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NEW DAY SATURDAY

California Governor Declares State of Emergency; NTSB, Boeing Teams Heading to France; Drone Flies Dangerously Close; Hillary Clinton Releases Tax and Medical Records; Palestinian Officials: Teen Shot Dead by Israeli Troops; Rep. for Hunter Contact U.S. Authorities. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 1, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: How much could it help investigators figure out what happened to the missing plane?

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And talk about a close call. A small drone just 100 feet from the wing of a landing passenger plane. These tiny remote-controlled planes are becoming a growing problem in the skies, experts say.

BLACKWELL: And, an extradition fight. Zimbabwe wants an American dentist to face charges in the death of Cecil the Lion. But is that easy or likely?

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAUL: We are always so grateful to have your company. Seven o'clock on this Saturday morning. Good morning to you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Always good to be with you.

And we are starting this hour with breaking news out of California 23 major fires are burning across the state. Look, we've got a map here. I mean, these flames are everywhere. Every wildfire being tracked by the state forestry service is being represented here. And now, the governor has declared a state of emergency this morning.

PAUL: Nearly 8,000 firefighters have been called in to battle all of those flames. We do have some new information about one firefighter who was killed battling the fire. Take a look at 38-year-old David Rule (ph) here. He's of South Dakota. He had been with the forest service for 14 years. We understand capital flags in the state will be flown as half-staff in his honor today.

BLACKWELL: So, why is this happening?

Well, four years of drought have left California so dry the Governor Jerry Brown has called it a tinder box. The fire you are seeing now is the Rocky Fire. This is in northern California. So far, it's only 5 percent contained. It has burned more than 18,000 acres.

PAUL: And the thing is, there is some pretty wicked hot weather coming this weekend, which means firefighters are not going to catch a break here. Ivan Cabrera has the details.

Ivan, help us understand what these guys are dealing with.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, once again, you talk about California and the fire getting going. Things getting out of hand very quickly. Over a dozen major fires being worked at here. So, we have fire fighting efforts coming in outside of the state, which is why we have the state of emergency.

The governor, himself, called this a tinder box. And the reason they called it a tinder box is because we have an exceptional drought ongoing in California, as you know. Things are parched. We need water. We haven't had water in four years, and any significant amount here. So, we continue with this incredible drought.

And where they're working the fire, we have exceptional drought ongoing there.

Updating you again, 18,000 acres have already been burned. And that happened very quickly. This has rapid behavior as far as this fire. Only 5 percent contained, and weather conditions over the next few days are not going to be helpful. We're talking high temperatures into the 80s and the 90s by the afternoon.

And as those temperatures go up to the afternoon, the relative humidity goes down, and another thing we get is the winds. It becomes gusty through the afternoon, as well as high 20 miles an hour. So, as far as containment, they have a window through the overnight hours, that's why the humidity is high and the temperatures are low. But through the day, it is going to be tough going -- guys.

PAUL: Ivan, we appreciate it. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Question: could a barnacle-covered piece of a plane's wing unlock the mystery to what happened to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370?

Well, the debris that was found washed ashore on a West Indian island has now been taken in a sealed box by car to a state-of-the-art laboratory for analysis. It arrived at a Paris airport just a short time ago, aboard an Air France jet. Now, NTSB and Boeing teams are heading to France to join this investigation.

CNN's Saima Mohsin is there.

Two serial numbers I understand -- you told us during the last live report -- have been found on this debris. That could answer some questions before the analysis begins midweek, right?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, that's what we are looking to. We are hoping the answers will come sooner rather than later. Those two crucial serial numbers are presumably being checked through Boeing's records as we speak right now while the piece makes its way down south, to the south of France, where I am here at the lab here in Toulouse. Now, those serial numbers could possibly lead us to identifying not only the fact that whether or not this piece really is a flaperon from the right wing of a 777 aircraft, but crucially, the question so many people want answered, is it from flight MH370.

Now, of course, Flight MH370 is the only missing plane that we know of and definitely the only one in the Indian Ocean. But parts are often exchanged. And so, experts aren't willing to say it is definitely from MH370.

And so, we are holding out a lot of hope for these serial numbers, because as that part makes its way down, people are flying in from all over the world, from Malaysia, both Malaysian judges and Malaysian aviation authorities, experts from France as well will come here. We are not expecting them to meet in earnest and start analyzing this piece until Wednesday.

In fact, we step aside and you take a look at this facility.

[07:05:00] It's run by the ministry of defense here in France. It's empty right now. It's shut for the weekend. They won't get here until Monday.

Perhaps some scientists and experts who look into air crash investigations will start carrying out their experiments.

And what do they hope to find from that, Victor? Well, they will be taking a look at that piece and taking particular care to analyze where it's torn away from the aircraft, because the angles of the way it's torn. Any kind of chemicals that are left on that will perhaps identify whether it came off in the air or did it come off on impact with the sea?

And right at the top there, you mentioned those barnacles as well. Marine experts are looking at those to see just how long that's been at the sea. There is a lot more information to come, not just identification. And, crucially, of course, there are 239 passengers family and loved ones who really want to know not just where their loved ones are, but what happened to the plane they were onboard -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and a spokesperson has made it clear. They want to know when there is 100 percent certainty, nothing less.

Saima Mohsin, thank you so much.

PAUL: Let's talk about another developing story that we're following. This dangerous close call between a drone and a commercial airliner. This is over the city of New York. The drone reportedly came within 100 feet of crashing into a Delta flight that was about to land.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live with us with the latest.

Nick, what have you learned this morning?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. A very close call in the nation's busiest air space. And according to the FAA, this may happen a lot more often than we care to believe. The latest incident happening at JFK between a drone and a commercial air flight airliner during its most critical phase of landing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOWER: DELTA 407.

DELTA 407: Yes, about a mile back there was a drone flying just on the southwest side of this abandoned airport here.

TOWER: At what altitude did you say that was?

DELTA 407: I would say probably about 100 feet below us. Just off right wing.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Delta Flight 407 prepares to land at JFK Airport, with 154 people on board. The jet, just 1700 feet above the ground when the pilot spots a drone on the southwest side of the plane just about 100 feet below.

TOWER: 407, did you, by any chance, get the color or type?

DELTA 407: No, I was not close enough to be able to tell.

VALENCIA: Then, JFK tower warned other pilots of the possible danger flying around them.

TOWER: JetBlue 943, use caution on arrival. The one that's ahead of you reported a drone Floyd Bennett Field over there. So, you might see that over there.

JETBLUE 943: Yes, we're (INAUDIBLE) so we're probably considerably higher than he was, but we're watching out for it.

VALENCIA: Phil Derner of NYCAviation.com weighed in. Derner, said, without a doubt, this was a close call. He explains a drone flying within 100 feet of a plane can easily get sucked into an engine or worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These drones are made with aircraft aluminum, similar to the aircraft it is about to strike. Going into an engine can destroy an engine or going into the cockpit window can injure or even kill a pilot.

VALENCIA: Scares like this happen more often than you think. The FAA reports 25 drone incidents each month. In the case of Delta Flight 407, the plane landed safely. But now, the FAA is investigating the incident.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Very scary stuff there at JFK, a drone, according to the FAA, is not supposed to fly above 400 feet or also not to suppose to get within five miles of a commercial airport. Investigators are still looking for whoever operated this drone. They could face federal charges -- Christi.

PAUL: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Mary Schiavo now. She is a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mary, good to have you back. I want to start where Nick left off. These charges that could have been faced by this person?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Oh, yes, absolutely. Both the FAA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working together, and where they can find persons that have violated drone laws or endangered aircraft, they are going after them and in some cases, jail time has been needed out. But it's tough to find them often. With are they can find them, they do prosecute and vigorously.

BLACKWELL: There are new regulations relating to drones. But do you expect there will be more now that this number of drone incidents is increasing?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, the regulations keep them away. By the way, the existing regulations, even before we had drone regulations, would have kept them out of the airport operations area, the terminal areas of airport, where you have to be under air traffic control for the largest airports. But I do anticipate there will be additional requests for more regulation, including registering drone numbers and sellers of drones will have to have the buyer, purchaser of the drones in some ways much like federal firearms laws was. So we know who is buying them, where they are.

And so, if something like this does happen, we'll know who whose control the drones belong to.

[07:10:04] BLACKWELL: Do you think acquiring a drone is too easy now? Anecdotally, someone on our team told us, you could buy them at a hardware store for 100 bucks or so?

SCHIAVO: Oh, they have been available like that for at least eight or so years. I think I bought my first one maybe, man, ten years ago. They are cheap. They are available. They work well.

But you have to follow the law and the rules when you do it. And there is a huge issue when you fly them over somebody else's property because technically the property has air rights. So, the Supreme Court has never weighed in on where the property's rights end, and where the rights to fly over, other than navigable air space, where that dividing line is. So, that's an area of the law yet to be developed and defined.

BLACKWELL: Beyond the FAA rules, can these individual jurisdictions, the cities where these airports are -- I mean, are we seeing a trend where they are creating or writing their own ordinances to protect their individual airports?

SCHIAVO: Well, they have tried to and they want to. Several cities have tried to do that. The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped in and said, oh, no, wait a minute. Only we can write air operations and drone laws and aircraft laws. Only we can do that except the FAA hasn't defined other to say they have to be below 400 feet. The FAA can't really give drone operators the rights to go over people's property, because that falls under property law. That doesn't fall under the area that has been given to the Federal Aviation Administration to administer.

So, there's a huge gap in the law coverage that the FAA probably can't address. They don't have the jurisdiction.

BLACKWELL: All right. Mary Schiavo, thank you so much.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

PAUL: We have some new video of a previous traffic stop involving a university cop charged with murder. So, this is a separate incident from where the murder charge is stemming. What does this tell us about this officer and his adherence or non-adherence to department protocol? We have the video. We are going to talk to our experts and show all of it to you.

Also, we have some new developments in the search for the dentist who killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. Apparently, a representative for Walter Palmer has reached out to U.S. authorities. This as outrage continues to grow, not only across the U.S. but in Zimbabwe as well. We have the latest in just a moment.

Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:35] PAUL: Now, what you're looking at what started as a peaceful rally in Cincinnati, but it turned into a demonstration overnight. This is in Cincinnati . The night started with speeches and candles lit in honor of Samuel DuBose, who is the driver shot and killed by Cincinnati cop Ray Tensing. At least five people were put into handcuffs and police cars.

We have seen the video where he was shot and killed, f course, you've been seen at the center of the story and what led to charges being filed against tensing. Here is something that's coming to light this morning. Video of another contentious traffic stop involving officer tensing. Last may, he pulled over two black men who felt that they weren't being treated fairly.

Take a look at the exchange he had about passenger Demetrius Pace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY TENSING, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI POLICE: I need your name and date of birth.

DEMETRIUS PACE: Demetrius.

TENSING: I need your date of birth. PACE: I'm not giving you that.

TENSING: OK, if you refuse to identify yourself, we have a charge.

PACE: What's the charge? What's the charge?

TENSING: Refusing to identify -- you have to provide --

PACE: I just told you my name.

TENSING: Why are you interrupting me? You asked me a question.

PACE: I'm not.

TENSING: Step out of the car.

PACE: What's the charge?

TENSING: Step out of the car.

PACE: For what? What am I stepping out for?

TENSING: Because I asked you to.

PACE: What am I stepping out for?

TENSING: Step out of the car. Refusing to identify yourself. Step out of the cars.

PACE: I just told you who I was. I'm asking for your supervisor.

TENSING: It doesn't matter. Just because you ask -- I have I have to provide for you --

PACE: Are we free to go? Can you write the ticket so we can go?

TENSING: You're not free to go right now.

PACE: What are we doing then? What are we doing?

TENSING: You're being detained right now.

PACE: OK. We are detained for what? We'll be detained for this?

TENSING: You guys wanted a supervisor.

PACE: It don't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Law enforcement analyst Terry Houck joining us now for more.

So, first of all, I'm wondering what your first reaction is to that video, Harry?

HOUCK: Well, here, you've got a car stop for an equipment violation. Of course, the officer can ask the passenger for his identification. If he refuses, he refuses. You know, just write the summons here for the bumper being broken and let them go on their merry way.

The fact is that the police officer had stopped them and they both fit the description of an armed robbery suspect, it would have been a different story where the officer could have pulled them out of the vehicle and identified both of them.

PAUL: So, you hit it on the head. The car's bumper was apparently dragging.

HOUCK: Right.

PAUL: Is that protocol to ask somebody to step out of the car?

HOUCK: Well, it's not protocol but an officer can ask the driver to step out of the vehicle. He can also command them to come out of the vehicle, you know, for his own safety. So --

PAUL: Was there anything in that video, though, Harry, that you saw, that would make you feel if you were in that officer's shoes at that moment, would you have felt threatened in any way, enough so to ask them to step out of the car based on what we saw? Which I know we're understanding here but --

(CROSSTALK)

HOUCK: No, you know, there is nothing there that makes me feel I would be in danger. I mean, the guy is upset that he got pulled over. Everybody gets upset when they get pulled over.

The officer didn't have any suspicious of any other crime being committed by these two or the driver himself, he could have took a little bit more action. But he didn't. It is a car stop. He didn't see anything. Write the guy a summons and let him go.

PAUL: I know the men asked for a supervisor. That man came and he diffused the situation. But just for reference, is that a smart thing to do? If you don't agree with an officer is saying to you when you're in a car, can you say I want to talk to a supervisor? What's the protocol there? Do they usually come out to the scene?

HOUCK: You can say whatever you want, but, you know, it all depends on the stop. If I'm stopping you for a possible felony or some other crime, and you're requesting -- you know, you're not going to get a chance to request. I am getting you out of the car because you fit the description of a suspect.

You know, on something like this, you are requesting a supervisor. Can you call your supervisor? Yes. You don't have to call your supervisor. I would have just wrote the guy a ticket and let them go on their merry way here. This shouldn't have escalated to the point it did.

PAUL: All right. Harry Houck, always appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us. HOUCK: Thanks for having me.

PAUL: Of course.

Victor?

BLACKWELL: Well, the Coast Guard, Christi, has called off their search for two missing Florida teens. At lease they've said it has been suspended. But the family will not give up. Hear what they are saying about the next phase of the search.

Also, Donald Trump talks debate.

[07:20:00] Is the GOP frontrunner trying to downplay expectations ahead of his appearance against nine of his rivals? Hear what he has to say coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. MARK FEDOR, MIAMI COAST GUARD: This was particularly painful because a lot of the people searching have kids about the same age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The Coast Guards says it has now suspended their search for the teen voters. They will use a Go Fund Me to continue to look for them. I'll just. In the last four days, the campaign has brought in more than $365,000. These boys went missing at sea July 24th when their boat capsized. It was found last Sunday dozens of miles off Florida's Atlantic coast.

PAUL: Japan's coast guard is fighting a fire on a ferry. Here, a pictures of what we're getting There is one crew member, a 44-year-old second mate, who is missing. The coast guard has dispatched ships to put out that fire, obviously.

BLACKWELL: The United States has seen two extremes this year. NASA has released an animation showing rainfall accumulation in the U.S. from January 1st to July 16th.

And look at this. California is reeling from this raging wildfire and drought across the west, but drenching rains have really pummeled the eastern part of the country.

PAUL: And congratulations to Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife. They are expecting a baby girl soon. He announced the news on his Facebook page and tagged his wife, Priscilla Chan on the post. He said the couples have been trying for a couple of years, they suffered three miscarriages.

[07:25:02] He did not say when the baby would be born. But congratulations to them, certainly.

BLACKWELL: It is so nice he tagged her in the post. You are part of this too.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Just a little bit.

BLACKWELL: A little bit.

PAUL: Just a little bit.

BLACKWELL: Wealth and health. Hillary Clinton releases her medical and tax records to the public. Thousands more of her e-mails are released too. Next, new details about the 2016 presidential candidate.

PAUL: Plus, another White House hopeful, Donald Trump, getting ready to hit the stage for the first GOP debate. We'll tell you how he and other candidates are prepping for that big night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Twenty-nine minutes past the hour right now. Good morning to you.

You know, Hillary Clinton's campaign is opening up about her money and her health. According to new documents, Clinton and her husband Bill paid $43 million in federal taxes since 2007. In a declaration of her personal health, her doctor says, she is fit to serve as president.

In the meantime, there is a new batch of Clinton's e-mails during her time as secretary of state that have been released.

[07:30:00] So, let's break this down with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.

Sunlen, notice that I mentioned, they paid $43 million in federal taxes since 2007. I didn't mention the $141 million they made over that period of time. What else did we learn?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christi. Those numbers are significant.

But there is certainly a lot of additional information in this new wave of disclosures. First, Clinton's doctor out with a medical summary showing all those issues from the health scare she had in 2012, that blood clot which gave her a concussion. The doctor says it has been resolved but she does take blood thinners daily, they say, as a precaution.

And the campaign releasing the last eight years of their tax returns showing, as you said, together Bill and Hillary Clinton earning over $140 million total over the course of the seven-year time. And they paid $57.5 million in federal, state and local taxes combined with an overall tax rate of 45.8 percent in the last year.

They donated slightly over 10 percent of their income to charity for a total of $14 million. Now, of course, the campaign has been the touting that this release combined with the previous years of tax records that they've already released makes available 38 years of Clinton tax returns. So, they are eager not only to show transparency but also trying to draw a contrast with other candidates like Jeb Bush who has released 33 years of his own financial records.

It also comes at a time when we are seeing Clinton start to take some jabs at Bush more directly. In Florida, the two were addressing the same audiences and Clinton took one of her most direct attacks by Bush. Now, she didn't mention him by name, but it was a not so subtle hit on Bush when she used his Right to Rise super PAC by name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think you can credibly say everybody has a right to rise and then say you are for phasing out Medicare or for repealing Obamacare. People can't rise if they can't afford health care. They can't rise if the minimum wage is too low to live on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, Bush did not respond to Clinton or take her on when he was on the stage shortly after. But his communications, Tim Miller, he did, tweeting, quote, "Clintonesque move to pass over a chance to unite in favor of a false, cheap shot when you have no record of accomplishment to point to."

So, Christi, this certainly could be a preview if both go on to become their party's at some fierce battles ahead in the general election -- Christi.

PAUL: Certainly. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's talk more about the Clinton campaign and the upcoming GOP debate with Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, and Republican strategist, Lisa Boothe.

Good to have you both.

LISA BOOTH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Hi, Victor. Good morning.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start, Maria, where Sunlen just left off. This shot, using Right to Rise, the Bush super PAC. Why Jeb Bush? Why now?

CARDONA: Well, first of all, she was in Jeb Bush's backyard. So, I actually thought it was a great opportunity for her to focus on what she has done and her record of fighting for African-Americans. She was at the National Urban League. So it was definitely appropriate to fight for other minorities and frankly to fight for middle class families which is the foundation of her campaign.

And the fact that middle class families in all of America who is looking to go forward and to have success in this economy, that she is the one they can trust to fight for each and every sing daily versus Jeb Bush who has a failed record as governor of fighting for those exact same constituents, especially the African-American community in terms of, for example, voting rights, which is something we didn't see in the sound bite, when you have a governor that actually signed a law that would make it harder for African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities to vote. You can't focus on your accomplishments when it comes to this constituency.

So, I thought it was a great opportunity to outline those issues that are going to be important.

BLACKWELL: Lisa, Secretary Clinton said, I'm paraphrasing here, that one can credibly talk about one's right to rise if you don't stand up for their right to vote. What's your response there?

BOOTHE: Well, I find it interesting, you know, Maria is talking about Hillary Clinton's stance on the middle class, what her policies are, a continuation of what we've seen from President Obama, where middle class families have actually seen their pay suffer, they've seen their opportunities reduced under President Obama. Middle class families are worse off than before when President Obama took office.

And I also find it interesting that Hillary Clinton is being so transparent with her taxes and with her health when she has not been transparent with her e-mails. We know she has knowingly deleted tens of thousands of e-mails. We know there was classified information in some of those e-mails.

And we also know because of that lack of transparency, there is a general distrust among voters. We have seen that in the latest Quinnipiac polls where she's losing -- or she's actually losing to Republican candidates in critical states like Iowa, Colorado, and Virginia.

[07:35:03] What I also find is interesting is actually on the question of does this candidate care about me, Hillary Clinton is actually upside down on that question in those key critical states.

BLACKWELL: All right.

BOOTHE: So, I actually think Hillary Clinton is going to have a really difficult time convincing normal, everyday Americans that, one, they can trust, or, two, she has their best interest at heart.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lisa, I notice how Jeb Bush's answer didn't come up in the answer although that's what the question was about.

Let's go to Donald Trump, though, because this week, he tried to lower expectations about how he'll do in this upcoming debate and in the race?

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a debater. I produce jobs. I never did that before. I never stood at a podium and debated a large number of people.

I've never debated before. I am not a debater. I get things done. I don't talk about it. I get it done. Politicians talk about it. These guys debate every night of their life. That's all they do is debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: For someone who criticizes politicians, Lisa, he sounds a lot like a politician there.

BOOTHE: He is obvious, you know, table setting that's going on. Here, he is trying to set expectations.

And, look, debates are incredibly difficult, that's why we have folks like Jeb Bush who have said that they have been intensive studying that's going on with these candidates. They are preparing to be able to lay out and differentiate themselves between the other candidates.

Look, these debates are huge and the stakes are high, which is Republican candidates have spent more than $8 million in advertising to try to get on the debate stage. The stakes are huge right now for Republicans with such a crowded primary field.

BLACKWELL: Can, Maria, Jeb Bush lose -- not Jeb Bush, I'm sorry, Donald Trump lose this debate? I mean, reporters have debunked and refuted many of the claims that have been made by Donald Trump and he seems to continue to climb in the polls.

CARDONA: Well, what's interesting about Donald Trump is that he has completely flipped political convention wisdom on his head. Every time he has uttered absurdities, where the political punditry has said, oh, this is it for Donald Trump, it has bumped him up in the polls. But I think this debate will be different and it will be differentiating.

We don't know how he's going to do, because we have never seen him in this forum before. So, it's gong to be interesting to see. But I think one of the biggest challenges for the rest of the Republicans is going to be, how do you differentiate yourself from someone like Trump who completely takes the oxygen out of the room and then, especially, for example, on an issue like immigration -- are you going to go further to the right of Donald Trump to be able to differentiate yourself from him in this Republican debate which, as we've seen from the people who come out to vote in the primaries, it's a very important issue to them?

But we also saw that didn't work so well for John McCain or Mitt Romney. So, as a Democrat, I'm very excited for this upcoming debate, Victor.

BLACKWELL: You know, one of the interesting things beyond just the content, the policy is the logistics of it. Is he going to follow the lights and bells and 90 seconds and all that? We'll see.

Chris Wallace has his work cut out for him. BOOTHE: To be seen, Victor. Yes.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Maria.

CARDONA: Grab your popcorn.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. Bye. Thank you.

BOOTHE: Bye.

CARDONA: Thanks, Victor.

PAUL: Still to come, new violence in the Middle East. A toddler's death in an arson attack sparked protest. Well, a Palestinian teenager is dead because of those clashes. We're taking you live to Jerusalem.

Also, it seems the hunter may now be the hunted. Zimbabwe wants this man accused of killing Cecil the Lion, they want him to be extradited for illegal hunting. The question is, first of all, where is he? And secondly, will the U.S. comply?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:17] PAUL: Forty-two minutes past the hour.

Clashes between Palestinian officials and Israeli troops turned violent and deadly. Palestinian medical officials say a Palestinian teenager now has died. He was shot by Israeli forces. What you are seeing here is the video of that teen's funeral.

He was taking parts in protests after the home of a Palestinian family was burned in the West Bank and that arson attack killed a toddler.

Now, CNN's Ian Lee is with us from Jerusalem right now.

Ian, thank you so much. What more do we know about this teenager who died?

IAN LEE, CNN CORREPONDENT: Christi, we know that know yesterday he was out protesting because of the death of that toddler early yesterday morning killed in an arson attack allegedly by Israeli settlers. We saw protest all across the West Bank and here in Jerusalem.

This Palestinian teen that was killed was shot three times. He went to the hospital. He died there. Israeli government -- Israeli army is saying that he tossed a Molotov cocktail at troops and that's when they responded with fire.

And just recently, we saw his funeral take place to a large number of people attending and these sorts of situations can escalate and snowball.

PAUL: I was just going to say, three Palestinians have died just in the last 24 hours. So, how concerned and prepared are authorities there for some sort of escalation?

LEE: Well, you know, it started with that toddler. Then, we saw the protests and then this teenager was killed in that protest. There are more protests.

I mean, these do have that chance to continue to snowfall and continue to see this violence. They can be very unpredictable and continue for quite some time.

Last summer, we saw a continuation of violence that ultimately led to the war in Gaza.

So, this is very concerning for both the Palestinian authority as well as Israeli officials. They would like to see the tensions ease in this to fizzle out.

But, right now, it really is on the streets, these protests that really are pushing this forward.

PAUL: Ian, we know Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked over this "reprehensible and horrific attack", that's a quote, and he is vowing to find those responsible.

What kind of resources are Israeli forces willing -- or have you seen them giving to that effort to find who is responsible? How likely is it that they will find them?

LEE: Well, we are hearing that there is at least two men involved in this attack possibly more. We really haven't heard where that investigation is going.

[07:45:03] And there's a lot of skepticism among the Palestinians that there will be people held accountable. They accuse the Israeli governments and the Israeli settlers of acting with impunity, accusing them of being protected by the army.

So, it's really going to be up to the prime minister to prove, to show that, yes, these people will be held accountable, that they will be caught. But, right now, a lot of people are skeptical that that could happen. Although yesterday, we have heard some of the strongest words we have ever heard from the prime minister calling this a terrorist attack.

But, still, we'll have to wait to see if these people are actually held accountable.

PAUL: Yes. Ian Lee, thank you so much for the update. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: A representative for the man accused of killing Cecil the lion has reached out to U.S. authorities, but the dentist, Walter Palmer, he is still in hiding. How likely is extradition back to Zimbabwe if he comes out of hiding? We'll ask an expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: New this morning, a representative for the dentist who illegally killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe reached out to U.S. authorities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to talk to Dr. Palmer himself. But so far, that has not happened.

Palmer went into hiding after there was international outrage over Cecil's killing, and if he turns up, he could face extradition. Zimbabwe has already started proceedings.

[07:50:02] And there's a White House petition requesting his they want to talk to Dr. Palmer themselves. If he turns up after hiding, he could face extradition. And there's a White House petition requesting his extradition with nearly 200,000 signatures so far.

So, let's talk about it. Let's bring Ted Simon, international law expert and criminal defense attorney. He's also Amanda Knox's attorney, important to point that out.

Ted, good to have you this morning, especially on this topic.

You know, I read some of the notes from a conversation you had with one of our producers in which you're saying, first, for extradition, we've got to start with charges here.

THEODORE SIMON, INTERNATIONAL LAW EXPERT: Yes, that's correct. I mean, I think what we have is a great deal of public outcry and outrage. Hopefully that will not out distance proper procedure and due process, because, as you know, there is an extradition treaty between Zimbabwe and the United States.

However, any extradition treaty is an agreement between two countries that outlines the procedures and the rules and the required documents that must be supplied in the first and foremost that has to happen in a prerequisite is arrest charges and charging documents have to be issued.

So, this is a bit of Alice in Wonderland. You know the old story there, punishment first and then the trial. Here we have a call for extradition but yet there's no charging documents or an arrest warrant. So, something is very unusual here.

BLACKWELL: Do you expect that that is a formality, probably the most important formality here, but the charges coming?

SIMON: Well, I couldn't characterize it as a formality. It's a basic prerequisite. You know, I have never heard of a matter where they call for the extradition before there actually is charges. Whether or not charges will be forthcoming is another question.

You know, in Zimbabwe, as in the United States, it's insufficient for a person to simply commit an act. The person also has to commit that act with the requisite wrongful intent. And that is the question in this case. And we have heard the doctor issue a statement that says that he complied lawfully. He relied upon professional guides and he did not do anything unlawful. That remains to be a factual question, but still it's incumbent upon

the Zimbabwe authorities to issue an arrest warrant, charging documents that explains the act and necessary requisite intent.

And that would be the same thing, whether it's in Zimbabwe or here. And so, far there is no arrest warrant and no charge. Now, I'm not calling for one and I'm not calling for one, I'm just saying I think we have to be very careful and also be mindful that in Zimbabwe, just like the United States, every essential element must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and is innocent until proven guilty.

So with all those things in mind, and despite the fact that this is a horribly unpopular event and he clearly has become an unpopular subject, we can't let that overshadow due process, the rule of law and to assure the requirements of any extradition request are complied with.

(CROSSTALK)

SIMON: This is a very complex matter.

BLACKWELL: Before we get out of time, I want to get to the landowner and the guide. Do you believe they could face charges and quite possibly face charges instead of Dr. Palmer?

SIMON: Well, I don't know if instead of. Each case will be individually determined. With respect to those develop individuals, as I understand it, both were called in. One was charged. That was the guide. But the landowner, I don't believe he was ultimately charged. So the guide has been leased on bail. He has a pending case. I don't think it's in one instead of the other. Each has to rise on their own merit or lack of merit, and it may be or may not be that the guide is guilty. And whether he's guilty or not guilty may or may not impact upon Dr. Palmer.

BLACKWELL: Of course.

SIMON: Palmer made it very clear. He has made it very clear that he --

BLACKWELL: We've got to see if Dr. Palmer comes out of hiding as well.

I'm sorry to have to jump in here, but we've got to go.

SIMON: Well, I don't -- yes, I don't know whether or not he's actually in hiding or protecting his own safety. And I don't think that's even relevant --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Protecting his safety by being hidden.

Ted Simon, thank you so much for joining us.

Sorry, we have to cut it off. Christi?

PAUL: We need to talk about the state of emergency in California right now. A nearly two dozen major fires are returning through the state. And you know what? There's the first report this morning of a death there as well because of the fires.

Also, UFC champ Rhonda Rousey is promising to punish her challenger tonight in the fight. Here's a question a lot of people are asking. Should she fight a man? You can weigh in on Twitter. We want to hear from you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:17] BLACKWELL: This is a stare down.

PAUL: That's what Victor and I look like during the break.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: You're taking my camera time.

Two fighters, champion Rhonda Rousey and Bethe Correia, correct me if I'm wrong, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Bethe.

BLACKWELL: Bethe. All right. Thanks for correcting me because I was wrong.

They'll battle it out tonight at the UFC pay per view in Brazil. Both fighters undefeated. Rousey, according to ESPN, is promising to give her challenger the most devastating lost she's ever seen.

PAUL: Look at them yelling at each other.

BLACKWELL: Hey, last hour, we asked, should Rhonda Rousey fight a man? And people have a lot to say.

PAUL: People have been tweeting about this as well.

WIRE: We always get the best comments from the viewers. Thank you so much. We'll get to those in a second.

But we really are in a monumentous moment in women in sports, right? I mean, you look at Nancy Lieberman who'd be joining us later this morning, second female NBA coach joining Becky Hammon to be the first to do so. You had Jen Welter from the Arizona Cardinals coaching the linebackers in training camp. Wonderful moments for women in sports.

So, now, you have Rhonda Rousey. People are saying she is so dominant she could beat a man in the octagon. A lot of people want to see it. And we asked you, should she take her talents and fight men? Because women seemingly don't have enough to challenge her. Well, here's what Leah said. Leah said, "I think Rousey should test

her skills against a man in thing ring. Why not? It would be an awesome fight to see."

Aaron said, "There's nothing wrong with a woman breaking into a man's sport if she's worthy. If she wins, the sports world will forever be on fire."

Michael says, "Definitely not. Would the female court of public opinion paint this young man as misogynistic and an abuser? The optics of this would be terrible."

Albert had the same sentiment, "If you win, fought a woman. If you lose, fought a woman. It's a lose-lose for any man to step in the ring. She is worthy, but society is not ready."