Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Saturday

Flooding Kills At Least 23 In West Virginia; European Union Leaders Discussing Next Steps; Trump: "I See Parallels" Between U.K. Vote, U.S.; Rescues Searches Underway Across West Virginia; EU Divorce Triggers Global Instability; Obama: Our "Special Relationship" Will Not Change; Petition for Second Vote Has 1 Million Plus Signatures. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 25, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:00:12] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's (inaudible) everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy. My 26 years, I never seen this bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People lost their house, their life, too. It's terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And unfortunately, we do anticipate that the death toll could go higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were running. They were jumping in their cars and just going. To watch everything go up in flames, the whole thing was surreal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we see the consequences already.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, "OUTFRONT": Britain's stunning decision to break away from Europe creating chaos and panic around the world. Stocks hammered with the biggest drop in nearly five years.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People want to take their country back. I do believe that and I think it's happening in the United States.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: One thing that will not change is the special relationship that exists between our two nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are so glad for your company. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. We begin this morning with breaking news. Rescues happening right now in West Virginia this morning, at least 23 people have died in historic flooding there.

PAUL: And among the victim, two young boys who were swept away by the raging waters in Jackson County. Now overnight, crews finished a temporary road that finally allowed 500 people to escape a shopping center. They had been stranded there since Thursday. Dozens of others had to be plucked off rooftops as the water rose higher and higher. And it's so fast moving too.

Our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, following the flooding live in the CNN Weather. What does all of this mean for them in the next few hours here, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The good news is we aren't expecting any more rain to come into this area. Now it's more of a recovery effort to really wait for a lot of that water to recede. But this is the second deadliest natural disaster we've had so far this year and it's killed already more than tornados have for the entire year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHINCHAR (voice-over): Homes swept away, bridges unhinged and streets completely submerged. It's a scene of desolation in West Virginia and what has been called a 1,000 year event.

GOVERNOR EARL RAY TOMBLIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I can tell from you watching the footage the damage is widespread and devastating.

CHINCHAR: The heavy flooding has lifted rivers and creeks clear out of their banks leaving thousands stranded and without power, gas or water. Some houses launched from their foundations by the gushing water exploded into flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a lot of just utter devastation in some areas as the homes are gone. A lot of areas the homes are covered in water and once the water went down, it's covered in mud.

CHINCHAR: Forty four counties and counting have declared a state of emergency with 200 National Guard members deployed to help with rescue and response efforts.

TOMBLIN: Unfortunately, we've dealt with weather emergencies all too often in the past several years so we were prepared to act quickly.

CHINCHAR: Summersville Lake located in the battered town of Richwood rose 38 inches in just 24 hours. And as water levels reach their highest in half a century, officials were forced to open all three dam valves, something they haven't done in nearly 15 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the worst I've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy. In mY 26 years, I've never seen this bad. I'm seeing stuff floating down the river in 2003 and it's nothing like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHINCHAR: So here we take a look at the amounts of rain that they have had. Here's Charleston, West Virginia for a reference point. Again, just to the east near Falling Spring and White Sulphur Springs, this is where the famous PGA golf course, Green Briar is located.

And again, that was really in the heart of the highest rainfall amounts. But you also have the community of Elk View, again, that is just north of where Charleston is located. And again, a lot of these areas picked up a lot of rain.

This is the Elk River located near Elk View breaking their all-time record for highest amount, breaking a 125-year record. This go back to the 1800s. Look at some of these amounts that these areas got in just 36 hours.

White Sulphur Springs over 9 inches same thing with Maxwelton in West Virginia also 9.5 inches. But here is perspective on that. Let's take a look at that exact town because here is Maxwelton, the location, again, just about an hour or so east of Charleston.

The reason this area flooded so bad is because you not only have the rain coming down from the sky, but also the stuff that came down through the mountains. It flows down into the valley, which is where Maxwelton is located.

So you have the water that came from above and the water that came from around you all pooling into this one area. So that's why the water was able to rise so rapidly and unfortunately too quickly for many of these areas to really get hold of what was taking place.

We're also keeping a close eye on the California wildfires. This is Kern County near where Bakersfield is located, 30,000 acres have burned and there is only 5 percent containment and it's shut up in the last 24 hours of the acres burned.

[06:05:14]Part of the problem is the drought that we are in right now. This area is still under exceptional drought, that's the highest of all the categories that you can be in, in California.

And here is a look at to date what we have experienced. Again, if you look at the last couple of years, at this point, we would have been about 0.7 to 0.9 million acres burned. We've double that so far already this year.

So unfortunately, it's only going to get worse because this is typically wildfire season in California -- Victor, Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison Chinchar there in the Severe Weather Center for us. Allison, thank you so much.

PAUL: All right, turning overseas, the United Kingdom divided over the fallout from their vote to leave the European Union. Now leaders of core European Union countries such as France and Germany are planning to meet so they can plan their next step.

BLACKWELL: And the key decision here, how to respond to the referendum of course and how to handle the divorce proceedings with the U.K. And the threat hanging over all of these talks, will one or more also make the move to exit. And can the United Kingdom stay united?

Clarissa Ward joins us now from London. Clarissa, the initial shock, I wonder if we're getting to the end of that and now to what will the response be.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that is exactly right, Victor. In the beginning, it was just the sense of absolute shock. Now that shock is starting to wear off. And we all know that divorce is never easy, but the real question here, what will the Brexit look like?

And I wanted to show you one of -- all of the newspaper headlines are full of this story. But this tabloid headlines I think really captures what many Brits here are feeling on both sides, by the way, those who voted for remaining in the E.U. and those who voted to leave.

All of them asking themselves the same question here, essentially, what the heck happens next. And so far we don't really have any answers. Now what we do know is that E.U. foreign ministers are currently meeting in Berlin.

They are desperately trying to get their arms around this new problem, this new issue, what will this look like. They are expected to give a press conference at some time in the next half hour.

But there does seem to be a bit of a difference of opinion here with British politicians. Yesterday we heard the prime minister, David Cameron, announcing that he would resign in three months and he won't enact Article 50 which begins the extrication process until he hands over to a new government.

Meanwhile, E.U. minister are saying hold on a second, we want to get this kickstarted as soon as possible. So there are a lot of questions here. This is going to be an ugly divorce.

A lot of negotiations to be hashed out because the European concern, of course, is they want to stop the contagion. They want to close Pandora's box. They want to make sure that other European countries don't try to follow suit.

PAUL: Of course, one of the things everybody has been talking about is the economic impact of all of this. What are the conversations you're hearing there?

WARD: Well, of course, I mean, we saw the markets yesterday essentially in free-fall. British pound at its lowest level since 1985. Double digits losses for British banks, some of the worth since the 2008 economic crisis.

Britain now really looking at a recession. And I wanted to give our viewers a sense of some of the numbers here when we talk about how interconnected the British and E.U. economies are, the E.U. invests $700 billion in the U.K. that was will in 2014.

Just to give you another example, 45 percent of the U.K.'s exports go to other E.U. countries. And 53 percent of U.K. imports are from the E.U.

Also you're looking at mass migration in terms of people. You have 1.3 million Brits leaving in E.U. countries and 3 million E.U. citizens living here in the U.K. So there are a host of very complex complicated questions that will likely take months if not years to answer.

PAUL: No doubt. Clarissa Ward, it's so grateful to have this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Could this fallout in the U.K. mean a boost for Donald Trump's campaign here in the U.S.? We'll have that conversation in just a moment.

PAUL: And also developing story this morning in sports, an investigation into allegations of drug use in the NFL. Andy Scholes, what are you discovering?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christie. The NFL says they are going to interview the players that were named in the Al Jazeera report back in December. Why haven't they done that already? We'll tell you the surprising answer to that question later on in the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:07]

BLACKWELL: The six founding nations of the European Union are meeting this hour in Berlin to figure out what to do now that the United Kingdom has bowed out. For better or worse, the consequences will be global and long lasting.

PAUL: Even Americans who have never heard the word Brexit obviously can expect to feel the impact even just yesterday with what we saw in the selloff. CNN business correspondent, Alison Kosik, is breaking this down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIGEL FARAGE, UKIP LEADER: The dawn is breaking on the independence of the United Kingdom.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What happens in Europe doesn't stay in Europe.

JANET YELLEN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: The U.K. vote to exit the European Union could have significant economic repercussions.

KOSIK: And that's exactly what we've seen in the hours after U.K. voters decided to leave the E.U.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking at the markets --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a really ugly picture.

KOSIK: Markets around the world plummeted and the Dow tumbled more than 500 points or 2.5 percent at the open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five hundred is bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will hit 401(k)s because money rushes to safety assets and that is cash equities.

KOSIK: But a stock market decline isn't the only impact. Now that the U.K. voted out, it needs to negotiate new trade deals which could take years. A major headache as the U.K. is America's 7th biggest trading partner. President Obama offered this warning months ago.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Our focus is in negotiating with a big block of the European Union to get a trade agreement done and the U.K. will be in the back of the queue.

KOSIK: If trade and investment suffer that could push Britain into recession and then the big fear becomes contagion. Will Europe and the U.S. be next?

YELLEN: I don't think that's the most likely case, but we just don't really know what will happen and we'll have to watch very carefully.

[06:15:06]KOSIK: American companies with a major presence in the U.K. like global bank, JPMorgan Chase, warns that layoffs could follow this outcome.

JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CHASE: I don't know if it means 1,000 jobs, 2,000 jobs. Could be as many as 4,000.

KOSIK: The pro-Brexit camp insists it's the right move in the long run and hopes they are just the first domino.

FARAGE: I hope this victory brings down this (inaudible) project and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nation states, trading together, being friends together, cooperating together, and let's get rid of the flag, the anthem, Brussels and all that has gone wrong.

KOSIK: If those events materialize and more countries follow in the U.K.'s footsteps to leave the E.U., there could be years of uncertainty that could make for a tough business environment and plenty of market volatility. Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And a lot of people are wondering really how could the fallout in the U.K. affect the campaign for president here in the U.S.? Donald Trump seems to think it could sway things his way. We'll talk about it in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I really do see a parallel between what is happening in the United States and what is happening here. People want to take their country back. They want to have independence in a sense. And you see it with Europe all over Europe. So I think you will see it happen more and more, I really believe that, and I think it's happening in the United States. It's happening by the fact that I've done so well in the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Donald Trump making his first international trip of the campaign tying the U.K.'s historic vote to leave the E.U. to his own campaign in the U.S.

[06:20:10]Well, now Hillary Clinton is doing the same thing, sending out a fundraising e-mail saying this in part, The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, the pound is plummeting, stock markets the world over are dealing with massive levels of uncertainty. We can't make the same mistake."

Let's talk about this. We're joined by CNN commentator and Hillary Clinton supporter, Bakari Sellers, and also political editor for rightalerts.com, Scottie Nell Hughes. Good morning to both of you.

Scottie, let's start with you. Trump embracing this U.K. vote sending out a letter of his own saying in short "With your help, we're going to do the exact same thing on Election Day in 2016."

When you look at the markets that are in turmoil right now, is he risking hurting his campaign if in 19 weeks until Election Day voters look to the U.K. and see there is trouble, does he risk hurting his campaign by tying his campaign so close to the Brexit vote?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CHIEF POLITICAL EDITOR FOR RIGHTALERTS.COM: Well, of course, if we look at how the campaign season has been, we've noticed that thinking can backfire, but anything can also help benefit a candidate even the unexpected like this.

But what I think how this actually will boost Mr. Trump is it sews that the anti-establishment sentiment is not just here in the United States. There is also anxiety towards immigration and national security.

And I think it also shows the power of the president right now, who actually back in the spring went over there and said please, there will be repercussions if you actually choose to vote for the Brexit.

And so if the economy does decide to turn downward, this will just sit there and boost Mr. Trump's plan of saying listen, Obama's agenda does not work. Do you really want eight more years of the economic issues that have created the problem that we have today both internationally and here at home.

BLACKWELL: Bakari, let me come to you. The strategic lessons here for the Democrats, if you see some so early, the "remain" campaign knee jerk reaction to the Brexit vote. What is the lesson for the Clinton campaign at least their rhetorical response for strategy against Trump considering that there are similar themes shared between the two?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (via telephone): Well, you have to take fear seriously. I think that you saw the "leave" campaign ran a campaign of fear, anti-immigrant campaign and this nationalism that I'm afraid of what may happen with nationals in Europe, we've seen it once before.

And to say that it didn't turn out well is an understatement. But the fact of the matter is that I think this vote in the U.K. actually helps Hillary Clinton. The reason being is because now Americans are able to see the consequences of that vote.

You know, the Dow plummeted over 600 points. The pound is at a 31- year low. And in one day in one vote, France has now overtaken the U.K. as the world's fifth largest economy. Morgan Stanley is relocating 2,000 jobs.

So I mean, these have very real consequences, and what you saw with Donald Trump not taking a campaign trip, he was over there to promote his golf course and got caught in the eye of the storm and didn't quite know how to handle it and (inaudible) the second global test in a row.

BLACKWELL: Let me come to you, Scottie, with one question that was asked by a reporter about the foreign policy advisers, Trump's foreign policy advisers, and whether he had been in touch with them. And his response was, well, I've been in touch with them, but there is nothing to talk about. On the day of the Brexit vote, really, there is nothing to talk about with foreign policy advisers? Does that concern voters?

HUGHES: He said that he did talk to them, but I think this actually speaks to Mr. Trump's idea that we need to sit there and make decisions for our own country and let the people of that country make the decisions for theirs. We'll stay out of our business. You stay out of yours.

BLACKWELL: He's running for president. Do you think for him to say there is nothing to talk about on the day that the U.K. votes to leave the European Union, was I guess the most effective message or the smartest idea?

HUGHES: Well, maybe he's not wanting to get involved. Like I said, President Obama this spring came in and actually said if do you this, we might not deal with you. You might go to the back of the line. How well did that affect.

I think Mr. Trump was actual1y using some wisdom and saying you know what, I'm going it stay out of this. I'll let the people make the decision and based on that decision we'll make our steps. But I'm not going to try to influence your election.

How about you try not to influence ours. Let the people decide it. And when you talk about, you know, Bakari, brought up the instability of the market. That was inevitable. That's not about the decision. It's the fact that there was change and the markets don't like change.

And I think the real issue and this is why it is so important that we have somebody that understands economic principles, that you will look at the E.U. which is the major threat, start to crumble. This is just a catalyst as your reporter stated.

[06:25:03]Italy, France, other countries right now are realizing they don't want to take the burden of holding those countries that are not successful as we've seen with the Greek bailouts.

So I think this is just going to start the crumbling of the E.U., which this is why we need now more than ever somebody that truly understands how to protect and keep the American economy thriving when the rest of the world might be trying to reorganize and get their houses in order.

BLACKWELL: Bakari, quickly to you, there was a letter sent, we read a bit of it at the top, from the Clinton campaign, the fundraising message. And I'll read another line, she says, David Cameron resigning as the U.K. prime minister, the pound plummeting, stock markets the world over dealing with massive levels of uncertainty."

No mention in that letter, Bakari, of the frustration, the anger that was palpable there that is palpable among the electorate here. Was it a mistake not to at least acknowledge the voters frustration in that letter out to supporters?

SELLERS: No, I think that that is a given. I think all you have to do is look at the results of the vote and you will see that that frustration is more than palpable. So I don't think that was a mistake. But what we are seeing is the consequences of our vote.

When people go to the poll, we are actually seeing "Time" ran an article about the level of regret that those people in the U.K. are having right now for their vote on this matter. This is very serious.

And now our country is able to look across the water and see that not only did that vote have consequences there, not only are losing job, not only are they making their country less safe, but it's also having an affect here in the United States of America.

And for Donald Trump to simply say in June he didn't know anything about Brexit, on Wednesday he said that he didn't know enough for his opinion to matter, this is what we're talking about when we talk about the leader of the free world not knowing what is going on in this new global economy that's built on connectivity.

BLACKWELL: Bakari Sellers, Scottie Nell Hughes, we have to wrap it here, but we'll be having this conversation throughout the morning. Thank you both.

SELLERS: Thank you.

PAUL: Meanwhile of course world leaders are grappling to work out a way forward after Britain dramatically goes to ditch the European Union. This is a move that threatens some say the entire existence of the E.U.

CNN's Clarissa Ward outside the British parliament where the prime minister says he's resigning leaving the country's leadership in question now. Good morning, Clarissa.

WARD: Good morning, Christie. While European leaders are doing some serious soul searching. They are asking themselves the very pressing question of what comes next. We will have reports from Paris and Brussels after the break. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:31:42] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the worst I've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy. I -- in my 26 years, I've never seen it this bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People lost their house, people lost their lives to (INAUDIBLE) it's terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And unfortunately, we do anticipate that, you know, that this death toll could go higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were running. They were jumping in their cars and just going. To watch everything go up in flames, the whole thing was just surreal.

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. 31 minutes after the hour now, I'm Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: And I'm Christi Paul. I want to get you caught up on our top story this Saturday as we watch search and rescue efforts ongoing this morning in West Virginia after the massive flooding that you saw. That the images are really compelling here, what people are dealing with. Look at this image. A house on fire being swept away by raging water. This is in White Sulphur Springs. And overnight crews finished building a temporary bridge allowing people who are trapped at a shopping center in Elkview to go home. They had been there since Thursday. Officials blame at least 23 deaths on the flooding you're watching here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of just (ever) devastation in some areas. The homes are gone. And a lot of areas, the homes are covered in water. And once the water went down, it's covered in mud.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't get the memories out of my head. Especially with people who have lost loved ones. And they said the last thing they knew of her was somebody threw her a rope and they never heard any more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: It's just heartbreaking. There is a state of emergency in 44 West Virginia counties. Meteorologist are calling it a thousand-year flood because there's a one in a thousand chance of this type of rainfall happening in any given year.

BLACKWELL: Aftershocks. Let's turn to the EU vote now. Going around the world after the UK voted to leave the European Union. We have a team of correspondents spread out across the world. Clarissa Ward is anchoring with us in London. And McLaughlin at the European Union Headquarters in Brussels. And Will Ripley is in Paris. Let's start with Clarissa in London outside the houses of Parliament. Clarissa, good morning to you.

WARD: Good morning, Victor. Well, European leaders are now planning their next steps in the divorce from the UK. And they could be pending off calls for similar votes in other countries as right wing factions all over Europe vow to follow the blueprint led -- laid out by the Brexit vote. Even the United Kingdom may struggle to remain united as Scotland could renew calls to leave the UK following their overwhelming vote to remain in the EU. Now, we want to bring you some breaking news that we are hearing. That the EU Foreign ministers have come out and said that they want this Brexit vote to happen as soon as possible. This very much in contrast to what we've heard from British politicians here in the UK. I want to bring in now Erin McLaughlin who is in Brussels, the EU capital. Erin, tell me, this meeting with these foreign ministers, what have they said?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Clarissa. That meeting has just concluded. The foreign ministers of the founding EU member states now giving a press conference. IU just got off the phone with a senior EU official who tells me there are two main discussions happening right now. The first discussion having to do with the so- called divorce proceedings. Article 50 of the EU Treaty. It needs to be invoked by the UK in order for exit negotiations to begin. Now, some EU leaders are saying that they want to see that article invoked immediately. Others say they respect the right of the UK to let the political process there play out. We know that British Prime Minister David Cameron will be stepping down. But there are questions about the tone of those negotiations and the stance the EU will be taking, how tough will they be on the UK, all topics of discussion.

The other main area of discussion has to do with the very future of the EU and what lessons can be learned from what we saw play out in the UK. Because people here understand that what happens in the UK is very much systematic of broader Euro skepticism playing out across the continent. And the question is what to do about that. All of that will be key topics of discussion at a summit, critical summit being held in Brussels next week, planning for that summit now underway. It is there that we expect British Prime Minister David Cameron for the very first time to explain to the other 27 EU member states what happens in this referendum. And then for the very first time, the 27 remaining EU member states will meet without the UK. Promises to be a historic and dramatic moment. Clarissa?

WARD: All right. A very busy week ahead. Thank you very much, Erin McLaughlin in Brussels. Let's head now to Paris where French President and the United Nations Secretary General had just met Will Ripley standing by there. Well, France may very well be the next country to ask for a referendum, what are you hearing?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's certainly not what the socialist government here wants, Clarissa. Which is why the President and others have been -- have been saying that they want to move forward with this divorce very quickly because all of the uncertainty about what will happen is affecting not only the European economy, but also people here in France are watching to see if the UK gets a good deal, could France get a good deal as well? Marin Le pen who is the head of the very far right national front party, she's growing in popularity. Not so much here in Paris which tends to be pro EU but in the rural areas.

The old manufacturing rust belt in the northeast, the southeast as well. Very similar dynamics actually to the situation over there in the UK, where in the capital city people support the European Union. But outside in the rural areas, they feel that all the bureaucracy has really only hindered their lives, not helped them. Couple that with the fact that unemployment here is over 10%. The ongoing migration crisis and the fear, the very acute fear here in France of terrorism. All of that, Clarissa, complicating the situation for French officials who were trying to reform labor laws and perhaps even lure some businesses over from London to places here like Paris. But given that the regulations here are much less friendly for business, they could face a very uphill battle at very uncertain times ahead.

WARD: Well, I just want to get a sense from you. When you're talking to people on the streets of Paris and around France, is there anger? Is there frustration? What is people's reaction to the referendum result?

RIPLEY: Here in Paris, it is mixed. Certainly, some people feel sad because they look at the European Union as a beautiful Idea. They acknowledge the difficulties certainly since 2008. It has seemed like a -- seemingly endless stream of crises from the great recession. And the fact that the Greek bailout is still on going to the terrorist attacks that have hit this city. And frustration over the fact that there is this Euro-crats, as some French politicians are calling them, who are dictating, in their opinion, dictating from Brussels and imposing regulations that just don't fit the model here in France. And so, people on some respects, they're sad about what happened, but they also understand and that is the concern for the socialist government, that could populous politicians, such as Marine Le Pen gain momentum and be elected. Her party's expected to gain power in the elections here next June. What could that mean for France and the rest of Europe if the union starts to break apart?

WARD: Indeed. A very important and ominous question. Will Ripley in Paris, thank you. So, as you can see, the fear for European countries is that Brexit will cause a domino effect. It's going to be a very intensive week ahead for British and European leaders with so much still uncertain. Christi? Over to you in Atlanta.

PAUL: All right. Clarissa, thank you so much. We appreciate it. And, you know, we're talking about the possibility of triggering

recession. We've heard some people talk about it or making travel cheaper. How we could be affected in the U.S. by the UK's vote to leave the European Union? We're going to break it down for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Three NFL Superstars will face tough questions about their role in a report linking them to performance enhancing drugs.

PAUL: Andy Scholes has been looking into this this morning. What have you found?

SCHOLES: Well, you know, guys in the NFL has been waiting a long time to speak to all of the players that were involved in the Al Jazeera America report from last December for some time now, you know. In CNN sports, we obtained a letter from the league saying it plans to talk to Julius Peppers, Clay Matthews and Clay Matthews have been in Green Bay Packers then also James Harrison of the Pittsburgh. (INAUDIBLE) letter states the interviews are going to be scheduled for the first day of their respective training camps.

The Packers are going to start their camp July 26. The Steelers are going to get going on July 29th. And the letter also notes, the NFL has tried to interview these players since April, but the Players Association failed to respond and has, quote, "Obstructed our ability to conduct and conclude the investigation." Now, we have reached out to the players for comment. Not heard back yet. Now, previously, all three of these players have denied using P.E.D. Now, remember this is the same documentary that claimed a shipment of human growth hormone was sent to Peyton Manning's Florida home in 2011 that -- addressed to his wife.

Manning previously called this report complete garbage and totally made up. Now, all the All the allegations from this report were made by Charlie Sly who worked as an intern at an anti-aging clinic. And now, Sly later recanted his claim. So, guys, in terms of anyone getting a suspension, or anything coming out of this investigation, it really comes down to Charlie Sly's allegations versus the word of the players. And Sly recanted everything and said he made it all up. So, not sure much is going to come from this.

PAUL: All righty.

BLACKWELL: We'll watch him closely.

SCHOLES: All right. Thanks guys.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you. So, as we talk about what happened in the UK over the last 24, 48 hours here, a lot of you I know are sitting at home wondering "What does this mean to me economically in terms of our security, in terms of our trade." We're going to break all of that down for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 40 minutes past the hour. Good Saturday morning to you. Now that the UK has voted to leave the European Union, Europe is scrambling to plot their next steps. But I know that you're probably wondering "How does this news that's playing out overseas affect me here at home?" We have five reasons why we need to be paying attention to this. First of all, there are recession fears here. If companies move UK jobs and investments to other countries, it could trigger a recession in the UK, and that could be followed by a recession obviously here at home in the U.S.

Secondly, European instability. If more countries leave the European Union, the continent could become unstable. The whole European Union as we know it could collapse and that could make everyone (lose) faith in terms of terrorism and security in that regard. Also, stress on diplomacy here the U.S. would essentially no longer have its friend, the UK, influencing the European Union. Before the vote, President Obama said the UK exit would put the EU ahead of UK in trade deals. But here's what he said after the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE: While the UK's relationship with the EU will change, one thing that will not change is the special relationship that exists between our two nations. That will endure. The EU will remain one of our indispensable partners. Our NATO alliance will remain a cornerstone of global security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And we think Trump doubled down. It seems so to speak, Donald Trump here at home in US elections. Donald Trump may be taking a cue from what we saw in the UK and go all in on immigration. This is what some analysts and experts are predicting. Expect a return to his themes of building a wall with Mexico and banning Muslims from entering the U.S.

And now to a little bit lighter side, if you want to book your UK vacation, we're saving the silver lining to last as their currency reach as a 30 euro low, travel to the UK could be cheaper. And since the majority of their visitors come from European countries that will now face more road blocks visiting, you know, some say they may be happy to see us. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. This image, it really is just hard to get out of your mind. A home on fire being swept away by raging floodwaters in West Virginia. The top of the hour, we're going to go there live to check in on the search and rescue efforts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, the six founding members of the European Union have just emerged from the meeting in Brussels calling on Britain to negotiate its exit from the group as quickly as possible as oppose to dragging it out for, could be up to two years.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the backlash to Thursday's vote continues an online petition on the UK (polling) website already has more than one million signatures demanding a second referendum. Here's how the historic vote unfolded live on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[ GONG ]

PAUL: It's 10 o'clock in the United Kingdom and polling stations are now closed across the country.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The British Prime Minister call this referendum staking not just his political career but the future of the country on its outcome.

RIPLEY: Here in France, the President has said the outcome of this referendum across the channel could affect the entire future of the European Union.

CHARLIE PARKER, REGIONAL COUNTING OFFICER: The total number of ballot papers counted was 78325. The number of votes cast in favor remain was 53928.

[CHEERS]

RICHARD QUEST, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's 10 to 3:00 in the morning and we bounced backwards and forth between leave and remain, but now you actually have a 50/50 split. It could not be any closer.

SUE STANHOPE, REGIONAL COUNTING OFFICER: The total number of votes cast in favor of remain was 51,930. The total number of votes cast in favor of leave was 82,000.

[CHEERS]

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL: ATV News has conducted a results analysis and according to them 75% probability of a "leave" win in this referendum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: if this result holds, it's the end of Britain. It's just as simple as that.

NIGEL FARAGE, INDEPENDENCE PARTY LEADER: I hope this victory brings down this veiled project. Let June the 23rd go down in our history as our Independence Day.

[CHEERS]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people have spoken. The majesty of the process, whether or not you like the result, the reality tonight is that the British people have voted to (INAUDIBLE) to leave the European Union.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path. And as such, I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction. I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months. But I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Very dramatic 24 to 36 hours. And now we look ahead. This is cnn.com, go there for perspectives and angles covering the story from all sides, covering the way that only CNN can. Again, that's cnn.com for the latest on the Brexit vote and the fallout. Moving forward.

PAUL: And this weekend, John Walsh is on the hunt to a man who posed as a teenager then sexually assaulted a minor. Police have already come close to catching him at least once.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the research within (INAUDIBLE) he's going to come back to Omaha possibly because there's people here that can get him out of the country. We interviewed everybody we could that might have had contact with him. There's a gentleman named (Tio,). We talked to (Tio) on Saturday night, talked to his sons. He said, "Hey, if I hear anything about him, if I see him, I will call you." Not 24 hours later, we got a call from one of (Tio's) sons. And it was very short and sweet, "He's here right now." It was very late at night on a Sunday. We've alerted as many people as we could. "Grab your gear, get in your car and get here right now. Let's go ahead and start moving in on the house and try to grab him." Things happened very quickly. We missed him.

JOHN WALSH. CNN HOST, "THE HUNT": He slipped through the cracks so many times. He is like the really evil bad guy that has nine lives. But one of these day, those nine lives are going to run out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Do not miss "THE HUNT." It's Sunday night at 9:00 PM. Eastern. There's so much news to talk about with you this morning.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the worst I've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy. I -- in my 26 years, I've never seen it this bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People lost their house, people lost their lives to (INAUDIBLE) it's terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And unfortunately, we do anticipate that, you know, that this death toll could go higher. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were running. They were jumping in their cars and just going. To watch everything go up in flames, the whole thing was just surreal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we see the consequences already.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Britain's stunning decision to break away from Europe creating chaos and panic around the world. Stocks hammered with the biggest drop in nearly five years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People want to take their country back. I really believe that and I think it's happening in the United States.

OBAMA: One thing that will not change Is the special relationship that exist between our two nations.