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A 4-Year-Old Boy Slips Into The Zoo's Gorilla Habitat; Donald Trump in the Nation's Capital for the Annual Rolling Thunder Motor Cycle Rally That Is Saluting Veterans; Mandatory Evacuations Going Up On Near Houston; Senator Rubio Will Not Be Trump's VP; June 7th Marks the final Super Tuesday of the Election Season; At Least 65 migrants Have Died In Different Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea in the Past Week. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 29, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[15:00:00] RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of panic and desperation at the Cincinnati zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came that second run to Cincinnati zoo. And this is in the gorilla cage and have 3-year old child has fallen into the gorilla cage.

CRANE: A 4-year-old boy slips into the zoo's gorilla habitat, an over a moat wall. Suddenly, (INAUDIBLE), a 17-year-old 400-pound gorilla approaches the boy. His mother watches in horror at what happens next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy is right here.

CRANE: The young boy screams. The urgent calls to 911 can be hold on this bystander video. The family tries desperately to keep him calm as (INAUDIBLE) takes him out of sight. (INAUDIBLE) drags the boy around the moat and up a ladder for a total of ten minutes. As the zoo's dangerous animal response team anxiously decides what to do next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The little boy himself had already been talking about wanting to go in, go in, get in the water. And his mother is like no you're not, no, you're not. I don't know if the screaming did it or too many people hanging on the edge if he thought we were coming in, but then he pulled the bay down further away from the big group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine 32. Gorilla has the child. And it's bragging him around the pen.

CRANE: Officials considered the incident so threatening deciding (INAUDIBLE) must be taken down immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason that tranquilizing was not chosen is in an agitated situation which the male was, it may take quite a while for tranquilizer to take effect. But certainly at the instant he hit, he would he a dramatic response. The child wasn't under attack, but a lot of things could happen under that situation like that. So he certainly was at risk.

CRANE: They say their only option, a rifle. (INAUDIBLE) was shot and killed. The child was taken to Cincinnati's children's hospital with nonlife threatening injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have rescued the child. Children have been notified for trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sad day all the way around. The right choice was made. It was a difficult choice.

CRANE: (INAUDIBLE) was a western low land gorilla, a critically endangered species. The zoo had hoped he would eventually father other gorillas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love this zoo. It's very friendly, everything is beautiful here. But when you see something like that and then you have the disappointment because what do you say to your grandchildren.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Rachel Crane is joining us now.

So Rachel, the gorilla exhibit, it's temporarily closed, obviously. But the zoo, the Cincinnati zoo, is open today. I imagine that this is the talk of the zoo that visitors are still talking about what happened there yesterday. What are they telling you?

CRANE: Well, Suzanne, it is a holiday weekend, still many people visiting the zoo. CNN had a chance to speak to some of the visitors earlier today. And they said that while yesterday's incident is incredibly frightening, they're still going to the zoo and they're being extra cautious. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A horrifying experience for everybody involved. We feel really bad for the little boy and the family. And also everybody at the zoo, too, because it was a terrifying experience for them and it's hard with also kids because they can get away from you. And so I think it's just really important to pay attention to where your kids are so that something like this doesn't happen again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been here two, three times already and at all time I'm with my kids. So if they want to see it, so they can see it, I hold them up and show them, you know, not just are head them climb. So it's something that, you know, you have to think about when you bring your kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Now, Suzanne, it's important to point out the zoo has been open for 38 years. And this is the first incident of the kind that has ever taken place. And as you mentioned, the zoo is open but that gorilla exhibit is closed. Unclear when it will reopen -- Suzanne. MALVEAUX: Rachel, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Kimberly Ann Perkins O'Connor. She actually filmed the video that you just watched in that feed.

And Kimberly, I mean, take us back there. You were there. You had your -- I assume it was your iphone and you're rolling here and you see what happened. Describe what happen. How did you know that this boy was in trouble?

KIMBERLY ANN PERKINS O'CONNOR, FILMED THE ZOO INCIDENT (on the phone) Kimberly Ann Perkins O'Connor: Well, initially I was trying to capture a photo of the larger gorilla as he was peeking out of the cage. And while I was sitting very still trying to capture that frame, then all of a sudden you heard the splash, an older gentleman started yelling there's a child in there. There's a child. And everyone started screaming. So we just started capturing video at that point. And I was taking and still shot at the same time as the larger gorilla was attracted to the screaming and he just came barreling to the edge of the moat and then he realized what was going on.

[15:05:02] MALVEAUX: And so you're saying the gorilla actually came over to the crowd that was screaming, over to the child. He was attracted to the noise. What did he initially do when he was with the boy?

O'CONNOR: Initially, when he approached the edge of the moat and he was looking down and everybody was screaming, we were trying to calm everybody down and get them to stop, but he disappeared at the blink of an eye, he suddenly was down in the moat. He came up - now, I didn't actually capture that part video where he knocks the child against the wall if into the corner and then where we start the video is where he basically has the child in the corner.

And we did get everybody calmed down for just a little bit. And then of course people started screaming, yelling, he dragged the child a little further down into the moat. And he stopped him for a little bit. Almost looked like he was helping him, pulled his pants up, stood him up and then all of the sudden everyone started screaming again and he pulled him completely out down the other end of the moat. And then the next thing, he brought him up on top of the moat. At that point, I'd actually -- someone else was then videoing. I went down to a clearing and could actually see, but I wasn't able to get video at that point. We were searching for him through the bushes, but we couldn't find him after that. And I saw him then later once he was on top of the habitat dragging the boy, you know, pulling him under. It was not a good scene. As the fireman had said, he at one point had him between his legs and was hovering over him and (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: And did it look like -- you said at some point it looked like he was trying him or protect him. The last you saw the gorilla, did it looks like he was being aggressive towards him, that looked like he was trying to protect him from the other gorillas? Could you make out at all at the very last moment? O'CONNOR: No, once he pulled him out of moat and he dragged him up to

the top of the habitat where it was all cement. He was being very aggressive. The boy did try to separate himself and he pulled the boy back in, tucked him underneath and really wasn't going to let him get away. And then when a security guard was -- in my peripheral as was trying to take another picture, he literally picked the boy up by his calf and dragged him toward another cave to basically get him out of the view of this crowd that hadn't yet dispersed.

MALVEAUX: And how long did it take for zoo officials to respond? How long did this go on?

O'CONNOR: The security guy - our video is about two minutes. The security guy was already running past me by the time the gorilla had him up at the top of the habitat. So maybe four to five minutes. The huge rescue, the other two gorillas disappeared right away, the two females. They disappeared right away. So someone else must have been there and had gotten them attracted and gotten them out of habitat or locked up. The security guard was there next thing I saw arriving was other zoo personnel. Then we were able to start getting people to get their children out, get themselves out and move away to the end of the exhibit.

MALVEAUX: And Kimberly, finally here, did you or did anybody else actually see, witness, the gorilla being shot when authorities shot and killed the gorilla?

O'CONNOR: No. I think they actually did a good job. Unfortunately, we were just at the end of the exhibit. We were just exiting the exhibit as we were trying to usher people with kids. So my niece and I were the last ones who were exiting. And as soon as we heard the shot, we knew what happened.

MALVEAUX: And were you able to see the little boy get out safely?

O'CONNOR: No, no, no. They did a good job of clearing everybody. That whole area was cleared in, I want to say seconds it seemed like. We were pushed north or south of that main strip where it was all happening. You didn't see him being put into the ambulance. They actually did a great job of making sure that the whole horrific scene was well protected.

MALVEAUX: And from your vantage point, were there ways, did it seem like it was an easy thing for a little person, a little child to slip through into this gorilla exhibit, this enclosure?

O'CONNOR: Unfortunately, it was a bad situation where a 4-year-old didn't have the attention of his mother for seconds as she turns to some other children that were with her. He had joked -- he was a little boy -- about going in to the water. Her attention was drawn away for second maybe a minute. And then he was up and in before you knew it. I don't think it was as easy as just standing up and falling in. And he actually had to climb under something, through some bushes, and then into the moat.

[15:10:38] MALVEAUX: All right. Kimberly Perkins O'Connor, just your composure is extra ordinary. We appreciate you bringing us of what you did in showing us and bringing us this story by capturing that video. Thank you very much. We really appreciate your time.

And on to our next story. Donald Trump is in the nation's capital for the annual rolling thunder motor cycle rally that is saluting veterans. He used the opportunity to criticize the state of our military and also promised that he would make it great again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to rebuild our military. It's been decimated. It has been decimated. So we are going to rebuild our military. We are going to make it bigger and bigger and better and stronger than ever before. We have no choice. We have to do it. And by the way, it's the single cheapest thing we can do. Believe me. So we are going to rebuild our military and we are going take care of our veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Our own Scott McLean is on the scene there, Scott McLean rather.

We just heard a part of Trump's speech in the last hour. It sounded like this really was kind of a campaign speech that he was getting prepared to deliver here. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And by the way, Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, probably the worst deal economically that this country has done in 100 years. So Hillary doesn't know anything about jobs. She doesn't know anything about jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The Scott, how did the audience react?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne. Well, Donald Trump seemed to get a pretty warm reaction from the crowd here. This was a very traditional Donald Trump stamp's speech in a pretty non- traditional setting. This event has a lot of veterans taking part of it, a group that Donald Trump seems to talk about his support for constantly. But mixed in with that group was also a lot of the just average ordinary passersby this Washington, D.C. for the Memorial Day weekend. And this speech really kick all the boxes. Donald Trump not only talked about his support for veterans and reforming the V.A., but he also talked about trade, he talked about getting a better deal in other countries for protection. And he also took a few jabs at Hillary Clinton as you would expect.

MALVEAUX: All right. Scott, thanks. Appreciate your time.

Ahead, at least four dead, three missing in flooding across parts of Texas and Kansas. Mandatory evacuations going on at this very hour. We are going bring you that live report up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:14] MALVEAUX: Mandatory evacuations going up on near Houston after severe flooding in parts of Texas already killed at least four people, several others are missing now including a 10-year-old boy. He slipped and fell into a river. That is near Ft. Worth. The bloated river now affecting cities across the state. The mayor of Rosenberg, Texas has declared a state of disaster telling residents to seek shelter.

Jenny Pavlovich, she is the communication manager in Rosenberg and she is joining us on the phone now.

So tell us right now what you are facing in terms of the weather where you are in Rosenberg.

JENNY PAVLOVICH, ROSENBERG COMMUNICATION MANAGER (on the phone): Hi, Suzanne. Right now the weather is actually looking really good. But we warned people that what can happen is that the river still going to keep rising even though we are not experiencing rains right now. So typically we have seen about a 50, 50 1/2 foot crest around this time of year. We are expected to hit 53 1/2 on Tuesday which is going to break the records right here in Rosenberg.

MALVEAUX: And tell how many people are still there? I imagine many people had to leave their homes.

PAVLOVICH: Well, we only have sections on the north side of the city that we have had to evacuate. And it's really going to affect about 150 properties there. So we have people that are headed out to the shelter right as we speak. We opened up shelter transportation at 2:00. So we have people headed out there now to take buses over to the First Baptist church where they will have shelter and probably likely be there for a few days.

MALVEAUX: And this mandatory evacuation, how long do you anticipate it is going to be in effect? You know, in situations like this, there are always some folks who refuse to leave. I imagine you are probably seeing that same kind of challenge as well.

PAVLOVICH: Well, fortunately, we haven't had anyone really resist yet. I mean, that doesn't mean ultimately they won't decide to stay. Unfortunately, this is unprecedented water levels for us, so it's very difficult to know what to expect. We put our evacuation into effect as of 2:00 today because the water levels are going to rise to that flooding level tomorrow and early Tuesday. So Tuesday is when we are going to see the highest levels and that evacuation is going to be in effect until the river gets down to 50 feet again which may take a couple days. But I can't say for sure.

MALVEAUX: It is very unpredictable. I know you have been getting heavier than normal rains for the last couple of months. There is a routine protocol to, I assume, to keep the city safe. And how would you rate how things are going at this point?

PAVLOVICH: Well, the city of Rosenberg and a lot of others surrounding the cities, we have been making drainage improvements over the years. So if you look at the floodplain map, while in a lot of cases they're accurate, a lot of times drainage is actually a little better than it appears on the map. So we always have those projects going on to improve the drainage and mitigate the situation for the future. So when we do come to situations like this, we just try to keep our residents as prepared as possible. We get the then the information as soon as we have. We meet with county and state officials to get predictions. And we just try to get the word out there to keep as many people safe even if that means sending our law enforcement door to door.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jenny Pavlovich, thank you so much. We appreciate you taking your time to help those in need, of course, there in the city who are really trying to sort to this all out and evacuate as quickly as possible.

There are some area of the east coast who are also seeing severe weather today. Coast of South Carolina is on high alert after a tropical depression that landfall bringing heavy rain and flooding. You are looking there at a highway. This is in South Carolina submerged by water. Well, the tropical system bringing all this misery slowly moving northeast. So far there is one report of a missing swimmer, that in North Carolina. We'll be right back with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:50] MALVEAUX: June 7th marks the final Super Tuesday of the election season. And for the two Democrat left standing, the price, of course, enormous. California, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders looking at a total of 475 at stake delegates. Clinton needs fewer than 100 of those delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Democratic congressman Brendan Boyle represents Pennsylvania and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

So Congressman Boyle, thank you for joining us this morning.

First of all, I want to play something that we heard from Bernie Sanders out of California talking about the process. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What has upset me and what I think is I wouldn't use the word rigged because we knew what the rules were, but what is really dumb is that you have closed primaries like in New York State where three million people who were Democrats or Republicans could not participate. Where you have a situation where over 400 superdelegate came on board, Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race eight months before the first vote was cast. That is not rigged, I think it just a dumb process which has certainly disadvantaged our campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:04] MALVEAUX: Congressman, I guess, do you agree, do you think - he says he is not saying it's rigged, but he is saying it's dumb.

REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, just for clarification, first, just for clarification, I am a superdelegate and endorse Hillary Clinton. I was on the side of most of the race so it wasn't until mid-April that I finally got off the fence and made the judgment that I thought Hillary Clinton would be our better nominee. As far as where the race stands, let's not forget that Hillary Clinton has won three million more votes than he has. And if we just forget the conversation about superdelegates, if we forget all of the rest of it and just focus on the delegates won in these competitions, she has won about 300 more delegates than he has which is about a three times larger lead than Barack Obama had over her.

So, you know, there are many things I would like to see change in our system. I happen to believe strongly that we need to have greater voter access throughout the country on both the D and R side. But that having been said, that really doesn't justify where we are right now in which Hillary Clinton has a pretty solid lead over Bernie.

MALVEAUX: But Sanders surely doesn't want you to forget about the superdelegate issued, I mean, about the process itself. And he is making the case that is the part that he doesn't really think works well or fairly in the system. Is that something that you agree? I mean, granted she is certainly ahead in the delegate number. And the math is certainly working in her favor, but there does need to be some sort of reform, would you not agree?

BOYLE: I have to say, this will be my first time as a superdelegate. And I do think that some sort of reforms in that process, maybe you tie the superdelegates vote on the first ballot to how your state votes. In my case Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania and won my congressional district by double digits. I think that might be a more fairway of doing it and then they would become open if and when there would be a second ballot.

But all that having been said, there has been so much focus on superdelegates and yet not once ever have they made any sort of difference. And in fact, Bernie Sanders' only chance of winning the Democratic nomination now is if he were to get such a large majority of the superdelegates to vote to him given that Hillary Clinton has such a large lead on the won delegates that come through the primaries and caucuses.

MALVEAUX: Well, that is true. You bring up a legitimate point, Congressman, that in the past it certainly has not been a big, big change in superdelegates that really determined the race ultimately here, the outcome. Clinton now doesn't have any public appearances over the weekend in California. Is she pretty confident that that is a win in her corner?

BOYLE: I kind to think California will be fairly close. Of course, it won't be the only state voting on what will be the last, maybe the tenth Super Tuesday, the final Super Tuesday. We have New Jersey right next toward to me in which we are seeing the TV ads. And I think Hillary Clinton will win by a pretty large margin. For all the focus, California has understandably got then because of

its size, in all likelihood she will clinch the nomination by the time the polls close in New Jersey where she is expected to win by a pretty sizable margin.

MALVEAUX: And we have seen some of her ads in California, some very unique situations, we have not seen this before, ads in seven different languages, really kind of representing diversity of that state. Is she confident, is she very confident and spoil that she is going to be picking up the kind of support she needs from various ethnic groups within California?

BOYLE: I mean, I tend to think more than anything because of the rhetoric that we hear on the other side, that there really isn't going to be much of a problem getting support from various different ethnic groups throughout the country.

But that having been said, though, it's important to have a broad based coalition to win. Keep in mind that while Barack Obama did very well among African-American voters and Hispanic voters, 56 percent of those who voted for Barack Obama were in fact white. So for a Democratic candidate to win the presidency, it needs to be a multiracial, mutigenerational coalition, Hispanics, yes, African- Americans and Asians, yes, but also white Americans. So it needs to be kind of all of us coming together to elect the next president.

MALVEAUX: I remember that well, 2008, covering Barack Obama there in the Iowa caucuses quite a shock. Well, listen, all white set that went to his corner and certainly kind of set the tone, set the stage for the broad support that he got throughout the election season.

Thank you so much, Congressman Brendan Boyle.

BOYLE: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: And coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And one when you are responsible for an unprecedented moment in American politics when Donald Trump up on stage and assured the American people that there is no problem regardless of the size, a chance a guarantee. To be fair to him, you raised that issue.

[15:30:04] SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did. And so, you know, and I actually told Donald one of the debates, I forget which one, I apologized to him for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: More on that plus why Marco Rubio is taking time away from politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:33:21] MALVEAUX: Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton should not become president as the U.S. has to rebuild its military. He made those comments last hour at the rolling thunder event to the nation's capital to event organizers say honors prisoners of war, those missing in action and all who have served our country. But Donald Trump was also the main topic with Senator Marco Rubio on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning. Rubio has says if asked, he will not be Trump's vice president. But he also told Jake Tapper that he apologized to Trump in private at a debate earlier this year for comments he me made about the size of Trump's hands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I actually told Donald at one of the debates, I forget which one, I apologized to him for that. I said, you know, I'm sorry that I said to that. It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it. And I didn't say it in front of the cameras. I didn't want any political benefit. I am not the candidate now so can say that to you. Because not because of him, but because of me, you know. I didn't like what it reflected on me. It embarrassed my family. It is not who I am. And you did it almost in a sense of, you know, nothing at this point, you know, nothing is working. I mean, this guy is out there, everybody making mocking people saying horrible things about people. But if you respond to him somehow, you know, you're hitting below the belt. And that was my sense of it at the time.

What I didn't realize was, you know, it isn't who I am and it did not being who you are. It doesn't come across well. And he can do that because for whatever reason, he can do that. But I couldn't do that. It is not who I am. It is not what I do. And by doing it, I ended up hurting myself, not him. I underestimated how well he understood how the media, and I don't mean this an art. It's very common for political people to attack media people, but it is just the way it is. Media is a business. And it's driven by ratings. And that's how - based on the rating is what you can charge your advertisers. And so this content is interesting content. It's different. And it's over the top. And it drives eyeballs and ears to hear what people are saying and see it. Donald understood is that. So he said it is outrageous. And if you respond to it, it is just giving more fuel to the fire. There would be needing more covering about it. If you don't respond to it, then, you know, someone who is basically looking the other way. So you're kind of in a bind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:35:28] MALVEAUX: Joining me now Eric Bradner. He is a CNN political reporter.

And of course, Eric, to you now. You listen to Marco Rubio and he is very reflective. He seems to a bit of thought this thing through. That he has gotten regarding like the media, the role of media and Trump's use and manipulation of that and his own self-reflection about some of the comments that he made and how it damaged him trying to figure out who he is again. You don't often hear that I think from politicians after, you know, when it's all said and done, the post mortem here. He is going to the convention and he says he is going to try to defeat Hillary Clinton. He is not endorsing Trump, but he certainly is walking this fine line.

How does he do that do you think along with a lot of other Republican establishment figures who will also be at the convention trying to do the same thing?

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, that's right. I mean, this what political scientists call negative partisanship, right. It is the idea that you are against the other party. You look maybe not for your own candidate. So, yes, Rubio is just one of many Republicans swimming in this boat. But for Rubio, it's interesting because we know his political aspirations are not gone. He has retired from the Senate this year, but he also told Jake that he is likely to run for office again. That could be another presidential campaign. It could be a run for governor for florid in 2018, although that seems perhaps less likely. But Rubio is someone who has definitely made the calculation right now that he can't afford to sort of leave the Republican team, to support Hillary Clinton. These efforts to draft a third party candidate, a conservative alternative to Trump and Clinton, have totally fallen short. And that it is not going to happen at this stage. So he is clearly making the calculation that he needs to do something to help Republicans right now even if it's not give Donald Trump a full throat of endorsement.

MALVEAUX: And do you think that this effort that he is making, because we really have seen it is his kind of a remarkable turnaround for him, from Marco Rubio, you know, because he really did not respect -- certainly said things that - I mean, it is not like he did not respect Trump in any way, but he now is saying that, hey, you know, he is going to be honored if he had some sort of speaking role and platform at the convention. And says he is probably going to run for president again. Could this be a very strategic buildup to a run in four years?

BRADNER: Yes, absolutely it is. This is a guy who knows that 2020 could be another shot for him that Donald Trump is not successful. He has seen people take big convention speaking roles in the past add really turned them into a political future for themselves. President Obama being one of them. Julio Castro, someone who all of a sudden is in the VP consideration on the Democratic side largely because of a convention speech that he gave. So Rubio knows this could be a big platform for him.

MALVEAUX: All right. Eric Bradner, good to see you. Thanks for joining us.

And still ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Hillary has a lot of baggage and while she doesn't admit it, it's there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential nominee, talks candidly now to CNN about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and who he thinks Trump's running mate should be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:15] CRANE: Donald Trump is publicly gained the support of one of Republican Party's most respected members, former senator Bob Dole. The 1996 GOP presidential nominee says that he is now in Trump's corner and he is urging all Republicans to join him.

But in an interview here on CNN, Dole also had some advice for Trump saying the presumptive GOP nominee should apologize. Yes, that's right, apologize to Arizona senator John McCain and New Mexico governor Susana Martinez for disparaging comments that he has made about both of them in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB DOLE, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, it was and he easy call for me. What is the lifelong Republican supposed to do, support the opponent? Now, I have seen candidates come and go. And I think you know, this is a real phenomenal with Trump is doing what he has done from scratch. So I applaud him for that. But I don't applaud him for the insults. And I, as a supporter, I would like him to issue a blanket apology or individual apology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. So let's talk more about this with Republican strategist Brian Morgenstern and democratic political analyst Ellis Henican.

Thank you so much, both of you, for joining us.

I want to just start off here. I mean, we hear Dole advising Trump to apologize for saying that McCain was not a real war hero because he was captured in the Vietnam War, blaming the Mexico governor Martinez for growing a number of food stump recipients among other insults.

So I'll start with you, Ellis. First of all, do you think an apology would help Trump gain support?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL COLUMNIST: It seemed like it was forced and a bit of an afterthought. Listen. You have to feel for Bob Dole, right. I love the guy. I mean, certainly compared to some of the folks who are waving the Republican flag today, he is a man of decency and moderation. You know his skin has got a call with the notion of supporting Donald Trump. But you know, what is he going to do? I mean, he is a lifelong Republican. He believes in the party. He doesn't like the Clintons. So he is kind of swallowing hard and making the best of a very uncomfortable situation with his usual decency, o would add.

MALVEAUX: And Brian, I mean, what is the likelihood here of an apology from Donald Trump?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, snowballs in hell, something like that. It isn't happening. And it would be off brand for Trump. HE is not going to do it. But what we are seeing here is the, you know, political science sort of rationale for how some Republicans are getting on board here. The number one predictor of how somebody is going to vote and behave politically is their partisanship, their affiliation, the brand loyalty that they bought into. And the number two predictor is how mad they are with the other guy. And obviously Bob Dole will not (INAUDIBLE) a Democrat winning. And so, regardless of who Republican nominee is, he is going to get right behind him. Now the apology thing, I understand him asking for it but he is going to be wait in a while.

[15:45:37] MALVEAUX: Yes. A long people waiting in line for apologies from Donald Trump.

So both of you, I want you to listen to this. This is advice he gave on the vice presidential pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLE: Donald Trump needs someone who understands congress, who him work with congress, who understands foreign policy, domestic policy, economic policy, you know, someone like Newt Gingrich.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That might be true, but he does come with some baggage here.

Ellis, I mean, what do you think, how much good does Newt Gingrich do for a Trump candidacy?

HENICAN: Well, when I'm shopping for baggage-free candidate, I don't usually go with a Newt-aisle. Let me put it like that. Listen. It's sound advice. The implication of it is that those are all the things that Donald does not himself have so he needs to bolster it with a running mate. It's kind of a long list, isn't it?

MALVEAUX: Brian?

MORGENSTERN: Well, Trump has said (INAUDIBLE) over and over and over. Again, I need a political person, somebody who can communicate with Congress, somebody who is going to help us get litigation passed because that's not my background. I cover the business end.

So Newt, having been the speaker of the house, few people are more qualified than Newt to serve in that role. I don't know that he, you know, has an electoral advantage other than that sort of theme. He doesn't have a geographic advantage. He doesn't have a diversity advantage. So in terms of, you know, the number of metrics that people look at for a VP, certainly Newt has the experience one, but is lacking in others. So I'm sure he is on the list. But he is on that list with several other people at this point.

MALVEAUX: And we have been covering this story here and you know, we love to do this parlor game in Washington guessing, you know, who is actually going to be picked here. But it seems like a lot of people have saying no. And I wonder if there are some candidates out there because there has been some discussion about whether you would have either a female or diverse candidate, if you will, African-American or Latino that could be a part of the ticket. Can either one of you guys think of somebody who would be willing for be on Trump's ticket?

HENICAN: I would scratch the governor of New Mexico off the list. How about that?

MALVEAUX: Any names come to mind?

MORGENSTERN: I mean, a long list of people who have already taken themselves out of contention. The logical names at the top of the list, Nikki Haley, Senator Ayette, you know. These are people who have now come around and say, well, I get behind the nominee. But certainly not in a way that would, you know, make them put on the ticket with him.

The people who have been putting their names out there, again, don't necessarily have those meet those criteria that you just listed. The people who have been putting themselves out there are Gingrich, Scott Brown, some people like that. People who -- if you think about that, it is people not necessarily running for anything, they don't necessarily have a future to be concerned with. They're happy to roll the dice with a Trump candidacy, whereas people with a longer political future ahead of them are weary of the risks of being on the Trump ticket if it doesn't pan out and then having history judge them. So that's is sort of theme you might look for when searching for who is it going to be.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it Ellis Henican and Brian Morgenstern. Appreciate that.

Up next ahead, horrific new details about the ship wrecks that are believed to have killed hundreds of my grants in the Mediterranean Sea. We have a live report up next.

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[15:52:47] MALVEAUX: At least 65 migrants have died in different ship wrecks in the Mediterranean Sea in the past week. And with many more missing the United Nations fears the death toll could soar to 700 or even higher. Officials say many of those migrants are from Eastern Africa.

Our own CNN Ben Wedeman is following the developing story from Rome.

And Ben, what have they learned so far?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we understand is that, you know, the problem with these boats is the human traffickers in Libya don't have passenger manifests. So we don't know how many people -- we probably will never know how many people were on board. But what we know is they are basically forcing on gun point people on to these boats that are unseaworthy, something.

You know, these are shipping vessels that might be able to take several dozen people at the most. Some of them with 500, 600 people on board. They are crammed to the gills. One of the ships that went down on Thursday with possibly more than 500 people on board, most of them dead. It's feared at this point. Didn't even have a motor. It was being towed by another similar ship with a motor. And when it started to take on water, the passengers were trying to bail it out desperately. But after an hour and a half, the captain of the other ship that was towing it cut the cable and basically they went down. There were some ships nearby that were able to rescue some of the passengers on board.

This is what happened. This is the beginning of the calmer seas in the Mediterranean. We understand from officials here in Italy and in Libya that hundreds of thousands of mostly (INAUDIBLE) Africans are begging for this time to start crossing the Mediterranean. But even though the seas are calm, most of the boats, if you can all even call them that that go to sea are very, very unseaworthy -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Ben, it is just heart breaking to see these picture and you see those little babies being carried from those boats there. Can you tell us where were these migrants heading? And what was the journey like for them?

WEDEMAN: Well, many of them come from places where you don't really hear about them because there is no wars going on necessarily. They come from places like Gambia where the economy is just in horrendous shape. Eritrea where women and men over the age of 18 have to do military service indefinitely. So they come, they cross the Sahara desert, right there, a very dangerous and difficult crossing. Many of them has sold everything they can to pay for the voyage. They get to Libya. Libya, of course, is a country deep in civil war. There many of the women are sexually exploited, forced in to prostitution, many have been raped. The men basically work as slaves where they can find work at all. They sleep in warehouses where they are locked up at night. And then when they finally get to when they said, OK, now you are going to board your boat to Europe, often times when they see the ship they are getting on they are terrified and the human traffickers pull weapons and say you get on that boat where we will kill you. So the sea voyage is really the last traumatic step in a very difficult end of a horrific journey -- Suzanne.

[15:56:07] MALVEAUX: It sound so tragic.

Ben, thank you so much. We really appreciate such an important story to report and tell. Thank you.

Straight ahead, from the latest from the Cincinnati zoo where a gorilla was fatally shot after a 4-year-old boy slipped in to its enclosure. The zoo has now responded and we their statement up next.

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