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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

American Service Member Killed in Afghanistan; Hillary Clinton Disputing Rumors of Failing Health; Obama to Visit Flood-Ravaged Louisiana. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 23, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Following breaking news out of Afghanistan. An American service member has been killed in the line of duty. CNN's Barbara Starr is live at Pentagon with the details. What happened?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, just the worst possible days for an American military family. This happened apparently earlier today there was a patrol in Southern Afghanistan in Helmand Province.

A number of U.S. troops were there trying to assist and advice Afghan Forces on this patrol. Apparently the U.S. troops triggered an IED, an Improvised Explosive Device. One American killed. One American injured. Six Afghans injured. We are awaiting the identity of the American to be announced by the Pentagon after family notification is complete.

[12:35:05] This is a part of Southern Afghanistan where the Taliban in recent months has been resurgent. And the big picture is that the U.S. has sent more than 500 troops down to this area to try and beef up the training and assistance for Afghan Forces trying to push the Taliban back. They were on patrol when this incident happened. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: So Barbara, 500 sent to Helmand Province, you know, in the advice and assist role. But how many troop levels are there? And what are the troop levels in Afghanistan right now? Are they on the up or are they on the way down?

STARR: Sure. Well, right, you know, for most of this year it's been about 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Several weeks ago President Obama announced the change to the draw down, he's keeping a little more than original planned.

By the end of this year January 2017 it will be 8,400 troops. A little higher than some people had thought there will be. But this is going to be the clear decision for the next president of the United States.

How many troops do they want to keep there? How much do they want to continue to train Afghan Forces? And if they want to put in an increased combat capability, let's be very clear, this is now a sovereign country. The Afghan government would have to approve any change in the U.S. Force structure and U.S. mission, Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Well, if your math is up, that's 9,800 now and 84 by the end of year, its 1400 coming home, minus one today. Barbara Starr thanks for the reporting. Keep us posted when you find out more details about that.

In the interim were still looking at the clock. 20 minutes from now the president is scheduled to land in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is going to be touring some of those areas that have been badly damaged by the flooding there. Tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed when that storm struck 11 days ago. At last count 60,000 homes, 60,000. We're going to bring you live coverage when the president's plane touches down.

Also ahead we're looking at Hillary Clinton at her scoffing at all of those speculative reports over her health. But even so she is inching closer to 70. Donald Trump already 70. Does that alone make either of their health an issue in this election?

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[12:41:37] BANFIELD: Just a couple minutes from now, President Obama is set to touchdown in Baton Rouge, Louisiana he's there 11 days after the state was hit with horrifying flooding that covered the area the size of New Jersey.

While Mr. Obama is there, he's going to get a first hand look at one of the neighborhoods hit hard by the flooding, we're going to bring that you live coverage just as soon as those pictures come in and that plane touches down. Stay with us. We are standing by live on the Tarmac at this moment in fact.

In the meantime, Hillary Clinton has taken a few days off of the rally circuit to do some big ticket fund-raising. But she did appear last night on Jimmy Kimmel's talk show and she talked about a thoroughly debunked yet continual Donald Trump attack line, that she's not healthy enough to be president and here is how she took him on. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why they are saying this. I think on the one hand its part of the "Wacky" strategy. Just say all these crazy things and maybe you can get somebody to believe you. On the other hand it just absolutely makes no sense. And I don't go around questioning Donald Trump's health. I mean as far as I can tell he is as healthy as a horse.

JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Well, his doctor said he had the best medical examination he has ever seen in a human being.

CLINTON: Yeah, I saw that.

KIMMEL: Can you open this jar of pickles? This has not been tampered with. It's not been touched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I actually can't do that. Like a lot. So you know, yesterday we actually spent a lot of this program and throughout the day on CNN talking about these very claims, Hillary Clinton's health. So let's focus on Donald Trump for a second.

And for that I want to bring in our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And right off to that, it's critical to say Sanjay, you haven't examined either of these candidates all right, so let's be really clear. Because I think that's missing in a lot of some of the reporting here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of diagnosing from a far going on by doctors and non-doctors alike for sure.

BANFIELD: Yeah, but, you know, something. I was struck last week by Bill Clinton's 70th birthday. Realizing, wait a minute, Bill Clinton is 70 and we talk about his presidency as so long ago. Donald Trump is 70 even at the outset and Hillary Clinton is on her way there. Is that an issue at this stage of the game? Are we much younger these days? Is 70 like the new 50 or is it something we need to question?

GUPTA: Well, we are an aging population, but, you know, it's very hard to look at age alone and say hey look, this gives us some insight into their health overall but not a full insight by any means. And people are -- because we are living longer, we're seeing people functioning a lot later at very high levels as well.

So how a person is doing at any given time is really the best sort of gauge that you can have as supposed to looking at their age alone.

BANFIELD: So when you look at Donald Trump, he puts all these pictures eating fast-food whether it's on his plane or whether his at the deck and listen anybody who's ever work to campaign you eat fast-food. Even you, Sanjay Gupta, would eat fast-food if you had to rack a campaign because that's sometimes all there is.

But this Doctor the Gastroenterologist that Donald Trump actually said put out his letter, his letter wrote that this is healthiest individual ever elected to presidency, should he be elected?

[12:45:09] So as a doctor. I think that's crazy, but look I'm not a doctor but I do think it's crazy to suggest he would be the healthiest President ever. I've see Obama doing the lay ups. So I'm just saying.

GUPTA: Yeah, you know, I don't even know what to make of the letter. Look you're absolutely right. And, you know, whether you're a doctor or not, that degree of hyperbole and these types of words being used is very unusual and you just -- people don't write like that. That's to say healthiest ever. First of all, he couldn't substantiate. How do you know that someone is the healthiest ever, but there's all sorts of language and like that strength and stamina are extraordinary what does that mean exactly?

If a patient comes to my office for example, I will test them may be on a treadmill test, test their muscle strength and things like that I will order those tests. And then make some sort of -- give some sort of objective data on what strength and stamina are. Astonishingly excellent, was another term that was used. These just aren't terms that are used by the medical community. So I don't know where they come from there's also other things, Ashleigh I just point out and you may appreciate this but I t says they showed only positive results

Now, it's funny in medicine because when something is good, we say its negative result, meaning that it did not appear when we did the result. Positive results actually means quite the opposite calling things test score instead of results, this PSA test score was this, as if it were the SAT exam and versus a blood test. It's a strange letter that's absurd to sort of looking it on face value.

BANFIELD: I agree. Healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency is all I need to read.

So let me ask you about some of the -- some other claims that have been made, many of them on far right, Right Wing Media website, the fact that, you know, after she had a concussion when she was dehydrated and fell, her doctor cleared her completely and said that she had no stroke, no neurological complications whatsoever.

In fact I think her doctor had a statement saying that she's healthy with hypothyroidism and seasonal allergies and is on blood thinners for the summary.

And yet, Karl Rove said that, you know, alluded to bring damage because of the glasses that he was wearing.

A bunch of website said that she suffers seizures, so she did some funny move at a muffin shop which the reporters who are there said, was a funny joke and not a seizure at all suggested that she needed help getting upstairs. But the truth of the matter was those who were there said she had just tripped and she was caught by those around her.

And she was -- this is the best one. That she was -- her handler was seen carrying an auto injector syringe for anti seizure drug diazepam I fact the secret service put out a statement saying it was a flashlight, it was a flashlight. What do you make of the amount of media out there suggesting there's nothing wrong with her?

GUPTA: It's political season. It's -- that's what it is, I mean this is -- it's remarkable to just reiterate what you said at the beginning Ashleigh, no body wants to -- nobody credible wants to make this diagnosis from a far whether there are good diagnosis or bad diagnosis it's political season. What I can tell you is Dr. Burdick released that letter basically saying that she had this to focus into that concussion in 2012, that's ben acknowledged and that sounds like she is completely recovered from that as well.

So both those things are true. Did she have a serious injury? It sounds like it. Did she recover? Yes. And the most important question, the bottom of the letter, frankly from both candidates, says that their doctors at least conclude that they are both fit to serve as president of the United States.

You know, it is interesting. There is no independent vetting, right. You think, hey, look, let's have a panel of doctors and who are who are not related to the candidate independently assesses. That doesn't exist. Maybe it should. This comes up every four or eight years certainly.

And what a lot of people look at, they say look you've been campaigning for X number of years or months at least at a very, very hectic schedule. We have seen what you've done we've seen how the secretary has performed secretary of state. We follow Mr. Trump's life and we're making our own conclusions really, is what the voters are saying based on what we see. It can be misleading sometimes. There have been candidates in the past who have withheld certain health conditions and gone on to be president.

Franklin Roosevelt had significant heart problems when he was campaigning in his last campaign. Woodrow Wilson had a stroke. John Kennedy had Addison's disease it was paying medications, so that is the concern. What do we know and what do we deserve to know? For the time being there is no standard for that sort of question.

BANFIELD: Dr. Gupta, you are level-headed and you're a great guy and I thank you very much for your assessment. Thanks so much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: On the bottom right hand part of your screen, just under Sanjay shot with picture of the president, because Air Force1 has in fact landed and it was taxiing into position in Baton Rouge Louisiana, our signal from WFAB catching the plane landing.

[12:50:01] Of course, if you're just joining us, the president is coming down to Louisiana to tour the flood ravaged areas in particular the thighs of New Jersey. Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged. When they get that plane all settled and they get the actual stairs up we'll have it live for you. We're back in a moment.

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BANFIELD: As if almost on cue, we got a live picture up for you on the Tarmac at Baron Rouge Louisiana, this is the Air Force 1. It's just taxiing into location. And the president emerges live for us.

This is 11 days after disaster struck Baton Rouge. He is there to visit some of the areas hardest hit and on the Tarmac about to greet him the governor John Bel Edwards with a hug and a greeting and his wife. And then obviously I just off to the left, our guest from just a few moments ago, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser who has seen his fair share of disaster. As the former President Plaquemines Parish who has seen five hurricane and of course the gulf oil spill.

The president greeting this platform party on the Tarmac just before heading out to visit an area of East Baton Rouge, one of the parishes there, some criticism that he is not going to visit some of the hardest-hit areas. [12:55:05] That coming up a little earlier. We don't know why it is he picked particular location. But we can tell you this. His spokes person Josh Earnest saying that he's focused on the fatalities and damage. There are 13 people who lost their lives in this crisis. There are 60,000 homes that are damaged in some way, if not destroyed. Millions and millions of dollars in damage and so much of it not covered by flood insurance because the people of Baton Rouge were told not only by their mortgage companies but by insurance companies they were not in an area where flood insurance was required or really that necessary.

This was a 1 in 1,000-year rain fall that brought in trillions and trillions of gallons of water and damaged so many families.

So as the president continues his tour he's going to head from the airport. He's got quite a busy schedule he held back to the White House later today. We're going to watch to see where he goes and what is said. They'll be some public comments that are made a little bit later on after he is able to see some of the damage for himself and of course CNN's going to have to have complete coverage of this visit all throughout the afternoon. Our live cameras are staying up and watching.

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