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CNN NEWSROOM

Singapore Swimmer Joseph Schooling Beats Michael Phelps; Investigating Thai Bombings; Cannes Bans Burkinis; Clinton Releases 2015 Taxes; Trump Walking Back ISIS Comments; Usain Bolt Begins Defending Olympic Titles on Saturday. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired August 13, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:13] ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: A young swimmer from Singapore stops the All-time Olympic great Michael Phelps from clenching his 23rd gold medal.

The mayor of Cannes says full-body bathing suits popular with Muslim women are no longer allowed on city beaches.

Plus, the latest twist and turns in the race for the White House. Hillary Clinton releases her tax returns while her opponent continues to refuse. And Donald Trump blames the media for his latest campaign controversy.

Hello, everyone, I'm Zain Asher and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

American swimmer Katie Ledecky is continuing to dominate in Rio. She was more than 11 seconds ahead of her closest rival in the 800-meter freestyle. On Friday, also breaking her own World Record.

By the way, earlier, fellow American Michael Phelps fell just short rather of his 23rd Olympic gold. He narrowly lost the 100-meter butterfly to Singapore's Joseph Schooling who took that nation's first ever gold medal.

The biggest upset of the day came in the women's Football Tournament. The U.S. team which hasn't lost any Olympics since 2000 fell to Sweden on penalty case.

So, much to talk to talk about. Our Kate Riley joins us live now in the studio.

I want to talk about Katie Ledecky, because it says "one touch, new fame (ph)" is the real sort of breakout star of this Olympics. It has to be Katie Ledecky. It's not just the fact that she won her race, but literally how much she won by. She was literally almost a whole length of the pool ahead of her closest rival.

KATE RILEY, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And there's a picture there on the internet of her, like you said, being almost a whole length ahead of everyone else in the pool and it says not photo shopped. Yeah, we can believe it. 11.38 seconds Ledecky was ahead of her British opponent who got the silver medal there. Yeah. I mean this teenager from America, she is something special, isn't she, Zain? She stole hearts in London and now she is stealing hearts in Rio once again, just 19 years old and, of course, going for her fourth gold medal tonight. Yeah, well done to her, fantastic. And Michael Phelps, as well.

ASHER: Coming in second. You know, yesterday I was talking with George Howell who was answering bid (ph) and I was like, "Is she human? Is she actually capable of losing?" And today, he actually lost. It broke my heart.

RILEY: Yeah.

ASHER: But he took well though.

RILEY: Yeah, he's taken it very well. And actually just to give you an update, Phelps has actually said that -- he's told reporters that he won't be taking part in the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. He's trying to rubbish reports from his team USA swimming mate, Ryan Lochte, who's allegedly said that Phelps likes to challenge, and he'll be appearing ...

ASHER: I think one of the older ones. So, maybe he will come back: But you're saying he's likely won't?

RILEY: Well, that's what he told reporters. But we shall see. But it was a great story in the pool tonight. Obviously, Singapore's Joseph Schooling, getting Singapore's first ever gold medal and, of course, it was at the hands of Michael Phelps, unfortunately, who got that silver.

ASHER: And I love the stories, there seem so many folks, of course, it was Singapore today or Fiji as well.

But I do also want to talk about women's football team. Losing to Sweden. And Hope Solo, the goalkeeper, she did not take it too well.

RILEY: Yeah. And actually, you talk about firsts that this is the first ever match at this competion to be decided on penalties. And clearly, penalties are catching. They're contagious. Because when Brazil faced Australia later in the day, that game was also decided on penalties. Brazil go through, 7-6.

ASHER: Nothing to get your heart racing like good penalty kicks.

RILEY: Yeah. But going back to the U.S. game, yeah, plenty to talk about here. Of course, Sweden went ahead, it was 1-0 that USA then equalizes and it was 1-1 after full time and it went into extra time. No goals there. So it had to be decided on penalties. And then this is when it got really interesting. Post match comments made by Hope Solo. This is what she said, "I think we played a bunch of cowards. That's what she told reporters after the match. And it was to do with Sweden's tactics and then the Swedish coach, who actually used to coach for the USA, said, "Well, actually, we're having the last laugh because we're off to Rio, we're in the semis."

ASHER: And I have to say a lot of people on Twitter were not happy with what Hope Solo said. You know, you have to handle defeat with grace, of course.

Kate Riley, always good to be with you. Thank you so much.

The U.S. is cementing its lead in the medal standings with a powerhouse performance in swimming on Friday.

[02:05:02] American athletes have the most gold medals, of course, with 20 and the most medals overall with 50 total. China is firmly in second place with 13 goals and 37 altogether. Then, next one down, you have Great Britain and Japan, they're locked in a tie rate with third place. They have 7 gold medals each and just two medals separate their total poll.

Several gold medals are up for grabs on Saturday in the pool. The women will swim the 50-meter freestyle and the 4 by 100-meter medley relay. The men will swim the 1500 meter freestyle. And Phelps will join his team mates in their 4 by 100 medley relay.

Back on land though, men's track and field athletes will go for gold in the 10,000 meters run and women's sprinters will run the 100 meters.

And for the latest Olympic stories and the highlights, go to cnn.com/olympics. We've got the games covered for you.

Authorities say they don't know who set off bombs in five Thai provinces or why. Eleven blasts between Thursday and Friday killed four Thais and wounded 36 people. A number of bombs went off in tourist spots. Physical unrest has plagued Thailand in visit units. We spoke earlier with country's Tourism Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KOBKARN WATTANAVRANGKUL, TOURISM MINISTER THAILAND: Thailand similar to many countries around the world, we face many difficulties, ups and down throughout the period of time, but deal on the lessons (ph). And I think one of the good characters of Thailand is that we are very flexible and we learn fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Thai police call the attacks local sabotage. They happen five days after the country voted on a new constitution.

Some women in France could face fines if they don't reveal enough skin at the beach. The mayor of Cannes is temporarily banning women from wearing burkinis. That is full body bathing suits or other overtly religious clothing. The French would at our speeches and that is the drawing he (ph) lots of attention, from some human rights activists.

Here's our Michael Holmes with more. MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The burkini is a body covering swimsuit with the face usually exposed, seen by many Muslims as a modest way to swim in public.

To the local authorities in Cannes, it is provocation. The new municipal law says "Beachwear that ostentatiously displays religious affiliation at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks is liable to create risks of disrupting public order."

As the controversy grew, the mayor of Cannes doubled down telling local media that by banning the swimsuit, "I am banning a symbol of Islamic extremist". The law came into effect late last month but is making news now because a local Muslim association, the collective against Islamophobia says it will challenge the law in court demanding that it be revoked as discrimination.

The mayor's office denied accusations of discrimination saying the law was meant to diffuse "provocative attitudes" and that police would have discretion when and if to enforce it. Islamic dress has been a controversial issue in France for some time. In 2011, laws were passed against women wearing full face coverings and in 2004, a ban on head coverings in schools. These, of course, all are coming at a time of nervousness and fear over terror.

The Nice attacks were a matter of a few miles from the beaches impacted by this Cannes law. But Muslim organizations and human rights groups say such laws just add to the divisions in French society between Muslims and non-Muslims and can feed the ISIS narrative against them, against us. Michael Holmes, CNN, Paris.

ASHER: We're learning more about Hillary Clinton's finances. The White House hopeful released her 2015 tax returns and is pushing, pushing rival Donald Trump to do the same. What his campaign is saying, next.

Also ahead, Trump says he was being sarcastic when he claimed President Obama founded ISIS along with Hillary Clinton. We'll have much more on that controversial story, coming up next on CNN.

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[02:11:42] ASHER: All right. Well, Hillary Clinton is challenging Donald Trump to release his taxes. The U.S. Democratic presidential candidate ramped up the pressure on her republican rival by releasing her own tax returns for 2015. Those returns actually show that her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made about $10.6 million last year. Much of that income, much of that money from speaking fees, speaking engagements and actually they paid about $6.3 million in taxes.

Trump, as we continue to talk about, as I'm sure you know by now, has refused to release his taxes saying they are being audited and the Trump campaign says Clinton is just trying to turn attention away from the e-mail controversy that has been plaguing her for several months now. In the meantime, Bill Clinton is defending his wife over that e-mail controversy in front of an audience of Asian American journalists in Las Vegas. Mr. Clinton was asked why should Americans trust Hillary Clinton if she apparently or when she apparently lied about never reading classified e-mails over her private server when she was secretary of state. Here is how the former president responded about his wife.

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BILL CLINTON, U.S. FORMER PRESIDENT: First of all, the FBI director said, when he testified before congress, he had to amend his previous day's statement that she had never received any e-mails marked classified. They saw two little notes with a "C" on it. This is the biggest load of bull I ever heard that were about telephone calls that she needed to make. And the state department typically puts a little "C" on it to discourage people from discussing it in public in the event the secretary of state, whoever it is, doesn't make a telephone call. Does that sound threatening to the national security to you?

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ASHER: Bill Clinton standing by his wife, as always.

And earlier this year, the FBI actually decided not to recommend any charges against Hillary Clinton, but just this week, an interesting twist to this tale, just this week, newly released e-mails are now raising questions about possibly inappropriate ties, inappropriate links between the State Department here in the United States during Clinton's tenure there and Clinton Foundation.

More on politics now, Donald Trump is telling voters the only way he will lose the key state of Pennsylvania is if, get this, Hillary Clinton cheats. During a campaign stop there on Friday, he said he wants law enforcement officials to monitor closely -- to closely monitor the polls to make sure that people don't vote more than once, that they don't vote several times. Both campaigns have been devoting significant resources to Pennsylvania, which has a base of working class voters. That both candidates would just love to tap into.

In the mean time, Trump appears to be walking back his widely criticized claim this week that President Obama and Hillary Clinton were the founders of ISIS.

Here is Jim Acosta with more.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Have you heard the one about the presidential candidate who called President Obama the founder of ISIS?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENT: So I said they're the founder of ISIS. Obviously, I'm being sarcastic, then, but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you.

ACOSTA: Donald Trump says that one-liner is more stand up than stump speech.

[02:15:01] TRUMP: Barack Obama is the founder. He got everybody out and he let them know when and we're leaving. He is the founder, in a true sense.

ACOSTA: Just kidding, says Trump, who asked a certain television network in a tweet, they don't get sarcasm? That explanation follows ample opportunities to clear up what he meant.

(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)

HUGH HEWITT, SALEM RADIO STATION HOST: I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace.

TRUMP: No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do.

(END AUDIO TAPE)

ACOST: But it's more of a head-scratcher than a knee-slapper to even his own Trump surrogates.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: His candidacy is the imprecise language. He sometimes uses three words when he needs ten. I know what Trump has in his mind, but that's not what people hear. And I think that's a -- he has got to learn to use language that has been thought through and that is clear to everybody.

ACOSTA: The GOP nominee's attacks on the president come as reminders surface that Trump also wanted a quick exit from the war in Iraq.

PIERS MORGAN, NEWS ANCHOR: If you were president, would you take all American troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq now?

TRUMP: Iraq, we shouldn't have been there and I'd get them out real fast. Afghanistan is not the bigger problem. The bigger problem is Pakistan.

ACOSTA: Trump's steep drop in key battleground states is no joke. He trails by double digits in Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. But he's hanging on in Florida. The slide follows days of damaging moments like this one in Florida, when he asked Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton's e-mail server.

TRUMP: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.

ACOSTA: Trump said that was sarcasm, too.

TRUMP: And I obviously was being sarcastic. In fact, the people in the room were laughing. They found it very funny. Everybody knew that.

ACOSTA: But it's a pattern that makes it hard to determine when Trump is playing it straight on important policy issues, like whether U.S. citizens could be tried for terrorism at the detention center at Guantanamo. Trump says they should, even though that's a departure from U.S. laws.

TRUMP: I know they want to try them in our regular court systems and I don't like that at all. I would say they could be tried there. That would be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: That was our Jim Acosta reporting there.

And for more news about America's race for the White House, watch "State of the Race." I can't recommend it enough with our very own Kate Bolduan at weeknights at 7:30 p.m. London Time, and Tuesday to Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon Hong Kong time. Right here, of course, only on CNN.

U.S. Health officials have declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico because of the Zika virus. More than 10,000 people in Puerto Rico have been infected with the virus. More than 1,000 of them are pregnant women. And that is huge. That is really significant because Zika has, of course, been linked to birth defects in babies and newborns and the number of cases have been higher than that because a lot of people who have the virus, who have Zika don't actually show any symptoms, so they don't know they have it. The health emergency declaration will allow Puerto Rico to request more federal assistance to fight the outbreak.

Heavy rains have been drenches parts of Louisiana and Mississippi causing dangerous floods. We now know that at least three people have died and a number of people have been rescued from rooftops, cars, and in one case, from a tree. Just look at this video. It actually shows what conditions were like on Friday in the town of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana.

One official of CNN spoke that these floods are the worst, the worst that he has ever seen. So let's talk more about this. Our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us live now. And I think the sad thing about this is that there's more rain on the way.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That and the fatalities that have already occurred, a few other people have already been missing, as well. There have been two dozen high water rescues that have taken place out of this entire event. You can see some of the catastrophic flooding that has taken place in the Deep South.

Louisiana Governor John Bel has declared a state of emergency. His own basement in his house is flooded. National Weather Service is calling this close to a one in 500 year rainfall events. Small towns are cut off due to flooded roadways.

And you will not believe what I'm about to show you. A river just outside of Baton Rouge has risen nearly six meters in 14 hours. You can imagine what that does in this extremely low-lying area.

This is the river gauge. You can see the heavy rain event that caused this spike. Again, that was at 20 feet or just a little bit over 6 meters. That is an incredible amount of rainfall in a short period of time.

Here is the latest from the National Weather Service, flash flood warnings just to the west of Baton Rouge, west of New Orleans. You can see the flood warnings across this particular area, as well. Rainfall totals over the past 24 hours, rather, have been locally up to 500 millimeters, even more than that between the Greensburg and the Zachary region.

[02:20:03] I want to focus in on Zachary because this is one of the scenes that people have stumbled across here trying to get around some of the local roadways. Some of the small towns, again, have been completely cut off due to flooded roadways.

This is amazing too. Baton Rouge has seen 242 millimeters on Friday alone. They normally see 148 millimeters in the entire month of August. So they have put in 150 percent of their monthly rainfall in just one day. That is an incredible amount of rain.

Look at this rainfall totals as well, Denham Springs, over 500 millimeters. Livingston, 434. That is why we have the copious flooding that is taking place into the southern sections of Louisiana.

This is a very slow-moving storm system. It brought flooding rains to the panhandle of Florida. It moves through Mississippi and parts of Alabama. Now it is centered across Louisiana. That's where the bulk of the precipitation is as we speak. This is a radar loop over the past 36 hours.

Of course, the shades of dark orange and into red, that is the heaviest rainfall. And you can see how that is just moving over the same locations hour after hour after hour. And that is why we have experienced over 500 millimeters of rain.

Unfortunately, more rain to come in the overnight period. Remember that's locally about 1:30 in the evening at the moment -- or in the morning, I should say, across this area. As we head into the rest of the weekend and the early parts of next week, that rain is going to spread across the Ohio River Valley. So the flood threat will spread from the south through the Ohio region and that is going to spell concerns for that area, as well.

(CROSSTALK)

ASHER: And you really have to think about all those people who now have to rebuild their lives from scratch. They've lost a lot of material possessions, you know.

VAN DAM: It brings back memories in August of 2005 with Katrina as well with the flash floods.

ASHER: Right, those flash floods. OK. Derek Van Dam, live for us. Thank you.

VAN DAM: All right.

ASHER: We appreciate that. Windy conditions combined with hot and dry weather are fueling wildfires in parts of Europe. These pictures show what's happening on the Portuguese island of Madeira where at least three people died this week in France. More than 3300 hectares of land have been ravished by fire. Three people were injured.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt will begin defending his Olympic titles on Saturday, but many think he's the best ever. More on his place in history, just ahead.

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ASHER: All right. Let's talk about the jam-packed Olympic schedule for Saturday. The poll, I'm sure you know by now has been home to some of the most exciting moments in Rio. It has made me fall in love with swimming all over again. And that is set to continue with the women's 50-meter freestyle as well as the 4 by 100-meter medley relay. The men will swim the 1500-meter freestyle. And Michael Phelps will look to add to his trophy case in the men's 4 by 100 medley relay.

Back on land, men's track and field athletes will go for gold in 10,000 meters and the women sprinters will run the 100 meters.

And he is one of the biggest stars in the Rio Olympics and his first competition is just hours away. Everybody wants a piece of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt after his triple gold medal performances in both Beijing and London.

[02:25:05] 29-year-old -- I can't believe he's just 29. 29-year-old mega star is competing in the men's 100- and 200-meter races in the 4 by 100-meter relay with his six Olympic gold medals and his 11 world titles and World Records. He's among, no surprise, the best sprinters ever. But is he the greatest track Olympian ever? He certainly has some competition. Track legend Linford Christie gives us the take on who's the king.

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LINFORD CHRISTIE, FORMER JAMAICAN SPRINTER: Who is the greatest track star whole time? Usain bolt says he's a living legend. But there are others who lay claim to this title -- Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson and even Jesse Owens.

I'm going to give you my opinion on who I think is the greatest, and you can have your own, too.

Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympics, the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals, 100, 200, long jump, and 4 by 1. He creeps into our show list not only for the tribulation he faced on the track but what he had to overcome off the track. Great icon. Carl Lewis, the first man to defend the 100-meter title. Same like Owens with four gold medals, a total of nine gold medals in his Olympic career. One of the outstanding athletes of his generation. Michael Johnson, king of the long sprints, the first man to win the 2 and the 4. A total of four gold medals. His record with the 400 meters still stands. Could he be the greatest of all? Before you make up your mind, let me tell you mine. Usain Bolt, World Record holder, 100, 200, and 4 by 1. The first man to defend both titles. He tells you, I'm a legend. And I agree with him. Usain Bolt's the greatest track athlete of our time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: And Linford Christie knows exactly what he's talking about. He has the experience. Usain Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all time.

Thank you so much for watching "CNN NEWSROOM". I'm Zain Asher. "MainSail" is up next, but first, I'll be back with a quick look at your headlines.

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ASHER: Hello, everyone. I'm Zain Asher. This is CNN News now. American swimmer Katie Ledecky broke her own World Record in the 800- meter freestyle. She beat the next closest time by 11 seconds.

[02:30:03] Much of the race, she was pretty much all by herself, several body lengths ahead of her closest rival. It is Ledecky's fourth gold medal in the Rio games.