Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Trump To Speak In Denver Any Moment; Lynch Says Will Follow FBI DOJ Findings On Hillary Clinton; Turkish News Agency Says Source Names Two Bombers; Alleged Turkey Attack Planner Identified; Trump To Speak Amid Lynch-Bill Clinton Controversy; Lynch Says Reasonable To Question Bill Clinton Meeting; E-Mail Probe Will Be Completely Independent; Shots Fired At Diplomatic Area In Capital Of Bangladesh; Unknown Number Of People Still Trapped. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 01, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna is in for Wolf. She starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. Thank you so much for joining us.

We are following several big stories this hour. Right now, we are waiting to hear from Donald Trump. He's attending the western conservative summit in Denver. The Republican presumptive presidential nominee is expected to take the stage any moment. Trump has been under fire from the right for his stance on trade. A stance that some are saying runs counter to traditional Republican principles. We'll take you there live when he takes the stage.

And Attorney General Loretta Lynch today said she wouldn't have an active role in generating findings into the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Speaking today in Aspen, Colorado, Lynch said the decision -- that decision was made months ago before she came under fire after an informal meeting with former President Bill Clinton earlier this week at an airport in Phoenix.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I certainly wouldn't do it again. And -- you know, because I think it has cast a shadow over what it should not, over what it will not touch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Lynch says she'll let career agents put together recommendations in the case and that she will accept them.

Also today, we are watching developments in the investigation into the Istanbul Airport terror attack. We are learning more about the identities of the suicide bombers and about this man. He is a Chechen known as Akhmed one-arm. He's a well-known terrorist on United States watch list and he's a top soldier in the ISIS war ministry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They've had this long history of engagement in this -- in -- throughout this entire region in terrorist activities. They had pledged to Al Qaeda. They had fought for the Taliban, now they're fighting for ISIS. They tend to like to be at the front end of this fight.

So, this is somebody that had been wounded along the process of all of that fighting and had taken some stature in the organization as somebody who had leadership qualities and capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It's believed that the three attackers made their way from Syria to Turkey, and that they carried their weapons and suicide vests with them across the border. While the attack there is the signatures of ISIS, the terror group has not claimed responsibility. We'll have more on this later in the hour.

But let's begin with the race for the White House. Any moment now, Donald Trump is expected to speak in Denver. This is his first time campaigning in this state. And his appearance comes about an hour after Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke from Aspen, addressing that private meeting with former President Bill Clinton and this controversy that it stirred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNCH: That it really was a social meeting. And it was -- it was -- it really was in that regard. And he spoke to me, he spoke to my husband for some time on the plane and then we moved on.

And as I've said before though, I do think that no matter how I viewed it, I understand how people view it. It's important to make it clear that that meeting with President Clinton does not have a bearing on how this matter is going to be reviewed, resolved and accepted by me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We heard from the White House on this just a short time ago. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the result of the investigation should be, quote, "completely independent of the president and completely independent of the White House."

CNN's Sara Murray is standing by for us in Denver where Donald Trump is expected to speak any moment now. We have Pamela Brown live in Washington.

To you first, Pamela. The attorney general says that she understands why this meeting with Bill Clinton raises questions. What assurances did she give that this is not going to affect the investigation into Hillary Clinton?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the attorney general, Loretta Lynch, did seek to allay any concerns of political intervention in the Clinton e-mail investigation by saying that her team of career prosecutors in the Department of Justice will ultimately decide what happens and she will accept whatever that decision is.

Now, initially, during this forum, she seemed to leave some wiggle room by saying she fully expects to accept the recommendations. And then, she went on to say that she will accept them. And despite calls for her to be recused, particularly after this impromptu meeting with Bill Clinton on Monday, Loretta Lynch said, that won't happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNCH: The recusal would mean that I wouldn't even be briefed on what the findings were or the actions going forward would be. And while I don't have a role in those findings and coming up with those findings or making those recommendations as to how to go forward, I will be briefed on it and I will be accepting their recommendations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Lynch said that she made this decision to leave the -- you know, the recommendations and what will happen up to her team well before this happened. But it's clear that she publicly announced the decision today after this political fallout of this meeting with Bill Clinton on Monday.

It's unusual, Brianna, for an announcement like this to be made to the public. But it's clear the Department of Justice understands the political sensitivities, the high-profile nature of this case and the callout from this meeting on Monday.

[13:05:09] And we heard Loretta Lynch say that if she had to do it all over again, she wouldn't. But at the time, she said she didn't realize the optics of the meeting.

KEILAR: Yes, and certainly she does now. That was very clear today.

Sara, you there in Denver waiting for Donald Trump to speak. This is his first time appealing directly to conservatives in that state. This could be a heavy lift for Donald Trump, right?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, that's right. This is an interesting state for Donald Trump, because he didn't really campaign here around the primaries. And there are a number of factions (ph) here in the state. There are still very pro-Ted Cruz or anyone who's not Donald Trump.

And at this conference that he's going to be speaking at, there are also going to be anti-Trump, never-Trump folks who are on the agenda who are planning on speaking. So, it could be a heavy lift (ph). But one of the easiest ways, of course, for Trump to get Republicans to rally around him is to go after the Clintons. And so, we'll looking for his response to this meeting with Loretta Lynch and any other sort of comments on the Clintons.

But the other thing interesting, when you watch this sort of play out (INAUDIBLE), other Colorado Republicans that have distanced themselves from Trump. We saw that from Mike Coffman, a Congressman who's running for reelection here.

So, we'll see how his speech goes over here today -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Sara Murray for us competing there with some musical performance it does appear. Sara, thank you. Pamela Brown, thanks to you as well.

We're going to get back to politics in just a moment. First though, I do want to bring you this breaking news just into CNN. Shots fired in a diplomatic area in the capital of Bangladesh. This is according to police.

We've also just heard from the U.S. embassy. They are acknowledging reports of shooting and a hostage situation in Dhaka. They are telling everyone to shelter in place and to monitor the news. So, this is ongoing right now.

Police say that an unknown number of gunmen are involved and it's possible that people are trapped. The situation unclear though. The area has been cordoned off. A police officer telling CNN that it could be a restaurant or a hospital. We will bring you that news as we get updates coming out of Bangladesh, that situation there.

Donald Trump is seizing on this meeting that we were just talking about between Bill Clinton and the attorney general. He's tweeting this morning. He said, take a look at what happened with Bill Clinton. The system is totally rigged. Does anybody really believe that meeting was just a coincidence?

So, how long could this issue loom over the Hillary Clinton camp? Let's bring in our panel today. Joining me, we have CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, Washington bureau chief of "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich, and CNN Political Director David Chalian.

If there is no indictment in this case, Dana, Donald Trump and a number of -- a number of Republicans are going to say, oh, well, I wonder why not? Just look at this little pow wow that they had at the tarmac in Phoenix and that tells you all you need to know.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a political disaster. I know that, you know, you covered the Hillary Clinton campaign. I'm sure you're getting pushback like I am, paying, well, the Republicans really trust Comey who is, of course, the FBI director. And if the investigation is in the hands of law enforcement career investigators as Loretta Lynch said several times today, then, you know, it's going to be hard to question that.

But the fact of the matter is to have an attorney general say that she made a mistake which she did, and having a conversation with Bill Clinton the way that she did, even if it was just social, it's just -- it's terrible.

And I think it does -- if Donald Trump didn't tweet what he tweeted, it would be political malpractice. Because it totally feeds into the narrative that the system is rigged that the Clintons think that they're above it all. And that they try to kind of work around the system

Fair or not, that is something that -- appearances are everything and especially of an issue so sensitive like his wife potentially being indicted.

KEILAR: I thought Jonathan Capehart, who was interviewing Loretta Lynch, had a great question when he said, you have this long, personal relationship with Bill Clinton. Couldn't you have just said, get off my plane?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: (INAUDIBLE.) Yes, and she didn't really -- she laughed at that and then went back to this same thing that she said she wouldn't do it again. You know, she said it cast a shadow. These are her actions and Bill Clinton's actions that cast a shadow on what is supposed to be an independent investigation.

So, there's an error -- you know, there's an admission of error there. And, quite frankly, I still don't understand. Why not recuse yourself? She said she's not going to recuse herself entirely because then she wouldn't get a briefing.

But John Ashcroft in 2003 did recuse himself entirely from the CIA leak investigation into Karl Rove. And I would imagine you're going to hear more from Republicans on that.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes, absolutely. I mean, the idea that when Congress comes back, that t1hey're not going to take advantage of this and hammer it and maybe have hearings about it? I mean, you never know.

[13:10:01] And they've really shown a willingness to take this to the Clintons over and over and over again. So, this isn't going away until November. I would not be surprised whether or not this case is formally put to bed or not.

KEILAR: I want to talk about something else, a controversy regarding Donald Trump and something that was said. It was more what a woman in his audience said yesterday and also how he responded to it. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why aren't we putting our retiree -- our military retirees on that border or in TSA? Get rid of all these hibijabis (ph) they wear at TSA. I've seen them myself.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I understand that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need the veterans back in there to take it. They have fought for this country and defended it. They'll still do it.

TRUMP: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. TRUMP: You know, and we are looking at that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: OK. So, to be clear, the woman in the audience is talking about the hijab, the traditional head scarf. He doesn't correct her. He doesn't use this as a bit of a teachable moment. When we saw John McCain, for instance, several years ago, someone said that Obama was an Arab and he said, no, ma'am. No, he's not. And he used this as a moment that he got accolades (ph) for and it didn't him for pushing back on that part of his party.

Jackie, as you watch this -- I mean, those are my observations. What are yours?

KUCINICH: I mean, this could have been a teachable moment and this could've been a moment where Trump could really show the Republicans that are so very skeptical of him that he is turning a corner. That he is making the pivot that we talk so much about.

But the fact of the matter is the time that Donald Trump does not have a teleprompter, he goes back to Donald Trump of the primary. We've seen it over and over and over again and this is another example of that. If he is presented with something that he could push back, he just doesn't. It's not -- he's -- this shows how he isn't a politician. Because politicians know, in their core, you've got to responsible to that.

CHALIAN: Although don't you think -- I think I saw, like, him struggling almost -- not that Donald Trump would ever wish for a teleprompter. But he seemed in that moment to be caught between the teleprompter Donald Trump that's trying to be more encrypted and the free-wheeling Donald Trump, because he seemed not to know how to deal with it.

I do think it begs the follow-up question, looking into what? Is he -- is he actually looking into a policy where Muslims are not allowed to be TSA officers? You know, he'll have to resolve that. But to me, it's like he was understated in tone. He was trying not to have this be a moment. But when you're stuck in that, I'm not embracing it and I'm not rejecting it, it leaves you wide open to this kind of criticism.

KUCINICH: Right, right.

BASH: And this has been kind of a hallmark -- it was a hallmark, I should say, of Donald Trump's primary campaign, to what you were saying. Is that, you know, it was very raucous. Sometimes it was interactive and sometimes it was interactive in a way that was inappropriate. And there were a few times, I remember, people asking Donald Trump, why didn't you correct a voter on X, Y or Z? And the answer was, it's not my job.

KEILAR: Yes, we're seeing that. All right, Dana Bash, David Chalian, Jackie Kucinich, thank you all. We want to get back now to this breaking news just in to CNN. Some

video of the scene that we have. Shots have been fired in a diplomatic area of the capital of Bangladesh. This is according to police. We've also just heard from the U.S. embassy. They are acknowledging that there are these reports of shooting, that there are reports of a hostage situation in Dhaka.

And they are telling everybody to shelter in place. They're telling people to monitor the news there. Police are saying that there's an unknown number of gunmen that are involved. They say it's possible that people are trapped. The situation is still really unclear. That is what police are saying. And this area has been cordoned off.

There is a police officer who is telling CNN that this could be a restaurant or a hospital. And you are looking at pictures just in to CNN from Dhaka, from the capital there in Bangladesh of this situation going on. A possible hostage situation, maybe in a restaurant, maybe in a hospital.

The U.S. embassy acknowledging that, yes, there are these reports putting some credence to this idea that there is some sort of shooting going on, every unclear. We are working our sources and trying to get more details.

And we're actually going on the phone now to Sumnima Udas. She is on -- she's our New Deli Correspondent there in -- our New Deli Correspondent for CNN. And that she's going to give us some of the latest details on this. Sumnima, what can you tell us?

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN NEW DELI CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Brianna, the situation is so very unclear, at the moment. (INAUDIBLE) officer -- police officer in (INAUDIBLE) station, which is the area of Dhaka which is still under attack. That this is a diplomatic area. There are a lot of embassies here, a lot of NGOs, Non-Governmental Organizations, that are based there, some U.N. offices as well. So, the duty officer from that area has told us that an unknown number of armed people have stormed the area near the Nordic Club and they started firing. He said it could be a restaurant or a hospital.

[13:15:08] And unknown number of people still trapped in those places.

Gunmen are exchanging fire with the police as we're talking right now, the local stations there, the T.V. stations from Dhaka have been showing pictures of police officers fully geared-up wearing security vests, bullet proof vests, walking toward a building.

It's dark. The entire area has been cordoned off. We've been trying to contact all the sources there. As you can imagine, it has been very difficult to reach anyone at the moment because it is an on going situation. Brianna.

KEILAR: OK. So, Sumnima, we know this is on going. It's very unclear what is happening. But there are reports of a shooting. So, what are -- what is the concern here? And what is the significance of this being in the capital? UDAS: What stands out right now Brianna, is the fact that this is -- the area that we're talking about, Gulshan, is one of -- it's an up market area in Dhaka. Again, it's where a lot of the embassies are based, where a lot of cafes, restaurants. So, presumably, right now, there might have been a lot of foreigners there as well.

We don't know how many people could be involved, how many people could still be trapped, how many people could be held hostage at the moment. But the fact that it's happening in this up-market area of Dhaka, that's really quite unusual.

And of course, actually we've been reporting on CNN, there had been a number of attacks against bloggers, writers, atheists in Bangladesh. But this is probably the first time in recent years where we're seeing gunmen attacked an entire neighborhood in Dhaka and particularly an area like Gulshan. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Sumnima stand by for me. We are getting some new information and actually if I pause it's because my producer is speaking in my ear. That's coming in that quickly.

We do understand now this is a hostage station there is Dhaka, Bangladesh. You heard Sumnima saying this is an up-market area, it's very unusual for things like this to happen though. This is where some of the embassies are housed where a lot of foreigners live.

And we do understand now, that assailants according to sources are throwing grenades at police. There are hostages. They include foreigners. And we were -- this is a restaurant that is what I'm hearing in my ear right now.

There had been some suggestion that this may be a hospital or this is a restaurant. This is a restaurant. So, again, a hostage situation in a very upscale neighborhood of the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka. This is again, where there are embassies and many foreigners and we do not know who the hostage-takers are. But there have been reports of gunshots. That is something that the U.S. Embassy is acknowledging to us.

There have been reports of gunshots fired there. And there are assailants, multiple. We don't know exactly how many but we know that there's more than one and they have been throwing grenades at police officers from this restaurant that they are at in Dhaka.

There are foreigners who are hostages. We don't know how many hostages, we certainly don't know the intention of these hostage- takers. We don't know their identity at this point. We are seeing in these pictures just coming into CNN, there are police and other authorities on scene.

I do want to bring in Wesley Clark now, retired general, who's a former supreme commander of NATO forces. And sir, we don't have a lot of information at this point but we're getting more and more really as the seconds tick by that there are these assailants throwing grenades at police. There are hostages. Some of them are foreigners.

As you look at this unfolding, what would your concerns be?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME COMMANDER: Obviously, the local authorities have to get it under control. So, you seal off the area, you get as many innocent bystanders away and out of harm's way as possible. And then you got to go in and take out the assailants, whoever they are.

Probably we're going to know very soon that they are associated with some kind of a radical terrorist element. Bangladesh has had a number of terrorists there. Al Qaeda used it as a base area. It's relatively quiet because they use it for staging and training and rest and recovery I guess.

We haven't heard a lot about ISIS there. But we have known that for a decade or so, that there have been a lot of terrorists in Bangladesh. So, this would be in keeping with that.

KEILAR: And we heard that from Sumnima, our reporter there saying that a lot of time when there are attacks, they have been bloggers, they have been writers.

[13:20:06] But this seems perhaps to be different do you think because of the neighborhood that it's in. It's in the neighborhood where there are so many embassies and there are so many foreigners.

CLARK: Well, let's hope that this is a case where simply got the common criminals who decided to make a statement. But the chances are that that's not the case given the location.

KEILAR: And also, the timing right? We're here in the final days of Ramadan. There has been a push amongst extremist groups to create a lot of trouble during this time.

CLARK: It's true. And that's one more element that adds to the suspicion. But what we've learned also is we don't want to jump to conclusions on this. We have to deal with the local situation first before we talk about the implications out there.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly. And -- OK, so we are monitoring the situation. General, stay with me. I'm going to recap the situation before we go to a quick break and we get some information for you.

But this is unfolding as we speak, in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, this is a hostage situation in a neighborhood, an upscale neighborhood in the capital where there are many foreigners who live there, who go out to eat there at the restaurants. There are hotels in this area, embassies in this area. And so a hostage situation is happening in a restaurant we are told from sources.

Assailants had been throwing grenades at police. You see some of them there in the staging area wearing S.W.A.T. gear essentially as they try to get a handle on the situation. We don't know the identities of the hostages. Just as some of them are foreigners. We do not know the identities or the intention of the hostage-takers.

We are getting more information by the minute. We'll bring you some when we get back from -- are we going to break?

All right, we'll be back in just a moment with more information and analysis of this situation. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:51] KEILAR: We have breaking news coming to us out of Bangladesh in the capital there. Here's what we know about an attack that is underway, potentially a terror attack. This is happening in the diplomatic section of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

So this is where a number of countries have their embassies, this is an international area with a number of foreigners who live there and work there and socialize there. And we're hearing that these attackers have been throwing grenades at police.

At least one officer has died in this. And we also know that this is becoming a hostage situation all taking place at a Spanish restaurant there in the diplomatic section of Dhaka. We know there are hostages. We don't know how many. That is unknown at this point. We don't know how many attackers are involved. We know there are multiple. We don't know their identities.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh is telling people to shelter in place. So we're still trying to get more information. But you can see this, this is an elite squad that's been mobilized. Officers in S.W.A.T. gear were near the Spanish restaurant. The attackers there have been throwing these grenades at police. And we don't know who they are.

We do know obviously and this is what is it -- this is extremely concerning to officials is that, this is happening in an international area. Some of the hostages are foreigners. And that these attackers would have targeted a place where they knew foreigners were frequenting. And also that we are here in the final days of the Muslim holy period known as Ramadan where a number of terrorist organizations have been emphasizing that this is a time to stir up trouble and to do more attacks.

I want to get now to Alexandra Field. She is in Istanbul for us. Alexandra, can you shed any new light on what's going on or any thoughts about what we're seeing unfold in Bangladesh?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, this is an evolving situation that we've been following in Bangladesh for the last year and a half. And while you point out that we do not know the empathies of this attack right now, who the targets could be, who could be carrying out this attack.

We have been following attacks in Bangladesh for more than a year now. And we started following this because this began really as a series of machete murders, people being hacked to death.

Then at first there were secular bloggers who were being targeted. And then there were religious minorities who are being targeted. And then there were LGBT activists who are being targeted. Groups like ISIS and groups like Al Qaeda had taken responsibility or claimed the responsibility for those killings, killings that were happening in broad daylight in the middle of the street. And it really has sparked this climate of fear throughout this country. It's a secular country with a Muslim majority.

But when you talk to young people in that country which is what we were doing in Dhaka really just a few weeks ago back in May. Was we were hearing from them about how the climate there had changed. People were living under this condition of fear, increasingly worried about terrorism.

The government there has rejected claims that ISIS or Al Qaeda are operating within its borders. They say that this is a politically motivated situation that the assailants have been sent out by the opposition party. Claims of the opposition party has of course denied.

Again, as we watch the situation that's unfolding right now in Gulshan, we do not know who is behind this. We do not know what the motivation is. But it certainly speaks to the level of fear that people in that country are feeling about an increase in violence.

I spoke to young people there who said that they were leaving Dhaka. They were leaving the country. I spoke to LGBT activists and other, you know, secular students who just said that they didn't feel comfortable there anymore. They were afraid of the increasing violence, they were afraid of what they were calling terrorism within their borders.

And I'm hearing from some of them tonight, they said that they're watching the situation in Gulshan. This is an area that is extremely crowded, it's a very urban area. You know, it's the area that we stayed when we were there. It's full of cafes, it's full of restaurants. It's an ex pat sort of enclave but also a diplomatic enclave.

So this is an area where you might be at this hour of the day to have a meal, to go shopping. And I'm hearing from people who got on Facebook right away and said, something is going on. Roads are closed. We're seeing emergency vehicles. They're talking to their friends. They've got these orders to shelter in place. And there's just a tremendous fear, tremendous concern for the people who are in that area right now Brianna.

[13:30:04] KEILAR: So, Alexandra, you're sensing or at least the suspensions of those who you have been in touch with in this area is that, this maybe a continuation of the violence that has been going on over the last year and a half --