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Remembering the Orlando Victims; FBI to Release Transcripts of Talks with Shooter; Trump Says U.S. Should Consider Profiling Muslims; Scandals Force Out Third Police Chief in 9 Days; Ban on Some Men Donating Blood; Protecting Soft Targets; Putin Acknowledges U.S. as the Only Superpower; Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 19, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:12] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

Orlando today marking a show of resilience just one week after becoming the latest U.S. city hit by a mass shooting, a horrible one.

I want you to look at these live pictures from the Cathedral Church of St. Luke. People will gather here for a memorial service followed by a candlelight vigil tonight. They're coming together this evening to honor those 49 victims shot to death in the gay nightclub seven days ago today. Police estimate the crowd could grow to 20,000 strong by the time the services get under way two hours from now.

This is what we woke up to last Sunday morning. News of another mass shooting. It would start with a lower death toll but that would soon rise, 49 dead, more than 50 wounded. It would become the worst mass shooting in modern American history.

Five of the victims were laid to rest in Florida yesterday. 18 remain hospitalized, four of them in critical condition.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from Lake Eola where that candlelight vigil will take place tonight but we begin with CNN's Brynn Gingras. She's at the Cathedral of St. Luke where people are already gathering for the memorial.

So, Brynn, police predicting huge crows here, I suppose that's expected. How many people can fit in that church? Are they going to be able to accommodate everybody?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, yes, they're opening their doors to everyone but the capacity at the church is 600 people. One of those five funerals you just mentioned happened last night and 750 people were squeezed inside the church. So like I said, they want as many people as they possibly can.

There's also a building next to it that will house some people if they want to be in attendance as well. We also know that building is going to house counseling after the service which is expected to be an hour long. Counseling services will be offered for those who want to stick around and then there is the option to grab a candle and then proceed on down to the lake where that vigil will be held tonight. A little bit more focus on the particular mass that's going to happen.

As I said, it's about an hour long. We're already seeing religious leaders file in there from all different religions, interfaith message here. And that message, healing and hope. And certainly those are two words that the Orlando community sort of probably feels at this point one week after that shooting -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Gosh, just one death to say would be hard to stomach and you've got 49 of them celebrated today.

Now I want to bring in Ed Lavandera. He's at the site of tonight's candlelight vigil.

So, Ed, this is meant to be more of a public event it seems. How many people are they expecting there and where is it going to take place exactly?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is just a couple of blocks away from where Brynn is reporting there at the cathedral and the procession will kind of lead over this way. This is just on the bank of a lake here in downtown Orlando where they're expecting several tens of thousands of people to turn out for tonight's events. They're already beginning the preparation of sound checks and musical acts that will be performing throughout the evening here in downtown Orlando.

But, Jim, you kind of nailed it right on the head here. This is a public display of grief and mourning, which when you talk to many people around to people here in this city, this is something that I think a lot of people feel like they need at this point in time.

Wherever you go around the city over the last couple of days you see people kind of doing that public display of mourning, not shy about it at this point, and events like this kind of speak to the volume and the depth of sadness that this city feels exactly one week ago or one week since the deadly rampage there at the Pulse nightclub.

SCIUTTO: I remember seeing those 49 crosses down there in Orlando. It's a really touching, memorable scene.

Ed Lavandera, Brynn Gingras, thanks very much. We're going to be coming back to you over the course of the next couple of hours.

Now on to the investigation into Orlando. Soon we will know exactly what the killer told police during his bloody rampage inside the Pulse nightclub. At least we'll know some of the killer's words.

The Justice Department says limited transcripts of Omar Mateen's three phone calls with police and hostage negotiators will be released tomorrow. Attorney General Loretta Lynch telling CNN the calls do shed some light on Mateen's motives for the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: He talked about his pledges of allegiance to a terrorist group. He talked about his motivations for why he was claiming at that time he was committing this horrific act. He talked about American policy in some ways.

The reason why we're going to limit these transcripts is to avoid re- victimizing those who went through this horror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Lynch says the shooter's pledge of allegiance to ISIS will not be part of the released transcripts.

I want to bring in CNN national security analyst Mike Rogers, he is host of CNN's new show "DECLASSIFIED," he's also former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

[17:05:05] Mike, thanks for coming in on a Sunday.

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, Mike, releasing these transcripts, you've been here before after attacks like this. What value is there in getting those words out there?

ROGERS: Well, a couple of things. One it will likely describe the motive without giving too much information that might compromise any investigations subsequent to that attack, number one. And I think it will -- some of it is going to be pretty hard and I agree with the attorney general's decision not give everything because some of that language in the -- in those tapes is going to be pretty rough. He's talking about what he's doing, he's describing about some of the activities he's engaging in in real time, in addition to his pledge to ISIS, in addition to the other calls he made to hostage negotiators. And that information needs to be kept separate for the purposes of the investigation.

SCIUTTO: Now just as a reporter covering this, you want to hear the details, you want to learn what investigators are learning as well, but is there a worry there? I mean, killers like this, they want the public platform. Right? They want to have their voice be heard. Is there any danger in sort of feeding that sick desire for attention to a crime like this?

ROGERS: Well, absolutely. And one of the things they're concerned about is feeding the narrative about this person's status with the ISIS organization. You don't want those words out in public often so that he can encourage and inspire. They will take that information. They being ISIS recruiters in Raqqa, Syria, process that information and get it out and distribute it through their social media network.

And as you know, Jim, it is extensive and it's very good and very slick. So I think they're wise at tempering the kinds of information his own words that they're releasing. You'll get a sense what those motives are by the information that they release. You'll also get a little sense of his mind-set going through -- remember, this is real time, this is during the commission of a mass murder. You'll get some of that flavor of his mind-set in those tapes but they don't want to give too much for purposes on both ends of that. One for the ISIS recruiting tool they don't want to give them and,

two, you still have literally thousands of families who are grieving through this process and you don't want to interrupt that either with something that's a little morose.

SCIUTTO: Yes. For sure. I mean, it's going to be a horrendous reminder of this, I imagine as well.

Listen, you've been covering this from the beginning. You have enormous experience with this kind of crime, these kinds of attacks. Based on the information you know now and we know now, what's your best guess as to what the motivations were? I mean, multiple motivations driving him, the ISIS thing, plus the anger, et cetera. Give us your sense of what led to this.

ROGERS: Well, remember there are some profiles of what attracts someone to join ISIS. Remember he had a friend, at least an associate in the mosque that went on to Syria and committed an act of -- a suicide martyr attack, packed a van full of explosives and for the effort attacked the Syrian army and blew himself up. So there has -- there is that relationship. There's the relationship with some of the individuals in the mosque that appeared to be more radical than you'd like them to be, number one, so he had a whole host of personal issues and think of any criminal act we've had in the history of time.

There are a lot of those same elements built into this problem. Those mental health issues that led him, anger issues, other things, he wasn't coping well, he had some identity issues, all of that made him an easy target for radicalization coming out of Raqqa, Syria. So it's really a combination of all those things and investigators will do a forensic look back, both forensic psychologists and investigators to make the determination, is there a profile here we can apply moving forward, is there -- are there some touch points in this investigation that we can use to try to disrail maybe another person from being recruited, radicalized, and then executing their plan of operation in this case the shooting of the Pulse nightclub.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And there's a value right there. Right? Learn from the profile so you can spot the next one before it happens.

Mike Rogers, thanks very much.

ROGERS: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: Well, a reminder to viewers, you can catch the premier of Mike's new show, "DECLASSIFIED, THE UNTOLD STORIES OF AMERICAN SPIES." That's tonight 10:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN. It's going to be really powerful and timely.

Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump floats the idea of profiling Muslims after the Orlando shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country and other countries do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Plus, how the tragedy has reignited debate over a ban that keeps some gay men from donating blood. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates.

And Oakland, California, shaken by a sex scandal. Why three police chiefs have been removed in the span of just nine days there.

[17:10:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back live to the CNN NEWSROOM.

Donald Trump says a lack of common sense is America's biggest problem when it comes to preventing attacks like the Orlando shooting tragedy. And now after renewing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims, the presumptive Republican nominee is floating another controversial idea. He told CBS News today that the U.S. should seriously consider profiling Muslims to combat domestic terrorism. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country and other countries do it. We really have to look at profiling. We have to look at it seriously. And other countries do it. And it's not the worst thing to do. I hate the concept of profiling but we have to use common sense. We're not using common sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now is Rebecca Berg. She is national political reporter for Real Clear Politics.

Rebecca, thanks for coming in on Sunday.

REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So we know there is -- I mean, there's certainly opposition to the Muslim ban and the profiling from the Democratic side but we know many Republicans either are outright opposed to it or at least uncomfortable with it.

[17:15:08] You know, this worked during the primary season to get him support. I mean, is there evidence now that in the general those kinds of positions do not work in terms of, well, attracting those key independent voters?

BERG: There does seem to be evidence, Jim, that it doesn't work, that it's not a successful strategy because what the general election is about is broadening your base from the primary so you have your committed partisan supporters locked up theoretically moving into the general election and so you want to look to these swing voters, often independent voters, who are undecided and haven't been persuaded by any of the arguments thus far.

And usually these voters who are not obviously as partisan, not as passionate about some of these issues that the base in the Republican Party or Democratic Party would be passionate about and so for these voters by and large this is not a persuasive argument that Donald Trump is making and really you could see this reflected in the Republican response to what he has been saying or the lack thereof. Republicans not wanting to say anything about it and basically going into hiding because they know that this is not a politically wise argument for him to be making or for them to be making in this election year.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you about the NRA here. Of course central to the debate on guns. It's been interesting, with Donald Trump because he's disagreed with them a couple of times once to the left you could say because he supported some sort of, you know, no-buy ban if you're on a terror watch list but on the other side he seems to be going to the right of the NRA.

I'm going to play a clip here because he said he thinks the shooting could have been stopped if someone at the nightclub had been armed. NRA doesn't necessarily agree with that. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If some of those wonderful people had gunned strapped right here, right to their waist or right to their ankle, and that room happened to have it and goes boom, boom, you know what? That would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight, folks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump has suggested concealed carry in a nightclub where people are drinking?

WAYNE LAPIERRE, CEO, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: I don't think you should have firearms where people are drinking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you don't like the idea of people going into nightclubs armed to the teeth?

CHRIS COX, NRA LOBBYIST: Of course. No one thinks that people should go in a nightclub drinking and carrying firearms. That's -- that defies common sense, it also defies the law. It's not what we're talking about here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So any repercussions for Trump breaking rank with the NRA kind of in both directions here on the gun issue.

BERG: Right. His recent remarks about arming club goers potentially was very interesting to me, Jim, because it seemed that Trump was trying to sound like he was very pro-gun after running afoul of the NRA's position on allowing people on a terror watch list to buy guns but of course that backfired if that was indeed Trump's intent. And this does matter because Republicans as we've seen are already

feeling by and large a little bit tepid about supporting Donald Trump. He hasn't united the party in the way that he would have liked and I think he has conceded that as well. And guns are a big issue in the Republican Party and so for him to be risking support from Republicans on these basic issues at a time when he really he need to broadening his support and bringing in new blood and having unified already the Republican Party, it just complicates things for him.

And at this stage frankly Donald Trump doesn't need to be talking about guns, he should be thinking about what is his general election message going to be. But instead he's gone off on this tangent and of course now has the NRA disagreeing with him. It's probably not the conversation most Republicans would want him to be having at this stage.

SCIUTTO: It complicates things for him. I like the way you describe that there.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: Rebecca Berg, thanks very much. Good to talk to you.

BERG: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: We're getting new information about an arrest made during Donald Trump's rally in Las Vegas yesterday. The Secret Service says that a man has been charged for attempting to disarm an officer inside that event while Trump was on stage speaking. Cameras captured the man being led away, that's him there, in handcuffs. The suspect has been identified now as 19-year-old Michael Sanford but there's no word yet on whether he was a Trump supporter or a protester or exactly what his intentions were. We'll let you know when we learn more.

And coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, a major California city loses its third police chief in nine days amid a sex scandal rocking the department. The mayor vowing to take action against what she calls a toxic culture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: As the mayor of Oakland I am here to run a police department, not a frat house.

[17:20:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: A major crisis is shaking up the police department in Oakland, California, this weekend. This is the mayor, Libby Schaaf, in the past nine days she has had to either fire or accept the resignation of three chiefs of police. That's three in a little more than a week.

This revolving door is spinning while the police department deals with some very serious scandals, possible sex crimes, human trafficking, racial misconduct.

CNN's Nick Valencia is following new developments in this case from Oakland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The message this week outside of Oakland Police Department headquarters was clear and deliberate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're here saying that OPD is rotten to its core.

VALENCIA: Rocked by two separate scandals, members of the public and city officials are fast losing faith in the department.

SCHAAF: As the mayor of Oakland I am here to run a police department, not a frat house.

VALENCIA: On Friday, Mayor Libby Schaaf addressed allegations of widespread police misconduct, including a sex scandal involving the exploitation of a teenager and racist text messages sent within the Oakland PD.

SCHAAF: I want to assure the citizens of Oakland that we are hell bent on rooting out this disgusting culture and holding those accountable responsible for their misdeeds.

[17:25:02] VALENCIA: It all started last fall with the suicide of an officer. Officials say an investigation into his death uncovered disturbing allegations. Within months an 18-year-old alleged she had sex with him as well as a number of other officer from Oakland PD and surrounding police departments.

NOEL GALLO, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL: We may have to go to the complete federal oversight of our police department.

VALENCIA: Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo has watched the fallout. In just nine days three police chiefs have been fired or resigned. One chief lasted only five days. Meanwhile there are also reports that African-American officers within the OPD exchanged racist text messages with each other. The content of the messages have not been made public.

SCHAAF: We not only hold people accountable for engaging in unacceptable hate speech but also for tolerating it.

VALENCIA: The department is already on a short leash with the feds over police misconduct dating back to 2003. It's now under civilian leadership.

SCHAAF: I feel that this is an appropriate time to place civilian oversight over this police department and to send a very clear message about how serious we are of not tolerating misconduct, unethical behavior and to root out what is clearly a toxic macho culture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: The mayor of Oakland there just disgusted with the police department. I just spoke exclusively to Celeste Guap. She is the young woman making these allegations and she tells me by phone that this all started in February, 2015, when she was running from her pimp, she says, and an officer with the Oakland Police Department saved her. In her words. Rather than taking her to jail they started a romance, she says. And from there that officer introduced her to other officers and a network of cop customers was made.

Now she says something very interesting to me. She said that she didn't think that this would come out and had that officer not committed suicide months later none of this would have. An internal investigation was launched. She handed over her phone. And that's when all of this came crumbling down.

Now I spoke to Celeste earlier, I mentioned, and I asked her what the world needs to know about what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CELESTE, FORMER PROSTITUTE: I mean, as long as people know that I didn't want this to happen because people -- there's people saying that I wanted to this to happen. That I screwed up all these cops over on purpose. That it was me who put it out there and stuff. As long as people know that. I didn't want this to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Celeste says that she is conflicted. She knows that there should be consequences but these officers, she says, became her friends and in part she became their confidante -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Nick Valencia, on the story, thanks very much.

Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, the desperate need for blood donations after the Orlando shooting tragedy. Some gay men who wanted to help were turned away from because of current government rules. Is it time to change those rules? Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT GARSTKA, PROSPECTIVE BLOOD DONOR: Just because we love each other, just because we care for each other that we can't do this. And it's infuriating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:29] SCIUTTO: You are looking at live pictures from Orlando. We're waiting for a memorial to begin, that within the next 90 minutes at the church -- Cathedral Church of St. Luke. It will be followed by a candlelight vigil to honor the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub tragedy. An estimated 20,000 people expected to attend that vigil. In the wake of the shooting tragedy, blood banks in Orlando and around

the country quickly put out the call for donors. And many lined up to give but gay and bisexual men who wanted to help have been turned away, renewing calls to loosen restrictions that some say perpetuate a stigma.

Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Giving blood after a tragedy is not only necessary, but has become a symbol of resilience, a way for grief to be channeled into action.

GARSTKA: We jumped in our car, went and got our friend Justin and Jordan, and we ran to the blood bank because they said we were in a crisis and they didn't have enough blood to help support what they were seeing on the street.

GUPTA (on camera): You want to go, you want to go help, but that morning you find out that you can't donate blood.

GARSTKA: Correct. There is a ban on men, gay men, giving blood. You know, it was just one of those -- another shock to the system that day.

GUPTA (voice-over): According to the FDA, which oversees the safety of the U.S. blood supply, men who've had sex with men, even protected sex, within the past year, cannot donate.

GARSTKA: I know that I have had regular tests, and I know that I am an HIV negative person, and I felt like, "Why couldn't I give blood?" And why couldn't they screen it?

GUPTA: It's a good question. Fact is, all blood, regardless of the donor, is screened for a number of things, including Hepatitis B, C and HIV. So I decided to go down to the OneBlood blood bank to better understand this policy.

(On camera): People want to channel their grief in some way, and it's always seemed that blood donation is one of those things. They don't know what to do, this is something I can do, maybe I can help. But there is something on the form that prevents certain populations of people from donating. Talk about that. What is the -- what are the criteria? What are the restrictions?

SUSAN FORBES, VICE PRESIDENT, ONEBLOOD: Well, every blood center is required to follow the rules and guidelines handed down by the Food and Drug Administration. So we don't make the rules. We play by them. And we have to follow them. And when it comes to the specific questions on there, that the Food and Drug Administration has on the form, and if somebody checks yes or not to certain answers, then maybe we defer to it at that time.

GUPTA (voice-over): Here's the FDA's questionnaire. Question 19, male donors in the past 12 months, have you had sexual contact with another male?

(On camera): If one of these donors says to you, Susan, why can't I donate, what do you say?

FORBES: I say we have to follow the rules from the FDA. And I feel for them, believe me. We all do. Because we know that people want to do the right thing and they want to come out and donate.

GUPTA (voice-over): The FDA says it's a matter of risk, but this has become a contentious issue on the floors of government, the White House, and among scientists.

SEAN CAHILL, THE FENWAY INSTITUTE: The policy we have really prevents a lot of HIV negative gay men, the vast majority of us are HIV negative, and it prevents us from being able to donate and contribute to emergency preparedness and, you know, in this case, to help people who have been shot.

GUPTA: It's a policy that may no longer make sense in the wake of advancing science and tremendous need.

DR. MICHAEL CHEATHAM, ORLANDO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: It's a matter of more like 100 to 200 units as opposed to just a few units at some hospitals keep.

[17:35:06] We had one patient that went through almost 200 units of blood just in the first 24 hours.

GUPTA: Fortunately, there was enough goodwill here in Orlando to keep up with the tremendous demand for blood. But the inability of people like Scott to donate has added insult to injury.

GARSTKA: I mean, I think the word would be, you feel discriminated, right? I mean, you go down there, you're crying, your -- all of our friends are coming together at that moment, we just wanted to help, and then to be told we couldn't because, again, it's the same thing we felt for the last few days. Just because we love each other, just because we care for each other, that we can't do this. And it's infuriating. It makes us want to stand up and scream from the mountaintops, like, why is our blood not good enough?

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Now the Food and Drug Administration did change its blood donation policy for gay and bisexual men just last year. Prior to December 2015, the FDA had a lifetime blood donor ban for all men who had sexual contact with other men. Even once. Now the ban only applies to men who had sex with another man in the past 12 months.

I want to bring in Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley. He's fighting to change the FDA's blood donor policy for gay and bisexual men.

Congressman Quigley, thanks for coming on the air today.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D), ILLINOIS: Thanks, Jim, for having me on.

SCIUTTO: So I understand you and your -- two of your colleagues have drafted a letter to the FDA commissioner asking the ban be ended. It has 109 signatures including from four Republicans. Sadly that's not close to a majority. In your view is there a realistic chance that you can get this policy changed?

QUIGLEY: Well, we started seven years ago and it didn't look like we had any chance at all. But even back then the FDA said that this was a suboptimal policy. It took us almost six years to get to the point where they change what you described recent, just now, to a one-year deferral instead of a lifetime ban. I'd like to think that science and common sense will get us to a point where we eliminate this discriminatory policy.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because the key issue seems to be this time period between infection and showing the anti-bodies for HIV which is how the blood is screened. According to the NIH, the National Institutes of Health, it takes about three months for the body to produce enough antibiotics, it could take six months for some people, so you have this period where you might be infected but you're not showing the signs that would then have that blood screened out. How do you -- how do you handle that issue and that concern?

QUIGLEY: Yes, I think first you change the questionnaire to reflect that. Second, you recognize that the discrimination exists because of the questionnaire. Just remember that straight men who are practicing unsafe sex with multiple partners are not denied this opportunity to give life saving blood, while a straight man in a 30-year monogamous relationship is denied that same right. We trust this questionnaire a great deal. So I think it makes sense to be consistent with those who participate.

SCIUTTO: So you're saying that in effect -- and this is factually true, we know that gay or straight men and women can be exposed to the HIV virus. So you think both the policy and the questionnaire should reflect that?

QUIGLEY: Absolutely. The science has changed and the medical communities and the blood bank communities agree this should be a risk-based decision, not one on orientation.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because HIV sadly has been around for a number of decades now. You've had this, you know, a couple of problems in terms of reporting, right, one is that you have this window before the antibodies show up so even if the blood screened presumably some HIV-positive blood could get through but you also just have to fact that some people might lie on their questionnaires.

Since screening has been instituted, have there been any people who have gotten infected with HIV from donated blood?

QUIGLEY: None that we're aware of. We're planning to meet with the administrators from HHS and the FDA to go over this analysis, help us understand the science that they're basing their decisions on. What's clear to us is the science has improved screening dramatically. Questionnaires have improved.

We have to remember that this policy was put in place in the middle of the AIDS crisis and it was a lifetime ban. We've learned a lot since then. We need to know what additional research has to go into place to improve the science of screening just to make the whole blood supply safer, putting aside the issue of gay men donating.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Mike Quigley, thanks very much.

QUIGLEY: Thank you. Take care.

[17:40:03] SCIUTTO: Well, they are places that we go to every day, the grocery store, maybe a restaurant, even a shopping mall. So what do they all have in common? They are all examples of soft targets.

A closer look at the challenge of protecting public places. That's next live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Right now in Orlando, Florida, thousands of people are gathering to pay tribute to the 49 people killed in the horrific nightclub shooting there. The club, called Pulse, is what police and terrorism experts call a soft target for deranged people, including terrorists who wish to do harm. Crowds of innocent people with not much security or possibly no security means lots of potential victims. First responders and security types are now rethinking their tactical approach to how to protect these so-called soft targets.

CNN's Ryan Young has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Through the Internet and magazines, ISIS commanders are trying to encourage more attacks on soft targets around the world. So far their call has been met with deadly results. 130 people killed in Paris, 14 killed in San Bernardino, and 49 people killed in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Security experts tell CNN the major goal in all these attacks is to maximize the human toll with the smallest amount of resistance.

[17:45:04] DR. ROBERT PAPE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: We're seeing a near perfect soft target. What do I mean by that? I mean, a target where the attacker can count on there being a large number of people, minimum dozens, often hundreds, clustered together, packed together in time and space that he can predict.

YOUNG: Robert Pape is the founder of Project on Security and Terrorism at the University of Chicago. He said the shift in ISIS strategy happened less than a year ago when the terror group started inspiring lone wolves to carry out attacks, and he believes it will continue.

PAPE: What ISIS has been doing over the last eight months is unleashed a campaign of attacks against soft targets in the West.

YOUNG: But predicting the type of soft target an attacker might strike is what's so difficult.

TOM BRADY, HOMELAND SECURITY TRAINING INSTITUTE: How do we respond to soft target hardening?

YOUNG: That's why agencies are gearing up, learning more, and trying to prepare for the next attack.

BRADY: There's a soft target that someone is looking to exploit an attack every day.

YOUNG: This week, just outside Chicago law enforcement leaders met to discuss and learn what their community can do to prepare for an Orlando style attack.

DEP. POLICE CHIEF BRIAN BUDDS, WESTERN SPRINGS, ILLINOIS: This is a problem that won't go away and we have an on ligation to take the lead and partner with our communities and other leaders to stop another one from happening.

YOUNG: Tom Brady helped lead the post office investigation when several letters containing the poison anthrax were sent in the mail after 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the street. Get out of the street.

YOUNG: Today he serves as director of the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage in Illinois. A place where police officers train for all types of hostile situation.

(On camera): What do you want law enforcement out there to understand about soft targets?

BRADY: Well, we want people to know that soft targets are something that -- soft target attacks are something that's not going to stop. We're going to see more of them.

YOUNG (voice-over): A sobering thought for law enforcement officials who tell us they need the public's help now more than ever in an effort to harden soft targets around the world.

Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, he is one of the world's most talked-about leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin weighing in on the chilly state of U.S.-Russian relations and whether he thinks that we are in a new Cold War.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:09] SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Russia is denying it had anything to do with last week's bombing of American-backed Syrian rebels. Senior U.S. Defense official says that the incident, quote, "raises concerns about Russian intentions." That acknowledgment comes as CNN's own Fareed Zakaria is granted special access to Russian president Vladimir Putin. He asked him about the state of U.S.- Russian relations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (Through Translator): The U.S. is a great power. At the moment it is only super power and we accept this fact. We want to work with the U.S., and we are ready to do that, but at the moment the world needs a country as strong as the U.S. is, and we do need the U.S., too, but what we did not need is for them to interfere with our affairs all of the time. To instruct us how to live, to prevent Europe from building relations with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: To talk more about this, I want to bring in Aaron David Miller. He's the vice president for New Initiatives and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He also has done a few tours as a diplomat in some of the toughest parts of the world.

Aaron, you know Vladimir Putin. He's a cagey guy. Former KGB agent. There's always some sort of message behind what he says in public. What do you think he was trying to accomplish here?

AARON DAVID MILLER, VICE PRESIDENT, NEW INITIATIVES: I mean, you know, as far as the Syrians are concerned, as far as Russian stakes in Syria and in Ukraine, in Crimea, I think it's clear Putin is determined to ensure that the United States simply does not impose what he would record as a Pax Americana. And he's persuaded that he wants to demonstrate the Russians are risk-ready in pursuit of their interests.

That was clearly true in Crimea, it's true in Ukraine, and it's definitely true in Syria. And there is a danger to some degree of deconfliction or confliction in the event we decide to escalate our military operations on the ground, particularly against the Assad regime.

SCIUTTO: So you were talking there about when these Russian planes seemed to bomb U.S.-backed rebels on the ground there. How about his comments saying that the U.S. is the only super power? Why the -- I mean, we know he is a leader who's constantly talking about Russian strength and history of position in the world, trying to restore it to some degree. Why would he say something like that?

MILLER: Well, I mean, if we are the only super power and Vladimir Putin succeeds essentially in projecting a Russian power and frustrating American ambitions, well, he obviously in the face of the only super power has a lot of street cred and he's protecting Russian interests. It's a paradoxical way, it seems, of demonstrating how effective Putin has been in challenging both politically and militarily American influence in some very key hot spots.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this just on the issue of Ukraine which has been the primary driving force in this -- you know, reemergence of a Cold War, it struck my attention that the German foreign minister called recent NATO exercises in Eastern Europe which are meant to show NATO unity in the face of Russian military moves. He called them warmongering and as you know, some of those NATO allies are starting to talk about ratcheting down some of these economic sanctions against Russia.

Is Western unity, U.S., European unity splintering on Russia in the issue of Ukraine and in other issues?

MILLER: Well, clearly the Germans believe that they have to figure out a way to co-exist rather than confront the Russians both for commercial and strategic and economic reason, and if in fact it does splinter then there goes any American capacity, it seems to me, to operate in a way that Putin understands that we have real credibility on the ground.

We really have no choice but to work through our allies on the continent. In fact, if the Germans take the lead in catering to Mr. Putin or suggesting that we rare in fact part of the problem, part of the solution, then Houston, we really do have a problem.

[17:55:12] SCIUTTO: Do you think -- just in terms of the European unity, do you think that Putin watches this upcoming Brexit vote with -- where you have Great Britain possibly voting to the leave the European Union? Do you think he relishes that possibility of having some divisions in the EU?

MILLER: I would think he does, I mean, after all, the EU -- the very coherence and logic of the European Union is very much at stake. And while the Brits may in fact leave and negotiate other arrangements, Putin understands that a divided Europe is one that is less capable, less willing and essentially less able to -- to oppose Russian designs on the continent, so, yes, I think -- I mean, whether Putin is the master strategist or whether he simply very good at reading tactical moves and responding, I think in many respects the way geopolitics in Europe are playing out, are playing very much in his favor.

SCIUTTO: Aaron David Miller, thanks very much for sharing your wisdom.

MILLER: Thank you, Jim. And Happy Father's Day.

SCIUTTO: You, too.

Coming up in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, we're going to take you live to Orlando where there is an extraordinary scene playing out now. Thousands gathering to mark just one week since the Pulse nightclub shooting. An entire evening of tributes are planned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Sciutto here live in New York.

We will see a very public outpouring of grief in Orlando playing out over the next several hours. It's been one week since it became the most recent U.S. city to endure a mass shooting, and it was the deadliest in modern America history. These are live pictures now from Orlando's Cathedral Church of St.

Luke. A memorial service getting under way there. It will be followed later by a candlelight vigil. Police estimates some 20,000 people could gather in the area this evening to honor those 49 --