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Obama Meets With Families; Orlando Massacre; Pulse Victims and Survivors; Trump Threatens to Go Alone. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:19] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me on this Thursday afternoon.

Of course, we are here in Orlando, Florida, continuing our CNN special live coverage of the massacre at a gay nightclub that left 49 people dead, dozens more wounded.

Right now, I can tell you, that president of the United States and vice president, they are here in Orlando. They are meeting with families just down the road from us who lost loved ones in the attack. The president was wheels down here in Orlando just a short time ago. And for those who are keeping track, this is President Obama's tenth visit, tenth, to an American city to offer condolences and to help the healing begin after yet another mass shooting during his eight years in the Oval Office.

Let's begin this hour with Boris Sanchez here with me in Orlando on the president's schedule today. Do we have any guidance from the White House? I mean sadly the president's been through this before so many times. He is - he knows how to offer condolences to loved ones.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, yes, the president right now is meeting with the families of victims and survivors of the attack at the Amway Center here in downtown Orlando. He's joined, as you said, by Vice President Biden. The White House described this as an emotional trip for the president. It's one that he's had to make many times before. You mentioned some of the previous instances. Just last year in Charleston, South Carolina, in San Bernardino, and, of course, in Newtown, Connecticut.

The president isn't only meeting with those directly affected by the shooting, but also with surgeons and doctors and nurses who tended to those who were wounded and who were hurt. He's also meeting with law enforcement. We actually just heard that he gave law enforcement that were first to respond to the shootings sincere thanks for their efforts in trying to stop this attack.

Aside from that, the president - the White House, rather, has said that the president is here to comfort and support the people of Orlando at a very, very difficult time. The interesting thing about his arrival, you'll note, he rode on Air Force One with Senator Marco Rubio. He was also greeted by Florida Governor Rick Scott, two Republicans. He's known to have an icy relationship with Rick Scott and so the symbolism here is that they're putting aside political differences in order to stand together, not only for the people of Orlando, but also for the LGBT community, as well.

We are expected to hear from the president later today at around 4:00. We've heard that his remarks will focus on what he's seen here in Orlando. And, obviously, you can expect something that will try to lift spirits, not only here in Florida but also across the country as we begin to heal from this terrorist attack, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We will take it live as soon as we see President Obama speaking to members of the media after just I imagine such a trying day. At least offering just a little bit of hope, hopefully moving forward here in Orlando.

Boris Sanchez, thank you so much for now.

And now to this. We have some just terrifying video from the hours inside of the Pulse Nightclub. We now have cell phone video, and we'll play it for here. And what you'll see shows people huddled inside. I know it's tough to - tough to make out what's happening, but this is the bathroom. This is the bathroom stall where people were hiding as the gunman demanded they come out or be shot. The person who shot this video survived, says there were as many as 30 people packed inside for four hours trying to keep quiet until police could finally get in there and rescue them. He says the survivor who took the video says they shared a single cup of water.

On to the investigation here. New pieces of this massive puzzle. A big development today involving the shooter's visit to a Florida gun shop where he wanted to buy that body armor. Remember, he was denied that body armor. A manager at that shop tells CNN that the staff thought his behavior was suspicious. What did they do? They picked up the phone and notified law enforcement. This is a couple of weeks ago. He wanted this special kind of body armor. And again, the people inside that location described his behavior as suspicious. The manager did not say which agency was contacted. CNN is working and following up on that, trying to find out why nothing was done. Perhaps something was done. We're working to see how they reacted in the wake of that.

Right now let me bring in CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Mark O'Mara.

And so, Pamela, to you first. A lot of new threads today. You now have - so we know he was in this bathroom -

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: Holed up for hours and in this bathroom he called a TV producer, he Googled the Pulse Nightclub, and he was texting with his wife according to you and your sources.

BROWN: Yes, that's right. We're learning from our law enforcement sources, Brooke, that the gunman and his wife were communicating during the three-hour rampage.

BALDWIN: Wow.

BROWN: And there were some text messages exchanged that investigators are looking at right now. What is unclear at this stage is whether the wife knew she was texting her husband while he was in the middle of this -

[14:05:10] BALDWIN: Murdering dozens of people.

BALDWIN: The deadliest mass shooting in American history. They're vetting that. But what is interesting to note here is that she did tell investigators after changing her story and saying she didn't have an inkling of what he was up to that day, that she did have a suspicion that he might launch an attack when he left the house on Saturday to visit a friend, as he apparently told her, and that she thought perhaps it would be at Pulse Nightclub. So investigators are putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

We've also learned, based what her interview has been with investigators and other evidence police have pulled, that he went on this spending spree in the two weeks before the shooting. We know he bought those weapons in early June. Obviously spent a lot of money there. But apparently he was spending money like crazy as well. As one law enforcement source said, you know, the signs were there that he was a boiling kettle and had the wife made a phone call, this likely would have been prevented. And so, you know, this is just one person we spoke with but others - that is a sentiment among other that clearly some signs were there and why weren't authorities notified.

BALDWIN: Let me go back (INAUDIBLE) to your point that he was texting with his wife. Mark, to you, I mean I want to ask you about the grand jury looking into the wife, but he paused in the middle of murdering people to text his wife.

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's his sociopathy. That's his complete a-moral disconnection to what was going on, that almost inhuman behavior. We'll never know exactly what was going on with him, but now we look at what was going on with the wife and we talked about it yesterday. You know, they're going to look at her from somewhere a (INAUDIBLE) a felony. A felony happened or she knew what happened and she concealed it.

Now, a conspiracy to commit murder could have been two or three weeks or five weeks in the planning. Then they could come in and say, you're part of that. So they're going to be looking at her across the spectrum.

BALDWIN: So we now know this is going on to the grand jury, and just staying with you, will - I mean imagine this will be included in what they're sifting through. What will they make of this?

O'MARA: Grand jury?

BALDWIN: Yes.

O'MARA: Well, in my opinion, from looking at it now, the more and more forensic evidence they gather that evidence is her awareness of what was going on, from bizarre behavior on one side of it, to actual planning on another, is going to bring her into a level of culpability or criminal responsibility. But let's forget, they're not - they're going to take their time before go to the grand jury. They have a wet phone that they still haven't gotten everything off of.

BALDWIN: OK.

O'MARA: We know FBI is good because they take their time. They're the best in the world because they're methodical, they're not going to rush to a grand jury. They're going to do it one time and one time right.

BALDWIN: OK.

BROWN: And I just - should just mention this, too, because the wife is claiming that she - it was evident to her that he wanted to do something violent, but she claimed she didn't know anything specific about this shooting and that she tried to talk him out of it. And she's also claiming that essentially he became more violent and that she - that he was angry and she was scared. So this is also part of the callus for the prosecution. You know, they have to really build a strong case and also corroborate what she says, which is difficult because her husband is dead now.

O'MARA: And they're going to come in and say almost the Archie Bunker- Edith Bunker defense, right? She's the dingbat and he's the bigot, but who knew? I mean we argued yesterday he's done this for years and what she's going to come in and say, done it for years? That means he was doing nothing for years.

BALDWIN: Well, I mean - now there's a classmate, and we'll talk to our correspondent Brian Todd about this, who's now kind of come out of the woodwork and said, well, yes, I remember this kid in the fourth grade and he talked about, you know, wanting to bring a gun into class and shoot up the classroom.

On the note, though, of him going to this gun shop and the owners, you know, good on them for thinking that his behavior was suspicious. You know, being active, calling up law enforcement that, again, we talk about could have, should have, would have, they did it.

BROWN: Yes.

O'MARA: Right.

BROWN: Well, can I just through a caveat in there.

BALDWIN: A caveat.

BROWN: Just from talking to my law enforcement sources.

BALDWIN: Sure.

BROWN: The FBI is looking into this, but they haven't determined that there was an actual phone call made to law enforcement, because initially the store owner apparently said that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary that stuck out to them, but now it sounds like they're saying, well, yes, his behavior was suspicious, we called law enforcement. So the FBI is looking into this. But at this point, we haven't able to find evidence that a call was made. But, of course, from the federal side, we're looking into, you know, making those calls to local authorities, trying to get answers.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BROWN: Was - was a call made? Was it the drop ball - you know, was the ball dropped or did you actually look into -

BALDWIN: Following up on that.

BROWN: Into this. Yes.

BALDWIN: Good point.

O'MARA: If I could just say -

BALDWIN: Quickly, yes.

O'MARA: If you are looking for body armor, that's suspicious. That's a good enough indication to call the cops.

BALDWIN: Whether you are -

BROWN: But even if you're a security guard and you have a firearm license?

O'MARA: I hear you. I hear you.

BROWN: No, I'm just - yes, I'm just asking.

O'MARA: But I don't like - I don't like tactical body armor on anybody but law enforcement.

BALDWIN: OK.

BROWN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Pamela and Mark, thank you so much.

As we continue on the angle of the investigation here, I can also tell you that today a tribute to the Orlando victims at the 9/11 Memorial in downtown Manhattan. Moments ago, the public observed a moment of silence and tied ribbons to the survivor tree there in memory of the 49 people who lost their lives at the Pulse Nightclub here in Orlando. That tree symbolizes hope and resilience in the face of yet another terror attack.

[14:10:10] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE DANIELS, PRESIDENT & CEO, 9/11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM: Everything about what happened in Orlando is simply horrifying. That a man could be filled with such hate and be inspired by such a radical ideology to choose to walk in to a crowded club filled with men and women celebrating life and love and pull the trigger over and over until 49 were dead and more than 50 were wounded. It is senseless, and yet it is exactly what happened. The men and women killed and injured early Sunday morning were simply out for a night on the town at a nightclub that had become a sanctuary for their community. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We talk a little bit more about the people you see on the screen here, those who did not survive this attack. My next guest worked at Pulse for six years. Blue Star now runs her own theater and is a leader in Orlando's LGBT community and she also knew several of those who were killed and several who have survived.

Thank you so much for taking the time.

BLUE STAR, KNOWS FIVE VICTIMS WHO DIED AND SIX SURVIVORS: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: I am so sorry.

Just reading bits and pieces about some of the stories I'm hearing that were relayed to you, people, just, you tell me, some of those who survived pulling some of the bodies on top of them?

STAR: I have to say, first of all, this is my first time anywhere close to Pulse since Saturday and so this in itself is a little bit emotional, especially -

BALDWIN: Right there.

STAR: Yes. It's a lot. I mean 12 years ago when we opened the place up, it was a place of love an freedom and a place for us to be who we are and now it's - yes. It's -

BALDWIN: It's what?

STAR: Devastating. We forever changed the fabric of Orlando, and not by choice. And hearing the stories of my friends and as a business owner thinking of my friends who were the business owners of Pulse and the stories like I'm - I'm actually just a little bit shaken up. I'm not going to lie. Because the stories that I heard last night and when I had a chance to be with a lot of the employees and the things that they have said and the things I've heard over if past three days are unremarkable. But now as I sit here, they're touching home a little bit - a little bit more so.

Heroic efforts on so many people's parts. Stories of hiding themselves underneath dead bodies, covering themselves in other people's blood so that the killer would think that they were already dead. Dancers hiding themselves in the dressing room in cubbyholes for hours with their phones trying to contact police and guide them in from the back so that they could be rescued, staying calm, staying as still as they could so that they wouldn't be found.

Other entertainers in another dressing room pulling the AC unit off of the wall so that they could escape on their own. These people praying, using their beliefs to keep a sense of calm and to be free. Some of them being escorted out by our fantastic police departments, stepping over bodies, hearing the moans of people in pain. The sound of gunshots resonating in their thought process day in and day out. I can't imagine what it's like to even have to try to lay down at night and find some sort of peace after going through this. I mean, these people are my -

BALDWIN: Is there peace yet?

STAR: No.

BALDWIN: I don't think there's peace yet.

STAR: There - I - and there's no bliss.

BALDWIN: I think that's OK>

STAR: How long that takes? I mean as you guys all go, and we appreciate you guys being here and being supportive of our community, but when you guys go, we're still going to be trying to work through it. When Gay Pride comes in October, we're going to have to relive this all over again. We're going to have our year of firsts and we're going to all be trying to work through it as a community. And I'll tell you this, he tried to destroy us but absolutely did not defeat us. So thank you for teaching us or reminding us how strong of a community we are. Gay, straight, it didn't matter, we're just a community.

BALDWIN: So how do you have such grace?

STAR: I want to say for selfish reasons this is how I just kind of cope, but we have a community to take care of. These are my friends. That was a pace of work for me for six years. I was there when it opened.

BALDWIN: You have been on that same dance floor. You have seen those same strobe lights. You have -

STAR: I know that bathroom. I know that stage.

BALDWIN: You know that bathroom.

STAR: I know that dressing room. I know how you get upstairs. I know - you know it. You've lived it. And to know that what is still even existing there right now as they - as they finish up this investigation, you can't even imagine. And it's like - one of the owners said to me, it's like somebody went into my home and just demolished it and ruined every single thing that we tried to establish.

[14:15:20] BALDWIN: Tell me about those who you lost.

STAR: As we are entertainers and business owners and we work in the club community here, you know, you have your circles of people. And our patrons are a huge part of our lives. They might not be your first circle of friends -

BALDWIN: It's a family.

STAR: But it's your - it's your second family. Some of those that we lost were huge supporters of the community, some friends that I lost and so I know next time we have a fundraiser I'm not going to call them and say, hey, what can you donate? Can you be here with us? How are you going to support the community? That's - that's when that's going to be really real for me. I think it's a true testament. And the age range - these are kids. Some of them are just kids, 20 to 50, and so they kind of encompass our whole community.

BALDWIN: Those who did survive, I understand police walked in and said essentially, raise your hand if you're alive. Raise your hand if you're alive.

STAR: Yes.

BALDWIN: What else have they told you?

STAR: I had someone actually go through that experience. And then telling the stories of how they came in and apparently the shooter was still in the - the second room. I'm sure that you guys have gone over the layout. But getting out and then actually becoming heroes and taking care of people that were wounded, being led outside to yet another scene that they couldn't even imagine, sitting with people with wounds, taking off their shirts and using them to protect them and picking them up themselves and putting them into the back of the truck so that they could be taken to the hospital because there wasn't just enough support because everything happened so fast. So in that they were victims, but then they became heroes without even thinking about it.

BALDWIN: Just - it's like - just to think the lights were still on, the music was still blaring.

STAR: Just there to have a good time. You know, they built Pulse out of love and to give the community a place to be free. When you go inside those doors, like we do any time we go out in the community, you don't want to think about terrorism. You don't want to think about poverty. You don't want to think about hate. You don't want to think about discrimination. And that was definitely not the case this night. It was let inside our doors.

And now we're dealing with that. But you have to imagine, we have been a community just pushing forward, pushing forward and we got to gay marriage this year where we became equal. We thought we were in this place of like, OK, we're just people too. It doesn't matter. Sexual orientation, ah, that's fine.

BALDWIN: Yes.

STAR: And now it's like - it's more than a setback.

BALDWIN: Do they rebuild? I understand there are calls in the community just to have a memorial.

STAR: That is a decision that I will respect -

BALDWIN: The club owner's wishes.

STAR: The club owner's wishes. As a business owner, I just don't know what I would do. You want to come back strong, but - BALDWIN: People have lost jobs.

STAR: People have lost jobs, which we tried - did you hear $100,000 raised last night for the staff of Pulse.

BALDWIN: Incredible.

STAR: How amazing. Just by the community.

BALDWIN: Incredible.

STAR: Raffle items. Entertainers. Coming together. Just hands - dollars to hands. We're not a big corporation, it's just -

BALDWIN: I was talking to Dan Schwab (ph), Parliament House, yesterday and, you know, this is another mega, mega gay club here in the community.

STAR: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: And he was saying to me that it's really become an area, it's become quite somber, but it's been a place where people can talk and tonight their doors are opening and it's Latin night. What will that be like?

STAR: You have to understand when the Latin community went over to Pulse, it was kind of a mission of Cindy Barbalot (ph). She was the manager there. And that's her community that she would promote and love. So for me, because she is - means so much to me, I can't imagine, a, what it's like for her to have lost a whole community. And that's just one person. And then for the community to stand and just look at one another and how many are missing? We're not that big of a community. We're a big community, but we're not that big. So when there's 100 people that have been affected, that's a big chunk of people that you're not going to be having drinks with or dancing on the dance floor with. You are going to notice that there's just holes in your heart every time you turn around. It's going to be -

[14:20:01] BALDWIN: Thank you.

STAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Oh, I'm so sorry.

STAR: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. We are in Orlando. But let's talk politics now and what a difference a year can make. This moment, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, descending that escalator at Trump Tower in New York City launching his bid for the White House. Here is a look back exactly one year ago today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just to be clear, as he approaches this microphone, will he unambiguously say that he is running for president right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. According to the highlights I've gotten and what I have read, he will officially announce he is running for president.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States and we are going to make our country great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:25:11] BALDWIN: Well, many, many, many headlines later, the presumptive Republican nominee cannot seem to mend his rift with party leaders, issuing a new threat to Republican lawmakers and donors who criticize his rhetoric or his policy positions. He said, I'll do it alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is too tough to do it alone, but, you know what, I think I'll going to be forced to. I think I'm going to be forced to. Our leaders have to get a lot tougher and be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet, just be quite, to the leaders, because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter. And we have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I'll do very well. I'm going to do very well. OK? I'm going to do very well. A lot of people thought I should do that anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: House Speaker Paul Ryan in Washington reacting to all of this today. He couldn't help but laugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What is your reaction to that and is this - how do you have any confidence that this is a guy who's going to have respect for separation of powers?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: You know, it's - you can't make this up sometimes. I'll just say, we represent a separate but equal branch of government. We just spent the morning talking about how valuable the separation of powers is and how we're trying to restore the entire principle of self-government, of government by consent. We will lose our freedoms in this country, including all of the bill of Rights, if we don't robustly defend the separation of powers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger. And, Gloria, you know, on Trump's words, what exactly do you think do

it alone means? And how might he pull that off?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think he's angry. You can see it. I think what do it alone means, you're fired, right, to use Donald Trump's parlance. It means that he's angry that he's seeing these Republicans back away from him and they're angry and frustrated at him after his remarks about the judge and after his remarks post-Orlando. And they've been doing contortions to say that we will - we need party unity and we will support the nominee, but they're starting, and you've seen it over the last week or two, to back away from him. He's furious about it. And what he is saying is, OK, folks, if I'm not going to have party unity, then just be quiet and I'll run on my own. Now, that's really difficult to do, particularly when you're trying to raise money. But I think Trump was kind of giving them a warning. OK, you want to back away from me, fine, but I'm going to - I'm going to go at this without you.

BALDWIN: So - OK, so there's that. Then you have, you know, Chris Murphy on the Senate floor almost, 15 hours talking, talking, talking, talking, full filibuster.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: You know, Republicans eventually saying, OK, you know, we'll hold these votes on some of these gun control measures. Do you think - how do you think this - this renewed gun control debate will change the race for president at all?

BORGER: You know, it's very hard to - it's very hard to know. Hillary Clinton is for tough gun control laws and Donald Trump kind of threw something out there that has Republicans scratching their heads the other day, saying that he does want to look for a way to keep people who are on terror watch lists from buying guns. And people like Paul Ryan and others believe that you would then start picking away at the Second Amendment, you would be denying people their due process. The terror watch list, they point out, are not very reliable.

So you have Donald Trump sort of looking at Republican orthodoxy and saying, you know, I'm not so sure about that. So that's another reason Republicans are backing away from him because they're not quite sure where he's going to come from on any particular issue, even including the hugely important issue of gun control. And by the way, of guns. And by the way, Trump has been endorsed by the NRA. He's going to meet with the NRA on this issue. And he differs from the NRA on this issue. So, you know, Republicans don't know what to think. The ones I talked to are kind of saying, where did that come from?

BALDWIN: Yes. Well, there's also the line - you know, you hear, if it can't be changed after a bunch of first graders are murdered, what will?

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: I'm actually talking to a Sandy Hook mom coming up in just a bit who, you know, all of us here in Orlando has just cut really close to home.

Gloria Borger, for now, thank you so much, in D.C. for us.

[14:29:56] Ahead, back here in Orlando, we will talk with the chief of the SWAT team, Captain Canty (ph), who responded to this attack at Pulse Nightclub Saturday morning, orchestrated that operation to take that gunman down. We will ask him what exactly happened. He will join me live here.

Also ahead, new developments