Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

The legal wrangle is over. The political battle is just getting started. Hillary Clinton learns she won't face charges for contentious e-mail use, Donald Trump says the system is rigged; Tens of thousands of deaths. One hundred fifty witnesses. And a document more than two million words in length, seven years in the making. We were expecting the release of the Chilcot report on the U.K.'s intervention in Iraq; Plus, the blade runner awaits his fate. Oscar Pistorius is due in court this hour, as a judge decides his punishment for murder; Plus, torrential rainfall trapped six miners as China faces its worst floods in nearly 20 years. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 6, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: The legal wrangle is over. The political battle is just getting started. Hillary Clinton learns she won't face charges for contentious e-mail use, Donald Trump says the system is rigged.

Tens of thousands of deaths. One hundred fifty witnesses. And a document more than two million words in length, seven years in the making. We were expecting the release of the Chilcot report on the U.K.'s intervention in Iraq.

Plus, the blade runner awaits his fate. Oscar Pistorius is due in court this hour, as a judge decides his punishment for murder.

Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN Newsroom.

Well, just weeks before the U.S. democratic convention, the FBI has revealed the findings of a year-long investigation that has hung over Hillary Clinton throughout her presidential campaign.

FBI director James Comey said there is no evidence the presumptive nominee broke the law when she used private e-mail servers as Secretary of State. But he did have harsh criticism, calling Clinton and her aides extremely careless with national secrets.

Her republican rival Donald Trump, blasted the FBI's decision, calling it a tragedy. But U.S. President Barack Obama was at Clinton's side Tuesday, hitting the campaign trail with her for the first time.

Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has all the details.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: The long-awaited results of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of private e-mail servers, no FBI recommendation of criminal charges to the Justice Department. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, U.S. FBI DIRECTOR: We believe our investigation has been sufficient to give us reasonable confidence there was no intentional misconduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: While the announcement all but assures the presumptive democratic nominee is free from the threat of prosecution, she got no free pass from the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the hailing of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Comey slamming Clinton for failing to exercise good judgment in one of the most sensitive government jobs in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton's position or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about those matters should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Comey's announcement coming just days after FBI investigators interviewed Clinton this past weekend and less than a week after a political furor erupted after former President Bill Clinton met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The FBI director publicly rebutting what Clinton has been saying since last March about those classified e-mails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified material.

COMEY: One hundred ten e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Whether Clinton's private e-mail system was secure enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Well, the system we used was set up for President Clinton's office. And it had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the secret service. And there were no security breaches.

COMEY: She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e- mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries.

Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's e-mail account.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: But ultimately concluding charges were not warranted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: With the announcement, the FBI director lifted a legal cloud that has hung over Hillary Clinton's campaign since she first entered the race. But the public rebuke that came along with it was so harsh that it could follow the candidate all the way to November.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Donald Trump responded on Twitter, saying the FBI's decision proves the system is rigged. The presumptive republican nominee went even further at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday and spent most of the time attacking Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:06] DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We now know that she lied to the country, when she said she did not send classified information on her server. She lied.

(CROWD CHEERING)

She sent vast amounts of classified information. Including information classified as top secret. Like a criminal with a guilty conscience, Clinton had her lawyers delete, destroy and wipe away forever -- except I still say there are geniuses that can find them -- 30,000 -- think of this -- 30,000 e-mails.

This, again, disqualifies her from service. And just think of it. I mean, how can you have this? Bill and Hillary Clinton raked in millions of dollars from foreign government, special interest, and international corporations, in exchange for favors, folks. For favors.

She's crooked Hillary. Don't you understand that? This is one of the most crooked politicians in history.

Hillary Clinton's policies have spread ISIS and made Iran the dominant Islamic power in the Middle East. Hillary Clinton can't keep her e- mail safe. And you know what, folks? She sure as hell can't keep our country safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And not a word of the FBI's decision was mentioned when Barack Obama joined Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail hours later. The president made a case for the democrat, as the best candidate for the White House. And Clinton took digs at her republican rival, Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: I'm here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton.

(CROWD CHEERING)

And I want you to help elect her to be the next president of the United States of America. That's why I'm here.

(CROWD CHEERING)

She was a great Secretary of State. And by the way, that's not just my opinion. That was the view of the American people and pundits throughout the time she was serving as Secretary of State.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Before the whole political machinery got moving. You remember that? It wasn't that long ago, when I came on the scene in '08. Everybody said, well, he's new. They don't say that now because I'm not.

But sometimes, we take somebody who has been in the trenches and fought a good fight and been steady, for granted. Sometimes we act as if never having done something and not knowing what you are doing is a virtue.

We don't do that, by the way, for airline pilots. We don't do that for surgeons. But somehow, we think president of the United States, let's get -- who is that guy? Come on.

CLINTON: This, my friends, is a president who knows how to keep us safe and strong. Compare that to Donald Trump.

(CROWD BOOING)

Can you imagine him, sitting in the Oval Office? The next time America faces a crisis, the world hangs on every word our president says. And Donald Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be our president and commander-in-chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Joining us now to digest all this is CNN political analyst

and Washington Post columnist, Josh Rogin. Thanks so much for being with us.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, good news for Hillary Clinton Tuesday recording her e- mail investigation. Yes, she was sloppy. But the FBI is not recommending charges against her. So, this is the end of the matter legally. What about politically?

ROGIN: Yes. It was the most unusual press conference I've ever seen from an FBI director. In one fell swoop, FBI director James Comey said that he did not see any precedent to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information.

And then he proceeded to list about seven different ways in which she mishandled information. So, while Hillary Clinton has escaped legal prosecution, which is definitely a relief to her as she heads into the general election, there's no doubt that what Comey and the FBI have found will create political problems for her going forward.

There's so many revelations in his testimony that the Trump campaign and her critics will be picking over it for some time.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, you have to ask, what does this whole e-mail saga say about Clinton's judgment? And what she had said earlier about her handling of sensitive material?

[03:10:03] ROGIN: Well, that's the first thing. The first thing is that she's admitted that she made a mistake. But she's never owned up to the actual details of how she set up this personal server.

And then, you know, transferred either willingly or unwillingly, tons of classified information and on to it. And what FBI director James Comey said was very specific.

He said that there were e-mails marked classified that were sent and received by Hillary Clinton. He said that there were lots of things that she should have known containing classified information that she sent and receive. And he said that her explanations about why she had set up the server just didn't match the reality.

So, while it's not a legal problem for her anymore, it really is a problem for her credibility. And I think this is what the Trump campaign and her critics are focusing on.

CHURCH: yes. And Donald Trump isn't going to let this go, is it? I mean, he is saying that the system is rigged. Is he right to a certain extent?

ROGIN: Well, I would say the system is somewhat dysfunctional. It's not rigged. I mean, James Comey is well-known to be a very apolitical guy. He was a Bush administration official. He was appointed by President Obama. He's not up for any review or election. He's got his job, no matter what he does. What we can say is that, you know, the facts don't always determine

the outcome. So, Donald Trump's theory of the case that this was somehow rigged in Hillary Clinton's favor is not accurate.

But what is accurate, the way that it's set up and the checks and balances that we have in place provided for an outcome that was probably never going to lead to Hillary Clinton facing an actual criminal charge.

CHURCH: And of course the poll numbers are going to tell the story, aren't they? What impact do you think this whole incident is likely to have on poll numbers? Particularly when it comes to measuring trustworthiness between Clinton and Trump?

ROGIN: Well, it's so interesting. Over the last three weeks, we've seen the poll numbers really change a lot. And it's usually in favor of whoever is not undergoing the scandal of the day. So, when the Orlando attacks happened and Trump, by all accounts, mishandled his reactions, his poll numbers went way down.

And now, that the focus is back on Hillary Clinton, her numbers are going down, although she still leads him by six points according to the latest CNN poll.

So, the game here is to not be in the target range and to not be the focus of whatever scandal the media is focusing on that day. And to the extent that this puts the focus on Hillary and takes it away from the Trump campaign and some of his scandals it can only help him.

CHURCH: And of course, Clinton's appearance with President Obama, his endorsement. He's on around her. You know, clearly showing literally figuratively that he was embracing her that is hopefully, I guess, the Clinton campaign want to see this moving it forward and away from the spotlight, being on the e-mails. How likely is that to happen?

ROGIN: Well, you know, yes. It's so interesting because this is what happens when you have two huge machines. The Clinton machine and the White House, sort of trying to figure out how to work together. And they have different interests here.

So, for the White House, in order to get behind Hillary Clinton, they wanted this sort of cloud of suspicion, this cloud -- this pending indictment possibility to go away. So, they got rid of that before he endorsed her.

But in getting rid of that, they actually overshadowed their own endorsement. So, for the Hillary campaign they would rather not have any discussion of this at all.

But for the White House, they needed to get past the threat of indictment in order for President Obama to get onboard. The irony, of course, is that he stepped on his own announcement and kind of overshadowed his endorsement of Hillary Clinton today in North Carolina.

CHURCH: Yes. We'll see how it plays out in the days ahead. Josh Rogin, always a pleasure to speak with you. Thanks so much.

ROGIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: And when Donald Trump took to the stage in North Carolina Tuesday, Hillary Clinton's e-mail wasn't the only recurring theme. The fight against Islamic extremism also came up repeatedly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a president who is out campaigning for crooked Hillary Clinton. And he should be home working on ISIS where the threat is getting worse and worse. He should be working on trade. He should be working on the borders. People are flowing in to our country from lots of places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And no matter the threat of radical Islam to the U.S., there's little denying that the events of recent days have highlighted the expanding reach of ISIS and those inspired by the group.

Becky Anderson takes a look of how the holy month of Ramadan became a period of horror for many around the world.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CONNECT THE WORLD ANCHOR: A month of calamity for non-believers. That's what ISIS wanted Ramadan to be. Just days before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a chilling warning. And then, terror across the Muslim world.

The first major attack Jordan. A suicide car bombing killed at least six local security officers. Just a week later, terrorists stormed Turkey's main airport, killing dozens. The agony, raw.

[03:15:09] Everything, pointing to ISIS. Thousands of kilometers away, more grief. Gunmen killed 22 in a cafe in the Bangladeshi capital. But the deadliest of all. Baghdad. A deadly blaze from a massive suicide bomb. More than 200 were massacred in a busy shopping area. Men, women, children preparing for Eid.

Even one of Islam's holy sites wasn't spared. Four killed in Medina, in Saudi Arabia. Each a scene of bloody carnage on the global stage. In what was one of the most deadly Ramadans in living memory. And the majority of those killed were Muslims themselves.

What is meant to be a month of peace and reflection turns into anger and grief, across continents and the Muslim world. A suicide bomber targets a police station in Indonesia. Malaysia says it's witnessed its first ISIS attack. And with Lebanon and Kuwait both reporting foiled major terror plots, it could have been a whole lot worse.

Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

CHURCH: A Bangladeshi politician has identified his son as one of the attackers who stormed the cafe on Friday. The father told India's NDTV, he had no idea the 21-year-old was capable of such an act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMTIAZ KHAN BABUL, BANGLADESHI OFFICIAL (TRANSLATED): I saw the picture released by ISIS, again and again, before I confirmed it was my son. I was stunned to see it. I beg forgiveness. I can only apologize to all the parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: He says his son may have red Jihadi material on his cell phone.

The cockpit voice recorder on EgyptAir flight 804 is giving new clues about the plane's final moments. It shows there was a fire on the plane before it went down and an attempt to put it out.

[03:20:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: ... and Gareth Bale going up against each other in what surely represents their best opportunity to win some silverware for their country.

The Williams sisters have both advanced in the Wimbledon semifinals. Serena, who needs another major triumph to equal Steffi Graf's all- time mark of 22, made easy work of Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

She took the match in straight sets. The 36-year-old Venus needed a tie break to take the opening set against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova before cruising to the second 16.

German rival Marcel Kittel has won stage 4 of the Tour de France in a dramatic photo finish. The match-up between Kittel and the Frenchman behind him on the line looks like a matter of inches. The Slovakian Peter Sagan made third and retains the overall lead.

And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

CHURCH: A political bombshell may fall on Britain just hours from now, when a highly anticipated report will be made public into the U.K.'s involvement in the Iraq war.

The inquiry was commissioned seven years ago. It's expected to examine the role of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair who led his country into that conflict.

Our Nic Robertson joins us from London with more on what's expected in the report and the possible fallout. And Ben Wedeman joins us from Baghdad with more on the U.K.'s legacy in the Iraq conflict. Thank you both for joining us.

Nic, let's go to you first. And this report was supposed to take only a year to complete. Instead, it took seven years. Why the delay and what all is expected out of this long awaited report?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, the analysis has been for a long time that the report could have been presented much sooner. That political considerations kept it from being released, not necessarily political considerations about, you know, about Iraq. But political considerations here in Britain.

It is going to be presented now 2.6 million words, 150,000 different government documents have been looked at. More than 150 people interviewed. And the analysis is going to look at the decisions that Britain took in deciding to go to war. The quality and nature of the intelligence that was provided.

Of course, it was said at the time that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Chemical, nuclear, biological weapons were in the country, they were being manufactured. So, there will be an examination of that because of course none of those -- none of those were found.

Then, also discuss, you know, whether or not British troops were prepared to go to war. Were the military chiefs adequately supplying the troops in the battlefield? Did they have enough bullets? Were they given their, you know, armored, bullet-proof jackets? Were the vehicles that they were using properly equipped to deal with the IEDs that were later in Iraq.

So, all of this will be going into a great deal of detail. So, John Chilcot who is, you know, who is overseeing this report says that, this is a report that will, if it needs to, and if he finds the evidence there, to essentially hold people to account. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHILCOT, British PRIVY COUNSELLOR: We haven't set out to criticize individuals or institutions. However, I made very clear right at the start of the inquiry, that if we came across decisions or behavior which deserved criticisms, we wouldn't shy away from making it. And that there have been more than a few instances where we're bound to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: But what he also says, he believes that his report, at the end of the day, will make it harder, if you will, for a government to go to war. That there should be more scrutiny, more questions. And a deeper analysis of readiness and what's at stake.

So, that's perhaps are going to be the overarching outcome. But the conclusion of executive summary is 150 pages end of it...

[03:25:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

CHURCH: ... release. It starts at 10.30 in London, 11.30 in Berlin right here on CNN.

Well, former Olympian Oscar Pistorius will soon learn his fate in a South African courtroom. We will tell you how much prison time he could serve for the murder of his girlfriend.

Plus, torrential rainfall trapped six miners as China faces its worst floods in nearly 20 years. We're back with that in just a moment. [03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church here at CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. We want to update you on our top stories this hour.

The FBI recommends no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State. But the bureau's director, James Comey, called Clinton and her aides extremely careless with classified information.

House Speaker, Paul Ryan, told Fox News, republicans now want to hear from Comey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, U.S. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're going to have hearings as Jason Chaffetz as chairman of the government oversight committee is going to be calling up James Comey to ask questions.

He didn't answer any questions with the press. And our judiciary committee has sent a number of questions. There's a lot of unanswered questions here, Megyn, that need to get answers to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, the sentencing for former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is about to begin in South Africa. He could face a minimum 15 years sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

But his defense has argued he should serve less time because of his physical disability and mental stress.

Let's go to CNN's David McKenzie right now, he joins us from Pretoria. David, Oscar Pistorius about to be sentenced for Reeva Steenkamp's murder. What are the expectations in South Africa, what are people saying about this and the sentence that he should receive?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, yes. He is due to be sentenced. And the court session is underway. What we will hear is Judge Thokozile Masipa giving down that sentence. She was the original judge that had sentenced him to culpable homicide, much like to manslaughter, before his conviction was changed by an appeal court to murder.

So, what we will hear is her arguments behind what she feels is the appropriate sentencing. You could see a minimum of 15 years. That is the statutory sentencing here in South Africa. But she does have discretion to give less time than that for mitigating circumstances, time served.

And through the sentencing hearing, the very dramatic hearings last month. We did see the defense say that because he's a double-amputee, because he shows remorse, in their words, he is willing to work for charity that he shouldn't get any time in prison at all. Most experts say he could be seeing, you know, between 8 and 12 years.

But this case, it has many twists and turns. But it could be the final act in this saga. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And, David, how has local media dealt with this and of course, the lead-up to the sentencing?

MCKENZIE: Well, the local media, the story's on the front pages whenever there's an incremental move on it. The Pistorius, his saga of killing his girlfriend -- his model girlfriend on Valentine's Day 2013.

[03:35:04] The ensuing court drama which has been broadcast live in South Africa and is being broadcast right now live as well, has really captured the imagination of many South Africans.

There's a bit of fatigue about the Pistorius saga at this point. And people split, often, with those who are saying he deserves to go back to prison for a very long time. And others saying, well, because this was the intense media focus, it means that he has gone through more legal procedures than anyone else, who might have gone through a trial, where they took the step to take this to the Supreme Court of Appeal to get that conviction changed to murder.

Throughout sentencing hearings, Rosemary, he looked like a shell of his former self. They had that dramatic moment when he was brought out on his stumps as a double-amputee in front of the court to show his vulnerability.

But all the time, the prosecution is saying that he acted in a way to murder whoever was behind that bathroom door and should get the maximum behind bars. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our David McKenzie, monitoring the situation there in Pretoria. We will come back to you when we get more word on what is happening there.

But I want to get some analysis now on the sentencing. We're joined by Stephan Terblanche. He is a law professor at the University of South Africa. Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

As David McKenzie there, the judge has some discretion here. I mean, there's talk of this being a minimum sentence of 15 years. But she could give less. She could give 7 to 12. It could even be perhaps less than that.

Talk to us about how she would work through the legalities of that. And of course, the defense talking in terms of mitigating circumstances. His physical and mental issues, that should reduce his sentence time. Talk to us about all of those legalities.

STEPHAN TERBLANCHE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA LAW PROFESSOR: Right, there are some minimum sentences legislation in South Africa, according to which murder should be sentenced to at least 15 years imprisonment. Unless the court finds substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from that. And in order to do that, one of the tests that a court can apply, is

what an appropriate sentence would have been had they are not been a murder sentence scheme. And for that she will have to take into account every situation every factor, surrounding this case.

She has done that in part during the first sentencing hearing. And one of the most crucial findings she will have to make is on the seriousness of the crime. Because there is some overlap between the negligent killing, which is culpable homicide, and intentional killing, which is murder.

And it doesn't necessarily mean that the conviction has now been changed to murder. That it has to be assessed to be a serious, more serious crime, that Mr. Pistorius is more blame-worthy than he used to be because of the change of the crime of conviction.

So, she will have to take all the -- all the circumstances into account, but most crucially, will have to make a finding of whether there is any change in the blame worthiness because of the change of the offense.

I should also just mention that, the fact that she can impose this sentence, opens the sentencing discretion completely. It doesn't have to involve imprisonment. And there's experts who say that he is bound to get 8 to 12 years, there's no real legal basis on which take can state that conviction.

CHURCH: Is there any way that she would consider house arrest given this? And also, too, if Oscar Pistorius and his team are not happy with the sentence, there is room for him to appeal it, isn't there?

TERBLANCHE: Indeed. First of all, she may impose a sentence that will only involve house arrest. She can also sort of impose the original sentence and back date it to the date of the original sentence so that he will only have to be on correctional supervision for the rest of his time.

And as far as the appeal is concerned, yes, both the state and the defense can appeal just as that opportunity was open to them originally.

CHURCH: All right. Stephan Terblanche, thank you so much for talking with us and offering your legal analysis. We so appreciate it, as we await the sentence there of Oscar Pistorius, in Pretoria. Many thanks to yuo, sir.

Well, China has been devastated by intense rains and deadly flooding for weeks. But the worst could still be to come. The latest forecast, that is next.

[03:40:01] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The sentencing for former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is about to begin in South Africa. Now he could face a minimum 15-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. But his defense has argued he should serve less time because of his

physical disability and mental stress. We are monitoring this. A sentence is not expected for about an hour. But it could, of course, come earlier than that. We'll keep an eye on this.

We want to move on to other developing news this hour.

Three men have been rescued after severe weather in southern China flooded a mine. They were among six miners who were trapped. Rescuers found the bodies of the other three afterwards. It's just one of many disasters caused by catastrophic flooding in China.

CNN's Andrew Stevens has more.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: A torrent of water sweeps away cars and cascades down a mountainside, as China faces its worst flooding since 1998. Heavy rains are causing havoc across 26 different provinces in central and southern China, impacting 33 million people. That's according to China's flood control department.

The department says at least 56,000 houses have been collapsed. And economic losses are already over $7 billion U.S. Firefighters used boats, ropes, even their shoulders to rescue the stranded.

In Guizhou province they carried a pregnant woman and her two children to safety, after they got caught in a flash flood. In the City of Ezhou, the soccer stadium flooded, looking more like a giant bathtub. China's Meteorological Agency says this year's rainfall has been 21 percent higher than average.

And the forecast this more heavy rain and thunderstorms to come. On top of flooding, eastern China is now bracing for typhoon Nepartak, the first typhoon of the season. Nepartak currently on track to make landfall by Friday.

[03:45:02] Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.

CHURCH: As Andrew mentioned, super typhoon Nepartak is the next major concern for large areas of East Asia.

Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now to talk about what's in store for people in the area with that system coming through.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, the rain we've seen there, Rosemary, is among the worse for rainy seasons since 1990s. So, it's been at least a decade since this wet for this area. It's a super typhoon now.

And you if recall yesterday, the day before yesterday, we were touching on this, you know, tropical storm the first of the season. In just 24 to 30 hours it's strengthen to a super typhoon. So, it's happening very quickly. And it's a major concern over this area.

So, I want to show you what the storm is doing, how it's progressing because it is as menacing as they come. This particular storm, 260 kilometer-per-hour winds, gusting to over 300 kilometers per hour, sitting right there across the western Pacific Ocean. In fact, it's about 1,000 kilometers away from Taipei at this hour.

But to give you a scale perspective, if you measure the storm system, it measures to 1.4 million square kilometers. That's the cloud field of the storm. That is the roughly the size of the State of Alaska or the country of Mexico. That's how expansive of a storm we're talking about across this region..

And when your winds it get up above 252 kilometers per hour, in the United States the National Hurricane Center has data on such events. They call this a catastrophic sort of an event. Most areas that are impacted by such storms would actually be uninhabitable for weeks, if not months when it comes to storms again of this magnitude.

Right now, it's over open waters. The question is, is it going to remain this strong? The answer is, it's going to strengthen a little more in the next 24 hours. And we think sometimes Thursday night, northern and central Taiwan would be in the direct path of the storm system.

At that point this would be a 250 to 260-kilometer-per-hour storm as it expand toward across that region.

I want to show you something. You see the population density indicated in white over Taiwan. That's the Central Taiwan mountains. That's home to some of the highest density of tall mountains anywhere in the world. About 300 mountains sitting at 3,000 meters high.

What that will do is really shred the storm system apart. It is very sparsely populated. Of course people still live there. The landslide threat, very high. Mudslide threat and also very rainfall, extremely high. Taipei would be protected by the mountain surrounding it.

The storm should be weakening as it approaches portions of Eastern China. The rainfall of course is not just going to disappear. It is still going to rain tremendously in this region.

And I want to show you the population density across eastern China. And again, this excludes Taiwan, in just Eastern China. Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Shanghai, the surrounding area, 154 million people live here, based on estimations across that region.

Compare that to the population of France and Germany, 146 million people live in the countries combined. So, again, it talks about the significant potential of the storm system and the amount of impact that it have on people when it comes to the heavy rainfall across this region.

Hre is indicated in pink, in purple, in orange. 200 to 250 millimeters, potentially a quarter of a meter of rainfall could come down in the next five days. This would be a weekend forecast essentially that you would never want to see and the storm surge would be tremendous, as well.

Taiwan again would be protected because of its mountains, as it works straight towards a Ryukyu Islands and parts of Okinawa, Rosemary, the estimated wave heights right now with the storm, mind-boggling, 44 feet high, which is about 12 meters.

Take a double-decker bus, put a second one on top of it. A third one on top of it. That's how high the waves are right now in the open waters. And as it nears land, it will lessen a little bit. But of course some of these islands will really be inundated by this.

CHURCH: That's horrifying.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

CHURCH: Of course the force that comes with that sort of amount of water, incredible. All right, Pedram, thanks so much, keeping us up to date. I appreciate it.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

CHURCH: Well, as Americans celebrated their freedom over the Fourth of July weekend, two of the country's national birds did the same. Their story, next.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. And this is your Road to Rio update.

The Olympic Games now just one month away. Of course the big question, is Rio ready? Organizing committee president, Carlos Arthur Nuzman think so. He announced that the city is so ready, quote, "The games could start today," end quote.

He also said they will be, in his words, a maximum success. But not everyone is so sure. On top of financial security and Zika concern, Rio is facing a pollution problems. Sailors complaining that oil leak in Guatemala Bay that they knew for the sailing competition are turning their white boats brown and that oil is unavoidable.

And oil isn't the most serious things lurking in Rio's waters. Brazilian sightseers have detected drug-resistance bacteria drawing off several beaches including two that border Guatemala Bay. They think the bacteria came from sewage being channeled into the bay. So far researchers and Olympic officials not recommending that the sailing venue be moved.

Despite all the obstacles, the athletes like the South Korean archery team, ready for the games. The women's team has taken home the gold. Every Olympics since archery became a medal event in 1988 and hopes to continue that streak.

That is your Road to Rio update. I'm Michael Holmes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: You're looking at live pictures right now. Oscar Pistorius is being sentenced in South Africa for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The judge has been going through Pistorius' psychological history and

a brief history of his personal life. The former Paralympian could face a minimum 15-year sentence. His attorneys have argued for less time though, in jail because of his physical disability and emotional stress. We'll keep a very close eye on proceedings there.

Well, Americans have just wrapped up their Independence Day celebrations. From the stars and stripes to lady liberty, it was full of beloved American symbols, including the bald eagle.

As Jeanne Moos reports, they were front and center in two incidents during the holiday.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a tale of two eagles separately seeking independence on July 4th weekend. It wasn't as if the Los Angeles Zoo's trained eagles hadn't practiced.

A male named Chinook was released from top Dodger Stadium as part of the pregame festivities.

With "America the beautiful" blaring and the eagle soaring, you almost expected to hear these words as Chinook headed for his handler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The eagle has landed.

MOOS: Oh, no, he hadn't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go. He's a wild one.

MOOS: The eagle flew right by his handler and continued over the center field fence to the delighted fans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Free Willie.

MOOS: Handlers gave pursuit. As one joker tweeted, "Like most at Dodger Stadium he wanted to beat the traffic."

JOHN ASHCROFT, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Let the eagle soar.

MOOS: He soared into the parking lot. The L.A. Zoo tweeted "Although he missed his mark, Chinook waited by the van for his trainer."

From an eagle that had a fling with freedom to an eagle that had to be freed by an eagle-eyed army vet. For two and a half days a young male eagle dangled upside down from a tree in Rush Lake, Minnesota. The bird's talon caught in a rope.

That's when Jason Galvin put his sharpshooting skills to work. Jason had been a helicopter door gunner in Afghanistan.

JASON GALVIN, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: It was kind of weird actually shooting in the direction of a bald eagle. I was very nervous.

MOOS: He had to shoot through the branches to get to the rope.

[03:55:01] GALVIN: Took an hour and a half. About 150 shots. MOOS: The rope obliterated, the eagle fell into the brush and was

taken to a raptor center where he's reported to doing very well. We haven't seen this much eagle action, since one named Uncle Sam ruffled Donald Trump's feathers.

Jeanne Moos, New York.

CHURCH: And we will remember that. OK. I want you to cast your mind back a couple of years to an Olympic Games that nobody said would work in a location defined by shoddy facilities, poor infrastructure and hostile locals.

Sounds familiar? Yes. Not that long ago, the Russian resort of Sochi was the poster child for all that was nightmarish about the Olympic dream. But the residents of Rio de Janeiro may be pleased to learn that the event has left a positive impression with visitor numbers soaring and an abundance of rave reviews.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): Bow, there are more possibilities for tourists. Sochi has become almost like Europe. But of course, Russian mentality can't be changed. The service provided by the local population is far from perfect.

But altogether, the money spent was worth it. Every year, as we come to Sochi, it becomes better and better. But it more pleasant to come here, the beaches have become much cleaner, more civilized. Service has become 10 times better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Who knows? Barry Manilow may be writing a catchy about the Sunkist beaches of Sochi one day soon.

And thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter @rosemarycnn. And we will keep an eye, a very close eye on the courthouse in Pretoria, where the sentencing of Oscar Pistorius is expected any minute now.

Early Start is next for our viewers here in the United States. And for everyone else, stay tuned for more news with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)