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EgyptAir Flight 804 Wreckage Found; Orlando Shooters Wife Changes Story; Victim Families of Orlando Shooting Top Focus for Medical Examiner; Toddler Attacked by Alligator Believed Drowned; France Tries to Stop Euro 2016 Fan Violence; French, British Work Together to Stop Marseilles Fan Rampages. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:31] ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, after nearly a month of searching the Mediterranean, the Egyptian government says it has now found the wreckage of EgyptAir flight 804. The Airbus flight crashed on May 19th en route from Paris to Cairo. 66 people, including 10 crew members perished. 30 of the passengers were from Egypt, 15 from France, two from Canada. The other individuals were from nine other countries.

Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, for the latest, joining us from Istanbul, Turkey.

Hi, there, Arwa. Wreckage located. What next?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're going to be trying to do, and time is of the essence here, is figure out and pinpoint exactly where those black boxes that do contain vital data would potentially be located. And of a first priority is going to be trying to get those black boxes out of the water. These boxes do not have a timeless life span. They can continue pinging signals from about 30 up to 37 days.

Now, their initial location, the signals were detected by French vessels around two weeks ago, and then they managed to narrow down the location. We don't know where the pieces are located, what they are and where the specific location is. But we do understand images of them have been taken and that the Egyptians are now trying to, along with other international partners, map out exactly where this wreckage is located. So they are going to try and pull out these black boxes of that very important recordings that may have taken place, information caption on these black boxes that would give investigators an indication of how it is that this aircraft mysteriously went down on May 19th.

There has been all sorts of speculation as to what could have taken place, all the way from an act of terrorism to, perhaps, some sort of malfunction.

Just a bit of a recap on what took place, this aircraft disappearing overnight on May 19th after acting fairly erratically, swerving from one direction to another. No SOS call put out by the pilot or by the copilot. There also, however, was signaling that there was some sort of smoke that was being emitted from nearby one of the toilets. But the cause of that, we do not know.

This has been such a mystery. And because it's been such a mystery, it has been especially difficult for the families of all those who died on board. And perhaps if we are able to understand what happened, it may begin to give them, on the other hand, some sort of closure, but also assist airport authorities, various other aviation experts to try to determine what can be done to prevent this from happening again -- Robyn?

CURNOW: Yeah. It's been an agonizing month for those families.

Arwa Damon, thanks very much for that update.

Well, one focus of the investigation into Orlando's mass shooting is the gunman's wife. She could face criminal charges.

Pamela Brown reports she's changed her story about her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Initially, she claimed to investigators that she didn't have any inkling of what her husband might be had up to on the day of the attack. And she has since made contradictory statements, according to our law enforcement sources. Now she's saying that she had a suspicion that he might launch an attack. And perhaps it would be Pulse nightclub. She claims she tried to talk him out of it the day of the attack. The problem, of course, is that she didn't call police. That is

something investigators are looking at. And she claims she didn't know anything specific about his plans.

So what is capturing investigators' attention is the fact that at least on one occasion, she went with him to buy ammunition. And we have also learned that she went to Pulse nightclub with him in early June. So all of these things investigators are looking at.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Pamela Brown reporting there.

Investigators are collecting evidence to build a timeline leading up to the attack. They discovered the gunman made several calls during the shooting to pledge allegiance to ISIS, to say good-bye to a friend, and to talk to a local TV station. A U.S. congressman says it appears the gunman also used Facebook before and during the shooting.

Now, after police stormed the nightclub and the attack finally ended, Orlando's medical examiner arrived on the scene. He began the huge task of identifying the victims and how they died.

Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports the victim's families are the examiner's top concern.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) [02:05:33] DR. JOSEPH STEPHANY, ORLANDO MEDICAL EXAMINER & FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: It's almost like time stopped. There are still things back on TVs playing, lights drinking, drinks that have just been poured, checks about to be paid, food half eaten. That's not even thinking about the bodies on the ground. Everyone is down in one place or their final positions. 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 Dr. Joshua Stephany. He is speaking about this for the first time.

STEPHANY: When I heard the number of deceased, it's a lot. But our normal staff could handle it. As the morning went on, I started getting more texts, more calls and I realized the scope of the disaster or the event that numbers are start to come in, 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 aren't always obvious.

STEPHANY: So law enforcement can recreate what happened. So we need to get the projectiles. We need to tell them the injury pattern, entrances, exits, what they --

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA (on camera): Can't say for sure. Full metal jacket, hollow tip --

STEPHANY: Not from the fragments I recovered, no.

GUPTA (voice-over): 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: No secret that all the causes have been the same. We all know what happened there.

GUPTA: By Monday, he wanted all the victims identified.

STEPHANY: A lot of people had identification on them. So we'll take that I.D. and look at it, compare it, and if we can make a positive I.D. off that, we'll use that, if we need other information, if the way to the person's cleanup and re-compare, that's one thing. We can do what's called quick prints. We can take a thumbprint, hook up to a laptop computer, run their print and see what their photos come up and see if that can compare. Wing it, the family information personal effects, tattoos.

GUPTA: But Tuesday, he wanted all the autopsies completed.

STEPHANY: I wanted to improve our process as quickly and efficiently as we could so we can get that back to our staff. That's very important to me and my staff. We're a public office. We serve the public. And that is, I think, a public mission to reunite those family with their families.

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

(on camera): It was important for you to separate the shooter from the other victims.

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

GUPTA (voice-over): As of tonight, no one has claimed the shooter's body.

(on camera): You mentioned earlier that families can call you, they can call you, you make yours available to them. I'm just wondering, what do you say to them?

STEPHANY: The most common question is did my loved one suffer. In cases such as this, I will tell them, I don't think they suffered one bit. I don't see any -- I didn't see any evidence of movement or trying to struggle. Like I said, beginning when I got in there at the scene, it's almost like everyone just stopped and laid down where they were.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Well, the Orlando massacre is re-igniting the debate over gun control in the U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy is leading a filibuster, 15 hours and counting. A filibuster is an ongoing speech to delay a vote or force some action. And Murphy just tweeted an update. He says, "The Senate will vote on expanded background checks and bans on gun sales to people on the terror watch list."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, (D), CONNECTICUT: And there is a fundamental disconnection with the American people when these tragedies continue to occur and we just move forward with business as usual. So I'm going to remain on this floor until we get some signal, some sign that we can come together on these two measures, that we can get a path forward on addressing this epidemic in a meaningful bipartisan way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:10:15] CURNOW: Well, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is lending his support for the filibuster. He spoke at a fundraiser Wednesday for a group that works to prevent gun violence in schools. It was founded after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. 20 children and six adults were shot and killed there. Take a look at this powerful image on the front page of Thursday's

"Boston Globe," a picture of an AR-15 and the words, "Make it stop."

And a somewhat surprising tweet, as well, from Donald Trump who has weighed into this. He says, quote, "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."

It's been a tough week for the city of Orlando, Florida. We now know the little boy dragged away by an alligator at a Walt Disney World resort more than likely drowned. Police are waiting for his autopsy. 2-year-old Lane Graves was in a shallow part of a lagoon at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort Tuesday night when the gator attacked.

Jessica Schneider has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tragic ending after a 16-hour search for a 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort. Divers finding the body of Lane Graves this afternoon in the Seven Seas Lagoon on the grounds of the Grand Floridian Resort.

JERRY DEMING, SHERIFF, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Of course, the family was distraught, but also, I believe, somewhat relieved that we were able to find their son with his body intact.

SCHNEIDER: The horrific scene unfolded Tuesday as Matt and Melissa Graves were visiting from Nebraska with their son, Lane, and their 4- year-old. The whole family was outside for movie night. 2-year-old Graves was wading into the water around 9:00 p.m. That's when his father says the alligator attacked and dragged his son into the water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And our thoughts and prayers are with this family.

SCHNEIDER: Authorities say as the four-to-seven foot alligator snatched the toddler, the boy's father struggled to pry the gator's jaws open but it quickly disappeared under water. Some witnesses called for help and emergency crews dispatched Marine units, divers, and scoured the lagoon with sonar.

At 1:45 p.m, they located the boy's body, still intact, not far from where he was taken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- our entire agency. And we are terribly heartbroken at this outcome.

SCHNEIDER: The Seven Seas Lagoon separates the hostel resort from Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It's a manmade lake about 200 acres in size and 14 feet deep in parts. But it connects to a series of canals that feed into large bodies of water, making it possible for alligators to get on to Disney property.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission says Disney has full-time staff monitoring the water, killing any alligators that pose a threat. And Disney says they've never had an attack in the 45 years since

these waterways were created. Disney also posts these "no swimming" signs. And as a precaution, they shut down all of their beaches.

Since the boy was snatched, officials have killed five gators. Now they'll perform forensic tests to see if the got the one that attacked or if they need to keep searching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a good chance we already have the alligator.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): Disney has released a statement saying they are devastated and heart broken about this horrific incident. And Disney is pledging to go help the family, however they can, during this very difficult time.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: You're watching CNN. Fan violence has not stopped at the Euro 2016 championship. Coming up, new arrests and what France and Britain are doing to stop the clashes.

Plus, hundreds arrested after days of looting in Venezuela. We'll take a look at what's behind the protests. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(RIO REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:54] CURNOW: You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. It's 17 minutes past the hour.

(HEADLINES)

CURNOW: And police in France are trying to stop more fan violence at the Euro 2016 world championship. 36 football fans were arrested Wednesday during clashes with police in the north. Also, three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian are being expelled from France for public disorder offenses.

Atika Shubert is in France and joins us live from Paris.

Hey, there, Atika. These are very unpleasant scenes on the sidelines of soccer.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's very unfortunate that we've seen these scenes of violence. It wasn't really as bad as we saw in Marseilles over the weekend where more than a hundred people were arrested. We saw a lot more organized violence back then, particularly by Russia fans. But it was still ugly scenes on the streets of Lisle. Now, Lisle becomes the focus point because yesterday, there was the

Russia/Slovakia match. During yesterday's match, a flare went off on the Russian end. It was something strictly prohibited by EUFA. And after the match, there were skirmishes between Russian fans and English fans also in Lisle because they have an England/Wales match today. What you saw was the fans coming together, and it ended up in clashes throughout the day. That's where you saw a number of those arrests. But it wasn't on that same organized scale we saw in Marseilles.

[02:20:03] By the evening, however, it's clear that French police had had enough and particularly with a lot of the English fans that got progressively rowdier and a bit more drunk by the end of the evening. They decided to try and disperse those fans with tear gas and pepper spray. Now, that's where we saw a lot of the more violent video come out of last night.

There's been a lot of criticism about the way the French tactics have tried to deal with these mobs of fans, whether or not it's escalating the tension or whether it's a good way to disburse these groups. Either way, the EUFA has made it clear to both Russia and to England that if the fan violence does not stop, that either or both teams risk being expelled. So far, however, we have not had a statement from EUFA on last night's violence -- Robyn?

CURNOW: And, Atika, as you've been talking, we've been playing those images and they are quite dramatic. And you can how hard the French riot politic went in. They're very jittery. This is not just with about the football. There are wider security concerns.

SHUBERT: There's a whole host of security issues here. There is the fan violence they're concerned about, but terror attacks that they have to be watchful for. Keep in mind, while they were trying to keep tabs on all the fans yesterday, there was even an evacuation of the press center in the fan zone because of fears of a bomb threat, which turned out to be an unattended bag. But that's how jittery people are here. So police are not in any mood to put up with misbehavior by fans, which may be one reason why they went in so hard. But there is credit simple from other police officials in Europe saying maybe this isn't the best way to deal with this kind of balance, maybe there needs to be a way to de-escalate the tension instead of charging in with tear gas and pepper spray.

CURNOW: Atika Shubert there in Paris. Atika, thank you.

Well, after a bloody weekend in the city of Marseilles, French and British authorities are now working together, and closer together to prevent new clashes.

Our Phil Black has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): England football fans have strong form for rampaging in Marseilles. This was during the French-hosted World Cup of 1998. French police tried clubbing and gassing the hooligans to impose order. All so similar to last week's street battles in the same city. The 18 years separating these riots have seen many changes in the way police try to prevent fan violence. This time, it just didn't work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were huge danger signals flashing. So most people, I think, anticipated that there would be problems. What surprised everyone was the sheer scale of those problems.

BLACK: The focus of anti-hooliganism efforts now is stopping known thugs from attending events in the first place. France says 3,000 people have been denied entry to the country during this tournament based on details supplied by other countries.

The British with government says all the people on its long watch list of hooligans were ordered to surrender their passports during Euro 2016.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've prevented nearly 1400 people with a history of violence in football from attending.

BLACK: But not all countries compile such exhausted lists, even those whose fans have a reputation for causing trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am in no doubt that coordinated groups of Russian supporters bare a heavy responsibility for instigating violence.

BLACK: Only this week after the violence in Marseilles, legislation was submitted to Russia's parliament that could ban violent fans from entering Russian stadiums or traveling to international tournaments. It's a key issue as Russia prepares to host the 2018 World Cup.

For now, the England team is pleading with its fans to behave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be safe, be sensible and continue with your great support for the players.

BLACK: Dougy Brimson (ph) is a reformed hooligan.

(on camera): I guess you're not surprised by what we've seen in France at all.

BRIMSON (ph): No, absolutely not.

BLACK (voice-over): He's been writing about football fan culture for decades and believes not all hooligans are equal. He says, while the English get drunk and loud on match day, they are going up against what are known as Ultras, who live hooliganism full time.

BRIMSON (ph): If you're involved in the Ultra culture, it's kind of all encompassing. And it involves, as we've seen, training to get fit, practicing fighting, mixed martial arts stuff, all kinds of things that were almost alien to the English football fan.

BLACK: For French security officials, this is all an unwanted distraction. They just hope the fans will stop kicking each other in the streets so they can get on with the much-more challenging job of protecting this huge event from terrorism.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:25:07]CURNOW: Thanks to Phil Black for that story.

U.S. President Barack Obama has met with the Dalai Lama for the fourth time. As usual, it's raising the wrath of Beijing. The two men met Wednesday at the White House. The White House billed it as a personal greeting. China maintains the spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhist is sponsoring a separatist movement. But the White House stressed it considers Tibet to be part of China.

Beijing rejected to the meeting even before the two men got together. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson warned Washington that it could damage U.S.-China ties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU KANG, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translation): If the U.S. plans this meeting, it will send the wrong signal to Tibet independence forces and Tibet independent separatists forces, and also harm China/U.S. mutual trust and cooperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: The White House says President Obama encouraged talks between the Dalai Lama's representative and China to resolve differences.

And it's a first for the British royals. Prince Williams is appearing on the cover of a gay publication. In the latest edition of "Attitude" magazine, says he speaks out against bullying, saying no one should be bullied for their sexuality or for any other reason. The Duke of Cambridge also invited the magazine's editors to bring members of the LGBT community to Kensington Palace to talk about struggles with bullying and depression and addiction.

Coming up next for our viewers in Asia, CNN's "State of the Race" with Kate Baldwin.

And ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, just one week until the U.K.'s referendum as David Cameron continues his push to remain. Rival campaigners fire verbal shots on the River Thames.

Plus, Democrats try to exploit what they see as a major weakness for Donald Trump's race for the White House, still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:14] ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Robyn Curnow.

Let's get an update for you on our top stories this hour.

(HEADLINES) CURNOW: Well, the U.K.'s Brexit battle has got a bit unwieldy in London. Campaigners from both sides of the referendum debate were flinging insults at each other from boats on Wednesday.

Nic Robertson has more on that and a warning from the head of the U.K.'s treasury.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The question is, how are we going to do best? How are we going to create the most jobs?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): David Cameron and P.M. Qs taking heat --

UNIDENTIFIED BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Did you have any message of them at all?

CAMERON: What I would say to the gentleman is --

ROBERTSON: -- as time is running out to reverse an apparent surge towards Brexit, a vote to leave the E.U.

CAMERON: We will have a smaller economy, less employment, lower wages and, therefore, less tax receipts. That's why we would have to have measures to address a huge hole in our public finances.

ROBERTSON: A $42 billion black hole that his finance minister says can only be fixed by an emergency budget that would hit public services.

GEORGE OSBORNE, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: Now, you can do it by raising taxes, you can do it by cutting spending. Almost certainly, you would have to do both.

ROBERTSON (on camera): But this emergency budget is already back firing. 57 of Cameron's M.P.s say they won't support it and neither will the main opposition party, Labor. It risks being labeled a scare tactic, like so many of the economic arguments Cameron has already made.

(voice-over): Into those choppy political waters, Britain's fishermen, long at loggerheads with the E.U., sailed up the Thames into London, a flotilla come to campaign, ramp up the Leave vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nigel, you're a fraud.

ROBERTSON: Moments of drama, an indication of the high stakes when Remain campaigners photo-bombed the carefully stage-managed Leave event. Organizer, leading Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, incensed by the intrusion.

NIGEL FARAGE, UK INDEPENDENT PARTY LEADER: Disgusting. Rich people laughing at poor people. They're millionaires, multi-millionaires happy to see this industry go to the wall on a big vote. Effectively laughing. CAMERON: I think my honorable friend is right --

ROBERTSON: P.M. Qs, some lifelines for Cameron.

UNIDENTIFIED PARLIAMENT MEMBER: If we want to protect jobs, if we want to protect our public services, we must vote to remain in the Europe Union.

ROBERTSON: Remain M.P.s from all around the country with easy questions.

CAMERON: For an economy like Scotland's that is such a big exporting economy, there's no way we'd get a better deal with that single market on the outside than we get on the inside.

ROBERTSON: The question is, is anyone listening any more? Eight days and we'll know the answer.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: And it's all about the numbers. Let's tie a look at them showing the E.U.'s police blah in Europe. E.U. invested more than $17 billion in the United Kingdom in 2014. That's almost half the total investment according to official figures. 45 percent of the U.K.'s ex sports go to other E.U. states, while 53 percent of the U.K.'s exports come from within the European Union. Citizens have the right to live in the U.K. and an estimated three million are doing so. But on the flip side, only 1.3 U.K. citizens are living in other E.U. states. The United Kingdom is a mass contributor to the E.U. budget, paying around $40 billion more than it received last year.

New polling shows Donald Trump losing ground in the U.S. presidential race. A "Bloomberg Politics" survey has Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump, 49 percent to 37 percent. And an ABC News/"Washington Post" poll shows 70 percent of respondents view Trump unfavorably. That's his highest negative rating since he announced his candidacy. 55 percent say they view Clinton unfavorably, as well.

Well, Trump's response to the Orlando massacre has opened up a whole new page in the Democrats' playbook against him.

CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, is now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:35:56] HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: This approach isn't just wrong. It is dangerous.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are going full throttle against Donald Trump and national security.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting.

BASH: And it's new presidential campaign terrain for a party that tends to be more comfortable fighting on domestic turf.

In 2004, the first presidential election after 9/11, George W. Bush and allies so aggressively painted Vietnam veteran, John Kerry, as weak on national security --

ANNOUNCER: And he lacks the capacity to lead.

BASH: -- it likely sealed Kerry's defeat.

Now, Democrats are plotting the 2016 presidential race to mirror their 2006 takeover of Congress, trying to make it a referendum on a Republican who shouldn't be trusted as commander-in-chief.

REP. STEVE ISRAEL, (D), NEW YORK: People were so concerned with President Bush and policies that they viewed as reckless and not particularly thoughtful that they opened the door to Democrats on national security. And that's happening now. People view Donald Trump as reckless, antagonistic and uninformed. And they are opening the door to Democrats.

BASH: Congressman Steve Israel, in charge of method strategy for House Democrats, delivered a behind-the-doors briefing this the week on why national security should be Democrats' 2016 calling card.

ISRAEL: There is a vivid contrast between Hillary Clinton, who is strong and smart, on keeping us safe and Donald Trump, who is reckless.

BASH: National security was the subject of Clinton's first major speech of the general election, before the Orlando massacre.

CLINTON: A Trump presidency would embolden ISIS.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: We cannot take that risk.

This isn't reality television. This is reality.

BASH: But new polling from Bloomberg suggests it's hardly a slam-dunk message. Trump is five points ahead of Clinton on the question of who is best to handle terror threats at home and abroad.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Hillary is rank amateur. She's been doing it forever and she still doesn't get it.

BASH: Trump is banking on building support with his tough talk and contrast with Clinton's more cautious approach.

TRUMP: We've seen that political correctness is deadly. They don't want to talk about the problem.

BASH: And even Republicans not thrilled with Trump say no so fast, especially since Clinton is so tied to President Obama. (on camera): What Democrats I talk to argue is that they argue that

when it comes to experience and judgment, Hillary Clinton is a better candidate than Donald Trump. And your response is?

SEN. JAMES, RISCH, (R), IDAHO: Well, I think clearly on experience, that is -- it would be hard to argue that she didn't have the experience. Having said that, just because you have experience, doesn't mean you're right. The experience has led us down a very awful path, I think.

BASH (voice-over): The fight over national security is likely to play out just like other issues, a stark choice between the different but unknown versus the experienced but with a record.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Coming up next, a dramatic move in court. Olympian Oscar Pistorius takes off his prosthetic legs during his sentencing hearing. We'll explain why when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:42:44] CURNOW: I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for joining me.

Now to a court case that continues to capture the attention of the South African Republic. On July 6th, Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, will learn how much longer he'll have to spend in jail. A court made that decision after yet another emotional day at his sentencing hearing. The former Olympian has been convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 2013.

As David McKenzie now reports, Pistorius sought the court's mercy with an unusual demonstration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout this legal saga, the defense argued that Oscar Pistorius got a raw deal, his fame and fortune standing against him.

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE: So in a moment filled with drama, Pistorius struggled in front of the court and in front of the world to show him at his most vulnerable.

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: He suffers from anxiety disorder. We know that with when he was on the stumps, his balance was seriously compromised. And without anything, he would not be able to defend himself.

MCKENZIE: They say the man who overcame his disability to become an Olympic hero was long gone, that Pistorius is now a broken man who shouldn't go back to prison, racked by guilty for shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day 2013.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BARRY STEENKAMP, FATHER OF REEVA STEENKAMP: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE: But Reeva's father, Barry Steenkamp, shakily took the stand to say Pistorius must pay for killing his daughter. It was harrowing testimony.

STEENKAMP: I don't wish that on any human being, finding out what happened. It devastated us.

MCKENZIE: He says he still talks to her all the time and tries to imagine her pain.

STEENKAMP: At times, I thought the pain that Reeva went through, I don't know whether I was going mental or whatever, but hit against the walls with my knuckles, I've taken back into my stomach and my arms to see if I could feel the same type of pain.

MCKENZIE: The prosecution wants the maximum.

(on camera): The next time Pistorius leaves this court, he could be heading straight to prison for at least 15 years.

David McKenzie, CNN, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:45:33] CURNOW: Coming up, Disney's new Shanghai Park is now officially open. A live look at what visitors can expect when they visit the new theme park. Stay with us for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, we commemorate the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: And that was Disney's ribbon-cutting ceremony at its brand new theme park in Shanghai. Celebrations are now under way at the resort as it opens its doors to new visitors. It's being billed at Disney's biggest and most technologically advanced park.

Let's bring in our Matt Rivers live from Shanghai.

Hi, there, Matt. This took five years to build, but decades in the planning.

[02:50:04] MATT RIVERS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: That's absolutely right. The construction of things like that castle behind me were probably the easy part when you consider how much work had to go into getting this park built in place where it can be as tricky to do business as China. When Bob Iger (ph), the CEO of Disney, spoke with members of the media yesterday, he described how this process has taken nearly 20 years. The first time he said he ever visited this site was back in 1999 before he was the CEO. And the reason for that is because when you build something like this in China specifically something that is so western oriented, that's an American company, you need to have the Chinese government on board for annoying happen before the first shovel goes into the dirt you need to have the explicit approval of the Chinese Communist party and that takes a lot of time. And so that was the work that had to be done before the construction started. But still, it was able to be done and here we are.

CURNOW: Here we are. I wonder if the you're going to go on one of those rides there, Dumbo whizzing around. You kind of touch on it for it to be culturally Chinese. That is key here, isn't it?

RIVERS: Absolutely. And it's key for two reasons, depending on what part of the business you're talking about. The first part was what we just talked about. That was the odds to getting the Chinese government to agree to a completely westernized park with zero Chinese culture was probably zero to none. That was the starting part there. More so, what Disney officials will tell you is that they are appealing to the Chinese middle class that didn't grow up with the kind of Disney themes that westerners did. A lot of people here in China didn't grow up knowing who Goofy or Mickey or Mini or even Pocahontas or Snow White is. Those aren't necessarily household names here in had China. So you see Chinese characters all over the place, local actors play the characters. They sing songs in mandarin. And the goal, Disney will tell you, is to create a more familiar environment to perhaps draw more Chinese middle class consumers here to spend their money here and ultimately make this a profitable operation.

CURNOW: Yeah. It's big for the bottom line for Disney. But I'm sure Elsa and Anna are in huge demand there like they are around the rest of the world.

Thanks so much, Matt Rivers. Appreciate it.

Let's turn now to a weather update. Heavy rain in southeastern China.

Tell us about it.

Derek Van Dam, great to see you.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Nice to see you.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: We've got some pretty dramatic video coming out of the southwestern China. You have got to see this. A man clings to his vehicle as it's getting swept down a flooded roadway. Take a look. It behind me. Remember, it only takes about 15 centimeters of rushing water to lift somebody and sweep him off his feet. Less than half a meter of moving water to pick up a vehicle. This is significant flooding. Some of the worst flooding they've seen in roughly 20 years for parts of southwestern China.

Get to my graphics and you'll see exactly why. Rainfall estimates over this region over 130 millimeters in a few locations. And this -- really, the majority of this fell within a six-hour period. So it was a very quick amount of rain in a short period of time. And it's lining up from west to east, just north of Hong Kong and just south of Shanghai. This is known as the East Asia rainy season. The plum season rains that coincides with the ripening of the plum trees in this area. You can see the rainfall we are forecasting anywhere from northern Vietnam through the southeastern sections of China, including just south of the Shanghai region. Shanghai at the moment, a few clouds are ahead. Sunshine and your three-day forecast taking you through the weekend calls for temperatures right where they should be this time of year. We have our next chance of rain on Sunday.

Wait until you see this video of hail that fell just north and west of Shanghai. This is about 12 hours ago and they had hail roughly the size of three or four centimeters in diameter. You can see how large that is breaking the backs of people's wind screens. You can see how dangerous that is and what kind of insurance people are claiming with cars being ruined like this. Get back to my graphics. We'll talk about the potential of severe weather. Here you'll see isolated to strong to severe storms. We can't rule out the potential of a tornado today. Large hail and damaging winds, the Czech Republic into northern sections of Italy.

We're monitoring this area because we have the EUFA 2016 taking place right now. Nine out of 10 stadiums in France do not have retractable roofs, so they're all susceptible to weather conditions. Unfortunately, there is rain in the forecast.

[02:55:18] CURNOW: And I'm sure for security reasons not a lot of people take their umbrellas in.

VAN DAM: That's right. Prepare for the worst.

CURNOW: Absolutely.

Thanks so much.

VAN DAM: All right, Robyn. CURNOW: Thank you.

I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for watching. I'll be back in just a moment with the second hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:11] CURNOW: Remembering Orlando.