Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Muhammad Ali's Farewell A Celebration Of Life; Euro 2016 Kicks Off In Grand Style For France; Trump Trying To Stick To A Script?; Hillary Clinton Receives Backing From Her Party's Top Gun. Aired 3- 3:30a ET
Aired June 11, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE ALLEN, HOST: [Chanting] Ali! Ali!
A celebration of a life, thousands lined the streets in Louisville, Kentucky to honor the memory of Muhammad Ali as his family, friends, and the world bid him farewell.
Also, Euro 2016 kicks off in grand style as host France clinches its first victory amid controversy over the selection of players for its national team.
And Donald Trump tries to stick to a script after criticism from leaders of his own party. While Hillary Clinton receives backing from her party's top gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: We're on the campaign trail this half hour thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen this is CNN Newsroom.
Muhammad Ali was buried in Louisville, Kentucky Friday. People lined the streets to say good-bye.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[Chanting] Ali! Ali! Ali!
ALLEN: His body was driven through the town he grew up in. Fans chanted his name. You can hear it reminiscent of his case in the boxing ring. Then thousands gathered for a memorial service. Friend and family eulogized the greatest. Ali's widow explained how he came along at just the right time.
LONNIE ALI, MUHAMMAD ALI'S WIDOW: You know, as I reflect on the life of my husband, it's easy to see his most obvious talents, his majesty in the ring as he danced under those lights enshrined him as a champion for the ages. Less obvious was his extraordinary sense of timing, his knack for being in the right place at the right time seemed to be ordained by a higher power. Even though surrounded by Jim Crowe, he was born into a family with two parents that nurtured and encouraged him. He was placed on the path of his dreams by a white cop. And he had teachers who understood his dreams and wanted him to succeed.
The Olympic Gold medal came, and the world started to take notice. A group of successful businessmen in Louisville called the Louisville Sponsoring Group saw his potential and helped him build a runway to launch his career. His timing was impeccable as he burst into the national stage just as television was hungry for a star to change the face of sports. You know, if Muhammad didn't like the rules, he rewrote them. His religion, his name, his believes were his to fashion. No matter what the cost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Lonnie Ali. People remember Ali for many things from his athletic prowess to his humanitarian efforts. He reached a wide range of people throughout an extraordinary life. Some familiar faces were there to pay respects to him.
DR. KEVIN W. COSBY, SENIOR PASTOR, ST. STEPHEN CHURCH: Before James Brown said, I'm black and I'm proud, Muhammad Ali said, I'm black and I'm pretty. He dared to love black people at a time when black people had a problem loving themselves.
BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR: Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves, this brash young man who thrilled us, angered us, confused and challenged us ultimately became a silent messenger of peace who taught us that life is best when you build bridges between people, not walls.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: My enduring image of him is like a little reel in three shots. The boxer I thrilled to as a boy. The man I watched take the last steps to light the Olympic flame when I was president. [ applause ] and I will never forget it, I was sitting there in Atlanta, by then we knew each other. By then I felt I had some sense of what he was living with. And I was still weeping like a baby seeing his hands shake and his legs shake and knowing, by God, he was going to make those last few steps no matter what it took. The flame would be lit. The fight would be won (inaudible). I knew it would happen. [ applause ] we should honor him by letting our gifts go among the world as he did. God bless you. My friend, go in peace.
[Chanting] Ali! Ali! Ali!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: What a life he had.
[03:05:11]
ALLEN: We turn now to Europe and a sports football fans are celebrating after the host nation won the opening round of Euro 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: France beat Romania 2-1 in the national stadium just outside Paris. The winning goal scored in the 89th minute of play. 80,000 fans went through a lot of security check points to attend. The tournament features 24 national teams and is being played in ten stadiums across France.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: The opening match victory was some much needed good news for France after the country grappled with terror threats and labor protests in the run up to the games. CNN's Amanda Davis is in Paris with more on how France is celebrating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANDA DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The flags are flying, the horns are blaring, and the ticker tape is flying. This is a city starting to allow itself to get excited about the fact that France is hosting Euro 2016. And after the opening match France as a country with a new footballing hero.
The France coach Didier Deschamps had called for his side to set the tone for the tournament in their opening game to give the country some escape from the threats of terror and social unrest in recent times. And after a tense, nervous game against Romania, the mood on the pitch in many ways reflected that off it. A sensational performance from Dimitri Payet helped the pretournament favorites to victory. He set up their first and scored a spectacular second with just a minute left to play to get us up and running and France off to that winning start.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: But that is just one match down. 50 still to go on the road to crowning the 2016 European champions. There is a tournament that's really tough to call. Spain are the two-time defending champions but haven't been in the best form, beaten by Georgia earlier this week. The world champion's Germany have been struggling with injuries and defenitiy aren't (inaudible) at the back as they have been in the past.
And then of course there's Belgium, supremely talented. Can Mark Willmott make his squad full of riches finally prove their worth at major tournament? There is plenty to look forward to over the next month. I'm
Amanda Davis in Paris, France.
CNN's Jonathan Mann spoke with Simon Cooper from The Financial Times and he says he is excited about the French win but he says racial controversies and security concerns are nonetheless putting a damper on the event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON COOPER, FINANCIAL TIMES: I think huge relief for France. This is exactly the start the tournament need. I live in Paris and today walking around, yesterday you saw almost no signs that the biggest European sports tournament was about to start. Almost no flags. Nobody wearing France shirts. And the French famously need a bit of time to get excited and starting with a win is important to get the mood going.
JONATHAN MANN, HOST "POLITICAL MANN": They were facing controversy because of the composition of the team that took the field. Even some people on the team suggested there was racism involved in picking the roster. Can you tell us about that?
COOPER: I mean, it's been an issue for decades, really, that there are some French people who think that too many non-white players play as immigrant origin on this team. And this time the best French player probably came (inaudible) who is of Algerian origin was left out of the team in fact because he was involved in trying to blackmail a fellow teammate or is accused of that, so I quite understand why French - France left him off. But Benzema said "I was left out because of racism, the coach they shan't bow to racist pressure, they don't like having people of Arab origin like me in the team." And although I think he was wrong in case it did touch a nerve because there is this issue that a lot of French people are unhappy that the team is persistently majority non-white. The racism is an issue.
MANN: Well, and there was another player, forward, Ben Arfa who was also left off the team so it wasn't just one player's imagination. Will the victory do you think address that? Will it calm that controversy?
COOPER: I think it will calm that controversy. And also remember that most of the players who were selected today and who did play were of non-white immigrant origin and they are now the heros of France. And Dimitri Payet who scored the beautiful winning goal, he's born on the French Island of Reunion and he is now probably because he scored accepted as a Frenchman as any other.
So football won't make racism magically go away in France, it didn't do that in '98 when they won the World Cup. But I certainly think that this could be a month of unity and happiness for the French which they so badly need.
MANN: They do. And I'm wondering about how much the strikes, the security concerns are weighing on all of this.
[03:10:00]
COOPER: France had a horrible year after the terrorist attacks on "Charlie Hebdo" in paris a year and a half ago, and then the horrible terrorist attacks in November. Now there are strikes all over the country, France pilots are planning to strike starting tomorrow I think. And the economy has stagnated for 10 years, this is not a country at peace with itself. This is not a country in a happy place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: England and Russia are among the Euro 2016 teams set to face off in the coming hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Some of their fans faced off Friday in Marseille. French Police had to use tear gas to break up the scuffles between English and Russian fans. They have reportedly taunted one another. Tens of thousands of fans from both countries are in the French port city and more than 1,000 police officers are there, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: You can follow along with all the Euro 2016 action on our website. CNN.com. We have the latest scores and highlights, including those from the Russia/England match set to begin in coming hours.
Well guess what. Queen Elizabeth celebrating her 90th birthday, 90 years young.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: To mark the occasion, a new official photograph of the Queen and husband, Prince Philip was released Friday looking both quite well. The Queen's actual birthday, April 21st but public celebrations traditionally happen in June. In just a couple of hours the royal family will attend the trooping the color military parade. CNN royal correspondent, Max Foster has more on the official birthday celebrations.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Three days of celebrations started open Friday focused on the Queen's role as head of the Church of England.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: A service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral, attended by senior politicians and her entire family.
PETER PHILLIPS, QUEEN ELIZABETH'S GRANDSON: This is the religious part and we all know that religion is very important to her. And then obviously, the traditional pomp and ceremony of the trooping tomorrow and then the patron's lunch on Sunday, which is really a sort of a window of her interest. Because all of the organizations she's chosen to be a patron of and continued to be a patron of all these years. And so - and there is that personal connection.
FOSTER: On Saturday, we will see the Queen in the context of being head of the armed forces, trooping of the color, full pomp and pageantry on display here down the mall and down a horse guard parade. And possibly at the end of the day, a sighting of her youngest heir Prince George on the balcony behind him and many people hoping to see his little sister, Princess Charlotte as well.
Then the weekend finishes with a massive street party, a picnic along the mall. It's expected to rain. But it usually does in the U.K. but we need to bring out that British spirit.
Max foster, CNN, Buckingham Palace London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: We will have live coverage of the "Trooping the Color Parade" right here on CNN in a couple of hours. And again, you can go to your website for more details on all the royal birthday festivities.
In other news, the Israeli military says crossings from Gaza and the West Bank into Israel will be closed through Sunday due to security concerns following this week's deadly shooting in Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: The military says crossings will be open for humanitarian and medical cases only and for Palestinians wishing to worship at the temple mount.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: In the meantime, an extraordinary story is emerging about an off duty police officer who helped capture one of the suspects in Wednesday's shooting. Here's CNN's Erin McLaughlin with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chilling surveillance footage shows the moment two Palestinian gunmen storm a busy shopping mall in Tel Aviv. They'd illegally crossed from the West Bank into Israel. You see them shoot people at point-blank range. Then run away.
Police fire at one of the suspects but the other escapes. He blends in with the crowd. People were running for their lives. A group of terrified witnesses raced this way. A couple offered up their nearby apartment for shelter. The husband, an off-duty police officer grabbed his gun and raced back to the mall to help leaving his wife behind with the group. Neither of them knew they just welcomed one of the gunmen into their home.
Ovri Hertetz-Grady tells Israeli Channel 10 when the group arrived from the scene, the suspect was sitting on her doorstep.
OVRI HERTETZ-GRADY, WITNESS: (As translated) You see a man in such stress. He is hardly standing, hardly breathing what, you won't let him in and give him a glass of water? There's a terrorist outside.
MCLAUGHLIN: When her husband went back to the mall, he saw the other suspect in police custody. He realized the man he just allowed into his home was wearing the exact same thing.
HERTETZ-GRADY: (As translated) He told us these were the longest 20 seconds of his life. He was sure he would open up the door and find us all dead on the floor.
MCLAUGHLIN: Her husband entered the apartment and arrested him. Hertetz-Grady says at that point the suspect was unarmed. His motives for entering the home unclear, and we don't know what he planned to do next.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Donald Trump is no stranger to attacks. But now leaders from his own party are criticizing him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:15:05]
ALLEN: We'll have the latest from the campaign trail coming up. And Hillary Clinton huddles with donors at her Washington home as running mate rumors swirl after her latest endorsement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: The message from Donald Trump this week, he says he is the least racist person you've seen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: In the key state of Virginia, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee tried to win over crucial minority voters. Trump also blasted some Republican leaders who are calling for an alternate Republican candidate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Some of the strongest criticism against Trump is coming from his own party. Even leaders who have endorsed him are now objecting to what comes out of husband mouth. Here's Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump sticking to the script.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Together friends, we will chart a new optimistic course for America. We will put America first.
RAJU: After a brutal week spawned by his own remarks about a Mexican- American judge, Trump trying to show more discipline.
TRUMP: We will respect and defend Christian Americans.
RAJU: And he trained his fire on a common GOP enemy. Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's Wall Street agenda will crush working families.
RAJU: It's a shift in tactics that Republican leaders have been clamoring for. Reading from a teleprompter and staying on message. And after refusing to apologize - for his inflammatory remarks, saying that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not rule fairly because of his Mexican heritage, Trump now making this appeal.
TRUMP: Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their color and the color of their skin, should not be judged that way. RAJU: The speech capped a week dominated by GOP outrage over Trump's
controversial remarks on Judge Curiel undermining his effort to unite an already divided Republican party.
The senate majority leader questioning Trump's knowledge while talking about his running mate.
MITCH MCCONNELL, U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: He needs somebody highly experienced and very knowledgeable because it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues.
RAJU: And speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump critic Mitt Romney ruled out running as a third party candidate but saying he won't for Trump.
MITT ROMNEY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just can't bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump I think is too great a depature from the values of our country for me to sign up as a voter for him either. So I'll be writing in somebody else's name, it will be, probably another Republican.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: What would he have to do to win your support?
[03:20:04]
ROMNEY: I don't think there's anything I'm looking for from Mr. Trump to give him my support. He's demonstrated who he is.
RAJU: And on Capitol Hill, the Trump skeptism persists.
CHARLIE DENT, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: I have not endorsed the presumptive nominee and those kinds of comments make it even less likely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Trump critics say he is tearing the Republican Party apart. Hillary Clinton is working to unite the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: She just got a major endorsement on Friday from Senator Elizabeth Warren and the two met privately at Clinton's home in Washington. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate on Friday also invited top fund-raisers to her home. She is expected to raise $1 billion for her White House run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: As Clinton looks toward the general election she is also blasting Donald Trump. Here's Michelle Kosinski.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton, her feet firmly planted as the presumptive Democratic nominee [Chanting] now pushing on toward November.
HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Do we want to put our health, our lives, our futures in Donald Trump's hands?
KOSINSKI: Starting with a speech for planned parenthood a setting to both appeal to women and blast Donald Trump.
CLINTON: When Donald Trump says a distinguished judge born in Indiana can't do his job because of his Mexican heritage or mocks a reporter with disabilities or denigrates Muslims and immigrants, it goes against everything we stand for. He does not see all Americans as Americans.
KOSINSKI: Earlier Friday morning, Senator Elizabeth Warren spotted arriving at Clinton's Washington, D.C. Home for a private conversation. Adding fuel to speculation she could be the VP pick only hours after she endorsed Clinton on television.
ELIZABETH WARREN: I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next President of the United States.
KOSINSKI: On her prospects as running mate, she would say that she is ready for the job. She would be able to draw on the independent progressive younger voters that Hillary Clinton needs on board. And she hasn't exactly been at Clinton's side from the start. She is proving more than willing and able to do battle with Trump.
WARREN: A loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself. A thin-skinned, racist bully.
KOSINSKI: Trump's treat back just as incendiary torching warren with the nickname he gave her. "Pocahontas is at it again, goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators has a nasty mouth. Hope she is VP choice."
She got in the last word though. "No seriously, delete your account."
Thursday night, Vice President Biden also called Trump's recent comments racist. So where's Bernie Sanders in this Democratic power coalition? Thursday night, still rallying his supporters in D.C. ahead of Tuesday's primary.
BERNIE SANDERS, U.S. DEMOCTRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we're still standing.
KOSINSKI: Not a mention there of Hillary Clinton nor has he endorsed her yet. It will be a quiet weekend at Bernie's in Vermont a day after pledging to work with Clinton from now on.
Michelle Kosinski, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Another wild week on campaign trail from Hillary Clinton's history making week to Donald Trump's trouble with his own party. Don't miss "Political Mann. That's Saturday at 7:p.m. in London, 10p.m. in Abu Dhabi. Keiko Fujimori has conceded defeat after a razor thin loss in Peru's
Presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Fujimori said her party would vigorously fill the role of the opposition. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski claimed victory after winning a majority of the vote by a fraction of a percentage point. For him to be named president-elect, Peru's electoral college must declare the vote official he would then take office July 28th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Derek Van Dam is with us. He has his eyes on Ghana. People just driving through the rain.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's very difficult and I want to bring something up last year at this time Natalie, do you recall there was a flooding incident in Accra, the capital of Ghana that flooded a petrol station. Some of that gas and petrol leaked out onto the surface of the water and unfortunately it led to scores of fatalities in that area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DAM: Well a situation not like that but the flooding, is similar in Accra at the moment. This is a big problem for this part of the world that doesn't often get a lot of publicity. We're trying to bring it to you here on this international stage, being CNN International, to show you what they have to deal with in West Africa. There is poor infrastructure in this part of the world. So when you get excessive rainfall, and we'll show you the totals in just a moment, it leads to flooding just like this.
[03:25:01]
VAN DAM: And some of the images on social media were actually showing this even worse than some of the video we are able to show you at this very moment in time. Take for instance this particular image. This was actually sent to me from by my best friend who actually alerted me about this particular story. He was in a taxi, and the water started to rush up underneath the vehicle. And it got so severe so quickly -- this is known as flash flooding - that the driver of the taxi actually exited the car and left him in the vehicle all by himself.
And I told him and reiterated to him that it's just so incredibly dangerous to stay inside of a vehicle when rushing water is starting to rapidly rise just like that and here's why. 15 centimeters of moving water can actually sweep a person off their feet. It only takes rushing water of about a half a meter to pick up an entire car and sweep it downstream. And that's how a significant amount of the flood fatalities actually occur from that particular event.
So my friend's taxi driver and other people just like that in West Africa dealing with flooding are very lucky that there haven't been, well at least that I've heard of any fatalities this particular year. But this is an annual event. Look at these rainfall totals for the
coastal areas of Ghana. Even into Nigeria, as well as (inaudible) and up towards Senegal. They have had over 150 millimeters when they see typically in the month of June around 220. And by the way, 140 millimeters of that rainfall fell in a three hour period that led to the flash flooding that you saw on the movie just a moment ago.
The reason for this, the convergence of air across the ecuatorial regions, this is known as the intertropical convergence zone. That's where we see this convective activity, or thunderstorms develop and they move from east to west producing this persistent band of rain this time of year. And by the way it fluctuates depending on the time of the year.
Take a look at the video coming out of China. Lastly we'll leave with this; they are also dealing with flooding in the southwestern sections of the country. Extreme rains, this is a very mountainous terrain Natalie, that has led to landslides and mudslides as well.
ALLEN: All right. You're lucky you have a good friend there in Ghana helping us out.
VAN DAM: I do; alerting me of big stories.
ALLEN: Thanks for watching. We'll be right back with our top stories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Back with our top stories. Muhammad Ali has been buried in Louisville, Kentucky, back where it all began for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: It's been a week-long celebration of the boxing legend's life in his hometown. Religious leaders, life-long friends and family all paying their respects to Ali in a public service Friday.
France has won the opening match of the Euro 2016 football championship, besting Romania 2-1. Fans waded through intense security to get to the stadium. France and other countries have warned the tournament could be a target for terrorists.
