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Jo Cox's Family Mourns; Battle to Drive ISIS from Fallujah; IOC Backs Ban on Russia's Track Team; ; America's Choice 2016; 8th Grader Impersonates Presidential Candidates. Aired 12-12:30a ET
Aired June 19, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): United in memory of Jo Cox, the family of the British MP join an emotional memorial as the suspect charged with her murder makes a disturbing statement in court.
Iraqi forces push deeper into Fallujah in an effort to clear out ISIS fighters. CNN takes you inside the devastated city.
Plus Donald Trump says he knows why Bernie Sanders is staying in the U.S. presidential race and he claims it involves Hillary Clinton's e-mails.
Hello, I'm Paula Newton and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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NEWTON: A church service for murdered British Parliament member Jo Cox is set for Sunday. There's been a steady stream of vigils since her death on Thursday. Saturday's memorial in Birstall was particularly moving.
Her family mourned alongside the community their daughter worked for. They shared stories and remembered a life tragically cut short. Our Nic Robertson has more.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It was a very somber, very solemn, very emotional moment when Jo Cox's parents arrived here. They came to lay flowers. There were so many well- wishers gathered around.
And Jo's sister, Kim, talked of her sister as being someone who was perfect, someone who was always positive about things, about being -- the feeling that the family felt that it had so much support from the community, so much love. She thanked the police. She thanked the first responders. She thanked the community and spoke of her sister.
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KIM LEADBEATER, JO COX'S SISTER: We will never let Jo leave our lives. She will live on through all the good people in the world, through Brendan, through us and through her truly wonderful children, who will always know what an utterly amazing woman their mother was. She was a human being and she was perfect.
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ROBERTSON: You know, after those words, the family didn't rush off. There were hugs for about 20 minutes, people in the community who knew Jo came forward to give hugs, to give love, to give warmth, to give support to her parents and to her sister, Kim.
That lasted for quite some time. And then, a little later, something different: a man arrived on his bicycle, towing a grand piano and played some music.
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ROBERTSON: Again, very emotional, a very, very touching day, the feeling of warmth and support for Jo Cox's family is so strong here.
We also saw another leading politician here, Natalie Bennett from the Green Party. She came to pay her respects, leave flowers here. And I talked to her about the fact that the referendum campaign is going to restart in the coming days. I asked her if that was too soon. This is what she told me.
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NATALIE BENNETT, GREEN PARTY: Jo very much believed in democracy. And I think we are only literally days away from a critically important decision in about Britain's future. So I think we have to do it tomorrow.
Now I very much hope that we'll be able to see that happen in a respectful manner, change of tone in the way many of the campaigns have been conducted and so also I mean I'm very comfortable with the way the Green Party has been conducting its campaign. We've been talking about the positive case for Europe. And that's what we'll continue to do.
But I hope that -- and I think the people, there's too many people out there who are deciding how to vote. People are asking questions still. They want more information. But it's important that we give the voters that information.
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ROBERTSON: Regardless though that the campaigning is going to restart, we are going to continue to see more people coming here, pay their respects, pay their tribute, show their love, show their affection for Jo Cox and her family -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Birstall, England.
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NEWTON: Now Cox's husband, Brendan, sent words of encouragement after hearing that statement from his wife's sister.
He tweeted, "Very proud of my sister-in-law, Kim, who spoke on behalf of all of us and did her sister proud. #MoreInCommon."
Now the man charged in the killing of Jo Cox appeared in court on Saturday. Prosecutors revealed more about the background of 52-year- old Tommy Mair. We were also learning graphic details of that terrible attack. Our Phil Black has more.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thomas Mair only spoke once during his appearance. He was asked to confirm his name.
He said, "My name is Death to Traitors, Freedom for Britain."
He stayed silent when asked to confirm his date of birth and address. The prosecutor detailed the case against him. He --
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BLACK: -- attacked Jo Cox on the street stabbing her multiple times before taking out a gun and shooting her three times while she was on the ground. Throughout the attack, witnesses say he said words to the effect of this is for Britain, Britain first, independence for Britain.
He also stabbed an elderly man in the stomach who tried to intervene and help Jo Cox. They looked for the man who attacked the member of Parliament during that detention.
He said to police, I am a political activist. The prosecutor said a search of his home found news articles relating to Jo Cox and material, ideological material relating to right-wing extremism and white supremacy.
The magistrate said that, bearing in mind his answer when asked to confirm his name, Thomas Mair should be seen by a psychiatrist -- Phil Black, CNN, London.
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NEWTON: Belgian authorities say they've detained three suspects on terror related charges following police raids across the country. The raids came amid possible threats to Belgian football fans gathering to watch the Euro 2016 Games. Now nine other people were also arrested, questioned but later released.
The Belgian prime minister says football related events will go on as planned but with extra security.
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CHARLES MICHEL, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The message that we want to pass is one of determination, a message of serenity, a message of calm. All the scheduled events in the coming days will go on with added security measures or with adapted security measures.
So the message is that the Security Council as well as the security services are extremely vigilant. We are monitoring the situation hour by hour and we will continue to conduct this battle with great determination, this battle against extremism, radicalism and terrorism.
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NEWTON: Now earlier, we spoke with CNN global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier, about why some Belgians may be drawn to terror groups such as ISIS.
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KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: There are a couple of different reasons that are pointed out by people who've lived there, Muslims who've lived there over the years, that they feel disenfranchised from the local Belgian culture, that they'd never assimilated.
They have trouble finding jobs; whereas ISIS offers them a mission, importance and enables them with training, weapons and money if necessary.
The other thing is the availability of weapons in Belgium in general, because of pre-existing criminal networks, ISIS, like other terrorist groups, uses those networks and sometimes even uses drug money to fuel its activities. So you have the people and the means and, unfortunately, the motivation that drives them.
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NEWTON: Now Belgium has been on alert since the deadly terror attacks in Brussels just three months ago.
Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to life in prison following an espionage trial. An Egyptian court convicted Morsi of leaking classified documents to Qatar. Six codefendants were sentenced to death. The defense attorney says he expects to appeal that verdict.
Morsi was Egypt's first democratically elected president but was overthrown by the military in 2013.
In Iraq, the battle continues to drive ISIS from the key city of Fallujah, just west of Baghdad.
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NEWTON (voice-over): Iraq's prime minister said in a TV address on Friday that the city was liberated but added that pockets of the terror group remained. A CNN crew traveled to Fallujah after that announcement and saw first-hand the fighting against ISIS. Our Ben Wedeman was there.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To save Fallujah from ISIS, Iraqi forces have destroyed vast expanses of this city, block after block, one flattened building after another.
In military parlance, the city was "softened up" before the push into the center of Fallujah by days of heavy bombardment from land and air.
WEDEMAN: So we are in this Iraqi army Humvee, heading inside one of the neighborhoods in Southeast Fallujah. We have already heard small arms fire crackling inside and also heard the thud of incoming artillery rounds. So we'll see what we find inside.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): I asked the soldiers in the Humvee if daish -- the Arabic acronym for ISIS -- is still inside the city.
"No," responds Jesim (ph), a --
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): -- 12-year army veteran.
"There is no daish," and then qualifies his statement.
"There are pockets, one or two still fighting here and there."
The pockets, we soon discovered, were many and they seemed deep.
WEDEMAN: This is the Naza (ph) neighborhood in Central Fallujah. It was, until day before yesterday, under the control of ISIS.
Now we see lots of Iraqi troops and Humvees in this part of the town. What we are not seeing are any civilians.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): This officer -- he asked to be called simply Abu Merien (ph) -- encountered civilians fleeing the fighting.
"They were in a bad way, exhausted," he says.
"They were suffering from lack of food and water."
Iraqi officials expected stiffer resistance in Fallujah, the first major city seized by ISIS 2.5 years ago. But Iraqi forces have managed to push rapidly inside. Officers insist resistance is, at best, scattered.
"There's still a few snipers and we are dealing with them," says Yasin Badri (ph), "and soon, we will finish them off."
One group of fighters did manage to liberate an ISIS banner; the liberation of the city, however, is still a work in progress -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Fallujah.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: Turkey's president said on Saturday he will revive
controversial plans to redevelop a park in Istanbul. A similar plan three years ago sparked large anti-government protests. Four people were killed and more than 7,000 others were wounded in the police crackdown on those protests.
The original plan was to build a replica of Ottoman-era barracks, a mosque and a shopping mall. Critics charged that would destroy one of Istanbul's few green spaces.
Now also in Istanbul a group of men attacked fans at a listening party for the band Radiohead on Friday. Police on Saturday clashed with crowds protesting. The attackers were apparently angry. The fans were drinking alcohol during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Now the assault happened at a music store, where attendees were listening to Radiohead's new album.
Whatever hopes Russian track and field athletes had for competing at the Olympics are quickly fading. We'll explain why.
Plus: a U.S. man gives new meaning to love thy neighbor by driving more than 1,000 miles to deliver handmade crosses in memory of the Orlando attack victims.
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NEWTON: It's increasingly unlikely that Russia's track and field team will compete at the Rio Olympics. The International Olympic Committee says it supports extending a --
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NEWTON: -- a competition ban by the IAAF, the track and field governing body. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has our report from Moscow.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russian president has now condemned this unfair, a ban on Russian athletes competing in the Rio Olympics.
Vladimir Putin was reacting to the decision of the IAAF, the world athletics governing body, which ruled on Friday that it could still not trust Russia's anti-doping procedures. The Russian sports ministry has issued its own impassioned response as well, saying it was extremely disappointed and that banning even clean Russian athletes from the Olympics would shatter their dreams.
IAAF officials, though, say the doping problems in Russia are so deep, it's not clear who is clean and who is not, something that's bound to anger the many Russian athletes who have never tested positive for banned substances. Some have even vowed to mount a legal challenge amid growing public anger at the Olympic ban.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's wrong when athletes use doping and banned substances and they probably think that everyone everywhere takes it here. That's why they made this decision.
We do not understand them. And it's a pity that it happened, especially as some of our famous athletes just returned to sports and wanted to compete in the Olympics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): I view this decision as a violation of Russia's rights and a violation of our interest in sports. I completely disagree with it. I will probably be crying all night.
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CHANCE: But Russians still apparently believe they have a chance of convincing the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, to allow at least some of its athletes to compete.
In a statement, the Russian sports ministry appealed to the IOC to consider not only the impact on athletes but also that the Olympics themselves will be diminished by Russia's absence -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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NEWTON: More people are saying their final goodbyes this weekend to victims of last weekend's shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Five families buried their loved ones on Saturday. One victim, Cory Connell, had planned to become a firefighter.
So the Orange County Fire Department named the 21-year old an honorary firefighter. The city of Orlando plans a candlelight vigil Sunday night for the 49 people who were killed.
A U.S. man who was impacted by gun violence has traveled from his home in Illinois to deliver a labor of love for the victims. He built 49 crosses, one for each victim, and set up a memorial in Orlando. Fredricka Whitfield has this story.
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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez and Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega -- a name for each cross placed at Orlando's Beauty Lake, 49 white crosses for the 49 killed in the nation's worst mass shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very somber. Very, very somber. Live in a large city, but it feels like a hometown, especially in the gay community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they hit home, that's close to the heart.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Each marker with a name and photo, placed here by Greg Zanis of Illinois.
GREG ZANIS, CARPENTER: You know, you've got to love your neighbor, love your brother and quit all that judging.
WHITFIELD: Love for people he never even met fueled his 1,200- hour drive from Aurora, Illinois, to Orlando, putting his hand-built
crosses in place.
ZANIS: We just need to honor them and we look like we're a religious country and we're not. We have so much trouble.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Symbols, he says, of how he coped after the shooting death of his father-in-law 20 years ago.
ZANIS: I just put the red hearts on there, just to show love.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): This time, his poignant tribute attracts dozens from dawn to dusk in Orlando. Over the years, the carpenter says he stopped building houses to make crosses for victims including those in Aurora, Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut, at least 13,000 crosses, in all, across the country.
No community could ever wish for a memorial like this, but for Jeannette McCoy, who was with her friend, Angel Colon, who she feels was shot while trying to protect her, this has become a place of reflection and healing.
JEANNETTE MCCOY, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Something that we're going to have to live and somehow cope and come together, as humans.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Orlando.
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NEWTON: Yes, it's been a tough news week out there in Orlando. And so many people touched by that tragedy.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really has been. Hearts and prayers go out to everyone.
NEWTON: Absolutely.
In the meantime, Derek Van Dam is here. You're keeping an eye out.
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VAN DAM: But I want to show you this because we have been talking about the Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara County. It closed Highway 101. Look at this image that I came across. This is known as a firenado, it's a tornado made of fire.
Did you know that could happen?
Yes. Well, I did a bit of research and we can take this graphic full so you can get a good look at it and talk a little bit about it. This happens when we get the convergence of cooler air masses off of the ocean. You can see the moon reflecting in the ocean and the winds that come off the mountains.
They swirl and they take the ash and the flames up in a tornado- like vortex.
NEWTON: Well, I understand that scientifically that's very impressive. But to me, it just looks plain scary.
VAN DAM: It looks scary. Don't want to be anywhere near that -- Paula.
NEWTON: Gosh, incredible.
Thanks, Derek, appreciate it. Still can't believe those temperatures, wow.
Now we have seen a lot of comedians impersonate this year's presidential candidates. But one 8th grader channeled a whole bunch of them for his fellow classmates at graduation. You don't want to miss this. That's up next.
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NEWTON: Donald Trump says he knows why Bernie Sanders still hasn't dropped out of the Democratic race for president. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee claims Sanders is waiting for the FBI to indict Hillary Clinton for using her private e-mail server for government business.
Now Clinton has called the private e-mail server "a mistake" but insists everything she did was legal. Now here is what Trump told his supporters in Las Vegas on Saturday.
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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, he's waiting for really --
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TRUMP: -- the FBI to do what everybody thinks they are going to do. I mean, I think that's it. I think he's sort of saying, look, let's hang in there because ultimately it's called the FBI convention. And then we'll be the only people and we will have done something like Trump did. I want to be like Trump. I want to be like Trump.
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NEWTON: Not a bad impersonation there of Bernie Sanders. I'm not sure if he was trying to channel him.
But an 8th grader from Illinois took inspiration from this year's presidential race for his graduation speech. He gave his entire address in the voices of the candidates, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, all in one speech. CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He may not have the polish of a professional impersonator...
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the bigger hands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really like people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All our nukes are huge.
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MOOS (voice-over): But 14-year-old Jack Aiello gave a hugely popular graduation speech at his suburban Chicago middle school. It began in the voice and with the gestures of Donald Trump.
TRUMP: We are going to start winning on every front. We're going to win so much.
JACK AIELLO, 8TH GRADER: We will win and we will win and, believe me, we will win.
MOOS (voice-over): Jack even pounced on how Trump pronounces...
AIELLO: China.
TRUMP: China.
China.
China.
China.
China.
China.
China.
China. China.
MOOS (voice-over): Jack then detoured briefly to Ted Cruz.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: God bless the great state of Maine.
AIELLO: God bless the great school of (INAUDIBLE).
MOOS (voice-over): In response to which Cruz tweeted, "OK, this kid is funny."
He then dabbled in cross-gender impersonation.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to run a campaign of unity, a campaign of inclusivity.
AIELLO: And they've given us the skills we need to get through 6th grade and from 7th grade and through 8th grade.
MOOS (voice-over): Jack's dad says his son wants to be either president or a comedian.
MOOS (on camera): But Jack really went on a roll when he started talking about the school's cinnamon rolls in the voice of Bernie Sanders.
AIELLO: Let me start with the lunches. They are delicious. And some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever tasted. We need to make them free. What we need is a cinnamon roll revolution.
MOOS (voice-over): Just as long as they aren't Communist rolls made in...
TRUMP: China.
MOOS (voice-over): -- Jeanne Moos...
AIELLO: China.
MOOS (voice-over): -- CNN...
TRUMP: Hey, by the way, I love China.
MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.
AIELLO: I love China.
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NEWTON: Well, the kid's great and so is our Jeanne Moos for bringing us the best of that speech.
And that does it for us. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton.
"ON CHINA," funny enough, is next. But first, I'll be back with the headlines. You are watching CNN.
