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Trump Hits Two Battleground States; Prosecutor: Texts Show Turner Lied About Drug Use; Mitt Romney Tears in GOP, Trump; Police Identify Christine Grimmie Shooter; Pakistani Woman Burned to Death by Family in Honor Killing. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 11, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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


[16:59:41] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday afternoon. I'm Pamela Brown in for Poppy Harlow. Great to have you along with us on this Saturday.

And it is the first weekend with the presidential race essentially narrowed down the two runners and the presumptive nominee who is hitting two battleground states today. Republican Donald Trump. He spent the morning in Florida and the afternoon in Pennsylvania. And he's doing what has defined the Trump candidacy since day one, lashing out to his critics, lambasting the media and predicting an easy victory come November.

Our White House producer Kristen Holmes is in that airport in Pittsburgh where Trump just spoke. So, Kristen, how much did he focus on his rival, Hillary Clinton?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Pamela, while he did hit Hillary Clinton, citing her e-mails, suggesting that she could be impeached as her husband was, he saved the big punches for former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, responding to comments Romney made on CNN that a Trump presidency could change the character of America citing what he called trickle-down racism. Let's listen to what Trump had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But there's poor Mitt Romney, it's sad. He's going around saying, oh, he's a sad case. He choked. You know what a choke artist is, right? He should have beaten a failed president. He went away the last month. Where was he? I even called his people, I said, get him on television. Say what you want about Obama. He was on Jay Leno. He was on David Letterman. He was all over the place. And Romney was sitting at home not doing anything. What the hell happened? I asked my people, what happened? Where is he?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Trump went on to continue to attack members of his own party. He went after Ted Cruz for not honoring his RNC pledge to endorse him. He also said that he hoped that Republican leaders would be smart, be cool, be, quote, "sharp." Now, we are being told from a source familiar today that on Friday as Trump is trying to unite the Republican Party he did meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Williamsburg. Trump today, he was in Pittsburgh and as you mentioned also in Florida. He visited three battleground states in 24 hours. This is the first of the trips since he became the presumptive nominee -- Pamela.

BROWN: And Hillary Clinton on the other side made vague reference today to Trump's attack on Elizabeth Warren. What did she say?

HOLMES: Well, let's go ahead and put up the tweet. She tweeted out from her own, you know, she signed it with an "h" which means she (INAUDIBLE) and says, when Trump goes off his staff's script he insults anyone who challenges him. Judge for his heritage. Senator for hers. Republicans should disavow. Now, of course she is referencing there the comments that Trump has made about Senator Elizabeth Warren saying that she is Pocahontas as well as the comments he made about the judge in his Trump University case saying that he was incapable of doing his job because of his Mexican-American heritage.

BROWN: All right, Kristen Holmes, a valiant effort there with that loud music in the background where Donald Trump just spoke recently. Thank you so much, Kristen. We do appreciate it.

And joining me now to discuss all of this, Jeffrey Lord, Reagan era White House staffer, Donald Trump supporter. Ben Ferguson, CNN political commentator. And Nomi Konst, Democratic strategist who is a Bernie Sanders supporter. Also here with us, Bernard Whitman, a Hillary Clinton supporter and Democratic strategist. We've got a full panel here.

And Jeffrey, you're the lucky one. Because I'm going to start with you on the heels from what we heard from Kristen. You heard her talk about how Donald Trump is really giving it back to Mitt Romney pretty hard after what Mitt Romney said about Donald Trump today. But what is the political value of that? Is he going to continue to lash out at every single critic, given he now has a clear opponent in Hillary Clinton?

JEFFREY LORD, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes. Well, Mitt Romney is a pretty prominent one and I do think that this goes to reinforcing his image as the antiestablishment candidate. I mean, I honestly have no idea what Mitt Romney is doing here. To be perfectly candid, every time he does something like this, in truth I think it only helps Donald Trump. And the best thing for him to do would just to be, you know, go dark as it were and not say anything. But he keeps doing this and frankly I think that that helps. You heard the crowd boo him when Donald Trump mention, his name. I mean, that's just -- if you're from Mitt Romney's point of view, I don't think that's productive.

BROWN: And Trump says that the Republican Party right now is not strong enough and not smart enough and this is after he was really going after Mitt Romney. Ben, what is your response to that?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think Mitt Romney and many of these establishment guys are making a very big mistake. They're out of the game. This is the new man who's in charge. He has got the nomination wrapped up. If you don't want to say something about him nice, then shut up and go away. No one has missed Mitt Romney being out of the limelight. And for him to spend more time attacking Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton and to take away from this, I do agree with what Jeffrey just said as well, this is only going to help Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has been saying that the establishment is trying to undo me. And now people are watching this. And Mitt Romney was not a great candidate. He was not a candidate that a lot of Republicans were excited about. So this only helps Donald Trump to do this but ultimately there has to be a moment where these establishment individuals realize that the goal is beat Hillary Clinton. Many of them I do think believe their goal now is to make sure that they he can say, look, we were right, Donald Trump lost, we told you he's a bad candidate. We told you this is a terrible pick. And now look how brilliant we are. I think there are many Republicans are focused more on Donald Trump losing than beating Hillary Clinton. And that's a sad day.

[17:05:34] BROWN: Ben, you said, you know, the goals, the Republicans need to focus on the goal of beating Hillary Clinton. I mean, if that is the goal, why doesn't Donald Trump focus on that more rather than going after every single critic?

FERGUSON: Well, I think his point is certainly it helps his campaign by letting everyone know, look, not only am I up against Hillary Clinton but I'm also up against all of these other Republicans who are coming after me. And I think his other point that he is trying to make is, don't come after me because if you do, if you think going to be able to go to dinners or private events and take shots at me and your prominent voice or do sit-down interviews that make you relevant again talking about me and think that I'm not going to fight back, you guessed wrong.

Donald Trump has been consistent. And if you attack him, he will come right back after you. And I think Mitt Romney is a perfect target for Donald Trump because Mitt Romney is not liked by many conservatives who have been backing Donald Trump and other conservative candidates like Ted Cruz.

BROWN: OK. Let's listen now to what Donald Trump had to say. We now have that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have to say this. I say it to the leaders of the Republican Party. Folk, you've got to get tougher. You've got to be tougher. You've got to be strong. We've had a lot of losses. We've lost a lot of these presidential elections over the last long period of time. You've got to get strong. You've got to get tough. You've got to be smart. Or you're not going to have a lot of victories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Bernard, as we've seen up to this point, Donald Trump has defied a lot of odds and now he's clearly trying to turn these battleground states from blue to red. Are you concern at all that he's going to be able to do it and pull the rug out from underneath to Hillary Clinton who's also focused on these battleground states?

BERNARD WHITMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, Pamela. Quite frankly I'm not. My entire family is from Pittsburgh and I will tell you this. Donald Trump is going to have a huge mountain to climb in convincing Pennsylvania voters. And here's why. Pennsylvania voters are common sense. They know right from wrong. They can tell a fraud when they see it. They're tolerant, they are accepting. They're going to look at Donald Trump as someone who is fraudulently tried to take people's money with Trump University, is clearly a bigot, racist.

And you know, this attacking Senator Warren calling her poke haunt is as demeaning, it's disgusting. And the fact that Pennsylvania voters basically can see through this, they are common sense individuals. They have basic values that just simply do not align with Donald Trump. And I will give Jeffrey and Ben huge credit. That was the spin of the spin of the spin. How could you possibly say that trying to have to defend yourself from your own friendly fire is helpful to your campaign? It's a disaster.

FERGUSON: Because if you understood Donald Trump --

WHITMAN: Half can Republican say they have to hold their nose to vote for Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Let me stay this.

BROWN: Hold on. I'm going to bring Nomi into this conversation because we want to make sure she has her voice heard. Nomi as we know is a Bernie Sanders surrogate. And Nomi, I'm just curious with your point of view here. What do you think Bernie Sanders needs to do to shut out Donald Trump? Do you think he should just keep on fighting or get on the trail and start campaigning on behalf of Hillary Clinton? What's your view in all of this?

I don't know on behalf of Hillary Clinton. I mean, Bernie Sanders is still in the race. We still have D.C. coming up. They're still counting 2.5 million votes in California, 3.5 that were cast on Tuesday. So there's still a race that's actually existing here. And I know there's presumptive nominee all this conversation that the media has put out there. But Bernie Sanders is always about has been about taking on the establishment, reforming the Democratic Party, reforming the status quo. And I don't think that he's going to bow out anytime soon because if he didn't bow out a year ago, why would he do it right before the convention while he can make that case.

Now, while that is all happening, he is continuously taking on Donald Trump. In fact, he pulls bust against Donald Trump which is something that I think makes it really strong case to the Democratic National Committee which is whole purpose this election cycles to find the most electable candidate.

So, as we move forward in the next couple of weeks, you know, it's really important to remember that his campaign was always about reform. And it continues to be about reform. It's about transparency, equal elections, fair elections, and I think that by virtue of him being in the race he's also keeping an excited base going, new voters, millennial voters, disaffected voters who have left the party. So, I don't know why the media kept saying, he needs to get out when he's actually helping the Democratic Party by staying in, by reforming it and --

FERGUSON: Well, I hope he stays in.

BROWN: But to be clear, I wasn't saying he should get out. I was just asking what you think he should do given the state affairs. But just to that end what you were just saying, you know, do you think President Obama jumped the gun by endorsing Hillary Clinton shortly after meeting with Bernie Sanders?

[17:10:16] KONST: Yes, I do. And I think if social media erupted very quickly. What I don't understand just basically like I think he could have waited until at least after the D.C. primary. There's no reason of lying, he needed to jump the gun and endorse Hillary Clinton. Not only that, let's remember that President Obama is pretty much the head of the DNC. Yes, there's Debbie Wasserman Schultz but it sent a message without actually making that message clear. The DNC hasn't issued a statement saying that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee because they know the rules.

They know that both candidates need to reach 2383 pledge delegates, not with super delegates. And so that's why they haven't come out. But by him putting his energy and support behind Hillary Clinton, I think that was sending a message to the rest of the Democratic Party that we're all trying to unify when indeed half of the party 46 percent of the pledge delegates had supporting Bernie Sanders and are going to the convention and want to bring up reforms. So, I really don't know why he did that.

BROWN: But the bottom-line is Clinton is very happy about it.

KONST: Sure.

BROWN: You look at his approval ratings, look at 2012, he did well in these white counties among, you know, white supporters who presumably support Donald Trump now. On that note, Jeffrey Lord, are you concerned at all that President Obama with him throwing his support behind Hillary, going on the campaign trail in these battleground states that he'll pull those white voters back in her corner?

LORD: Well, President Obama does have some popularity problems of his own here in Pennsylvania. But in truth anytime an incumbent president plows into a state to campaign for their candidate, you need to be focused on that. So, yes, I mean, absolutely. I mean, just as a rule of thumb, no matter who the incumbent president is, almost, I mean, I must say President Bush wasn't much of a help for Senator McCain and as I think Bernard and I agree it was a mistake for Bill Clinton not to be in here campaigning for Al Gore. But still in all, yes, yes, every time President Obama gets out there, it can be a problem but then again it can also be an asset because it can remind people of just why they're unhappy.

BROWN: All right. Ben, Jeffrey, Nomi, Bernard, thanks for that great discussion. Ben and Nomi, I think I'll see you again later in the hour. We do appreciate it.

WHITMAN: Thanks, Ms. Brown.

BROWN: And up next on this Saturday, Stanford students celebrate commencement tomorrow but the mood on campus is far from celebratory after a sexual assault case that has both the judge and the school on defensive. We're live from Palo Alto up next.

And also, I'm going to speak to a rape victim asking her what her first reaction was to the verdict and what can be done to make these crimes less common.

And now that both parties have presumptive nominees for the presidential race, they also have to heal deep divisions. Can they do it when so many voters dislike the nominees? That's coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:16:02] BROWN: Well, we now know just how Brock Turner the Stanford student convicted of sexual assault was portrayed in court, a decent guy from small town in Ohio. This was revealed in a copy of a statement Brock Turner gave to his probation officer. And it reads in part, coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol. A statement that possibly led to a six-month jail sentence.

But was it true? According to new court files the likely answer is no. Evidence he sent texts to friends, the prosecutors say proved he was a drinker who partied regularly using marijuana and other drugs.

Joining me now CNN Sara Sidner. So, Sara, what evidence is the prosecution talking about here?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The evidence was from Brock Turner's cell phone. They basically found some text messages where before he got to Stanford he was talking about asking for pot, also saying that he had done acid. And then after he got there, he's also talking about doing things like dabs which is a highly concentrated, potent form of marijuana that you smoke. And there's actually a picture of him with a pipe saying that this was dabs basically, that he was taking in a highly concentrated marijuana. So there are a lot of different pieces of evidence that they got from his phone, from text messages or from pictures. There's also a picture of a bong on his phone that is normally used to inhale marijuana in great quantities.

And so the prosecution put all of this forth to the judge after he had been convicted to try to say to the judge, look, you're not getting the full picture here. We think that he deserves six years in prison. The judge looked at all of this evidence including evidence from Brock Turner where he apologized to the victim but then kind of tried to blame some of his actions on the drinking culture here in Stanford. The prosecution trying to negate that and the judge decided that he only deserved six months in jail, which he will only serve half that time. He'll be out on September 2nd.

BROWN: Some people hear that and they think, what? He's only going to serve half that time, can you sort of walk us through that process, what's behind it?

SIDNER: The law is behind it. It's basically the law here in California. He's not special in that way. This is not specially for him. This is the law. Because of overcrowding in the state, some of the laws were basically brought down the amount of time that you would spend after your sentence, especially when it comes to county jail. Generally the law says, the code, the penal code says, you spend 50 percent of whatever the judge sentences you to if you're going to county jail. And then it's different when you go to prison. Usually it's around 85 percent -- Pamela.

BROWN: And what about this third witness potential witnesses that police interviewed as part of this case? What can you tell me about this witness?

SIDNER: Yes, this has caused quite a bit of outrage, this information in again the memorandum to the judge from the prosecutor and basically what it says is that the detectives say that there was another witness beyond the two people who stopped this perpetrator from doing anything further and got the police to come. Another witness said in these documents that saw Brock Turner standing over the victim holding a phone, a cell phone, and that there was a light on that cell phone. They couldn't tell whether it was a flash as if he had taken a picture or whether it was a flashlight on the phone.

Nevertheless there was a text message also on Brock Turner's phone from a friend saying, hey, what's that picture of a slang word for breast. And so there is an inference there that detectives were worried that there was an actual picture out there of the victim that Brock Turner may have taken. They were not able to prove that, but it was certainly in the court documents to the judge that this was out there -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Sara Sidner in Palo Alto, California.

And coming up right here in the newsroom, the presidential nominees have not officially been selected but it's becoming clear who voters will have to choose from come November. For many, it's not looking like their first choice, but do they even have one? We'll answer those questions and more with our political panel coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:23:49] BROWN: As the Never Trump movement seems to be losing steam many of Trump's critics are coming to terms with the reality of his presumed nomination. But in a CNN exclusive, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney slammed both his party and Trump. He said he doesn't want the real estate mogul's racism to trickle down into the heart of America. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER 2012 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, a trickle-down misogyny. All of these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining me now, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Ben Ferguson and Nomi Konst, democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter. Great to see you again.

So, Ben, at first you were not backing Donald Trump, now you do. Nomi, you support Sanders but he may be soon dropping out. We'll have to see what happens.

Nomi, is this an election in your view where people will be forced to vote for their second choice?

KONST: Absolutely. Without a doubt. The parties are clearly split. You had a divide on the Republican side of 18 candidates. You know, fighting over the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the future of the Republican Party versus the past of the Republican Party. It's very clear on the Democratic side. You have the populists and the future progressives of America basically, unanimously supporting one candidate under the age of 45, 80 percent of those. And then you have a demographic of voters from different factions primarily older voters supporting Hillary Clinton and voters who are more interested in a steady capitalist Democratic Party.

Those are the two arguments right now. The populist one on the Republican side, so you've got the Republicans trying to bring their strategy back and move forward and be more inclusive because they won't survive otherwise and if the Democrats unfortunately we're still fighting here. I mean, I think that from a Bernie Sanders perspective as a surrogate, you know, one of the things that we're trying to do right now is send a very strong message to the Democratic Party that they're not just ignoring the next generation of voters but they're ignoring the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.

The populists. It's now a corporate party that more interested in fund-raising and winning against Republicans in presidential elections than investing in grassroots campaigns and winning at the state level, the local level and even at the Senate level. And you can only do that by investing our money and our resources in grassroots leaders not sales people. And so, I think what Bernie Sanders is doing is he's going to be sending that message all the way to the convention when all eyes and ears are going to be paying attention. It's not just about winning.

BROWN: Yes. He's still putting up that fight. But Ben, on your side of things you were slow to support Donald Trump.

FERGUSON: Sure.

BROWN: Now you do reluctantly. But it's interesting because you look at the Republican side you have these Republicans who come out and can dim these comments from Donald Trump and say that these are racist comments but yet they sort of begrudgingly support him. And then you have other Republicans like John Kasich who say, I am not going to support him as of now because his values don't line up with mine.

FERGUSON: Yes.

BROWN: What's sort of the thinking behind that because these are for the most part establishment Republicans who are really divided?

FERGUSON: I think first it's vanity. I was one of those always that I was never Trump, I was never Hillary Clinton. And the fact is a lot of times you your candidate doesn't win in the primary. We see that in presidential elections. Mitt Romney was not my guy last time and I supported Santorum.

Before that, my guy was not John McCain but I supported him as well. And the part that I think is the most irritating to me is how many of these establishment Republicans are coming out and what they really want to be able to say is, I was right and you idiots that supported Donald Trump a nontraditional candidate that we didn't hand you on a platter, you morons that are supporting him, we told you he was going to be a disaster.

And they're trying to make that become a reality. I mean, Mitt Romney is a guy who was a terrible candidate that I knew was going to be very hard to get elected against Barack Obama. Why? Because he was so incredibly boring. He was uninspiring. And he was someone that was the establishment safe pick. The same thing with John McCain. And so when I sit here, when finally Ted Cruz who was my candidate dropped out, I took a deep breath off, took a week off and relaxed and then said, hey, Hillary Clinton is who I do not trust. And these other guys should do the same thing because --

[17:28:06] BROWN: So, you trust Donald Trump. You trust Donald Trump.

FERGUSON: Well, I trust him more than Hillary Clinton. Absolutely. I trust him on National Security more than her. I trust him on being transparent and honest more than her with her e-mail server and everything that's come along with that with the investigation and I also trust him with our economy more than Hillary Clinton because I think he understands the economy more. So, for me it's easy to support him now because it's against Hillary.

BROWN: I have to get to Nomi because she was not holding back. You were just laughing, Nomi.

KONST: Yes. I am laughing because, you know, you don't hear this type of honesty coming from party loyalists or at least people speaking on behalf of a party's nominee -- presumptive nominee. It's actually kind of nice to hear that. I have to give you credit, Ben.

FERGUSON: Yes.

KONST: You know, we unfortunately on the Democratic side, we're told to get in line. It used to be the Republicans are really good at getting in line but the Democrats are now being scolded for not unifying and supporting. But this is how our parties grow. This is how, I mean, we are going through massive demographic shifts in this country on both sides. And so we grow through these growing pins having conversations about for the Republicans whether they should be more inclusive of Latinos or they should get rid of their corporate ties for the Democrats paying attention to those under 45, paying attention to blue collar workers who have been disaffected by the party. You know, our issues in our party right now are all about why we're getting our money.

FERGUSON: Well, you look at Bernie Sanders, you look at Donald Trump. There's one trend here that both sides have completely missed, and that is there are people that are fed up with the traditional establishment, this is who we chose, and you're going to like this person. That is why you see there is not enthusiasm around Hillary Clinton. It's the same reason why there wasn't enthusiasm around Mitt Romney.

KONST: And Ben, the question is why do they choose those candidates? Is it because they think they're the best candidates. They have the best name I.D. or they can raise the most money? And where is that money going? For example, that's the question we have to ask.

[17:30:00] FERGUSON: I think part of it, it's the flank of the game. I think one of the reasons why you see people like Mitt Romney and the others who are furious over Donald Trump and the rise over Donald Trump or any other person like Ted Cruz -- remember, Ted Cruz, the most hated man in Washington. I would say to him, congratulations for that title --

(LAUGHTER)

-- because it projects he's doing something in Washington. If you didn't play the game by the rules that we decided, and that is you come to Washington, you sit in the back of the room and you wait your turn while we do what we want to do and you vote for what we tell you to vote for. That's why Ted Cruz did so well in this election as well, because he was a guy that was hated by the establishment. And it they're not careful, these guys -- and, look, they're going all in. They want to sit there and say Hillary Clinton won because you guys that are idiots picked the wrong candidates. And I think they're really willing to throw away the White House and give it to Hillary Clinton --

BROWN: All right.

FERGUSON: -- the Republican establishment, to make sure Donald Trump doesn't get it. It's sad.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Nice civil discussion between the Bernie and Trump supporters there, Nomi.

KONST: Who knew? BROWN: I know, right?

Thanks so much for coming on. Great to talk with you.

KONST: Thank you.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

BROWN: So what does Bernie Sanders really want? The candidate talked to Jake Tapper about what happens next and how he'll help defeat Trump. That's tomorrow morning at 9:00 eastern on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper.

Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, police have identified the man who shot and killed singer, Christine Grimmie, in front horrified fans shortly after would be the stars final concert. New details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That was 22-year-old Christina Grimmie performing on "The Voice." The singer was killed last night when a man opened fire on her after a concert in Orlando, Florida. And we now have some breaking news in that investigation. Police have released the name of the gunman.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is in Orlando outside that concert venue where this all happened.

What's the latest, Boris?

[17:35:18] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Yeah, Orlando police confirming just under an hour ago that the shooter in this case is Kevin James Loibl, a 27-year-old. Address is listed in St. Petersburg, Florida. It's about two hours away. Police tell us he drove here to Orlando on Friday night specifically to target Christina Grimmie, the 22-year-old YouTube sensation with more than three million followers. She was a third-place finalist on "The Voice," as you mentioned.

What's unclear, what investigators are working to figure out as they scan his computer and phone is why he targeted her. We know that he didn't personally know her. There was no one that he was working with in order to complete this attack against her.

What we know is that it was after her concert. She was signing autographs for fans. And that's when he approached her. He was carrying two small caliber guns as well as a hunting knife, and he opened fire on her seemingly out of nowhere. Her brother, at that moment, tackled him and that's when police say that Kevin James Loibl took his own life, turned his gun on himself.

At this point, officials have been very tight-lipped about what may have been said in the exchange. We don't know specifically what he was going through at the time. But obviously, there has to be a question here as to his mental state. Orlando police calling him deranged for having, again, driven all this way to carry out an attack on a young star whose career was on the rise and who so many people, as we've seen on social media, and here outside of the plaza live, were fans of her and her work. Obviously, a tragedy for her fans and for her family as well -- Pamela?

BROWN: Like you said, so far, no indication of any personal connection to her. Such a bizarre and tragic story.

Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

Earlier, we showed you my exclusive ride-along with immigration officers as they captured convicts. But we discovered that several undocumented immigrants were released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Every single one of the undocumented felons had been deported at least once and then came right back across the border to commit crimes again in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We'll explain why and what authorities are doing to stop criminals from getting back over the border. That's next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:12] BROWN: Last hour, I told you about my exclusive ride- along with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago. They were going after undocumented immigrants who were released from jail without immigration officials being notified. That's because Chicago is one of several places in the U.S. known as sanctuary cities. That's where local lawmakers have created laws limiting and, in some jurisdictions, prohibiting local police and jail officials from helping immigration authorities without a court order.

I talked to one of the immigrants that ICE picked up that night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): In a federal facility just outside of Chicago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are booking undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes in the U.S., preparing them for deportation proceedings.

ALBERTO PEREZ, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: I went down the stairs and, all of a sudden, I just see like four officers. BROWN: ICE agents arrested Alberto Perez, a Mexican national, in the

U.S. illegally. With one domestic battery conviction already on his record, Perez was arrested again last fall on a new charge of domestic battery.

PEREZ: It's not like I did anything really terrible, though.

BROWN (on camera): You have been arrested twice for domestic battery.

PEREZ: Uh-huh.

BROWN: Why should you stay here?

PEREZ: If I just made a couple of bad decisions but it's -- I'm not saying I'm proud of it because I'm not. I love this place. I love this place. And I consider this place my home.

BROWN (voice-over): Local authorities released Perez from Cook County Jail, despite a request from ICE Officials to detain him temporarily or at least contact him before setting him free, which would have enabled ICE to pick him up from jail rather than having to search for him on the streets.

We spent a day with an ICE fugitive operations team in Chicago and surrounding Cook County tracked down undocumented immigrant convicts.

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT: The more egregious criminals, the better they are at trying to evade detection.

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT: We have a runner. We got him as well.

BROWN: The criminals they're going after were released from Cook County Jail but ICE Was never notified because of local sanctuary laws prohibiting local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

CHUY GARCIA, COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONER: It frees us of liability.

BROWN: Commissioner Chuy Garcia was the driving force behind the sanctuary law in Cook County.

BROWN (on camera): ICE is saying, OK, we understand you don't want to honor our retainers and hold these people, but can't you pick up the phone and notify us when they're going to be released?

GARCIA: We have a policy that works. There has been not one single instance where someone who was out on bond committed a crime.

BRIAN MCCANN, BROTHER OF DENNY MCCANN: Denny on the right --

BROWN (voice-over): But Brian McCann says his brother's killer was never brought to justice because of Cook County's sanctuary law.

(on camera): So in this picture, Denny, is the alter boy, right?

MCCANN: Denny's the altar boy, yes. He was 66 when he died.

BROWN (voice-over): Denny McCann was crossing a Chicago street in 2011 when he was killed by a drunk driver, police say, by this man, Sal Chavez, an undocumented immigrant who had been convicted of DUI once before.

MCCANN: Mr. Chavez, with a very high blood alcohol level, hit him and dragged him about two blog blocks and he died a violent death.

BROWN: Chavez was arrested, but just three months later, the sanctuary law went into effect and Cook County released Chavez on bond without notifying ICE

MCCANN: I was stunned when I got this phone call that Mr. Chavez had been released from jail. And I was convinced he was -- because he was a flight risk, he would flee to Mexico, which he subsequently did.

BROWN: New data compiled by ICE shows, nationwide, 378 jurisdictions declined more than 17,000 ICE detainer requests in less than two years. 447 declined by Cook County alone.

One such denied request was for Juan Lopez Sanchez in San Francisco.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot Kate Steinle, the lady who was down on pier 14?

JUAN LOPEZ SANCHEZ, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF MURDER: Yes.

[17:45:] BROWN: Sanchez, who had already been deported five times, confessed to shooting and killing the 32-year-old Kate Steinle as she walked along the San Francisco pier with her father. Sanchez claim it's was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FATHER OF KATE STEINLE: You could feel she was fighting and gasping for every breath.

BROWN: Steinle's family is now suing ICE and the city of San Francisco, citing negligence, blaming them for her death.

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: -- in the 24 hours --

BROWN: Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson overseas ICE

BROWN (on camera): If these people are such a priority, these local officials argue, why don't you just get a warrant for them? Wouldn't that resolve the issue of the liability?

JOHNSON: That's not how our deportation works. It is not a criminal prosecution. Deportation proceedings do not work that way.

BROWN (voice-over): Last November, Secretary Johnson narrowed ICE's deportation priorities, zeroing in on undocumented immigrants in three categories, convicted criminals, public safety threats, and those who recently crossed the border illegally. JOHNSON: We see that reflected in the numbers, fewer deportations,

but a higher percentage of those who are convicted criminals and threats to public safety.

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT: So we're letting him go on the spot.

BROWN: The day CNN rode along with ICE, agents released three undocumented immigrants who did not fit the new more lenient criteria because they did not have criminal records.

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT: We've got a warrant for your arrest.

BROWN: Still, many of that those ICE does arrest and deport will sneak right back into the U.S.

(on camera): When we were on the ride-along, every single one of the undocumented felons had been deported at least once and then came right back across the border to admit crimes again in the United States, one at least three times. How do you stop this vicious cycle when already billions of dollars a year are being spent on border security with Mexico?

JOHNSON: More surveillance, more technology. And there's a public messaging aspect of this, too, which is, if you come here, you're apprehended at the border and you're a recent arrival, we have to send you back. That is not always pleasant, but it is something that we have to do.

PEREZ: What's going to happen to me?

BROWN (voice-over): And for undocumented immigrant criminals, like Alberto Perez, going back to Mexico is a daunting prospect.

(on camera): Do you think you will be deported?

PEREZ: Hopefully, in my heart I believe I won't be, but then apparently, right now, my faith is in the hands of a judge. I have no family over there. I just don't want to take myself that I might end up behind a dumpster or something, you know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And as for that man right there, Alberto Perez, who was interviewed in his holding cell, prosecutors decided not to go forward with that second domestic battery charge, but his deportation case is still moving forward.

And coming up live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, a Pakistani mother is accused of murdering her own child because she didn't like the man her daughter married, but it's the way she allegedly carried out the killing that has sparked an international outcry and a promise from Pakistani leaders to end these kinds of killings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:00] BROWN: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. A young woman in Pakistan is dead after being set on fire, allegedly, by her own mother and brother because she married a man against her family's wishes.

CNN's Clarissa Ward spoke to the woman's widower and reports this is just the latest in a long line of so-called honor killings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 18-year-old Zeenat Rafiq burned to death by her mother and brother for simply marrying a man against her family's wishes. It is the latest horrific example of a so-called honor killing in Pakistan.

Hassan Khan, the victim's 19-year-old husband, buried his bride early Thursday when her own family refused to claim the body.

Khan says they had dated secretly for five years, but Rafiq feared her family would kill her if they knew. So a little less than two weeks ago, the couple eloped and moved away. Then, this week, Rafiq returned to her family home in Lahore. Khan tells CNN his wife was led to believe the family wanted a reconciliation and that she was promised no harm would come to her.

HASSAN KHAN, WIDOWER OF ZEENAT RAFIQ (through translation): Her cousin gave the guarantee that nothing would happen to her. We were not sending her otherwise.

WARD: But there was no homecoming. Instead, police say Rafiq's mother and brother tied her down, poured gasoline over her, and set her on fire. According to CNN affiliate, G.O. News, an autopsy shows Rafiq had been strangled, but was still alive when she was set ablaze.

Afterwards, witnesses say the victim's mother ran into the street shouting that she had killed her daughter. She is now in police custody. Authorities say she has expressed no remorse.

KHAN (through translation): She was supposed to come home today. They killed her a day before. We went to her house and her burnt body was lying on the stairs.

WARD: Khan and his family say they were devastated.

His mother tells CNN Rafiq was like a daughter to her.

SHAHIDA KHAN, MOTHER-IN-LAW OF VICTIM (through translation): There should be justice. How could they be so heartless and kill this girl? She was our child now. She had married our son.

WARD: Sadly, this is only the latest in a long list of honor murders. More than 1,000 women were killed by family members in Pakistan last year alone, according to the country's independent Human Rights Commission.

Activists say that while progress has been made, a lot more still needs to change. NAZISH BROHI, SOCIAL RESEARCHER & ANALYST: The problem is that the

entire prosecution system of the country is a mess. And that's as true of honor killings as it is on cases of terrorism.

WARD: Pakistan's prime minister has condemned these brutal crimes in the past but, so far, his government has taken no new actions to stop the killing.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:55:01] BROWN: And following a screening of the Oscar-winning documentary, "A Girl in the River," in February, the Pakistani prime minister pledged to take a tougher stance on so-called honor killings. The Human Rights Commission reports at least 160 of these crimes have since been reported. And despite repeated requests by CNN, the prime minister's office and the Pakistani Interior Ministry have declined to comment or issue a statement on Rafiq's murder.

Be right back, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, every year, thousands of kids age out of the U.S. foster care system. Many have no family and nowhere to live. This week's "CNN Hero" is working to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN HERO: This population is the most likely to become homeless, and to become incarcerated and to be jobless. The odds are stacked high against them. And they finally get to that amazing place of having their own space, because they've never had their own home and then they're sleeping on the floor.

We need to left them up and create this foundation from which they can thrive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: You can nominate a "CNN Hero" at CNNheroes.com.

I'm Pamela Brown, in Washington. I'll be back one hour from now, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

"Smerconish" starts right now.