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Trump Supporters and Opponents Clash; Doctors Call for Olympics to Be Moved or Delayed; Referendum on UK Exit from EU Set for June 23; Released Ukrainian Pilot Speaks to CNN; A Look Inside Israeli Airport Security. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Political protests turn violent in the U.S. As Donald Trump targets California, demonstrators target Trump.

High an anxiety over the Rio Olympics. Why more than 100 scientists say Brazil should not host the summer games.

And the Ukrainian pilot who received a hero's welcome after her release from years of captivity. She's now speaking exclusively with CNN about life as a political prisoner inside Russia.

These stories are all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

And we begin with chaos on the campaign trail. It's happened again. Outside a Donald Trump rally in San Diego, California, things got ugly when his supporters and opponents went after one another.

Police broke up the crowds, but it wasn't easy. Three people, just three, were arrested. The presumptive Republican nominee, Mr. Trump, had already left the event when the confrontation started.

People on both sides of the Trump divide managed to keep things civil while the rally was going on. It was after it ended that things spun out of control. Our Paul Vercammen was in the middle of it all.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: San Diego police and sheriff's deputies and other departments had to respond in full riot gear after the Trump rally ended. What had happened is they had gone through great lengths to seal off the anti-Trump demonstrators from the people leaving the convention center, but eventually they did start to blend together as they were both walking back towards parking areas.

Shouting matches ensued. They were pushing. They were shoving. There were throwing things. There were punches thrown. There were arrests. And then they moved in in force.

Look behind me. You can see all of these officers in full riot gear, helmets on and visors down. They began moving everyone down Harbor Boulevard in San Diego not very far from the ocean at all.

And it was effective, because they took what was a rather large crowd at one point, and they thinned it out little by little. Not that there weren't confrontations or shouting or skirmishes along the way. But eventually, as it started to get darker, they got a handle on things and they were able to disburse the crowd on a rowdy day in San Diego. Now, back to you.

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ALLEN: Trump has now backed off from his implied agreement to debate Bernie Sanders. Earlier, he said he would quote, "love to debate the Democratic contender if the proceeds went to charity." Now he says he will wait and debate the eventually winner of the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Sanders response, quote, "I hope he changes his mind again. Mr. Trump is known to change his mind many times a day."

In other news, doctors are calling for the Rio Olympics to be postponed or moved due to concerns about the Zika virus. More than 100 prominent doctors and professors backed an open letter to the World Health Organization on Friday. In it, they say the Brazilian strain of Zika harms health in ways that no one has seen before. The letter shows growing disagreement in the medical community about the potential risks of the Olympics. The W.H.O. maintains there are no serious health concerns.

Senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is covering the story, and he gave us an update from Rio de Janeiro.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A group of more than 100 doctors and researchers have issued a public warning about health risks to the Olympics that are scheduled to take place in Rio in just over two months' time. The doctors writing that they're very concerned about the threats of the Zika virus. It's a mosquito-borne disease that is still being investigated at in time.

These doctors writing to the World Health Organization saying that the Olympics should either be postponed or moved to another place, warning that the risks of having a half million tourists coming here and then potentially bringing the virus to other countries around the world, to perhaps third-world countries that don't have very good healthcare facilities, that that could be a major threat to global health.

Now, this is coming in direct contradiction to advisories that come from the World Health Organization and from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC just on Thursday said, quote, "There's no public health reason to cancel or delay the Olympics." The advisory was for pregnant women not to travel here and for people to use mosquito repellent to protect them from mosquitoes.

The W.H.O. has also advised people not to go into poorer districts of Rio, where there is more open water and could be more exposure to mosquitos. The city officials say they're working hard to try to crack down on the mosquito population. And they say that here it is the winter months here in the Southern hemisphere, that there are usually fewer mosquitoes at this time, but the debate between doctors and health officials is likely to continue. Ivan Watson, CNN, Rio.

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ALLEN: There's another story we're following in Brazil. Outraged Brazilians are taking to the street after a 16-year-old girl says dozens of men raped her. They are demanding justice for the girl. Video of the alleged attack was put on social media. As Shasta Darlington reports, protestors saying being born as a woman means living in fear of being raped.

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SHASTA DARLINGTON: Brazilian police are searching for at least 30 people suspected in an alleged gang rap and for posting graphic images of the 16-year-old victim on the Internet. In the video and the photos, the girl is naked and unconscious. These images have caused a nationwide backlash.

At a press conference on Friday, police said they have identified four people, including a man in the video and the girl's boyfriend.

ALASSANDRO THEIRS, LEAD INVESTIGATOR, CYBER CRIMES UNIT, RIO POLICE (through translator): With the help of the general population, which reacted in an exceptional way by denouncing the video, we were able to identify some people.

DARLINGTON: The 38-second video emerged at the beginning of the week, and initially it was shared with vulgar jokes. Then it really did spark a backlash.

In the video there are very disturbing close-ups of the woman's body, and you can hear two men bragging about how at least 30 people have had sexual intercourse with her. After the video emerged, the girl went to the police, and she testified to them that she had gone to her boyfriend's house on Saturday in Favela in the western part of Rio and that she woke up the next morning in a different house surrounded by 33 armed men.

THEIRS (through translator): The victim says it was 33 people. Some others say 30, others 36. We still don't know how many people were involved. We have identified four people.

DARLINGTON: Brazilians took to Twitter and Facebook with angry messages using hashtags like #estupidocolochivo (ph) or #gangrape, also #rapecanbejustified. They posted slogans and videos saying things like we need to talk about the culture of rape. And it wasn't 30 against one, it was 30 against all of us.

Interim president Michel Temer also weighed in, denouncing the incident as a barbaric crime and calling for an emergency meet of security chiefs from all of Brazil's states next Tuesday where he wants to discuss ways to fight violence against women. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

ALLEN: A historic event in Japan at a peace memorial meant to heal lingering wounds from a devastating act of war. Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, Japan on Friday. The U.S. dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the city in 1945, feeding the end of World War II.

Mr. Obama laying a wreath there for the victims, and he said, "their souls still speak to us." He did not apologize for the catastrophic blast that changed the world in an instant, but he did call for a world free of nuclear weapons.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not bound by genetic code to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can learn. We can choose. We can tell our children a different story, one that describes a common humanity, one that makes war less likely and cruelty less easily acceptable.

ALLEN: Mr. Obama also spoke with several survivors of the atomic blast, giving one man there a warm embrace.

In just about six hours, demonstrators who want Britain to remain in the European Union will rally in London. Earlier, G7 leaders issued a warning Friday on the impact of a British exit from the E.U. on the global economy, concluding the group's summit in Japan. They said, quote, "A UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is further serious risk to growth."

The official statistics watchdog in the U.K. is criticizing the "Vote Leave" campaign. It says it's misleading voters by claiming that Britain pays more than $500 million to the E.U. each week, and it says, "The continued use of a gross figure in context that imply it is a net figure is misleading and undermines trust in official statistics."

Britains go to the polls June 23rd to vote in the referendum. British businesses are divided on the issue, as many people are. "CNN MONEY" Europe editor, Nina dos Santos went to the factory floor to find out why.

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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN MONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Assembled in Britain by a German company and destined for trains all over the world, these signal boxes are the embodiment of what the E.U. mean to business, unfettered access to the largest single trading market anywhere on the planet.

JUERGEN MAIER, CEO, SIEMENS UK: The first thing is that quite simply, we have access to a huge market, the biggest in the world, 500 million people. That helps our business here in the U.K.

The second is we want to have influence from the U.K. through the European Union to make sure that the standards and the regulations that is set for our manufacturing here suits us and works for us.

And the third is really, really crucial. And that issue is that we want to participate in European-wide research programs that help us set what future interest industries are going to be.

DOS SANTOS (on camera): With 14,000 staff across 13 factories like these, Siemens is one of the largest global firms operating inside the U.K. And when it comes to its views on Europe, turns out it's not alone. Of those polled, 78 percent of international companies said they believed a so-called Brexit would be bad for business, putting into jeopardy the almost $40 billion worth of (inaudible) direct investment that flows into the country each year.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): And Seimens views also echo those of big British business, too. A recent survey showed that CEOs of 93 percent of U.K.-listed firms reckoned that the U.K. was better off remaining inside the E.U. But smaller industry, it seems, sees more value in independence, with 42 percent of its bosses saying that they would vote to leave.

Take Britain's oldest salmon curers, Almond & Sons, which export 90 percent of their fish to non-E.U. markets but still have to contend with cumbersome rules and regulations.

LANCE FORMAN, OWNER, H. FORMAN & SONS: We face a huge amount of red tape and bureaucracy, and one of the ridiculous difficult things we had to do last year was spend thousands upon thousands of pounds printing new packaging for smoked salmon so that it had a warning sign printed on the back saying, "contains fish".

DOS SANTOS: From the production line to the polling both, bosses of business big and small may not see eye to eye when it comes to the E.U. But the one thing they do want is clarity. They'll get that after June the 23rd. Nina dos Santos, "CNN MONEY," Shippuden (ph).

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ALLEN: A Ukrainian national hero speaks out in an exclusive CNN interview. Next, hear why she's ready to lead her country after two years in a Russian jail.

Plus, there's bad weather across the U.S. South right now, but the biggest punt may be winding up off the South Carolina coast just in time for one of the busiest travel holidays of the year.

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ALLEN: Russia's president gave his sharpest warning yet that Romania and Poland could face retaliation for hosting a U.S. missile shield. Vladimir Putin spoke at a news conference in Athens with Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

Mr. Tsipras said E.U. sanctions against Russia are not in the best interests of European security. The U.S. insists the missile shield is not a threat to Russia.

Later Saturday, Mr. Putin will visit a 1,000-year-old Russian monastery in Greece.

U.S. vice president Joe Biden is congratulating Ukraine president's Petro Poroshenko on the release of Nadya Savchenko. The Ukrainian pilot had been in Russian jail for two years before being pardoned and released on Wednesday. She spoke exclusively with CNN's Matthew Chance and talked of her political ambitions.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Her defiance seems undimmed by nearly two years behind Russian bars.

"I'm free," the former Ukrainian army pilot screamed at the cameras, "but also sorry," she added, "for the mothers whose kids will never return from the front lines." Nadya Savchenko has long been a symbol of Ukrainian national resistance. But in a CNN interview, one of her first after her release in a prisoner swap, she spoke of ambitions to be its national leader.

CHANCE (on-screen): You are, of course, now a national hero in Ukraine. You're also already a member of the Ukrainian parliament, "The Rider," but what are your political ambitions? Do you have your eye on the presidency of the country?

NADIYA SAVCHENKO, UKRANIAN SERVICEWOMAN (through translator): I see myself as military person, but if the people need me to be a president, I will be a president. In order to benefit Ukraine, I can do anything, both in battle and in politics.

CHANCE (voice-over): This was the fatal incident at the height of the battles in eastern Ukraine. Savchenko was found guilty in Russia of directing mortar fire against a group of pro-Russian rebels accompanied by a Russian television crew. The Russian reporter and his sound engineer were both killed.

In what critics described as the show trial that followed, Savechenko always pleaded innocent, the defense team arguing she'd already been captured when the attack took place. But the court still sentenced her to 22 years.

The Kremlin says the prisoner swap was only approved after President Putin heard of appeal for clemency from the widows of the dead journalists.

CHANCE (on-camera): Announcing your, President Putin of Russia said that he hoped the gesture would be a step towards easing tensions in the conflict zone. Do you think it is? Do you think it's a step in the right direction?

SAVECHENKO (through translator): If President Putin said this was a gesture, it is not going to help. It is a correct step. The rest of the steps will depend on them. Whether this will help to resolve the conflict, I hope it will. I hope this will help to reach a compromise by all parties.

CHANCE (voice-over): Back in Ukrain, the release of a war hero is a rare political victory for the country's president seen by many frustrate Ukrainians as unable to implement reforms and criticized by opponents for giving too much away in negotiations with Russia.

CHANCE (on-camera): Do you think you'd make a better president than the current president?

SAVECHENKO (through translator): It's a good question. Our people are not afraid to criticize the president unlike in Russia. Once I have done something and I'm able to tell someone that I have done better than you, then I will be able to criticize them. But now, I'm not going to say if I'm going to be better than someone. Time will tell.

CHANCE (voice-over): And time will tell also if this defiant Ukrainian will be as potent as a politician as she was a prisoner. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

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ALLEN: The Italian navy recovered 45 bodies and rescued 135 people on Friday near a half sunken migrant boat. This was the third straight day of death in the Mediterranean as migrants take advantage warmer, calmer seas to try to reach Europe.

Authorities have rescued more than 14,000 people between Lybia and Italy since Monday. More than 8,000 have been killed in the last 2-1/2 years in Europe's worst immigration crisis since World War II.

A tropical depression gains strength off the southeast coast of the U.S. just in time for the national memorial holiday. Our meteorologist Karen McGinnis joins us now. And a lot of people driving that way right now probably, Karen.

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ALLEN: It's that time of year, and Charleston already gotten flooded a few months ago. Hate to see that again. All right, thank you, Karen.

Israeli airport security has a global reputation for excellence. How do they do it? We'll show you, coming up.

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ALLEN: Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport is said to be the safest in the world. It's thought to be so secure, next month visitors from dozens of countries will come to learn about its operations. CNN's Oran Liebermann has the story for us from Tel Aviv.

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ORAN LIEBERMANN, CNN (voice-over): Part of the security at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport is that we're not allowed to show you that security. Just to get to this point inside the international terminal, we've already gone through at least three different checks with more ahead.

That security starts much earlier inside the ministry of transportation's security operations center. Each flight, each passenger, each pilot and each member of the flight crew is checked long before arriving in Israeli air space.

This room is staffed 24/7. There's never a moment without pressure. An off-course aircraft, a flight without security clearance, all of this is flagged immediately. Here there is little margin for error, shutting down Ben Gurion airport would effectively cut off Israel from the air.

DVIT RUBINSHTEIN, MANAGER, ISRAELI AVIATION SECURITY OPERATION CENTER: There is every day a situation that a flight can be -- we have such concerns about it. We check that and verify that everything is secured clear prior to entering the Israeli air space.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Next month, Ben Gurion Airport will host visitors from 40 different countries to discuss airport security, officials say. Interest in Israeli airport security has grown after Brussels, Metrojet and now EgyptAir.

LIEBERMANN (on-camera): Do you have airports, security experts, countries coming from around the world to see what it is you do differently here?

RUBINSHTEIN: Most of the countries actually come here often, agencies around the world in order to show them what the security department of the minister of transport perform regarding the security of aviation.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): In February, Israeli issued a security directive to airlines flying to Israel. The directive adds security checks to each flight. The passengers are no longer the only threat.

SHALOM DOLEV, AIRPORT SECURITY AIRPORT: The (inaudible) are further expanding to insiders working at the airports, insiders that may work at the resort.

LIEBERMANN: All areas of aviation operations that will need a closer watch in the days ahead. Oran Liebermann, CNN, Ben Gurion International Airport.

ALLEN: A special moment for the Swedish royal family. We have video from the baptism of Prince Oscar Carl Olaf. He's third in line for the Swedish throne behind his mother Princess Victoria and his elder sister, seen here.

Four hundred people were invited to the baptism, including royalty from around Europe. The little prince slept through most of the ceremony. Good little baby.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. A quick look at our top stories after this break.

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