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Carter: Iraqi Troops Had "No Will to Fight"; Deadly Floods Soak Texas, Oklahoma; 71 Arrested in Cleveland Protests; Republican Presidential Field Getting Crowded; Could NSA Split Threaten GOP Future?; Slain Omaha Officer to be Buried Tuesday; Remembering the Fallen on Memorial Day. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 24, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:33] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Six p.m. Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin with this: today, strong words from the Pentagon about the capability and the readiness of the military in Iraq. The U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter mincing no words, saying Iraqi troops showed no will to fight when ISIS militants descended on city of Ramadi and completely took it over.

Ash Carter telling CNN exclusively that he is very concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: That says, to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN's Athena Jones joins me live from the White House.

Athena, last hour, Arwa Damon in Baghdad said clearly the words from the U.S. defense secretary greatly upset the people of Iraq, and they said that is not the case that their armed forces do not have the will to fight. What's the White House saying?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is not saying anything today, but Secretary Carter is the one who's sending this message to the Iraqi forces. You can bet that the White House is aware of what he said and he's not mostly likely speaking out of turn.

But the problem is that ever since the fall of Ramadi earlier this week and then Palmyra in Syria just days later, there's been increasing pressure on the White House and criticism of the White House's whole strategy regarding ISIS in the region. You're hearing from a lot of people who are saying that the White House needs to come up with a whole new strategy to make sure they can defeat this ISIS threat. Now, you have Secretary of Defense Carter saying, look, this is up to the Iraqi forces to really step up.

Let's play a little bit more of what he had to say in the exclusive interview with Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. They were not outnumbered. In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. And yet, they failed to fight, they withdrew from the site, and that says, to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves.

Now, we can give them training, we can give them equipment, we obviously can't give them the will to fight. But if we give them training, we give them equipment, and give them support and give them some time, I hope they will develop the will to fight because only if they fight can ISIL remain defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so there you Secretary Carter saying it's ultimately up to Iraqi forces. This is in line with a lot of what the administration has been arguing all along -- it's going to be up to the Iraqis themselves with the help and support from the U.S., from the coalition, people involved in the air strikes. But they're going to have to ultimately fight ISIS, defeat ISIS, and then hold on to the territory they retake, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Quite an uphill battle, especially when you're dealing with an armed forces on the ground that as Carter said, is not willing to do what is needed.

Athena Jones, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Let's talk more about this with Peter Bergen. He's CNN's national security analyst.

Also, Kimberly Dozier joins us again. CNN's global affairs analyst and a contributor to "The Daily Beast."

Peter, let me begin with you. I want you to listen to what Senator John McCain said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: Well, first, to have the president recognize that he was incorrect when he said we're not losing. We need to have a robust strategy. We need more troops on the ground. We need forward air controllers.

We're just referring to air strikes. Do you know that 75 percent of those combat missions return to base without having fired a weapon? It's because we don't have somebody on the ground who can identify a static moving target.

And we learned in -- you're going to be talking about the Vietnam War later on in this, we found in Vietnam that if you don't have the right strategy, air power is minimal in its effect. But we need to have forward air controllers. We need to have Special

Forces. We need to have more of those kinds of raids that were so successful into Syria.

We need to have a strategy. There is no strategy. And anybody that says that there is, I'd like to hear what it is, because it certainly isn't apparent now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Peter Bergen, he did not mince any words, "There is no strategy."

[18:05:01] Is he right?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think almost everything that Senator McCain said in that statement is correct. I think, you know, if we are serious, if the United States is serious about, for instance, taking over -- taking back Mosul, obviously that would be largely an Iraqi army operation.

But there's going to, I think, have to be U.S. forward air controllers on the ground calling in very precise air strikes. There's going to have to be U.S. special forces advising on the ground with those forces in Mosul.

It's really the question of what you want politically. I mean, if you're prepared to deal with the situation where ISIS is either really winning or losing, sometimes it loses territories, other times it gains, you know, then the status quo is fine. But if you are serious, I think, about really retaking Mosul, which is the second largest city in Iraq, clearly, the Iraqi army is not going to do that by itself -- at least, you know, past history suggest.

HARLOW: Well, it's interesting to hear that even Ash Carter, the U.S. defense secretary, in that interview with Barbara Starr, Peter said, I hope they will develop the will to fight. I hope?

BERGEN: Right. Well, you know, the will to fight -- I mean, look, if I was an Iraqi army soldier, knowing what I know about ISIS' likely reprisals on me if I'm still around when a city is retaken, I mean, they're making a very rational decision.

But, you know, I think that calculus can change if the United States and other allied forces, we already have Canadian special forces on the ground advising them. You know, I think it -- it, you know -- it's going to require more than the present situation has, you know, developed, if we're going to change the equation.

HARLOW: Kimberly, you wrote a really fascinating piece about this in "The Daily Beast" this week, and you talk about the frustrations you've been hearing from U.S. military officials, one telling you this. I want to read it in full saying, "Every few years, there's a place where the U.S. administration won't let U.S. forces accompany those they've trained." And it went on to say, "This younger generation has to get over it." KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, that was one of my

sources I was at a special operations conference for a week who was talking about -- yes, there is frustration that the guys who are already there, they have to stay behind at the base. Normally, the people they're advising, the people they're training, small numbers of Americans would go out with them outside the wire, and in a sense, give them the courage to stand against the onslaught of ISIS.

But there's also something psychological going on when you've got an American serviceman next to you, you know, as an Iraqi soldier, that that American has air strikes to call on. That American has medical evacuation to call on. And you think that in will be someone to help you to keep you from getting captured by ISIS.

So, so you've got the older generation within the U.S. military, within U.S. Special Operations saying we've seen this before, we have to bide our time, and wait for an administration that's ready for us to go in in small numbers.

And then you have the younger generation going, we're training these guys, we're winning their loyalty and then we're sending them to die by themselves. They have the will to fight, but they got to trust who's next to them or who's leading them. And they don't trust the Iraqi leadership.

HARLOW: Peter, one of the things we've heard after the fall of Ramadi, capital there of Anbar province, is an increasing drumbeat by some lawmakers, some of them saying this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION" that the U.S. must, must really increase its focus on arming and training Sunni tribes to be a bigger part of this. Is that a good strategy?

BERGEN: Well, it's a good strategy but I'm skeptical it's going to take, you know, it's going to be effective very quickly. After all, there was -- the strategy has been in place with Ramadi. There was a Sunni tribal element that didn't really work out. And right now, the most Sunnis are in Anbar province are sitting on the fence, a very good reason, they see ISIS as being victorious. They're either acquiescing or biding their time.

And until the facts on the ground begin to really shift against ISIS, no one in their right mind would ally with the Iraqi army if they're Sunni and they've done it once before and it worked in 2006, but already ISIS is -- I've just been reading their most recent magazine -- they're concerned about the Sunni tribal, the so-called "awakening", the Sawa (ph) forces that basically defeated them in '06, '07. And they're going around killing those people if they can find them.

So, it's going to -- you know, it's the right idea but it is not going to happen very quickly.

HARLOW: All right. Time is not on their side.

Kimberly Dozier, Peter Bergen, thank you guys both. I appreciate it.

BERGEN: Thank you.

[18:10:01] HARLOW: Well, flooding in Texas has left 1,000 people in shelters. Officials are pleading with residents to stay where they are, where it is safe. You're looking at live pictures now over some of the hardest hit areas, San Marcos, Texas. We are live in the midst of the disaster, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Catastrophic floods are slamming parts of Texas and Oklahoma right now. At this hour, we know that two people have died, three others are missing and hundreds of homes are destroyed. Floodwaters rushed in so quickly some people just did not have time to escape their homes. People scrambled to their rooftops, and crews airlifted dozens of them to safety. There's a mandatory curfew at 9:00 local time tonight in San Marcos, Texas, due to those downed power lines and washed out roads.

Our Alina Machado has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy, the cleanup in this area is going to take at least a few days. Just take a look at all the debris we're seeing here in this area. We're right underneath an overpass. This is about a 16-foot clearance. There is debris stuck just underneath that overpass and we're told that water at one point was flowing over the highway which is why when we were driving down here, we saw debris scattered all over the roads, bales of hay, pieces of wood, furniture, you name it. It was on the roads.

That over there is the river. I want to show you what it looks like right now. It's still fast moving but it has gone down considerably.

This all started just north of here in Blanco County, where they got as much as 12 inches of rain in a very short period of time overnight.

[18:15:03] All that water rushed downstream flooding areas like San Marcos where we are right now. As you know, authorities are searching for those three people who are missing. There's already at least one person who has died. And there is a curfew in effect tonight, and this is why. So there's all this debris.

Look at this. All these people are showing up here. They've been showing up here consistently throughout the day to look at the damage. And the danger of that is here we do have debris and we're told that there's even some water moccasins so people are being careful.

But there's power lines. There's a lot of destruction in other parts of the county. Authorities just don't want people out there. They don't want anybody else to get hurt. The good news in all of this is that it seems that the situation, the worse of this is over -- Poppy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: That is very good news. Alina Machado, thank you so much. Let's go to Tom Sater in the CNN severe weather center, joining us

with a look at what's ahead.

I mean, Alina just said it looks like the worst is over. Is that what the forecasts are showing as well?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They're getting a little bit of a break today, Poppy, sure, and the next 24 hours. But, tomorrow, we're going to find the threat of more rainfall. That goes into Tuesday. So, we've got a flood problem really from southern Texas up to northern Missouri. We've got flooding in parts of Colorado, up toward and in the Dakotas.

But if we get another 2 to 4 or 4 to 6, we're going to have more problems. Of course, not like in the last 24 hours.

Look at Oklahoma City, 18 inches of rain this month, wettest May on record, wettest month ever. And the wettest May for Ft. Smith, Wichita Falls, which by the way the National Weather Service there said expect historic flooding.

Drought one year ago -- exceptional drought -- parts of Texas, Oklahoma. Last Thursday, it looked like this. This does not include numbers in the last 24 hours that were like this, 7, 9, 9 1/2, over 11 1/2 inches in 24 hours.

So, we saw rivers and still will see what was an eight-foot level, Poppy, become possibly 38 later on this evening. Again, that's areas of San Marcos. We still have a threat. We've got tornado watches across the area.

So, we're going to be talking about this for a while. They could use a break, but more rain in the next 24 to 48.

HARLOW: They certainly could use a break. Tom, thanks. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, peaceful protests turning heated in Cleveland last night after the acquittal of a police officer who killed two unarmed people. We will go live in Cleveland next to show you how the city is reacting to that verdict.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:15] HARLOW: Well, the mayor of Cleveland says he's proud of the peaceful protests in his city. The protests began Saturday after a judge acquitted Michael Brelo, a police officer accused of shooting and killing two unarmed people in 2012.

But those peaceful demonstrations got more aggressive by yesterday afternoon and into the evening. Some protesters even attacked innocent bystanders. In total, 71 people were arrested last night.

Ryan Young was there covering it all. He joins me live in Cleveland. What about today, Ryan? I mean, it seems like things have really calmed down today. RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, we were live on your show for

several hours yesterday, and if you look behind me really, this is what's left of the protests so far. You can see those protesters who are standing off in the distance.

We are told there may be a small protest tonight outside the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

What a difference a day makes. We drove around town today to see if we could find protesters. Were told there was a rally at 1:00, we didn't see anybody. We were told there was a rally at 4:00. We didn't see anybody as well.

And all we have left really is these officers in front of the Justice Center who are keeping guard.

As we went through the downtown area, especially Cleveland Cavalier fans are out getting ready for the game, we saw officers everywhere. But there's so much calm and peace so far, you almost wouldn't realize there was a protest. The chief did talk about some of the arrests that were made overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CALVIN WILLIAMS, CLEVELAND POLICE: We only moved in to make arrests when things got violent and protesters refused to disperse. We wanted to make sure that people understand we're going to help you in this process, but if things turn violent, as we stated in the beginning, we will take action, to preserve safety in the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Poppy, you heard that from the chief. You can see the messages that were left here on the sidewalk. They go all the way down the front of the Justice Center. We've been talking to people all day long, a lot of them believe there will be another protest but everything has remained peaceful. So much work has been done over the last two years. They wanted to make sure this wasn't another Baltimore or Ferguson or anywhere else. They wanted it do it a different style, they say, Cleveland, one city -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, absolutely. Ryan Young, thanks. Appreciate the reporting.

Well, the race for the White House is heating up this week with more contenders preparing to officially join the fray and one plans to go head to head with Hillary Clinton. But he's got an issue to overcome. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:26:48] HARLOW: Well, the race for the White House in 2016 getting more crowded by the week -- on the Republican side, at least. They expected to announce in the coming days: Rick Santorum, George Pataki, plus, Democrat Martin O'Malley. Also expected to follow, Lindsey Graham and Rick Perry. A handful of others, Jeb Bush, Governor Scott Walker and Governor Chris Christie have yet to officially confirm whether they're in or not.

Let's bring in Stephen Collinson, CNN politics senior enterprise reporter.

Thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR ENTEPRISE REPORTER: Hey.

HARLOW: Let's talk about these names. I just listed a flurry of names.

Let's start with the Republican potential hopefuls who were expected to jump in in the next few weeks. Which names do you say, all right, we pay the most attention to these guys, they're in it for the long haul?

COLLINSON: Right. You know, as if we didn't have enough candidates on the Republican side.

HARLOW: Right.

COLLINSON: We're expecting two more this week.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, you remember he actually came second to Mitt Romney last time around in 2012. He's very popular among conservative, social conservatives and evangelical voters. This time around, I would expect to see him broaden his message somewhat to talk about blue collar economic issues to try and widen his lane in the Republican nominating field.

Then we've got George Pataki, former governor of New York. He's a very long-shot candidate. He hits about 1 percent or even less in most polls. You have to question he's going to be able to -- you know, raise the kind of money you need to run for president and to get the attention. Just in recent days, you've seen him jump into this national security debate.

HARLOW: Yes.

COLLINSON: He suggested sending more troops back to Iraq.

So, I think his problem is -- and Santorum, too, to some extent is to get noticed in this massive Republican field.

HARLOW: You know, when Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, a lot of people said she will do better if she has a serious opponent in her own party. When you look at a Bernie Sanders who is likely going to drag her pretty -- pull her pretty far to the left, what does that do for Hillary Clinton long term? Does that actually benefit her? Does that hurt her? Because it's not as much name recognition there with him, but there is a lot of huge policy issues.

COLLINSON: Right. There are advantages and disadvantages to Hillary Clinton being such a prohibitive frontrunner. There are a lot of Democrats who are very worried that she would go into a general election against a Republican not having, you know, had a robust debate in public for eight years. Since the last time she ran for president. She'll be out of practice.

And I think actually in her rollout so far in this campaign, we've seen that a little bit. So, in some ways, it's good for her to have an opponent and Democrats in the party, grassroots level, want to debate. The downside, of course, is that someone like Bernie Sanders is going to run a very populist economic campaign.

HARLOW: Right.

COLLINSON: He's going to run against Wall Street. That raises the issue of Hillary Clinton's personal wealth. You know, he's going to argue that the economic system in the United States is immoral and is weighted against everyday Americans.

That's one of the reasons why you've seen Hillary Clinton so far in her campaign trying to do small-scale events to try to connect with everyday Americans to sort of show that she's not forgotten what they're -- how hard it is in the aftermath of the recession.

HARLOW: I do want to ask you about Martin O'Malley, right, when you look at the aftermath of Baltimore, I wonder what you think that means for Martin O'Malley and his role as governor there in Maryland, what that's going to do to him if that is really tough for him to overcome.

[18:30:12] COLLINSON: Yes, a lot of people thought that the events in Baltimore, the riots, et cetera, over the last few months would actually disqualify him from the race and make it -- you know, and weaken his argument for running for president. It looks like he's concluded that that's not the case but he's going to have to find, you know, some way to address that. If you look back six months ago, Martin O'Malley was, you know, regarded as someone who could run for president, perhaps could have been.

HARLOW: Right.

COLLINSON: Possibly could be a vice presidential contender or could be someone that could run in a -- who could get a job after running in a Hillary Clinton potential cabinet. So it's going to be very interesting to see how he develops his campaign. He has some popularity in places like Iowa but he doesn't really have national name recognition, so it's going to be interesting to see how he develops that.

HARLOW: It is interesting, our Jake Tapper sat down with him a few weeks ago, and said, look, people are going to look at Baltimore, they're going to look at your policies while you were in office and say, did they really work? And that's clearly going to be a big issue for him. We'll be watching if he does get in.

Thanks so much, Stephen. Good to have you on the program. I appreciate it.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

HARLOW: And for all of you watching, you can go to Stephen's blog with the perfect name, "Yankee Doodle." It's at CNN.com/politics. For all of his reporting there.

Coming up next, does the GOP have an NSA problem? A lot of Republicans vehemently support the Patriot Act but some running for the White House do not at all. And that could have a big impact on the party's election prospects.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:19] HARLOW: Well, the Senate blocked a bill on Saturday that would extend a controversial section of the Patriot Act. Section 215. That is the part that allows the NSA's bulk collection of phone records. Your cell phone records, your landlines, you name it. But even the author of the law, the person who wrote most of the Patriot Act, says it is being abused and he does not want to see it extended. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), WISCONSIN: I was the principal author of the Patriot Act that was signed by President Bush in 2011. And I also was the principal author of the two reauthorizations in 2006 and in 2011.

Let me say that the revelations about Section 215 were a shock that if the bulk collection program was debated by the Congress in each of these three instances, it never would have been approved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's what the guy says who wrote that.

Let's talk about it with CNN political commentators Ben Ferguson and Marc Lamont Hill.

Guys, thanks for being here.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be here.

HARLOW: Let me begin with you, Marc. You know, it's interesting, Mitch McConnell very upset that he couldn't get the senators to vote on this extension that he wants to see, calling them back in a week to see that happen.

This is exposing an interesting divide in the Republican Party because you see Rand Paul so fired up about this saying absolutely not, basically this is un-American, we cannot allow this to continue, and you have a lot of other Republicans, John McCain among them, saying, look, this is needed for national security.

Does this matter that we're seeing this divide among the GOP in this?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's -- first of all I think it's healthy that we see division among the Republican Party or the Democratic Party on a particular issue. For the last six years we've seen so much infighting, so much obstruction that people were voting in bloc irrespective of their actual identity. As a person on the left, it's also fun to watch Lindsey Graham roll his eyes while Rand Paul is talking about this. I love that.

But ultimately I think it comes down to whether or not the soul of the GOP will be on the fringe or whether it will be in the center. I'm not saying one is good or bad per se. I'm just saying that that's what the battle is going to be and it's going to be a tough road for people like Rand Paul.

HARLOW: We always heard from Mike Huckabee who's running for president. He spoke about this today a little bit earlier on FOX News. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: 225 different terrorist plots over the past years since 9/11, and so far not one of them has been tied directly to the NSA's collection of metadata. So if this is so effective, how come it hasn't resulted in the foiled terrorist plots?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So there you also have, Ben, Mike Huckabee.

FERGUSON: Yes.

HARLOW: Saying no, this should not go any further.

FERGUSON: You got a big divide here. And it's a divide within the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. I mean, I'll give Rand Paul credit for one thing. He is very consistent on this issue and has been for years since he ran for the Senate the first time. He is one of those that says that you should have an awful lot of protection against your data being taken by the government or monitored by the government, if you've done nothing wrong, and you're just an American citizen.

The same time, there's others that say on both sides of the aisle that, hey, we do need this data because when we are trying to connect dots this can be very valuable in stopping terrorists or connecting a terrorist network. And so I'm glad it's kind of taking some time for this to happen because there's brilliant minds on both sides are trying to find this balance and rarely do you see this many people within both parties disagreeing with one another.

HARLOW: And they think, some people think they found a balance with this sort of amended version, USA Freedom Act that made it through.

FERGUSON: True.

HARLOW: The House is unclear what's going to happen in the Senate. I think it's interesting you bring up Rand Paul.

And, Marc, I'd like you to weigh on this because he said, quoting Benjamin Franklin, right, he said if you give up your liberty you will have neither. If you give up your liberty in exchange for security, you may well wind up with neither. What's interesting here I think is the strategy of not only does he

believe this, but I think Rand Paul also trying to galvanize this younger voting bloc that was so important to President Obama.

HILL: Yes. I mean, and there is -- there is a history of certain candidates on the right galvanizing the young base, talking about civil liberties, talking about limited government, talking about non- interventionism. A guy named Ron Paul did it. Didn't work out so good for him on the presidential front. And that's what Rand Paul has to worry about. He can be -- he could end up becoming another people's champ like his father as opposed to someone who can win.

Again, I'm not even saying he's wrong. I happen to think Rand Paul is right on this issue. But at the end of the day if he's seen as soft on security or soft on terrorism, which is what his opponents will spin this to be in the primaries, he's going to have a tough road to hoe for the next nine months. It's going to be very, very challenging for him.

[18:40:10] HARLOW: Do you think, Ben, that we need to be hearing more from Hillary Clinton on this?

FERGUSON: Yes, but I don't think we're going to because Hillary Clinton is not saying much of anything right now. So, you know, whether she'll even get into this or not is something I think will probably be, I don't know, maybe six or nine months from now. That's kind of what I'm guessing. I feel like Hillary's campaign is like a baby.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Nine months, Ben --

FERGUSON: It takes about nine months to see her come around and answer questions. So, you know, we're in the first trimester right now. It's going to take some time.

HARLOW: Marc?

HILL: Ben is one of those people that doesn't love when people actually talk to voters. He's one of those -- he's becoming a media snob, he's a big TV star now and he doesn't want people talking to voters. He wants people talking to the media.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: Marc, I promise you --

HARLOW: All right, guys, I'm getting the wrap. I'm getting the wrap.

FERGUSON: I promise you -- no problem.

HARLOW: I got to make my producers happy. I got to go. Thanks for being with me. Have a great week. Appreciate it. Ben Ferguson, Marc Lamont Hill.

HILL: You too.

HARLOW: We will be right back. But first this.

Citrus is a huge global business. And in this week's "Traders," we head to the start of the supply chain, the Sunshine State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW (voice-over): When you think of Florida, you naturally think of sunshine and oranges. This may surprise you. A whopping 95 percent of Florida oranges are squeezed into juice and then one quarter of that is exported to places like South Korea, Canada and Japan.

Almost 100 years ago in 1922, a Florida farmer named Deeley Hunt planted a single seed that would lead to 5,000 acres of citrus and a business that would change a family tree forever. Today, they are one of the largest orange shippers in the state, producing nearly two million cartons per year.

Proving that oranges don't fall far from the tree, today Hunt Brothers is run by the Hunt cousins, who take pride that their family business has expanded from its humble beginnings to selling beyond borders, with about 10 percent of their fruitful commodity going overseas.

One challenge to overcome was how to transport this perishable product to the other side of the world in 30 days and avoid spoilage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're picking the fruit and trying to stay right as close in behind the harvest as we can, getting it under refrigeration to keep the fruit as fresh.

HARLOW: When Billy Hunt planted that single seed nearly 100 years ago, he likely never dreamed it would spawn acres of citrus and a family business that would support generations to come. And yield juice for the breakfast tables of Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:46:31] HARLOW: Well, in two days friends and family of Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco will say goodbye to her. She was shot and killed while trying to serve a fugitive with an arrest warrant. She was just 29 years old and was a new mom who had given birth to a premature little girl in February. Kerry was killed the day before she was supposed to take her little baby home from the hospital.

Let's remember her through some people who knew her the best. I'm joined on the phone by one of her best friends and former partner in the Omaha Police Force, Kevin Wiese, and also one of her former colleagues, Tony Espejo.

Guys, thank you for being here. I appreciate it very much.

TONY ESPEJO, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF SLAIN OMAHA POLICE OFFICER: You're welcome.

KEVIN WIESE, FORMER PARTNER OF SLAIN OMAHA POLICE OFFICER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Kevin, you've been meeting with Kerrie's family today. How are they doing?

WIESE: You know, it's been tough for everybody. I just don't know how much more, you know, I can say than that about how the family is doing.

HARLOW: What about you? How are you holding up? Her partner, her friend?

WIESE: Yes, you know, it's been tough. I was Kerrie's partner in the Gang Unit for just under two years and, you know, just as anyone would expect, I was really shocked when I heard the news. If I was to make a list of, you know, officers, and, you know, something like this to happen to, she would have been at the absolute end of that list.

And so, you know, at first it's been, you know, hard to understand and everything, but after I find out and I was with, you know, her family and was in the room with her, all I could think of was, you know, what the -- what the enemy intended for harm God will turn for good. And we've been -- prayed that over her. Kerrie and I had prayed in the car several times.

And so I know she's in heaven, I know she's in a much better place. And, you know, that brings me a lot of comfort knowing that.

HARLOW: Tony, you started the police baseball force that Kerrie was the coach for. I'm interested in knowing what she was like off duty.

ESPEJO: That's the funny thing about Kerrie, she was the same off duty as she was on duty. I mean, just absolutely tremendously caring woman, professional, but more than anything, I mean, helped us build those bridges and those relationships between us and the community we served.

HARLOW: Yes.

ESPEJO: And that she was a huge ambassador for our program which we started in 2009, with baseball, and we've been doing soccer, and Kerrie was part of soccer also which we started in 2005. And this year we were super excited. I mean, every time I -- you know, baseball would come around, there was no question that Kerrie was going to be there for us. And she loved our kids.

In fact, two days before this tragic incident, you know, we were talking about baseball and how some of her kids now were too old to play. And she was very disappointed by that. And, you know, what we want to build with our baseball program and Kerrie has been a huge part of it is that, you know, we wanted something that these kids can look forward to every year, and I felt horrible the fact that, you know, I mean, we wanted the kids to come out and, you know, train with us and still be at the game.

HARLOW: Yes.

ESPEJO: And like that. It's just been --

HARLOW: Yes.

ESPEJO: You know, you got a 13-year-old kid versus an 8-year-old or 9-year-old kid, it's a big difference in baseball. Those who know baseball. But, I mean, we were going to branch out and get bigger and better every year. And Kerrie was a huge part of that.

[18:50:03] HARLOW: Kevin Wiese and Tony Espejo, thank you both so much for joining us, especially during this difficult time.

A fund has been set up to help support Kerrie's family and causes that are close to her heart. Just visit Firstrespondersomaha.org/Kerrie- causes if you want to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: For this Memorial Day weekend we remember fallen soldiers and their sacrifice.

CNN's Jim Acosta reports from Arlington National Cemetery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the grave of America's 35th president, this 624 acres, just outside of the nation's capital are the final resting place for more than 400,000 souls.

(On camera): This just gives you a sense as to the people who are buried here. Harry Alexander Lowe. World War I. Andrew Hamilton, World War I. James Edmunds Patton, World War I. But here, Vincent Diangelo, World War II, Korea, Vietnam.

[18:55:07] (Voice-over): Command historian Steve Carney is the current Keeper of the History at Arlington National Cemetery and many of its stories. Dating back to the first burial here during the civil war.

(On camera): Is this essentially where the cemetery then began? Starting with Private Christman?

STEVE CARNEY, HISTORIAN, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY: Yes.

ACOSTA: The war dead from the civil. They started bringing them to this site. And how quickly did this cemetery starts to expand at that point?

CARNEY: Kind of where we're standing up to the crest of this ridge. All of these burials were conducted here between May 13th and June 14th of 1864. On June 15th of 1864, we officially become a national cemetery.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Graves then were made of a thin piece of wood with the name carved into it. Marble markers were installed in 1872.

CARNEY: We're often asked, you know, what's the genesis of the cemetery? What the facts are is that this ground that George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington's step grandson, the child he raised as his own son, when he inherited this property, he built the Arlington House on this high ground that we're standing on now that was the absolutely dominant terrain over the District of Columbia. So at the start of the Civil War in 1861 there's a military necessity that the army seized this property in order to defend Washington, D.C.

ACOSTA (on camera): The Union seized the property.

CARNEY: Yes. Yes.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The nation began memorializing its war dead at Arlington in 1868. Five years later, an amphitheater was built to hold official Memorial Day ceremonies.

CARNEY: This is the original amphitheater that was constructed in 1873, so five years -- so it was ready in time for the fifth Declaration Day and on this rostrum every president essentially from 1873 through 1919 would have given a Memorial Day address here.

ACOSTA: Although Memorial Day is recognized every year with a ceremonial laying of the wreath by the commander-in-chief, only two U.S. presidents have been laid to rest here.

(On camera): Why aren't more presidents buried at Arlington?

CARNEY: I think that sets the precedent -- or George Washington really sort of set that precedent of being buried at, you know, his home or in his home state. When Howard Taft is buried here in 1930 and certainly bucks the trend that had been established by George Washington of president being buried, you know, at their -- in their hometown.

ACOSTA: When President Kennedy was buried here, demand to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery skyrocketed.

CARNEY: Yes.

ACOSTA: What happened?

CARNEY: Tripled or quadrupled every year. So if we think of it in terms of this is really the first time there was a televised full honor funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, and much like decoration day propelled Arlington to becoming the premiere national military cemetery in 1800s. To me, President Kennedy's funeral, televised funeral, is a big turning point for the cemetery in the 20th century.

And when people see what it truly means to be buried here at Arlington National Cemetery among full honors that really increases the demand, the desire to be buried at this place, at this most sacred shrine.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Each year Americans from across the country visit these hallowed grounds to pay respects to relatives who were buried at Arlington. My maternal grandparents are here.

(On camera): That's my grandfather, Vincent Daniel Rice. My mom's dad. And that's my grandmother, Elsie. Wow. Will Arlington run out of space?

CARNEY: The answer is yes. At some point. There's only a certain area that you can expand into. But right now there are two expansion projects. Last burial in that section might well be out in the 2100s. And we still do second or third internments into some of our older --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: So you're planning out until the 2100s?

CARNEY: Yes.

ACOSTA (voice-over): As the nation's cemetery continues on into that future, Carney and the millions of people who come to Arlington each year help keep its past alive.

CARNEY: We have over 400,000 people buried here. So there are 400,000 stories to research. To study. To learn.

ACOSTA (on camera): What does Memorial Day mean to you?

CARNEY: It's just a day where every headstone here has an American flag in front of it and as you drive through or as you see that vista, it just really, to me, drives home that remembrance of the sacrifice of so many.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:00:08] HARLOW: For all of those who gave their lives for their family and their friends, we thank you for your sacrifice.

I'm Poppy Harlow, in New York. Good night.