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Gator Snatches 2-year-old Boy at Orlando Disney Resort; Investigators Shift Focus to Orlando Killer's Wife; Obama, Clinton Hit Trump on Rhetoric, Muslim Ban. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[01:00:19] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

I am here live in Orlando, where a new tragedy is unfolding, just down the road from here. This tourist Mecca reeling from a new heartbreak. A 2-year-old Nebraska boy wades into a lagoon at Disneyworld and is snatched by an alligator. A grim search now underway.

And investigators shift focus of the killing rampage at an Orlando nightclub. The FBI says the shooter's wife knew of his dream of a jihadist attack on U.S. soil. And one source tells us she accompanied him to two potential targets including the bar where he would kill dozens.

But we begin with that grim search in the murky waters surrounding Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel. It's now been about 12 hours since the gator lunged out of the water and seized that little boy.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is in Lake Buena Vista, where crews are frantically searching for any signs of hope.

Tell us more, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Officials here are definitely trying to keep hope alive. And they're reiterating just how rare this kind of an attack is. Alligators, anyone who's been in Florida for any amount of time knows how common they are. They're around just about any fresh water that is around. But this kind of attack, the nature of it, is extremely unlikely. Despite that, investigators tell us that they're holding out hope.

This is still a search and recovery -- rather a search and rescue effort, not a search and recovery yet, meaning that they are still, still hoping that they will find this young boy, despite that, though, as the hours pass, hope is certainly dimming.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): A desperate search underway at a luxury Disney resort near Orlando, by air and in the water, for a 2-year-old boy snatched and dragged away by an alligator at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. The toddler was wading near the shore of a manmade lake with his family nearby. NICK WILEY, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION: We've already

taken four alligators out of the lake to analyze. So they have to be euthanized.

SANCHEZ: The toddler's father jumping into the water to try to pull his son from the grips of the gator to no avail. The tragic incident occurring shortly after 9:00 p.m., according to law enforcement officials.

Social media lighting up with horrified Disney goers, watching the frantic search unfold, quote, "Police pulling up yellow tapes outside of the Grand Floridian directly across from Magic Kingdom in Orlando." And, "Praying for this family."

Ground and air crews continue search at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel. The young boy was on vacation with his family from Nebraska and had been staying at the resort since Sunday. Disney is fully cooperating with the investigation.

JACQUEE WAHLER, VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT: Everyone here at the Walt Disneyworld Resort is devastated by this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with the family. We are helping the family and doing everything we can to assist law enforcement.

SANCHEZ: With each passing hour, a harsh reality is setting in for rescuers desperately trying to find this young boy.

SHERIFF JERRY DEMINGS, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We're not leaving until we recover the child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Boris Sanchez, thank you for that report.

I want to bring in now Jeff Williamson. He's the public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. This is an unusual event, am I right?

JEFF WILLIAMSON, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: In fact what I'm hearing is that this hotel has never had complaints of an alligator attack or an alligator nuisance whatsoever. So as far back as we can go, there's not really been any alligator issues at this particular location.

COSTELLO: But this particular lagoon, it's a manmade lagoon, how many alligators are known to be in that lagoon?

WILLIAMSON: That's a question for Florida of Fish and Wildlife officials. They were here on scene earlier discussing that. I don't think they have an exact number. I know that overnight in search for this child we've pulled out four gators as you heard in the previous sound bite. And we have been able to go those gators and there's not been any determination as to -- or any information that we could discover based upon our examination with the gators. So in terms of how many there are, I mean, I don't know, nor do I think anyone would know at this point.

COSTELLO: The little boy, was he in the water? Was he on the edge of the water? Was he wading in the water? Where was he exactly when the alligator snatched him?

WILLIAMSON: From what I hear from detectives and investigators, he was about a foot into the water, maybe ankle high or so. It is not -- it's a little manmade beach area just outside the resort, a little sandy area.

[09:05:05] And then it goes into a very shallow area of water, and of course out to a larger lake. So he was probably about a foot into the water and maybe ankle deep or a little bit higher. So he was not very far in.

There is a sign that says no swimming. There is no indication that he was doing that. But he was at the edge of the water and this freakish incident takes place in which the gator comes on and latches on to this poor child.

COSTELLO: So the boy's parents, his mother and father, and his siblings, they were nearby. What were they doing?

WILLIAMSON: My understanding is the father was very close by his son. In fact, he heard what sounded like a splash and he turned. He thought the splash was something innocent. But he turned, and then of course, there was nothing innocent. He saw his child in the -- this child in the mouth of the gator. He ran to render aid or to get the child out of the -- out of the gator's mouth. Wrestled with the gator. I think he's had some scratches on his arm, but was unsuccessful. I mean, you know, the gator was able to get the child away from the father and to move into the water area and disappear into the water.

Disney had boats that were on this particular lake. They're out there first. The Reedy Creek Fire Rescue, which manages Disney from an EMS standpoint, came out, they put boats on the water. The Orange County Sheriff's Office marine unit came, helicopters. The dive team was all called out. We've been searching since 10:00 or so last night. So here we are 12 hours later and we can't find this child.

We are holding out hope, but, you know, quite frankly, it's looking grim. But we are still holding out hope that at some point we can locate this child.

COSTELLO: And just a final question. How deep and long is the lagoon? How difficult is this search?

WILLIAMSON: It is a very deep lagoon. I do not know how deep it is nor how far it is, but it is a massive body of water. It is called the Seven Seas Lagoon or something like that. That's the official name of it. It is a very large body of water. So we've got multiple boats in there, helicopters will be out again today looking for this child. So it is quite a massive undertaking to try and find this child. But we're not -- we're leaving no stone unturned.

Most of us have not gotten any sleep. But we're going to keep looking and looking until we can find something that will give some relief to this family. Grief counselors, victim advocates are in with the family right now because, as you can probably understand and guess, and imagine, they are really going through a great deal of trauma right now.

COSTELLO: I just can't imagine the agony.

Jeff Williamson, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

All right, on to this terror investigation in Orlando. New details this morning about the horrific terror attack at an Orlando nightclub. Investigators now focused on the wife of the shooter. They're trying to determine exactly what she knew. The FBI says Noor Salman knew that her husband Omar Mateen wanted to carry out some sort of jihadist attack and that she visited both Pulse nightclub and a Disney shopping center with the killer.

The FBI added that they do not believe Salman is a co-conspirator in the plot, but she could face charges for not reporting her husband's plans.

In the meantime, there are new questions about whether or not the shooter may have been gay. Investigators say they're looking into reports that Mateen used gay hook-up apps and was a regular at the gay nightclub Pulse. A development investigators say could change the perspective of the case.

Jim Sciutto is following all of these latest details. He joins me now with more.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So two focuses right now. One is on his wife. She is the subject of an active investigation because of those two questions you raised. One she has told investigators she knew he was considering a terror attack, she tried to stop him. Why didn't she come forward to the police? She's told investigators that she's visited several sites with him, including the Pulse nightclub as well as a Disney property.

Did she know, as she visited with them, that he was somehow scoping those out as targets. She says no, but if she knew he was considering a terror attack, why didn't she connect the dots. This is a line of inquiry right now and the police have described this saying that the investigation is ongoing. But here's how they described what the next steps are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMINGS: We are trying to understand all of his travels in the recent past, in the recent year to try to understand if he may have had others who were involved, and if he may have probed at other locations here. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Again, this is early in the investigation. They are not establishing any of this. But the fact that they're looking into it means that they are interested. The other question, then, is what was he doing, you know, in advance of this? And this is one question you raised.

So we know from regular club goers that he visited Pulse nightclub multiple times for three years. Was that just casing the place or was this part of his personal life that he was frankly not comfortable with? That's another line of inquiry as well.

COSTELLO: Going back to the wife for just a second.

[09:10:01] Did the two ever have a conversation about this killer wanting to carry out some sort of jihadist attack?

SCIUTTO: Well, she said she knew that he was considering it so they must have had a conversation about it. The question is to what degree. And they have other tools to investigate this now because they have his electronic devices, they have his computer, they have his phone that was with him in the nightclub.

COSTELLO: Yes, but wait a minute. So they discussed this as a couple. You know, honey, I want to carry out some sort of jihadist attack, and then they go and case Pulse and this shopping district at Disney and she didn't know? She didn't connect the dots?

SCIUTTO: Well, that's the thing that doesn't add up. How can you know and then you go to this place? Why would a wife bring her husband to a gay nightclub? I mean, because, you know, the explanation is --

COSTELLO: To go dancing?

SCIUTTO: Exactly. Why is he going there? Did she know about his personal life or was this -- you know, listen. Police are used to these kinds of -- and the FBI, these kinds of confusing answers. You know, there is a fair question here. She's just simply trying protect herself. Give a little bit, but say, well, but I didn't know what he was doing. That's possible. They don't have the goods on that yet. But that's why they're continuing this investigation.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto, many thanks to you.

It is important to remember that despite being known to the FBI, the gunman had no criminal background. He was not on the terror watch list at the time of the shooting. So what more could authorities have done to prevent this massacre.

Let's talk about that. I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, and CNN national security analyst and author of "United States of Jihad," Peter Bergen.

Welcome to both of you.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Tom, I want to start with you because the FBI knew about this guy, right? They investigated him in 2013 and 2014. They interviewed him twice, they put him on a terror watch list. They dispatched an informant to get close to him. Right? They followed him around for 10 months, and then they closed the case. So that sounds like they did a lot of investigating or does it sound to you like the FBI at some point dropped the ball?

FUENTES: No, I've run cases just exactly like that. To do that type of investigation for 10 months would probably require at least one full squad of agents almost full time to do that. It is a very extensive amount of investigation. And the problem is that even though he had made inflammatory statements to coworkers, they couldn't find any indication, even after introducing an informant to him, that he actually was going to do something.

He was mouthing off and they know that, and he had intentions or thought -- you know, had bad thought, but they couldn't find anything to show that he was actually going to go operational and commit this act. And again, you know, it's 2013, and obviously he didn't commit the act for another three years. So, you know, he hadn't completely radicalized yet, so what they didn't find he didn't have. He wasn't apparently ready to carry out the attack in 2013.

COSTELLO: So, Peter, in your mind, did the FBI miss something? Or is it so difficult to figure out -- to get into the minds of these lone wolves and figure out if or when they might do something?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, yes, I mean until we have a machine that could read men's souls, we aren't going to know exactly what somebody is going to do. And the fact is, is that in many of the lethal terrorist attacks in the United States, the perpetrator is known to the FBI. Carlos Bledsoe who killed an American soldier in Little Rock, Arkansas, was interviewed by the FBI both in the United States and in Yemen, where he was radicalized, and yet he was able to carry out his attack and legally purchase firearms to do so.

Similarly, Major Nidal Hasan who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, was well-known to the FBI San Diego field office, who were very concerned about e-mails he was sending to an al Qaeda cleric in Yemen, but that case with the Washington field office the FBI said that this was kind of normal e-mail contact that fit with his job as an army psychiatrist.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the lead brother in the Boston marathon attacks, was interviewed by the FBI because of his -- because the Russians said that he might have ties to Russian militant organizations. So in fact it's rather -- this is not exceptional at all, Carol, that somebody comes up on the FBI's radar screen. And of course we live in a rule of law society. And the FBI can't just keep cases open indefinitely if there's no derogatory information which is the term the FBI uses. And as Tom explains, you know, you know, there is a First Amendment in

this country. You can say whatever you want. You can be -- you can be a terrible husband and a bad guy. But that doesn't make you somebody that is necessarily a criminal until you start casing joints and buying automatic weapons, which happened later in this -- you know, rather recently.

COSTELLO: And, Tom, we should mention that the FBI at this moment has 10,000 terror investigations open.

[09:15:03] So we're not really centering on all of those lone wolves attacks that they've stopped.

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: No, they have, you know, these extensive investigations ongoing. If you recall the case in Boston, where the FBI had the wire tap on the individual and informant introduced to an individual, that's the guy that ordered knives online and intended to go kill, first of all, the woman that organized, you know, the Mohammed rallies down in Texas, they were going to behead her first, but then the guy decided, no, I'm going to go to the boys in blue are out there waiting for me.

He grabs his knives, he goes out the front door, luckily the FBI picked it up on the wire tap when he called his buddy to say he was going to do it, and the FBI had a full surveillance team across the street from his apartment and intercepted him before he got to the bus stop. And, of course, he came at the agents and they shot and killed him.

So, there is a classic case that even being on the radar, if you don't have the squad right there, they didn't have to read his mind, because he made a phone call while they had a wire tap-in progress. But they can't keep these cases open and wire tap everybody who thinks or expresses bad thoughts out loud. That's what happened.

The issue about the wife, I was involved in a number of cases where a wife called in to the FBI and said my husband is a terrorist, he is going to do a terrible thing. One case, it was a case where he was going to fly an airplane into Sears Tower in Chicago and it turned out later, she said well, we had a fight. I just called the FBI to get him in trouble.

So, that's the other issue that comes up. They have a lot of false accusations being made, and they may have to sort it out and (INAUDIBLE)

COSTELLO: All right, Tom Fuentes, Peter Bergen, thanks so much for being with me this morning.

Here in central Florida, one question looms with agonizing clarity. This would be the question. How much heartbreak can one city endure? Consider the tragedies that have unfolded in recent days.

On Friday night, up and coming pop star Christina Grimmie is gunned down after an Orlando concert. She was signing autographs for fans. The gunman killed himself and police never find a motive in that crime.

And then, barely a day, a gunman walks into a nightclub, guns down more than 100 people. Investigators are still trying to fathom the hatred and the reasons that fuel such a massacre.

And now this, a family's dream vacation to Disney shattered, a gator snatches a 2-year-old. His frantic father fights in veins to free him. And the gator and the boy vanished into the dark waters. Crews search for any signs of hope.

Orlando struggles for understanding, and how can many horrors befall one community.

(COMMERCIA BREAK)

[09:22:11] COSTELLO: The terror attack in Orlando has sparked a political war of words that reaches all the way to the White House. President Obama joining Hillary Clinton and blasting Donald Trump over his renewed calls for a Muslim ban and Mr. Trump's rhetoric. The presumptive Republican nominee firing back, saying the president should save his anger for fighting terrorists. All of it as a new Bloomberg poll shows Clinton's lead over Trump growing nationwide.

CNN's Joe Johns live in Washington with more.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

That Bloomberg showing Hillary Clinton opening up a 12-point lead in the matchup against Donald Trump with 55 percent of those polled saying they could never vote for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a concerted attack on Trump, coming from both Hillary Clinton and President Obama, and a strong response from Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): Donald Trump going after President Obama.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I watched President Obama today, and I was more angry at me than he was at the shooter!

JOHNS: Accusing the president of being angrier at him than the man who carried out the terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

TRUMP: The level of anger, that's the kind of anger he should have for the shooter, and these killers that shouldn't be here.

JOHNS: Trump, lashing out just hours after President Obama's fiery speech defending his strategy against ISIS and his refusal to use the term radical Islam.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the key they tell us. We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change?

There's no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It is a political talking point. It is not a strategy.

JOHNS: The president's speech, his sharpest against the presumptive nominee, slamming his rhetoric as dangerous and un-American.

OBAMA: That's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our Democratic ideals. It won't make us more safe. It will make us less safe.

JOHNS: Flinched by his National Security Council, including the joint chiefs of staff, the president lambasting Trump's renewed push to ban Muslims entering the U.S., and calling out Republican leadership left squirming by Trump's views.

OBAMA: If we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorist work for them.

JOHNS: Trump appearing unimpressed.

TRUMP: Nobody at the end of that speech understood anything other than, boy, does he hate Donald Trump.

JOHNS: Democrats, mounting a calculated one-two punch.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Donald Trump is saying is shameful.

JOHNS: With Hillary Clinton, simultaneously unleashing when rebuke in Pittsburgh.

[09:25:03] CLINTON: What Donald suggests, I won't call this threat what it is, he hasn't been listening. But I will not demonize and declare war on an entire religion.

JOHNS: Clinton also denouncing Trump's conspiracy theories about President Obama after the terror attack as shameful.

CLINTON: Even in a time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: What we haven't heard so much in the midst of this is the end of the Democratic primary process. Hillary Clinton won the final contest right here in Washington, D.C., she and her Democratic rival met quietly so far, but so far, no concession of the race by Bernie Sanders -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from Washington -- thank you.

It is not just Democrats coming out against Donald Trump. "The Washington Post" noting that some key congressional Republicans are also voicing their concerns. Here is what some of them, including the House Speaker Paul Ryan, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do not think a Muslim ban is within our country's interest. I do think it is not reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I hope he realizes that in order to actually win this war, you're going to need people that he has already alienated.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've said this a thousand times about Donald Trump. He is making it harder to win the war.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this with me now. Scottie Nell Hughes is a Trump supporter, and Tracy Sefl, a Clinton supporter and a Democratic strategist.

Welcome to you both.

Scottie, I want to start with you. I'm standing near a place where 49 American citizens died. In the past, the nation has always come together. Yet here we are, we're bickering. Scottie, a lot of people are blaming that bickering on Mr. Trump.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: And here's the thing. You know, let's -- I agree. Let's not make this political.

You want to talk about -- you ran the sound bites from the Republicans, Carol. And those are the same bitter people that have been going since day one against Mr. Trump. They've never actually -- they're looking for the chance to say, I told you so, that he is not the person that we want.

On the other side, you do have President Obama and president Hillary -- or the nominee, Hillary Clinton, going after the gun rights immediately. They're not addressing -- nobody is presenting solutions right now to actually solve the problems that led to events like Orlando, led to the events like San Bernardino.

All they're doing is throwing these sort of criticisms on Donald Trump, but without actually presenting a plan to solve the problem here at home where this is growing.

COSTELLO: Tracy, your response to that?

TRACY SEFL, CLINTON SUPPORTER: What Donald Trump is doing is denigrating entire populations, massive religions, entire communities of immigrants. He is factually wrong. He is making things up. He is preying on the fear and anger that Americans understandably feel after a terrorist attack.

I appreciated the phrase earlier that Republican leaders are squirming over what they're hearing from Donald Trump. It's so unfortunate for those in the Republican Party who have noble goals to come together and work with Democrats and think about how we conquer these problems. But Donald Trump is providing nothing but fear and anger and denigration and frankly, made up facts.

COSTELLO: And, Scottie, you saw that Bloomberg poll, Hillary Clinton is up by 12 points. That poll was taken before this tragedy happened in Orlando. So how do you explain those numbers, in Mr. Trump falling in the polls?

HUGHES: That's right. It was taken kind of during -- I think it started on Saturday and ended on Tuesday. That poll is actually skewed 8 percent by Democrats. And it did show that Mr. Trump is losing amongst the independents and a little bit of --

COSTELLO: What do you mean the poll is skewed? If it was for Donald Trump, you probably would not say that.

HUGHES: No, but it was. There was 8 percent more Democratic whose were part of that poll than Republicans, registered Democrats than Republicans.

But you still would have 4 percent more. It does show last week, it was a hard week for Mr. Trump. I admit that. But Hillary Clinton should have seen a stronger bump in her polls.

Now, we have a whole different situation this week, Carol, with the events that have happened in Orlando. And people do want action.

Those same Republican leaders and same Democrats have not been able to get anything to keep something like this from being prevented. Obviously, their first cry is we need more gun control. But every policy that they've proposed, nothing would have stopped this terrorist. Nobody is actually proposed anything.

And so, Mr. Trump's idea and it's true that our system is broken, is a temporary ban on those non-U.S. citizens that might be traveling over here and helping to radicalize these homegrown terrorists, radical Islamic terrorists that are here in the United States. We don't know what is being taught in these mosques, we don't know what's being taught in these communities, we don't know what is being told of these people encouraging them to do these actions.