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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Investigators Looking into Orlando Shooter's Wife; Orlando Shooting Investigation Continues; Sen. Chris Murphy Leads 14+ Hour Filibuster in Senate on Gun Control; Gun Manufacturer Shares Jump More Than 60 Percent. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:50] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR, off camera: Will the Orlando club gunman's wife face charges? Her story of what she knew very inconsistent, as we learn who the killer called and what he posted online during the massacre.

Breaking news: after 14 hours on the Senate floor, Democrats get their colleagues to vote on new gun control.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik in New York.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman, live in Orlando.

The breaking news this morning, we have new information on what went on inside the nightclub, inside "Pulse", during the massacre. Investigators have learned the gunman placed calls to at least three places: one was to 911, he actually called there more than once; another was to a local TV newsroom. Now during those calls he pledged his allegiance to ISIS; and, there was a third call to a friend, apparently to say good-bye. Authorities have not identified that friend, but they want to know what was said and whether the friend knew this attack was coming.

Investigators are also looking into exactly what the gunman's wife knew about her husband's intentions and exactly when. The wife has given conflicting statements and now faces a grand jury investigation to determine whether she will face charges for not reporting what she knew to authorities.

Let's get the latest on the investigation right now. CNN's Polo Sandoval standing out in front of the Pulse nightclub, down the street from here. Polo, what's the latest this morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, at this point investigators are taking a very close look at the gunman's Facebook footprint. Obviously in these kinds of cases authorities can't speak to the suspect or the gunman, well, then, they have to turn to who he or she turned to online; and that is the case here.

Investigators are taking a closer look at the gunman's Facebook posts. Now details on those posts are being kept close to the vest by investigators. So some of the information that we are getting now is now coming from at least one lawmaker, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, actually sits on the Homeland Security Committee, at least sending a letter to the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, actually asking that he continue to cooperate, at least help with this investigation as he has been told.

At least members of the lawmaker's staff has been told that the gunman had at least five Facebook accounts that are directly linked to him, one of which was possibly used to search for several key terms here the night of the shooting. The first one, Pulse; Orlando; and then also the other one, shooting.

Then we have these questionable posts that were also being looked at; I want to read a couple to you, John. The first one that I'll (inaudible) that we could (inaudible) have an idea of what this motive could be, the first one reading, "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic State." The gunman then pledged allegiance to ISIS. Then the third post, which is perhaps one of the most disturbing one here, saying, "In the next few days, you will see the attacks from the Islamic State in the USA." So, again, the question could anybody have seen this in the works; could anybody have seen this coming?

So it's very important to see who he was turning to online and also on the phone. You mentioned that phone call that he reportedly made to a friend of his, possibly to say good-bye. (Inaudible) fairly bizarre call that he made, again, allegedly the night of the attack when he turned to CNN affiliate News 13. He made a call to a producer. I want you to hear directly from him what this man apparently said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT CENTILI, PRODUCER, NEWS 13 ORLANDO: It was at 2:45 when I had just received the phone call of someone claiming to be the Orlando shooter. I answered the phone as I do: News 13, this is Matt; and on the other end, I heard, do you know about the shooting. I said yup, I'm getting information. I'm receiving calls right now. He cut me off and he said I'm the shooter. I didn't know what to say. It was alarming, to say the least. He sounded really calm on the phone and he started saying that he did it for the Islamic State; he did it for ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That is, again, just one of several elements of what is a very fluid investigation. Meanwhile, we also have to remember there is a [04:35:02] community caught in the middle of this all and there could be some hope for healing, not just as some of the injured continue to be released from hospitals; but also, we expect President Obama, also Vice President Biden will be on the ground here, meeting with survivors, families of the victims and also first responders. Again, the President assuming his role as Consoler in Chief, John. It's one that he is, obviously, very familiar with by now.

BERMAN: You know, Polo, I want to ask one more thing about the investigation, the wife; so many questions about what she knew -

SANDOVAL: Yes. BERMAN: -- when she knew it, what she has told investigators and whether or not it's consistent. She faces the grand jury investigation right now, and a lot of the things she has been saying, they don't line up with other things she has been saying.

SANDOVAL: They simply don't add up, John. The other question is how much did Noor Salman actually know? We have been told that -- she's actually told investigators rather, that not only was she cooperating with them, but also that she had some knowledge that her husband had mentioned the possibility of launching some sort of jihadist attack. Now was it this attack, that is questioned here.

Also, what kind of charges could she potentially face? Would it be as far as calling, or possibly as deep as calling her a co-conspirator? Many7 legal analysts will tell you that may not be the case, but, again, ultimately that's going to be up to a grand jury to decide. They're looking at all of the evidence here. Prosecutors likely have plenty of evidence to at least put this case in front of a grand jury. We could find out very soon if she will be the first arrest in case.

BERMAN: All right, Polo; Polo Sandoval, thanks so much. I appreciate it. We have new details this morning of the gunman's connection to

jihadist propaganda. A law enforcement official tells CNN that his consumption of Islamist material, including videos of ISIS beheadings, his consumption spiked just two weeks before the attack. This sources says the shooter was a boiling kettle looking for any excuse to do something violent. This as a new interview for a new video of the killer has just emerged from a film documentary on the 2010 BP oil spill.

The security firm G4S has confirmed that this is him, working as a guard in Pensacola. He speaks on camera here. You can hear him talking about people making money off of disasters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR MATEEN, SECURITY GUARD, BP OIL SPILL: No one gives a [bleep]. No one gives a [bleep] here. Like, everybody is just out to get paid. They are hoping for more oil to come out and more people to complain so they'll have the jobs because once people get laid off here, it's going to suck for them. They want more disaster because that's where they're money making is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all about the money?

MATEEN: All about the money; exactly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: New witnesses are emerging who say they saw the Orlando gunman out in the gay community. Could he be struggling with his sexuality? Cord Cedeno tells CNN's Brian Todd that he saw the killer at Pulse before -- nights before the shooting and that the killer approached him repeatedly on Grindr about a year ago, interactions he describes as creepy. Cedeno says he was not interested, but that one of his friends also chatted online with the gunman over the years, over a span of several years and almost did go to meet him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORD CEDENO, CLUB GOER, PULSE: From the (inaudible) app, one of my friends, actually, he's been speaking with him since 2007 on and off, year and year at a time, and he sent him a picture of his private part and my friend actually was attracted to him. He almost went and hooked up with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Cedeno said his friend never did meet up with the killer; that he himself does not know anyone who did.

In just hours, President Obama, he will come here to Orlando. He'll be joined by Vice President Joe Biden. They'll spend most of the day here, standing in solidarity with the City, meeting with survivors and families of victims, to offer their sympathy. They'll also spend time with first responders and medical personnel who treated the victims. You know, so many worked here at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, also at Florida Hospital. These people, you know, saved countless lives. They were receiving patients by the truckload the night of the attack. Again, the President will spend several hours on the ground here.

Joining me to talk about this, including the investigation, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, CNN National Security Intelligence and Terrorism Analyst, former Commanding General of the U.S. Army in Europe. Also, General, you know, someone who lives in Orlando, so this is something of very keen interest to you, obviously.

I was struck yesterday when the FBI put a poster up asking for more information about the killer. They put up his face and they asked everyone in the community here, and around the state, do you know this man? What do you know about him? Please tell us. It was striking to me because we're, you know, several days into this investigation where the news coverage has been dominated by it. This many days in, what more do they want to learn?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, they want to reach the community that doesn't watch TV. There's a lot of folks, especially the younger people, who don't get news from television. They may get it from the internet. They may see one or two pictures. But they actually want to hold a picture up in front of people.

I was at the event last night with the Hispanic community where they talked [04:40:01] about that. Here's a picture, do you know this guy? Have you linked up with him? So they want more. You see sometimes the flashes of oh, yeah. I remember that guy versus just the constant deluge of information they are getting off TV.

BERMAN: I wonder what it will tell them when they find out though; right? I mean, the universe of possibilities now it is narrowing. We know he consumed a ton of Islamist propaganda in the weeks before. We know that he had said things that concerned people as far back at 2013; so that much is clear. It is clear that he had an interest in this type of thing. Are they looking for the specifics about how the operation was planned and if there are more people out there, maybe connected?

HERLING: Yes, they're looking for everything; specifics of the operation. The other thing the FBI can tell based on the search engines of the computers they've confiscated is, what has been the pattern of searches? Has it increased over the weeks or the months? Has he started off slow and then gotten more? Has he searched different engines as the time has gone on? Has he made other connections? Are there things that can show a pattern of increasing involvement, or the boiling kettle as they said in the report; has it grown more significant over the last several months? I think we are probably going to see that's the case.

BERMAN: And how much did the wife know and when she knew it?

HERTLING: Right.

BERMAN: Was there anyone else there who knew enough to have stopped it if they had come forward?

I want to ask you something else on a different subject, General, because you're uniquely qualified to speak on this. I've have been struck by talking to survivors, how much guilt they have, the survivor guilt. I've talked to people who haven't slept since Saturday night. They are having so much difficulty coping right now and dealing with the situation.

HERTLING: Yes.

BERMAN: It's sad.

HERTLING: Yes.

BERMAN: You feel for them. You want to reach out and hug them and say don't feel guilty; this isn't your fault. You made it.

HERTLING: But that's a common occurrence. It happens in soldiers all the time. What more could they do, when they lose a battle buddy. How could I have saved a life? That's when you are in combat, John. These guys were going to a party and suddenly they found themselves in a situation they were not prepared to deal with it. Soldiers are prepared to deal with these kind of things; they do they best they can. Suddenly you're thrown in where adrenalin rush comes on and you just have to do something, either fight or flight.

In this case, they were at a party and many of them ran. So now there's that guilt aspect. What more could they have done? How many more bodies should I have pulled out of the massacre? Should I have run first or stayed there and died with the rest of them? That's a common occurrence too, should I -- if you're a survivor, what saved me versus my friend? Should I have been there with them? All of these things occur when anyone is in a traumatic situation.

BERMAN: And it doesn't go away fast. You said something - HERTLING: It never goes away.

BERMAN: -- striking. You had things happen while you were in Iraq, a decade ago, that still affect you?

HERTLING: There's -- the requirement for these young men and women who were at the club, but also the ones associated with them. parents, friends who are feeling this pain, there's going to be a lot of requirements for counselling. This is another kind of post-traumatic stress, anytime you experience something like this and it's going to hang on.

There are going to be a lot of folks who say, oh, no, I'm too tough. I was there. I survived. They're going to experience it one way or the other just because of the psychological reaction of the body.

I work at the sister hospital in town and we have sent many of our chaplains down here, even though we've taken patients there, too, to help with the counseling in this facility. Our chaplain's came back last night and said the stories they're hearing from the survivors are blood curdling. It's just really tough.

BERMAN: You really can't imagine, these people, what they're going through right now. You just want to reach out and give them a hug. Luckily, the Orlando community has been phenomenal --

HERTLING: Phenomenal.

BERMAN: -- people like you, reaching out and doing everything, I mean, everything, they can to make the transition easy. General Hertling, thanks so much for being with us.

HERTLING: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Appreciate it.

One of the issues right now facing the nation is gun control. There is heated debate about what should be done now to try to keep attacks like this from happening again. Overnight, a dramatic moment on the Senate floor, a moment that lasted 15 hours. A filibuster like you almost never see before. It just ended a little while ago. We have new developments next.

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[04:48:18] KOSIK: A filibuster in the Senate has come to an end with Democrats declaring victory in the first round of the gun control fight, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy leading the charge. After more than 14 hours on the floor, he finally left the podium overnight, announcing there will be a vote on closing the terror gap and universal background checks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: I woke up this morning determined to make sure that this wasn't going to be a lost week. Ask yourself what can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never ever happens again. With deep gratitude to all those who have endured this very, very late night, I yield the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Joining me now to discuss all this, Senior Media Correspondent, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter. Thanks for being here this morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

KOSIK: You know, this was a heated filibuster, one lasted, obviously,14 hours; dozens of senators taking part, not just Senator Murphy. Listen to what other Senators had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: I am most of the time a team player but I've had enough.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: What we're seeking is not something that is partisan. What we're seeking is commonsense.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: We need more than another moment of silence.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The members of this Congress will have blood on our hands.

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D), WISCONSIN: Our thoughts and prayers for their deaths are important, but not enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So, Brian, this is called gun control, but I think reality out there [04:40:02] is these are sort of baby steps because, you know, this is going to look to ban people who are on the terror watchlist from getting gun licenses. And it looks to expand background checks at gun shows and on the internet, but it doesn't do the one thing of banning assault rifles.

STELTER: The Democrats are seeking some incremental changes here, yes; some changes to loopholes, one of them involving the terror watchlist. Behind the scenes there are negotiations going on about how exactly to do that. This is a nuanced and very complicated measure about how exactly to handle people who are flagged as being suspected terrorists, or being suspected or terror ties, what they should be able to do in order to speak up and say, no, I am not. I'm innocent; I should be allowed to buy a gun. What sort of judicial process should there be in cases like that. That is what democrats and republicans are fighting about that here.

When you see this filibuster, which, keep in mind, it's a talk-a-thon on TV. It was compelling and it got a lot of people excited online. There were half a million tweets at midnight about this, and finally it wrapped up by 2:00 a.m., but the reality is we're talking about very small measures here. We are not talking about sweeping or comprehensive changes to how this nation polices guns.

This was relatively small, and, yet, because it is something, it's something that these democrats can point to, there has been a lot of excitement around it among, especially liberals or moderates who feel like there is no action, even taken after Sandy Hook, even after San Bernardino, even after other massacres. The question now this morning is, is Orlando different? Is, in the wake of this situation, the politics of guns, is it any different? I don't think we know the answer yet.

KOSIK: Yes, I mean, is it any different? Everybody thought there was all this momentum after Sandy Hook, when you saw dozens of children being gunned down, as well. It makes you wonder was this filibuster really just theater? Yes, baby steps are something; some gun control is something but everybody is talking about wanting to get that assault weapon ban in place. That is not part of this.

STELTER: Some conservatives would say this is theater and what's happening behind the scenes is more important. On camera, this talk- a-thon, was very compelling. It was very emotional at times and it does show that at the moment there is a lot of emotion and a lot of interest in this topic.

You wonder though about the weeks and months down the road. You do wonder though, you look at "The Boston Globe" this morning, the front page editorial, we've have never seen this before, coming from a big paper, on the front page, the headline there: "Make It Stop."

KOSIK: This is a full-scale model - this is a two-scale model, rather, of the AR-15.

STELTER: Right, and you see a bullet as well. You see the impact from the bullet on the cover as well. So this newspaper trying to make a statement. We've seen even late-night comics trying to make statements about this gun violence issue. So these moments where you wonder is something different this time, and is the fact that we are in an election year a factor here? Hillary Clinton, very early on, supported this filibuster yesterday. We also heard from Donald Trump on this issue, maybe with a different stance on the NRA. So you have to wonder if, in a presidential election year, there could be movement, even incremental movement, on this issue?

KOSIK: Yes, and Trump coming out, in a tweet yesterday, saying he will be talking with the NRA. Meantime, you've got Clinton blasting Trump, again, reiterating his Muslim ban as his reaction to what happened in Orlando. Let's listen to what Hillary Clinton said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A ban on Muslims would not have stopped this attack; neither would a wall. I don't know how one builds a wall to keep the internet out.

[Laughter]

CLINTON: So not one of Donald Trump's reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando. It's just more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be commander-in-chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And, meantime, as the drama continues politically, you have Donald Trump saying, listen, GOP, I can handle this myself. I don't need you. This as we saw unity in the party.

STELTER: Right; the story -- in some ways this story is a sick confluence of so many different political themes, whether it's gun, terror, hate and many politicians are choosing one or the other instead of talking about all of the above. Elizabeth Warren addressed that in one of her filibuster speeches saying this is about all of the things. This is about a terrorist who used a gun and he was fueled by hate to commit a crime. What we are seeing, perhaps, from other politicians is an unwillingness to accept that all of the above reality of this story and only focus on one part of it instead.

When I interviewed Donald Trump by phone earlier this week he focused on the terrorism aspect, the radical Islam terrorism aspect of this story and said why isn't President Obama tougher on the terrorist. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, focusing more on guns as the issue, although she has also talked about terrorism as a factor.

KOSIK: All right; everybody obviously seizing on the moment. CNN Media Correspondent Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

KOSIK: All right; Americans are buying guns in record numbers and if history is our guide, the mass shooting in Orlando will spur even more firearm sales. The FBI conducted 11.7 million background checks so far this year; that's compared to 8.9 million checks at the same point last year.

[04:50:11] Background checks are considered a close measure for gun sales and shares of both Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger jumped almost ten-percent the day after the Orlando shooting.

Calls for stricter gun control laws have historically led to a spike in gun sales but that surge is sometimes temporary. Still, business has been good for the biggest gun manufacturers. Smith & Wesson quarterly sales jumped more than 60-percent. Sturm, Ruger grew by 30- percent.

EARLY START continues after this break.

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KOSIK: Breaking news overnight: new information from the phone of the Orlando club shooter. Who he was calling and what he was posting during the massacre.

And, just a couple hours ago, after 14 hours on the Senate floor, in the wee hours of the morning, Democrats get colleagues to vote on gun control.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik in New York.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman in Orlando this morning.