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President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Visit Orlando to Offer Condolences; Mother of the Child Killed at Sandy Hook Pleads to President Obama and Senator Marco Rubio. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, I can tell you that here in Orlando, President Obama is here on the ground. He has been meeting with families here in addition to the vice president offering condolences, just talked to law enforcement, as well. And members of the city coming up and talk to an Orlando local who says now is the time to act, what he wants to see from President Obama.

Also ahead, the mother of one of the young victims of a Sandy Hook school shooting from December 2012. She wrote a letter to the families in Orlando with a message that love wins. We'll talk to her coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00] BALDWIN: Breaking news now as I stand here live in Orlando. A pretty outrageous remark by Senator John McCain involving the terror attack here in Orlando.

Let's go straight to Capitol Hill and Manu Raju live.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Brooke, I lost a little bit of audio there but I believe you're asking me about John McCain's comments who just talking to a group of reporters on Capitol Hill, talking about the Orlando attacks. And what he said repeatedly is that Barack Obama is directly responsible for the attacks in Orlando. And why did he say that? Because he said of Barack Obama's national security policies particularly involving what happened in Iraq. He said that Barack Obama pulled troops out of Iraq and what happened then that Al-Qaeda moved to Syria so then it became ISIS. ISIS grew powerful. At that point he warned that there will be more attacks on the United States.

He said if Barack Obama did not - Barack Obama had actually maintained higher troop levels in Iraq, if he did not withdraw troops then this country would be much more secure and then there would not have been attacks against the country. That's the point he was trying to make. He said several times Barack Obama is directly responsible for what happened in Orlando because of his failures in Iraq, in John McCain's words.

Very, very strong statements coming from the 2008 Republican presidential nominee just shows how much tension there is on Capitol Hill. And one reason why very difficult to get any deal on guns or any sort of gun issue because both sides are very, very far apart on this and John McCain's strong words, Brooke, just a little while ago.

BALDWIN: Manu Raju, this is extremely significant. And to your point, showing the tensions here in this campaign from especially this veteran senator from Arizona.

Manu, thank you so much. We are working on getting all of our analysts up. This is to parse through the significance of this and how this may sway things moving forward in the wake of the tragedy here in Orlando.

A quick break. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:25] BALDWIN: Today is a special day here in Orlando as both president of the United States and the vice president are here. They have just finished meeting with members of the law enforcement. They now just finished meeting with the family members of those who lost their lives in this horrendous tragedy and also those survivors here. And now you see that this is just for a moment ago adding beautiful yellow roses to this memorial that has just been growing there in downtown Orlando.

We are supposed to be hearing from the president momentarily. We will take that live. But meantime in Washington, we just talked to Manu Raju about specifically what Senator John McCain has just said about President Obama saying he was, and I'm quoting, "directly responsible for this massacre at this gay nightclub, Pulse nightclub here in Orlando.

Let me bring in the A-team here in Washington, Manu Raju, joining me again. He just reported it. Also with me Dana Bash, chief political correspondent.

And Dana, let me just begin with you to explain, I mean, this is explosive for senator McCain to say this. He has not been -- why now? Why do this?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, before I answer that, let me just said to say right of the bat that John McCain since Manu's report a couple of minutes ago, John McCain tweeted what he called a clarification. Here's what he said.

To clarify, I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions that have led to the rise of ISIL, not to the president himself.

Clearly, understood that maybe in the heat of moment talking to reporters seeming to blame the president for such a horrific shooting and massacre, not to mention as you said just moments before the president and vice president are actually there and will make remarks as probably not the best idea.

But the history of this and the context of this is as follows, Brooke. I remember eight years ago covering the presidential campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain. And even back then the differences between the two of them on how to handle Iraq were vast and were deep and were quite personal and made John McCain quite passionate.

Fast forward to, you know, what has happened since the president beat John McCain and took over and then ultimately took troops out of Iraq. You heard John McCain and Manu talk about this better than I can just listening to John McCain in the hallways over and over for years about the kind of catastrophic, monumental mistake he thinks that the president made in taking those troops out, that they should have been left in and that that's led to the rise of ISIL.

So, that is something that is very deep in John McCain's DNA, really, when it comes to this issue. On the other point of context, again, I'm going to let Manu take it on this because he was in Arizona with the senator is that he is politically now speaking in a very tough race back at home in Arizona, his own presumptive nominee is not making things easy for him and neither is the president. So that is also part of the context re.

BALDWIN: Manu, you want to chime in?

RAJU: Yes. Dana is absolutely right. I mean, when you looking at his reelection bid, it is probably one of the toughest if not the toughest of his career and not only does he have to worry about a primary challenge in August, he probably is going to be OK in the primary challenge of this. He is looking over his right shoulder pretty warily right now.

But he also has a bigger concern in the general election against a Democrat opponent of Ann Kirkpatrick, a congresswoman, who is very neck and neck with him in the polls. Now he is, of course, as Dana mentioned, trying to clean up his remarks.

I will read you a little bit about what he said to reporters. He was pretty adamant that the president was in fact directly responsible when he was asked directly do you mean for the Orlando shooting. He said, yes. He said that Barack Obama is directly responsible for it because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, Al-Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS and ISIS is what it is today, thanks to Barack Obama's failures. And went on to talked about the utter failures in Iraq and the region leading to ISIS. And so he said so the responsibility he said lies with President Obama and his failed policy.

So then there is a follow-up question that, well, do you think that the president is directly responsible for what happened in Orlando? He said because he pulled everybody out of Iraq? And I predicted at the time that ISIS would go unchecked. And he later said so he is directly responsible. So there was not much ambiguity there asked on Capitol Hill but perhaps McCain thought about it realizes maybe went a little bit too far. It is one reason why he issued that tweet. But clearly as Dana notes, he is a national security hawk. That is the issue he is running on and armed services chairman in the Senate and he clearly differs with Barack Obama on what is happening in Iraq, Brooke.

[15:46:30] BALDWIN: Let me bring - Manu, thank you.

Let me bring in another voice in, Gloria Borger. And as we are talking about, you know, John McCain and President Obama, I'm also wondering about Donald Trump. I know senate minority majority leader Reid is now laid with response to McCain's comment calling him a Trump puppet. Trump was highly critical of, you know, senator McCain. Senator McCain has hasn't exactly shown Trump a ton of love. How does Donald Trump respond to this comment?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, Donald Trump has already said his own piece about President Obama for which he was roundly criticized although probably not by the supporters, you know, when he sort of questioned the president's motives in terms of dealing with ISIS. And I think that's one reason you have this tweet from senator McCain being very quick to clarify that he was talking about policy and not talking about the president personally. Because what Trump did was talk about the president's own personal motives and where he was coming from. And, you know, McCain, McCain who has been out there criticizing the president as Dana and Manu know for a very long over his handling of ISIS, you know, had to clarify this because I don't think he wanted to put himself in the category of somebody who was questioning the president's bona fides in terms of how much he cares and loves about this country.

You know, McCain is not a fan of President Obama's in terms of foreign policy but the fact that he was so quick to clarify this makes it very clear that he understands that he was crossing a line that he really probably didn't intend to cross but did.

BALDWIN: So, OK. There is a clarification. He didn't mean the president that the president's decisions, president's policy. But despite this attempt to clarify, Dana Bash, back to you, to try to fix this, he can't take it back, you know, especially at this very moment, families are grieving, the president is in Orlando, visiting with families this afternoon.

BASH: No. He can't. He can just go I think as far as he did and perhaps he will go little bit further. I wasn't in the hallway with him. I have been in hallways and campaign rallies, and, you know, across the board across the country with him and I have seen him, you know, get riled up as many politicians do. Many people do.

But there's kind of -- there are few things that get John McCain going as much as my two colleagues have said, intensely, few things that get him as going as his -- how much he just loathes the way that the president has handled Iraq. He is so fundamentally different in his point of view and how he thinks that Iraq and now the threat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere that should be dealt with.

So he clearly let his passions kind of overflow and he realized coming back, maybe seeing it in black and white, seeing it on twitter, seeing it on CNN and elsewhere, maybe I probably shouldn't have done that at that time about this issue because it is so incredibly (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: We will listen to see if Senator McCain has any more to say and if there is more fallout from this.

Thank you so much for now, Dana and Gloria and Manu. And let's bring the story back here to Orlando, to the outrage, to the

fear, to the support, you know. Fears that something like this could happen again. Many people are, and this is a call to action. My next guest made an emotional plea to President Obama writing a column in "the Orlando Sentinel" in part quote "there is nothing keeping the next Orlando shooter from sauntering down to his corner gun shop to buy his own AR-15. Nothing except maybe you President Obama, if you act with the agency granted to you by the American people and step in."

Brendan O'Connor joins me now.

So thank you so much for taking the time. You also have been to the Pulse nightclub many times. This is your home. This is your community. Before we get into that, you are putting this on President Obama. But is that fair? Because there is a whole Congress that he tried to, you know, enact action after Sandy Hook and they said no.

[15:51:03] BRENDAN O'CONNOR, GUEST COLUMNIST, ORLANDO SENTINEL: I think at this point, yes, there have been executive decisions made to give people access to clean drinking water in Georgia. There are instances where executive action has made sense --

BALDWIN: Clean drinking water, you know, is kind of a basic thing.

O'CONNOR: It is. Is it? I think this could be a more simple solution. We need action.

BALDWIN: You're angry?

O'CONNOR: I'm angry. People I know, people we have relationships were hurt. This wasn't the only shooting that happened this week. There have been over, what, 200 people that have been shot in the last couple of days all around the country. It's unacceptable and we need people to act. And we need if not the potus, who? Who can act if not the president of the United States?

BALDWIN: He is here in Orlando. If you got to say one thing to him, Brendan, what would it be?

O'CONNOR: I would say he is hugging people right now, he is apologizing, he is trying to console these people, these families that were left behind after these people were killed. I want to know how he can stomach to do it again. How can he -- how can you do it again? He needs to act. And we need him and we need our elected officials to act with him.

BALDWIN: Brendan, thank you so much.

O'CONNOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I know. I know.

For so many people across the country stories about the horror and carnage in Orlando are all too familiar. Nelba Marquez Greene lost a beautiful little girl to gunfire almost four years ago. This little girl, Purple Love, 6-year-old daughter, Ana, who was one of 20 children murdered inside of Sandy Hook elementary school on that dreadful December day back in 2012.

When Ana's mother heard about the Orlando tragedy, it was horrendous. She started to relive it, the calls that the families received. Just imagine. She wrote a letter to the families of the Orlando victims with the message that love wins. Nelba Marquez Greene is joining me now.

And Nelba, are you surprised we are back here again?

NELBA MARQUEZ GREENE, DAUGHTER, ANA KILLED IN SANDY HOOK: I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised because we have a pretty constipated Congress. Love does not win when we are bickering. Love does not win when we can't get together to save American lives. And this should not be part of any American's legacy. It shouldn't be part of any president's legacy. To do what he is doing in Orlando today, what he did in Charlotte and what he has done in Sandy Hook and so many other communities.

BALDWIN: When you first were hearing a report or I think a friend called you, and you know, initially people thought, 20 people and then the number became 50 as far as those killed here in Orlando, how did that just bring you right back to that winter day in 2012?

GREENE: You know, I was destroyed but this story is not about me. It's about the 92 Americans a day who go through the same reaction. It is about all of these devastated families in Florida. I am incredibly angry at the number of senators and officials who looked at me in the face when we went to Washington after Sandy Hook and said, there is nothing we can do. Marco Rubio being one of them. And now disaster is at his doorstep.

I am angry at the senators who hid behind their bibles and said there's nothing we can do because this is a constitutional right. I believe there's a way we can protect the constitution and protect American families because my daughter also had a right to live.

BALDWIN: Senator Rubio is down here with the president today, Nelba.

GREENE: And you know what I have to say to him? I have to say, Senator Rubio, you looked in my face and told me there was nothing you could do about gun responsibility because you were voting for immigration. And now look what has happened at your door. I compel you to join us, to join the movement, to be on the right side of history, to pray and act because, yes, we believe in the power of prayer, but we believe in the power of prayer along with action. And now look, we're ready to receive you on the right side of history when you're ready, Senator Rubio. Come on board.

[15:55:14] BALDWIN: Nelba, just quick final question, as a mother, is there anything you can say to those listening who lost loved ones here in Orlando? I mean, four years later, does it get any better?

GREENE: It doesn't. And I would rather want to talk to the family who is support those families in Orlando. Please text 64433 and text disarm hate. And text your senators and tell them that you want change in our gun laws. And, please, if you're going to donate, do it in a way that reaches victim families. And right now, Equality Florida and the national compassion for now is the only way to do that. Make sure your money, your hard-earned dollars go to victim families and not to support people who aren't really going to support victims. Love is going to win but we all going to have to work together.

BALDWIN: Nelba, thank you so much. Nelba Marquez Greene lost her daughter, Ana. Again, I'm so sorry four years later. Thank you for the time.

Here I Orlando, the grim task of identifying those lost here fell on the shoulders of the medical examiner but nothing prepared him for what he saw inside the pulse nightclub. He is telling his story for the very first time to our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JOSHUA STEPHANY, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: It's almost like time stopped. There were thing back on TVs playing, lights blinking, drinks that had just been poured, checks are about to be paid. And that's not even thinking about the bodies on the ground. But when you actually see everyone lying down in one place or went down in one place or at their final position. You can feel it.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In addition to police, fire, EMS, there's always another team that responds to tragedies, the medical examiners, like this doctor Joshua Stephany. He is speaking about this for the first time.

STEPHANY: When I heard the number of 11 or 12 people deceased at the hospital from one shooting, that's a lot. But our normal staff can handle it. Then as the morning went on and I got more texts and calls, then I realized this go, the disaster of the (INAUDIBLE), 20 at the nightclub, 30 at the nightclub.

GUPTA: For all of the victims, figure out cause and manner of death. That's his job. Surprisingly, the answers are not always obvious.

STEPHANY: So law enforcement can recreate what happened. So we need to get the projectile. We need to tell them the entry patterns, entrances, exits, what they hits.

GUPTA: You can't say for sure, full metal jacket, hallow tip, all for one --

STEPHANY: Not from the fragment right there.

GUPTA: Dr. Stephany is still piecing together the fragments from this tragedy, but he made a point to tell me no one died from trampling or other causes.

STEPHANY: There's no secret that all of the causes are going to be the same. We all know what happened there. GUPTA: By Monday, he wanted all of the victims identified.

STEPHANY: A lot of people had identification on them. So we will take their I.D. and we are going to compare it and if we can make a positive I.D., we'll use that. If we need other information, we have to wait until the person has cleaned up a little bit and re-compare. That's one thing. We can do what is called quick print. We can take a thumb print hooked up to a laptop computer, run their print and see what photos come up and see if that can compare. We need that thin information to personal effects, tattoos.

GUPTA: By Tuesday, he wanted all of the autopsies completed.

STEPHANY: I wanted to complete our process as soon as we could and as efficient as we could to get the victims back with their loved ones. I think that was very important to myself and the rest of my staff. We are a public office. We serve the public. And that is, I think, a public mission to reunite those victims with their families.

GUPTA: Another sign of respect that you won't find in any rule book.

It was important for you to separate the shooter from the other victim.

STEPHANY: Myself and my staff, we just thought there was only right. There was no legal reason for it, no protocol for it. We just felt in our minds it was probably best ethnically and morally to keep them separate. So the shooter was kept -- was transported by himself, he was kept in another building by himself. I autopsied him by myself alone in that building away from the victims. Out of respect for the victims and their families.

GUPTA: As of tonight, no one has claimed the shooter's body.

You mentioned earlier that families can call you, talk to you, you'll make yourself available to them. I'm just wondering, what do you say to them?

STEPHANY: And the most common question is, did my loved one suffer. And honestly, 100 times, that's the question I get asked. In cases like this, I will tell them, I don't think they suffered one bit. I didn't see any evidence of movement or trying to struggle. Like I said, when I got there on the scene, it is almost I don't want - I mean, to stop and lay down a little.

(END VIDEOTAPE)