-mail, that came out, her Pay for Play, that came out, the Pay for Play that was confirmed, going between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation, her tax returns and how much -- how the majority went back into the Clinton family foundation. Those are the big stories we should be focusing on. If you want to focus on the foreign policy and us saying the details, it's all underneath the broad umbrella, the fact that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have had failed policies that caused the J.V. team to now be the main players in the terror stage in the world today.

WHITFIELD: Jennice, do you see Hillary Clinton this week responding to these allegations and assertions of Donald Trump and his supporters or allowing Donald Trump and his supporters to continue to explain what it is they mean and Hillary Clinton then focus on something else?

JENNICE FUENTES, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah, well, I think in watching from the outside -- again, I'm not working with the campaign but from the outside -- they go through a predictable cycle with a candidate who clearly likes discipline, even as told by his people, who admitted in the earlier hour, he should have more discipline. He's prone to outlandish, reckless and simplistic statements, like the one that the election will be rigged if he doesn't win Pennsylvania. I think -- what happens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he behaves badly, he speaks in more simplistic terms. A 10-year-old in a government study in a school in Pennsylvania could tell you that this accusation, for example, that the election is rigged, it's part of the same message that he has had, which is basically the king of conspiracy theorists since day one. He's coming full circle from his entrance to his exit. It's so rare and impossible to get away with this in a national election. Even a 10-year-old could correct him with facts, as mentioned earlier in this show. You can die a lot faster when struck by lightning than basically get caught or get away with doing voter fraud. So if you look at history and look at the incidents that have been documented, of voter fraud, for example, it's about the absentee ballots, it's about tampering, perhaps, which is dangerous and something worth discussing with the electronic situation, but it is not with the voter I.D. situation. Only 31 cases documented. Of the two million people that voted since 2000 --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:09:49] WHITFIELD: OK. Hold on.

We're going to have you back, because I want to pick up on this conversation. Because I wonder, for both sides, this dialogue of voter fraud or believability, how much it undermines really both camps at this juncture with just 87 day to go until voting day.

Scottie Nell Hughes and Jennice Fuentes, thank you very much. We'll see you again a bit later.

All right, coming up for now, ISIS militants may be using civilians as human shields as they flee a key Syrian city, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hillary Clinton was delivered a one-two punch this week. First, a newly released interview with her former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, which detailed potential risks that Clinton took while secretary of state. This comes on the heels of another batch of newly released e-mails that revealed further connections between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.

Drew Griffin digs deeper in the candidate's fine line of government and personal business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On June 19, 2012, Cheryl Mills, then the chief of staff for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, boarded an Amtrak train in Washington's Union Station bound for New York. For the last seven months, Senate investigators have been trying to find out what Mills was up to. And for seven months, the U.S. Department of State refused to answer. Now CNN has learned a potential reason why.

Cheryl Mills, then a U.S. government employee and Secretary of State Clinton's chief of staff, was in New York working on behalf of the Clinton Foundation. A source close to the situation confirms to CNN, Mills was interviewing two potential candidates to lead the Clinton Foundation. Mills would interview the top-level executives at Walmart and the drug company, Pfizer, both companies huge donor to the Clinton Foundation, and both have worked with the Clinton Global Initiative.

Was Mills' role in violation of government ethics rules? Did she have permission from the U.S. Department of State? Did State even know that the trip was taking place?

CNN asked the U.S. State Department all of these questions. This was the response: "Federal employees are permitted to engage in outside personal activities within the scope of the federal ethics rules," a states spokesperson tells CNN. "All federal employees are subject to federal laws and regulations, including rules pertaining to conflicts of interest."

The vague response raises more questions that are not being answered, not to CNN, but worse, says one watchdog group, not to the Republican- led Senate Judiciary Committee, which has a right to know.

[13:15:31] SCOTT AMEY, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: Congress has a right to ask for any information that it wants to from the executive branch of government to keep track of them. And the government should be turning that information over. When you have is a breakdown in that system, we have a breakdown in the democracy.

GRIFFIN: It's easy to understand why Cheryl Mills was trusted with helping to find the next director of the Clinton Foundation. Her relationship with the Clintons goes back decades.

CHERYL MILLS, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF FOR SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: I'm honored to be here today on behalf of the president.

GRIFFIN: Still, as Bill Clinton's deputy White House council, she defended the then-president during impeachment proceedings.

In 2008, when Hillary Clinton was running for president, Mills was her senior legal campaign adviser.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I, Hillary Clinton --

GRIFFIN: And when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, Mills left the board of the Clinton Foundation and became Hillary Clinton's chief of staff.

The secrecy about the New York trip, the duel roles played by trusted assistants, the mixing of business between state, Clinton Foundation and its donors, all play into a central theme of Donald Trump's campaign, that politicians like the Clintons use government to benefit themselves.

TRUMP: These are crooked people. They've been crooked from the beginning. You look hat that foundation. It's pure theft and pure crookedness.

GRIFFIN: Cheryl Mills' attorney says her client was simply doing volunteer work for a charitable foundation. She was not paid.

The Clinton Foundation also says Mills was not a paid employee.

And late today, Clinton campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, sent this statement: "Cheryl volunteered her personal time to a charitable organization, as she has to other charities. Cheryl paid for her travel to New York City personally. And it was crystal clear to all involved that this had nothing to do with her official duties. The idea that this poses a conflict of interest is absurd."

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, 2,000 hostages freed from ISIS forces by Arab and Kurdish fighters in a key Syrian city. Details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:16] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news out of Switzerland where a man reportedly has set a train carriage on fire using a flammable liquid. He also stabbed passengers, injuring six people, including a 6-year-old child. The attacker is a 27-year-old Swiss citizen and was also injured, according a statement released by the police in the region.

Some moments of celebration in northern Syria as 2,000 hostages are freed from ISIS forces by Arab and Kurdish fighter. The Pentagon says the hostages may have been used by the terrorist group as human shields.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in nearby Turkey and joins me now.

Ben, the U.S.-backed rebels have been battling militants for control of the area around Aleppo since May. What exactly happened here?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, this has been a fairly long battle, Fredricka. It began on the 28th of May by what's known as the democratic forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters who are supported by the United States. They have been provided with training and weapons by the U.S. and some of its allies. The United States as carried out almost 700 air strikes in support of this operation.

Now this town, Manbij, in northern Syria, it's very important because it's essentially on one of the main roads, a route leaving from Raqqa, the de facto capitol of ISIS, to the Turkish border. By falling this city, now denying ISIS basically access to its supply lines in Syria. It's also important to keep in mind that it was just last month -- or rather in June that the American-supported forces discovered a treasure trove of documents from ISIS, more than 10,000 documents, 4.5 terabytes of data, about ISIS fighters, their countries of origin and the network that supported them.

So this battle from the beginning has been very important and certainly a major blow for ISIS in Syria and in general -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And then, Ben, we were looking at images that have come out of northern Syria with men who were, you know, presumably released as hostages. They were cutting their beards. And then there were women who were burning -- at least one woman who was burning her hijab.

And this, as the Vice President Joe Biden will be heading to Turkey, the first, you know, very high-level U.S. official, the highest level obviously, to visit Turkey after the attempted coup. What is the vice president expected to see. What will his reception be like, potentially?

WEDEMAN: The reception may be a bit chilly because relations between Washington and Ankara have been rough since the 15th of July attempted coup here in Turkey. Turkey accuses the United States of harboring this Turkish religious leader, Fathullah Gulen, who the Turkish government claimed is behind the coup event. And the Turkish officials have made it clear that they went the United States to extradite Gulen to Turkey as soon as possible. Turkish authorities have handed over 85 boxes of documents they say implicates Gulen in activities against the government here prior to the coup. And they're expected within the coming weeks to give more evidence to show that he was involved directly in the coup attempt as well. And President Erdogan made it clear that the historic friendship it's on the line when it comes to the question of the fate of Fathullah Gulen. So Vice President Biden is going to have something of a challenging visit when he comes to Turkey on the 24th of August.

[13:25:45] WHITFIELD: Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for your reporting. Appreciate it.

Straight ahead, back in this country, Hillary Clinton expanding her lead over Donald Trump, in Pennsylvania, in particular. Trump says he knows why. We'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The only way we can lose, in my opinion -- I really mean this, Pennsylvania -- is if cheating goes on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitefield.

Donald Trump last night in Pennsylvania said that if he loses the Keystone State, Pennsylvania, it's because the system is rigged. With just 87 day to go until voters cast their ballots, the latest Quinnipiac poll reveals Hillary Clinton holds an upper hand to Trump in Pennsylvania, but experts say it's close enough that the race could swing in either party's favor.

CNN's Miguel Marquez takes a closer look at the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[13:30:00] LIDO BLANK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: We need all of you on the ground helping us make sure that Hillary Clinton --

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Clinton campaign on the march big time across the Keystone State, this week, targeting female voters.

BLANK: I'm working as much as I can, going door to door.

MARQUEZ: Clinton coming off of a huge convention bounce already has 300 staffers here, three dozen offices open, another dozen on the way.

JESSICA O'BRIEN, CLINTON CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I love Hillary. I think she's an incredible candidate: She's more than qualified. And also we cannot have Donald Trump as a president.

UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: All right. Let's get them.

MARQUEZ: Trump's ground game just getting off the ground, opening his first three offices in the state this week, only about a dozen staffers, many still to be hired. The campaign relying on the RNC and its 80 staff members and more than 400 volunteers.

ANDY REILLY, CHAIRMAN, DELAWARE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: If Trump can just stay on message and be disciplined, which I think he can be, I think he can yield some votes out of here. He doesn't need to win the county, he just needs to stay competitive here.

MARQUEZ: Competitive in those vote-rich Philly suburbs in particular.

Can Donald Trump really be competitive across all of Pennsylvania? Perhaps a telling sign, since early June, the Clinton camp has spent over $4 million in TV advertising. The Trump campaign? Zero.

The last time a Republican presidential contender won the state, 1988. Today, Democrats have nearly a million more votes here than Republicans. But conservatives are hopeful. Despite the Democratic advantage, 13 of 18 House members are Republican, and both Houses of its state legislature are controlled by the GOP.

TERRY MADONNA, POLLSTER & DIRECTOR, FRANKLIN AND MARSHAL COLLEGE POLL: This year almost anything can happen.

MARQUEZ: Pollster Terry Madonna says that Trump may be down for now but this election too unpredictable to be sure of anything.

MADONNA: We're part of this so-called Rust Belt theory. Win the white and blue collar workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, and you got an Electoral College mix that could get Donald Trump to 270.

MARQUEZ: Cheesesteak in Philly attracts voters of every stripe?

(on camera): How important it is to vote, in your opinion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very important. Make sure you don't vote for Trump.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Phil Canapucci (ph) was a Democrat until last May. The retired teacher is now all in for Trump.

PHIL CANAPUCCI (ph), VOTING FOR TRUMP: I know this for a fact. There's a lot of people that will not say they're voting for Trump because he's been so demagogued by a lot of the media --

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUEZ (on camera): No offense taken.

CANAPUCCI (ph): -- and by Hillary the last you're now considered not that intelligent if you're going to vote for Trump. So it is a hidden Trump vote.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): But the Clinton campaign is targeting conservative voters, opening offices in 12 counties won by Mitt Romney in 2012. Why? College-educated white voters in Pennsylvania prefer Clinton by a whooping 30 percent.

Republicans counter. They just have to find those conservatives who sat on their hands in 2012.

REILLY: Keep in mind, the last time that Mitt Romney lost the state, by five points, there were 800,000 Republicans who didn't vote.

MARQUEZ: With less than three months until election day, an enormous effort under way by both sides to find voters and get them to the ballot box in November.

Miguel Marquez, CNN Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk with Pennsylvania and the other battleground state with our political panel. Jennice Fuentes is a Democratic strategist, back with us. Scottie Nell Hughes, a CNN political commentator and Donald Trump supporter, is back with us as well. And then Jamie Weinstein is a senior writer for "The Daily Caller."

Good to see you as well, Jamie.

JAMIE WEINSTEIN, SENIOR WRITER, THE DAILY CALLER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Scottie, let me begin with you.

You know Donald Trump says, if he loses Pennsylvania, it's because Hillary Clinton is cheating. Does this undermine both candidates to say that the potential outcome in this state and possibly others is rigged or it's untrustworthy? Does this hurt everyone?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Mr. Trump has some valid reasons for saying -- making comments about rigged or cheating in Pennsylvania, for three reasons. One, the Center for Integrity has pointed out that they gave a score of "F" to the state of Pennsylvania for electoral oversight based on history. The second point is the election history in Pennsylvania itself. In 2012, Mitt Romney, out of 59 precincts, zero votes for Republicans just on those --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: He's saying, if he loses -- it's predicated on whether he wins or loses. If he loses with, something is going wrong.

HUGHES: That's why I'm giving you the reasons why he's saying that that's happening. 57 in 2008 with McCain. No Republican votes. At least five, only five went to George W. Bush. There was no Republican votes. And maybe that had to do with the voter intimidation that we saw in 2012 with the Black Panthers --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Elections are gone the way of Democrats in Pennsylvania, though, so.

HUGHES: Not based on the counties. The majority of the counties went Republican. But the key areas, where there was no Republican voters, is what turned it over. I said voter intimidation. When you had Black Panthers being reported by major mainstream news outlets in 2012 in military garb, standing outside, that's voter intimidation right there. And that --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:35:24] WHITFIELD: This is 2016.

HUGHES: And so you're saying it's not going to happen? The Department of Justice dropped charges against them saying there was no big deal. That's possibly where Mr. Trump is getting the idea that it may be rigged or cheated based on what history has shown us.

WHITFIELD: Jamie, let's look at the "The New York Times" article that's declaring, quote, "Donald Trump's missteps. You know, "Risks putting a ceiling over his support in swing states." It cites several reasons within, including his reaction to the Khans, a Muslim-American captain killed in action. Can Trump turn the states around, particularly, and even with this most recent language of the system being rigged, outcomes being rigged, if it doesn't bode well for him?

WEINSTEIN: Let's look at reality here. There's no poll this month that has Donald Trump within 10 points in Pennsylvania. Why is he using the term rigged? I don't think it's because he believes this election is going to be rigged. When you're down 10 points, that's a high hurdle to go over. It's because he's already framing the election as an excuse to say that he didn't really lose, the election was stolen from him. He doesn't like to lose. Donald Trump is all about winning. So what is a way to get around the idea that you've actually lost? Well, you blame it on forces outside of your control, that someone rigged the election. There's no evidence that the polls in Pennsylvania are going to be rigged against Donald Trump. He's not even close in the polling right now. This undermines our democracy but this is all for the benefit of Donald Trump and his brand. He doesn't want to look like a loser so he's going to make up something that the polls were rigged and that's the reason he lost. Not because he's a terrible candidate or ran a terrible campaign. As you noted, he has very few campaign staffers in Pennsylvania.

WHITFIELD: That's why I wonder if it undermines all of the candidates, the entire system. But, Jennice, in terms of Hillary Clinton, you know, she still has to

navigate through these e-mail dumps and even answer to the suspicion surrounding the blurred line between being a secretary of state working for government and then also advocating for the Clinton Foundation, i.e., Cheryl Mills. How does Hillary Clinton effectively do that and then also stay on message, you know, as she tries to enjoy, you know, a bump in polls? But it's all, you know, very volatile for the next 87 days, isn't it?

JENNICE FUENTES, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes. And you really hit the nail right on the head, Fred, because the king of conspiracy theories has two weeks to beat history. History has shown that the candidate who leads the polls 30 days after the convention goes on to win the presidency, since Richard Nixon, with the exception of Gore. And Gore did win the popular vote. So we have to see in the next 30 days -- will be critical for Mr. Trump, to figure out if he can actually show the discipline that it takes to get himself out of the muddle that he created himself, which he has, as you pointed out. Clinton is not a perfect candidate but Trump has really not taken advantage of these weaknesses. To her credit, she doesn't have to go there. He can keep being Trump and that would hand over the presidency to her for sure.

WHITFIELD: Jamie, you wrote an article this week in "The Daily Caller," calling for a negotiated surrender to Clinton. What do you mean by that?

WEINSTEIN: I think at this point that the chances that Donald Trump wins the presidency are very low. The only scenario I know is if WikiLeaks revealed Hillary Clinton to be the founder of ISIS. On the "Real Politics" average, above 7 percent or more over Donald Trump, that's already at 270 electoral votes, and she's leading in the rest of the swing states. My thought idea is, if the Republican can come to a negotiated surrender, if we're lucky, to get a pick for the Supreme Court of Justice Scalia and some entitlement reform, that's the best you can hope for right now.

WHITFIELD: OK.

WEINSTEIN: Because Donald Trump --

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: Surrender.

WHITFIELD: Scottie, go ahead.

HUGHES: This is what's wrong with the Republican Party. Jamie, surrender? Why are we surrendering? Mitt Romney was leading Barack Obama in 2012. But the majority knew there was no way because we knew how popular Barack Obama was. Negotiate a surrender? Look at how much money Hillary Clinton has spent. She's outspending him five to one, and she he's not higher in those numbers. That's what the Hillary Clinton campaign is scared right now, because if Mr. Trump sticks to message, the people are behind him. The engagement is there. You don't see that on the Hillary Clinton camp. You don't see thousands upon thousands at Hillary Clinton rallies. (CROSSTALK)

[13:40:15] WHITFIELD: Scottie, the stick to the message part, do you really mean that he's sticking to the message?

HUGHES: Absolutely.

FUENTES: Yeah, his message is to explain why he's going to lose. He's going to lose. That's the message he's on right now.

HUGHES: We'll find out in November. Maybe Hillary can get more than 3,000 people at a rally. Maybe we can say that she doesn't have engagement issues like she does.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: We will leave it there.

Scottie Nell Hughes, Jennice Fuentes, Jamie Weinstein, thank you so much to all of you. Appreciate it.

WEINSTEIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, at least two dead in southern Louisiana from flooding. People told to evacuate as portions of several roads and highways are completely submerged. We'll take you to one of the regions that is hardest hit. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Iron Horse bicycle class, a grueling 47-mile race through the mountains and against a train.

JOE WILLIAMS, CYCLIST WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE: To ride the Iron Horse, you have to have the mindset that you are going to suffer.

(SHOUTING)

WILLIAMS: It's the same for me, the same as it is for everyone else.

GUPTA: But for Joe Williams, it's not the same. What he faces every day is far more challenging.

WILLIAMS: Receiving the diagnosis was shattering. The chief neurologist came out and he said, Joe Williams, you have Parkinson's disease.

[13:45:14] GUPTA: The left side of his body would freeze up. But soon he discovered that he could reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's by cycling.

WILLIAMS: Today, I'm 63. Each year I believe that my health is improving. (SHOUTING)

WILLIAMS: I won. I beat the mountain today. I didn't beat that train. Never beat that train. But today of all days I'm normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this breaking news into CNN, the British actor best known for playing R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" films, has died. Kenny Baker was 82 years old. He stood 3'8". His family told CNN he had been battling health issues for a very long time. He appeared as the beloved robot in six "Star Wars" films, six. And acted as a consultant for the most recent installment, "The Force Awakens." He also appeared in "Time Bandits" and "Flash Gordon."

In Louisiana, at least two people are dead. Some parts of the state have seen as much as 17 inches of rain, leaving thousands of people without power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Literally, my heart is broken. There's so many elderly people in here and people who can't afford to replace their things. And it's like the water is literally up to your waist. So that means their houses, everything in there is destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Boris Sanchez is live for us in Louisiana.

Boris, we heard from the governor, last hour, warning people to evacuate flooded areas if they've been told to do so.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The governor coming out and saying about 1,000 people have had to be rescued from their cars and homes and some even had to cling to trees to get to safety in these terrible flood waters.

We're sitting in a neighborhood right now that was completely flooded out. You could see the high watermark on the home behind me, the different color of the brick where the water was. This home got three feet of water. The homeowner is inside right now cleaning everything out. She didn't want to talk to us. Her dad told us she was emotionally upset. Yesterday, there was a break from the rain and there was sunshine here. They didn't think anything like this was going to happen. A couple of hours passed and they were suddenly flooded out.

The governor coming out and saying if you don't have to be on the road, stay home and stay out of the flood water itself because it could be extremely dangerous.

As of right now, because so many records have been broken, it's really hard to tell the extent of the damage.

Here's Governor Jon Bel Edwards. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON BEL EDWARDS, (D), GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: What we know is we have record levels of flooding along rivers and creeks. And because these are record floods, we don't know how wide the water is going to get in those areas. We don't -- this is unprecedented. So we don't have records that we can go back and see who all is going to be impacted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The good news, Fred, a lot of the water has moved south in a southern direction. The bad news is that there's no end to the rain in sight. Right now, it's calmed down but we're expecting more rain up to at least Monday afternoon.

WHITFIELD: Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

Up next, one of the main subjects in Netflix's documentary "Making a Murder" is seeing his controversial conviction overturned. We'll give you details after this

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[13:52:35] WHITFIELD: A judge tosses out a murder conviction of one of the defendants featured in the wildly popular Netflix documentary series "Making a Murder." On Friday, a judge in Wisconsin overturned Brendan Dassey's conviction, along with his uncle, who were sent to prison for the murder of photographer, Teresa Hallback. Dassey was just 16 at the time, and he had learning disabilities.

Here is part of the questionable confession to police that the judge ruled unconstitutional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Did he tell you that? Tell us about that. -- tell us about that, and where he did it.

BRENDAN DASSEY, MURDER CONVICTION OVERTURNED: I don't know where he did it, but --

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: What did he say he did? In his words, what did he tell you? And you can swear or use any language that you want. And tell us exactly what he told you that he did to her?

DASSEY: That he ripped off her clothes, and she refused, and that she tried to get away, but he went -- he was too strong for her. And he did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The prosecutors now have 90 days to decide if they will retry Dassey and, if not, he is going to be released from prison.

Sara Ganim is investigating these circumstances.

And, Sara, what are you finding out?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The federal judge found that because of Dassey's age, 16 at the time, and Dassey's I.Q., which was below average, that the police tactics used in that interrogation were not proper. They found that he was coerced and they used false promises to get him to say things.

And so many people watched the documentary series on Netflix, Fred, and it was the third-most downloaded and most-streamed documentary that was seen, and that is just one clip of the powerful part of that series, and people could watch exactly how the interrogation went. And you could see as it progressed that a lot of time the details that came from Brendan Dassey were first suggested by police. And that is part of the reason that the judge gave for why this conviction was overturned.

As you mentioned the prosecutors have 90 days to decide if they are going to be pursuing the case again. They could potentially try to retry him, and make that decision.

But we did hear from his attorneys last night who said that they are, quote, "overwhelmed and thrilled for him." And they see it as a move towards justice -- Fred?

[13:55:11] WHITFIELD: Thank you, Sara Ganim.

So much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And thank you for being with me this afternoon.

The Republican National Committee is stepping up the efforts to reach African-American voters. And this is coming amid concerns that Donald Trump has failed to address issues important to black voters. A recent NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll puts Trump's support among African-Americans at just 1 percent. That same poll found Trump trailing Hillary Clinton among all likely voters in several key swing states.

For more of this, let's bring in Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs, Princeton University; and politics editor for theroot.com, Jason Johnson.

Good to see both of you.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Good to be here.

JULIAN ZELIZER, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Julian, to you first.

1 percent. Trump is polling behind the third-party candidates when it comes to African-American support. And so is the RNC trying to drum up African-American support thinking about the congressional races, or does it mean that this campaign is including Donald Trump?

ZELIZER: Well, it has been a problem for the Republican Party for decades. They have struggled to win the African-American votes, and they have been on the wrong side of many issues, such as voting rights usually, that diminish their support. And then comes Donald Trump with --