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Oakland Police Department Under Civilian Oversight; The Word ISIS Removed From Newly Released 911 Transcripts of Orlando Killer; Vice President Joe Biden On The Attack Against Donald Trump; President Obama Today Speaking Out As It Is World Refugee Day. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 20, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can hear Oakland mayor's Libby Schaaf's frustration and anger at what has been happening at his department. And now she has put a special administrator, city administrator to basically oversee this department.

But here's a small detail that a lot of people maybe outside of Oakland don't know. This is already, this department already under federal oversight. It's been with a federal monitor watching the goings on inside this department more than a decade and there are a lot of people wondering what kind of monitoring was actually going on considering how large the scandal has become - Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Philip, how do they clean this up?

PHILIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, good afternoon, Brooke. And I really don't know the exact answer but I do know that civilian oversight of a police agency certainly one this size is probably not the right way to go.

Now that being said, I commend the mayor for identifying the problem. There does appear to be a major, major cancer that is growing within the Oakland police department and somehow you have to excise the cancer and get it out of there. But you need to bring in somebody who has got the knowledge and the training and the experience dealing with police officers. You don't supervise cops just the way you do other types of employees. They will not trust somebody who they don't believe has their best interest at heart. Cops by their very nature don't trust bureaucrats. And so, if the mayor wants to think that a bureaucrat running the police department is a good idea, she may very well be in for a rude awakening. And I think she has to find somebody for six months or a year to come in on an interim basis while they look for somebody on a long-term basis, somebody who has the knowledge and the subject matter, experience, to clean up the police agency.

BALDWIN: Sara?

SIDNER: Brooke, can I jump in here?

BALDWIN: Yes, yes, yes.

SIDNER: Look. She has tried that. She has had three police officers. One of whom the federal monitor was backing. He is gone. He was the police chief. She has had another police chief from bay area rapid transit that came over to run the department. He was there a couple of weeks. He is gone. They tried someone inside the department who was a captain. He lasted two dais. He is gone.

There have been five police chiefs since 2013 in this department. So if you're looking at the police department to be able to run itself, a lot of people are going, wait a minute. What is happening with this department? And to be fair, it's not just Oakland police department that is involved in this sex scandal. We are talking about Richmond police department has been named and several other departments with several other officers who have been found on text messaging to be talking with her and possibly having sexual relationships with her.

But to be fair, a lot of folks in this town are saying, we keep trying the same thing over and over and over again with sworn officers. And it doesn't seem to be working. It's a hard one to crack.

HOLLOWAY: Well --

BALDWIN: I am sitting here just shaking my head. It is like one of those situation. They have to fix it because this is a major metropolitan city.

Let's leave it. Philip Holloway, for now, and Sara Sidner.

Wow. The fact that they have been monitored while this was happening. Thank you so much. We'll stay on it, Oakland. ,

Next, the name ISIS, the word ISIS removed from newly released 911 transcripts from the Orlando killer with 911 operators. That has a number of Republicans or had them in an uproar, it has now changed but we will still debate whether prosecutors made the right call. They have since redacted them. Stopped the redacting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:58] BALDWIN: A quick reversal. And we are talking a matter of hours here. From the FBI on the release of the transcript of calls between the Orlando mass murderer and members of law enforcement. Officials first had redacted the name of the terror group ISIS and also the name of the leader of the Islamic state from the verbatim that they have initially provided members of the media. And during new conference earlier today, they told us why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON HOPPER, FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN-CHARGE: Part of the redacting is meant to not give credence to individuals who have done terrorist acts in the past. We are not going to propagate their rhetoric, their violent rhetoric and we see no value in putting those individual's names back out there. We are trying to prevent future acts from happening again. And for cowards like this one, people like that influence them so we are not going to continue to put their names out front.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Immediately, Republican house speaker Paul Ryan, you know, hit back saying selectively editing the transcript is preposterous. We know the shooter was a radical Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS. We also know he intentionally targeted the LGBT community. The administration should release the full, un-redacted transcript so the public is clear-eyed about who did this and why.

And now I can tell you minutes ago, the FBI released another statement saying the reductions were causing a quote "unnecessary distraction" and officials then reissued the transcripts in full.

So with that update, let's bring in senior CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, served as assistant director of the FBI and CNN political commentator Buck Sexton, a former CIA counter terrorism analyst.

So now that we have the update, gentlemen, and Buck, I will just turn to you, on fact that, you know, we are now seeing the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, we are seeing the name ISIS which by the way we knew from, you know, Mr. Comey last week, where is the new?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There was no rational behind this whatsoever. This had to be a political decision that came from the top. There was enforced on the FBI. I do not believe for one second that anyone in the FBI hierarchy on their own came to this decision that they are going to redact and says omit to omit things that were already publicly stated out there and known. ISIS had already gotten its full propaganda bump from this. Everybody knows what's in the information. It seemed like a very clumsy attempt to sort of try to give some deference to this politically correct culture of don't want to say it is the Islamic state. We want to say it is just a terrorist group.

I can't really come to rationalization for it that isn't bizarre because it was a bizarre act. It sort of soviet level propaganda that they have now had to go back on because there is no justification. It makes no sense whatsoever but it does play into a larger narrative that this administration does not want to speak honestly and forthrightly about the threat of Jihadism. They are always looking for other thing to point to.

[15:40:34] BALDWIN: Tom Fuentes? What do you make of Buck's comments?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, sorry, but I have to disagree with Buck because in this case, and I have this from several sources that were involved in the meetings, the decision was not made by the quote "administration, the White House or even the attorney general." This was an internal FBI decision. And yes, they did make it. And why? It was because, you know, partly because of the sensitivity of the victims.

But the main reason was that they are looking at these thousands of ISIS videos, social media messages that go out every single day and they just didn't want to have this guy be the one in the next upcoming video whereby name he's cites Baghdadi and he cites Boston bombers and other people individually an ISIS itself. So they're thinking was - and the police requested that the FBI release some information because they were taking a lot of questions about the timeline of what was responded to and the SWAT operation taking three hours. And so they asked the FBI to put out some of the information to show the timeline, but not any of the information that were pertain to still parts of the act of investigation which would include his wife or any other possible co-conspirators. So it actually was not a political decision based on the administration. It was a political decision based on denying ISIS more propaganda coming from Mateen himself.

SEXTON: I mean, that's just nonsense. Everybody could tell what was redacted from the transcript. They are redetecting things like I pledge guilty or allegiance to omitted. Everybody knew what was in there. You are going to tell me the FBI thought --

BALDWIN: It is almost like they were calling more attention to something that they didn't want to call attention to and now attention --

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: True story of the world for a week. We know that the FBI director already said that he pledged guilty to ISIS. ISIS has been running us on social media accounts. By the way, that people are reading and are going to continue to read whether the U.S. government redacts from these accounts or redacts from its official account or not, they have already gone back on this because they realized how bizarre and strange it is. So maybe you have sources inside that are telling you this wasn't a political decision. I would just contest that because it seems bizarre to me. But it obviously was a bad and senseless decision because they lasted three hours with this.

BALDWIN: Let me jump in.

It is over. That part of it is over. But I did sit in and wonder, I mean, I sit here and we have covered - I have too many of the mass shootings and you know, we have made a decision or, at least, you know, we on the show and I know a number of my colleagues who made a decision not to say his name, right? So much of this is about narcissism and a variety (ph). But I don't want to say his name even though so many people out there know what his name is, I don't want to keep saying it. Isn't that the same thing, just putting a bit on me?

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: Every major media outlet all week was running constant stories of what of motivations here. If we are actually going to try to prevent an attack, what are the motivations going to be going forward to try and do that? And if you want to know the motivations, I think the killer, this mass murder, this jihadist in this context, leaving a voice message where he says these are my motivations and these why I did it. It is incredibly relevant to the discussion, part of the public record. And the idea that anybody in the hierarchy of the FBI or elsewhere would think otherwise is just bizarre. It makes no sense whatsoever. So that is why - look, this is not really a problem anymore because they have gone back and they have changed it. But let's not pretend that this was a sensible decision. There's a reason why they haven't stood behind this. It has nothing to do with investigatory tactics, it is not protecting sources and methods. They just didn't want to talk about this or something.

BALDWIN: Tom, I want you to have last word. I appreciate that -- Tom.

FUENTES: OK. They just didn't want to be in his own words verbatim. To have the director say he pledged ISIS with the police or the dispatchers or anybody else is one thing. They just didn't want to coming out of his mouth from the grave still extolling the virtues of Baghdadi and ISIS. That's all. If it turn to be mistake because of the backlash and all of this, they have to take it back, that may be. But their original intention was not political. That's the only point I'm making.

BALDWIN: OK.

FUENTES: It was a tactical decision.

SEXTON: We agree to disagree on that one.

BALDWIN: OK, Tom Fuentes and Buck Sexton, thank you.

BALDWIN: It is now moot. Moving on.

Next, Hillary Clinton preparing another Trump takedown. A preview of what she has in store on a big speech on the economy coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:38] BALDWIN: Today vice president Joe Biden went on the attack against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. And he did so without ever mentioning Donald Trump by name. The vice president just finished speaking at conference in our nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The imperative for the next president to deal with complex transnational threats, because in our hyper connected world events anywhere can impact everywhere, environmental disruptions, pathogens, computer viruses, malicious ideologies, these threats don't respect borders. And no matter what others may claim, we cannot wall ourselves off from these challenges. Even in simpler times, isolation never offered more than a false sense of security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wall ourselves off. Jeff Zeleny is here, senior Washington correspondent. What else did she say?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is so interesting. It was the president last week, it is the vice president now. This is a coordinated Democratic effort here. I mean, as Donald Trump is having a shake-up and issues of his own, Democrats are really coming together and going after Donald Trump really in every news cycle. But he, you know, in the vice president's own sort of sober, slow way, he went after him incredibly. And this is a day before Hillary Clinton is going to be doing the same things in Ohio. But I will say the one thing he said. He really talked about the walls. He said if we build these walls, this anti-Americanism will rip through the atmosphere. So he says that people will, you know, turn against America if we do things like that. So, it was one part of history lesson and one part politics. But tough words from the vice president.

[15:50:19] BALDWIN: He even add Michelle Obama to that list in that commencement address last week mentioning the wall as well. Hillary Clinton, big speech tomorrow on the economy?

ZELENY: Right. It Is part of her Trump lecture series, if you will.

BALDWIN: Trump's lecture.

ZELENY: A few weeks ago in San Diego, she went after him on foreign policy saying he is unfit to the presidency. Tomorrow it's all on the economy. She will be in Ohio, of course, a critical battleground state. But she will say that, you know, a piece of real threat and again will use his own words against him about all of the things he has talked about from bankruptcy to other things. So it is very clear that the Clinton campaign has a strategy and it is one that is being echoed throughout the Democratic Party to define Donald Trump right now. The prison in time right now. We will see if it works or not, but some Republicans are very worried about this because Donald Trump is not pushing back. He is talking about his own housekeeping issues.

BALDWIN: That was a mega speech she gave in San Diego. We will watch tomorrow in Ohio. Thank you so very much.

President Obama today speaking out as it is world refugee day, speaking out on behalf of the 65.3 million people around the world who have been forced from their home. That is one refugee for every 113 people here on earth. The president's statement in part read today, the scale of this human suffering is almost unimaginable that need for the world to respond is beyond question.

And my next guest is responding. He is Scott Cooper, a U.S. marine veteran. He is also national security outreach director for human rights.

First, Scott, welcome. Thank you for your service to our country, first and foremost.

SCOTT COOPER, NATIONAL SECURITY OUTREACH DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST: Thank you, Brooke. And thanks for all you have done to get out the veteran voice.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. You know, having a conversation is also timely given what happened in Orlando last week. We know that the murderer's parents, they were, you know, they came from Afghanistan. How would you - there are obviously security concerns as to whether or not some of these refugees should be allowed in this country or not? How will you respond to those fears?

COOPER: Well, I think the first thing that you need to do is make a sharp distinction between a Native American citizen who committed a lone Wolf attack and those refugees that fleeing persecution and violence and conflict. As you said there are 65.3 million refugees. It's also important I think to remember that refugees are the most highly and intensely vetted of any category of people that are trying to come to the United States. It takes 18 to 24 months for them to come here. They are vetted by all of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. And they go through a series of five to six interviews before they finally would be welcomed to the United States.

BALDWIN: Why, Scott, is this personal for you? I mean, you have served overseas. Why do you care so much from a veteran perspective?

COOPER: I would say among all of us veterans, it's quite personal for us. Many of us spent several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and served alongside interpreters and translators whose lives are now threatened because they cooperated with the United States and work alongside us.

We have also been witnessed to the spurge and violence of war. We have seen what it's like. And we also put the uniform on because we care about what this nation stands for. And I would submit to you that as veterans, we care about the fact that the symbol of the United States is not barbed wire and walls, but the statue of Liberty. It's where we put the uniform on.

BALDWIN: Tell me more about this group you're a part of and how can other veterans who are watching, how can they join?

COOPER: Absolutely. So I work at Human Rights First. And we started an initiative called veterans for American ideals, which is nonpartisan group of veterans that believes that we are most secure and safe when we do advocate the policies that are in our interest and our own ideals. So to all those veterans out there, we have conversations going on throughout the country today. There's one in D.C., there is one in New York, there is one in Boston, there is one in San Francisco where we are advocating to welcome refugees here into the United States and also keep our word and keep faith with those allies' interpreters and translators who served alongside of us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BALDWIN: Thank you for getting the word out with this nonpartisan group, Scott Cooper. Thank you so much.

COOPER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

We do have more on our breaking news. Donald Trump today firing his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. He spoke out live here on CNN with Dana Bash. He says he doesn't know why he was let go. You will hear his interview coming up here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From your perspective, what happened? Why were you fired?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Look, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. But what I know is what we have been able to achieve in this election cycle has been historic. And we had a candidate who in June of last year announced he is going to run for president with no elective office experience in a field of 16 other people in the race plus him who has gone on to something historic, which was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:23] JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Quote "I'm in Orlando and I did the shootings," unquote. Transcripts of the terrorist's shocking 911 calls just released today.

"The LEAD" starts right now.

The FBI reveals the Orlando killer's conversations with the cops. Not one single mention of gay people but several mentions of ISIS. Ones that the federal government originally censored from the transcripts. Why?

Aiming at guns. The Senate just minutes away from voting on four separate measures to restrict gun ownership or expand background checks. All four might fail.

Plus, you're fired. A huge head's scratching shake up in the Trump campaign. Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is out with just one month before the Republican convention.