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FBI Grilled Hillary Clinton Today For Three-And-A-Half Hours About Her Emails; Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sara Palin Is Rallying Support For Donald Trump; This Week's Horrifying Attack In Ataturk Airport In Istanbul Is Being Traced Back To A Troubled Part Of The World Not Always Associated With Isis; Dangerous Amounts Of Algae Blanketing Florida Beaches. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 02, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's devastating to the economies there in Florida and of course to the marine life and all of the wildlife so much of the wildlife depending on those water ways and estuaries, to see that toxic algae bloom, it's devastating for many of them.
All right. Jennifer Gray, we will check back with you there in Stewart, Florida. Thank you so much.
And thank you so much for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
Much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. Brianna Keilar is up next in Washington.
[15:00:28] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: You are live in CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington.
And we have breaking news. The FBI grilled Hillary Clinton today for three-and-a-half hours about her emails. Questioning took place in FBI headquarters in Washington. This interview is part of the lengthy investigation into the Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Do not expect the Democratic presidential front-runner to reveal much about the FBI meeting any time soon though.
The Clinton campaign says Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was secretary and she is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the department of justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview, they say.
And joining me now, we will have investigative correspondent Chris Frates, but I want to go to CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former assistant FBI director Tom Fuentes who is going to be joined by legal analyst Paul Callan on the phone.
So Tom, to you. And I think that the statement from the Clinton campaign hints in this a little bit. But this meeting today tells us a little bit about the timing of where this investigation is. TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the problem Brianna
with the timing is that they have been trying to do this interview for a while. My understanding is that per people have been kind of putting this off and making it hard. And many of her assistants, they have problems with them and including even the individuals responsible for setting up the server having to grant them immunity and that added to the time frame here. And just the fact they are reviewing thousands of documents and emails and hundreds of interviews. So, it's a lengthy investigation made worse by just the logistics of getting everybody available for the interviews, including Hillary Clinton.
KEILAR: And Paul, CNN previously reported - actually, Tom, let me follow up on that. So what you are saying basically is when you hear the statement that says this was a voluntary thing, you are saying read between the lines.
FUENTES: When I hear that statement I basically laughed because how could she not do it? You know, at this point in the campaign and she is going to be in the national campaign here now, you know, against Trump, how could she say I'm not going to sit for the interview? It is her legal right to do that. But politically, it would be fatal. So she was going to do this interview, like it or not because of political necessity more than legal necessity.
KEILAR: She didn't really have a choice is the point you're making there.
FUENTES: Exactly right.
KEILAR: So Paul, I think a lot of people and certainly Donald Trump has said that Hillary Clinton is going to be indicted. Well, CNN has previously reported that no charges are expected against Clinton because investigators haven't found enough evidence so they really haven't found evidence of wrong doing here. But she has this FBI interview today, could that change anything or do you think that she likely won't be facing charges?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (on the phone): Well, you know, I think the assessment that she's unlikely to be charged is pretty accurate. I mean, in the end, the Democrats control the law enforcement mechanisms of the United States right now because we have a Democratic president and a Democratic attorney general. However, it's not over until this interview is over. I have to tell you as a criminal defense lawyer myself, I have been through many of these sessions with the FBI talking to a client. It's kind of a nerve- wracking thing because not only are you trying to convince through your client the witness in this case Hillary Clinton that you did nothing wrong, but there's an added element that lying to the FBI is a separate crime. And we have seen many cases where they are unable to prove a substantive crime, the crime they are investigating but they are able to prove that the person they interviewed was deceptive during the interview process.
Now, think about this in the context of Hillary Clinton in this interview. They have in their possession thousands of documents and at least hundreds of emails that are relevant to the investigation and they can pull any one of those out of a pile and start asking her questions about what she knew when the email was sent. So it's going to be - and I'm sure it was a nerve-wracking thing for Hillary. I'm actually surprised it was only three-and-a-half hours. I would have expected a longer session. And we may hear that she returns. A lot of times, you know, in these situations --
KEILAR: Why is that? Why do you think -- why did you expect it to be longer? Why do you think she might --?
[15:05:00] CALLAN: Only because this investigation has been going on for months. And it's a document rich investigation. And then in an investigation like that, you can ask the witness about any and all of the emails. So if you want to really be thorough, you could have a pile of 300, 400 emails and asked her about each one. Let me tell you something. That can take a whole day. It's very, very easy for it to go that long.
KEILAR: Chris, this has just become political fodder, Donald Trump going after Hillary Clinton repeatedly over this.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's exactly right, Brianna. We saw this, you know, and I was a little surprised because Donald Trump hasn't even tweeted today. You know when he wants to make a point he goes on twitter really fast. I thought we might see something about crooked Hillary and this FBI meeting because he likes to, you know, get into this. He has been using this as a hammer against her for almost an entire year now.
But we did see a tweet from Sean Spicer, his top official at the Republican National Committee. He said now I get it, after attorney general Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton secretly meet, Hillary Clinton spends three-and-a-half hours Fourth of July weekend at FBI headquarters. And of course, he is making a connection between that meeting that Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch had on the tarmac in Arizona earlier this week, where she took flack for meeting privately in that impromptu meeting while the department of justice and FBI is investigating. In fact, Donald Trump took a shock and mocked the idea this was a coincidence. Take a listen on what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, when I first heard the story, no, no, you're kidding. I don't believe it. I thought somebody was joking. But it's not a joke. It's not a joke. It's a serious thing. And to have a thing like that happen is so sad. As you know Hillary is so guilty. She's so guilty. I mean, you can read them right off here. And how that's not being pursued properly. And I think that he really -- I think he really opened it up. He opened up a Pandora's Box and it shows what's going on and it shows what's happening with our laws and with our government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So there you have Donald Trump, really hammering Hillary Clinton on issues where she is really vulnerable with voters. And that's her trustworthy that is in fact Clinton recently saying she feels that she needs to work on that to convince the American people that they can in fact trust her and of course, going into an FBI interview for three-and-a-half hours over an investigations that's been going on for over a year, Brianna, not the best and certainly the Clinton people hoping this wraps up before the convention. That this will be a done deal and no charges will be brought against her. And, of course, multiple law enforcement sources telling CNN they don't expect at this point charges would be brought against her. Of course, we don't know what was said today. But the Clinton folks would like to see this boxed up and shipped out before that convention to move on, Brianna.
KEILAR: They sure would, Chris Frates. Thank you, Tom Fuentes. Paul Callan with us as well.
And so far Donald Trump has not tweeted about Clinton's big meeting with the FBI. You heard Chris report that.
I want to bring in our panel. Hillary Clinton supporter Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina house member, Donald Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord, he is former Reagan White House political director and political commentator Tara Setmayer, a former communications director on Capitol Hill.
Jeffrey, to you first. Donald Trump is usually so quick to tweet his reactions. Why haven't we heard from him?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know. You know, it's the holiday weekend. Hopefully he is out giving a speech somewhere, I don't know. I'm sure without doubt you will hear from him.
You know, Brianna, the thing that really just amazes here, this is the first -- not everybody wants to talk about her being the first woman presidential nominee. She is, to the best of my knowledge, the first presidential nominee of any party ever to be investigated by the FBI. When you pull back, this goes on over and over and over again with both Clintons. We see this business with Loretta Lynch. This is they are perpetually getting into trouble. Here she had a clear record when she went to be secretary of state. And yet once again we wind up in a situation and she now being investigated by the FBI. This is the problem here and it goes directly to her favorability numbers and her problem with not being thought of as trust worthy or honest.
KEILAR: I want to challenge you on that, Jeffrey. Just because we know that Donald Trump is considering Chris Christie as a vice presidential running mate very seriously and this is someone who is under investigation. That too is unprecedented.
LORD: Well, let's see who he picks, first of all. But the fact of the matter is, no presidential nominee to the best of my knowledge has ever been investigated by the FBI. Least of all investigated about a handful of weeks before they are to accept the presidential nomination itself.
[15:10:00] KEILAR: Yes. Bakari, I want to challenge you on something, because you are aware of
the Friday news dump and I think it has something that we could also put in that category would be the Saturday of July 4th interview with the FBI. It is Hillary Clinton can't really fly under the radar with this. But if ever you were trying to at least a little bit, today is not a bad day to do it while people are focused on the holiday weekend.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, there are a few things. The first is that I think that most people, including myself and everyone in Clinton camp and you know, most Democrats throughout the country are just glad that this is coming to a close. I think when you actually interviewed whoever the subject of the investigation is or even if she's not a subject, if you are just investigating whatever is going on with emails, you know, once you interview that person, then you know that it's imminent that this investigation is going to close.
But as a lawyer, the second thing I have to mention is that you never let your client sit down and do an FBI investigation and I sat through many of these but you never let your client sit down and do an FBI investigation if there's any exposure, any hint of wrong doing, you just don't. And so, I think that most people are pretty comfortable knowing that this is going to come to a close. But we also know that they only have about 20 days to complete the investigation. They are not going to announce something during the RNC. And definitely going to do it before the DNC. So we will see what happens.
KEILAR: Tara, how big of a deal do you think this meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton was on Monday when you think of the fact that so much of the reporting has been, you know, there's not going to be a finding of wrong doing, this maybe something that Hillary Clinton can move away from? How much does that meeting change this no matter the outcome?
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Well, I think the optics of that were just awful and everyone, I know Bakari, I'm sure in Clinton world just cringed at the idea of the former president of the United States and the current attorney general who is investigating a criminal investigation on his wife, meeting privately in an airplane a few days before Hillary goes to testifies. The optics are just unbelievably terrible. Whether it was just arrogance on the part of President Clinton or just not realizing, I find that very hard to believe. But it's a big deal.
This is about -- I think that incident was equivalent to when Kevin McCarthy made the comments about the Benghazi hearing - Benghazi committee saying that it would politically damage Hillary, and everyone flipped out about that, that's it. Benghazi committee is tainted now. The credibility is shot. This, I think whether that was true or not, this is something that's equivalent to that. It is people will never get that out of their minds. By the way, you know, President Clinton in the AG met with each other and, you know, it's just very unsavory.
And also President Obama, on the day that he endorsed Hillary Clinton, had a meeting with Loretta Lynch the same afternoon. So it's very difficult for people to believe there's no political influence going on here. And what happened on Monday doesn't help that situation at all.
KEILAR: Bakari, what do you say? Tara says you were maybe cringing when you heard about this. Were you?
SELLERS: It was bad optics. I mean, I think everyone agrees that it's bad optics. The fact of the matter is, though, the ex-party communication as some may see it, it wasn't illegal. It wasn't unethical. But it really was bad optics. Loretta Lynch herself even said the thing that attorney general Holder failed to tell her to do when she took up office was lock the door of the plane.
So I think that if all parties had to do it over, they would do it over again. It is bad optics. Hillary Clinton and the team in Brooklyn have to defense now on this issue. But I'm really ready for this to be over. And I'm just glad that today we can finally see the end of the tunnel.
LORD: Brianna?
KEILAR: Stand by for us, Jeffrey, maybe not unethical, definitely unfortunate Democrats are saying now. I'm going to have you stick around, Jeffrey. You will get another word in, I promise.
Tara, Jeffrey, Bakari are going to stay with me here.
And coming up, speculation ramps up over who Trump will be pick to be his second in command. We mentioned Chris Christie. There is others. We will tell you a big name that he is meeting with today.
And growing concern about the ISIS threat in the last few days of Ramadan, from the siege from Bangladesh to airport attack in Istanbul, why now? And can this be stopped?
And no one wants to go swimming in this. Dangerous amounts of toxic algae making things miserable in parts of Florida. Fourth of July fans ruined and state of emergency now in effect. We'll get a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:05] KEILAR: This hour's breaking news on CNN, Hillary Clinton sitting down today for an interview with the FBI in Washington. The Clinton aide confirmed this took place saying that it was voluntary. It was about the private email server investigation and that it lasted about three-and-a-half hours. The meeting is a strong indicator that the justice department investigation of her email use during her secretary of state days is coming to an end. Though exactly how it will end remains unclear. We are going to update you with more details when we get them.
Meantime, Donald Trump will chat with a possible running mate today, a source telling CNN, Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence are set to meet at the Trump national golf club in New Jersey. CNN has learned that Trump may announce his vice presidential pick before the Republican convention begins later this month in Cleveland. And a source says former house speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey governor Chris Christie are also on Trump's short list. You're looking at it right there, a number of names and faces that we want to talk about with our panel. Hillary Clinton supporter Bakari Sellers, Donald Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord and political commentator Tara Setmayer.
Jeffrey, your reaction to this Trump/Pence meeting?
LORD: Well, I think governor Pence is a terrific guy. My problem with people like governor Pence, it's not philosophical, is that they haven't been through this kind of thing before. And I think the presidential nominees are well served when they pick a vice presidential running mate who has been around the presidential bloc, if you will.
As Newt Gingrich my favorite at the moment. If there is no Gingrich, I was for Ted Cruz but he is obviously not interested. I'm a big fan of Newt Gingrich. I think he would be terrific in this.
Anybody when you look at Joe Biden, I think Joe Biden has been a very successful vice president for President Obama as was Dick Cheney for President Bush and as for Al Gore, et cetera. That is not always the case. And when you put somebody on the ticket who has never been through this ringer before, I think you are opening up the door --
KEILAR: They haven't run for president?
LORD: They haven't run for president. They haven't been under the glare of the national media spotlight in a fashion that presidential nominees and vice presidential nominees get.
KEILAR: OK --
Tara, I see what you're seeing there -- Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, what are the upsides and downsides of those options?
SETMAYER: Well, Chris Christie, my home state governor who is polling at an all-time low, and he is in the 20s at this point now. But Chris Christie, you know, he is an attack dog. He is very good at that. He has been very loyal to Donald Trump and we all know Trump appreciates loyalty. But Chris Christie doesn't really bring much other than being an attack dog to the ticket. New Jersey is not in play. He doesn't really have a base of support other than possibly for fund raising because he was head of the national governor's association and very successful there. But Chris Christie has his own problems. You mentioned in the last segment, he has bridge gate hanging over him. He will have and get attacked by teachers unions and all of the things dredged up in issues in New Jersey. So I don't know what he brings much, you know, to the ticket in that respect. But Donald Trump really is his own attack dog. He doesn't need that in a vice president.
Now, Newt Gingrich -- of the list I've seen thus far of about ten people, Newt Gingrich is probably the most experienced and the best pick because he knows Washington. He was speaker of the house. Has his own problems but that was a long time ago. I mean, he was around during the Clinton impeachment issues. He resigned in 1989. To that, I don't know if people want to relive that aspect of things.
But I agree with Jeffrey that New Gingrich -- of the people they are listing so far is probably the best.
I always said that Trump should pick someone in the military, a general, maybe Petraeus or General Mike Flynn, someone like that because he needs to shore up his foreign policy and give some seriousness to the ticket. But doesn't look like he's going that route. We'll see.
KEILAR: OK, Bakari, I'm going to put you in a weird position of taking off your Hillary Clinton surrogate hat and putting on your Donald Trump adviser hat which I think you well over.
LORD: Come on over.
KEILAR: Who would you suggest that Donald Trump that he should pick, would be his best choice?
SELLERS: Well, first of all, I would say Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie off the list. You're running against Hillary Clinton and one thing that Hillary Clinton does not have going for her, if you're honest with yourself, honest and trust worthiness. So you want to go with someone who is currently under investigation for bridge gate or someone, a Newt Gingrich who actually left the United States House of Representatives with the largest ethics fine in history of Congress.
I would pick up the phone and I would begin to beg people like Nikki Haley. I would beg Tim Scott. I would beg Marco Rubio. I would beg Condoleezza Rice. I would even use name that probably hasn't been heard in a long time, someone like J.C. Watts to come on board.
I actually agree with Tara's point of view on getting a general of some sort. But as a Democrat, actually stepping back out of the water because I didn't like how that felt, I would actually say that we would relish running against Newt Gingrich. He takes way a lot of the salvos people try to make it reliving and rehash in the '90s --
SETMAYER: I mentioned that.
SELLERS: Six marriages between the two of them. So think that's very difficult to get over that hump and many other humps. We relish Chris Christie or Newt Gingrich.
KEILAR: Jeffrey, I think you might want to get in touch with Bakari. I think he is making some really good point there.
Alright, guys, thanks so much. All of you will be right back with me, though, after a break.
And coming up, Sarah Palin takes aim at Republicans who won't get behind Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: OK. Well, I just call him Republicans against Trump or rat for short.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:25:40] KEILAR: We're watching breaking news right now. A very strong signal in Washington that the justice department probe into Hillary Clinton's email use is coming to an end. Clinton today spent three-and-a-half hours at FBI headquarters interviewing with agents about her email arrangements during her tenure of secretary of state. And we are told that her participation was voluntary. Some will make the point that she didn't particularly have a choice. But Republican national committee chief strategist Sean Spicer tweeting, in case you missed it, Hillary Clinton kicked off Fourth of July weekend with a 3.5 hour interview with FBI headquarters. He went on Hillary Clinton campaign statement says she voluntarily met with FBI for 3.5 hours this morning. Yes, lots of people volunteer to do that. So poking fun at that suggestion that this was voluntary there.
Now, in the meantime, former Republican vice presidential nominee Sara Palin is rallying support for Donald Trump and trying to introduce a new term to the political conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: They call themselves the never # -- well, I just call them Republicans against Trump or RAT for short.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: OK, we're back with Bakari Sellers, Jeffrey Lord and Tara Setmayer.
Tara, I ask you sort of a rhetorical question, but is this the way to win over people to your side?
SETMAYER: You know, when I saw this rant, I said, I can't with Sarah Palin anymore? What happened to her? She is completely off her rocker. I mean, this whole -- this routine, this performance that she puts on, a, it embarrasses herself. B, who will listens to Sarah Palin anymore and c, is she kidding? I mean to call us rats because the people are -- have a fundamental moral disagreement and objection to Donald Trump like myself have who have been lifelong conservatives who find a litany of reasons not to support Donald Trump, we're the rats? We're the ones that are dishonest? We are the ones that are disloyal when she's just doing this to be relevant again. And that she is making a total fool of herself. So at this point, I mean, it really is turned into Tina Fey all over again but worse. At least Tina Fey wasn't real.
KEILAR: Jeffrey, you know, Donald Trump, maybe Donald Trump is not going to win over people like Tara, but there are still a lot of Republicans who want to support Trump and do not want to see Hillary Clinton elected. And isn't it important that those supporting your candidate are extending olive branches and not calling names to people who don't support Trump at this point, but maybe they could?
LORD: Well, I think that the average folks out there that are conservative will come around. But there are party elites. And I have to say, one of the things that I think we learned with the Brexit vote in Britain and also the Trump campaign here in America, there's a divide between elites and average Americans. When you look at that Clinton-Lynch meeting and Bill Clinton meeting, I mean that's something that only elites get to do. I mean, an average district attorney is not going to do that. It wouldn't happen. It happens precisely because there's this elitism out there. This is what has so much of America and certainly the Republican Party up and armed. They are sick and tired of it.
Sarah Palin has put her finger on this. I mean, there's a group out there called GOP delegates unbound. And they are running a commercial with the jux at a poses Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan and it makes Ronald Reagan seem like, well, he is all for peace when Donald Trump said he would bomb -- I can't say on television word out of them. In essence what they are saying is they want to appease ISIS apparently. Mean, this is just utterly bizarre. And you know, I love Sarah Palin. God bless her.
SETMAYER: You don't think that was utterly bizarre by Sarah Palin, running around saying the box explode and speaking like in nursery rhymes? She was a governor - she vice presidential candidate. Come on.
LORD: Tara, look, we have a process in this country. When you win the nomination, everybody rallies behind the person. You don't run. I supported Mitt Romney and didn't agree with Mitt Romney. I supported John McCain, I didn't agree with John McCain and had I been old enough --
(CROSSTALK)
[15:30:04] KEILAR: Baraki, I want you to jump in on this. I want to show you something that Donald Trump tweeted out today. And this is pretty serious stuff. On left was his first tweet, crooked Hillary makes history, the star is a star of David. Presumably he didn't realize that when he tweeted it out. This is not a retweet. This is what he tweeted. And then he deleted it and then followed it up with a more innocuous circle over this. Jeffrey, what happened and what is it with this unforced error?
LORD: Well, I think it is silly. I mean, as you know --
KEILAR: Is it silly or is it offensive?
SETMAYER: Incompetent.
LORD: Many Americans may not know daughter Ivanka is married to a Jewish man. She has become Jewish herself. Has Jewish grandchildren.
KEILAR: OK. But presumably she did not copy edit his tweet. This is what he sent out. So what happened?
LORD: Sure, you can make a mistake --
SETMAYER: Not first time.
LORD: His family is Jewish. I mean, come on. Let's wake up here.
SETMAYER: But Jeffrey, come on. This is not the first time Trump has --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Bakari, final word to you.
SELLERS: For me, I just sit back and we started with Sarah Palin and I'm just thankful Sarah Palin is still there so get good Saturday night live from near future from Tina Fey. We just sit back and enjoy these rants that she goes on the meantime don't make sense. And if your daughter actually went into a rant like that nursery rhyme rent you would probably get her checked out. So that's first.
But we ended up where Donald Trump is dangerous where he ask the xenophobic rhetoric. And then for Jeffrey to say he has a son-in-law that is Jewish is the equivalent of someone being racist in saying I have five black friends. It doesn't quite (INAUDIBLE).
LORD: Please, Bakari. Please, he has got Jewish family.
Long history of activist on behalf of Israel, he is anything but anti (INAUDIBLE). He is the guy that opened to (INAUDIBLE) to Jews when the rest of Palm Beach wouldn't have them in their club. He is the one who did this and African-Americans I might add.
KEILAR: I'm going to have to leave it there.
Bakari, I'm sorry. I promise I'll give you a few more words later.
Bakari Sellers, Jeffrey Lord, Tara Setmayer, thank you to all of you.
Coming up, three U.S. college students among the victims of that brazen siege in Bangladesh. Gunman storming the cafe. They took hostages for hours. How this all came to an end.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:11] KEILAR: We're following quick moving development overseas where two major terror attacks carried out just days apart are putting the world on edge. The latest unfolding overnight in Bangladesh where gunmen stormed a cafe holding hostages for ten hours before commandos moved in. Twenty two people were killed in this attack. And CNN has learned that at least three of the victims were college students studying in here in the U.S. The state department confirms one of them was an American citizen. CNN has identified her as (INAUDIBLE), a student at Emory University in Atlanta. And according to the school, (INAUDIBLE) was visiting family and friends in Dhaka when she was taken hostage. She's originally from Florida.
We are also finding out more about the attackers. Police say all seven gunmen are from Bangladesh. Most of them known militants who officers have been trying to arrest for quote "a while." One attacker was captured alive. ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attack. And if true this would be the second deadly attack carried out by the terror group this week alone, coming just four days after the Istanbul airport bombing.
This sudden increase comes as Muslim holy month of Ramadan comes to an end and as Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, putting cities around the world on heightened alert.
CNN is on the ground at the site of these attacks making sure you have the latest information. Our Alexandra Field is live in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Ivan Watson is standing by in Istanbul.
And Alexandra, first to you. We are learning that one of the cafe attackers has been captured alive. Do you know if he's in a condition where police were able to question him and get more information about this attack and maybe even future attacks from him?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point, Brianna, officials are only saying that the attacker were all Bangladeshi. That five were known to officials that they were looking to arrest these militants. Not clear which category this remaining surviving captured suspect would fall into. But security remains high rate here outside of the restaurant where this attack took place. You still have armed officers who are out there. You have other security personnel who are out here. You have a road closed off. Just remember, this is a diplomatic enclave. From the spot that I'm standing in, you can actually see some of the embassies that are in this neighborhood. It's also an area that's frequented by ex-pats. And as you mentioned we know that a number of foreign nationals were killed in these attacks, including Japanese, Italians and Indian citizens and an American as you pointed out as well as Bangladeshis too.
So certainly a lot of interest for investigators in figuring out what they could learn from this captured attacker who he could be connected to. A lot of interest certainly in figuring out who else he might be working with or what other plans could have potentially been in place here, Brianna. ISIS was very quick to claim responsibility for this attack. U.S. intelligence officials waited. They have now started to say their focus is on ISIS as well as having been behind these attacks and a lot has to do with images published on a media site, which is affiliated with ISIS. First of all that site published images of men who they purport to have been the attackers. That same site also posted very graphic, very disturbing images of people who they say were the victims of this attack. Images of people who are laying inside the restaurant it seems, although CNN cannot independently authenticate those pictures, the pictures show people who are laying in pools of blood, who seemed to have suffered injures consistent with what investigators say happened inside the holy hour in (INAUDIBLE) where they say people were stabbed and hacked to death after gunmen stormed in firing shots and also hurling explosives, Brianna.
KEILAR: All right, Alexandra.
And Ivan, I want to ask this in the connection perhaps when it comes to ISIS between the Istanbul airport attack and the attack in Bangladesh. ISIS hasn't claimed responsibility for Istanbul but authorities think that they are behind it. And then you have ISIS claiming responsibility in Bangladesh but you also see some almost non-ISIS hall marks of this with some of the stabbing deaths. So what does this tell you overall about ISIS' capabilities or strategies? Is this really ISIS driven, a sort of campaign or is this more local terrorist groups who are just slapping on the ISIS badge because they are the biggest bad guys.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, I think it's way too early to start to link these two attacks or even to suggest that there's some kind of centralized command and control that could order these two attacks. You have to look at how dramatically different the two contacts are.
Here in Turkey, Turkey is next door to ISIS controlled territory. It's a neighboring enclave of ISIS control. ISIS has broad networks in this country that have developed over the course of years as Jihadis were moving through Turkey across the border to join in the civil war and fight across the border in Syria. There have been previous definite ISIS attacks taken place earlier this year. As one well plugged analyst here just put it, this attack at Istanbul airport arguably could have been a bomb that was waiting to happen here.
On the other hand, Bangladesh, very far to the east of here. A completely different domestic situation where you've had a pattern of machete murders with what look like local activists and agents who attribute themselves to either ISIS or to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. That said, if it does appear there has been a copycat activity here or if investigators can draw some kind of order went out to both places, it would be very, very ominous indeed -- Brianna.
[15:40:25] KEILAR: And sure would be. Ivan Watson in Istanbul, thank you.
And coming up, what one of the Istanbul attackers had in common with the Boston marathon bombers. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[15:44:43] KEILAR: This week's horrifying attack in Ataturk airport in Istanbul is being traced back to a troubled part of the world not always associated with ISIS. The three suicide bombers are said to be from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and a section of Russian known as Dagestan. Dagestan in the Russia's northern caucus region. It drew attention more recently after the Boston bombings because Tsarnaev brothers briefly lived there. And that is where the alleged mastermind of the Istanbul attack is from, a militant nicknamed Akhmed on-armed.
Joining me now to talk more about this, an ISIS' presence in Turkey is James Jeffrey. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey. He is now a visiting fellow at the Washington institute.
And Ambassador, is there anything about this region specifically that makes it a hot bed for terror or place where ISIS is recruiting some of it's really some of its most vicious soldiers?
[15:45:38] JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ AND TURKEY: Yes. Well, first of all, under Stalin and Soviet Union, these Islamic areas of the Soviet Union were under constant oppression. The Germans tried to recruit during World War II from these areas. And subsequently, we have seen in Crimea and other areas and not to speak about the war in Chechnya in the 1990s and then again a decade ago, Moscow has cracked down repeatedly on these areas but it really hasn't been able to calm them. It relies on local strong men. There's a very strong Islamic flavor there. There is influence from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. So it is another breeding ground for terror as we have seen. And there are a lot of recruits who are active with ISIS and Syria right now from that region.
KEILAR: ISIS recruits. It's frequent that we hear about them coming in and out of Syria or Iraq. A lot of them passing through Turkish airports. Recently you had Turkey stepping up the airport monitoring. Do you think this attack was retribution for that?
JEFFREY: It certainly is. Turkey have crosses like some agreed to a very expanded U.S. operations here and some special forces out of Turkey in to Syria and particular against ISIS. And Turkey itself has partially closed the border to ISIS. Turkey has been involves in artillery duels with ISIS along the southern border. So it's a much more active Turkish role against ISIS. Turkey has other fish to fry. Kurdish PKK insurgence and the Assad regime. So its attention has not been fully on ISIS. That's going to change after Istanbul.
KEILAR: It's interesting, you know, some people in Foreign Service, the Foreign Service community will say that Turkey sort of talks out of both sides of its mouth a little bit. It allows the border to be porous so that ISIS fighters have gone over and taken on Assad. And yet at the same time these allows U.S.-led airstrikes to come out of Turkey. How do you think this attack on the airport is going to change how they treat the border?
JEFFREY: They will try to tighten up the border. The problem, Brianna, is that Turkey is absolutely committed or has been to the struggle against the Assad regime for all kinds of religious, regional and geopolitical reasons. And the people who are fighting Assad come from all over the Middle East and all over the Muslim world and they don't carry I.D. fighters. I'm an ISIS fighter. I'm an al-Nusra - Al Qaeda fighter. I'm with Islam or one of the other groups. They basically look like scruffy young men passing across the border. And it is very hard to determine who is going to support which group. And if Turkey cuts it to all groups, then the fight against Assad will end almost immediately. That's the conundrum Turkey is in.
KEILAR: So they may nominally tighten the border. But we are talking about a 500 mile border. And as one person described to me, it sort of like Nebraska. This is something that without these physical barriers, it's pretty much impossible to really tighten up.
JEFFREY: Well, I know the border well. I have traveled along it. And right now the U.S. and Kurdish Syrian allies are about to cut off much of it at a place called (INAUDIBLE) which is to the south of the border in the 90 mile zone that is still accessible to ISIS and to other groups. But again, if you cut the border over entirely, it will be very difficult to filter out who are the people just going to fight Assad, which theoretically at least the United States is also supporting, as well as Turkey actively and who are people who are going to support ISIS and Al-Qaeda. This is a problem with the Syrian war. It's why the Syrian war is contributing to ISIS and terror in the Middle East as much as any other factor.
KEILAR: Yes. And when I said Nebraska, I meant to make that clear, that it is the landscape. It really - It is not particularly mountainous as a physical obstacle to transport across the border.
Former ambassador James Jeffrey, thank you so much.
JEFFREY: Thank you.
KEILAR: And coming up, dangerous amounts of algae. It's so thick it's being compared to guacamole. It's blanketing Florida beaches. It's causing a state of emergency.
We have CNN's Jennifer Gray live.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Briana. This is unbelievable. Look at it. It's very thick goop. And it's in all the rivers and canals in this part of the state. It is a huge problem and residents are furious. They want answers. Of course we'll have a full report coming up after the break.
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[15:52:48] KEILAR: 4th of July weekend should be just a big blowout summer event of the year in South Florida. Right now, it is a disaster area. The water is usually clear and inviting and beautiful. But look at this. That is a thick, smelly, sticky layer of toxic algae. It's killing animals. It is stinking up the beaches. It's driving away anybody who gets near it.
Florida marine life also trying to deal with the thick blanket of sludge. As you see there, that poor mantis just struggling to swim through this muck. Getting a little help there with a human friend with a hose.
And our meteorologist Jennifer Gray is right there. She is in Stuart, Florida.
It's hard to appreciate, Jennifer, from this video with how disgusting this stuff is. That usually this is so beautiful. And I think probably we are being spared but you are not, from the smell.
GRAY: Yes. I mean, it's really disgusting. I saw somebody on social media. They posted that the smell was like rotting meat mixed with cat litter in a trash bin times 1,000. And I would have to agree with that assessment because it is -- it is really disgusting.
I have this stick. I want to give you a perspective as to how thick this goop is. And you can see it. It looks like raw sewage. It smells like it. And this is a crisis for Florida, who depends on the recreational fishing industry and the tourism dollars. In combination, it's close to $75 billion a year. And no one is going to want to come to this part of the state as long as this is going on.
We want to remind you, this is not everywhere. It is just this one area, the four counties that are under a state of emergency. But this is basically a water management issue, Brianna. They are draining Lake Okeechobee because they have to regulate the water to prevent flooding during the rainy season that coincides with hurricane season. But that water that they are spilling into these salt water as sewage contains fertilizer from all of the agriculture areas. It also contains pollutants from the urban runoff. And so, all that polluted water is running into the salt water estuaries. It is depriving marine life of the oxygen they need to survive as well as the sunlight can't penetrate this disgusting algae. It's what is killing the plant life that, say, mantis rely on. And so, it is a huge problem.
The residents around here all banned together. Almost 5,000 of them joined in arms and spelled out buy the land on the sand earlier this morning and that's in reference to the land that the voters passed to buy south of Lake Okeechobee to store this water. But it hasn't been bought yet. And so it is still being steeped into these estuaries.
And so, it is a huge problem. The governor hasn't visited the area in the past couple of weeks. But Senator Marco Rubio was here. And he said that he is going to try his hardest to find a solution to the problem very soon as well as the health impacts this is going to cause in the near future and in the long term, Brianna.
KEILAR: It is a terrible problem and persistent one at that. We'll continue to follow that with you. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.
Coming up, our big breaking story, Hillary Clinton's multi-hour meeting with the FBI over her private email server. How is Donald Trump going to react? He's certainly had a lot to say about it before.
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TRUMP: I think Hillary is very weak. I think she is pathetic. I think she should be in jail for what she did with her emails. OK? She should be in jail.
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[15:59:20] KEILAR: Finally this hour, meet this week's CNN hero. She is a Jordanian immigrant who uses soccer to help kids from war torn countries feel more at home here in the U.S.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are so many things stacked against them. For you to be successful you are competing against all these other people that are already like ten steps ahead of you. So how are you going to catch up? How are you going to stand out? And how are you going to contribute successfully? We are getting people from all over the world, from different faiths to come together to do something great.
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KEILAR: You can watch her full story CNNheros.com. And while you are there, nominate someone that you think should be a CNN hero.
You are life in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Briana Keilar in Washington.
Breaking news. The FBI grilled Hillary Clinton today for three-and-a- half hours about her emails. Questioning -
