Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sanders Now Supporting Wasserman Schultz's Primary Candidate; Taliban Leader Mullah Mansour Killed in a U.S. Airstrike; Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld is On That Ticket As the VP; President Obama Has Arrived in Vietnam; French Officials Tightening Security at Charles de Gaulle Airport; Donald Trump Delivering Some Mixed Messages Today on Gun Control. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 22, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:08] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From some cases, teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly.

WHITFIELD: Plus, Hillary Clinton has a new message about Donald Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be the nominee. I will be running against Donald Trump. I do not want Americans and, you know, good thinking Republicans as well as Democrats and independents to start to believe that this is a normal candidacy. It isn't.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And Sanders has kind of a rough go with the Democratic National Committee. Now he's throwing his support behind the DNC chair's primary rival. We will talk with him this hour.

That's all straight ahead. NEWSROOM starts now.

All right. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Senator Bernie Sanders is in an uphill battle to win the Democratic presidential nomination. And now, the Vermont senator is escalating his war against a major leader of the Democratic Party. The Sanders campaign has been engaged in a growing feud with DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz saying claiming she favors his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

This morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper, Sanders announced he was now supporting Wasserman Schultz's primary candidate in the race for Florida's 23rd congressional district. Sanders even went as far as to say that if he were elected president, Wasserman Schultz will no longer be the head of the DNC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You've been calling for a revolution in Florida. Are you with Wasserman Schultz or are you with her opponent?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, clearly I favor her opponent. His views are much closer to mine than is as Wasserman Schultz's and let me also say this. In all due respect to the current chairperson, if elected president, she would not be reappointed to be chair of the DNC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: DNC chairwoman Wasserman Schultz issued this statement to Sanders' comment saying this. Quote "Even though Senator Sanders has endorsed my opponent, I remain as I have been from the beginning neutral in the presidential democratic primary," end quote.

All right. So let's bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty who is in California where Sanders is expected to hold a rally there in the next couple of hours.

So Sunlen, Sanders seems to intent on expanding his fight for the Democratic nomination by taking on now the Democratic leadership.

SUNLEN SERFATY, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. You know, this is certainly a significant escalation of the feud between them and something that we have really seen almost snowball over the last couple of months over the course of this primary campaign, something that has been well documented though Sanders campaign really going after Debbie Wasserman Schultz. They have, of course, been very unhappy and they have been very critical of her role in the DNC as chairwoman. To put simply, they believe that the system and nominating process has really benefited Hillary Clinton. The rules in place and they've complained from everything from debates being scheduled on Saturday night to closed primaries in big states like New York, something that Bernie Sanders consistently brings up even now on campaign trail and also going into the role of superdelegates, all of these at large a part of the nominating process that the Sanders campaign and Bernie Sanders very strongly say benefits Hillary Clinton. And look, his endorsement of Tim Canova certainly is a big part of that, really has, been escalating between them of the last couple of months. So it was very significant with Bernie Sanders this morning with Jake Tapper came out and said no, I'm not going to support her, I'm going to support him.

It will be interesting even though this is a Florida house race to see if Bernie Sanders brings that up here at this rally here in Vista, California today. This is exactly the sort of thing that rallies up his supporters, railing against the Democratic nominee in process, railing against the system saying it's rigged. So we will see, Fred, later here today he brings that up -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. So let's learn more now about the DNC chair's challenger in that congressional district and talk to the man himself, Tim Canova. Thanks for joining me. Appreciate it.

Thank you for having any.

WHITFIELD: All right. So you are the challenger in this primary for the 23rd district Florida district for U.S. Congress seat. So I know that senator Sanders asked you to serve on his Wall Street reform advisory panel in 2011. But tell us more about your relationship with him. Why is he so in your corner?

TIM CANOVA (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, FLORIDA: Well, I imagine he sees that I share his progressive agenda. I welcome senator Sanders' support for this team. He has been right on an awful lot of issues and I think we have a similar progressive agenda. I'm a progressive in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt. And I think there are people in this wing of the party. Some people call it the Elizabeth warren wing, Bernie Sanders as well that want the same progressive reforms.

[15:05:18] WHITFIELD: So you are not necessarily, you know, you are not gunning for Debbie Wasserman Schultz's DNC chairwoman job, but by gunning for this congressional position, if you were to unseat her, it would undermine her authority and leadership authority as DNC chair, right?

CANOVA: Well, that's probably true. And I'm not running to be the DNC chair. You know, I think the voters in our district have not been well served. Being the DNC chair is a full-time job and representing people in the House of Representatives is a full-time job. And I don't think anybody can effectively. And arguably my opponent is not doing either one quite effectively.

WHITFIELD: So what central to your campaign for that congressional district seat? Are you using some of the same language that Wasserman Schultz is throwing shade on him and has been for a long time as he's battling for the nomination against Hillary Clinton now?

CANOVA: Well, listen. I think that's for voters to decide how she is doing at DNC chair. I think most folks look at her and they see her as the DNC chair and a lot of her see her as a failed chairwoman. But here in south Florida, she is seen as increasingly out of touch with her own constituents. She is probably more -- I'm sure she is more receptive to corporate interests and taking an awful lot of corporate money over the course of her career. And this isn't just my opinion. The "Miami Herald' did a politi-fact check and said it is true. She has been taking millions of dollars from Wall Street banks and biggest corporations and she has been more responsive to those interest than her own constituents.

And you know, I have been in this district teaching as a law professor and probably spend more time in the she has since she has been in Washington and all over the country as DNC chair. And I can tell you that here are a lot of problems in the district that are not really being addressed at adequately. There is a real job's crisis for this generation. And it doesn't matter if we're talking about millennials or (INAUDIBLE) or baby boomers. It's a very unforgiving jobs markets. And these kinds of problems are being ignored by our representative. And in many ways in her own votes in the House of Representatives I think she is making the problems worse,, the way she is voted on trade issues, on budget cuts, on the war on drugs, and on predatory finance, pushing the interest of pay day lenders for instance. So this district is really in need of better representation and that is why I step up to run. WHITFIELD: And also on a national stage, are you in agreement with

Bernie Sanders who reiterated just today that he thought that the DNC had anointed Hillary Clinton in what he called a very unfair process. He too is, you know, using the same language that Donald Trump used about the Republican process saying that it's rigged and that even the superdelegates, you know, you wouldn't feel so bad if that went away. Where are you on all of that?

CANOVA: Well, I've not been all that happy with how the DNC has approached the presidential election either. I was frustrated at first that there were so few debates. But, you know, my campaign is not about this issue. It's really about local issues. I think running the DNC is a full time job and a difficult one. I used to teach at the University of Miami and Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee was a student of ours at that time. This is 20 years ago. He has a full-time job running the DNC -- I'm sorry, the Republican National Committee. And you know, should the Republicans come out of their convention united, it might -- no small part to Reince Priebus's efforts. Whereas if the Democrats come out of their convention united, it may not be because of Debbie Wasserman Schultz but in spite of her efforts.

WHITFIELD: What do you envision for the DNC convention?

CANOVA: Democratic National Convention?

WHITFIELD: Yes, is it going to be contentious? Do you envision that the stage will be set for unification? Or do you see it as becoming much more (INAUDIBLE) one?

CANOVA: I don't have a crystal ball any more than you do. I certainly hope the Democrats come out --.

WHITFIELD: You have a gut or feeling, don't you?

CANOVA: Well, on a bad day I have a bad feeling, you know, we all can see the tea leaves and worry. The party is certainly divided at the moment. And a lot will come down to California voters, it's a big state. It's interesting in the past California has been a side note in these presidential primaries and this year California could pick the winner depending on how it goes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tim Canova, thank you so much and all the best. Good luck in your race.

[15:10:06] CANOVA: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: All right. When we come back, in the past 48 hours, Donald Trump has that he wants to ban gun free zones with the exception of classrooms. But he does think teachers should be armed. So which is it? We will talk about his evolving stance on gun regulation.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton says Trump is pandering to the gun lobby and warns of a quote dangerous and violent America if he is elected.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:14:41] WHITFIELD: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with more mixed messages today on gun control, having many wondering if Trump can stick to his guns. The latest a light night tweet saying Hillary Clinton's criticism on his position are wrong. Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong. Then just a few hours later in an interview on "FOX & friends" this morning, Trump shifted his tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:12] TRUMP: I don't want to have guns in classrooms although I see cases teachers should have guns in classrooms frankly because teachers are, you know, things that are going on in our schools are unbelievable. You look at some of our schools, unbelievable what's going on. But I'm not advocating guns in classroom, but remember in some cases and a lot of people have been in this case, teachers should be able to have gun, trained teachers should have able to have guns in classrooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So this all comes on the heels of the NRA endorsement of Trump on Friday. And Hillary Clinton calling his words dangerous at a Trayvon Martin foundation dinner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Parents and teacher and schools should have the right to keep guns out of classrooms, just like Donald Trump does at many of his hotels by the way. This is someone running to be president of the United States of America a country facing a gun violence epidemic and he is talking about more guns in our schools. He is talking about more hatred and division in our streets. Even above more nuclear weapons in the world. That's no way to keep us safe. You want to imagine what Trump's America will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry. Picture more anger and fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more about this with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.

So Ron, I think this really exemplifies, both are focusing in a very big way on general election?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You can learn a lot from this dispute. You know, you look at - from 2000 to 2012 after Al Gore, Democrats simply would not touch the gun control issue there. You know, there is the feeling in a party was Gore's advocacy of gun control. It was part of the reason he lost such big part of the race. He lost to George W. Bush. But in fact, the coalition that Hillary Clinton is now defending on, gun control is a winning issue with them. The two groups that are strongest for her are non-white voters and college educated white women. On the other hand, gun control remains a problem for Democrats with

the groups that are in moving towards the Republicans. And Donald Trump's strongest groups are non-college and non-urban white voters. And those voters are passionately against gun control for the most part.

And so, what you see is an issue here like many of the cultural disputes in modern politics, this issue widens the divide between the two sides along racial and geographic lines.

WHITFIELD: So how does that perhaps that NRA endorsement now kind of change things for Donald Trump who feels now that with that endorsement, he said I was surprised, I didn't know I was going to get this, does this mean that he is trying to I guess trying to shape his dialogue now to appeal to the NRA audience. And he is also kind of getting tripped up potentially as we see this kind of the back and forth changing of language, tripped up with, OK, wait a minute. Which audience am I trying to appeal to right now?

BROWNSTEIN: It's a really good point. I mean, look. Guns are one of many issues on which Trump is repositioning himself and sometimes on the fly to align with the kind of consensus view in the Republican Party. He started in a very different place. I mean, you know, this is a lifetime New Yorker whose views on many social issues s Ted Cruz once said would be shaped by New York values and now he is kind of repositioning himself. But again, if you kind of look at where the core strengths of each of these candidates, there is a logic to what is happening here. Donald Trump is running very well among non- college and non-urban whites, those of the non-college white and in particular with the key group that powered him to the nomination. And the "ABC Washington Post" poll out today, he has a huge lead among them.

On the other hand, if you look at where Hillary Clinton is going to be relying on to try to, you know, win this election, it is primarily that the core are these college socially liberal whites who tend to be more pro-gun control and minority voters who then to be very strongly gun control. So the fact that this issue is reengaged after really 12, you know, three consecutive elections where it was not is revealing in itself of just which how far these coalitions have moved apart.

WHITFIELD: Well, interesting. Then reportedly as pertains to Donald Trump, there are a lot of traditional Republican big donors who don't want to touch him, who are using words like contempt and distrust. And they don't really want to throw their money his way, but then does he really need it at this juncture because, you know, he continues to be in the headlines. He continues to get the attention whether it be by tweets or by news conference. Does he need their money anyway?

BROWNSTEIN: It's a great question. I mean, look. In the presidential election, paid media matters less than any other campaign because it is so much free media. And this election has gotten more coverage than ever before.

But I think what you are seeing - I mean, if you look at the polls that have come out over the last week, "New York Time"/CBS, ABC "Washington Post" today, NBC/"Wall Street Journal" today, they all tell you the same thing. Despite all of this elite level Republican unease with Donald Trump and it is real from elected officials and donors, the party is largely -- the rank in file of the party is largely rallying around him as the only choice in a two-person race against Hillary Clinton who the Republican base detest especially with control of the Supreme Court on the line. So Donald Trump may have more success at unifying rank and file Republican voters than, you know, many would have expected a few months ago.

Right now Hillary Clinton is facing a lot of trouble where you have extraordinarily high number of Bernie Sanders voters, self-identified level and young people saying they are not going to support her. She has as much need to unify the party, maybe even more today than Donald Trump does despite all of the kind of elite resistance to him which is unlikely to entirely dissipate with the fall.

[15:20:46] WHITFIELD: Right. And we heard Bernie Sanders today reiterate that that he says, you know, he is not necessarily going to advocate this kind of unification in time for the convention unless she comes on his side on certain issues, climate change being one and health care for everybody being another. So it is going to be contentious indeed.

BROWNSTEIN: The numbers for young people, Fred, (INAUDIBLE), the numbers among -- the biggest red flag for Hillary Clinton in this new wave of polls is her weak performance among young people who heard (ph) Sanders overwhelmingly. The biggest red flag for Trump is that he is underperforming among those college educated whites, particularly women. If he can't improve that prevent him from getting to the overwhelming majority of whites then he likely if he needs to win.

WHITFIELD: Right. Bottom line, he goes to the poll.

All right. Thank you so much Ron Brownstein. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Taliban leader Mullah Mansour killed in a U.S. airstrike. It is major blow to the terrorist network.

CNN's Nic Robertson is following this -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda figures sources tell us that Mullah Mansour is dead. What is ill this going to mean for U.S. forces in Afghanistan right now and going forwards? More after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:38] WHITFIELD: ISIS is calling for more terror attacks on west. In an audio recording released online, a spokesman purportedly for the jihadi group urged its followers to carry out attack during Ramadan which begins in early June. The message also came two days after the EgyptAir crash but makes no mention of that.

There is also an all-out battle coming for the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah in Iraq. They are telling city residents are told to flee if they can. Human rights groups have been warning that ISIS was barring residents from leaving the city and some were facing starvation. Fallujah was an early victory for ISIS militants who controlled it since January of 2014.

And the Taliban confirming today their top leader is dead, Mullah Mansour, the highest ranking member of the insurgent group was killed Saturday, the target of an American airstrike.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins me now - Nic.

ROBERTSON: Yes, Fredericka, this was a man when he took over the leadership of the Taliban, it was divided. He then oversaw of bringing back together of those divided elements and an escalation of the military campaign from turning away from the possibility of peace talks. And that appears to be why he is potentially sort of become therefore more of an important target and now we know targeted in the U.S. drone strike just across the border (INAUDIBLE) that is inside Pakistan.

U.S. officials still waiting for confirmation that he has actually been killed. They targeted him, but was it him confirmed dead? They are waiting to get more information on that. However, Al-Qaeda and Taliban sources are already saying yes, he is dead. That they are meeting and that they are obviously considering their new leader for the Afghan-Taliban -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

All right. Two former Republican governors now joining forces to run on a third party ticket on the race for the White House, including Bill Wells, who went on CNN today to defend the controversial comments he made by Donald Trump and the holocaust. That story straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:56] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We are following several developing stories this hour. Egypt is deploying a submarine to the Mediterranean Sea to search for the flight recorders of the EgyptAir flight 804. A new tighter security measures are announced at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport where the flight took off.

And Donald Trump with a very mixed message on guns, tweeting last night that Hillary is wrong when she says he wants guns brought into the classrooms. Then saying this today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Some cases teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This all comes on the heels of the NRA's endorsement of Trump on Friday. And Hillary Clinton calling his words dangerous at a Trayvon Martin foundation dinner.

There's been a lot of talk about conservatives mounting a third party run to prevent Donald Trump from winning the presidency. Two former Republican governors are joining forces and running on the libertarian party. Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld is on that ticket as the VP. And today he stood by his controversial comments likening Donald Trump's immigration deportation stance to Nazi policies during the holocaust. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's talk about immigration. You've obviously differed sharply with Donald Trump in particular on this issue of mass deportation. His plan to deport the estimated 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. And you told the "New York Times" about that plan. Quote "I can hear the glass crunching on the (INAUDIBLE) in ghettos of Warsaw and Vienna when I hear that, honest."

Now, obviously for those who are watching who don't know, (INAUDIBLE) or crystal night in English, that's from the holocaust who refers to the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after Jewish owned stores and businesses in Synagogue had their windows smashed by angry anti-Semitic mobs. Is that a little strong you think to talk about the holocaust?

WILLIAM WELD, LIBERTARIAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I don't think so. I served five years on the U.S. holocaust commission on appointment of George W. Bush. And by the way, Israel never had a stronger friend in the White House. And I'm -- that was my request, and I'm absolutely certain that as we said in those years if we don't remember, we absolutely will forget. And you have got to forget a lot of things to think it's a good idea to round up and deport 11 million people living peaceably, most of them working in America in the middle of the night? No. Not the United States. China maybe, not the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Weld also talked about why as a former Republican governor he was now running as a libertarian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Even if you didn't win, a third party candidate can have a huge impact on the outcome of a presidential race. Some people for instance believe that Ralph Nader played a role in helping hurt Al Gore and elect George W. Bush. As a former Republican governor is that a concern? Would you be comfortable with a prospect of possibly being blamed for tipping the election to the Democrats?

WELD: No, it's not a concern at all. I think we have our positions. We are going to press them. I would like to ideally nudge the Democrats towards the economic center. Get them away from excessive spending. I would like to nudge the Republicans to get away from their anti-abortion substance, their queasiness with gays and lesbians being able to live openly and married and peaceably. The unbelievable proposals that have been made in the immigration area to round up and deport 11 million people. This is really not prime time. And we don't mind saying so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Weld is running as the vice presidential candidate on the libertarian party ticket with former New Mexico governor, Gary Johnson. They still need to win that party's nomination next weekend.

All right. President Obama has arrived in Vietnam to begin his trip to Asia. With an 11-hour time difference, the president is getting some sleep before a formal arrival ceremony in Hanoi tonight. Air force one took a wide route around the South China Sea as it flew into Hanoi avoiding flying over areas contested by China and other Asian countries.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski is traveling with the president.

[15:35:24] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is calling this visit the first of its kind. Now, President Obama is really the first U.S. president to spend time here, three days to try and deepen and strengthen ties with Vietnam. He is going to be talk about trade, his transpacific partnership, but also security and defense. And one of the issues hanging over this trip is whether the U.S. will indeed fully lift the arms embargo that affected sales of arms to Vietnam. I mean, that would have been unheard of decades ago. But it was lifted partially two years ago.

Now, one issue that could affect that though is human rights here in Vietnam. Human rights watch says it's dire in all areas. And just today, BBC was ordered by the Vietnamese government to stop reporting from here. But whatever the U.S. does in this part of the world, it's directly affected by an effect the relationship with China. China and Vietnam have a dispute over islands in the South China Sea. The U.S. tries to counter China's influence in this region by helping the U.S.'s other allies including Vietnam.

But China doesn't always follow the rules. I mean, we saw just this past week Chinese planes do this unsafe intercept of a U.S. plane that was doing a routine mission over the South China Sea, flying within 50 feet of it. And when the president arrived here they took a route that avoided the South China Sea all together. So the influence of China is always an issue that overshadows any presidential trip to Asia.

Michelle Kosinski, CNN, Hanoi.

WHITFIELD: And as investigators search for answers, the downing of EgyptAir flight 804 has highlighted the potential holes in security in our airports right here at home. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:49] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

French official are tightening security at Charles de Gaulle airport as the search for EgyptAir flight 804 enters its fourth day. The plane took off from Paris Wednesday and since then there have been questions about security measures at the airport and who may have had access to the plane.

Meanwhile, "The New York Times" is reporting that very same airplane was vandalized two years ago and spray painted with the phrase we will bring this plane down. CNN asked Egypt's civil aviation minister if he knew of that report and he said, he was not aware that anyone had ever written that.

Today on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper, congressman Peter King weighed in on the threats that are facing the world's airports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: It shows the extent of the Islamist threat at the airports from insiders. It also showed the anger towards general Sisi and (INAUDIBLE), combination of anti-Sisi plus the Islamist movement, the ISIS movement and the fact that the insiders at the airport all over the world, especially countries like Egypt, that to me is a greater threat to us than passengers bringing bombs on a plane. It's people behind the scenes, those who have access to playing the airport workers, the cleaners, the scrubbers and anyone who does, again, does not face the same scrutiny as passengers. They have access and that is the real threat here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: For more on the investigation we are also joined now by former department of transportation inspector general Mary Schiavo and CNN intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer.

All right. Good to see both of you.

So Bob, do you agree with what the congressman is saying, there are gaping holes?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: I agree. These airports both in Paris and Cairo, the workers have not been vetted that well. And you look at the investigation now, the French are looking into Charles de Gaulle, the Egyptians into Cairo's airport. It's very easy to get a bomb on if a worker carries it on. And we still don't know. And it's true that, you know, bringing a bomb in full of explosives and passenger splitting the airplane in half is very, very difficult with today's security. But an airport worker, much easier.

WHITFIELD: And then Mary, of course, we still don't know whether this was something like that, if someone infiltrated, you know, the airport or even that airline helped to bring it down or whether there were some mechanical failure. We know from a cars system on the plane, it emits signals the ground to say this is wrong. Pilots also get a chance to see these signals. And in this case as far as we know, there was smoke coming from the cockpit. There was smoke coming from the lavatory, the windshield heated up. But are these things - I mean, you and I spoke yesterday, and you said some of these things are seem to be part of the pattern of these airbuses. Is that something that needs to be further investigated? Do you see these potential scenarios as really having equal footing?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes. I think at this point both scenarios have to be given equal footing although I certainly agree with Bob. You know, the incidents of having graffiti at the airport, it happened at first airport at the (INAUDIBLE) on many occasions and things were not written just on this plane but other planes, but that's a very serious in this country, it's a crime of course. But that should have been investigated more thoroughly.

But in the case of the ACARS messages, what's really interesting and helpful I think is that airbus itself issued a statement yesterday and it said that the window heat sensors in the cockpit would have been generated by heat sensors. In other words, those messages, those warnings would have gone off because they were sensing heat.

But the sensors in the lavatories are optical sensors and they would have been sensing some sort of particulate, something in the air, be it smoke, be it some kind of, you know, vapors that have an optical content to them, those are triggered by that.

And so, yesterday, airbus said they don't have any guidance for operators right now. And they are going to have to stand by and continue to watch. And they can't explain how that could have brought down a plane. So even airbus is mystified at this point.

[15:45:09] WHITFIELD: So even though -- and we have these conversations yesterday, even though there were the discussions about the airbus, relying heavily on the computerization and if there may have been a fault in the computerization or the openerability of the computers on the plane, that it's very difficult for a pilot to manually correct. That these planes are very much reliant upon the computers. So doesn't that sound like a different message than what people have come to know these airbuses and their capabilities to be, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Yes, it is - I mean, there's good points in that system and bad points in that system. And the newer Boeing fly by wires also have these particular things. And that is that the plane itself tries to keep itself going. So when certain systems have problems, when they have fires they have issues, they have electrical arcing and shorting, the plane itself shuts down systems that it deems unnecessary and they go to what's called an alternative law, meaning a different way to fly the plane. So in many situations the pilots are limited in what they can do. And that is supposed to make the plane more savable, if you will. Help to save the plane. But it is different from the old planes I learned to fly on where you yank on the, you know, on the stick and you pull on the flaps manually. Those days are gone. WHITFIELD: So Bob, but it doesn't necessarily mean, even with there

is an explanation like that or, you know, or a scenario, you know, being painted for us, it still means that all options are on the table, right. There is no reason for anything to be ruled in or ruled out as yet.

BAER: Absolutely, Fred. Look on those explosive devices they don't have to be something that will crack the side of an airplane. If, for instance, you had some sort of thermite device that could be put under the (INAUDIBLE), that would disable the airplane and bring it down as well. There are all sorts of scenario as we can entertain. Of course, until we actually get some real evidence, we are not going to know for sure. And I think that would probably be in the black box.

WHITFIELD: And with no claim of responsibility at this juncture now, what, three days out, Bob, are you starting to feel less it was a terrorist act? I mean, why wouldn't somebody want to claim responsibility if there was a claim of responsibility to make?

BAER: Well, the other day Mary said it could be a dry run, actually it wasn't a dry run, but a practice for other attacks. And remember, the Islamic state runs franchises. And people that follow it don't necessarily follow the rulebook. And there is no rule book for this. And the scariest scenario is they are going to attack again. And why draw attention to this attack if you have other opportunities.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bob Baer, Mary Schiavo, thanks so much.

All right. New details now in the investigation surrounding the death of singer Prince.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live for us in Minnesota -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. It's now been a month and a day since Prince was discovered dead here at Paisley Park. We are hearing new details about the hours leading up to his death and just how long he may have been lying there lifeless in his elevator before he was found. We will have that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:04] WHITFIELD: New revelations about the hours and days in leading up to Prince's death. The Minneapolis Star Tribune report that Prince was likely dead for at least six hours before being discovered in the elevator of his Paisley Park home.

CNN's Sara Sidner is following that story and joins us live now outside Paisley Park.

So Sara, what more are we learning?

SIDNER: We are learning that that publication basically talked to someone who spoke to a paramedic who was here and respond to the scene on April 21st when Prince was found dead, found lifeless in his elevator. And what they said was that they believe that he had been dead for at least six hours until authorities got there, until his close associates were there and found his body.

We are also learning more about what led up to that. The day before he died, he was in the hospital according to the Star Tribune. He was being given intravenous fluids as well. And so, obviously, he was having some health problems. As to what that was exactly, we don't know why he was being given those fluids. We do know that a few days before he died, we did talk to his publicist who said that he was suffering from the flu. And a lot of time, people need hydration for that.

But we also know from law enforcement sources, now after his death, that there were pain medication, opioid-based pain medications that were found both on his body and in his home. No one at this point can give a definitive answer as to exactly what killed Prince. We are all still waiting for the toxicology report and for the autopsy report to be released. And we have no timeline on exactly when that might be. But it has been now four weeks and a day since Prince died -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Still so mysterious.

Meantime, there was a huge memorial at Paisley Park. What more can you tell us about that?

SIDNER: You know, this memorial had been here and it covered the entire area around Prince's estate. What we can tell you now is that Bremmer trust, the special administrator that's been put in place to try and find out all of his assets and then divide those assets amongst his heirs. They have come out and said, look, we had to take the memorial down, but they have said they are going to preserve a lot of the items that were left here in Prince's memory from since. And still, Fred, there are dozens of people coming every single day to honor him. So it's an incredible outpouring still from his fans, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sara Sidner, thank you so much in Minneapolis there.

All right. We will have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:22] WHITFIELD: All right. So what do you get when two Democrats walk into a bar? SNL answer that question last night spoofing the race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bernie, you should be proud, you know. You ran a damn good campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm running a good campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But don't worry. I promise I'm going to have a very special role for you in my administration. How would you like to be, wait for it, the senator from Vermont?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary, I'll miss that lack of charm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll miss your deal, too. But I have to move on. And that's why I've started pivoting to the general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to say, I've noticed the pivot. Not a fan of the pivot. Way too early for the pivot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you keep saying pivot? What is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your drinks. And whose bill should I put this on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Bernie Sanders, aka, Larry David. Not only he gets a free drink from Clinton. The two eventually dance in exchange for delegates.

All right. We got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.

All right. Hello again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivering some mixed messages today on gun control, having many wondering where he really stands on the issue. And a late night tweet, Trump slammed Hillary Clinton's criticism on his position saying this. Quote "crooked Hillary said I want that guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong." Then just a few hours later, he had an interview on "Fox and Friends" this morning, he shifted his tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't want to have guns in classrooms. Although, in some cases, teacher should have guns in classrooms, frankly, because teachers, they have been on things that are going on the --.

(END VIDEO CLIP)