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Obama About to Leave for Florida; CIA Director Warns of Growing ISIS Threat; Grand Jury to Weigh Charges Against Widow; Democratic Senator Invokes Sandy Hook in Filibuster; Trump Tells GOP Leaders Get Behind or Shut Up; EgyptAir 804 Cockpit Voice Recorder Found. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:01] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I'm live in Orlando.

Less than 20 minutes from now the president, President Obama will leave the White House bound for Orlando. Of course, the city reeling from so much tragedy in recent days. The president and the vice president actually will meet with survivors of the nightclub massacre and the families of those who didn't escape the bloodbath.

This as we get a glimpse inside the mind of a monster. New evidence that the Orlando killer was posting on Facebook before and during the rampage. One chilling post reportedly gloating over the vengeance of ISIS. And minutes ago the CIA director told lawmakers, do not view this as an isolated incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: We judge that ISIL is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks. ISIL has a large cadre of Western fighters who could potentially serve as operatives for attacks in the West. And the group is probably exploring a variety of means for infiltrating operatives into the West, including in refugee flows, smuggling routes, and legitimate methods of travel.

Furthermore, as we have seen in Orlando, San Bernardino, and elsewhere, ISIL is attempting to inspire attacks by sympathizers who have no direct links to the group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And after nearly 15 hours of talk, a whisper of action. Senate Democrats end their filibuster this morning and say Republicans will allow a vote on new gun laws. It's a revitalized fight that may also shape the presidential race.

We're covering all the angles this morning. The presidential visit, the latest in the investigation, and this morning's chilling warning from the CIA director.

Let's begin, though, with CNN's Boris Sanchez. He's in Orlando with more on the investigation. Hi, Boris. BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Yes, the president is

supposed to arrive here in Orlando in just a few hours. He's set to meet with the families of victims and survivors at about 1:30. He's also meeting with surgeons, doctors, and nurses that tended to those wounded, and aside from that, he's also meeting with law enforcement officers who were first on the scene dealing with this devastating massacre.

This is a trip that's become very familiar for the president. He's made it many times before, whether to San Bernardino or Charleston, South Carolina, or Newtown, Connecticut. The White House yesterday saying that this is going to be an emotional trip for the president and that he's here to lend comfort and support to those most affected by the shooting.

We can also tell you that it's against a very strange backdrop not only because of the timing with the filibuster going on in Congress, but also with the president's icy relationship with the governor of Florida, Rick Scott. Yesterday Rick Scott coming out and saying that the president had not even offered to call him to give him condolences for the shooting despite days passing since the shooting. After the call, though, once President Obama did call Rick Scott, he did not offer a public thank you. He's supposed to meet him on the tarmac later today.

You can expect that will be very far in the background, though, as the president tries to rebuild the city of Orlando's morale -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Boris Sanchez reporting live for us this morning.

Now to the chilling new details about the gunman's final moments. An official telling CNN the shooter not only posted to Facebook during the attack, but actually searched online for Pulse, Orlando, while it was happening. And the investigation intensifies around the gunman's widow. A grand jury set to weigh whether she will face any charges.

Let's bring in CNN's Polo Sandoval with more on this. Hi, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well, as you may expect, federal officials are keeping fairly tight-lipped when it comes to any hard evidence that's being presented to that grand jury regarding his wife. And at the same time several little bits of information that continue to come in from law enforcement officials now suggesting that the gunman's wife is now coming forward with conflicting reports. She had initially told investigators that she had absolutely no idea that this attack was being planned, and then later, of course, apparently told investigators that she then tried to talk her husband out of the attack as he was heading here to the Pulse nightclub on that -- on that fateful night.

At the same time we're also told that she accompanied him at least once to purchase ammo but she maintains that she had no idea that that ammo was later be used here in that terrible shooting, and then lastly, Carol, I can tell you that investigators are also questioning why she possibly came here to the Pulse nightclub with her husband at least in the months leading up to the attack to try to find out obviously if they were possibly here to case this scene, but, again, she is a key witness in this whole case.

And ultimately these investigators are walking a very fine line where they want to keep that line of communication with her so she can continue to cooperate with investigators, but they also have to be quite frank here and face the reality that she could, and again I emphasize on could, be the first to be arrested in this case, Carol.

[10:05:02] COSTELLO: All right. Polo Sandoval reporting live. Thanks so much.

All of this happening as the CIA warns despite efforts to wipe out ISIS on the battlefield, the terror group -- the terror group still poses a growing threat.

I want to bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and former Senate intelligence chairman and host of CNN's new show "DECLASSIFIED," Mike Rogers.

Barbara, but first of all, tell us what Mr. Brennan said before senators today.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, a very astonishing perhaps set of remarks by the CIA director because they were so blunt and they were so much in public. For those who follow it, maybe it wasn't a big surprise, but it was a very public acknowledgment that the war against ISIS is only having some limited success on the battlefield perhaps.

The CIA director making a couple of key points. I just want to quickly read those to you. He says, "Despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach."

And as you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Carol, he also talked about the fact that, again, in his words that ISIS is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks. "ISIL has a large cadre of Western fighters who could potentially serve as operatives for attacks in the West."

So what John Brennan, the CIA director, is talking about is something perhaps quite different than what appears at least to be emerging in Orlando, someone who was self-radicalized who got a lot of inspiration, if you will, off the Internet. He's talking about operatives directed by ISIS with the capability of coming to the West. Air strikes, ground troops, they do some good, but they are far from able to fully defeat ISIS -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, Mike, you're a former Senate Intelligence chairman. As you were listening to Mr. Brennan today, what went through your mind?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, when you think of the administration coming out a couple of weeks ago and saying that travel to Europe this summer is ill-advised, and then you lay that on top of what the CIA director said today which was pretty aggressive when it comes to their public position on ISIS, we have a huge and growing problem with ISIS.

It means there's two kinds of attacks that they're trying to conduct. One is where they coordinate the attacks. That's where the CIA director was saying they're actually trying to infiltrate migrant flows. They're trying to either do it through smuggling routes or by a legitimate air travel using probably stolen passports or -- false documents. And then you have the -- where they're trying to inspire people. And they're trying to do both. So the Orlando shooting was the inspire part of it that worked and got this individual to slaughter 50 innocent Americans.

Now they're doing these coordinated ISIS attacks. This could be a very dangerous summer, indeed, and we're going to have to do something about is in Raqqa who is giving these permission slips to folks like Mateen in Orlando.

COSTELLO: So, Barbara, what is our military doing in Raqqa? I know that Russia is also supposedly fighting ISIS terrorists in Raqqa. What's happening there?

STARR: Well, you know, Raqqa is a very key center. It is ISIS' self- declared capital in Syria where it has been believed for many months that the leadership of the organization has been in and around that area, though they may have moved recently.

The U.S. is not on the ground in Raqqa. This is really the front line of enemy action. There are trainers, advise and assist teams to the north of there trying to train local Syrian, Arab and Kurdish fighters to be able to move their front line south towards Raqqa. There are airstrikes over -- in and around Raqqa, but, again, you know, you've seen people talk about why doesn't the U.S. just put ground troops there?

How you -- you know, the Pentagon I think it's safe to say would come back and say, how would you put U.S. troops on the ground in Raqqa? How do you identify once you're on the ground who is ISIS, who is a civilian? How do you get troops in? How do you get troops out? How do you sustain them? Resupply them? How do you keep that kind of operation going? How many casualties is the American public willing to tolerate in an operation like that?

So it does raise this very key question, is there more the U.S. military could do? Is there more a president could order them to do beyond airstrikes, beyond training and trying to get local forces to move further on the ground? Raqqa is a terrific example of just how tough that equation really is, Carol.

COSTELLO: And just a reminder, Raqqa is in Syria, right? That presents a whole host of problems that we don't have in Iraq, right?

So, Mike, I ask you, what more can the United States do or should do within Syria?

[10:10:01] ROGERS: Yes. So one of the things that our special forces community has been concerned about is this advise and consent. They believe they need to have that next step added to their mission set, which would mean that they could actually engage the enemy with our allied forces there, which gets, candidly, better success on the battlefield. But in Raqqa most of the military planners would tell you if you have a multinational force that moves in, not a U.S.-faced force, because you don't want U.S. troops going door-to-door in Raqqa trying to clean out that town, that would I think be a disaster.

But we can leverage up the success of a multinational force that begins to put real pressure on Raqqa. If we don't do that, we're going to continue to see that's their center of gravity. That's where they're running all their propaganda operations that both take advantage of beheadings of which they've done or burning women alive in cages to show how brutal they are to inspiring somebody like Mateen to do its work.

The longer we don't deal with this from a multinational approach and I think leveraging up U.S. special capabilities on the battlefield, the longer we're going to put up with operations that happen in Europe and operations that are either inspired or directed by ISIS in the United States.

COSTELLO: So, Mike, in your opinion does either presidential candidate, presumptive presidential candidate, is that on their agenda? Because we only hear about things like banning Muslims or bombing the -- out of countries. Like -- and Hillary Clinton seems to be going along the Obama route, right? And you just heard from the CIA director that, you know, we're still kind of losing to ISIS in a way.

So, in your opinion, is either presidential candidate hitting the mark when it comes to fighting ISIS?

ROGERS: I don't think so, but here is why. I don't -- the American public has really not engaged in a conversation about what it's going to take to defeat ISIS, and American politics, we're switching to some very important issues we're going to have to deal with around the shooting but not the most important issue which is, why did he do it? He did it because ISIS inspired him to do it and they're doing it from Raqqa because they hold -- have this safe haven and control ground.

And so we're going to have to -- leadership is important on this issue. I think Republicans and Democrats are going to have to come together. We should authorize this president to take further action by use of military force against ISIS wherever they work, train, and supply themselves, and if you notice, the CIA director was basically saying, we're losing that part of the fight. We're just not winning it. Not necessarily losing, we're just not winning it. And so they can continue to do it.

If we saw that, if we saw Republicans and Democrats come together with an authorization for a military force and a solid plan from President Barack Obama I think both presidential candidates can come to a place where they can assure the American people they're going to finish the job when they become presidents. I wouldn't wait. This shouldn't be just an election year issue.

We've got lives of Americans at stake. Lives of our allies in Europe at stake. And we should all come together. I think Congress needs to act. The president needs to put a much more -- a much better, more robust, multinational plan together, and incrementalism isn't going to work. We should be as angry about this as people are angry about the gun issue and other issues in this thing because we've waited so long and allowed them to seep themselves and become so operational operating out of their provincial capital in Raqqa.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Barbara Starr, Mike Rogers, thanks to both of you. I do appreciate it.

Also this programming note, Mike Rogers' new series "DECLASSIFIED" premieres this Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Now the issue of gun violence, let's talk about that. It's inspiring this stark front page of today's "Boston Globe." It features an assault weapon used in so many of these mass killings and a sparse three words, "Make It Stop."

And the Democrat leading the Senate filibuster Chris Murphy invokes the image of one boy killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Murphy was a congressman representing Newtown, Connecticut, when 20 school children and six adults were gunned down.

CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju has more on the push to change the nation's gun laws.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Now Chris Murphy's nearly 15-hour filibuster marks the ninth longest in the history of the Senate. But whether there is any deal after the theatrics on the floor is an open question. The main issue, whether suspected terrorists should actually have the right to obtain firearms.

But for months Republicans and Democrats have squabbled over how to structure such a bill. And each party's bill on this very issue has already been defeated this Congress. So the big question now is whether Chris Murphy's move has actually changed anything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: I have had enough. Tragedies continue to occur and we just move forward with business as usual.

[10:15:01] RAJU (voice-over): Democratic Senator Chris Murphy ending his nearly 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor early this morning, after saying he has a commitment from Republican leaders to take on two proposed gun control measures. Quote, "I am proud to announce that after 14-plus hours on the floor, we will have a vote on closing the terror gap and universal background checks."

The dramatic scene comes just four days after the Orlando terrorist attack at a gay nightclub that killed 49 people and injured 53 others, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Dozens of Democrats joining Murphy on the Senate floor.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Through all of the shouting, we miss what should be obvious. It was a terrorist with a gun that killed all those people.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Enough, enough, enough. What we're seeking is common sense.

RAJU: And even some Republican senators.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: There is an obvious opportunity here, guys, to work together and find a solution.

RAJU: Murphy's voice amplified into the night as the #filibuster was trending on Twitter during his marathon session. The Connecticut senator had just been elected when a gunman shot and killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in his home state, evoking this heartfelt plea.

MURPHY: I can't tell you how hard it is to look into the eyes the families of those little boys and girls who were killed in Sandy Hook, and tell them that almost four years later we've done nothing. Nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, Carol, there were negotiations happening behind the scenes yesterday led by Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California to exactly address how to prevent terrorists from obtaining firearms.

Now Republicans wanted to ensure there is involvement by the courts to ensure Americans are not swept up unfairly, but what Harry Reid told me yesterday, he said, quote, "Anything Cornyn wants, the NRA wants, I'm opposed." And that's some strong language from the Democratic leader of the Senate.

And even if the Senate does vote on these bills, it's very unlikely there'll be any significant change to gun laws this year and we have not seen changes to gun laws in a major significant way in nearly a decade -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju reporting.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Republican Party and its presumptive nominee on a collision course. Why Donald Trump is telling key lawmakers to shut up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:29] COSTELLO: With a little more than a month until the Republican convention, the road to party unity is hitting a whole new set of speed bump this morning. Donald Trump and party leaders taking aim at one another as the rift of the presumptive nominee's rhetoric widens. And now Mr. Trump is sending a clear message to his fellow Republicans. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our leaders have to get a lot tougher and be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet to the leaders because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter. We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I'll do very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump's campaign co-chairman echoing those sentiments in a CNN interview earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM CLOVIS, CO-CHAIRMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: The leadership of the Republican Party needs to figure out what they want. Either they want to get behind the presumptive nominee who will be the nominee of this party and make sure that we do everything we can to win in November or we're just asking them if they can't do that, then just shut the hell up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about this is Joseph Borelli, co- chair of the Donald Trump campaign in New York.

Hi, Joseph.

JOSEPH BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN NEW YORK: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So do you think Mr. Trump will really go it alone if Republican leaders don't, quote, "shut up"?

BORELLI: Look, I mean, I don't think he has a choice. He's won. He's earned the Republican nomination and now he's got an obligation to do as good of a job as possible running for president.

You know, we've all heard the phrase, lead, follow, or get out of the way. As far as leading, you know, the establishment has not won this election. They didn't -- the voters in the Republican Party didn't choose the five or six credible establishment candidates that they were offered, and Donald Trump emerged with the majority of votes. 85 percent of Republicans are supportive of a Donald Trump presidency.

That number is significant for two reasons. Number one, it's higher than Hillary Clinton has at this point and, number two, it's a higher number than Ronald Reagan had in 1980 in June. It's a higher number than George H.W. Bush had in June of -- I'm sorry, 1988, and it's higher than George W. Bush had in 2000.

COSTELLO: But here's -- here's the thing, Joseph. And I know you're painting a rosy picture, but if you look at the most recent string of polls, Donald Trump really isn't faring very well. He's got a 70 percent disapproval rating. That number has only gone up. Nobody has won the presidency with that high of an -- nobody has accomplished that. So Mr. Trump's rhetoric really isn't resonating.

BORELLI: Right, but, you know, if you want to say no one has won the presidency with a 70 percent disapproval rating, no one has won the presidency with a 60-something percent disapproval rating which is what Hillary Clinton has. If you want to make the case that unfavorables are what's going to drive voters either way, then Hillary Clinton is probably the worst possible candidate for the Democrats to be running in this race as well.

COSTELLO: Well, her disapproval ratings are high but they're not 70 percent and that's got to concern you, right?

BORELLI: Well --

COSTELLO: Going back to these Republican lawmakers for just -- going back to the Republican lawmakers for just a second. They also have a responsibility to their own constituents and they have a responsibility to the country. And if they really believe Donald Trump's rhetoric is not good for the country, don't they have the responsibility to say that?

BORELLI: They do, and I have been one of the people who have disagreed with Donald Trump on issues.

[10:25:02] COSTELLO: So why should they shut up?

BORELLI: It's not unique. Well, it's not unique to have disagreement among candidates.

COSTELLO: But why should they shut up?

BORELLI: Well, they're not helping. They're not helping the Republican Party. 85 percent of the people in the Republican Party want Donald Trump to be the nominee. If you're not going to help then you probably shouldn't.

COSTELLO: Again, if these Republican -- if these Republican lawmakers who have a responsibility to their constituency and to the country at large think that Donald Trump's rhetoric is dangerous, then don't they have the responsibility to speak up?

BORELLI: Well, they're not all saying it's dangerous. They're saying that we disagree on things. Paul Ryan was very clear that he believes a Muslim ban is not the right way to go.

COSTELLO: No, the Muslim ban they're saying is not a good idea.

BORELLI: Well, he's also saying we should replace it with a security check. He's not saying that Donald Trump is dangerous or doing something fundamentally wrong. He's simply disagreeing on an issue and presenting an alternative, which is his right as speaker of the House. And I imagine when Donald Trump is president and Paul Ryan is speaker there will be disagreements and there will have to be compromises. COSTELLO: Do you think it would be smart for Donald Trump to go it

alone?

BORELLI: No. I rather see the party come together behind him, but, again, not to keep hitting the same point, he won the majority of votes. The establishment -- look, these people were people who were not helpful. And they didn't want to see the Tea Party movement. Now they don't want to see a populist candidate rallying Republican voters behind him. That's all fine. But I rather see them also come together behind him.

That said, Donald Trump has an obligation. He is taking the mantle of the Republican Party forward, whether the establishment Republicans like it or not. He has the obligation to do so. It would be much more helpful if they got behind the candidate, and, again, it would be helpful also if they stopped, you know, talking about Trump in negative terms as they sometimes have.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Joseph Borelli. Thank you so much.

BORELLI: Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. I have a bit of breaking news now on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804. After weeks and weeks of searching, investigators have finally found the cockpit voice recorder. A major piece of the puzzle that could help investigators figure out why that plane went down.

Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman live in Cairo, Egypt. He has more for you.

Hi, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, we heard from the Egyptian investigation into the crash of Flight 804 that they have found the cockpit voice recorder in several pieces it should be stressed.

Now, they say they have been able to retrieve the memory which, of course, is the most important part of that. It's not at all clear according to an official close to the investigation if the memory is actually functioning at this point.

Now we understand that the memory was and the other parts of the cockpit voice recorder were retrieved by a French ship taking part in this effort and that the voice data recorder will be delivered to the Egyptian port of Alexandria tomorrow.

Egyptian officials say it's going to take several days if that memory is functioning for them to analyze it, but it's important to keep in mind that this is a significant step forward to the investigation in the investigation to this airplane that went down on the 19th of May, and, of course, a black box, black boxes put out a signal for a limited amount of time. The flight went down on the 19th of May. They believed that the

signal may be -- signals may be detectable until around the 24th of June, and, of course, what is missing is the flight data recorder which would provide further clues to this ongoing mystery -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman reporting live from Cairo, Egypt this morning.

I want to take you to Maryland, the state of Maryland, near Washington, D.C. This is a picture of Air Force One. You see it waiting on the tarmac. The president is expected to be on board that plane very soon. He will be on his way here to Orlando, Florida, we believe the touchdown to be 1:30 Eastern? Is that correct? 12:30 Eastern. It's supposed to land in Orlando.

I do believe the Florida -- the Florida governor will meet the president on the tarmac. Joe Biden, the vice president, will be coming, too. At some point I trust he'll be arriving in a separate aircraft.

Both men will be meeting with survivors and family members -- grieving family members here in Orlando and the president says he's coming here as comforter-in-chief, something he has had to do far too often during his tenure as president. We'll keep you posted. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)