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Dallas Police Ambush; Obama Seeks Stability in Brexit; Turnbull Declares Victory in Australia; Police Shooting Aftermath; France Versus Portugal in Euro 2016 Final. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired July 10, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I tell my kids that I have a dangerous job and that someday I may not come home. I'm a realist. I'm not going to put pink clouds in the sky and tell them that everything's going to be all right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a black man in America, you -- we have to figure out how to survive.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Uncertain, anxious times in the United States. We'll hear from people talking about their experiences amid mounting protests and tensions after the killings of two African American men and five Dallas police officers.
President Barack Obama urges calm and even speaks optimistically about race relations in the U.S. during a trip in Europe.
Plus France and Portugal get ready to determine the football champions of Europe.
This is the day. Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world, I'm Natalie Allen in Atlanta.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And I'm George Howell, following events live here in Dallas, Texas.
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HOWELL: Good day to you.
There was yet another scare here in Dallas, right here at the police headquarters behind me. Thankfully, what happened here was uneventful.
Authorities gave an all-clear after police searched the parking garage attached to this building Saturday, after getting a report of a suspicious person. No suspects were found.
But police say they are tightening security throughout the city because of an anonymous threat that was received.
Meanwhile the President of the United States, Barack Obama, will be returning from a European trip early to visit Dallas. He says that the U.S. is not as divided as some might have suggested.
But in contrast to that, in the state of Minnesota, police have made some arrests of protesters after clashes that happened earlier. At least five officers were injured by thrown objects, though none seriously.
So, again, we've seen these clashes between police and protesters, Saturday night into this morning. Let's go now live to St. Paul, Minnesota. CNN Brynn Gingras is there live for us this hour.
And, Brynn, just to talk about the situation there. It seems that it was very tense just the other night.
What's happening now?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's still tense, George. I want to show you right now, we're looking at a number of SWAT members right here, blocking a street. And as we kind of pan further down this street, you can see a bus .
Inside that bus, a number of people arrested from not too long ago, just a few hours ago. Now to tell you how many people are in that bus, it's unclear. But I can tell you this is the second bus that we've seen loaded with people in handcuffs.
What I'm being told is that this was a second protest of the night. This one started at the governor's mansion and then worked its way down to where we are, which is only a few blocks away.
And from witnesses I've talked to here on the scene, they tell me that they were sort of barricaded in by the police officers. It was going pretty respectfully and then, all of a sudden, a mother told me, she got a call from her daughter, who said, Mom, it looks like I'm going to get arrested because there is a gun in my face and I'm going to be loaded onto a bus and brought to jail.
So that's the sort of situation we're hearing about from witnesses at this point. Now, George, this could be a possible reaction to the protests that you were just referencing from earlier this night. And those definitely got very tense as well. Those, again, also, about 7:30 this evening, started at the governor's mansion.
And a crowd of about 200 protesters marched down the street and actually stopped traffic on a highway. The highway, a major highway between the Twin Cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis, had to be shut down for about five hours with officers on the street, as well as protesters chanting at them.
We have some video, too, where actually we're told by St. Paul police that fireworks were being thrown at the officers, that bricks, construction material, a number of things were being thrown at the officers.
And also the officers, we're told, had to use smoke bombs to disperse that crowd. We were told by St. Paul police about more than a dozen calls for dispersing were made and that didn't happen. And so smoke bombs needed to be used.
So certainly it's definitely gotten tense here in St. Paul. This is the first time I can say I've been here since everything that's happened with Philando Castile. This is the first time it has gotten tense. It's been rather peaceful, four days of protesting.
But today it's definitely a different story -- George.
HOWELL: Brynn Gingras, live on the scene there, showing us police officers in their gear, dealing with a protest situation that, obviously, police have been dealing with now for several hours.
Brynn, thank you. Be safe and we'll stay in touch with you.
Again, law enforcement across the United States remains on edge after the mass shooting.
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HOWELL: The killing of five police officers here in Dallas. In San Antonio, Texas, police say that multiple shots were fired at their police headquarters late Saturday. That department's police chief says bullet marks were found on the walls of the police headquarters and shell casings nearby. Thankfully, no one hurt there.
Authorities are now looking for a suspect seen fleeing that area. This after, as we mentioned earlier, here in Dallas, police searched the headquarters of the building here, the parking garage, after a report of a suspicious person.
No suspects were found but police say they are tightening security because of the anonymous threat that was received. CNN's Stephanie Elam has more on that for us.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some tense time outside of Dallas police headquarters after there was reports of a suspicious person in the police officer parking lot.
Not wanting to take any chances, the police officers cordoned off an area around the building and were going floor by floor looking to see if there was anyone suspicious found. No one was found.
And then as an extra precaution, they went back with canine units to make sure there was nothing there. After the all clear, we did see that police officers opened up the streets and cleared out the area.
But while this was going on, there were some tense moments. Police officers were positioned at different parts throughout the area. We saw media being pulled back away from that memorial that we have seen of the two police cars in front of Dallas headquarters here, Dallas police headquarters.
But at this point, the streets have been reopened and, luckily, for this very devastated community here and this devastated police department, this turned out to just be a hoax of a threat -- Stephanie Elam, CNN, Dallas.
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HOWELL: Stephanie, thank you.
The Dallas mayor had some very strong words on Saturday while placing flowers at a memorial for the slain officers. Mike Rawlings commented about healing and the role that race played in the killings. Police say that the shooter, who killed those five police officers, Micah Xavier Johnson, that he told them that he wanted to kill white officers. This, after the highly publicized slaying of two African American men by the hands of police in separate incidents in Minnesota and Louisiana.
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MIKE RAWLINGS, MAYOR OF DALLAS: Guys, guys, guys, this is crazy --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- on healing words --
RAWLINGS: -- this is -- I've been talking as much healing as is in my body. OK. So it's all about race. It's all about race. And let's get over it. Build a bridge and let's get over it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the --
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RAWLINGS: I've spoken enough.
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HOWELL: The Dallas Police Department defending their decision to use a bomb attached to a robot to kill the man behind Thursday's ambush. They say the robot was the safest option to kill that suspect during a standoff and that it was used as a last resort.
My colleague, Ed Lavandera, has the very latest now on what we're learning about the gunman and how he was killed.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Micah Johnson unleashed this vicious attack on Dallas police officers, he spent six years in the U.S. Army. Authorities says his movements during the ambush suggest skilled military-style training. Investigators say they found in Johnson's home a journal of combat tactics.
RAWLINGS: He was very astute in how to maneuver his car around to make sure he had the high ground in the situation.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Johnson served a tour of duty in Afghanistan but CNN has learned that deployment was cut short because Johnson was accused of sexual harassment. It wasn't a criminal case but an administrative complaint.
Not long after, in April of 2015, Johnson would leave the Army and return to his home town of Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't want you knocking on the doors anymore. Please back up to the sidewalk.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Johnson's family has refused to speak publicly about the shootings. Friends and neighbors have described a mixed picture of Johnson. Some say he loved weapons, which investigators removed from his home. But those friends say Johnson was not a violent person before this attack.
Some say he was reclusive, others say he was outgoing and friendly. But Dallas police say one of the last emotions he expressed before being killed in the standoff was his hatred of white people.
DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE CHIEF: The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Micah Johnson's Facebook page shows links to various black empowerment groups, some highly controversial, like the African American Defense League, which espoused in its writings, "We are calling on the gangs across the nation, attack everything in blue."
But there didn't appear to be any direct examples of Johnson harboring such hatred for white people. Investigators are looking at his relationships. He served in the military with white soldiers.
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): His parents were divorced. Neighbors tell us he lived in this house with his mother and that his father remarried a white woman.
He worked for a home health care facility called Touch of Kindness. The owner tells CNN he was paid to care for his younger autistic brother. These are the threads of Micah Johnson's life that investigators are examining to unravel the hideous motives behind the ambush that left five police officers dead -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
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HOWELL: That's the background on the gunman.
But, Natalie, not to overshadow the fact that these five police officers, these people who would go into work every day, risk their lives, that that day they did not come home. That is the story here in Dallas -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Absolutely. It's very tragic it's very mysterious about why this man snapped the way he did. Thank you, George.
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ALLEN (voice-over): U.S. President Barack Obama will be leaving Europe and heading back to the U.S. early because of the tragedy in Dallas. He's in Spain right now for a quick visit after attending the NATO summit in Poland. That summit was largely dominated by the shootings and Brexit.
That's Mr. Obama being greeted by the king of Spain. Mr. Obama spoke three times throughout the week about gun violence in the U.S. and said real change takes time.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We cannot let the actions of a few define all of us. More than anything, what I hope is that my voice has tried to get all of us, as Americans, to understand the difficult legacy of race, to recognize that, you know, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination didn't suddenly vanish with the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act or the election of Barack Obama.
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ALLEN: The president's trip to Spain makes him the first U.S. president to make an official visit to the country in 15 years. For the latest on his trip let's go to Erin McLaughlin. She is live for us in Madrid.
A beautiful day there; the president's trip will be quick but it's important for the people there in Spain. Hi, Erin.
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Natalie. And President Obama this morning was greeted by the king of Spain at the palace. They gave brief remarks to the media, in which they both emphasized the strong alliance that exists between the United States and Spain, President Obama also recalling with his fondness the days of his youth just before law school, when he went backpacking across the country.
He noted, that at the time, he ate cheaply and traveled mostly by foot. Never did he imagine that one day he would be received by the king.
Now it is a trip, though, that is going to be cut short. He is no longer stopping in Seville due to the tragic events that unfolded in Dallas. He thanked the king for understanding the reasons for why the trip is going to be abbreviated. He will also be stopping, nevertheless, at a U.S. naval station in
Rota and he will also be meeting with the interim prime minister here in Spain before departing back for the United States -- Natalie.
ALLEN: It's been a quick and a busy trip for him. Of course, it all started in Warsaw at the NATO summit.
What was the theme coming out of that meeting, Erin?
MCLAUGHLIN: That's right, Natalie. At the NATO summit, we also heard a lot from President Obama as well as other NATO leaders there about the importance of unity, unity when it comes to the response to perceived Russian aggression, European leaders there reiterating the extension for sanctions against Russia, also the deployment of four NATO battalions to Baltic states as well as to Poland.
And it is in Poland that the United States will be leading the effort there in particular. They also discussed unity in the face of Brexit, something that we know that European leaders, as well as the United States, very concerned about.
President Obama there calling for the process, any sort of negotiations, to not be punitive, to have respect for both sides and really focus on the new relationship that's going to be forming between the United Kingdom and the European Union as a result of that referendum.
So themes of unity coming out of that NATO summit. But at the same time, there are divisions among European leaders on how to address these issues, something that they're going to have to look at very carefully going forward.
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ALLEN: Thank you, Erin McLaughlin for us in Madrid.
We will go back to Dallas in just a moment. The family of Alton Sterling wants justice. We'll hear from the woman who says she forgives the officers who shot her son's father.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Some more news from around the world for you.
Australia's federal election finally has a clear winner. It took a while. The country's opposition Labor Party has conceded defeat, clearing the way for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to remain in office.
The vote counting will continue. But the Labor Party leader says Turnbull's National Party Coalition will secure enough seats to win. Turnbull says his new government will work with the opposition for the good of Australia.
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MALCOLM TURNBULL, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: I know that Mr. Shorten said earlier today that he looked forward to seeking to reach common ground. And I welcome that remark. I welcome that because it is vital that this parliament works.
It is vital that we work together and, as far as we can, find ways upon which we can all agree, consistent with our policies that we've taken to the election, consistent with our political principles, that meet the great challenges Australia faces.
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ALLEN: The election was held last Saturday but voting results were too close to call until now.
We want to go back now to Dallas, Texas, and the latest from George.
HOWELL: Natalie, thank you.
More now on the killing of two African American men killed by police here in the United States. The mothers of Philando Castile and Eric Garner say the Dallas shooting that killed five police officers will not bring the justice that they seek.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son was a humanitarian himself. And he loved life . And believed that all lives matters. And I thought it was a tragic thing that happened in Dallas. And my heart goes out to them as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then in Dallas, those shootings, those innocent police officers...
Why kill the innocent?
They're not the ones that shot your loved ones and they're not the ones who we're, you know, trying to get justice for. So we don't go down gunning down the innocent. We are about peace.
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HOWELL: And just --
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HOWELL: -- as we heard from those mothers, the family of Alton Sterling, you'll remember, the Louisiana man who was killed by police last week, wants justice for his death. CNN's Nick Valencia reports.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In one of her first sit-down interviews since the death of Alton Sterling, Quinyetta McMillon is still raw with emotion.
QUINYETTA MCMILLON, MOTHER OF STERLING'S CHILD: My heart is really heavy right now.
VALENCIA: Next to her, attorney Chris Turner, she speaks frankly to CNN about the killing of her child's father.
MCMILLON: Just from the little bit that I saw of footage, I felt like they could have approached him different. The words they used could have been different.
VALENCIA: CNN was told by a source with knowledge of the investigation, that it was a homeless man who made the 911 call against Sterling. The caller said Sterling was brandishing a gun outside the SSS convenience store. McMillan doesn't think that's how things started.
MCMILLON: I don't believe that there was a homeless man that asked for money and Alton didn't give it, because he was not that type of person. Alton would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
I do. And you know, every time I get kind of emotional, I think, you know, come through to me. Help me stand strong so I know the right things to say and do so that you can have justice. To me, justice is making sure everything is in order, making sure that the system that we have see what I see. And I want them to be in prison. I want them behind bars. I believe deep down in my soul justice will be served. I don't hate them. I dislike what they did. But I don't hate them.
VALENCIA: Hate, she says, won't bring Sterling back. But she will never be the same again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Alton Sterling's family, seeking justice for his death, an investigation presently under way.
Let's take a closer look now at the strained relationship between police departments and the African American community in the United States. My colleague, Amara Walker, spoke earlier with a former police officer and law professor at the University of South Carolina, about where he believes things stand now.
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SETH STOUGHTON, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: I can't conceive of a single act that would have further damaged police community relations. You see, like any relationship, we need police agencies and officers and communities to come together.
But when both feel like they're under attack and when those feelings are manifested, as we saw in Dallas, makes that relationship very, very difficult to keep stable, let alone to improve.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: So what needs to be done to improve that relationship, build the trust between, I guess, two sides? I don't want to paint it in that way but you know, how do you improve the situation?
STOUGHTON: Well, I think there are many things that need to happen. And I think we need a long time to do them. The situation that we're in now is not the result of a couple of incidents that happened overnight. It's the result of decades and decades of history. And I think it's going to take decades and decades to get us to where we need to be.
The first thing that both sides need to keep in mind is that they need to connect. They don't need to agree on everything. But they do need to come together and connect.
That means acknowledging and respecting positions that they don't necessarily agree with, from the Black Lives Matter movement or the Blue Lives Matter movement. Both of them have grievances that need to be addressed and that need to be respected by the other side before we can get the type of progress that I think we need.
WALKER: You're a professor. You talk to people all the time. You're interacting with the young people. Kind of give us a gauge of how people are feeling right now in this country.
You know, especially when you hear from President Obama, who says it's been extremely painful this week but he's reiterating, he said, quote, "I firmly believe America is not as divided as some have suggested."
But if you talk to people on the --
[05:25:00]
WALKER: -- outside who are looking in, looking at the United States, they're seeing a very divided America.
Is perception reality?
STOUGHTON: Yes, in many cases, perception is reality. But that should include the perception that I think is often overlooked in times like this, and that's the tendency for people to come together. We saw it after the shooting in the Charleston church. We're seeing it in the aftermath of the horrific attacks in Dallas.
Even groups and individuals that have strong disagreements with each other can come together as people, as humans, as Americans. So there is a lot of divisiveness. But I think that there is also a lot of core humanity that comes together in times like this.
WALKER: And just quickly, you end the article by saying that you're optimistic that things will get better.
Can you just expand on that before we close?
STOUGHTON: Sure. So over the last two years, we have seen police agencies start to take a new tack and get a new appreciation for community input. We have seen, yes, a lot of spotlight from the public on law enforcement but also a lot of involvement, also a lot of feedback from the community about what they expect from their law enforcement agencies.
And it's that working relationship that I think we're going to see more of and, hopefully, in an even improved tone in the coming years. So I am afraid but I am also very optimistic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Amara Walker's interview.
And, Amara, thank you.
At the same time the president's making those comments, we are still monitoring these protests that are playing out in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Natalie, back to you.
ALLEN: All right, George, we'll see you in just a moment.
Other world news for you coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.
What was once super typhoon Nepartak has been downgraded but look what it did. It continues to leave a path of destruction as it moves through Eastern China.
Also France gearing up for the Euro 2016 final against Portugal, just hours away. We're on the championship from Paris when we come back here. Please stay with us.
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ALLEN: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen at CNN Center in Atlanta. Thanks for staying with us.
HOWELL: And thank you for being with us. I'm George Howell, here live in Dallas, Texas, in a city that is certainly still on edge after that attack, an attack that killed five police officers Thursday.
And there was yet another scare again, here, in fact, where I'm standing here at Dallas police headquarters. For several hours, police searched a parking garage that's attached to the building here by -- after a report of a suspicious person.
The search didn't turn up any suspects but police say that they are tightening security throughout this city because of an anonymous threat that was received.
As for the man behind Thursday's ambush, the last known employer of Micah Xavier Johnson told CNN that he passed a criminal background check.
Johnson was a 25-year-old Army veteran and served in Afghanistan. While there, he was accused by a fellow soldier of sexual harassment. This according to a lawyer who represented Johnson in that case.
Now we have seen clashes between police and protesters Saturday night in to this morning in Minnesota. That is where dozens of people have been arrested and our Brynn Gingras is there on the phone, joining us live now in St. Paul.
Brynn, I want to ask you, so earlier in the hour you updated us to tell us that there were people who were detained, who were placed on a bus.
What is the situation from what you see now?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, those two buses that we saw a number of people getting loaded onto, those have now left the area where we were.
We're told about 50 people, George, were arrested during that particular protest and all of them now at a police department being processed.
Right now we've relocated to the governor's mansion, where both protests from this evening originated. And there's probably about 40 people or so, not protesting but sort of gathering. We're not sure if they'll take off again to another location and sort of continue to spread their message.
But it has been a very difficult night for both protesters and police. Earlier this evening was when the first protest by this group here started at about 7:30. That one lasted for several hours and ended up shutting down I-94, which is a major interstate between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and that one also had several clashes with police.
I talked to some of the people who were involved with that particular protest. They said they were teargassed. They said that they had smoke bombs sort of sent their way.
And the St. Paul police were also saying that they had fireworks thrown at them, bricks, concrete slabs, pieces of construction from an overpass of I-94. We're told five officers, by St. Paul police, were injured, not seriously.
But nonetheless, injured. So again, two separate protests that now have wrapped up but were very volatile at some point -- George.
HOWELL: CNN's Brynn Gingras, live and on the line in St. Paul, Minnesota. Brynn we wish you safety as you continue to follow the situation there, obviously still playing out early into the hours this morning.
Again, the attacks that happened here in Dallas, that attacker targeted police officers, who were protecting a peaceful protest that day, the marchers there demanding change after the killings of African American men at the hands of police officers.
And now many families in the United States, it is time for what is commonly referred to as "the talk." It is a crucial, it is a very difficult and important conversation that many African American families have with their children, explaining how to interact, explaining how to protect their lives if pulled over or questioned by police officers in this country.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared to sit my son down one day and say, they might not like you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to have children one day but I don't want to have a son because I don't want him to go through this police brutality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a little boy, a little black boy that's 1 years old and I fear for his future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a black man in America, you -- we have to figure out how to survive. You know, and the best way to do that is to have conversations about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They might look at you negative before they look at you positive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't play no loud music. Don't draw attention to yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they say turn around, turn around. Don't fight them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't reach for your pockets, don't reach for anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do what you can to keep yourself safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to watch what you say and what you wear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't wear your hoods.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just might be seen --
[05:35:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: as a criminal.
But you never done anything in your life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just yes, sir; no, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give them honest feedback and let them face-to- face. We're just talking. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to move my hand to the glove compartment, sir. I'm going to get what you ask me to get, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just put your hands up if you have -- it's -- they pull you to put your hands up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I'm saying is measured, it's calculated and it is thought out, without question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not us. You can't talk to them like they're us. You can't even reason with them like they are us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're already an African American male, you already stand out. So try your best to just fit in with everybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do we as black people stand together and say no more?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: So that is the talk that is had among many African American families.
At the same time, there is concern among U.S. police officers and their families. They're also speaking out. They say that with the growing hostility toward law enforcement across this country, they are worried even more now about their own safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a parent of a cop you're worrying about them all the time. It's a dangerous profession, one of the most dangerous jobs. Not too many jobs where you know when, bullets are being fired you have to run into it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm always, always thinking about my daughter and my nephew, every day. And any time I hear of a New York City police officer crashing their vehicle or getting shot at or getting shot, those are the first two calls that I make.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one wants their child or their significant other to get hurt in the line of duty. But it's just something that, you know, you learn to appreciate every day with them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband always tells me he became a police officer to protect the community. And if there ever was a time that he was killed in the line of duty, he did what he wanted to do, was to protect others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell my kids I have a dangerous job and that someday I may not come home. I'm a realist. I'm not going to put pink clouds in the sky and tell them that everything is going to be all right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to pray every single day for that boy. And I just pray that everybody else will be thinking about our officers throughout the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most officers are good people and they choose every day to walk away from their families and put their lives on the line, every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to protect everyone, my children, as well as someone else's children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are still good people. There are still good law enforcement officers out there. You know, but I'm proud of my husband and I'm proud of my daughter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: And important to keep in mind, when we talk about police officers, we're talking about people of all races, of all religions. These are people, though, who also have a great deal of authority. The concern that they have and the concern that some of these families have, that is the conversation, Natalie, that's being had to bridge that divide.
ALLEN: It's so important that we talk about it. It's so true. Thank you, George. We'll see you in a little bit.
In other news that we're following, a diplomatic spat is intensifying between Russia and the United States. Russian officials say they declared two American diplomats persona non grata after what they call an unfriendly move by the U.S.
That appears to be a reference to the U.S. expelling two Russian diplomats in June. The U.S. State Department says they were kicked out because a Russian policeman attacked a U.S. diplomat trying to enter the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
But Russian officials say the policeman was just trying to protect the embassy.
Tit-for-tat between the U.S. and Russia.
Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have retaken an airbase from ISIS near Mosul. At least 38 ISIS militants were killed in the operation. Al Qayyara is one of the biggest airbases in Iraq. Its recapture means it can be used in more missions against ISIS.
Iraqi forces retook the ISIS stronghold, Fallujah, just weeks ago. The Iraqi prime minister says his forces would eliminate ISIS in Mosul the same way, adding ISIS, quote, "fled like rats in the desert."
We'll be right back.
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ALLEN: We may sound like a broken record because we're often talking about drought conditions in California. But it goes on and it has fueled another ferocious wildfire in Southern California, forcing more people to have to get out of their homes.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with more. Thousands of people, people already lost their homes recently.
Is this a new fire?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is a new fire. This one is in L.A. County, Los Angeles County. And it's called the Sage fire. So this is in Santa Clarita, to be specific. About 800 acres have burned so far, 15 percent containment. We've got one of the latest images coming out of this area. It's just tough to see how quickly these fires spread. They're spot fires.
It doesn't take long for one of those little embers or ashes to float over to another location.
There were evacuations, thousands of people, mandatory evacuations, set to leave their home. But now they're allowed to actually come back to their homes, which is some good news for this particular area.
But, nonetheless, it has been an extensive and very busy, very active wildfire season so far over the Western United States. In fact, over 2 million acres have burned so far just this year in 2016.
A very well advertised drought taking place in California. We've all heard about it, almost five years strong now. We've got exceptional to extreme drought conditions, from San Diego to Los Angeles, as well as the Central Valley and into the Yosemite region.
But it's not only the Western U.S. that's getting in on some of the drought action. We're also talking about the Southeastern United States, right here, at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We've actually just entered into an extreme drought as well.
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VAN DAM: From the United States right to South Africa, this is close to my home, Natalie. I lived here for seven years.
ALLEN: There you are!
VAN DAM: We've got the World Surfing Competition taking place at J. Bay Super Tubes. Whoa, that is Nick Fanning. By the way, last year, same competition, he had a close encounter with a shark.
(CROSSTALK) ALLEN: Oh, that's the guy. Look at him, he's right back out there. No big deal.
VAN DAM: I know, tough. I wouldn't do that for anyone's money.
ALLEN: He's like, "Bring it, shark."
I wouldn't, either.
All right, Derek, thanks a lot. Thanks for ending on a high note, not a broken record. The heat keeps breaking records.
All right. We turn now to France, the home team set to face off against Portugal in the final of the Euro 2016 football championship. The national stadium outside Paris is set to host the match.
And our Amanda Davies is already there, on a beautiful day there in Paris.
And, Amanda, certainly the people there of Paris deserve to have this wonderful treat happen for them.
How's the atmosphere there?
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Natalie. The sun is shining. The flags are flying from the buildings we can see overlooking the stadium here.
There have been people queuing outside the shops on the Champs-Elysee, just to get their hands on the French shirts, the French scarves, the flags, just to be part of this, France's first major international tournament final since the World Cup in 2006, the first time they've been in the European championship final since they won it actually back in 2000.
This is the front page of one of the local papers, "Le Parisian," it says, "We want it," the picture of the trophy, Antoine Griezmann there; big star, Cristiano Ronaldo the big Portuguese star.
But we shouldn't forget, Natalie, that this isn't going to be a completely partisan French-backed crowd in this stadium behind us today because actually France has the biggest population from Portugal outside of Portugal than anywhere else in the world.
There's about 1 million Portuguese people based here in France. We've seen cars driving past that have both the Portuguese flag and the French flag with fans traveling from across France and, of course, from Lisbon here, to get here in the next nine hours or so before kickoff.
As one Portuguese fan put it to me, France had their turn in 1984 and 2000. Perhaps this might just be Portugal's turn.
But, as you were suggesting, this has been really tough time for not just the people of Paris, also the people of France, there's been the civil unrest, the strikes and, of course, there's that continued threat of terrorism.
This is a city in a state of emergency after those terror attacks here in November that killed 130. The Stade de France was one of the targets of the attacks that night. And the French team and their players are in absolutely no doubt what victory would mean.
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HUGO LLORIS, FRANCE GOALKEEPER (through translator): We've had some very tough times this year, tragic events that happened off the field. We're even prouder to be on the pitch, to really feel the entire French population behind us.
To feel this happiness shared between players and the French people, it gives us greater strength. It's lovely to see.
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DAVIES: I have to say, Natalie, there's no hint of any trouble or bad atmosphere as things stand. But they're taking no risks at all. There are going to be 3,400 security forces and police employed on the Champs-Elysee this evening.
There are an extra 4,000 or so that are also going to be here at the Stade de France and also at the fan zone underneath the Eiffel Tower. But all in all, everybody is just looking forward to what will hopefully be a fantastic soccer match.
ALLEN: You going to make a prediction?
Will France be able to best Portugal?
DAVIES: It's a very tough one to call, Natalie. France are undoubtedly the favorites. They have the team that has perhaps the most talented squad of all those that were here in France playing over the last 3.5 weeks or so. They, of course, beat the world champions, Germany, in the semifinals.
And Portugal haven't beaten France in 10 meetings. That dates all the way back to 1975. But Portugal are relishing their underdog status and, of course, they have Cristiano Ronaldo, a man who can turn a game on his own. And this is the one thing -- a major international title with Portugal -- he hasn't won.
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ALLEN: We'll wait and see what happens in just a few hours. And you'll be there for us, Amanda Davies. Thank you, Amanda. Enjoy your assignment today at the office.
Stay with CNN NEWSROOM. We'll go back to Dallas, Texas, in just a moment. And we'll look at how some are remembering those killed in this week's tragedy.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to Dallas, Texas. I'm George Howell and the scene behind me, this memorial that continues to grow, remembering these five police officers who were killed, two civilians who were injured and other officers who were injured as well.
CNN spoke with the husband of one woman, who was shot in the back of her leg and calf. Lavar Taylor told us he and his wife are overwhelmed but still are praying for the other victims.
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LAVAR TAYLOR, SHOOTING VICTIM: With all this craziness going on, I have to hold on tight and give them the example that that ain't the way we want to hold ourselves. We're better than that. And we don't -- we're not a -- violence don't do nothing but get us in the same circle.
So if -- it's just -- it's just -- I don't -- I'm -- I'm just overwhelmed with it all.
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HOWELL: Fair to say that this past week has been gut-wrenching for --
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HOWELL: -- so many people, people that are dealing with the pain of losing those five police officers, all in one night, killed protecting the people of the city of Dallas.
We want to now share with you some images of how those fallen heroes are being remembered.
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HOWELL: Those officers being remembered.
I'm George Howell live in Dallas Texas.
I'm Natalie Allen in Atlanta. Thank you for watching.
This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.
