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Obama to Attend Memorial in Dallas; GOP Platform Committee Meets; Dallas Police Use Robot; U.S. Troops Deploying to Iraq. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 11, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol today.

Tensions running high across the country right now. So much so, President Obama chose to cut short his trip to Europe and return to Washington last night. The president will try to calm fears and reassure the nation when he goes to Dallas tomorrow to speak at a memorial service for those five fallen officers. Our Athena Jones joins us now from the White House with more.

Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana.

Well, we're still awaiting more details of exactly what the president's day will look like when he travels to Dallas tomorrow, but we know he's going to be speaking at the interfaith memorial service. He'll be meeting with the families of the fallen officers. We also know that Vice President Biden is planning to attend that service, as is former President George W. Bush. They'll all be there at that interfaith memorial.

We expect the message from both of the presidents to certainly touch on unity, the need for unity, the need for people to come together at this time and not divide into the usual political divisions or corners. We've heard that from the president, even at the beginning of his trip. You know he was forced several times to address the goings on here at home while abroad in Poland and in Spain.

And from the very beginning, he's tried to strike a delicate balance between acknowledging the concerns and the real fears about racial disparities in law enforcement, but also saying that it's important to support police officers. In that very first post on FaceBook that he posted, even before appearing before the cameras over the weekend, he talked about saying that to admit we have a serious problem when it comes to racial disparities in no way contradicts or respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who are doing their job and doing it well. And so we expect him to try to continue to strike that delicate balance because, as you know, Ana, this president has come under fire and come under criticism from some who say that he hasn't done enough to support police officers. He's even been accused of being part of a war on cops. So that's part of the message he wants to give tomorrow and that Vice President Biden wants to delivered today, supporting the police when he meets with law enforcement leaders this afternoon.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Athena Jones, keep us posted as you learn more details about this memorial service tomorrow and the president's speech that he will be giving. Thank you.

Vice President Joe Biden, by the way, will also be attending that memorial tomorrow. Before then, though, he will be a guest on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper today. That is this afternoon at 4:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

And Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail today. He is heading to Virginia where the presumptive Republican nominee will talk about his plans for veterans reform. And Trump is expected to be joined by Chris Christie, whose name, as you know, has been rumored to be a potential VP pick. And that visit comes as the Republican Convention rules committee kicks off its first official day of meetings today with some notable shifts on a couple of hot button issues.

Joining us to discuss from Cleveland, the site of next week's convention, is CNN's Sara Murray.

And, Sara, in past election cycles, perhaps, not many have paid as much attention to what happens in these meetings. But this year is different, and in part because the anti-Trump contingent really has a final effort and final push that they're making through this rules committee.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Ana. This week tends to be a week of very wonky meetings that don't get a lot of attention. That is completely different this year. Of course, he's been covering for weeks this notion that there could be a delegate insurrection brewing, and that's the kind of thing we pay attention to in the rules committee, to see if they are able to get the kind of votes that they will need to unbind the delegates.

As of right now, that looks unlikely. But, of course, this has been an election year unlike any other. And one indication of that has been what we are already seeing coming out of the Republican platform committee. We've seen a first draft of what they're working on there, and there are some significant shifts in what we've seen from previous conventions, from previous GOP nominees.

And one of the biggest ones is a shift on how they talk about gay marriage in the early draft of this platform. It's no longer calling for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as -- between a man and a woman. Instead, it talks about how Republicans view marriage as between a man and a woman, but leaves it up to the state. So that's potentially, if it stays in there, a really big victory for LGBT advocates.

But it goes beyond that. It also includes tougher language on trade. That's something that looks similar to what Donald Trump has been talking about on the campaign trail. One thing that has not changed, though, is there is still very strict abortion language in here, saying Republicans are opposed to abortion. This language does not include any exceptions for rape and incest.

Now, again, Ana, this is just a first draft. They are going to have days to wrangle over this, to argue over it. And, of course, the backdrop of all of this, like you said, is going to be the veepstes. Donald Trump is going to be in Virginia today with Chris Christie. Tomorrow he'll be in Indiana with Governor Mike Pence, another potential VP pick.

CABRERA: Interesting. Sara Murray, thank you so much.

Now, the changes to the party's platform for Republicans and Democrats might just be overshadowed by these shootings. In Louisiana, Minnesota, the police killings in Dallas, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have addressed these controversies and these tragedies and the rolling divisions here in the nation.

[09:35:13] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African-American families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have the talk about, you know, how to really protect themselves when they're the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with the police.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota also make clear how much more work we have to do to make every American feel that their safety is protected. Too many Americans are living in terrible poverty and violence. We need jobs, and we're going to produce those jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Trump also weighed in via Twitter, saying, quote, "look what is happening to our country under the weak leadership of Obama and people like crooked Hillary Clinton. We are a divided nation."

Let's discuss. Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics is joining me now.

Larry, thanks for being here.

Clinton and Trump, you just heard, struck different tones in their responses to these shootings. Trump came across as tough. Clinton called for compassion. Do you think one or the other will resonate more?

LARRY SABATO, DIR., UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Let's ask what a presidential candidate is supposed to do in a situation like this, when we're having a crisis in racial tensions and relations. They're supposed to be soothing. They are supposed to do nothing that will make a bad situation worse.

By and large, I think they both pass the test. Now, there are two different tests. Hillary Clinton is expected to present the image that she did. Donald Trump has, let's be honest, often said inflammatory things during crisis periods in the past. He really didn't do that this year. That was -- this time. It was a mild tweet directed at Obama and Clinton. So, you know, so far so good. I have a hard time believing that that will last through the end of the week.

CABRERA: Well, a "New York Times" article this weekend talked about perhaps one reason they're having a hard time really connects or one of them, you know, even shining in a moment like this because they both have such high unfavorable ratings. I want to read you just a part of this article and it talks about it. Says, "the conventions this month will be huge opportunities for the nominees to galvanize the faithful, but also a chance to reach out to the other side with traditionally positive speeches about their hopes for the country."

So, Larry, will either nominee, do you think, have credibility with the voters to really be able to connect given the rhetoric we've heard and their negative ratings?

SABATO: A capital "n," capital "o." No, not a chance. This is a very polarized race. Clinton is reaching Democrats. Trump is reaching Republicans. Not necessarily all of them, just as Clinton has been having some problems with Sanders voters. So, no, this is a polarized election and they're really speaking to their own constituencies, and I don't see that changing between now and November.

CABRERA: One difference you can say is, as you mentioned, Clinton seems to be rallying Democrats little by little to her side, and yet we're still seeing a lot of division in the Republican side because Trump has failed to really unite some of those establishment Republicans. There's still this anti-Trump movement we were just talking to Sara Murray about, trying to change convention rules to perhaps not elect Donald Trump as their presumptive nominee right now. So do you think that Hillary Clinton, having Bernie Sanders' support, which is supposed to be coming tomorrow, we understand in New Hampshire, is going to make a difference?

SABATO: It should make some difference, Ana. It's interesting. You need to remember the context. Hillary Clinton endorsed Barack Obama four days after she lost the nomination in 2008. Tomorrow, I believe, will make it 35 days since Bernie Sanders lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton. So there clearly is a lot more brush to clear away here to get a really united Democratic Party.

I'm looking to see what he actually says. How enthusiastic is he about this endorsement? And does he follow through? He's got a lot of work to do with his strongest supporters, who are still saying to anybody who asks, I'm not voting for her. I'm not lifting a finger. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing that.

Now, we have a number of votes -- a number of months until November, but Sanders has got a lot of work to do with his own people if he's going to get them to be enthusiastically for Clinton.

[09:40:00] CABRERA: All right, Larry Sabato, our thanks to you. We appreciate your thoughts and expertise.

SABATO: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Still to come, police make a difficult decision to kill the Dallas shooter in an unprecedented way. The police chief talks about this robot, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The Dallas police chief says he would not hesitate to use a bomb robot again to stop a suspect facing a similar incident. Chief David Brown says the decision to use the robot was a difficult one. The plan was drawn up by officers as a last resort after negotiations with the gunman, circled here, failed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE CHIEF: They presented to me what was probably a 15 minute plan they put together to improvise our robot with a device to detonate behind the corner within a few feet of where he was that would take him out. And I approved it. And I'll do it again if -- if presented with the same circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:45:05] CABRERA: Now we've learned this type of military style technology is already being used by police and other first responders. George Howell explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is the -- the robot going toward the IED.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remote controlled robots have been used by the U.S. military in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to diffuse explosive devices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D 1000 (ph).

HOWELL: Here's a scene from the movie "The Hurt Locker."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice, 155, huh?

HOWELL: And in recent years, some local police departments have invested in the technology to investigate suspicious packages and cargo. But in Dallas, a potential first in the United States, the delivery of an explosive device by a robot that was used to kill the police shooting suspect hold up in a garage. Negotiations to end the standoff had gone on four hours.

DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE CHIEF: We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on the -- its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was. Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger.

TIM TRAINER, ENDEAVOR ROBOTICS: He could be picking up evidence. He could be picking up potential explosive devices.

HOWELL: Endeavor Robotics says it has sold robots to several police departments in the Dallas area, but wasn't sure if their device was used Thursday night.

TRAINER: Our whole purpose is to keep people at a safe distance from hazardous conditions. We've seen that in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan with the IED threat.

HOWELL: Robots are expensive, with some costing more than $100,000. But local police departments say the technology is well worth the cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before, a bomb technician had to climb into a suit, go down and take care of business, where now we can use the robotic system. It's made the job so much better.

HOWELL: George Howell, CNN, Dallas, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Still to come, Defense Secretary Ash Carter makes an unannounced trip to Baghdad, but he made one big announcement this morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:56] CABRERA: Major announcement from Defense Secretary Ash Carter during a trip to Baghdad this morning. The U.S. sending 560 more American troops to Iraq. They will arrive in time to support the Iraqi army's next battle against ISIS, retaking Mosul. The city is still controlled by the terrorist group but Iraqi government forces do have some momentum. They've managed to take back a nearby airfield.

Joining us now to talk more about the U.S. role in the fight there, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

What more are you learning about the U.S. and the plans now moving forward, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana.

The secretary of defense announcing this in Baghdad that 560 additional American troops will be going to Iraq. This is in addition to the 4,000-plus or so that are already there. And it is that air base in northern Iraq, a place called Kiara, just south of Mosul, that really is the focus now. Over the weekend, Iraqi troops took back the air base and now U.S. troops are expected in the coming weeks to largely go to this location south of Mosul. All of this now focusing Iraqi efforts on retaking Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, that has been under control of ISIS. It is absolutely vital the Iraqi's get it back in order to defeat ISIS. That is both an Iraqi and a U.S. view.

So these troops will go there. They will assist the Iraqis as they arrive on that base with things like logistics, supplies, air intelligence, possibly even more troops going out in the field on advise/assist missions to try and help the Iraqi forces.

It's not going to be happening in the next couple of weeks. It may take a few weeks to get everybody there, but it is bottom line a very clear sign the U.S. military involvement in Iraq continues to grow.

Ana.

CABRERA: (INAUDIBLE) Barbara Starr, thanks to you.

Let's check some other top stories this morning as U.S. officials tell us the last diplomatic link between the U.S. and North Korea has been cut. North Korea announced today it is closing its communication channel with New York. State-run media reports this channel is being shut down, according to, quote, "wartime law," after North Korean leaders were included on a sanctions list.

The U.K. is now one step closer to having its second female prime minister in British history. Theresa May is the only candidate left to become the country's next leader. Her rival dropped out of the race. Current Prime Minister David Cameron decided to step down after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union a couple weeks ago.

Out west now, huge wildfires are raging. Two campers are now under arrest in Colorado, charged with arson for starting a fire that has spread to more than 500 acres, forcing thousands out of their homes. Fire investigators say the two men failed to put out their camp fire properly. Nearly 2,000 people have evacuated. This comes as another fire some three hours south of Boulder, near Colorado Springs, is burning nearly 5,000 acres.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the family of a fallen Dallas police officer remembers this hero that they've lost.

[09:55:07] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA ZAMARRIPA, SISTER OF PATRICK ZAMARRIPA: I knew he wanted to be a police officer, so I had already talked to some recruiters about getting him into be a military police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The death of five officers in Dallas sent shockwaves across the country. The men who died were remembered by the colleagues as caring and dedicated professionals. Among them was Patrick Zamarripa, a Navy veteran and father of two. His mother and sister spoke to CNN's Rafael Romo about their heartbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA ZAMARRIPA, SISTER OF PATRICK ZAMARRIPA: My brother loves his country and his community. I just can't wrap my mind around this. It's just so unreal that I just can't call him and tell him that everybody wants to know about him. [10:00:00] VALERIE ZAMARRIPA, MOTHER OF PATRICK ZAMARRIPA: I don't

think he had a bad bone in his body or had any ill feeling for anyone, anyone. He was a very humble, caring, passionate, lovable person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)