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Clinton Stumbles, Leaves 9/11 Memorial Event Early; Examining America's National Security Fifteen Years Later; Parents Who Lost Son at World Trade Center Seek to Help Others. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 11, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Sanjay, so, she is supposed to go California tomorrow. We, obviously, we have not -- you have not examined her neurosurgeon. You could examine her. You got a better sense. But based on what we've seen, based on her medical history, you've suggested may be it would be a good idea for her to at least to get an EKG to make sure she is OK.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah -- I mean, I think that's, you know, when you look at something like this and obviously you're just looking at videos, so none of us have examined her. We don't know what it is. It sounds like it's -- when you look at the video, she does seem to have some difficulty walking obviously. They say that she was feeling overheated. She is having trouble with her balance clearly as she was trying to get into the van even sort of stumbles.

Forget that she is Hillary Clinton, forget that she is a candidate for president, I think anybody who has an episode like that, probably a basic check-up, EKG is part of the basic work-up, getting your blood pressure check, maybe even some blood lab just to make sure, I think Wolf, as you said earlier out of an abundance of caution, I do think that common things are going to be common here, meaning that being dehydrated, as a result of having your blood pressure go a little bit lower, feeling not well, as a result I think that is probably the most logical sort of explanation. But I do think that probably getting it checked out makes sense.

BLITZER: Last time, we heard about her blood pressure, was last year. Her physician put out the information her blood pressure at that time was 100 over 65, her heart rate, Sanjay, was 72, and her EKG that she had taken was normal. What are those numbers say to you?

GUPTA: It's painted a picture of someone who does not have any problems certainly with her heart or something that would certainly be of concern. Certainly at that time I think as you said about a year ago that we got that July of last year, I believe. So -- but -- so, I think that you get a static image in time at that time. It's an important image, but it's from, you know, a year ago.

I think if somebody has an episode like this again, I think that the likelihood that any of those lab results will come back as abnormal now is very low. But that's part of what you do I think when you're the physician, when you're sort of looking at a situation like this and saying, hey, let's be diligent, let's be thorough, let's make sure there's nothing else going on here.

I think there is plenty of other explanations (inaudible) the campaign is sort of alluded to that she just got I guess feeling overheated, that was what led to this. But I think, again, given that she's had that difficulty getting into the van like that, the balance problem that she seemed to have walking. Again, forget that she is who she is, getting a routine checkup makes sense.

BLITZER: Yeah, out of an abundance of caution as they like to say. So, they're suggesting that it could have been hypothyroidism that play the role in this. Explain what that is.

GUPTA: Well, hypothyroidism means that you don't have enough thyroid hormone circulating in your body. And typically, when people have that sort of problem, they actually feel lethargic, they feel cold intolerant actually, cold intolerant, as opposed to -- if you get treated for hypothyroidism with the medication that she is taking, for example, there are several out there to choose from, she is taking one. It can sometimes lead to felling more overheated, so becoming more heat intolerant as opposed to cold intolerant. And also, it raises your metabolism, so people sometimes can be feel a little bit more inclined to have those heating episodes even when the climate seems comfortable.

So, that is what the -- a possibility here. She's also been on antihistamine medication for those seasonal allergies. She recently said that she increased the dose of her antihistamines, why is that relevant? Well, an antihistamine is a decongestant. It essentially dries up your sinuses so you don't have a running nose, for example, but it can also cause some component of dehydration.

So, the antihistamines, the thyroid medication, the conditions, maybe if somebody hasn't, you know, eat enough or drank enough fluids recently, those things, again, would top the list in terms of causing an episode like this. But big or small, Wolf, I stress this every time, we don't know.

BLITZER: Right.

SANJAY: This is all speculation and there is no medical objective data after this episode that we heard from at least to suggest to give us anything objective about what has happened here.

BLITZER: The temperature was in the high 70s. She had been there for an hour and a half. She could have simply been dehydrated a bit as well.

SANJAY: That's right.

BLITZER: The deep vein thrombosis that she has suffered from over the years, the blood clot in her brain, as she's taking all sorts of medication, for that -- could that of had an impact all these years later?

SANJAY: Well, it's a really important question. I think any doctor who is taking care of her will certainly take that into consideration. What I would say in this, you know, the brain area happens to be memory area (ph) but what I would say is that I don't think it's the blood thinning medication that would necessarily cause an episode like this. I don't think that would be the problem but I think it is worth sort of asking in 2012, she had a fainting episode that led to her hitting her head in developing that blood clot around her brain.

[16:05:02] What exactly was going on there, we heard it was -- she had a viral illness at that point, was dehydrated as well at that point. And then again, obviously, today she has this episode where, again, she may have become dehydrated.

You know, again, if I were her doctor, it's very possible that there are very logical explanations for both of these episodes. But I would want to know, you know, just to make sure again that there's not something else that has happened. You know, just get the basic workup done to make sure there's no connection.

But she did get her brain examined at the time, and subsequently, it's part of her medical note that Dr. Bardack, her doctor, has released saying that why we worry that it could be a long-term impact as a result of that blow to the head. There is no evidence of a long-term impact. We've checked it out and she seems fine. That's what her medical note say.

BLITZER: And Sanjay, well a lot of us remember what her husband, the former President Bill Clinton said following that event, he suggested she was recuperating for about six months. So a lot of us remember also those glasses, those thick glasses she was wearing when she testified up on Capitol Hill. We're showing our viewers now, those glasses she was wearing at the time, supposedly she was suffering according to her physicians from some double vision. That's why she had to wear those glasses. Tell us a little bit about that.

GUPTA: Well, you know, a couple of things, so six months as you just pointed out to the former President said Secretary Clinton was recuperating, you know, it sounds like it was a significant blow to the head. People who have concussions can take a long time to recover from those. And look, concussion in and of itself is a bit of a misnomer. What a concussion is a brain injury. So she did have a brain injury at that time, and it can take a while to recover.

Well, the prism glasses that you are referring to, what can happen sometimes if someone who has a concussion is they can get one of the nerves that controls eye movements can be affected by that. So the eyes don't move the way that you normally want them to, and as a result, people will have double vision. It's usually something that, you know, goes away, it's temporary. But in the interim, those prism glasses were being used to treat that.

So, you know, it sounds like it was a serious enough injury to warrant those types of glasses, serious enough to need, you know, several months to recover. But again, the salient point here reading her doctor's letters, is that yes, we are worried about the long-term impact of that. We've checked it out, we've done the testing, the cognitive testing, the brain testing, all the testing, it sounds like and there is no long-term impact. And the blood clot that was there seems to have resolved. Again, this was all according to Doctor Lisa Bardack who's her doctor and wrote this note.

BLITZER: The whole issue obviously is going to have to be explained by your physician at some point because the American public is going to want to have that kind of information.

SANJAY: Yeah, I think it's a really important point, Wolf. I think that's, you know, when something like that happens, again, you know, we can speculate all you want and I think that's if you look at the most likely causes of what happened today, they're common things, the things that are, you know, temporary. They're self-limited. They go away.

But I do think it's one of those situations where it would be nice to hear from the doctor, maybe even have the doctor take some questions about this. I think a lot of people are going to look at the video and have questions and, you know, until someone comes out and explains it more thoroughly, I think those questions are just going to increase. So I think the transparency here probably -- and the doctor could even take some of the questions would be helpful.

BLITZER: And very quickly, the highly publicized coughing incident she has had in the past few days, is that all related or is that just pollen (ph), what is that about?

GUPTA: Well, you know, she has seasonal allergies, they get worse certain times of year. Clearly, it seems. But I think the only way that I might think that's related is that you increase the amount of medications you're taking for those seasonal hours, as you increase the amount of antihistamines or decongestants. And again, they work well in terms of, you know, helping with her cough symptoms, helping with her nasal congestion. But the problem is they can also add to the dehydration as they dry out your sinuses, they can sort of dry out other parts of your body, your vasculature if you will. So, you're even more likely to develop dehydration and the symptoms of dehydration.

BLITZER: So you wouldn't be surprised Sanjay if they postpone her trip to the west coast and do some medical checkups.

GUPTA: You know, look, I think they can be doing that right now, you know -- I mean, that -- if it were, you know -- again, leading aside that it -- she is who she is or somebody who is running for president, I think it's something you get checked out now. It's not necessarily a rush to the emergency room visit but I think that it's something that could be with her basic work up, just eliminate some of the things that might be of concern. I think it's very low likelihood but that's why you do the checkups. You hope that the tests are going to be negative and in this case, they -- statistically, they're likely to be negative, but you don't know unless you do it.

BLITZER: Good medical advice from Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, we're going to have you. Stick around and obviously you stay on top of this story.

Let's take a quick break. We'll resume our coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from New York today. Hillary Clinton is back at home in Chappaqua just outside of New York City in West Chester, after she was seen stumbling while leaving a 9/11 memorial ceremony earlier today in New York. She left the event early telling aides she felt overheated.

Let's talk more about all of these with our panel. Brian Morgenstern is a Republican strategist, Ellis Henican is a political analyst and back with us, Larry Sabato, who was the Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Brian, how should Hillary Clinton address this stumble? The questions now about her health?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, differently than how she has addressed it, I'll you that much, Wolf. I mean, today, she was whisk away with no reporters allowed in the motorcade. She was hidden for 90 minutes. And the explanation they gave after the incident when they finally did gave an explanation, it was that she was overheated. Problem is, it's not that hot out today, it's not exactly Death Valley. It's in the 70s.

So that, when you combine it and put it on context, with this campaign's laughably false explanations throughout and you combine it with their secrecy and the way they're handling this, there are either real questions about her health that they are hiding and that is a real problem, or they can come out with an explanation with a physician and explain why all of these things are just coincidental. Combined with her in the past, she had a blood clot and described memory issues due to a concussion in her interview with the FBI. Either all of these things are just coincidence and it's just circumstantial evidence, and there is an explanation, in which case she needs to share it, or there are real problems being covered up.

BLITZER: Ellis, what do you think she needs to do now to explain what happened?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, listen clearly, the way to answer the questions is to answer the questions and to do it simply and clearly, and put a doctor out there to respond to whatever the details are. One of the ironies here though, Wolf, is that here we are in this country, this huge youth culture, right, and the two leading candidates for president are both eligible to social security, Medicare and the 330 early bird special across the swing State of Florida.

[16:15:08] When you have people of this age, they're going to have a little health problems and you don't have to get to these paranoia notions that are floating around on the internet about Hillary health to recognize she's not going to be spending the time on the basketball court like Barack Obama did, anymore than Donald Trump is. Let's just be frank about that.

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton is 68 next month, she'll turn 69 years old and Donald Trump is 70 years old. Larry, is it time not only for Hillary Clinton but for Donald Trump to be more transparent in releasing in the American public their complete medical records? LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Absolutely. I agree with that 100 percent. It should have been done already. I'm disappointed that the candidates haven't been press harder to do just that. And yes, the tax returns should be release by Trump too. But it's important to get that material out because the public needs to know it. Having said that, I really have to emphasize again that it is -- the probability, as Dr. Sanjay Gupta suggested is very high that there isn't any serious problem here.

You know, some of our healthiest presidents, like President George H.W. Bush, and President George W. Bush have fainted. President Bush senior fainted in Japan during his trip there in 1992. President George W. Bush fainted in the White House in 2002 after choking on a pretzel. These things happen, and the press and people in politics are too quick to seize up on them and blow them up and make them into game-changers and they almost never are.

BLITZER: Yup. Brian, I want to -- and you can answer -- respond to that. But also I want to play some sound. We have Donald Trump, he was asked about Hillary Clinton's health incident when he was leaving that 9/11 memorial ceremony earlier this morning. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump, a question about Hillary Clinton's health incident this morning, her health incident this morning?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know anything about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He said, I don't know anything about it. I'm sure that was an accurate statement. I suspect also, Brian, that we're going to be hearing more from Donald Trump in the hours and days to come about this.

MORGENSTERN: Oh, I'm sure we will. We've been hearing, you know, accusations with respect to Hillary's health from the Trump campaign and its surrogates for a while. So I don't expect them to let this pitch go by.

But in responding to some of Larry's comments, I thoroughly enjoy your prognostications, but doing what -- a number of actually Clinton's surrogates have done, which is comparing this incident to the pretzel choking incident to President H. W. Bush's fainting, that is in a sense, you know, playing arm chair doctor. And so, what we're getting at here, I think, is the transparency would either help the Clinton campaign in explaining why all of these circumstances are just coincidences, or it's going to give the American people the information they deserve.

BLITZER: Very quickly, Larry, go ahead, respond.

SABATO: No, I'm 100 percent in favor of Hillary Clinton being examined and all of that being made public and her doctor talking. I don't want anything hidden at all. But I think it's important to point out that fainting isn't all that unusual, even when you restrict it to presidents.

BLITZER: All right, we take a quick break. Ellis Henican, Larry Sabato, Brian Morgenstern, we'll be right back much more of our special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lorraine Grace Day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother, Captain Jason M. Dahl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was this morning in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where on this day 15 years ago, 40 people died on Flight 93, just one of the coordinator terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans and changed this country forever.

This morning over at the Pentagon, President Obama addressed survivors and the victims' families after a wreath laying ceremony, and he called on the country to honor their strength and resilience going forward.

And in New York, families gathered to the Twin Towers memorial site to read the names of the 2,753 people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

CNN's Rachel Crane is there at the memorial for us right now. Rachel, many are discussing how 9/11 has changed their lives and will continue to change their lives. But they're also discussing national security, the impact on national security. What are you hearing?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, 9/11 has impacted nearly every aspect of our national security. And while today is a day of remembrance and mourning, for many Americans, this day 9/11, folks, feelings of fear, worrying that there is another major terrorist attack on the horizon. Despite all the updates and changes made to our security measures.

Now we did speak to the police commissioner earlier today and he said there was no imminent threat planned here for New York City. We also spoke to the Secretary of Homeland and Security, Jeh Johnson, who pointed out that the U.S., has never been better equipped to deal with a 9/11-style attack. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND AND SECURITY: We're on a constant state of alert, against not only the terrorist-directed attack of the 9/11 type, but also terrorism-inspired attacks, the so-called lone- wolf, the homegrown violent extremists of the type we've seen in San Bernardino and Orlando. We're in a relatively new environment now where we've got to be concerned about the traditional threat as well as this new threat where Al Qaeda, ISOL can literally reach into our homeland through the internet, through social media to recruit and inspire people here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Now, Jeh Johnson also pointed out that Homeland and Security is still trying to figure out how to prevent those lone-wolf style attacks and figuring that out, cracking that nut is what keeps him up at night.

[16:25:10] Now, the memorial here at Ground Zero was incredibly moving. They did the reading of the names. There were several moments of silence held. And this was just one of the many memorials held across the country to honor the victims and their families. And Wolf, this evening, the tribute and the lights will be illuminated. And those lights will start to dimming at dawn. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Rachel, thank you. Rachel Crane reporting for us. Our special coverage of the 9/11 memorial on this day continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Amid, so many dark memories of September 11th, 2001, their emerge (ph) glamourous of kindness among them. The amazing show of generosity that gave hope to thousands of people who suddenly found themselves on that frightening day in Gander Newfoundland. That small Canadian town is about 1500 miles North of New York City. And when U.S. airspace was shut down on 9/11, hundreds of diverted planes landed there. Facing a dearth of hotels, the residents of Gander opened their homes to these passengers. It is a huge gesture of kindness that has not been forgotten.

Joining us now, the mayor of Gander, Claude Elliot, he was the mayor when the attacks took place. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us.

CLAUDE ELLIOT, MAYOR OF GANDER: It's my pleasure, Wolf.

BLITZER: Walk us through that day. Tell us what sticks out in your memory 15 years later.

ELLIOT: Well, I guess it was, what are we going to do with all of the passengers? We never had -- only 500 hotel rooms in the community. But what are we going to do with all of those 6,000 or 7,000 people? And then we realized that the greatest strength we had here in the community is our people, and we knew that our people would rally around and we call on them and we put people in schools, in churches and we put them in halls (ph) and we

[16:30:11] We knew that our people would rally around and we called on them and we did. We put people in schools and churches and we put them halls (ph) and put people in people's homes and everything. So, we certainly accommodated everybody for the five days they were here. BLITZER: Nearly 7,000 passengers, crew members, landed in your

community in Gander. So the magnitude was enormous, so people just opened up their homes and said come on in, you can sleep in this bedroom. Is that what happened?

ELLIOTT: Oh, yes, I mean, you know, we had had people that would pick people up, take them to their homes, and we would go to work and, you know, people went to work and did their daily work. And they would let people stay in their houses, get showers, get a cup of coffee having that and sleep and we would go about our business as usual and let the people stay in our homes to rest up. And, you know, some of them went back to the places they were staying in.

BLITZER: How long did that go on for -- how many days were these passengers, crew members stranded in your community?

ELLIOTT: Five days.

BLITZER: Five days, that's a long time. Some positive relationships did emerge to this very day, right?

ELLIOTT: Oh, yes, there's no question. I mean, we have had -- the friendships and the bonds that have been made between the people of Gander and the people of the United States have certainly been tremendous. And we just finished the service here in Gander about an hour ago where there was 12 people came up from New York to do some presentations to thank us for what we have done. And you know, so that bond is there between us and the American people. And the friendships and that I think it will be there forever for as long as we live.

BLITZER: Well, let me thank you on behalf of all the -- all of the Americans who are remembering what happened 15 years ago, Mayor Elliott, thank you so much for what you and your community did. We really appreciate it.

ELLIOTT: Thank you very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: And tonight, the CNN special "9/11 - 15 years later" will air at 8 p.m. Eastern. That's followed by Anderson Cooper's special, "We Got Him". Right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:00] BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from New York. We're following developments, Hillary Clinton leaving early from a 9/11 Memorial Event in New York City then seen taking a stumble as she got into a van then headed to her daughter's apartment. And a few hours later she left waving to reporters saying she felt great.

CNN politics producer, Dan Merica was part of Hillary Clinton's travelling press corps when that event happened the 9/11 Memorial Event earlier this morning. He is joining on the phone now from outside of Hillary Clinton's home in Chappaqua, New York outside of New York City. What's the latest information we're getting from the campaign Dan about what happened? DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: You know what, it's still pretty

much in a holding pattern as you said, Hillary Clinton wobbled on getting into her van today after leaving 9/11 ceremony. Early, her campaign has said she was going to stay for most of it. She left early. She is set to fly to California tomorrow morning for a fundraiser in San Francisco.

And then has -- eventually in California on Tuesday and the beach in Las Vegas on Wednesday, all of that remains on. Donors have not been told that any event is cancelled or anything like that, so right now, it's a clear wait and see. Clinton's press pool has been holding in Westchester, Cali and White Plains, New York waiting for details, those details have not really provided.

And so what we're going off of is what Hillary Clinton said when she left Chelsea Clinton's apartment. She kind of tried to squash any talk of her, you know, any suggestion that she may have fainted that she tried to squash out by saying she felt fine during the (ph) New York Day.

But the reason this is an issue for the Clinton Campaign is that these rumors and talk about her health has kind of festered on Right Wing website for months now and the video that we've been playing and the other networks have been playing have elevated this and made this into a more -- a topic that the mainstream media is now talking about and analyze.

BLITZER: Tell us Dan what happened when she left the 9/11 Memorial early. She got into the van. We saw her stumble as she was getting into the van. Normally, the travelling press corps, at least a pool of reporters who cover Hillary Clinton, they would follow that van wherever it was going. But in this particular case they left without the press corps. What happened?

MERICA: Yes, the -- it's a protective pool, so the White House, check it follows President Obama wherever he goes. If he goes to the gym, they go. If he goes to get coffee, they go. Well, the Clinton campaign has a pseudo protector pool. The campaign is not fully bought into this protective pool and made it very difficult at times to cover her.

She left on the memorial event while her press corps stayed in an area where the media was for the event. She then went to Chelsea Clinton's house and the press pool got there long after she got there and then Secretary Clinton left Chelsea Clinton's house and made her way back to Chappaqua, New York. The press pool was not taken back to her home in Chappaqua, New York.

It's an issue that makes it difficult to cover her. You don't know when she is getting home, where she is that sort of thing. And it's, you know, not really standard for this point in the campaign. It should also be noted, however, that Donald Trump went to the same memorial without a press pool.

BLITZER: So right now, we're basically standing by to get an update from the Clinton campaign either a written statement or some sort of appearance before the cameras to at least reconfirm that everything is still on schedule for that west coast trip tomorrow morning.

MERICA: Absolutely, and they're going to have to do something. This has become a big media story. They're going to have to weigh in to talk about her health and to confirm that she is still going to fly across the country tomorrow for what would be considered a full day of campaigning, a fundraiser in San Francisco, multiple fundraisers in LA, an event in LA, an event in Las Vegas all in about 72 hours. So, they're going to have to confirm that that is still on given that she had, you know, this incident after the memorial service down at ground zero.

BLITZER: Dan Merica is there in Chappaqua, as soon as you get word on what's about to unfold, let us know Dan. We'll bring back on the air right away. Thank you so much for your excellent work all around. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Earlier today, Hillary Clinton left the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at Ground Zero, New York. Earlier campaign saying she was overheated. Clinton headed to her daughter's apartment and a few hours later she left waving to reporters saying she felt great. We're tracking now the story for you. We're going to keep you updated.

It's important to note that 15 years ago when planes struck the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, Hillary Clinton was a Junior Senator from the State of New York. In an exclusive interview with taped Friday night with our colleague, Chris Cuomo, the Democratic Presidential Candidate looks back on that day.

[16:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Remind people where you were on 9/11 and what your earliest memory is of that day?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I got to the senate and by the time I got there, the senate was being evacuated -- the senate buildings -- the capitol itself, so I gathered up my senior staff and we were just looking at each other with such total pain and confusion.

And we -- then of course learned about the second plane. We learned about what was happening in New York, got to TV as quickly as possible to begin monitoring it. It was just a sickening experience, Chris. And I went the next day, Chuck Schumer and I, we were one of the very few planes in the sky that day, the 12th. And we landed at La Guardia.

We were on a FEMA plane. And we took a helicopter. And we went over -- circled the burning pile. And when we landed we met up with the governor and the mayor and went walking toward ground zero. And as we moved farther south and we saw this curtain of black smoke that was stretched across the island, basically. Occasionally, it would be broken by a fire-fighter coming out.

I remember one image so indelibly dragging his axe. And it was as close to a depiction of hell that I've ever personally seen. There is a lot that I remember from those early days and from all the days after. Because as an elected official I felt such a responsibility to reach out and help everyone who had been affected by this terrible attack. There weren't that many survivors.

The ones who did survive were grievously injured. The loss of life was overwhelming. I went like so many others to the armory and the peers looking to see what was happening. How people were reacting. But it was also, you know, my job and the job of other elected officials to get our city and our state and our country what we needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Just ahead, we're going to hear from parents who lost their son in 9/11 and have since turned their pain into purpose.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:00] BLITZER: As the nation again pauses to mourn the nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, it's hard to believe 15 years have passed since the attacks. Liz and Steve Alderman lost their son, Peter in the World Trade Center. The Alderman's have since turned their pain into purpose helping victims of terrorism all in their son's name with the Peter C. Alderman Foundation. CNN, Poppy Harlow is with us right now. Poppy, tell us about their story.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You know, this is a family Wolf that I've been in touched with and following and reporting on their story for over five years. As there, you know, after 9/11 though families have stick with you and they strike you so much and their son's name is Peter.

He was 25 years old. You see him there, you know, full of energy, full of life and he was at a conference of Windows in the World at World Trade Center on 9/11. And he was murdered that day. And so his mother told me she had two choices, that she could just basically kill herself she said meaning just give up on her life and die inside emotionally or she could move forward with purpose in her son's name.

And what they have done is remarkable. They have helped more than 100,000 victims of trauma and terror around the world. And I've met with them ahead of this 15-year mark after 9/11 at the memorial for their very first time to talk about their son to remember him and to talk about the work they have done in his honor.

(BEGIN VIDEOP CLIP)

HARLOW: This is your first time ever being here...

LIZ ALDERMAN, CO-FOUNDER PETR C. ALDERMAN FOUNDATION: Yes.

HARLOW: ...at the memorial.

ALDERMAN: Yes, yes.

HARLOW: What's it like?

STEVE ALDERMAN, FATHER OF PETER ALDERMAN: Strange. It's a beautiful place. But it's disconcerting. For me, it rubs my face into something that while I think about it every day, I'm not directly confronted by it. So, it's...

HARLOW: Difficult, hard?

ALDERMAN: Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

ALDERMAN: I've felt as long as I was here I needed to go and see and touch his name. And that was extraordinarily upsetting. It was like there it was, written in stone. I probably will not come again. It is Peter is not here. It is the scene of his death. And, I don't need to be here.

HARLOW: The two of you, years ago, started the Peter C. Alderman Foundation, now a million and a half year foundation to help victims of war and extreme trauma throughout the world.

ALDERMAN: Peter was killed because of terrorism. There was nothing we could do for Peter. But there are over a billion people on this earth who have directly experienced torture, terrorism, or mass violence. And 50% to 70% of those people can no longer live functional lives. And if in Peter's name, we can return these people to life, there's no better memorial. We couldn't do it for Peter, but if we could do it for others in his name, that's what we're all about.

[16:55:00] ALDERMAN: Peter is in my mind every day. The work we're doing makes me mindful of Peter because that's why we're doing it.

ALDERMAN: This became even bigger than peter. I mean this was done to leave a mark that Peter existed and that the world would be a better place because he lived. But it's become I mean we have treated over 100,000 people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So it's pretty extraordinary, Wolf for me to see as a reporter how this family has been able to do what I think we all wish we would do, and that is to turn our loss and our unimaginable grief into something so productive. But they've done exactly that. And it's interesting at another part of the interview which you'll see later on my show, the father, Steve, says if you really want to feel better, help somebody. And he said I promise that it will make you feel better and that's exactly what they've done.

BLITZER: This story -- the courage of these people who have gone through such an awful, horrible experience and emerge to do something positive for other people they're so inspiring.

HARLOW: They're so inspiring. And I think they remind us all that there is light and there is love and there is beauty in this world even when there is tragedy. I mean you're here in New York seeing your beautiful new grandchild, right?

I have -- I have a new child and we see sort of new life born amid tragedy. And, you know, they -- one interesting thing about this family is they get together their entire -- all of Peter's friends every year to remember him. And they write memories down. And here is one Peter's friends wrote this year on the 15-year mark.

I would give anything to have him by my side. But I will have to settle with keeping him in my heart for as long as it beats. And that's just one of the, you know, thousands of memories about this one victim. And we know more than 3,000 lives were lost that day.

BLITZER: They seemed I mean obviously, you didn't know him, I didn't know him.

HARLOW: Yes.

BLITZER: But based on what we're hearing he's such a terrific young man.