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Fifth Service Member Dies from Wounds from Chattanooga Shooting; Donald Trump Criticizes John McCain; Investigation into Background of Chattanooga Shooter Continues; First Lady to Host Special Olympics; Interview with Singer/Songwriter Siedah Garrett. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 18, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Randall Smith, a logistics specialist with the U.S. Navy, succumbed to his injuries this morning. He becomes the fifth fatality along with four U.S. marines, Lance Corporal Squire Wells, Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt, and Sergeant Carson Holmquist. Earlier, I spoke to the mayor of Chattanooga about how his town is coping with this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR ANDY BERKE, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESEE: I think that we're putting back the pieces of our broken hearts. That's something that we can only do together. Last night, we had a vigil for the community. We had a huge turnout. Most everybody involved in public service, people from throughout our community, we came together and started the healing process.

WHITFIELD: And then I understand you did spend some time with the family members of the sailor, Randall Smith, who has since passed. What was that time like with the family at the hospital?

BERKE: Well, when I went to the hospital, there were numerous people there who were injured, got to talk to some of them. In deference to their privacy, I would say that nothing has been officially confirmed with that family, and they're in our hearts and prayers today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's check in with CNN's Boris Sanchez in Chattanooga. Tell us more about the community and how so many people continue to stream right behind me to lay flowers, mementos, notes.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, there's been a huge outpouring of support. When we arrived here yesterday, there were only about a dozen flags here. Now there are hundreds upon hundreds, hundreds of people coming out, as you said, to show support, leaving notes of kindness and condolence to the families of those killed.

Meantime, steps being taken across the country to arm the men and women who work at these recruitment centers, the governors of Arkansas, Louisiana, and now Texas moving to allow those men and women to carry arms to defend them in case of another attack. We're also hearing that the investigation into the shooter is moving

forward. And as you said, we're learning more about the sailor who was shot on Thursday and passed away last night, Randall Smith. His step-grandmother telling CNN the whole family is still in shock over what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE PROXMIRE, STEP-GRANDMOTHER TO RANDALL SMITH: Because he was never, you know, shipped over there anywhere where the fighting and all that was at. You think, it's not going to happen to your family. But by god, it can. It can happen anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So difficult to hear her speak out like that. We've also seen a large presence of veterans here at this memorial. I spoke to one this morning who said the shooter is a coward and caught heroes off guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like he stabbed me in the heart. It still hurts. It hurts bad. I've lost people to different wars. And it's all I can think about is what happened to them, why they died, why we have our freedoms. And these boys died for the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those sentiments being echoed by a lot of people I've spoken to. They say they're accustomed to hearing about terrorist attacks in large cities or places overseas, not a quiet community like this one in Chattanooga. They're shaken that something like this happened in their own backyard, a mix of pride and pain here, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right, Boris Sanchez in Chattanooga, thank you so much.

We're now seeing states take action to beef up security at recruitment offices. You heard part of what Boris was saying. The governor of Texas now also announcing he will authorize the army of National Guard personnel at military facilities across the state. And in Florida Governor Rick Scott issued an executive order for his state, relocating guardsmen at the state's six storefront recruitment offices to the nearest Florida National Guard armory. I spoke to the governor last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: We can be armed at our armories and we will be armed at our armories. So we will not reopen our storefronts until we are very comfortable that they're safe. But at our armories, all of our qualified guardsmen are going to be provided arms. For after hours, we're going to the ones that don't have concealed weapon permits, we're going to accelerate their ability to get a concealed weapon permit for personal protection when they're not on duty. But we're going to do -- we're going to make sure that in Florida, our National Guardsmen are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And in Oklahoma, Governor Mary Fallin gave an order to arm full time military personnel on military installations throughout the state.

Joining me right now, Jonathan Gilliam, who is a former FBI special agent, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem, and Haroon Moghul, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Good to see all of you.

[14:05:10] JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: So Jonathan, I wonder if I can get your reaction first. I spoke with Juliette earlier on the Florida governor's executive order. Ad in your view, relocating all National Guardsmen to the national army and people who are working the recruitment centers to be relocated to the National Guard armory, what's your reaction to that?

GILLIAM: I think it's a great idea. I think it's absolutely horrific that it had to -- this incident had to happen in order for that to occur. Look, this is the United States defense department that over watches all these things. We plan -- I'm a veteran. We plan. We do standard operating procedures. We have war plans. We can take our soldiers and an entire war plan, strategic war plan and go over and fight an enemy. But we can't harden our soft targets here, our government soft targets? We have to wait for five people now to be killed? That's absolutely ridiculous.

And the other thing that I think is ridiculous, even though these politicians are jumping onboard now and they're doing a good job of that now, they should be ashamed of themselves that they had to wait this long, especially in the light of all these threats coming out, and not forward-thinking this. I don't need to wait and neither do these politicians for a terrorist to make a threat. I already know what a soft target is. Come up with ways to fix these and mitigate them way before the attack happens and we won't have this death. We'll have a dead terrorist, and that's it.

WHITFIELD: And Juliette, as it pertains to this gunman, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, do you believe that his actions were unpredictable, or were there some flags?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: In this case, it does not look like there was any sort of sirens going off, at least at this stage. Obviously the investigation is going to take longer and they'll be sort of more digging. Not even the travel to Jordan from the sort of intelligence perspective would trigger necessarily any warning bells. A lot of Americans travel to Jordan, whether they're Arab or Muslim or otherwise. A place like Jordan is an ally in the war on terror. So it's not like it's Yemen where going to Yemen would trigger some flags. So it is very likely that this investigation may be limited to him,

his own radicalization, as well as how he got the weapons. As I was saying before, however horrific this attack was, it was not sophisticated. It was a guy buying a lot of weapons and killed our military when they were not ready, not able to respond. And so it wasn't sophisticated in the sense of 9/11 or even the Boston Marathon bombings.

WHITFIELD: So Haroon, so is this leaving you with a feeling that this is -- these are the hallmarks of today's terrorism, that it might involve a lone wolf, it may involve someone who is so unsuspecting, it may involve someone who really has left no trail and it leaves now people trying to figure out how could this have been avoided and how do you better protect soft targets or any or all places now in the United States?

HAROON MOGHUL, FELLOW, INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL POLICY AND UNDERSTANDING: Sure. It's a paradoxical result of American-Muslim communities, organizations, institutions condemning extremism and refusing to allow a safe space for these kinds of conversation. And one of the unfortunate consequences of that zero tolerance policy has been that vulnerable young folks, usually young men who are confused or grappling with hard questions about their identity or politics, don't have a place to talk to people they can trust. And instead they go online.

And we've seen this not just with radical Muslims, but with Anders Breivik or Dylann Roof, that the Internet becomes a surrogate authority, and they find radical websites and radical materials that push them in that direction. We don't know the details with Mohammad Abdulazeez, but it looks very possible that that's what happened there.

WHITFIELD: And so it looks like something happened in between that yearbook kind of joke -- some people interpret it as a little tongue- in-cheek about his comment right there, my name, you know, causes national security alerts, what does your do? Some interpret that could have been a little bit of a joke. But then fast forward. Clearly, there was some frustration, there was something that happened in his life to make him want to unload on U.S. military personnel in particular, Haroon.

MOGHUL: Sure. The quote in his yearbook is by a Muslim comedian who called himself Hijab-man. Actually that quote, I bought a t-shirt with that same quote on it. And what makes me reflect on this is how did we go in such different directions? I work on countering radical extremism. And from what we know so far, he appears to have been radicalized in some way, shape, or form. We don't know exactly how.

[14:10:05] So the question is, when you have these young people, and they are a minority, but they're dangerous, how do you deflect them? How do you stop them? And the challenge is going to be to find them, because, as you've pointed out, they're being increasingly reticent about expressing their views because they know that raises red flags. So they know they can't talk about this in mosques or Muslim communities because there's no tolerance, and they don't want to talk about it on social media unnecessarily on a public forum, so it becomes even harder to find them before they try to do something.

WHITFIELD: And Juliette, it sounded like you wanted to interject on something.

KAYYEM: No, I think that's right. I think this idea that there's this stereotypical radicalization process of which we can then, if only we got better at it stop it from happening, that's just not true. There's just too much going on in both the social media spaces, but obviously within disenfranchised members of different communities.

And remember, some of these guys are converts. Some are very religious. Others later in life started going to mosques. So there's no sort of typical person. And that's why people in law enforcement now talk a lot about there's only so much law enforcement can do. There's only so much surveillance. But eventually it's going to take communities, family members, and others to begin to try to identify and give space for a dialogue because there's not enough surveillance to cover what we need to find.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to have to leave it right there. Juliette Kayyem, Haroon Moghul, and Jonathan Gilliam, thanks to all of you, appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, how personal drones affected the firefighting effort at a massive wildfire in California. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, parts of a scorched interstate are reopening today in California. The flame jumped Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County and sent terrified drivers running from their cars and then up a hill to safety. And about 20 cars and two semi-trucks were destroyed and dozens more damaged as the flames seared the freeway.

[14:15:16] Firefighters also had a hard time fighting the fire because five personal drones were flying in the area for 25 minutes. The fire department sent out this tweet telling people to stop. CNN's Dan Simon is covering the fire for us from San Francisco. How are they doing now?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. They're making good progress. This fire is only five percent contained, but the flames have died down a bit. They're not advancing aggressively like we what we saw yesterday.

But the situation with the drones, truth be told, I think we're going to be seeing more situations like this as the price of these drones continues the drop. They're now cheaper than iPhones in most case, and they're fun to fly, but they can be a great hindrance to firefighting efforts.

In this situation yesterday, you had people out there flying these drones, at least five of them, and for a good 15 to 20 minutes or more the helicopters could not douse those cars with water because you had a situation where the helicopter, you know, could collide with one of these drones and that could be a real tragedy.

So the message out today from the U.S. Forest Service and others is please do not fly these drones. They're really going to have to embark on a public education campaign because it can be very, very dangerous, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, thanks so much, Dan Simon, appreciate that.

Still ahead, Donald Trump goes after U.S. Senator John McCain, questioning his status as a war hero. But now Trump is already trying to change his tune. What's he saying now? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:26] WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, Donald Trump doing it again, stirring up major controversy, this time with remarks questioning U.S. Senator John McCain's record as a war hero. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He is a war hero -- he's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you. You don't believe that? He's a war hero because he was captured, OK? And I believe, perhaps he's a war hero, but right now, he said some very bad things about a lot of people.

So what I said is John McCain, I disagree with him that these people aren't crazy. And very importantly, and I speak the truth, he graduated last in his class at Annapolis. So I said, nobody knows that -- I said he graduated last or second to last. He graduated last in his class at Annapolis. And he was upset. I said, what, for telling the truth? See, you're not supposed to say that somebody graduated last or second-to-last in their class because you're supposed to be, like Frank says, very nice. Folks, I want to make America great again. We want to get down to brass tacks. We don't want to listen to his stuff with being politically correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, CNN's Mark Preston was there. He's live right now, Ames, Iowa. Oh boy, Mark. What this is doing. Describe how this all unfolded and now kind of the consequence of those remarks.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: No doubt. Look, Fredricka, for that moment in time where Donald Trump was aiming all his fire at Senator John McCain, it is now boomeranging back on him at this point. Donald Trump is coming under an incredible amount of criticism from others not only in the Republican presidential race but also from the Democratic Party.

Donald Trump has tried to address those remarks in several different ways. He's put a statement out. He's actually put a note out on Twitter. And he also had to say this on camera after he left the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: John McCain has not done enough for the veterans in this country. And let me explain something. And when John McCain called 15,000 people that showed up in Phoenix, Arizona, to talk about illegal immigration, he calls them a bunch of crazies, he's doing a great disservice to this country.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Excuse me, if a person is captured, they're a hero as far as I'm concerned, unless they're a traitor like Bergdahl. He was captured, he's no hero. But you have to do other things also. I don't like the job that John McCain is doing in the Senate because he's not taking care of our veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Now, Fred, you have the backstory now with John McCain and Donald Trump are in a little bit of a war. John McCain has not said flattering things about Donald Trump. And here we have vice versa, Donald Trump saying some pretty tough things about John McCain. Now Donald Trump trying to clean it up a little bit, but there's no doubt at this moment Fred that this is overshadowing Donald Trump's run for president.

WHITFIELD: You just mentioned how he tried to clean it up with the press conference, kind of the availability right afterwards. We just showed a tweet. Let's show that one more time, this coming from Donald Trump, saying "Captured or not, all our soldiers are heroes."

And then there is a reaction also coming from the campaign trail. We know that former Texas Governor Rick Perry has already released a statement calling for Trump to withdraw from the race, saying this, quote, "His attack on veterans makes him unfit to be commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces and he should immediately withdraw from the race for president."

And also apparently, it is really lighting up social media. There are people of all walks who are saying things. Penn Gillette saying this. "Now Trump is attacking war heroes? He should have stuck with attacking trash like me. At least that's safe." And Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal saying this, "After Donald Trump spent six years in a POW camp he can weigh in on John McCain's service." Senator Claire McCaskill saying this, "Will the RNC speak out about Trump's disgusting slam against POWs?" And then I guess we are also hearing Senator Lindsey Graham is also saying something. Let me see that. "If there was ever any doubt that Donald Trump should not be our commander in chief, this stupid statement should end all doubt."

So it wasn't that long ago, Mark, that Donald Trump said I'm going to win, I'm going to win this race. And there was a feeling that he was in it to win it. But now it just seems like he's in it to lose. Are there some other reasons why he's in it with remarks like this and reaction like this?

[14:25:12] PRESTON: Fred, no doubt. Literally, he walked off the stage saying he was going to be the next president of the United States. He feels like he did very well here in Iowa. I have to tell you, I don't think he did very well.

Just to clear something up as well. Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democratic senator, asked if the RNC would weigh in. In fact the Republican National Committee has weighed in on this controversy a short time after Donald Trump making those comments. The RNC calling John McCain "a hero period." So the RNC weighing in, the Republican Party now standing behind Senator John McCain.

I have to tell you as well, you have to question who is really the big winner in all of this, Fred. It might very well be Jeb Bush, because Jeb Bush has been the one who's been under the most fire from Donald Trump throughout this campaign. Now it seems like that fire is being directed right at Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Earlier you were talking about him being conspicuously absent, but then I'm sure he's really glad about not being there about this time. So RNC offering that clarity, saying John McCain indeed a hero. Does this also send a real indicator that the RNC saying Donald Trump, you may have gone too far?

PRESTON: The RNC can't do that and they won't do that because they don't feel it's their place necessarily to tell a candidate to get in the race or get out of a race. But just them weighing in so swiftly, so quickly on it does say something.

Look, the bottom line is Donald Trump is still at the top of the polls. But right now it is July of 2015. It is not February of 2016 when this race really will matter. So we'll see how Donald Trump is able to survive this tempest. But he certainly has created one just in the past few hours, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right, incredible sequence of events. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

Coming up, a friend of Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez tells CNN the accused -- the Chattanooga gunman, rather, changed when he returned from the Middle East. So just who is Abdulazeez?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:24] WHITFIELD: Hello again, and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The people of Chattanooga, servicemen and women around the world and the family of a Navy Seal are all mourning the loss of one of their own. Randall Smith, a logistics specialist with the U.S. Navy, passed away from injuries he sustained during the shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is the fifth victim of the shooting.

His death was confirmed by his step-grandmother. Smith was shot three times in the attack at the Navy operational support center. And in the wake of the Tennessee killings that began with a drive-by

shooting at a recruiting center near a civilian store front, Texas now will be arming National Guard personnel across the state, and Florida is locating store front facilities to National Guard armories.

Four U.S. marines were also shot in Tennessee in this week's attack, Lance Corporal Squire Wells, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt, and Sergeant Carson Holmquist.

There are more questions than answers at the moment. Investigators are looking for a motive that could have been sparked during a trip Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez took to the Middle East. A friend of Abdulazeez tells CNN that he was certain, quote, "something happened over there and wasn't the same when he came back to the U.S." Abdulazeez's boxing friend Spencer Manning tells CNN's investigation unit that he spoke briefly with Abdulazeez at a fast-food restaurant just two weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER MANNING, BOXING FRIEND OF ABDULAZEEZ: There was absolutely no red flags. I wish I could give you a better answer, but no red flags at all, just a normal guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Other coaches and friends of Abdulazeez say they too are baffled how the man they described as kind became a killer.

Federal authorities are carefully analyzing an online blog that is believed to be linked to the Chattanooga shooter and may hold some clues about his motivation. Joining me right now to discuss is Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, and licensed psychologist Eric Fisher. Good to see both of you. All right, so Dr. Jasser, at this blog that authorities found, one post complaining about life on earth, and another urges people to follow his or the Islamic figures. What does this mean to you?

DR. ZUHDI JASSER, FOUNDER, AMERICA ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY: I think the most important part of it, Fredricka, is the part that he talked about wanting to establish Islam on earth. Basically it's a supremacist type mantra.

You know, at what point, at what point are we going to abandon this sort of symptomatic following of violent extremism where all we're doing is waiting for the final step and begin to look at ideology. His blog clearly shows a supremacist mindset. If our homeland security was looking at Wahhabism, Salafism, the dominant establishment of the Islamic state, just like the Iranian Khomeinis or the Saudi Wahhabis, this doctrine is major.

So in the Cold War, we had specialists looking at communism and Soviet supremacism. Today we can't even talk about it because we're so focused about that last step. We can look at the nuances of his life, and yes, he had some violent streaks with MMA and his DUI, and look at whether he went to Jordan. But the bottom line is he was part of Islamist extremism. He looked upon America as a force of evil. He was not only a terrorist, but was part of a global war. And until we engage in this long war of ideologies, we're going to continue this whack-a-mole program.

WHITFIELD: And Eric, how do you analyze this, especially when you hear from friends, who say they didn't notice anything, this radicalization? Clearly, this might be an example, it happened, and there really are no outward changes.

ERIC FISHER, PSYCHOLOGIST: Fred, I think we have to really make it clear that this subject is about radicalization of Islamists. We have to look at radicalization at a nationalistic level, at a political level. It's happened throughout history many times. And we have to see what happened psychologically.

If this history is true that he grew up in an abusive family and he witnessed abuse and/or was abused and learned to keep that secret, that is a key factor in how he could live an ideal self where the outside world only saw what they were supposed to see and have a whole different real and feel self internally about how he really felt about the world. That allows somebody to be able to put on their chameleon outfit and play different roles in different situations. And because he might not have had an outlet, because it was so potentially forbidden to talk about how you really felt, in the outside world, it allowed for the whole inner world to bubble up and develop and his hatred to be hidden.

[14:35:05] WHITFIELD: And Dr. Jasser, I see you nodding on that, but I also have this excerpt of the blog believed to be written by Abdulazeez saying this -- "We have a certain understanding of Islam, and keep a tunnel vision of what we think Islam is. What we know is Islam is everything is not, and we don't have appreciation for other points of view and accept the fact that we may be missing some important parts of the religion." This is a lot being said.

JASSER: Absolutely. And it's so important for us to engage the fact, if we're going to engage Muslims, we need to engage Muslims that think we need to reform, reform against those ideas that are supremacist. He wasn't looking at being violent in those blogs, but clearly most Muslims -- we just finished our holy month of atonement in Ramadan and we're celebrating our holidays. The reason he acted out on the last day of Ramadan is he engaged in a supremacist mantra that America was anti-Islam, that he wanted to establish the Islamic state. And he called the prophet not only a spiritual leader, but a political one. He said the friends of the prophet, which is part of the Salafi ideology, had to act and act now. He said don't let the scholars misguide you.

So we need to learn from this, that it's not just about violence. It's about the pool, the mantra, the global movement that includes hundreds of millions, be it the Brotherhood, the Taliban, the Khomeinis, or ISIS that fuel this mantra that they want to establish Islamic states around the world. And that's what we can learn from his blog.

WHITFIELD: And if you think about some common denominators, whether it's the Tsarnaev brothers, whether it's this young man, the notion that many of these young men who have been recruited or radicalized, whatever the language is that you want to choose, we're talking about early 20s as well. That is one common denominator that has been cited in terms of is this a point in which there is a frustration of, you know, maybe people didn't necessarily see anything while they were in their high school years, but now they're out in the real world, so to speak, and are exhibiting these frustrations, or internalizing these frustrations in a very different way.

FISHER: Well, it's kind of like a seed that's planted early on. And, you know, when we get used to certain things in our culture, we start to lose our moral compass in ways. And I think what we have to look at here the importance that -- a lot of -- what happened to me with him is he started to lose his way. He was losing his identity. He couldn't seem to hold a job or find a job in his field that he wanted to be in. He then had his drug issue, his DUI arrest, which if you look at Usama bin Laden and many of his colleagues, they lived a life of excess in the western culture, and they then blamed the western culture for them losing their pathway.

WHITFIELD: Right. You heard that with those who flew the planes in 9/11.

FISHER: Exactly. He seemed to do the same thing, and he started to blame the culture for his own inner struggles. Whenever I work with people I say the outside world is a reflection for something you have to learn within yourself. It's not about blaming the world for our issues in life. It's about for us to see the pathway.

What bothers me is that here we have an institution in religion, of any religion, that's supposed to come from a place of unconditional love that becomes shrouded in so much hate.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Jasser, real quick.

JASSER: Yes. His point is that it didn't come from within himself, though. He hopped on a train of Islamic supremacism that Muslims need to counter globally, and especially in America where we understand the battle against theocracy. That's the train he jumped on. He wasn't necessarily a lone wolf event.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Eric Fisher, thanks so both of you. Appreciate it.

FISHER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:42:24] LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: What happens when you take 10 former Apple engineers and put them in a kitchen? You end up with a computerized oven.

We're going to bake cookies.

NIKHIL BHOGAL, JUNE CO-FOUNDER: So with these cookies, you put them in, and by the time you close the door, it recognized that they were cookies, so it's recommending 325 for 14 minutes. Then I can see the exact amount of time left. Then on here I can also swipe and get a live view.

SEGALL: This is June, an intelligent oven that they say is like a chef. It recognizes what you're cooking and will recommend how you should cook it. It will even shoot you a text when your food is ready.

How much technology is packed into these ovens?

BHOGAL: The process that goes into this oven is about the same horsepower as an Xbox 360. This essentially has the guts of a phone, or a high end tablet, but it also the capabilities to control everything that makes up an oven. We have six heating elements. We have eight scales.

SEGALL: You guys have basically made an oven into a mini computer.

BHOGAL: Essentially it's a computer that cooks.

SEGALL: It's not cheap. It costs $1,495. It also won't necessarily replace your oven or microwave. It's not big enough to cook for a larger group.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Joint Chief Chairman Martin Dempsey made an unannounced visit to Baghdad today. He held a question and answer period with the troops addressing their concerns about boots on the ground and the rise of ISIS. The trip coming on the heels of one of the single deadliest attacks claimed by ISIS in Iraq, at least 120 people killed in the suicide car bombing. Our Sunlen Serfaty joins us from the White House. Sunlen, what more did Dempsey say?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, according to the military, Chairman Dempsey spoke at length to the troops, meeting with them today, and he spoke about the threat in the ongoing threat against ISIS. And specifically they noted that he really focused on the operation to retake Ramadi. You'll recall back in May it was a huge blow to the U.S. and the coalition forces that Ramadi fell to ISIS.

And he did seem pleased when he spoke to the troops today about the pace that they are making. He said the objective is to isolate Ramadi and deny ISIS the ability to either withdraw or reinforce. That's according to the military today. And he said that the leaders really do feel that the case is adequate that they're making.

[14:45:03] And he asked his commanders whether they needed additional forces or additional advisers on the ground with the Iraqi forces, and they answered him. According to the military the answer was no. Fred? WHITFIELD: And then Defense Secretary Ah Carter heading to the Middle East tomorrow. He'll travel to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. What is it he's hoping to accomplish?

SERFATY: Yes. This is part of the administration's, the White House's sales pitch on the nuclear deal with Iran. So they're dispatching the secretary of defense to the region. And his first job will be in Israel. We've heard from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last week since this deal was announced. He called the deal a stunning, historic mistake. So certainly part of Ash Carter's visit will be meant to reassure him, hear out the prime minister.

But a defense official said the visit will also be in part about discussing more intelligence sharing that the two countries can share, certainly of big concern to Israel given this new nuclear deal with Iran. So certainly trying to reassure this ally that the U.S. has its back.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty at the White House, thanks so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:00] WHITFIELD: In exactly one week, first lady Michelle Obama will kick off the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles. And organizers have tapped Siedah Garrett, you know that name, a Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter to perform the Olympic theme song, "Reach Up, L.A.," which, of course, she co-wrote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

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WHITFIELD: That sounds so good. Of course, you'll remember Siedah Garrett for her duet with Michael Jackson, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." Do you remember this?

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WHITFIELD: Garrett also co-wrote Jackson's hit "Man in the Mirror."

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WHITFIELD: Isn't that great? Incredible music. And Siedah Garrett with me now. What a great honor. I have been a fan for years. Joining us from Los Angeles.

SIEDAH GARRETT, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Thank you so much. And me too you.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. So you have incredible staying power. You've just been and done so much in the music industry. But what is different about this, being part of the Special Olympics, quite extraordinary?

GARRETT: It is. It's my second opportunity to co-write the theme song for the opening ceremony. And the theme song "Reach Up L.A." was conceived by the Davis Elen advertising agency, whose client Toyota is an official sponsor of the Special Olympics, and I was invited to write the lyric and the melody with my co-writers and producers from the Davis Elen Agency Kevin Nadeau and Bert Kelley.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so what do you think of when you're trying to co- write, when you're trying to come up with this material? What are you envisioning? I mean, this is a great upbeat kind of tune, of course. It makes you excited about L.A. Who isn't? But what is it that you envision, you know, when you put those -- you know, the pen to paper and the thoughts into words, all that good stuff?

GARRETT: Well, what I think about is the subject. And the subject in this piece are the Special Olympians. They are so amazing. The stick-to-itiveness and the energy that think bring to this whole ceremony is just awesome. And the work that they had to do to get to where they are is so much -- it's magnified by the fact that they are often plagued with emotional and physical disabilities.

So the fact that they persevere and power through and are champions, it just is so heartwarming. And I was just -- all I had to do was just convey that in a melody and a lyric, and it was really -- when you think about the Olympians, it's really easy.

WHITFIELD: Oh yes. They are so inspiring. That really speaks to the pace of this music. It's upbeat. It's exciting. It just makes you envision reaching.

So you have worked with so many incredible artists. Michael Jackson, say no more. Madonna, Quincy Jones. I know when I hear a Michael Jackson song, I'm just kind of, like, Michael. What do you think of given your very close relationship with him with all of this music? What do you think of when you hear his music? What kind of memories come about for you?

GARRETT: Oh, here we go. There's not a day that goes by -- even when I'm not trying to think about him, I could pull up next to somebody in the car and the window is down and he's on the radio. I can walk into a department store. He's in the air. I can walk into an elevator. He is omnipotent. He's everywhere. And I don't even want to think about him sometimes. And he's always present in my life. So I'm happy to have that memory with him. I was really lucky to spend the year and a half that I spent with him on the "Dangerous" tour. And I'm just proud to be associated with him in any way really. WHITFIELD: And Quincy Jones, I had the honor of interviewing him a

couple of years ago. He too is like bigger than life when you hear music produced by him, much of Michael Jackson's music produced by him, but other artists, too. What do you think of? Where is he in your memory bank?

GARRETT: Quincy is my mentor. He's the one that discovered me. He's the one that introduced me to Mr. Jackson. He's the one that introduced my song to Michael. So I am forever indebted to Quincy Jones. And he's the guy that I co-wrote these Special Olympics songs for the Shanghai Olympics in 2007.

WHITFIELD: You are just nonstop!

GARRETT: I can't. I'll stop when I die.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: So what is next? What's on the horizon for Siedah Garrett?

GARRETT: Siedah Garrett is writing an autobiography. And I'm making an album that is to coincide with the book that I'm writing.

[14:55:00] And other than the book and this Special Olympics project, I am so stoked to meet FLOTUS. I'm going to meet FLOTUS.

WHITFIELD: Yes, you are.

GARRETT: The first lady of the United States. I can't wait.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure she is really excited to meet you, too, because you're an incredible American talent.

GARRETT: I don't know about that.

WHITFIELD: Oh come on, you know it. You're amazing.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Siedah Garrett, thanks so much. Great seeing you. All the best.

GARRETT: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Awesome.

GARRETT: Appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: No problem.

All right, in the next hour, Donald Trump, yes, he'll be talked about some more because he just went after U.S. Senator John McCain.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured.

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WHITFIELD: Is he backtracking now? We'll take a look.

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WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories, officials say Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been moved into the super max, the nation's most secure federal prison. Tsarnaev was being held in Florence at a separate prison in Colorado. A federal jury sentenced Tsarnaev to death in May for his involvement in the 2013 attack.

And banks in Greece will reopen on Monday after being closed three weeks during the financial crisis. A deal was reached this week to give Greece nearly $100 billion. Right now, Greece owes more than $300 billion to its creditors.