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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Orlando Gunman Texted With His Wife During The Massacre; President And VP Visit Orlando; Senate To Vote On Four Gun-Control Bills; CIA Director Brennan Offers Sobering Assessment Of Coalition Campaign. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired June 17, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: New information on the Orlando club massacre. The gunman texting with his wife during the attack. What did she know? Plus, were warning signs missed? What one gun store owner is saying he told the FBI before the shooting.
President Obama embracing victims and their families in Orlando demanding stricter gun control, but will anything change?
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell in Orlando. Good morning to you. The breaking news this morning, new information about the Orlando nightclub massacre. Were warning signs about the gunman missed? Well, this, as President Obama travels to Orlando to offer his support to help this traumatized city recover.
We're learning that the gunman, Omar Mateen, texted with his wife during the attack, asking her if she'd seen the news. The FBI still investigating what that wife, Noor Salman, may have known about her husband's deadly plans, but Orlando's federal prosecutor says it's too early to say whether she or anyone else will face charges.
Now, we're also learning more this morning about Mateen's visit to a Florida gun shop where he tried to buy military grade body armor, something that store does not sell. Well, store employees say they reported the suspicious inquiry to the FBI.
Now, joining me with the very latest, CNN's Polo Sandoval. Polo, good morning to you.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. We do know that, at this point, the gunman did use his phone to at least search Facebook during the actual shooting. Well now, new information from law enforcement officials suggesting that phone was also used by the gunman to text his wife.
A law enforcement official telling CNN that about two hours into the shooting, itself, the gunman actually texted his wife, Noor Salman, who would have been about two hours south of here at the home that they shared, asking if she had "seen the news". Noor Salman reportedly responded several times, not only by calling her husband but also by texting -- even texting her husband "I love you". Eventually, though, the calls weren't answered, the texts weren't
answered, and then police did show up her home early on Sunday morning, according to the Fort Pierce police chief, and told her what had actually happened. But that really leaves that current question, how much did she know?
She has told federal investigators that her husband had mentioned launching some form of attack, however, the question is was it this actual attack that was being planned and, of course, will she be the first person to face charges. Ultimately, a grand jury is going to have to decide that as they continue to weigh the evidence to find out if she would be the first person to be arrested and charged in connection to the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Meanwhile, we are also getting new details about the gunman's efforts to actually obtain that body armor. In the moments after that shooting actually happened we did learn that he had tried to purchase level III body armor.
Well now, personnel at the gun shop where that attempted purchase took place is not coming forward telling CNN that there was several individuals that had initially come into the store, tried to purchase police equipment. Federal investigators did follow up on some tips from that gun shop and then later determined it was actually a legitimate attempted purchase. They were actually foreign police officers who were trying to make some purchases.
But what's interesting is as they were closing that case personnel at the gun shop then said that there was yet another individual that had seemed somewhat suspicious. Someone who was trying to purchase level III body armor and several rounds of ammunition. Someone who they felt was the gunman in this case.
However, ultimately, they couldn't perform a surveillance video. They didn't have the necessary information to actually follow-up on that investigation. So I want you to hear directly from one of the individuals at that gun shop and you can hear for yourself what that person told CNN's Drew Griffin.
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ROBBIE ABELL, CO-OWNER OF LOTUS GUNWORKS: Our salesman got very concerned about it and just informed him we do not have this body armor. At this time he pulled away and got onto his cell phone. When he was on his cellphone he had a conversation in a foreign language that was more concerning. Then he came back and he was requesting ammo, so he wanted bulk ammo only.
[05:35:00] So, at that time he declined any business and he left the store. We had no link, no contact, we didn't know who he was, but we did contact authorities and let them know we just had a suspicious person that was in here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: So there, you're hearing directly from personnel there at the Jensen Beach gun shop. While that investigation did not produce a whole lot of results or, at the same time, hearing from a gun shop owner who noticed something suspicious. Somebody buying bulk ammo, somebody trying to purchase some of this body armor, as well.
This goes with what law enforcement officials continue to tell people, not just here, but really across the country. If you see something, say something. But, obviously in this case, police are still looking into what happened down the street from where we are today, Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. President Obama and Vice President Biden spent most of Thursday in Orlando, as he has after previous mass shootings. The president consoled victims and survivors, the families, offering support to a grief-stricken city.
(Video playing) Now, the president and vice president, you see here, laid roses at a memorial to the victims. They met with survivors, family members, medical and emergency personnel, and with the staff of the Pulse nightclub. But afterwards, the president said he could offer them few promises of change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked why does this keep happening? And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage. They don't care about the politics, neither do I.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: President Obama's visit offering some comfort to a city deep in mourning today. But as this mother, whom you're about to meet, whose son died in the massacre, told CNN's Don Lemon that sympathy and condolences, even from the President of the United States -- well, that only goes so far.
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CORLISS TOMLINSON, MOTHER OF VICTIM SHANE TOMLINSON: Yes, he came, and like I said to him, thank you for coming and being compassionate to this community. But really, what can you really say, you know? His word are not going to make me feel better and it's definitely not bringing back my son, soI was just happy that he was showing compassion.
But you sit there and you hear people talking but you don't even know what they're saying because my mind's focused on when I get home I've got to start making funeral arrangements and I'mworried about what church, and this, and you know -- my nightmare hasn't even begun yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: With me now to talk about how the city is coping in the aftermath of this tragedy is Paul Brinkmann. He's the senior business reporter with the "Orlando Sentinel", and I want to start with the president. The president said that he could offer few promises of change of any type. But, from what you're hearing from the people here, are they satisfied with what they heard from the president?
PAUL BRINKMANN, SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER, "ORLANDO SENTINEL": Well, I think they're glad that he came. We talked to several people, one woman who drove about 30 minutes down here. She said she wanted to show her support for the victims and turn out for the president. Another source that we talked to said that he felt safe while the president was here.
BLACKWELL: Because of the security that comes with the presidential visit?
BRINKMANN: Yes, and I guess, just the fact that the commander in chief and all of his resources and everything were here during that time.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BRINKMANN: And people lined the streets. There wasn't a lot of public events or interaction, but --
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about that because this is the tenth time the president has come to console a community after a mass shooting of this sort. There is no major event -- there was no event for the president, and I have not heard of one planned by the city for people to gather and grieve together and memorialize those killed, have you?
BRINKMANN: Well, there was the vigil on the night -- two nights after, actually, down in front of the Performing Arts Center downtown.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BRINKMANN: And there were thousands of people there and that was an event that the city officials sanctioned and there was official security surrounding the whole area. There was an immediate demand for vigils here Sunday, even, and the city actually put out a statement saying please, let's hold off on the vigils because our police staff is so restrained.
BLACKWELL: They've stretched them already.
BRINKMANN: Yes, but there were some makeshift memorials downtown, even Sunday night, and then there were several others at churches and high schools.
[05:40:00] BLACKWELL: So, much of the healing now will happen on a much smaller scale. We know that, of course, there are still questions about what will happen with Pulse nightclub. If it will be back in this space or in some other space, but there will be, as we understand, some memorial. Paul Brinkmann, thanks for being with us this morning.
BRINKMANN: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: In just days the Senate is set to vote on new gun control measures. What are those measures and will they pass? We'll address that next.
[05:40:40]
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[05:44:50]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common sense. Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:45:00] ROMANS: That was President Obama, after spending time with families who lost loved ones in the Orlando massacre. On Monday, the Senate will vote on four new bills -- two from Democrats, two from Republicans -- that would make it harder for some people to buy firearms. Now those proposals include a ban on weapon sales to terror suspects and closing gun show loopholes, but none of them really has a realistic chance of passing.
I want to discuss all of this with CNN politics reporter, Tal Kopan, joining us live from Washington. And gun politics injected back into the election cycle by yet another tragedy. This happens every few months. Is this time going to be any different?
TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, it's really hard to make the case that it is. This time, we are actually seeing some gun votes get scheduled, which you may consider progress, but it's a lot of showmanship.
It's both sides picking a couple of bills that they think look good for them and that no one expects any of them to pass, so it's not really an effort at genuine lawmaking. It's sort of throwing things at the wall and hoping that maybe on some chance people will come to your side. The problem is both sides remain really far apart.
ROMANS: Right.
KOPAN: Everyone can say terrorists shouldn't have guns, but to make a law you have to actually figure out how to put that into a statute, and people just can't agree on what they want that law to look like.
ROMANS: Let's listen to Donald Trump blasting Hillary Clinton and the president on this renewed discussion about gun safety -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE: I just watched President Obama and he does it a lot -- he does it a lot because we have one after another. We have tragedy after tragedy and it's a tough situation. But he's largely -- to a large extent, he's blaming guns and I'm going to save your Second Amendment, folks. I'm going to save your Second Amendment, totally. And Hillary wants to abolish the Second Amendment, remember that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That's a line that usually gets a lot of attention on the campaign trail. She doesn't -- fact check, here -- want to abolish the Second Amendment, of course. She wants to regulate the Second Amendment the way some other rights in this country are regulated. But it works to Donald Trump's appeal to his base here when he says that.
KOPAN: Certainly. What's interesting is we don't exactly know where Donald Trump, himself, stands on some of these questions about what we do with guns. He tweeted something about meeting with the NRA and making sure that terrorists couldn't get weapons and people on the terrorist watch lists couldn't either, which is actually a little bit of a departure from some of the conservative talking points.
Of course, once again, the devil is in the details. We don't really know exactly what he discussed with the NRA when he met with them, and what specifically he means by trying to close that loophole with the terror watch list. So yes, he says he wants to protect Second Amendment rights but we're still waiting for some of the details about what exactly he means and whether he supports any limitations on those rights.
ROMANS: Tal, could we chat a little bit here about Bernie Sanders and this video he released last night. I want to listen to a little clip of it and then talk about where Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The major political task that, together, we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated, and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: In a very short period -- he's not endorsing Hillary Clinton there. He's not saying he's going to campaign for Hillary Clinton. He says he's going to campaign against Donald Trump and he's going to define that role in a very short period of time. What does that mean?
KOPAN: You might have to ask Bernie Sanders to explain that one. One of the things we've seen over and over again is he can really sort of parse his words and look between the lines here. He is simply not ready to say he is completely out of this race. He is not ready to say he is behind Hillary Clinton.
The sort of surface level reading is that he's still looking for leverage in a lot of these discussions about the Democratic platform and the second he capitulates to her, then he loses a little bit because the more they want him to just fall in line, the more concessions they might be willing to make.
But, at the same time, this primary has been bruising. There's been a real sense that it's gotten personal at times and the candidates have been personally emotional, or invested, or offended about things that have come up. So it's also not unreasonable that it's going to take him a little bit of time to really wind down and be ready to close ranks and be fully behind the person who is his opponent.
[05:50:00] ROMANS: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton racking up the endorsements -- Oprah Winfrey, Richard Armitage, who was a national security expert or leader in the Republican administration, so we'll continue to watch that -- interesting. All right, thank you so much, Tal. Nice to see you this morning.
KOPAN: Thank you.
ROMANS: Fifty minutes past the hour. The CIA warning that the Obama administration's strategy to fight ISIS is not working. What dozens of State Department officials are now demanding -- that's next.
[05:50:40]
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[05:54:50] ROMANS: All right, breaking new this hour. Iraqi federal police troops reportedly recapturing a government building in central Fallujah from ISIS. The head of the Iraqi federal police force announcing on Facebook that troops have raised the Iraqi national flag over Fallujah's mayoral building.
The Iraqi military joint operations command claims that counterterrorism forces have recaptured a whole central Fallujah neighborhood, inflicting heavy losses on ISIS militants. They are now fighting to retake Fallujah's main hospital.
CIA director, John Brennan, offering a sobering assessment of the two- year coalition campaign to defeat ISIS. He says despite gains on the battlefield, coalition forces have failed to disrupt the group's ability to carry out and inspire terror attacks.
Brennan tells lawmakers ISIS continues to adjust its strategy to remain operational with support from a global network. And he calls the radicalization of these so-called lone wolf attackers an exceptionally challenging issue for the intelligence community.
More than 50 State Department officials want the Obama administration to carry out military strikes against the Assad regime in Syria. They've all signed an internal memo protesting U.S. policy, claiming a leadership change in Syria is the only way to defeat ISIS. That memo circulated through the State Department's dissent channel, where officials can offer alternative views about fear of reprisal.
A member of the British Parliament has been murdered in Northern England. Forty-one-year-old Jo Cox shot and killed Thursday outside a library as she was leaving a meeting near the town of Leeds. Cox was considered a rising political star in the Labor Party -- a fierce advocate for Syrian refugees. A 52-year-old suspect, identified in the British news media as Thomas Mair, is in custody.
This killing comes amid a heated campaign over whether the U.K. should exit the European Union, the so-called Brexit. Debate on that referendum has been postponed in the wake of her murder. Witnesses say the attacker shouted "Put Britain First" as he fired on Cox. The Southern Poverty Law Center says Mair subscribed to publications from the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization based here in the U.S. Police say no motive has been established yet.
All right, time for an early start on your money. A good start to markets around the world. Asian stock markets closed higher, European stock markets following their lead. Stock futures here in the U.S. barely moving right now. The Dow snapping its five-day losing streak yesterday with a gain of 93 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq also higher.
Smith & Wesson selling more guns than ever before. One of the country's largest gun makers reported a more than 22 percent increase in firearm sales. Those latest numbers include sales through the end of April. It's typical for gun manufacturers to see a spike in sales after mass shootings. Consumers fear tighter gun laws will limit their access to firearms. After the shooting in San Bernardino, in December, Smith & Wesson's quarterly sales jumped more than 61 percent.
All right, 57 minutes past the hour. Disturbing new details in the Orlando gay club massacre. "NEW DAY" picks up that story right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was texting with his wife when he was barricaded in that bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The harrowing moments inside the club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can smell the blood. There was so much blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had information that he was going to put explosive vests on four people.
OBAMA: Grieving family members ask why does this keep happening?
TRUMP: I'm going to save your Second Amendment, folks.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Donald Trump, talking the talk, but he ain't walking the walk.
TRUMP: President Obama, he's blaming guns.
OBAMA: If we don't act we will keep seeing more massacres like this.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Is going after the Second Amendment how you stop terrorism? No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was not doing well, we could tell.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Meat Loaf collapses on stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Friday, June 17th, 6:00 in the east. Chris is off today and look who's here, David Gregory. Who let you in?
DAVID GREGORY, CNN HOST: I was delivering Chris' laundry to him, as I do most mornings, and he said listen, can you fill in this morning, as well? It's great to be here with you, obviously. I wish it weren't on such a horrible week --
CAMEROTA: Me, too.
GREGORY: -- after such a difficult time, but good to be here now.
CAMEROTA: I know you'll add some levity to all this.
GREGORY: We'll try.
CAMEROTA: We do have a lot of news this morning. First up, new details about the Orlando terrorist. A law enforcement source tells CNN that the deranged killer and his wife texted during the gay nightclub rampage. And we're also learning more about the killer's long history of behavioral issues.
GREGORY: This, Alisyn, as President Obama rips gun control opponents after meeting with the victims and families of Sunday's attack. So now, will Congress get anything done when they vote on several measures next week?
Let's begin our coverage with Polo Sandoval. He's live in Orlando with the very latest on the investigation. Polo, good morning. What do you have?
SANDOVAL: Hey, David. Right now there are several families that are preparing to say their final farewell to their loved ones, some of the victims in last week's shooting. Meanwhile, that search for answers continues as day six of the investigation is getting ready to get underway.
Meanwhile, some investigators now learning that the killer not only used his mobile phone to browse Facebook but to text his wife, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
