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TSA and Homeland Security to Address Concerns at Press Conference; George Zimmerman Trying to Auction Gun Used to Kill Trayvon Martin; Young Man Recruited to Jihadist Network in Belgium Dies in Syria; Michael Strahan Appears for Final Show with Kelly Ripa on "Live."; Facebook Accused of Suppressing Conservative Views in Timelines; Trial Continues for Edward Nero, Accused in Freddie Gray Case; Naval Officer Responsible for Sailors Wandering into Iran Territory Fired; Riders Suspended When Extreme Roller Coaster Malfunctions at Busch Gardens in Tampa; Cat Darts Across Field During Cardinals-Angels Game. Aired 10:30-11a

Aired May 13, 2016 - 10:33   ET

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

[10:30:00]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: ... You see the lines there? Oh my goodness, I feel for those people. With summer on the horizon, we could be seeing much, much worse. Much longer lines. Of course the frustrations don't stop there with the lines, either. You're looking at 3,000 pieces of luggage at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. This happened yesterday, after a computer glitch took down the TSA screen machines. The TSA also on the hot seat on Capitol Hill, its lawmakers look into claims of mismanagement and complaints over those long lines.

The head of the TSA expected to address those growing concerns at a news conference later today at Reagan National Airport. And that's where Tom Foreman is this morning. Hi Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol. You know the real purpose of this thing today is to start off -- or the ostensible purpose -- is to talk about the increased travel level this summer. The measures that (will be) put in place to make it secure and make it move smoothly. Obviously they're going to have a little show and tell here talking about all of the things they're going to do.

But that's the ostensible purpose. The real purpose of this is a little bit of damage control. Essentially they want to have the Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson standing shoulder to shoulder with the TSA Administrator, Peter Neffenger. To basically say look, we're standing together, we're solving these problems.

Because they know they have taken some real punches here in the past few days about improper bonuses to various leaders in the organization while they're saying they have issues with their budget. About improper staffing, about possible profiling. All of these were allegations that were out there, they are just getting pounded over. So they want to stand here and at least make it look like they're headed in the right direction. The big question, of course, is going to be, "why should anyone believe you when they see problems like we've seen recently? Carol?

COSTELLO: Oh and they were terrible problems. Some of the people in Atlanta are waiting up to three hours to get through security. They missed their flights. It's just crazy. One of the problems seems to be money, Tom. Not enough ...

FOREMAN: Yes, one of the most interesting (line for) ...

COSTELLO: Not enough TSA agents are available to do the job. So might Congress pony up?

FOREMAN: Well your guess is as good as mine. Congress doesn't seem inclined to pony up for much of anything these days. However, it is also a fair argument to make that virtually every government agency everywhere in the country says its first complaint is "we don't get enough money." Well if they're not going to get enough money, there has to be another solution. So that's another question to TSA and to Homeland Security. Which is to say, if you don't get anymore money, how are you going to solve the problems?

Because you can't simply say to the public, "well you'll just have to live with this unless you give us the budget we want." Because it's very unlikely all those budget requests are going to be granted for anyone, Homeland Security included.

COSTELLO: Some of the airlines have provided added security themselves. Is that the solution?

FOREMAN: Oh, I -- you can always lean on the private sector to some degree. But the private sector is going to say, as the airlines do, we're under enough financial stress already. This is your job, do your job, and we'll do ours and we'll make it work. Carol?

COSTELLO: Well I'll be eager to hear what the Homeland Security man has to say, along with the TSA. Tom Foreman reporting live from Reagan National this morning, thank you. Still to come in the Newsroom, George Zimmerman's plan to sell the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin, so far thwarted. Now we're hearing what Martin's family has to say about his attempts to auction it off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:37:35]

COSTELLO: We should find out at any moment if the gun used to kill Trayvon Martin will still be up for auction. An official decision from the founder of United Gun Group was expected to come at the top of the hour. The website said Thursday, it would not list the gun. George Zimmerman originally listed the weapon on GunBroker. But the website later pulled the plug on that sale.

The attorney who represented Trayvon Martin's family is now speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN CRUMP, MARTIN FAMILY ATTORNEY: It's like he is shooting and killing Trayvon all over again four years later with this attempt to auction off this gun like it's some kind of trophy. I mean it's offensive, it's outrageous, and it's insulting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Polo Sandoval is covering the story for us, good morning.

SANDOVAL: Hey Carol, good morning. It really has been a very eventful 24 hours in this story. As you mentioned there, George Zimmerman turning to one website hoping to sell off what he calls, "a piece of American history." But then gunbroker.com taking that website down -- rather that item off the website. So then he turns to this other one, unitedgungroup.com which opened the bidding at $5,000 yesterday afternoon.

Now it's up to $65 million, which by the way may not truly be what it seems. In fact, several of the user names that have submitted bids include Tamir Rice, which we know is the young man that was shot and killed by Cleveland police officers a while back. So again it does cause a question of legitimacy of some of these bids.

However that controversy still remains. That item -- we checked just a few moments ago -- that 9mm pistol is still online. Many -- some people have actually come to the defense of George Zimmerman, saying he is an American, he was acquitted of this crime. It is his property and he can do with it what he would like.

But then you hear back from really, some of the critics including Trayvon Martin's family, and of course their attorney who we just heard from, saying that simply this would be disrespectful. And compares it to something else, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUMP: I (say) to those people, if it was O.J. Simpson auctioning off the gloves in the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murder, would they be making the same argument? Why is it a different standard when it's a person of color as the victim, and the perpetrator is assumed to be white. And it's just we change the rules and we don't see it as offensive. But we don't condone the act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: All right, so this is where we are now. Zimmerman continues to auction off that weapon on unitedgungroup.com. The organizer -- at least the owner of that website -- had said that he would reconsider, to really decide whether or not it would remain online. He said that he would figure that out during this hour. We checked, it is still there, we have not heard back from the owner of that website quite yet.

We have reached out, of course we'll let you know what he decides, a little later today. Carol? COSTELLO: Polo Sandoval reporting live. Thank you. Still to come in

the Newsroom, a mother's heartbreak as her young son is recruited by Jihadists in Belgium, only to end up dying in Syria.

[10:40:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The Syrian government says it is committed to peace talks set to resume next week in Vienna. Even as (the) fragile cease fire, the city of Aleppo expires. Hezbollah says one of its top military commanders was killed by an explosion yesterday near the Damascus airport. He'd been indicted by the UN for his alleged role in a 2005 assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister.

The 5-year old Syrian conflict remains a powerful magnet for radicalized Muslims around the world. Our Erin McLaughlin has more on a major Jihadi recruiting network in Belgium.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Photos from Sabri Refla's (ph) 18th birthday. A family trip to celebrate. One of his mother's happiest memories before he went to Syria.

SALIA BENNOLI (ph), SABRI REFLA'S (ph) MOTHER: We don't know what's happening in Syria, but we are sure with what's happened with our son Sabri (ph) when he was here.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Eight months after that trip, Salia Bennoli (ph) says her son became radicalized. He sent her a Facebook message to let her know he was in Syria. Then came a chilling phone call.

BENNOLI (ph) (via translator): The Syrian guy said, congratulation, your son just died as a martyr. And then he hung up. It was horrible. When I heard about his death, I felt like I died myself.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Bennoli (ph) says her son was the happiest of her four children. She didn't know the most dangerous Jihadist recruitment network in Belgium had approached her son. It's known as the Zerkani network, made up of veteran Jihadists and recruiters. Some would go on to carry out the terrorist attacks in paris and Brussels. Authorities have prosecuted more than 60 recruiters and foreign fighters. One of them was Sabri Refla (ph).

Because there's no proof of death, Refla (ph) was still convicted. His recruiters were also declared guilty. As you see here, the judge allowed them to walk free, pending their appeal. CNN tracked down one of the recruiters to his home address.

MCLAUGHLIN: This is the neighborhood of one of the recruiters convicted alongside Refla (ph). Refla's (ph) mother says her son called him from Syria pleading. Refla (ph) wanted to come home. The recruiter said no. We're here to ask him why.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): We ring the doorbell, his mother answers. She screams at us to leave her alone. As we walk away, the recruiter appears and confronts us. His words are not welcoming. He refuses to talk to us on camera. Belgian authorities tell CNN they have not notified residents that a convicted Jihadist recruiter is living in their midst. We saw a teenaged boy entering the same apartment building. The President of Brussells Tribunal says in Belgium, it's not unusual for a criminal to go free while they're waiting for appeal, if they're not considered a flight risk.

MCLAUGHLIN: How is it that a convicted member of a terrorist organization, sentenced to seven years in prison, is allowed to walk free after his trial?

UNKNOWN MAN (via translator): The judge says that this man's behavior was good throughout the trial. And this decision of the judge needs to be respected.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): For Refla's (ph) mother, the fact that her son's recruiters are free, while he's dead, is too much. She says it's as if he's died twice.

BENOLI (ph)I: I don't really believe in human justice. But in a God justice. And he will pay. Not here, but by God. And I just want to tell him that my son didn't have a second chance like him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[10:48:25]

COSTELLO: Erin McLaughlin joins us now from Brussels. That poor mother.

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right, Carol. And she is very much on a mission. She told me that she learned how to speak English, just so that she can communicate to the world what happened to her son. She also set up a non-profit organization called Save Belgium, which helps parents spot symptoms of radicalization in their children. They're symptoms that she says she missed back in 2013. She said she didn't even know what radicalization was.

She knew that there was something wrong with her son. She said that he stopped seeing his friends, stopped spending time at home, became more religious. But it wasn't until he was in Syria that she fully realized what happened to him. And she wants to help other parents make sure that does not happen to them. It's a badly needed perspective here, in Belgium. Which is dealing still, with the very serious problem of radicalization. Carol?

COSTELLO: Erin McLaughlin reporting live from Brussels this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the Newsroom, Mark Zuckerberg speaks out against claims that Facebook downplays Conservative views.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:45]

COSTELLO: One half of "Live With Kelly and Michael" called it quits today. Despite hurt feelings and reports of strained relations between the two co-hosts, today was all smiles and jokes, and (holding hugs). Originally ABC said Strahan would stay on the show through the Summer before going to Good Morning America. But Kelly Ripa pushed him out early, even if today was presented for laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY RIPA, HOST, ABC "LIVE WITH KELLY AND MICHAEL": It is your final day on the show.

MICHAEL STRAHAN, HOST ABC "LIVE WITH KELLY AND MICHAEL": It is my final day.

RIPA: We all came today to celebrate you. And we want to remind the audience that there is a run on discounted merchandise at the kiosk. For these collector's items.

STRAHAN: They're collector's items now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Bad feelings erupted after Strahan's departure was announced by the network without Ripa's knowledge. She protested by skipping work for the rest of the week. Let the hunt begin for a new co-host.

Facebook under fire over claims it censored Conservative topics. Now CEO Mark Zuckerberg is calling on Conservative leaders to meet with him face-to-face. He's speaking out for the first time, and taking to, what else, Facebook, with a message. He says, "we have found no evidence that this report is true. If we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it." CNN's Dylan Byers is with me with more. So there is no truth whatsoever to these reports?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER, MEDIA AND POLITICS: Well look, I don't know if there's no truth whatsoever, but it is -- de does have a point when he says that there's no evidence. And of course, this whole story has really taken off. And it's a story that remains one based on anonymous sources. And there is no evidence that Facebook suppressed Conservative stories. I think the larger question here for Facebook is, it needs to start really understanding and thinking of itself as a media company.

I mean, it is the best -- it is the place that people get their news now. And it needs to sort of, be more transparent and sort of take greater responsibility for the role it has in the dissemination and the consumption of news. And I think it's fair for Conservatives and Conservative news outlets to be concerned about this report. And it's certainly fair for them to ask for a fair hearing from the company.

But you know, this whole thing has sort of snowballed to the point where Conservatives sort of willingly believe that there's latent Liberal bias at Facebook. And again, that's all based off of one report with an anonymous source.

COSTELLO: So will Conservatives meet face-to-face with Jeff Zuckerberg? And who might these Conservatives be?

BYERS: Well who the conservatives are, we don't know. He has said that he would be willing -- he will be willing to meet with Conservatives. I think he takes this issue very seriously. I mean like, he's sitting at the helm of one of the most influential, powerful, and important companies of the 21st century. It would not be, it would not be good for him to lose one half of the political spectrum.

So he will have a meeting. We don't know who that's going to be with yet. He hasn't indicated who that will be with yet. There's of course one editor at Breitbart news, an influential Conservative site, who has asked to debate Mark Zuckerberg. I can't imagine that that will happen.

But look, I think they'll probably release details on who mark Zuckerberg will meet with and they'll go from there.

COSTELLO: OK so when you say that Facebook has to realize that a lot of people get their news from that source, it has to act more like a media -- like, what do you mean by that? Does that mean that Facebook now has to check out and see if every post is factual? I mean, that's a tall order, isn't it?

BYERS: No, it absolutely isn't. This is the problem that social media companies run into all the time. On the one hand they're simply platforms for content. They're aggregators of content and can hardly be responsible for the factual accuracy, let alone the opinions and agendas of news content.

But it remains the case that Facebook is the place where a lot of people get their news. And as such, they have to think very seriously about what sort of algorithms they use, about how they organize that content. And any indication that they're dismissing content because it has a Conservative banner because the people sitting in Facebook's offices don't think that it's credible, that's something that they're going to have to take more seriously than they have been to this point.

And I think that's what we saw in Zuckerberg's letter, that he takes this issue seriously and that he will address it. And that they have indeed launched an investigation into it.

COSTELLO: All right, Dylan Byers, thanks so much. Checking some of the top stories for you at 58 minutes past. The trial resumes today for one of six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Two other officers also charged in the case may be forced to testify. During opening statements, Prosecutors said Edward Nero did not follow proper training protocols. The defense argued that the officer wasn't even involved in Gray's apprehension though.

The officer in charge of ten American sailors who wandered into Iran territorial waters in January, has been fired from his job. The Navy says other personnel could still face disciplinary action. The sailors were detained by Iran for about 15 hours. The diplomatic mess also -- almost caused a last-minute snag in securing the Iran nuclear deal.

Sixty-four thrillseekers at Busch Gardens in Tampa were suddenly stranded when their extreme roller coaster stopped in mid-ride. High rise rescue equipment was finally brought in to get them down. A park spokeswoman tells CNN the ride remains closed until the cause of the malfunction can be discovered.

The Cardinals and Angels were tied up three a piece in the fourth inning last night when an orange cat darted across the infield. Yes, play stopped as the cat rounded third and then leaped into the stands. You can see the reaction. Exactly where it went after that. A fan eventually scooped up the cat and is credited with the save. No word on where the cat is now. That's awesome.

Thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello. AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

[11:00:20]