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Latest on Hillary Clinton Email Investigation; 20 Hostages Dead in Dhaka Cafe Attack; Soft Targets on Alert Post Terror Attacks; Man Killed in Tesla Auto Pilot Crash; Mayor Tours Destroyed Town, Help Rebuilds. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 03, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sources telling CNN that right now there's not enough evidence to charge Hillary Clinton with any crime.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think she should be in jail for what she did with her e-mails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell, good to be with you. The next few weeks are crucial for Hillary Clinton.

PAUL: As the political world is waiting for the FBI's next move on the e-mail investigation, here's the thing, the timing of that announcement could make or break the Clinton campaign, some say. Now Clinton was questioned by the FBI for three and a half hours yesterday. Sources tell say CNN, there's just not enough evidence to file charges, but the interview comes as she's wrapping up her battle against Bernie Sanders of course and focusing on Donald Trump now.

BLACKWELL: And she raised $68 million in June, and she's poised to accept the nomination at the Democratic convention at the end of this month. Now if the FBI isn't finished by then, would the Democrat's nominated candidate still under investigation? And if the investigation closes with no charges but a harsh review of Clinton, could she lose momentum going into the general election? Clinton tells MSNBC, she's in the dark about what's coming and when.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: Were you given that indication today that no charges will be filed and are you confident no charges will be filed?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chuck, I am not going to comment on the process. I have no knowledge of any timeline. This is entirely up to the department.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Joining us now, Scottie Nell Hughes, Donald Trump's surrogate and political editor at rightalerts.com, and A. Scott Bolden, Hillary Clinton supporter and former Chair of the D.C. Democratic State Party.

Scott and Scottie, good to have you back this Sunday morning.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good to be back.

BLACKWELL: And Scott, I want to start with you, and the timing of what comes next. We heard from the former Secretary there. But, depending upon the timing, this could be crucial. We're learning -- I'm going to pull in some reporting from Justice Correspondent Pamela Brown, that up to this point, what we've heard from the Justice Department, according to sources, is they want to wrap this up before the Republican convention. Is that excellent timing, shutting down a line of attack potentially from the Republicans? Or is it terrible timing right before they try to make their case to the American people?

BOLDEN: Well its illegal timing if you ask me. Because remember, under the DOJ regulations, these -- in their guidelines, the timing of this investigation cannot affect the local or federal political election. Here, this investigation is going to be wrapped up primarily because of that. Because if you were to bring charges or not bring charges, that could impact the outcome of a presidential election, let alone the ability of the Democrats to actually nominate whether it's the presumptive nominee or not. It's got to get wrapped up before then.

From a political timing standpoint, of course the Democrats and Hillary want this over as fast as possible. Everyone's who's looked at this, who's an independent view of this, other than the Republicans of course, have said there's not enough evidence here, there may have been mistakes made but it certainly wasn't criminal. And so we'll have to see what happens in the news couple of weeks, but it will -- we will get a decision by the Democratic convention at least.

BLACKWELL: Scottie let me -- I'm going to weight in on that but I want to bring in this tweet from Donald Trump. You heard there from Scott that mistakes were made. And we heard from Hillary Clinton, she apologized several times for using this, but Trump tweets, "It is impossible for the FBI not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. What she did was wrong, what Bill did was stupid." There is still the space between those two, that yes, what Hillary Clinton did was wrong. She apologized for her decisions there, but it may not reach the level of an indictment.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: No. You're right and it might now, I'm not as optimistic as Mr. Donald Trump in our judicial system. I don't have as much confidence in it, especially when you're talking about an attorney general that was appointed by President Obama, and has prior connection by Bill Clinton in 1999 in the Eastern District of New York.

I don't necessarily think that we're going to see prosecution. But it's not necessarily mean that there was not damage done. Once again, and we've had this hamster wheel of problems that come with Hillary Clinton that's not only just amiss, it's been Benghazi, it's been her past 20 years. There's always been some sort of little spark, and as we all know Victor, when you have little sparks somewhere there's got to be a fire.

And it's amazing how she continues to escape any sort of justification, any sort of prosecution for any of these issues that have happened over the last 20 years of her life.

[06:00:01] BOLDEN: Well, Victor, these are nonissue, if I may jump in. Because those parks are all being created by the Republicans over those last 20 years, when you believe it's a conspiracy or not. There's just nothing there.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Hold on a second. Scott, let me jump in here. When you say that they're a nonissue, they are issues for the voters because when we look at the latest Quinnipiac Poll out this week, Donald Trump is still by a considered margin, is considered to be more honest and trustworthy when he's compared to Hillary Clinton. So, while individually they may not matter, from your perspective, there is a narrative that's built that she is still fighting.

BOLDEN: After 20 years of those narratives and those sparks being created by the Republicans, I'm not surprised at those polls at all. But the reality is there are no criminal charges, she's never been criminally charged with anything, these are just allegations, allegations that may be mistakes, the I.G. report may have been critical but it's certainly not criminal here. I mean Colin Powell for example use his own private servers. The ...

HUGHES: No, he did not.

BOLDEN: He use his own private e-mail account.

BOLDEN: Own private e-mail account. But the reality is that the system at the state department, which is what the FBI is really broadly looking at, was antiquated here. And unless this information classified then or subsequently was used with any criminal means of trying to take that information and put it somewhere like General Petraeus or some of the others have been charged, as misdemeanor or felon, you just don't have it here right now. The I.G. looked at it, they were critical but it's certainly not criminal.

BLACKWELL: All right, Scottie back into you -- and you said that they're looking into it, this is a criminal investigation by the FBI. Hillary Clinton may say that this is a review, but this is a criminal investigation. I think we need to be clear about that as well. And you say that the Republicans created this, the Republicans didn't put the private server in her home. So while there maybe other elements here that we can discuss, I think let's just be clear about those elements. Scottie back to you.

HUGHES: Exactly. There were rules and they were broken. And not only can Hillary sit and say they were mistakes, she was told time and time again even by the White House, by Valerie Jarrett, by those saying when they realize that she did not have a .gov e-mail address, they said, "We need you to eliminate your server and bring it back in and use the government server." That is the law. And there is a huge difference, I hate to go geek squad on you, but there is a huge different between server and e-mail.

I have a g-mail e-mail but that means I'm not using a separate server. There is a big difference on this. And the problem is, is we do have 2,000 e-mails that have come out to be classified and 22 at least being top secret. But we do not know what kind of security concerns. The rules and laws were broken, the question is, will we actually see prosecution from an administration that is over this? And you're basically asking the teacher to sit there and police other corrupt teachers right now.

BLACKWELL: Can Donald Trump overplay his hand though?

HUGHES: Absolutely. We always risk that with everything, this is really a matter to those Hillary Clinton supporters. I mean I think we all across the board can say there were some major wrongdoing done by the Clintons when it comes to these e-mail servers. However, does that necessarily tell those Democrats that make Hillary Clinton worse of a candidate than necessarily Donald Trump? I don't think so. But this just feeds the narrative that she is crooked Hillary.

BLACKWELL: We got to wrap it here.

BOLDEN: Well that's the narrative that the Republican -- no one in the history of the state Department has ever been criminally charged for this.

BLACKWELL: Scottie Nell Hughes, Scott Bolden, thanks so much.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Stay with us, we'll continue the conversation in a bit.

Well Bangladesh has started two days of mourning for the victims of a terror attack that killed 20 hostages and two police officers, that was at a cafe, you remember in the capital of Dhaka.

PAUL: And three American students are among those who were killed. Two from Emory University in Georgia were killed there. Abinta Kabit, she was a sophomore. Look at her hair. She was visiting family and friend for summer vacation. The other student Emory student was Faraaz Hossain, he was headed into the University's business school in the fall. People at Emory who knew the students say these two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and most likely were not targets of the terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they are very good student, they had a bright future. That's why they came here to do finish their high study. They just wanted to be highlighted that they are next to their American embassy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: University of California Berkeley talks about this student, the third one killed. Tarishi Jain, was a sophomore, had just started an internship at a Bank in Dhaka a few weeks ago.

This massacre of course happening during the holy month of Ramadan, it was the deadliest, the boldest terror in the country. Starting today authorities are going to have increased security around the attack site and nearby hospitals.

[06:10:00] Now, there's new video o want to show you here, it's believed to show commandos moving in to end the terror attack. Now that siege did end overnight yesterday. The attackers took hostages. They got into a shootout with police until soldiers moved in and killed them. 13 hostages as we said were rescued. CNN cannot independently confirm the video's authenticity but it does appear to be recorded from a building next to the restaurant.

Alexandra field is with us now. And Alexandra I understand you have some new details about this.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christi I've been speaking to some of the family members of the 20 people who were killed inside the siege at that cafe, there also two police officers who were killed. And the family members -- gut wrenching job of being asked to identify the remains of their loved ones. These are people who investigators say were stabbed and hacked to death after gunmen burst into that cafe (inaudible) explosive.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack. There's a website showing pictures of the militants who ISIS purported carried out the attack. It also shows pictures of what they identify as the hostages -- saying that, some of them (inaudible). It certainly suggests that the people who were carrying out this horrific attack were in communication with others on the outside.

Again, this phone apparently showing victors who are going to be killed uploaded on that site more than an hour and half before 13 hostages were rescued alive. We've been at the crime scene this morning, it's still heavily guarded. Investigators try to comb through evidence, there's also been the arrival of a Japanese government official, Italians citizens, Japanese citizens were among those were killed. Family members are arriving in Dhaka now to identify remains of loved ones and also to collect those remains. Christi?

PAUL: All right, Alexandra Field, thank you.

BLACKWELL: An Arizona teenager is being held without bond for allegedly conspiring to commit terror acts against buildings in Tucson and Phoenix. Authorities say they arrested 18-year-old Mahin Khan, is not related to the 4th of July holiday. Now the court records are sealed so the exact nature of the charges is not yet known. Our spokesman for the Arizona attorney general says there was no treat to the public.

PAUL: In Baghdad the death toll from two car bombs has risen to 80. ISIS has taken credit for the first blast that ripped through a busy commercial district. The second bomb went off in an outdoor market. No one has claimed responsibility for that thus far.

Still ahead, today we are hearing from residents in a Florida beach town who are outraged. And they're protesting now, this is all about toxic algae polluting their beaches.

BLACKWELL: And the race to be V.P. in full swing of course, but Newt Gingrich has some people wondering if he's undermining Donald Trump as he's being vetted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Trump's job is frankly to quit screwing up, get the election on to three or four big issues, all of which come down to a single concept, enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:53] GINGRICH: The number one definition of the vice president's job is the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

GINGRICH: So who knows? I mean, some presidents give a lot of power to vice presidents. At least Trump has said over and over, he needs a vice president who understands Washington, because he knows he doesn't. Well, if he really means that, who knows, and if he really means it. Again, people often maneuver a lot. I suspect if it did come to anything, we'd have to have a very, very long talk and then depending on that talk -- have to sit down with Donald and have another long talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, it's vice presidential vetting season. That was Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, weighing in on what he calls, wild speculation that he could be Donald Trump's pick for V.P.

PAUL: Also on Trump's short list, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, he actually spent yesterday morning with the presumptive Republican candidate to -- they spent time at a Trump golf course in New Jersey, and well know lots of business is done on golf courses.

BLACKWELL: Indeed it is. For the Democrats, the Sunday talk shows ...

(OFF-MIC) ... who's Clinton's vice presidential chatters. Senators Corey Booker, Sherrod Brown, Representative Xavier Becerra, labor secretary as well. All appearing on the networks today, all rumored to be on Clinton's list.

PAUL: So, let's talk about it now. Scottie Nell Hughes and A. Scott Bolden back with us. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Listen Scottie, I want to listen here, all of us together to more of Newt Gingrich had to day yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Everything the Clinton campaign is doing to suppress Trump will in the short run suppress Trump because he's not trying. If she was to spend $32 million in key states, she's going to look much better next week in the polls in those key sates. It has no meaning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So he is basically repeating Trump's line that Trump doesn't understand Washington, but then went further to say Trump has to, "Quit screwing up." Does a comment like that, does it undermine a candidate?

HUGHES: I don't know about undermine but sometimes I feel like I'm listening to Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" when I'm listening to Newt Gingrich talk about Mr. Trump. On one week he's absolutely in love with him, on the other week he's criticizing him. And, I have a lot of respect. I was a huge fan of Newt when he ran for president before.

But I think he's got to start in being consistent with your message, but at the same time, I get give Newt credit. He's not compromising his own personality just to get a job. He's not pandering to the presidential candidate we have seen others do. He also went onto slam Joe Biden, I think that's where that funeral comment is, thinking -- saying he feels like President Biden obviously could have set up his role as V.P. candidate. So he wants to have a very active role.

I think either way you're going to see Newt Gingrich a part of the Trump administration. Governor Mike Pence though, that is a very interesting figure that has entered the race and has entered the name. A lot of conservatives are very excited about him. They want him to do kind of what Sarah Palin did to John McCain back in 2008, when nobody really honestly -- didn't necessarily have the name recognition, didn't necessarily have the state, but she got that -- solidified that conservative base. And a lot of people are excited about people like Governor Mike Pence. Both within the establishment and the conservatives could really be excited about a Trump-Pence ticket.

PAUL: All right, Cory Booker is another name floating around out there, Scott. And I want to give you a quick preview of what we're going to hear from him a little bit later on State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two weeks ago you said you were not being vetted to be Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate. Is that still the case of you? Has your staff provided any personal documents to the Clinton campaign?

SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D) NEW JERSEY: You know at this point, I've answered this question, talked about this. I'm just referring questions about the best vice presidency, but the woman that's going to have to make this decision should talk to the Hillary Clinton campaign, but what I do know is that on the Democratic side, there are many fabulous candidates. People that could really be strong ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is not a no sir, that is not a no.

BOOKER: That is exactly what it is. It's telling you, if you have a question like that, please direct it to the Clinton campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All righty, so Scott, do you believe that Booker has enough appeal to bring some of those Sanders supporters let's say, that may have been hesitant to come to Clinton's side?

BOLDEN: Well absolutely. He is an inspiring rising star in the Democratic Party. He's telogenic, he's smart, he inspires the base. Latino voters are going to be very important to the Democrats. He speaks Spanish. The Bernie Sanders group, the progressives, he checks that off. And quite frankly, energizing the base and not just getting support of Latino voters and African-American voters but energizing them to come out in major droves on Election Day is going to be super important.

He does that actually, and I think he would be an ideal vice president candidate to support Clinton, especially with the young people and young women as well. So, he checks a lot of those boxes. And him referring questions to the candidate, that's not a no for sure, and that's something that suggests he's being seriously vetted and reviewed by the Clinton campaign.

PAUL: All righty, A. Scott Bolden and Scottie Nell Hughes, we appreciate it so much. Thank you for being here.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

HUGHES: Sure.

PAUL: Now the veepstakes, they are heating up. You just heard what Cory Booker was saying the New Jersey Senator joins State of the Union for an exclusive interview. There is more of what he said that you'll hear then. Also, Trump's running mate, will he announce next week as we have heard it could happen? Watch State of the Union this morning at 9:00 eastern on CNN.

BLACKWELL: For this weekend, we've talked about the people in Florida, upset over this toxic algae bloom now hugging the coastline and keeping tourists away. We've now learn the contamination may have killed one of those prized manatees. Jennifer Gray has the report.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Victor, that's right. They did pull a dead manatee out of the water yesterday in this area. It is here and it is here to stay. People are furious, nearly 5,000 residents came together yesterday in protest of this and we'll have a full report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: 4th of July weekend and Florida beaches normally are crowded with vacationers on this weekend. Instead, some are crowding with local residents who are furious with state and federal officials for allowing a toxic algae bloom to ruin their beaches, drive away the tourist.

[06:25:09] Also, you should know, a young manatee was found dead in the canal near the algae bloom, although right now it's not known yet why it died. The beach town of Stuart is getting the worst of it. Our Jennifer Gray is there for us this morning. And Jennifer, I've been watching you in the preview monitor, God bless you because I know the mosquitos -- having lived in that community, the mosquitoes at this hour, near the water are a terror.

GRAY: Thank got for off -- yeah the mosquitos are bad, the flies are loving this disgusting stuff and it smells so bad. At least yesterday we had a little bit of a breath, today we don't and it smells about five times worse. It makes your eyes burn. It feels like someone is sitting on your chest. As my producer said, he stated it perfectly, but look at this. This is disgusting. And it's crowding in the canals, in the rivers all over this part of the state. Four counties under a state of emergency.

Residents are furious. Nearly 5,000 people from this area came together on the beach yesterday and joined in arms spelling out the words buy the land. And that's in reference to an amendment they voted to pass to buy some land south of Lake Okeechobee to store this water that they're releasing out of Lake Okeechobee with all the pollutants and the fertilizers from the sugar industries and all the agriculture industries. They are trying to urge lawmakers to stand up and wake up and see what is happening.

The Governor has not come down to tour the area. Senator Marco Rubio did though on Thursday. And he said that he was going to try his best to try to get some answers for folks around here and try to just create some resolutions fast.

I did have a representative from the sugar industry call me late last night, and he was saying that even if the land is not going to be able to put a reservoir on it because of a lease for ten years and so it is getting mixed up in the big political realm guys and it's become a huge mess, and the people and the wildlife here in Florida are suffering for it.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, a huge mess down there and a lot of mixed up in the red tape. I want to ask you what we have not discussed this morning. People can see what it looks like. What they can't appreciate is the smell of this algae bloom. Give us an idea of another sense of what's happening there.

GRAY: Well, it's hard to put in words what it smells like. Maybe Don or Keith out here with me can help me, but I did see someone on social media yesterday describe it as imagine sticking your head in a trash can of rotted meat and cat litter and multiply that times 10. And I would agree with that, that maybe even an understatement. I mean, porta potty, it smells like that, smells like raw sewage, it looks like raw sewage. Any horrible thing you can think of, that's what it smells like all mixed together.

So, it's horrible, I mean Florida depends on their fishing industry, their tourism industry brings in billions of dollars, combined about $75 billion a year. And so, this got to be fixed, people need answers and they need them quick. And so, hopefully things can get done soon.

BLACKWELL: Beautiful part of the state, hopefully there's some resolution soon there for the folks in the tourism industry.

Jennifer Gray, thanks so much.

GRAY: Yeah.

PAUL: Hillary Clinton questioned for more than three hours by the FBI yesterday. And now the timing of what's coming next is going to be crucial for her campaign.

BLACKWELL: Plus, Vice President Joe Biden giving Newt Gingrich a pretty hard time. Tongue in cheek here. Over speculation that he's on top of Trump's V.P. list.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I like to ask one question before I begin. Newt, are you going to do it? That's OK. That's all I want to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All righty, and mortgage rates slightly dropped this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:01] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. We're so glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell.

31 minutes after the hour now. Top story this Saturday. Terror in Bangladesh.

The stand-off at a cafe is now over, but with 20 people left dead. All of them foreigners. At least 13 hostages were rescued. And this happened, as you heard in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, just a mile from the U.S. Embassy.

Seven terrorists attacked the bakery in one of the city's upscale neighborhoods. They targeted -- they target, rather, on Friday, the holiest day of the week in Islam, at a time when Muslims would be breaking their fast to Ramadan. Six attackers were killed with one taken alive.

PAUL: A terrorism expert Sajjan Gohel joining us now from Tokyo.

So, John, as you are watching this whole thing unfold. We know that ISIS has claimed responsibility. But officials, especially here in the U.S. have some real skepticism about that. Do you have that same skepticism and why?

SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Well, Christi, it's interesting as to the potential culprits. Because al Qaeda, ISIS, they compete for recruitment, for resources, even the ability to orchestrate attacks.

And in Bangladesh, over the last year, they have been literally fighting hard with each other who can kill more in this very war, the game of terrorism.

Now both have a presence in Bangladesh, through the affiliates, their proxies that operate there. They've all carried out various attacks on a small scale. Whoever has done it this time has raised the scale substantially in terrorism. We'll have to wait and see. ISIS is claiming responsibility, but that could be opportunistic.

PAUL: Well, if al Qaeda -- if this is the work of al Qaeda, wouldn't al Qaeda want to claim responsibility? Or, would they allow ISIS to claim responsibility, thinking, OK, now the retaliation is on them?

GOHEL: That's a really important point that you raised. Ultimately, if an al Qaeda affiliate has carried out this attack and they feel that the lime light has been taken away by ISIS quickly trying to seize the narrative, then al Qaeda will come out very strongly to say that they were behind this.

It's interesting how ISIS claimed responsibility. They did it through their news agency, Amaq. That tends to be used for the spontaneous, inspired attacks that take place.

So, for example, the Orlando nightclub shootings or the incident in France where the French police chief was killed. Usually when ISIS directs an attack, they do it through their telegraph accounts to claim responsibility, not through Amaq.

PAUL: You just mentioned Orlando. Just in the last three weeks, we've had Orlando, Istanbul and now this. Do these attacks inspire more attacks? Is this what we should be expecting in the next several weeks, months, years?

[06:35:03] GOHEL: All of these attacks have taken place during Ramadan. And if we look at ISIS in particular, the head of their external operations, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani call for his followers to carry out during Ramadan wherever they maybe. And in addition to Orlando, France, Bangladesh, also Turkey and Jordan and Yemen, we know that ISIS has been trying to thought as many terrorist attacks as it can, while at the same time, it loses territory in Syria and in Iraq.

So almost as an act of desperation, they try and call their way back by seizing the narrative.

And also, we should not forget al Qaeda, too. They have a strong presence in South Asia especially in places like Bangladesh.

PAUL: Sajjan Gohel, we so appreciate your expertise here. Thank you for sharing.

GOHEL: Pleasure.

PAUL: And we're going to continue, of course, to bring you some new images that we're getting and the video from that hostage standoff in Dhaka.

Check out the latest on our Web site CNN.com.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Two dozen people are now in police custody as investigators try to learn more about the Istanbul attackers.

Turning to that attack now, a Russian terrorist has been identified as the man who directed the attacks. Ahmed Chatayev has been tied to Jihadist activities before, but officials are not sure where he is now.

44 people were killed. Another 230 injured. The attackers opened fire at the airport and then detonated suicide vests.

The attacks on the airport in Istanbul this week and Brussels, back in March, I should say, will be on people's minds as they pack up and catch their flights this weekend. But U.S. officials say security has improved the travel hubs this year.

This is the size of the security machine at our nation's busiest airport, Atlanta, 178 armed police officers. That's just at Hartsfield-Jackson. O'Hare in Chicago, same number of armed airport cops, and to that 260 unarmed airport police, their presence there huge.

And here's L.A.X., more than 570 armed officers assigned to that airport.

Now the secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson at a Senate hearing this week said security is beefed up all over the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Since Brussels, we have enhanced security at airports around the nation. Since the Brussels attack in March, our TSA Viper teams have been more visible at airports and at transit centers, generally.

The American public should expect to see this July 4th weekend, an enhanced security presence at airports, train stations and other transit centers across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And it's not just travel centers as well, where you're going to see more security. Other soft targets like amusement parks, stadiums, they are all going to be encompassed in all of that as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we're into the holiday weekend now.

Rene Marsh is taking a closer look at airport security following the recent terror attacks abroad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The threat to so-called soft areas at airports make the long wait time seen across the country not only an inconvenience, but a security concern.

Following the Istanbul attacks, some U.S. airports have ramped up security at their perimeters.

In New York and New Jersey, officers are equipped with tactical weapons. In Miami in Atlanta, there is an increased police presence.

In the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for airport checkpoints. CNN has learned the agency has discussed options to extend its security reach.

The idea is widening the security presence that could begin at the entrance or even the parking lot. But former DHS official, Juliette Kayyem, says that would not be effective.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER DHS OFFICIAL: Certainly you could extend the security ten miles away from an airport and guess what, the vulnerability will be at mile 10.1. And so you know, at some stage, we just have to accept a level of vulnerability given the threat that we have today.

MARSH: Because Istanbul's airport has several direct flights to and from the United States, DHS requires strict screening procedures comparable to U.S. standards. The head of the TSA told CNN in May if those rules are not followed flights could be prohibited.

(on camera): How often do you go over to check up on these airports?

PETER NEFFENGER, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: If we have a reason of concern, it can be as frequently as every week and then if you got a reason that you trust, it can be less frequent than that.

MARSH: But regardless of the standard and police presence, it is impossible to eliminate all airport vulnerabilities.

Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) [06:40:05] PAUL: All right. In our next hour, we're checking in with Sara Ganim. She's live at New York's Penn Station, another area that people are a little bit concern about security this weekend.

BLACKWELL: Sure. Sure. A lot of people hitting the roads. And listen to this, autopilot gone terribly wrong. Investigators now looking into a deadly crash.

Next, why autonomous driving is now under more scrutiny.

Also, record flooding is prompting record spending. Look at what is left in West Virginia. Homes washed away.

New details, we've learn now, about the multimillion-dollar cleanup of those devastated communities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Can you imagine getting a call like that in your neighborhood in the middle of the night? A gas line exploded about 3:30 this morning outside Detroit. And that is the result.

Fire and flames shooting into the sky. The fire department in Melvindale evacuated the North West side of the city. Now we are not aware of how many people in the town of 10,000 were told to leave their homes. We just know they were evacuated. Our affiliate reporting now that it happened after a car smashed and hit a gas main. But we do understand that fire is now out.

BLACKWELL: So federal authorities are now looking into a fatal crash involving a Tesla autopilot. Regulators are now trying to figure out what went wrong here.

PAUL: Yes, take a look from last year. This is, I believe, you're going to see here, Joshua Brown. He's the man that was killed in that accident. There he is. He is giving a demo of how the autopilot works here.

Christina Alesci has the details on Brown's crash. And the questions that are being raised now.

CHRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Christi, a cloud over autonomous driving. We've heard warnings about the dangers of this technology and more importantly how it's used for years.

This makes it real. Here's what happened. A tractor trailer was making a left turn in front of the Tesla and the autopilot system didn't recognize the trailer because of its height and the white color against the bright sky.

Now the system never triggered the break and neither did the driver. The car slid under the trailer killing the driver.

Now Tesla is taking this very seriously. Expressing sadness.

40-year-old Joshua Brown died in the accident. And he was a Tesla enthusiast. He made YouTube videos while driving the car.

Here's one of him showing how autopilot works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:45:00] JOSHUA BROWN, TESLA ENTHUSIAST: If you don't take control, the car starts to brake and stuff. I've already done some testing with that, and yes, it definitely starts to abruptly slow down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now Tesla wants to put this all into contacts saying it's the first fatality in 130 millions miles of using autopilot. It's also making the point that drivers really should keep their hands on the wheel at all times, but the software does not require hands-on constantly.

Now Tesla says that it tells customers the technology is still in Beta, which means it's in development. But experts are already taking issue with the company. They're saying if the system has any kind of blind spot, drivers should not be allowed to use it especially at high speeds. It's one of the reasons the government is now investigating the accident.

And the main issue for many critics, at the end of the day, is that these features lull people into a false sense of security. After all, it's easy to reach over and get something from the backseat or to check your text messages really quickly.

Just to put this into context for the industry, the quest for self- driving cars has been a race for automakers in tech companies. They believe firmly it will improve safely and reduce the number of deaths on the road.

And, also, by the way, they really want to get people excited about buying new cars. In fact, the government is planning to release rules for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads just this summer. And it's unclear how this accident will impact that process.

Christi?

Victor?

BLACKWELL: Thanks so much.

You know, we were watching that and Tesla says you should keep your hands on the steering wheel during the autopilot. The question then is, what is the point, if you hold on to the wheel? And I'm sure someone at home said it, too.

We're going to have an expert on later this morning who has driven the car, understands the autopilot feature and can answer that question for us. So stay with us for that.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Yes, we'll have that conversation later.

BLACKWELL: So, one week later, the devastating flooding still impacting West Virginia.

Look at this.

It's going to take a long time to clean up after this. The damage in the tens of millions. And that doesn't even cover all of the repairs. We've got details on the state's recovery. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00] PAUL: Remember these devastating images? Historic flooding pummelling West Virginia and it racked up millions of dollars in damages.

We're finally getting the numbers here from last week's floods. And remember, more devastating, it killed 26 people and 1600 homes, we understand, washed away. Another 4,000 suffering severe damaged. 125 businesses destroyed. The grand total for repairs -- more than $36 million. And that just covers road damage.

Now the state has to rebuild, obviously.

BLACKWELL: Yes, both temporary employees and volunteers are helping local rescue and emergency teams clean up the debris. And the mayor of one community is helping to pick up the pieces and keep her town together.

Here's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's a 69-year-old, 5 foot powerhouse. Most folks in Rainelle, population of just 1500 call her Andy, or for the last 5 years, mayor.

MAYOR ANDREA PENDLETON, RAINELLE, WEST VIRGINIA: She's my right-hand man when I made something, right, Lt. Boriam (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.

PENDLETON: Oh my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's the mayor. That's for sure.

SAVIDGE: She is definitely in charge. The flash floodwaters went right down Main Street, wiping out her town's commercial district. Ask her how many businesses were lost, her math is simple.

PENDLETON: I just know it's every business.

SAVIDGE: It's every business?

PENDLETON: It's every business. SAVIDGE: Now at gas station, on the edge of town, is the police department, fire department and town hall. The parking lot next door, the medical center.

(on-camera): I see tetanus shots, how many have you done of those?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 2,000 so far.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): At the Pizza Hut, they are handing out food and cleaning supplies.

You get donated clothing at the old Magic Mart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you volunteering today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma'am.

SAVIDGE: Five people died in Rainelle. She knew each victim, personally.

Even before the flood in the town, it had seen better days. Factory and coal mining jobs are memories.

(on-camera): This town was already, what, down on its luck?

PENDLETON: Yes. Not down, you know, just didn't look good.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): After a disaster like this, the town can usually fall apart. You realize Mayor Andy is the glue keeping it together.

Helping a woman track down a missing family member.

PENDLETON: (INAUDIBLE)

SAVIDGE: Or getting medical help for another person suddenly taken ill.

PENDLETON: Call 911. She's passing out.

SAVIDGE: She gives orders and hugs in equal amounts.

And seems an unstoppable optimist, until the walk in the ruins of the town she's lived in and loved her whole life.

PENDLETON: You get me down here, and I'm not quite as positive as I am up there.

SAVIDGE (on-camera): Why is that?

PENDLETON: Because it looks so bad, doesn't it?

SAVIDGE (voice-over): At the last business flooded, the town's funeral home, she asked a young woman to pull a picture from the ruins. A photo of the town from better days.

(on-camera) So what do you feel looking at that now?

PENDLETON: Sad.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Andy was a businesswoman before she was the mayor. She knows how hard, even impossible it may be for many businesses here to rebuild.

PENDLETON: We're taking donations.

SAVIDGE: But there's no time for sorrow, she's off again. A mayor on a mission, bound and determined to see her town survive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: I have the feeling that woman can do it.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. She says there's no time for sorrow. Got to get back to work. And that's an amazing slogan there. A town built to carry on.

PAUL: Yes. Wishing them the very best.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Martin, for that story.

PAUL: Well, yesterday, it was payday for some highly sought after NBA players.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: (INAUDIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Well, I'm betting you would like to have one of their chances.

BLACKWELL: Yes. One of their chances will be great.

PAUL: Well, Rashan, talking about the free agent frenzy.

RASHAN ALI, CNN SPORTS: Yes. Well, team honors it more than $1.5 billion of talent yesterday, including the richest deal in league history. But the two biggest names on the market still don't have contracts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:05] BLACKWELL: Well, the wheeling and dealing is under way in the NBA.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: (INAUDIBLE), please.

PAUL: What?

BLACKWELL: Tell me, it wasn't written to rhyme. I hate rhyming on TV.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Maybe you should write your own.

BLACKWELL: I know. Burn. Burn.

PAUL: OK, what we're talking about are incredible amounts of money. Maybe if we were unscripted, we'd make one. I don't know. We do actually write.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: We do some things. However, Rashan Ali is here in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Just talk about some money. Most of us can only dream about.

(CNN SPORTS NEWS)

PAUL: And listen, there is an awful lot of news we're talking about this morning.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

CNN ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."