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Gator Snatches 2-year-old Boy at Orlando Disney Resort; Police Focus on Orlando Killer's Wife; Trump Breaks with NRA on No-Fly List Purchases; Interview with Senator Tammy Baldwin. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Robi Ludwig, thanks for your insights.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello live from Orlando, Florida. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I am here in Orlando, a city reeling from so much heartbreak in recent days, now facing a new tragedy unfolding just down the road from where I'm standing.

Just moments ago Walt Disneyworld ordered all of its beaches closed. That dramatic action taken after an alligator lunges from a murky lagoon and snatches a 2-year-old boy. Nearly 13 hours later, a grim search is still underway.

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

But we begin this morning with Disney shutting down its beaches as crews search a lagoon for the toddler that was snatched by that alligator at a Disney property.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is in Lake Buena Vista where crews are still frantically searching for that boy.

Hi, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Yes, investigators this morning told us that this is still a search and rescue effort. It has not become a search and recovery effort yet. And the distinction there is that they are still holding out hope that they will find this 2-year-old toddler alive.

What these parents have had to deal with is absolutely horrifying. They were on vacation at what's supposed to be the happiest place on earth when the unimaginable happened.

(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 reporting.

I'm joined now by Jeff Williamson from the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Thanks for rejoining me, Jeff. I do appreciate it. What's the latest in the search?

JEFF WILLIAMSON, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, it's nothing new from when I spoke to you last. It's the same thing, Carol. We pulled about four alligators from that particular body of water overnight. We've examined them. But there's no significant information that we've received from that. We have multiple boats on the water. Some from Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

A marine unit is out here also with sonar and boats. They're looking desperately to this lake to try and find this child. We will have chase units which are our helicopter units in the air. We have victim advocates still with the family. And the search is open and oncoming. The sheriff has mandated that we stay and that we search and that we search and continue searching until we have something concrete. He really doesn't want us to leave this area without that child.

COSTELLO: Wait a minute. Jeff, did you say you're actually pulling gators from the water and checking them?

WILLIAMSON: That's correct. We've pulled four gators overnight from the water, and we are checking them. We have a professional trapper here, he was pulling gators from the water. We've trapped them, and we're examining them. They're euthanizing them basically to see if there's any information that we can discover. So that's been going on since last night. So, so far we've pulled four gators from the water.

COSTELLO: Disney has closed all of its beaches. Exactly how many beaches does that entail?

WILLIAMSON: I do not know. That's a question for Disney. But I'm not exactly sure how -- what they've closed. But I do know that they are basically cordoned off some of the areas just so law enforcement can get in there and do their job regarding searching and recovery of this particular child in this incident.

[10:05:07] COSTELLO: Knowing that a gator snatched the child, how dangerous is it for -- I mean, are there divers in the lagoon searching for the little boy or is that too dangerous?

WILLIAMSON: Well, at this particular point in time sonar is involved in which we're looking to see if we can get any hits. You know, sonar goes down, an image comes up. If something pops up on sonar, then the dive team will go into that particular location. It's just far too large for us to dive the entire lake. We dive based upon hits that we get. Based upon sonar. So if we get a good sonar hit, then the divers will go in there. The boat will sit on top of that spot until we get to it.

But in terms of danger, as far as we know, this has never happened. There's never been a nuisance complaint of an alligator and certainly not an attack in the history of this particular area. So this is just one of those incidents in which it just seems like a freakish incident. But there's -- as far as we know right now there's no danger. If we see something that's interesting, we're going to go down there and try and locate and see exactly what that is that we get a hit. And the dive team will go to that particular location.

COSTELLO: So, Jeff, we're heading into the summer season. A lot of parents are bringing their children to Orlando so they can visit the various parks here. What advice would you give them?

WILLIAMSON: Well, I mean, this is a destination capital of the world basically, certainly of the United States with, you know, major theme parks here, world-class theme parks here. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from bringing their children here.

This, as I said again, Carol, and I'm not saying it as an advocate of Disney, I'm saying it because it's the truth. That is that this is a freakish incident that has taken place. This has been here for a long time. This resort has been here a long time. The beach area has been there for a long time. It's just an isolated incident. And that's how we're treating it. We're not treating it anything more or less than that.

COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Williamson from the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Thanks so much.

All right. We're also following breaking news on the terror attack here in Orlando. CNN has just learned that the shooter, Omar Mateen, actually called a local television station during the attack and he tried to talk with a producer.

We're following the story with CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto and CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Thanks for coming back. Jim, let's start with the latest information on the shooter calling this television station.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Local law enforcement confirming this, the station saying that it came on a regular phone line during the attack. A producer picks up the phone and the person identified themself as the shooter. First asked the question, do you know what's going on down at the Pulse nightclub? He said yes. And then the person said, I'm the shooter, clearly wanting the media to know what was happening there.

So you have two calls happening -- well, actually multiple calls to 911 including that claim that this was in the name of ISIS. So he wanted to make it clear that this was a terror attack and he was doing it in the name of the Islamic State. And -- and this gets to the sick mind and the kind of attention someone who would do this wants, and he wanted to make sure that the media came there to cover it.

COSTELLO: So did he tell the TV producer why he was shooting inside a club here in Orlando?

SCIUTTO: He also mentioned ISIS, as well. Just as he did in the -- and again, this is according to News 13, which is the local channel. He mentioned ISIS just as he did in the 911 calls.

COSTELLO: So, General Hertling, what do you make of this?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No. No. This could be personal notoriety, trying to get more attention to himself or show that he's doing something to counter -- and I'm not a psychology, Carol, certainly but showing that he was countering this homosexual event that leads to some of the other conclusions that some have drawn already about his partaking in some of these events, or it could be, we've seen this in terrorist organizations all over the world, they wanted to publicize actions.

So the question is, was this something for the organization of ISIS to get more publicity for them, or was this personal notoriety for him to show hey, I'm against homosexuals, when in fact there's indicators that he may have been leaning that way in the first place.

COSTELLO: What do investigators think?

SCIUTTO: Investigators don't know. They don't know yet. They've got a lot of trails that they're trying to track down. I mean, when you talk to the profilers, they'll say the ones who do it alone, that it's about publicity and about drawing attention to yourself. The ones who do it conspiracy, that's more often -- and of course, there are loads of exceptions to these. That's more often someone who was doing it for a cause like ISIS.

So in this case, we don't know the final answer to that question. They believe that he acted alone but they are examining, including the wife whether she somehow supported him.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about the wife because there's -- there's just strange information coming out about the wife. Supposedly, what, she talked with her husband about him wanting to commit some jihadist act, right? And they cased the Pulse nightclub. I don't know if you determined they cased but they certainly went together and they also went to that Disney shopping area.

[10:10:02] SCIUTTO: That's right. So she has told investigators -- first of all, investigators say she's cooperating, one. Two, they have not charged her with anything. And three, they say they don't believe that she's a co-conspirator but she may have had knowledge. But let's look at what she's told investigators. She told them that he had talked about carrying out a jihadist attack and she tried to stop him. She told them that she went on visits with him to the Pulse nightclub, at least drove him there in the days just before the attack.

And also to Disneyworld in April and to another Disney property earlier this month. But she says she didn't know that that was casing out for an attack.

Now you're a cop, you're an FBI agent interviewing. At some point these answers aren't going to add up, right? And that's what they're doing now. They're trying to see how much is there, frankly, with the threat of criminal charges hanging over her head. That's a tool in these interrogations.

HERTLING: Yes. And the Disney property, the Disney parks have very good security. Disney Springs, which is a small outskirt from the Disney property, is a shopping center. It's a lot of restaurants. It's a place where people go between going to the parks and going back to their hotel just to get food and shop. Not as much security there. That will probably change in the near future. But it's tough to provide security everywhere.

And we've said many times that for a terrorist attack to be successful you have to hit a lot of target. And where are people generating, it's this kind of areas.

SCIUTTO: And remember the club had on guard.

HERTLING: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Some of them off-duty cops. So they have security, right?

COSTELLO: And they exchanged fire, right?

SCIUTTO: They didn't have metal detectors but they have --

HERTLING: The interesting piece to me is the continued reconnaissance of multiple locations with his spouse. That's the interesting piece. You know, for -- again, conjecture, don't want to claim she knew nothing about what's going to happen, but it seems a little bit strange that she's attending all these reconnaissance sessions with him and doesn't know what's going on.

COSTELLO: That's not the conversation you probably have with your wife or I have with my husband.

SCIUTTO: No. Sadly.

COSTELLO: Right. Sadly.

SCIUTTO: And we know from his ex-wife as well there was a history of espousal abuse, as well. So again, you have a lot of layers.

COSTELLO: Right. OK. Jim Sciutto, General Hertling, thank you very much.

All right. We have a little bit of new information to pass along. Donald Trump just tweeting, "I will be meeting with the NRA who has endorsed me about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list or the no-fly list to buy guns."

I got to read that again because I'm reading this with you for the first time. I -- put that back up, please. "I will be meeting with the NRA who has endorsed me about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list or the no-fly list to buy guns."

That's very interesting. Jerry Diamond is covering this for CNN.

Jeremy, this is big.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, Carol, absolutely. This is -- you know, marks a major break with the majority of the Republican Party who have opposed -- these are calls coming from Democrats mainly to remove -- to keep people on the terrorist watch list or on the no-fly list from buying guns.

You know, a lot of Democrats have argued that if you're not able to board a plane because of possible suspected, you know, ties to terrorists, for example, that you shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun. But Republicans have largely opposed that view.

Now we're seeing Donald Trump, who was just endorsed by the NRA last month, making -- you know, drawing a similar line. This is even a position supported by President Obama who, of course, has had some strong words for Donald Trump, and who Donald Trump in the last few days in the wake of the Orlando terrorist attack, Donald Trump has criticized him very, very harshly.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out particularly with Republicans, conservatives, and even the -- you know, the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party. A lot of those folks have argued that, you know, this possible ban on buying weapons for people on the terrorist watch list or the no-fly lists would represent a major violation of constitutional rights particularly because these people have been, you know, perhaps suspected of possibly committing a future crime but have not, you know, necessarily been gone through the due process of law.

And so civil libertarians have argued that, you know, removing the Second Amendment right for those people would be a violation of the Constitution. So that's certainly the argument that Donald Trump is going to face -- the opposition that he'll face from within his own party after suggesting as we just saw in his tweet that people on the no-fly list, from the terrorist watch list, should not be allowed to have guns.

COSTELLO: Well, it will be interesting to see how the NRA reacts, too. Will it withdraw Donald Trump's -- its endorsement for Donald Trump?

DIAMOND: You know, anything is certainly possible. Right? But, you know, Donald Trump is of course still a much more palatable option for the NRA than Hillary Clinton is. Hillary Clinton has of course called for additional gun restrictions on buying guns, you know, background checks, for example. Additional commonsense gun legislation that she and President Obama and members of the Democratic Party have argued.

But certainly interesting, you know, that Donald Trump is going to be meeting with the NRA to discuss this. Clearly he's cognizant of the fact that this is now something that they have not supported. And maybe he's trying to change that now.

[10:15:07] COSTELLO: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, champions or hypocrites? Why some lawmakers are now getting grilled on their inconsistent records when it comes to gay rights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In the aftermath of that horrific terror attack, some lawmakers -- well, some lawmakers are facing backlash over their inconsistent support for the LGBT community.

On Tuesday, CNN's Anderson Cooper talked with Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. She's been promoting a phone hotline for families of the shooting victim. But back in 2014, in court filing, Bondi she said recognizing same-sex marriage would, quote, "impose significant public harm." She was asked about that during Anderson's interview. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Let me tell you, I -- when I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on the bible and was sworn to uphold the Constitution of the state of Florida. That's not a law. That was voted into our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That's what I was defending. I've nothing to do -- I've never said I don't like gay people. That's ridiculous.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But you did say --

BONDI: Anderson, I don't believe gay people could do harm to the state of Florida. What --

COOPER: But you argued that in court.

BONDI: My lawyer argued a case defending what the Supreme Court allowed the voters to put in our state constitution.

COOPER: Right. But you were arguing that gay marriage --- if there was gay marriage, if there was same-sex marriage, that would do harm to the people of Florida. It's --

BONDI: That it was constitutional to put that in the Constitution.

COOPER: Are you saying you do not believe it would do harm to Florida?

BONDI: Of course not. Of course not. Gay -- no, I've never said that.

COOPER: But you -- that is --

BONDI: Those words have never come out of my mouth.

COOPER: But that is specifically what you were arguing in court.

BONDI: No. No. What we argued was, it was in the constitution of the state of Florida. People are right now who are partners and aren't married officially aren't able to get information. So we are trying to assist them in getting information. Because early on we --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: But isn't there a sick irony that you for years were fighting that very idea?

BONDI: I was defending the constitution of what over 69 percent of the voters put in the constitution.

COOPER: Right. But --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Bondi isn't the only one facing backlash. On Tuesday, Florida's governor, Rick Scott, visited an LGBT church with the lesbian pastor and presented a medal to one of the survivors. CNN caught with Governor Scott. He's been accused of underplaying the fact that the LGBT community was targeted and that many of the victims were gay. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You voted for the gay marriage ban and you just signed a bill that would give immunity to pastors from lawsuits if they refused gay marriages. You know, how is that inclusive? A lot of the LGBT community, especially from the victims, don't feel that that's inclusive.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: You know, my goal is to make the state as inclusive as I can. And I work with people all across our state to do that every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And while Bondi and Scott got grilled on their gay rights records, some in the LGBT community like prominent gay Republican Chris Barron are rallying around Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BARRON, GAY REPUBLICAN: Donald Trump is the most pro-gay Republican nominee ever. For me, terrorism and our safety in this world is an LGBT issue. For me health -- you know, health care is an LGBT issue. For me, retirement security is an LGBT issue. For me jobs is an LGBT issue. All of those issues impact the LGBT community.

I have no doubt that Donald Trump's presidency would be better for LGBT Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Donald Trump seems to agree with Mr. Barron. The presumptive Republican nominee tweeted this, quote, "Thank you to the LGBT community. I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs," end quote.

With me now to talk about this is Senator Tammy Baldwin. She represents the people of Wisconsin. She's also the first openly gay member of the Senate and she is a Democrat.

Thank you, Senator, for being with me this morning.

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D), FIRST OPENLY GAY SENATOR: Thank you, Carol, for having me.

COSTELLO: First of all, your thoughts on all of what I just said.

BALDWIN: You know, I have -- first of all, this is a tragedy that is still unfolding. And I want to thank you for being in Orlando and giving voice to those who are victims, those who perished, those who are injured, their families.

This is an act of hate, an act of terror, and an act related to easy access to weapons of war. And it is all of those things so we've got to recognize that. And I do not want to get the stories -- I don't want to see the stories lost of those in the LGBT community who in the month that we celebrate Pride and all of the freedoms that have been won over decades and decades we are so reminded with this tragedy that there is so far yet to go.

COSTELLO: But sadly with so many issues in this country and so many tragedies, they've become politicized and in this climate they become politicized so quickly. So you can see Republicans rallying around this tragedy, rightly so, expressing their grief. Supporting the gay rights -- the gay community. And then you have some Democrats on the other side saying it's not real.

[10:25:04] In your mind, how would you characterize it?

BALDWIN: You know, I feel like this is a moment where we have to pull together as a nation. We have to recognize that this is all of the issues that are being discussed combined. We had a U.S. citizen who was inspired by terrorists, who legally purchased a weapon of war and targeted his hate against the LGBT community. And we can't just silo these issues and keep on in partisan terms or in other terms retreating to our silos, our camps.

This is a moment that calls upon us to be unified, to act together. Enough with the divisive language. Enough with pitting a whole religion against -- you know, just calling out the Muslim faith. We have to come together and unite. Divided we will not be able to take action. United we can say that America is better than this.

And I am resolved to do everything I can to act. How many days do we have to wake up in America to news of a shooting, a mass shooting in an elementary school or a college campus, a theater, a nightclub, a place of worship? Enough is enough. And now is the time to act and to do so together.

COSTELLO: Well, yesterday you had Donald Trump coming out and he reinstated his desire for a ban on all Muslims coming into the United States. You had President Obama come on later and sort of blast Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton piled on. So is that unity?

BALDWIN: It's not unity, and this is a moment where we need to call out those who would divide us. It will make us much weaker in the world and as a nation. And to call for a ban on Muslim immigration when we're thinking about a person who is a U.S. citizen, this is going to make us much weaker. We rely on our friends and neighbors in the Muslim faith to cooperate with law enforcement, to help make us safer.

We can't afford to divide and make Muslim Americans second class citizens. That would be very destructive to the goal of keeping us safer and to our national security.

COSTELLO: Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks for being with me this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, from Muslims to the media, the latest Trump comment that have Republican leaders squirming. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)